Well, it’s hard to believe, but we’ve already made it halfway through 2024. And what a year it’s been so far! I feel I have been uniquely blessed this year with incredible circ*mstances and great music! 2024 will be my first full year as a father, and what an amazing opportunity that has been! I’d say my music listening habits of 2024 have been well within the parameters of what some would call “Dad Rock”, but that’s been my bread and butter for a while now. As of late, I’ve been particularly entranced by the music of The National—the Sad Dads themselves—especially their 2023 albums First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track. But the thing is, I wasn’t a fan of these albums when they came out. In my mind, all of the songs ran together and gave me nothing to clutch onto. However, my opinion has since changed dramatically. Slowly, but surely, the songs on these records have made deep impressions on me, and now I wish I had included them on my Top 20 of 2023 end-of-year list. The National aren’t alone in this. There are several records I feel bad about snubbing.
Pulling together a “Best Albums of the Year” list can be difficult, especially if you’re like me and listen to many different types of music. You want to create something that will age well, adequately reflect what the year was like, and most of all something unique. To choose albums that will make your list “age well” you’ve got to pick things that will likely remain relevant to you in the future. The first time I can remember making a list like this was in 2016 and I put Starboy by The Weeknd as my number one album of the year. Nearly eight years later I still like the album (although I’m probably not calling it my favorite of 2016) and it seems an effective portrayal of the state of music and my state of mind back then. But if I tried to list the best albums of 2016 right now, Starboy is nowhere near the top 10. Not with albums like Bon Iver’s 22 A Million, David Bowie’s Blackstar, Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo, Solange’s A Seat at the Table, Teens of Denial by Car Seat Headrest, and freakin’ Frank Ocean’s Blonde to compete with.
Dave Mustaine said it best: “Hindsight is always 20-20”.
(I realize that most of you won’t get this reference, but I still think it’s funny.)
There are several reasons why the following albums got snubbed, including but not limited to,
I never got around to them until after the year ended,
I forgot to include them,
I’m already a different person than I was 6 months ago
So without further ado, let’s talk about some of these albums.
This is a post I have wanted to do for a while, but it has only been recently, (as in the past month or so), that the most recent records from The National have ingrained themselves into my soul. It might seem like cheating to include both albums rather than just choosing my favorite between the two, but I haven’t been able to pick my favorite yet. Both records capture with great somberness, intensity, and tastefulness how it feels to live with depression. The lead singer and songwriter Matt Berninger has said that these records were the arduous result of his overcoming a debilitating period of depression and writer’s block. The lyrics reflect those feelings and ideas poignantly. In “This Isn’t Helping” featuring Phoebe Bridgers, Berninger delves into the feelings of frustration and alienation that come with it, “It isn't fair how you never look like you're trying/ As if you couldn't care any less/ And I'm here kicking myself to keep from crying/ You say you're impressed/ But this isn't helping at all”. It should also be noted how brilliantly Bridgers's vocal delivery pairs with Berninger’s despondent baritone. Their chemistry carries a ghostly warmth, and it’s great that they collaborate twice more on “Your Mind is Not Your Friend” and “Laugh Track”. Laugh Track and First Two Pages of Frankenstein contain some of Berninger’s best uses of imagery and some of the band’s best production. I would be remiss not to mention “New Order T-Shirt”, “Tropic Morning News”, “Space Invader” and “Smoke Detector”, all of which are some of the best songs the band has ever made. It’s so cool to see a band that’s been around this long continue to deliver these great slow-burn albums, albums that reward returning and immersing.
Now let’s switch gears a little bit. I fully realize that most people reading this aren’t going to like this album. That’s totally ok with me. I think part of the fun with Metal and other extreme forms of music is the nicheness. It’s an acquired taste for sure. One of the biggest problems with my 2023 list, I later discovered, was the criminal lack of Metal albums present. I don’t know why, but Metal totally slipped my mind while I was making that list. 2023 was a fantastic year for Metal! Some great Metal records from 2023 include: Blackbraid’s Blackbraid II, Jesus Piece’s …So Unknown, Make Them Beg For Death by Dying Fetus, 93696 by Liturgy, Tomb Mold’s The Enduring Spirit, just to name a few. But the one Metal album I found myself coming back to the most was Homicical Ecstasy by Sanguisugabogg.
What makes Homicidal Ecstasy so great is it’s ability to swing. Sanguisugabogg are a pretty interesting band to talk about. They’re not really Death Metal, Grindcore, or Hardcore, but rather an effective combination of all. They probably lean more Death Metal if anything, but they’re not exactly respected by most Death Metal fans. Plus, they often get written off as a “meme band” because of their ridiculous name. It’s a shame, because I think they rock. Sanguisugabogg literally swings, it’s as if deep down they’ve internalized the bounciness of Hardcore and the grooviness of Pantera. Homicidal Ecstasy is Death Metal you can dance to, (mosh to). If you like Dying Fetus, you will like this band. If you like to headbang, you will like this band.
It seems like every year there is an Indie Rock album that everyone online seems to love, and I’m always hesitant to try it out. I don’t know why I can’t just enjoy things that people like. I think part of me wants to have a pure music listening experience, mentally and emotionally removed from the hype. Last year that album was Blue Rev by Alvvays, which is such an amazing album. I’m still beating myself up a little for waiting as long as I did to finally check it out. This year that album was Rat Saw God by the North Carolinan Alt Rock band Wednesday. I’ve heard this band pitched as a combination of Smashing Pumpkins and Drive-By Truckers, which is a pretty accurate description. They’re an Alt Rock band with shoegaze tendencies, muscular riffs, rural coded lyrics, and a twang. It’s like someone grew them in a lab with me in mind. Rat Saw God is more than a great album, it’s a world. Listening to it is like being carried through a Faulkner novel. The instrumentals maintain a crushing warmth throughout, leaving you feeling like you’re tripping in a bog. Paired with Karly Hartzman’s sour croons, it’s a truly compelling listening experience. Hartzman’s vocals are the one thing that I think might be difficult for some to appreciate. She sort of exists on the periphery of female indie vocalists that sound exactly like Adrienne Lenker, (which I’m not complaining about. I’m perfectly fine with as much of that as I can get my grubby hands on.) Her vocal style is like a combination of Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel and Dolores O’Riordan from The Cranberries. She allows her voice to bend and break, flexing into and out of vocal cracks like a warbling steel guitar. All the while, her performance bleeds with emotion. It carries you through the songs, showing you this world of hot rotten grass, newspaper wrapped cocaine stuffed in the wall, tepid bath water, and sex shops with biblical names.
I discovered this album for myself sometime around the beginning of 2024. It release in November of 2023, and Full Body 2 isn’t a band I’d ever heard of. The best way I can describe this album is that it sounds like it was brought to us from an alternate future. FB2 is a Shoegaze band, and I know all the youngins are clamoring for Shoegaze these days, but they bring a cool glitchy/digital element to the table that sets them apart, and arguably above, most of the new Shoegaze bands I’m hearing nowadays. It’s like my bloody valentine and Oneohtrix Point Never had a beautiful, beautiful baby boy. It’s a listening experience unlike any other, and if you’re a Shoegaze head like myself, you should keep an eye on them.
What an album! I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve arrived at the Lana Del Rey train late. I’m still unpacking the reasons why, but I think it probably boils down to
Being turned off by the fandom
Being unwilling to engage with her aesthetic
and a manifestation of my internalized misogyny (lol but true)
Aesthetics are such a key component of what Lana Del Rey does. Her music is about storytelling through imagery, embracing debauchery in both fashionable and unfashionable ways. She has a strong understanding of her artistic strengths and weaknesses. Her uses of aesthetics and the creation/cultivation of her Pop culture character helps her to overcome those weaknesses in a compellingly effective way. Like I said before, It’s been difficult for me to become sold on her as a character and an artist, but this album (I’m not typing the full name) has been crucial to my conversion. Songs like the title track, “Let the Light In” featuring Father John Misty and “Paris, Texas” featuring SYML, are some of the best she’s ever made in my opinion. Her chemistry with FJM especially was entrancing.
I still think there’s value, especially for her more devoted fans, in her earlier work. Songs like “Video Games” and “National Anthem” will forever be cultural touchstones of the 2010s. However, if you want to hear Lana’s artistry fully realized, and at it’s most tasteful and effective, look no further than this record.
~
Anyway, I hope y’all enjoyed this list. I’ve been wanting to make this post for a while, and this week felt like a good time to finally do it! My hope is that I won’t have to make a post like this again, but I’m not perfect. The goal is to make my 2024 end-of-the-year list more comprehensive, and therefore less likely to snub great records. No guarantees.
For want of deliverance from the clutches of internalized masculinity,
Lewis
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