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:
Thank
I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Thank’s concoction of anxious disco grooves, harsh noise freakouts and inscrutable sprechgesang bluster was borne out of their hometown of Leeds’ notorious — and now sadly defunct — DIY collective Chunk. After the release of their 2022 debut LP Thoughtless Cruelty and a smattering of EPs and splits, they are back with their sophomore album I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed, a volatile yet joyously cathartic post-punk record.
I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed is a brash, satirical and downright stomping full length that melds the raw ferocity of the band’s early work with the ambitious arrangements and electronic experimentation of their more recent output. The end result combines hardware techno squelch, jungle-inspired drumming, synth pop bombast and anarcho-punk spartan aggression, acid-fried and internet-poisoned with a shit-eating grin on its face, landing somewhere akin to The Cure’s The Head On The Door if it was remixed by Jenny Death-era Death Grips.”
The The
Ensoulment
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The word ‘soul’ has been a recurring one in the story of The The: From Matt Johnson’s 1981 neo-psychedelic debut album Burning Blue Soul, through the shapeshifting musicality of its 1983 successor Soul Mining, and now with the name of his amorphous band’s latest release Ensouled.
The dictionary definition of ensoul is ‘to endow with a soul’. “It’s a fascinating idea,” says Johnson. “At what point does the soul inhabit the body? But, more pertinently, we’re in this era of nascent AI technology, and the philosophical musings and debates that are going on now about the meaning of being human.” Encompassing characteristic topics ranging from love and sex, war and politics, and life and death — to the meaning of what it is to be human in the 21st century — Ensoulment was written, demoed and mixed at Studio Cinéola in London, Johnson’s creative base.”
Linda Thompson
Proxy Music
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Revered British singer-songwriter Linda Thompson’s latest project — the aptly named Proxy Music — features artists who were handpicked by Linda and her son (and album co-producer) Teddy Thompson to record a new set of her tunes by proxy.
Thompson has limited singing capabilities now due to a rare vocal condition known as spasmodic dysphonia. So Proxy Music — here first album in more than 10 years — impressively showcases her songwriting range and prowess. Tracks like Darling This Will Never Do and Mudlark hold a timeless quality, while Those Damn Roches and John Grant (sung by John Grant himself) boast very modern sensibilities. Proxy Music contains performances from longtime friends and admirers like Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Eliza Carthy, The Proclaimers, Dori Freeman and Grant, along with many talented Thompsons, including her children Teddy and Kami, and her ex-husband Richard Thompson playing guitar on several tracks. “Music in my family,” Thompson shares. “It’s like glue. It binds us.”
Richard Thompson
Ship To Shore
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “To be moving is better than to be standing still,” Richard Thompson says, and he should know. The influential singer-songwriter and virtuosic guitarist has been on a singular musical journey for over a half century, from his days in the ’60s as a pioneer of British folk-rock with Fairport Convention, to his seminal ’70s duo work with Linda Thompson, to the exploratory, deeply emotional music of the solo career that has been his primary concern ever since.
In 2018 Thompson released his 19th solo album, the critically acclaimed 13 Rivers, and now, five years later, he has followed it up with his latest communication Ship To Shore. The time taken between these efforts is something like an eternity for the prolific artist, but there was a reason: “Covid kind of halted everything for two-and-a-half years,” he explains. But once Thompson began writing again, new songs came in a burst of inspiration. And much like a ship to shore himself, the artist was instinctively drawn to his own musical roots, employing them in the service of fashioning a deep and diverse 12-track collection that pulls from various styles, genres and eras, but remains unmistakably Thompson. “I liked the idea of having a strong base to work from and reaching out from there,” he says. “And I think of my base as being British traditional music, but there’s also Scottish music, there’s Irish music. There’s jazz and country and classical. As far as I’m concerned, once you establish your base you can reach out anywhere. It’ll still be you ringing through, wherever you decide to go musically.”
Thus Love
All Pleasure
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the age of streaming platforms and social media, stimulation is easy to come by. Real pleasure, however — the kind that feeds our soul rather than draining it — is in shockingly short supply. The second LP by Thus Love is full of that kind of nourishing euphoria. It swoons, shakes, and swaggers with a combination of grit and sensuality that’s been hard to locate in music lately. It’s called, fittingly, All Pleasure.
The group convened in a barn in the woods that had been transformed into a recording studio, and kept one rule at the forefront: “If it’s not joyful, don’t do it.” What emerged from that mission is a stunningly gorgeous album, full of big, arcing melodies and a range of kinky stylistic twists that will surprise listeners who know the group just for Memorial’s chorus-drenched ’80s-style psychedelia. Birthday Song gives grungy glam rock with a transcendent hook that underlines Echo’s lyrical tribute to communal joy. Get Stable transmutes existential panic into sharp-angled punk pop.”
Tindersticks
Soft Tissue
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Tindersticks’ 14th album Soft Tissue showcases their exploratory spirit, mixing intimate songwriting with experimental soundscapes. The album evolves from their previous work, balancing introspective lyrics with innovative musical textures.
The bandmembers, including singer Stuart Staples, emphasize the collaborative nature of the creation process, fostering a dynamic dialogue that shapes their music. Key tracks like New World and Always A Stranger highlight this blend of personal reflection and sonic exploration, underscoring the band’s enduring ambition and versatility. Stuart says: “Musically, it seemed that since 2016’s The Waiting Room, the band’s output had been reactionary. The last two Tindersticks have been so opposed to each other — 2019’s No Treasure But Hope was an extremely naturalistic recording process — due in part as a reaction to the previous few years of experimental projects and in turn as a reaction to this purity 2021’s Distractions became one of the band’s most dense, experimental albums. It felt like time to stop lurching to these extremes and to find a way to marry the rigour of the songwriting and the joy of the band playing together with a more hard-nosed experimental approach.”
Tropical Fuck Storm
Inflatable Graveyard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Australia’s Tropical Fuck Storm — Gareth Liddiard, Fiona Kitschin, Erica Dunn and Lauren Hammel — cordially welcome you to Inflatable Graveyard, their debut live album. It captures their 2022 show in Chicago, at the peak of the Fuck the Rain Away tour.
The performance, which spans 11 songs and over an hour of music, contains highlights from their three studio albums (2018’s A Laughing Death in Meatspace, 2019’s Braindrops, and 2021’s Deep States), accompanied by a pair of covers (Ann by The Stooges and Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees). Consider Inflatable Graveyard a greatest-hits album in the purest sense: Their eldritch psychedelic ethos trapped on wax, raw and unfiltered.”
Uniform
American Standard
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “American Standard begins with a shock. Vocalist Michael Berdan stands alone, screaming, “A part of me, but it can’t be me. Oh God, it can’t.” It all starts with an admission. Beneath the harrowing screams, there’s the pain of bulimia nervosa.There’s the pain of a sickness that is as physical as it is psychological. This is a kind of emergence.
American Standard is surely Uniform’s most thematically accomplished and musically self assured album to date. Sections spiral and explode. Motifs drift off into obscurity before reasserting themselves with new power. Genres collide and burst open, form-ing something idiosyncratic and new. There’s a grandeur, due in part to the addition of Interpol bassist Brad Truax alongside the percussive push and pull of returning drummer Michael Sharp and longtime touring drummer Michael Blume, marking his Uniform recorded debut here. However, this magnificence is most clearly attributable to the scale and power of guitarist and founder Ben Greenberg’s arrangements, matching ever elegantly to the intense lyrical subject matter. Without a shred of doubt, American Standard is a work of art, agonizing in its honesty and relentless in its pursuit of sonic transcendence. It is hideous. It is beautiful. It is necessary.”
Vampire Weekend
Only God Was Above Us
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Only God Was Above Us is the fifth studio album — and first in five years — from Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig, Chris Baio and Chris Tomson. Inspired and haunted by 20th-century New York City, the album was recorded all over the world, from Manhattan to Los Angeles to London and Tokyo. Only God Was Above Us was primarily produced by Koenig and longtime collaborator Ariel Rechtshaid, and was mixed by Dave Fridmann.
The beginnings of Only God Was Above Us stretch back to 2019 and 2020, when Koenig wrote the bulk of the lyrics. The 10-track opus is the product of nearly five years spent refining, reworking and gradually shaping those lyrical and melodic structures to take Vampire Weekend to a new creative peak. The album is direct yet complex, showing the band at once at its grittiest, and also at its most beautiful and melodic. Only God Was Above Us is nothing short of a definitive statement — one that begins on a playfully profane and confrontational note, and runs a gauntlet of emotions, experiences, characters and stories, before ending on an unambiguous note of acceptance… and quite literally hope.”
Various Artists
Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats: Songs Of The Clash
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “People can change anything they want to, and that means anything in the world,” said Joe Strummer.
Benefiting the International Rescue Committee, the compilation Hearts & Minds & Crooked Beats invites bands and visual artists to create work inspired by The Clash and celebrating their music and human rights message. The album features tracks from The Dandy Warhols, Teke::Teke, Mirah, Smokey Brights, Sean Barna, The Gotobeds, Big League, Labasheeda, Julia Massey of Warren Dunes, and The Rust and The Fury.”
Various Artists
The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Power Of The Heart: A Tribute To Lou Reed is a star-studded album celebrates the pioneering singer-songwriter’s enduring influence — as well as the timeless appeal of his songs — through performances by some of Lou Reed’s closest friends and musical peers.
The lineup includes Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, The Afghan Whigs, Bobby Rush, Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen, Mary Gauthier and Automatic. Blending generation-defining hits like I’m Waiting for the Man, Walk On The Wild Side and Perfect Day with lesser-known gems, the collection spans the artist’s five-decade-long career, from his earliest days with The Velvet Underground to his groundbreaking solo work.”
Various Artists
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “As always in my songs, the themes are all there — transcendence, positivity and global unity through music,” says Jesse Malin. “This is what I love to do, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep doing it.”
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin is both a tribute and benefit album, with all proceeds to Malin’s Sweet Relief artist fund. “This record is also a dynamite and long-overdue awareness project, non-stop star time in vigorously personal twists on behalf of a great rock ’n’ roll songbook,” writes longtime supporter David Fricke. Long a contributor to other people’s causes, Malin is grateful to all the musicians who have rallied around him, including Bruce Springsteen, Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello, The Hold Steady, Tommy Stinson, Alison Mossheart with the late, great Wayne Kramer, Tom Morello, Counting Crows, Dinosaur Jr., The Wallflowers, Spoon, Susanna Hoffs, Frank Turner and Rancid, among others.”
Alan Vega
Insurrection
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Insurrection is a previously unreleased album by Brooklyn-born master of minimalism Alan Vega. The 11 songs on Insurrection showcase the unparalleled vision and uncompromising force from one of the most influential artists of all time.
Vega’s wife and collaborator Liz Lamere says of the album, “Insurrection was created in the time period around 1997/’98, after Mutator and prior to Vega’s 1999 release of 2007 and captures the intense energy of N.Y.C. in the ’90s rife with crime, killing, hate, fascism, racism, and moral bankruptcy. You can hear the tortured souls floating through this album.” Fellow Vega collaborator Jared Artaud says, “Insurrection hits hard and shows the power and intensity of Alan Vega’s visionary solo work. It feels like he was trying to break new ground. There’s always a kind of magic that goes into working on Vega’s music. I feel like he was tapped into some other dimension. One hand in the gutter and one hand in the stars.”
