In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well—some inspired by a weekly theme and some not, but always songs worth hearing.
Picking a favorite song from Twitch And Gloam: Dark Sounds From The Pacific Northwest is about as easy as choosing a favorite Tales From The Crypt episode. The compilation, which comes out on June 18 via Flat Field Records, is a smorgasbord of post-punk, dark electronic, and/or neo-goth from Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver—and every one of the dozen bands featured brings something sick, bleak, and semi-decayed to the table. But the track “Carve Out Your Tongue” by Seattle’s Grave Babies pokes its head a little higher aboveground.
Squirming like, well, a lump of amputated flesh, “Cut Our Your Tongue”—whose official debut can be found below—is an incantation of shambling dread draped in tribal chants and shards of white noise, like Psychocandy-era Jesus And Mary Chain dressed as Throbbing Gristle for Halloween. It follows the group’s excellent full-length Crusher, which came out on Hardly Art earlier this year. But all of Twitch And Gloam is worth a listen—and the whole comp is being streamed here. Just remember to keep your jaws clamped tight.