Cool beats, dub bass, scratching, hand percussion from instruments collected around the world, and killer grooves all combine on this instrumental world music record. You’ll play this a lot, and it might be your new favorite workout record.
I’ll admit that I didn’t get this record at first. I enjoyed Shame‘s first two albums, but this one just seemed…off. I almost didn’t review it, but I thought, “Maybe I just need to hear it again.” I’m glad I did, because it finally clicked for me on the third listen and it turned out to be a great record by a band that is constantly exploring themes of identity, consumerism, celebrity culture, and death.
If you were looking for some good psychedelic music this year, Melody Fields delivered it with 1901. At times trippy, at other times lush, other times rocking, and other times meditative. They were a pleasant discovery for me this year, and I look forward to hearing more from them.
Protomartyr have yet to put out a bad record, and they’re probably the closest you can get to experiencing a vintage Gang of Four live sound without building a time machine. This album is about transitions, from life to death, from an old home to a new one, from grief to healing. Again, they hit a home run.
A great, previously unreleased live set from Thee Oh Sees thanks to the good folks at the Reverberation Appreciation Society, this show captures one of the early incarnations of the band (with just one drummer) shredding the stage as they always do. The live version of “Block of Ice” is alone worth the purchase price.
Next up are my top five albums of 2023! Don’t miss it.
I love the American Southwest, particularly the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. I once heard an Arizona writer, whose name has long since drifted from my memory, describe the energy of the desert as this: “The desert will reduce you.” I can’t put it any better than that. Detroit proto-punks Protomartyr, however, have summed up that growth-by-reduction philosophy well on their new album, Formal Growth in the Desert.
The album comes after a lot of changes for the band, particularly for lead singer and lyricist Joe Casey. His mother died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, leaving Casey in his Detroit family home alone for the first time in years. Then, repeated break-ins of his home made him reconsider the town he loved and if he should stay there. Personal safety and less stress won the debate, and he moved out of the home and dove into his journals for some of his most personal lyrics yet.
“Welcome to the haunted Earth,” he sings to open the album on “Make Way,” – a song about death and how it changes everything for everyone, even if they never knew the deceased. “For Tomorrow” is one of Protomartyr’s most straight-up post-punk tracks in a few years with Greg Ahee‘s guitar chords taking on weird angles and sharp edges throughout it.
The desert metaphor is in plain sight on “Elimination Dances,” in which Casey says, “In the desert, I was humbled.” Yep. It does that to you. So does the death of a loved one. The song creeps around you (largely due to Scott Davidson‘s excellent bass riffs on it) like grief always waiting at the edge of a room or in a quiet moment. Casey’s vocal delivery on “Fun in Hi Skool” (a song about how school pretty much sucks) is some of his fiercest on the whole record. “Let’s Tip the Creator” is the band sticking their fingers in the eyes of mega-corporations who continually screw over employees in pursuit of profits.
The album’s centerpiece is “Graft Vs. Host,” which was written in the early days following Casey’s mother’s death. He wonders what it will take to find happiness afterwards, almost if there’s some sort of procedure he can have to remove the grief. “She wouldn’t want to see me live this way,” he says. He’s right, but he knows that’s easier said than done. It’s a lovely track that will hit hard for you if you’ve lost someone close.
“3800 Tigers” references the Detroit Tigers playing over a century from now and how we’re also slowly killing all the remaining tigers on Earth. “Polacrilex Kid” has Casey wondering if he can be loved while hating himself. Alex Leonard‘s relentless drum beats on it reflect the pounding in Casey’s brain as he tries to figure out his self-imposed riddle. “Fulfillment Center” is a song about Amazon workers unionizing to get things as basic as restroom breaks, and “We Know the Rats” makes reference to the break-ins at Casey’s home (“Could’ve happened to anyone. They came through the back room.”). You can tell Casey still has some smoldering anger over it and how the wheels of justice often turn slow.
Casey is still wondering if he can find love on the roaring track “The Author,” and, delightfully, the recently engaged frontman finds it on “Rain Garden,” in which he sounds like he can relax and step into a new light (“My love…Make way for my love.”) over the next dune in his metaphorical desert.
I need to mention the thematic feel of the album. Greg Ahee has spoken about how he was scoring films and listening to a lot of Ennio Morricone while Formal Growth in the Desert was being crafted, and the album moves along like a film beginning with tragedy and ending with hope. It’s brilliant.
Today, Detroit post-punk band Protomartyr announce their new album, Formal Growth In The Desert, out June 2nd on Domino, and present its lead single/video, “Make Way.” Additionally, they announce 2023 North American and EU tour dates. Composed of vocalist Joe Casey, guitarist Greg Ahee, drummer Alex Leonard, and bassist Scott Davidson, Protomartyr have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique. Casey describes the underlying theme of Formal Growth In The Desert as a 12-song testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard.
The moody lead single/video, “Make Way,” doubles as Formal Growth In The Desert’s opening track, with Casey beginning the record by facing tragedy head-on: “Welcome to the haunted earth // The living after life // Where we chose to forget // the years of the Hungry Knife.” The accompanying video, directed by Trevor Naud, is a striking cinematic feat. Of the video, Naud says: “There’s a deliberate through-line between the videos for ‘Make Way’ and 2020’s ‘Worm In Heaven.’ The two songs feel partnered with each other, so I wanted the videos to feel like they exist in the same world. There are layers of experiments happening–all within a closed environment. We don’t know what’s happened to the world outside, but there’s an undertone that things maybe aren’t quite right.”
Since their 2012 debut, No Passion All Technique, Protomartyr have mastered the art of evoking place: the grinding Midwest humility of their hometown, as well as the x-rayed elucidation of America that comes with their vantage. Though Casey did have a humbling experience staring at awe-inspiring Sonoran rock formations and reckoning with his own smallness in the scheme of things, the group’s sixth album is not necessarily a nod to the sandy expanses of the Southwest. Formal Growth In The Desert, recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, proves Detroit, too, is like a desert. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.”
On Formal Growth In The Desert, the desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal. The “growth”came from a period of colossal transition for Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for a decade and a half. Now 45, Casey had lived in the family home in northwest Detroit all his life. Immortalized in Protomartyr’s essential SPIN cover story, the neighborhood informed many of Protomartyr’s acclaimed albums, serving as a base through the band’s growth from scrappy punks to ones capable of touring the globe or bringing in the Breeder’s Kelley Deal as a touring member in 2020. In 2021, though, a rash of repeated break-ins signaled that it was time to finally move out.
Protomartyr’s music — more spacious and dynamic than ever — helped pull Casey up. “The band still being viable was very important to me,” Casey adds, “and it definitely lifted my spirits.” Having long served as Protomartyr’s unofficial musical director, guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron (Snail Mail, L’Rain). Ahee knew what Casey was going through and the challenges he’d been processing, and as Ahee was conceptualizing the music, he thought about how to make it all “like a narrative film.” Ahee explains, “I started to write at home on a piano and on a keyboard and then play along to short films, and watch how you can affect and heighten moods as you play.” The filmic sensibility is manifest in Casey’s storytelling, too, whether he’s critiquing ominous techno-capitalism or processing aging, the future, and the possibility of love.
In some sense, Formal Growth In The Desert is a testament to conflicting realities — the inevitability of loss, the necessity of finding joy through it and persisting — that come with living longer and continuing to create. It begins with pain but endures through it, cracking itself open into a gently-sweeping torrent of sound that is, for Protomartyr, totally new.
PROTOMARTYR TOUR DATES (new dates in bold) Sat. Mar. 11 – Columbus, OH @ Soupfest Sun. Mar. 12 – Chattanooga, TN @ JJ’s Bohemia Mon. Mar. 13 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa Wed. Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW- Laneway Official Showcase – Lucille Thu. Mar. 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Levitation Showcase – Hotel Vegas Thu. Mar. 16 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Brooklyn Vegan Showcase – Empire Fri. Mar. 17 – Austin, TX @ SXSW – Third Man Showcase – 13th Floor Sat. Mar. 18 – Dallas, TX @ Texas Theater Mon. Mar. 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Tue. Mar. 21 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah Wed. Mar. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Fri. Mar. 24 – Bakersfield, CA @ Temblor Brewing Sat. Mar. 25 – Reno, NV @ Holland Project Sun. Mar. 26 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Tue. Mar. 28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive Wed. Mar. 29 – Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Thu. Mar. 30 – Davenport, IA @ Raccoon Motel Fri. Mar. 31 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Pyramid Scheme Tue. June 13 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Wed. June 14 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount Fri. June 16 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Sat. June 17 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s Tue. June 20 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat Wed. June 21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle Thu. June 22 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West Fri. June 23 – Nashville, TN @ Blue Room Sat. June 24 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway Mon. June 26 – Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th Street Tue. June 28 – Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole Wed. June 29 – Santa Ana, CA @ Constellation Room Sat. July 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel Sun. July 2 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Moe’s Alley Wed. July 5 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom Thu. July 6 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt Fri. July 7 – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Sat. July 8 – Spokane, WA @ Lucky You Tue. July 11 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club Wed. July 12 – Madison, WI @ High Noon Thu. July 13 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall Sun. Aug. 6 – Frankfurt, DE @ Zoom Mon. Aug. 7 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Wed. Aug. 9 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 Thu. Aug. 10 – Nottingham, UK @ Rescue Rooms Fri. Aug. 11 – Cardiff, UK @ Clwb lfor Bach Sat. Aug. 12 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club Mon. Aug. 14 – Eindhoven, NL @ Effenaar Tue. Aug. 15 – Hannover, DE @ Indiego Glocksee Thu. Aug. 17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Loppen Fri. Aug. 18 – Bodo, NO @ Parkenfestivalen Sat. Aug. 19 – Trondheim, NE @ Pstereo Thu. Oct. 26 – London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
