Tag Archives: 2024

Embracing the Hourglass: The Singles 2024

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This was definitely an interesting year for music! We had several ‘comeback’ albums from musicians who hadn’t had a studio release in over a decade — not just the Cure, but The The, The Softies and The Wolfgang Press — and we also had several excellent anniversary reissues popping up as well.

While my listening habits pretty much remained the same, I was super excited by the news that my favorite station, KEXP, would start broadcasting here in the Bay Area! We’ve desperately needed a good alternative rock station for years (I’m sorry, Live 105, but you are not cutting it even despite recently rising from the ashes), and they’ve always had a super strong fanbase here. So far they’ve been quite successful!

Musically I found myself leaning towards electronic and shoegaze once again, but that’s not to say I was firmly entrenched; the local label Slumberland has been consistently putting out some brilliant jangle pop and lo-fi gems and I’ve become a loyal fan. Still, a lot of non-KEXP listening was focused primarily on moods and vibes this year, mainly for a need of soundtrack music while working on Theadia, my first space opera.

So! Without further ado, here’s my official end-of-year playlist/mixtape for your listening enjoyment!

This one’s a long playlist/mixtape collection of 129 songs so I’ll spare you the list here. So instead, on with my favorite releases of the year! This time I’m merely listing them in alphabetical order as I tended to enjoy all of these equally, with the bolded title being my top favorite of the year. As I’ve mentioned quite often, these were albums that got a lot of play here in Spare Oom, whether on days off or during writing sessions.

ALBUMS
Bastille, “&” (Ampersand)
Bibio, Phantom Brickworks (LP II)
Coldplay, Moon Music
Elbow, AUDIO VERTIGO
Four Tet, Three
GIFT, Illuminator
Hooverphonic, Fake Is the New Dope
Kelly Lee Owens, Dreamstate
La Luz, News of the Universe
Linkin Park, From Zero
Ride, Interplay
The Cure, Songs of a Lost World
The Fauns, How Lost
The Reds, Pinks & Purples, Unwishing Well
The Softies, The Bed I Made
The The, Ensoulment
Torres, What an enormous room
Underworld, Strawberry Hotel
Various Artists, Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense
Various Artists, Red Hot Org Presents TRAИƧA

SINGLES
Bad Bad Hats, “My Heart Your Heart”
Corridor, “Jump Cut”
deary, “Selene”
DIIV, “Brown Paper Bag”
Elbow, “Things I’ve Been Telling Myself for Years”
English Teacher, “The World’s Biggest Paving Slab”
GIFT, “Later”
Girl and Girl, “Hello”
Kamasi Washington, “Prologue”
Kelly Lee Owens, “Love You Got”
La Luz, “Strange World”
Orcas, “Under the Milky Way”
Orville Peck & Beck, “Death Valley High”
Ride, “I Came to See the Wreck”
RÜFÜS DU SOL, “Music Is Better”
The Cure, “And Nothing Is Forever”
The Fauns, “Doot Doot”
The National, “Heaven”
Torres, “Collect”

REISSUES
American Football, American Football 25th Anniversary Edition
Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd, The Moon and the Melodies
Cranes, Collected Works Vol 1
Garbage, Bleed Like Me Deluxe Edition
George Harrison, Living in the Material World 50th Anniversary
His Name Is Alive, How Ghosts Affect Relationships 1990-1993
Hugo Largo, Huge, Large and Electric: Hugo Largo 1984-1991
Ivy, Long Distance 25th Anniversary Edition
John Lennon, Mind Games: The Ultimate Collection and Mind Games: Meditation Mixes
Kristin Hersh, Hips and Makers 30th Anniversary Edition
New Order, Brotherhood (Definitive)
REM, We Are Hope Despite the Times
Seal, Seal (1994) Deluxe Edition
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Still Barking (1967-1972)
The Dream Academy, Religion, Revolution and Railways: The Complete Recordings
The Police, Synchronicity Super Deluxe Edition

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So what do we have coming in 2025? Good question. So far I know we have new albums coming from Franz Ferdinand, Ringo Starr, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Doves (!!), Manic Street Preachers and Mogwai. Stay tuned!

Hope everyone has a great 2025! See you in the next year!

2024 Year in Review: November/December

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Granted, the last couple of months of the year usually go by in a blur, especially since I work in retail. Between the day job and writing and everything else, I tend to lose track of time and forget minor details and things like that. But thankfully the year did end on a positive note, with a wonderful handful of new records!

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deary, Aurelia EP, released 1 November. One of my favorite newer shoegaze finds with that wonderful guitar wash sound I love so much. I played this one a lot during my writing projects!

Ivy, Long Distance [25th Anniversary Edition], released 1 November. This is probably my favorite Ivy record and one that got a lot of play during the Belfry years. I highly recommend giving this one a listen!

The Cure, Songs of a Lost World, released 1 November. Their first studio album since 2008’s 4:13 Dream, this is well worth the wait, and both critics and fans alike have put this on their list of top albums of the year. The more I listen to this, the more I feel it’s one of their best albums to date.

Linkin Park, From Zero, released 15 November. It’s great to see this band not only returning but essentially picking up where they left off. Emily Armstrong is a great choice to heal the loss of Chester Bennington…while she’s got the same scream-vocal style he had, she gives it her own style and spin.

George Harrison, Living in the Material World 50th Anniversary Edition, released 15 November. This is my second favorite George solo record (after All Things Must Pass of course), and it’s got some of his best work on it. While the album itself leans heavily on the spirituality, it’s not overly cloying. It’s well worth checking out.

New Order, Brotherhood (Definitive), released 22 November. This reissue was also worth the wait as well, as their ‘Definitive’ series provides fresh remasters and intriguing bonus tracks and rarities. This was probably my favorite album of theirs after Substance and got a lot of Walkman play back in the day, so it’s great to hear these songs fresh once more.

U2, How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (Re-Assemble Edition), released 22 November. Another reissue, this one a twentieth anniversary remaster of their 2004 album plus several more tracks recorded during its sessions but mostly unreleased. It’s a fascinating listen as many of the extras feel much looser and more experimental than what showed up on the original.

Kim Deal, Nobody Loves You More, released 22 November. It’s surprising to know that this is actually Deal’s first solo album, after working so many years with Pixies and The Breeders. It kind of reminds me of The Breeders’ Pod actually, with several of its songs played loosely as if it was more of a demo record than a complete project. Yet that’s the kind of work she’s always done best.

Bibio, Phantom Brickworks (LP II), released 22 November. I first found out about this musician through the first Phantom Brickworks back in 2017, and this sequel is just as fascinating. His work leans towards slow and ambient — the perfect score for my writing sessions, of course — and this one in particular reminds me of one of my favorite ambient records, Global Communication’s 76:14.

Various Artists, Red Hot Org Presents TRANSA, released 22 November. Red Hot has always put out fascinating compilations, and this one is a heartfelt celebration of the trans community. It features forty-six tracks of all kinds of styles, including Moses Sumney’s groovy cover of Sylvester’s “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”, a surprisingly calm cover of Prince’s “I Would Die 4 U” featuring none other than Wendy & Lisa themselves, a ghostly cover of Sinéad O’Connor’s “Feel So Different” by Sharon Van Etten and Ezra Furman… and the biggest surprise, an absolutely lovely track by Sade herself written for her trans son. It’s a fascinating listen and highly recommended.

Mixtape/Playlist, Re:Defined 2405, created 1 December. This particular mix showcases several songs that stopped me in my tracks in the latter half of this year — songs that literally made me stop writing or surfing the internet to focus on what I was hearing. That’s been sadly very rare these days, but I’m glad there’s still a lot out there that will do that for me.

Garbage, copy/paste, vol 1 (Abridged), released 6 December. A shortened version of a Record Store Day special release, this showcases the band’s penchant for the occasional cover song, many of which usually end up on single b-sides. I was familiar with half of these, but their take on The Psychedelic Furs’ “Love My Way” was a great find.

Saint Etienne, The Night, released 13 December. Glad to see this band returning after a couple of years (songwriter/keyboardist Bob Stanley has been doing a lot of music biography writing as of late, and I highly recommend them). It’s a bit quieter than their usual output, but it’s a great listen.

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….and that’s it for the year! I did leave out quite a few records, mainly due to space, but I’m glad to say that a lot of it stayed with me over the months while I focused on my writing!

Stay tuned for my best-of list next Tuesday!

2024 Year in Review: October

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As the year winds to a close, I’ve realized that I’m getting a bit closer to the levels of music immersion I’d been missing for a while. After several years of what I tend to describe as ‘surface listening’ — liking a lot of new stuff but not really letting it resonate all that deeply, thus not establishing that wonderful feeling of letting the music speak to you — I’ve started to relearn how to listen and feel that resonance again. Repeated listens to certain albums. Slowing down on the constant influx of new music every Friday. Allowing myself to connect with the sounds that truly excite me. And most of all, making the time to return to earlier music so it doesn’t flit off into the ether to be forgotten.

It’s all really kind of complicated, my relationship with music. Perhaps I should think about this a bit more and do a blog series about it.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor, ‘No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead’, released 4 October. This influential post-rock band continues to excite its fans with its unique sounds: sometimes adventurous, sometimes droning, sometimes quiet, sometimes ear-splitting.

The Smile, Cutouts, released 4 October. Thom Yorke’s side project surprised us with a second all-new album, this one just as odd and imaginative as January’s Wall of Eyes.

Coldplay, Moon Music, released 4 October. This band continues to follow its path of alternating between glossy pop albums and meandering experimental ones, and this one feels like a bit of each. It’s definitely got the quieter tones similar to 2019’s Everyday Life but also the poppier moments of 2021’s Music of the Spheres. This got a lot of repeat play here!

Public Service Broadcasting, The Last Flight, released 4 October. This is actually NOT the first concept album about Amelia Earhart this year (Laurie Anderson surprised us with her first album in fourteen years with August’s Amelia). PSB’s continuing fascination with flight works well here, focusing on its early history.

John Lennon, Mind Games – Meditation Mixes, released 9 October. John’s son Sean curated this two-hour ambient experiment as part of the multi-format remaster/reissue of John’s 1973 album, and it works surprisingly well. It takes the title song we all know and turns it into ten tracks that feel very much like a Global Communication project. It’s extremely relaxing, not to mention a perfect writing session soundtrack!

RÜFÜS DU SOL, Inhale / Exhale, released 11 October. This Australian alternative dance trio sounds very similar to the alt-electro scene that gave us bands like Bob Moses. It’s a record that could easily fit in at a dance club yet also work perfectly on indie radio like KEXP. This is exactly the kind of music I love listening to while working on big projects like Theadia and MU4.

Gut Health, Stiletto, released 11 October. Fast and twitchy, this band definitely wears its 70s post-punk/No-Wave influences on its sleeve, and they’ve put out a super fun and exciting debut album well worth checking out.

Kelly Lee Owens, Dreamstate, released 18 October. Speaking of dance beats, this Welsh singer and former bassist for The History of Apple Pie (one of my favorite finds of 2013!) stays out in the periphery of her genre by doing similar work to Rufus Du Sol and Bob Moses — beat-heavy yet extremely melodic and full of emotion and creativity. One of my favorite albums of the year.

Japandroids, Fate & Alcohol, released 18 October. Their first new studio album in seven years, it is also, alas, their final album as they chose to break up after its release. Still, it’s a hell of a great way to go, going out on a high note and dropping yet another super fun noise fest of a record.

Phantogram, Memory of a Day, released 18 October. This band continues to fascinate with its electronic-alternative hybrid sound. This one sounds similar to their earlier work, yet that’s not a bad thing.

L’Arc~en~Ciel, “You Gotta Run” single, released 19 October. Their first new single in three years, it was recorded as the opening theme for the Beyblade X anime series but works just as well as a standalone single, featuring their signature heavy rock sound.

Bastille, “&” (Ampersand), released 25 October. This was a bit of a strange album, considering they’re more well-known for more radio-friendly tracks like their biggest hit, “Pompeii”. [For instance, the opener “Intros & Narrators” shifts recording speed within the first minute, causing the listener to wonder if their copy is defective.] It’s a quiet and contemplative record and definitely not chart-friendly, and yet I think it’s one of their best yet. Highly recommended.

The Clockworks, “Blah Blah Blah” single, released 25 October. This band continues to be one of my top favorites of the last five years, and they haven’t let me down yet. Like other rock bands like IDLES, they evoke that classic post-punk feeling of discomfort and agitation yet reel you in with incredible songwriting.

311, Full Bloom, released 25 October. I’ve been a fan of this band since my post-college days, and it’s great to see that they’re still going strong and still funky as hell. It’s a super fun album to listen to.

Ben Folds, Sleigher, released 25 October. You never quite know what Folds will be up to next, and yet every surprising release tends to evoke a ‘well, it doesn’t surprise me that he did something this odd’. And this time out he’s released a lovely and fun holiday album of both standards and originals.

Underworld, Strawberry Hotel, released 25 October. I was pleasantly surprised by how great this album is, as I’ve always been a fan of the band and yet never sat through a full record of theirs without needing to take a break from all the heavy beats and mumbly lyrics. There’s something about this album that just struck me as full of heart and emotion and stayed with me for weeks. I highly recommend it.

Pixies, The Night the Zombies Came, released 25 October. I’ll admit this one feels more like a Frank Black solo album than a Pixies album, and I think it’s that they’ve finally started to move away from their old angular punk sound that had given them so much success in the past. I’d say it does remind me a bit of 1990’s Bossanova, which focused more on surfy melodies than the noisefest of their other early works.

Mixtape/Playlist, Songs from the Eden Cycle Vol 10, created 28 October. Wow, I’m already on ten volumes here? Granted, I only restarted the series in 2018 so it’s even more impressive that I got six done in six years during the years I haven’t been working consistently on the next Mendaihu Universe book! Heh.

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We’ll wrap this up on Thursday the 26th with November and December’s tunage in order to fit in my best-of lists on the 31st! See you soon!

2024 Year in Review: September

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When we started the year, the last thing I expected was for several of my favorite bands — and ones that influenced me greatly in my teens — to suddenly resurface and release brand spankin’ new albums! These days you’d expect a surprise reunion single, but not a full-on project! Still, these reunions made for a very interesting an highly entertaining year of music.

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The The, Ensoulment, released 6 September. Matt Johnson had been doing soundtracks for the last several years, but after a few one-off singles and a two highly successful comeback tours, he dropped his first rock album since 2000’s NakedSelf to high praise. This new album interestingly reminds me of his first album Burning Blue Soul, focusing more on moods and experimentation.

Hinds, VIVA HINDS, released 6 September. We were able to catch this wonderfully fun band from Madrid at Outside Lands a few years back, and after a long wait they’ve returned with an excellent record full of indie rock gems like “Boom Boom Back” (which features Beck, who seemed to show up all over the place this year!).

Sea Lemon featuring Ben Gibbard, “Crystals” single, released 9 September. This indie band leans heavily in Death Cab for Cutie territory yet with a slight shoegazey twist, so it’s no big surprise that DCFC’s Ben Gibbard shows up on this duet that got a ton of play on KEXP.

Robyn Hitchcock, 1967: Vacations in the Past, released 13 September. This is essentially a tie-in record for his memoir of the same name, a book telling the story of his youth, having just moved to a small who-knows-where town in England and started attending a boys’ school. It’s a year of musical inspiration, personal awakening and coming of age, and this soundtrack of sorts is mostly a cover album of the songs of that era that changed his life.

bloococoon, bloococoon, released 13 September. Every now and again, one of the DJs on KEXP will drop a completely random song that someone suggested from Bandcamp or elsewhere, and more often than not it’s a mindblowing track that sense several listeners towards the site to listen and/or purchase. This noisy shoegaze band was one of my favorite finds this year.

Hugo Largo, Huge, Large and Electric: Hugo Largo 1984-1991, released 13 September. Not too many people remember this band from the college-rock era, but they were a surprisingly creative and influential quartet that may have partially inspired quietcore. REM’s Michael Stipe was a major fan, not only giving them publicity but showing up on their first album as well. This is a two-disc collection featuring both of their albums plus a selection of rarities.

Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor, released 13 September. One of my favorite finds of 2022, she’s an indie guitarist who seamlessly blends rock with a bit of hip-hop and trip-hop and ends up with a sound that’s both catchy and quirky. This was a great follow-up record and the single “Like I Say (I runaway)” gets stuck in my head.

Mixtape/Playlist, Re:Defined 2404, created 19 September. This one got a fair bit of play for a good month or two, and I really like how this one flows, even with its occasionally surprising track selection.

The Cure, “Alone” single, released 26 September. If you’ve been a fan of this band for any length of time, you’ll know that Robert Smith will constantly report that the band is either breaking up or finishing up a new album, and then nothing will happen for a good few years. They’ll even hint at completely new tracks during their ongoing tours, though they never quite surface…until now. No one expected a brand spanking new Cure single — their last having surfaced way back in 2008. And it wasn’t just a one-off either…

Linkin Park, “Heavy Is the Crown” single, released 26 September. This band chose to reconvene even after Chester Bennington’s passing back in 2017, with the addition of Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong joining in. The end result is an excellent heavy track very similar to their Meteora-era work, a single written specifically for the 2024 League of Legends Championship. [I don’t play LoL, but I’m a huge fan of their worldbuilding and their consistently brilliant soundtracks and music tie-ins (especially the k-rock quartet K/DA).] It’s great to have them back.

The Wolfgang Press, A 2nd Shape, released 30 September. Now this was a band I did not expect to reunite! They’d broken up way back in 1995 after the great but largely ignored Funky Little Demons album. I found it fascinating that they chose to return not to the groove-oriented rock of their latter years that had given them some success, but even further back to their noisier and experimental early years. They’re not for everyone, but they’re definitely one of my favorites.

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More tunes to come!

2024 Year in Review: August

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August was the month I decided I was going to take it easy and relax a bit. I’d finally finished and released Queen Ophelia’s War in June, and it was far past time for a break. Sure, I’d still focus on my writing work and whatnot, but more to the point I felt it was a good time to just enjoy the end of summer, which would end with our first away-from-home vacation in quite some time. The daily diary looks rather empty for the month, which was on purpose. Come September I’d start fresh and see how far I would get.

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Jack White, No Name, released 2 August. He just keeps getting better with each album somehow, and this was a surprise release! He’s well entrenched in his signature punk-blues hybrid and it serves him quite well here.

X, Smoke & Fiction, released 2 August. Speaking of punk, this storied LA band has chosen to bow out and dissolve gracefully with this final record that sounds both like their grittier early records and their folk-inspired latter albums.

Orville Peck, Stampede, released 2 August. The masked singer comes back with a super fun album of duets featuring Beck, Elton John, Willie Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff and more; it’s a mix of covers and originals done in his signature wild and Elvis-twangy style.

파란노을 (Parannoul), Sky Hundred, released 3 August. This South Korean band still wears its My Bloody Valentine influences on its sleeves, blending dreamlike melodies and walls of distortion into something otherworldly. This band is always good for writing sessions!

Quivers, Oyster Cuts, released 9 August. My favorite indie band from down under comes through with an album that expands from their janglepop sound into something a bit more rough and tumble. It’s a bit like early Black Keys but at a much slower speed.

beabadoobee, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, released 9 August. Her new album somehow finds its influences in late 90s indie rock, and that’s not a bad thing.

GIFT, Illuminator, released 23 August. I’m happy to say that this here is my top album of 2024, because it fits so completely in my wheelhouse! KEXP’s morning DJ John Richards gave this one a huge push all autumn (it’s on his own top ten of the year list), and once I got it downloaded I couldn’t get enough of it. It’s a wonderful blend of crisp shoegaze, catchy indie rock, soft vocals and tight melodies that resonate perfectly for me. Every single song on this album is a banger, and it’s already claimed its spot as one of my most played albums during writing sessions this year. I highly recommend it!

The Softies, The Bed I Made, released 23 August. This long-running duo returns from an extremely long hiatus with an absolutely wonderful album of quiet twee melodies that lean more towards The Sundays than Belle & Sebastian, all with just voices and guitar. It’s an incredibly relaxing album and well worth a listen.

Chime School, The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, released 23 August. Yet another super-local band (on Slumberland, natch), this one taking its inspiration from early janglepop, evoking bands like The Three O’Clock and The Mighty Lemon Drops. It’s a fun record that captured the attention of several adoring music critics.

Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd, The Moon and the Melodies 2024 Remaster, released 23 August. You’d think this album would have been given a remaster along with the rest of the Twins’ discography back in the early aughts, but this one was curiously left out until now. This album is one of my top favorites in their catalogue and it’s always gotten significant play during writing sessions. The new remaster gives the already spacious songs even more room to breathe and wander, making the songs sound even more dreamlike.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Wild God, released 30 August. Cave’s new album reminds me a lot of his early 00s albums like Nocturama and Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus. There’s more life and energy to this record than his previous non-soundtrack releases (which kind of makes sense, considering his last few were linked to deeply traumatic personal events). While it’s not the drunken death-blues revelry of his early work, it’s more a celebration of life and survival.

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More to come with September and October!

2024 Year in Review: June/July

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This is a two-fer as while there were some great records that dropped around this time, there weren’t too many that utterly captured my attention. There were also several reissues that I’ve skipped here (aside from one I mention below).

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Goat Girl, Below the Waste, released 7 June. This indie band kind of reminds me of Caroline Polachek’s former band Chairlift, with its quirky blotchy sound that goes in interesting directions. “Ride Around” got a decent amount of play in Spare Oom at the time.

Angélica Garcia, Gemelo, released 7 June. “Gemini” is yet another earworm for me, having heard it constantly on KEXP during the summer, and the rest of the album is just as catchy and weird. Definitely worth checking out.

The Decemberists, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, released 14 June. It’s been quite a few years since their last album, and it seems they’ve returned to their original indie sound that’s equal parts folk tale, sea shanty and irresistible pop. “Burial Ground” was a favorite early in the year as a teaser single, and the rest of the album is just as great.

Seal, Seal (1994) Deluxe Edition, released 14 June. This is my favorite of Seal’s albums, and it’s also his most popular one, having several charting hits on it like “Kiss from a Rose” and “Don’t Cry”. I played this a hell of a lot back in that sucktastic year of 1995, but it sounds even better and clearer than ever on this expanded reissue.

Been Stellar, Scream from New York, NY, released 21 June. I still have issues with band names that are essentially bad puns of famous people’s names (see Com Truise, Ringo Deathstarr, Joy Orbison and so on — I just find it lazy) but on the other hand, several of them are sometimes quite good, like this one.

Remi Wolf, Big Ideas, released 12 July. I found myself listening to this one quite a bit over the summer, partly as “Alone in Miami” got significant play on KEXP, but also that it’s a fantastic if slightly leftfield album that goes in interesting directions.

Travis, LA Times, released 12 July. Good to see these Glaswegians are still going strong, still writing excellent and quirky alternapop, and this album is right up there with 12 Memories with its upbeat rock and catchy melodies.

Robin Guthrie, Atlas EP, released 19 July. Well, of course I’m going to be listening to anything new from one of my favorite guitarists! Heh.

Orcas, How to Color a Thousand Mistakes, released 19 July. After hinting a the lovely cover of that Church classic “Under the Milky Way” earlier in the year, this band dropped a wonderful and relaxing album of quiet beauty. This is definitely something I’d have listened to back in the 80s as well.

Mixtape/Playlist, Re:Defined 2403, created 25 July. This is probably my favorite of this year’s Re:Defined mixes. By this time I’d basically created an empty folder and pasted in any songs that captured my attention around that time, and the end result is a very interesting mix that goes all over the place yet flows really well.

Wand, Vertigo, released 26 July. This band reminds me a lot of Shearwater, actually. As I like to say, you can hear the math on this one. Artfully crafted and highly inventive, it’s an excellent listen and one of my favorites during writing sessions.

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Stay tuned for August, which features a few of my year-end favorites!

2024 Year in Review: May

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May ended up a bit on the quiet side creatively as per my Dreamwidth account I’d been given a lot of midshift/Front End managing shifts which, while doable, can be extremely exhausting. [The phrase ‘herding cats’ is often used to describe said shift.] Musically it started out kind of quiet but by the end of it, I was hit broadside by quite a lot of great sounds, some of which have ended up on my year-end favorite list!

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Kamasi Washington, Fearless Movement, released 3 May. This jazz saxophonist has been around for quite some time, but it was this year’s album that caught my attention when KEXP played the wild epic track “Prologue” as a teaser single. Highly recommended.

Ibibio Sound Machine, Pull the Rope, released 3 May. Another favorite band of KEXP, the title track got a lot of play that month both on the station and in Spare Oom! It’s a super fun album to listen to.

Arab Strap, I’m totally fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore 👍, released 10 May. This Scottish indie band still revels in slower paced rock and mumbled (and heavily-accented) lyrics, but this record feels surprisingly upbeat! [And yes, the thumbs up emojis are indeed part of the title.]

Lunchbox, Pop and Circumstance, released 10 May. Yet another local jangle pop band off the local Slumberland label that has become a favorite of mine! I actually connected with this one via the label’s social media feed this time, because they’re fast becoming an “I’ll try anything they release” label for me.

Dog Party, Dangerous, released 17 May. Not quite local (they’re out of Sacramento) but I’m glad to see these two sisters are still rocking out after all these years with their catchy brand of indie that hints at 50s pop and 80s garage punk. I highly recommend checking them out!

Various Artists, Everyone’s Getting Involved: A Tribute Album to Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense, released 17 May. This is a fascinating tribute record focused on the brilliant movie of the same name, following the filmed concert’s set list with fascinating covers from Miley Cyrus (a twitchy “Psycho Killer”), The National (an extremely lovely “Heaven”), Paramore (a super funky “Burning Down the House”) and more. One of my favorites of the year!

Crumbs, You’re Just Jealous, released 17 May. This jangle pop is not on Slumberland (they’re on Skep Wax) but they fit right in with the rest of the bands I’ve been obsessing over in that genre.

Mixtape/Playlist, Re:Defined 2402, created 23 May. This was about the time I decided I was going to rename all of this year’s playlists under the Re:Defined banner, and I’m glad I did. I listened to this one when we went on our mini-vacation up in Mendocino later that year.

Lenny Kravitz, Blue Electric Light, released 24 May. Yes, he’s still around and still rocking out! This album definitely feels like he’s decided to return to his blues-funk roots that shone so brightly on his Let Love Rule album but choosing not to aim for radio-friendly hits this time out. It’s a much darker and moodier album and I found it surprisingly enjoyable.

Girl and Girl, Call a Doctor, released 24 May. “Hello” is one of those earworm songs that KEXP could not stop playing for weeks, and it’s hard not to smile at its clever use of The Sound of Music at the song’s final moments.

DIIV, Frog in Boiling Water, released 24 May. This band continues to play their own swampy brand of heady shoegaze that feels more like Dinosaur Jr than dreampop, and there’s nothing wrong with that. This one got a fair amount of play during my writing sessions.

La Luz, News of the Universe, released 24 May. This one is in my list of top favorite albums of the year, and “Strange World” is definitely in my top ten favorite songs of the year. This band describes themselves as ‘surf noir’ so they kind of come off as otherworldly like Air with a bit of heady surf twang. I highly recommend this record!

+/- (Plus Minus), Further Afield, released 31 May. I’d been a fan of this band since their first album, and I was quite pleased to find out they’d reconvened and recorded their first album in ten years! They still sound fresh and exciting and even a bit relaxing, and I’m glad they’re back.

Crowded House, Gravity Stairs, released 31 May. Neil Finn returns with another great album that sounds, perhaps not surprisingly, like the Beatles. So much so that its cover is a nod to Revolver! This one kind of reminded me of Finn’s years in Split Enz, specifically their album deep cuts that never got airplay.

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Coming up, more great releases from June!

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!

2024 Year in Review: February

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While February may not have been as exciting or mind-blowing as January, it did contain its own stellar releases that I often returned to over the course of the year. I was still kind of getting my head back on straight around this time, spending most of my mental focus on reworking Theadia into a much better novel and prepping Queen Ophelia’s War for eventual release.

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The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy, released 2 February. I’d heard many critics giving this one a very positive review, and having only heard the teaser single “Nothing Matters” (on KEXP, natch), I was pleasantly surprised by this record. I was kind of expecting one of those MTV-ish alternapop bands (and this single is very much in that style) but there’s so much more going on that I found myself intrigued.

J Mascis, What Do We Do Now, 2 February. He’s definitely channeling his early 90s Dinosaur Jr sound here, the lighter and more radio-friendly stuff that made them so popular in the first place, but that’s what makes this album so fun! Regarding the above video, I admit I’m not a big fan of AI per se, but I do appreciate the few artists who have been using it to create freakishly weird and possibly drug-influenced images like this, and somehow it makes sense to have J singing over it!

Brittany Howard, What Now, released 9 February. The Alabama Shakes singer’s latest solo record is full of blues and funk dialed up to 11 this time out, and it’s a great listen. Yet another record I got into via KEXP, of course.

IDLES, TANGK, released 16 February. I’ve been a fan of this band for quite a while now, and it’s all due to their full embrace of loud and relentless punk rock in the old school sense. They’re not about the speed, however, but the power behind their songs. Even with a ridiculously fun and light-hearted track like the single “Dancer”, they reel you in and take you for a wild ride.

Geographer, A Mirror Brightly, released 23 February. I’ve been embracing a lot more local groups over the last few years, including this quirky synthpop one-man band. We got to see them a few years ago at Outside Lands and really enjoyed them. His songs are mostly quiet and contemplative yet still full of danceable grooves.

Whitelands, Night-Bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day, released 23 February. I’ve also been listening to a lot of shoegaze pop lately as well (no big surprise there), and this band definitely has that drenched-in-reverb sound I love so much. As expected, this is another great album to listen to while writing.

The Dream Academy, Religion, Revolution and Railways: The Complete Recordings, released 23 February. The first of several reissues this year that captured my attention. If you loved “Life in a Northern Town” as much as I have, this collection is definitely worth checking out. It features not just their three albums but several b-sides and rarities as well. Highly recommended.

Curve, Unreadable Communication: Anxious Recordings 1991-1993, released 23 February. Recently someone on Threads asked about trying out different shoegaze bands, and I suggested they sample this band. They lean more towards the My Bloody Valentine style of wall-of-guitar sound than the dreamlike reverb of Slowdive, but they remain one of my favorite bands of the early 90s. This is an excellent collection of their first two albums, the first EPs, and several remixes and b-sides. Highly recommend this one as well.

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More to come with March releases!