rap

→ September 5, 2024
→ By keith

Music update, August 2024.

August brought a bunch of contenders for my year-end albums list, with LPs from Jack White, Fontaines D.C., Zeal & Ardor, Tank and the Bangas, and others, plus a surprise return from Opeth, a welcome single from Olympic stars Gojira, a farewell track from one of the most influential American punk bands, and a return from a band I was afraid had called it quits. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Gojira feat. Marina Viotti and Victor Le Masne – Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!). You know this song already, as it was the highlight of the stunning Opening Ceremonies to the Paris Olympics; now we get a studio version that packs the same punch, albeit without the visual impact of Gojira playing on the balconies of an old castle along the Seine.

Jack White – Old Scratch Blues. White’s new album No Name is his best solo LP to date, a return to his roots in classic rock and blues sounds from the 1940s through the 1970s, highlighted by this track, “Bless Yourself,” and “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking).”

Fontaines D.C. – Here’s the Thing. Fontaines’ new album, Romance, is one of the big surprises of the year; the Dublin-based rockers have largely abandoned their punk sound in favor of a more ambitious array of influences that have them dancing around the edges of pop-rock without fully giving in to the sound. You can hear the punk roots in the background of songs like this one, but they’re in their post-punk/new wave phase now, and it’s fascinating. I still think “Favourite” is my … uh, favorite track on the record, but this and “Starburster” are also highlights.

Goat – Ouroboros. These Swedish psychedelic/fusion rockers return with their third album in three years, titled Goat, on October 11^th; this is the radio edit of the album’s lengthy closing track, with a guitar riff that Nile Rodgers would approve.

King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Hog Calling Contest. The Aussie band’s 26^th (!) album, Flight b741, came out in August, with an unusually long gap of ten months between records, and it’s more in the vein of their bluesy jam-band stuff than some of their heavier (and, to my ears, better) works.

Nice Biscuit – Fade Away. Not quite as good as “The Rain,” but we still get another strong guitar riff from this Australian indie-rock band, which marries some psychedelia with the pulsing beats of post-punk. Their new album SOS comes out on October 4^th.

The Killers – Bright Lights. This one-off (for now) single dropped just a few weeks before the Killers started their residency in Vegas to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of Hot Fuss, with all four original members playing the entire album start to finish as part of the shows. The track bridges the gap between their earliest synth-pop leanings and the more country-tinged sound of 2021’s Pressure Machine.

Chime School – The End. The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, the second album from Andy Pastalaniec (also of Seablite), continues with the project’s 1980s jangle-pop sound, which in itself derives from 1960s pop bands like the Byrds.

Sunflower Bean – Teach Me to Be Bad. Another heavier song from Sunflower Bean, and I’m into it. “Moment in the Sun” was a huge hit, and deservedly so, but the last thing I wanted from the band was an album full of attempts to re-create it.

X – Ruby Church. X announced that Smoke & Fiction will be their farewell album, accompanied by a final tour, four years after their comeback LP Alphabetland marked their return from 27 years away from the studio. I’ve never been a huge fan of X’s music, and am certainly not a fan of Exene Cervenka’s conspiracy theory-mongering, but I acknowledge the band’s huge influence on American music from the 1980s and 1990s.

Manic Street Preachers – Decline & Fall. The Welsh trio has said this track was inspired by several artists, including the War on Drugs, and that couldn’t be any clearer. I’m also stunned that James Dean Bradfield still sounds this good at age 55. The BBC has a story on some recently unearthed photographs of the band taken shortly before lyricist/guitarist Richey Edwards disappeared.

Hayden Thorpe – They. The former lead singer of Wild Beasts will drop his third solo album, Ness, on September 27^th; it’s just a different sound than that of his former band, and I’m still kind of getting used to his individual style, which has some of the art rock leanings of Wild Beasts but in a quieter mode. He released two singles in August, this one and “He.”

Katie Gavin – Casual Drug Use. The second single from the MUNA singer’s upcoming debut solo album, What a Relief, due out on October 25^th, is another smooth indie-pop track that borrows as much from alternative country singers like Kacey Musgraves and Brandi Carlile as it does from MUNA’s college-rock influences.

Bananagun – Free Energy. I dug this Australian experimental psych-rock band’s 2020 debut album The True Story of Bananagun – seriously, why is Oz so rife with psychedelic rock music? – but we haven’t had a peep out of the band since. They’re back with this frenetic track, which feels like it’s almost all drum-and-bass with a little vocals sprinkled on top, ahead of their sophomore album, Why is the Colour of the Sky?, due out November 8^th.

Spirit of the Beehive – I’ve Been Evil. I hear a lot of Pinback and even Polvo in this track from Spirit’s newest album, You’ll Have to Lose Something, which, like most of their albums, is interesting but all over the place.

Jamie xx feat. The Avalanches – All You Children. Jamie xx’s second solo album, In Waves, finally comes out on September 20^th, nine years after his debut In Colour, which had two of my favorite tracks of the decade in “See Saw” and “Loud Places.” I haven’t heard anything quite to that level from the five singles already released from the new album, with this one perhaps the best for its more accessible EDM sound.

Tangent feat. Rakim – Get Right, Keep Tight. Rakim put out a short comeback album in July that didn’t feature anywhere enough of him; his verse here as a guest on an otherwise unremarkable track from Tangent might be the best thing Rakim has done this year.

Maxïmo Park – Quiz Show Clue. There are too many bands, part 837: I’d never heard of Maxïmo Park before this spring, only to discover they’ve been around for 20 years and are about to release their eighth album, Stream of Life, on September 27^th. They’re a post-punk revival band often lumped into the “landfill indie” pile, which, to be entirely honest, kind of fits; I actually first heard of them when I went down that rabbit hole (after the Libertines’ new album came out) and found VICE’s list of the 50 greatest landfill indie songs of all time, which has two Maxïmo Park tracks on it.

Ten Fé – Space Invader. I’m thrilled that Ten Fé is back, as they hadn’t released any music since 2019’s Future Perfect, Present Tense, although this song reminds me a little too much of Keane and doesn’t quite have the hook of some of Ten Fé’s best singles to date.

Sports Team – I’m in Love (Subaru). I loved Sports Team’s 2022 album Gulp!, so I’m not sure how I feel about them suddenly deciding they’re going to channel the band ABC.

Geordie Greep – Holy, Holy. So this is a rare case where I’m including a song I don’t particularly like. Greep was the lead singer/guitarist for black midi, which announced its breakup in August (or maybe an indefinite hiatus), with Greep then releasing this single a few days later. It’s kind of a mess, although I wouldn’t expect anything other than that from a black midi member, but the problem here is more in the lyrics, which might have worked for an older singer but just come off as snotty and ridiculous here. His solo album A New Sound comes out on October 4^th.

Satan – Turn the Tide. I can’t believe these guys are still together, with both founding guitarists (Steve Ramsey and Russ Tippins) still in the band 45 years on, along with Blitzkrieg vocalist Brian Ross, who sang on their first full-length LP, 1983’s Court in the Act, before leaving the band until their 2011 re-formation.

Zeal & Ardor – Kilònova. Zeal & Ardor, a Swiss/American band that fuses black metal with African-American spiritual music, just released their fourth LP, Greif, in August; from the three singles I’ve heard, they seem to be drifting more towards a mainstream metal sound, with fewer of the more ridiculous trappings of extreme metal like death growls (there’s a little on “Clawing Out”) or blast beats.

Devin Townsend – Power Nerd. Townsend is a virtuoso metal guitarist whose first band, Strapping Young Lad, earned him a following but was way too harsh for my tastes. His post-SYL output, which has basically all been solo material but sometimes under monikers like the Devin Townsend Project, is a mixed bag, but this speed-metal track has a fantastic hook in the chorus.

Opeth – §1. Opeth hasn’t used death growls on any album since 2008’s Watershed, but they did on this track, the opener of their album The Last Will and Testament, a concept album due out on October 11^th.

Tribulation – Tainted Skies. Tribulation’s music wouldn’t be out of place on a mid-80s episode of Headbanger’s Ball, but they mix in some death growls and wear silly corpse paint. The music is almost comically melodic for the genre – this is metal, but it ain’t heavy other than the vocals, and it hits an almost nostalgic note for me because I listened to so much (admittedly mediocre) metal in the 1980s.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2024 in music, alternative, indie, melodic death metal, metal, Music, punk, rap

→ July 3, 2024
→ By keith

Music update, June 2024.

June brought three of the best albums of the year so far and a slew of comeback singles from bands I thought weren’t recording any more, so I’d call it a good month even beyond the part where it included my birthday and my daughter graduating from high school. Anyway, if you can’t see the playlist below, you can access it here.

Rakim feat. Kurupt and Masta Killa – Be Ill. The world has been waiting for new music from Rakim for 15 years, and for good new music from him for at least 25 years. We’re getting a new album, modestly titled G.O.D.s NETWORK: REB7RTH, on July 26^th, and this song has Rakim sounding as good as he has since the 1990s.

GIFT – Later. More shoegazey than straight shoegaze, with a heavier dose of ‘80s synths, cleaner guitars, and way more prominent vocals. GIFT’s second album, Illuminator, their first as a full band (rather than a solo project for vocalist/guitarist TJ Freda), comes out on August 23^rd, but the three singles they’ve released so far are all bangers – this one, “Going in Circles,” and my favorite, “Wish Me Away.” There’s definitely some Slowdive/Ride influence here, but Freda is doing more than just mimicking his idols, especially when it comes to building towards a big chorus or other hook.

Hundred Waters – Towers. I had long given up on hearing more music from Hundred Waters, whose sophomore album The Moon Rang Like a Bell was also one of my top albums of the 2010s, but whose last release was 2017’s Communicating. The trio, led by singer Nicole Miglis, released a four-song EP called Towers on June 14^th, and Miglis still sounds incredible, while the band continues to experiment with the electronic sounds that back her up. I’m hoping there’s a full album to come but I’ll take what I can get.

The Mysterines – Hawkmoon. The Mysterines’ sophomore album Afraid of Tomorrows came out on June 21^st, the same day as Pond’s and Alcest’s newest albums, and it’s a huge step forward from Lia Metcalfe’s quartet across the board, but especially in the quality of its hooks. My friends at Paste interviewed Metcalfe and drummer Paul Crilly about the new record.

Pond – So Lo. Stung!, the latest album from these Australian experimental psych-rockers, is all over the place, for better and a bit worse, but I take that as the price of admission given their willingness to jump between genres. This has strong mid-80s Prince vibes, as well as the 1970s funk songs that inspired his Revolution era sound.

The Howl & the Hum – Same Mistake Twice. Imagine a mashup of gang of youths and the Front Bottoms and you get this song from the Yorkshire quartet whose name unfortunately sounds like a discount version of The Head & the Heart.

Sløtface – Ladies of the Fight. This is what I want from Sløtface’s Haley Shea, who is now the only official member, and has a knack for punk-pop hooks and witty, sardonic lyrics. This track is full of movie references, including Fight Club and A League of Their Own, fitting since the upcoming album is titled Film Buff (September 27^th).

Color Green – God in a $. This is just good old-fashioned blues-based rock and roll, maybe with a dash of jam-band sensibility thrown in. I’d love to see them live, although their summer tour doesn’t go anywhere west of Boise.

Good Looks – Broken Body. This Austin jangle-pop band released their second album, Lived Here for a While, in June, featuring this track and the lead single “If It’s Gone,” which showcase their sense of melody and wistful lyrics.

Chime School – Give Your Heart Away. More sunny jangle-pop goodness from San Francisco Giants fan and Seablite drummer Andy Pastalaniec, whose second album, The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel, drops on August 23^rd.

Los Campesinos! – Feast of Tongues. We do love Welsh bands around here, but I have to admit that Los Campesinos! have often missed the mark for me – they’ve often struck me as trying too hard to be snarky or different, or just generally too cool for school. This track, from their upcoming album All Hell (out July 19^th), is something I at least haven’t heard from them before, reminiscent lyrically of Okkervil River and musically of Mercury Rev.

Mercury Rev – Patterns. Oh hey, what a coincidence. I thought Mercury Rev had hung it up after 2015’s The Light in You (which I barely remember), and I can’t say I’ve been into anything they’ve done since 2001’s epic All Is Dream. This song feels like a throwback to that record, with spoken, philosophical (or just) lyrics over a psychedelic space-pop backdrop. Their new album Born Horses drops on September 6^th.

The Jesus Lizard – Hide & Seek. These 1990s noise-rock icons haven’t released an album in 26 years, but Rack drops on September 13^th. They’ve promised a departure from their old sound; this track sounds more like the clean punk sound of the Descendents than Goat or Liar.

Amyl and the Sniffers – Facts. Seth Meyers’ favorite band put out two singles at the end of May, this one and “U Should Not Be Doing That,” and they haven’t changed their fast-driving throwback punk sound a bit.

Fontaines D.C. – Favourite. Fontaines D.C. go Britpop on the closing track from their forthcoming album Romance, due out in August. I saw this Irish post-punk band open for Arctic Monkeys last September and they were unbelievable live, so much so that I would have said I wasn’t a fan before seeing them but definitely became one after.

Hayden Thorpe – They. Thorpe was the lead singer of Wild Beasts, whose final album Boy King ranked 5^th on my list of the best albums of the 2010s, but his solo output since their breakup has lacked some of the urgency and verve of Wild Beasts’ best material. I’m cautiously optimistic about his next album, Ness, out September 27^th, given the more ambitious music on this track.

One True Pairing – Mid-Life Crisis. So Hayden Thorpe’s return sent me down a Wild Beasts rabbit hole that led me to One True Pairing, the nom de chanson of their bassist Tom Fleming, who put out a self-titled album under that moniker in 2019 and has put out three singles in the last eight months. He also doesn’t sound quite like Wild Beasts did, but there’s a sweeping, lush texture to this song that kept me coming back to listen to it again. (It’s not a cover of the Faith No More track. Sorry.)

Griff – Anything. Griff’s full-length debut Vertigo comes out on July 12^th and includes a bunch of the singles she’s already released, including this banger, the title track, “Astronaut,” and “Pillow in My Arms.” She’s playing Philly in September … on a Monday when I’ll be in Chicago for Stadium.

Soccer Mommy – Lost. A lovely acoustic ballad from Sophia Allison, her second single (along with last year’s “Lose You,” with Bully) since her 2022 album Sometimes, Forever.

Hinds – En Forma. Hinds began as a duo, became a quartet, went dark after a one-off single in 2021, lost two members, and now are about to release their first album with their original lineup of Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote, Viva Hinds, on September 6^th. They’ve released three singles so far, and it sounds like they’ve cleaned up their sound and production enough that they no longer sound like they recorded the record in a subway bathroom or are just learning to play their instruments.

METTE – MUSCLE. I had no idea who METTE was when I heard this song, and while I don’t generally go for this kind of commercially-oriented electro-pop, this damn thing would not let go of my ears for days. Then I found out METTE is actress Mette Towley, who was in Hustlers and The Old Guard and briefly in Barbie, and she’s opening some of Taylor Swift’s shows in the UK, so, uh, good job me finding out about the famous person.

Nubya Garcia – The Seer. Garcia is an English jazz saxophonist who released albums in 2017 and 2020 but nothing since; this track, which caught my ear for the obvious John Coltrane influence on her playing, is her first in four years and the lead single from her forthcoming album Odyssey, due out September 20^th.

NIJI – A13 Fuji. Nigerian-British jazz pianist Niji Adeleye released his first proper LP Somewhere in the Middle in January and is already back with another track that blends western jazz styles with Afrobeat sounds. The main horn riff here is quite an earworm.

Ezra Collective feat. Yazmin Lacey. Ezra Collective won last year’s Mercury Prize for their 2022 album Where I’m Meant to Be, and have now released a pair of singles from their follow-up record Dance, No One’s Watching, due out September 27^th. I think they’ve embraced a more pop-oriented sound, going more for strong melodies in either their music or in the guest vocals. I didn’t quite get the acclaim for the last record, at least compared to other candidates for the Mercury Prize, but I’ve liked both this and “Ajala” quite a bit more.

Jamie xx – Treat Each Other Right. Jamie xx put out two singles in June, this and “Life” featuring Robyn, leading up to the release of his second solo album In Waves on September 20^th. So far, I haven’t heard anything as strong as “Loud Places” or “SeeSaw,” both featuring his bandmate Romy from the xx; it’s been more tracks like this, big house beats but without the same hooks or cross-genre experimentation.

Alcest – Komorebi. Alcest’s new album Les Chants de l’Aurore is the best metal album of the year so far by a mile, and one of the best albums of the year, period. It’s at least the best thing they’ve done since 2016’s Kodama, and I think represents the perfect balance of progressive metal, shoegaze, and extreme/death metal, three genres with which guitarist/singer Neige has experimented for his entire career, varying his use of all three. This album is a journey and I have already taken it many times.

Crypt Sermon – Thunder (Perfect Mind). Crypt Sermon does a souped-up take on doom metal, with a little more groove to it than typical adherents of that genre, with a very polished but still heavy, crunchy take on the style on their new album The Stygian Rose, which came out in June.

Flotsam & Jetsam – Primal. Props to Flotsam & Jetsam, who just keep churning out thrash tracks like it’s 1986. I’ll always be a sucker for this style of metal even though its moment was short and it’s hopelessly outdated now.

Dark Tranquility – Not Nothing. Dark Tranquility are one of the leaders of the Gothenburg style of metal, often called melodic death metal, here mixing clean and growled vocals with a heavy, proggy guitar riff through the chorus.

Tribulation – Saturn Coming Down. Tribulation gets labelled as “black metal” or “death metal” because their vocals are growled and they wear silly corpse paint, but their music isn’t actually that extreme – it’s straight metal and often wouldn’t be out of place on a compilation of ‘80s metal. On this new track they switch to clean vocals with a very goth sound in the chorus and it really elevates the whole endeavor; I know the death growls are part of their schtick but they’re leaving money on the table because the music is way more accessible than the labels indicate.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2024 in music, alternative, doom metal, hip hop, indie, jazz, melodic death metal, metal, Music, rap, thrash

→ December 5, 2023
→ By keith

Music update, November 2023.

November is usually the last big month for new music, and this year’s didn’t disappoint, between some of the year’s best albums and a lot of songs teasing 2024 releases. This month’s playlist probably has the most genres of any I’ve posted, which I think speaks to how strong the month was for new tracks. As always, if you can’t see the Spotify widget below you can access the playlist here.

Billy Porter – Children. Billy Porter’s a Broadway superstar and an Emmy winner for his portrayal of Pray Tell on the groundbreaking show Pose, but his fifth album, Black Mona Lisa, is his first full-length foray into any part of popular music – and it’s a blast. This track is my favorite so far for the incredible earworm in the chorus, “Gotta let these children know what time it is,” but so much of the album is so ebullient that even when Porter’s lyrics turn serious you’re still glued to the music. The LP closes with another version of this song that also features Lady Blackbird.

Megan Thee Stallion – Cobra. The lead single from her upcoming third album has MTS rapping about depression, betrayal, and the hangers-on who didn’t seem to care or notice when she was struggling. It also concludes with a brief guitar solo that’s one of the best of the year. Just listen for that one half-note change in the riff and hear how it changes the entire tenor of the solo.

Consensus feat. Moses Boyd – Out of this World. Consensus is a British rapper who’s obsessed with physics, especially particle physics; his 2017 debut album, ConCERNED, was inspired by a trip to the CERN laboratory on the Swiss-French border, with songs like “Antimatter,” “Higgs,” and “Standard Model.” His second album, Original Conscience, is more inspired by the origins of the universe and its lyrics are a little more metaphorical, although he does have a track about the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment just called “D.U.N.E. (Deep Underground).” This track includes the incredible jazz drummer Moses Boyd, giving it the best beat on the record.

BEAM – FU. A cover, sort of, of “True Fu-Schnick” – BEAM, a Jamaican-American rapper, loved the fast-rap style of The Fu-Schnickens, and here drops new verses over the same beat along with the original chorus. It’s part of an upcoming EP to celebrate hip-hop’s 50^th anniversary where artists will reimagine tracks from rap’s golden era.

Brittany Howard – Red Flags. Two singles in and I can’t wait for Howard’s sophomore album, What Now, due out on February 2^nd. This track is all over the place, from psychedelic rock to gospel to electronica, all anchored by Howard’s powerful vocals.

CVC – The Remortgage Anthem. This Welsh band reworked their own track “The Mortgage Anthem” with a disco influence and a hint of ‘70s funk, and it works extremely well for an upbeat working-class anthem that gets you moving while the anticapitalist lyrics seep into your head.

Egyptian Blue – A Living Commodity. The title track from this English post-punk band’s debut album is both one of the LP’s best and also shows that they’re a good bit more than the post-punk label might apply, combining some of the abrasiveness of early Gang of Four or Television with very early new wave sounds like U2 circa Boy or October. They’re definitely a band to watch.

Weakened Friends – Awkward. I absolutely thought this was Sleater-Kinney or at least Corin Tucker when I first heard it, but it’s this Maine trio, with their first new single since 2021’s Quitter. It’s probably more like Sleater-Kinney meets jangle-pop, now that I know who’s actually behind the track.

Cloud Nothings – Final Summer. This was Cloud Nothings’ first new track since their EP titled July 2021, the release date of which I’ll let you work out, and their first for Pure Noise Records, so I presume it’s a harbinger of a new album at some point next year. Their production values have improved over time but their sound really hasn’t changed and I for one am very happy with that.

Peace – Happy Cars. Peace have been around for over a decade, so I’m a bit ashamed to admit this was the first track I’d ever heard from the band, who are now a duo after releasing three albums as a quartet. Their fourth record, Utopia, got a full release in November and features this shimmering Britpop-like track that reminded me a ton of the ‘90s act Geneva.

Heartworms – May I Comply. Heartworms is Jojo Orme, although it’s more than just a one-woman show here – it’s a whole character, named for The Shins’ 2017 album, replete with military imagery and gothic styling, melding post-punk, hard rock, and darkwave.

Pip Blom – Not Tonight. A Dutch pop band who first came to my attention with their collaboration with Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, “Is This Love,” Pip Blom have another banger here with this bouncy pop-rock track with what seem to be nonsense lyrics. (At least, I hope they are.)

Kid Kapichi – Tamagotchi. I’m not a big fan of rock singers trying to rap, and I don’t think it goes especially well here, but there’s a great guitar riff here and both the bridge and chorus – which have actual singing – are up to the high Kid Kapichi standard, so I’ll tolerate a little cringe to get to it.

Courting – Throw. Courting’s second album, New Last Name, comes out January 26^th, and based on the first two singles (this and “Flex”) it’ll be more guitar-focused but every bit as raucous.

Momma – Sunday. Momma and Narrow Head, a post-hardcore band from Texas, trade covers on this split single, with Momma covering Narrow Head’s “Sunday” while Narrow Head took on Momma’s “Medicine.” I’m not wild about Narrow Head’s vocals, so I prefer Momma’s versions of both songs.

Suede – The Sadness in You, the Sadness in Me. Suede (yes, the London Suede, sue me) are planning a massive deluxe edition of last year’s LP Autofiction, including this track, which really should have been on the record because it’s pretty much peak Suede for me. The song also previously appeared on the 2022 EP She Still Leads Me On, which was only available for a week, so don’t feel bad if you missed it.

flowerovlove – a girl like me. flowerovlove might be the next Griff, who first burst on the scene as a teenager with a sophisticated take on modern pop music. flowerovlove’s sound is different, a little more light with vocals that recall beabadoobee (and who also eschews capitalization), but with the same sense of “how does someone so young have such a strong grasp on pop history?”

Sampha – Suspended. Lahai, Sampha’s sophomore album, is one of the best new records of the year and I think a step forward from his Mercury Prize-winning debut, with lusher arrangements and better use of his unique higher-register voice.

NIJI – Somewhere in the Middle. The title track from Niji Adeleye’s new EP, his first under the NIJI moniker, is a piano-and-horns jazz piece with a strong hook from the brass section, while the EP as a whole has more influence from the music of Nigeria, where his parents were born.

Arlo Parks – Jasmine. The deluxe edition of Parks’ sophomore album My Soft Machine includes this cover of Jai Paul’s obscure but highly influential single “Jasmine,” starting out with a sparse arrangement of mostly synths and drum machine but building to a layered finish that brings in more guitar and bass while staying authentic to the original’s soft, reverbed vocals. Apparently Jai Paul even gave his approval to the cover.

Mary Timony – Dominoes. Timony, the lead singer and guitarist for Helium back in the 1990s and Ex Hex in the 2010s, returns with her first solo album in 15 years, Untame the Tiger, due out February 23^rd. This lead single has none of the dissonance or harder edges from her prior work, but don’t we all mellow out as we get older?

Brigitte Calls Me Baby – Impressively Average. This Chicago band’s music would sound like a lot of other alternative acts if singer/songwriter Wes Leavins didn’t have such a distinctive vocal style, which I’ve seen compared to Morrissey, Roy Orbison, and Elvis by various critics. His voice has a real personality, and it’s definitely something you don’t hear much in any genre of music right now; in an earlier era he would have been a crooner, and maybe that’ll be his second act in twenty years. This is the best track from the band’s latest EP, This House Is Made of Corners.

Vince Clarke – White Rabbit. Yep, that Vince Clarke, of Erasure and previously of Depeche Mode and Yaz, releasing his first solo album at age 63. It’s not a synth-pop record, as you might expect, but an experimental electronic one, with each track focused around a single note, often held through the entire song. I would have expected such music to sound monotonous, but “White Rabbit” is anything but – it’s a whole soundscape, with shifting moods and tones that are only held together by that slender core of the original tone.

Floating Points – Birth4000. Dr. Samuel Shepherd returns to his EDM roots after the 2021 album Promises, recorded with saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders not long before the latter died at age 81. This track has a slow build before the main hook comes in around the one-minute mark, and Shepherd layers his sounds beautifully for an immersive track that’s as accessible as anything he’s done.

Sen Morimoto – If the Answer Isn’t Love. Morimoto’s some sort of musical genius, I think, with music that ignores all attempts to categorize it (you could call it jazz, but that’s neither fair to Morimoto or actual jazz) … but I also don’t hear a lot of hooks on his album Diagnosis. This was the most compelling track and I think shows off what he does well as a songwriter and guitarist in particular.

SPRINTS – Shadow of a Doubt. SPRINTS put out an EP in November that includes this track, “Up and Comer,” and “Adore Adore Adore,” the last two of which have appeared on my playlists already this year. “Shadow” actually starts out slow and quiet, but you can hear the tension in Karla Chubb’s vocals, and you know the explosion of punk guitars is just around the bend. When it arrives, it flips the whole track upside down.

Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites. I actually thought Sheer Mag might have called it quits, as they hadn’t released any new music since 2019’s A Distant Call, but they put out a new track in August and then this one, the title track from their upcoming album due out March 1^st, which sounds like this punk revival band never left us at all.

Wayfarer – Reaper on the Oilfields. Wayfarer combines death-doom with traditional country music sounds – not modern country, but country music from 70+ years ago – in a sound I have never heard anywhere before. Encyclopedia Metallum calls it “atmospheric black/folk metal,” and, sure, that works too. Their latest album, American Gothic, would easily be my metal album of the year if they didn’t resort so often to deep, guttural death growls that too often overshadow the fascinating musical blend that makes them unique. This track has very little of that, so perhaps you can better appreciate what they’re doing without that distraction.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2023 in music, alternative, doom metal, indie, jazz, Music, rap

→ September 3, 2023
→ By keith

Music update, August 2023.

Back on schedule as I crawl out of my writing hole (by which I mean a place where I have not done much writing). August saw quite a few album releases of note, including Blur, Genesis Owusu, Burna Boy, Ratboys, Be Your Own Pet, Slowdive, Noname, and more, but I think it was a little lighter on singles. Friday saw another big batch of albums and singles, but since that was the first day of September I’ve pushed all of those songs to a new playlist for that month. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Speedy Ortiz – Ghostwriter. Sadie Dupuis & company released their fourth album, Rabbit Rabbit, on her own label on Friday, and the album seems to have a slightly harder edge to the music without losing the off-kilter melodies and perhaps even amping up some of the harmonies in the choruses across the record.

Cory Wong feat. Dodie – Call Me Wild. I’m pretty clearly a Cory Wong fan, although I’m very late to the party. He does funk guitar so effortlessly, unsurprising for someone who grew up in Minneapolis, and you can also hear a ton of Primus (one of his stated influences) on this new album, The Lucky One, which has more famous guest appearances than Asteroid City.

BLOXX – Modern Day. I think this is the best song of the smattering BLOXX has released since their one full-length LP, Lie Out Loud, came out three years ago, and really deserves a lot more attention than it’s received – this is the pinnacle of this sort of indie-pop, and why a song like this gets overlooked while garbage like Imagine Dragons gets played to death is just beyond my limited comprehension.

The Julies – My Heaven is a Dance Floor. So this is an interesting one – the Julies released two EPs in 1994 and 1996, and then … nothing for twenty-seven years, until they released two singles as well as an EP of lost mixes from their earlier work. That’s probably why this band sounds so good to me, as they’re still channeling that early ‘90s alternative vibe, with elements of shoegaze (Ride) and dream-pop (Cocteau Twins).

Slowdive – the slab. Speaking of shoegaze, Slowdive returned on Friday with their second album since they reunited in 2014, the follow-up to 2017’s self-titled LP, and it’s a mix of some classic shoegaze like this pulsating track, “kisses,” and “alife,” and some slower songs like “skin in the game.”

Seablite – Melancholy Molly. If you played this for me and told me it was a lost track from Lush’s 1992 album Spooky, I’d believe you. It’s a spot-on rendition of that strand of early shoegaze with female vocalists, going for airy or dreamy vocals over highly textured guitars and keyboards that made it hard to pick out individual instruments. Seablite’s second album, Lemon Lights, is due out on the 29^th.

Jorja Smith – GO GO GO. Smith continues to carve out her own musical path, moving away from R&B and smooth jazz here with an acoustic guitar backing that wouldn’t be out of place on pop radio. She’ll release the long-overdue follow-up to Lost & Found, which made my top 18 albums of 2018, on September 29^th with Falling or Flying.

Noname feat. Common & Ayoni – Noname retired from the music industry briefly in 2020, resurfaced last year, and then came back with this surprise sophomore album Sundial last month – and it’s one of the best albums of the year, easily, with strong beats and the kind of smart, well-delivered rhymes we heard on her first album. However, she chose to platform Jay Electronica, a rapper who has a history of antisemitic commentary, even within his songs, with frequent reference to the “Rothschilds,” a popular dogwhistle among antisemites. Even in his contribution here to “Balloon,” he says he needs to “saw the Roth’ family in half to get my clout back” and makes several references to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. Noname’s response to the controversy was extremely disappointing, as she took no responsibility, threatened to scrap the album (after she scrapped a previous one, Factory Baby) and then deleted her Twitter account entirely rather than deal with the backlash she created. The real lesson is that you shouldn’t platform an antisemite, and if you do so unknowingly, be accountable for your actions.

Danger Mouse with Jemini the Gifted One – Brooklyn Bazquiat. These two artists worked together on Danger Mouse’s 2003 album Ghetto Pop Life, then recorded a second album Born Again the following year, but that latter LP never saw the light of day until last week. Nineteen years have seen the music scene evolve to the point where this record sounds like a throwback to the alternative hip-hop movement of the 1990s and early 2000s, and it holds up exceptionally well as an example of that style of music.

Jungle – Us Against the World. Volcano dropped last month and I think it’s my least favorite Jungle album, with fewer standout singles than most of their LPs and some nods to more current trends in electronic music that my older ears find kind of annoying. “Candle Flame,” which was on my March playlist, is the best song on the album, and a huge reason why is the guest vocals from rapper Erick the Architect.

Girl Ray – Tell Me. Prestige, the third album from this London-based electropop trio, came out on August 4^th, and it’s full of catchy, danceable tracks like this one.

San Cisco – Under the Light. A subtle but still very catchy single from this Australian band, whose first hit single “Awkward” came out eleven years ago. I’m thrilled they’ve still got it, but jesus does that make me feel old.

Genesis Owusu – Stay Blessed. Owusu’s second album, STRUGGLER, came out last month, and the Ghanaian-Australian singer has taken a short story he wrote about a character called the Roach, based on the same existential authors who inspired Chris Cornell thirty-plus years ago, and loosely turned it into a concept album that spans all sorts of genres, with an electronic bass line opening the album on “Leaving the Light,” some R&B/funk on “Tied Up!” and garage-rock inspirations on “Freak Boy.”

The Kills – New York. I assumed the Kills had hung it up, with no new music from the duo since 2016’s Ash & Ice, which had the single “Doing It to Death,” but they released this two-sided single in August and another track on Friday in advance of the October 27^th release of their sixth album, God Games. This track is no “Sour Cherry” but otherwise fits in with their better stuff.

Kula Shaker – Waves. I didn’t realize these Britpop stars, who were either twenty years ahead of their time in incorporating Indian music into mainstream rock or guilty of some sort of cultural appropriation for the same thing, had put out a new album last year, which was itself their first album since 2016. This new track, ahead of an untitled seventh album, is full of the same peace and love and good happiness stuff lyrics as their other stuff but has one of the best hooks they’ve found since the 1990s.

English Teacher – The World’s Biggest Paving Slab. It takes some stones – pun intended – to write a song called “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” and then have that phrase in the very first line, but English Teacher, who’ve gone from very credible post-punk to something harder to pin down, with lyrics that would fit on an Arctic Monkeys album, wry delivery, and elements of dream-pop and indie rock along with those post-punk leanings.

The Hives – Two Kinds of Trouble. The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, the Hives’ first album in eleven years, dropped on August 11^th, and to their great credit, they haven’t changed much of anything. This is good-time garage rock, and they’re not sorry.

The Linda Lindas – Resolution/Revolution. I know there was a big novelty factor around this quartet when they first showed up in the 2019 film Moxie, with all the band members at the time aged 15 or younger, but they’re just a good punk-pop band now and everyone, myself included, should probably just stop talking about how young they are except to say that it’s astonishing how good and how polished they are for their ages.

Public Image Ltd – End of the World. PiL released their eleventh album, End of World, in August, a very inconsistent affair highlighted by this track, which has Lu Edmonds (the guitarist from Happy and 9, perhaps their two best albums) delivering a searing guitar riff over which Lydon can caterwaul to his heart’s content.

Horrendous – Aurora Neoterica. An instrumental track off Ontological Mysterium that highlights a lot of what I like about this metal band, with ambitious and weird guitar riffs and some highly technical fretwork. The album as a whole is better than 2018’s Idol and probably on par with Ecdysis, although I still found it uneven and I don’t need to hear the death-metal screeching without the music to sort of drown it out. Anyway, this track feels more like something you might have heard from peak Rush, and it’s good to hear this band stretch out a little bit away from the trappings of their main genre.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2023 in music, alternative, indie, Music, rap

→ August 18, 2023
→ By keith

Music update, July 2023.

So this playlist has been done for two weeks, but I took PTO right after the deadline to go to Gen Con, rest and recharge, and do some family stuff, and I barely wrote a word while I was off other than my huge Gen Con wrapup. I’m pushing this one out because my August playlist is already at 19 songs and we have two Fridays left. Therefore, enjoy this list of songs released between 18 and roughly 50 days ago. As always, you can click here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

The Dinner Party – Sinner. This indie-rock quintet from London seems like they should be based in L.A. in the early 1980s, or maybe Brooklyn in the early aughts, like a blend of Sparks and Lucius.

Charly Bliss – You Don’t Even Know Me Anymore. CB’s first new track in three years, with their sophomore album Young Enough already four years old, is welcome news. I haven’t seen word yet of a new LP from this grunge-pop quartet.

Miles Kane – Wonder. Kane is half of the Last Shadow Puppets (with Alex Turner) and was the lead singer of the Rascals, but he’s recorded under his own name since the latter group broke up in 2009. There’s some Stone Roses to the guitar work here on this new single, released ahead of his latest album One Man Band, out August 4^th.

Brad – Hey Now What’s the Problem. A funkier track from Brad’s final album, In the Moment that You’re Born, which features the last vocals from Shawn Smith. Smith died in April of 2019, and you know his work – he was also the lead singer for the band Pigeonhead, whose “Battle Flag” earned one of the great all-time remixes from the Lo-Fidelity All Stars.

Sampha – Spirit 2.0. Mercury Prize winner Sampha has one of the most distinctive voices in music right now – in a good way – and often elevates otherwise uninteresting material, but here he’s got a quick, frenetic track with vocals seem off-balance in a way that keeps your ear tuned in.

Metric – Just the Once. Not their best, far from their worst. I’m okay with Metric dialing it back just to write a fun dance-pop song every now and then.

Courting – Flex. Wikipedia calls them “art punk,” maybe because they have proper British accents. This is definitely poppier than that, but smarter than pop-punk. They feel like a band on the come, maybe one full album away from the big leagues. Also, I think that’s a “Mr. Brightside” reference.

The Front Bottoms – Emotional. Maybe the best call-and-response of the year, although the peculiar nasal thing they do near the chorus is offputting.

Yard Act – The Trench Coat Museum. Yard Act’s debut LP The Overload was my #3 album of 2022, although since it came out early in the year it’s been more like seventeen months since we last had new music from this extremely English art-punk band.

Royal Blood – Pull Me Through. Don’t let the piano intro fool you, there’s some crunchy bass-through-an-octave pedal work coming not too long after.

Tame Impala – Journey to the Real World. I mean, there are catchier songs on the Barbie soundtrack, but the mere fact that they picked Tame Impala to join a roster of explicitly pop acts is itself a reason to recommend the album. (Also, that stupid “Pink” song is still in my head.)

Bob Vylan – Dream Big. Grime rap combined with punk? I definitely hear a lot of Bad Brains in here, although I’m not very familiar with grime as a genre.

beabadoobee – the way things go. It’s a little twee, but it’s pretty catchy, and beabadoobee’s voice does lend itself well to this sort of light chamber-pop. I just don’t want to encourage too much of this.

Baby Queen – We Can Be Anything. Baby Queen is a 25-year-old singer from South Africa whose debut album, Quarter Life Crisis (get it? ugh), comes out on October 6^th. It’s sort of avant-pop, with some clear Grimes influence in here.

BLOXX – Weight in Gold. So events have overtaken my playlist as BLOXX’s EP Modern Day is out, and its title track is on my in-progress August list. It’s upbeat, punk-tinged indie rock, kind of if Neon Trees were less overtly poppy with better lyrics, especially with a little more new wave influence on the EP’s five tracks.

Jungle – Back on 74. Volcano, the fifth LP from this British neo-soul duo, came out last Friday, and so far everything I’ve heard is … just fine. I haven’t caught a breakout single like “Busy Earnin,” “Happy Man,” or “The Truth,” just some very 70s sounds without the big hooks I’m used to from these guys.

Slowdive – Skin in the Game. The second single released ahead of next month’s Everything Is Alive, Slowdive’s second album since they returned from a 19-year hiatus in 2014. I also feel obligated to mention that I was in Commissary, a barbershop and café in Indianapolis, and the barista was playing Souvlaki in its entirety.

Romy – The Sea. Mid Air, the first solo album from the xx’s Romy Madley Croft, is due out September 8^th, and I think it’s more pop-adjacent than her main band’s music or that of bandmate Jamie xx, whose debut album featured some guest vocals from Romy on “Loud Places.”

Lathe of Heaven – Ekpyrosis. You’d think this was some sort of extreme metal track from its name, which refers to the Greek Stoics’ belief that the universe would be destroyed and reborn every 36,000 years, but this is a NYC post-punk band that sounds like Killing Joke or early Ceremony, named after an Ursula K. Le Guin novel.

Horrendous – Preterition Hymn. I almost feel like I have to apologize when I include tracks with death growls, but man that big, swirling guitar riff that opens this song is something else. Horrendous’s first album in five years, Ontological Mysterium, is out today, August 18^th, and the songs released ahead of it show a return to the musical ambition of their first two albums, even with some flourishes like the acoustic passage at the close of this song.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2023 in music, alternative, indie, melodic death metal, Music, rap

→ June 2, 2023
→ By keith

Music update, May 2023.

This might be my longest monthly playlist ever, at 31 songs and and 110 minutes; it was at two hours before a few late cuts as I put this post together. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

The Hives – Bogus Operandi. Yep, early aughts faves the Hives are back, with their first new album in eleven years, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons, due out on August 11^th. The Hives have been good for one kickass single per LP, so here we are, with a killer guitar riff and earworm shout-along chorus.

Royal Blood – Mountains at Midnight. This got in just under the wire, coming out last Friday as the lead single from the British duo’s upcoming fourth album Back to the Water Below, coming out on September 8^th. They produced the LP themselves, after sharing those duties with Josh Homme on the previous record, so it’ll be interesting to see if they maintain the slightly funkier sound from Typhoons or go back to more straightforward rock as they do on this single.

Island of Love – I’ve Got the Secret. This London garage-rock band just released their self-titled debut album on Jack White’s Third Man Records label, and the LP is all over the place, drawing from a ton of genres – like the rockabilly sound merged with punk on this track – but with a maddening lack of consistency. They’re still a prospect, I guess.

The Coral – Wild Bird. The Coral have been around for nearly 30 years, but I associate them more with psychedelic rock and as the darlings of the post-Britpop rock scene, but this song sounds like they’re doing their best Lord Huron impression, and it’s great.

Grian Chatten – Fairlies. Chatten is the lead singer of Irish punk band Fontaines D.C., but his debut solo album, Chaos on the Fly, is going to be an entirely different affair based on the two singles he’s released so far. This jangly acoustic number sounds like it should be consumed along with a not-too-cold Guinness in a smoky bar.

Blur – The Narcissist. Another surprising return in a month full of them, Blur gifted us their first new song in eight years this month, and their album The Ballad of Darren, due out in July, will be just their second new LP in the last two decades. It’s not quite peak Britpop Blur, but it ranks among their best tracks post-Blur, which gave us the very un-Blur-like “Song 2.”

BLOXX – Happy Anniversary (To Being Lonely). This is more like it, the sort of straightforward punk-pop that made BLOXX’s debut album Lie Out Loud such a joy. We’re still waiting for news on a sophomore LP.

Queens of the Stone Age – Emotion Sickness. Speaking of Homme, it looks like he produced QotSA’s upcoming album In Times New Roman… rather than Mark Ronson, who was responsible for the tonal shift on 2017’s Villains, with its more uptempo sound and its very funk-influenced hit “The Way You Used to Do.” This sounds much more like the Era Vulgaris QotSA sound, just slightly modernized, which I imagine will please a lot of longtime fans. I’ve liked just about everything they’ve put out, so I’m here for it all.

The Damned – You’re Gonna Realize. I had no idea these guys were still recording, but they put out an album, Darkadelic, at the end of April, their first since 2018’s Evil Spirits (which I missed completely). The Damned were a seminal punk band that eventually morphed into one of the earliest gothic rock acts; this track fits more with the latter tradition, and any trace of their punk origins is absent here, but succeeds on its own merits.

Wombo – Slab. I wasn’t familiar with Wombo, an art-rock trio from Louisville, before hearing this track, which melds some experimental guitarwork with a traditional foundation of bass and drums.

Nation of Language – Stumbling Still. One project I would love to do someday when I have infinite time is to catalog all of the tracks I’ve put on these playlists to see how often certain bands have appeared. I feel like Nation of Language have popped up repeatedly over the years even though I have probably never listened to a full album by the Brooklyn post-punk band. They put out a lot of songs I like, including this one, with its driving bass line and big synth line in the chorus.

Jungle – Dominoes. The British funk/soul duo’s fourth album Volcano is due out August 11^th. They really don’t miss – if anything, they keep improving, although I do miss the horns that were more prevalent on their first album.

Simply Red – Let Your Hair Down. I was unaware Mick Hucknall & company had re-formed and put out an album in 2019, but they did and then released another album, Time, just last Friday. The Mancunians had two #1 hits in the U.S. with “Holding Back the Years” and their cover of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” although they were far more commercially successful in the U.K. with songs beyond those two ballads. This is a better indicator of their blue-eyed soul sound, with some great bass and lead guitar work beyond Hucknall’s vocals.

Jorja Smith – Little Things. Smith’s voice is lovely, and here she almost sounds like she’s scatting over the piano-and-drum jazz lines behind her voice. She finally announced that her sophomore LP, Falling or Flying, will be out in September.

Arlo Parks – Devotion. Parks’s first album Collapsed in Sunbeams was my #2 album of 2021 and won the Mercury Prize that fall; the album I had at #1, Little Simz’s Sometimes I Might be Introvert, won the Mercury Prize in 2022. Anyway, Parks’s second album My Soft Machine came out last Friday and it’s tremendous, with her signature vocals and poetic lyrics, but now with a broader range of music behind her, such as the rock guitar backing on this track or electronic elements interspersed throughout the album. I almost included “Pegasus,” which features vocals from Phoebe Bridgers as well.

Rahill – Futbol. Rahill Jamalifard is, according to her own website, “a multidisciplinary artist working within numerous overlapping musico-poetic traditions.” Those are some words. Anyway, I love this song and its late ‘90s trip-hop feel.

Portugal. the Man featuring Black Thought & Natalia Lafourcade – Thunderdome (W.T.A.) Portugal. the Man’s followup to their breakout album Woodstock, titled Chris Black Changed My Life, will be out on June 23^rd, and it seems like it’s going to be a stylistic free-for-all for the Portland band.

Killer Mike featuring Eryn Allen Kane – MOTHERLESS. I’ve never been a huge Killer Mike fan, but this tribute to his late mother is the best thing he’s ever done. It’s from Michael, his first solo album in eleven years, due out on June 16^th.

James BKS – Celebrate Blessings. Another banger from James BKS, incorporating gospel traditions from several sub-Saharan cultures along with hip-hop and some Bantu rhythms. His album Wolves of Africa Part 2 is due out in September, the follow-up to last year’s Part 1, and will feature a contribution from the legendary Afropop singer Angelique Kidjo.

Sparks – Nothing is as Good as They Say It Is. How the hell are these guys my parents’ age and still churning out pop gems like this one, which comes 51 years after their first-ever hit, “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us.” They’ve changed sounds so many times over the years, but if you listen to that track and this one, it’s clear they’re both from the same songwriters.

Geese – Mysterious Love. From a pair of septugenarians to a group of kids barely out of their teens. Geese’s debut album Projector was like a teenaged love letter to Gang of Four and early Wire. Their second album is going to be an entirely different affair, but no less weird, just more ambitious and bonkers. This is my favorite of the three singles released so far, with the full album, 3D Country, out on June 23^rd.

Brad – In the Moment That You’re Born. Brad’s lead singer Shawn Smith, who also sang vocals on Pigeonhed’s “Battle Flag,” died in 2019 of a torn aorta. The remaining members, including Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard, announced that they will release their final album, including the songs they were recording with Smith when he died, on July 28^th, with this epic, sludgy song the title track.

bdrmm – Pulling Stitches. These shoegaze revivalists from Hull will release their second album, I Don’t Know, on June 30^th. They do the My Bloody Valentine wall of distorted guitars exceptionally well here, but the production is so much better and you can distinguish various elements, including the vocals, like you never could with MBV.

Spiritual Cramp – Phone Lines Down. Named for a song by the highly influential goth-rock band Christian Death, this San Francisco sextet delivers pop-edged punk that also shows some of the members’ roots in that city’s hardcore scene.

Girls in Synthesis – I Know No Other Way. This London trio has punk, noise rock, and art-rock influences, and released their second album last October, with this a one-off single ahead of a summer tour in the UK.

Protomartyr – Elimination Dances. This post-punk band from Detroit released its sixth album, Formal Growth in the Desert, today, with this slow-burning track actually released at the end of April.

Squid – The Blades. Squid’s highly experimental, genre-defying sound has earned them substantial critical acclaim over the last three years, with everything from art rock to jazz to punk to new wave and more thrown into the mix. This track, off their second album O Monolith (out June 9^th), even brings in some shoegaze guitar sounds towards the end below vocalist Ollie Judge’s acrobatic vocals.

Lambrini Girls – Lads Lads Lads. Iggy Pop called this Brighton punk duo his “favourite new band” and has played them extensively on his BBC 6 show this spring. This track is the highlight of their debut EP You’re Welcome, released on May 18^th.

Enforcer – Metal Supremacia. Old-school speed metal from Sweden. These throwbacks are part of the “new wave of traditional heavy metal” movement, the name a nod to the new wave of British Heavy Metal that brought us Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, and more (including the Tygers of Pan Tang, who have a new and not that great album out). I have my doubts that this style of music can ever catch on again, but as someone who came of age as a music listener in the ‘80s I’ll always have a soft spot for classic thrash and speed metal.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Gila Monster. This Australian rock band will release their 24^th album in just thirteen years, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, on June 16^th, and their shapeshifting has them returning to the thrash-influenced sound of 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest, at least on this stuttering, pounding guitar track.

Horrendous – Ontological Mysterium. Horrendous’s second and third albums were some of the best progressive death metal records I’d ever heard, showcasing incredible guitar work and musical experimentation, but their most recent album, Idol, seemed to lose steam, with the same intricate fretwork but less sense of melody or songcraft. This title track off their upcoming fifth album sounds more like the style they captured so well on Ecdysis and Anareta, with a great central guitar riff, experimenting with time signatures, and a clear, powerful drum line behind it. The vocals will turn off a lot of listeners – and I completely understand this – but Horrendous tends to mix them further back into the music so it’s easier for me to focus on the music.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2023 in music, alternative, death metal, indie, metal, Music, post-punk, progressive metal, rap

→ April 7, 2023
→ By keith

Music update, March 2023.

I think March was a pretty good month for new music, although I was on the road so much I had less time to explore than I do in most months. We did get comeback songs or albums from three of my favorite bands from the ‘80s, though. As always, here’s the direct link to the playlist if the widget below won’t load for you.

The Beths – Watching the Credits. This New Zealand quartet shared this power-pop gem, recorded during the sessions for my #1 album of 2022, Expert in a Dying Field, but failing to make the final cut.Also, check out their mini-concert as part of the NPR Music Tiny Desk series, including my two favorite tracks from that same LP.

Jungle feat. Erick the Architect – Candle Flame. Jungle announced their upcoming fourth album, Volcano, due out in August, and released this very upbeat lead single with rapper Erick the Architect of Flatbush Zombies, who gives the song a Q-Tip/Chemical Brothers sort of vibe.

Killing Joke – Full Spectrum Dominance. An actual new track from Killing Joke, released to honor their sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall last month. Jaz Coleman is 63 and still delivers, with a track that would have fit well on 2015’s Pylon.

Depeche Mode – People Are Good. But I thought people were people? This is probably my favorite track from Memento Mori, Mode’s fifteenth studio album and first since the death of Andy Fletcher last May. The album is hit or miss but its best tracks recall the gothic new wave sound they brought mainstream in from Black Celebration through Violator.

Arlo Parks – Impurities. Parks’ second album, My Soft Machine, is due out on May 26^th, and all of the advance tracks indicate a vocal style similar to that of Collapsed in Sunbeams but with more electronicelements than the first album offered.

The Japanese House – Boyhood. Not to be confused with Japanese Breakfast or Japanese Wallpaper or Japandroids or the ‘70s band Japan, The Japanese House is Amber Mary Bain of Buckinghamshire, England, and this lush, dreamy song is just lovely – she reminds me quite a bit of Ben Howard circa Old Pine.

Daughter – Swim Back. I’m thrilled that the English shoegaze trio Daughter are back, six years after their last album Music from Before the Storm, a soundtrack to the video game Life is Strange: Before the Storm and maybe the best such example of an album I’ve ever heard. Their third proper album, Stereo Mind Game, comes out on Friday.

Bully – Days Move Slow. I’ve never loved Alicia Bognanno’s nasal, raspy vocal style, which often gets compared to Kurt Cobain’s but I think misses core differences in how they sang (or screamed, as the case may be). This song, about grieving the death of her dog, is one of her best melodies and recalls a lot of 1990s post-grunge indie rock, although once again she’s half-singing through her nose and I have a hard time getting around that.

Black Honey – Cut the Cord. Black Honey released their third album of sunny indie rock, A Fistful of Peaches, in March, featuring this track, “Heavy,” “Charlie Bronson,” and “Out of My Mind.”

Temples – Afterlife. The fourth album from this English psychedelic-rock band, Exotico, drops on April 14^th, their first new music since 2019’s superb Hot Motion.

Bartees Strange – Daily News. Another bonus track from Strange’s 2022 sophomore album, the excellent Farm to Table, where he continues to craft his own sound independent of his indie-rock influences.

Hatchie feat. Liam Benzvi – Rooftops. Hatchie can really write a melody, and she’s one of the best songwriters of dream pop working right now, but I have always lamented the lack of power to her voice. It’s boosted here by vocals from Brooklyn singer-songwriter Benzvi,

Christine and the Queens – To be honest. The lead single from his upcoming album PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE is also a throwback to the grandeur of Chris and his prior work. The lyrics explore both his transition and the last four years since the death of his mother, although some of the lines – “I’m trying to love, but I’m afraid to kill” probably lose something in translation.

Alison Goldfrapp – So Hard So Hot. This is indeed the lead singer of Goldfrapp, who released their first album in 2000 (Felt Mountain), releasing her first proper solo record, with this electronica gem as its lead single.

Nabihah Iqbal – This World Couldn’t See Us. Iqbal used to work with the late producer/DJ Sophie as a vocalist, and is about to release her second solo album, Dreamer, on April 28^th. This track sounds like something right out of London’s post-punk/”cold-wave” scene circa 1981, right down to the reverbed vocals.

boygenius – Satanist. I will never love boygenius the way critics do, in part because I don’t love the laconic vocal style of all three members (Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker), but their second album, the record, is a big step up from their first record musically, with much better hooks.

BLOXX – Television Promises. BLOXX first hit my radar with 2020’s Lie Out Loud, which had two bangers in the title track and “Coming Up Short.” This new song has a similar punk-pop vibe but more topical and denser lyrics, with some clever turns of phrase at the cost of some of the track’s energy, and comes in advance of their EP Modern Day, due out in August.

Project Gemini – After the Dawn. I could have sworn this was a King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard track at first, but it’s actually British multi-instrumentalist Paul Osborne, who also works as an editor at Shindig! magazine. This track draws deeply on ‘70s and even late ‘60s psychedelia with some nifty guitarwork in the middle.

Slow Pulp – Cramps. Slow Pulp’s first new music since the 2021 EP Deleted Scenes brings back their grunge/shoegaze hybrid, with elements for fans of Snail Mail and Velocity Girl alike.

Island of Love – Fed Rock. This London band describes their sound as “brutal slamming death metal” on their Instagram, but they’re much more punk – no death growls here, fortunately, although this seems to be a running gag – and post-punk with a surprising sense of melody beneath the frenetic guitar and drums.

Metallica – 72 Seasons. I have to admit, this is pretty good. They’ll never be the Metallica of Puppets or Justice, but I’ll accept this substitute.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2023 in music, alternative, indie, metal, Music, rap

→ October 2, 2022
→ By keith

Music update, September 2022.

Lots of new music in September … but not a lot of great music, I think, even with two extremely strong new albums and a couple of others of note. As always, you can see the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Kid Kapichi – Super Soaker. Two of my favorite albums of 2022 so far came out in September, including Kid Kapichi’s second album in the last 18 months, Here’s What You Could Have Won, which carries forward the harder-edged rock with Alex Turner-like lyrics but expands their musical palate somewhat, such as adding a guest appearance from Bob Vylan.

The Beths – When You Know You Know. And then there’s The Beths’ third album, Expert in a Dying Field, their best one yet, with more uptempo songs and a more consistent musical throughline over the entire album.

White Lies – Trouble in America. A tremendous track from the bonus edition of As I Try Not to Fall Apart, frankly a better song than several that did make the original LP.

Sports Team – Dig! Another banger from Sports Team, but unusual for them in that the vocals are far more conventional, and clearly play second fiddle to the driving guitar work.

Sprints – Literary Mind. These Dublin punks go a little more pop here, without losing any of their usual intensity, in what I think is their longest song yet.

Courtney Barnett – Words and Guitar. A cover of the Sleater-Kinney song from an upcoming album of covers of the band’s 1997 album Dig Me Out.

John-Allison Weiss – Different Now. This is the first new music from Weiss, who has previously recorded as A.W., since 2017’s “Runaway,” although their indie-pop sound is quite similar even after the five-year hiatus.

Editors – Vibe. Editors just released their seventh album, EBM, their first with Blanck Mass (Benjamin John Power) as a full-time member. The sound across the album is similar to what they’ve shown since their big stylistic shift around 2009-10 to something more electro-noir, with a heavy New Order influence. I also really liked “Karma Climb,” the first single from the record; and “Kiss,” which is great in the sub-4 minute single version but wears out its welcome at 8 minutes on the album.

The Fashion Weak feat. Gruff Rhys – Welsh Words. The debut single from a new Welsh band, with help from Super Furry Animals lead singer Rhys, with hilarious lyrics about songwriting advice from Joan Didion.

Freddie Gibbs feat. Moneybagg Yo – Too Much. Gibbs might be the best active rapper going, certainly in terms of flow and delivery, and just dropped his fifth album, the expansive $oul $old $eparately, on Friday. “Dark Hearted” and “Space Rabbit” are also highlights.

Phoenix feat. Ezra Koenig – Tonight. I like this song despite the intrusion of Vampire Weekend (via Koenig, their twee-voiced lead singer and songwriter).

Jamie xx – KILL DEM. The second new single this year from Jamie xx, whose In Colour was one of the best albums of 2015 and provided two standout tracks of the entire decade in “Loud Places” and “See Saw,” but who hasn’t put out another LP since. His solo work is electronica, but he’s also one of three members of the indie band the xx.

Quicksand – Giving the Past Away. A muscular new track from these post-hardcore icons, left over from the sessions for last year’s album Distant Populations.

Palm – On the Sly. A Philly art-rock outfit that’s been around for a decade, Palm just crossed my radar this month with this new track reminiscent of some of Battles’ better work.

WITCH – Waile. WITCH are legends of Zamrock, a musical style from the sub-Saharan country of Zambia that emerged in the 1970s, and were active from 1972-1984, by the end of which they’d moved away from rock and towards disco. This is a new recording of a song they played live in their heyday but never committed to wax. With the crossover success of Mdou Moctar, I could see WITCH (which stands for We Intend to Cause Havoc!) finding a new audience as they continue to tour.

Wheel – Blood Drinker. I’m a big fan of this Finnish prog-metal outfit, whether it’s their ten-minute, multi-section tracks or tighter radio-friendly ones like this one, primarily because of their guitarwork, both the sound itself and the intricacy of some of their guitar lines. This is the advance single from their upcoming EP Rumination, which follows last year’s full-length album Resident Human.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2022 in music, alternative, hip-hop, Music, progressive metal, rap

→ June 3, 2022
→ By keith

Music update, May 2022.

May went by a little too quickly for my tastes, but it did have plenty of new music, including album releases from Everything Everything, Stars, Porridge Radio, Just Mustard, Craig Finn, The Black Keys, Florence + the Machine, Kendrick Lamar, The Smile, Belle & Sebastian, Arcade Fire, Sunflower Bean, and Black Star. If you can’t see the widget below, here’s a direct link to the playlist.

Jamie T – The Old Style Raiders. Jamie T has been quite popular in the UK for about 15 years now, since Zane Lowe gave him a boost before his debut album even appeared, but I haven’t been a fan of his music before, between the cracked-voice sung-talked vocals and off-kilter guitar lines, but this … put this straight into my veins. Every aspect of this song works, right from that initial power-chord riff through the vocals (his voice is fuller, and its tone more consistent) through the soaring lines over the chorus. I’m in.

Sharon Van Etten – Mistakes. I think this is SVE’s second-ever appearance on my playlists, and the other was a track she did with the National. Her laconic vocal style has never quite done it for me, but paired with a dark and insistent beat to contrast with some of her boldest singing yet. She leaned a bit into distortion and electronic elements on her last album, and they pop up even more on her latest record, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, although, once again, I’m less of a fan of her slower-tempo tracks.

Blossoms – Born Wild. I liked Blossoms’ latest album, Ribbon Around the Bomb, a bit less than I expected given how much I loved the two lead singles, “Ode to NYC” and “The Sulking Poet.” The title track, “Care For,” and this song are all quite solid. Recommended for fans of The Head and the Heart, Whiskeytown, and Lord Huron.

Folk Implosion – Don’t Give It Away. One of two new songs from Lou Barlow and John Davis, their first new music written and recorded together in 23 years, since the last Folk Implosion album was a Barlow solo effort. It sounds like they never left.

Young Guv – Nowhere At All. I saw the name “Young Guv” and thought it was going to be a horrible white rapper, but it’s actually Ben Cook, the guitarist for Fucked Up, making dream-pop tracks that sound like part of the Paisley Underground movement (early Bangles, Green on Red) rather than something new in 2022. I’m saying that’s a good thing.

Porcupine Tree – Herd Culling. Steve Wilson’s work with Opeth is evident once again on this new track, the third in advance of Closure/Continuation, the British prog-rock stalwarts’ first new album since 2009. This is edited to be a single, so I assume the album version will clock in at 10:28.

The Smile – Thin Thing. A Light for Attracting Attention, the debut album from The Smile (Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead plus Tom Skinner of Sons of Kemet), is almost certainly going to end up among my top ten albums of the year, but I’m still digesting it – it’s strange and ambitious and full of unexpected turns. This track has a big of “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” but moves into different territory with Skinner’s percussion when we hit the first break.

Foals – 2001. Foals promised us an upbeat dance album, and through four singles, where’s the lie? This is the funkiest these guys have ever sounded, and it turns out it melds extremely well with their previous sound.

Rina Sawayama – This Hell. A pretty straight-ahead pop track from Sawayama, this is the lead single from her sophomore album, Hold the Girl, due out September 2^nd. I’d be surprised if this album didn’t make her a global star, although I know that isn’t always just about the music.

beabadoobee – Love Song. Beatrice is a talented guitarist who doesn’t let it rip enough, in my opinion, but this is a lovely little acoustic-ish number ahead of her second album, Beatopia, due out in July.

Sports Team – The Game. This extremely British rock band’s second album, Gulp, is due out in July. If the Libertines were more upper-class, but no more sober, they might sound like Sports Team.

Adwaith – Wedi Blino. If you think I’m including this song because it’s sung entirely in Welsh – the title means “Tired” – then, on the advice of my attorney, I will invoke my rights under the fifth amendment to avoid self-incrimination.

Suede – She Still Leads Me On. When Bernard Butler left Suede after their second album, Richard Oakes, who was just 17 years old, beat out hundreds of other guitarists to take his place. Oakes is now 46 years old. And Brett Anderson is 54. I suppose the bright side here is that I’m still young enough to put out that debut album!

Sky Ferreira – Don’t Forget. Ferreira released one single in 2019, and until now that was her only new music since 2013’s Night Time, My Time, her well-reviewed but uneven debut LP. This definitely sounds like a different artist – this is deeply rooted in mid-80s synthpop sounds, with music like Nu Shooz or even Peter Schilling.

Kendrick Lamar feat. Sampha – Father Time. I think I’ve settled into a space where I respect Kendrick Lamar’s work, but I know I’ll probably never love it. Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is a fascinating work of art, with some tremendous highlights, including “Auntie Diaries,” which is a massive statement of trans acceptance that also includes frequent use of the f-slur (in context, but still, regrettable). Barring that, this is my favorite track on the record, thanks to the presence of Mercury Prize winner Sampha on the chorus.

Stars – Pretenders. From Capelton Hill is Stars’ first album in five years, and it’s lovely even without the highs of 2012’s The North, which contained my favorite Stars track (and our wedding song), “Hold On When You Get Love and Let Go When You Give It.” This is probably my favorite song from the new album, especially with the duet in the chorus between Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell.

Superbloom – Falling Up. Very Melvins meets the Smashing Pumpkins circa 1994. I’m very vulnerable to music that reminds me of very specific eras, bands, or moments in time. This does it.

Just Mustard – Seed. This Irish group lives on the abrasive side of shoegaze without becoming as inscrutable (or unlistenable) as My Bloody Valentine, whose music I could just never get into. Just Mustard’s second album, Heart Under, just came out last Friday.

Killing Joke – Lord of Chaos. This is not a drill – we have new music from Killing Joke, a four-song EP called Lord of Chaos, and they pick up right where they left off after 2015’s Pylon. (The EP actually came out in late March. I’m just behind.)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2022 in music, alternative, hip-hop, indie, Music, rap

→ April 4, 2022
→ By keith

Music update, March 2022.

Another strong month for new music, enough that I ended up cutting a few tracks – any time I do that I feel like it means the standard to make the playlist is getting higher. You can access it here if you can’t see the widget below.

Blossoms – Ode to NYC. I’d heard Blossoms before, but not much of their music, and nothing grabbed me like the two singles they released in March from their upcoming album, Ribbon Around the Bomb, have. “Ode to NYC” is like a mad scientist selected the best genes from Lord Huron and The Head and the Heart and made a new creature into this song. It’s also kind of amazing to me that a British band can so effortlessly co-opt the American indie-folk sound.

Riverby – Chapel. The vocals here from August Greenberg are stunning, on what is by far the best track on this emo-punk band’s latest album, Absolution. Just make the whole record out of this.

Hatchie – Lights On. This Australiandream-pop singer/songwriter is about to release her second full-length album, Giving the World Away, on April 22^nd, featuring this track, “Quicksand,” and the solid title track.

HAIM – Lost Track. I have never cared for HAIM’s sort of inoffensive soft-pop, despite their acclaim from other musicians, many of whose music I liked. This is the first song by theirs I’ve really liked, as it doesn’t try to do much at all – there’s a good hook in the chorus, some nice counterpoint in the vocals, and it’s over in under two and a half minutes.

Soccer Mommy – Shotgun. Another artist I’ve never been able to get into, Soccer Mommy announced her third album, Sometimes, Forever, will drop on June 24^th, with this lead single boasting a great hook in the pre-chorus line “Whenever you want me…”

Greentea Peng – Your Mind. Peng has shown an experimental bent since the start of her career, but she’s widening her musical template even further with this single, which leans further into jazz and if anything de-emphasizes her vocals in favor of more interesting music.

Elzhi feat. Georgia-Anne Muldrow – Already Gone. Elzhi is a Detroit rapper loosely associated with Danny Brown and the late J Dilla, with a discography that goes back to an EP he released in 1998. I’d never heard anything by him, but he has a strong old-school delivery that reflects those late ’90s roots.

Jack White feat. Q-Tip – Hi-De-Ho. White and Tip worked together on the final ATCQ album in 2016, so the pairing here isn’t surprising, but the song itself is. It’s not just Q-Tip making one of his hundred or so guest appearances, where he never mails it in but also never seems to exert himself that much, and it’s not just White playing a riff or two over and over again. It sounds like an experiment, like two people got in the studio and started messing with several ideas, but decided to release four minutes of that musical exploration even though it doesn’t confirm to expectations of what a single from two experienced, fairly mainstream artists should sound like.

Bartees Strange – Heavy Heart. Strange is a huge fan of the National but his music always sounds to me like a better twist on The Hold Steady.

Band of Horses – Warning Signs. I’d say Things Are Great is much better than Why Are You OK and somewhat better than Mirage Rock but not as good as Cease to Begin. So, if you already like Band of Horses, you should like this album, which for me was a mixed bag but more good than not.

Spiritualized – The Mainline Song. I’ve known about Spiritualized for probably 25 years, at least since Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space, which was widely praised by critics at the time and has only grown in stature since then. Also, it’s hard to believe that that album, OK Computer, and Urban Hymns are all a quarter century old. Anyway, this is a joyous track from Spiritualized that seems to catch them at the top of their game.

Weird Nightmare – Searching for You. Weird Nightmare is Alex Edkins of METZ, and this sounds a lot like METZ, unsurprisingly, although if anything it’s a bit tighter and more accessible.

Blossoms – The Sulking Poet. I haven’t put two songs from one artist on the same playlist in probably five or more years, so it’s a big fucking deal (to me, at least), when I do do it. Like, big enough that I was looking at Blossoms tour dates and debating whether it made sense to go to Lisbon for two days to see them in a music festival.

alt-J – Happier When You’re Gone. I’vegone from the world’s biggest alt-J fan to someone who’d be fine if they never released another album. The ambitious, experimental, meticulous songwriting from their first album, An Awesome Wave, is long gone in favor of more easily digestible and, consequently, more boring alt-pop songs. This track is probably the closest they’ve come at least to the sensibility of the first album since anything on their second record.

Everything Everything – Teletype. Contrast that with Everything Everything, who probably peaked for me with the two tremendous singles off Arc, “Cough Cough” and “Kemosabe,” yet who haven’t stopped trying to innovate, or given up their weirdness to pander to a larger audience. This draws more on electronic music styles than what we’ve heard from them previously, although the next track, “I Want a Love Like This,” goes in a different direction.

Sprints – Delia Smith. Sprints’ new EP, A Modern Job, features a couple of very strong punk-pop tracks that are more punk than pop, including this one, which names one of Britain’s most notable celebrity chefs.

Pillow Queens – Hearts & Minds. This Irish quartet released its new album, Leave the Lights On, on Friday, to positive reviews. There’s definitely an American alt-rock vibe to their music; I saw a comparison to the Killers, which holds if you consider the half of the Killers’ catalogue where they lean into roots and country-rock, like “Dying Breed” or “Lightning Fields” from Imploding the Mirage.

Melody’s Echo Chamber – Personal Message. A new artist to me, Melody Prochet released her first album a decade ago, and continues to make ethereal chamber-pop with a similar vocal style to Hatchie’s.

Arcade Fire – The Lightning II. Arcade Fire released two albums in March, right before Will Butler announced he was leaving the band. “The Lightning I” is a pretentious slog, while this track has more of the big energy that recalls their first two albums.

The Smile – Skrting on the Surface. I assume this supergroup’s album is coming very soon, with three singles released so far; it’s hard not to think of this as pre-Kid A Radiohead given the prominence of Thom Yorke’s voice and Jonny Greenwood’s musical direction, although nothing they’ve put out so far has the same rock vibe as Radiohead’s peak albums Pablo Honey and OK Computer.

Bloc Party – Sex Magik. I will probably forever want Kele & Company to make the next “Banquet,” but I’ll settle for something as frenetic and loud in that post-punk vein. Last year’s “Traps” had it, this mostly has it, while the newest single “If We Get Caught” doesn’t.

beabadoobee – Talk. Beatrice Laus’s second album Beatopia is due out on July 15^th, and if this sunny fuzzed-out lead single is an indicator of what’s coming, I’m in.

The Mysterines – Means to Bleed. Lia Metcalfe and company finally released their first full-length album, but it didn’t include some of their best singles to date. Where’s “I Win Every Time?” Or “Gasoline?” Or “Bet Your Pretty Face?” There’s good material here, and Metcalfe’s deep, smoky voice pairs so well with the band’s crunching guitars, but they’ve toned some of the energy down a notch, and I miss their earliest work. I still think they’ve got a chance to be huge.

Drug Church – Fun’s Over. Musicians I know love Drug Church, and this marks the post-hardcore group’s second appearance on one of my playlists; their new album Hygiene is quick and punchy, with short bursts of mid-tempo punk with heavy bottoms and garage-rock production.

Crows – Garden of England. Crows’ debut album Silver Tongues was one of my favorites of 2019, and they just returned with their second LP, Beware Believers, on Friday. Their music is just as loud and angry, blending punk, garage, and thrash on this furious track released just a few weeks before the full record.

Opeth – Width of a Circle. Don’t get too excited – it’s a bonus track on the extended edition of Opeth’s 2019 album In Cauda Venenum. But it’s still new Opeth, and that’s good.

Vio-Lence – Upon their Cross. The lyrics don’t make a ton of sense, but the riffing from these Bay Area thrash pioneers is still good.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2022 in music, alternative, indie, Music, progressive metal, rap, thrash

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