Pressing Concerns: Hell Trash, Recalculating, Testbild!, Grapes of Grain

Posted byrosyoverdrivePosted inPressing ConcernsTags:, , , , , , , ,

It’s Tuesday! It’s time for more new music! Today, we’re looking at new albums from Recalculating, Testbild!, and Grapes of Grain, plus a compilation of demos and early material from Hell Trash. If you missed yesterday’s blog post, featuring 2nd Grade, THEMM!, Dazy, and Podcasts, be sure to check that one out, too.

If you’re looking for more new music, you can visit the site directory to see what else we’ve written about lately. If you’d like to support Rosy Overdrive, you can share this (or another) post, or donate here.

Hell Trash – SMASH HITS! Early Tracks 2021-2024

Release date: October 4th
Record label: Self-released
Genre: Experimental rock, art pop, psych pop, folktronica, synthpop, lo-fi pop
Formats: CD, digital
Pull Track: Brand New Self Portrait (Chadwick Demo)

The rollout of Philadelphia-originating, Chicago-based group Hell Trash has been decidedly unorthodox. The first-ever release from the founding duo of Rowan Roth and Noah Roth was a live EP in June of last year, which painted them as a fairly stripped-down folk act, and the “Surprises / Gold Little Things” single that followed that August was an intriguing piece of jangly alt-country-rock. Both of these releases were quite good, but as it turns out, neither was an especially accurate reflection of the music Hell Trash were making together around this time, which we now learn via SMASH HITS! Early Tracks 2021-2024, the most complete picture of Hell Trash thus far. If you’re still waiting for a “formal” Hell Trash debut, then keep waiting, because SMASH HITS! is more of a release borne out of necessity (wanting to have a CD out for an impending tour) and a desire to clean house (having since added two new members, Nick and Sarah, the Roths have decided to close the door on the “duo era”). The Hell Trash found here contains bits of the folkiness of their previous releases, but this isn’t even the primary mode of SMASH HITS! (and similarly, the experimental folk-pop of Noah Roth’s solo career and the fuzz rock of their other band, Mt. Worry, aren’t really all that close to these songs, either). It reminds me of a more “folk”-based version of late 90s indie pop, incorporating electronic and psychedelic touches and even some trip hop-esque beats into Rowan’s songwriting.

SMASH HITS! doesn’t really ease us into these odder and more surprising corners of Hell Trash’s sound–the opening duo of “Brand New Self Portrait” and “Before There Was Life” really throws us to the wolves, so to speak. The former song is particularly confrontational in its stiff, serious alternative pop (Noah mentions the initial goal of the project being to sound between “Fiona Apple and 12 Rods”, and there’s definitely some of the former in this one), and the latter is a dirge sung by the duo in unison and ending with a transcendent guitar solo from Steph Davies, the one guest musician on this compilation. After this opening, there’s a bit of familiarity for us Hell Trash-heads–the aforementioned “Surprises” still sounds great here, and a demo of “Violence” (which appeared on the live EP) is just as skeletal and breathtaking in this form. In the context of SMASH HITS!, though, these are the odd songs out, as the duo get right back to it with the hazy, electronic pop odyssey of “Ghost Dogs (The Way of the Samurai)” and the six-minute, swirling “Encyclopedia Song”. The one cover is a version of Arthur Russell’s “I Couldn’t Say It to Your Face” (which is becoming an indie rock standard, it seems, as everyone from Ex-Vöid to La Bonte has done a version of it recently), while “Brush” (which also appeared on Live at Home) gets two different versions here. The “Spruce Demo” is a hypnotic “folktronica” recording in the vein of Flotation Toy Warning or Sparklehorse, while the “Exit Slip Demo” turns it into a polished indie folk rock duet. Eventually, Hell Trash will presumably be normal and put out a “debut album”, but it’s worth getting hip to their SMASH HITS! in the meantime. (Bandcamp link)

Recalculating – Do You Like to Laugh?

Release date: September 13th
Record label: Band Dinner
Genre: Punk rock, garage punk, noise rock, post-punk
Formats: Digital
Pull Track: Based on the Comedy of Ray Romano

What were you doing on New Years’ Eve last year? Apparently, New York trio Recalculating were putting the finishing touches on their latest album, Do You Like to Laugh?, which they recorded at Electrical Audio with Steve Albini from December 28th through 31st of 2023. Guitarist Scott Sendrow, drummer Michael Sendrow, and bassist Sean Wiederkehr appear to share vocal and writing duties, although it doesn’t feel like a three-headed monster as the band (made up of two brothers and one friend who “stays late for dinner when possible”) are clearly in-tune with one another. Not counting a demo album and a live record, Do You Like to Laugh? is Recalculating’s third LP, and it’s probably not a shock to learn that a trio that went halfway across the United States to record at Electrical Audio have a sound recalling underground punk, alternative, and indie rock bands of the pre-grunge era. Much more limber than the “blunt noise rock” side of those genres, Recalculating make a skittering, talk-singing punk rock and garage rock that can go from minimal to noisy at the drop of a hat in the vein of classic alt-rock groups like the Minutemen, Mission of Burma, and Nomeansno, and their songs will appeal to the contingent of post-punk revivalists that don’t take themselves too seriously.

Do You Like to Laugh? opens with one hell of a mission statement in “Based on the Comedy of Ray Romano”, an absolutely wild punk rock exploration of comedy and fiction and the performance of life (“Ladies and gentlemen, be gentle with comedians / For while they are blessed with prodigious download metrics / They endure life defenseless / Unarmed with guitars!” roars whichever one of them is on the mic as the song comes to a head–it’s hard not to imagine Albini enjoying that part). Not everything is so high-concept, although the yelping punk of “All the Rage”, the dark post-punk of “Bargain Bin”, and the electric PRF-core rock and roll of “Candide Says” have plenty to chew on nonetheless. “How Do You Get a Distressed Guitar?” is Recalculating’s version of a ballad, amusingly meditating on the titular concept and eventually rounding their way to a point (“Faded blue jeans, prepaid holes in the knees, facial stubble two millimeters wise”), although it’s not until the end of Do You Like to Laugh? that the band really get lost in the Recalculating of it all again. The stream-of-conscious “Sometimes the Chicken Wins at Tic Tac Toe” is a five-minute ramble that covers about everything, delivering plenty of good one-liners (“Which one of you dummies tried to rely on the wisdom of crowds?”) but always making its way back to the title line. Recalculating keep repeating that line over and over again, slightly changing the inflection each time–they’re a band that knows that delivery is essential for good comedy. (Bandcamp link)

Testbild! – Bed Stilt

Release date: September 27th
Record label: Quindi
Genre: Soft rock, indie pop, bossa nova, jazz pop, chamber pop
Formats: Vinyl, digital
Pull Track: And Her Eyes Are Red

Testbild! are new to me, but the Malmö, Sweden-based art pop project has been around since more or less the beginning of the twenty-first century. In fact, Bed Stilt is the group’s twelfth full-length album, following 2022’s M​ö​rka stj​ä​rnan Jorden with their debut for upstart Italian imprint Quindi Records (Monde UFO, Fortunato Durutti Marinetti, Dead Bandit). Throughout Testbild!’s entire history it’s been led by Petter Herbertsson, although the supporting cast has come and gone–on Bed Stilt, Herbertsson gets help from a core of multi-instrumentalist Douglas Holmquist, vocalist Siri af Burén, and synth player Mattias Nihlén, as well as “guest” synth performances from Peter Jackson and Tomas Bodén. Interestingly enough, work on these songs began in 2005 and 2006–but it wasn’t until last year that Herbertsson revived them, added some overdubs, and turned it into a brief (twenty-three-minute) but fully-realized collection of airy, transfixing pop music. On Bed Stilt, Testbild! already sound at-home on their new label, as the bossa nova and jazz-pop of Monde UFO and the soft rock of Fortunato Durutti Marinetti both figure into the sound of these half-dozen tracks. Some of Bed Stilt is more grounded than others, but all of it is quite pop-forward, resulting in a strong (re)introduction for the longrunning project.

The soft, chiming keys and jazz influences built into “The First New Years Eve” ensure that Bed Stilt receives a smooth and relaxed introduction–which, as it turns out, is exactly the kind of opening that the record needs. Testbild! find a lot of ground to cover in this particular comfort zone–one song later, the lengthy instrumental passages of “Streams” find a pleasing middle ground between “soundscape” and “pop song”, while “And Her Eyes Are Red” is a more straightforward pop tune that’s the first thing on the record that could be called “energetic”. As it rounds the corner from its bated-breath introduction, “And Her Eyes Are Red” sounds like a cross between bossa nova-era Stereolab and the more fluttery side of Elephant 6 (not unlike a modern band they remind me of, Tomato Flower). The catchiest moments of “And Here Eyes Are Red” come in flashes, but the interstitial instrumental parts don’t diminish it–just like how the ambient outro to “Cardamom Song” doesn’t take anything away from the rhythmic sophisti-pop that comprises the track’s first three minutes, nor does the simple piano-and-banjo tapestry of “Soft Winged and Frail” prevent it from standing up against some of the record’s more layered compositions. As “Water on the Moon” fades into a delicate chamber pop conclusion, Bed Stilt comes to a rather abrupt conclusion–one gets the sense that Testbild! can (and have) create something more large-scale and complex than these songs, but training their full energy on making polished, streamlined pop music has led to some strong results. (Bandcamp link)

Grapes of Grain – Painted Windows

Release date: October 4th
Record label: Drag Days
Genre: Folk rock, jangle pop, college rock, soft rock
Formats: CD, digital
Pull Track: Fatal Flower

It’s commendable when a band begins a second act that eventually turns out to be more substantial than their original one. This certainly applies to Utrecht folk/college rock group Grapes of Grain, who initially released two EPs and an LP from 2006 to 2009 before seemingly fading into obscurity. However, ever since vocalist/guitarist Alexis Vos and multi-instrumentalist Berend Jan Ike returned at the beginning of last year, they’ve been on a tear, releasing two more EPs (last year’s Getaways and this year’s Serving Water) and their first full-length in a decade and a half (last November’s Unaware). With the third Grapes of Grain LP, Painted Windows, Vos and Jan have officially eclipsed the band’s pre-hiatus output in under two years–and they’ve done it with some of their strongest material yet. The twelve-song, thirty-six minute album certainly doesn’t feel like their fourth record in two years–it’s a patient-sounding, carefully-sculpted LP, with enjoyably teased-out instrumentation largely provided by the band’s core duo, but former full-time members Stefan Breuer and Arno Breuer also contribute, as well as guest musicians Harm van Sleen (pedal steel, dobro, violin), Niels van Heumen (trumpet, synthesizer), and David Decraene (saxophone).

Grapes of Grain have a distinct sound that falls in between the worlds of folk rock/alt-country and college rock/jangle pop–Vos and Jan have almost certainly spent a lot of time with, at the very least, Out of Time and Automatic for the People (if not the records before those, too). The expanse of Painted Windows lets the band find more ways to present their songs than ever before, adding up to their most wide-ranging record that I’ve heard yet. As we move through Painted Windows, we’re greeted with immediately-hitting glockenspiel-flavored indie pop (“Martin Luther”), sophisti-pop-like empty-space art pop (“Stranded”), an upbeat pop rock tribute to Jonathan Richman (“Hey There, Jonathan”), and a surprising detour into electric, kind of messy indie rock and roll (“Darker Days”). There are a handful of songs on here that easily slot into “could’ve-been college rock anthems” territory, from the uber-catchy handclap-pop of “Sensation” (featuring excellent guest vocals from Amber Sawyer) to “Fatal Flower” (which imagines a cross between Paul Westerberg and Fables of the Reconstruction-era R.E.M. with a prominent synth hook), but Grapes of Grain have always been a little more pensive than their peers that like to focus solely on the big choruses, and their songs in this vein (hymn-like closing track “Lifeline”, the minimal dreamlike memories of “Photograph Girl”) live up to their past material, too. Painted Windows reflects the strong work that Grapes of Grain have done recently, and adds just a bit more to their ever-expanding legacy, too. (Bandcamp link)

Also notable:

3 thoughts on “Pressing Concerns: Hell Trash, Recalculating, Testbild!, Grapes of Grain”

  2. Pingback: Pressing Concerns: Sorrows, Saoirse Dream, Samuel Aaron & Noah Roth, The Illness – Rosy Overdrive
  3. Pingback: Pressing Concerns: John Galm, Now, Grant Pavol, The Lilas – Rosy Overdrive

Leave a comment