As the old saying goes: If you want to sculpt a statue of an elephant, you just get the biggest granite block you can find — and chip away everything that doesn’t look like an elephant. I am trying to take the same approach to my year-end lists. I start with the giant slab of music contained in The Long List of everything I heard; then I chip away more than half the releases to form this massive, woolly mammoth of everything I wanted to hear again; and finally, I whittle that down to a still-elephantine Short List of ivory-pure excellence that you’ll never forget. Read on:
St. Vincent
All Born Screaming
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There is a figure staggering down the street, lurching through a skewed landscape toward a grim new beginning. Rabid, man-sized; disconsolate and grieving in the violent daylight, the smell of death alive on her clothes. No mask, no costume. In fact — though try not to stare — her office wear is somewhat askew. Even her language is ruptured: what was once tightly refined is now impressionistic and felt. No wonder: “I find myself at the precipice of life and death, and reckoning with that,” says Annie Clark, the musician better known as Grammy-winning iconoclast St. Vincent, on the cusp of releasing her seventh album.
Ever since she covered Big Black’s Kerosene live in 2011 and the subsequent cataclysmic 7” split Krokodil / Grot, fans have known that some evil lurked in Clark’s guitar. (Take it back even further if you like: This is someone whose college noise band was named Skull Fuckers.) On All Born Screaming — the first half, at any rate — that lacerating aggression possesses a St. Vincent album for the first time, unleashing a reeling thrash laced with the formative DNA of Steve Albini at his most corrosive and the ugly, spectacular catharsis of Nine Inch Nails, and opening up a brand-new fracture in her songwriting. “It’s my least funny record,” says Clark with knowing wryness.”
Sam Jr.
Inner Shadow
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dark, edgy, and contemplative, Inner Shadow is the second solo release from Broken Social Scene mainstay and breakthrough indie act Sam Jr. The album intersperses his signature fuzzy, industrial rock tones with his melancholic musings on modern living.
Aside from the musical undertakings, Inner Shadow reveals the breadth of his ingenuity with his involvement in writing, shooting, directing, and editing the accompanying videos. Mixed by frequent collaborator Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above 1979, the album blazes with an electrifying intensity guaranteed to leave an indelible mark to listeners. Sam Jr. shares his creative process: “My inspiration for writing songs was sparked by the easygoing nature of The Dude from The Big Lebowski. I wanted to capture that spirit in my music. Despite our challenges, I believe in embracing optimism and mellow vibes, and I want that to resonate in my songs.”
Greg Saunier
We Sang, Therefore We Were
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: On April 8, 2024, drummer, composer and founding member of Deerhoof Greg Saunier announced his debut solo LP We Sang, Therefore We Were. That founding took place 30 years ago to the day.
“It was 1994 and I was playing in a grunge band in San Francisco,” says Greg. “The two guitarists were literally living with members of the Melvins. Rob Fisk, the bass player, and I had been listening to an AMM CD at home and decided we wanted to give free improv a try. So we came to practice an hour early. That was Deerhoof’s first rehearsal. An hour later our two bandmates walked through the door with the bad news: Kurt Cobain had just been found dead.” Despite the ominous start, Deerhoof have gradually gone on to achieve legendary status in the ears of many, releasing 19 strange and wonderful albums in the process. And during those 30 years, Greg has produced, mixed, composed, or played on hundreds of others (Discogs has him credited on over 300 albums). So it is remarkable that this is, in fact, his very first solo record. He sings and plays all the instruments, save for a few birds who join in now and again.”
Les Savy Fav
Oui, LSF
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s impossible to talk about Les Savy Fav without acknowledging that it’s been more than 10 years since the guys released 2010’s Root For Ruin. But it’s not like they had a messy breakup or quit to become bankers. They just had a lot of living to do.
“When we finished our last record, there was a sense that if we were going to do more, we wanted to do something more ambitious,” frontman Tim Harrington says. “I think it took us a while to even get in a space where that was possible.” Remember, these five men — Harrington, Seth Jabour, Syd Butler, Harrison Haynes and Andrew Reuland — have been friends and collaborators since 1995, when they attended Rhode Island School of Design. It takes a beat to shake old habits. Over the years, they have continued to perform, always on their own terms, but after a stint at Primavera in 2022, they caught the proverbial songwriting bug once more, sharing demos, jamming in Harrington’s attic, and recording through the heap of DIY and esoteric gear Harrington collected over the last decade. The resulting album is a glorious mix of tragedy and comedy — studded with nods to the band’s eclectic musical taste — delightfully weird and utterly them. Album opener Guzzle Blood crashes us into the record like a runaway cop car, setting the tone for the rest of the 14-song suite. “It opens with just a total disillusion — a loss of faith, frustration, anguish,” Harrington says of the song, which speaks of demons haunting your sleep and the battle for salvation.”
Seasick Steve
A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “It’s been almost 20 years since Seasick Steve’s celebrated appearance on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny launched the unknown American singer-songwriter to worldwide fame, and his beat-up three-string Japanese guitar and old wooden stompbox made musical history.
The overwhelming response surprised nobody more than Steve himself, and was like a lightning strike; the impact of which is still being felt close to two decades later, as he has gone onto play almost every major festival in the world, rack up over two million album sales, and release three U.K. Top 10 albums. His new record A Trip A Stumble A Fall Down On Your Knees is a record he proudly calls his favourite to date. “This album was made by mistake, as the title suggests we just tripped and stumbled into it, and it became my favourite album ever and the piece of work I’m most proud of to date. There’s not a week goes by that I don’t thank my lucky stars for that night on the Hootenanny which has brought us here to this record.”
The Secret Beach
We Were Born Here, What’s Your Excuse
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Secret Beach are an ever-shifting group of musicians and co-conspirators orbiting around the songs and voice of Prairie-based songwriter Micah Erenberg.
Unquestionably a musical delight, The Secret Beach’s new 15-song recording We Were Born Here, What’s Your Excuse? is also a subtle nod to the oft-overlooked Canadian province of Manitoba, lazily known to many as either a landlocked frozen tundra or the butt of a joke on The Simpsons (season 16, episode 6), where a sign reads ‘Now Entering Winnipeg. We Were Born Here, What’s Your Excuse?’ This is an album teeming with warmth; its 15 tracks casually unfurl spools of intimate texture, hushed melodies, and a wholly inviting atmosphere that puts the listener virtually in the same room as these timeless tracks. The songs — many barely cracking the two-minute mark — fly effortlessly by, nodding to many major players in the pop canon. The spectre of Elliott Smith hovers over many corners of the record, and indeed, whiffs of Bob Dylan and The Band appear throughout, with the latter uniquely evoked in the album’s organic, live-band feel, and the former’s lyrical mastery mirrored throughout. More contemporary touchstones like Brooklyn indie-folk auteurs Woods and M. Ward are also apparent, and early ’00s heroes Grandaddy are called to mind as well.”
Ty Segall
Three Bells
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Three Bells is a 15-song cycle that takes a journey to the center of the self. Ty Segall has been on this kind of trip before, so he’s souped up a vehicle all his own — a sophisticated machine to take us there this time.
The conception of Three Bells arcs, rainbow-like, into a land nearly beyond songs — but inside of them, Ty relentlessly pushes the walls further and further in his writing and playing to cast light into the most opaque depths.”
Senyawa
Vajranala
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Vajranala sees the Indonesian experimental duo of vocalist Rully Shabara and multi-instrumentalist Wukir Suryadi explore how, over centuries, the natural world has shaped our society, the knowledge systems from which power derives, and why that still resonates today. It’s an exercise in understanding the root of the power (knowledge) discussed in their 2021 release Alkisah.
When it comes to ‘power’, says Senyawa vocalist Shabara, “people will normally think of someone political, but I don’t think that’s the case. The origin of power goes deeper than that.” It’s the shamans, he says, who were the first possessors of power: “If you’re in a village, if you’re considered to have the knowledge to connect people with the realm of the gods, then you will have power before the leader. It’s very fundamental to explore this.” Further to this, Vajranala is a collection of multidisciplinary works that reinterpret the mythology of the land where the Brojonalan Temple (aka Pawon Temple) stands. The work is also accompanied by an installation in the form of a stone relief that is placed on the ground where it was created, serving as an artefact for the future.”
Sex Swing
Golden Triangle
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The locals call it Sop Ruak — 80,000 square miles of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine. “It really is an endless seam of activity,” Sex Swing frontman Dan Chandler explains of Golden Triangle — both the title of their new album and the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that inspired it. To know this contradictory corner of the world is to understand fully why the cult-beloved noise-rock artisans turned to it when writing their third full-length.
The real-life Golden Triangle is a groundswell of both natural wonder and drug production, and who combines beauty and narcotic brutality better than Sex Swing? For a decade now, this collective of revered U.K. underground musicians, comprising members of Earth, Mugstar, The Keep and Jaaw, have been pulling audiences into drug- like slipstreams with their alchemy of pummelling rhythms, towering guitars, and unrelenting saxophone through which glimmers of light occasionally pierce through. No wonder their Golden Triangle is an album telling distortion-shrouded tales from one of the most storied, enigmatic places on the planet, with enough invention within to fill eighty thousand miles and more. Where does this violent, hypnotic aural travelogue take you within the Sop Ruak?”
Nadine Shah
Filthy Underneath
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Nadine Shah worries that too much time might have elapsed between her last album — 2020’s universally acclaimed Kitchen Sink — and its extraordinary successor Filthy Underneath.
Attention spans seem to be ever shrinking and, besides, what gives her the right to think she can sashay back into action and imagine anyone will care? Three years might seem like a prolonged absence to some, but it’s also a period of time in which the apparatus that holds your world in place can be dismantled and reassembled so you can keep living, keep creating. And the more Nadine tells you about the last three years — losing her mother to cancer at the height of lockdown; the suicide attempt that ended her marriage (but not, thankfully, her life); the subsequent period in rehab that slowly endowed her with the tools to outwit the pernicious voices that overwhelmed her — the more incredible it is that she has returned as soon as she has done. Back with a new label, Filthy Underneath chronicles a period of unprecedented turbulence in Shah’s life. And yet, the experience of listening to it is oddly life-affirming — a parade of ghosts spanning the entirety of Nadine’s 37 years, moving with balletic beauty to the music that Nadine and collaborator and producer Ben Hillier have created. For Nadine, this renewed emphasis on placing melody and movement front and centre of the album originated in a period when, ironically, songwriting couldn’t be further from her thoughts.”
Shannon & The Clams
The Moon Is In The Wrong Place
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Moon Is In the Wrong Place is unlike anything else Shannon & The Clams have released. Produced by longtime collaborator Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, the album finds the band evolving in both emotional scope and production, taking their sound from black and white to cascading Technicolor.
It is a triumph sparked by tragedy. In August 2022, singer and frontwoman Shannon Shaw’s world was turned inside out: With mere weeks to go until their wedding, the singer’s fiancé Joe Haener died in a horrific car accident. It was a devastating loss that hit Shannon & The Clams — who were all incredibly close with Haener — with cataclysmic force. From the shock and trauma of that tragedy comes Shannon & The Clams’ latest album, a powerful exploration of loss, time, love, and resilience that stands as the beloved garage band’s most ambitious, emotionally searing recording. The Moon Is In The Wrong Place shows the group ascending to new creative highs, while still weaving in the classic garage-rock and girl-group sounds that have long been a hallmark of their work. This time around, they venture to deeper, farther-out musical locations than before and bring a new sophistication and intricacy to their arrangements, while Shaw’s powerful voice veers between sweetness and snarl — sometimes within the space of a single lyric.”
Sheer Mag
Playing Favorites
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sheer Mag have labored to carve out a discernibly singular position within the canon of contemporary rock: Toggling with ease between the refined flourishes of a “connoisseur’s band” and the ecstatic colloquialism of populist songwriting — yet displaying no strict loyalty to either camp — their sound, while oft-referenced, is unmistakably and immediately recognizable as theirs alone.
On Playing Favorites, Sheer Mag’s third full-length and first with Third Man Records, the band capitalize on a decade’s worth of devotion to their own collective spirit — a spirit refined in both the sweaty trenches of punk warehouses and the larger-than-life glamour of concert halls — emerging with a dense work of gripping emotions, massive hooks, and masterfully constructed power-pop anthems. This is the record the Philadelphian rock ’n’ roll four-piece has always been destined to make.”
Shellac
To All Trains
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “THE BAND: It’s still: Steve Albini ◊ Guitar. Todd Trainer ◊ Drums. Bob Weston ◊ Bass.
This is Shellac’s sixth studio LP. Recording and mixing took place at Electrical Audio in Chicago over a bunch of long weekends in November, 2017; October, 2019; September, 2021; and March, 2022. The record was mas-tered by Bob and Steve at Chicago Mastering Service. Audio quality is paramount, as always, with Shellac. The LPs are being manufactured by Green Vinyl Records using an injection molding process. This new process uses 100% recyclable PET (like soda bottles) and is environmentally friendly, containing no PVC or phthalates. The process also uses 79% less CO2 than conventional hydraulic PVC vinyl presses. The records weigh 180 grams.”
Sleater-Kinney
Little Rope
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There is about grief the necessary aftertaste of dreaming. In the wake of sudden loss — a moment, a person, a way of being brought violently to an end — the thing lost is gone but not its outline, a strange unstable place in which festers all manner of strange unstable thinking. The rules of reality temporarily subside, and mourning makes of the world a negative space.
Plunged without warning into that space, Sleater-Kinney return with Little Rope, one of the finest, most delicately layered records in the band’s nearly 30-year career. To call the album flawless feels like an insult to its intent — it careens headfirst into flaw, into brokenness, a meditation on what living in a world of perpetual crisis has done to us, and what we do to the world in return. On the surface, the album’s 10 songs veer from spare to anthemic, catchy to deliberately hard-turning. But beneath that are perhaps the most complex and subtle arrangements of any Sleater-Kinney record, and a lyrical and emotional compass pointed firmly in the direction of something both liberating and terrifying: the sense that only way to gain control is to let it go.”
The Smile
Wall Of Eyes
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Smile’s new album Wall Of Eyes is the followup to the band’s 2022 debut LP A Light For Attracting Attention, which received critical acclaim from far and wide.
The new album, which was recorded between Oxford and Abbey Road studio, is produced and mixed by previous collaborator Sam Petts-Davies and features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra. The Smile played a series of brilliantly received live shows in the U.S. and Mexico in June and July of this year and released Bending Hectic from the new album in June, having initially debuted the song at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2022. The band also shared the title track from the album, accompanied by a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. The Smile are an English rock band featuring Radiohead members Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, bass, keys) and Jonny Greenwood (guitar, bass, keys), with Tom Skinner (drums).”
The Smile
Cutouts
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Smile — Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner — debuted several songs from Cutouts during the trio’s U.K. tour in March. Cutouts features 10 new tracks and is produced by Sam Petts-Davies. It’s the band’s third studio album following Wall of Eyes and A Light For Attracting Attention.
Cutouts was recorded in Oxford and at Abbey Road Studios during the same period of time as Wall Of Eyes. The album features string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra and the album art was painted during the recording process by Stanley Donwood and Yorke.”
Sonic Youth
Walls Have Ears
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Culled from three 1985 gigs in the U.K. during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s Walls Have Ears appeared as an unauthrozed two-LP set in 1986. It was not just a live album, but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité on par with side B of Master Dik. Withdrawn as quickly as it appeared, it’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.
The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on British soil, picking up on a newfound high profile in the press after their 1983 London debut supporting SPK and Danielle Dax. That particular gig, while admittedly a technically challenged, volumatically room-clearing one for the band, nonetheless wowed music scribes in attendance. This anarchic set cast the New Yorkers in a bit of an exotic light, with Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground. An art-punk band from N.Y.C. sporting casual attitudes and tees featuring Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and Prince made some good copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. For Brits, Sonic Youth repped an all-new avenue apart from the usual 4AD / Rough Trade / Some Bizarre hold on the scene, and were embraced.”
Omar Souleyman
Erbil
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Erbil, the fifth studio album from international dabke singer par excellence Omar Souleyman, pays homage to the city in Iraq that offered him solace and embraced during recent uneasy times.
The move to Erbil came rich with new experiences and friendships best celebrated in joyous songs dedicated to a new chapter of life. Erbil‘s eight tracks see the Syrian wedding singer-turned-global electronic music icon reteaming with his longtime keyboard player Hasan Jamo alo for an ever-ambitious and forward-thinking techno-meets-Dabke sound. Beyond his move to Erbil, the past several years have seen Souleyman receive a GQ Middle East Man Of The Year award in 2022, stage massive live performances in Saudi Arabia, United Emirates and the wider Middle East, and return to the U.S. after a six-year break, with performances in L.A. and N.Y.C., all while touring throughout Europe and the rest of the world.”
Alan Sparhawk
White Roses, My God
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Alan Sparhawk has always been a prolific, protean musician. A restless soul eager to explore unfamiliar sonic and psychic terrain. Though he’s obviously (and justifiably) best-known for his 30 years as frontman of the legendary band Low, a look at his many side projects across that span of time shows him experimenting with everything from punk and funk to production work and improvisation.
Low itself never settled for a set sound or approach. They were always a collaboration — a conversation, a romance — between Sparhawk and his wife Mimi Parker, who was the band’s co-founder, drummer, co-lead vocalist and its blazing irreplaceable heart. To take the journey from Low’s hushed early work, through the tremendous melodies of their middle period, all the way to the late lush chaos of their final albums, is to witness heads, hearts, and spirits in an act of perpetual becoming. Parker passed away in 2022 after a long battle with cancer, and there is no question that White Roses, My God is a record borne of grief. You can hear it in the title, as well as tracks such as Heaven, in which Sparhawk describes the afterlife, wrenchingly, as “a lonely place if you’re alone.” You can sense it too in Sparhawk’s decision to create this thing entirely on his own: Every note, every lyric, every programmed beat. It would be reductive, even foolish, to see grief as the sole source or the final limit of this taut, brilliant, provocative, thrilling album, whose bold experimentation is powered by profound lyrics and propulsive beats.”
Jon Spencer
Sick Of Being Sick!
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For his latest relaese Sick Of Being Sick!, the legendary Jon Spencer has teamed up with Kendall Wind and Macky Spider Bowman — the former rhythm section of beloved Woodstock punk-rock wunderkinds The Bobby Lees — to chew bubblegum and kick ass. And he’s all out of bubblegum.
Two years after his magnificent full-length Spencer Gets It Lit, it turns out there is still more work to be done saving rock ’n’ roll. Not that it’s his fault. After all, Spencer has been innovative force in the independent music scene since the mid-’80s. An acclaimed live performer, he has toured all the continents except Antarctica and has amassed a dizzying discography as the leader of Pussy Galore, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Heavy Trash and Jon Spencer & the HITmakers, in addition to his work with Boss Hog, The Honeymoon Killers, The Gibson Brothers and Taxi Girls.”
States Of Nature
Brighter Than Before
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Brighter Than Before, the new full-length album from Oakland’s States of Nature, features 10 songs that blend elements of post-hardcore, psych, garage, and straight up rock ’n’ roll.
The first single New Foundations may have an uplifting dance punk vibe to it, but lyrically it is on the darker side. As the band say: “Lyrically, the song takes a bleak look at the world around us. Raised in a post-9/11 world, the song observes the way paranoia shapes decision-making that is harmful and destructive. This directly ties to what’s happening today homelessness and the housing crisis in California. There are policy decisions happening at state and local levels that intentionally make it harder to build new housing, also pushed by positions the public holds around conservation of city aesthetics and a complete misunderstanding of why people are on the streets in the first place.”
Billy Strings
Highway Prayers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Highway Prayers, the new studio album from Grammy-winning singer, songwriter and musician Billy Strings, was produced by Strings and Jon Brion (Fiona Apple, Mac Miller, Aimee Mann).
The album includes 20 original songs including the first single Leadfoot. Written by Strings, the song features Strings on vocals, banjo, bass, steel guitar, EBow electric guitar and 1972 Chevrolet Chevelle, along with Matt Chamberlain on drums. Recorded in Los Angeles and Nashville, the album features Strings and his longtime band — Billy Failing (banjo, vocals), Royal Masat (bass, vocals), Jarrod Walker (mandolin, vocals) and Alex Hargraves (fiddle) — as well as additional contributions from Brion (bass, drums, percussion), Chamberlain (drums), Jerry Douglas (dobro), Jason Carter (fiddle), Lindsay Lou (backing vocals), Nathaniel Smith (cello), Taneka Samone (backing vocals), Cory Henry (piano), Peter “Madcat” Ruth (harmonica, jaw harp) and Victor Furtado (clawhammer banjo).”
Swami & The Bed of Nails
All Of This Awaits You
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Swami & The Bed Of Nails — featuring Swami John Reis (Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt and more) — have just released their debut album All Of This Awaits You. Produced by Reis and mixed by Ben Moore, the album was born out of the final Hot Snakes writing sessions in 2023. After the passing of his longtime friend and bandmate Rick Froberg, the songs on this nine-song album document a challenging time of reflection and redirection.
“We were all very excited about the initial recordings, and the songs set the bar high,” Reis recalls of those 2023 sessions. “As I continued writing, I started to notice some songs would likely have an eventual home on a different record of some kind. This music branched off and I figured I’d revisit it sometime in the years to come, with 2024 being an exciting year for Hot Snakes. Lots of good times planned ahead. When Rick suddenly passed, I was completely heartbroken and shellshocked. The loss continues to be something I have trouble navigating. This record is the songs of that tributary.”
Swamp Dogg
Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Not a lot of people talk about the true origins of bluegrass music, but it came from Black people,” Swamp Dogg says. “The banjo, the washtub, all that stuff started with African Americans. We were playing it before it even had a name. I’m trying to touch on every kind of music I grew up loving and listening to. This is my way of letting people know that I’m not just a soul singer or whatever they think I am. I’m so much more.”
Blackgrass, Swamp Dogg’s remarkable 2024 album, is no history lesson, though. Produced by Ryan Olson (Bon Iver, Poliça) and recorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras and Kenny Vaughan, the collection is a riotous blend of past and present, mixing the sacred and the profane in typical Swamp Dogg fashion as it blurs the lines between folk, roots, country, blues, and soul. The tracklist is an eclectic one — brand-new originals and vintage Swamp Dogg classics sit side by side with reimaginings of ’70s R&B hits and timeless ’50s pop tunes — but the performances are thoroughly cohesive, filtering everything through a progressive Appalachian lens that nods to tradition without ever being bound by it.”
