I thought I had a bunch of stuff to share this week. But I only remember what I write down. When I checked my notes, I only had two: Batushka and Car Seat Headrest.

Batushka

A friend I haven’t seen in a while texted me last week out of the blue.

You heard of Batushka?

I’ll give you his assessment:

Black metal with religious orthodoxy theme (surprise surprise), one album from 2015 so… Younger band. I dig it.

So I looked them up. I listened, and I liked. See what you think.

Car Seat Headrest

I listen to KEXP a lot, so I listen to Car Seat Headrest a lot. I saw them open for Thao and the Get Down Stay Down a couple years ago, and it was a great show. To me, they nicely combine the energy and melody of Vampire Weekend with the abrasiveness and dissonance of every punk band ever in a chocolatey peanut butter way.

Now they’ve merged with local band Naked Giants (who I think I saw at Doe Bay Fest 9?) and re-released a new recording of one of Will Toledo’s early pre-fame albums. I saw them play in-studio at KEXP last week, so of course they were on high rotation at the house all week, even when I wasn’t listening to the radio.