New Music Friday!

The new Storefront Church album is huge. I mean that in many ways, instrumentation being only one. After three listens all I know is, this could be my AOTY, and also, I'll need to listen to it like 20 more times to decide that. So much to digest here.

On a vinyl note, I love that the standard release is black 45rpm. I don't even think there is a variant (yet?).
 
I am here to provide opinions. Thankfully I have been rewarded more than expected in the past two months.

🔥
  • Arooj Aftab - Night Reign [more sinister, yet just as great as Vulture Prince. That cut with Moor Mother is one of my favorite songs this year]
  • Charli XCX - brat [it's Charli, babyyyyy. She's in her bag again. Probably not a 10 tho, melon man 😡]
  • The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know [this delights the Pet Sounds fan in me. Sunshine pop lives on in 2024!]
  • Sumac - The Healer [chaotic, free, visceral, and bursting with tension. Naturally, OF COURSE they were playing in Portland in a small venue and I only know about it after the fact. Anyways, thank you @musicjunkiegreg]
  • Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God [as vicious and brutal as the album title would have you believe]
  • Tashi Wada - What is Not Strange? [a wonderful avantgarde/ambient/drone record that will likely go under the radar for most. A beautiful tribute to his father, Tashi Wada, an avantgarde musician in his own right. It helps that Tashi's wife musically holds her own as well]
👍
  • Actress - Statik [much better than some of his recent ho-hum output, pleasantly surprised here]
  • Alcest - Les Chants de l'Aurore
  • Bonny Light Horseman - Keep You on Your Mind / See You Free
  • Contours - Elevations [MFM with another casual W. The trio of "Elevation" tracks have a Steve Reich type of repetition ear candy to them...too bad those tracks aren't longer]
  • Nicolas Gaunin - Wormhole [Moon Glyph also with another casual W]
  • King Hannah - Big Swimmer [I'm a bit disappointed. I adored their 2022 debut full-length; it was my #3 from then (probably still is). The decision to eschew the interesting trip-hop/Americana/slowcore fusion for a central post-punk/indie rock sound is a bit of a letdown, when the overall quantity of these bands is overcrowded. There's still good to be found here, of course! Bet you'll dig it if you like D r y C l e a n i n g]
  • L'Impératrice - Pulsar [bops]
  • Iron & Wine - Light Verse
  • Raveena - Where the Butterflies Go in the Rain [her best effort so far]
  • Malini Sridharan - Tombeaux [what an interesting sounding record! Julia Holter highlighted her last week. Malini's voice is interesting amid a baroque, art pop background...her voice takes elements from Julia and Joanna Newsom, from what I can sense]
  • µ-Ziq - Grush
  • Joey Valence & Brae - NO HANDS [this is dumb fun, and a worthwhile distraction for just over a half hour. Beastie Boys fans might get a kick out of it, though their audience seems more geared towards Gen-Z and younger millennials]
  • Joanna Wang - Hotel La Rut [she's crazy talented. What a whimsical world with unexpected twists and turns, and the variety of sonic palette here screams creative and unique]
🤷‍♂️
  • Chief Keef - Almighty So 2 [a dumb fun distraction]
  • Sam Gendel, Sam Wilkes - The Doober
  • Half Waif - Ephemeral Being (EP)
  • Tim Koh, Sun An - Salt and Sugar Look the Same [not often I'm disappointed with something on the MFM label, but I am in this instance]
  • The Marias - Submarine [I don't get the hype of this band]
  • Nia Archives - Silence is Loud
  • NxWorries - Why Lawd?
  • Thou - Umbilical [not impressed. It's like RYM listened to Thou for the first time collectively and thought this was revolutionary]
  • St. Vincent - All Born Screaming
  • Kamasi Washington - Fearless Movement [over bloated, and any tracks where there's vocals (especially the rapping!!!) are the worst ones]
  • Yaya Bey - Ten Fold [P4K seems to really be infatuated with her. Remember Your North Star is much better tho]
👎
  • ARTMS - (Dall) [about as boring a K-Pop album I've heard recently]
  • Peggy Gou - I Hear You [candidate for worst album art of the year, and the production is lackluster in the back half]
  • claire rousay - sentiment [don't like this new direction. Claire is at her best when making ambient/experimental projects, not this slowcore/bedroom pop/indie hybrid she's going for here. The autotuned vocals especially don't help, it's like she's trying to hard to reach for a new audience]
🤮
  • Gracie Abrams - The Secret of Us [this one is extra lazy. Aside from the plain Jane album art, if you look at the CD release on Discogs, the back cover shows Side A and Side B for the tracklisting...on a 1xCD release. That's without even considering the bland, Jack Antonoff-produced music contained within]
  • Camila Cabello - C,XOXO [probs the worst album I've heard this year. You're four years too late to the hyperpop scene, Camila]
  • Imagine Dragons - LOOM [I mean...]
 
Last edited:
New Washed Out is very one-note, very boring and forgettable. It's a shame because it feels like the most similar to Paracosm (my personal favorite album of his), but every song sounds the same. There's no variation. His sound is very, very predictable at this point. He released a very bad, and poorly received AI music video before the album release. This makes me wonder if he had an AI write an entire Washed Out album because this would be it :unsure:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top