Tag Archives for new music reviews

The Rundown: October 2024

I’m both delighted and dismayed that I decided to hold myself to doing flash reviews of every new album I can in this year, 2024. We’re deep enough in now that I can confidently say this year has been one of the all-time greats. 1967, 1994, 2016 – these years welcome 2024 with open arms. It also means I’ve had absolutely no time to do other writing for this blog or to catch up on older music at all. And quite frankly, I’m getting tired of these posts. But we’re close enough to the end, even if I’m not at all close to actually clearing out my “new albums to listen to” list. I’ve got 36 quick ones for you this time, and there’s a lot of heavy hitters. I’ve run out of time to listen to stuff I don’t expect much out of. Coming up below is some black metal, a couple of difficult indie albums, some alternative legends, yet another excellent post-punk album, one of the biggest pop albums of the year, and an album from some pals that is unbiasedly brilliant. Let’s crack on.

Orville Peck – Stampede

Ugh. I wrote about the EP Peck released earlier this year, when it wasn’t yet clear if it was going to be part of a bigger album. At the time, I said it was worryingly inconsistent, and the full album isn’t different. If you follow me on social media, you may know that I’ve jokingly adopted a pun of Peck’s name as my handle, because his music means a lot to me. But his third album just isn’t it. All fifteen songs are collaborations, and seven of them are covers (often done with the original artist). It’s a weird move for an artist who’s growing in popularity but still establishing himself. Peck’s first two albums put him concretely in the world of outlaw country/y’allternative, but some of his other releases have seen him branch out into poppier worlds. This album is all over the place, intentionally. There’s straight country, like the delightfully funny “You’re an Asshole, I Can’t Stand You (And I Want a Divorce)” and the tepid closer “Rhinestone Cowboy.” But there’s also pop (“Midnight Ride”), indie (“Death Valley High”) and an ill-advised mariachi song (“Miénteme”). The expanded branches work better on paper than practice. Given that there’s so many covers done with well-established artists (Elton John, Margo Price, Kylie Minogue, etc), it implies that Peck didn’t have the songwriting well mined. I don’t think this is true! It just seems like it. Also, it feels like Peck is gunning for the crossover country money. Can’t blame him, crossover country is very hot right now – but his first attempts have a glossy inauthenticity to them that is just unfortunate. The more pop-friendly he goes, the more plastic it all sounds. And when you hear the few great songs, like the Beck and Margo Price collaborations, it makes the dullness of the other tracks all the more apparent. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 8/2/24

Pharmakon – Maggot Mass

Weirdly, I don’t remember my thoughts on this one too vividly. Pharmakon is quietly one of my favorite artists, just not one I listen to often – her music is extreme industrial, pushing the sonic territories of noise. Her songs are often expansive, harsh and pulsating, but with hints of melody too, which sets her apart from the goofy pure harsh noise. Lyrically, she sings largely viciously raw songs about skin, bodies and illnesses. Maggot Mass is no different, as every song here is menacing and uncomfortable. This record is missing the one key song of her previous works, which hampers it a bit. No track feels like a standout, they’re all a muddy slog together. But if you’re into extreme music, you can’t do wrong with her catalog.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 10/4/24

Amyl & the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness

I’m a simple man, if a song has fast guitars and Amy Taylor yelling some stuff at me in a thick Australian accent, then I like that song. I absolutely adore Amyl & the Sniffers, and their third album is chock full of drunk-punk goodies. These songs are exactly what you expect and exactly what they need to be – a collection of fast and loose punk songs that are sometimes about vulnerability, and sometimes about beer. While the band ventured out into more exploratory terrain on the second album, they double back down into fun punk here. Uncoincidentally, I like this record more than their second one (their debut remains an all-time favorite, though). Put it on and destroy your own house.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/25/24

Rubblebucket – Year of the Banana

Although the indie duo Rubblebucket only popped up on my radar with their last album, 2022’s Earth Worship, they’re actually now seven albums and fifteen years deep. My thoughts on the last album were that I loved the loose, bright and horn-based songs but wished some of them had a little more oomph to them. Well this is that record, a set of alternative songs that are taut in production but loose in vibes, with a lot of sunny energy to them. There’s no attempt to reinvent the wheel, just craft it so it runs smoothly. It’s just some very fun indie. Also, some quick research tells me that this band has been local to me this whole time and I had no idea. Neat!

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 10/18/24

FIDLAR – Surviving the Dream

The debut FIDLAR album will be one that I always cherish, a surf-punk classic. But it was obvious from the start that band’s gimmick – songs almost exclusively about drugs and booze – wouldn’t last. They’d either die or sober up. For the second album it was, well, both. In the intervening years the band has pumped out some good songs here and there, but the general concept of their music has gotten staler and staler. Their fourth album is just kind of…sad. The songs about needing to get loaded to survive no longer sound true and paranoid like they did in 2013, they now sound wimpy and unbelievable. The band has also turned a bit towards a pop-punk sound, which is probably a solid idea – they can rope in more fans, especially the sad, older punks. But in my eyes specifically, it’s off-putting. They still bring the heat more often than not, and it does save the album. From a music standpoint, they’re not going through the motions. It just seems that they no longer really have anything to say, and it makes the affair seem pointless. Early songs like “No Waves” felt like melodic cries for help, these feel like pale imitations. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 9/20/24

Speed – ONLY ONE MODE

I’m not really sure how to classify this album, which means it’s probably pretty effective. The nu-metal revival is alive and well, best seen in bands like Speed who pluck out elements of it to incorporate into something else. Toss in hardcore punk, hip-hop and metalcore and you’ve got nearly all of the metal zeitgeists of the past 25 years mixed together. The end result isn’t necessarily as interesting as it should be, some songs come off as surprisingly limp despite the chaotic energy. But the ones that work are thrashing. This feels like it could be the start of a new hardcore era, this is a band to watch. And the whole thing is over in 24 minutes.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 7/12/24

Hana Vu – Romanticism

I came into this one after hearing a track on the radio, a fun romp of an indie-pop song. Even with the song I knew, the cover art and title had me expecting something more along the lines of chamber pop. It’s more indie-pop/indie rock, and it’s largely stellar. It’s an all DIY affair, which adds a looseness to the music; this isn’t another overproduced saccharine record. It is perhaps a bit too long or a bit too repetitive, the album as a whole is fun but feels like its lacking in something. But as individual parts, there’s a lot of fun tracks here. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

Etran de l’Air – 100% Sahara Guitar

I mean what else do you expect with a name like this? I’ve mentioned it a few times throughout this project but I have a secret love of African music, especially African guitar music, so this was up my alley. I listened to this on a toasty summer day walking around downtown Boston, wich was probably ideal. It’s a solid and really fun set of African rhythms filtered through American rock, just like Mdou Moctar and countless others. It isn’t as strong as some others – too many songs that meander through a midtempo lull – but it is still very fun and wildly confident.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 9/13/24

Sinai Vessel – I SING

How’s this for full-circle: ten years ago, back when I used this blog largely to cover new emo bands, I wrote about Sinai Vessel’s EP “profanity.” I was – if I recall correctly, which I may not – the first person to cover their music. Now, Sinai Vessel is one person, and he’s on a retirement tour. Caleb Cordes last album, I SING, is just as vulnerable and emotional as anything else he’s released. In 2014, I referenced how the band had been called “punk for sissies” and used the then-zeitgeisty term “tender emo.” That style tends to grow and mature, and it has here – soft, personal indie music that always eschews any form of oomph. I will say, it was all a little too lowkey for me – man-and-a-guitar music tends to be hit-and-miss in the PGMR world. But even in that scene, it’s unique, because it lacks any flashiness and showmanship, in favor of personality and rawness. So while this wasn’t really for me, it should find a nice niche home. Congrats on a great career!

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 7/26/24

Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet

I love the harmless pun of the title, referring to both the 36-minute runtime and Carpenter herself. Now, surely you’ve already heard this album, I got to it a bit late. It’s utterly delightful, I loved it. It scratches the same itch that Carly Rae Jepsen does – bouncy pop songs that deal with the complexities of relationships that also aren’t plastic. It can be difficult in today’s landscape to make pop music that’s truly authentic but this album is, top-to-bottom. It’s raunchy and clever, nearly every song is a winner. It’s easy to see why this is the album that’s really broken her out of Disney containment; if it wasn’t for Chappell Roan, this would’ve been Carpenter’s year to lose. And if it wasn’t for Charli, this would probably be the best pop album of 2024. Those aren’t exactly setbacks, this is an album we’ll be talking about for years to come.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire

The best black metal albums are ones with minimal to no melodies and production that sounds like the band is in the next building, which makes Spectral Wound all the more remarkable. The band manages to make black metal with melodies and crisp production that isn’t any sort of “experimental” or “pseudo” black metal. It’s just black metal. Pummeling walls of guitar and guttural vocals, the loudest that music can be. But there are melodies, and even some lyrics that recognize the band’s stance testing the confines from the inside. There’s a meta element to this album that feels foreign to traditional black metal. This isn’t as excellent as their previous album, 2021’s A Diabolic Thirst, but that was a high bar to clear. This is still an excellent, maximalist metal record.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Undeath – More Insane

I’ve said it before and I will say it again – I’m clueless when it comes to writing about death metal. It’s not that I don’t know anything about the genre (although it’s far from my favorite metal subgenre), but I can just never find the right words as to what makes an album unique or not. This rips, though, it’s one of the more interesting death metal albums I’ve heard in a while. There’s no prolonged ideas or tedious songwriting, just a bunch of raucous blasts and a some very fun, unpredictable songs. Nothing happens twice, which is the mark of a death metal band that isn’t allowing themselves to be complacent within the genre. Also the cover is sick as hell and offbeat for the genre. It rocks!

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 10/4/24

The The – Ensoulment

It’s only been fairly recently that I’ve started to gain an appreciation for the lighter new wave and 80’s pop bands, so The The is one that I’ve never really spent any time with. Truthfully, this is probably the first time I’ve ever really listened to them. It wasn’t really “for me” necessarily but I appreciated what it was – minimalist synth-pop with a lot of spoken word vocals. The band’s first album in ~25 years is unassuming and niche, not looking to gain any younger fans. It sounds akin to some of Roger Waters’ late-career solo albums in its grizzly, vocal-forward songwriting and light melodies. It’s interesting, it’s a little too barebones. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Toro Y Moi – Hole Erth

I always appreciate artists stepping out of their comfort zone, and when you’re someone like Toro Y Moi, you don’t even necessarily have one. Chaz Bear, aka Toro Y Moi, had a pretty unique and signature sound for a few years before it was imitated by millions; he was a founder of chillwave, the synth-heavy retro-pop sound that emerged around 2010. His last few records have been more indie-based, but this one leans far more into hip-hop. It doesn’t really work, honestly. He doesn’t sound nearly tough enough or, alternately, too energized – he’s trying to marry some styles that have irreconcilable differences. It’s ultimately just too limp. Some assists from Kevin Abstract and Kenny Mason actually give the end of the album a boost. The last 4 songs or so are worth the time. And there’s a lot of good ideas throughout. But it’s just a little too sedated and plastic. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Body Meat – Starchris

Based on the album cover and the way I saw this record described, I was expecting something much more neurotic and possibly industrial. I made the mistake of listening to it just after the Toro Y Moi record, and it’s quite similar – chill indie-pop, just more experimental. Songs are drawn out and there’s occasional chaotic elements thrown in. But it’s very jazzy, too. The individual elements of this record are relatively standard, but the complete songs are pretty unique. It’s always bordering on going noisy and heavy, but usually stays funky. It’s a fun one.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Porridge Radio – Clouds In The Sky There Will Always Be There For Me 

Another winner from one of the most unique acts in indie music. The British trio makes indie music that is at home with bands like Built to Spill, but might make listeners a little uncomfortable. Singer Dana Margolin has a gritty voice resembling Francis Quinlan from Hop Along, but with a backing band that’s filtered through the looseness of Hole. The whole album is off-the-cuff and extremely raw. It could even be more Tom Waits than anything. The music this band makes is wholly unique, and it’s fair to say that some normal indie fans will be turned off by it. But I’ve been way onboard with them for a few years now, and this is a real standout. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/18

Machine Girl – MG Ultra

There’s nothing out there like Machine Girl. They have a lot of elements that I theoretically shouldn’t like, but I love their music. I guess the way to describe the duo is techno-hardcore, hardcore music with a lot of glitchy electronic elements and unpredictability. More often than not, this album is heavy and gonzo, which is right up my alley. It’s fun as hell, while still being mildly off-putting to anyone trying to embrace traditional electronic or hardcore music. Though Machine Girl have been at it for over a decade, I can see this unholy hyperpop-metal concoction being a new scene soon.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/18/24

Coldplay – Moon Music

Does it matter what I say here? You made your mind up about Coldplay a long, long time ago, and new albums from them are pretty meaningless to anyone outside the fanbase. You might be surprised to learn that I am, in fact, a huge Coldplay fan. I don’t love everything they’ve done, but I do think a lot of it is better than what people credit them with. Moon Music might be their hokiest release yet, but that’s part of the charm. The lackadaisical cover art and the song title that’s just an emoji don’t exactly hint at high art, and many of these songs do sound like the U2 castoffs that Coldplay are notorious for. But hey, I think they’re pleasant. They pull in some surprise guest appearances from the likes of Jon Hopkins and top-five-alive rapper Little Simz. The spaciness of their music works pretty well here, as the more ambient songs are generally the better ones. But hey, it’s Coldplay – if you’re reading this blog, you’re probably not going to listen to this.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 10/4/24

Hell Beach – BEACHWORLD

I knew nothing about this band before I saw them open for Buzzcocks, which itself is an unbelievable endorsement. On stage, I thought they were an enthralling punk band with a lot of positive energy and a stage presence well beyond their nascent years. They had just put out their debut record, which doesn’t quite capture the same energy. It’s much more of a standard pop-punk record, surprisingly. That’s not really my thing, personally, so it was a bit of a letdown for me. A lot of these songs got kind of lost amongst each other. But I don’t want to be negative, because the songs had already blown me away live (and they’re relatively local!). If you like pop-punk, these folks seem a lot more historied than they are. It’s a solid debut record, even if it wasn’t what I was looking for. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 8/9/24

Megan Thee Stallion – MEGAN

I’m historically bad at writing about hip-hop and you developed an opinion on Megan long ago, so this is a throwaway review. Let’s just say, this album solidifies Megan as a star. Even without the shit in her personal life, this would be a bombastic and confident record for the ages. But knowing what’s gone down, it’s downright glorious. It’s sexy, it’s funny and most importantly, it’s freeing. It’s a home run trot of a record. Like nearly every modern rap album, it’s too long – there are not enough different ideas to satisfy the 52 minute runtime. But, there’s a lot of songs that are just fun winners, and what else do you expect from Megan? There’s an extended edition of the album I have not yet heard, which has a tantalizing feature from metal band Spiritbox ! 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 6/28/24

Shannon and the Clams – The Moon Is In The Wrong Place

I was deep into the whole surf-punk Burger Records scene in the early 2010’s, so naturally I was on board with Shannon and the Clams. I lost the way with them as I feel they settled into a state of somewhat tedious indie, but I still always want to give them the benefit of the doubt. I really dug this album! The band has a lot of spunk back. They’re still firmly indie, but they’re pulling influences in from doo-wop and skate punk. The whole effort comes off like the 60’s garage rock records that I want to hear them doing. It’s a style of music I personally adore, and this one is pretty solidly fun. The ballads are effective enough, and the more energetic songs are pretty rousing. What more do you need?

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Hinds – VIVA HINDS

It’s been a long four years since the last Hinds album. In that time, the bassist and drummer both left, reducing the band back to the two vocalist-guitarists that initially formed it. That might be a disaster for some bands, but for Hinds it was freeing. I’ve been in their camp since the first album from the Spanish indie duo, and this record is probably their best one yet. These songs are sweet and unassuming, but confident and broader. That last note is important – this is the widest-ranging Hinds album, with tender songs, rousing ones like the excellent “En Forma,” and space for both Beck and Grian Chatten to show up and do their own thing. The 2024 indie pot has way overflowed, and in a different year this would be a standout. It’s still a real winner.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Geordie Greep – The New Sound

Geordie Greep has lost his goddamn mind. The former frontman for black midi is on his own after the band’s sudden break-up. The indie band was already bizarre, but now Greep is in full control and he’s unrestrained. The core of this album still sounds like black midi, with rapid-fire songs filled with staccato and unpredictable rhythms, and a lot of talk-singing, to where the end result feels like musical vertigo. But he’s also added Latin elements, jazz, blues, bongos, a lot of paranoid oomph, and just even more unpredictability. Oh and there’s the genuinely moving cover of a 40’s pop song that closes it all out. It’s an impressive solo debut, especially for one as wildly ambitious as it is. If you liked black midi, as I often did, then you’ll like this. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/4/24 

Arab Strap – I’m totally fine with it don’t give a fuck anymore

Arab Strap is another group I’ve never really listened to, so I can’t compare this record to previous ones. Based on the opening song, “Allatonceness,” that album title is an all-out lie. It’s got the same pulsating intensity of IDLES’ “Colossus,” one of the all-time best album openers. The rest of the album isn’t nearly as vicious, but it’s all very raw and largely minimal indie. It’s a pretty dismal and misanthropic album, though the band is clearly energized and having some fun. This is a record for people who are sick of indie-pop dominating their indie radio.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Uttertomb – Nebulas of Self-Destruction

Yes, this one has a weirdly similar cover. One thing I’ve noticed over the past few years is that while I love metal, much of what I listen to just doesn’t stick with me. I’m writing these reviews a few weeks after listening to all of these albums, but the metal ones are like a blank slate. From what I remember, this is some dreary death metal, not your hokey and bombastic Aborted-type stuff but metal that’s got a layer of mud over it. A quick search tells me this is a proper debut album, even though the band has been around for over a decade. I feel bad that I’m not giving them a proper space here, because it’s an exceptional record. Vile, gloomy and heavy as hell. You know what? I should spin it again. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Denzel Curry – King of the Mischevious South Part 2

Hot damn. I accidentally slept on this one for a while despite loving basically everything Curry has done so far. Curry has made a name for himself making rap that’s intense without straying too far from genre conventions. This is more of a down-to-basics hip-hop mixtape that shows he can knock something a little more “normal” out of the park too. As a mixtape it is looser and more low-stakes than an album would be, but he puts in no less effort. Bombastic to the core. It’s a quick affair, maybe even a little too short. But Curry can practically do no wrong to this reviewer. This could end up being my favorite rap release of the year, who’s to say.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 7/19/24

Teens In Trouble – What’s Mine

I know very little about this band, but the name and album art gave me a vibe that it might the rare pop-punk that I actually like. Judged a book by its cover, and I was spot on. This is some solid, low-stakes punk. It’s definitely pop-punk, but gone are the whiny cliches and post-nasal drip vocals. The pop-punk I like is the stuff that focuses on the punk – PUP, Beach Bunny, etc – and this falls under that category. Taut, guitar-forward and melodic punk rock. It never goes out of style. Miss Cayetana? Look no further. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/19/24

The Only Humans – It’s a Beautiful Night. I Think I’ll Disappear Forever. 

Full disclosure – I know most of the members of this band. I’m ex-coworkers with three of them, and am actively friends with one. But removing any bias, I’m including a lil review here because this album is genuinely excellent. The band has the proper and orchestral look of the Decemberists, with the music to boot; and, singer Tim Howd sounds like a dead ringer for John Darnielle. The expansive album is a conceptual one, as death invades from all angles. But the record is a lot of fun, and no two songs are really the same. My personal fave is the maximalist “Esplanade.” I know it’s a way overinflated year for indie, but if you’re trying to look beyond the headliners, please check this one out.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/18/24

Nilufer Yanya – My Method Actor

I haven’t heard the British singer’s first two albums, but it appears that her third album is her best so far. It’s tough to imagine something that surpasses this. It’s the melding of indie and pop, but in a wholly different way than the American indie-pop albums that have flooded the year. This is suave, cool and loud – there’s a lot of pumping guitar that disrupts the soulful songwriting. The end result is almost unclassifiable, as if rock and R&B have been jammed together. Her voice is excellent, confident but smooth, and these songs are unique and just fun. I feel that this is a record I’ll be revisiting, as these songs need more attention from me. This is one rocks, folks.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 9/13/24

Cursive – Devourer

When all is said and done and the dust on Cursive’s career is settled, they’d better be recognized as one of the most underrated groups in music history. Ask a casual indiehead and they’ll say they love The Ugly Organ. Well folks, Cursive is still putting out records that good twenty years later. Their tenth album Devourer is simply one of the best rock records of the year, and it doesn’t even have a damn Wikipedia page. It’s apocalypse time on Devourer, in case you were expecting the mood to have softened. But it is very fun, the band is still treading the same thin line of emo, indie and rock. Plus, in the last few years they’ve expanded to include a full-time trumpeter and cellist. It’s a unique affair even if it doesn’t sound like one at a first glance. People are sleeping on Cursive, y’all should get with them.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 9/13/24

Fange – Perdition

Like some of the best metal albums I’ve heard this year, I don’t actually know where this recommendation came from. Fange is on their seventh album, but were totally off my radar until this year. It’s catch up time for me, because I loved this. The French band does a punishing mix of industrial, death metal, sludge and a touch of rock (for melody seasoning). The vocals are menacing and the music is both metrical and unforgiving. It’s all very heavy and intense, but the band finds ways to warp a little melody in there as well. It’s closer to industrial than anything else, but you wouldn’t ever confuse this with Nine Inch Nails. It’s straight metal, too.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 2/9/24

Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia?

I somehow completely missed Yard Act’s first album, but their 2023 standalone single “The Trench Coat Museum” completely roped me in. Their second album regrettably doesn’t feature the song, but it follows in the same trend – tongue-in-cheek music that blends post-punk through indie. It’s one of a hundred great post-punk albums this year, and maybe the best of the lot. The band is a lot heavier and faster than, say, Cheekface, but with the same humor and spoken-word vocals. “We Make Hits” is one of the best songs of the year, a meta song about selling out in the face of global destruction that sounds ripped from the LCD Soundsystem playbook. The band never stays quiet or complacent, adding riotous elements to practically every song. Even the lengthy “Blackpool Illuminations” seems to be a self-reflective ballad, before it turns into James Smith arguing with himself through two mics like an old Jim Gaffigan bit. It’s riveting stuff. Not quite one of the best albums of the year, but it’s charting high on my list.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere

I’ve said elsewhere that death metal is one genre where bands don’t have to be innovative and often aren’t – because even the most template death metal bands will still find a big audience. But some bands do experiment, none more so that Blood Incantation. Their 2019 record Hidden History of the Human Race is no less than one of the five or so best metal records of the last decade. The band has only grown more experimental, as this record edges hard on progressive rock alongside death metal standards. It’s only two songs – six on streaming, each song broken up into three sections – both over 20 minutes. Both tracks are odysseys, with sections of unfiltered death metal in parts. But both songs embrace prog rock just as much. The second track, “The Message,” takes an obvious inspiration from Animals, the best Pink Floyd album. It’s a purely unique record top-to-bottom, and an obvious candidate for metal album of the year.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 10/4/24

Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony

There’s not really any reason why I slept on this one for so long, I’ve been a moderate fan of Webster’s for a bit now. I loved the lead single “But Not Kiss,” one of my favorite songs of 2023 (although I wasn’t hot the second single “Lego Ring” despite the presence of Yachty). I appreciated this as a colder version of singer-songwriter Webster. Her previous albums have been somewhat playful, here she seems largely detached. She seems to aiming for the same chord as Lana Del Rey, of retro-sounding orchestral pop with present-day cultural references. It’s not the same end result, as other influences are worked in too, but it is an interesting comparison. Ultimately, I found this very solid but with some undercooked moments. Lyrically it’s her best work, musically it has flashes of genius and flashes of flatness, some songs are a little too empty. But on the whole, it’s a great indie record.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Escuela Grind – DDEEAATTHHMMEETTAALL

About two songs into this four song EP I went “hey wasn’t this band up to some weird shit earlier this year?” and googled it to find out that they have been accused of a litany of awful crimes that I was not aware of prior to hitting play. It’s a shame, they were both an incredibly interesting group and a local export, and I feel awful for ever supporting them. Just noting that here, and I’m not bothering with the full-length they just put out. Fuck ‘em. Also this EP is boring filler.

Grade: whatever/10   Initial release date: 1/12/24

Pixies – The Night The Zombies Came

The worst thing that a Pixies album can be is boring. This album is boring. I’m over the moon that a version of Pixies exists in 2024 – hell, I just got to see them for the very first time somehow – but all of their reunion albums have been somewhat ill-advised. This is far from the nadir of 2014’s Indie Cindy, but it’s an album that plays everything too safe. Almost every song here is tepid and slow, like it’s adult alternative. What’s worse is that there are one or two songs that sound like old Pixies, tantalizing reminders that these slow-burners are a choice. Nothing here is bad, but nothing here is worth the effort. It just exists. It feels like a “remember us?” album, but Pixies don’t need to be doing that, they can keep touring without any new music and people won’t ever forget. It’s ironic that the band that founded the concept of touring a full album would slip to stopgap status. Not terrible, but for die-hards only.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 10/25/24

And there you have it! 36 albums – I’m sure you’ve heard some of these, and I hope you find some gems you may not have known about. Think this post was long? Next month’s will probably be longer. I’m scrambling to listen to everything I can in a shorter and shorter amount of time. As I’m writing this post on 11/23, I’ve already got 35 albums in the tank. Buckle up. Next month you’ll find: a double dose of an indie rap legend, yet another post-punk winner, a very healthy does of disturbing metal, some Christian rap, and the surprise release of the year.

The Rundown: September 2024

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of me writing way too many words about albums you’ve already formed an opinion on! If you’ve stumbled on this, I’ve been doing flash reviews of (almost) every new album I listen to this year. Some of the previous posts have been, well, long, but this was a different month. I spent two weeks in September on a nice vacation, my ears far away from any streaming services. Still, I’ve got 27 flash reviews for you – and a lot of these are utterly fantastic albums. 2024 has spoiled us greatly. Below, we’ve got a ton of excellent new indie albums, a pair of post-hardcore releases that will be near the top of my AOTY list, some solid metal, and a predictably great country release. I hope you find some gems for yourself in here! Let’s get cracking.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God

I’ve mentioned a few times that this exercise has mostly become me showing my own ass, and here I must do it again: I am not very familiar with the Nick Cave catalog. I’ve listened to (and loved) his earliest and most recent records, but there’s 20 years in the middle I haven’t heard. In my limited experience though, I’ve realized the best Nick Cave songs are ones where there’s just minimal piano or static noise and Cave talking lyrics. He does that a lot here. There’s also songs that have full-band with choir backups, and they’re just as stunning. It’s unbelievable that Cave still stuns this much, but every track on this album works well. Most of them work tremendously well. Cave is one of music’s premier storytellers, and this is another legendary release. It’s one of the best albums of the year. No question. I’m in awe. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

Tycho – Infinite Health

This one is pretty tough to grade, because listening to this record served much more of a purpose than the sheer entertainment value of every other record. This album was hand-selected as background music for me to sleep to on a grueling, intercontinental flight. This sounds like an extreme backhanded compliment, and maybe it is, but it did the trick. Not to say that this boring, it’s an album that’s mentally stimulating but peaceful enough to nod off to. I’ve never been super into Tycho, because it’s not necessarily for me, but they’re a great band. It’s all instrumental post-rock that marries complex and layered rhythms with a fun and playful aura. When you’re listening to it while 75% asleep with your head on a hard plane window, it’s a fun stimulation; it’s tougher to tell when one idea ends and the next begins. Will I ever give this one a chance while I’m alert? Probably not – but if funky post-rock is your scene, you can’t go wrong here.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

DIIV – Frog In Boiling Water

This one kinda hurts to write. I really like DIIV, or at least I really like the idea of them. There’s no other band out there like them, a shoegaze-inspired psychedelic band doing tons of cool guitar noodling while still somehow firmly indie. “Doused” is easily one of my favorite songs. But the band’s fourth album was, to me, very limp. I respect bands taking new approaches, and I seem to (thankfully!) be in a tiny minority here, as the record is getting rave reviews. The music is denser and slower, with the fun noodling replaced by droning chords. It’s alright in practice, but an album full of it gets tedious quickly. I think the parts are better than the whole, as the album needed some songs of other tempos either quicker or slower. It didn’t click with me. Then again, this isn’t the first time DIIV hasn’t clicked with me – so maybe someday it will. For now, it’s…fine.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/24/24

Good Looks – Lived Here For A While

Alright I’m way behind and I don’t remember this album completely clearly so let’s be quick – this is a wickedly fun indie album, mostly standard indie but with some threatening shoegaze elements. I think I was just in the right mood for something like this, because it scratched an itch that I didn’t realize I had. There’s a handful of great songs here, and nearly all of them are inherently listenable. Very fun stuff!

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown

I’m not overly familiar with Portishead, what I’ve heard I’ve liked, but it isn’t music I feel any nostalgia for personally. I’m even less familiar with solo endeavors from their singer, Beth Gibbons, who dropped her first proper solo album 33 years after the first Portishead record. It’s a gorgeous album, one that starts innocently before expanding into something grander. The cover implies a folksy affair, and at most times it is. It’s brooding chamber pop, sometimes soft but sometimes sinister, like slipping back into a nightmare. It’s also usually acoustic, but when the guitars kick in, they really kick in – some of these songs drone and shout loudly, unexpected explosions after multiple songs of slumber. It’s a gorgeous record, one of both extremes, yet often just restrained chamber pop. We expected nothing less.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/17

Oceanator – Everything Is Love and Death

I love Oceanator for the same reason I love illuminati hotties – basic, effective indie-punk. And like IH, Oceanator is much more indie than punk, just with some occasional punk flares. There isn’t much to say here, it’s another very standard but very fun record. There’s something very comforting about Elise Okusami’s music: it’s warm and inviting even as she sings about interpersonal differences. This isn’t really any different than previous Oceanator records, but hey the system still works. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

Aborted – Vault of Horrors

Now here’s something you don’t see every day – a death metal album with full collaborations. Every song features a different guest vocalist, so the full effect is one that’s far more unpredictable than a standard death metal release. It’s fun throughout, the songs rarely fall victim to normal death metal trappings. I will say, there isn’t really a standout song; they’re all good, but none are great. But considering how repetitive the genre can be, we’ll call it a win. Riffs, drums, screams, and massive ridiculousness, what more could you need?

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Beeef – Somebody’s Favorite

Bear with me, because there’s a few blast reviews I didn’t get to before leaving for a two-week, offline vacation. This is one and it is just no longer fresh in my brain. But, Beeef is one of Boston’s most prized groups right now, and Favorite showcases why. The band plays patient indie, nostalgic tunes about regional memories. The songs are conventionally appealing, but don’t have a forced alignment to radio structures. Some songs barely hit two minutes, some stretch past six. There’s a maturity here well beyond their goofy band name. Beeef has been great for years, and this only elevates them further. Please, check them out. This Beeef has some mustard on it.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Kal Marks – Wasteland Baby

Kal Marks are one of my favorite Boston bands, even more so than Beeef, and yet this album still obliterated my expectations. The Kal Marks wheelhouse is midtempo post-hardcore that’s very bass-y in both music and vocals. Generally, their songs are ones that are heavy and divisive, but not exactly inaccessible. Here, they branch out a bit, introducing some poppier elements and some more optimistic lyrics. There’s plenty of just heavy shit, too, though; it’s a well-rounded record. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best heavy albums I’ve heard all year, local bias or not. Nearly every song floored me in some way. If you’re into a variety of post-hardcore bands like METZ or Protomartyr, then add this one to your list. They’ve done it again. This will absolutely be one of my year-end favorites. Finally, a good album with the name “Wasteland Baby.”

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 9/13/24

Uranium Club – Infants Under the Bulb

This one came via recommendation from someone who I believed referred to it as punk; the band name and song titles certainly indicated so. It took me a few songs to really vibe with the style, which is really more post-punk than anything, but not really in the same style as other bands I’ve covered this year like Cheekface or Guppy. This band has a lot of energy and spunk, they just present it in an odd way. The talk-sung lyrics didn’t really work for me at first, but I wasn’t expecting something like it. Once I got more into it, I found some stuff to appreciate. The band has boldness and humor in their lyrics. My two favorite tracks came back-to-back, “2-600-LULLABY” and “Abandoned By The Narrator.” Stick around for the comically named “Big Guitar Jackoff In The Sky,” which aptly has some of the finest guitar work of this year. Fun stuff, but some of it is just a head-scratcher.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Chromeo – Adult Contemporary

Another release that I jumped into blind, hell it wasn’t even really the genre I was expecting. I’ve definitely always lumped Chromeo and Chromatics together in my brain even though they’re not (particularly) similar. This was slight but ultimately fun funk music. The duo has been around a while and it’s clear this album is not meant for the youth – it’s a record about staying funky into middle age. There’s some tongue-in-cheek stuff (check the title!) but it’s also mostly played seriously. It’s very 2010’s, and it sticks to one gameplan. What starts as a fun record gets pretty played out by the midpoint, and less inspired. The duo is high-energy, but playing it very safe, which is fatal to the record’s back half. Still, throw on the first couple tracks for a quick lil dance party. We finally found the white boys bussin it down sexual style. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Let’s not mince words – this was my most anticipated record of 2024. The first single off this album, “Rudolph” was one of my favorite songs of 2023. The second single, “She’s Leaving You,” is easily making my 2024 list. Lenderman’s primary band, Wednesday, handily won my Album of the Year mark in 2023. I really set my sights too high on this one, as it didn’t quite deliver, but that’s on me – it’s one of the best records of the year. Lenderman’s solo music bridges the gap between Neil Young and Kurt Vile; it’s off-the-cuff guitar playing and talk-sung vocals, with intricate and specific lyrics that detail American loneliness. Lenderman’s previous album focused on the grungier side of those artists, and this one is heavier on the Americana side. There’s enough Southern gothic here to make Flannery O’Connor happy but, predictably, there’s a lot of humor and just unpredictable references that make these stories entertaining. I don’t think Neil Young ever sang about Ferraris, Guitar Hero or the Cars film franchise. I always love specificity in lyrics even if it makes the songs less applicable – to me, it shows personality and care. Lenderman is always all about that. Only complaint here is that the energetic/somber balance is off in favor of the latter, but it’s a minor complaint. This guy is just on a different level from everyone else.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Tierra Whack – WORLD WIDE WHACK

Ever since releasing a 15-song, 15-minute album, Tierra Whack has established herself as one of the more ambitious and exciting acts in rap. WWW follows the artist’s signature short songs, with only one song over three minutes here. The livelier songs that kick off both halves of the album are easily the best – namely “MS BEHAVE” and “X,” high-energy ditties that don’t settle for any conventional rap sound. Most of the songs are more template – sometimes frustratingly so, but often they’re still quite enjoyable. It isn’t Whack’s finest work, but it’s fun top-to-bottom, and it’s over as soon as it starts. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites

Sometimes you just need some good ol’ rock & roll. I was raised on classic rock and I will always have a deep appreciation for it. I love all of it, but the bluesy hard-rock of ZZ Top, Thin Lizzy, Foghat, etc, is music I particularly like. That’s what Sheer Mag has always done at least somewhat, and they lean way into it here. Good old guitar rock. The song “Eat It And Beat It” – an obvious play on “Hit It And Quit It” – will certainly be the best straightforward rock song I hear this year. It’s fun as hell. The best songs on the album are. There’s a lot of complacency here too, to be fair – a handful of rock songs that don’t really bring the heat and just exist. They prevent this from being an excellent album, but it is still a very good and fun one. In fact, it helps them align even more with classic rock bands – it’s all about the singles.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Uniform – American Standard

Uniform’s first few albums were solid but I kept waiting for a breakout release. 2020’s Shame was that release, a mix of industrial guitars and guttural post-hardcore that seemed to come out of the same catacombs on that album’s cover. The band’s newest album is impossibly even bleaker, complete with a smog-heavy cover of smog-plagued rural anywhere. The band also sounds even bleaker, and stretches themselves way out of a comfort zone. That comfort zone is reasonably-lengthed songs. Side A of this record is one, 21-minute song. Side B is only three songs. By stretching their songs out, the band can hammer home the innate misery of their music. This is angry, humorless stuff, just the absolute depths of unhappiness. Uniform is not an easy band to classify musically, even harder here because they stretch into doom-metal for the first time. But this isn’t really metal, and not really post-hardcore. It exists in its own dimension, a hell dimension of some sort. This is not something that’s appealing to most people, but I love this band and they crushed my highest expectations.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Einstürzende Neubauten – Rampen (apm: alien pop music)

This project has mostly resulted in me showing my ass a lot, and here I must do it again: I’ve listened to very little Einstürzende Neubauten in my time. It’s not like there’s little to listen to, this is the band’s 13th album in a 40-odd year career, plus tons of other releases. Although the industrial pioneers initially started by making super abrasive music, they’ve cooled off over the years. This is the only later-career album I’ve heard, and I got what I expected – mostly very chill music with an industrial background. Some of these songs stretch a bit (or fully) into ambient territory, although the better ones are more melodic. It’s never really heavy, opting instead for balanced rhythms. The opening two songs are quirky and fun, the two best on the album. There’s way too much, at 15 songs and 74 minutes, and a lot of it can feel like bloat. But, it’s a great workday record, surprising for a band that used to be so aggressive!

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition

I always have trouble writing about death metal, so much of it is so similar that it can be difficult to separate bands, even if the albums are differing in quality. So excuse me when I just say – this is good ass death metal. I’ve loved Gatecreeper for a few years now, and this just rips. It’s not the most interesting Gatecreeper album, I think some previous ones have been more ambitious or exploratory. But, there’s nothing wrong with playing the basics when you’re this good at them. Sometimes, you just need the ground-pounding albums like this.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Chick Corea & Béla Fleck – Remembrance

I am but one man who mostly loves garage rock, so I simply don’t keep up with modern jazz like I wish I could. Imagine my surprise at seeing two of my favorite jazz artists collaborating, hit immediately by the shock of remembering that the former artist has passed. This record is technically a compilation, a mix of studio songs, improvisations and live tracks, but it doesn’t feel like one. Everything is coherent and similar, and the smatterings of applause throughout signify a captive, sometimes nonexistent live audience. With Corea on piano and Fleck on banjo, you likely know what you’re going to get – and there’s a lot of it. It’s a beautiful set of collaborations, often just the two men alone, together. Very pretty and very fun music for any jazz fan.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Kim Petras – Slut Pop Miami

I contain multitudes. Listening to this a day after Corea/Fleck was a whirlwind. This mini-album is both a parody of and the logical end to the 00’s pop scene, a set of short songs that are as sexually explicit as humanly possible. Gone are the metaphors, gone is even something like “If You Seek Amy,” replaced by songs like “Butt Slutt” and “Can we fuck?” On the one hand, the songs are fun, even if repetitive and simplistic. On the other hand, you have to wonder what the point is. Petras has made a name for herself in the same simple, bubblegum pop, so if this is satirical, then it starts in the wrong gate. More importantly, does this require this level of analysis? Hell, “Anal Y Sis” could be a track on this very album. It’s fun! 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/14/24

Kate Nash – 9 Sad Symphonies

I’ve been saying for years how unfair and unfortunate it is that Kate Nash fell out of the zeitgeist. I maintain that her previous album, 2018’s Yesterday Was Forever, is deeply underrated. Unfortunately, her comeback album just doesn’t have the juice. The indie singer has always had a flair for punk, even recording with bands like FIDLAR, but this record dilutes that energy. These are standard, template indie songs that are inherently pleasing but little else. The string-based opener feels like a red herring, but it isn’t. These tracks just don’t have the fitful spunk that set Nash apart from her contemporaries. If it were a quiet year for indie, this might be one to check out. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 6/21/24

Big|Brave – A Chaos of Flowers

Big|Brave are a fascinating trio. They belong to the same circle of extreme metal like The Body and Full of Hell, and they belong to the same circle of Gothic folk like Chelsea Wolfe and Marissa Nadler. They’ve carved out a niche with practically no contemporaries. Flowers is a beautiful album, the songs are as haunting and gorgeous as the band has ever recorded. Every now and then, they remind you that they can get heavy and deeply inaccessible, but often they keep it quiet. Sometimes these songs edge on pure minimalism – the band works to hit both sides of the spectrum, and they do so very successfully. This isn’t a metal album, but it’s an album best appreciated by metal fans. A fascinating record by a fascinating band.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19

Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All

Like any true metal band, Darkthrone has petered out into legacy status. Darkthrone were instrumental in the foundation of black metal, though they were just as quick to abandon it. In the years since, they’ve remained active as a duo, releasing albums meandering around concoctions of black, doom, and speed metal or even hardcore punk. This release is largely doom-metal based, although not exclusively. I’ll be honest, the first song is irritating. It’s boring doom with off-key vocals. But some of these songs rip, especially the ones that hide energy or have tempo changes. Darkthrone doesn’t really have anything to prove to anyone these days, but they’re still making solid metal records. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/26/24

Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk

I was hesitant to even put this on my list because the list is so clogged and I wasn’t sure I’d get around to it. But rave reviews of both professional and personal manners convinced me – and it’s fun as hell. A loaded but never bloated indie-pop record, this one is not afraid to take chances. One song might be bouncy, standard indie-pop a la Charly Bliss, the next might be jazzy indie. The duo jump into 70’s ballads and drone guitar on a whim. A curated tracklist means the more ambitious tunes elevate the more standard tunes, so they all bounce off each other rather than seem like filler. It’s nearly an hour and yet there isn’t a skippable moment. I’m not sure if I ever heard their debut album, but this sophomore release feels like a true mission statement. Don’t sleep on this one. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Fontaines D.C. – Romance

The previous Fontaines D.C. records were inconsistent in how much they grabbed my attention, but they were consistent in that the songs all kinda sounded the same. The (very) Irish post-punk band has had a relatively standard sound prior to Romance. Well the book’s out the window. This record actually has a majority of songs that are ballads, but the band hits the highest energy of their career too. They rap, there’s punk, and there’s tender love tunes. The band has always sounded a little inauthentic in their emotions previously; not here. This is earnest and real from a band that has never sounded so ambitious or energized. Don’t go in expecting the high-octane energy of the singles, but do go in expecting what is easily the band’s best album to date. This will go down as a highlight in a stacked indie year. UPDATE: Shockingly, they picked up a few Grammy noms for this. Well deserved, lads.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Chastity Belt – Live Laugh Love

I was a fan of Chastity Belt’s early work before the band went a little too soft for my taste. I’ll admit that I haven’t really kept up with their output but the album title and cover combo grabbed me, as did a general desire to see where the indie-punkish ladies were at. The soft-indie turn has mostly continued, although the album does offer some surprises. Early track “Funny” has an ominous drone quality, effective and unexpected. Other early tracks are fun and bouncy, but the back half suffers. Side B is mostly very uninspired, just routine indie. It’s a shame because there’s some good stuff here, but it gets very tedious. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24 

Bat For Lashes – The Dream of Delphi

What a year it’s been for mature, legacy indie artists. I haven’t really kept up with BFL, but as a human with ears and a heart, I love her early albums. Delphi is in the same realm; at its best, these are dreamy and warm indie songs, almost hallucinatory. The title track – presented as both the opener and the closer with an extended version – is one of the most engaging and haunting songs I’ve heard all year. Other points on this album hit a volume so low that I had trouble even hearing anything on the train – not the ideal listening situation. Indeed, there’s a little too little here, the true structured moments are too far in between. But the great songs are great, and worth the price of admission on their own.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24

Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well

There’s been a few examples this year of artists I love rebounding from weaker albums (Vampire Weekend, St. Vincent, ScHoolboy Q). Add Kacey to the mix. Coming off her breathtaking and Grammy-crushing country album Golden Hour, Kacey turned to a more pop-focus for Star-Crossed, and it was, bluntly, meh. For Deeper Well, she’s gone back to the atmospheric country that made her an arena star. It’s a welcome return, as the whole here is excellent. It’s a dreamy album, the same summer-y camping vibes as before. She’ll probably never make another record as good as Hour, but that’s an immense bar to clear. This one doesn’t really have standout songs like that record did, but the full product is wonderful. She’s also shifted her lyrics into a more serious zone. So many of her previous songs coupled breezy music with lyrics about wasting time and days spent milling around. Here, she’s quitting weed and strengthening her relationships. This serves as both a sequel and companion piece to Hour. Loved it.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

And that’s another month down! I hope you perused this and found something that sounds interesting to you – or potentially something to avoid. Check back in next month, I’ll be going over some great death metal, a couple of my favorite rap records of the year, a ton more great indie, a wild African album and, unfortunately, what’s probably my most disappointing record of the year. All that and more!

The Rundown: August 2024

Don’t adjust your TV sets, it is indeed October. I’ve spent the better part of the summer preparing for and going on a massive 2-week vacation, and I haven’t been able to give my blog the attention it deserves. If you’re stumbling across this post, I’ve been doing flash reviews of (almost) every new album I listen to this year, from Ariana Grande to local hardcore bands. This month, I actually have 42 albums but for the sake of my sanity and yours, I’m going to cap this post at 35.

Coming up below, we’ve got a handful of indie-pop artists, some experimental African music, some iffy dance music, the only album this year I haven’t bothered to finish, and a lot of good old-fashioned garage rock.

Jack White – No Name

I sometimes forget how much I love Jack White. Across his works with the Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and solo, there’s only four albums I would say I dislike. He’s always been an impatient songwriter, but his records have had measured levels of ambition. No Name might be his most down-to-earth set since the middle of the White Stripes run – just a good ol’ collection of no-frills blues rock. It’s the most White Stripes album since, to be honest, Get Behind Me Satan. There’s some of that garage-punk energy, a lot of bluesy riffs, and just compact songwriting everywhere. Some of the back half gets a little repetitive, there is a bit of an itch for some of Jack’s more ambitious stuff to be had. But overall, this is just a slambang rock record. “It’s Rough On Rats” into “Archbishop Harold Holmes” into the manic “Bombing Out” will go down as one of the best three-song runs of any 2024 album. And the closer “Terminal Archenemy Endling” – maybe the only patient song on the album – may be better than all of them. Another critical strike against the tedious and harmful “Rock is dead!!” crowd. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 8/2/24

Liquid Mike – Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot

You can’t please all the people, and similarly, you can’t always be pleased. Despite my efforts to like all genres, there’s a couple I just don’t – and pop-punk is at the top of the list. It’s a marriage of two genres I love, one built entirely on contradictions and an inherent insincerity that can only come from combining two directly opposing forces. Anyways, I liked this about as much as I can like a pop-punk album; it’s low-key and it’s got some spunk. It’s more punk than pop, with enough energy and fuzz to separate it from some lamer counterparts. The related artists pages for these groups are all interchangeable bands in Carhartt beanies, but Liquid Mike might be one of the more fun ones. Not bad, if not really for me. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/2/24

MIKE & Tony Seltzer – Pinball

From a Liquid Mike to a very solid one. I’m generally not into rap that’s on the more lowkey side, but when it’s as effortless as this is, then it’s undeniable. I’ve never listened to MIKE but I keep seeing his name as a critical darling, and for good reason. Pinball is a masterpiece that doesn’t feel like one; quiet and short tunes that hide their bluntness in plain sight. Only three of the eleven songs are over two minutes, tunes that feel more like daydreams and out-loud musings. There’s a run in the middle of the album that’s just extraordinary. Great lyrics, great beats, great ideas. Real winner here.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/6/24

A. G. Cook – Britpop

Yowza. It’s already bold to name your album after a mostly defunct genre, and much more so to make a triple album. I don’t know much about Cook, and went into this with only a rough idea what to expect. The three mini-albums played out pretty much as I anticipated, and on the whole he justifies the length. The first disc marries the two ideas that will populate the subsequent albums, a mix of electro and indie. The songs on disc 1 are by and large very fun, and very thrilling dance songs. As if the album isn’t already both bold and long, Cook kicks it off with a track just shy of 10 minutes. It’s also one of the best songs across the whole marathon. Disc 2 is certainly the weakest, and the one that I would stereotypically enjoy the most – the indie disc. It’s a collection of loved but ultimately worn and rote indie tunes that are pleasant to listen to, but don’t pass any sort of longevity test. They’re a majority guitar-based, which does offer a nice interlude between electro influences. And yes, disc 3 is a majority electro tunes. They’re also very fun, but much closer to straight dance music than disc 1. The indie elements are largely drained out in favor of a full dance party, and a party it is. It’s a very fun way to close out the spectacle, especially after a more timid centerpiece. I listened to this as three distinct discs across three weeks, and I’d recommend that approach – at 100 minutes, it’s too much of a good thing for one sitting, even if the ‘good thing’ is multiple things. But as chunks, it’s a lot of fun. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

JPEGMAFIA – I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

I’m sorry that I’m the flavor of caucasian who loves Peggy specifically but I am, and this is his finest set since Veteran. It’s also the most manic thing he’s ever released, closer to hyperpop than anything else. It’s absurdly beat-heavy, dense, and thrilling. Peggy even gets somewhat lost in the front half, in songs that focus heavily on the bass beats. He shines through on the more measured back half, with some songs that get much more earnest. His guests on this album are Vince Staples and Denzel Curry, two guys known just as much for their intense and mainstream-eschewing rap. So you know what you’re gonna get – paranoid and catchy music that’s too abrasive to play on the family speakers. One of my favorites of the year. I think Knocked Loose still has the best album with a cross on the cover, though.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/1/24

The Hope Conspiracy – Tools of Oppression/Rule by Deception

Long live Boston hardcore. This post is probably going to end up being very long and there isn’t much to say so let’s keep this short. The Hope Conspiracy are legends, and this is a legacy album. Good solid hardcore, it doesn’t really have anything new to say but it’s all grit and well-established political lyrics. There’s a million other Boston hardcore records like it – including a few by this band themselves – but if you’re like me, you’re always down for a bit more.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24

Clairo – Charm 

Boston has always been a hub for all things punk and indie, and it only makes sense that the city would claim someone to rule over the current indie-pop movement. A lot of the over-produced, saccharine indie-pop can get repetitive easily, but Clairo’s new one is genuinely beautiful. I wasn’t super into her last album, but this one is full of small, pretty and balanced songs. The production is minimalist, avoiding the trappings of many of Clario’s cohorts. Instead, the focus is on her gorgeous vocals and the threadbare instrumentation. I need to give this one a second listen – the back half was hampered by getting on a train full of inebriated boomers going to a Journey concert and I could earnestly barely hear the album. And yet – it grabbed me fully.

Also, please check out the music video for “Juna.” While I am not in the video, it was clearly filmed before a wrestling event I went to. Most of these wrestlers are local ones that aren’t known outside the area, and now there’s millions of eyes on them. My little wrestling boys are in the stars!

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 7/12/24

Frances Forever – Lockjaw

While Clairo may have claimed the Boston indie-pop throne, Frances Forever is still putting up a fight. Though named after a Mitski song, their music much more closely resembles that of beabadoobee or even Girl In Red, indie-pop that’s beat-heavy and produced to the max. It puts them at a disadvantage, because it is tough to disentangle this album from an already oversaturated market. The advantage here though lies all in the lyrics. “Mr. Man” is an outright funny response to a creepy older man hitting on them. There’s an unfiltered quality to the lyrics that intentionally spar with the largely innocent music. This is evident in the bluntly titled songs “Weeb” and “Monica Gives Me Lockjaw.” While there’s already too many of these pleasant, overproduced indie-pop albums, this one scrapes by on words.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/28/24

Yumi Nu – BLOODY

Given the album’s lo-fi and pink cover, I went into this thinking it might be some kind of glitchy or even vaporwave type of thing – but it’s more of the overproduced indie-pop similar to Frances Forever. This album isn’t particularly interesting or unique, but at only 7 songs and 23 minutes, it isn’t too much either. Instead it’s a healthy dose of indie-pop, a fun sample even if it falls far short of unique. Two songs on the back half, “Former Life” and “Pink Chalk” are the best on the album, two fun indie ditties. Nu is, for what it’s worth, the niece of Steve Aoki, and seems to be eschewing nepotism or automatic points in favor of doing her thing, which is cool. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/24/24

Melvins – Tarantula Heart

This is one I was saving for an opportune time. As it turned out, that time was a morning hype-up for a big training at work I had to lead. I’m no diehard Melvins guy, but I love their bigger works. The pre-grunge kinda-doom metal is so up my alley, and this album mostly works. I feel like Melvins had a quantity-over-quality period for a few years and it’s good to see them wean themselves off of it. The opening track here is bold, even by Melvins standards – a nineteen minute odyssey that’s a lot calmer and melodic than anyone would expect. It’s also the longest-ever Melvins album cut, at least that I can find. Side B is just classic Melvins though; brutally loud and heavy stoner-metal that isn’t interested in being glacial. “Working the Ditch” and “Allergic to Food” are absolute rippers, in line with Melvins classics. On the whole, it’s a curious listen, because the first half is just one instrumental, experimental track that maybe isn’t worth the time but maybe is. It’s only five songs total, but there’s only so much Melvins you can take at once. There’s some classic old school stuff here. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Cola – The Gloss

Either there’s quietly a post-punk revolution happening, or these albums just happen to keep falling in my lap. Earnestly, I think it’s the former. Like Omni, Cheekface and GUPPY before them, Cola’s new album is metrical guitars and spoken lyrics, as much B-52s as it is Gang of Four, but softer than either. I’ve listened to a Cola album or two in the past, finding that I pretty much always like the songs without loving any of them. That trend continues on The Gloss, a disarmingly soft record that’s nonetheless Cola. Everything feels a little muted, and it makes for an inviting listen, even if it is often a bit tepid. It does need a bit more oomph at times, the whole affair feels a little lackluster by the end. But the approach is interesting, and bigger fans of the band might be super engaged with this.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/14/24

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Flight b741

I came into this one with a lot of worry – I’m a King Gizz obsessive, one of the Gizzhead cult members, but I’ve never been much into their groovier stuff. I had heard that this one was a spiritual sequel to Fishing For Fishies, the penultimate entry in my ranking of their 26 albums. This was a lot of fun, however. KGLW had a few years where they got a bit lost in the quality v quantity debate, but they’ve now delivered three straight winners – in metal, krautrock and boogie, no less. This album is funky and bluesy, and often very spirited. A lot of Gizz’s lighter albums have been partially or fully improvised, but this album benefits from a locked-in band playing songs they’ve already jammed on before. This won’t go down as one of the best KGLW albums, but it’s one of the better recent ones – and certainly the best of the groove ones. No two Gizz fans will ever fully agree, so you probably don’t feel the same. I saw them a few days after the album’s release, and they played three cuts from this album – they ripped live.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/9/24

Melt-Banana – 3+5

Japan’s Melt-Banana served as my intro to noise music. They were the first, and for a long time only, noise band I really heard and digested; I’ve been a huge fan for almost 20 years now. Although the duo has gotten older and quainter, their hyper-aggressive punk is no less gnarly. Their first album in 11 years is short, and the songs are neither the experimental seconds-long chunks of Cactuses Come In Flocks nor the longer, more developed tracks of Cell-Scape. They’re the closest thing to true punk songs the band has done, and they absolutely rip. Every song rocks, and nearly all have the expected 1000BPM. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year, the duo was going to have to work hard to not make that cut. Also, I finally got to see them this spring – best show I’ve seen all year.

Grade: 8.5   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Four Tet – Three

I’ve always had an appreciation for electronic artists like Four Tet, but save a couple key artists (Depeche Mode, LCD Soundsystem), it’s only been recently that I’ve started to learn to really enjoy it. I say this to say that there’s a handful of electro-indie artists I’ve slept on, and I’m not overly familiar with Four Tet. By the commutative property, I assumed this would be something akin to Hot Chip, but it was much more ambient. It’s peaceful music, relaxing without being too calm or uninspired. As commuting music, it didn’t work too well, but I could see it being great working/studying music – it’s light but mentally stimulating enough to engage with. Not fully me music, but, I get it.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Oso oso – Life Till Bones

Oso oso exists right on the line of indie and pop-punk where I tend to find bands I like, despite not liking the latter genre much. I’ve enjoyed all of their albums, this one no different. The band has a way of hiding some devastating stuff within simple, conventional music. These are quaint indie-ish songs, mostly unassuming, like a lot of the current wave of pop-punk. But beneath the surface is innate self-awareness and distressing truths far beyond most bands. It’s a personal record, and still not within humility and humor – with one of my favorite covers of the year.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/9/24

Cults – To The Ghosts

I was obsessed with Cults first hit, “Go Outside” in 2009 – it was the year I entered college, and I was bumping all the indie-pop I could find. But it was only recently that I realized that they’ve been scoring other hits this whole time and maintain a sizable fanbase (I’ve somehow missed their continued popularity and thought they were relegated to one-hit wonder). So I’m not incredibly familiar with most of their albums, but I think I can thread the needle, because this sounds pretty identical to 2009 Cults. The formula still works – dreamy, overly-feminine vocals and catchy guitar-pop. But the album slogs on with too many similar elements. It’s a fun listen, but there’s nothing here you haven’t heard before.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 7/26

The Smashing Pumpkins – Aghori Mhori Mei

Billy Corgan always has something to prove. The Pumpkins were always on the heavier side of the “grunge” spectrum, and had the side effect of producing some of the much, much worse post-grunge bands. Not content to be lumped in alongside Staind, Corgan kept pushing his band to be great (as a side note, I remain the only Zeitgeist stan). Now as the subject of memes, a wrestling promotion owner and a Qanon whacko, he’s still fighting. Even if this album isn’t a big notch in their catalog, you have to admire them for remaining ambitious. This album is a nice return to form after a few years of heady, conceptual nonsense – just a no-frills pseudo-metal album that rips more often than not. The two 6+ minute songs that kick the album off threaten more proggy stuff, but after that it’s just radio metal throwbacks. On the whole, a lot of the tunes are not actually all that interesting; however, the album has a signature sound that is unique from other Pumpkins albums. Also, a couple songs go hard as hell. The opening and closing songs, “Edin” and “Marnau,” are bonkers. Ultimately, it’s a mid-tier Pumpkins album. But considering their longevity and how many of their contemporaries have hit the complacent stage of their careers, that alone is worth celebrating.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 8/2/24

Stalefish – Stalefish Does America

Alright I need to come clean about this one. I heard a song from this band on the weekly SiriusXMU countdown and misheard the DJ, when he said it was an Austin band I heard a Boston band. I may not have bothered with the album had I heard him correctly, but I’m glad I did. As a debut, it’s still pretty green, but the band has a cool approach – 90’s style fuzzy indie rock, but with three lead singers. And they smartly kick the album off with one song apiece. It’s ultimately hit-and-miss, but I appreciate any 90’s throwbacks. Watch this space for more on them, they’ve already pumped their second album out too.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 1/12/24

Avalanche Kaito – Talitakum

I have no clue where I pulled this one from, and I wonder if I stumbled on it while forgetting the name of Hiatus Kaiyote. I put this one on completely blind, and my god, I loved it. It combines two things I love – noise music and African music – into one. Traditional African rhythms are deployed courtesy of singer Kaito Winse, while he’s backed by a noisy duo from Belgium. The result is a downright thrilling and unpredictable album that stays on the fun side of experimentation without sacrificing energy. This is the type of thing designed exactly for me, and I can’t wait to dig into their previous albums. It’s tough to talk about highly experimental music like this, but if it sounds up your alley, then it probably is. Definitely one of the better releases this year.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 4/12/24

WILLOW – empathogen

I haven’t kept up with Willow’s music at all, but I heard some buzz around this one and hey, new music is new music. I didn’t know what to expect but I certainly was caught off-guard. The young singer’s sixth (!) album is disarmingly pretty and quaint, some soft and emotional songs that drift through rock, R&B and jazz influences. It’s all very natural and effortless, her vocals smooth and the music heavenly. It’s a fine record, and in a less packed year it would be a standout. It’s fair to say that Willow wouldn’t have had a crumb of this much success without having world-famous parents, but don’t consider this to be nepo baby music – this is genuine stuff.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

WHY? – The Well I Fell Into

I’ve always had a weird relationship with the music of WHY?, an indie rock group fronted by rapper Yoni Wolf. A lot of their/his early music is experimental in a way that doesn’t click with me, and some of the output in the mid 2010’s I find shockingly terrible. But in between comes a couple of good albums and EP’s, including the genuine five-star classic Alopecia. Now in his mid-40’s, it seems Wolf has stopped letting his ambition get the best of him, a symptom of his best and worst albums. This album is quaint, personal songs that tone down the music. With relatively minimalistic, adult music and rapped lyrics, these tracks come off more like poems or notes read aloud. The whole isn’t fantastic, as there’s just a little something missing, but it’s refreshing to hear something so grounded from a man hell-bent on left turns. This is definitely the most accessible WHY? album, just not among the greatest.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 8/2/24

Los Campesinos! – All Hell

I feel like I’ve grown up with Welsh indie lifers Los Campesinos! Truthfully, I have. You look at the bouncy, quirky and goofy indie they were doing in 2009 and compare it to this record. I’ve been around since day one, and it’s so great to see the band come back to take a victory lap like this. This is the most mature they’ve ever sounded, a healthy mix of bombastic songs and quiet burners, an expected mix of lyrics that are both tongue-in-cheek and brutally emotional. The band has always been openly left-wing politically, but they’re unfiltered here, to great success. They’ve shaken off the directly catchy, vocals-and-bells rhythms of yesteryear in favor of indie that’s patient and introspective. That’s been the case for a while, but even more so here. The band sounds both calmer and angrier, an effect of maturity. But don’t think that’s all a serious affair, we’ve still got songs like “Adult Acne Stigmata,” “Hell In A Handjob” and “The Coin-Op Guillotine.” Yet another winner from one of the strongest catalogs out there. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 7/19/24

Eminem – The Death of Slim Shady

Man, what are we doing here? Even when I absolutely hate an album, I always finish it. I turned this off after three songs. I’ve never been an Em fan beyond a few of his serious songs; he’s technically proficient, sure, but I’ve never cared about what he has to say. He used to be edgy but this is just….sad. The ‘real’ Eminem is older and more mature, denouncing Trump and coming off as more moralistic. Part of this journey involves “killing off” his alter ego that says offensive stuff. But he allows one last, hour-long gasp from Slim. It’s an excuse to be offensive again that is, well, slim. He comes out of the gates with some transphobic jokes that would’ve been weak from Greg Gutfield in 2014. What comes after that? I couldn’t tell you, I turned it off. Who is this for? Is Em trying to bring back a conservative fanbase? It’s not like he’s got anything pertinent to say. The minimal amount of this that I listened to made Em sound like that 45-year-old guy who still talks about high school, the guy who has Doritos as a lunch, the guy who still says “le epic” in earnest. After years of quietly cultivating a more specific audience, Em does everything he can to offend and agitate his listeners. It’s an unbelievable, tactical, unforced error. In killing off Slim Shady, he may have killed off Marshall Mathers. Who gives a shit.

Grade: DNF   Initial release date: 7/12/24

 

Tonnerre – La Nuit Sauvage

Between Gojira playing the Olympics and this stellar album, it could be a big year for French metal. Tonnerre – who are actually Canadian, I’m just doing a false equivalency here – are styled after old-school hard rock, a la Blue Oyster Cult. I have a lot of love in my heart for these bands, and Tonnerre do a real fine job emulating them. There’s a thin line between cool 70’s hard rock and skidmark 00’s radio rock, and Tonnerre smartly never cross it. It’s a calm and collected rock record. With lyrics entirely in French, it’s easy to get lost in the music. I do wish they let loose a little more, they stay needlessly restrained. But, I had a blast listening to it too. It’s like Deep Purple is fresh and young all over again. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Thee Oh Sees – SORCS 80

I’m a diehard Osees fan and even I can’t keep up with the lore. The band changes genres as often as they change the spelling of their name (long live Oh Sees, The OCS, The Ohsees, etc). Jon Dwyer particularly lost his mind during COVID, releasing a bunch of deeply experimental, mostly unlistenable solo records before looping back around to garage rock. Now, he’s doing a full punk album with no guitars. It sounds like a writing exercise. The album is centered around grimy synth and samples, and it’s mostly effective. Like a lot of Dwyer records, the best songs are the biggest bruisers. Some songs lose their way in midtempo land, but the punchy screamy punk tunes just rock. I’m not sure why he decided to ditch the guitars to write songs that sound like guitars anyways, but I can’t explain most of what Dwyer does. I’m just along for the ride. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/9/24

Ty Segall – Love Rudiments

For a few years, Ty Segall and Osees worked hand-in-hand as the two prolific monsters of garage rock. But while Dwyer lost his mind, Segall cemented his. Over the last few years, his output has slowed way down and his music has gotten more mature. He still dabbles in experimentation, though, and his second release of 2024 cashes in some saved up checks. Love Rudiments is four tracks, but really many small segments, and comprised of (almost) entirely percussion. I’m a huge sucker for percussion music, so naturally I loved this. It’s fun and jazzy, never getting too heady or too “Moby Dick” freakout, just pleasant drum music. It is interesting that there are still distinct Segall rhythms in there. Some of the segments manage to sound like traditional Ty despite having no guitars or vocals. As much as it is experimental, it’s not a total left-field jump, just a different extension of his sound. It isn’t as inaccessible as it sounds, and I welcome anyone to listen to it who likes, well, drums.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

Justice – Hyperdrama

I’ve always liked what tidbits of Justice’s music I’ve heard, but it’s never grabbed me like it has many of my peers. It’s also never grabbed me in the same way as say, Daft Punk or Aphex Twin. The French duo hasn’t exactly been prolific over the years, which makes this album all the more disappointing. While the opening two tracks set a blistering dancehall pace, much of this album feels designed for the Coachella stage. Light, somewhat generic beats dominate much of this album, with little else to grab on to. I’m sure these songs are mesmerizing live, but as something to just listen to casually, it leaves a lot to be desired. The album ropes back into some cool stuff towards the end, but the middle half is a bloat of unambitious dance tracks that sound less like Justice and more like the middle manager EDM fest bands that have tried to feebly imitate Justice. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/26/24

Jane Weaver – Love In Constant Spectacle

You’ll have to forgive me because I’ve fallen way behind in my reviews, and this one won’t be getting the proper unconditional praise that it deserves. Like many albums this year, I tossed this on completely blind. The descriptions of Weaver toss around terms like “experimental” and “free jazz” but this is mostly woman-and-a-guitar music; if that sounds like denigration, it isn’t. I was floored by how beautiful these songs are. They’re minimalistic, a small sound in an open space, and yet captivating. Tons of singer-songwriters over the years have tried to capture the feeling of playing in the same room as the listener, and many would be jealous to do it the way Weaver does on every single song here. The rhythms are so simple yet riveting across the board. Some songs are certainly better than others – but the best ones propel this album into an elite territory. Some really special stuff.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

X – Smoke and Fiction

I often wonder about what X would look like if they had stayed together all these years. Would they have gone the way of ‘sellout’ punk bands doing cross-brand merch like Green Day? Would they be conservative cranks like Misfits? Would they be liberal cranks who hate each other like Dead Kennedys? All bad outcomes, and none of any concern. X’s second reunion album – and final album – is a whirlwind of the same dual-singer rockabilly-punk that made them an 80’s staple. The reunion novelty isn’t as strong as it was on Alphabetland, but the songs are tighter and more focused. There’s nothing really extraordinary here, but it’s just cool to see legends go around one last time. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/2/24

Never Broke Again – Compliments of Grave Digger Mountain

Alright look I’m very far behind on reviews and I’m historically bad at writing about hip-hop, so let’s just say that you know what you’re gonna get with this one. I have a soft spot for NBA YoungBoy, who is featured on nearly every song. The album is credited to the label he runs, so while there isn’t a true lead artist here, there’s just a couple people throughout the whole album. It’s just very good trap; fun, blistering songs with minimal beats, but not so minimal that they feel minimal. I was vibing at work to this one pretty hard. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/8/24

illuminati hotties – POWER

My birth month was graced with new albums from a half-dozen artists I absolutely love, IH included in it. I’m a big fan of what Sarah Tudzie brings to the table, a hybrid of pop-punk and indie that allows for songs that always sound familiar yet differ album-to-album. POWER is definitely on the softer side of things, much more indie-based than some previous releases. I certainly prefer her harder-edged stuff, but there’s a lot to like here too. These songs are simple and catchy, nice little personal odes. Not to deliver a backhanded compliment, but Tudzie’s voice has always been somewhat plain – here that’s effective, because it sounds like she’s in the room with you, improvising a ditty. It’s a unique feeling, and the songs benefit from it. It isn’t the most exciting album, but it’s got a very broad appeal. 

Grade: 7.5   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Charly Bliss – Forever

What a gem! Charly Bliss’s first two albums cemented the band as a pop-heavy indie with some punk spirit, in the same realm as the Beths. After a brief break, the band is back – with pure bubblegum pop-rock. This record is the same overproduced, big beat pop that I was lamenting before, but it’s used to full effect here. This record is fun as all hell. The best songs are mostly the bangers, and they come early. But the back half has a couple sneakily exceptional ballads, too. This is truly exceptional pop music. For more on this one, check my concert review. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/16/24

So Totally – Double Your Relaxation

The shoegaze revival is alive and well! I already knew one song going into this but I was still caught off-guard. The best songs on this record are very dense, very heavy and cryptic shoegaze songs. They’re buried under lots of distortion and many moving parts. I wouldn’t recommend this for someone looking for Slowdive, it doesn’t have the atmospheric rhythms and it isn’t soothing. It’s a record to put on with headphones and dig into all the puzzle pieces you can find, to see if you can assemble a song. Where the album suffers is quieter songs – there’s a few, and they don’t accomplish much. The back half pulled me out some, it’s deflating. The quieter moments are critical to the album, but they come too late and stick around too long. That said, it’s a really unique listen, and some of the individual songs are brilliant.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Zayn – Room Under The Stairs

History doesn’t remember that George Harrison was the first Beatle to release a solo album, and history likely won’t remember that Zayn was the first One Direction member with a solo record. Zayn’s solo career has been overshadowed by Harry Styles’s. But where Harrison came out of the gate with folk rock far more experimental than what his band was doing, Zayn has been stuck circling the drain of tepid R&B. His debut was stark in how quickly he departed from his group’s saccharine pop, but he’s now been doing the same album repeatedly. He’s got nothing new here, and he sounds like he knows it. Sure, his voice is great throughout, but he doesn’t sound like he’s enjoying himself. This is perfectly listenable, but there’s a reason why he’s gotten overshadowed by Harry. Too long, and much too boring.

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Dr. Dog – Dr. Dog

Bear with me for a second, because this is a fun full circle for me. Indie-folk legends Dr. Dog’s 2012 album Be The Void was the first album I ever reviewed, back in my college paper. I didn’t know what I was doing, and didn’t really know the band, but knew I wanted to take over the music column. It was a dry run (or an application?), and obviously I passed as I’m still doing the song-and-dance today. So a big shoutout to Dr. Dog, despite me really not keeping up with their output, for letting this blog happen at all. 

Anyways – it’s a fine record, but I wanted to like it more. It sounds like it was pulled from a 2010 deep freeze, it’s got the same folksy, warm indie that the band was doing then. That’s not a complaint, these songs are super inviting. But a majority of them are a little too soft, a little too muted. That works for some songs, but a whole record of it gets somewhat drab. It’s got a specific audience – people just a bit older than me that planted their flag in 00’s indie and haven’t moved on. Again, nothing wrong with that – respectable, even – but it means the record is just another notch rather than something noteworthy.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 7/19/24

And that does it for…..August. Thanks for reading any of this that you did! There will be fewer reviews in September – I was preoccupied with fun family stuff. But check back in a week or so for that post, there’s a lot of great albums in the pipeline.

Rock on!

The Rundown: July 2024

Well well well, we’re halfway into the year now. I hope you’re all having a nice year and a summer as equally busy and balanced as I am. The Olympics completely took hold of my media intake for the month, but I still listened to new albums as I commuted, at least. If you’re stumbling onto this, what I’ve been doing this year is monthly posts where I do flash reviews of (nearly) every new release I listen to. I had a week in the middle of the month where I unintentionally listened to a bunch of new releases from big name indie bands, so I balanced it out with a week of nothing but lesser-known artists. As a result, there’s a lot of smaller stuff in this month’s batch, and I really hope you find something that sounds interesting to you. I’ve got 36 flash reviews here, so apologies if this crashes your browser. Next month will be smaller, I’m starting to get burnt out a little.

Covered below is five big name indie groups, some impressive debuts, a handful of operatic metal albums, some excellent local picks, an album that’s going to hurt the tour, and a tribute album that was designed to fail. All that and much more, now half off. Let’s go ->

January | February | March | April | May | June

Maggie Rogers – Don’t Forget Me

I’m incredibly down with the y’allternative movement. Waxahatchee and Hurray For the Riff Raff have already released great albums this year, and we’re staring down a full release from Orville Peck. I was into the last Maggie Rogers record, but I’ve been waiting for a great one. I think she delivered one here. Some songs work better than others, but the combination of strong-yet-sparse guitar, Maggie’s excellent vocals, and nostalgic tunes about slow American life are designed to win. The best songs here are the melancholic personal ones, the ones that describe real personal experiences done in a “Glory Days” haze of relatable pining. Some songs get a little too quaint, or a little too individualistic to really grab ahold of. But, as someone who was also once young, many of these hit me in the heart. And Rogers, like many others currently, is expert at diluting these elements of country music and running them through a faint alternative structure. It’s music practically designed for me. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/12/24

The Bridge City Sinners – In The Age Of Doubt

Give a quick shoutout to water. A couple years ago I was at Riot Fest in Chicago when I took a break to refill my water at the sole hydration station on festival grounds. Right next door was the smallest stage, where the Bridge City Sinners were playing and readers, I was hooked immediately. Bands shouldn’t still be finding new ways to combine genres, but here we’ve got hardcore bluegrass. The band – and I was already a huge fan by the time the plane wheels touched back down in Boston – sings about heavenly bodies and beasts and mythical creatures, complete with occasional gnarly screaming, all done through acoustic Appalachian instruments. I imagine there’s other bands out there like this, and they’re not far removed from psychobilly, but I don’t know of anything in this alley. Their new album is as great as their previous ones. It’s a high 8, and one I’ll revisit and possibly bump up even more. A serious top 20 contender so far. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 7/12/24

Friko – Where we’ve been, Where we go from here

I’d been itching to get to this one! I’ve been loving both singles I’ve been hearing on the radio (“Crimson to Chrome” and “Get Numb To It!”). Both songs are guitar-forward bangers ripped from 90’s alt-rock, and with enough maturity and emotion in the rhythms and lyrics to hide the fact that this is a debut. But it is a debut, and these two youngsters seem like they already have a world of travel under their belts. The opener “Where We’ve Been” is a deeply patient ballad, something akin to Interpol’s “Lights” (or many other of their tunes). Truthfully, more than half of the album is slower songs, representing a wide range for a debut. It mostly all works, although there are a few too many down moments across the softer songs. The strength doesn’t lie in just the singles, there’s some other great bangers and a couple very effective ballads. There does need to be just a touch more energy, which is stopping this from hitting the elite 8 grade. But it’s a heavy 7.5, and with another listen it could easily rise. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

Mk.gee – Two Star & The Dream Police

This was a frustrating one. I had heard one or two of this guy’s tunes on the radio, and they sounded intriguing. But on the whole, I feel like I didn’t “get” this album. I try to like all music, but I would much rather dislike something than not really get it, because it means I failed to engage with it in the correct way. Mk.gee is a solo artist, making lo-fi indie centered around spacey guitar work. He’s a very talented musician, and his songs indicate a much more experienced and mature artist than his age – just like Friko. I’ve never really heard music like this, even within the realm of lo-fi. I will say, this was a rare example of an album where I enjoyed the back half more than the front. I’m not sure if I just clicked with the style more or whether the songs were more well-developed – I think both. These songs are soft and vulnerable, and often quite catchy. There’s a sultry element here too, these songs are so light and fluid that it’s inherent. There wasn’t enough for me to grab on to, mostly, and I think that was the point. Or maybe I’m just old. This is music for the kids.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/9/24

Folterkammer – Weibermacht

Despite its origins in violence, hatred and intentional obscurity, black metal has become somewhat theatrical. Black metal bands are often so serious that it fishhooks back around into being comical. But Folterkammer are smartly leaning into this dynamic, with a record that is pure, operatic black metal. The album wastes no time in showing it, with Andromeda Anarchia’s legitimately operatic vocals belting within seconds of opening track “Anno Domina” starting. I have not heard this band before now, so let me say, I was floored by how powerful her voice is. This group bridges the gap between opera and metal in a way that most bands would performatively shun. This has the aura of Ghost, except Ghost constantly falters in image over music. I kept expecting the music here to get dull or repetitive, but it doesn’t. It’s ripping black metal start to finish. And in case you think this band is too serious – they’re American, but sing in German, and one song title translates to “Kiss My Feet!” It’s only fitting that the record ends with a cover of “Venus In Furs”; I wouldn’t have made the connection, but Velvet Underground are a band equal in their balance of comical performativity and genuinely great music. No, this is no Lou Reed, but it is one of the better metal albums I’ve heard this year. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Couch Slut – You Could Do It Tonight

No, I don’t think JD Vance has heard this band. This is some extremely me stuff. Gnarly, nasty and intense experimental punk. I love stuff like this, and this band delivered. Yet another group that I know nothing about, I believe this was a rare algorithm-delivered gem. The best tracks here are “Couch Slut Lewis,” “Ode To Jimbo” and “Energy Crystals For Healing,” all of which are slamming, midtempo songs with guttural vocals. The latter track is the quickest one on the album, but it’s still slogging. This band is akin to METZ in that they know how to pummel someone while being measured about it. As is always the case with experimental punk, it doesn’t all work. Spoken-word track “The Donkey” is tedious in execution and fairly lame in content, although the story being told does highlight the band’s grimy authenticity. The finale “The Weaversville Home For Boys” is also spoken-word, definitely better because of pounding music but still among the weaker tracks. Still, this album has me wanting to check out more. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19

Office Dog – Spiel

Forgot what I said about Couch Slut, algorithms are never your friends, and they’re bound to disappoint in music discovery. After starting to compile lists of songs & albums I’ve liked this year, the spotify algo kept suggesting songs from this album as additions, and the band name got me (as did the related artists). It’s fine, but I wouldn’t place it with many of the bands that the app thinks are similar. This album is a mishmash of indie and post-hardcore stuff. Naturally, I liked the heavier stuff more – namely the absolutely pounding song “Gleam,” which comes to us from the same side of the tracks as Cloud Nothings. One common thread the band uses is prolonged bridges, common in post-hardcore but not really elsewhere. It’s interesting to see the concept transposed to general rock/indie, and it sometimes works. Ultimately, the album is inconsistent in tone (complimentary) and inconsistent in quality (derogatory), with some songs really standing out against others. It’s unique, but it’s hit-and-miss. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 1/26/24

BRICKLAYER – BRICKLAYER

Haha this rocks, what a surprise. Another local winner, and one I’ve stumbled onto while knowing absolutely nothing about the people behind it. This quick little debut (I think?) album comes rife with indie-punk jams, guitar-heavy and fun as can be. The band describes their own music as danceable thrash, which is pretty accurate. It’s not out of league with, say, The Hives. These songs are quick, many of them raucous but clean and bouncy. Can’t wait to hear them on a stage at some point. “Gay Breakfast” is already one of my favorite songs of the year. I rarely actually relisten to albums and I’ve already returned to this one.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Cage the Elephant – Neon Pill

Yeah, I was scared going into this one. The only reason I knew there was a new CTE album was because it popped up on my Spotify radar, I never heard any singles in advance anywhere. I’ve felt ever since their debut that this band was going to go the way of uninspired adult alternative, so massive props on it taking them this long. The band has navigated around some different influences in the past, from 60’s garage rock to psych-inspired indie, always with a youthful energy. Sadly that energy has finally drained. The songs across this album aren’t bad, really, just bland as all belief. There’s nothing particularly memorable about anything happening here, and what’s worse is that the band feels aware of this. I used to count this band among my favorites (nothing happened, I just don’t listen to them as much these days). Tis a shame. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Justin Timberlake – Everything I Thought It Was

I put this on all ready to write a scathing, mean review but honestly, this album is frustratingly okay. Timberlake’s solo career has been marked by a big-budget arena star allowing himself a bit of left-field elements. This has usually come simply in the form of longer songs, but he’s always found ways to mix up some otherwise rote ideas. For some reason, maybe just age and waning general interest, I figured this would be the dullest album of the year. Some of it is fun! It’s inconsistent from song-to-song, but there’s some old school JT jams in here. There’s some good pop, good R&B, and a handful of songs that stretch out longer just to keep the party going. All of that said, it’s much too much. It’s 18 songs and 77 minutes when it only needs to be half of that. And, there’s plenty of cuttable songs. The album is bogged down in excess, something that Timberlake has made himself all too familiar with in other ways lately. By the time you get to the penultimate track, an alleged victory lap that comically “features” N*SYNC, the album is out of steam. That song should’ve been huge but it’s DOA. That goes for too many of these tunes. It’s far from bad, but it’s easy to see why people have kind of rejected this album. It’s going to hurt the world tour.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Rick Rude – Laverne

Take two! A chronic issue with me is that I’ll listen to something I moderately enjoy, but wait so long to grade and/or review it that it leaves my brain entirely. The new album from Rick Rude – no, not the king of the camel clutch – fell victim to my lethargy. I’m glad I revisited it, because I loved it more the second time around. The band seems to tease the audience by inviting in specific, familiar sounds and brush them off just as quickly. They’re not truly emo, but they’ve got the sensitive guitar licks. They’re not really indie, but they’ve got the fuzz. They sometimes rock harder than both genres (especially on the rollicking opener “Wooden Knife”). They’re appealing to anyone who likes shows in basements, be it acoustic guys or punk weirdos. Add in a very effective dual-singer approach, and you’ve got a winning record. Ravishing work.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/2/24

Fabiana Palladino – Fabiana Palladino

This was refreshing. Like many recs, I don’t quite remember where this one came from, appearing on my catch-up list one day when I was hazily adding stuff. This isn’t really my normal vibe, but I was with it. Palladino is a throwback pop singer, mixing 80’s aesthetics with the soft 90’s sounds of, say, Enya. It’s an album that’s peaceful and relaxed without ever growing tedious. There’s a lot of ambition here, and every song manages to sound fresh despite the moss-covered influences. I would not call this “retro,” just inspired by the past and updated for the present. Great, lowkey pop for a calm, warm day.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Hiatus Kaiyote – Love Heart Cheat Code

Bear with me, because I fell behind in my reviews and memories are fleeting. I recall checking this band out a number of years ago and finding them to be a quirky, jazzy indie group in the same realm as tune-yards. I’m not sure if that’s true necessarily, especially considering that what I got here was somewhat different. This record is mostly very minimalist and ambient indie, and mostly very pleasant. It’s an enjoyable listen as long as you don’t expect anything too energetic. It is in the same world of moderate experimentation that I had the band placed in my head, just a different kind. It’s unique and very digestible. Oddly, the album kicks into high gear right at the end, finishing off with a trio of songs that suddenly kick up the fuzzy guitar into borderline punk energy. Fun stuff all around though.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/28

This Is Lorelei – Box For Buddy, Box For Star

Water From Your Eyes is already a difficult band to classify, so when the singer broke off for a solo album, it was destined to be a mess of influences. The first half reminds me of hip-hop producer Nigo’s 2000 album Ape Sounds, an everything-at-the-wall indie release where the point was making it not cohesive (it also spawned “Freediving,” a top 5 all-time favorite song of mine). Here, the opening song is surprisingly country-fied. The following song is glitch-y, electro-rock, and the next is proper indie. It’s got that unpredictability. The back half of the album is much more straight indie, a lot of singer-songwriter vibes. It feels more like a “song dump,” though the songs are perfectly adequate. In all, it’s a bit too long I think. But if you’re looking for music that’s catchy and peaceful but somewhat messy in a fun way, it’s solid.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/14/24

Vince Staples – Dark Times

This album shares much in common with the rapper’s 2021 self-titled album, yet the reasons why I didn’t like that album are why I do like this one. Staples made his name doing bass-heavy, aggressive rap that married huge beats with lyrics that were often shockingly blunt and depressing. But he’s always one for making what he wants to, instead of falling to fan service. Dark Times is much more minimalist, calculated and jazzy. While he explored this side on his self-titled, it was ultimately very repetitive. This album is an unpredictable delight through and through. Vince even directly references that he’s not making another Big Fish Theory. This record is patient and unique, and represents a proper shift in tone while remaining distinctly Vince. Almost definitely going to be one of my favorite rap records of the year.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/24

Screaming Females – Clover

Rest in Peace Screaming Females. The final dispatch from the long-running NYC indie rock band was nothing out of the ordinary, a small set of punchy, fuzzy and guitar-focused tunes. That is to say, it’s real good. I was never quite as into this band as I wanted to be, owing maybe to the fact that the one time I got to see them was just an off-day for them (their live show was allegedly raucous, something I did not experience). But I do love some simple rock, and these songs have no illusions to them – fast, melodic and rough. More of the same, sure, but the same never expired. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

GUPPY – Something Is Happening…

I went into this one having no clue what to expect, and I’m not quite sure what I got. The opening track is a warm if not tepid ballad, but the rest of the album gives way to post-punk a la Cheekface. In fact, the band even shows up in Spotify’s Cheekface playlists. I didn’t gibe with it at first, but the very comical lyrics won me over quickly. There’s a lot of metrical guitar chords, fun percussion and spoken lyrics. I’ll say exactly for this what I said for Cheekface – you’ll like this if you think Gang Of Four is great but too noisy. This isn’t something I would listen to often, but it’s fun as hell. I liked it more and more as it went on. Best song title of the year: “I’m Fighting a 10 Foot Tall Nancy Pelosi.” 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

slimdan – Second Dinner

This one slipped in right at the end of the weekly indie countdown I listen to, and something about the individual song chosen grabbed me. The song was acoustic one-man stuff, very off the cuff and storyteller-like, while also titled “Wienerschnitzel.” The rest of the album follows suit – music that’s one man’s life told through song, both honest and comical. Sometimes one song swings fully in one way, but many of them marry the two. Not all of it works, and some of it is just dull, but the good songs are striking. It’s imperfect, but it’s different. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 7/19/24

The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

I’ve never been on board the Decemberists train, I’ve felt that the criticisms levied at Arcade Fire could be transposed onto them instead; namely, that they seem too snooty and uptight for their own good. But I’ve liked some songs over the years, and I really like this album’s lead single “Burial Ground,” so I gave it a go. It’s mostly solid! This is the definition of a bookend album, where it starts and ends very strong but loses the way in the middle. It’s the first Decemberists album in a while, but the 67-minute runtime is daunting and a bit unnecessary. The two singles – “Burial Ground” and the equally fun “Oh No!” kick the party off, but it declines quickly. The next batch of songs are much more lowkey, sometimes just Colin Meloy and a guitar, and they’re meandering. Maybe it’s me, but if I’m listening to the Decemberists, then I want a big-band affair with lots of unconventional instruments and complex rhythms. The whole middle section of the album is lacking here, and the tunes just don’t quite cut it. Things pick back up with the very fun “America Made Me,” which gives some good momentum to bring them into the finale. “Joan In The Garden” is an unwieldy 19 minutes in length, and uses every second. It follows the format I expected – nineish minutes of standard Decemberists stuff, then a portion of quiet, experimental sound, then a rollicking finale. The end of the song admittedly rips off “Breaking the Law” (!!) in riffage, but whatever, it’s fun to see a normally strung-up band kick it into high gear. It’s a great song and worthy of the runtime. As for the rest of the album? Well, it’s solid, and the bigger fans will have a lot to like.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/14/24

Iron & Wine – Light Verse

I’ve mentioned it elsewhere this year about other artists, but Iron & Wine is one of about ~15 legacy indie artists that I’ve always enjoyed hearing, but have just never done a deep dive on. I don’t always appreciate man-and-a-guitar music but this album is rock solid. It’s bolstered mostly by a couple of songs that sole member Samuel Beam knows are great, but the rest of the album cuts are all worthy. The opening track “You Never Know” will go down as one of the prettiest songs of 2024. The collaboration with Fiona Apple (!!) “All In Good Time” is, naturally, brilliant. There’s a couple great tracks on the backside that help the album to chug along. At base level, this is pretty music. A few songs go well beyond that. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/26

Camera Obscura – Look To The East, Look To The West

Another legacy indie artist, this time it’s one that I have relatively kept up with. Or at least I did during their original run, as this is their first album in eleven long years. It’s utterly fantastic, likely going to be one of the best indie albums in a severely crowded year. These songs are patient, mature and lowkey, and practically every one of them is extraordinary. My three picks are the opener “Liberty Print,” “The Night Lights” and the closing title track, but nearly every song works. Oddly, the only one that struck me as dull was “Big Love,” which seems to be the most popular so far. But, for all the hip parents out there still spinning Yo La Tengo and Hold Steady records, this is another entry for the record cabinet. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

Kerry King – From Hell I Rise

The Slayer break-up was never going to last. No metal band ever truly retires. By the time that Kerry King – Slayer’s lead guitarist throughout their entire tenure – had released his “solo” debut, Slayer had already announced a few reunion gigs. It’s nothing permanent, as King is focusing on a full tour of his own, but it does serve as a metaphor for his “solo” album in general. It’s a great album, it’s just that it’s a Slayer album. It sounds like a Slayer B-sides album, mimicries of and nods to all of the Slayer eras. That’s not a bad thing at all, we’ll all gladly take more Slayer. It does mean that King’s solo music doesn’t have an identity of its own, though, which is a missed opportunity after 40+ years of one band. It does both help and hurt that King is only present on this album through guitars, since he is not a singer; he also isn’t the only guitarist, which feels odd. It only adds to the Slayer vibes, who have always dual-wielded two incredible axemen. A lot of this is hokey, including an especially cringey ‘both sides’ political song. But that’s what you’d expect from Kerry King in 2024. So unsurprisingly, if you like Slayer, you’ll like this, and if you don’t, then you won’t. I do! 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Attic – Return Of The Witchfinder

This band owes a lot, and I mean a lot of debt to the always underrated metal group Helloween. Although the gruesome album cover invokes the current wave of death metal, this band is really more aligned with 80’s power metal. The music is mostly fast and heavy but in an inviting manner, and the piercing falsetto vocals from singer Meister Cagliostro soar above the guitars like a phoenix over a fire. The band does tell tales of violent imagery, but the Iron Maidenesque music makes the actual storytelling easy to glance over. This is definitely an exceptional power metal record – ripped from 1985. If you’re into that kind of thing, then make this one a priority. I’ve never been one for power metal, personally, in fact I’m very put off by it. Despite the incredible vocals and intricate music here, I was supremely bored. But power metal is one genre I’ve just never learned to love. If I were writing more serious reviews here, I’d grade this one highly. But speaking only for me, it’s way too much of an okay thing. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 3/24/24

PARTYNEXTDOOR – PARTYNEXTDOOR 4

Now there’s an artist I haven’t kept up with. To be fair, PARTYNEXTDOOR isn’t known as much for his solo music as he is for his collabs and production work. The man made his mark working with Drake, and it continues to show; this feels identical to a Drake album. That is to say, there’s a ton of songs with rudimentary beats and talk-sung lyrics that can really vary in quality. It’s more about vibes, sultry music for the bedroom. I mean, look at the cover. It’s easy to imagine this record getting put on in the mood; one can hope the coitus is not as dry as the music. Most of these songs are so minimalist and low-key that they border on not existing at all. Some songs have genuine heartfelt lyrics, but it’s mostly lifeless music start to finish. One of the most interesting things throughout is a near-silent (and uncredited?) DMX vocal sample that’s used as a beat, which is cool.

I will say this: I listened to most of this on the subway and moved to my laptop for the final four songs, and I got more into them. So I absolutely listened to this in the wrong setting. But if headphones on at a desk is the way to appreciate this, then the vibes still aren’t right, because I’m alone. This is designed for two or more people. Then again, look at the lyrics to “No Chill.” He’s been alone, too. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 4/25/24

Washed Out – Notes From A Quiet Life

The guy that did the Portlandia song 15 years ago used generative AI to make a music video for this album. If he’s not going to put any effort into his art, then neither will I. Fuck you.

Grade: 0/10   Initial release date: 6/28/24

Thou – Umbilical

Historically I’m very hit-and-miss on sludge metal, but Thou holds a special place in my heart. The prolific group hasn’t been consistent over the years, but when you release as much music as they have, some of it is going to hit. The worst thing a Thou album can be is boring, and Umbilical is never boring. The band hasn’t really changed their tune – grim opining, screeching, riffs with the thickness and speed of molasses, and morose black and white imagery. But they’re completely checked in, pummeling the listener with relentless guitar and screams, making sure to fill (nearly) every song with unique elements. Hopefully, this won’t get lost in the sea of their other releases. It’ll certainly be one of the best metal albums of the year. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24 

Cardinals – Cardinals

Alright, we need to talk about British indie. Amidst the growing group of talk-sing indie punk bands (IDLES, Dry Cleaning, etc), there’s a thread of aggressive, artsy alternative. Bands like Cardinals – who I would liken to Black Country, New Road – feel born from the same womb. Though this is just a short EP, it’s riveting. It’s got that same feel as BC,NR, where it feels both jazzy and cynical despite never straying from alternative. Cardinals are more guitar-focused, but the feel is the same. These are super intriguing songs, and they hit a wide range of emotions in a short amount of time. “Unreal” is a great banger, while “If I Could Make You Care” is a wonderful closing ballad. Get your foot in the door on these guys, I think they’re gonna go places.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

GUM/Ambrose Kenny-Smith – Ill Times

I don’t know much of anything about GUM but when you put a member of King Gizz on a record, I will listen to that record. To be honest, this just sounded like an off-brand Gizz record, one of the more lowkey ones like Gumboot Soup or Changes. Those records are fun and lighthearted, just some breezy jams. Same goes here. It’s low-stakes indie that floats around some jazzy and alternative influences; mindless summer music, really. This is not a record to return to or elevate much, but it’s fun enough for a listen.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 7/19/24

Rusty Mullet – An Album About Home

By this point I’m going to just stop relegating local stuff to shoutouts, because so much of what I’m listening to is better than that. Besides, highlighting smaller acts is the point of all of this, no? Rusty Mullet have been on my radar for a bit, I dug their previous head-scratcher of an album, a whirlwind of indie, funk, rock, and jazz. Home is a little clearer in scope, both a plus and a minus. It’s still an eclectic album – the opening two tracks are almost suspiciously slow and conventional, and then they give way to the punk energy of “4313274.” Outside of that track though, the best songs are actually the somber ones, the opposite of their previous record. It’s a fun mix, and it could’ve used more energy peppered in, but it’s a strong local release. This one deserves more attention. It’s a strong 7. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

Camila Cabello – C,XOXO

I’ve always been partial to Cabello’s solo music, but I haven’t super kept up with her output. This is kind of a confounding album, it’s very much throwing tons of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks. There’s some great pop songs, a great Latin track, and some fun dance stuff. And some of it really doesn’t work, either. Respect for trying lots of things, this is a rare case where I may award points for something that isn’t great. 

But also, Cabello gets overshadowed by her own guests here. She isn’t at her most confident on this record, and bringing in guests like Lil Nas X, Playboy Carti and Drake are missteps, because she gets lost in her own mix. There’s even an interlude that’s just Drake! It’s even credited as solely a Drake song! (Also yes – this came out in the middle of the feud, which is ill-advised). The whole thing wraps up in 32 minutes, which is great. This album would suffer from additional bloat, it already walks a thin wire at 32 minutes. But when this is fun, it is fun. And with an artist like Cabello, that’s the point. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 6/28/24

Dolmen Gate – Gateways of Eternity

If you weren’t aware, the name of Portuguese metal band Dolmen Gate refers to a Magic the Gathering card. I didn’t know that either, and you have to add “band” to the end of the Google search. But it’s helpful context, because the band makes the same kind of epic heavy metal that you’d associate with something like Magic. This is the type of metal that straddles hard rock more than anything – owing a lot to the propulsive but ultimately catchy music of Iron Maiden. It’s not normally the type of metal I prefer (Maiden aside), but I can appreciate something like this. These songs have a ton of energy to them, mostly fun energy and not ferocious. The tunes feel like part of bigger worlds, the album has a grand scope. There’s definitely some crossover appeal for power metal fans here, it has the same structure of being loud and aggressive without making any sacrifices to melody. I didn’t love it, but I did have some fun. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/25/24

Johnny Blue Skies – Passage Du Desir

Somebody sound the alarm, we’ve got another Chris Gaines! Well, kind of. Country singer Sturgill Simpson (who I am historically a big fan of) once promised to release five albums under his own name, and no more. I suppose it’s a way of staying fresh, although his previous foray into rock already accomplished that. No matter, long live Johnny Blue Skies. It’s just Sturgill, and he didn’t deliver what I expected. With a new brand, I anticipated (or hoped) for more rock ventures, as it’s some of the finest work he’s done. Instead he went softer, releasing a rambling set of feel-good, carefree country-soul. It’s got elements of outlaw country and even touches of yacht rock, though these songs seem determined to stay a minimum volume. I seem to be alone in thinking that this album is aimless and somewhat boring. Chalk it up to me expecting something totally different; I need to and will give my man another listen. But after a first pass? Call me disappointed. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 7/12/24

Tyla – TYLA

This one came to me via recommendation, and I’m indebted because I loved this. I’m normally hit-and-miss on R&B, but this was pretty much all hit for me. It’s worth noting that I chose to listen to this on an evening where it was very nearly 100 degrees, and this is hot weather music. It expertly blends many different pop music influences, roping afrobeats and R&B into African pop. It’s also very sultry music, as sweaty as this heat-stroked listener was. This has the makings of a third or fourth album from a big-name artist who is priming themselves for an arena tour – not a debut from a hot but still underground artist. It’s an extremely impressive debut, one of the best of the year. She’s gonna be huge in no time.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/22

Jelani Aryeh – The Sweater Club

This is just some pleasant indie! Aryeh has been on my radar for a while, and I’ve always liked what I’ve heard. He blends indie with R&B in a way that seems to be quietly getting more popular. It’s music that is inherently catchy, breezy and a bit sultry, and mostly always fun. This record strays closer to the indie side, a collection of fairly rudimentary but entirely effective guitar-based tunes. A wheel isn’t being reinvented, merely rolling full-speed down a hill. This is a thoroughly pleasant indie-pop record that I’ll definitely think I’ll be coming back to. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 6/14

Local Natives – But I’ll Wait For You

I’ve always been partial to Local Natives, but not exactly a fan. They’ve had tons of singles I’ve enjoyed, from their debut to now, and I’ve liked some of the albums. But I still approached this one cautiously, as the lead single “April” didn’t hit me. I will never discourage a band from advancing or changing their style, but Local Natives adapting synths is not something I personally wanted to hear. The band’s tender, forest-y indie has always sounded ripped from a different era. Thankfully, most of the album doesn’t actually follow suit, but it is probably their weakest effort. “April” is the liveliest song on the record, as mostly the band sounds disengaged. It’s worked for them in the past, but not here. Many of these songs don’t move out of the starting gate, meandering without any growth. It’s a shame, but sometimes bands can whiff. 

Grade: 5.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Various Artists – Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense

On paper, this should be something I adore – a diverse group of artists I like getting together to pay homage to the unequivocal best live album of all time, Stop Making Sense. In practice, it doesn’t work. What is imagined as a crossover homage comes off like the antithesis to the album it kneels to. The beauty of Sense is how the sum is better than the parts. What starts as David Byrne with a boombox ends as a cocaine-fueled dance party of a dozen musicians and a full college auditorium, with every song enhancing the previous one. This mix meanders, with some solid songs but absolutely no cohesion, nothing solid to grab on to. 

As is always the case with covers, it’s interesting to see how artists interpret songs. There’s no rhyme or reason to which songs work or not. The Linda Lindas and Paramore do thrilling and loyal versions of “Found A Job” and “Burning Down the House,” respectively, and Kevin Abstract does an awesome reimagining of “Once In A Lifetime.” But the National’s safe version of “Heaven” is downright dull, and Miley’s left-field “Psycho Killer” doesn’t work well (and she normally nails rock covers). The low point is the dismal cover of “Life During Wartime” by DJ Tunez. Chicano Batman nail “Cross-eyed and Painless,” and my standards are high; the Stop Making Sense version is one of my favorite songs. It’s “Found A Job” that takes the top prize – recorded by the youngest musicians on the record. Ultimately, it’s a nice tribute, and it floats by on good intentions. But it’s a biopic of an album – pleasant, digestible and acceptable but something that adds little to any conversation. Like a biopic, the problem lies in roteness. It starts making sense.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

I hope you’re not as burnt out on reading this as I am on writing it. Truthfully, I got about 95% of the way through the creation of this post and stalled out for two weeks. I am really enjoying this project though. Looking at my list of albums I still need to dig in to, there’s an incredible amount of heavy hitters and I know I won’t get to all of them. Normally I start kicking into a different gear in November but it’s gonna happen early this year (also, I will be on vacation for two weeks and probably won’t listen to anything!).

I hope you find some great stuff throughout this and other posts. While one man’s opinion on a months-old Timberlake album may add nothing to any conversation, it’s fun to write about, say, BRICKLAYER at the same time.

I tend to pick at random, so I can’t say for certain what will be in next month’s batch, but it will include Melvins, King Gizz, some indie girlies, the modern garage rock king, a triple album from a UK dance guy, and a pair of Mikes. See you in September!

The Rundown: June 2024

Cast your minds back to March or so, when I discussed a work thing keeping me impaired from listening to as much music as I wanted to. Well that has happened again this month, at least briefly. I was tearing through albums when I was suddenly restricted to just listening to stuff on my commute. But have no fear, I’m still doing blast reviews, and this post contains a whopping 28 of them. I debated cutting it into two posts so I don’t crash your browser. I didn’t. Sorry! These aren’t in any real order, just tossed around so you don’t get genre- or length-fatigue.

Despite everything, my 2024 listen-to list is still hovering around 180 releases, an absolutely impenetrable number. In this post, you’ll get some great alternative, throwback punk, a lot of passable metal, a trio of semi-Spanish indie artists, check-ins from a pair of veteran rock bands, and two of the biggest pop albums of the year. I have barricaded my apartment and armed myself, because I will dive deep into the Taylor Swift record. Lord help us.

Orville Peck – Stampede, Vol. 1

Happy pride month to all my cowboys, cowgirls, and cows who don’t fit on a binary. Any of you who follow me on social media know my borderline obsession with the masked man. Our yeehaw ambassador is back with “new” music – an EP of mostly covers, performed with many of the original artists. The standout is, of course, the opening track “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other,” done with Willie Nelson, who made the song famous back in the 80’s. The EP is very gay and joyous, and isn’t meant to be any grand statement. Most of the songs are…fine! Peck is listed as a writer on three of the seven songs, with the rest being covers. An Elton John cover is fun, as is a Billy Ray Cyrus cover done with Noah Cyrus. Other tracks are fine but not memorable. A Latin track “Miénteme” is a bit misguided. This is not an important release, but as a holdover until the next record, it’s fun enough. Given that this is a volume, and given that Peck’s last album came in installments, there will surely be more. However he has yet to announce a follow-up, so for now I’m seeing it as a standalone EP.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Charli XCX – BRAT

For years, Charli XCX has been in sole possession of a sweet spot in pop music. She’s consistently made music poppy enough for wide appeal, but offbeat enough to avoid Top 40 weight and arena tours. It’s allowed her to keep getting blank checks to make big-budget weirdness, and time to exist in the fashion and modeling worlds. Put simply: she’s the coolest artist around. So I was disappointed in her 2023 album Crash which, despite the literal car crash cover, was her most conventional album since her rudimentary debut. I was afraid to address it at the time, solely because I was worried that that path would continue. It didn’t. BRAT is completely wild. This is hyperpop at its finest: boppy and melodic, but extremely unpredictable and glitchy everywhere. No, not on the level 100 Gecs or anything, but still chaotic. Save a couple of more tender songs, these are jams.

Charli has spent years branding herself as a cold, partying brat with an impressive clique – “Mean girls” backs this up. But despite this image, Charli is very upfront with her emotions on this record. There’s songs of self-doubt and gender questionings. These are vulnerable songs, sung loudly, but still masked behind boisterous music. The lyrics are there for dissecting, but they’re easy to miss as well. That I picked up on all of this in one listen is itself impressive – I normally don’t pay attention to lyrics much on the first go-around. This is such a complete portrait of an artist who knows her personal strengths and weaknesses. I don’t really listen to full records multiple times unless they’re instant favorites, but I will for this one. It demands it. Maybe it’ll be a favorite anyways. One of the best pop records of 2024, easily.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

Mount Kimbie – The Sunset Violet

I don’t quite “get” Mount Kimbie, but that doesn’t stop their 2017 song “Blue Train Lines” from being one of my all-time favorites. The UK duo makes electronic music that doesn’t really align itself with any one genre. Similar to someone like DJ Shadow or even late career Gorillaz, some of their songs are collaborations, and they morph their sound to the style of music that their guest normally makes. This results in multiple King Krule songs that sound like, King Krule. But most of these songs are unassisted, and they straddle an invisible line between electronic and indie. They don’t really do a lot with either, honestly. These songs are richly textured and feel very warm, but most of them finish where they started; they’re based on vibes solely. It’s a summery album, I can see it getting put it on at a tame beach party. But as something to put on just to listen to, well it leaves something to be desired. “A Figure In The Surf” was my favorite of the bunch, and probably the only song I’ll go back to. Definitely one of the best album covers of the year, though.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Cloud Nothings – Final Summer

I love Cloud Nothings, for two reasons. One, their base template is sweaty and tantric full-force indie rock, in a manner that isn’t done much these days. The other reason is that sometimes they just take full album detours, and Final Summer is one of those. The songs on this album are much more restrained than normal. They’re still completely guitar-centric, and the band is as melody-focused as always, but these songs edge closer to pop-punk than post-hardcore. That’s not really my type of thing, mind you, and this is one of my least favorite records of theirs because of it. However, they nail the new direction. One can imagine someone getting into the poppiness of the title tune only to dig deeper and get pummeled by “Wasted Days.” I can see this being an album that grows on me. Hell, I may have just not been in the right mood. On the first listen, it was pleasant, but nothing particularly exciting. Very great, but not really “for me.” On a second listen, who’s to say. If I was rating these on an impartial scale, the grade would be higher.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/19

Stompbox – Final Summer

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you – we’ve hit the highly improbable double album title. The Boston post-hardcore underdogs are back with their first new music in 30 years, a five-track EP that sounds ripped from the 1994 world that Stompbox walked away from. It also shares a title with the new Cloud Nothings release! Admittedly, I don’t know much about these guys, despite being in the Boston punk scene – I mostly included it because of the title thing. Honestly, I stumbled onto this on Bandcamp! I’m glad I did though, as someone who can never get enough local and/or post-hardcore music. TAD showed up as the top related artist, and fittingly so. These are post-hardcore songs that edge on metal. They’re not exactly original, but they’re great throwback tunes. I’d be down for a second run.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/26/24

Lime Garden – One More Thing

I know little of this band, but picked them out from a radio show I heard early in the year. Their debut record is a little indie gem! Ostensibly, they’re an electro-indie group, with some strong synth influences. In most cases, this is true – songs like “Floor” and “Pop Star” have a vibrant sound that borrows equally from 80’s pop and the current hyperpop scene, all bundled in a package that’s more quaint than that combo might suggest. But there’s misdirections, too. Opener “Love Song” (the one that initially hooked me) is more of a true indie song, primed for alt-rock radio. And “Fears” is a more experimental, muddied mess of glitch and buried vocals. There’s a lot going on in this record, and basically all of it works. While it’s not one of the albums of the year or anything, I was taken aback by how much I enjoyed it. It’s sitting at a 7.5 right now, but it could get bumped into the elite 8 section. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

King Hannah – Big Swimmer

Another fascinating British indie album from a group I know little about. The title track from this album is one that’s been picking up steam on the indie radio station I listen to, and Merrick’s smooth vocals and unconventional song structure really hooked me. This duo sounds very zeitgeist-y in their production, but the songwriting goes back to 90’s alternative. Many of the songs here are soft and vulnerable, but some of them opt instead for chaotic guitar. There’s two ends of the spectrum, and even when the songs investigate both, they never do it in the middle. Not to mention, Hannah Merrick’s vocals are entrancing. She sings wistfully, poetically, like she’s telling you a secret. Often there aren’t really vocal rhythms, her voice just naturally sounds melodic. These songs wouldn’t work with a more indifferent singer. The album does suffer from too many slower moments on the back half, and a pair of songs at the midpoint that are a touch too long, but on the whole, this is a stellar release. If nothing else, check out the title track. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/31

Necrot – Lifeless Birth

This album already had a high hurdle to climb; Necrot’s previous album all the way back in 2020 was an out-of-nowhere gold standard for modern death metal. It remains one of the best metal albums I’ve listened to in the past few years. Unfortunately this one did not live up to the standard. But that’s not to say it’s bad, because it still rips. I mean, look at the cover. You know exactly what you’re getting here. Lifeless Birth is full of nonstop death metal rippers with a tongue placed halfway-in-cheek. The best songs are the ones that do truly just let loose, like the title track and “Cut the Cord.” Other longer tracks don’t sustain the energy, so even a short album gets some lag at times. But most of these songs are a full drill to the skull.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/12/24

Of Montreal – Lady On The Cusp

I’ve never really been onboard the Of Montreal train, to be honest. It’s partially the daunting catalog, and partially the mix of experimental and straightforward indie stuff that doesn’t really work for me. I’ve never separated them from the Flaming Lips in my head, even though the bands aren’t too similar. I haven’t listened to too much of their catalog, and I should also note that some of this album was consumed while I was in a subway station, humid and getting increasingly frustrated at a nonexistent train. But, I got very little out of this. The top half of the album is pretty fun, with a bunch of songs that add some sonic experimentation into melodic pop-rock songs. The songs are enjoyable, but none of them are particularly exciting. The back half is mostly softer stuff, and it’s equally pleasant but forgettable. These songs have a home and an audience, and I wish I could diagnose why I don’t connect with the music of Kevin Barnes but, this isn’t for me. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Perennial – Art History

Another local artist that has broken containment and is getting a proper review here. I have had the absolute pleasure of interviewing two members of this band, two people as bubbly as the music is. I’m a massive sucker for mid-00’s dance-punk, a la The Hives and Be Your Own Pet, and that’s exactly what Perennial does. Their third album continues the trend, just a bunch of quick little blasts of melodic punk. No song sticks around long – the record is 12 songs and 21 minutes. Most of them are sonic bursts, high-energy party songs, with a couple more experimental tracks (or segments) thrown in to break the pattern. Clean guitars, dual vocals and nonstop ferocious energy will make you feel like you’re in a club in 2005 seeing a great short-lived band with a terribly long and stupid name all over again. This is punk for everyone, get to this one immediately. Long live Perennial. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

Dehd – Poetry

I didn’t really vibe with the singles off of Dehd’s last album, but I didn’t listen to the full thing and I’m always down to give a band a fair shot. Unfortunately this really didn’t do anything for me. The indie band takes on a lot of different influences, and it would be objectively incorrect to say that their works are repetitive. But there isn’t really any juice here, either. They come off like they’re still looking for their signature sound, and I think they are. Some songs work, and all of them are pleasant enough. But a big majority of them just don’t have anything going for them. They end where they start and they fill the silence, nothing more. I’m not writing them off, the band’s multi-singer approach and varying influences have a lot of promise still. Poetry isn’t what it’s titled, though. It’s boring. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

NØ MAN – Glitter and Spit

I don’t know anything about this band so I’ll keep this brief. This is solid hardcore! It doesn’t edge too far on the abrasive side, mostly keeping things on the punk side of things instead. It’s fairly melodic, most of these tunes have something to latch on to. Opener “Eat My Twin” is expansive, pounding like a post-hardcore tune. “Poison Darts” and “Can’t Kill Us All” rip, they were my two picks. Otherwise these songs are enjoyable punk tracks. Nothing revolutionary, but worth a listen.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29

Lily Seabird – Alas,

Another indie artist I know little at all about. Shout out to Allston Pudding radio for introducing me to this one (hey Andrew, when does it air? Every Monday 4-6pm and Tuesday 10-noon EST!). This album has all the makings of a quaint little affair, but some of these songs get deep and heavy. The heavier songs start to take on a 90’s fuzzy quality, even shoegaze-y at points. But not all the time, often Lily keeps things softer. Everything works, there isn’t too much of a good thing. Every song feels introspective, some feeling vulnerable while some feel distant and cold. This is earnest music, and that something so well-developed and well-produced can come from an upcoming indie solo artist like this is just impressive. To be blunt, I loved this. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 1/12/24

Witch Vomit – Funeral Sanctum

With a name like Witch Vomit, you have to know that you’re getting semi-serious death metal. And it’s exactly that: dense, fun and forgettable death metal. This is very standard-fare stuff, I already don’t remember this album much after a few days. But the opening tracks “Endless Fall” and “Blood of Abomination” go hard as hell, nice little treats. If you like death metal, you can do better, but you can certainly do worse. Completely passable. Not much else to say!

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Pearl Jam – Dark Matter

While I was listening to this, I kept thinking about Pearl Jam’s 2006 self-titled album. I was 16 when it came out, and although I was already deep in the throes of their catalog, it was the first new Pearl Jam album I got to hear. In my teenage baby brain, the band’s 1991 debut felt like a century ago, and I accepted from the jump that this was an older and different band. That was eighteen years ago, now in the first half of their careers. And yet, in my now adult baby brain, that initial divide still seems bigger than the current one. 

This album really is similar to the S/T, though. On the surface, this is a relatively nondescript PJ record. It lacks the groundbreaking qualities of their earliest records, and the experimentation of their surprisingly excellent previous effort Gigaton. But it’s punchy, an album that’s got a lot of energy to it. A lot of bands entering their fourth decade will shit out complacent albums of half-baked slow-burners, content to play the hits on tour. These songs are still tenderly cared for. Many of them are slower, but they’re not without effort and inspiration. There are still some real bursts of energy, too, the guys have still got the punk spirit. That hasn’t always been the case (check out the dreadful 2013 album Lightning Bolt). Although the self-titled wasn’t their first album in a new decade, it felt like the first in their second phase. It was the first album where they had nothing to prove. Dark Matter is remarkably similar to that record; the only thing they have to prove is that they can still prove something. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/19

Bossman Dlow – Mr Beat The Road

I know little of this rapper, including how he ended up on my list in the first place. It looks like one of his songs blew on on the tick tock website, I wouldn’t know much about that (old). Regardless, this is a fun ass record. It’s more of a throwback to 00’s rap, with big beats, clean production and a general boisterousness. The album is not very serious, with frequent sound effects and tongue-in-cheek boasts. It’s designed to be fun and funny, and it largely succeeds at both. Most of the tracks are under three minutes, so no idea sticks around too long. Nearly every song (and there are seventeen of them) is identical in structure, tone and tempo, so the album is repetitive long past a fault. The weaker songs are forgotten immediately, in the wake of the sprinkled-in big songs. But, every track is fun, and even the skippable ones don’t reduce the record all that much.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/15

Mdou Moctar – Funeral For Justice

I was pumped for this one, I love Moctar’s previous album Afrique Victime. The Nigerien songwriter blends traditional African music sung in Tuareg with western indie and healthy amounts of guitar licks. A little secret about me is that I love African music, despite my translucent Irish skin. So naturally I took a liking to Moctar. This album has a few songs that are frustratingly slow, so it didn’t really meet my expectations, but those expectations were also high. It’s a lot of fun, and it does come with a lot of excellent guitar work. This album is unique, and in a just world it’ll open up western audiences to African music. I think it’s already working. Some of these songs may work tremendously live – I’ll let you know, I’m seeing him in a couple of hours. EDIT: Confirmed that he absolutely kicks ass live, you need to see him when he comes to your city.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

Shabaka – Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

I needed this as a Monday morning commute album, as a hangover for the Sunday night Mdou Moctar show. I listened to Shabaka’s previous solo effort, as well as some of his work with Sons of Kemet, but this is a proper debut album. And I was not prepared for it at all! Shabaka dials things back, softening his jazz and way softening his African elements, resulting in something that’s beautiful world music, and not the funkier jazz I was anticipating. It is very flute-based, and yes, Andre 3000 does have an uncredited assist. The best songs are the two longest, right at the album’s midpoint – “Body to Inhabit,” which is aided by some straight rap from E L U C I D, and “I’ll Do Whatever You Want,” a journey of a tune with some helpful collaborations from Floating Points and Laraaji. These songs are quiet and peaceful, but well-developed. It’s music I’ll only purposefully seek out in a very specific mood, but it’s a gem. It’s Monday morning music. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/12

Chicano Batman – Notebook Fantasy

This band came on my radar years ago due to, naturally, their name. I caught one of their sets on some livestream (Coachella?) and was impressed with their punk spirit and melodic tunes. Years later and they’ve really only expanded. The punk influences are mostly gone, which is usually a no-no in my book. However these songs are good enough that I took no issue. The tracks here range from low-key indie to hypnotic soul to Latin pop, changing on a dime. If you don’t like the sound of one song, no matter, the next one is different. And it all congeals well, because there’s an authenticity spawning from the multicultural heritage of the band’s background. Ultimately, it draws close to indie-pop, if that’s your speed. Whatever – I recommend.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Alisa Amador – Multitudes

Just like Chicano Batman, this record blends Latin & American influences well. Amador is a local, another album that I feel has broken containment from the corner I relegate local stuff to. If you’re a fan of NPR’s Tiny Desk shows, then this name may seem familiar – Amador won the contest they ran a few years back. Her debut album, one I’ve been quietly anticipating for a long while, is a delightful and glistening indie-pop romp. Spanish-language ballads and American bedroom pop songs live in harmony, and are often better than anticipated. There’s a number of sneakily excellent songs here, and they’re all unique from each other while still being familiar in concept. Get in on the ground floor here!

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 6/7

The Marias – Submarine

I have a few friends obsessed with this group, so I’ve been making sure to keep them on my list even though I felt like it might not be a me thing. Unfortunately, it’s not. The band does quaint, Spanish-influenced bedroom pop. Like Chicano Batman and Alisa Amador, the quartet mixes Spanish language lyrics and Latin music influences with American indie, making music that is soft, breezy and a bit sultry. It’s a bit too dry for me. While I like bedroom pop sometimes, it can easily get repetitive, and I struggled to glean individual tracks from this. I can see why people are getting quickly hooked on this group – and it’s a great summer record. With more listens I could warm up to it. But for now, I was left wanting more. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24

Kings of Leon – Can We Please Have Some Fun

I’d ask you the same question! Much like The Black Keys in a previous post, this quintessentially American rock band was already peaking when they struck gold in the late-00’s. It’s now 2024, and they’ve settled for complacency. While the Black Keys have entered a middle-aged paranoia, the Kings seem content to release the same album they’ve been releasing for fifteen years. To their credit, it’s probably better than the Keys album; it’s simply boring. It isn’t try-hard, in fact they’re not trying at all. There’s even a song that has lyrics about not having anything to say! This is mom music, not many steps removed from Coldplay*. There’s a place for music like this, and maybe we wouldn’t be so critical if these guys hadn’t transformed so much. But this isn’t the same band that did “Four Steps.” There are some highlights – the opener “Ballerina Radio” is a touching and hyperaware song about the current state, and “Nothing To Do” is a rollicking song that sounds like the old KOL. But the other songs just exist, and “Nothing” makes one wonder why the guys don’t force themselves to have, well, fun. 

* – I love Coldplay, genuinely, and I’m hype for their new one. Sue me!

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Les Savy Fav – OUI, LSF

If you can follow the trends across these posts, then it should come as no surprise that I adore this band. I mostly missed them on their original run, only really latching on once I saw a reunion set at Riot Fest on a whim. Their first new album in a 10+ years is both a continuation and an extension of their sound. The album currently sitting on the #1 throne on my ranked list is Pissed Jeans’ Half Divorced, and LSF have always been comparable to those guys – fun, raucous post-hardcore that’s often fast and heavy but not exactly abrasive. Some songs here carry on the tradition – “Guzzle Blood,” “Void Moon” and “Oi! Division” are all old school LSF classics. But there’s more patient and mature tracks, too; a symptom of reunion albums. The balance works remarkably well, and the resulting album is one that’s emotionally complete. Even if half of the songs are on the softer side, the band is still melodic, funny, and just a blast to listen to. These guys deserved a bigger spotlight, maybe this time around they’ll get it. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Full Of Hell – Coagulated Bliss

If you asked me to list my favorite metal bands, I’d list a couple of heavy-hitters before spouting Full Of Hell right out. The extreme metal band has been pushing the sonic limits of metal and noise for years now, in between more experimental collaborative albums. But their latest solo (?) album takes a half-step back. Sure, these songs are still ostensibly grindcore, often clocking in at under 120 seconds, but there’s elements of hard rock and classic heavy metal thrown in. There are breaks, and more development to (some) songs. I mean look at the cover – their previous non-collaborative albums all feature dismal black and white art, but this one is vibrant. It represents a minor but maybe necessary shift in their music. This record fits in with the others, but has enough going to stand out, too. Plus, there’s plenty of abrasive bruisers still. Great stuff from an always excellent band. People going in thinking “metal” may mean something like Sabaton are going to be shocked and disappointed, but for those that like the experimental noise, this is the one to beat. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 4/26/24

Lord Dying – Clandestine Transcendence

Don’t judge a book by its cover, don’t judge a metal subgenre by its band name/album name/album art. I went into this one blind, expecting some good old pounding death metal, but what I got was much more. There’s elements of stoner metal, heavy metal, even hard rock. No two songs are the same, not even close really. This isn’t a recommendation for those close-minded metalheads who only like their ONE style, this is for all the metal freaks. It’s a little too long, and it feels like it’s missing that one key song to really sell it. But, it’s unique and basically every song is fun and original in some way. I’m itching to spin this one again.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 1/19/24

Rejoice – All Of Heaven’s Luck

This is another metal album I went into blind. This appears to be the band Rejoice’s first full release – the band isn’t even on the expansive metal archive website yet. It’s super blackened hardcore, somewhat in line with black metal even. It’s exhausting music, even at a grand total of 17 minutes. There’s a few different ideas floating around the eight tracks, though the back half gets pretty rote at times. There’s a lot of promise here though; if this group can learn to diversify ideas and stretch some songs out (if they want to), then they’ve got a good path forward. Good start!

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 1/5/24

Bad Nerves – Still Nervous

Hell yes some old-school punk, this is extremely me music. The first handful of songs on this album are fast, clean and extremely high-energy. They sound ripped from the songbooks of my favorite bands like The Damned or The Adverts. By the album’s end, there’s more matured and diversified songs, though I’m usually always partial to the bangers. This was a pleasant little find, I forget where exactly I picked it up from. Even in a brief release, there’s a little too much downtime. But, when this hits it really hits. I’m a sucker for no-frills punk!

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24

Taylor Swift – The Tortured Poets Department (Anthology version)

Alright folks here’s your main event. I may be one of the few remaining Americans who has a measured view of Taylor’s music. I love Red and 1989. I liked Midnights. I hated Reputation. Hell, I liked Lover! Mostly, her music doesn’t really leave much of a mark on me positive or negative – but I’m not against her. I say all this to hopefully wave off the Swifties when I say that this new behemoth album is truly, truly bad. 

I listened to this album in segments on the subway and made a bunch of notes on my phone, ready to vomit up a minor treatise on what works and doesn’t. But it wasn’t until I was in the trenches of the extended edition’s tracklist that one cohesive thread clicked: this is just inauthentic. Swift has never been a particularly adept singer or musician, knowing her strength is in songwriting. Even when she’s weaving a fictional story (and even on her bad releases), there’s a thick layer of genuine care present. From day one up until Midnights, it’s been her greatest strength. It’s gone here. This album presents itself as one of poetry, and Swift seems to use that to take on personae that she could never use before. There’s nothing wrong with that – imagine how boring music would be if every song were truth! – but the ends she reaches towards are comically out-of-scope. The record is littered with references to things like heroin, asylums, the Chelsea Hotel, and are all sung with the glee of a teen saying the F-word for the first time. The Patti Smith and Stevie Nicks namechecks are cool, but if she’s going to insert herself into this scene, the artist she should be saying should be bigger would be, like, Yo La Tengo, and not the king of ho-hum Charlie Puth. 

Very little about this record makes sense lyrically, and even the moments where she’s clearly singing about real events come off as fake. Swift has spent years cultivating her image as that of an everyday American girl; she has cats, she dates a football player, she probably falls asleep at 10pm watching TV like the rest of us. It’s an image of inoffensive easiness, one that’s relatable and almost impossible to hate (despite Republicans spending a couple months trying for reasons that are still unclear). So to hear her suddenly sing about Aston Martins is off-putting in a way that’s fatal to the rest of the record, even the real tunes. One highlight, though, is the proper album’s final track “Clara Bow,” an earnest look at Taylor’s own relationship with the media that dog her relentlessly – the sheer earnestness of that song nearly makes it all worthwhile.

There’s almost nothing interesting about this album musically. That’s not really Taylor’s fault; you’ll find in previous posts that I really, really hate the production work of the scoundrel Jack Antonoff. His crusade to dilute any interesting female artist he can get his hands on continues. Swift’s voice just isn’t strong enough to carry these songs on their own, but she has to, because many of these songs are nothing musically. Aaron Dessner actually tackles about half of the production (mostly on the expanded edition), and his tunes fare a bit better – but not by much. Crucially, the most interesting song from a melody standpoint is “The Black Dog,” one of the only five songs that Swift is credited on alone. So many of these songs, especially early on, are just windy pop songs, soft on volume and melody, and even softer on ideas. 

The major sites all tripped over themselves to be the first ones to review the album. That led to some bizarrely hilarious outcomes like an automatic 5 stars from Rolling Stone and an anonymous review in Paste. But regardless of what their reviews said, they all missed something important – this is an inessential record. In the age of immediate opinions, it’s easy to forget that sometimes artists just whiff. This is a whiff. It happens! It was released in the middle of the biggest tour in music history, so it’s not like she’s going to be affected in the slightest. Her stature does not exclude her from whiffs. Dylan whiffed, Springsteen whiffed. It’s okay to just say it! There are some songs here I liked (“Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?”) and some I really didn’t (“I Hate It Here”). The expanded edition is 31 songs long. The good ones are not particularly memorable, the bad ones are new career lows. As for the 26 or so other songs? So forgettable that they already don’t exist. 

As it stands, this is my lowest-reviewed album of 2024. I hope it doesn’t stay this way; I want to like it more. 

Grade: 4.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Sorry about all of that text, shout out to anyone who read all of it, I only skimmed it personally. I hope you can cherry-pick some albums from here that you may have missed, I always urge people to dig deeper and find new stuff. Even if I personally gave something a middling grade, you may enjoy it more, and there’s only one way to find out.

I’ve been enjoying this a lot even though it is tedious. I had no idea this year was going to be this ridiculously stacked, I hope I can keep making dents in my unwieldy listen-to playlist. Time will only tell what next month will feature, but I can give you a couple that I’ve already listened to: Friko, Mk.gee, Local Natives, and Thou. And knowing me, probably ~25 others. See ya next month!

The Rundown: May 2024

Hello! How’s it going? How’s your year been? Over in the music world, it’s one of the best years I’ve ever seen. Comparable with 2016, if not even better. I wish I had known that would be the case when I decided to do flash reviews of every new album I listen to! I’m tired, folks. We’ve got a lot of great stuff this month, and a few weaker ones. These are not in any order whatsoever. There’s a lot of big names this post, but I hope you find some gems from this. Check out the third record here, in particular.

Shellac – To All Trains

Rest in peace Steve Albini. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably well-versed in Albini’s work already, but he was a god in the music scene. A talented musician who utterly despised the industry, most of his work was production. He produced records for anyone ranging from Nirvana to your shithead neighbor’s weird noise band – and never took a penny for his work. His last record as a musician came only days after his sudden passing, and it’s hauntingly beautiful. It’s also a pretty normal Shellac record; chunky and bass-heavy post-punk with snarled and often witty lyrics. The band was self-described as “minimalist,” I wouldn’t exactly use that term but these songs are all surprisingly easy. Most of them are perfectly digestible and just off-putting enough to drive away casual folks. Opener “WSOD” jams on a fun riff for a while. But the real ominous standout is closer “I Don’t Fear Hell,” where Albini sings about waiting to join all his friends down below. Classic Albini – dark, funny, groovy and eerily prescient. Albini was one of the best guys around but if he ended up in Hell, then brother, we’ll all see you there. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

I was saving, cherishing this one for the perfect day. Well it’s a sunny, warm Friday just before a long weekend and I’m in a good mood, finally time. My expectations were set pretty high, given that “Right Back To It” is my favorite song of the year and I don’t see anything else topping it. I’m also a lifelong Waxahatchee fan, although she’s not someone who I listen to often. The rest of the record isn’t 100% consistent, but it often hits. While the lead single is her most straight-up country song yet, the rest of the album is familiar indie-folk, with occasional bursts of guitar. These tunes are very sweet, very casual and just extremely well-developed. Katie’s voice is as good as always, but this album is more about summer-y vibes anyways. These are songs for aimless car rides with the windows down, songs for drinking a beer on the front lawn. And yet, I can tell this is a record I’ll come back to during all seasons. As expected, one of the best of the year. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

Salt Cathedral – Before It’s Gone

I heard one of the songs from this album on the radio many moons ago and kept a mental note to check back for an album. Finally, it’s here, and it’s glorious. There’s nothing particularly inventive happening here, yet it all feels original. I know little about this duo, but what they make is beautiful. This is atmospheric indie, almost gospel-like. There’s always rhythms, but some are fainter than others. Some exist only on a breeze and a vocal lick, others bring in hand drums and conventional pop songwriting. Add in some authentic and balanced lyrics, and you’ve got a multi-influenced gem of a record. This is pop music for people who don’t like pop music. Real winner!

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

Latrell James – Running In Place

If I had to pick a word to describe this album, it would be: vibrant. The local (Boston) rapper’s new album is quick and diverse, a bunch of short songs that range from muddied to sweet. Mostly, the album is very fun. Pristine production is a key factor here, making the brightest songs pop with effortless energy. No idea sticks around too long, making every song seem like a fleeting thought in a complicated mind. There’s some easy, brilliant stuff happening here. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Middle Kids – Faith Crisis, Pt. 1

Middle Kids have never been the most exciting band, but they’ve always put out some great songs here and there. The band is mostly known for guitar indie-rock, a mix of 90’s throwback and current poppier indie. Their new album stays close to home, a group of pleasantly banging alternative tunes. The opening track “Petition” is a ripper, and the two real closing tracks (excusing an interlude) are great tunes on the ballad side of things. The entire middle of the album is made of fun but largely uninspired cuts, songs to enjoy once and forget immediately. This is kinda what they do, and they’ve carved out their own niche, but it doesn’t make for the most exciting listen.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism

I love Dua Lipa, but the public’s expectations were set too high for this one. Her first two albums proved that someone can still be entertaining and authentic within the confines of overproduced pop music; her third album falls victim to sterilization. Radical Optimism was promoted as more of an experimental, disco-influenced album, something that does not come through at all. Instead, it’s a collection of songs that are still very fun, but the blandest she’s sounded. This might be her best vocal work to date, and some songs on the front half have enough working for them to be replayable and memorable. But, a majority of these tunes are frustratingly rote. Dua Lipa has always been confident, an artist who is into herself and not making music because she’s a corporation – an idea taken too far, as these songs sound like they were made for an audience of one: Dua Lipa. The album is still a blast front-to-back, but after two of the best pop albums of the last decade, it’s a massive letdown. Listen once, digest it and forget it. 

A few days after I wrote the above paragraph, I was sitting in a dentist chair listening to dentist radio. “Houdini,” one of the singles off this album, played and it took three quarters of the song to realize what it was. A good note as to how disposable these songs really feel. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

Jlin – Akoma

Ok so I put this one on blind, thinking Jlin was more of a pseudo-R&B artist and not someone working more in glitch electronic. This is a whole world I know little about. Since I’m out of my wheelhouse, I can just say that I loved the bookend tracks here, especially a fun and rousing closer with an assist from Philip Glass (!). In between those was a set of avant-garde, lighter tracks that maybe didn’t do much for me but certainly weren’t unpleasant to listen to. I know just enough to understand that for the respective genre, this is a masterclass – strictly personally, it mostly went over my head.

Grade: 7.5/10  Initial release date: 3/22/24

Flo Milli – Fine Ho, Stay

I’m absolutely not qualified to be writing about artists like Flo Milli but hell I loved this. The songs are relatively rudimentary in nature but Flo Milli has an amazing, well, flow. Comically big boasts litter the rap tracks, and touches of tenderness hit the more R&B-inspired ones. But it’s mostly the former – this is a big, fun record. Don’t listen to it around your parents; this one is horny as all hell. SZA and Cardi B show up on a remix, almost predictably. They represent the best of a few solid assists throughout; enough to feel like a party, few enough that the focus is still on Flo Milli. If you like fun and carefree rap, add it to the list.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

High On Fire – Cometh the Storm

As much as I’ve always been obsessed with Sleep, Matt Pike’s other, less-prolific-but-arguably-more-well-known metal band, High On Fire has never truly hit for me. Their ninth album is a pummeling burst of sludge metal, with nonstop guitar assault and Pike’s characteristic screamed vocals. More than ever, he sounds like he’s being tortured in the studio. With the exception of a mid-album lull, these songs offer no breaks at all, exhaustingly heavy from start to finish. They cast a wide rope, as this record really isn’t “sludge metal” and could pull in more standard heavy metal fans. The album’s big concern is bloat. The album starts with four songs over five minutes, which is not uncommon for a Pike band – my favorite song of his is the 13 minute “Sonic Titan.” But when the album itself is just shy of an hour, and nearly every song follows the same formula, it becomes too much. The album is too long-winded, although the back half is actually better than the front. Still, this is a hell of a metal record, and one that I could see myself going back to. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Ride – Interplay

This one feels bad to write. Ride were always one of the loudest of the shoegaze bands, pushing guitar distortion to new levels. Even on their reunion albums prior, we’ve seen the band turn the amps up and crush out. But practically everything on their seventh album just sort of…exists. The songs are well-written but aimless, not really searching for that signature sound. It’s a shame, because I’ve been hearing “Portland Rocks” on the radio and have loved it – as it is a signature Ride song. And it’s not the only one on the album; “Stay Free” and “Essaouira” are vintage Ride. But a lot of these tracks just don’t really achieve much and don’t have much of anything to say. Some good foundations here, and a lot of missed opportunities.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Past Is Still Alive

The alt-country scene is alive and well. This album seems to have already gotten swept up in the wake of Waxahatchee’s similar and more prominent release, but it shouldn’t. Alynda Segarra has always known how to wear their heart on their sleeve, and this record is no different. I guess it’s “more of the same,” really, but when the same is this good, does it matter? These americana songs are soulful, breezy, earnest and twangy. Segarra is a natural when it comes to country-fied folk songs like this. While it won’t stand as the best record of this nature this year, it should turn some heads. Watch for local legend Anjimile pop up on the excellent “Ogallala”! 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/23/24

Empress Of – For Your Consideration

2024 has been such an unprecedented year for music so far that plenty of “pretty good” albums are going to get completely lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately I think that’s true for the fourth Empress Of album, which already seems to be getting overlooked unfairly. The Honduran singer is back with more bedroom alternative-via-R&B smoothness. The album’s front half is very solid, with “Lorelei” and the Rina Sawayama-aided “Kiss Me” being the best of the best. These songs straddle the line between sultry and indie, an alt-pop barrier that’s eroding with each month. The album’s back half is more of the same, it doesn’t really stand up to the front half. The full picture is one that’s worth checking out if it’s your type of thing, but it isn’t going to change the world.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

girl in red – I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!

I’ll admit that I went into this one with low expectations – girl in red’s debut album was a bold mix of indie and trap influences, but something about it really didn’t grab me personally. Obviously I was alone, as it immediately launched her into a stratosphere rarely seen by indie artists. Well I’m aboard now, because this sophomore album is a blast start to finish. These songs are abrupt, and mostly very energizing and manic. When they’re not, they’re sweet and earnest. It’s a mix of stuff more chaotic and varied than her debut, and all the better for it. At 27 minutes, the only real downside is that it could’ve used some more. A genuine surprise to me, and one of the best listens of the year so far.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 4/12/24

Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Knocked Loose are one of those bands that I absolutely love but never know how to write about. The metal group doesn’t exist within the bounds of any specific subgenre, but they aren’t so radical as to define a new one, either. What they do is absolutely rip, and their third album rips even harder than their first two. They’re technically metalcore, a genre I usually don’t pay much attention to due to sheer repetition between bands. But Knocked Loose infuse it with elements of hardcore punk and death metal, emitting short and brutal transmissions that always make sure to be on the fun side of things. The songs on this album (especially the first half) don’t so much start and end as they do operate as one puzzling suite. There’s an assist from Poppy that should go down as one of the best guest verses of the year, too. This is absolute fire start to finish. EDIT: Since writing this, I’ve seen them live, and they absolutely smashed it. Premier live band, too.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Knoll – As Spoken

Look at the cover of this record – an ominous, black and white photo of a mirror, pointing diagonally away from the camera. It’s unsettling. I put this record on knowing it was metal, but not much more. This is powerful black metal. Abrasive, pounding, sounding like the depths of Hell. What I’m saying is, it’s extremely me music. I love raw black metal. Oddly, this album eschews one of the normal characteristics of black metal – lengthy songs. It’s a genre devoted to wearing you down through both repetition and ferocity, but the band does away with the former. Only four of the album’s eleven tracks are over five minutes, and the rest are all under four. Instead of repetition, the band gives you whiplash transitions. It’s just as effective. Great stuff.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 1/26/24

Alluvial – Death Is But A Door

This is just a 4-track EP so I’ll keep this quick. This is proper death metal, grinding and brutal but still pretty fun. Three of the four songs didn’t truly leave an effect on me, even though I enjoyed them. But the song “Fogbelt” is rapidly becoming one of my favorite songs of the year. It’s got a nasty guitar riff in the chorus that sounds more nu-metal than anything; compliment, from my mouth. If nothing else, check that track out.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 1/12/24

B3CCA4EVER – SMILEY FACE

This is an artist I’ve seen live. Last year, around my birthday, when B3CCA and her tag team partner Aaron Rourke took on The Miracle Generation for the IWTV Tag Team Titles in Beyond Wrestling. It’s one of the best matches I’ve ever seen in person. Since then, the wrestler has been focusing her efforts on music (check the penultimate track for a fellow grappler). It’s an EP of bubblegum pop, decently produced and not overlong. In classic kayfabe fashion, it’s not really clear if it’s a joke or not. B3CCA is a riot on social media, and there’s some tongue-in-cheek lyrics across this release – but some songs seem serious! It’s a fairly promising start, either way. It’s still real to me, dammit.

Grade: Meltzer gave this a 7.5/5   Initial release date: 5/3

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard And Soft

I really respect the boldness of this record. Eilish’s first two records both had distinct identities, and were wholly separate from each other. Her third seems to intentionally go against this idea, combining elements from her first two dichotomous albums and filtering in new ideas, too. The album opens with “Skinny,” a stripped down and powerful vocal ballad. The second track is “Lunch,” a synth-heavy tongue-in-cheek song that sounds ripped from her abrasive debut. This album is clearly one made by and for Eilish, and she throws everything at the wall. While some songs stay within familiar territory, others are unpredictable. After some time, we may agree that “L’Amour de Ma Vie” is her best song yet, a track that starts as a ballad and ends with wild club beats. While I don’t think this album quite stands up to her enigmatic debut album, it’s still a very solid pop release – and a refreshingly bold direction for a star at the top. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell

Sum 41 was completely formative for me – All Killer No Filler was the first album I ever bought, and one I still know every word to. The band quickly moved beyond the immature pop-punk into other territories, but for their final album, they’ve devoted one-half to old habits. The first half of the two-disc record is old-school pop-punk, the musical equivalent of fitting perfectly into that suit/dress you wore to prom. It’s some of the best pop-punk stuff they’ve ever done, which is really saying something. Energetic, fun and raucous, it’s a reminder how powerful this band once was. 

In their later years, the band transitioned into metal. And as such that this is a double-album, it’s a double-review. The back half of this album is ten (well, nine) metal tracks that show the odd trajectory that the canucks have been on. Side B is fine, but it’s pretty middling compared to what came before it. The issue isn’t that the songs are bad, it’s that they have no place. Sum 41 carved out a unique and important niche in punk, something they never did successfully in metal. Metalheads rejected them for the pop-punk origins, and the songs weren’t unique enough to bring in old fans. These aren’t bad songs, but they don’t have much to do. It’s telling that the ten songs on this side include a short intro and a Stones cover (that sounds remarkably like the one done by The Unseen some 20 years ago). The back half is fun in comparison to the front, but it’s skippable. Still – as a whole, this is a wonderful sendoff for the band.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Sheesh! What a month. Lot of great releases this month, I don’t think this year can sustain this momentum. We need some garbage to even this out. Maybe I’ll find some for June. I can’t tell you fully what I’ll be listening between then and now, but you will see some British indie, some local dance-punk, and Charli XCX. Also, I am investing in strengthening my home security system, because I will finally be tackling Taylor Swift. Oh dear. Check back in July!

The Rundown: March/April 2024, Pt. 1

Okay what happened here? I didn’t do a post in March. I got stuck on a project at work that saw me working on a restricted laptop that did NOT have access to any music streaming sites, so I really didn’t have anything to update. I figured I’d do a two month consolidation post. But….then I listened to 29 new releases in April, and I don’t want to crash your web browser (or mine). So, here’s half of those, in no real order. There’s some indie heavy-hitters, a couple offbeat gems, possibly the only true jazz album I review all year, and cowbey.

January | February

The Smile – Wall Of Eyes

I finally listened to it! I mean, what’s there to say about this one that hasn’t already been said? Radiohead have always been a band to have productive recording sessions, often crafting entire second albums and shelving them for later. The offshoot of Radiohead feels the same. This album comes shortly after their debut, but it feels incredibly separate from it. While the debut was mostly just lighter, looser Radiohead, this one has songs that are longer, more drawn-out, and more complex. It’s jazzy and mathy, with occasional fits of noise. They’re appealing more to the prog-side, a crossover opportunity Radiohead has always had but never explored. These songs aren’t for those who like strictly 4/4 v-c-v-c-b-c or 12 bar blues, these are songs for the critics and analysts. Oddly enough, I found some stretches of it worked better than others. But it’s an album that demands more listens, and I’ve only given it one. So consider this review to be a placeholder.

Grade: 7.5/10  Initial release date: 1/26/24

Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

The hot streak continues. You may know Lenker best as the singer of Big Thief, a band seemingly incapable of writing a song even slightly mediocre. Well, she’s racked up more than enough songs to make a runoff solo album. Donned with just an acoustic guitar, Lenker delivers another set of heart-wrenching ditties, as well as a solo version of Big Thief’s “Vampire Empire,” one of my favorite tunes from 2023. Simple and devastating, it’s what you expect from indie’s best songwriter. Also, she released a Bandcamp-only accompany EP with all proceeds going to Gazan relief efforts, which is a nice 180 from what I had heard about her previous politics (possibly hearsay!). 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

Boeckner – Boeckner!

Wolf Parade is one of the dozen or so legacy indie bands that I’ve just never really spent any time with, so I can’t really compare and/or contrast the band’s music with the debut album from its singer, Dan Bockner. The album is as playful as its title, owing more to low-stakes classic rock than anything else. This is just a collection of fun, little rock songs; some big, some small, none trying to change the world. It’s the true definition of a side project. Musically and vocally, he sounds like Bob Mould, but a little less abrasive. It’s an album for the cool dads in your life. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

The Jesus & Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes

Similarly, this is a legacy group that I don’t know well beyond the hits. I was immediately taken aback by how accessible this sounds, as if I was expecting the band to still be doing “Just Like Honey” forty years later. It’s much more rock-oriented, even by recent standards. It’s very inconsistent. “Venal Joy” and “jamcod” are urgent tunes, complex and heavy. “Pure Poor” and “The Eagles and The Beatles” meanwhile are just…sad. Lyrically they have nothing to say and they seem like obligatory spot-fillers. The tone of this album varies wildly from industrial into hokey rock-n-roll. Some good elements, but not really for me. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

PACKS – Melt the Honey

Due to the aforementioned work project, I’m writing this review probably a full month after I listened to this album, which never does any artist any favors. That said, this is great, but it also wasn’t really for me. This set of songs is punchy indie, guitar-driven alt-rock that could reasonably crossover into the punk threshold. It’s authentic, and walks the line between vulnerable and intense. It is entirely midtempo, though, which is a bit of a death knell for me personally. It all starts to sound pretty similar partway through, and never really recovers. Again – this comes down to personal taste. With the exception of the recently-departed group Dilly Dally, I’ve never been much for albums that are entirely midtempo. It comes off to me as sluggish, a few high-energy jaunts or true ballads could’ve broken this up more. Still though, this is great. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 1/19/24

Real Estate – Daniel

I’ve never been particularly keen on this band, they’ve always seemed to me like the most diluted, template indie band possible. So imagine my surprise when I immediately fell in love with the lead single “Water Underground.” I’m not sure if the long-running band really hit it out of the park, or my tastes have matured, or both. I think it’s both. Either way, the subsequent album was predictably not as great as the song, but is chock full of sweet and melodic indie tunes for you. Released in the dead of winter, this could become a pleasant summer album. 

Grade: 6.5/10    Initial release date: 2/23/24

Gouge Away – Deep Sage

I love Gouge Away, some good ferocious hardcore with melodic punk woven in. There’s tons of bands that sound like Gouge Away, and yet they’ve always had something distinct I can never put my finger on. It might be Christina Michelle’s profoundly intense vocals, or the fact that the band always seems to straddle the hardcore and post-hardcore line – two genres similar in name only. Their newest release takes a slightly softer approach, with more patient songwriting and more downtime across the record. It’s still mighty, it’s just more vulnerable, too. I’m not sure if the enhanced formula works quite as well as the original one, but I think further listens will truly determine that. It might just be that this album is more of a grower than previous ones. Either way, it’s still one of my favorites of the year. The grading curve is high. 

Grade: 8/10 Initial release date: 3/15/24

Dissimulator – Lower Form Resistance

Based on the album cover, which looks ripped from Tetsuo: The Iron Man, I was definitely expecting something more along the lines of industrial metal. Consider it a minor letdown that it was closer to standard death metal. Their debut album still rips, though, and takes a lot of unpredictable turns. There’s a lot of thrash elements here to counteract any death metal monotony. I listened to this one a while ago so it isn’t fresh in my brain, but it really is a solid, enjoyable metal album – especially for a debut. 

Grade: 7/10  Initial release date: 1/24/24

Molly Lewis – On The Lips

This one nearly slipped through the cracks – I listened to it many weeks ago and forgot to do a flash review. So, it also isn’t still in my memory lobes, unfortunately. But this album is certainly unique! I put it on knowing nothing about the artist, and it took until about halfway into the second song that I realized exactly what I had gotten into. There are no sung vocals on this album – every song is centered around whistling. The music is distinctly indie, but it has a necessary 50’s throwback country sound too. The music is cheerful but dense, which is key, so that the whistling doesn’t always have to bolster the album. I don’t really know what else to say about this! This is ultimately a bit repetitive in concept, and inconsistent, but it’s really something you should experience, too. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

Omni – Souvenir

I touched on this in the first round of reviews when I wrote about Cheekface, but, my tastes have absolutely shifted. I spent a long time appreciating but not really liking new wave and post-punk music. There isn’t really anything that jolted me into loving it, it just kind of happened, but it’s super apparent with Omni. I didn’t care for this band’s first couple albums, and when I saw them as an opening band, I was bored. But this was super fun, I really dug it. These are robotic but carefree post-punk songs, like a smoothed down and mellowed out Gang of Four. High-energy but good, clean fun. This is really making me want to go back and reconsider their earlier albums; this one really might be better, but maybe I’ve changed, too.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy

It’s been a long time since an indie debut was this hotly anticipated, the fervor was nearly at ’08 Vampire Weekend levels. What I’m saying is, if you’re interested in this type of thing, then you’ve probably heard it already. But! It so lives up to the hype. This is a set of well-balanced, bombastic indie tunes with a lot of spunk and even more intelligence. These ladies have a tinge of chamber pop in their songs, with a lot of raucous elements. It’s a unique blend that calls back to the early riotous live shows – but not recorded material – of Arcade Fire. In fashion, this band allegedly has wild and destructive shows themselves. Also a small tic, I love when a band doesn’t just chuck the singles at the front of the album but places them in where they make sense sequentially. The second single and my favorite track, “Sinner,” comes near the end!

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 2/2/24

The Messthetics/James Brandon Lewis – The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis

I love jazz, but I simply never keep up with any new jazz. The description for this hooked me, though, due to who the Messthetics are – they’re the rhythm section of goddamned Fugazi. And this album is exactly what you get when you take a bunch of punk veterans who have transitioned into jazz. It’s hot, often very free-form and improvised but never so much so that the songs lose structure. Most of the tracks are uptempo, aided by the full-album collaboration with saxophonist James Brandon Lewis. This album is, just to put it simply, hot and undiluted fun. A hearty recommendation to anyone, even folks who don’t spin jazz. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Torres – What an enormous room

Ok so I actually spun this one twice back in January in preparation of (finally!) seeing her live, but I gave it a proper headphones whirl in April. The indie singer has been bubbling under the radar for a good decade now, and I’m hoping this propels her forward. It might be her best album yet, a culmination of all the ideas she’s put forward till now. It’s got threatening guitar jams, tender ballads and poppy synth tunes. She continues to blend sexual and religious references like a more deranged Sufjan Stevens. There’s more individual ideas here than on previous Torres records, but she makes them all coalesce. Something for everyone, at least in the indie world. The third spin of this will certainly not be my last. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 1/26/24

Beyoncé – Cowboy Carter

Right, so. The point of these are to do quick blasts for practice & fun, and, no one needs to hear me go long about what will almost certainly be the biggest album of the year. But! I have thoughts. So much of this album is about dual identities – Bey explores country for the first time (outside of the excellent 2016 cut “Daddy Lessons”), while still infusing it with some toss-in R&B and hip-hop. The resulting combination feels experimental, and when it works, it works. But it sometimes doesn’t. 

There’s a whiplash across different ideas, sometimes. The opener “Ameriican Requiem” is country-fied, before launching into a song that entirely samples The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” The album never feels grounded, which can sometimes be fun. “Spaghettii” is closer to straight hip-hop, and it’s fun as hell. There’s samples from the Beach Boys, Underworld and Fleetwood Mac. There’s a lot of respect paying directed at the elders, and not just in the world of country.

But the album remains befuddling all the same. There’s the already too-heavily-discussed cover of “Jolene,” which changes the lyrics. It’s divisive, and for me it just serves no purpose. It tries to update the song for modern girlboss era, which shows an inherent lack of understanding towards what makes old country so great. Also, there’s a glaring editing issue. The album is 88 minutes long, and there’s a lot of filler tracks. Some early songs have a lot of aimless noodling, and there’s a Post Malone-featured song that’s dead on arrival. In an album centered on experimentation, there’s too much of the old. 

And this is where dual identity comes into play. Beyoncé posits herself as a Texan here – and she is, and the positive impact that this is having on country music is already palpable. She’s improving it, immediately, from the outside. But she’s also an R&B artist, married to one of the most New York men alive. She’s also a billionaire, and as revolutionary as her music can sometimes be, it’s still corporate pop. This dual identity is a treacherous one, and while her fame and goodwill will probably keep it intact, there’s a potential for it to cave disastrously. The pairing could work, if Bey embraces it fully. But details like the head-scratching “Jolene,” the Post Malone feature, and the seemingly AI-generated album cover, don’t give me a lot of hope.

Sorry – the album’s solid. I had fun. It’s too long though.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Are we having fun yet? I’ll be putting another post up hopefully next weekend, with another 14 flash reviews and a couple local recommendations, too. Thanks for laboring through this!

The Rundown: February 2024

Welcome back, time for another quick rundown of some 2024 albums I’ve listened to! You can check out the January edition, where I did brief reviews of about a dozen 2024 releases. This time around, I’ve got 14 quick blasts, and one local rec for good measure. First time around the albums were ordered by grade, this time around it’s by release date. I hope you like the number 7.5, because there’s a disproportionate number of albums with that grade. I still haven’t done the Smile’s album, somehow, whoops. Let’s crack on:

Infant Island – Obsidian Wreath

I’ll be honest, I put this one on when I was putzing around the apartment cleaning, so it didn’t quite get the same kind of attention that most albums get (when I’m mindlessly processing stuff at work with headphones on). That said, I deeply appreciated the way this band made a wholly unique and creative blackgaze album within the confines of traditional metal. There’s nothing particularly special on a surface level, but scratch even just a bit into these songs and they reveal a density, a cruelness, and a certain sereneness that counteracts the volume. It’s always refreshing to hear a cool blackgaze album like this. 

Initial release date: 1/12/24   Grade: 7.5/10

Kid Cudi – INSANO

Oof. First off, I respect that Cudi isn’t trying to make a grand statement. This is an issue that plagues modern albums, especially in hip-hop – the thought that every record needs to be an Atrocity Exhibition or an Astroworld, something Earth-shattering. Cudi eschews this for a relaxed, fun reminder of his strengths. The monkey’s paw of that is that this album is just weak all-around; loud but boring beats are matched with bland lyrics. Cudi sounds like he’s having fun, which does translate over, but it isn’t enough to carry the record’s ridiculous 64 minute runtime. You can extrapolate the best five songs or so and trash the other fifteen. It’s a stopgap album.

Initial release date: 1/12/24   Grade: 5.5/10

Katy Kirby – Blue Raspberry

An album as sweet as its title. This is standard-fare pretty indie, to the point where one of the singles sounds a little too reminiscent of Angel Olsen’s “All Mirrors.” But when everything works as well as it does here, who cares? I was taken aback by how much I liked this one, something I mindlessly threw on based on two songs I’d heard. Very patient, gorgeous indie-folk that knows when to be soft or bombastic. The focus is on melody above all, with obvious care put into every track. And while it mostly stays soft, the whole album builds to a much grander, 2-minute finale that takes you by surprise. Genuinely loved this one. 

Initial release date: 1/26/24 Grade: 8/10

Vitriol – Suffer & Become

Not much to say about this really other than it’s some articulated, dense, and rip-ass death metal. This feels akin to the band Aborted, featuring maximalist songs with little to no breaks, chaotic rhythms and pristine production. It’s not as tongue-in-cheek as those legends though, played very seriously here. I ended up having to listen to this one in parts, which I don’t like doing, so once I give it a full one-day runthrough I might bump the grade up.

Initial release date: 1/26/24   Grade: 7.5/10

J. Mascis – What Do We Do Now

Ok so same thing goes for this as with the Infant Island record – I was moving around the apartment with this one playing. I’m always a bit trepidatious about J. Mascis’s solo music, because it’s often just him and a guitar, which is my least favorite version of him. But this is much more, it often sounds like a full band, just one that is a lot janglier than Dinosaur, Jr. is. This music is loose and midtempo, enough energy to be fun but not so much so that it just sounds like more Dino. The album does suffer from repetition, as practically every song follows the same template. But, the best tracks here do what J. does best; jangly guitar, lyrics about regrets and miscommunications, and strained talk-sung vocals. Definitely one of his better solo releases.

Initial release date: 2/2/24   Grade: 7.5/10

Little Simz – Drop 7

I probably wouldn’t review something this brief – it is a drop, after all, and clocks in at just under 15 minutes. But when you’ve got the dark horse candidate for best current rapper in play, even the one-offs are extraordinary. While some of Little Simz’s previous works have been steady and heady, this is her at her most impatient, firing a bunch of short songs off the cuff. Big beats and quick tempos make this a whirlwind of a little EP. 

Initial release date: 2/9/24   Grade: 8/10

Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She

If you’re a Chelsea Wolfe fan, you pretty much know what you’re going to get here. This album is full of slow, patient, goth-folk. The tracks here are brooding, dark and still melodic. Though the songs are not lengthy, the consistent eerieness and relaxed tempos give them a lot of space (and make them feel longer – which is not a complaint). This is Southern Gothic at its finest, a soundtrack for a Flannery O’Connor work. It falls victim to repetition on the back half, which is unfortunate, but the whole thing is saved with a stunning closing track. It’s not Wolfe’s best, but that’s a high benchmark.

Initial release date: 2/9/24   Grade: 7.5/10 

Laura Jane Grace – Hole In My Head

I appreciate how Laura Jane Grace always makes sure that her solo albums are not just Against Me! records under a different name. I haven’t been too fond of some of her more pop-punk solo outings over the past few years, but this one worked for me. The first couple songs on this one do sound like Against Me! runoffs, aka excellent punk bruisers, but most of the album has more of a folk-punk feel. It’s largely acoustic, but still energetic, witty and original. It does feel like a solo record in the proper sense – put a backing band and you’ve got an AM! record, but they’re not missed, either. It’s a fun avenue for Laura, one she really hasn’t explored since Reinventing Axl Rose all the way back in 2002. There’s nothing life-changing here, but it’s a very fun and earnest record if you’re a fan.

Initial release date: 2/16/24 Grade: 7.5/10  

IDLES – TANGK

I’m doing the exact thing I shouldn’t do with an album like this and vomiting some thoughts immediately after listening to it. I love the UK indie-punk hybrid IDLES, but I specifically love Joy As An Act Of Resistance. and I always want my IDLES albums to sound just like that one. Naturally, they don’t, because staying fresh is always the name of the IDLES game. TANGK, in fact, tries to be the polar opposite of Resistance, in that it relies heavily on slower tracks. There’s a haunting quality to this one, even with bangers like “Hall and Oates” and the LCD Soundsystem-assisted “Dancer.” The opening and closing tracks are particularly slow and quiet, but there’s patience throughout. I don’t think it really works well! The band utilizes these downbeats effectively when they’re infrequent – but here it’s every other song. Going along with that, it doesn’t feel like the band has much to say this time around. Admittedly, I haven’t dug into the lyrics much yet and I should, but this band has always been at the forefront of urgency, and here they sound like backseat drivers. With all of that said, the album still bangs hard sometimes, it’s still a solid release – I just expected more oomph. 

Initial release date: 2/16/24  Grade: 7/10

serpentwithfeet – GRIP

I simultaneously went into this one having never really heard the music of serpentwithfeet and still getting exactly what I expected – sultry, beautiful R&B. This exists in the realm of artistic R&B artists like Janelle Monae that make rhythmic, seductive music that nonetheless feels like it eschews any kind of “radio value.” Chalk it up to the homoerotic album cover, maybe, but this is absolutely on the alternative, experimental side of things. Breezy and hypnotic, this is a gem.

Initial release date: 2/16/24   Grade: 7.5/10

MGMT – Loss Of Life

A lot of the albums on this list I’ve had to listen to in segments (because I’m listening at work – don’t ask). For this one, I’m glad I did. This is a quietly gorgeous album, from a band not really known for that type of thing. Their first album is of course an experimental classic, but the next two shit the bed. Album #4 was a great-if-not-standard synth pop record, and it’s what I expected here. Really, it’s more guitar-focused, the plainest songs they’ve written to date but far from the worst. There’s some fun ones (especially the whiplash “Bubblegum Dog”) but a lot of songs are just excellent indie ballads. The back half has some patient, subtly impactful songs, and I would’ve missed them if I did this record in one swoop. Allow yourself some time to absorb these songs. 

Initial release date: 2/23/24   Grade: 7.5/10

Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven

This album had a lot to live up to. Mannequin Pussy are one of the only bands where I generally love every song they’ve put out. Ferocious, unpredictable and catchy, they’re a punk band that doesn’t really seem to think they’re a punk band. And on their fourth album, they do branch out a lot more. I don’t think the 100% streak continues, however, the best songs here are the best they’ve ever done. It’s a ripper of a record, and one that has more ideas and, *ahem,* patience than previous releases. Missy Dabice gives her best-yet vocal performance on “Sometimes,” a song that stretches closer to indie than anything else. But there’s still punk bruisers everywhere, too. Tremendous stuff.

Initial release date: 3/1/24 Grade: 8/10

Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced

In direct opposition to a lot of albums in this post, and the norm in general, this is the leanest and meanest version of Pissed Jeans we’ve ever seen. The post-hardcore band has always treated its aggressive music as a pseudo-joke, as they satirize specific topics like middle managers and guys who have humiliation fetishes. There’s some of that here, specifically in screeds against used underwear sales and guys who disturb you when you’re on break. But there’s also a general, visceral anger here. These songs are way shorter than normal, most under two minutes, just ferocious punk blasts from a band that normally stretches things out. The best song is still tongue-in-cheek; “Everywhere is Bad,” a parody of songs where singers get easy clout by listing cities, instead decrying every city, planet, galaxy, and dimension. Best album of the year so far. 

Initial release date: 3/1/24   Grade: 9/10

Kim Gordon – The Collective

Haha what the hell. The beautiful thing about listening to the solo projects from Sonic Youth members was seeing what influences they individually brought to the table – Thurston Moore brought the noise guitars, Lee Ranaldo brought the classic rock vibes, and Kim supplied the most experimental elements. On her second solo record (mind you, she is SEVENTY years old), she creates something entirely new and diabolical. This is noise-trap. It’s a noise-rock record centered around hip-hop beats, but not in any kind of Death Grips way. Some of these songs were intended for Playboi Carti, but somehow ended up in her lap. And that’s really the only way to describe them. I’ve never heard anything like this, even from Kim. It’s pure experimentation, and it certainly won’t work for everyone. But I absolutely loved it. 2016 rap filtered through 80’s no wave. After several decades, Kim is still just operating on a different level.

Initial release date: 3/8/24 Grade: 8.5/10

LOCAL NOOK: So, given that I already write for a local blog, and I naturally listen to artists I or we cover, it feels a little weird to me to write about them here too. However, I’ll use some space for recs. The indie group Happy Just to See You dropped a great, fun and heartwarming indie album, garnering yet another 7.5 rating from me.

Check back next month for more reviews!