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In Search of the 24 Best Albums of 2024: May

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Once upon a time there was a guy named Chris. Having spent years backfilling on decades gone past, in 2021 he set out on a quest to catch up on newer music. He listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked his favorites. He did the same for 2020, picking his top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And he listened to new releases monthly in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. That was so much fun he decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023. He is me!

There are links to the albums in the posts cited above, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in YouTube Music:

Also, do you want to know a secret? The review is still going on! Here are the previous editions of the 2024 monthly review if you missed them:

( January February March April )

A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, before we get going with the latest:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in the running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

Now let’s get on with my top picks from 124 May new releases that I listened to!

Adeem the Artist, Anniversary– It’s country, but with a sheen reminiscent of 70s AM radio, and just the tiniest hit of electronic as well. Mostly, it’s good hooks, lyrical clarity, and emotional honesty. And songs describing same sex love, advocating for trans rights, mentioning Palestine, and discussing the historic legacy of racism tell you how out of country mainstream this North Carolina by way of New York artist is.

Amen Dunes, Death Jokes– Combining a sometimes-dark psychedelia with electronic music in a very evocative way. And sure enough, AMG subsequently told me that, “The project of Damon McMahon, Amen Dunes unites folk, psych-rock, electronic, and industrial elements into an intuitive, searching whole. ” Along the way there are samples from Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, and J Dilla, which gives you an idea of the scope of what the music and lyrics are going for here.

Anastasia Coope, Darning Woman– The vocal and musical loops and layers, the echoes, the stark voice, intelligent lyrics, and hint of the unearthly all steal one’s breath. Whatever it is this 21-year-old musician and painter is doing, it’s both beautiful and unsettling.

Belly, 96 Miles From Bethlehem– Spare and powerful hip hop based on the unrest in Palestine from this Palestinian-Canadian artist. In many ways, it sounds like a typical (though very good) socially conscious hip hop album in production and themes- family, faith, odes to one’s love. But in this case the family is in Palestine, the faith is Islam, and the lost love is Gaza and the West Bank. Powerful and timely.

Blitzen Trapper, 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions– Warm, fuzzy pop with elements of singer-songwriter, psychedelia, and Neil Young-style ragged edges. Altogether, it brings to mind 70s AM radio, which is not to say that this Portland, Oregon band doesn’t feel fresh and vital. Well done Portland, Oregon band!

Crimeapple & Big Ghost Ltd, Bazuko– This collaboration between Colombian-born Crimeapple and anonymous blogger, hip hop writer and music producer Big Ghost is from another era, in several ways. Its stark mix, flow, and stories of the street feel like they belong to the late 90s/early 00s, and the subject matter largely revolves around the crack epidemic of the eighties. It doesn’t feel lost in time for all this, though, more like a great album that we all somehow missed.

F.U.N, Slum Village– J Dilla’s old group demonstrating that their excellence never was all about J Dilla. The mix is varied, metallic and urgent, the flow dynamic, and the lyrics interesting and positive. The whole thing feels redolent of the best of 00s hip hop. This Detroit group has been through a lot of changes, but they still know how to bring it!

Girl and Girl, Call a Doctor– Well, holy shit. The opening reminds me of one of Lou Reed’s story-poem songs. What follows carries on with that literate wordiness and uncomfortable emotional openness and marries it with a spare nervy rock as it sketches out the inner life of a troubled youth confronting some sort of medical crisis. An actual story arc! Delivered with equal helpings of wryness and sincerity. I’m keeping my eye on this Australian band!

Gyasi, Rock’N Roll Swordfight– Rock ‘n’ Roll Swordfight is a live album stitched together from three concerts in 2023. You could be forgiven for thinking that the concerts were by some kind of amalgam of Led Zeppelin and glam-era superstars like T Rex and David Bowie, which is to say, it is delightfully over the top rock in the best seventies fashion. Gyasi has me sold!

Hannah Vu, Romanticism– This second album from Los Angeles-based songwriter Hannah Vu certainly lives up to the title, it’s full of lush romanticism, though it serves equal parts darkness and difficulty with the sweetness. AKA it tells the truth about romance in a way that’s musically and lyrically compelling.

Ibibio Sound Machine, Pull the Rope– Such a joyful mix of multiple different strains of dance/electronic music! Fronted by London-born Nigerian singer Eno Williams, it is not a surprise that it’s redolent with Eurodance and Afrobeat. But what is, if not a surprise, a welcome find, is its knack for musical and lyrical hooks amidst the energy and fun.

King Hannah, Big Swimmer– Between hypnotically plainspoken vocals, poetic lyrics, and slow spare arrangements with a distorted feedback-laden guitar wall in the background, the songs here are arresting. This second album from singer Hannah Merrick has a lot to recommend it.

La Luz, News of the Universe– I’ve liked other things by La Luz, and how could I not? Their synthesis of surf music, reverb-drenched garage rock, and the sixties girl group sound is fuzzy, warm, and dark all at the same time. On this album the Seattle band is in top form, and the songs are informed by lead songwriter Shana Cleveland’s experience with cancer. It all adds up to a deep and powerful album.

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Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light– Lenny Kravitz is in fine form here- 90s guitar god rock, funk, R&B, and electronic dance music all get their due, and never feel like they don’t fit together. It may not be especially new or different per his usual, but there’s genuine tenderness and vulnerability here, and musically it can’t be faulted.

Of Montreal, Lady on the Cusp– It starts off with a song declaring rock is dead, then transitions into another lamenting being too depressed to f&^%, and goes on in this lyrical arch vein supported by weary vocals, and a lively off kilter musical mix bridging the asynchronity of post-rock, impossibly stirring melodies, and the kaleidoscope mix style of electronic. Now I don’t want rock to be dead, but this 19th studio album from this Athens GA band at least gives us some hope that, if so, something interesting might replace it.

Shannon and the Clams, The Moon is in the Wrong Place– Shannon and the Clams have always been a great band, and I really love their retro garage rock/60s girl group feeling. But there’s no denying their music here is lent a terrible additional power and focus through lead singer Shannon Shaw’s wrestling with the untimely passing of her partner.

Shellac, To All Trains– While it definitely gets an added layer of import from being Steve Albini’s final album, honestly it does very well on its own even without that. This reminds me of the playful, more inventive side of 80s hardcore, and is full of clever surprises. All the way around, a fitting epitaph for one of noise rock’s greatest champions.

Sisso & Maiko, Singeli Ya Maajabu– Hello glitchy beats, over the top low-bit video game sound effects, and afro-pop exuberance! Tanzanian producer Sisso’s eponymous Dar es Salaam studio represents the forefront of the East African singeli genre. Singeli’s relentless speeds of over 200 BPM provide ample room for experimentation, which is taken further by collaboration with avant garde keyboardist Maiko. This is how the new is born.

The Courettes, Hold On, We’re Comin’– Potent garage punk combo featuring a Brazilian guitarist, a Danish drummer, and lots of cool rock & roll stomp. Amen. And an incredible set of covers ranging from early sixties pop rock to the New York Dolls to Taylor Swift. Really. Nothing but solid fun!

Willie Nelson, The Border– His 75th Album! And my goodness he’s in fine form here. A border patrol agent, a dream about being Hank Williams’s guitar, a passel of sweet love songs. Not thematic unity, but it sounds and feels like it belongs together and has a powerful intro and a sweet outro.

Willow, Empathogen– Willow has ended up on my Honorable mention list in two previous years, and for good reason- her music is inventive, brash and as smart as it is fun. She’s pushing her previous boundaries again here, with a glitchy electronic approach joined to something more like jazz, torch songs, and R&B crooning.

Young Jesus, The Fool– It feels like an anguished indie folk acoustic kind of thing, but sharper and darker than the typical outing in that oeuvre, and with surprising (and haunting, unsettling) music and vocal effects along the way. This Chicago band currently located in L.A. is on my watchlist now!

Maybe

  • Arab Strap, I’m Totally Fine With It Don’t Give a Fuck Anymore– As Days Get Dark was on my Honorable Mention list for 2021, and this has the same things going for it- heavy shimmering wall of guitar, sometimes even slightly upbeat lyrics, and a vocal and lyrical commitment to tales of burned out bitter darkness. It doesn’t sound as fresh to me now, but it’s still a compelling combination.

  • Axolotes Mexicanos, 4ever– Of all the female lead vocalist poppy melodic fun Mexican punk bands, Axolotes Mexicanos are my favorite! Okay, they’re also the only example I know of, but I always love this band when it’s American, so I can’t help loving the Mexican version too, even if it isn’t the newest thing in the world.

  • Connie Smith, Love, Prison, Wisdom and Heartaches– Well my, my, my! Between her personal bona-fides- she was a hit-charting country singer in the 60s and 70s- and a smart selection of classics from a variety of country greats, this whole album sounds like a bygone school of country music living again. And if it’s frozen in time in that sense, it is a reminder of how grand a time that was for the genre.

  • Crumbs, You’re Just Jealous– I loved this album in the eighties! It was just the right amount of pop new wave edge on genuine punk exuberance. Now, my sources tell me this was recorded by a quartet from Leeds in 2024, so I’m not sure how I loved it in the eighties. But I know I did!

  • Dehd, Poetry– Is there room in your heart for slightly snotty, straightforwardly rocking indie rock? Then this Chicago trio might be for you! It’s solidly fun and energetic the whole way through.

  • Dua Lipa, Radical Optimism– Not quite the consistent level and energy of her 2020 big splash album, but her charms are still high, and the tracks never work less than well.

  • I.Jordan, I Am Jordan– This album brings in elements of dubstep, old school house, acid house, and is musically pure fun. As an often-instrumental piece I’m not sure if it gets in its hooks enough to be great, but it’s solidly good!

  • Joywave, Permanent Pleasure– Since my dear wife hails from Rochester NY, I always pay special attention when I run across a band from there. And this album is worth the attention- it has a bit of sleazy garage rock revival sound, a bit of EDM production/disco revival feel, a bit of 00s indie, and a bit of hazy and heavy guitar seventies. The bits all add up to a solidly enjoyable album, even if it isn’t the freshest or newest thing ever.

  • Mandy, Lawn Girl– This album has an appealing combination of 90s inspirations including grunge-pop, noise rock, and more introspective indie rock. It’s not a new thing under the sun, but it’s like sinking into a warm bath of 90s guitar-powered alt rock.

  • Mo Troper, Svengali– They were on my list in 2021, and darned if they’re not threatening to do it again! The music here is so sweetly melodic and delivered with such sincerity. Along the way you’ll hear sixties chiming, jangly eighties alt, and even electronic, and it all fits together. It would have been straight to yes, but I’m not sure about the multi-part abstract theme it ends with.

  • Pokey LaFarge, Rhumba Country– Pokey LaFarge’s blend of old school rock, swing, and dash of polka and rumba had me won over on his 2021 album In the Blossom of Their Shade, and I’m feeling it again here. Inherently not new, but damn well done and with a sincerity that makes it sound fresh.

  • Rapsody, Please Don’t Cry– Her album Eve was one of my favorites, and the poetry and power on display in that album is present here, with an extra bit of verve via wrestling with increased fame. The production tends a little often toward contemporary hip hop standard though, and the guest appearances don’t always serve the flow.

  • Shaboozey, Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going– There’s something to be said for traditionalism in country music, I certainly am a fan. But there is also, in any genre, a need for artists who seek the new, and push themselves to evolve. Musician, producer, and film maker Shaboozey has my attention with this take on country informed by EDM and hip-hop. It sometimes is a little too production slick for my tastes, but also holds the various sources in reverence, and I’m a sucker for the beats and minor chords.

  • Slash, Orgy of the Damned– You throw together Slash, covers of blues and soul standards, and an array of well-chosen and well deployed guests, and you’ll get me to go along! It’s not blazingly original, but solid good fun at what it does.

  • Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross, Challengers (Original Score)– The Nine Inch Nails’ veteran provided a techno-driven score to Luca Guadagnino’s love-triangle tennis dramedy, and producer Atticus Ross then remixed it into a pumping megamix. I expect soundtracks to be abstract and orchestral, and also long- both are not true here! It has moments like that, but is a fine and dynamic electronic mix, which feels not surprisingly like the nineties. And even seems to tell a story!

  • Various Artists, I Saw the TV Glow (Original Soundtrack)– In keeping with the film’s surreal take on nostalgia, a crew of indie pop musician, including Caroline Polachek, Bartees Strange, Jay Som, yeul pay tribute to the ’90s. Between the varied choices, their individual excellence, and how well they understood the assignment, the results are pretty excellent, and cohesive without being all the same. I have some concerns about length and relative fizzling out toward the end, but still, a solid contender.

  • Yaya Bey, Ten Fold– The range is a little narrow in the neo-soul direction, but there are places it gets livened, and regardless her voice and sharp lyrical wit are pure gold.

And there we are, May out. June should follow soon! And, since I’m about to start listening to September, July and August review notes are complete and those postings should be out before too long…

In Search of the 24 Best Albums of 2024: April

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This is the true story of someone who set out in 2021 to catch up on newer music. They listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked their favorites. They did the same for 2020, picking their top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And they listened to new releases monthly in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. That was so much fun they decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023. That someone is me!

There are links to the albums in the posts cited above, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for the 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)

Okay, so now you know the story Well guess what? It’s still going on! Here are the previous editions of the 2024 monthly review if you missed them:

( January February March )

A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, before we get going with the latest:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in the running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

Now let’s get on with my top picks from 91 new releases that I listened to from April!

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Anders Osborne, Picasso’s Villa– I was inclined by the Scandinavian first name and the album title to expect something arty and abstruse. What we actually have here is an album with elements of alt country, heartland rock, and guitar squelching southern rock, with great hooks and sharp storytelling lyrics. And in fact, Anders Osborne is a Swedish blues singer and guitarist who move to New Orleans in the ’90s. The move must have been pretty successful, because he sounds like the real deal here!

Bad Bad Hats, Bad Bad Hats– High energy, redolent of new wave and power pop, but still sounding very fresh. Lead singer Kerry Alexander also often gets soulful crooning in along the way, and suitable lyrical snark, as befits her avowed love of the Breeders. This album from a Minneapolis trio is pleasing from start to finish.

Caleb Landry Jones, Hey Gary, Hey Dawn– This is really something! I started off getting strong grunge vibes, then it reminded me heavily of seventies Bowie, and along the way had Beatlesque moments of psychedelia. Texas native, actor, and musician Caleb Landry Jones has apparently been releasing this kind of music since 2020, and I’m happy to finally make his acquaintance!

Cuffed Up, All You Got– Some crunching garage rock, with just the right touch of sleazy boredom. This Los Angeles post-punk trio’s debut is a testament to their years of striving to break through, and a promise of things to come.

English Teacher, This Could Be Texas– There’s others treading this spare, post-punk yet classical, lyrically literate, vocally stripped-down UK path (think Yard Act, tuneyards, anything with yard in it). But darned if this Leeds four-piece band fronted by the hypnotic while understated Lily Fontaine it isn’t affecting!

Eris Drew, Raving Disco Breaks, Vol II– The title “Raving” gives you a clue that this is a kind of late nineties throwback. It also happens to be a dynamic propulsive DJ set with fantastic energy and interesting musical references- 80s hip-hop, nineties dance music, and classic rock including Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin all make it into the mix. DJ/Producer Drew was on my honorable mention list for Quivering in Time in 2021, and this definitely makes it on my preliminary list for this year.

Gangrene, Heads I Win, Tails You Lose– On their fourth collaborative album, rapper-producers Oh No and the Alchemist have created a stark mix, full of the dynamism of their dueling flow, great and varied sampling including aspects of the last 25 years of hip-hop, and a general feeling of import to both the light and heavy moments.

Ian Hunter, Defiance, Pt 2: Fiction– Classic rock still sometimes makes contemporary albums. And those albums are often quite good! That is certainly the case here, with former Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter. Technically, he bridges both classic rock and proto-punk (or at least glam), and that’s richly on display here, with co-contributors from all over the map- Brian May, the members of Cheap Trick, Jeff Beck, members of the Foo Fighters and Stone Temple Pilots, Lucinda Williams and others all show up to help Hunter do a fine rocking romp.

Judith Hill, Letters From a Black Widow– Trading on her not so flattering nickname from having worked with Prince and Michael Jackson just before their deaths, Judith Hill comes in with a powerful album that shows why everyone wanted to work with her. She rocks, she sings the blues, she gets funky, she does straight-up R&B, she pulls out the tricks of electronic dance music. Sometimes all on the same track! Her album Baby I’m Hollywood was on my list for 2021, and I think she may do it again!

Loren Kramar, Glovemaker– He’s a slut for his dreams! So the Southern California native Loren Kramar himself says in a song from his debut album. This album lives in the realms of cinematic soundtracks, theater music, torch songs, and power ballads, and it does so spectacularly. Musically hitting on track after track and powered lyrically by a wicked wit.

LustSickPuppy, Carousel From Hell– Absolutely blistering electronic hyperpop. At times impossibly sweet, at times grating, at times just overwhelming in the number of things its simultaneously tossing out. Omasyn Hayes, also known professionally as LustSickPuppy, is an American rapper, painter, make-up artist, and model and here takes us to a realm where glitchy distorted EDM, hip hop, and noise rock are one and the same.

Lynks, Abomination– This is great! On one level, an EDM album full of contemporary production tricks, but also nods to low-bit video-game sounds of the 90s and 80s synth pop. There’s the cleverness of arrangement, but what really puts it over the top are the approachable vocals and snark-filled lyrics that explore multiple aspects of the UK gay male experience.

Maggie Rogers, Don’t Forget Me– Smart lyrics and impeccable vocals that know how to work with propulsive music. She brings together strains of 90s female singer songwriter, storytelling country, and some folktronic production. Maryland native Rogers is deservedly getting widespread acclaim.

Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department– Say what you want, girl can write and deliver a song! In all senses of that- musical composition, intelligent lyrics, sure vocal phrasing. There’s nothing here that’s less than flawless contemporary pop, technically. And smart, and I don’t fault women for talking about their emotional lives or call them self-indulgent for doing what every singer-songwriter in the seventies did, so I have no complaints. Though I did sneak off after her closing song “Clara Bow” to listen to the entirely different 50 Foot Wave song “Clara Bow”.

The Pernice Brothers, Who Will You Believe– Per AMG, the Pernice Brothers is an, “… outlet for acclaimed indie misanthrope Joe Pernice, whose music ranges from hushed to orchestrated pop.” And indeed, there is a bitter edge to the songs here, but also weary wistfulness and wisdom. Joe Pernice has been doing this since the late nineties, and apparently wisdom does come with age! So too does a fine burnishing of production touches that bring to mind seventies singer-songwriters and AM radio. Musically, it’s like flowing gold, with a dark emotional core.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Unwishing Well– The fuzzy echoing guitars, melancholy nostalgia, and world-weary vocals and lyrics do not fail. This is maybe the fourth Reds, Pinks and Purples album I’ve listened to too since I started this a few years ago, and they always get under my skin.

Maybe

  • Blue Bendy, So Medieval– The sprightliness of Magnetic Fields, the wordy poetic jerkiness of Modern Lovers, off kilter experimental arrangements which bring in the electronic and the psychedelic. I’m not entirely sure what this London band is up to, but it is intriguing!

  • BMX Bandits, Dreamers on the Run– Twee lives with these founders of the anorak movement. It even reminds me at times of dancehall music and the sillier side of the Beatles. It may be a little too sweet to take sometimes, but it is compelling.

  • Cloud Nothings, Final Summer– Many of the same charms of their release The Shadow I Remember which was on my honorable mention list for 2021: “Crunchy feedbacky rock with dreamy choral background, lyrical and vocal power, great way with melody-It’s really pretty delightful”? I agree with myself, again!

  • Drahla, angeltape– Jerky rhythms, grating edges, and something like a hardcore art approach, given just enough accessibility by lead singer Lucile Brown’s arch vocals. I wonder if it’s a little too grating for repeated listening, but this Leeds band is definitely up to something interesting!

  • Gesaffelstein, GAMMA– Now this is a great DJ mix! Dark and decadent in that European way, driving and serrated, but dynamic and energetic. At times it sounds very contemporary, at other times redolent of nineties techno, which I appreciate. I’m not sure if it has enough musical or thematic through line to totally succeed as an album, but I appreciate what this 39-year-old French DJ is doing.

  • Jane Weaver, Love In Constant Spectacle– an explorer of krautrock and modern psychedelia, interspersed with deft, arty touches of synth pop. A spare European electronica, ghostly vocals, synth pop, and occasionally blistering fuzzed out guitar. It sometimes feels like it’s going to lull out, but overall, it adds up to something that compels when listening, and stays with you after.

  • Louisa Stancioff, When We Were Looking– Her beautiful ethereal voice and an acoustic setting that is spare and yet uplifting power something that is somehow happy and sad at the same time. It may be a little narrow in musical and vocal tone, but with literate lyrics to add to the musical and vocal palette, Maine native Louisa Stancioff has produced an arresting debut album.

  • Old 97’s, American Primitive– Muscular chords and fuzzy guitar power this mix of country-influenced heartland rock. It’s got hooks, a way with melody, and an anthemic feeling. It got a little wobbly at the end by veering hard back into their more usual country and ending in a Spanish-themed instrumental, which were both out of tune with the main body, but there’s not a bad song in the mix.

  • Parsnip, Behold– A rocking off kilter girl group with wacky sonic flourishes is always going to be near and dear to my heart. In the case of this Australian quartet, they have a solid base of stripped-down pop punk (think early Go-Gos), sixties pop, and hints of indie electronic and psychedelic garage rock. It’s not the most original thing ever, but it’s fun, surprising, and it moves!

  • Sinkane, We Belong– Ahmed Gallab, the Sudanese-born, New York-based multi-instrumentalist behind Sinkane. The music here effortlessly mixes so many varieties of Black music- 80s R&B, afrobeat, disco, electro. It sounds a little too smoothly produced for my taste, but every track is buoyant musically and lyrically explores the pain and celebration of being Black in the global diaspora.

  • Spooner Oldham/Texas, The Muscle Shoals Sessions– What do you get when you put together a great Scottish pop band, a storied southern rock keyboardist, the venerable Muscle Shoals recording studio, and smartly chosen covers? Just about the best set of blue-eyed soul one could ask for! It’s not breaking new ground, but it is solidly well done.

  • T Bone Burnett, The Other Side– The tone is relaxed, the musical accompaniment restrained (despite a top-flight tier of guest musicians). But that’s just what this past master wanted for his first new album in 16 years. And if it feels a little low-key as a result, his songwriting, as always, is exquisite.

  • The Libertines, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade– Starts with a high energy hand-clappy piece redolent of the poppier side of UK original punk and alt eighties, and it stays in that mode. The music is maximum fun, and the lyrics are wordy and literate. The Libertines, of course, have been playing in this realm throughout the millennium. But, if it feels in a sense formulaic, it’s good clean fun the whole way though.

  • The Sunburned Hand of the Man, Nimbus– It opens with a trippy spoken word straight from the early seventies, and then follows up with instrumental and vocal-led pieces that are also joyously retro while the spoken word gets trippier and edgier, and more experimental music edges in. It turns out this Boston-based collective has been doing exploring the edges since the nineties. It’s weird and doesn’t entirely fir together, but that is kind of the point!

  • The Zutons, The Big Decider– Their album Who Killed the Zutons was one of my favorites of the 00s and I haven’t heard from them for a while, so I was curious. It turns out they still have a knack for hooky indie rock that sounds sincere but also hits the right pop notes. Not out of the park, but very solid. Well done lads!

  • X Ambassadors, Townie– Coming from an indie rock kind of place, but informed equally by EDM and heartland rock. The tone is uneven, but this Brooklyn band returns to their upstate New York roots here, and their heartfelt tales of hardscrabble small-town life resonate and ring true.

And there we are, April out sever days before the end of August, The catch-up continues!

In Search of the 24 Best Albums of 2024: March

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This is what happened: In 2021 I set out to catch up on newer music. I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my favorites. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And I listened to new releases monthly in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. That was so much fun that I decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023.

There are links to the albums in those posts above, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)

Okay, so now you know what was happening. Well guess what? It’s happening again! Here are the previous editions if you missed them:

( January February )

A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, before we get going with February:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

All set? Then let us get on with my top picks from 111 new releases that I listened to from March!

1010Benja, Ten Total– This Kansas City singer and producer makes hip hop and at times heartbreakingly sweet pop on overdrive. “I like that Luciferian rebellion that Muddy Waters was holding down, that you would hear from [Jimi Hendrix]…That, just, nasty stuff I guess. Unhinged. Like coming right out of the belly of the beast. Like a bat out of hell.” So says 1010Benja about what he was aiming for here, and what he achieved is a frenetic pace with a blender of references and influences and musical mix elements outside of the ordinary.

Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future– This is Adrianne Lenker’s sixth solo album (in addition to five as lead of Big Thief), and she is firing on all cylinders. The density and emotional honesty of the lyrics is perfectly paired with the unadorned vocal delivery and spare acoustic/country setting, but full of surprises that expand the pallet.

Alejandro Escovedo, Echo Dancing– Escovedo had already played a vital role in punk (with the Nuns), roots rock (the True Believers), and alt-country. For 2024’s Echo Dancing, Escovedo takes a romp through his own songbook cutting new versions of fourteen songs from his back catalog. What results is driving guitar, minor chords, reverb, and a sound somewhere in a SF & LA circa 1978 punk, LA cowpunk, and Lou Reed story poems greater universe. I love it!

Alena Spanger, Fire Escape– The music has a stripped-down simplicity with elements of new wave and new age, and the vocals have a deceptive delicacy with surprising outbursts. The sprightliness of the approach belies the emotional depth of the lyrics. Between all these elements, the spell that Brooklyn-based Spanger is weaving here definitely pulled me in.

Anja Huwe, Codes– Abstract, yet powerful, driving, and affecting, set from Anja Huwe. It feels like it has the thematic and musical unity you want for a proper album as well. Huwe was the leader of influential post-punk/goth group Xmal Deutschland for the entirety of the 1980s, and has since become a noted visual artist, as well as a television producer.

Beyonce, Cowboy Carter– This is so much more than just her “country album”. Though much of it, to be sure, is country inflected, Beyonce consciously plays with not only that genre, but picks up multiple other genres and meditations on genre itself along the way, delivering a shimmering set of varied pop songs. The results are so solid that even the guest stars (always a perilous undertaking in terms of album tone and consistency) and the 78-minute run length didn’t shake me!

Cindy Lee, Diamond Jubilee– We’re told that Cindy Lee is “the drag queen hypnagogic pop project of Canadian musician Patrick Flegel”. Okay, what the heck is hypnagogic pop? Apparently, it is “pop or psychedelic music that evokes cultural memory and nostalgia for the popular entertainment of the past”. More specifically, I read that this album, their seventh, is, “Built on strains of ’50s girl group pop, lush ’60s psychedelia, itchy ’70s radio rock, lo-fi ’90s clutter and sparkling production choices grafted on from some alternate universe.” I’ve borrowed a lot of words to give you a sense of the layers of excellence on display here and to justify my plug for a two-hour long album. In track after intriguing track, it really does justify the length and keep one listening!

Daniel Romano, Too Hot to Sleep– The hearkening back to seventies rock here is really well done! It’s mostly in a classic vein but does venture into a very convincing original punk and Stooges-style proto-punk as well. AMG tells me Romano is an “Eccentric Canadian singer/songwriter whose versatile stylistic range has included punk, classic pop, countrypolitan, and psych-rock” who has been releasing albums since 2010. I’ll be on the lookout for more from him!

Gary Clark, Jr., JPEG RAW– It’s got hip hop in its DNA, but the heavy guitar mix and soul feeling of the flow on the first track certainly catches attention as well. The opening track calls for a revolution, and darned if the sound doesn’t deliver- jazz, blues, booming soul, hip hop, and rock all cross paths herein a way that feels organic. It reminds me in a way of Prince and Lenny Kravitz, and with Valerie June, Stevie Wonder, and George Clinton on the guest list, the ambitious eclectic approach of this Texas guitarist is confirmed.

gglum, The Garden Dream– The Garden Dream is the full-length debut of gglum, the performance alias of London’s Ella Smoker, a songwriter who started making home eight-track recordings in her teens inspired by alternative artists like Elliott Smith, the Microphones, Phil Elverum, Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief, and Alex G. It’s guitar-driven pop with a distorted sheen, attitude, and fun.

Holiday Ghosts, Coat of Arms– They know how to jangly guitar, crack boom drum, and elemental driving rock chord progression! There’s a kind of naivete to the music, but they also turn in surprising sophistication in places without it sounding slick. This is the fifth album from this southern England band, and something tells me they’re into something good.

Kahil El’Zabar & Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Open Me, a Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit – Those of you who follow regularly know that jazz can be a hard sell for me. This jazz orchestra for their 50th anniversary put out what the leader calls “Great Black Music”: “a strong rhythmic foundation, innovative harmonics and counterpoint, well-balanced interplay and cacophony amongst the players, strong individual soloist, highly developed and studied ensemble dynamics, an in-depth grasp of music history, originality, fearlessness, and deep spirituality.” Well, despite my jazz skepticism, and an hour and twenty run time, I entirely agree- it’s richness, variability, and yet unity of spirit carry it through.

Ministry, Hopiumforthemasses– Who would have thought that a new Ministry album would be one of the freshest things this month? It does, it’s true, sound like the nineties in the guitar crunching and dense layers of sound. It’s also focused on the present moment though, with furious dissent.

Moor Mother, The Great Bailout– Black Encyclopedia of the Air by Moor Mother, aka American poet, musician and activist Camae Ayewa, was one of my favorites of 2021, so I come to this well-disposed. What I found was a powerful exploration of the construction of racism in the British Empire, delivered with poetry and a musical mix that’s equal parts experimental, electronic, and jazz. While abstract, it gets under the skin, and compels further listening.

Sheer Mag, Playing Favorites– A lot of people this year are in the space somewhere between jangly eighties alt guitar and punk throwback. But this Philadelphia band stands out with the reverb turned up, youthful enthusiasm, a classic rock vibe on the way, and a powerhouse of a frontwoman in Tina Halladay. I love it when the kids make me believe in rock again!

The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis– “The Fugazi rhythm section with a master jazz saxophonist and guitarist” sounds like a good concept. Everything you might think of from that description is what the fuck it sounds like, and it’s pretty amazing. Hardcore jazz! Call me crazy, but I think this works!

Vial, Burnout– I love it when young punks with a hint of metal remind me why I love young punks with a hint of metal! Plenty of snark, lots of girl power, and great hooks from this Minneapolis trio.

Maybe

  • Anysia Kym, Truest– From the distorted and disorienting start you know there’s creative ambition here. Glitchy beats, kaleidoscope mix, and unexpected juxtapositions of vocals and music are all on display. If it doesn’t totally feel together, the sonic exploration is still welcome. More bright young artists like this and we might get somewhere!

  • Bleachers, Bleachers– Rollicking good fun, it sounds classic of an era that’s hard to pin down. Artsy 00s indie? Earnest 80s alt? Eighties jazzy top forty? At times it’s all of these. And if my reservation is that it sounds a little too smooth, well, as the project of songwriter and record producer Jack Antonoff who has been all over the sound of the 10s and 20s, that kind of makes sense.

  • Boeckner, Boeckner!– Canadian singer and songwriter Dan Boeckner is a veteran of multiple Montreal indie rock bands and known for his fondness for the alt eighties. Here on his debut solo album, he carries that forward with sterling results- these songs sound so familiar and anthemic. Not the most original sound, but very well done.

  • Cakes da Killa, Black Sheep– Jazzy mix, fresh beats, and dynamically varied flow. “Black Sheep, Cakes’ third studio album, acknowledges that lonely position of belonging to no single tribe: too queer for hetero bar-for-bar New York rappers, too much of a rapper for mainstream queer pop. But the album is a confident compendium of breathless performances, bombastic personality, and thrilling genre collages. It is more akin to a victory lap, an unbothered mission statement from someone who knows what he deserves, and who’s going to laugh in your face as he tells you.” It’s not stupendous, but it does what it needs to, and these days that’s worth its weight in gold.

  • Charles Moothart, Black Holes Don’t Choke– Some good old fashioned sleazy glammy rock and roll from this San Francisco-based garage rock impresario. It’s not the newest thing in the world, but boy is he good at it!

  • Dent May, What’s for Breakfast?– Clever and buoyant pop, somewhere between new wave and 70s AM radio. It’s a little formulaic in that way, but well and sincerely done.

  • DragonForce, Warp-Speed Warriors– Okay, look! Yes, it’s cheesy retro metal. But so well and earnestly done, I succumbed to its charms. Someone in the UK still knows how to rock!

  • Gossip, Real Power– Rick Rubin produced this, and between that and my general esteem for the Gossip, I was in. At first, I found it lacking a little of the snap and boom I was expecting, but the charms of what Beth Ditto can do grew on me. It’s both powerful and varied!

  • Kim Gordon, The Collective– Of course I’m going to give this a careful listen. And indeed, it sounds not unlike what you might expect from one of the powerhouses behind Sonic Youth- dense, elliptical, challenging, but also dynamic and playful. It does tend more toward the abstract side of her body of work, which gives me pause about repeat listenability, but the artistry is undeniable.

  • Sao Paulo NTS, Funk.BR– Funk.BR – São Paulo, a new compilation from the label wing of London radio station NTS, brings together Brazilian funk stars and newcomers like DJ Dayeh and DJ Bonekinha Iraquiana. The twenty-two tracks, all previously unreleased, chart the rise of the mandelão sound. Brazilian Funk is one of my favorite still under the radar genres of electronic music, and this is a great sampler. Fun, sinister, hilarious, and so many fresh musical directions forward.

  • Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Revelations– Shock here delivers more of her countrified rock (rockified country?) with solid songs, hooks, and verve through such songs as one where a motherfucker is promised that they’ll get what they deserve. The band really knows how to work their reverb and minor chords as well. It doesn’t totally wow, but it works solidly from start to finish, delivers some wow moments along the way, and I’ll definitely be listening again.

  • SAVAK, Flavors of Paradise– Jangly and biting guitar, sometimes getting into a new wave or more American guitar heavy side of 80s alt. And the thing that most strikes me is the consistent energy track to track. There’s also the literate lyrics (one song titled “Will Get Fooled Again” gives you an idea of the wavelength). This Brooklyn-based indie rock outfit is a kind of “supergroup” formed out of past and present members of are bands the Obits, Edsel, the Cops, and Holy Fuck. And if it doesn’t get a lot beyond its influences, it is skillfully done.

  • Sierra Ferrell, Trail of Flowers– As fine a bunch of bluegrass-inflected country songs as one could ask for from this Nashville musician. It’s not blazing new trails, but the footsteps are sure for the path it is treading.

  • The Dandy Warhols, Rockmaker– Still Dandy and still Warhol! On this album I feel like the garage rock revival never ended, and that’s pretty welcome given musical trends of the past few years. Not the most original thing ever, but fuzzy churning vaguely sleazy guitar songs make me happy.

  • The Secret Sisters, Mind, Man, Medicine– Americana with great hooks and shimmering vocal lushness. The tone doesn’t change a lot, and it doesn’t feel finished, but the contents are good.

  • Tierra Whack, World Wide Whack– The spare mix, and off kilter vocals and arrangements are winning. It does lean a little too much toward autotune, but in this context it’s understandable as a mix element. And it doesn’t feel totally together, but that’s part of the charm of the experimental mix. Long may she Whack!

  • Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood– I wasn’t sure this sounded materially different from her last album. Except I really liked her last album. And, as happened last timen, she kept reminding me of Edie Brickell and, unlike last time, Lucinda Williams. Does it rise above? Or is it “merely” really good? Regardless, it grew more charming as it went!

  • Yard Act, Where’s My Utopia– There’s a concept overlay to this album which I’m not sure about, but I do always admire ambition, and their post-punk version of UK rock feels fresh and snappy.

  • Yung Lean & Bladee, Psykos– Hip hop? Ornately produced bedroom pop? Left field power ballads? This duo between Swedish indie artists sounds like all of that. If it’s a little too muted for greatness, it’s consistently interesting the whole way through.

And so we have completed Q1 before the end of the first month of Q3. Onward!

In Search of the 24 Best Albums of 2024: February

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For those just tuning in: In 2021 I set out to catch up on newer music. I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my favorites. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And I listened to new releases monthly in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. That was so much fun that I decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023.

There are links to the albums in those posts above, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)

Okay, so now you know what we’re doing. Well guess what? I’m doing it again! Here’s the previous edition if you missed it:

( January )

A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, before we get going with February:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

And now, without further ado, let us get on with my top picks from 75 new releases that I listened to from February!

Allie X, Girl With no Face– The snark of “Off With Her Tits”, delivered with brisk electronic beats that sound both modern and eighties avant garde is a great indication of what’s going on here! The whole thing sounds unbound in time, and it never let me down for a single track. Alexandra Ashley Hughes, known by her stage name Allie X, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and visual artist, and is up to something pretty fascinating here.

Bear1Boss, Super Boss!– This fragmented mix of video game samples, rally horns, and autotuned pop is not only fresh, the album is held together by repeated sonic motiffs. Look, I’m just saying someone’s got to manifest new sounds to get us out of our current musical impasses, and I think this Atlanta 24 year-old could be part of that!

Bonnie “Prince” Billy/Thee Conductor, Ennoia– The combination of earnest yearning Americana, crackling lo fi, and experimental flourish here is winning. I like the Bonnie “Prince” and I like this collaboration even more.

Brittany Howard, What Now– From the bruising and soaring soul opening, to the classic yet somehow off-kilter groove of the second track, on to the more challenging and contemporary electronic beat of the third, every song here delivers sterling sound from the past few decades of soul and R&B, but keeps feeling unexpected. This excellence is no surprise- this is the second solo album from Alabama Shakes co-lead Howard, and her mastery of her craft is evident.

Corb Lund, El Viejo– He was on my honorable mention list a year or two ago for Songs My Friends Wrote, and now with a batch of his own songs (some of which were inspired by the passing of one of those friends), he’s done it again. If you want country that sounds spontaneous, sincere, and not of the current formula, this could be for you!

Declan McKenna, What happened to the beach?– Well this is a welcome kaleidoscope of sound! I went in hearing that he had Hendrix, Bowie, and the Beatles as reference points, and loved rock operas, which was all promising. And indeed, you can hear all of that here, but it undersells how varied and creative it is at bringing many decades of pop strands together. The artist has talked about how the album came from an attempt to free himself from the expectations that came with initial stardom at 15, and diving more fully and confidently into sounds he loved. It shows!

Heems & Lapgan, Lafandar– Left of center neo-psyche hip hop with a heavy South Asian influence via this Queens-born, Punjabi American rapper. It is full of social consciousness and sonic inventiveness and reminds me of the high holy days of Madlib. Which is very welcome!

Laura Jane Grace, Hole in My Head– Solo album from the lead of Against Me! Eleven songs in 25 minutes! Good old fashioned third generation punk sound! With plenty of verve, wit, and music that pushes beyond the obvious with lyrics consciously looking back on the singer’s and the genre’s history. Heck yeah!

Liam Bailey, Zero Grace– A reggae album with both a sun-kissed fuzzy 70s AM radio sound, multiple contemporary touches, and some deeply probing lyrics. This 40-year-old English singer-songwriter from Nottingham noted for his soul, reggae, and blues-influenced vocal style has produced a touching and special album.

Mary Timony, Untame the Tiger– Beautiful guitar lines reminiscent of nineties rock, and going back to 60s and 70s classic rock beyond that. There is a vocal and musical spareness to it that keeps things straight-up and feels real as the singer’s literate lyrics describing the emotional insides of relationships.

Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice– This is musically such a breath of fresh air, a stirring mix of sounds invoking classic rock of yesteryear while incorporating African influences. It ends up feeling intensely familiar and yet new at the same time. My only regret is that the language barrier keeps me from the lyrics, which I’m guessing by the album and song titles have some serious punch to them as well.

The Dead South, Chains & Stakes– Well this is a thoroughly delightful batch of short sharp country/bluegrass (North) Americana songs delivered with a rock edge and punk spirit. This Regina, Saskatchewan band has been going since 2012, and the noise is joyful!

The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy– This is really something! It reads like sometimes over the top delivery times classic theatrical soundtrack times earnest exploration of the inner turmoil of love (with a great deal of queer content as well). This London group has been getting a lot of buzz since 2021, and I think it’s well-founded!

The Paranoid Style, The Interrogator– The Paranoid Style is the DC-based rock outfit of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, labor organizer, and sometime journalist Elizabeth Nelson. That sounds like a promising start, and then i read that the album was inspired by ZZ Top’s Eliminator. Nelson explained what drew her: “Billy Gibbons’ incipient fascination with Depeche Mode and Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark, and his desire to embroider the sound of those bands onto the Top’s inimitable Texas boogie. To me it sounds like heaven.” That is all a big up-front just to say if anything her description undersells how delightful the arch wit, no-nonsense vocals, and rocky sheen balanced by a way with melody are.

Maybe

  • Grandaddy, Blu Wav– The review that got me to listen to this said, “sort of like a weird, very post-modern take on the Flying Burrito Brothers if they owned a bunch of Flaming Lips records.” They aren’t wrong! And it is more haunting than that lets on. Sort of all in one tone sonically which is my one reservation with this indie band from Modesto which has been going since the nineties.

  • Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Past Is Still Alive– Beautiful indie rock with a strong Americana/alt country flavor. The music, lyrics, and vocals sound natural and unforced on every track, it comes out like a spontaneous classic. The back end had one big sequential slow-down that almost lulled it out, but that is my only complaint.

  • J Mascis, What Do We Do Now– Suitably weary veteran album from Dinosaur Jr. frontman Mascis, backed by a clear and crackling band. It’s full of hazy guitar yearning, and, if all a tone, it’s a welcome tone!

  • Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Perry– I am such a fan of dub in general and Lee “Scratch” Perry in particular that I have a lot of room in my soul for posthumous releases as long as they’re well-founded. This one certainly passes that test, billed as his final studio album, it’s comprised of tracks he worked on until days before his death in 2021. If the sounds aren’t the newest ever, it’s as beautiful (and often, challenging and interesting) set of dub as one could ask for, right down to the final “goodbye” on the last track.

  • Persher, Sleep Well– This is striking me like a pop screamo album. Not in the watered-down pop sense, but in the “fun, song knows how to move along” kind of way. And yet sludgy, dark, sometimes industrial, and appropriately grating. Listening to this is perhaps what stumbling across a young Nirvana might have been like. Persher is a side project of techno producers Blawan and Pariah, otherwise known as the duo Karenn, who have been working together since 2011, and while it might be a little rough listening for some, there’s magic here.

  • Pouty, Forgot About Me– Forgot About Me is Rachel Gagliardi’s debut LP as Pouty, but she has been around power-pop for a while as one half of Slutever and a collaborator of Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner and, in Upset, played with members of Hole and Vivian Girls. As you might predict from all that, I was knocked back to the 90s in a way I quite appreciated and was thereupon done for. It is by design not the newest sound in the world, but boy did I groove on it the whole way through.

  • Revival Season, Golden Age of Self Snitching– This album brings together the spirit of hip hop and rock in a way that feels like a continuation of the inventive and playful eighties experimentation. AMG says: “Atlanta rap duo whose exploratory sound blends dub, indie rock, and post-punk influences.” Yes, I’ll go along with that! And, if it starts to sound a little samey toward the end, it opens new sonic space in-between.

  • Usher, Coming Home– I kind of hate myself for loving this, but the perfect production here suits a master of 21st century pop. It’s all just too damn groovy track by track to dislike, even if I do have qualms about the length.

And there you have it, February out before the end of June! Let’s see if we can get March & April before July ends…

In Search of the 24 Best Albums of 2024: January

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If you’re just joining us for the first time, and are wondering what the heck is going on here, in 2021 I set out to catch up on newer music, which I hadn’t really done in about a decade at that point for various reasons.

I listened to the critics choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and picked my own favorites. I did the same for 2020, picking my top 20 from the critics most highly rated albums. And I started off listening to new releases each month in 2021, eventually picking the 21 best albums of 2021. I had so much fun in the process that I decided to do it again in 2022 and 2023, listening each month and picking out the 22 best albums of 2022 and the 23 best albums of 2023.

There are links to the albums in the posts, but if you’d like a one-stop playlist, I’ve got that set up in Spotify for the 2021 top 21 and the 2022 top 22, and in YouTube Music for 23 Best Albums of 2023. (Eventually I’ll move the 2021 and 2022 lists to YouTube, because artists are asking us to avoid Spotify for very good reasons.)

Okay, so now you know what we’re doing. Well guess what? I’m doing it again! A quick word on the “yes” and “maybe” categories I’ve sorted things into, and then we’ll get going:

Yes– This isn’t a guarantee, but it represents the albums that, upon first listen, I think could definitely be in running for best of the year.

Maybe– These albums have something to recommend them, but also something that gives me pause. I’m putting them in their own category, because I have found “maybes” sometimes linger and eventually become “yeses”.

And now, without any further ado, let us get on with my top picks from 71 new January releases that I listened to!

21 Savage, American Dream– Dreamlike classic grooves backing glitchy beats, philosophical lyrics, and presented with a steady accessible flow. It may run with cliché themes at times, but it also never let me down for the entire 50-minute run. In the hands of this British-American artist, hip hop is not dead!

Billy Porter, Black Mona Lisa– Clear, powerful, and masterful in its feeling for the dance, R&B, and Broadway idioms it targets. That, frankly, might be enough even if it had no particular import on top of it, but in this era of bubbling danger against people of diverse races and sexualities in America, actor and singer Billy Porter leaves no punches pulled. Without sacrificing the sheer joy of the music in the process!

Charley Crockett, $10 Cowboy– I knew from the title that I was potentially in danger of love, and indeed. Suffused with a feeling for both outlaw country and the Nashville sound (and the seventies intersection of R&B & country), and songs here are musically straight up while channeling being down and out in America. As solid a set of songs as you could ask for to remind you that country can still country and thank God for that!

Cheekface, It’s Sorted– Goony new wave music! Goony new wave vocals! Goony new wave lyrics! I could have heard this on college radio in the eighties and I would have loved it. But the lyrics are about things like changes in the New England hardcore scene, drones not leaving you alone, and dark web e-mail breaches, so plenty current. There is an artlessness here that’s pure fun, and a sound that is seriously sharp at the same time as it’s being silly. Per the Wikipedia article on this Southern California band, they’ve been compared to Stephen Malkmus, LCD Soundsystem, The Dismemberment Plan, Jeff Rosenstock, The B-52’s, and Devo. Okay, plucky little band. Okay!

Eye Flys, Eye Flys– This is giving me some serious Melvins and Mastodon vibes, which if you know, tells you a lot. But if you don’t know- it is Heavy! And lumbering and sludgy, pulling you under in the best kind of way. I haven’t been this enamored of a new metallic release in a while.

Kula Shaker, Natural Magick– In this case, the cover gives you a highly accurate clue! This album has a nice rollicking sixties garage rock sound, with layers of psychedelia and Indian pop influences. It’s almost hard to believe at times that this isn’t a genuine artifact from circa 1968-1972, and also hard to find anything to not like about it. Kula Shaker made my honorable mention list for 2022, and I have a feeling they are going to be in contention again this year.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, FU##IN’ UP– Oh, I like this one! This is the lyrically and sonically dense and seething Crazy Horse that I personally can never get enough of. Per another review: “Neil Young’s latest effort with his longtime backing back Crazy Horse is both a new album and an old one. FU##IN’ UP is a spiritual sibling to their 1990 comeback album Ragged Glory, but this time repurposing each track with loose, sprawling, guttural new edges.” Even as a derivation, I can’t fault it!

SPLLIT, Infinite Hatch– I love the perfect lo-fi pop-rock as mutated by off-kilter rhythms, electronic squelches, and weird and snarky lyrics. This is a good example of how being “damn fun” renders “not necessarily profound” utterly irrelevant as an objection. Get going little Baton Rouge band!

Tapir!, The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain– Are you in the market for some beautiful, oddly anguished folky pop? I am told that, “Tapir! is a six-piece indie folk band from London. Known for their blending of folk music with genres such as post-punk and art pop.” I’ll tell you that I found this to be intriguing from start to finish!

Trevor Horn, Echoes: Ancient & Modern– The “ancient” echoes here are perhaps twofold, Horn himself, a widely influential music producer in the 80s (and founding member of The Buggles’ and power behind their single “Video Killed the Radio Star”), and the song cover choices, hearkening back to his 80s heyday. If so, the “modern” ones are surely the polished reworkings and the new power the songs draw from his touch and his smartly curated list of guest stars. I recommend this for fans of both the eighties, and fans of albums where you can see a producer show off doing their thing.

Maybe

  • Angry Blackmen, The Legend of ABM– Sharp cutting sounds, inventive stuttering glitchy mix, lyrics with weight. The vocals are a little flat, but the mix is magic, and the best songs are revelatory.

  • Bruiser Wolf, My Story Got Stories– One of my favorites of 2021 for his album Dope Game Stupid is doing it again! The hilarious verbal barrage, tongue in cheek delivery, repositioning of hip hop history and presenting himself as an OG who ought to shuffle off the stage while simultaneously not ceding an inch of it is a winning combo. Maybe not quite as sharp as his 2021 outing, but still with plenty to recommend it.

  • Ekko Astral, pink balloons– Fuzzy, distorted, properly serrated, with dense elliptical lyrics that perhaps involve anonymous burials, sexism, and never having seen Star Wars? If not totally together, it is an echo, astral in a noisy way, and thank goodness for it.

  • Loukeman, Sd-2– What I read that got me interested was “The Canadian producer laces glow-worm synths and house beats with vocal snippets culled from indie-folk gems and Billboard hits.” And indeed, it does sound like that, and very unlike other electronic projects floating out there. It sometimes drifted a little toward the abstract, which was my hesitation, but I also never wanted to turn it off. Three cheers for folks who are still out there looking for new soundscapes!

  • Marika Hackman, Big Sigh– Nuanced and textured, with an acoustic style but instrument surges reminiscent of the nineties. The deep, emotionally literate lyrics that cut in both directions are appreciated. It is a little one tone- musically and vocally, but powerful.

  • Nicholas Craven/Boldy James, Penalty of Leadership– Dense, cinematic mix and lyrics, and rich seventies soul-feeling backing. The flow is a little flat, but that fits the darkly textured picture being painted.

  • Pearl Jam, Dark Matter– We can perhaps agree there’s not going to be a “bad” Pearl Jam album. The lads just don’t have it in them! But this is not “merely” a “not bad” Pearl Jam album, it has quite a bit of verve and snap to it, and if it’s not the freshest thing ever, it is my favorite album of theirs since the eponymous 2006 album. There’s more than a bit here (without sounding AT ALL old and fogey) of the feeling of the wise and world-weary checking in that you would hope for from your veteran acts. For anyone who objects to that characterization, keep in mind that there is archival evidence that Pearl Jam’s first album came out 33 years ago, and that other albums that likewise came out 33 years ago during their 1991 debut were released in 1958. I object!

  • Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope– A nuanced album which rocks plenty hard, but also has textured depths. If it is not totally focused, and it isn’t as thunderous as my best-loved albums from them, it is about something, and has depths that repay attention without losing sonic verve.

  • St. Vincent, All Born Screaming– As darkling as any of her earlier work, but with variety, verve, and wit as well. I like it best when it’s waxing a little less meditative and a little groovier, but she does self-bill it as a “post-plague” album, so I cannot begrudge her the tone. Definitely worth another listen!

  • Ty Segal, Three Bells– I mean, you get me your fuzzed out nineties garage rock, pepper it with heavy trip 70s psych rock vibes, put it in the hands of a past master in these forms… About my only hesitation is the hour+ run time vis-à-vis how heavy it gets in parts. But regardless, rock on!

And there we have January, out in the first third of May! Let’s see what we can do with February!