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sinceileftyoublog · 5 months ago

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SILY's Top Albums of 2024

Much like 2016, last year felt like a turning point in American history, world history, and human history. The rich and powerful got more rich and powerful than ever, right-wing politics and media triumphed, and the climate crisis raged on. Increasingly, the albums that resonated with us turned out to reflect the ills of the world back at it, or, just as important, show that art and creativity can thrive in spite of them. Here are 10 of our favorites.

A. Savage - The Loft Sessions (Rough Trade)

While visiting Chicago on tour in 2023, A. Savage recorded four tracks at Wilco's recording studio, The Loft, three covers and a new rendition of his “Wild, Wild, Wild Horses”. The opening track, “I Can’t Shake the Stranger Out of You” is a cover of a Lavender Country song from his 1973 self-titled debut, a record famously regarded as the first ever queer country album. Savage’s version became my most played song of the year on Spotify, and somewhere in my year-end playlist is the original version. The Loft Sessions is a stellar EP, and something I proudly listen to seeing that I saw A. Savage play at the Empty Bottle only a few hours after he had recorded it. “I Can’t Shake the Stranger Out of You” focuses on odd relationships that can’t seem to progress towards anything truly substantial, whereas the closing track “Wild Horses” contains depth, history, and emotional vulnerability. The four songs on The Loft Sessions are digestible, relatable, and easy to listen to while you prepare your coffee in the morning, an activity that can cover the EP's 13 minutes, depending on your hardware. - Keith Miller

Geordie Greep - The New Sound (Rough Trade)

For his debut solo album after the dissolution of a beloved band, Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep dove headfirst into the id of society's most prurient men. The New Sound is inspired by Greep's experiences out on the town, meeting drunken strangers who revealed to him their gross escapades, and it's got the coked-out, Steely Dan-esque, Latin jazz-rock fusion aesthetic to match. But Greep's also an astute observer of the toxically masculine online culture that pervades the world, finding humor, pathos, and absurdity in it alongside the necessary disgust. The narrators of his songs are far more pathetic and narcissistic than the earnest losers of MJ Lenderman's Manning Fireworks: It's not just that they're using women, but they're obsessed with their own perspective of the world, their own suffering. "You talk about yourself in the past tense," Greep smirks on album opener "Blues", giving a voice to the poet laureate of self-importance. Ever the writer himself, though, Greep's most brilliant moments are when he twists the knife, revealing that the Casanova of "Holy, Holy" is asking the sex worker he hired to make him feel taller, that the unfaithful man in a loveless marriage on "The Magician" is hiding from both his wife and his mistress. The New Sound's final track is a cover of a song made famous by Frank Sinatra, "If You Are But a Dream"; when Greep sings, "If you're a fantasy / Then I'm content to be / In love with lovely you / And pray my dreams come true," he conveys the desperate yearning that's always been a part of men in modern Western society. Greep's self-described new sound is anything but new, even if his version has more bodily fluids. - Jordan Mainzer

Jlin - Akoma (Planet Mu)

The producer from Gary, Indiana doesn't exist on the fringes of just footwork, but of genre as a whole. On Akoma, Jlin proudly wears her influences beyond collaborating with legends like Björk and Philip Glass. Her trademark skittering, journeying percussion gives way to more propulsive beats and layers. On "Summon", Jlin's strings form a gestalt beat that never actually drops, as minimalist as Steve Reich. "Challenge (To Be Continued II)"'s hand drums blanket booming hip hop bass and rolls inspired by HBCU marching bands. Kronos Quartet offer their chopped strings on "Sodalite"; when Jlin speeds them up, it almost sounds like a fiddle tune. Akoma exemplifies her uncanny ability to tell a story with varying textures of abstract music, each song its own symphony. - JM

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flight b741 (p(doom))

Across its ten tracks and roughly 40-minute runtime, King Gizzard delivers an enticing album that’ll pair well with cookouts, yard work, parties at a lake house, and all around busy and sweaty times outdoors. From its harmonic vocals and borderline goofy lyrics down to the various instrumentation of clanging pianos, bumping bass beats, and uplifting guitars, my biggest complaint about Flight b741 is that it didn’t come out sooner. Grab your sunglasses and put on a pair of jorts–anyone who’s claimed to like “Dad Rock,” this album is for you.

Read the rest of our review of Flight b741 here.

MGMT - Loss Of Life (Mom + Pop)

MGMT’s fifth studio album (6th album if you count 2022’s 11•11•11) is a fantastic addition to the psychedelic duo’s sound. Each song brings something new to the table, ranging from 90’s nostalgia in “Bubblegum Dog” to Meddle-style slow burn on “People In The Streets.” Band members Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser began writing each song on an acoustic guitar, which gives the album a slight singer-songwriter feel that isn’t as present on their past albums, especially not on their previous record, 2018’s Little Dark Age. MGMT have proven once again that they are a band with staying power. - KM

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Fu##in' Up (Warner/Reprise)

One of the most ass-ripping recordings of last year came from when a classic rocker with a likely net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars played at a birthday party for one of the richest men in Canada. A cynic could call this a prescient glimpse into a future ruled by technocrats, but I choose to marvel at how Neil Young & Crazy Horse can just up and transform some of their most beloved material into something even grungier and more distorted, and not care what billionaire Dani Reiss or his friends think. Fu##in' Up is, essentially, a live version of their classic 1990 record Ragged Glory, each track newly titled from a lyric from its respective track, save for the cover of Don and Dewey's "Farmer John". ("Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)", Ragged Glory's final track, is also absent.) Young presents it warts and all, his shaky voice and the ramshackle band stumbling through "City Life" as if they gave their instruments to the members of Pavement. Nonetheless, Nils Lofgren's guitars shriek with impunity, and Young's riffs clang throughout "Broken Circle". The band adds some new features to the Ragged Glory originals, namely Micah Nelson banging away on piano on "Feels Like a Railroad (River of Pride)" and "Walkin' in my Place (Road of Tears)". Above it all, though, Young remains in control, leading the band through a 50% longer "A Chance on Love" and a particularly patient "Valley of Hearts", Ralph Molina's crisp snares thwacking with might, sounding like the only thing dragging the rest of the players through a river of molasses. Without much crowd noise or stage banter on the record, you can easily listen to Fu##in' Up and picture the band jamming in the practice room. - JM

Pa Salieu - Afrikan Alien (Warner UK)

"I been gone for a while, but I still make it back to you," British rapper Pa Salieu sings on "Belly", the first single he released after serving 21 months in prison. He's talking to music listeners, fans, even the world, but most importantly, he's talking to his family, paying tribute to the loving act of helping provide. The song's Afropop grooves are subdued, but confident, subtleties that remarkably pervade Afrikan Alien, his second mixtape. Whether it's the cool shuffle of "Soda", cooing vocals, scraping guitars, and dexterous hand drums of "Round & Round", or the string, horn, and chorus-laden "YGF"--standing for "young, great, and free"--the highlights of Afrikan Alien forego bombast in favor of quiet boldness. "Afrikan di alien, moving like he's nomadic," Salieu raps on the title track, referring to the past two years of his life when he was moving from jail to jail. It contextualizes the release, and what he now appreciates: that home is precious and irreplaceable. - JM

Porridge Radio - Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me (Secretly Canadian)

Dana Margolin has come out the other side of exhausting touring, a breakup, and a debilitating sense of “What now?” with Porridge Radio’s best record yet. For the Brighton quartet’s fourth studio album Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, Margolin returned to her roots as a writer and performer to alleviate burnout, embracing poetry and workshopping the songs solo like she used to do at open mic nights. She dove headfirst into not-yet fully formed material via the rawness of her emotions. It allowed her, the band (keyboardist/backing vocalist Georgie Stott, drummer/keyboardist Sam Yardley, bassist Dan Hutchins) and indie rock producer du jour Dom Monks to foster a live recording environment that allowed for intimacy and intense vulnerability.

Read the rest of our review of Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me here.

Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood (Anti-)

More than ever, Waxahatchee’s songs are easy to sing along to; despite complex turns of phrase, Katie Crutchfield keeps her words metaphorical enough to stand out, abstract enough to be relatable, direct enough to be iconic. The qualities, in conjunction with her and her backing band’s performance, lead to some breathtaking moments. “You drive like you’re wanted in four states / In a busted truck in Opelika,” she sings over Spencer Tweedy’s drum roll on the rolling “3 Sisters”, right before the song’s forbearing beat drops. On “Bored”, she belts the song’s chorus–“I can get along / My spine’s a rotted two by four / Barely hanging on / My benevolence just hits the floor / I get bored”–alongside MJ Lenderman’s sharp riffs, Tweedy’s pummeling drums, and Nick Bockrath’s wincing pedal steel. In context of the song’s inspiration–a friendship that ended badly–Crutchfield’s admissions hit harder.

Read the rest of our review of Tigers Blood here.

Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us (Columbia)

When I was in high school, I became a die hard Titus Andronicus fan. I still am, in fact: That's a band I can’t shut up about. I remember in the summer of 2014, Titus frontperson Patrick Stickles held a live stream press conference in which he announced his 7x7 series where he released seven 7-inch records each 7 weeks apart from one another. (I never got the second installment in the mail and had to buy it at a concert--thanks, Pat.) During this press conference Stickles showed us his collection of 7-inch records, one of which was a B-side of “Diane Young”, a single from Vampire Weekend’s third record, Modern Vampires of the City. Stickles, after briefly mentioning “Diane Young”, apologized slightly, as if he didn’t want people to know that he had it. Ever since then, I’ve wondered what the dynamic of Vampire Weekend's music is among music nerds. For the record, I love it, but I always forget about them a few months after they release a new album. Not Only God Was Above Us. It's incredible; it might be their best record in their discography. It feels like a more tight knit version of Modern Vampires of the City. I started writing out all of the standout songs, but the list was getting too long. - KM

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sinceileftyoublog · 7 months ago

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Cursive Interview: Be More Eclectic

Cursive at Riot Fest 2024

BY JORDAN MAINZER

"I saw our future and I want to go back," sings Tim Kasher on "Consumers", a standout track from Devourer, Cursive's first album in 5 years and their Run For Cover debut. The line, and song in general, feels especially prescient today, given the results of this week's U.S. Presidential Election; "A billboard sells the rich to the poor," he sings earlier. It's also exemplary of the Omaha sextet's continued ability to deliver big ideas. If early albums like Domestica and The Ugly Organ took the structure of a concept album to communicate their grandiose themes, Devourer expands its reach to other genres and mediums, namely horror, to understand the world we live in. The band has said the album's title refers to consumption, in multiple denotations and connotations of the word, from our taking in of art and online spheres to literal eating. In other words, while watching films, listening to music, and reading books is nurturing, engaging in self-righteous echo chambers can be harmful. And eating and drinking is gross: "Your gut's an old garbage can / Liver's a purple bruised punching bag," Kasher sings on the forward-lurching math rock of opener "Botch Job".

When Devourer presents surreal or heinous imagery, you're more horrified by the context behind it. On "The Avalanche of Our Demise", the narrator can't fit the titular disaster, or recognizing the climate crisis in general, into his busy schedule. "Never mind the ticking clock / Besides, you’re totally swamped today," Kasher sings. “Life’s an abscess or apple pie / So shut those demons up / And devour your slice,” he sneers on "Bloodbather", his vices overtaking his desire to self-improve, Pat Oakes' drums propelling the song along as if to encourage Kasher like the devil on his shoulder. On "What Do We Do Now", a beached whale ends up on a neighbor's curb, and the narrator is mostly concerned with reporting it to his homeowner's association. Throughout Devourer, the characters attempt to reconcile their own importance with that of the world at large, man and nature. We can see they'll eventually come up empty.

Of course, the band itself, especially on stage, continues to blare inspirationally. At this year's Riot Fest, they performed the Devourer songs expressively, Patrick Newbery banging on the keys during "Botch Job". They had played Reggie's the night before, their first time playing "Bloodbather", "Imposturing", and "Up and Away", and the first two of those got a blistering Riot Fest treatment the next day. Still, at the festival, with Devourer out for a mere week at the time, Cursive prioritized older material, which sounded just as urgent. After a plea with the crowd to vote, Kasher yelped throughout "Dorothy at Forty", Newbery's horns and Megan Siebe's cello the chaos elements. When Kasher announced how excited he was to see Mastodon and Slayer, for a moment, you could view them as three loud, rhythmically complex bedfellows.

I caught up with Kasher after Cursive's set for an interview, during which we discussed Devourer, playing live, horror films, and social media. (Halfway through the interview, fittingly, Lamb of God's set started, a sonic explosion in the background.) Tomorrow night, Cursive plays Empty Bottle; I can't think of a better place to channel post-election rage than screaming along to songs from an album whose twisted world may soon resemble our reality.

Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: Was last night the first time you played the new songs live?

Tim Kasher: Three of them, yeah. There are two songs off the record we toured around last year, but that's it.

SILY: Was the approach to adapting them to a live stage any different than for the songs from your previous records?

TK: It was an interesting week of rehearsals. It occurred to us, looking at one another, that we prepped them for the studio but didn't know how to play them live. Despite us having a lot of instrumentation and getting a little ornate, we also have six band members, so we have a cello, trumpet, and keys with us. We're actually able to pull off quite a bit of what we do on the album live. It's not verbatim, but that's also not necessary. We're not really interested in that. So over the week of rehearsals, we were making those executive decisions, of why things would work better certain ways, little things here and there. I think they translate pretty well.

SILY: Marc Jacob Hudson, who co-produced it, also does your live sound. Did that help?

TK: Yeah, I think it helped a ton. We kind of had organic pre-production. We wouldn't even call it pre-production; it was literally just us sitting on the bus talking about music, talking about the record, getting ready together to ask ourselves, "What do we want to do? What do we want to get out of this? What do we want it to sound like?" Marc was awesome. He really came across as an additional member, which is the best way to feel about a producer.

SILY: You didn't do a typical record release show, but you presented the album and its music videos in 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. It's a cool way to present something as artistically intended in a format that not everybody has access to.

TK: I'm proud of how it all turned out, just because it was kind of ambitious. Doing the 5 genre videos was ambitious. It was a lot of extra work we didn't need to do. As recently as the last couple albums, we had kind of a negative attitude about the videos, because you put all this money and labor into it, and it just sits on YouTube, and what's the big deal? This time around, we had this initial cocktail napkin idea of doing a lot of horror genre videos. I've gotten to know a decent amount of horror directors, so I thought I would reach out to see if they were interested. The responses were awesome, so we decided to do it. We did a real 180 and embraced videos this time. Because we did 5, and made them not just promo material but their own thing, with VHS tapes, it's its own project, connected to the album, but different to the album. We did lyric videos for the rest of the songs. I'm really excited about it. Ultimately, we're going to have them all up on YouTube, and I'd encourage people to consume it in that way. If you want to put it on your TV and watch, it's not the worst idea.

SILY: The album is very cinematic, and my favorite type of horror films are, at their heart, social tales that use horror to say something else. Similarly, on this record, you use horrific imagery to talk about climate anxiety and late capitalism. Was that your intention going into it?

TK: I'm still figuring that out. [laughs] When a record comes out, it's an opportunity for me to start understanding a little bit better what the record is about. Everybody is taking it in and giving me their reactions, which informs me. I wanted this album to be more eclectic. I put some extra effort into listening to the whole catalog, and it reminded me that 20-25 years ago, our MOs was to be eclectic. We didn't want to put out a heavy album, pop album, or mellow album. The last few Cursive records--and it's not a bad thing--lean pretty heavy, which is my growth as a writer getting more excited about louder, heavier music. I want to be a part of it. When I was listening to this album, thinking what it was about, what the title should be, I kept thinking to myself, "Damn, this is still pretty aggressive, loud, and angry, so thankfully we have these eclectic, poppy, quiet songs. But this is more pissed off than I realized it was." An early album title I had for it was Bruiser because the album seems like a bully to me. It's got a bad attitude. Devourer ended up being a variation on that. It's the type of title that does fit in with the horror genre. The best analogy is humanity devouring this planet, but with the artwork, I think of it in more sci-fi and horror elements, or a suggestion of the planet turning on us.

SILY: As much as the album sounds hard and heavy, you have the horns and cello to balance it out. You might be the only band with a cello to ever play Riot Fest.

TK: I don't know. I bet not.

SILY: It took me until yesterday to see an acoustic guitar. Horns, though, there's enough ska here to go around.

TK: [laughs]

SILY: I really like the line at the end of "The Avalanche of Our Demise" where you're talking about the apocalypse having to wait because you're too swamped. I feel like the album has a lot of themes of you balancing personal crises with the world's crises. Is that something you think about pretty often?

TK: A song like that gets pretty snarky. I'm not being hard on any specific person, but on a lot of social media, there's a lot of virtue signaling. You see a lot of, "I'm really down for the cause, and I've got some time between 11 and 2 on Saturday." There's hypocrisy in all of us, me included. It's important people understand I'm wagging the finger at myself. I don't want to be like that, but sometimes, you're slammed, and you mean well, but you're coming across like a fucking asshole.

SILY: You touch on that on "Imposturing" as well.

TK: I probably shouldn't be too hard on myself...I just don't want to be virtue signaling, myself.

SILY: I love the image of a beached whale on a sidewalk curb on "What Do We Do Now", how you're worried about what the HOA will think. You do have to laugh at it all. You can have these genuine feelings of concern and empathy for causes while also recognizing that people often post on social media out of the desire to gain social capital.

TK: I wanted to go surreal with that song. I was imaging, "What if some of the world's big crises landed at your doorstep?" How would people react?

SILY: Do you foresee these songs evolving as you play them live?

TK: Absolutely. There's already songs that I think were a little bit too slow on the album.

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