Week 22 of an album a week for a year
Turtle Skull - Being Here
Hey everyone. This week I was really excited to be checking out Being Here by Turtle Skull.
Turtle Skull are a band I've enjoyed watching over the years since they released their self titled album in 2018 and their follow up, Monoliths, in 2020. They call themselves psychedelic doom pop, or 'flower doom' and I reckon that's pretty accurate. On first listen, especially after Surprise Chef from last week, there's a lot of distorted noise and heavy rock sounds, but when you get past that it's got a dreamy pop element infused throughout it. The album is full of ear worms and cruisey riffs, and the gentle vocals over sludge riffs creates a really interesting balance that I loved.
The album starts with Being Here, a song I found myself humming away throughout the week. By the end of this song it kind of reminds me at times of The Dandy Warhols, but a proper ugly, distorted and dirty version. This song is fuzzed out and feels laid back, despite making me want to bop along to the beat.
Apathy comes next and dare I say it, but this was my least favourite song on the album, and on many other albums, it would probably be my favourite. It's a pretty 'straight' rock song, but the lyrics make up for it. Not that I know or understand all of them, but when I hear a song about the apathy that comes from distraction and technology, I just resonate with it. Brilliant and spot fucking on.
Into The Sun is where I feel like the album kicks things up a notch, but I feel like I need to give a caveat if you're listening to this at home. When I first heard this album, I was in my bedroom with housemates floating around and I'd been listening to it through external computer speakers but at a low volume. When this song came on it was time to get off to laser tag so I got in the car and turned the volume up as I started driving. Around 2:30 into this song is when it 'clicked'. I mean this is Turtle Skull, it's heavy stoner/psych music, and it's not meant to be listened to quietly in your room or through your phones speakers. Put some headphones on if you have to, but put the volume up. Great track!
Bourgeoisie is another great song that I hate spelling as it turns out. The vocals are delivered in a dreamy fuge over a really heavy riff. This is the Turtle Skull sound that I love listening to, reminding me a bit of one of my favourite songs of theirs, Leaves.
It Starts With Me is my favourite song off the album. I love a lot of other tracks but this one, I don't know, they just nailed it to my ears. It's got just the right amount of spiritual mysticism and heavy riffage. The vocals never get heavy, but this is the closest to 'screaming' or 'yelling' on the album.
Heavy As Hell kicks in next, a song I heard way back in February 2024 when they released the single*. It's a good song, with a pretty catchy riff holding it all together. Say one thing about Turtle Skull, but these fuckers have a damn good tone on their guitar, synth and bass (the drums are solid as shit too!).
Modern Mess turns out to be a much needed rest for the ears. On first listen I thought oh no, here's that song I'm going to have to 'get through' for 5 listens. As I sit here on listen number... well 14 at my computer but that doesn't count the car and headphone sessions, this song is far from a 'get through' song. It's a sleeper, but it's actually quite epic. It feels like a cosy warm hug on a rainy day when the chorus comes in. It stands out from the rest of the album, there's no heavy riff holding it together, but rather a palette of sound merges to create a dreamy atmosphere, with vocals drenched in reverb (that I can barely understand, so I'm not even going to try).
Album closer Moon & Tide is another fantastic track and takes us on a bit of a journey, which I always love. It starts off reminiscent of 60's psychedelic for the first minute and a half, then it starts to kick it up a notch. It doesn't get as sludgy as some of the other songs, and keeps an almost childlike vocal melody throughout, but there's a heavy epicness to the song that slowly grinds along in intensity, until by the end of the song there's just distorted noise and feedback.
And that's this weeks album. I loved it and would give it 5 fingers out of 5! It's another one that I am sadly saying goodbye to this week, but I am ooking forward to revisiting it in the future. I don't often wish I was back on the East coast, but knowing these guys are touring soon makes me wish I could catch a gig.The year so far:
Week 19 - Chrystabell and David Lynch
* I know I've mentioned it before, but I hate how bands release a single before the album. I know, from a marketing perspective it's meant to create hype and shit. But as a music fan and someone who has bought 27 albums this year alone, it just pisses me off. I'd rather hear nothing than have bits spoon fed to me that I have to wait for. When I hear a single and I like it, but I can't hear the rest of the album for 3 - 12 months, I feel pissed off because I know how short my attention span is these days and I don't know where I'll actually be when the full album gets released. If I like something, I'll buy it then and there, or put it in a bandcamp wishlist and buy it on the next bandcamp friday so the money goes to the artists. Very rarely do I follow up on a band down the track and it was just dumb luck that I noticed this album was out a couple days after it was released, and was in a place that had enough internet for me to download it so I could listen offline.
I know my situation is unique. I have to hot spot my phone (well technically an ipad) to post these reviews, and it's not uncommon for me to need multiple attempts before I get enough internet for it to post. Seriously, sometimes Reddit times out and won't load AT ALL so I have to just connect and disconnect until the cunt loads. And Substack? I’ve had entire days when I couldn’t load it after I tried to post a video and it failed halfway, but it was like every time I’d go to the site, it would still think it was trying to upload the video or something. Weird.
Anyway my point is that I want to buy and download albums to listen to offline because my lifestyle is so chaotic (frequent travel) and my internet sporadic (see above), that I never know when I'll actually get a chance to buy and download new stuff if I don't do it immediately.
Ok. Rant over.
I like this one a lot - especially Moon & Tide. Thanks for sharing.