Aluminum - Iconoclast HaHa Aluminum

For their second LP, Iconoclast HaHa, San Francisco fourpiece Aluminum take the shoegaze, big beat, and alt-pop of their debut, Fully Beat (Felte, 2024), and raise the temperature to a boil.

In contrast to previous self-recorded efforts, the album comprises a set of electrifying, full-band studio performances all recorded, mixed, and mastered across an inspired week with recording engineer Jack Shirley at Atomic Garden Studio in Oakland. Lead vocalists and songwriters Marc Leyda and Ryann Gonsalves continue to strike a balance between pop catchiness and experimental abandon while infusing these songs with spontaneity, immediacy, and post-punk tenacity. “We intended for this to be a more guitar-forward album,” notes Leyda, “so we recorded through Marshall stacks to give it a heavier feel, and to get a faster, more punkish sound that will be massive and immersive in a live setting.”

Thematically, Gonsalves notes major inspiration from “the frustration of living within a societal system that sets you up for failure, always ‘not being enough’ or ‘being too much’, and all the anger, exhaustion, and pressure to comply.” Reflecting on the confluence of mood, message, and maelstrom across Iconoclast HaHa, Leyda elaborates with his ultimate artistic question: “When it feels like the world is tipping toward devastation, you keep pushing and trying to make something powerful and meaningful, because what else can you do?”

RIYL: My Bloody Valentine, Iceage, Band of Susans, Jesus and Mary Chain, Happy Mondays, 80s SST Records, Strawberry Switchblade, Black Tambourine, Primal Scream