{"id":10261,"date":"2024-04-30T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=10261"},"modified":"2024-04-29T23:07:07","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T03:07:07","slug":"music-update-april-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/30\/music-update-april-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, April 2024."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Whew; April was loaded, and took me more time than usual because I had to sort through so many songs I\u2019d saved and listened to a bunch of albums from April and from my March backlog. I also have had the Libertines\u2019 <em><a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2024\/04\/19\/all-quiet-on-the-eastern-esplanade\/\">All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade<\/a><\/em> on repeat for much of the month. Anyway, here\u2019s my April playlist, and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/52DJCNmkrkp5XwsOwiV3XR?si=610a016cc10c4873\">access the Spotify list here<\/a> if you can\u2019t see the widget below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Klaw&amp;apos;s April 2024 music update\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/52DJCNmkrkp5XwsOwiV3XR?si=f7e82a822b4547e9&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Mysterines \u2013 Sink Ya Teeth.<\/strong> I\u2019ve been a Mysterines fan since some of their earliest singles, including \u201cGasoline,\u201d \u201cBet Your Pretty Face,\u201d and \u201cI Win Every Time,\u201d but their debut album, <em>Reeling<\/em>, left me a little disappointed, as they eschewed some of their uptempo hard-rock sound for slower, broodier material. This is their best song since 2021, at the very least, ahead of that debut album and their other singles \u201cStray\u201d and \u201cBegin Again.\u201d Their second album, <em>Afraid of Tomorrows<\/em>, comes out on June 7<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Geese \u2013 The Bonecracker Acetates.<\/strong> What a great opening guitar riff from one of my favorite bands going. These NYC experimental rockers love to play with genres and forms, and they aren\u2019t afraid to stretch a song out to play with its structure, but this time around they play it straight, maintaining the blues-rock vibe throughout its nearly 5-minute run time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Fontaines D.C. \u2013 Starburster.<\/strong> I became a much bigger Fontaines D.C. after seeing them open up for the Arctic Monkeys in September; they\u2019re incredible live, and despite being just as loud as you\u2019d expect, the music came across as more textured and melodic, while lead singer Grian Chatten had great presence. This song is pretty accessible as their stuff goes, although I\u2019m not sure if we needed to hear Chatten inhaling like some sort of inverted death-metal growl, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RINSE &amp; Hatchie \u2013 Kiss Me (Kill Me).<\/strong> RINSE is Joe Agius, and he\u2019s also Hatchie\u2019s husband; they\u2019ve collaborated before on \u201cBack Into Your Arms.\u201d This song has some of the dream-pop stylings of Hatchie\u2019s solo work, but there\u2019s more shoegazey guitars in the background here, and I think it complements Hatchie\u2019s voice \u2013 which I\u2019ve always thought was a bit thin to be mixed in the front of her songs \u2013 extremely well. I assume the B-side is called \u201cHold Me (Thrill Me).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>GIFT \u2013 Wish Me Away. <\/strong>I loved \u201cGumball Garden\u201d from this NYC-based psychedelic-rock band in 2022, and they\u2019ve returned now with what appears to be their first new song since that last album <em>Momentary Presence<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Swim Deep \u2013 First Song.<\/strong> I don\u2019t think I\u2019d heard anything from Swim Deep before, but the shoegaze revival brought them to my ears and is probably a good thing for their pockets \u2013 this is straight-up shoegaze right out of my college years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pond \u2013 (I\u2019m) Stung.<\/strong> So many bands draw from rock of the 1970s, particularly the psychedelic rock of the early part of that decade, but Pond manages to sound like they\u2019re <em>in <\/em>the 1970s and just dropped by our era via the Tardis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mdou Moctar \u2013 Imouhar. <\/strong>Funeral for Justice will be out on Friday, May 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, his long-awaited follow-up to <em>Afrique Victime<\/em>, which put the Tuareg guitarist\/singer on the global map.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Altin G\u00fcn \u2013 Vallahi Yok. <\/strong>The Anatolian rock stars return with a two-sided single, along with \u201cKirik Cam.\u201d Their signature sound blends psychedelia with traditional Turkish music; if I didn\u2019t know who the band was, I\u2019d say this sounds like a perfect song to get stoned to, if you\u2019re into that sort of thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>STONE \u2013 My Feelings Go. <\/strong>This might be STONE\u2019s most melodic track yet, which cuts both ways \u2013 it\u2019s bordering on emo, without the harder punk edge of some of their previous tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Phosphorescent \u2013 Revelator.<\/strong> First Kacey Musgraves, now Phosphorescent? Am I going soft in my old age? This song is just gorgeous, a lush alt-country number that reminds me of the better Jason Isbell stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Parsnip \u2013 The Babble. <\/strong><em>Behold<\/em> is now out, and it\u2019s full of little pop gems with a subtle edge to them, like this, \u201cThe Light,\u201d \u201cDuality,\u201d and \u201cTurn to Love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Griff \u2013 Pillow in My Arms.<\/strong> Griff released her latest EP, <em>ver2igo vol. 2<\/em>, earlier this month, and will be touring the U.S. in the fall. \u201cMiss Me Too\u201d is definitely the best song of the four on the record, but I\u2019m really waiting for a full-length release from the British singer-songwriter, who has put out some of my favorite pop songs of the last five years (\u201cOne Night,\u201d \u201cBlack Hole,\u201d \u201cHead on Fire\u201d).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sl\u00f8tface \u2013 Tired Old Dog.<\/strong> Sl\u00f8tface has been a solo project of Haley Shea since June of 2022, after which she put out an EP and a few singles that sounded like she\u2019d changed the band\u2019s sound or just kind of lost interest; their earliest work was funny, edgy, and rooted in classic punk. Her first album since the lineup change, <em>Film Buff<\/em>, is due out in September, and this second single is definitely her best work since at least 2020\u2019s <em>Sorry for the Late Reply<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Spiritual Cramp feat. White Reaper \u2013 Whatever You Say Man. <\/strong>This is apparently one half of a split 7\u201d between White Reaper, the world\u2019s greatest American band, and the San Francisco punk band Spiritual Cramp. It doesn\u2019t sound exactly like either of their sounds, but it leans more towards Spiritual Cramp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bob Vylan \u2013 Reign. <\/strong>Vylan\u2019s latest album, <em>Humble as the Sun<\/em>, is a righteously angry affair that blends alternative rock and traditional hip-hop in a way that makes them into a single sound, rather than, say, the rap-metal hybrid that terrorized the populace in the early aughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Les Savy Fav \u2013 Limo Scene. <\/strong><em>Oui, LSF<\/em>, this Chicago noise-rock band\u2019s first new album in 14 years, will be out on May 10<sup>th<\/sup>, with this the second single from the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>BODEGA \u2013 Cultural Consumer III. <\/strong>So there are indeed three tracks by this name on BODEGA\u2019s latest album, <em>Our Brand Could Be Yr Life<\/em>, but the other two suck. This one\u2019s chorus is really catchy, and the lyrics paint an interesting picture of consumerism run amok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Jamie xx &amp; Honey Dijon \u2013 Baddy on the Floor. <\/strong>It\u2019s an average track for Jamie xx, not his best, but I\u2019d say better than \u201cKill Dem,\u201d which I assume will also be on whatever album he\u2019s planning. I wasn\u2019t familiar with Honey Dijon (the DC, not the salad dressing), but she\u2019s apparently pretty well-regarded in American DJ circles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Belle &amp; Sebastian \u2013 What Happened to You, Son?<\/strong> Another new track from the Scottish indie popsters, this one left on the cutting floor from their <em>Late Developers <\/em>sessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Folk Implosion \u2013 Moonlit Kind. <\/strong>They\u2019re never going to match \u201cNatural One,\u201d but I\u2019m glad Barlow &amp; Davis are back at all. They returned after a 19-year hiatus in 2022, put out a four-song EP last April, and now we have this new track, heralding <em>Walk Thru Me<\/em>, their first full-length album with John Davis since 1999\u2019s <em>One Part Lullaby<\/em>. It\u2019s due out on June 28<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A Certain Ratio \u2013 Keep It Real. <\/strong>ACR were part of the first wave of post-punk bands in the UK, contemporaries of Wire, Gang of Four, Siouxie &amp; the Banshees, and PiL, but never achieved the commercial or critical success of those bands. Their earliest sound incorporated more funk and dance influences than their peers, but not enough to latch on to the second, new wave that followed, where they were overshadowed by Joy Division and the Cure (and inferior to other commercially unsuccessful bands like The Sound or Josef K). ACR reunited in 2020 after a twelve-year hiatus, and they sound quite a bit like they did in their 1978-1982 peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lionlimb feat. Angel Olson \u2013 Dream of You. <\/strong>Lionlimb is Stewart Bronaugh, who has also played in Olsen\u2019s backing band, along with Joshua Jaeger, and their newest album <em>Limbo<\/em> comes out on the 24<sup>th<\/sup>. I\u2019m not a huge fan of Olsen\u2019s solo work, but this track has a trippy Portishead vibe that grabbed me on first listen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Ezra Collective \u2013 Ajala. <\/strong>Ezra Collective won last year\u2019s Mercury Prize, which, to be honest, was the first I\u2019d heard of them, but they remind me quite a bit of Ozomatli and that\u2019s good enough to put them here, even if that represents a pretty low bar for my taste in jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Yannis &amp; the Yaw feat. Tony Allen \u2013 Walk Through Fire. <\/strong>That\u2019s Yannis Phillippakis of Foals, and Tony Allen was a legendary Nigerian drummer who\u2019d worked as Fela Kuti\u2019s musical director for over a decade. The two recorded some material in the late 2010s, but Allen died in 2020 before they could finish the project; Phillippakis completed the few tracks they had begun and is releasing this five-song EP, <em>Lagos Paris London<\/em>, due out August 30<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wheel \u2013 Disciple. <\/strong><em>Charismatic Leaders<\/em>, the third album from this Finnish-American prog-metal band, drops on Friday the third; despite numerous lineup changes, their sound has been pretty consistent over the last five-odd years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Alcest \u2013 Flamme Jumelle. <\/strong>Alcest will release <em>Les Chants de l&#8217;aurore<\/em>, their first new album in five years, on June 21<sup>st<\/sup>; based on the two tracks we\u2019ve heard so far, it sounds like they\u2019ve gone back towards the straight shoegaze sound of <em>Shelter<\/em>, or at least most of the way there, with no sign of the black-metal trappings of their earliest work or the blackgaze sound of <em>Spiritual Instinct<\/em>. For the record, I like pretty much all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Crypt Sermon \u2013 Heavy is the Crown of Bone. <\/strong>The latest LP from these Philly-based doom metal artists, <em>The Stygian Rose<\/em>, drops on June 14<sup>th<\/sup>; I love this track, which is heavy and crunchy and draws heavily on classic doom acts (Sabbath, Candlemass, Cathedral) but also some NWOBHM as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>High on Fire \u2013 Lamsbread. <\/strong>High on Fire dropped their ninth album, <em>Cometh the Storm<\/em>, on April 19<sup>th<\/sup>; everyone describes them as sludge metal or stoner metal (including Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Metallum), but there\u2019s too much thrash in here to lump them into those groups. I assume it\u2019s just because Matt Pike is a co-founder of actual stoner metal band Sleep.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whew; April was loaded, and took me more time than usual because I had to sort through so many songs I\u2019d saved and listened to a bunch of albums from April and from my March backlog. I also have had the Libertines\u2019 All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade on repeat for much of the month. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1374,167,1127,757,852,787,919],"class_list":["post-10261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2024-in-music","tag-indie","tag-jazz","tag-metal","tag-music","tag-progressive-metal","tag-shoegaze","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10261"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10263,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10261\/revisions\/10263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}