Thou is a metal band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Though oftentimes misread as “post rock” or “hipster doom” or lumped in with the Southern sludge, Black Sabbath-worship of New Orleans and Metairie bands like Eyehategod, Crowbar, or Acid Bath–they share a more spiritual kinship with ’90s proto-grunge bands like Nirvana, Alice in Chains, or Soundgarden and the aesthetic and political impulses of obscure ’90s diy Ebullition Vermiform hardcore punk.

The cover to Emma Ruth Rundle’s fourth solo record, On Dark Horses, bears a blurry photo of the songwriter obscuring her face with a large toy horse with broken legs. The photo suggests something candid but also hidden, graceful but also fractured—a fitting portrait for an artist who has established a career by vacillating between shrouding herself in mystery and exposing her wounds to the world. Her first solo release, Electric Guitar: One, was a collection of Frippian guitar instrumentals written and recorded in the backseat of a tour van during her tenure in Red Sparowes.

Relentless. Intense. Powerful. These are words all commonly used to describe Minneapolis based Black Metal collective, False. Formed in 2010, the group have steadily worked their way onto the national and international radar for Metal and independent music through intensive touring and a small, yet well received back catalogue. Their debut full length effort, 2015’s “Untitled”, was met with critical acclaim which included being ranked among the best albums of 2015 by Pitchfork, Decibel Magazine and other outlets; an impressive feat for any band, let alone for a band’s first full-length.

Cosmic fungal hardcore. Jonas Kromer Yela, Danly Lee, Boone Ipstenu.

All potential lies in our bodies. The body is the vehicle for our emotions. These tell us most about our experience because they are not intimidated into rationalizing contemporary culture, politics and society as natural and inevitable. No matter how easily we can accept and adapt to capitalist tedium, banality, and routine cruelty, there will always be a lingering not-quite-rightness felt in our bodies, and exposing that feeling is the most dangerous and powerful perspective for art in our time.