Genius #21 - Sept '25
New music from The Beths, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Lucrecia Dalt, Water From Your Eyes, Neko Case. The year 2013. ZOIA & File Management. Upcoming Shows
Friday 10/3 will be yet another Bandcamp Friday where all Bandcamp purchases go directly to the artists! If you've found something you like here in GDC (or on your own volition), you should consider sending the artist some cash! Things are fucking dire on planet earth.
Hello Geniuses – It is nighttime on planet earth and still we push on. I have 5 new records to share this month with a nice coincidence: all of this month's album recs feature women as principal songwriters. I also tried to write about my love of the Empress ZOIA but got distracted by my other love of file management and ran out of steam.
I hope you will forgive a weirdly personal Replay section on the year 2013 – I don't know what came over me, but I felt like I had to share something somewhat embarrassing about myself & it manifested as twin top-5s. 2013 was a big year for me: I graduated from college, my first real band released our first LP. I was 22 years old & I spent much of the year 2013 trying to figure out how to take a big leap forward in becoming someone I was more proud of.
Anyways, let's listen to some tunes together.
- Capitalism/Garbage Corner - ZOIA
- Album Recs
- Replay - 2013
- Upcoming Shows
Capitalism/Garbage Corner - ZOIA
You know, I wish I could say that I've bought some cool thing to show you, but lately I am mostly downsizing & reorganizing.
I've taken the time to become reacquainted with my Empress Effects ZOIA which I bought in early pandemic days and quickly got pretty good at using. The ZOIA is a DSP computer/guitar pedal/synthesizer/MIDI controller that has become the centerpoint of my pedalboard.
In Chanp sets, the ZOIA acts as a utility player: a MIDI controller & switcher that can turn my MIDI-enabled effects on/off, ramp the knobs for me, blend unaffected signal into the mix, that kind of thing. That's all well and good, but I've been getting more into using it as an effect and synthesizer within itself – as an EQ, a weird delay, a ghostly momentary reverb. It's been nice to basically kill the part of me that wants to purchase things & to find new uses for the stuff I have.
Just to give a brief overview on using the ZOIA: You get 64 patches per project. Within a patch, you can have 64 pages of 8x5 grids – tapping on any open cell allows you to drop a module in. The modules can then be connected to each other across any number of pages within the patch. Modules are categorized as either: interface (ie the stereo inputs/outputs, the footswitches, MIDI in/out), audio (mixers, delay lines, amplifiers, pitch shifters, etc.), control (LFOs, sequencers, envelopes, logic gates, CV tools), analysis (onset or pitch detection, envelope follower), or effect (pre-built distortion, tone, delay, overdrive, reverb, etc.). There's a cheat sheet with the full list of modules. Once a module has been dropped into the grid, you can virtually connect the signal paths by holding an output and then pressing an input (or vice versa). This allows you to connect audio pathways as well as control voltage pathways. You can see how this could create an infinite amount of effects & ways to control those effects.
My hope is to further cut down on other effects & simplify the board further, but there are some drawbacks – analog signals just sound better than the ZOIA's computer, analog delay repeats degrade in a very specific way, analog distortion introduces artefacts that are more pleasant than digital distortion, ZOIA's computer has trouble with too many granular effects, etc. It's all about finding the right balance.
Album Recommendations
The Beths - The Straight Line Was A Lie (Anti-, Sep '25)
depression power-pop
Sweet Lumps
Immensely satisfying indie rock with fantastic melodies, direct lyrics that pack meaning into the songs, and just enough weirdness to hold my attention. The Auckland quartet capture something specific about existence in these years that resonates – the lyrics are funny and sad, the music to accompany it is definitely within the modern indie/pop-punk zeitgeist, but with weird flute interludes and dissonant chords, drum breaks, etc. I'd say this sits somewhere between Mitski and The Weakerthans, though the songwriting reminds me a little of Camera Obscura with the mix of bouncy pop songs and slow-burn teary songs.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - GUSH (Nettwerk, Aug '25)
chastely horny electronic music
muzikdahamuhim
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith has been moving away from her washy soundscapes and into a more pop(ish) direction for a while, but this is the best and clearest iteration of that new form yet. The compositions are still rooted in modular synth practice, with fluttery synths, and double-shifted vocals, but this record has more kick-heavy trance-y house tracks at tempo. She has dropped some of the more jarring transitions from her last record (for better or for worse) which makes GUSH feel more dancefloor ready than any of her other albums. Lyrics are heartfelt & longing with just enough "dripping" & "gushing" to give you an idea of the subtext
Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger To Ourselves (RVNG, Sep '25)
bluesy experimental pop
muzikdahamuhim
Experimental & capital-A Arty bilingual pop music, through a lens of dusky jazz. Has a sort of Julia Holter meets Tom Waits meets Bjork vibe. Maybe a little Fiona Apple in there. Ramshackle percussion & upright bass form a base for these free-wheeling pieces from the Berlin-by-Columbia artist – the rest is sweeping strings, resampled instruments & field recordings, occasional guitar. Dalt uses her voice as an instrument within the worlds she creates. I learned while listening that she trained as a civil engineer – the structural element to these compositions makes sense through that lens. Many of the pieces feel like sculptures more than songs, but when a pop melody hits, it's a revelation (such as the begging "por favor" refrain in "agüita con sal").
Water From Your Eyes - It's A Beautiful Place (Matador, Aug '25)
hi/lo fidelity post-punk
Water From Your Eyes
The two times I saw WFYE live, they split their set into 2 parts: when the band took the stage, vocalist Rachel Brown was wearing sunglasses & their songs were disjointed glitchy, hard-hitting and strange with a wry, detatched voacl narration over scuzzy beats. About halfway through the set, Brown removed their sunglasses and offered the touching piano and guitar near-ballad "When You're Around," with a heartfelt legit vocal melody – before putting the sunglasses back on to continue the set. This record is a perfect synthesis of those 2 regimes & their best to date: the lyrics twist inward, some of the songs are a mix of cool detachment and colorful emotion, others are pure noise segments. One of the best of the year.
Neko Case - Midnight Green Neon Grey (Anti-, Sept '25)
alt-americana, the queen is back
tmausy
I'm so glad to hear a new Neko Case album! I didn't love her 2018 record Hell On and I had sort of written her off as someone who had her best songs behind her and had maybe stopped writing. I've been enjoying this new record of hers! It's a nice partial reinvention; gone are the big pop hit swings, which I think is good: in place of those catchier songs are more contemplative pieces and some fun experiments in noisy slam poetry delivery. There's a really nice song about watching a spider spin a web, etc. I've been a fan since high school, this just feels like a visit from an old friend.
Upcoming October albums:
- California ecstatic black metal band Agriculture are releasing their second LP thru The Flenser. The Spiritual Sound is out on 10/3.
- Yowie are back for more bendy clean guitars & dizzying drum rhythms. Their first LP since 2017, Taking Umbrage is out 10/3 via Skin Graft Records.
- Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner returns with another Flock Of Dimes release. The Life You Save is promising to be more
- Jordanian ambient composer Faten Kanaan's new release Diary Of A Candle is out 10/17 on Fire Records. The album was inspired by the god Hiroshi Yoshimura, real heads know that this is like a checklist of shit I am into.
- I haven't loved most of their output since 2001, but Tortoise's 1998 album TNT is a top 5 record of all time – I'll always give a listen to their releases. Their 8th LP Touch is out on 10/24 via International Anthem
Replay - 2013
It occurs to me that I started this blog in 2024, but my music hunting habits as they exist today started in the year 2013. Ok yeah, I've been annoying about music for way longer than that, but 2013 was the year I first started trying to follow new records as they came out. I've been feeling very contemplative lately & I wanted to look back at that year (read: navel gaze).
Let's try to add some theory behind this obviously self-serving replay section. As a hand-waving gesture: it's impossible to understand the present or the future without understanding the past! Maybe this will give you a better sense of me & my journey.
I'm trying a pretty squishy idea – a double top-five albums. First, the top-5 albums from that year as I recall my perspective of that year // then the top-5 of 2013 as seen from the year 2025. For the purposes of this exercise, there are no overlaps, but that's probably not true in reality.
Top 5 In-Situ
5. Deafheaven - Sunbather
In 2013, you bet I listened to the shit out of this. Shoegaze-y, summery black metal album with lyrics that read like Wes Anderson movie dialog. Very much of the time. I don't think this one really holds up. But I remember driving around blasting it out the windows of my car and feeling like it sounded like the sad end of the world.
4. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
Such a shame that Nick Cave is a zionist. I saw him & the Bad Seeds live on this tour and it blew me out of the fuckin' water. It's a shame & it's shameful.
3. Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
Easily the best of Neko Case's career. Autobiographical songs about her troubled relationship with her mother, a great mix of traditional rock songwriting & some more experimental compositions. Would make for a brutal double-feature with Sufjan Stevens' Carrie & Lowell.
2. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
I remember seeing the music video for "Sea Of Love" and thinking "this band has the juice!" Their set at Merriweather was really something special. Cool to feel like I was there at the last gasp of the Obama years, real victorian squalor shit.
1. Melt-Banana - Fetch
I listened to this record over and over: the glitchy guitars, the bouncy shouted vocals, the way chaos would settle into a simple rhythm, then explode again. Completely rewired my brain for what I thought a guitar could sound like. Still a great one.
Top 5 Ex-Situ
5. Gorguts - Colored Sands
I wasn't a huge death metal head in 2013, but the Gorguts album still got my attention. It's simply built different. Proggy knotted up riffs, crazy rhythm change-ups, a whole Shostakovich-esque classical interlude. I can't imagine practicing these, there's so much happening.
4. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City
Prob would have been #6 in the in-situ top-10, so kind of a cop out. I remember pushing back against the part of me that loved this LP. I was a stupid baby. This record slays – the best of the band's career. I revisit it pretty regularly. "Step," "Diane Young," and "Hannah Hunt" are all perfect, perfect songs.
3. Tim Hecker - Virgins
So spooky! In 2013, I listened to this record once or twice and was blown away by it but I had no familiarity with ambient music or drone or even really electronic music as a genre, so I didn't know how to approach it. This is a great LP from Hecker – kaleidoscopic samples that refract light in eerie and terrifying ways.
2. My Bloody Valentine - m b v
This record has really maintained its hold on me over the past 12 years. Perfect nighttime sounds. At the time, I was on a big "anti-reunion" kick, so I didn't really even pay any mind to it. I was an annoying contrarian. I love the way this record unfolds over the course of itself, it's a testament to holding an idea & pushing on it until it cracks open.
1. Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus 7
Perfectly captures the feeling of being alive in the computer. Ambient music made out of reanimated YouTube samples and obsolete tech, dragged from their digital resting places and forced to join a choir together. Dead software, dead internet, but the spirit of creation lives on. I don't know if this is the best OPN album, but it was the first one I ever heard & it holds a special place in my hear for it. I could listen to this album over and over and always discover something new about it.
Special mention to some 2013 albums I loved but haven't really revisited: Waxahatchee Cerulean Salt, Sigur Ros Kveikur, and Run The Jewels' Run The Jewels. Maybe they're still really good. A separate special mention to billy woods x Blockhead Dour Candy, a really great record that I didn't appreciate in the year 2013.
Scene Report
I'm playing 2 shows coming up with Catherine Savage – we have a set at Subscape on 10/11 & an album release show on 11/20 at Metro. Come thru!
Upcoming Shows
Baltimore
- 10/2-10/5 (Thu-Sun) New/Next Film Fest @ Charles Theater
- 10/3 (Fri) Neko Case @ The Recher
- 10/4 (Sat) Mast Year, Be My Friend, Chain Of Memories @ Skatepark
- 10/4 (Sat) Pinkshift, Plrls, Outcalls, Bali Lamas, Pearl, Chromafix @ Inner Harbor Ampitheater
- 10/9 (Thu) J Robbins Band plays Burning Airlines @ Metro
- 10/10-10/12 (Fri-Sun) Subscape (tons of local bands) @ Metro, Ema's Corner, Mobtown
- 10/13 (Mon) Brnda, S.C.A.B., Puddled, Old Outfits @ Ottobar
- 10/14 (Tue) Transfiguration International Film Festival @ 2640 Space
- 10/15 (Wed) Mast Year, Ploy Machine, Choking Boys, Burger Monday @ Ottobar
- 10/15 (Wed) Transfiguration International Film Festival @ 2640 Space
- 10/19 (Sun) Dollgrith, Gustavo Fring, State Of Youth, Anxiety Monster, Friend, Trash Diva @ Ema's Corner
- 10/24 (Fri) Conner O'Malley @ Baltimore Soundstage
- 10/25 (Sat) Tosser, Docents, Pew Pew, Humidifer @ Scott's House (DM a band)
- 10/29 (Wed) Lucretia Dalt, Vorhees @ Current Space
DC
- 10/7 (Tue) Kneecap, Bricknasty @ Howard Theatre
- 10/11 (Sat) Black Eyes, More Eaze @ Black Cat
- 10/14 (Tue) Guerilla Toss, Godcaster @ DC9
- 10/18 (Sat) Modest Mouse, Built To Spill @ The Anthem
- 10/21 (Tue) Nourished by Time, Zsela @ The Atlantis
- 10/24 (Fri) Big Thief @ The Anthem
- 10/29 (Wed) Autechre, Mark Broom @ Howard Theatre
- 10/30 (Thu) Nation of Language, Deeper @ 9:30 Club
- 10/2 (Thu) Neko Case @ Lincoln Theatre
- 10/6 (Mon) Pile, Nnamdï @ Pearl St Warehouse
- 10/12 (Sun) Thou, Catharsis, Cloud Rat, Skallar - Benefit for Heal Palestine @ St. Stephen's
- 10/13 (Mon) Peel Dream Magazine, Emotional World @ Songbyrd
- 10/17 (Fri) Global Sounds on the Hill featuring Renowned Javanese Singer Peni Candra Rini @ Hill Center
- 10/19 (Sun) Brnda, Pinky Lemon, Grocer @ Songbyrd
NYC
- 10/5 (Sun) Ches Smith Clone Row release, Mori/Reid/Taborn/Seabrook quartet @ Public Records
- 10/1 (Wed) Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet (w Ingrid Laubrock, Chris Lightcap, Tom Rainey) @ Littlefield
- 10/3 (Fri) Pino Palladino & Blake Mills featuring Sam Gendel & Chris Dave @ Pioneer Works
- 10/5 (Sun) Lathe Of Heaven, LOTION @ Trans-Pecos
- 10/9 (Thu) Zohh Amba @ Cassette
- 10/11 (Sat) Rafiq Bhatia @ Public Records
Future Shows
- 11/1 (Sat) Boris, Agriculture @ Fillmore Silver Spring (DC)
- 11/7 (Fri) Flowerbomb, Caring Less, Peak Bloom @ Comet Ping Pong (DC)
- 11/7 (Fri) Bill Orcutt/Steve Shelley/Ethan Miller band @ Union Pool (NYC)
- 11/7 (Fri) Bill Orcutt/Steve Shelley/Ethan Miller band @ Union Pool (NYC)
- 11/8 (Sat) Bill Orcutt, Steve Shelley, Ethan Miller Trio @ Comet Ping Pong (DC)
- 11/8 (Sat) Consumer Culture, Wastoid, Don Pardo, Colo @ Pie Shop (DC)
- 11/19 (Wed) Bar Italia @ Black Cat (DC)
- 11/20 (Thu) Catherine Savage (album release) @ Metro (Baltimore)
- 11/21 (Fri) Wednesday @ 9:30 Club (DC)
- 12/4 (Thu) They Are Gutting A Body Of Water, Hooky, Snoozer @ Black Cat (DC)
- 12/5 (Fri) Model/Actriz @ Black Cat (DC)
- 12/6 (Sat) Raven Chacon Ensemble @ Library of Congress (DC)
- 12/9 (Tue) The Beths, Phoebe Rings @ 9:30 Club (DC)
- 12/10 (Wed) The Beths, Phoebe Rings @ 9:30 Club (DC)
- 12/12 (Fri) Algernon Cadwallader, Gladie, Snoozer @ The Atlantis (DC)