Labels: Zegema Beach Records
Formats: Vinyl/Digital
Release Date: 28 Apr 2025
Tracklist:
1. an introduction to real estate-induced psychosis
2. at rock bottom I was a piss girl
3. I seem to be an adjective
4. I don't think much at all
5. diss track
6. this is your brain on minimum wage
7. it rubs the boycott ketchup on its brand new slacks
8. whispers catastrophe
9. that is the land of lost content
10. we're corporatizing polyamory
11. canned response
12. bellinis at the blockade
My first introduction to Emma Goldman was on their 4-way Meditations In Affinity: Solicitude split 7" with BIGHAND//BIGKNIFE, Almanac Man and Abandoncy, which was released via The Ghost Is Clear Records and Zegema Beach Records in 2020. These crazy Canadians returned to Zegema Beach Records earlier this year to release their first album all you are is we.
They play a combination of sassy-hardcore/screamo and all that adjacent good-stuff, alongside the occasional hit of breakcore and dub-step (remember that?). If you have an aversion to bright lights and the colour yellow, you'd better stay away from their bandcamp page too!.
It feels like an absolute age since I originally sat down to write this review. Life and work things inevitably took over for a little while, but I couldn’t leave this one hanging any longer. Opening with ‘an introduction to real estate-induced psychosis’, Emma Goldman’s vocalists audibly gasp for air as they hurriedly deliver their spoken-word intro nestled amongst machine-like guitar feedback. Though for all I know, it could also be a sampled intro.
What follows is nothing short of pure audio terrorism as frenetic percussion, shattering bass, fast math-like riffs and piercing shrieks make up ‘at rock bottom I was piss girl’ .The opening barrage reminds me of the Japanese techno/electronic-infused noise of Mad Capsule Markets (also one of my faves to namedrop apparently), though further comparisons escape me at the moment, which is probably a good thing!.
The way Emma Goldman switch between that brutality and the slightly more structured emotive hardcore sound is noticeable too, purely down to the ease of it. ‘I seem to be an adjective’ has a clean yet unnerving guitar tone to it as the quartet layers up to yet another blastathon. It’s a good thing these songs are short because I don’t think any member could sustain anything longer given the sheer energy they use crafting them.
‘I don’t think much at all’ isn’t long, clocking in at a blink over three minutes and still sitting well within the wheel tracks of the band’s chaotic and impulsive compositions. Strangely though, during the mid-section I’m getting peak nu-metal vibes, as if somebody sped up the heavy parts of ‘Back To School (mini maggit)’ by Deftones. Again, what I hear and what everybody else hear’s will probably be way different.
The first time we properly hear Emma Goldman’s breakcore/dub-step is on ‘diss track’, which is a collage of samples and upbeat dance, breaking things up with aplomb before things get back to normal!? on ‘this is your brain on minimum wage’. It could well be a commentary about how real-term wages are going down across the world or it could just be another amusingly though-up title. Whatever’s correct, it’s another show of just how blistering this album is.
The album’s latter half starts off with the obscurely titled ‘it rubs the boycott ketchup on its brand new slacks’, which at nearly five minutes in length, is a bit of a departure for the album (not that I’m obsessed with song lengths or anything!). The pensive build-up makes way for probably the most post-hardcore song on all you are is we. It’s expansive, heartfelt and filled with so many different musical elements; clean singing, whispers set to grinding drums, extended instrumental passages and memorable guitar hooks. Memorable is certainly the right word here.
Following immediately on through the fading guitar is ‘whispers catastrophe’, which is a short ambient piece complete with whispered vocals and the sound of gentle lapping waves. It’s relaxing though brief and soon ‘that is the land of lost content’ is resplendent in spoken-word poetry and gentle guitar. Again, as is Emma Goldmans’s MO now, it builds in layers and volume to reveal a heavy post-hardcore song that La Dispute would have dreamed they had written.
‘we’re corporatizing polyamory’ goes in a more frantic direction once again. It’s both maddening and chug-like at points. I think by this point, my brain has been battered beyond comprehension and being descriptive is hard. ‘canned response’ is another upbeat dance interlude that will have you raving wherever you are. The beats sound like a ticking metronome and the samples are bizarre as per usual. It’s rad and I bet it sounds great live.
Closing with ‘bellinis at the blockade’, Emma Goldman rock out in the same way they started. I use the term “rock out” because this sounds somewhat groovy at times, in between the sheer heaviness. Taking a moment to collect my thoughts as the album ends, I’m in awe. The broad spectrum that makes up screamo always seems to throw up bands that rip up the rulebook (if any such book exists). Emma Goldman might just be the heaviest/craziest band to join the party. Props to them and to ZBR for giving them a bigger platform.
If you've managed to get through my essay on how good this album is and you still haven't heard it yet, then head to Emma Goldman's bandcamp page to right that wrong and also grab it as a name-your-price download:-
Emma Goldman Instagram - @emmagoldmanband
Zegema Beach Records Bluesky Social - https://bsky.app/profile/zegemabeachrecords.bsky.social
Physical vinyl copies are available via Zegema Beach Records here:-
CAN/INTL - http://www.zegemabeachrecords.com/zegema-beach-releases/emma
U.S.A. - https://zbrusa.com/collections/zbr-releases/products/emma
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