→ December 12, 2019
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Top 15 albums of 2019.

I’ve given up on my gimmick of trying to match the length of this list to the last two digits of the year, which of course made assembling the list harder each year, and I’d rather keep the list organic – these are the albums I really liked from 2019, period. I think it was a down year for music overall, and my top 100 songs of the year will reflect that too, but there were still fifteen albums I liked and went back to repeatedly, with the top two albums standing up against those from any year.

Previous years’ album rankings: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013.

15. Crows – Silver Tongues. Signed to the new label under punk band IDLES, Crows are two generations removed from punk’s heyday, with sludgy post-hardcore that sounds like a mad scientist crossed Thrice with Drenge. The best tracks include “Wednesday’s Child,” the closest thing to a single on this album; the droning crusher “Hang Me High;” and the bottom-heavy title track that opens the album.

14. Town Portal – Of Violence. Progressive, technical, entirely instrumental metal, with offbeat, intricate guitar work that I thought might be played on a Chapman stick (it’s not). It’s one of two records on this list that subvert typical standards of rock song rhythms and song structures.

13. Temples – Hot Motion. What a great opening troika of songs for this psycheledic trip – the title track, “You’re Either On Something,” and “Holy Horses,” the last of which features one of my favorite guitar riffs of the entire year. The album travels within a narrow path of that late ’60s and early ’70s subgenre of rock, but that kind of music has proven timeless and Temples’ version of it is suffused with good hooks.

12. Wheel – Moving Backwards. Bottom-heavy progressive metal from Finland, with an English vocalist, that features tight radio-friendly singles like “Vultures” and nine- to ten-minute opuses like the title track or “Tyrant,” all of which revolve around giant, crunchy guitar riffs on a foundation of strong bass lines and big percussion.

11. The Amazons – Future Dust. I wanted the Amazons to make more music like “Black Magic,” built around their obvious talent for crafting huge guitar riffs, and they’ve done so with this second album, which has more uptempo songs and lots of muscular guitar work. The best tracks include “Mother,” “Doubt It,” and “End of Wonder.”

10. Foals – Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Part 2. Better than Part 1, released six months earlier, the second half of Foals’ diptych is heavier and more consistent throughout, with some of the best grooves they’ve ever laid down. Standouts include “The Runner,” “Like Lightning,” and “Black Bull.” The ten-minute closer “Neptune” is interesting as well, if a bit indulgent.

9. Alcest – Spiritual Instinct. Death metal-shoegaze isn’t really a blend you’d anticipate, but Alcest pioneered it, and for their second straight album (after 2016’s Kodama) they’ve delivered a record of long, thoughtful, intense metal tracks, occasionally punctuated by blast beats and screamed vocals, but with plenty of clean singing and easily discerned melodies.

8. Ten Fé – Future Perfect, Present Tense. Ten Fé’s second album in two years is full of more soft-rock gold, including this song, “Won’t Happen,” “Echo Park,” “Here Again,” “Not Tonight,” and the ballad “To Lie Here is Enough.” The general sound would have fit in on AM radio stations in the 1970s, and they seem like spiritual descendants of 10cc, which blended artsier musical ambitions with enough soft-rock elements to make it on the radio, but Ten Fé manage to do this without sounding anachronistic while working in a slew of great melodies.

7. Hatchie – Keepsake. I liked some of her earlier singles (“Sure” and “Sleep” were both on her Sugar and Spice EP last year) better than what’s on this debut album, but it still includes a number of shimmering ’90s dream-pop tracks that remind me of the best of Lush and other female-fronted Britpop acts that borrowed or just emigrated from Shoegaze. I wish her voice were stronger, but she mostly stays within her range. Standouts include “Obsessed,” “Stay With Me,” and “Without a Blush.”

6. YONAKA – Don’t Wait Til Tomorrow. The Brighton quartet’s debut album doesn’t include either of their best singles from the last two years, “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” or “Teach Me to Fight,” but is still full of great tracks and builds on themes of toxic relationships in Theresa Jarvis’ vocals. Standouts include the sultry “Creature,” the poppy “Rockstar,” the syncopated opener “Bad Company,” and the danceable “Fired Up,” but all of the tracks rely on Jarvis’ tremendous presence and smoky voice.

5. FKA Twigs – MAGDALENE. A whisper of an album, just nine tracks and 39 minutes long, and uneven in a few spots, although I’d say that’s unsurprising given FKA Twigs’ experimental style. Standouts include “sad day,” mournful closer “cellophane,” and her surprising collaboration with Future, “holy terrain.”

4. whenyoung – Reasons to Dream. A stunning debut album from this Irish trio that incorporates shoefgaze and dream pop to back lead singer Aoife Power’s potent vocals, eerily reminiscent of Dolores O’Riordan but with more range. The album starts with a strong quartet of songs in “Pretty Pure,” “Never Let Go,” standout single “The Others,” and “A Labour of Love,” and never lags, peaking again with “In My Dreams” and with the gorgeous closer “Something Sweet,” which is indeed a confection but builds towards a big finish.

3. black midi – Schlagenheim. Schlagenheim is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It is dense, intellectual, and challenging, often asking you to rethink the basic tenets of melody and rhythm that have been part of rock music since its inception. It’s also pretentious and at multiple points seems to dare you to skip to the next song, especially with Geordie Greep’s weird intonations and sudden dives into extreme-metal screaming. The album doesn’t include their strong lead-up singles “Talking Heads” or “Crow’s Perch,” which would actually be its most accessible songs if they’d made the record. “Reggae” was my compromise choice for the playlist, because it shows off their tonal oddities and still adheres a little to some rock conventions. The closer “Ducter” has some of the album’s highest points, as does the eight-minute “Western,” but they are endurance tests as well. “Near DT, MI” is a two-minute burst of ideas, but you have to get past Greep screaming at you – and his lyrics typically make little sense. “Speedway” could be a better introduction to what black midi, named after an obscure form of music that can only be played by computers because there are so many notes that sheet music for the songs would appear smudged with black ink, are trying to express through dissonant chords and polyrhythmic drumming. It’s the most interesting and bold album of the year.

2. Michael Kiwanuka – KIWANUKA. The Guardian called this one of the best albums of the decade; I might not quite go that far, but it’s tremendous and grows on me the more I listen to it. His previous album, 2016’s Love and Hate, was nominated for the Mercury Prize and got some airplay here on “adult alternative” stations, which … okay I have no idea what that means or why he’d fit there. There are elements of funk, classic soul, even some psychedelic rock, and his voice sounds a bit like Jimi Hendrix’s in pitch but with more depth. Standout tracks include “Rolling,” “You Ain’t The Problem,” “Hero,” and “Final Days.”

1. Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. The best new wave album in 35 years, Ceremony’s latest perfectly spans the gap between the most iconic post-punk albums (Gang of Four’s Entertainment!, Wire’s Chairs Missing) and the initial influx of new wave bands that introduced more synthesizers into their sound, like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. You can hear Ceremony’s punk roots throughout the album, but this is an overtly accessible album, full of tracks that would have been mainstays on college radio in 1981. The title track, “Turn Away the Bad Thing,” the rousing “Further I Was,” “Say Goodbye to Them,” the almost-punk “We Can Be Free,” the guitar-driven “Years of Love” are all worthy, and other than “Presaging the End” there isn’t a letdown on the 11-song, 32-minute album.

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→ December 4, 2019
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Music update, November 2019.

I’ve kept this playlist and post a bit short since I’m about a week-plus from doing my year-end top 100, after which I’ll do my top 100 songs of the entire decade, on top of all of the other stuff I’m planning to do between now and the holidays. Stay tuned. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

FKA twigs – sad day. FKA twigs’ second album, MAGDALENA, is definitely more mature and polished, and a better showcase for her incredible voice. While there are some ups and downs there are multiple memorable tracks here, including this, “cellophane,” and “mirrored heart.”

Jake Bugg – Kiss Like the Sun. I loved Bugg’s first album and the lead single from his second record, “What Doesn’t Kill You,” but he kind of lost his sense of melody after that; this is his best track since then.

White Reaper – Raw. White Reaper’s brand of punk-pop is nothing novel, but it is really right in my wheelhouse.

The Mysterines – Who’s Ur Girl. I don’t really do breakout columns for music, especially since it’s often unclear when any specific artist is going to release a full-length album, but if I did such a thing for 2020 I’d have this Liverpool trio on it. Their output to date has such a promising combination of raw energy, seething vocals, and dark melodies under the hard-rock surface that I feel like they should be everywhere a year from now.

Rina Sawayama – STFU! The song itself is good, although there are indeed a lot of F-bombs within it, but it’s the cringey-funny video that takes the song to the next level.

BONES UK – Pretty Waste. I don’t pay much attention to the Grammy nominations – they’re for someone else’s taste in music, just not mine – but I did notice that one of the five nominees for Best Rock Performance was this song, by an artist I’d never heard of before. BONES UK comprise two women and a drummer (known simply as “Heavy”) who produce harsh noise-rock with dance elements and lyrics about feminism and toxic masculinity. Speaking of the Grammys, Candlemass and Tony Iommi are going to win the Metal award (for “Astorolus”) because Iommi’s the same age as the voters, right?

Grimes – So Heavy I Fell Through the Earth. I want to reserve judgment on some of the Grimes tracks until the entire album is out, since she’s pitching as a concept record, but on their own they’ve been pretty uneven and generally lacked the accessibility of Art Angels, with a lot of the little-girl voice she used on Visions.

Wye Oak – Fortune. I assume this is the lead single from a forthcoming album from the indie-rock duo, whose 2018 album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs had some incredible high points and was a promising return to form after the previous record Tween.

James BKS, Q-Tip, Idris Elba, & Little Simz – New Breed. They had me at Q-Tip, and kept me at Idris Elba, but this second track from James BKS, signed to Elba’s new label 7Wallace, is a solid enough song even if you don’t grant bonus points for the name value of the guest stars … and it led me back to James BKS’s 2018 single “Kwele,” which is even better.

Beck – See Through. I prefer Beck’s more innovative, layered, uptempo stuff, including his last album Colors, to the more subdued and restrained style he shows on his newest record, Hyperspace. This and “Stratosphere” are probably my favorite tracks from the new album.

Inhaler – My Honest Face. Inhaler has a bit of a leg up as they start their careers, since their frontman is Elijah Hewson, whose father you may know as Bono. This track seems like it could have appeared on War or October, but they’ve earned some plaudits from Noel Gallagher and opened for his High Flying Birds this fall.

Greg Dulli – Pantomima. Dulli, the lead singer of the Afghan Whigs, is about to release a solo album, the first original material to appear under his own name since 2005’s Amber Headlights (a Twilight Singers project he abandoned and then finished on his own). I enjoyed the Whigs’ 2017 comeback album In Spades and find this driving track a promising look at Dulli’s new album.

…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Don’t Look Down. This almost seems a bit mellow for the post-hardcore pioneers, who will release their tenth album, their first in six years, in January.

Alcest – Le Miroir. Yeah, this is my favorite metal album of the year, and I don’t think it’s close. This is atmospheric, ambitious metal that I could listen to for hours.

Kvelertak – Bråtebrann. I’d never heard of this Norwegian band before finding them on a Spotify playlist, but this feels like vintage Entombed with vocals that are just yelled rather than growled – death’n’roll for the masses. Well, except for the lyrics, which are all in Norwegian, but that doesn’t bother me.

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→ November 1, 2019
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Music update, October 2019.

October may have been a weak month for new music, but it’s also quite possible I was too busy with finishing up the first draft of The Inside Game, going to the Arizona Fall League, and watching the playoffs to find new tracks as often as I usually do. I’m definitely behind on some promising albums that came out in the last few weeks, but here’s my list of the best new songs I heard this past month. If you can’t see the Spotify widget, you can access the playlist here.

Sleater-Kinney – ANIMAL. A non-album track from the now-duo, who I saw this past week in Philadelphia. They were great live, and rocked a lot harder than I expected given their sound on records.

Michael Kiwanuka – Rolling. The Guardian named KIWANUKA, the third album from this English singer/songwriter, one of the best albums of the decade, which got my attention. If you played me this soul/rock/funk song cold, I’d guess it was from 1972, and I’d wonder why I’d never heard it before given how fucking great it is.

Mourn – Jumping Someone Else’s Train. This Barcelona trio released Mixtape, an EP of covers from indie-rock artists who recorded before these women were born, including tracks by Come, dEUS, Chris Bell (of Big Star), and this song by the Cure.

White Reaper – Hard Luck. The world’s greatest American band released their third album, You Deserve Love, a week ago, but I haven’t had time to get into it yet. I’ve liked the songs I’ve heard so far, which very much follow the same punk-influenced, upbeat alt-rock pattern of their first two albums.

LIFE – Niceties. Tough name in the Google era, but LIFE are Brighton punks who are appropriately angry at the world, and who just released their second album A Picture of Good Health, which has a lot of songs that push the boundary into outright abrasiveness (or push right through it). This and “Hollow Thing” are the standout tracks.

CHVRCHES – Death Stranding. The Scottish trio’s contribution to the soundtrack of the video game Death Stranding is better than anything off their last album.

MisterWives – the end. MisterWives, which is really a vehicle for charismatic lead singer Mandy Lee, are really a pop band who’ve been mislabeled an alternative act because they haven’t broken through yet. I thought “Machine” might do the trick a few years ago. Maybe this very catchy, poppy track will be their breakthrough.

Foals – Like Lightning. I think my ultimate verdict on Foals’ two albums this year, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost, Parts 1 and 2, will be that they had enough material for one incredible album but spread the best tracks across two uneven LPs instead.

Great Grandpa – Bloom. My favorite track from the quintet’s new album Four of Arrows, “Bloom” has a little of all of the sounds Great Grandpa usually incorporates, but doesn’t skimp on the main hook or let the tempo flag (as on “Digger”).

Maisie Peters – Look At Me Now. By my count, the now 19-year-old Peters has released 17 songs across two EPs, including the new It’s Your Bed Babe, It’s Your Funeral, over the last three calendar years, although she’s received virtually no press or airplay in the U.S., which I think is a damn shame. This track, from the new EP, is a good example of her style, although it’s not quite as immediate as “Place We Were Made” or “Best I’ll Ever Sing.”

Tei Shi feat. Blood Orange – Even If It Hurts. I’m just so-so on the song as a whole, but good luck getting this chorus out of your head.

Floating Points – Anasickmodular. It was tough to pass up on “Bias,” also from Floating Points’ new album Crush, but I think this is a better track from neuroscientist Sam Shepherd’s latest album of electronica.

Longwave – If We Ever Live Forever. Longwave returned from a decade-long hiatus with last year’s “Stay With Me,” and they’re now back with a new album, with this as the title track. It’s more guitar-driven than last year’s song, but still has some of the bass/synth underpinnings that recall ’80s new wave and alternative.

Potty Mouth – Favorite Food. A battle with an intransigent record label forced Potty Mouth to go six years between its first and second albums, with the latter, SNAFU, dropping this past March, but they’re already back with another punk-pop single that just came out this morning.

Highly Suspect – Canals. The Grammy-nominated trio have just enough of a blues rock/metal foundation to keep pulling me in even when they seem to be actively trying to piss their listeners off. I love the guitar work in this one, which reminds me a lot of Royal Blood.

Alcest – Les jardins de minuit. This two-man French “blackgaze” (what a dumb term) metal project is back with Spiritual Instinct, a harder album than 2016’s superb Kodama and I think their heaviest since Écailles de Lune in 2010. There’s some blast-beat silliness on here, but the soundscapes Alcest creates through the rest of the track are immersive with brief moments of brooding heaviness.

Wilderun – O Resolution! This is some Blackwater Park-level shit, right down to the superfluous death growls, but I am totally here for it. I’m even getting a little Candlemass out of the backing vocals.

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→ October 2, 2019
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Music update, September 2019.

I’m still catching up on some albums from the last month, although I did listen to the Vivian Girls’ latest (nothing new to include) and still need to finish listening to Chelsea Wolfe’s challenging Birth of Violence. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the Spotify playlist here.

Temples – Holy Horses. The best track on their very good new album Hot Motion features what might be my favorite guitar riff of the year. The album features a lot of throwback psychedelic rock but manages to still sound fresh, with this, the title track, “Context,” “You’re Either On Something,” and “Step Down” the strongest songs on the record.

Oh Wonder – Hallelujah. Earworm of the month, and one of the catchiest songs this duo has ever done, whether you like it or not.

Supergrass – Next to You. These ’90s Britpop stalwarts are back after a nine-year breakup with a greatest-hits record that includes this cover of the first track on Outlandos d’Amour, the first album by the Police.

The New Pornographers – Colossus Of Rhodes. I feel like I underappreciate the New Pornographers because they’re so consistent. This new album doesn’t quite have the highs of Brill Bruisers or the critical acclaim of Twin Cinema but still has several solid singles.

TVAM – No Silver Bird. This two-minute track was originally released for Record Store Day and just appeared online last month. It’s a cover of this track by a band of which I’d never heard until TVAM covered it.

Foals – The Runner. I’m very much here for Foals’ big guitar-laden lead singles from upcoming albums. Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2, their second LP this year, drops on October 18th.

Lower Dens – Hand of God. This Baltimore-based band released its fourth album The Competition on September 6th; it’s somewhere between a meditation and a polemic on late-stage capitalism, led by the 2016 single “The Real Thing.” “Hand of God” has that new wave-y vibe for which I shall always remain a complete sucker.

Bombay Bicycle Club – Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You). They may never come close to 2011’s “Shuffle,” which will certainly appear on my top songs of this decade list (planning that for December), but this lead single from their upcoming LP Everything Else Has Gone Wrong, due out in January, is my favorite track of theirs since their big hit.

She Drew The Gun – Trouble Every Day. I assume this third single from the political post-punk Wirral group just this year presages an upcoming album

Night Dreamer – Another Life. Night Dreamer comprises the Smashing Pumpkins’ guitarist Jeff Schroeder and keyboardist/singer Mindy Song of Wam Dingis, with a clear late-90s indie-rock sound beneath lyrics that at least try to get philosophical, although I don’t know if they quite hit the intended target.

Bat For Lashes – Desert Man. Natasha Khan’s fifth album, Lost Girls, is more accessible than 2016’s The Bride, although like most of her work I’ve found it improves on multiple listens.

FKA Twigs featuring Future – holy terrain. It’s been five years since FKA Twigs’ debut album, with just two original songs in the interim, but this collaboration with Future marks the second single in advance of the October 25th release of MAGDALENE.

Corinne Bailey Rae – Jersey Girl. Another cover, this one of a Tom Waits song that was also covered previously by Bruce Springsteen. CBR’s voice is still mesmerizing and beautiful 13 years after “Put Your Records On.”

Grimes featuring i_o – Violence. Grimes’ Art Angels was my #1 album of 2015, but her last single “We Appreciate Power” felt like a huge regression; this new track, possibly from her upcoming album Miss_Anthr0pocene, starts slow with Boucher overusing that childlike vocal from “Oblivion” but rallies quickly with a hypnotic beat from i_o. The video is interesting but feels like it’s a chapter of a longer book.

Danny Brown – Best Life. Here because it’s produced by Q-Tip, although I don’t get the sense The Abstract appears on the record itself.

That Dog – If You Just Didn’t Do It. That Dog had a moment in 1997 with “Never Say Never,” not to be confused with the bigger Romeo Void hit of the same name; I don’t remember this band at all from their first iteration, but they’ve been back together for a few years now, and will release their first album in 22 years, Old LP, on Friday.

The Mysterines – Bet Your Pretty Face. I included “Gasoline” on a playlist this summer; both tracks come from the Wirral punk-rock trio’s four-song EP Take Control, released in August – and yes, that’s two bands on this list from Wirral, which was not intentional.

Just Mustard – Seven. Full-on throwback shoegaze from this Irish quintet who would could have opened for Ride in 1992 with this sound.

Alcest – Sapphire. I prefer this to Alcest’s previous single, “Protection,” as it’s closer to the shoegaze/extreme metal blend they showcased on 2016’s Kodama, without the black metal trappings of their early work.

Syberia – Empire of Oppression. These Spanish prog-metal instrumentalists are new to me, but they’re about to release their second album, Seeds of Change, on October 4th. There’s a lot packed into this six-minute track, with tonal and temporal shifts that alternate intense bursts of swirling guitars with moments of relative quiet, ramping up the pace for a big finish.

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→ September 3, 2019
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Music update, August 2019.

Some of it might be the presence of five Fridays in the month, but August was exceptionally strong for new music – I had over 30 tracks on the first draft of this list and ended up with 25 songs on a playlist that runs over 90 minutes. As always, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the playlist directly here.

Ceremony – Further I Was. The punk-turned-new wave band’s latest album, In the Spirit World Now, dropped this month and is one of my top ten albums of the year, with this, the title track, and “Presaging the End” among the standout tracks.

The New Pornographers – The Surprise Knock. Two good new songs from TNP, with this and “Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile,” ahead of their upcoming album In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, due out September 27th.

Ride – Jump Jet. The shoegaze pioneers’ second album in three years, This is Not a Safe Place, also came out last month, with this, “Future Love,” and “Repetition my favorite tracks from a solid if somewhat inconsistent record

Good Fuck – Flow Flow. If the goal was to create a band name that was both ungoogleable and something you couldn’t say on the radio, well, this is it … but damn is this song, a rec from reader and musician Andrew M., catchy as hell, between the guitar riff and the pulsing beat.

Vivian Girls – Something to Do. I never got into the Vivs or even heard much of their music before their breakup, but I’m enjoying their reunion so far, with loud and fast guitar tracks like this.

Artificial Pleasure/JYLDA – Boys Grow Up. An homage to classic New Wave with a strong dash of Britpop, here boosted by backup vocals by JYLDA. They’re quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

Dry Cleaning – Magic of Meghan. I can’t decide if this band name is ridiculous, funny, obnoxious, or some combination thereof. Their sing-talking style is not really my thing, but this was the one track on their Sweet Princess EP that muted that aspect and let the music come through.

Declan McKenna – British Bombs. I did not like “Brazil” but I’m into this angry protest track over the UK’s role in the ongoing genocide in the Yemen.

Miss June – Anomaly. Power-pop from New Zealand who made a modest splash with “Best Girl” earlier this year and have followed it with Bad Luck Party, including this very mid-90s alternative radio kind of track.

Death Cab for Cutie – To the Ground. A slow-building, tense track from DCFC ahead of the release of The Blue EP on Saturday.

Sleater-Kinney – LOVE. Sleater-Kinney came back from a lengthy hiatus in 2015 with No Cities to Love, a rock album that was more polished than their previous efforts but still clearly their sound. Their new record The Center Won’t Hold was produced by St. Vincent, and it’s a departure, particularly in their use of electronic elements for the percussion; I’m not surprised Janet Weiss decided to leave the band after their “new direction.” Weiss was in a serious car accident in early August; fans donated over $60,000 to a GoFundMe to help pay her medical bills.

Two Door Cinema Club – Once. This might be my favorite 2DCC track ever; it certainly is the most immediately catchy of theirs.

John Coltrane – Blue World. This is the title track from a lost Coltrane album, recorded in 1964 for a French art film. I’m not a jazz aficionado by any means but if you asked me to put on a jazz album, it’d be Giant Steps.

Jorja Smith feat. Burna Boy – Be Honest. Smith’s Lost and Found was one of my favorite albums last year; this single, featuring the Nigerian rapper Burna Boy, might be a one-off but has already hit the top 20 in the UK, once again showing off the R&B singer’s strong, highly expressive voice.

Mike Epps with Big Boi and Sleepy Brown – We Goin’ Out. I only knew of Mike Epps as a comedian, but he’s released a few singles and even an album of rap songs; this song is just fun, bouncy like some mid-80s funk tracks, with the always-worthwhile Big Boi contributing a verse.

BROCKHAMPTON – BOY BYE. I haven’t checked out the whole album, Ginger, yet, but I’ve liked the two singles I’ve heard so far.

Floating Points – Last Bloom. More compelling, hypnotic, intelligent instrumental EDM from Floating Points ahead of his second album, Crush, due out in October.

Sleeper – More than I Do. I liked Sleeper quite a bit during their Britpop heyday, especially “Nice Guy Eddie” and “Statuesque,” and included the lead single from this album on my January playlist, but missed their comeback album The Modern Age, their first in 22 years. This track and that prior single both sound shockingly like their old stuff – amazing after a hiatus of that length.

Bat for Lashes – Jasmine. The always-compelling Natasha Khan releases her new album Lost Girls on September 6th.

Chelsea Wolfe – Be All Things. Wolfe’s weird blend of folk and metal caught my attention a few years ago with Hiss Spun, but the two lead singles ahead of Birth of Violence, due out September 13th, have eschewed the extreme metal aspects in favor of highly atmospheric vocals and slow-picked guitars.

Here Lies Man – Long Legs (Look Away). I generally like HLM’s style of blues-rock anyway, but this is very funky to the point that it feels like a dance track.

Sacred Reich – Salvation. Sacred Reich were always in the second tier of American thrash acts, never breaking through even to the extent of a Testament or Vio-lence. They reunited a few years ago, but their just-released Awakening is their first new album in 23 years, and first since the death of founding guitarist Jeff Martinek. It also won’t include their other founding guitarist Jason Rainey, who stepped down due to health reasons in February.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Mars for the Rich. King Gizzard just released their second album of the year, this one full of old-school metal tracks ranging from bluesy, tracks like this to some outright thrash paeans.

Alcest – Protection. Alcest’s Kodama was my top metal album of 2016 for its blend of death metal and shoegaze; this first track from the French duo’s upcoming LP seems to drift further back into the metal direction after they veered harder into shoegaze with their previous two releases.

Insomnium – Valediction. The Finnish melodic death metallers return with a track that is highly melodic, almost catchy, while also bringing their trademark melancholic lyrics and strong guitar work.

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→ August 10, 2019
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Stick to baseball, 8/10/19.

One ESPN+ post this week, a scouting blog entry on Luis Robert, Nick Madrigal, Deivi Garcia, Triston Casas, and more. I also held a Klawchat on Thursday.

Over at Paste, I reviewed the delightfully named card game Point Salad, which mocks the trend towards complicated scoring by giving you over a hundred different ways to earn points as you collect vegetable cards from the table.

My latest email newsletter edition went out on Tuesday, after I returned from Gen Con. You can sign up here for free to get more of my personal writing.

And now, the links … I assembled this on Thursday night before leaving for vacation, so it’s shorter than usual and anything that happened on Friday won’t be reflected here.

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→ August 5, 2019
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Music update, July 2019.

I always feel a bit disappointed when my monthly playlists are on the short side, like this one is, as if I didn’t look hard enough for good songs. There is so much music released each month that it seems like even a “bad” month should still have at least twenty or so great songs, right? I did look, though, and stalled out with this list, which probably includes a song or two I might have omitted had the list been longer (including a cover and an unreleased track from the 1980s). Anyway, as always, you can access the Spotify playlist directly if you can’t see the widget below.

Prince – Holly Rock. Prince wrote and produced the original “Holly Rock” for Sheila E., whose version appeared on the Krush Groove soundtrack, but this is the first time that his own recording of the song – which is more polished than the demos his estate has been releasing this year – has appeared in official form. It’s vintage Prince with a heavy funk influence and Sheila E.’s ornate percussion work.

Ride – Repetition. I wonder if it’s even fair to call them shoegazers any more; their sound across two albums and a few singles since their return from a 17-year hiatus has been far more upbeat and accessible. It’s a positive evolution, though; I liked their early stuff but have connected more with their post-hiatus output.

Lauren Ruth Ward and Desi Valentine – Same Soul. A very bluesy duet from one of my new favorite singers in Ward and a classic R&B singer in Valentine, who had a modest hit in 2016 with “Fate Don’t Know You.”

Of Monsters and Men – Róróró. The Icelandic band’s third album Fever Dream dropped two Fridays ago, and it’s a definite shift in their sound, with more electronic elements, a mixed bag of a handful of tracks that showcase Nanna Hilmarsdóttir’s voice and others that lose her amidst generic drum machine sounds and weak melodies. This, “Alligator,” and “Wild Roses” are among the highlights.

Frank Turner – The Death of Dora Hand. Turner’s new EP No Man’s Land has three very intimate acoustic tracks that almost feel like Americana (interesting, since he’s English) rather than his usual folk/punk style.

Ceremony – In the Spirit World Now. Ceremony’s transition from hardcore punk band to direct descendants of Joy Division continues with this title track from their forthcoming album, due out August 23rd.

White Reaper – Real Long Time. White Reaper’s punk-pop sound hasn’t failed me yet – they have a real knack for strong, new hooks that always sound just a little bit familiar to me.

DIIV – Skin Game. This is DIIV’s first new track since founder/singer Zachary Cole Smith spent six months in rehab for addiction.

Ben Gibbard – Keep Yourself Warm. This is easily my favorite track from Tiny Changes: A Celebration Of Frightened Rabbit’s ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’, a cover album in memory of the Scottish band’s lead singer Scott Hutchison, who took his own life in May of last year.

Floating Points – Coorabell. The B side to his single “LesAlpx” is also brilliant – another pulsing, driving electronic track that stays accessible despite its experimental leanings.

Just Mustard – October. Speaking of shoegaze, this Irish band’s music might have fit better in that early 1990s movement than it does today.

Vivian Girls – Sick. The Vivs are back together … okay, I didn’t really know their work prior to bassist Katy Goodman’s solo project La Sera, but they’ve now reunited after a five-year absence with their pre-hiatus lineup.

The Struts – Pegasus Seiya. This song doesn’t sound like anything the Struts, who are kind of a glam/pop band with hard rock trappings, have done before – it’s like a strange homage to Judas Priest-era British metal, and I can’t get the thing out of my head.

High on Fire – Bat Salad. This instrumental, part of a three-song EP that includes covers of Celtic Frost and Bad Brains, first appeared for record store day in April, and just hit digital last month. It’s outstanding, and a good track for folks who like heavy guitar riffing but can’t deal with Matt Pike’s yelling vocals.

Opeth – Heart in Hand. Maybe my favorite song of the month, “Heart in Hand” (also released in a version with lyrics in their native Swedish) is a nine-minute prog metal opus that seems to draw equally on the complex progressive styles of 1970s icons like King Crimson while providing more 1980s-level thrash and metal riffing than Opeth has given listeners in their last two albums.

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→ July 3, 2019
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Music update, June 2019.

Solid month in June for new music from some old favorites, plus three singles here from albums released before June that I’ve especially enjoyed (whenyoung, YONAKA, the Amazons). The first song here gets the closest thing I’ve done to a full album review in many years, but it deserved the time. As always, if you can’t see the Spotify widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Reggae. black midi are the critical flavor of the month after their debut album, Schlagenheim, appeared in June, to effusive acclaim … and it’s true, the album is unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. It is dense, intellectual, and challenging, often asking you to rethink the basic tenets of melody and rhythm that have been part of rock music since its inception. It’s also pretentious and at multiple points seems to dare you to skip to the next song, especially with Geordie Greep’s weird intonations and sudden dives into extreme-metal screaming. The album doesn’t include their strong lead-up singles “Talking Heads” or “Crow’s Perch,” which would actually be its most accessible songs if they’d made the record. “Reggae” was my compromise choice for the playlist, because it shows off their tonal oddities and still adheres a little to some rock conventions. The closer “Ducter” has some of the album’s highest points, as does the eight-minute “Western,” but they are endurance tests as well. “Near DT, MI” is a two-minute burst of ideas, but you have to get past Greep screaming at you – and his lyrics typically make little sense. “Speedway” could be a better introduction to what black midi, named after an obscure form of music that can only be played by computers because there are so many notes that sheet music for the songs would appear smudged with black ink, are trying to express through dissonant chords and polyrhythmic drumming. I don’t think it’s my favorite album of 2019, but it is the most interesting by far.

Sløtface – Telepathetic. These Norwegian punk-popsters are back with yet another frenetic, extremely catchy song with quirky lyrics.

YONAKA – Rockstar. YONAKA’s debut full-length Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow is full of catchy songs with smart lyrics about toxic masculinity and modern culture, but this is a diversion, a lighter song with great hooks.

whenyoung – A Labour of Love. The Irish trio whenyoung’s debut album Reasons to Dream is probably my favorite album of the year. I can’t escape the automatic comparison in my head to the first Cranberries album – Aoife Power’s accent evokes Dolores O’Riordan – but there’s more depth here, including tempo shifts and rapid jumps from low to high as you’ll find in this song.

Phantogram – Into Happiness. This is the first Phantogram song I’ve liked where Josh Carter sings; any other song by them that I’ve ever included on a playlist had Sarah Barthel singing alone. I assume this is a precursor to a new album, which would be their first since 2016.

The Regrettes – I Dare You. Critics seem to tag The Regrettes, led by 18-year-old singer/guitarist Lydia Night, as a punk band, but this song could just as easily have come from The Strokes’ catalog.

Metronomy – Salted Caramel Ice Cream. So I thought this was a different band, then pulled up the song on Spotify and realized I had the wrong group but really liked the track. It’s kind of wonderfully silly, and the electronic trappings mask the fact that it’s a basic 12-bar blues pattern.

Temples – Hot Motion. Temples has made my year-end top 100s twice before, with 2013’s “Colours to Life” and 2017’s “Certainty,” although if you know anything by them it’s probably their first hit, “Shelter Song.” The sound here is similarly retro, with a strong dose of psychedelia, with a jangly guitar riff driving the song.

Belle & Sebastian – Sister Buddha. This is the first single from B&S’s upcoming soundtrack to the film Days of the Bagnold Summer, a comedy due out in September from actor Simon Bird.

Floating Points – LesAlpx. Floating Points is neuroscientist and electronic musician Sam Shepherd, whose 2015 album Elaenia was a masterful work of experimental, sparse electronica. This new single seems more accessible and more in line with current trends in EDM, but it’s no less compelling.

Goodie Mob feat. Organized Noise – No Rain No Rainbow. Goodie Mob aren’t just founders of the Dirty South scene, they made the term mainstream in their 1995 song of that name. They’ve only released one album in the 15 years since Cee-Lo first departed the group (he returned in 2011), and this single appeared without any announcement of a forthcoming record. It’s pretty strong for a group that’s barely put out any music in two decades, although I can’t include them without at least acknowledging Cee-Lo’s problematic history: a woman accused him of slipping a drug into her drink and raping her, which led to him pleading no contest to charges of supplying her with ecstasy (but no charges for rape).

Spoon – No Bullets Spent. A solid album track from Spoon from their upcoming Everything Hits at Once: The Best of Spoon.

The Wants – Clearly a Crisis. A new Brooklyn alternative-rock trio, the Wants deliver a funk-tinged slice of post-punk on their newest single, like something captured in the fleeting moments before post-punk decayed fully into new wave.

LIFE – Hollow Thing. We’re really just calling everyone a punk band now, aren’t we? There’s a punk influence here, but this Hull-based quartet, who toured with actual punk band IDLES, are definitely more in the “snotty English rock band” vein – and I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Thrice – A Better Bridge. Thrice’s A Deeper Wells EP includes cuts from the Palms sessions that didn’t make the album, but if anything I think I like several tracks from the EP more than the songs that likely took their place.

The Amazons – Dark Visions. Future Dust, the Amazons’ second full-length album, dropped in May, and it’s a big move forward from their debut, as the great guitar work from their 2017 single “Black Magic” is all over this new record.

Lightning Born – Renegade. Lightning Born features Corrosion of Conformity bassist Mike Dean, but this is more vocalist Brenna Leath and guitarist Erik Sugg’s show, with a clear ’70s classic metal influence all over this two-and-a-half minute track.

Pallbearer – Atlantis. American doom stalwarts Pallbearer haven’t announced plans for a new album yet, but they released this one-off track as part of the Sub Pop Singles series.

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→ June 2, 2019
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Music update, May 2019.

Huge month for new music, boosted by the presence of five Fridays (the day most new music appears online now). I’ve tried to organize the playlist a little by genre, so the two rap songs and five metal songs are towards the end if you don’t share my interest in those styles. If you can’t access the playlist widget below you can go directly to the Spotify link.

Of Monsters and Men – Alligator. The Icelandic stars will release their third album, Fever Dream, on July 26th, their first new album since 2015. This song seems to signal a more rock-oriented and lusher sound, which would be a welcome shift after their last album, Beneath the Skin, which was very good but more sedate.

WOOZE – I’ll Have What She’s Having. So I added this track to my running playlist before realizing that WOOZE is half of the band Screaming Peaches, previously known as Movie, who appeared at #31 on my top 100 songs of 2014 with “Mr. Fist.” This song and WOOZE’s entire EP is more bouncy, flamboyant, faintly ridiculous pop goodness.

The Ninth Wave – First Encounters. A Glaswegian quartet with members who sound like they came straight out of the same post-punk, synth-heavy new wave movement that gave us Joy Division, The Cure, or Heaven 17.

whenyoung – The Others. This Irish trio’s debut album, Reasons to Dream, dropped on May 24th, featuring this track and the single “Future,” albeit none of the tracks from their 2018 EP. I really like Aiofe Power’s voice (and accent) regardless of song style or tempo, but they’re never getting away from Cranberries comparisons with her singing.

The Mysterines – Gasoline. This new post-punk trio is led by singer-guitarist Lia Metcalfe, whose voice is snarling and captivating, especially on the earworm chorus “I just love to hate you.”

Johnny Hostile feat. Jehnny Beth – Let It Out. Johnny Hostile is a music producer who produced the Savages’ two albums to date; Savages singer Jehnny Beth is Hostile’s partner, and the two collaborated to score an upcoming documentary on Chelsea Manning called Chelsea XY. This is the lead single from the soundtrack, a dark atmospheric number that also shows another side of Beth’s vocals.

Holly Herndon – Frontier. Herndon is a musician and “sound artist” who co-created an AI program called Spawn to help write and record her new album Proto. Her statement on the record said that she “assembled a contemporary ensemble of vocalists, developers and an inhuman intelligence housed in a DIY souped-up gaming PC to create a record that encompasses live vocal processing and timeless folk singing, and places an emphasis on alien song craft and new forms of communion.” You go parse that sentence while I move on to the next track.

black midi – Talking Heads. Black MIDI is a weird subgenre of online music where the MIDI files in question contain so many notes that, if you displayed it on sheet music it would be almost solid black, meaning it’s impossible for a human to play. The band black midi don’t go to those extreme, but these four British lads – they look like teenagers – have turned out some fascinating, difficult, experimental music that seems to draw upon math rock as well as art-punk icons like Television and Suicide.

Phantom Planet – BALISONG. They’re back, sans Jason Silverman, although I don’t think their sound has changed all that much even with the hiatus.

Cœur De Pirate – Ne m’appelle pas. It’s been less than a year since her last album, but Béatrice Martin just dropped the very Europop-style new single, along with an inventive video that also shows a more playful side of her than her prior musical output ever suggested.

Charly Bliss – Young Enough. I don’t do a lot of straight pop on these playlists, but the title track from this Brooklyn band’s second album is a strong, smart, and unusually long pop song that I think is a harbinger that they’re going to break out this summer.

Hatchie – Obsessed. More dream-pop goodness from Hatchie, whose debut album Keepsake comes out on June 21st.

Joy Williams – When Creation Was Young. Williams’ second solo album since the end of The Civil Wars, Front Porch, came out on May 3rd. “Canary” remains my top track from this album, although this is a solid second.

The National – Rylan. The National’s latest album, I Am Easy to Find, feels like a huge stylistic departure for the band – you can certainly hear singer Matt Berninger better than before, but he’s also no longer the gravitational singularity at the heart of every song. This is one of the more conventional tracks on the record, but I think it takes the kind of melody the National have done and pairs it with vocals that no longer detract from the music.

The Raconteurs – Help Me Stranger. Jack White’s side projects, at their best, serve as reminders of what a magnetic guitarist he can be.

YONAKA – Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow. I’ve had a handful of YONAKA songs on playlists the last few years, with “Creature” and “Teach Me to Fight” on my top 100 songs of 2018 and “Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya” on my top 100 of 2017, but their debut album, Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow, just came out on Friday, with this title track and “Creature” both on the record. Their sound has matured even over the two years since I first heard of them, although lead singer Theresa Jarvis’ strong vocals are still the centerpiece.

Imperial Teen – We Do What We Do Best. I had no idea Imperial Teen, which features Faith No More keyboardist Roddy Bottum on lead vocals and guitar, was still active after its brief ’90s peak with “You’re One” and “Yoo Hoo,” but they have a new single out, their first since 2012, and it sounds like it could have come from 1996’s Seasick.

Sleater-Kinney – Hurry On Home. We’re just not going to talk about the cover photo.

Safer – Good Things. Mattie Safer, a founding member of The Rapture who left that group in 2009, has a new band under his surname, with this first single more rock-tinged but still in the dance/funk vein that his other projects have also incorporated.

Lower Dens – Young Republicans. The Baltimore indie-pop duo are back with a rather unsubtle commentary on modern American politics.

The Amazons – End Of Wonder. The British quartet’s latest album, Future Dust, came out on May 24th, and features more of the muscular guitar-driven sound that they had on previous singles like “Black Magic” but didn’t hold through entire albums.

White Reaper – Might Be Right. White Reaper just signed to Elektra Records and released this new single. There’s no word of a new album, although with a heavy summer touring schedule, there’s probably one coming.

The Hives – I’m Alive. The Hives have released just one album in the last dozen years, 2012’s Lex Hives, but they’re back together – without longtime bassist Dr. Matt Destruction – with this new single. It’s not “Hate to Say I Told You So” or even “Walk Idiot Walk,” but it’s promising.

Wu-Tang Clan – Seen a Lot of Things (feat. Ghostface Killah, Raekwon & Harley). The Killer Bees released an EP to go along with the four-part Showtime documentary on the group, Of Mics and Men; this is the strongest track on the record.

Flying Lotus feat. Anderson .Paak – More. Flying Lotus isn’t really my jam, but I do like Anderson .Paak’s voice, and this is the best track from either of their new albums, which both came out within the last eight weeks.

Sky Valley Mistress – You Got Nothin’. This new British group headed by Kayley Davies gets comps to Led Zeppelin, but I don’t think that’s apt for this song, which is bluesy but in more of a bar-band sense than Zeppelin’s progressive reworking of blues classics.

Black Mountain – Licensed to Drive. Black Mountain go a little heavier than their normal psychedelic-rock here with a dark, metal riff driving (pun intended) this intricate track from their latest album, Destroyer, which came out on May 24th.

Paladin – Awakening. A new band from Atlanta who are producing unapologetically old sounds – this is dead-on 1980s classic thrash in the vein of Flotsam and Jetsam, Vio-lence, or early Testament.

Death Angel – The Pack. Speaking of which, these Bay Area thrash icons seem utterly unapologetic that their sound hasn’t changed in thirty years, and I’m here for it. Humanicide, their ninth full-length, dropped on Friday.

Sabaton – Fields of Verdun. I do like the song, but there’s no way I can hear this chorus as anything other than “feels overdone.”

Destruction – Born To Perish. One of the leaders of the Teutonic thrash scene, Destruction have been at it since 1982, but this song sounds remarkably fresh – it’d fit right in with their ’80s peak, or with the best stuff from their German compatriots Kreator.

Memoriam – Undefeated. I thought this was going to be a one-off project – the band’s name was a tribute to Martin Kearns, the late drummer of British death metal icons Bolt Thrower – but they’re about to release their third album in as many years. Karl Willets (also of Bolt Thrower) has a difficult vocal style to take, but I’m into the heavy riffing behind his growls, darker than thrash but not impenetrable like Bolt Thrower’s grindcore origins.

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→ May 6, 2019
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Music update, April 2019.

I’m not sure why April was so light on new music, especially since I’ve already started a new playlist for May and have a half-dozen songs on it (including “Alligator,” the new single from Of Monsters & Men). April did bring the debut album from Jade Bird, whom I’ve featured on many past playlists. I figured it was better to just wrap this one up now and let the May playlist be longer. You can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Hatchie – Stay With Me. The Australian singer-songwriter Hatchie, whose dreamy indie-pop songs have been all over my playlists for a year and a half now, will release her debut album Keepsake on June 21st.

Ten Fé – Waterfalls. Yep, it’s a cover of the TLC song, which I don’t even particularly like, but this version is another creature entirely.

Hot Chip – Hungry Child. The English electronic/indie stalwarts will put out their seventh album, A Bath Full of Ecstasy, on June 21st. It’s their first album produced entirely by people outside of the band members themselves.

Working Men’s Club – Bad Blood. If I played this for you and told you it was a lost British New Wave track from 1983, would you have any reason to doubt me?

Tame Impala – Borderline. This might be my favorite song by Kevin Parker since “Solitude is Bliss,” in part because it’s so different from the band’s signature sound, with a heavy ’70s soul vibe.

Broken Social Scene – Can’t Find My Heart. This song rocks much harder than most of the Broken Social Scene songs I’ve heard before – at least, it’s not the sound I expect from this eclectic Canadian outfit.

Pharlee – Darkest Hour. I’ve criticized the derivative sound of Greta van Fleet a few times here and on Twitter, but if you like their extremely Led Zeppelin thing, I have a few new songs to recommend, starting with this bluesy psychedelic rocker from a new San Diego group helmed by Macarena Rivera.

Feeder – Fear of Flying. Yes, the same Feeder who had a modest (and slightly annoying) hit in 1997 with “High,” now a duo who announced that their tenth album, Tallulah, will drop in August. There’s no resemblance to their big hit on this driving, melodic rocker.

Ride – Future Love. Shoegaze icons Ride, now fully embracing their comeback two decades after their brief heyday, have recorded … a Britpop song? This has to be the most upbeat track the Oxonians have ever released, the first single from their upcoming album This Is Not a Safe Place, which is due out on August 16th.

Port Noir – Champagne. Port Noir’s label calls them “post-metal” but I just think of them as melodic hard rock, not really metal, with some progressive elements as well.

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – The Cruel Millennial. Another recommendation if you like Led Zeppelin or other blues-heavy classic rock acts; the prolific Australian band just released their fourteenth album in eight years (!), Fishing for Fishes, which is a little inconsistent but has a few real uptempo, blues/jam tracks like this one and “Boogieman Sam.”

Band Of Skulls – Gold. I was hoping for more rock sounds on Band of Skulls’ new album, Love Is All You Love, but it’s a generally downtempo, mellower album than my favorite of their records, 2014’s Himalayan, with the closer “Gold” one of the heavier tracks on the record.

Helms Alee – Spider Jar. The intro to this song reminds me so much of the start of “Prime Cut” from Prong’s 1990 record Beg to Differ, although this song veers in a more progressive direction rather than the lean post-hardcore style of that earlier song. The Seattle band’s latest album, released two weeks ago, is called Noctiluca, which also happens to be the name of the board game I’m reviewing this week for Paste.

Diamond Head – Death by Design. These NWOBHM icons will release their eighth studio album, their second with new lead singer Rasmus Bom Anderson, on May 24th, and their sound really doesn’t seem to have changed that substantially from their influential if still obscure debut album Lightning to the Nations.

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