Thantifaxath

Prince Paul, “Psycho Linguistics (Convergent Thought)”

Before his masterpiece, A Prince Among Thieves, Prince Paul released an uneven first solo record, Psychoanalysis: What Is It?. There are some good tunes on it, but a lot of kind of self-indulgent meandering, so it’s probably not worth pursuing too much unless you’re very curious.

Thantifaxath, “Eternally Falling”

Thantifaxath have only made one album, Sacred White Noise, but it’s a banger. It’s black metal, but it uses a ton of atmosphere to generate a consistently creepy tone without just relying on howling fury. The ability to dial it back manages to throw the chaotic moments into greater contrast. Mastery of dynamics is such an important thing for all bands, but especially extreme metal bands. Keeping everything on 11 all the time just results in fatigue.

Pete Rock & CL Smooth, “For Pete’s Sake”

From the stone-cold classic Mecca And The Soul Brother, this song is typically excellent. Every song on this record hits hard, it’s incredible.

PJ Harvey, “Ascending”

squinting Yeah, I suppose that this IS an ascending track, isn’t it?

Thantifaxath, “The Bright White Nothing at the End of the Tunnel”

Sometimes, you just want black metal, unadulterated by other genres. We don’t always have to mix it up with everything else! Thantifaxath does that well, and this hits the spot.