dontcryformeimalreadydead drops new album of panic, desperation and ... screams.
Plus, new music from The Downwinders and a Fresno voice covers Metallica's latest.
Ryan Urquidez is a bellwether for loud, aggressive music; the best new screams, as he likes to say, sharing this or that new release on social media.
He know from what he speaks.
Urquidez was part of the Friendscore noise punk outfit Wallflower and one half of the grind-duo Cabin Fire and booked shows in town under the moniker Pink Teeth Booking. Urquidez currently plays bass in the grind core band Elder Devil and handles frontman duties for dontcryformeimalreadydead, which released its debut album on Friday.
The album is “eight songs of panic and desperation;” feeling well captured in various levels of drone, punctuated by guitar and drums breaks, or full flurries of noise. Written and recorded deep in the pandemic by Jacob Lee at the CYC, the album features Urquidez, joined by Emilio Contreras and Chris Parisi, with some extras added by Sonny Jae and Jacob Lee.
While the songs are available now, the bands has its release show on Tuesday at Sourmilk with The Sound that End Creation, Go in Grace and Motherbull.
The Downwinders, “Heavy Metal”
Shameless self promotion alert.
The Downwinders is the band Todd Williams and I formed and started writing music for in 2017, long before our subsequent collaborations.
Williams was looking to get away from the heavy electronic vibes of their project Victim of Propaganda and I wanted to not be a frontman, but also have an outlet/reason to learn to actually play and perform on guitar/bass.
The full band added Chris Friesen on drums and Steve Loveless on keyboards.
Friesen had played in the Soma Holidays, The Nancies, Gypsy Cab, Julian Calendar, Brother Luke and the Comrades and Electric Blue.
Loveless was also in the Nancies, and also played with The Rhoda Penmarks, Fay Wrays, Quiet Americans and his own electronic project.
So, bonafides, both.
I’ve been teasing the project for years.
Our debut EP, “Heavy Metal,” is out on Friday, across digital platforms and on Bandcamp. Pre-orders available now.
The four songs are a kind of darkly-lyrical acoustic folk-pop; “death-chamber-pop or something.” They might appeal to fans of Okkerville River, Frightened Rabbit and REM. You can hear the tracks debut 8 p.m. tonight on the Homegrown show on New Rock 104.1.
Metallica, “Lux Æterna” (vocal and guitar cover)
Last week, Metallica released a new song, the band’s first since 2016. “Lux Æterna” was a tease for the bands upcoming album and tour dates (which includes some shows with Pantera).
Within days of the release, Underlord guitarist/vocalist Jes Farnsworth was asked by a guitarist friend in Belarus to help with a cover of the tune. Without listening to the tracks, side-by-side, it seems like Farnsworth is pretty straight in his rendition, holding on to Hetfield’s signature sneers and growls.
You can see it the result on Youtube.
And the Metallica version, for comparison.
Looking out for: Holiday tunes
This is a call out for local Christmas tunes (something that could possibly get on New Rock’s Homegrown Show). They could be new or old, originals or covers.
Let me know what you’ve heard. Some examples:
Werebear — “For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls”
The Beaten Zone — “A Million Hundred”
Gospel Whiskey Runners — “Christmastime Again”
Blake Jones and the Trike Shop — “Christmas Sale”
That’s it for this week. Remember you can now hear me on the Homegrown Show Sundays at 8 p.m. on New Rock 104.1 FM. If you have anything you think I need to be looking at or listening to, feel free to let me know: jtehee@gmail.com