2024 Album-A-Day: Week 33

Feel free to recommend more albums, and click here for the playlist.

August 12th: Singles by Future Islands

This is a band I was vaguely aware of and had heard maybe two songs from. Future Islands describe themselves as "post-wave," which is just a prefix and a suffix, but makes sense as they have a new wave/post-punk sensibility to it. The synth riffs are very fun, and contrast with Sam Herring's brooding voice and existential lyrics. My favorite track is "A Song for our Grandfathers."

August 13th: Melted by Ty Segall

Ty Segall is a name I've been aware of for a while without hearing a note of his music, somehow. That's even weirder given his highly prolific output. Melted is how I chose to start with Segall, and I had a lot of fun with this one. The lo-fi production is both abrasive and inviting, and the songs have a real "I don't really give a shit" attitude to them, and they all have great hooks. It was hard to choose a favorite track, so I chose the title track "Melted."

August 14th: Girl with Basket of Fruit by Xiu Xiu

This was an album I had heard of, and had heard described as more hard than their later work (which I have not heard) and I can safely say: um. I. uh. hmm. Here's how I would describe this record: Ritualistic and frenetic drumming. Jamie Stewart singing in a distorted screech about the most horrific things you can imagine. Eight tracks of what I just described, followed by an understated sad ballad. I do not have coherent feelings on this album. I can safely say that they achieved what they set out to do, but I don't really know whether I'm going to listen again. My favorite track, I guess, was "Normal Love."

August 15th: Written in Salt by the Longest Johns

I've enjoyed Between Wind and Water for a while, so here's more Longest Johns. This album has renditions of classic shanties such as "Randy Dandy Oh" and "Old Maui," as well as a unique take on "Drunken Sailor" with completely different verses. The Johns' voices and sense of harmony are undeniable, and when other instruments are involved (which is rare), it's always within the thematic palette that you could imagine being on an 18th century vessel covered in barnacles and staffed by scurvy-ridden ne'er-do-wells. My favorite track is a Longest Johns original, "John Paul Jones is a Pirate."

August 16th: Hypersonic Missiles by Sam Fender

Sam Fender was introduced to me as "British millenial Springsteen." I can confirm: Sam Fender is, and I mean this with love, British millennial Springsteen. The first song of his I heard, "Seventeen Going Under," sold me on him, so I listened to his debut. This album is clearly indebted to Springsteen, but also in parts sounds like the War on Drugs (which is another act influenced heavily by the Boss), Alabama Shakes, and King Krule, although maybe that's just because they're both Northern English guys singing about how day-to-day life is soul crushing. This album is bombastic and full of great hooks. My favorite track was "Call Me Lover."

August 17th: I LIE HERE BURIED WITH MY RINGS AND DRESSES by Backxwash

This is one I heard hyped up when it came out, but not much about it since. This album consists of noisy industrial beats and Backxwash scream-rapping in a tone reminiscent of Zach de la Rocha. Both her performance and lyrics are full of anger, and based on the events described in the lyrics, that anger comes from pain. And from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She really hates him. It's also directly related to trans angst, which is the animating force behind a lot of great music. Overall, I liked this one. My favorite track was "TERROR PACKETS."

August 18th: Songs of Leonard Cohen by Leonard Cohen

After years of only knowing "Hallelujah" and "Famous Blue Raincoat," I finally decided to educate myself on Leonard Cohen with his debut album. This album still has the reflective, morose quality as the songs of his that I knew, but it also has more of a, I might call it, renaissance fair quality to it. You get these fanciful folk arrangements that make Cohen's dark lyrics sound almost mythical. My favorite song is "The Stranger Song."

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