Most of my year in music was spent paying tribute (via my ears) to my fallen rock and roll heroes. Ozzy, Brian Wilson, Ace Frehley, Sly Stone, Rick Davies–OH HOLD ON GARTH HUDSON DIED?!? WHAT THE FUCK? All the way back in January too. How did I not hear about this? Damn dude, all the members of The Band are dead.
Anyways, this means I didn’t devote a lot of time to new music. At least not a lot of new music. I listened to my number one album on this list like fifty bajillion times. Which is why it’s number one.
I didn’t see any trends worth following this year. It feels like pop music is back in hibernation after having a banner year in 2024. Everyone’s back to hating Taylor Swift like the old days. Let’s see… KPop Demon Hunters. That was cool right? This list goes out to the demons!–I mean, the demon hunters. Fuck. I’m still so mad about Garth Hudson.
Honorable Mention
Golden Shitters – Brutal Planet
FKA Twigs – Eusexua Afterglow
Every Black Sabbath album I listened to.
Sometimes seeing an artist live makes you appreciate why some people are up on a stage playing for thousands and others are in the crowd double fisting hot dogs filming the whole show on their phone.
Gigi’s brand of bittersweet folk pop isn’t my usual kind of music but with her intimate lyrics and robust vocals I’ve been converted. I mean, what goes together better than heartbreak and being on a beach? I’ve seen Cast Away.
I can never anticipate what a Tyler, the Creator album is going to sound like, or what I want a Tyler, the Creator album to sound like. Do I want more hip hop? More pop? Do I want him pissed off on a song like “She,” or sounding like soul/pop balladeer overdosing on helium like on “Earfquake”? What is thy special alchemy thou doth crave?
Turns out it’s Don’t Tap the Glass: a synthy, electro-funk party with equal parts pop, soul, and classic hip hop. Led by the undeniable single “Sugar On My Tongue,” Tyler feels playful and precise with memorable grooves. The album never settles, pivoting from slick basslines to sweet harmonies. It’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s tender, it’s Tyler.
RIP Tyler’s taxi cab.
I fell hard for South London quintet Shame’s debut Songs of Praise back in 2018. Then a pandemic happened, and I lost track of everything. I was shocked and appalled to discover they’re now on their FOURTH album. Like Jesus, where the fuck have I been? Do I have brain fog?
It’s a SHAME (heh, heh) because the band has remained in top form, keeping the spirit of Britpop alive alongside bands like Fontaines D.C. Cutthroat, much like its name suggests, is relentless. The album gangs up on you like a crowd of rowdy soccer hooligans and beats you to a bloody pulp with the title track. But then, resuscitates you with heavenly melodies on songs like Spartak”.
I can’t wait to review another Shame album in seven years after the world is ravaged by the Covfefe virus.
NYC trio Tchotchke reminds me of the Lemon Twigs (checks notes) OH, the Lemon Twigs produced both of their albums. I didn’t know this until now. But it makes sense. Both have a twee ‘60s sound with vintage riffs and singalong choruses. I’ve heard a lot of bands try to mine a retro sound but you’ve gotta have good songs to back it up, and Tchotchke knows what’s up. My only issue is how many times I’ve misspelled their name. I get it, but my brain hates it. Next.
I don’t know anything about FKA Twigs. I know she’s a talented singer and songwriter. I know she’s beautiful but makes her face look like an alien on all her album covers and I know she was in the recent The Crow remake no one saw. Man, talk about a movie that doesn’t exist.
But then one day, it must have been last February, I was killing time in a Target in Renton, I put this on and had my own personal dance party in the shampoo aisle.
Eusexia is sexy dance pop at its finest. It has “sex” in the name for chrissakes, she knows what she’s doing. FKA Twigs was so inspired she wrote and recorded enough material for two albums this year (the other is in my Honorable Mentions).
People may have forgotten The Crow but they’ll never forget Eusexua.
Dude, talk about a band that’s impossible to follow. Since 2003, John Dwyer, the only continuous member, Osees has released 29 albums under six different variations of the band’s name. They’ve been OCS, The Ohsees, The Oh Sees, Thee Oh Sees, Oh Sees, and now Osees, which they’ve been for the last five years.
What’s wrong with these guys? I assume it has to do with lineup changes or the particular sound the band is exploring at any given time, but I got into them when they were Oh Sees, and I see no difference between Oh Sees and Osees. Which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just weird.
Even though I drift away from the band from time to time, I’m always excited to come back to another psychedelic sludge fest, complete with two simultaneous drummers, bass, guitars, and Dwyer’s growling vocals. Dwyer is in his 50s now, and I swear he haa as much fire in his belly as ever, maybe even more.
I love this album title. Because every hack on the internet is gonna unpack what they think this sounds like (me included) but it’s giving it to you straight. This sounds like what it sounds like. As the Dramatics would put it, “Whatcha See, is Whatcha Get” Or in this case hear.
Florry SOUNDS LIKE a cool band from the ‘70s you find out about later and then you’re like, “Dude. How did I miss this?” The style is very Sticky Fingers-era Rolling Stones, lots of swagger and blues riffs with pedal steel guitar. Yet there’s a sloppiness to this album. Which is a compliment. This album sounds like a bunch of friends hanging out and jamming, and the sound is big. You could convince me there are like 12 people in this band. I think there’s seven?
Sounds like a good time to me.
I feel like there is an alternate universe John Otteni, let’s call him Nohj Inetto, who loves Animal Collective. I (Universe 1-A John Otteni) like Animal Collective but outside of Merriweather Post Pavilion have never made the time to explore the band’s discography or side projects. Which is weird because they do a lot I like.
Animal Collective are experimental and trippy, love the ’60s and electronic music, and Panda Bear’s guest collab with Daft Punk, “Doin’ it Right” resulted in my favorite song on Random Access Memories.
Sinister Gift is Panda Bear’s eighth album and is unadulterated guitar-driven ‘60s pop. I can provide no context for what his previous albums sounded like, but this one is right in my retro sweet spot. Panda Bear’s Animal Collective bandmate Deakin plays on the album extensively, along with providing additional production, mixing, engineering and co-producing with Panda Bear, which is neat.
Animal Collective bandmates Geologist and Avey Tare show up too but seeing as they are credited as “sounds” and “noises” respectively, I can’t vouch for how much they contributed. All I know is somewhere, Brian Wilson is looking down on this album with a SMiLE. When he’s not watching Norbit anyways.
If I had to describe Baltimore punk band Turnstile in one sentence, it’d be this: like a band with a song you’d hear in a Tony Hawk game. And I mean one of the good songs, the one you keep replaying as you eat shit trying to land a lip trick off the Catwalk Tight Lip Gap in the Foundry.
Turnstile sounds more polished than ever on album number four, but they’re no less angry for it. Synth intros and glossy studio flourishes pop up here and there, but this is still punk at its core. Brendon Yates howls his way through massive choruses like Perry Farrell, if I liked Perry Farrell. The sound is huge, the hooks undeniable, and the band locked in and ready to pounce.
There’s a confidence in the track sequencing, pivoting from pit-ready gut punches like “BIRDS” to songs that take time to breathe like “LOOK OUT FOR ME” and “NEVER ENOUGH”. If you haven’t noticed all the songs are in ALL CAPS which feels less like a gimmick and more a declaration. This is a band trusting its instincts in the studio, committing fully, and never second-guessing a single goddman thing.
NEVER ENOUGH is an album punk fans will still be talking about in twenty years. If I was smart I would make this my number one, but then we have…
Remember when Alvin and the Chipmunks went punk back in the ’80s? I mean, it was inevitable. “Munk”? “Punk”? It was destined to happen. Now imagine if one of those Chipmunk cover albums was good, and you’d have Chainmail Commandos from Australia.
The brainchild of ex–Gee Tee member, Gordo Blackers (which is the most Australian name I’ve ever heard), STERÖID is a lo-fi, riff-heavy throwback, playing a style they call “eggy metal.” I don’t know what that means, but the band cites Hanna-Barbera cartoons and ’80s montage music as influences, so the answer is buried in there somewhere.
Songs like “Warzone in the City,” “Rock Your Own Way,” and “Desert Storm” feel ripped straight from the worst action movies you’d rent from the video store forty years ago on a Saturday night. Every time the vocals let out an “UHH” or a “WAH” before crashing into a riff, my heart swells. Rock is not dead. It went down under.
The vocals on Chainmail Commandos are going to be sink-or-swim for a lot of listeners. The band, much like the chipmunks, have sped up their vocals. Not to the extent those fuckers did back in the ‘60s but it is in this nasally cartoon register I imagine will piss a lot of people off.
I love it. I love a BIG choice. I’ve seen clips of the band playing live, and they sound great without the heightened vocals, which proves it’s not a crutch. It’s a decision. The band wanted to try an unconventional sound and “unconventional” is what I look for when I crown my top spot.
Therefore, top spot thou shalt receive. Thanks for reading y’all.