By Khagan Aslanov
On their sophomore LP, the Oklahoma sludge-punks build an uglier golem.
With Porches’ Shirt (out Sept. 13 via Domino) and Toro Y Moi’s Hole Erth (out Sept. 6 via Dead Oceans) both bedroom pop titans have taken a turn towards genres defined by a younger generation.
Aaron Main (Porches) and Toro Y Moi’s Chaz Bear (fka Chaz Bundick) each started releasing music in the early 2010s, helping define bedroom pop for the indie sleaze era. Both have never shied from genre hopping, venturing their introverted and irreverent output through lo-fi indie rock, 80s-esque synth pop, and house-style experiments. And both have taken their latest releases, out one week apart, decidedly away from dance music and down an uncharted road towards the gritty melodrama of emo autotune, grungy electric guitar, and soundcloud rap synths — sounds with nods to the past that are nonetheless very much of the now, integrated and popularized by a younger generation of musicians.
Though Main and Bear have been inspired in equal measure by these trends, they incorporate them in different ways to different ends. Main’s Porches takes a cue from country, with banjo appearing on “Voices in My Head” as well as confessional indie rock, with angsty lyricism threaded throughout. While Bear as Toro Y Moi, for his part, has leaned into hip-hop and its iterations across rap-rock, soundcloud rap, and emo rap, mixing high-hats with pop punk propulsion. The two musicians align with an indulgence in distortion and angsty atmosphere, meeting in the middle with Porches actually featuring on Hole Erth’s “Undercurrent,” a track that merges 90s shoegaze with modern melancholia.
That these two pioneers of indie bedroom pop have shifted their sound in similar ways at a similar time testifies to the infectious innovation of new popular genres. Whereas we’re accustomed to young musicians borrowing from those who came before them, now we’re seeing those who came before borrowing from young musicians – an electrifying and evolving dialogue across demographics and styles. As digitalization dissolves boundaries in communication and consumption, developments in sonic trends no longer adhere to a linear trajectory. Everything is in conversation with everything, and both Porches and Toro Y Moi are nimble enough to meet the moment head on.
By Khagan Aslanov
On their sophomore LP, the Oklahoma sludge-punks build an uglier golem.
By Ben Boddez
The punk-rock quartet are still mostly in their teen years, but they’ve already conquered the world and continue to surprise listeners at every turn.
By Khagan Aslanov
As Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds prepare for their Wild God tour, the Australian musician and composer reflects on a year of musical highs, personal losses, and quiet triumphs.