First Listen: Catching Up on the Last Few Weeks
Album: Where Do We Go From Here?
Quick Thoughts: A favorite album of mine from many years back was Amy McDonald's This is the Life, which mixed the sort of singer-songwriter aesthetic with an Irish folk sensibility. Izzie Walsh, the Manchester UK native, is not a 1:1 comparison, but it comes close. This album combines the sort of rootsy energy that so much of the folk world ignores with some modern sensibilities, and before long you find yourself singing the chorus to "Human Touch" for days upon days. Don't sleep on this one.
Songs of Note: "Where Do We Go From Here," "Human Touch," "British Summertime Rain," "No Hard Feelings," "Took Her Heart"
Album: The Gem
Quick Thoughts: We've been Julia Jacklin fans around these parts for a while, and her absence since Pre-Pleasure from four years ago was definitely noticed by me at least. I did not expect to love this new album as much as I did, however. Jacklin knows how to craft a song, but there's something a little more substantive and fragile in this album that really speaks to me. "Walk on Me" in particular is a song that stuck with me from first listen and wouldn't let go. Welcome back!
Songs of Note: "If I Had the Hand of God," "Get Away From Me (I Think I'll Love You Soon)," "Walk on Me," "I Wish"
Album: Violins
Quick Thoughts: The latest from Blondshell does not make a change to the successful formula, but maintains the sort of strident, angry singer-songwritery crunch we've come to love. Why is this so great, though? It's defininitely less shoegazey than the prior albums and perhaps more direct, and arguably a little more mainstream-friendly, but whatever we want to call it, songs like "Heart Has to Work So Hard" is a sharp dagger of a song and "Stone Fruit" the sort of alt-rock-adjacent piece that resonates long after it's over. Really, it's just a great album and worth your time.
Songs of Note: "Violins," "Heart Has to Work So Hard," "Stone Fruit," "Two Fried"
Album: Dancing Alone on the Concrete
Quick Thoughts: Maybe my most anticipated album of October, Stef Chura came out of hibernation to production from Elephant Six bandleader Robert Schneider and assistance from Mike Mills and Peter Buck of R.E.M. to put together an indie rock record that borrows a bit from all sides of those influences. "Danny" is the standout track here, but it's difficult for me to not love the rest of this album and the way it dances between all sorts of concepts. Here's to hoping we don't need to wait as long for the next chapter.
Songs of Note: "Leadweight," "Babydoll," "Thunder and Lightning," "Danny," "Heavy Hitter"
Album: A Mile South of Heaven
Quick Thoughts: While we've had our share of roots-adjacent stuff this month, Jess Williamson is in full twang mode here, and it's great. Whether it's great traditional-sounding songs like the title track, or the truly addictive "Tracking the Tropics," this one is a slow burn of a record that offers a ton to love.
Songs of Note: "Goodbye to All That," "A Mile South of Heaven," "Tracking the Tropics," "Dark Day in Dallas," "Battle Scar"
Album: While the Flood Rages
Quick Thoughts: While a lot of the reason I haven't been keeping up is the general state of the world and my existence within it, the other reason is that I've been listening to a ridiculous amount of ambient music as of late. Max Richter, who made a splash a decade ago with his From Sleep album, offers another record of meditative ambient compositions, many of which are some of the more gorgeous things I've heard in some time. "Quiet" feels classic in its approach, but I was surprised by "Data Ballistics," which has significantly more edge to it than I anticipated and somehow sounds exactly like its title. This won't be for everyone, but it was absolutely for me.
Songs of Note: "Quiet," "Data Ballistics"
Album: Instant Validation
Quick Thoughts: A debut album from someone who features a collaborative cover of The Cranberries with Sufjan Stevens? Sign me up! This is a great singer-songwriter album, for sure, but if "Gone Girl" doesn't feel like it came straight out of 1970s radio in all the best ways, I don't know what to tell you. A great listen, and one of my favorites of the month.
Songs of Note: "Gone Girl," "Dreams," "Monumental"
Of Note:
* Nino Josele - Bajani (Great instrumental Spanish guitar music.)
* Margo Cilker - Little White Cross (Solid roots record.)
* Kyle Gordon - Kyle Gordon is Everywhere (Comedy records don't always work, but this one is pitch-perfect in execution.)
* Jade Jackson - Jadine
* Superfan - My Piledriver Heart
* Fontaines DC - Dopamine Chamber
* Alien Boy - Rearrange My Mind
* Jonathan Something - One More Lonesome Cowboy Song
* Daniele Luppe - Wilma
* Dummy - do you love the color of the sky?
* Storefront Church - Blue Movie
* The Sorry Kisses - Forever in a Memory
* AJJ - Dirty Old Power
* Uche Yara - Bodyscanner
* Fixions - The Power and the Glory
* The Avalanches - No Bad Memories
* Eels - Cookie Happened
* Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn - Goodbye for Now
* Lorne Behrman - If Heaven Didn't Hurt
* Karen y Los Remedius - Bestiaria
* Drug Store Raid - Pop Songs for People Who Might Get Killed
* Miss June - PLAYFIGHT
* more eaze - valley and structure
* Joy Olakadun - Hope is a Heavy Thing
* Dylan Cartridge - Lucky Shot
* Your Old Droog - Bread and Butter
* Struktur - Levitation
* The Klittens - Have a Heart
* Queen of Jeans - hard/SWEET
* Space Ghost - Back From Reality
* Jordie Lane - Habitual
* Holy Tongue - Basilikum
* Maddie Medley - Fawn's Enemy
* Belbury Poly - Sorcery
* Death Valley Girls - Welcome to Earth
* Kee Avil - Vapor
* Ørdop Wolkenscheidt - Stallmeister Rittich vs. The Machine
* Bodega - All Inside Aquarium
* V.V. Lightbody - Period Piece
* Girl Ultra - RRRomeo
* Tobe Nwigwe - The Bridge
* slimdan - Focus Group
* Marlina Herlop - Dja Dja
* The Talking Hearts - Memory Lane
* Drink the Sea - Drink the Sea III
* 7ebra - How to Land a Plane
* Protomartyr - Hotel Usona
* K-Man and The 45s - Heed the Call
* LUXY - Citizen's Arrest
* Matt Pond PA - Permanent Change (Part 1)
* Axel Boman and Superpitcher - Tell It To The Mountain
* heavensouls - cantu of the sower
* Pink Slip - Bathtub Madonna
* Twin Temple - Doomed Lovers
* Vril - KRUX
* Darren Hayman - I'm Your Team
* Suzanne Sundfor and Kit Downes - Revelations of Divine Love
* Sheryl Crow - Pick You Up
* Sandurn - The Underworld
* Chad Crouch - Panthertown Valley Soundwalk
* fish narc - Uncle
* Imperial Teen - All Over You
* Greg Freeman - All Set the Bone
* Tramhaus - Blister
* The Album Leaf - A Body of Voices
* Johnny Marr - The Age of Everything
* Dawn Richard - Creole Culture
* Allison de Groot and Rich Ruth - Allison de Groot and Rich Ruth
* Bullion - Nearly
* Logic1000 - Confirmation!
* claire rousay - on holding
* Phoebe Green - Premature Nostalgia
* Lillith - Obsessions
* Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - RUIN: It's Not Just Music
* Kimaya Diggs - Green
* Ian Noe - Canyon Falls Trailer Band
* The Endorphins - The Ephemeral Mind
* Blue Lake - Routine
* The Catburgers - Galashiels
* Wishy - Nature's Pill
* Jules Reidy - Clerestory
* Koen Holtkamp - Nightlife
* Dev Lemons - hunting what we already killed
* Emily A Sprague - Cyano
* Daniel Bachman - The Witness Tree
* Tom Morello - Everyone Gets Everything They Want
* Holy Motors - Heaven's Night
* Fat Dog - Cancel Me (I'm Tired)
* Pardoner - Target Practice
* Helen - Linda's Head
* tankerlow - Slagroom
* Geologist and Kyle Simon - The Sirens
* claire rousay and Martyna Basta - hotel room
* The Sewing Club - Sew
* Saint Abdullah and Eomac - When the Sandbox Has No Edge
* Clutter - Sugar Rush
* Caspian - Caspian
* Catie Turner - Blue Alchemy
* CLAMM - And in Glue
* Tinie Tempah - The Night's Not Dead
EPs:
* Fatima Al Qadiri - 3TWI
* Nikki Nair - Majestic Animals EP
* PVA - A Dream Like This
* Palm Ghosts - Love Factions
* Alex the Astronaut - The Weird One
* 3 the Hardway - hotcakes
* Invild Flottorp - In the Wind
* Grave Goods - Reality, Swallow Me
* Miss Madeline - Chemical Spring
* Lande Hekt - Threadbare
Live Albums / Compilations / Reissues:
* Maximilian Hecker - Infinite Love Songs (25th Anniversary Edition) (Arguably the most slept-on album of the early 2000s.)
* Tropical Fuck Storm - Inflatable Graveyard, Vol. 2
* Jonah ParzenJohnson and Lau Nau - Live in Italy
* Weakened Friends - Live From Hell
* Gin Blossoms - Gin Blossoms' Idiot Summer
* Orbital - Glastonbury 1994
* Djrum - DJ-Kicks
Also Out:
* Dylan Thom - The Day
* Pet Shop Boys - A man from the future
