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2021 Year-end list - #13

I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES - Backxwash

Main Genres: Industrial Rap, Horrorcore

A decent sampling of: Industrial Metal, Political Rap, Conscious Rap, Goth Metal

WARNING: idk honestly there’s like 20 different reasons this record might unsettle you. Homophobia, racism, transphobia, violent imagery, loud noises, etc.

And now for something completely different. Backxwash (Ashanti Mutinta) is someone who flew under my radar until very recently, even though she’s been dropping EPs and LPs consecutively every year since 2018. She even won the Polaris Music Prize for best album last year but then I don’t really follow award shows (The Grammy Awards ruined that for me years ago).

I think I might’ve even seen God Has Nothing To Do With This somewhere online and saw that it was tagged as rap metal and thought it probably wouldn’t be my sort of thing. The combination of hip hop and metal can very easily slip into the “edgy without any substance” territory.

Thankfully, Backxwash is actually one of the most forward-thinking and idiosyncratic voices in hip hop, metal, AND industrial music right now. Being a gay metalhead goth transgender woman and Zambian-Canadian rapper, her music regularly deals with feelings of rejection as someone who is considered an outcast in at least three or four different ways by bigoted people.

But beyond personal anguish, I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES displays a great deal of anxiety and unfiltered rage towards the political state of human civilization at large in the past few years. As someone who has been trying to stay awake and up to speed on world affairs and current events, yeah I feel that too.

This is by no means a comfortable listen. It’s brutally honest and occasionally self-loathing, and some of the thoughts expressed here are downright ugly. But fuck if this isn’t raw and real as hell.

The title track “I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES” is an exorcism in musical form that sledgehammers you with extreme agonizing catharsis. I’m not usually one for screamy black metal vocals, but guest vocalist Ada Rook really sold me on the idea with her banshee shrieks delivered like short rhythmic incantations.

The flow of the chorus on “TERROR PACKETS” is insanely cathartic and the beat is intoxicating. The choice to include an audio clip of Angela Davis talking to an interviewer while she was detained is poignant, especially given that the clip is from 50 years ago and still brutally relevant. “666 IN LUXAXA” is one of the most fascinating tracks I’ve heard all year. It combines traditional sangoma healer chanting with a thwacking industrial backing, and Mutinta’s no-punches-pulled takedown of Justin Trudeau. The harmonious outro is the closest thing to an ‘uplifting’ moment that exists on this record. Real cutting-edge stuff.

Some tracks definitely feel a bit like repeats of others to me, and there’s hardly a breather to be found on here, but honestly I think the artist’s intention was to not let up at any moment on this LP. Backxwash wants this music to eviscerate you so that you might share in her frustrations and witness the reality she has seen around her. Some of those moments of anguish just happen to pop off more than others.

I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES has challenged me more than most other records I’ve heard this year, but it has also rewarded me with innovative bangers and lyrics that really speak to me and my own darkest thoughts.

8/10

Highlights: “I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND MY DRESSES”, “TERROR PACKETS”, “666 IN LUXAXA”, “NINE HELLS”

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rip mark stewart💔

#the pop group #post punk #punk #Spotify

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HBD to Iggy Pop on his 76th birthday

#iggy pop #the stooges #punk #iggy and the stooges

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Happy 64th birthday to Robert Smith

#the cure #the cure band #robert smith #goth #a thinly veiled excuse to also post show pictures

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Robert Smith, 1981

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god please make me a brain in a jar

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Cherry 7up <3 2019 K.A. LuxHill336

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PJ Harvey photographed by Kevin Cummins, 1993

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Iggy Pop, Cincinnati Pop Festival, June 13 1970

Photo by Tom Copi

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Duster

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Hi Neil!

I just discovered that you've written a short story called "Snow, Glass, Apples" and it immediately reminded me of the song "Pan" by Nightwish that literally says "The sea lady, snow, glass, apples", etc.

I immediately googled it to see whether it is an expression or something like that, but all I could find was your work.

So is Nightwish really referencing you and your work?? They are known for many refs to authors, but what I've managed to pick up as of yet was Whitman, Shakespeare, or Byron, but you???

Thank you so much for taking time for us!

I read the lyrics, and they seemed to be talking about a lot of fantastic fiction, mine included, and then at the bottom of the lyric site was a list of references to quotes and stories, mine included.

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Chelsea Wolfe