2024 Album-A-Day: Week 52

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. Three hundred and ninety full-lengths albums, oh dear. Thirteen days, six hours, thirty two minutes, and twenty eight seconds of music this year.

Here's the playlist link, the AOTY list, and thanks for joining me on this journey. I mean, about five people have read any of these, but I appreciate everyone who did.

At some point in the next week, I'm going to write a post reflecting on this whole project, which will either be more interesting than all of these posts combined, or far far less interesting.

December 23rd: The Good, The Bad, and the Queen by The Good, The Bad, and the Queen

Given that this side-project supergroup contains Damon Albarn and Gorillaz collaborators Paul Simonon and the late Tony Allen (as well as a guy from The Verve), this really does feel like a Gorillaz album. It's got the eclectic instrumentation one might expect, the super-processed vocals, and the dub/reggae influences, mostly in the form of spring reverb. No matter what you call it, it's a great listen if you're a fan of Gorillaz or Damon's other work, and also probably if you're a Tony Allen fan (I don't know that much about him). You'll probably also like it if you hate Tories and/or the Royal Family. My favorite track is "Kingdom of Doom,"

December 24th: The Reality of My Surroundings by Fishbone

I expected to really like this one, given that I liked the one song I knew beforehand, "Everyday Sunshine." I now fear that this band isn't my thing. They are similar to -and were contemporaries and friends with- Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More, and the first few songs have a Public Enemy-esque militant sentiment that I could get behind, but then there are songs like "Housework" and "Pressure" that feel like either a half-baked Mr. Bungle song or a half-baked Primus song. I like both of those bands, but these songs don't fully hit for me. I do still like "Everyday Sunshine," and I like "Behavior Control Technician" and, my favorite track on the album, "So Many Millions." Maybe this wasn't the best album to start with, or maybe this album doesn't really hold up, but either way, I'm picking my favorites and likely won't return to this album much.

December 25th: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

This is a band whose name I had heard and new virtually nothing about. When listening, I hear traces of the Shins and Dr. Dog, but there's also traces of the surf rock of Dick Dale (i.e. reverb riffs) and dreamy chorus-y stuff that reminds me of the Cure or the Smiths. Lead singer Alec Ounsworth delivers in a pained wail that's somewhere between Alt-J and Talking Heads, and I frequently cannot understand the lyrics. This album is at least good and might be brilliant if I listen to it a couple more times. As of now, I like it but don't love it yet. There's a lot of indie rock I love that already fills this niche for me, but this is still good. "Over and Over Again (Lost and Found)" is my favorite song on this one.

December 26th: Let Go by Nada Surf

Before this, the only Nada Surf song I knew was their 90s novelty hit "Popular," which I think led a lot of people to label them a one-hit wonder. With this album, they adapt to the indie sound of 2003, with some songs being acoustic and drifting about while others are a little heavier, and one of them is in French, and all of them are good. It's one of those albums where I enjoy it, but I don't have a lot to say about it.

December 27th: Blackwater Park by Opeth

I think I've been confusing this band with Leprous due to not knowing much about either. Anyway, this is a progressive metal band in the vein of Porcupine Tree, with long, sprawling structures, careful use of dynamics, dissonant riffs, and vague yet evocative lyrics sometimes delivered with a delicate croon and sometimes in a guttural growl. Most of my progressive metal experience stems from Dream Theater, and this is far from that, so it's good to know that the genre of progressive metal. has room for this, Dream Theater, and the previously discussed Queensrÿche. My favorite track was "The Drapery Falls."

December 28th: Zombie by Fela Kuti

You know how they say that when a journalist gets killed, it means they were on to something? I think that the same applies to Fela Kuti: When the Nigerian government sends the military to your commune because you made an album where you called them mindless zombies, it means you're on to something. I don't know much about the sociopolitical state of Nigeria in the 70s, so I can only say that this is album is really good on a musical level. The members of Africa 70 are all great at their instruments, and I love the polyrhythmic percussion by Tony Allen, the saxophone licks, and the group chants that lifts the music with an air of community and collaboration. As far as I can tell, many of his descendants are keeping the afrobeat flame alive with members of the original band, which is great to hear. My favorite track was "Mr. Follow Follow."

December 29th: Remember That I Love You by Kimya Dawson

OW MY FEELINGS. I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS. Turns out Kimya Dawson is really good. This kind of blatant confessional lyricism, when done right, can endear me right away, and right from "Tire Swing" this album is so rich with the details of Dawson's life and their friends and losses. The most painful example is "I Like Giants," because of the added knowledge of Genevieve Castree dying of cancer years later. It also makes perfect sense that she's collaborated with They Might Be Giants and The Mountain Goats, and if she hasn't been on the JoCo Cruise, she really should be. My favorite track is "Loose Lips."

December 30th: Terraformer by Thank You Scientist

I've been meaning to get to this one for a while, and I'm glad I did because WOOOOO! If there's one thing progressive rock was missing, it was the occasional funky groove. This album contains the wild and experimental progressive rock of the Mars Volta with vocals reminiscent of Claudio Sanchez on tracks like (FXMLDR), but then you also get funky passages on songs like "Son of a Serpent" but then it goes right back into the prog shredding. There's also a variety of instruments, including strings, saxophones, trap beats, and even the shamisen on the last track. I feel like I need to listen to every other album by this band. "Son of a Serpent" is my favorite track

December 31st: Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

To close out this journey, I decided to end it with a return to the Nick Cave well, and an acclaimed double album at that. I already knew I liked Nick and his Bad Seeds, but I was not prepared for the journey of this album. Both halves are amazing track after amazing track, with songs ranging from heart-wrending ballads like "Babe, You Turn Me On" to raucous ragers like "There She Goes, My Beautiful World." No matter the song, it's performed with such undeniable emotion, technique, gravitas, and pristine production. "Supernaturally" is what I'm, tentatively, calling my favorite track right now. I'm going to return to this album in the future.

...And I guess that's it. Thanks for reading, if you read any of these.

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