illuminati hotties
POWER
So last year, Sarah Tudzin did some production work on a little release called The Album by boygenius. Dunno if you’ve heard of it; it was only one of 2023’s most visible critical darlings, or something. So much so that, while Tudzin’s own illuminati hotties hasn’t been raised by that tide yet, the influence to get there can be felt. Let Me Do One More in 2021 was scrappy and animated in drawing from pop-punk and garage-rock, whereas POWER is a comparatively restrained, mediated and even—dare we say—grown-up indie-rock listen.
In a fashion, that can almost seem counterintuitive to what made illumanti hotties pop out so much on that last album. In a scene like this that should be craving additional sources of personality (especially ones more comfortable with going bigger), having one of the main proponents of that ease things back is disheartening. Tudzin’s wilder expressive swings have all but vanished, leaving a performance hitched to a default hushed, tart Beabadoobee voice on Throw (Life Raft) or Rot or You Are Not Who You Were. At least Sleeping In swings its tweeness so far around that the cute pop hook finds a way to lodge in. It’s the exception, though, as for a good chunk of its run, POWER feels exceedingly…ordinary. As good as Tudzin is at capturing the insular emotions of this style, the colour and vivacity she’d bring to it subsequently get washed away.
The key difference—maybe the only one, in fact—is that a higher floor than most is unquestionably the saving grace of POWER. Be it in a clear casing of power-pop on Falling In Love With Somebody Better and YSL, brawnier garage-rock on The L and What’s The Fuzz, or simply negating Cavetown’s narcoleptic influence on Didn’t, POWER still bears more noteworthy strides overall. Maybe that says more about this branch of indie-rock overall than specifically illuminati hotties—it’s so hard to even pluck out another example with as many standout moments and qualities as this, an album that’s just okay. Perhaps it’s not quite to the level that Tudzin’s GRAMMY-winning profile would infer, but a higher mean average strength is still worthwhile to note. Plus, it’s far less of a chore to get through, a factor of the fundamentals being primed just enough more on occasion, to where they do hit their mark.
Even with that, though, there still isn’t a wealth to speak about on POWER. As a combination of this specific style being so rinsed of talking points and having precious little to go off to begin with, it’s a rough spot to be in. It’s also one that Tudzin could easily get out of; she has in the past. But while she’s here, at least this represents a better go at it. The bar is nudged higher; the output typically seems to reflect that; and coupled with her name arguably carrying more weight than ever now, POWER could be the catalyst for a more significant break for illuminati hotties. Still, for those who’ve stuck around a bit longer, the capability for more is left on the table.
For fans of: Beabadoobee, Diet Cig, The Beths
‘POWER’ by illuminati hotties is released on 24th August on Snack Shack Tracks / Hopeless Records.
Trench
BETWEEN INVERTED WORLDS
Like the similarly-named Marianas Trench, this is a band from Canada, yet evidently not as deep when their moniker isn’t quite plumbing the actual lowest point on the planet. Still, kind of fitting for a hardcore band intent on delivering a quick bludgeoning and getting out, no? Well, sure, but Trench appear as though they want to be more than that. Straight hardcore is but an element of what also wants to weave in post-metal and nu-metal, and coat it all with a quasi-industrial veneer. For an album just north of 20 minutes where a song crossing three minutes is a tall order, it’s a lot to expect.
But clearly Trench believe they can handle it, and they’ve pulled in the big guns to make sure of that. You’ve got two Canadian C-names showing up in Comeback Kid and City And Colour, as well as a Swedish one in Cult Of Luna, seemingly as a flex of how inexplicable Trench’s pull is. And yet, there’s barely a footprint left from any of them. Andrew Neufeld doesn’t exactly get space to shine on the minute-and-change Path And Pain; Dallas Green is a gentle, melodic highlight on Dust To Bone but his contributions feel inelegantly stapled on; and it’s hard to even parse where Cult Of Luna are on My Cold Blood, save for perhaps some its atmosphere. Saying that, it’s not like Trench themselves are masters at distinction, largely down to a hardcore tone that, while frequently solid and uniform, finds its lack of space congealing anything interesting into part of the mass.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad; it’s still…fine. Outside of the closer Blossom III that’s more diligent in keeping its grander scope at the fore, you’re left with standard hardcore fare that remains serviceable. It’s generally strong and high-octane in the prerequisite manner for this sort of thing. The feel of current-age nu-metal ferocity cakes this thing, with that vibe sticking right at the forefront of any thought of Trench. These aren’t memorable songs or compositions, but if nothing else, it’s a tried-and-true style still doing this album’s heavy lifting. Maybe, then, the floor set down is enough, for an album that can remain okay based on the reliability of its aesthetics, as opposed to anything done with them.
In that sense, then, don’t expect the longest or most fruitful run to come from Trench. Even now, they give off the aura of second-stringers, despite a list of friends that would suggest much more in their locker. But that doesn’t really manifest as much of note here. At best, it’ll be what gets you through the door, because Trench’s musical output isn’t nearly as magnetic as the individuals caught in its orbit. As for an assertions of adventurousness or intriguing genre shifts…well, just look at the runtime; you can guess how much oxygen is given to that. Average that out, and this is the sort of fine hardcore album where dependability and longevity couldn’t be further apart on the spectrum.
For fans of: Knocked Loose, Graphic Nature, Comeback Kid
‘BETWEEN INVERTED WORLDS’ by Trench is released on 16th August on New Damage Records.
WREX
This Hell Goes A Long Way Down
It’s getting tiresome to dunk on acts whose existence boils down to being ‘contemporary’ and ‘edgy’, because the M.O. every time is clearly just to ride the popularity wave. Still, it doesn’t get less annoying when assertions of ‘genre-bending’ are ethered when everyone bends in the same way, and the movement doesn’t seem to…well, move all that much. So in the case of WREX, their male / female vocal team and fixation with alt-pop / nu-metal hybridisation immediately brings to mind a new form of Wargasm—joy of joys. They aren’t as bad, to be fair; a less malignant version of everyone’s ‘favourite’ nepo-baby duo is automatically a step up.
But when you consider what that direction ultimately demands, maybe WREX aren’t going far enough. Brashness only sees fit to appear in brief spurts; prospective creativity and volume is notably hemmed in. It’s a rather noncommittal approach to the set-in-stone tenets of this sound. If anything, it’s closer to Yungblud in how commercialised its transgression wants to be, which leaves it sapped of most vitality. Just look at the title track, reliant on scuzzy vocal filters and illusion of grit to cover for how flattened it otherwise sounds. There’s also Shallow, the wishy-washy concession to a ballad that’s craving an earnestness that its maudlin-all-the-way-down presentation is totally unequipped to handle.
At least there’s a dancier side to Take A Walk and The End to bookend the EP with fits of momentum, and Heaven’s Gate having shades of Running Up That Hill in its vocal melody is interesting to pick up on. You’d be hard-pressed to find more to speak on, though, seeing as WREX’s efforts really don’t land all that well. For what’s supposed to be an incendiary moment to blow the doors open and announce their arrival, This Hell Goes A Long Way Down feels so small and depowered. George Donoghue as a co-lead doesn’t help, where he sidelines the role of a more volatile foil to Mae Seaton’s steadier singing for a weedy performance to shepherd his regionalised accent that’s become shorthand in these spaces for ‘rawness’. Again, it just sounds like Yungblud, on its face this time and with just as little believability when it comes to punk spirit.
As old hat as it’s become to deem this a reskin of basically everyone else around them, WREX are producing very little evidence to the contrary. Only here, you could argue it’s worse by not even having the good graces to be as loud and obnoxious, and occasionally clip something resembling a thrill. This Hell Goes A Long Way Down sits in place to highlight just how flimsy this set of ideas is. In that regard, it certainly carries itself like a debut, where an identity or approach is yet to be properly crystallised. Given the firm ceiling on the sound that WREX are courting, however, it’s difficult to imagine much further movement coming from them. It’s difficult to imagine anything about them, really; this is just that inconsequential.
For fans of: Wargasm, Yungblud, Cassyette
‘This Hell Goes A Long Way Down’ by WREX is released on 16th August.
Words by Luke Nuttall
