Goners

I'm officially crushing hard on the Columbus punk band Goners. Crush is the word i want to use because their music makes me feel excited, melancholy, hopeless and i can't get it out of my head.
Goners have been busy in 2012 releasing a self titled tape in June (under the name Murmurs) and Endless Suffering in October 2012. They just recorded a 7'' through Shout Out Loud records that come July 2013 will set up permanent residence in my record player, which i need to buy, just for this release.
Their poppy melodies are not my usual fare and i can't exactly explain why i love them as much as i do.  Let's explore… Is it catchy? Hell yes its catchy, like, every song is going to lodge itself in your brain and set up a shanty town of poppy riffs and depressive lyrics. Is it relatable? Fuck yes it's relatable, unless you're like a machine or a total piece of shit, or someone who has never experienced self doubt or sadness. How are their live performances? Oh i don't know, remember how you felt the first time you ever went to a basement punk show? Goners have harnessed that and have it at the ready every time you see them play.
So wait, why do i love Goners so much? This is going to sound corny, but this is music you can feel. Lately, i've felt like a jaded old maid. Goners make me feel like a jaded high-schooler all over again.

Salome

Salome is a defunct Dooooooom metal band from Annandale Virginia whose vocals are done by the extraordinary vocalist Kat Katz. Kat is also the vocalist of Agoraphobic Nosebleed which would be worth checking out if you like grindcore, specifically drum-machine grindcore. Now Agoraphobic Nosebleed is not my cup of tea, but Salome is fucking fantastic Doom. The band is baseless (!) but the guitar is tuned so low you won't even miss it.  Their self-titled full length album which was released in 2008 has less focus on vocals (they seem thin and more in the back ground) has a really melancholy feel to it but is otherwise a fucking masterpiece.  I better like 2010 and Salomes' final release Terminal just because Kats vocals are front and center of this album right where they should be and you get to hear a fuller range of abilities from everyone in the band.  The only thing that isn't perfect for me is Terminal gets a little weird and noisy on "An accident of history" which is like a million minutes long. I've heard it's a brilliant noise composition but to me it just sounds like a bunch of fucking feedback. Maybe more of a problem with me than with Salome.

Damad

Damad was a female fronted sludge crust-metal crossover band from Georgia in the mid and late 90's, some of whose members are now in Kylesa. Victoria the vocalist is my vocal idol, my personal ideal for vocals; super husky and totally makes the guitars responsible for picking up the melody rather than her voice. She uses a more feminine scream to punctuate different parts of the songs, and this is a pretty fucking prime example of metal crust crossover.

 

HOMOMILITIA

Homomilitia was a anarchist punk crust band from Lodz, Poland. They are forever doomed to be compared to Nausea because the have duel male/female vocals and were around in the 90's. I don't really get the comparison. Most of their songs are about being gay supposedly, and that's awesome but i don't speak a lick of Polish so there's that. They sound great regardless and if you like snotty vocals and crusty hardcore you should go ahead and give them a shot.