There we go, another week is in the books: five straight days faithfully devoted to working and no song in the world can curb the boredom and the inertia. Unless you’ve been part of the Web Summit here in Lisbon. Oh, boy, that must’ve been something, ha. There you are, on the top of the world, an entrepreneur. Surrounded by flashy applications and Al Gore’s sect-like speech (the guy earns a loaded paycheck to spit out a bunch of platitudes, i.e., a genius); a hi-tech whirlwind under the notion that you’re about to change the world. Change. Jim Jones would be proud of shit like this. Particularly when we’re all on the verge of drinking the 5-star rating Kool-Aid. Rate it.

Anyway, I want to keep doing this segment for the foreseeable time. I’m just too erratic to know if it will be weekly, biweekly, monthly or daily, really. The first part was just an introduction to take some steam off, now that I spent a sabbatical year away from what I consider to be a jest: music journalism. And I was a practical joker, so there’s always some self-loathing in this, of course. But, yeah, the intent here is to talk about some music without no specific intentions: I don’t want to promote anyone, help anyone, get on the guest list. Just want to share some shit, because I know that out there we have some music fiends and people who are genuinely interested in this sort of things. And I know how great independent blogs can be, those have no agenda whatsoever besides blabbing on music. Let’s get on with this, then.

DÖPUR
Post-punk [Iceland]

For the last couple of months I’ve been going back to this track again and again. I was lucky to find this Reykjavik duo thanks to their 2017 split with another great band from Iceland: ROHT – a familiar name to those who follow what Iron Lung routinely puts out. This is some addictive post-punk, there’s a druggy and industrial vibe to it that makes it stick. So far, this is the only thing I can find from Döpur, but I’m totally keen on getting their future releases.

POU
Punk [Catalonia]

This is straight garbage punk just like I enjoy it. I don’t really know if they’re from Catalonia, but the lyrics, the style and how Metadona Records describes them are some pretty good hints. And the location matters, because if you’re familiar with that typical Barcelona punk sound – brilliantly backed up by Discos Enfermos or LVEUM – then you’ll definitely find some common ground with POU. “Dimonis” is their latest and first (?) release.

Old Tower
Ambient | Dungeon Synth [Netherlands]

Dungeon synth is a pretty goofy genre, but then again so is sludge and 99% of labels. There’s been an eruption of ambient projects like this in recent times, but, somehow, Old Tower seems to be a plateau above everything else. Crossed with paths with it in 2016, thanks to a cassette on Crude Form, but this new LP, released this year on Tour de Garde & The Shadow Kingdom, seals the deal for me. I bought it immediately because few artists can crank this medieval, eerie sound with mastery.

G.A.U.
Punk [Germany]

The acronym, the imagery on their Bandcamp, even the sound… Really hard not to think about G.I.S.M. when you’re listening to this EP, released last year on Byllepest. They declare to be headquartered in Berlin, but this has Japan written all over it. And there’s not anything wrong with that.

Trono Além Morte
Black Metal [Portugal]

Something really nasty is about to happen in Porto next month: the third sling of the event Invicta Requiem Mass, which gathers some of the most defiant and reclusive Portuguese black metal projects. This LLN-influenced and cloistered congregation is not particularly fond of making live appearances, so having several of their members reunited for a one-off evening is quite special. If IRAE or Mons Veneris already have a long-standing and renowned discography, Trono Além Morte is a brand new project and, fuck, it sounds great. This is a sample of their upcoming LP, made public by Harvest Of Death.