2024 Album-A-Day: Week 32

AH! 32 HORRORS IN ONE! (I didn't have an opening stinger prepared) Here's the link, and recommend albums if you want to hear my thoughts on them.

August 5th: All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend by Aurora

Yet another album that I knew one song from for years, in this case the opening track "Runaway," which I love as much as anyone. I was expecting the album to be in the vein of that song, but there was a lot more dynamic range. There's still reflective ballads, such as "Through the Eyes of a Child," but there's also darker and more intense songs such as "Conqueror" and "Warrior" and "Murder Song." This album shows a great deal of songwriting talent and a taste for blood that similar artists lack. I also get traces of Twenty Øne Piløts in here, and I love them, so that's always a good thing. Except when it's AJR. Or Half-Alive. Or really any band that tries to do a TØP kind of sound without being half as good at writing lyrics. But I digress. MY favorite track is "Warrior."

August 6th: Punch by Punch Brothers

I miss Live From Here. I really want APM to bring back Live From Here. But in the meantime, progressive bluegrass quintet led by Chris Thile will work. Punch Brothers are not your average bluegrass act. Few other bluegrass bands would write a four-part suite with elements of jazz and classical in Adobe Finale about divorce. (Especially given how annoying Finale is to use.) That suite, "The Blind Leaving The Blind," is a true testament to the talent of these musicians, with the music shifting and building and rising and falling all over the place. The more traditional songs, such as "Sometimes" and "It'll Happen" are infectious and no less virtuosic. There's other Thile projects coming down the pipeline. My favorite track was "Sometimes" because I didn't want to just put one section of the suite.

August 7th: Buena Vista Social Club by Buena Vista Social Club

This is yet another non-English language album on this list. This time, we have a bend of various Cuban styles with jazz, and I really enjoy it. The band have great chemistry, which is clear from the opening track "Chan Chan" as well as songs like "El Carto de Tula" and "Buena Vista Social Club," the rare hat trick of a song named after the band on the album named after the band. I really need to listen to music like this more often. My favorite track is "Candela."

August 8th: The Moon and Antarctica and Good News for People Who Love Bad News by Modest Mouse

I listened to the first two a while ago, so here's the next two. The Moon and Antarctica cleans up the sound somewhat, with songs being less meandering and more direct, such as their at-the-time best known song "Gravity Rides Everything." It's no less existential and morbid, though, or else we wouldn't get "Lives" or "Alone Down There" or "The Cold Part." I've still yet to fully click with early Modest Mouse, so this is more my speed. That brings us to Good News, which I'm embarrassed to not have already listened to, because I've loved "Float On" for so many years. What most surprised me is that the track preceding it, "The World at Large," has the same chord progression and lyrically references it at many points, and ends by slowing down until you get the opening of "Float On," as if they know you've heard the single and wanted to build up to it. I also like "Ocean Breathes Salty" and "Bury Me With It," and I was surprised by the somewhat country songs such as "Satin in a Coffin" and the insanity of "Dance Hall." This feels like an album that they relished in, considered a step forward for themselves. My favorite track from TMAA was "The Stars Are Projectors" and my favorite from GNFPWLBN (aside from float on, which is a favorite of mine) was "The View."

August 9th: Atomizer by Big Black

I liked Songs About Fucking, so here's the other Big Black album. Atomizer is equally distorted, this time with more industrial, mechanical feel to it, such as on "Bazooka Joe." The lyrics remain characteristically dark and gruesome, such as on "Jordan, Minnesota." I think the main reason I hear this as industrial is because of the heavily processed TR-606, combined with the guitars distorted enough to cut flesh. My favorite track is "Kerosene."

August 10th: Song Cycle by Van Dyke Parks

Parks was heavily involved in the writing and recording of the Beach Boys' elusive Smile, and after loving both completed versions of that, I decided to see what Parks himself does. This album is similar to Smile, in that the instrumentation is eclectic, various traditional pieces are interpolated, and there's a running theme of American history. The first song, bizarrely, was written by Randy Newman, specifically for this album. It's also strange that there's an instrumental cover of "Colours" by Donovan. It's these idiosyncracies in style that I really find engaging, even if I'm constantly thinking, "Man, this song could use some Brian Wilson." My favorite track is "The Attic."

August 11th: From Mars to Sirius by Gojira

This was already on the list, but I moved it up after I saw them perform at the Olympic opening ceremony where Marie Antoinette was executed. This is a prog-metal concept album about climate change, and while I couldn't follow the story exactly, the themes were very apparent. I also like S P A C E W H A L E S. The riffs are relentless, the drummer goes from half-time to blast beats seamlessly, and these songs are designed to take the listener on a journey. My favorite track is "Flying Whales" because, again, I like S P A C E W H A L E S.

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