Cheap Thrills for Q2 2023
This quarter: techno, shoegaze, post-hardcore, and more!
We're halfway through 2023, and boy are my arms tired. Not from typing, of course—I started doing these things quarterly because I didn't feel as writing as much—but just from juggling a lot of various things over the last few months, including getting back into playing those damn video games that my mother warned me about.
Nonetheless, I've still got some tasty name-your-price goodies for you this quarter which run the gamut from wonky disco funk to Chinese ambient/spoken word. Crack open a cold one and enjoy some cheap tunes!
rémineur - 👁️
Here are some fun electronic tunes from an artist who, in their own words, has "never been able to choose between disco and techno". This shows on their latest album, simply titled 👁️ (try Googling that), a quirky, upbeat collection of tunes will take you back to the future. The album was released this past May on Genom Records, a new label founded by popular vaporwave artist Haircuts for Men, and while rémineur may not seem like it would fit among the chill, plundered beats that typify that genre, there is an undeniably playful retro quality to the music. Just listen to the throwback funk of tracks like "elite skweeed" and "rainbow cake", which would feel right at home in the 80s.
Renewer - Fading
If the summer heat has been baking you to a crisp, you should cool off with the debut EP from Renewer. The band's layered, moody shoegaze is like a soothing mist, and while one could describe their sound as gloomy, I detect a hint of hopefulness amidst the glacial riffs and languorous dual vocals. "All is (not) Lost" exemplifies this in a much more literal sense as it slowly builds to its lyrical and instrumental climax, in which the protagonist admits that they "don't have the answers" but is willing to start again.
竇唯 & 朝簡 - 琵琶行
This is an odd one, and the story of how I arrived is too long and inconsequential to relate to you here (it involves a shitpost-filled comments section on a music review site). In any case, here is some experimental electronic/ambient from China that sounds like something you'd hear performed by a troubadour sitting under a tree by a riverbank. Opening with reverb-laden electric guitar and quietly intoned poetry that introduces the frame narrative, the album tells the story of a former government official who has left the capital. He lives a simple life by the river, and one evening, he and a varied audience are brought to tears by a master musician's performance. The instrumentation is sparse and ethereal, mostly composed of guitar, lute, and hand percussion, but there are some light electronic flourishes in the form of vinyl crackle and samples of pipa (the Chinese lute shown on the cover and mentioned in the title). It's all incredibly atmospheric and hypnotic, and as luck would have it, the duo behind this album have several more recordings for only $1-2 USD each ($8-10 in Hong Kong dollars). Plug in and be transported to another time and place.
Scenario - When All is Said and Done
When a band says right there on their Bandcamp page that they are influenced by some of my favorite artists (including but not limited to Kidcrash, Botch, Funeral Diner, and Portraits of Past), I'm going to pay attention. Luckily, Scenario had already been on my radar after their promising 2021 EP, so I was already prepared for a feast of melodic, noodly guitar riffs and and passionate shouts. The band isn't breaking new ground on this debut album, but they certainly bring the aforementioned goods along with a more varied sound. Check out the borderline black metal snarl at the start of "Voyage" and the cathartic rise and fall of "Omen", which calls to mind Sed Non Satiata's midtempo post-hardcore.
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Want something heavier? The metal edition of Cheap Thrills hosted by the fine folks over at Invisible Oranges has returned, and in the time it took me to chip away at this post, two installments have been published! Check them out below: