Body Breaks, Backxwash, and Dany Laj And The Looks
Body Breaks
Bad Trouble // We Are Time
The duo Body Breaks released their debut album Bad Trouble on June 18th and it is one you seriously do not want to skip over. The album is like nothing I have heard before. At first, I struggled to find words to describe it. Each track sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does in an impressive way that hooks you within the first few seconds.
The guitar throughout the entire album is microtonal, meaning it is tuned to notes between the usual ones we hear in Western music. Using this tuning to create their eight-track rock album, this debut release is unforgettable. Each song sounds really well conceptualized and executed, which makes the slightly eerie guitar very effective, especially with the vocals floating overtop. All eight-tracks have something different to offer and almost require a few listens to fully take in.
I love the beauty and emotion that comes with these microtonal guitar parts. “Work for the Man” starts with a fun riff that brings feelings of rebellion and excitement and leaves the listener eager to hear the rest. I can feel my mind trying to tune it to the familiar 12-tone scale we all know as I listen, which makes the song that much more interesting. It’s so in raw in your face that you can’t stop listening.
I also really like the closing track, “Generation Y”. Using the effect of a pedal and the now-familiar microtones, it has a calmer garage-rock sound that grounds the song a little more than the others. Adding another element to the mix, the vocals play around with harmonies that are satisfying at times and dissonant at others.
One final song I will mention is “Between the Heart and the Mind”, simply for the infectious guitar solo two-thirds of the way through. It puts the microtones on full display, ending with a descending scale that makes your ears perk up in interest.
Seeing as Bad Trouble is their debut release, I am sure the duo has some really cool ideas in mind for the future. I will definitely be following along to see where they take their microtonal rock sound next. Check out this album if you’re looking for something just different enough to reel you in!
- Holly-Anne Gilroy
Backxwash
I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES // Ugly Hag Records
Since the release of the 2020 Polaris Music Prize winning record God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It , considerable anticipation gathered around Backxwash’s upcoming work - in that same year, the Montreal-based Zambian rapper had released the STIGMATA EP, deploying some of the tracks that did not make the cut, the rapper had stated that the full-length was the beginning of a trilogy of records playing off each other. By then, Backxwash had already established herself as a prolific rapper with a solid repertoire building up since 2018, with many distinct sounds and approaches in albums like F.R.E.A.K.S. (2018), Black Sailor Moon (2018), and Deviancy (2019). But the 2020 full-length certainly established a definitive turning-point in Backxwash’s work, as her music further embraced her devotion to metal as well as hip-hop with a unique impact that deserves its celebration.
I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES is the second record in the God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It trilogy, bringing back the audio engineering prowess of Will Owen Bennett and Ada Rook as well as the creative direction of Chachi Revah (Merchant Vaporwave) who have had an incredible impact in the sound and aesthetic cultivated in Backxwash’s most recent releases. The album also includes an all-star cast ranging from CENSORED dialogue, Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson (Clipping), Jami Morgan and Shade (Nowhere2run / Code Orange), SurgeryHead, Lauren Bousfield, Sad13 (Speedy Ortiz), and Michael Go. And thematically, Backxwash has noted that whereas God Has Nothing To Do With This was a study in mercy, I LIE HERE BURIED… deals with finding solace in being consumed by her malevolent behaviours where self-destruction, pain, and despair characterize the dramatization she is staging.
The album opens with a thematic statement in the form of “PURPOSE OF PAIN,” a sound collage overplaying a sample that states “The purpose of pain is to get our attention that something is wrong, protect us from further damage and to request care - it is in this sense that a little bit of pain is a good thing.” This quickly transitions to appropriately-titled “WAIL OF THE BANSHEE,” an introduction track to the conceptual dramatization of Backxwash as an empress of chaos on a path of self-destruction - “Cuz if life is what you make of it, I am going for the do or die approach… maybe then I will feel something.” This doomy short track flips over to the promotional single “I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES” kicking off with Ada Rook’s screechy black metal vocals playing off a Maximum the Hormone influence further transgressing the seeming boundary between hardcore metal and hip-hop into one and the same - on top of upfront lyrics on the diasporic effects of colonization elevated to the sacred status of prophecy by dominant powers, the performance by Backxwash hits a passionate dynamic in the double time leading up an astonishing bass drop that brings us back to Ada Rook.
This track is followed up by “TERROR PACKETS” which kicks off with a feature by CENSORED dialogue, an up-and-coming Austin-based rapper that Ashanti has been uplifting alongside with Chloe Hotline, and Titmouse as they just debuted with their full-length Afro Pessimist - CENSORED dialogue confronts conditional love towards the trans community with backing vocals that exclaim “I am just a dick to these hoes” leading up to Backwash’s chorus and verses dwelling on the “terror packets and a wave of sadness” culminating in an Angela Davis’ sample on the policing of Black people. “IN THY HOLY NAME” follows this up with a loop track developing to a closing noise set by experimental artist, Lauren Bousfield - with lyrics like “Life expectancy expecting me,” Backxwash articulates the survival mentality of Black trans experiences while confronting the religious element of it, the everyday instances of trying to services, the ambivalence of intersecting communities, and even the haunting figure of SOPHIE as a young trans life lost. “BLOOD IN THE WATER'' captivates what Backxwash has referred to as her “Yeezus moment” in this record, as the short track gives the vibes of a much more harcore version of “I am a God” - the production by Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson from Clipping strongly reflects in the experimental atmosphere of the track culminating on its bassy booming vocals wrapping up the track. “Song of Sinners” returns to that haunting wailing atmosphere in many of Backxwash’s tracks, and Sad13’s vocals add an alluring mystique that play off well with this type of Backxwash track giving it an unique grandeur of its own tightly wrapping up in a soundscape.
“666 IN LUXAXA” is the other track in this album that captivates for me what Ashanti sees as her “Yeezus moment,” as the looping Zulu chant sample reminds me of the interludes in Kanye West’s “Famous” from The Life of Pablo or the main loop in “Bound 2” from Yeezus - this is certainly one of my favourite tracks in the whole record as Backxwash’s vision strongly comes across in a lingering instrumental where the vocals hit halfway through for one focused verse. This is followed by “NINE HELLS'' featuring the production by Jami Morgan and Shade (Nowhere2run / Code Orange) - while at first, the track is quite discrete, it amps up to a dense noise breakdown with piercing wailing screams wrapping up the track. The last track, “BURN TO ASHES” loops “Static” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor into a dramatic height through which Backxwash battles the self-perpetuating cycle of self-violence that the unhinged transgression of pain yields to, reflecting on the care and protection from further damage that are hard to achieve under current systematic oppressions.
The album breaks down to a powerful close with I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES taking Backxwash’s creative vision up a considerable notch from her last release - her capacity to realize a creative vision keeps extending with each work that she delivers, which in part can be attributed to the eclectic contributions by everyone who got their hands on this record but which nevertheless reflects the focused intent by Backxwash in her work. This record is a dignified sequel to the first segment of the God Has Nothing To Do With This trilogy, and that heretical faith in Backxwash’s work deserves all the praise now as it was then.
- Simone A. Medina Polo
Dany Laj And The Looks
TEN EASY PIECES // We Are Busy Bodies
Not every band comes through my city and is instantly memorable, but Sudbury’s Dany Laj And The Looks certainly were. With nothing more than Dany’s signature fiddler cap, sport jacket and sideburns, power pop musical style with homages to the 1960s and ‘80s, and a perfect balance of that “we’re fun but we also take this seriously” attitude, they quickly became very hard not to like. Now they have new reasons to come back into town someday, thanks to their new album TEN EASY PIECES.
The album name itself is a bit of a misnomer as the album is actually twelve tracks long (seventeen if you get the digital version), but luckily the extra two don’t overstay their welcome, due in part to several of them being less than 3 minutes long and in part to them just being good. While the majority of the tracks are pretty uniform pop rock reminiscent of such early ‘80s artists as Rick Springfield, other tracks host a variety of stylistic changes that have a little bit for everyone. Are you a fan of early to mid-60s rock ‘n’ roll? Check out the openers “Smile” (which is also one of a few songs displaying Dany’s impressively high vocal range) and “You & Me”. Want something more along the prairie-tinged lines of Tom Petty or the Traveling Wilburys? “Don’t Keep Me Guessin’” is the one for you. Looking for something like John Lennon but without the troublesome personal history and heavy-handed politics? Check out “In Other Words”. In short, the album is filled with cues honouring roughly 20 years of classic music.
TEN EASY PIECES comes to us at a convenient time where the country is preparing to reopen with ongoing vaccine distribution, a time where people will want to celebrate and listen to music that’s fun and upbeat. While the lyrics aren’t always as bright and sunny as the music, you might find yourself in the mood to put this on anyway.
- Ty Vanden Dool
