May 2025 Music Recs
Music recommendations while riding the waves
Photographing Poison the Well, Glassjaw, Better Lovers, and Teenage Wrist in April lit something inside me. It was the music and musicians I loved and admired as a kid combined with meeting people who meet me and me them where we’re at.
There are reminders that suffering is not the only way—and that what music releases is beautiful.
The concert was at the end of the month, April 28, and in May I got lost in shows. Seven shows to be exact.
05/16 Windhand, Satan’s Satyrs
05/18 Tribulation, Early Moods, Final Gasp, Unreqvited
05/24 Vacant Company, Zephyranthes, Brutal Jr, Silent Piece
05/28 Full of Hell, Harms way, Kruelty, Jarhead Fertilizer, Clique
(In between all of this I went to and photographed at Raleigh DIY Punk Rock Flea Market and Artsplosure.)
Burnout had already begun in other areas of my life and without realizing it I had pushed myself further in May. So “it”—the further depths of perpetual global burnout due to the state of the world—reached this aspect of my life as well.
And at this point, almost halfway through the year, I learned that my love of (post-)hardcore had cemented into being a theme of my (2025) Music Year.
I had been on this journey, and April had been filled with a mixology of meaning in all directions artistically—intrinsically psychological and life changing, which of course is internal/eternal—that when May came, I wanted to ride that wavelength.
seemingly strips down past vulnerability and goes straight to a pure self.
And so I did. And I continued to learn. I learned more about my own voice. I have talked (and talked and talked) so much about speaking up, and still I held back for so long especially when it came to the people I let into my life—always the people who I shouldn’t give my time to, and yet…
I know what it feels like to be at a point where there seems to be no way out from those who have hurt us the most.
So I gave my time to what I love and am passionate about. I rode the waves. I cracked open. I let in experiences I never thought I would have and it was completely worth it.
May 2025 Music Recs
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Kayo Dot (and the music of Toby Driver) – Every Rock, Every Half-Truth Under Reason – “Oracle By Severed Head” (August 1, 2025)
experimental avant-garde metal
I am pretty excited for the new Kayo Dot / Toby Driver release. The single “Oracle By Severed Head” seemingly strips down past vulnerability and goes straight to a pure self. I can see a dance piece for this song, a movement within movement. Something classical and avant-garde.
The rawness is not from being rubbed or scraped but from filtering through. Pure even when the message may not be because it is coming from yet another place. Inhuman and yet (again) pure—on another level—not quite emotion. I feel laid bare in listening. (Written 2025 May 10)
Boru – SELF-DEALER – “Cosmic Blood” (September 11, 2024)
atmospheric avant-garde post-metal
I somehow missed this jolting record. SELF-DEALER is the second full-length by Boru and came out 2024 September 11. It is beautifully dark avant-garde post-metal.
The opening is almost a duet with Départe. The constant rush to the heart…
Is this why I have not made my top whatever number of 2024 albums? I jest and yet…
This gorgeous shifting sand of sounds infiltrates all the spaces. I am beholden to it and am not burdened. (Written 2025 May 11)
STOLEN GUN – DEMO 2025 – “eat the skull” (May 5, 2025)
powerviolence grind/hardcore
STOLEN GUN is powerviolence dialed in to post-apocalyptic present times. Short and not sweet. Transient and pertinent in the full soundscape that is grindcore. You can hear the history and movement forward.
I love how more hard/grindcore bands have formed ‘supergroups.’ STOLEN GUN is made up of Vincent Bennett (The Acacia Strain), Brandon Albaugh (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Duncan Newey (No Cure, Bleak, Emaciated), and Danny Grant (Pure Bliss). They remind me a little bit of GUILT DISPENSER what with their short songs and cutting sound. (Written 2025 May 12-July 2)
A Pregnant Light – “01000100 01000101 01010110 01001111 01010101 01010010 01000101 01000100” (May 9, 2025)
experimental post-metal punk
I want to give some more love to Damian Master. This is the second single released this year under A Pregnant Light, the first was “Heart-Shaped Stain” in February.
I connect with this project self-described “TOO MUCH TO DIE” on Bandcamp and single description of “i hope this hurts”. Though I do not wish ill will on anyone, I know what it feels like to be at a point where there seems to be no way out from those who have hurt us the most. That feeling of trapped and bled and turning on the self where you feel you deserve the pain even.
To suffer is living. There are reminders that suffering is not the only way—and that what music releases is beautiful.
Damian Master confirmed only in part the beauty piece in a dm—that the muse for this song is someone he loves.
A Pregnant Light is post-hardcore, gothic, sad, “purple” metal. (Written 2025 May 15)
May 2025 Music Recs Playlist
2025 May Music Recs YouTube Playlist