Interested to know what other people have on repeat listen. My favourites from this year so far include:
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My favourites so far:
Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft
The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
Aroof Aftab - Night Rein
Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer
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Beth Gibbons.
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Camera Obscura - Look to the East, Look to the West
Nubiyan Twist - Find Your Flame
Bill Laurence & The Untold Orchestra - Bloom
Amanda Whiting - The Liminality of Her
Beak> - >>>>
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Peter Gabriel, i:o
Bonnie Raitt, Just Like That
G
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Philip Glass Solo
Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free
Bonny Light Horseman - Keep Me On Your Mind
Roisin Murphy - Hit Parade
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John Grant – The Art of the Lie
Nation of Language – Strange Disciple (although released 15/9/23)
Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven
Already mentioned but also doing it for me:
Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT and Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West.
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Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light My Destroyer
Bonny Light Horseman: Keep Me On Your Mind
Jake Xerxes Fussell: When I’m Called
Isobel Campbell: Bow To Love
Some good stuff, but maybe no absolute standout so far. My clear favourite track of 2024 comes from Arooj Aftab, (Na Gul) but the album as a whole didn’t quite gel for me.
I could do with a good Indie rock release, although the new Fontaines DC single is promising. I have had a huge Nick Cave passion with the last few albums but the singles released so far from the new one (Wild God, released August 30th) are just a bit…well, fingers crossed for the album!
Bruce
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St. Vincent is not quite a return to form after the last album but half of a great album. Still not worth seeing live though. She hasn’t got that right since the third album.
A remarkable amount of overlap with @BruceW om
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light My Destroyer
Bonny Light Horseman: Keep Me On Your Mind
Jake Xerxes Fussell: When I’m Called
I’ll add in Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood. It’s not quite St. Cloud (and having 2 consecutive songs with exactly the same chord changes doesn’t help) but prolonged exposure has revealed it to be a very good album and the live experience last night confirmed that. She’s not a compelling front person but I could have watched her 2 guitarists all night. Absolutely wonderful example of minimal input but maximum output. Ditto Spencer Tweedy on drums. Plays open handed and just has a lovely distinctive drag on his timing. Actually looks chilled and enjoying the music which is rare to see.
I’ll also add in Ruth Theodore: I Am I Am. An album which seems to have gone under the radar for exactly the sort of people who would love it.
The Decemberists: As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is a decent listen if one could take out the last track and the dreadful insipid production. Nice to have them back and not doing endless cover versions.
Linda Thompson - Proxy Music. Nice, albeit for slightly sad reasons, idea real;y well executed.
Dawn Landes - The Liberated Woman’s Songbook.
T-Bone Burnett - The Other Side.
Idles - Tangk.
The Warning - Keep Me Fed.
Yard Act - Where’s My Utopia.
Rachel Chinouriri - What A Defastating Turn Of Events.
Can’t get on with
The Smile (music for people who like a very specific version of Radiohead);
the new Billie Eilish (love all her other stuff but this seems soft and unfocused somehow)
or the new Gabriel (po faced and clinical. The worst, least interesting version of him which some people seem to prefer for reasons which continue to evade me. Also remarkable for having 2 different mixes and neither of them especially compelling).
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…and for being last year too!
On my list of disappointments, Vampire Weekend: Only God Was Above Us. What happened to the delightful energy of those first two albums? Too clever by half. The album title might be a clue…
In view of our overlap I’ll check out Ruth Theodore. The reason for these threads is precisely to find new stuff.
Bruce
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I find myself quite ignorant of new music to be honest but of the 2024 releases so far, I like :
Ride - Interplay
Jack White - No Name
Cedric Burnside - Hill Country Love
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Yeah, a friend and his son turned me onto Vampire Weekend long after the first 2 albums and there is much to like but all 3 of us took a listen to the new album and were bewildered it got any good reviews at all.
I love the last 2 Ruth albums. She’s gone from very irritating meandering prog/jazz/folk to very focused pop/folk. There is but the 1 song on the new album which I cannot get on with. The rest is low key but a real grower. Helps if you know 0f her recent health scare and the equally recent link up with Ani DiFranco.
I love the new Vampire Weekend album. The first couple of plays were disappointing, but it seemed there was something there. I stuck with it, and now think it’s superb.
Obviously, someone else could keep trying and end up liking it even less than they did in the first place!
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He was excellent at the Linda Thompson Proxy Music gig at the Cadogan Hall a couple of weeks ago,
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Ruth Goller: Skyllumina, has got a lot of play so far.
Maximum weirdness.
Ethan Iverson :Technically Acceptable
More mainstream than usual. Very enjoyable.
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For me, the clear winner is The Libertines “All quiet on the Eastern Esplanade”.
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With the same chords Evil Spawn and Ice Cold? (The two weakest tracks on the album.)
Saint Cloud is an album I have played regularly since its release. I’m enjoying the new album, but it doesn’t resonate with me lyrically as much as Saint Cloud. However, the new album feels like a step up in the band’s performance.
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Yes, not hard to spot. I have a better appreciation of Tigers Blood having heard those songs live and now think Evil Spawn is right up there with her very best. Album is more immediate than St. Cloud in some place but less than others. Live version of 365 revealed it to be the stunning song the reviewers said was there.
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