HTRK/Hate Rock Trio

Second video doesn't sound quite right to me, but I often find that when playing stuff on laptop speakers, I'm not the best judge.

it's vampire time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcI4feezLqc

HTRK released a bandcamp only (?) digital only (?) single in 2020 that was really great

and have heard great things about Jonnine's solo LP - waiting til my vinyl copy arrives

Robert if you dig Conrad's basslines and haven't checked out CS & Kreme it's definitely worth a listen

if anyone missed it, there was a great guest appearance from jonnine on this loraine james track that came out earlier in 2020:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_oonJva4ls

xp yes "Real Headfuck" made it onto my annual mixtape, I love it

and have heard great things about Jonnine's solo LP - waiting til my vinyl copy arrives

This is such a great album - six months in and I'm still uncovering new layers, which is a pretty neat trick given how spartan it feels on first contact. Highly recommended.

https://htrk.bandcamp.com/album/rhinestones new one is good if a lil wispy

I’ve struggled to connect since they became a duo but not with this one. Love it front to back. One of those records that seems slight but is gathering weight and depth with each pass. Better as a headphone listen.

It really is great, feel like I am losing my grip on reality when I listen closely. The acoustic guitar parts on "Straight to Hell" are so weird and unsettling.

Real Headfuck is the standout for me, but I'm not totally sold on the rest of it yet. But it took a while for Venus In Leo to really get its claws into me and now I think it's one of the best albums from the last few years by anyone, so I'm going to be patient and wait for it to reveal itself over time

Headfuck is brilliant but it’s been a year or so, they really hushed things since then

This is a really mesmerizing record. It ends up akin to Grouper at her most song-y.

New album is SO GOOD and their BEST ONE YET and would have figured highly in my 21 ballot if I'd got round to listening to it in time. I notice that it's on a label called N & J Blueberries - is this a reference to the opening line on CS + Kreme's Snoopy ('where did blueberries go?') or do I just need to get out more?

The CS in CS + Kreme is Conrad Standish, aka Mr Jonnine Standish

But it took a while for Venus In Leo to really get its claws into me and now I think it's one of the best albums from the last few years by anyone, so I'm going to be patient and wait for it to reveal itself over time

Only listened to Venus In Leo a couple of times and was not sold on it, will need to revisit

New album is SO GOOD and their BEST ONE YET and would have figured highly in my 21 ballot if I'd got round to listening to it in time. I notice that it's on a label called N & J Blueberries - is this a reference to the opening line on CS + Kreme's Snoopy ('where did blueberries go?') or do I just need to get out more?

― paolo, Sunday, January 30, 2022 6:07 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Jonnine Standish: Nigel texted me with an image from a fruit company, which was a logo on a punnet of strawberries. The logo was “N&J Strawberries” and Nigel said “our new label lol” and I texted back “lol I love it.” And we were gonna be called N&J Strawberries and then for legal reasons we had to change it to N&J Blueberries (laughter).

https://toneglow.substack.com/p/tone-glow-079-htrk

Been listening to this a lot. This is the first album I’ve heard of theirs and intentional or not it sounds like a major touchstone for them is the group Weekend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9WCCHHoepw

Aaah love that Weekend song so much and never made the connection but you’re right

hey now:

‘Death is a Dream’ new album of rare cuts from the last couple of years out April 29th (digital on Bandcamp)

also you can buy an N&J Blueberry's mug now, just in case you were wondering where did blueberries go?

https://nj-blueberries-store.creator-spring.com/listing/n-j-blueberries-mug

https://mockup-api.teespring.com/v3/image/-O0foEhccwJYvBmgXBwS1RD-xXw/800/800.jpg

(man, my spelling is getting worse by the day wtf)

hey now:

‘Death is a Dream’ new album of rare cuts from the last couple of years out April 29th (digital on Bandcamp)
― o shit the sheriff (NickB), Monday, 25 April 2022 23:52 (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

This is amazing! I fucking love it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wohWnmdwg6A

That is gorgeous thank you

Yes.

Love that "New Year's Day" bit "I've got a sinking feeling I'm gonna do the wrong thing eventually". Very beautiful.

Interesting choice to follow it up with a track called "New Year's Eve", I need to listen closely.

i don't think there's any explicit narrative connecting the songs, but yeah, what an amazing ending to an album those two songs make

new jonnine album is out:
https://jonnine.bandcamp.com/album/maritz

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3IXuzBvwTc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSBPwhPJkIE

Speaking of Jonnine, I stumbled on her talking about Rowland S Howard etc on this 4AD-focused podcast a couple of days ago:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ZLRXG5ecAZlx3dRXu8atn

i adore this band and have binged their back catalog so hard over the past year. i love the more stripped-down warmth of the last few albums but i think my fave thing they've done is 'work (work, work)', that decadent gauzy narcotized quality of it is so intoxicating to me. exquisite 'walking around the seedy part of the city late at night' music. very excited for whatever they do next

yeah totally agree re work - i was vaguely aware of them prior but when that LP came out i was out-of-nowhere obsessed in a way I hadn’t been since Disintegration cane out - listened to it relentlessly for months - like, totally surprised to be crushing so hard on a band/album at a stage of my life when i thought i was past that kind of intense teenaged relationship with music

and i think i remember Jonnine talked about it as somewhat directed at teenage girls / her teenage self perhaps - but that disaffected anhedonic quality also resonated really deep for me drifting aimlessly through corporate life and trying to remember how to feel human emotions

(was also really impressed by the way they actually addressed the fact of work in their work - like, i think they explained the title as referring to the effort to earn a living - and the effort of having a creative project - and the effort of maintaining a relationship/s - and that each of these 3 was a full-time commitment yet we are expected to cram them all into the same 7-day week)

i saw the album launch at an incredibly hot and sweaty sold out show in a basement bar in sydney - i have seen them play a literal dozen times since but that show is in my top 10 ever, just that combo of seeing the band you love at the exact moment they are stepping into their power - they opened with Fascinator (omg what a song) and then played most of the album and it was hypnotic

this video is from a few days later and captures some of that vibe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkF3xO3z3Cw

anyway didn’t mean to write an essay! but enjoyed thinking about loving this album - so thank you for the prompt

really cool to hear Jonnine on the new actress album

missed that. thanks for the heads-up

htrk weather here now, thanks all for the reminder that i should be listening to them more

listened to it relentlessly for months - like, totally surprised to be crushing so hard on a band/album at a stage of my life when i thought i was past that kind of intense teenaged relationship with music

this is basically my relationship to this record, too.

that explanation of the title is interesting, lends another dimension to the proceedings. they were living in berlin at the time they were writing the album, right? based on interviews i've read with them it seemed like they were all kind of miserable there, even leaving sean's death aside.

that concert sounds amazing. i've watched bits of that church performance before, the sound quality of the recording isn't the best but the video still conveys how immense those songs are, would've loved to see their shows from this era. the part time punks radio version of "fascinator" is my favorite one and that live version sounds even more enveloping/abrasive, damn

yeah pretty much the only ‘band’ that matters now. tapped in to the beyond-the-veil

Man, where has this band been all my life, only discovering them now. Loving Rhinestones and pretty sure will end up adoring the electronic stuff

For me, Psychic 9-5 Club is the smoky heart. They’re such unassuming people but the comment about crossing beyond the veil nails it exactly.

Listening to “Give it Up” with the speakers cranked so the electronic sizzle of the drum machine background noise hangs in the air like a malevolent entity