This year has been one of the most important for my own musical endeavors. My band Solshade will be releasing an album this fall on Silent Pendulum Records. The feat itself is something I didn’t know I’d ever be able to accomplish, let alone with the events that surrounded the recording process. During the tracking process (December 2024), I ended up breaking multiple ribs and flatlining (e.g. dying ) after an unfortunate gnar-shredding incident (riding my bike to work). Luckily, I’d completed my tracking just days before. Enduring and recovering from the injury while the rest of the album was being completed ended up being a very serendipitous moment of reflection. My bandmates, best friends, old friends, probably some enemies, family, friends of friends and more all came out of the woodwork to support me, and reinforce how important the conduit of music is. It made me really step back and appreciate all the people I’ve come to know and love in my life that are all tied to music. I think I always fall short of explaining how profound their support was, and how important the timing was. Their love and support will always be bound to this album. I can’t wait to share it with you.
We also just got “off the road” with our friends and labelmates Koningsor, as well as longtime friends The Motion Mosaic. While it probably reads as name-dropping, the point is, continuing in tandem with my prior revelation, that value-add relationships are possibly the best thing we can experience. The Koningsor camp was incredibly welcoming and selfless, helping save our asses when we blew two tires on the way to a show. I should probably clarify that I’m not talking about a simple, “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” exchange. That is a means to an end. I’m talking about those intrinsic values, the ones where you can exude your unadulterated self and be received, understood, and appreciated. Spending time with both of these bands provided another chance to be grateful for all the connections we make in life, and how the crazy causal chain of events can all shake out. I hope everyone gets to experience something like this.
On the other side of things—it’ll never be as good as just being there—but recalling a few live performance highlights never hurt anyone.
Tigran Hamasyan
Tigran Hamasyan. Do I need to say more? I mean, the chance to even see him stateside is awe-worthy. He was an absolute powerhouse. I’m talking about next level artistry. Everyone knows he’s got the chops, musical vocabulary, and the works. But I don’t think you can fully appreciate how deliberate and meaningful his compositions are until you hear him speak the song titles between each song, and describe the impetus he has for what he writes. You can actually hear the emotions manifest through his musicality. This show was perspective-shifting. Did I mention Matt freaking Garstka was handling drum duties? I need not say more.
Vola
I’ve been dying to catch these guys since Inmazes (2016) blew me away like 10 years ago. I finally caught them with some friends back in March supporting Intervals. To no surprise, they were just as anthemic and commanding as they are recorded. Their songs lend themselves so well to translate live; the riffs are gargantuan in groove, drums pummel along in similar stature, the synths are just as catchy as the vocal hooks. I’m 90% sure “These Black Claws” and “Head Mounted Sideways” created their own gravitational pull. Choruses soared per usual, coaxing out singalong after singalong. All this is to really say, Vola are a prog rock class act.
Deafheaven
I’ve seen Deafheaven a few times throughout the years, but seeing them on their sort of “comeback” tour, embracing their return to harsher, black metal leanings was a sight to behold. George and Dan have always impressed me with their stamina live, and I think even more so this time, screaming and blasting away respectively for well over an hour. It was evident that Deafheaven is still well within their prime. The set was perfect; littered with most of their newest, Lonely People With Power, plus the obligatory hits from Sunbather and New Bermuda.
Psycho-Frame & Humanity’s Last Breath
If not for having seen Meshuggah back in 2023, this easily would be the heaviest show I’d ever seen. I was fully prepared to never catch the recently spawned deathcore giants Psycho-Frame due to their meteoric rise and Wisconsin’s tendency to not pull the heavy tours. I’d entirely written off any possibility of seeing Humanity’s Last Breath in the states, because that’s just how life goes. When I saw this was coming to a venue 10 minutes from my front door, I snatched tickets as soon as they went on sale. Psycho-Frame ravaged with a feral veracity, delivering every blast beat and breakdown with album-precision, a feat rarely done well in this over-saturated genre. Humanity’s Last Breath performance was a summation of every clanking and clamoring breakdown I love them for, and their unmatched heaviness. The set spanned their self-titled work, up through Ashen, including some of my favorite tracks, “Abyssal Mouth,” “Instill,” “Human Swarm,” and “Tide”.
Czarbles
Every now and then you go to a local show with one band in mind only to be blown away by another you’ve never even heard of. I went and checked out The Central for probably the 10th time since moving to Madison. On the bill was an act called Czarbles. No clue whatsoever what they could be about so I just assumed it’d be another middle of the road band I didn’t quite resonate with. What an underestimation. Czarbles took the stage and immediately transported me to the late 90s when Don Cab and the foundations of what I suspect math rock as we know it were blossoming. I hate using the trope but the guitars were so damn skrongly, so purely math rock, I don’t even know how to describe it. The drums were in perfect linear unison with every pluck, with not a click via IEM to be seen. It was abundantly clear these guys just gelled the old fashioned way with extensive playing. They ebbed and flowed on the same plane. I’m still sad they won’t play again for another 3 years.