2024 Album-A-Day: Week 48

Here we are, in the lower 48. By which I mean that we're in the twilight of this series, and I live within the continental US. Look, I know it's a stretch. Sometimes I don't have a good opening statement. Playlist. Also my AOTY list that I've been forgetting to link to.

November 25th: Paid in Full by Eric B and Rakim

When listening to early hip-hop, it's easy for it to feel primitive, but with records like this, that's not a problem. Rakim's style of rhyming was fairly innovative at the time, bringing internal rhymes to the people. Joined by DJ Erik B, Rakim rides these sample heavy beats with ease, and sometimes you get a whole song of Erik doing record scratches. It's a fair bit dated, but it's still fun to listen to. My favorite track was "Erik B is President."

November 26th: Rounds by Four Tet

I had no frame of reference for Four Tet going into this, so I expected this to be kind of like Aphex Twin. Now that I've listened, I think I'd actually compare it to DJ Shadow. More importantly, I really like this one. Kieran Hebden weaves many little samples into these laid-back grooves that are really pleasant on the ears. The songs are long, but they don't feel long because elements are strategically dropped in and out to keep things fresh. There's elements of jazz, funk, folk, rock, and ambient threaded together into this patchwork of sampled ideas that feels entirely like its own sound. My favorite track was hard to choose, but I'm going with "My Angel Rocks Back and Forth."

November 27th: Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts

This was not my first time on the Court, so to speak. My introduction was their 2018 album Wide Awake, which I'm a big fan of. This album is a lot rougher that Wide Awake, but it's still got that distinctive Parquet Courts sound, with the post-punk riffs, melodic bass, and A. Savage sing-shouting about things that grind his gears. Not only does it have that immediacy and grit that this strain of post-punk tends to excel in, it also flows together seamlessly, making it clear that the album is meant to be experienced as a whole. My favorite track was "Yonder is Closer to the Heart."

November 28th: Eye to the Telescope by KT Tunstall

It's a shame Lillith Fair only ran from 97 to 99, because this has "Lillith Fair" written all over it. Tunstall has those wise, singer-songwriter-y lyrics that you'd get from the likes of Jewel and Sara Bareilles, and grooves you'd expect from someone like Sheryl Crow. It's the perfect blend of sincerity, a sardonic edge, acoustic rhythm guitar playing, and rock drumbeats. This is one of those unfortunate times where an album is good but not in a way I have a lot to say about, so here's a little aside: Why is the track listing on streaming different from the track listing on any physical version? Wikipedia lists the tracks in a very different order from the version on Tidal. My favorite track is "Suddenly I See."

November 29th: Keasbey Nights by Catch-22

To clarify: I listened to the Catch-22 version of this album on the 29th, and am listening to the Streetlight Manifesto version as I write this. For the unfamiliar, this album was originally written and recorded by the band Catch-22, back when Tomas Kalnoky, Jamie Egan, and Josh Ansley were members. When they left to form Streelight Manifesto, their second album was an upscaled re-recording of the whole album. I'm not sure which I prefer, but the consensus appears to lean towards the Catch-22 version. My exposure to Streetlight Manifesto is limited to Everything Goes Numb and this album, and my exposure to Catch-22 is this album and nothing else, so I can't speak to their places in each band's discographies. However, I feel very comfortable saying that whoever plays them, these are immaculately written and performed ska punk songs. My favorite track is "This One Goes Out To"

November 30th: None Shall Pass by Aesop Rock

Aesop Rock is a rare breed of MC. He writes these layered rhymes and delivers them very quickly, but they're perfectly comprehensible. While rapping well and rapping fast are not the same thing, Aesop Rock has both down. (Examples of fast but bad rappers: Joyner Lucas, Hopsin, Tom MacDonald.) Blockhead's beats are immediate and punchy, and they change over time to keep things engaging, all while Aes does not let up, rhyming words you never thought would fit together, while also making a great point about the larger hip-hop scene and the world in general. The title track is my favorite, and I will chanting that hook as a battle cry from this day forth.

December 1st: Hypermagic Mountain by Lightning Bolt

Armed with a bass guitar with three bass strings and one banjo string, a drum kit with a KMD 8021 Drum Exciter on the kick, and a duct-tape lucha libre mask with a phone receiver in it, both Brians in Lightning Bolt create a brick wall of noise that doesn't let up. Sometimes they're shredding. Sometimes they're grooving. Frequently on this album, I could not tell whether not vocalist Brian Chippendale was singing. There's odd time signatures. There's lyrics about George W Bush. Some of the songs are really long. The purpose of this music is to overwhelm and disorient, and it has a lot of fun doing so. This album will probably give you some kind of headache, but it'll be worth it. "Bizarro Zarro Land" is my favorite track.

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