preoccupations – Vinyl Mag

Hot Picks Playlist // October 7th

Posted on October 8, 2021October 7, 2021 by Zeina Khalife

Need something to accompany the warm tones and eerie, anticipative air of the fall? Explore some magical releases and recent replays from artists we cherish.

Featured artists from the tracks:

Fishbug, thundering femme-fronted punk for the soul. An exciting up-and-coming gem out of Athens. Beautifully reminiscent of 00’s pop-punk jams, reclaiming the energy of that era with raw, emotive rock. Check out Inchworm, their first full-length album.

For fans of Chastity Belt, Warpaint, and Paramore.

NOV3L, danceable and syncopated punk, fused with eccentric funk and disco tones. Notably evocative of 80s art-pop and new wave punk. Flaunting weaponized lyrics of desperate political cry-outs, they authentically usher a sense of social urgency through their music. Not to mention all of this rides joyfully on the back of addictive, angular, zingy guitar riffs. Pretty much everything about this band feels postmodern in an entirely fresh sense.

For fans of Preoccupations, New Order, Talking Heads, and perhaps even The Strokes.

Wet Leg: A sudden burst of talent out of Isle of Wight, England, nailing the present-day influx of mesmerizing yet deadpan punk, started by just two seeds of impeccable talent. Lingering influences of French punk and disco are only some of my favorite facets of this duo.

For fans of The Raveonettes, Dry Cleaning, Porridge Radio.

Dora Jar: Exhilarating pop-machine riddled with electronic, hip-hop, and indie folk-rock. Singlehandedly changing the game for bedroom pop, Dora Jar’s quite on the verge of blowing up.

For fans of MARINA, dodie, Arlo Parks.

Yard Act: An additional result of the collective British rendition of 80s post-punk, Yard Act too have the potential of taking the British intellectual band scene by storm. Already having paved a considerable path of brilliance with their few released singles, Yard Act, in a similar fashion to the undefined NOV3L, naturally acquire all attributes of doomsday punk music.

For fans of Arctic Monkeys, Sleaford Mods, shame.

Preoccupations: ‘New Material’

Posted on March 23, 2018March 24, 2018 by Sebastian Marquez

Have you ever been to a rave? No, like a real one. I’m talking about the kind that would be in warehouses, bunkers, or maybe even condemned buildings. What if the new generation of post punk kids all decided to throw a new kind of rave together in that fashion? New Material by Preoccupations asks this question. Are they having a good time? I really hope so. With lyrics this bleak and production this icy I really hope that the dancing is keeping them warm.

Jokes aside for now, there is a different sense of groove present here that didn’t exist on earlier Preoccupations albums. While rhythmically repetitive (read: danceable) like most rave and classic post punk, most of the songs on New Material carry with them a dismal, apocalyptic sentiment, but their anxiety is masked (or more likely accentuated) by the very new wavey melodies employed throughout (look to the Duran Duran-esque chorus of “Antidote” for a bold example). Locking into a groove and sticking with it is what most of New Material traffics in and when the band is successful, I couldn’t imagine anyone ditching the dance floor to watch the sun explode.

When the groove exits, the ambience that Preoccupations has excelled in creating since their first album as Viet Cong comes to the forefront. Album closer “Compliance” creates a transfixing miasma that really shows off the band’s ambient chops. It really does feel like it was recorded in the concrete room on the album cover. The same can be said about the production aesthetic of entire album. True to their roots, the production feels sufficiently frigid and distant at times which creates a sense of something more immediate than full on detachment, but not close enough to feel like any sort of embrace. Instead it feels more like slowly losing yourself in a dense, choking fog with nothing but an array of strobe lights to guide you deeper in. It might feel disorienting at first but there is a deliberate nature to the strobes; a definite modus operandi that never lets itself get obfuscated by the swathes of reverb on the guitars and synthesizers. To disorient and thrill is the name of the game, and Preoccupations are dead set on doing that better than anyone right now.

I really hope those ravers brought jackets, but then again, I don’t think they even care. The world’s ending anyway.

8/10