#080: Chief Keef – Almighty So 2
Released May 10th, 2024 on 43B
They used to make jokes about this guy – Chief Keef makes music for dudes who hold their pencil with their whole hand, Chief Keef makes music for dudes who take pictures with their rent money and say they’re balling. Many of the people who made those kinds of jokes, especially in-industry, are either dead or irrelevant. Chief Keef is still around, doing his thing in the same solid fashion as ever. The key to winning is persistence.
#079: Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Nell’ ora blu
Released May 10th, 2024 on Rise Above Records
The veteran British primitive metal band have made a career out of combining the sledgehammer riffing of Black Sabbath with the theatrical inclinations of Alice Cooper. Nell’ ora blu, though, is their first real conceptual record – and what a concept. The band make the ultimate 70s Giallo soundtrack, injecting their hard rock style into eerie synth-driven passages and snippets of Italian conversations. It’s like someone sobered mid-70s Sabbath up enough to cart them over to Italy to do the soundtrack to Your Vice Is A Locked Room And Only I Have The Key – a horror extravaganza, in other words.
#078: Fontaines D.C. – Romance
Released August 23rd, 2024 on XL Recordings
The Dublin post-punk group have had a shaky time growing up in public, four albums in from their stellar debut, 2019’s Dogrel. They’ve walked an uneven line between tumultuous, difficult mining excursions and overly radio-ready alt rock. Romance is the first time they’ve found the right balance since their debut. A Hero’s Death went too far in one direction, Skinty Fia in the other, but Romance makes for a more satisfying experience overall.
#077: Soccer Mommy – Evergreen
Released October 25th, 2024 on Loma Vista Recordings
Sophie Allison tones the rock down – sort of – but achieves peak indie girl maturity on her fourth album. A rumination on love, grief, and letting go, Evergreen maintains the conversational songwriting style she’s become known for while muting some of the sharper edges that she’s displayed in the past. The effect is poppier but no less weighty for that. “Abigail” is probably the greatest (and, to my knowledge, only) love song written to a character from Stardew Valley.
#076: Big Special – Postindustrial Hometown Blues
Released May 10th, 2024 on So Recordings
At first you see a fiercely British duo pounding out talk-sing aggression over slashing punk beats and you think “oh this is just Sleaford Mods.” Then they start mixing in aspects of great 00s indie riffs, and a hardscrabble streak of dirt across it, and you have something that feels somehow *more* authentic and street-level than you were originally thinking. This is the sort of working class uprising Pulp was always alluding to.
#075: Arab Strap – I’m totally fine with it. don’t give a fuck anymore.
Released May 10th, 2024 on Rock Action Records
The Scottish duo are officially back in fine form as their second post-hiatus album successfully recaptures the magic of their original run. Full of sad-eyed guitars, binge drinking dramatics, and the melancholy emptiness of sex, it roils and rumbles with a strength that bands half their age envy. As far as so-called ‘lockdown albums’ go, I’m totally fine with it is one that truly encompasses the lonely alienation of making yourself stay indoors, and, of course, the “crippling fucking FOMO.”
#074: Marv Won – I’m Fine, Thanks For Asking
Released April 5th, 2024 on Mello Music Group
Detroit’s big time battle rapper Marv Won is now on Mello, and honestly what a great fit of musician and label. A remarkably solid and consistent record, underpinned with huge head-nodder beats and Marv’s inimitable flow and commanding voice. Quelle Chris loves the guy, which is as good a recommendation as I can think of.
#073: Tapir! – The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain
Released January 26th, 2024 on Heavenly Recordings
An odd, gently psychedelic journey that strikes a middle ground between fey old folk and modern production touches. It’s an experience of pandemic-era escapism, a dive into a fantasy world that has more in common with C.S. Lewis and Adventure Time than it does GRRM or Brandon Sanderson. Chamber folk can be a lot of things, but here it is lively and sweet, like the rush of your heart as you run through a field with friends by your side.
#072: Kneecap – Fine Art
Released June 14th, 2024 on Heavenly Recordings
The extremely rowdy pro-Irish and anti-Brit sentiments are the first thing you notice – how could you not? – but over time you start to notice that Kneecap use a little bit of everything to get their English/Irish language verses across. There’s old-school rave, boom bap, proto-industrial synth saws, and good ol’ fashioned punk rock at work here, all of it in service to a veritable explosion of ideas and personality.
#071: Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow
Released March 15th, 2024 on UMG/Blue Note Records
Charles Lloyd is older than rocks and blows the saxophone like nobody’s business. This is gentle, windy jazz that doesn’t reinvent the genre but performs as a perfect example of what you can do within its traditional boundaries. He’s been a master long enough and he’s old enough that it has to be said: if this ends up being his last album, it’s a hell of a way to go out.
