Revisionist Western

A lot of our understandings of decades or generations are deeply filtered through media. So how we represent and remember the 1980s, for example, is as much about how the 80s looked via Blade Runner as it is about actual representations of that decade. The 80s was ringer t-shirts, acid washed jeans, and moppy hair as much as it was synths and neon, and yet those sounds and images have become indelibly imprinted on our understanding of that time period because of the media we associate with the 80s.  I'm actually old enough to remember the 1990s. As such, I’m fully authorized to say that Djunah is a band that fully captures what I remember as being exciting about that time of period of music more than almost any current band.  Let me explain.  Djunah are a sludgy, two-piece post-metal band from Chicago whose new album, Femina Furens, is an early contender for my favorite album of the year. The songs are a mixture of fist pumping, driving, anthemic rock (Seven Winds of Sekh...

I randomly stumbled across an image of the album cover for French post-punk band Bleakness's most recent EP "A World to Rebuild" and immediately sought the band out based on how cool that cover is. I've always been attracted to bands that have a consistent and interesting aesthetic, and Bleakness's artwork immediately drew me in. Just looking at their covers, album titles, and song titles, you can feel an uneasy apocalyptic mixture of despair and hope. The music captures this vibe as well. I like a lot of gothy post-punk stuff, but I'm a hardcore kid at heart, and it tends to lose me when it doesn't give me the raw energy I associate with the best acts of the genre. Bleakness walks the line between moody 80s goth and modern hardcore perfectly, reminding me of  Coliseum or Terrible Feelings, genre stalwarts who ground their morbidity in a driving fury, as much Minor Threat as Joy Division.  I've spent my Saturday morning listening to this EP over and ov...