Tal Wallace (The Steady As She Goes) Post Apocalyptic Cataclysm Playlist

“Song atmosphere and texture is so overlooked, and in my book as important as riffs, lyrics, structure and hooks. Probably more. And the king of atmospheres is Armageddon,” says Tal Wallace of deliciously doomy Nick Cave-esque Brisbane band, The Steady As She Goes. As the world falls apart spectacularly, Tal invites us to revel in the darkness and the drone; to inhale the mushroom cloud deeply with a selection of hand-picked tracks that have a dark and gloomy cinematic quality. Check out our full library of themed playlists here. “I don’t think The Steady As She Goes is at this point yet,” Tal continues. “[My latest album] Cryptozoology is the dream of an apocalypse, the hallucinated revelation.”

Tal Wallace – Cataclysmic Playlist on Spotify

Snowman – “Our Mother (She Remembers)”
Tal: “War chants that open The Horse The Rat & The Swan, which is a wholly terrifying album. Literally chants the colours of the four horsemen’s steeds. Automatic entry.”

High on Fire – “Rumours of War” 
Tal: “The first verse is furious enough, but the double kick dropping in at verse two lets you know that that was barely a teaser. The whole thing wraps up in under three minutes, but it’s three minutes of searing End Times fury.”

Sly & the Family Stone – “I Want To Take You Higher”
Tal: “This track sounds like the death knell of flower power, and it has everything happening: gang vocals, horns, keys and a harmonica solo. Each time that run down riff plays it’s another nail in the coffin of the 60s.”

Batpiss – “Drag Your Body”
Tal: “Abject rural terror. Imagine the clip for Working Class Man, but instead of cane fields on fire it’s the entire country. Regional Australia’s nightmares illustrated in song and screaming.”

Tal Wallace – Cataclysmic Playlist on Spotify

Chelsea Wolfe – Carrion Flowers
Tal: “Robopocalypse. Beautiful and worrying. Heavy, dark, murky and thundering. The theme song for Roko’s Basilisk.”

Altarage – “Devicet”
Tal: “Inscrutable Basque Country death metal. A swarming vortex of total blackness that swallows all, devours all, digests all. Not usually my cup of genre tea but it’s so perfectly executed and so damn bleak.”

Dirty Three – “Red”
Tal: “Art-folk electric mayhem. Still the loudest performance I’ve ever witnessed. Reaches peak after dizzying peak before crashing in on itself, like an imploding planet.”

High Tension – “High Risk High Reward”
Tal: “Fuck off good furious. More menace than most bands can muster in an entire album. No fucking around.”

Tal Wallace – Cataclysmic Playlist on Spotify

Rain Machine – “Give Blood”
Tal: “Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio’s side gig. Puts me in mind of the human sacrifice scene in Apocalypto. His wail at the third verse is chilling and other-worldly.”

16 Horsepower – “American Wheeze”
Tal: “The dread and anxiety on this bandoneon-led, almost alt-traditional piece is palpable. The rapid concertina feels like hyperventilation, and when the rest of the band rises to meet it it’s almost cardiac arrest.”

Outkast – “B.O.B”
Tal: “This was the first time for me that hip hop felt amphetamine-powered rather than pot-muffled (no slight to Black Sunday, mind you). Those snare rolls crack like bones.”

Tom Waits – “Shake It”
Tal: “Off kilter, lurching, and as it drops into the third chorus the distorted roar that fades in is one of the most fearful noises ever committed to tape. Third age Tom Waits is the best.”

Clutch – “Burning Beard”
Tal: “The hellfire preacher with an ‘I told you so’ sermon on the before the Rapture. An avalanche of full tilt, white knuckle, battle poetry.”

Yeah Yeah Yeahs – “Phenomena”
Tal: “Catchy as shit and ten times better than the LL Cool J track it riffs on. Runs from sparse to crushing in the space of a verse-bridge-chorus. Stabbing guitars napalm blossom into mushroom clouds of organ distortion.”

Tal Wallace – Cataclysmic Playlist on Spotify

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