Friday Heavy: March 18, 2022

Cliff: Welcome back to Friday Heavy, your guide to the world of aggressive and abrasive and loud and weird and things. Music brought to you by the folks behind today. I am. So each episode of Friday heavy, we cover three things. We cover one brand new release and why we think it will be worth a spin for you.

We cover one playlist that we’ve curated to help explore, a heavy sub genre artists. or scene or something like that. And then we also cover one organization.

doing critical culture, impacting work in their community. So you can do something with all that energy, because we like to remind people

that a punk is not just the genre. it’s more than.

Kyle: it’s a state of mind.

Cliff: better be a state of action. So let’s get into it, our new release this week. we want to talk about uh, his soul Glo diaspora problems. This is actually Coming out March 25th. So a week after you’re maybe here in this podcast

but it’s the release that we’re most excited about in this range.

And so we’re, uh, we’re Totally. bringing it forward and covering it. 

Kyle: It’s also nice to just be able to say the name of a soul glow album title for.

Cliff: I was going to very cleverly relate or like, think about albums in the past and just let people find out for themselves while we didn’t actually say any of them. 

Kyle: surprise. 

They, they do a good job. I don’t remember. I think it’s on their Instagram where they ask their white drummer. Uh, they like interview him and then they throw to the other guys in the band to save the album title. So they. They handle all that stuff, sort of cleverly. I think we’ll build over a number of points about like why this band is so interesting and exciting

Cliff: Yeah. Clever is a good place to start though. It’ll give you the right key. Yeah. So, so glow is a Philly based punk or hardcore band. Those words mean whatever they mean at this point, but it’ll get you in the right space and they kind of strike this impossible balance of seriousness and lighthearted.

Uh, and there’s no lack of energy ever. Uh, and it’s, It’s wild because it’s this kind of fast and chaotic punk. And yet it’ll pretty gleefully give way to something approximating noise rap on a regular occasion. 

Kyle: Yeah. I mean, the word that comes to mind for me is fearlessness. There was an interview with, I think it’s like WSB and the, the local kind of alternative radio station has featured them a number of times over the.

And they went down a rabbit hole talking about, Dembo talking about like a Caribbean club music and how they were like, whatever we’re listening to, it’s going to find its way into the music somehow. And yet on the flip side of it, you can hear that they’re like pushing it edges and they’re right at the seams of like, this should not work, but it works specifically for the reason that.

It’s them. And only them. It’s a very one of one formula. Like I, I equate everything in that vein back to Iggy pop and like only Iggy pop could pull this off. But everything about this band is like literally only this group of people could pull this off.

Cliff: Yep. And I love all of the edge pushing without all of having to focus on how artistically gifted they are for pushing edges and constantly focusing on what a big production it would be to be Artistic. Like now they’re just creative and they’re out there with it. And they’ve been, they’ve been kind of storming the.

Uh, lately, especially since 2020s, 12 minute EPE songs to eat at the sun got some positive coverage. Um, and they recently signed to epitaph and released another EIP. Uh, one of which Kyle was alluding to earlier last year. But 

Kyle: to two of them, right. There was a volume one and volume 

Cliff: yeah, but the S volume two.

is the one that’s released by epitaph. If I’m understanding, correct. 

Yeah. And so uh, but the singles coming off this upcoming,

release are as promising as anything. Uh, and so we’re really hoping epitaph put some weights behind these dudes and gives them the attention they deserve. Um, because they’re really getting some key moments like they’re on, a. what my chemical romance is doing a big, tour, and they’re doing that thing where they’re you know, spinning through a lot of headliners in different cities. And There’s one that’s lining up in North Carolina. That’s my chemical romance turnstile. and soul glow. And I mean, that’s such a good lineup. It’s got me considering going to a, my chemical romance show. 

Kyle: and across state lines, 

Cliff: it would 

take that much to convince me if it were in my own backyard, but 

Kyle: Yeah, that’s true. I mean, not to say that my Cam’s not super rad, that that bill is extraordinary. And I like, I’m very earnestly excited about the fact that that is a thing, but yeah, it’s strange to be in a position where I’m like that excited about that.

Cliff: Yup. Well, from

from 2016 to 2021 soul glow was putting together, this album, that they’re about to release according to them. Uh, and they did it nearly Completely alone. I love the simple indirect. punk statements behind it. Right. The writing about this whole record this is a huge release for them as a huge opportunity. And they’re talking about, well, we kind of did it ourselves A demo and tracking was handled exclusively by the basis, uh, in engineering close friend, Evan Barnard final tracks were recorded and that’s in a same unfinished warehouse.

And the band’s practice-based during the. hottest parts of summer 2021.

Like That’s what they choose to let us know about. 

their story. And I’m super into that. 

Kyle: I, uh, yeah. Yeah. It’s definitely a breath breath of fresh air. They there’s so much about dropping into their world that feels like trash talk did 10 or 12 years ago where you’re like, this is, this is a complete world that feels like it’s existed for a really long time. And I’m on the outside of an inside thing.

And I want to get inside the thing, like absolutely as soon as possible, they, they have sort of their whole ecosystem conceived already.

Cliff: Trash Hawks, the band that kept coming to mind when I kept 

Kyle: Yeah. yeah. yeah. I mean, and not, not sonically, right? I mean, sonically, I, I think the only thing that, that I hear in both bands is. And, and less so on the later trash-talk stuff like a real separation, there’s a crispness to the recordings that they’re not like too clean, too polished. Um, but you can definitely hear a little bit of space in the mix.

So there is like, to your point, there is a sophistication and there’s like a real professionalism to how they’re doing it. And I think all that helps step up. The, how seriously should I take this from the extremely chaotic, like DIY flyer, energy of the whole thing

Cliff: Yeah. So let’s spend a couple of singles real fast before we just kind of give this a recommendation and say, Hey hold on for a week or go spend some money with the band. 

So 

First of all, uh, I mentioned the swap from punk to noise rap. So prepare yourself for the. dichotomy of these two singles. All right. So first up is jumped or get jumped by the future. Uh, which if you look at it, stylistically has a lot more, parentheses and exclamation points than I just pronounced. And that’s kind of like the single we’re looking for from the Philly hardcore vets, right. Uh, And on top of it, oh, we’re going to play the single here, but go grab the music video version because it’s got an intro. that is hilarious. 

Kyle: And then there’s like some whiplash inspiration. That’s again, that’s I was watching that video like, oh, these, these dudes are clever. They’re they’re doing a thing.

Cliff: But then coming back from that their most recent single drip and Nomics, uh, has got Philly rapper, mother, Mary Rose trading versus with the front man of soul Glo. Uh, and as stereo gum puts it a quote, it’s a get money track for a very different area.

Cliff: But then coming back from that their most recent single drip and Nomics, Uh, has got Philly rapper, mother, Mary Rose trading versus

with the front man of soul Glo. Uh, and as stereo gum puts it a quote, it’s a get money track for a very different.

area. 

Cliff: so that was different. That was 

different than the first thing.

we played. Uh, like one of the things that band says about it is a driven Nomics is for everyone doing what they have to do to get by, and get fly oftentimes lower income and working class. People are criticized for how they survive out here, especially in times of crisis.

and people are getting more. desperate, But simultaneously more creative with their income options. And this song is a salute to that. like they’re aware of it and they still don’t.

have to take it too seriously. And this is like exactly what I’m looking for all the time. Basically. 

Kyle: So there were a couple of things is like a huge Atlanta rap guy that jumped out to me. One is the cadence, like the vocal delivery of this vocalist is astounding. I don’t know when he breathes. But I, I hear two things that I really like in it. Like he, he does the Jasso flow, the sort of. Old school cut above New York type of thing, and then also switches back and forth into triplet cadences, like the real Atlanta trappy thing.

And, and does it really effortlessly? So going back to that thing about fearlessness with influences, like young people don’t care about any of that shit. Right. But it’s just, it’s cool to consider Like how many touch points and artists has sort of absorbed. And one of the things that I really like about younger artists, and I know we’ve talked about this on the main podcast in a couple of different contexts is like all, all of like a generation of genre bending and blending has led to things like this.

Like music like this, I don’t think would have been possible and cool twenty-five years ago. 

Cliff: Possible and cool. Yep. That’s the Right. 

Kyle: Right. 

Cliff: wasn’t possible. 

Kyle: It was possible. It just wasn’t. It wasn’t 

Cliff: Yeah, we watched 

Kyle: beta. 

Cliff: try. Yeah. 

Kyle: Yeah. Oh God. 

Cliff: So check out diaspora problems out next Friday.

March 25th, uh, on epitaph, uh, like we will always tell you, go listen to it however you want. And then go send the band your money by going to shows and buying merch or just sending them dollars.

Uh, cause that’s actually the best way to get them money. Not your singular Spotify. So that’s The release this week. Uh, let’s talk about our curated playlists. God, what you got.

Kyle: The message that I sent you. When I built this playlist was here we go over 20 songs under 40 minutes, LOL. I love this kind of music. It’s like soul glow spiritually inspires me in the type of thing that they’re trying to do energy. And we’re, we’re in an insane place for underground punk. I know it’s like hard to dredge through and find the stuff that feels like you would see the logo of the band on a DIY photocopied flyer, but there are a ton of bands out there.

They’re really cool. I got to shout out Sam Veld Velda um, he is in obliterations. He was in a band called Nighthorse. He’s a music supervisor. He does music supervision for vans. And so a lot of the like cool stuff, like soul glow, I tend to find through him. He’s, he’s like one of those Questlove type people where, you know, it’s always going to be different and it’s always going to be cool and like have cred.

Um, so his band obliterations is on here. Candy is on here. They’re a band that I, I really, really love a lot. So all the like coolest gnarliest rattus I would go see it. Automatic, no questions asked type shit, like get in the pit and love someone band. A lot of that is in here. It’s a really good time for this type of music.

So, you know, enjoy this as your natural red bull or a cocaine alternative or whatever, and follow some of these bands on Instagram and go, try to check them out at underground secret warehouse show. Whatever it’s, these are the kinds of bands that are worth driving for and checking out on a weird house show contexts.

And now that we’re in our mid thirties, it’s just good. Mostly to know that this kind of thing is still ongoing and raging

Cliff: Speaking of being in our mid thirties, the one thing this made me think of, I know that you didn’t try to make a skate playlist, but I thought about this being a mid 30 skate playlist because, uh, 40 minutes.

is 

probably the maximum amount of time any of us could get away with doing that. So might as well feel like you’re in a total Tony Hawk episode and you’re like, well, I ran out of music, so that’s why I stopped.

Not because I 

Kyle: it’s a good, like last time we talked about, um, the Putney playlist being for power lifting. This is a good playlist for like getting outside and riding your bike or just, yeah. Doing a little goofy foot push for a little bit until you, uh, scrape your knees to hell or totally burn your lungs out.

One of the

Cliff: Yeah. So put this on the, uh, on the boom box, put it on the front porch And go outside and do wheelies with your kid. 

Uh, so 

Kyle: your neighbors 

Cliff: yeah, that’s the right move, especially if you’re a small child, is smoking a cigarette, then you’ve aced it. 

Kyle: They vape 

Cliff: Yeah. 

Kyle: they vape. 

Cliff: Cool.

All right. So we’ve covered a new release that we want you to listen to.

I’ve covered a curated playlist. Uh, last thing we always do is cover an organization worth checking out, doing heavy work in their community. And so to do that, we always have to spin up a little bit of the topic that we’re talking about. Uh, and if you’ve like, I don’t know, been on the internet at all lately, you’re going to be familiar with what we’re talking about.

Like we get it. 

Kyle: If you’re a doom scroller like 

Cliff: Yeah, we still think it’s worth bringing attention to here is specially because the whole reason.

we think this segment is cool is because we can point ourselves towards people doing something about the problem. 

Kyle: Yep. 

We’re bringing you solutions, not problems. People we’re we’re we’re bringing you 

Cliff: well, 

Kyle: only by 

Cliff: yeah. To be fair. we’re bringing you Other people’s solutions, uh, and trying to, trying to connect with them so we can actually get,

something done because who are we? so about a month ago, uh, in the middle of early voting in Texas, uh, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton released this non-binding opinion, which basically like grossly mis-characterized medically necessary, best practice healthcare. for trans children, transgender children uh, and decided to mischaracterize it as literal child.

abuse. Uh, and then The governor of Texas sent a letter to the parchment of family protective services, directing them, to enforce this opinion. And there’s a lot to learn about it. including the fact that the ACLU like clarifies for us that like the governor’s statement didn’t really have any legal basis and couldn’t be enforced under the current law, but this is a really important moment for us to remember. that the laws as written aren’t the only impact that laws and politics have on our society.

Now, people who are trying to care for their transgender children 

Are scared. They’re scared of being able to be parents in their own homes. They don’t know if they have to be afraid. They don’t know how afraid to be. They don’t know what this looks like, or how it will play out or how any of this will actually happen.

And so on top of the fact that this is a really stupid thing, uh, research is constantly being published, that shows the importance of gender affirming health care for trans. and gender youth, Especially, but on top of that, the not knowing portion of what does this mean for me and my, family is wildly unacceptable.

in our reality. And so we want to tell you about equality, Texas equality, Texas works to secure, full equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer, Texans through political action education, community organizing and collaboration. Basically they’re doing all the really, really, really hard stuff for the people who really need help and need our help. Yeah. 

Kyle: So if you are somebody you love basically is, is the parent of a transgender kid, and you’re more likely to no one than you might think. Uh, if it, if somebody doesn’t come to mind immediately, uh, we can’t encourage you strongly enough to check out the resources on a quality Texas website, uh, regardless of whether you’re in Texas or not.

And that’s important because. Frankly, everybody should be familiar with this information just from a literacy standpoint, whether you have kids or not cliff, I always appreciate when you take a perspective on caring about kids issues, now that you have a good friend with the, the point that you make often that I love is that we belong to one another.

Right? And that’s the kind of affirming thing that you hear from the stage at punk shows. That was the first. I ever heard validation like that, that felt really real. And from an honest place and we need to help, you know, once again, like in so many other contexts protect innocent kids from dangerous people.

Because even though this is in Texas and you may not be in Texas or know anyone in Texas, it is signaling and it has a ripple effect. Uh, there’s already laws on the field of play in Ohio and relatedly, you know, there’s the, don’t say gay bill and Florida and related bills and three or four other states, including our own, um, where it’s just crass political footballing that has a real Downfield effect of violence and harassment for kids and their families.

So again, wrap your arms around the issue in order to wrap your arms around the kids, all of whom need to be kept safe at all times.

Cliff: 100%. So you can learn more about equality, Texas at equality, texas.org, consider making a monetary donation because we’ll tell you just like We tell you to give money to Give money to nonprofits That’s the best way to help them a hundred percent of the, time. But we, we believe that people deserve access to the healthcare that they need to survive and thrive, and that we don’t really have the right to tell other people what they are and what they are not. And We definitely don’t have the right to attack them for existing.

In any case, Uh, in everyone deserves full equality. Now so if that’s not really clear from us it should be now.

And we need to join up with organizations doing something about it. Uh, and just as a personal note from me, and being very vulnerable with a whole bunch of people. who have never heard me probably before. Uh, if you’re around people or in a religious context that tells you that people are worth less because of their gender. and sexuality, you owe it to yourself, to get out.

Now, uh, you’re better off as a human being for it.

And you know that it’s not right. Uh, and You can find a 

better place to love and care for people. Kyle, anything to add 

before we go 

Kyle: We love you and we’ll see you in the proverbial or literal. 

Cliff: damn 

Kyle: Th the marsh pet, not the best pet, but maybe that two

Cliff: We’ll mash in the abyss. This has been Friday heavy. We’ll be back in two weeks. Thanks so much. 

Kyle: chairs,

Cliff: Go to tunedig.com or follow us on Instagram and Twitter for links to the new release, the playlist and the organization that we talked about today.