HYLI Vol. XCIV - Father John Misty and Burial

A little Thanksgiving week drop, Patrick sent Andy some Father John Misty sounding stuff and Andy sent Patrick some black metal from the UK

Hey gang. Keeping it short here. Hope y’all have a good Thanksgiving. We are thankful for you guys continuing to read HYLI and the Riffletter. Riffs will be off this week but back next week, HYLI will be back in two weeks. Keep coming back and keep taking it easy. Don’t eat too much stuffing now ya hear (Andy: Eat as much as you want don’t listen to him).

Father John Misty - Mahashmashana

Patrick: So, like, I really like this dude’s get up. Just great, great, great songwriting and instrumentation that is often interesting from a genre that, while I love it, can run a little stale at times (Andy: he-admit-it.gif). Or, if stale is too harsh of a word, formulaic. Strangely enough, this feels like Father John Misty returning to the formula that worked for him early on a bit more than the tossing the rulebook out the window album that was Chloe and the Next 20th Century.

“Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose” feels like a quintessential Josh Tillman song (go figure). It feels like a spiritual sequel to the best tracks off his (IMO best) album, I Love You, Honeybear, especially “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow.” Several of the songs feel like Chloe tracks but a bit more amplified and in the pocket and a bit less … cutesy? Twee? Some other adjective?

The album is centered on three tracks, though. I wouldn’t say any of the three are my favorite on the album (probably “Being You” - one of the Chloe-sounding songs here), but they are all new territory for Father John Misty a decade in. I’m speaking about the title track, “Screamland” and “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All.” My guess is Andy probably hates all three of these, or maybe, the first two and likes the last one because it’s funky and weird (Andy: almost, great guess). But all three work for me immensely. I love an established artist taking big swings and these are massive swings coming out on Album Six. That rules (Andy: that does rule - I still think it stinks but I always respect a swing). More than anything else, I also love that dude is out here touring and doing interviews again and giving quotes and being a public figure. It was boring without him. Hope you like it.

Andy: Man, I was about to fly directly up to Charlotte and beat the shit out of Patrick with a metal bat after the first song (Patrick: fucking great song and I wish you would try me). Legitimately sighing, rolling my eyes, and going, “Are you serious?” every minute of what feels like the two-hour intro track, “Mahashmashana.” Hey, I’m not here for this track (Patrick: don’t care, eat shit you little twerp)!

“She Cleans Up” is a fun track and literally an oasis in the desert after that first monstrosity (Patrick: move on, man). Ripping saxophones, funky beat—hell yeah, let’s go. “John Tillman and the Accidental Dose” is also a heater of a track (Patrick: okay we’re warming up). The end of this track sounds like what “indie” music would sound like on Arrakis (Patrick: pause). Is this album good? I’d have said yes if I were allowed to skip track one! I’m definitely being a bit of a baby (Patrick: you? my friend Andy? noooo). I’m sorry. I’m getting sick, my two kids are sick, my head is pounding. Not an excuse—just providing details.

“Mental Health” took a toll on my mental health! “Screamland” is kinda great. Sounds like what Coldplay would sound like if they were good (Patrick: PLEASE do not do this right now I am usually so thankful for you and your friendship PLEASE shut the fuck up)? I don’t actually really know what Coldplay sounds like, and I don’t care to learn (Patrick: *pushes nerd glasses up nose* it is more M83 to me than Coldplay but I’m glad you like it). Lots of saxophone on this record, and as a pretends-to-understand-jazz guy, I’m here for it.

I’m going to ignore track one and say: Yes! I did like this album! Father John Misty does some very fun stuff in what is a boring genre for me. Maybe more albums should have Saxophone cause it fucking ripped here. I Liked It.

Burial - Rejoice In Sin

Andy: Ahhhhh… here we go. Doesn’t that feel better? Just some good ol’, straightforward black metal. Back to basics, man. Burial’s Rejoice in Sin came out the other week and it has been a good listen (Patrick: insightful criticism).

It’s been a weird year for music for me in the metal space. Kind of all over the place—very top-heavy. Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this album (Patrick: wonderful news for our readers). Rejoice in Sin is just consistently good melodic black metal. We’re not taking any crazy risks here. We’re not exploring the bounds of the genre or anything. Like riffs? Sick—here are some good black metal riffs. Like blast beats? Of course you do. My lizard brain loves it when the double bass drum goes dun-dun-dun-dun really fast. It has a song called “Bastards of Christ.” The cover has a badass goat with an upside-down cross. It looks exactly how it sounds and that is great. It’s just what I needed to close out the year.

Rejoice in Sin was a welcome return to normality after a pretty weird and wild year, so that’s the main reason I’ve been vibing with it so much. Not sure if Patrick has listened to much black metal this year (Patrick: I haven’t, death metal has continued to beat the piss out of black metal for two years running), but this will be good for our boy. Will he enjoy it? Who really knows—I never do. Hope you like it.

Patrick: I don’t know if this record is Good so much as something I was very open to hearing. Andy has fully broken my brain the last three (how??) years of doing this newsletter. I am still mostly an alt-country or hardcore or power-pop listener but my appetite for metal seems to grow every passing month (Andy: insert that gif where Jack Nicholson does the creepy “yes yes!” face, you know what gif I mean). It does seem like black metal has consistently been on a downward trajectory over the last half-decade or so though (Andy: no 🤗). Perhaps that is ill-informed but I like to think between suggestions from Andy and my own research that I’m relatively on the ball here.

Burial’s Rejoice is Sin scratched the New Black Metal Release itch in a big way for me. “Bastards in Christ” fucking rules - what a riff. The guitar work is the biggest selling point here. The vocals are kind of Whatever throughout, though I do appreciate the vocalist not going for the Deafheaven Guy Vocals thing that he very easily could have just phoned in. But the riffs on “Bastards of Christ,” “A Fear More Grave” and “The Wolfskin” all would be enough to sell you on listening to the album.

This isn’t reinventing the wheel but it is fun. We need fun black metal now more than ever - it is a distressed asset of a genre and we need bands to bring it back. Though, as I’m saying this, my biggest drawback against the record - other than occasionally the vocals being whatever - is that it too often reminds me of other things. You name a song “Bastards in Christ” and I’m going to think of the Deicide song (Andy, did you ever think you’d see the day I reference Deicide unprompted???) (Andy: my baby boy) and if you name your band Burial I’m, of course, going to think of the much much much much much much much bigger musician with the same name. However, taking Rejoice in Sin at face value, it is a Fun Record from a genre that needs to pump out more fun records. I liked it.