March 2025 Music Recs
Music recommendations while sadness falls from the surface
March is my birthday month and I most definitely live up to my emotional Piscean stereotype—if you had not yet gathered from my writing thus far.
There is almost a sultry, humid sadness.
For musical appreciation though, Cafe Astrology states that my sextile between the Sun and Neptune means that “there is an unmistakably dreamy, inspired, and sensitive side” to me and “a marked appreciation for music and the arts.” I am a dabbler in mystical/spiritual things, though I am not knowledgeable nor a fanatic—but I will not make fun of it.
What I know is that I enjoy sifting through music like sand and shark teeth. I have utter fascination with the restorative nature of finding and sharing treasures.
…pushing through the madness of life, and seeing all that grows within it.
March was the month I was able to be outwardly creative again—more sharing. It had been 3 months since I did concert photos and I started with noisy punk-rock-indie-hardcore beauts American Motors and Pretty Baby at The Pinhook in Durham. (Two group photos of the bands at the end.) This music month I was connecting more to post-hardcore, the cycle was spiraling outward.
The revitalization and idea of a new start was coming to fruition. The deep sadness was not necessarily lessening, only falling from the surface—perhaps it is the same.
March 2025 Music Recs
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PARIAH – Violence Is A Curse – “Endless Circles” (February 28, 2025)
extreme grindcore sludge post-metal
PARIAH’s music comes in like a heavy fog from post-metal sludge to visceral hardcore. It is completely tapped into the pit—”Endless Circles” allowing for endless circles. It embodies bloody good dancing and has ‘light the fire,’ emboldening kind of energy. (Written 2025 March 2)
Downward – Downward – “Darkscreen” (March 5, 2025)
emo post-hardcore indie
Downward‘s second album, self-titled, is the first I have heard by them. It is reminiscent of what I would have explored in my teen years off StumbleUpon or Deadjournal.
There is almost a sultry, humid sadness. Downward permeates like emo bedroom ballads exploring outside through squinted eyes. They tether shoegaze and soft emo whilst pulling on the strings of whimsical post-hardcore influence. Downward is beautiful heavy motes of light in darkness. (Written 2025 March 5)
Guiltless – Teeth To Sky – “Into Dust Becoming” (March 7, 2025)
updated shiny classic atmospheric sludge slow hardcore metal
I normally try to share bands that not everyone is talking about, mostly because that has literally always been the kind of music that I listened to. And “everyone” is relative. But, so why not? I love digging through the music on my own…and yet sharing is the important bit.
I heard about Guiltless through various other people and bands. And they definitely fucking live up to the hype—not that that matters.
They are like…all that shines with classic atmospheric sludge metal and then this updated version of that, a slow hardcore. Is that a thing—updated shiny classic atmospheric sludge slow hardcore metal? I’ll just call it a thing, we come up with genres or mash ’em together all the time and that is precisely the way it is with the genre pool. The sound of why sludge has its name…pushing through the madness of life, and seeing all that grows within it. (Written 2025 March 9-16)
ASHEN HANDS – Ashen Hands – “If i am going to die, i want to die here in Manhattan” (March 14, 2025)
punk grind-hardcore emoviolence
ASHEN HANDS has that mesmerizing desperation that comes with post-hardcore. They lean less melodic, more chaotic and violent with emo tinges. Their songs off debut self-titled EP sound cyclical in spirals—covering subject and sound without repetition, heavy without being oppressive. (Written 2025 March 17)
Awfully Pretty – A Spot Between – “whatever happened to Tony Bennet” (March 28, 2025)
metallic mathgrind emoviolence
Everyone’s music journey is different. I went from nu-metal – grunge – hardcore (punk) – sludge – black metal – post-metal, picking up everything along the way. My stint in screamo-esq anything was (awfully) short as a preteen and now some 20 years later I have gotten back into it due to the melding and beauty of post-hardcore/math-grindcore.
Awfully Pretty seems pretty young themselves. Any screamo-tinted music has this longing and angst to it, not quite amber-frozen though stuck just the same. The flow between poppy, screamo, grindcore, basement punk rock is effortless and—not cool—on edge.
My favorite bits off their album are when those overlapping effortless pieces slide together, shining light on the raw vulnerabilities—why “we” make and listen to music to describe them. (Written 2025 March 31)
March 2025 Playlist
2025 March Music Recs YouTube Playlist
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