Category Archives: new music

2024 Year in Review: April

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Looking back on my writing diary, it looks like I’d started the fourth and thankfully final version of my novel Theadia. For this go-round I chose to do what I’d done with A Division of Souls by pretty much starting from scratch again. A lot of the work stayed the same, but I was completely rewriting the first several chapters. Normally I’d just revise once I get to the Revision stage, but this one definitely needed a lot more work than just a dusting and cleaning. As it stands, I’m very close to the final chapters, so while it’s taken me a long time to work on this one, I’d like to think it was worth going at a slow pace to make all the improvements needed.

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Mixtape/Playlist, Theadia 4, created 1 April. The fourth (and possibly final) soundtrack mixtape for my current WIP novel and one of my favorites. The idea behind this series was for it to be a mix of moody and cinematic sounds (like the tracks from Eluvium, The Fauns and Big Wreck) as well as quirky alternative rock (such as Ducks Ltd, Middle Kids and Torres)…basically stuff that the two main characters would listen to while at work! I really like how this one came out.

Garbage, Bleed Like Me Deluxe Edition, released 5 April. I remember this one coming out way back in April of 2005, one of the first albums I’d bought after I’d moved down to New Jersey a month previous. It was seen as a sort of comeback album after 2001’s club-oriented Beautiful Garbage and a return to form similar to their guitar-heavy 1995 debut.

Jane Weaver, Love in Constant Spectacle, released 5 April. Weaver is a singer that crossed my path a few years ago via KEXP but rarely got much play, but this one stuck out for me. She’s very similar to St Vincent in sound, only more contemplative and less abrasive. This one got a lot of play during my writing sessions!

The Black Keys, Ohio Players, released 5 April. Despite their unfortunate tour debacle, this album was highly lauded by critics when it came out. While it sounds like they’re moving away from their noisy indie roots, they’ve returned to their love of blues and heavy rock. It’s definitely an off-kilter album but a very enjoyable one.

Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us, released 5 April. Speaking of off-kilter indie bands, they’ve pretty much decided to slide even further away from their light twee pop and towards more adventurous sounds. This is also a very strange but highly enjoyable album as well.

Bad Bad Hats, Bad Bad Hats, released 12 April. This one showed up on my radar via AllMusic of all places, getting a decent review. It only took the first track on the album (the above “My Heart Your Heart”, one of my favorite songs of the year) to make me fall in love with it! Pretty much in line with female-led bands like Wet Leg, they revel in their quirkiness by writing super catchy pop tunes that get stuck in your head.

Linkin Park, Papercuts, released 12 April. A sort-of greatest hits collection from this band that features several of their best songs as well as a new track (see above), an outtake from their last album with Chester Bennington, One More Light. A great place to start. And yes, this band will show up again on this series soon!

Nia Archives, Silence is Loud, released 12 April. Yet another KEXP find, she’s a singer that defies genre…you’re not sure if she’s r&b, electronic, alternative, or just a mangle of all three. Interestingly enough I sense a Wire vibe in her music, both experimentally and melodically.

English Teacher, This Could Be Texas, released 12 April. Another KEXP find — and they actually name-drop the station on this album! — their track “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab” is both strange and catchy as hell, and well worth picking up. It’s a super fun record, and all the critics seem to love it.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Unwishing Well, released 12 April. Yet another album from my favorite super-local band (and not the only one this year!), this one feels lighter and brighter than some of his previous work. “Learning to Love a Band” got stuck in my head that spring!

Pearl Jam, Dark Matter, released 19 April. Proud to say I’ve been a fan since Ten and I haven’t given up on them yet! I love that their last couple of albums really bring them back to their classic hard riff/introspective lyric style. There’s a lot of tension in this one that works really well with my writing sessions!

Orcas, “Under the Milky Way” single, released 19 April. Don’t mind me, just fawning over a quite lovely cover of one of my all-time favorite songs. Their album which they’d drop a few months later is quite wonderful too!

Corridor, Mimi, released 26 April. Another album that popped up on my radar thanks to AllMusic. This is definitely a band I’d have heard on college radio and seen on 120 Minutes back in the late 80s with its post-punk style. “Jump Cut” is one of those songs that gets stuck in my head.

Pet Shop Boys, Nonetheless, released 26 April. A lot of critics and fans see this one as one of their best out of the latter half of their career, and I’m inclined to agree. They’ve chosen to veer away from the dancefloor on this one, and it’s an interesting choice as it reminds us that they wrote brilliant mid-tempo tunes and ballads as well. It’s wild to see that they’re still going strong after all these years, and still writing amazing music.

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More to come in May!

2024 Year in Review: March

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March has become an interesting month for me, as it signals not just the anniversary of the COVID pandemic in 2020 but also the month I quit the Former Day Job…and also the month I started the Current Day Job two years later! Hard to believe I’ve been at the store for almost three years now, having gone from register jockey to interim front end manager to assistant bookkeeper and more. It’s a physically exhausting job sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything else right now.

As expected, there was an avalanche of great releases in March, and that meant I suddenly had quite the playlist to listen to. Let’s check some out!

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Kaiser Chiefs, Kaiser Chiefs’ Easy Eighth Album, released 1 March. This seemed like the year for unexpected and unannounced album releases, and this one popped up without being on my radar at all. It does what it says on the tin — it’s not mindblowing like Employment or epic like The Future Is Medieval but just as fun — and the KCs have pretty much settled down in their niche of quirky British alternapop. An easy and fun listen.

Liam Gallagher & John Squire, Liam Gallagher & John Squire, released 1 March. The Oasis singer and the Stone Roses guitarist doing an album together? Admittedly the stakes were ridiculously high on this one because of that, and while it’s not the best of each band, nonetheless it’s a fun Britpop romp worth checking out.

Paula Cole, Lo, released 1 March. Yes, she’s been putting out consistently excellent music since we were pummeled by “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” way back in the day, and each album has been a corker. This one’s a bit on the dark side and kind of reminds me of Cowboy Junkies in a way, leaning a bit more on the alternative folk side.

Yard Act, Where’s My Utopia?, released 1 March. This oddball band continues to entertain, amuse and confuse, sometimes within the course of a single song. You’re never quite sure where they’re headed, but the ride is certainly worth paying attention to.

The BV’s, taking pictures of taking pictures, released 8 March. I’d heard “Breakdown” on KEXP and was instantly transported to those songs you’d hear on progressive and college radio in the 80s; not quite post-punk and not quite bedroom pop but somewhere in between. Something like early Go-Betweens, I think.

crushed, extra life, released 15 March. One of many shoegaze albums that came out this year that got a lot of repeat play, this one’s more of a mini-album but it still manages to move and inspire me in my writing. Hoping to hear more from this band!

Four Tet, Three, released 15 March. This band has been around for quite some time but it’s only recently that I’ve gotten into their alternative-jazz-electronic fusion style. This album got a hell of a lot of play during my writing sessions for a few months, and it still gets a few repeat plays now and again. One of my favorite albums of the year!

Hooverphonic, Fake Is the New Dope, released 21 March. This too was an album that popped up without warning for me, and I’m usually on top of things when it comes to my favorite bands! They’re certainly showing their age a bit and leaning more towards European lounge pop than ever, but then again that’s always been their best style. Worth checking out.

Elbow, AUDIO VERTIGO, released 22 March. After the somewhat disjointed Flying Dream 1 in 2021 (which had been written remotely and recorded ‘spaciously’ during the height of the COVID pandemic), this album is a return to their quirky form of slightly off-kilter British songwriting. This time out the songs are shorter, tighter and noisier. I love that it starts off with “Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years”, in which Guy Garvey projects what he thinks his bandmates thought of him during their time spent away during the pandemic. [Also, I love that its bass line is sung, not played!]

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Glasgow Eyes, released 22 March. The Reid brothers continue to play their unique brand of noise-rock that’s sometimes infused in blues, rockabilly and even a bit of bright pop. This album would fit perfectly between Automatic and Reverence.

The Church, Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars, released 29 March. This long-running and much beloved band is essentially just singer Steve Kilbey and whoever’s around these days — and the band name fits considering his solo work is more on the contemplative and lighter side. This album continues on his latest wave of heading deep into experimental territory. While 2023’s The Hypnogogue felt proggy yet still radio friendly, this one ventures much deeper into prog territory with its nonstop waves of dreamlike melodies. Weird yet fascinating.

Ride, Interplay, released 29 March. This excellent Britpop/shoegaze band’s second wave hasn’t let up since 2017’s comeback Weather Diaries, and this new one is absolutely amazing. Their strength has always been in their phenomenal deep cuts (like, say, Going Blank Again‘s “Chrome Waves”), and powerful songs like “I Came to See the Wreck” showcase just how locked in their sound is. Another year-end favorite and highly recommended.

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More to come with April releases!

Coming up on year’s end…

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I never got around to creating an end of year mixtape for 2023 — or a best-of list, come to think of it — and to be honest, I had good reason for it. While it was a good year for the most part, there were other personal things going on that took precedence, and it just fell by the wayside. I just didn’t have the spoons for it. It is what it is, though. It’s not the end of the world.

Now that we’re a month and a half away from the end of 2024, I’m pretty sure I’ll have something to go in the last week of December. I caught up on mixtape-making this year by reviving the Re:Defined series that I’d created back in the early 00s for similar reasons: changes in music tastes, changes in personal life, changes in outlook.

And there’s definitely been a lot of good stuff out there this year. I don’t always get to listen to it as frequently as I’d like (and I’d like to change that habit in the new year), but on the other hand there were quite a few albums I’ve been returning to on a consistent basis. Songs that get stuck in my head for days at a time.

We’ll see where this all leads in the coming weeks!

It’s been awhile, but…

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…I realize I haven’t done a ‘what I’ve been listening to’ post in ages! Not sure why I let that fall by the wayside, but maybe it’s time to pick it up again. I’ll probably create a few posts this weekend for that.

In the meantime, right now I’m listening to Public Service Broadcasting’s latest, The Last Flight, which is an album about Amelia Earhart’s final flight and disappearance. Which, I should add, is not the first time this year she’s the subject of an album! [Laurie Anderson released Amelia just a month and a half ago, her first album in over a decade.]

More to come!

New Mixtape — Re:Defined 2404

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Making the new Re:Defined mixtapes have definitely been an interesting experience, as I’ve given myself a reason to work not just with tracks that are getting a decent amount of play on KEXP but deep cuts that catch my attention when I’m listening to the albums at other times. I think I’ve finally hit a groove with this mix, as there’s a certain vibe that I hadn’t reached in quite some time. Have fun and give it a listen!

Track listing:

SIDE ONE
1. Hinds, “Boom Boom Back” (feat. Beck)
2. Mavis Staples, “Worthy”
3. Orcas, “Under the Milky Way” (a lovely cover!)
4. Cassandra Jenkins, “Delphinium Blue”
5. Liam Gallagher & John Squire, “Just Another Rainbow”
6. DAIISTAR, “Tracemaker”
7. The Softies, “23rd Birthday”
8. Jane Weaver, “Love in Constant Spectacle”
9. GIFT, “Going in Circles”
10. Bastille, “Emily & Her Penthouse in the Sky”
11. Ride, “I Came to See the Wreck”

SIDE TWO
1. Orville Peck & Beck, “Death Valley High”
2. deary, “Selene”
3. BADBADNOTGOOD, “Last Laugh”
4. GIFT, “Later”
5. Quivers, “Apparition”
6. Yannis & the Yaw with Tony Allen, “Rain Can’t Reach Us”
7. Wand, “Mistletoe”
8. Glass Animals, “Wonderful Nothing”
9. The Softies, “I Said What I Said”
10. beabadoobee, “Take a Bite”
11. Iress, “Mercy”

I’ll believe it when I see it, but…

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…it looks like it’s finally a reality that The Cure will drop their newest album, Songs of a Lost World, on 1 November, and the teaser single “Alone” should drop…today?

I’m writing this post a few days ahead of time (on the 24th, due to a busy Day Job schedule) so there might actually be a full video by the time this entry pops up, but for now here’s the YouTube Short that’s been doing the internet rounds the last couple of days!

If anything, I’m purposely not expecting the new album to be Disintegration levels of perfection. After all, they haven’t had any new albums out since 2008’s 4:13 Dream (not including the new remixes of Torn Down: Mixed Up Extras 2018). However, they’ve been touring off and on in the interim, and they’ve been playing many of these new songs live during the recent shows.

Still, I’m looking forward to the album. Whether it’ll be the ‘doom and gloom’ album Robert Smith has been hinting at or a mix of the two separate albums that were supposedly complete (he’s also hinted that the other album is poppier), who knows? But I’m sure I’ll love it!

[EDIT: Yep, looks like the full version of “Alone” dropped this morning!]

Days and Days

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Today I’m thinking it’s time for me to get my brain back on track in terms of what day of the week it is.

Part of the issue is my Day Job schedule. The schedule itself is not the problem per se, it’s that it’s allowed me to lose track of my sense of time. I rarely work Sundays but I’ll often have a midweek day off, so the work week will be Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday with some of the hours varying, just for example.

There were also other personal reasons why I let a lot of that fall by the wayside, and I allowed it on purpose: when you’ve got IRL things going on, sometimes it’s best not to adhere to a strict schedule and just take it day by day. Which is what I’ve been doing for a while now.

Thing is, I’ve been doing that for a little longer than necessary. [And yes, it’s included hitting all the new music releases on Friday, which is why I’m posting it here. One byproduct of passively letting the days go by is that I lose focus on the new music I’ve been enjoying. And I’ve already blogged about that.]

So what to do about it?

One thing I need to do is follow my whiteboard schedule more often. Right now it’s more of a suggestion than an assignment board, and that’s by design, but I feel like I’m ready to take on those assignments again. And these are simple enough: daily words at 750words.com, update one of the blogs, and get some considerable work done on my main project (which at this time is Theadia). I’m not asking for much. I’m just looking to get moving again.

What will come of this? Who knows? They’re not Best Laid Plans heading straight for a crash and burn. It’s simply a tighter and more regular regimen, that’s all. And hopefully that will help me remember what day of the goldang week it is again!

New Wolfgang Press!

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I really don’t know of any other fans of The Wolfgang Press, one of the earliest 4AD signings from their early 80s origins, but I was introduced to them via “Cut the Tree”, a gloomy dirge off the label’s seminal Lonely Is an Eyesore compilation, and I loved their bleak post-punk sound. They seemed darker and more avant-garde than Joy Division, less about driving beats and more about making one hell of a weird noise. Their evolution is a fascinating one, finally hinting at an unexpectedly funky sound with 1988’s Bird Wood Cage, which brought them to the amazing and groovy 1991 album Queer which remains one of my favorite albums of the early 90s.

They’d broken up after 1995’s peculiar yet interesting Funky Little Demons and little was said about them other than 2001’s Everything Is Beautiful, part of 4AD’s 90’s-00’s run of best-of mixes, and a 2020 Record Store Day EP called Unremembered Remembered featuring post-Demons demos for an abandoned follow-up. They’ve all had their one solo projects since then.

The new album, A 2nd Shape, drops on 27 September, and I am totally looking forward to it!

TFW a new band you like does a cover of your favorite song

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Ooh, this is lovely! This was a teaser single dropped a few months previously by the band Orcas before they released their new album How to Color a Thousand Mistakes this past week. [This is also their first album in over ten years!] They’ve got that dreamlike echo-heavy electro sound similar to Washed Out and Beach House, but lean a little more towards post-rock instead, so doing this Church cover in that style is quite unexpected yet intriguing. I’ve been listening to their new album on Bandcamp lately (and it’s in the cart to be purchased soon), so now I really want to check out what their other albums sound like!

Latest earworm

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July is usually a slow-ish month for new releases, so I’ve been catching up with some of the albums that have dropped in the last couple of months, and News of the Universe from La Luz has been getting considerable play here in Spare Oom, specifically the very spacey “Strange World”. It kind of reminds me of Ladytron and Stereolab in a way, with its retro synth sound and psychedelic melodies. And it’s been stuck in my head for at least a couple of weeks!