musicjunkiegreg
Well-Known Member
This must be how @avecigrec feels after most new music Fridays 
I was, somehow, able to get through 18 new releases from this Friday, January 24th. I'm not sure if this is going to remain a weekly thing from me throughout the year or not, (surely it will be dependent on the weekly releases and my level of busyness) but, once again, I've got some standouts to share. Three standouts to be exact.
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I've been a fan of Harakiri For The Sky for about the last 10 years, since 2016's III: Trauma. The Austrian
duo, for me, has always been consistently good. That continues here with their latest, the 8-track, 67-minute Scorched Earth. And, although HFTS has always gotten positive reviews from me, they've always seemed to evade my year-end AOTY lists. Looking back, my favorite albums of theirs were 2016's aforementioned III: Trauma and 2021's Mære, both of which came out in, what I consider to be, the two best years for new music in the last 15 years. So, the competition was especially tough. HFTS is one of those bands that I see as being somewhat circumspect - and that's okay. Their formula works, they always land right in the slot. And that holds true for Scorched Earth as well. So what is it that they do so well? What is it that keeps drawing me back to them? That would be their ability to simultaneously create atmospheres of beauty and darkness, and their ability to create layers and layers of melody. Not to mention, on this new album, the piles of excellent riffs they dump on you. It's much too early in the year to say whether or not Scorched Earth will break HFTS's "curse" of not making my AOTY list, but, regardless, this is another strong showing for them and a standout for the week, and, likely, for January.
Wow, here's an artist I haven't heard from in a long time! I had to look it up. Benjamin Booker hasn't released an album in eight years, since 2017's Witness. The alt-rock, blues/soul, and psych-pop artist, who now lives in Australia, dropped his new album and 3rd LP here called LOWER. The production chops on this one are those of one of my favorite producers in the game, Kenny Segal. And let me tell you, the production, once again by Segal, is fantastic. This guy doesn't miss. LOWER is 11 tracks and runs right at 42 minutes in length, and my initial listen, admittedly, found me a bit turned off by the album. But I came back to it for some reason... something was prodding me to give it another go... and then here I am now, on my fifth listen through, as I type this. Something kept pulling me back to this album these last few days, and I'm still trying to put my finger on it. There is an intimacy on here that cannot be overlooked. There is almost a feeling of a warm embrace, but it's shrouded in this clostraphobic layer that can almost choke out that embrace. There is a to and fro of light and dark (note the album cover), of comfort and unsettling, of good vibes and bad energy. And I love when artists do that, and I suspect that's the draw here for me. Not to mention, Booker's hushed vocals have an almost soothing effect. So yeah, this album is good. It's damn good. And I really feel like it's going to be a slow burner for me this year. I feel like there are many lyrical layers I've yet to unveil. This one's gonna take some time. This could definitely wind up as AOTY material.. or it could just be some recency hype in first new release month of the year. Time shall tell. Listen for yourself.
I was initially thinking that this album was my top new release for the week, but after the relistens to and the writeup for Benjamin Booker's LOWER, I'm not sure now. I guess I'm willing to give a tie here. The other album in question is an RBF and definitely one of the best albums of the month, Lou-Adriane Cassidy with her 4th LP, Journal d'un loup-garou (which translates to "journal of a werewolf"). Yes, lyrically, this album is sung entirely in French, which I do not speak. But, as I've said before, this is music - there are no language barriers! Hell, my #1 AOTY from 2024 was entirely German-sung. But, yeah, going into this, I knew absolutely nothing about this Montréal Canadian artist. It was literally a case of Bandcamp scrolling and a "wtf is with that album cover, let's see what this is about" moment. And now after a few listens to the 14 tracks with a 42-minute runtime, I've found the catchiest and one of the most vocally stunning albums I've heard so far this year. Seriously, I would put L-AC's vocal performance across this thing up against any vocal performance still this year. Right now it's between L-AC and Sophie Jamieson from last week. Every year I make a playlist of my Top100 Songs of the year and I typically limit it to a certain number of songs per artist (except for 2024..). Journal d'un loup-garou is one of those albums where I could pick any track and it deserves to be on there. But if I had to pick a few of my favorite tracks right now, I would go with "Journal d'un loup-garou", "Je pars en vacances", and "16 ans bientôt 30". I know it's early, I know it's only January - but this is the pop album to beat in 2025 for me! RBF for the win!
I was, somehow, able to get through 18 new releases from this Friday, January 24th. I'm not sure if this is going to remain a weekly thing from me throughout the year or not, (surely it will be dependent on the weekly releases and my level of busyness) but, once again, I've got some standouts to share. Three standouts to be exact.----
I've been a fan of Harakiri For The Sky for about the last 10 years, since 2016's III: Trauma. The Austrian
duo, for me, has always been consistently good. That continues here with their latest, the 8-track, 67-minute Scorched Earth. And, although HFTS has always gotten positive reviews from me, they've always seemed to evade my year-end AOTY lists. Looking back, my favorite albums of theirs were 2016's aforementioned III: Trauma and 2021's Mære, both of which came out in, what I consider to be, the two best years for new music in the last 15 years. So, the competition was especially tough. HFTS is one of those bands that I see as being somewhat circumspect - and that's okay. Their formula works, they always land right in the slot. And that holds true for Scorched Earth as well. So what is it that they do so well? What is it that keeps drawing me back to them? That would be their ability to simultaneously create atmospheres of beauty and darkness, and their ability to create layers and layers of melody. Not to mention, on this new album, the piles of excellent riffs they dump on you. It's much too early in the year to say whether or not Scorched Earth will break HFTS's "curse" of not making my AOTY list, but, regardless, this is another strong showing for them and a standout for the week, and, likely, for January.Wow, here's an artist I haven't heard from in a long time! I had to look it up. Benjamin Booker hasn't released an album in eight years, since 2017's Witness. The alt-rock, blues/soul, and psych-pop artist, who now lives in Australia, dropped his new album and 3rd LP here called LOWER. The production chops on this one are those of one of my favorite producers in the game, Kenny Segal. And let me tell you, the production, once again by Segal, is fantastic. This guy doesn't miss. LOWER is 11 tracks and runs right at 42 minutes in length, and my initial listen, admittedly, found me a bit turned off by the album. But I came back to it for some reason... something was prodding me to give it another go... and then here I am now, on my fifth listen through, as I type this. Something kept pulling me back to this album these last few days, and I'm still trying to put my finger on it. There is an intimacy on here that cannot be overlooked. There is almost a feeling of a warm embrace, but it's shrouded in this clostraphobic layer that can almost choke out that embrace. There is a to and fro of light and dark (note the album cover), of comfort and unsettling, of good vibes and bad energy. And I love when artists do that, and I suspect that's the draw here for me. Not to mention, Booker's hushed vocals have an almost soothing effect. So yeah, this album is good. It's damn good. And I really feel like it's going to be a slow burner for me this year. I feel like there are many lyrical layers I've yet to unveil. This one's gonna take some time. This could definitely wind up as AOTY material.. or it could just be some recency hype in first new release month of the year. Time shall tell. Listen for yourself.
I was initially thinking that this album was my top new release for the week, but after the relistens to and the writeup for Benjamin Booker's LOWER, I'm not sure now. I guess I'm willing to give a tie here. The other album in question is an RBF and definitely one of the best albums of the month, Lou-Adriane Cassidy with her 4th LP, Journal d'un loup-garou (which translates to "journal of a werewolf"). Yes, lyrically, this album is sung entirely in French, which I do not speak. But, as I've said before, this is music - there are no language barriers! Hell, my #1 AOTY from 2024 was entirely German-sung. But, yeah, going into this, I knew absolutely nothing about this Montréal Canadian artist. It was literally a case of Bandcamp scrolling and a "wtf is with that album cover, let's see what this is about" moment. And now after a few listens to the 14 tracks with a 42-minute runtime, I've found the catchiest and one of the most vocally stunning albums I've heard so far this year. Seriously, I would put L-AC's vocal performance across this thing up against any vocal performance still this year. Right now it's between L-AC and Sophie Jamieson from last week. Every year I make a playlist of my Top100 Songs of the year and I typically limit it to a certain number of songs per artist (except for 2024..). Journal d'un loup-garou is one of those albums where I could pick any track and it deserves to be on there. But if I had to pick a few of my favorite tracks right now, I would go with "Journal d'un loup-garou", "Je pars en vacances", and "16 ans bientôt 30". I know it's early, I know it's only January - but this is the pop album to beat in 2025 for me! RBF for the win!
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