January 2025 Rock Report
Could not think of anything more creative for these end of month blurbs but whatever, we rock on.
I had thought to myself “wow, this January sure is taking forever!” and then I saw multiple memes and other people saying the same thing so once again proving we are all living in a very not-chill simulation. That being said, each month on the ‘stack I will do an EOM report (that means end of month, yeah… I have a real job btw so I knew that..) where I’ll throw up a handful of albums/EPs and singles that came out and blurb about ‘em. Nothing too crazy, but another way to connect and share cool shit. I will also mention any movies or shows I am watching, hell whatever I can give you to provide a nice distraction, I shall! Let’s start with music:
January 2025 album releases
funeral - omilgop - FFO: Yo La Tengo, Parannoul
Released January the 2nd comes some pleasant gaze out of Daejeon, South Korea. First track “burning word” is like a creepy acoustic bout of drone, adding some doom filled heaviness before leaning into track two’s “stillplant”, which one could say has the instrumentals of Neil Young & Crazy Horse if they tried to go shoegaze. I hear some Yo La Tengo worship on the 7+ minute “hibiscus”, which is a large appetizer before the 8 minute “fleetingmoment”.
Overall this record is a pleasant and peaceful shoegaze listen, and really fills out well during a headphones listening sesh.
The Bad Fire - Mogwai - FFO: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, DIIV, Explosions in the Sky
After sprinkling some singles in 2024, this quickly became one of my most anticipated records for the new year. I am relatively late to mog-head fandom, having casually discovered them during my many pandemic hikes atop the Twin Peaks summit during their 2021 release, As The Love Continues. Once I realized this band even has stellar 90s tracks, I immediately decided “yeah, their entire discography must rock” (I had a similar realization from discovering the band Starflyer 59 last year as seen in my best of 2024 blurb).
This album was the soundtrack to my hour long drive to pickup a $5 Sebastian Janikowski Oakland Raiders jersey off Facebook marketplace while my phone was dying, and it was simply perfect. Spoke about this lore at length on the latest Twin Shrieks Radio.
Come Back Down - High. - FFO: Nothing, Failure, Whirr
While the radio show was birthed in San Francisco, my media roots always claw back to my current stomping grounds of New Jersey. That being said, I fucking love seeing NJ bands get some serious recognition. I randomly saw High. perform at Baby’s Alright in Brooklyn in 2022 (I say randomly because I think I just wanted to check out the venue and meet up with friends without really checking the lineup). I saw some promise from their opening set; a young looking band who clearly had a thing for 90s shoegaze (every time I listen to the standout track “Flowers” I think Failure’s 90s spooky boi certified song “Screen Man” is about to play.)
It’s great to see this band grow, I mean cmon they already opened for DIIV! Sky’s the limit baby, and we are getting High. af.
7 Songs for Spiders - Dax Riggs. - FFO: Butthole Surfers, King Buzzo, sludge dudes going solo
Another 2025 anticipated record comes from Acid Bath’s Dax Riggs. As Acid Bath was announcing reunion shows (which reminds me, Sick New World fest totally just cancelled this year and everyone moved on from it), I was more stoked to dive into the solo work from sir Riggs. This record is an excellent blend of accessible doom, Southern gothic whatever the hell, and dare I say heavy acoustic folk metal.
Humanhood - The Weather Station. - FFO: Fiona Apple, PJ Harvey
I threw this up in my Lender-Men music group chat (just a couple of guys who love MJ Lendo and all things adjacent) and my FFO was quickly agreed upon, while also adding in vibes of Sharon Van Etten and Laura Marling. I will save myself from writing up some lame weather related pun, but the Weather Station deliver an extremely delightful indie folk record. Flute action on “Neon Signs” really is like the sun starting to hit your face during this frigid long January (alright that weather word play wasn’t too cringe I guess).
Raw Blue - Whirr. - FFO: Nothing, quieter Title Fight, Glare
Released on Christmas Day from Santa Claus himself, or maybe the Grinch (that’s as far into Whirr being problematic as I’ll go), this album had the shoegaze subreddit exploding while the terminally online were ignoring their families during Jesus’s bday bash.
Initially released as a Bandcamp exclusive, it’s now available on all streaming platforms AND most importantly Whirr has announced their first live shows since 2015 (which ahem I kinda lowkey predicted ngl). This album is yet another pleasant shoegaze listen, and I think it’s also a nice starting point if you’re just discovering Whirr for the first time. Their listenership has seemed to remain loyal all these years, and this album did not disappoint. Very intrigued and excited to see them at the East Coast showcase of Slide Away, a lil festival put on by the band of Nothing.
Alright that’s enough
Honestly a lot of cool shit came out in January and plenty of stuff I need to give more attention to, so be sure to dive into the likes of new shiz from Kathryn Mohr, Ethel Cain, and a handful of sick hardcore EPs/demos from Sunrot, Eliminators, Crime Light, and Shut Down.
Oh and TV shows I am really fuckin’ with are Loudermilk on Netflix (a grungey music critic who leads knock off AA meetings) and Shrinking (yay therapy and laughs!).
Ok hope you enjoyed these blurbs and maybe found a cool song or two. Headed to Boston this weekend for Something in The Way festival, so tune into the latest episode of Twin Shrieks Radio if you want to hear more about that.