Soul Glo

First off, yes it has been a while since I've posted anything. It's not quite the ghosting that happened between April and September 2017, but it's been nearly 2 months. As I've said before, sometimes reality pops up and drags me away from here for a while, but I will always come back. And just like the aforementioned dark age, I'd like to start again with the band I had planned to post before disappearing. That of course is Soul Glo, a hardcore punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that began in 2014.

Even before and to this day, I have a hard time knowing where to begin with this band. They're one of those acts that remind you why you fell in love with this genre in the first place, by bringing a brutal intensity, a sense of truth and honesty, and a pushing of the boundary in their respective musical landscape. All of these things are readily apparent on their most recent LP, The Nigga In Me Is Me, a staunch reminder that the voice of hardcore is more important and unique than ever today. There's only so much my dumbass can express, but a lot of incredible points are hit on poignantly in this interview with the band from 2017, so be sure to check that out. There's really no words I can conjure here, especially for a band that transcends all genre dichotomies with a landmark release such as their latest LP. Soul Glo seamlessly blend aspects of classic hardcore, powerviolence, noise rock, hip-hop, and even a touch of screamo appeal with their distinct take on a sonic assault.Their previous efforts, as exemplified on Untitled LP are no slouch either, and a physical manifestation of what "raw power" truly means. I implore everyone to check them out, both for their dire political relevance and insane musical aptitude. Enjoy.

Untitled LP (2016)

1. 1

2. 2

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. Guilty Of Being... Wait.

9. New Humanism

10. Inextricable

11. Created In H.I.S. Image

12. Two Hits

13. Real Ass Life

14. Put Yr Head Down

15. Son Of A Gun

16. But Fucking Why?

17. Trigger Warning

18. Violence Against Black Women Goes Largely Unreported

19. The Movement Has No Head

20. Closer 2 Tha God

Note: Includes their debut " " from 2014

The Nigga In Me Is Me (2019)

1. 22

2. 32

3. 21

4. noise tracc

5. 31

6. 24

7. 23

8. 27

9. 30

Songs To Yeet At The Sun (2020)

1. (Quietly) Do The Right Thing

2. 29

3. 2K (feat. Archangel)

4. Mathed Up

5. I'm On Probation

DisNigga, Vol. 1 (2021)

1. FL Style Permz

2. Rolling Loud, Hear My Cry

3. Screamo Del Barrio

DisNigga, Vol. 2 (2021)

1. Nigga Don't Uplift Me

2. Yerrrnin

3. B.o.m.b.s.

Diaspora Problems (2022)

1. Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)

2. Coming Correct Is Cheaper

3. Thumbsucker

4. Fucked Up If True

5. Jump!! (Or Get Jumped!!!)((by the future))

6. Driponomics (feat. Mother Maryrose)

7. (Five Years And) My Family

8. The Thangs I Carry (feat. BEARCAT)

9. We Wants Revenge

10. John J (feat. Kathryn Edwards and Zula Wildheart)

11. GODBLESSYALLREALGOOD

12. Spiritual Level of Gang Shit (feat. McKinley Dixon and Lojii)

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Listener

Listener is an indie rock/spoken word project from Fayetteville, Arkansas that began in 2002. The project is based around lyricist/vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Dan Smith, who initially used the name as a moniker for his early hip-hop based work. As his career progressed, he retained the name as it evolved into a full-fledged rock band. He has worked with a number of musicians since, all under the band name Listener. After incorporating live instrumentation behind him, Listener evolved from a hip-hop project into their now-signature sound. Their songs are structured around Dan Smith reciting (not singing) his spoken word pieces, with an instrumental background that builds and falls with the song as needed. They've crafted a unique sound for themselves, which has been quite influential in the past few years.

Below is only a partial discography, since it is quite hard to track down all their releases (especially their earliest work, pre-spoken word jam band). So, if you have anything that's missing from below (their first three albums, in particular) please send it my way! Thanks so much to Juan for sending them to me! Enjoy.

Whispermoon (2003)

1. The Moon Cries Out

2. FYI

3. You're So Underground

4. Emotional

5. Winter Life

6. Train Song

7. Decadence

8. I'm Beginning To Hear Whispers

9. Ways Of The Wind

10. You Will Be My Music

11. Behind These Doors

12. Wundering

13. Crystal Methods

14. It's A Lonely World

15. Untitled

Ozark Empire (2005)

1. Backwoods Preacher Man

2. Ozark Empire

3. I've Been Waiting For This Moment For All My Life, Hold On

4. In The Woods You Know Where Your Enemies Are

5. You're So Special Because You're So Unique

6. I'd Like To Offer You My Dearest Apologies

7. When No One Else Will Be Your Friend I Will Do The Job

8. The Music That The Angels Do

9. It's Time For Drastic Measures They're Not Taking You Seriously

10. What Would You Do If I'm Not What I'm Supposed To Be

11. They Always Say Your Life Will Never Dull Or Your Money Back

12. Officer You Have The Wrong Man I Am Not That Man

Just In Time For Christmas (2005)

1. Its Christmas Time Again, So Come On Home To The Fire

2. You Know He Knows? Well, He Knows Regardless

3. Do You See What I See? I Hope So

4. Hey, Those Herald Angels Are Singing Again. Listen

5. Born In Bethlehem, And He Shall Send Them One By One

6. Don't Touch The Drums Boy

7. Silent Night, Holy Night. All Is Bright, All Is Bright

8. The Leaf Sure Is Heavy, But You Have To Turn It Over feat. Manchild

Talk Music (2006)

1. We March To A Whole Different Drum (Live)

2. Ozark Empire, Or Snake Oil Salesman

3. Stick This In Your Ear (Live)

4. Your Life Will Never Dull Or Your Money Back

5. The Music That The Angels Do (Live)

6. Train Song (Live)

7. I Have Nothing But Attention When I Scream

8. Deepspace5 Songs (Live)

9. Mourning In The Morning

10. That's It

11. Life Is

12. Older Than I Was Before

13. ABC News Tour Of Homes Desk Banter

14. What Would You Do If I'm Not What I'm Supposed To Be (Live)

15. All Of This With Words

Not Waving, Drowning (2007)

1. You Have Never Lived Because You Have Never Died

2. Falling In Love With Glaciers

3. Seatbelt Hands

4. Failing Is Not Just For Failures

5. You Were A House On Fire

6. Save Up Your Hopes Friends

7. Maybe We Are All Beautiful

8. I'd Like To Offer You My Dearest Apologies

9. Death By Shotgun

10. Put Another Rock In My Hand

11. Stick This In Your Ear

12. The Music That The Angels Do

13. This Is It

Train Songs (2009)

1. Train Song (fienix)

2. Train Song (live)

3. Train Song (dust)

4. Train Song (spoken)

5. Train Song (original)

Return To Struggleville (2009)

1. Death By Shotgun

2. A Song From A Knife Salesman To His Wife On Their Wedding Day

3. It's Time For Drastic Measures They're Not Taking You Seriously

4. The Music That The Angels Do

5. My Five Year Plan

6. What Would You Do If I'm Not What I'm Supposed To Be

7. I Have Nothing But Attention When I Scream

8. Ozark Empire, Or A Snake Oil Salesman Comes To Your Town

9. Your Life Will Never Dull Or Your Money Back

10. When No One Else Will Be Your Friend I Will Do The Job

11. Officer You Have The Wrong Man, I Am Not That Man

Wooden Heart (2010)

1. You Have Never Lived Because You Have Never Died

2. I Don't Want to Live Forever

3. Most Roads Lead to Home

4. Wooden Heart

5. Falling In Love With Glaciers

6. Failing Is Not Just For Failures

7. Building Better Bridges

8. Seatbelt Hands

9. These Hands Weren't Meant For Us

10. You Were A House On Fire

11. Save Up Your Hopes Friends

Time Is A Machine (2013)

1. Eyes To The Ground For Change

2. Good News First

3. Not Today

4. Tornadoes

5. I Think It's Called Survival

6. Everything Sleeps

7. There Are Wrecking Balls Inside Us

8. It Will All Happen The Way It Should

Being Empty : Being Filled (2018)

1. Pent Up Genes

2. Little Folded Fingers

3. There's Money In The Walls

4. Add Blue

5. Bloodshot/New Love

6. Shock And Value

7. Window To The World

8. A Love Letter To Detroit

9. Manhattan Projects

10. Plague Doctor

Your Old Droog

Here's something a little different for ya. Your Old Droog is a Brooklyn-based rapper who got started publicly in 2014. He released his first EP on Soundcloud, and gained a lot of attention because he was mistaken for Nas under another name. It's definitely an honest mistake, because the two are quite similar vocally and stylistically. Following his debut, he put out two fantastic EP's last year, Kinison and The Nicest, both of which are definitely worth checking out. Enjoy.

Your Old Droog (2014)

1. Quiet Storm Interlude

2. Bad To The Bone

3. Nutty Bars

4. Loosey In The Store With Pennies

5. Good Times Are Hard To Come By These Days

6. Droog's Anthem

7. Gunsmoke Cologne

8. U-47

9. You Know What Time It Is

10. Bye Outro

11. Free Turkey

12. Loosey In The Store With Pennies (Extended Version)

13. On The News

14. Boofanickoregs

15. The 70's

16. 48th Street

17. Senseless Killin'

18. Bad To The Bone (Remix)

Kinison (2015)

1. Intro

2. Blood

3. Porno For Pyros

4. Sonic Youth

5. Homicide

6. Rage Against The Machine

7. Freeway Fire

8. Gentrify My Hood

9. Sasquatch In A UFO

10. Get The Paper

11. Mule Juice/Outro

The Nicest (2015)

1. We Don't Know You

2. Through The Nose

3. Wave Rider

4. Word

5. Listen

6. Have A Nice Day

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Death Grips

Well, this is officially post numero 3-0-0, so here's a thank you for sticking with me. You asked for them, here they are. They've been one of the most requested bands, which is surprising for a predominantly punk/emo blog,  although that could be a testament to the universal appeal of their music. So, here you go. I fuck the music.

Death Grips are a three-piece experimental hip-hop group hailing from Sacramento, California, and formed in late 2010. They were created by drummer Zach Hill, who was known for his other group Hella, his solo work, and his work with others, such as Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, Wavves, and a ton of others. In addition to Hill, Andy Morin (who became known as "Flatlander") handled production/keyboards, and rapper Stefan Burnett ("MC Ride") rounded off the trio.

They quickly released a 6-song EP, which was followed by a 13-song mixtape. This is where all eyes were suddenly on them. The dark, aggressive, and industrial sound of Death Grips had been virtually unheard of (maybe with the exceptions of Dälek or B L A C K I E). Regardless, Exmilitary was released to critical acclaim, and attracted fans across the musical spectrum. Along comes 2012, and that's when everything in the Death Grips universe went crazy, and has stayed that way ever since. They signed to Epic Records and released The Money Store, which garnered mass amounts of attention, and for good reason. They're just as experimental and aggressive as on their past efforts, and are still not shy about creating shrill noises, laser-beam electronics, and off-kilter beats. Lyrically, they continue to explore the darkest parts of the human psyche within their digital dystopia, which are best heard through the drill-sergeant assault of MC Ride. All the while they show that they can still create some killer hooks too.

Following The Money Store, a whole lot of shit went down, to say the least. There's been a series of leaked albums, cryptic messages, break-ups, cancelled tours, mysterious re-emergences, label disputes, it goes on and on. If it can be summarized briefly, they leaked their next album, made the cover a close-up penis, got dropped from said label, and then they were no-shows at a lot of their own shows. They put out another album (with Robert Pattinson playing guitar for one track), planned a tour with Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden, and then cancelled it. They announced the release of a double-album (The Powers That B), and then announced their break-up. The first half of it, titled Niggas On The Moon, was released, and featured a collaborative sample of Björk on every track. Months later, they randomly drop a free album of instrumentals titled Fashion Week, with tracks that spell out "JENNY DEATH WHEN", since the name of the second half of The Powers That B is Jenny Death. At long last, it is released, and Death Grips are suddenly back together and planning a tour (stay tuned for the cancellation). Needless to say, Death Grips have been busy for the past few years, and that's not even getting into the smaller details. 

Death Grips have certainly been one of the most notable acts to emerge in modern music, which of course leads to some interesting opinions on them. I'm sure they've piqued a lot of interest in fans of the more aggressive side of this blog, thus the requests. To anyone new to them though, you are in for something different, that's for sure. If you're looking to listen to them, definitely start with The Money Store. If you like the aggressive, vocal/lyrical side with strong hooks, go to Exmilitary after. If you want more instrumental experimentation, and some really unique sounds, go to Government Plates. If you're looking for a nice hybrid of both, No Love Deep Web is the way to go. As for The Powers That B, the more accessible side is definitely Jenny Death, and fans of their early work will certainly be into it. Niggas On The Moon is very unstructured and noisy, which is incredibly interesting, especially in contrast to Jenny Death. I also included all their other officially released material, which is basically their EP, Fashion Week, and some singles. There are a ton of instrumental excerpts, remixes, unmastered versions and such of their music online, so if anyone would be interested in anything like that, let me know. They're also pretty easy to find if you wanted to go looking for them yourself. Either way, I hope you enjoy.

Death Grips (2011)

1. Death Grips (Next Grips)

2. Full Moon (Death Classic)

3. Takyon (Death Yon)

4. Known for it (Freak Grips)

5. Where's it at (Death Heated)

6. Face Melter (How to do impossible things)

Exmilitary (2011)

1. Beware

2. Guillotine

3. Spread Eagle Cross the Block

4. Lord Of The Game (ft. Mexican Girl)

5. Takyon (Death Yon)

6. Cut Throat (Instrumental)

7. Klink

8. Culture Shock

9. 5D

10. Thru The Walls

11. Known For It

12. I Want It I Need It (Death Heated)

13. Blood Creepin'

Live From Death Valley (2011)

1. Poser Killer

2. Fyrd Up

The Money Store (2012)

1. Get Got

2. The Fever (Aye Aye)

3. Lost Boys

4. Blackjack

5. Hustle Bones

6. I've Seen Footage

7. Double Helix

8. System Blower

9. The Cage

10. Punk Weight

11. Fuck That

12. Bitch Please

13. Hacker

Adult Swim Singles Program (2012)

13. @DEATHGRIPZ

No Love Deep Web (2012)

1. Come up and get me

2. Lil Boy

3. No Love

4. Black Dice

5. World of Dogs

6. Lock your doors

7. Whammy

8. Hunger games

9. Deep Web

10. Stockton

11. Pop

12. Bass rattle stars out the sky

13. Artificial death in the west

DxDG (2013)

1. Intro

2. Come Up And Get Me

3. Get Got

4. Taykon (Death Yon)

5. Guillotine

6. No Love

7. The Fever (Aye Aye)

8. I've Seen Footage

9. Lock Your Doors + Outro

Note: This is a live bootleg from their SXSW set

Government Plates (2013)

1. You Might Think He Loves You For Your Money But I Know What He Really Loves You For It's Your Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat

2. Anne Bonny

3. Two Heavens

4. This Is Violence Now (Don't Get Me Wrong)

5. Birds

6. Feels like a wheel

7. Im Overflow

8. Big House

9. Government Plates

10. Bootleg (Dont need your help)

11. Whatever I want (Fuck who's watching)

Niggas On The Moon (2014)

1. Up My Sleeves

2. Billy Not Really

3. Black Quarterback

4. Say Hey Kid

5. Have A Sad Cum BB

6. Fuck Me Out

7. Voila

8. Big Dipper

Note: This is Disc 1 of The Powers That B

Fashion Week (2015)

1. Runway J

2. Runway E

3. Runway N

4. Runway N

5. Runway Y

6. Runway D

7. Runway E

8. Runway A

9. Runway T

10. Runway H

11. Runway W

12. Runway H

13. Runway E

15. Runway N

Jenny Death (2015)

1. I Break Mirrors With My Face In The United States

2. Inanimate Sensation

3. Turned Off

4. Why A Bitch Gotta Lie

5. Pss Pss

6. The Powers That B

7. Beyond Alive

8. Centuries Of Damn

9. On GP

10. Death Grips 2.0

Note: This is Disc 2 of The Powers That B

Interview 2016 (2016)

1. Interview A

2. Interview B

3. Interview C

4. Interview D

5. Interview E

6. Interview F

Bottomless Pit (2016)

1. Giving Bad People Good Ideas

2. Hot Head

3. Spikes

4. Warping

5. Eh

6. Bubbles Buried In This Jungle

7. Trash

8. Houdini

9. BB Poison

10. Three Bedrooms In a Good Neighborhood

11. Ring A Bell

12. 8080808

13. Bottomless Pit

Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix) (2017)

1. Steroids (Crouching Tiger Hidden Gabber Megamix)

Year Of The Snitch (2018)

1. Death Grips Is Online

2. Flies

3. Black Paint

4. Linda's In Custody

5. The Horn Section

6. Hahaha

7. Shitshow

8. Streaky

9. Dilemma

10. Little Richard

11. The Fear

12. Outro

13. Disappointed

Gmail And The Restraining Orders (2021)

1. Gmail And The Restraining Orders

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