Tag: Melkbelly

YEAR END! – Top Records Of 2020

Ok. It’s 7am on New Year’s Eve as I’m writing this. I barely slept last night. I guess it’s year end list time. 2020 was a whole goddamn thing. In the broader sense, the pandemic and politics of the year were a fucking disaster. On a personal level, I had to leave Illinois at the end of the summer. I got transferred at work. I’m now up in Minnesota. It’s…ehhh. I can’t wait for live music to be back. I want to see how the Minneapolis music scene compares to Chicago’s. That will be a tough challenge. Chicago is the best.

Anyway. These are my favorite records of the year. In alphabetical order, because that just makes sense. Ok?

Anna Burch – “If You’re Dreaming”
The Chinkees – “K.A. Music”
Dehd – “Flower Of Devotion”
Frances Quinlan – “Likewise”
Gia Margaret – “Mia Gargaret”
Gladie – “Safe Sins”
Joan Of Arc – “Tim Melina Theo Bobby”
Melkbelly – “PITH”
Nana Grizol – “South Somewhere Else”
NNAMDÏ- “Brat”
Ohmme – “Fantasize Your Ghost”
Open Mike Eagle – “Anime, Trauma And Divorce”
Overo / Asthenia – “Split”
Ratboys – “Printer’s Devil”
Slow Pulp – “Moveys”
Sugar High – “Love Addict”
Surf Rock Is Dead – “Existential Playboy”
Tenci – “My Heart Is An Open Field”
Thank You, I’m Sorry – “I’m Glad We’re Friends”
V.V. Lightbody – “Make A Shrine Or Burn It”

It’s worth noting that Gladie and NNAMDÏ both put out a bunch of great music this year. Consider everything they put out as being on this list.

Also, did anyone have a better year than Kris Esfandiari? Absolutely everything she put out this year was great. She released music as Sugar High, Miserable, Dalmatian, NGHTCRWLR, and KRIS this year. Everything sounded different, and everything is worth a listen. Excited to see what the new King Woman stuff will sound like.

Fuck it. That’s it. Spotify playlist included below.

REVIEW: Melkbelly – “PITH”

mbpith

Melkbelly is a noisy post-punk band that turns standard rock songs into a mess of lo-fi experimentalism. I’ve had a passing interest in them for a while now, but they never really clicked for me until I heard Miranda Winters’ solo record back in 2018. It put a lot of the songwriting into perspective. There are some great melodic songs buried in the noise, sludge, and experimentation.

Pith, as a record, is the deconstruction as final product. You have so many moments where you think this record is going to go in an expected direction, but then it just turns left. The album opens this way. “THC” is a straight forward, melodic song that devolves into extended noise. “Sickeningly Teeth” just keeps changing tempos to the point that it’s an uncomfortable, jittery listen. “Kissing Under Some Bats” is a three minute song that turns into the guitar repeating a single chord for damn near the rest of the seven and a half minute run-time. All while the background just layers and layers until it is a wall of noise. But, even at its most out there, the songs remain coherently songs. To keep this review Chicago centered, this is what I think U.S. Maple would have sounded like if they gave a fuck about theory.

It’s a very real possibility that someone from Chicago will read this and label me a suburban asshole who is missing the point. And, to be honest, they’d probably be right. All I know is that I love this record. It’s not an easy one to define, but it’s definitely worth a listen. Especially if you have an ear for melodic music that is covered in noise.

Melkbelly
Wax Nine Records
Carpark Record
Bandcamp