Today’s Sounds: Converge

Record:

Converge, All We Love We Leave Behind (Epitaph)

 
The latest toe-tapper from Massachussetts aggro maestros Converge continues to surprise fans with a mixture of angular riffs, inventive drumming and the signature dog-bark vocals of singer Jake Bannon. A step back from 2009’s adventurous Axe to Fall (which had some tracks clocking in at more than five minutes, an eternity in Converge’s universe), the quartet breaks it down to what they do best: loud, fast, unrepentent hardcore that raises heartbeats and scares children. Fans of the band won’t be disappointed with this album.

Eight albums in, a band may feel the desire to rest on their laurels and continue pumping out music that plays to their fanbase, but Converge continues to explore sonic spaces and deliver with an intensity that betrays the fact that they’ve been at this for more than 20 years. “Tender Abuse” is 90 seconds of signature Converge; a fast build-up to a doom-esque breakdown in the last 30 seconds, the entire song a feedback-drenched ode to bands like Disfear.

“Trespasses” is another example of brutal efficiency, if you can ignore the fact that it sounds like Bannon may be screaming “Wooly Bully” at the end. For the record, it turns out he’s yelling “burn at both ends,” though in my mind it’s still debatable.
 

Track:

Pat Jordache, “steps (DAMAGED GOODS)”

 
It’s time to party in the dark to this upbeat new track by local dude Pat Jordache, a preview from his forthcoming sophomore LP on Constellation Records.
 

 

Video:

Sigur Rós, “Valtari”

 
Not to spoil the surprise, but to spare you the disappointment I felt when I watched this supposedly NSFW video, the lady dancer loses her shirt well after the seven-minute mark. It’s not that sexy, unless you’re into seeing every single bone in the torso. But it’s a well-shot bit of contemporary dance set to the ever-magical strange falsetto of Iceland’s Sigur Rós.
 

Sigur Rós: Valtari on Nowness.com.