From a new music perspective at least, if the first nine weeks of the year are anything to go by, then the pandemic shackles are well and truly off.
While traditionally January is always quiet for new releases, it seemed everyone was stockpiling for February, as it felt like every artist under the sun released an album!
The submissions have been coming thick and fast, and with just one set of ears for the most part, 2024 has been spent swimming against the tide. And in all honesty, I can’t see that changing anytime soon. What has managed to grab the attention is a good indication that we’ll all be in safe hands with new music for the foreseeable future.
The quality delivered this year is coming from all angles. There’s the older guard where we find Pissed Jeans, who have released arguably their best work yet; newcomers such as Verity Den, Juno Point, and Dead Bandit have also delivered vital new albums.
Then there’s underground U.K. veterans such as A-Sun Amissa and Dean McPhee who, quite frankly, should be reaching far more people than they are. The former’s new album standing up to any drone rock odyssey this country has to offer.
The coming weeks and months look equally promising, and, as always, we’ll be here to shine a light on some of it. In the meantime, welcome to our latest and first Albums Quarterly edition for 2024. You know the drill by now.
Apollo Ghosts: Amethyst
You’ve Changes Records
…And the first cab off the rank is arguably the pick of the bunch, as last week, Apollo Ghosts dropped Amethyst seemingly out of the blue.
Billed as a ‘mini-album’, the Adrian Teacher-led Apollo Ghosts unveil some of their best work with Amethyst. Fusing jangle splendour with old school indie-rock, Teacher’s storytelling is yet another under the You’ve Changed stable that provokes the mind every single time of listening (the other being those good time rollers, The Burning Hell).
On Fake Nurse, as Teacher parts with a line like “Evil’s winning, don’t you know / No one advocates the thrown,” it’s one of the many vignettes here that continues the straight talking from one of the most underrated songwriters out there today. Yes, Amethyst is a shred-a-thon, and everyone’s welcome.
Artifacts & Uranium with Mitsuru Tabata: Phase IV
Riot Season / Echodelick
On their third Artifacts & Uranium release, Fred Laird (Empty House), Mike Vest (Bong, Modoki, Tomoyuki Trio etc. etc.) and Nick Raybould (Thought Bubble, Shankara) welcome Boredoms / Acid Mothers Temple’s Mitsuru Tabata for yet another riff odyssey.
The band shifts the needle slightly on Phase IV. Where Pancosmology (2022) and The Gateless Gate (2023) were perhaps more steeped in the droning howls of The Stooges, here things are presented with more of an acidic psych swagger.
Tabata takes centre stage, and alongside Laird’s cosmic fairy dust showering Vest’s standard riff-a-rolla escapades, think Blue Oyster Cult on some grade A shrooms. Ain’t no bad thing, people. Ain’t no bad thing at all.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Matt Christensen: Easy Company
Self-released
Once again, Chicago songwriter Matt Christensen has started the year like a freight train, already releasing four albums – his most recent the achingly beautiful Driver.
Backtracking by, well, about two weeks, Easy Company dropped at the beginning of February and sonically sits somewhere between the laments of his first 2024 release, All Around the Fire and the above-noted Driver.
Lyrically, there’s a new sense of darkness in Christensen’s work, and while perhaps easy company by name, the emotional force through the Zelienople leader’s songs is as potent as it’s ever been. It’s no journey for the faint-hearted, but as it’s often said throughout these pages – the best art never is.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Cower: Celestial Devastation
Human Worth
Human Worth start their 2024 with another treat for aficionados of the U.K. alt-metal underground. Featuring Tom Lacey (Yards, The Ghost of a Thousand), Wayne Adams (Petbrick, JAAW, Big Lad) and Gareth Thomas (USA Nails, The Eurosuite), Cower return with their second album, Celestial Devastation.
Essentially, Celestial Devastation is a swooning goth rock tour-de force taking the aesthetics of Sisters of Mercy and Band of Susans, combing new ideas and tossing it all into the vortex. It’s not pastiche, though, and it’s down to Lacey’s lyrics, flitting between the romance of the unknown and grim realities of modern-day living.
Cast your mind back to all the two-bit synth-laden goth bands that were never much chop. If they were, they probably wouldn’t have sounded something like Cower do on Celestial Devastation.
Deep Fade: Line of Flight
Self-released
Deep Fade is the new project from The Spectral Light’s Amanda Votta and Neddal Ayad. The Providence, Rhode Island duo are joined by Gray Malkin (The Hare and the Moon), and together that take a plunge into the void with their debut offering, Line of Flight.
Said to be the first of a trilogy set for release over the next 12 months, Line of Flight is like thick wave of static erupting from the void. Think Nadja with more menace, and if anything, it evokes that same noise-riddled horror that another with Rhode Island ties has dispensed over the years: The Body.
The Spectral Light struck gold with their last release in 2021, and Deep Fade are very much on the same page with Line of Flight. Let’s see how much more dread they have in-store with their next instruction from the void.
Ducks Ltd.: Harm’s Way
Carpark Records
On Hollowed Out, Ducks Ltd.’s Tom McGreevy sings that, “All we ever do is sleep / Slow retreat / forever”. True, but what he also rightly suggests is that time is a blur, for it only felt like yesterday since the band’s debut album, Modern Fiction was released and not three years ago.
In any case, with their latest offering Harm’s Way, there’s more of that galloping jangle pop on offer from the Toronto-based two-piece. However, this time things are tightened up and delivered in more urgent bursts; the album clocking in at under the half-an-hour mark.
The allegiance between U.K. born, U.S. raised McGreevy and Australian born Evan Lewis grows strong on Harm’s Way. An album where the duo is unapologetic in wearing influences on their sleeve. It’s a sugar rush we all need at this time of year, and with spring fast-approaching, this could very well be the soundtrack of it.
Epic45: You’ll Only See Us When the Light Has Gone
Wayside & Woodland Recordings
Staffordshire post-rock duo Epic45 have been one of those shadowy acts that have spent decades going about their business with little care for anything else around them.
Likened to the rural psychedelia of Hood and more recently Richard Adams’ creations as The Declining Winter, on Epic45’s latest offering, You’ll Only See Us When the Light Has Gone, it sees the band continue at their meandering, dream-scaped best.
While Finality is the kind of song bands end stories on, that won’t be the case with Epic45: lifers who will be around to the very end. And it’s a good thing, because You’ll Only See Us When the Light Has Gone is another fine outing from the underrated project.
Grandaddy. Blu Wav
Dangerbird Records
Jason Lytle rarely disappoints, and following their severely underrated 2017 release, Last Place, Grandaddy return with Blu Wav.
A record inspired by waltz music and the 3/4 and 6/8 time signatures, Lytle parts with a series of country-tinged laments inspired by space and solitude. While Lytle’s sense of humour remains (look no further than the album title), Blu Wav sees the songwriter taking more of an inward approach.
While it may not lure new ears, Blu Wav is a worthy addition under the Grandaddy stable, and for those who have spent a good part of their lives immersed in the works of both the band and Lytle’s solo works, it isn’t a stretch to suggest that this is the record they have been waiting for.
Heave Blood & Die: Burnout Codes
Fysisk Format
Where alt-rock/metal is concerned, Norway’s Heave Blood & Die fired the first warning shot of the year with their debut album, Burnout Codes.
The six-piece create the kind of asphalt-tearing alt-rock that is the result of spending their formative years on a diet of ’70s sci-fi films and digging through Kylsea’s discography. No messing about with eight songs that barely reach the 30-minute mark, Burnout Codes hits the sweet spot in this new world of short attention spans whilst still capturing the imagination of those of us who revel in the long-form.
Burnout Codes is an album that only gets the stronger with each listen – one of those in-between records that every collection needs. Yes, it’s been said a few times before, but here’s another one essential to that list.
Mila Cloud Interview: “This music is not your typical drone”
Helvetia: A Dot Running for the Dust
Self-released
Under the Helvetia moniker, Jason Albertini is one of the few old school lo-fi renegades constantly churning out the good oil for his cult following.
He starts the year with A Dot Running for the Dust. An album jam-packed with delicate, loner indie-rock, oscillating between ’90s slacker and ’70s-inspired songcraft. While always a world away from his better-known vocation as bassist in Duster, here he brings the two worlds closer together.
Still, A Dot Running for the Dust remains positively Helvetia with a subtle pop lust that creeps into the consciousness, containing some of Albertini’s finest cuts in years (Meadow Neck, Long Drop). For those who have been chomping at the bit for the latest Grandaddy release, well, dovetailing it with this works surprisingly well.
Imperial Wax: Tranquilliser
Self-released
Formed from the vestiges of The Fall, shortly after appearing as the backing band for another dearly departed in Damo Suzuki, guitarist Pete Greenway, bassist Dave Spurr and drummer Keiron Melling recruited vocalist Sam Curran, and this is when Imperial Wax was born.
Tranquilliser, Imperial Wax’s second LP (and easily their best) is the kind of blues-y guitar rock that flirts with …Trail of Dead-era post-hardcore whilst maintaining a penchant for post-punk staples.
Ripped from the scrapbook and delivered in intangible ways, Curran’s lyricism gets you thinking, and if the country’s swathe of Weller heads actually wanted to listen to something other than their esteemed leader, then Imperial Wax’s Tranquilliser is the agent of choice.
Itasca: Imitation of War
Paradise of Bachelors
Kayla Cohen resumes her odyssey under the Itasca alias with Imitation of War – her third long-player and first since 2019’s Spring.
Co-produced by Robbie Cody (Wand, Behavior), on Imitation of War, Cohen’s ghostly noodlings echo the earlier works of Tamara Lindeman’s The Weather Station. Sparse and intricate with plucky guitars and brush drums, Cohen creates the kind of folk dreamscapes that stick to the mind.
Finding the seam between loner-folk and roadhouse blues, there’s an aloofness and a subtle finesse to the songwriting, tapping into a similar vein of Paradise of Bachelors labelmate, Steve Gunn. Imitation of War showcases some of Cohen’s best songs yet.
Vika Kuchak: Stels
Fuselab
On her debut LP, Stels, Russian artist, Vika Kuchak, presents the kind of immediate sound waves that feel beyond her years.
Producing the dream-like IDM that is like a hot current after a night spent raving in an abandoned warehouse, Kuchak flirts with the dance floor but never truly dominates it. That’s not the point on Stels – it’s simply post-rave and not in the ire of it, capturing those euphoric moments in solitude.
Fuselab have always had a knack for unearthing gems, and Vika Kuchak’s Stels is yet another. Essentially, it’s the place where the aficionados of electronica and darkwave meet.
The Last Sound: Veered
Cruel Nature Records
Having already caused utter chaos as one half of Whirling Hall of Knives, Irish noise hound, Barry Murphy, emerges from the warehouse haze to don the cap of his other project, The Last Sound.
Following the recent 2 x 2 double A-side single, Murphy warps minds with the latest dispatch under The Last Sound guise, Veered. Something vastly different from his sonic heroes in WHOK, Veered is a sinewy range of noise that fuses together the ideas of early post-punk and grimy IDM.
It’s not the first time someone’s tried to merge these worlds together, but it’s the first time it’s sounded like this. Veered is something that could have been the soundtrack to Trainspotting in a distorted universe and, with things feeling rather distorted now, it’s rather prevalent to these times, too. The Last Sound. Indeed.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
Epitaph
Following their excellent 2019 full-length, Patience, Mannequin Pussy return with their fourth and most ambitious long-player, I Got Heaven. (And before you ask, no, this isn’t a Christian rock album.)
The term pop-punk maybe be slightly overcooked these days, but it feels like Mannequin Pussy capture it perfectly, and it’s largely down to the heroics of band leader, Marisa Debice. Amid the gnarly maelstroms and fist-pumping noise, Debice rides the anthemic blasts with dynamic tenderness, which guides the band to exciting new places.
I Got Heaven is a band progressing to the next level, and while being far more polished than its predecessor, the songs have just as much brawn and even more bite.
J Mascis: What Do We Do Now
Sub Pop
The cynics out there may say that it’s hard to differentiate between a J Mascis solo album and later-era Dinosaur Jr, but it’s pretty simple: would the latter write a song like What Do We Do Now, the eponymous number from the former’s latest solo release? I think not.
It’s a song that harbours a similar emotional intensity that Lou Barlow portrayed during early Sebadoh records. Although not the scratchy lo-fi of murmurings of Barlow, through his trusted hi-fi methods, Mascis reveals new depth on What Do We Do Now.
Both Mascis and Dinosaur Jr have been on great runs of form over the last couple of decades, and What Do We Do Now is another highlight, to the point where we shouldn’t really expect anything else. The bar was set years ago, and Mascis’ songs never fail to reach it.
Miracle Tales: Miracle Tales
Shady Ridge Records
Miracle Tales is the project of Paris artist, Gilles Vardon, and in December of last year, he unveiled his self-titled debut.
Miracle Tales is an album tailor-made for the darker months; soundscapes deriving from the same storm clouds as Nadja and, more recently, A-Sun Amissa. While this is the case, there is more of a tenderness that runs through these compositions. Perhaps post-storm and not firmly it its ire.
While the likes of Aidan Baker and Richard Knox were probably listening to Wolves in the Throne Room, Varbon took a left hand turn and dug out his Tim Hecker records instead. His dark, ambient roots which are telling, as the subtilties of Miracle Tales render it more emotive and less pummeling than his fellow noise purveyors.
Robin Nitram: Nage Libre
Morotva Records
Parisian guitarist, Robin Nitram, came to our attention last year with his Ramble Records release, Sugar Free. A beautiful collection of guitar sketches that breathed life into empty rooms.
Nitram returns in 2024 with his follow-up, Nage Libre. With appearances from Roman Reidid, Lea Ciechelski and Paul Wacrenier, the guitarist gets more expansive with improv’ jazz freak-outs being tempered by more serene moments (see the wonderful closing track, Love is Safe).
Nage Libre sees Nitram creating something that at times feels like Bill Frisell noodling alongside the Dirty Three. There’s a comfortable ebb and flow to this, and it can be just as impactful through the speakers as it can be with a set of headphones on. A grower, and a lovely one at that.
Omni: Souvenir
Sub Pop
The Athens, Georgie three-piece (Philip Frobos – vocals/bass; Frankie Broyles – guitar; Chris Yonker – drums) burst onto the scene in 2016 releasing three albums in four years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Omni’s last effort, Deluxe, perhaps lacked the panache of their first two records, Souvenir is a welcome return to form. Despite the 11 songs at 30 minutes that Souvenir clocks in at, it feels like Omni get as expansive as they’ve ever been (there’s some real nice punkish, glam inspired sonics throughout).
Either way, Omni are never ones to outstay their welcome, and with Souvenir, the band will draw in new followers and also appease the ones who have been with them from the beginning.
Orchard: ‘Til You Fall Down
Cruel Nature Records
DIY lifers who have been involved in London bands such as Baaneex. Magic Mist, Giant Burger, Night Pain and Melge, Joel and Rosie (as always, surnames are under wraps) decamped to North Yorkshire in 2022 – a move which also spawned their latest creative outlet, Orchard.
Their debut long-player, ‘Til You Fall Down is steeped in the kind of lo-fi grit inspired by earlier Sonic Youth and Sebadoh, but with more of a raucous energy. A thread that could well have been woven through the patchwork of, say, Wrong Speed Records.
It’s another boon for Cruel Nature, who seem to come up with them pretty much every month! Orchard’s ‘Til You Fall Down is another worthy addition to label’s catalogue.
Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp
Gruff Rhys: Sadness Sets Me Free
Rough Trade
“There’s no use crying over milk that’s spilt,” sings Gruff Rhys on never ending lament that is Silver Lining Lead Balloons. From the ’90s echelon of British artists, only Gruff can make sad songs seem somewhat optimistic. Perhaps it’s the Beach Boys worship that’s on display on his latest, Sadness Sets Me Free.
Here, we’re neither on a trip to Babelsberg nor seeking new gods. Where the latter is concerned, we’re trampling over the old ones (if they even exist?). Or Gruff is, anyway, for Sadness Sets Me Free is all about growing older and the pitfalls that come with it, not limited to relationship breakdowns, becoming untethered with friendships (Bad Friend), and shithouse political leaders (Cover Up the Cover Up).
Musically, it’s not a world away from the above-noted two releases. It’s very Gruff, no doubt, but there’s a new melancholy that drifts through his songs, and it comes about via the realisation that immortals simply don’t exist.
Daniel Romano’s Outfit: Too Hot to Sleep
You’ve Changed Records
Following his brilliant 2023 record alongside sibling Ian and You’ve Changed Records co-founder Steven Lambke as Spider Bite, Daniel Romano returns with Outfit on Too Hot to Sleep.
Once again featuring Ian, as well as Carson McHone, Julianna Riolino and Roddy Rossetti, Too Hot to Sleep is one of those unapologetic, shredding records that everyone needs in their lives. Think of the heartland rock of Nils Lofgren with a burning madness that oscillates between Kramer-esque MC5 worship and the barnstorming guitar raids of Greg Ginn’s Black Flag.
Clocking in at under 30 minutes, Romano takes us through the late ’60s / early ’70s where it feels best to just stay there! You’ll be reaching for those MC5 and Big Star records in no time.
Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope
Loma Vista Recordings
Like Interpol, arguably Sleater-Kinney should be viewed as a different concern these days. Whether considered as a watered-down version or a band shedding skins, either way, it’s evident on the band’s latest offering, Little Rope, that Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker regain some of the panache of their glory years.
Produced by John Congleton, Little Rope was born out of tragedy, with Brownstein’s mother and stepfather involved in a fatal car accident in Italy. It’s a fitting tribute, as Brownstein questions the human condition, and alongside Tucker, the pair trade the sort of howling blasts that fleetingly catch the same sparks of defining records, One Beat and The Woods (“You’re burning all the books in this town / But you can’t destroy the words in our mouths” – Crusader).
On Little Rope, Sleater-Kinney remains steadfast in the present (Say It Like You Mean It), while also not afraid to retread over the past (Small Finds). It makes for their best record in years.
Mary Timony: Untame the Tiger
Merge Records
Whether it be as the leading force in Helium alongside Polvo’s Ash Bowie, cult heroes Ex Hex, or the excellent but short-lived Wild Flag (which also featured the above-mentioned Carrie Brownstein and former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss), Mary Timony has been one of the leading lights in indie-rock.
Timony’s solo output is equally impressive, and following the 2007 LP The Shapes We Make (billed The Mary Timony Band), the singer / guitarist returns with Untame the Tiger. Similar to the latest Sleater-Kinney record, Untame the Tiger was born out of turmoil, with Timony losing both parents during its recording.
From the breezy road-trip rocker, No Thirds, Timony enters down the dark paths that lead to loneliness, (Summer, Dominoes and Guest). Not one for optimism in her later years, Timony is simply calling it how she sees it: life’s tough, and it only gets harder the longer in the tooth we all get. In some ways Untame the Tiger, despite its stark realities, presents as the leveller we all need sometimes.
Karen Vogt: Waterlog
Nite Hive
Paris-based Australian experimentalist Karen Vogt was one of the wonderful finds of 2023, and on the back excellent releases which included Le Mans (Waxing Crescent Records) and Losing the Sea (Mare Nostrum Label) – the latter making our Top 25 EPs of 2023 – Vogt returns with Waterlog.
With careful consideration, it could well be Vogt’s watershed moment. Beautiful layered vocalisations that pierce the heart, occupying the same space as Julianna Barwick’s earlier works. Yes, this is hymnal, and if it doesn’t wet the corners of the eyes, then you’re probably dead on the inside.
Waterlog both cleans the ears and cleanses the mind. This is a new reference point in the already impressive body-of-work of Karen Vogt, and a fitting way to end our latest quarterly feature.
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[…] their approach, Water Damage lose themselves in their own way with Ladybird. A Shit & Shine cover that features Craig Clouse himself on vocals, Water Damage weave the psychedelic S & S […]
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