HOT TAPES: September 2025
Summer is collapsing! Fear not, tunes will save us.
The Tubs - Cotton Crown
Jangle pop is back and it's ready for you to walk around pensively with your headphones in. These riffs are Marr-esque no doubt about it, but they're also extremely good. Absolutely no bullshit songwriting here, wall to wall hooks.
Sepulchre - Psalms Unto Caesar
You can tell how good a metal band is by how sick their song titles are so let's take a peek. "The Blood Moon Above the Frozen Lands": seems good to me, cap! Black metal can tend towards atmospheric dreariness, Sepulchre keeps things moving and grooving while still remaining 100% haunted.
Dougie Pool - The Rainbow Wheel of Death
Melodies: sweet, but not saccharine. Production: crisp, but without sheen. Writing: heartfelt, but not humorless. A good country album keeps you company and this is a great hang.
Willie Colon & Hector Lavoe - Lo mato (si no compras este LP)
My wife and I have been together for over a decade and as such our gifts have gotten more and more abstract. For her birthday this year my gift was an oath to learn to salsa dance. Unfortunately, when you go looking for salsa music the internet is just packed with vague hour long mixes of music that's made to sort of endlessly play in a banquet hall. The kind of music that doesn't appear to be made for itself whatsoever. So I dug around a bit and found this: salsa music absolutely made for itself, with some verve.