Cheap Thrills - Q3 2024

This quarter: glitchy electronic, goth rock, acoustic guitar, and more!

I was away for most of the summer, but I still found a bounty of name-your-price goodies for your listening pleasure. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of electronic music in this installment, since that isn't my main genre by any stretch. It's nice to branch out a bit. In any case, enjoy the following selections, which run the gamut from acoustic guitar jams to lo-fi beats!

Derrick Anthony Vella - I Hardly Knew Me

Earlier this year, the primary guitarist behind Toronto death metal heavyweights Tomb Mold released this collection of abstract yet thoughtful acoustic guitar compositions that pay homage to his numerous influences outside of metal. You'll hear touches of classical guitar, progressive rock, folk, and jazz throughout as Vella artfully and fluidly traverses the fretboard with a variety of fingerpicking styles.

Patricia Taxxon - TECHDOG 1-7

Who knew that a 77-song IDM compilation could also double as a journey of self-reflection? I'm not going to pretend that I have any particular standout tracks from this 12+ hour odyssey of glitchy beats, chopped-up vocals, and chiptune synths because it's mostly my fault for leaving this on in the background as I worked. What I can say is that TECHDOG 1-7 is absolutely worth a listen not just for the sheer amount of music that you're getting but also because none of it feels dashed off or perfunctory—if you're into this sort of electronic music, Patricia Taxxon is absolutely a talented composer whose work is worthy of your consideration.

Lila Ehja - Clivota

I covered Ehja's first EP last year, and her debut does not disappoint for those who enjoyed her style of ice-cold goth rock. The infectious basslines, reverb-laden chords, and steady drum machine beats will have you convinced that you're back in the 80s, or at the very least hanging out in a bar in which every person is wearing a minimum of two pieces of leather clothing. 

Shawn Kemp - Beat Tape 2013

I'm still a little mad at myself for not flying in early enough to catch Lil Ugly Mane, Kemp's most famous alias/project, at Oblivion Access 2023, especially considering that the fest is literally named after one of his albums (which also happens to be name-your-price). For the uninitiated, LUM began as a Memphis-style hip hop project which slowly morphed into a much darker and experimental affair (see the aforementioned Oblivion Access) before taking a hard left turn into indie rock. This beat tape is a rough demo from that transitional period in Kemp's discography, recently unearthed by Kemp and posted to Bandcamp about a year ago. There's an interesting mix of jazzy samples and boomy lo-fi beats that speak to Kemp's talent as a producer. A lot of this material would be right at home in the early 2000s experimental scene, a period which was no doubt influential for Kemp.

Forbidden Cremme - Night Grinding Vol. 1

I really could not care less about vaporwave these days. I've tried, and there was even a period when I featured a few albums in this column, but there's just something disingenuous about the genre that seems inescapably glib and low-effort, like the musical equivalent of a video game asset-flip. 

This is precisely why I've found Forbidden Cremme so fascinating. As a side-project of the (in)famous Haircuts for Men, one of the leading names in modern vaporwave, FC seems much more like a dark techno/synthwave act that, while relatively uneven in quality, manages to put out some bangers. The 2022 full-length, for instance, is still one of my favorite electronic releases of the last few years. In any case, after a few more moderately interesting albums and EPS, the mystery man released Night Grinding Vol. 1, which seems to be a compilation of fictional artists, most of whom appear to be Italian in an attempt to capture a grindhouse kind of vibe (I mean, just look at that album cover). We've got plenty of hard-hitting beats (and maybe some cowbell), catchy keyboard melodies, grimy synth bass, and other hallmarks of this new-wave-of-old-school-synth-music. Here's hoping we hear more in this style from Forbidden Cremme moving forward!

For the heavier stuff, you can check out the metal and punk version over at Invisible Oranges!