The 2024 Music Thread

[METALMAN]

Seeing Avril Lavigne being treated as a retro oldies act at Glastonbury makes me feel incredibly old.

[apsham]

Hey everyone, Teddy Swims.

That is all.

[livid]

 

[RPS]

The new Cassandra Jenkins was really enjoyable, really good. The song writing and vocal performance is outstanding. The arrangements won't blow you away, but the vocal performance will at times.

The Omar Apollo album was fine. It's Frank Ocean, if Frank Ocean wasn't interesting. But it's good because it's still Frank Ocean. 

SML album Small Medium Large is great, interesting jazz meets electronic. High recommendation from me. 

Los Campesinos! was enjoyable. I loved their debut and thought everything they have done since was good. Felt like there was a big early 2000s influence. Was really good. 

I turned off the new Eminem album after 2 songs. I feel like the overlap between people who like this and thinking the Joker is the good guy is strong. 

The new Kaytranada was enjoyable. Won't revisit it, but it was great to throw on and see what interesting ideas pique his interest. 

[apsham]

They've just gone and done it again. Can't say enough good things about this album. They always seem to hit me at just the right time for me to vibe on it.

The lead singles are for sure doing it for me - 'A Feast of Tongues' and 'A Psychic Wound' are pretty powerful songs and in the little things that they do from album to album, LC! always feels like they're building up this faint mythos around their songs. The constant call-backs to old songs and concepts - either straight-forward or subverted and grown upon I've become somewhat addicted to and I don't get that out of many bands.

[RPS]

The new Magdalena Bay is ... delight. A joy. Their first album felt like an album of 12 or so great singles that all blended together. Their new album feels like an entire story, told from beginning to end. Each song presents itself as a straight forward dance-pop bop, but things are darker under the surface. Songs glitch out without warning. Things take a sudden expected turn . Coupled with lead singer Mica's unwavering vocal style, the result is this jarring product. The lyrics change, the background change, but Mica's vocals barely change. But suddenly and without warning, the vocals will start to disintegrate, change, autotune will be overlayed over the vocals, the vocals will start to be delivered in an unexpected way. Songs suddenly take dark turns.

If you were under the influence, I am sure your mind would be bending and you would be slowly cowering in a corner. Songs begin by feeling like a warm hug from a sugary mascot from a TV show. Slowly it melts into something sinister, scary, unsettling. The whole album works well because there are songs that are played completely straight. Nothing feels out of the ordinary. And out of the blue, you'll get hit with some unforgettable twist. Even calling it dance-pop, EDM is maybe underselling it. The attention to detail on the instruments and vocals is outstanding. The crispness of each instrument is in many ways rock-like. A lot of modern EDM favors this big blur of sound. Here everything is distinc and separate. I'd love to know how the album was produced. It is truly a masterpiece. 

In the 21st century, where we all have access to all the music we could ever want, our brains start to do this thing where we complete the melodies. "Oh, this song will end this way", "oh, I know we are entering the third hook", "oh, the next track on this album will be the ballad". Magdalena know your expectations. They know that you want that candy sugar high. They will give it to you temporarily, just to rip it out of your hands, burn it to the ground and provide you something even more satisfactory. Why give someone what they want? Give them a monster. Give them chills at night. The best part of it is that it is not alienating in any way. Magdalena Bay can have their cake and eat it too. They can experiment while also being a pop band. This would fit on modern pop stations. 

The best illustration of this is "Image". A straightforward pop jingle mixed with EDM elements. You can feel the bass ramping up, bubbling under the surface. It doesn't feel sinister until you know the twist. You think the euphoric drop is coming. And with 45 minutes left, it gives you the drop, but not in the way you want. Visceral, fuzzed out, unexpected. Your brain wants it to be full euphoria. What if it was a sense of mystery, surprise and perhaps a little bit of dread? 

[Bobfoc]

Hahahahaha.

[METALMAN]

This is by no means a intended as a compliment but the last cover I heard them do was Like a Virgin and this is certainly better than that.

[LittleDaniel]

Maybe it doesn't sound as ethereal and badass if you can understand the Welsh lyrics, but I'm loving this weird goth folky screamy music from Tristwch Y Fenywod.

https://night-school.bandcamp.com/track/gelain-gors

[Bobfoc]

The Linkin Park new singer reveal concert is happening now.

[Pooker]

I've only listened to a little bit from the concert and I'm not sure how to feel about her just yet. Like, good on her for joining them, it's going to be tough replacing Chester no matter who it is. They also announced a new album out November 15th. It'll be interesting to hear her singing new songs and not ones that Chester did.

[Maxx]

I absolutely love Dead Sara so I kind of hate this.  But Emily is an amazing singer, so good for her.

[Kyle]

She's got the voice to do Chester's parts justice and a unique enough voice that people won't immediately just see her as trying to replicate Chester on their new stuff. I'm down with it.

Weirdly I first heard Dead Sara a few weeks ago when I think my Spotify Discover Weekly featured Weatherman.

[LL!]

I love this. She's nailing the classics. I think she's a great step in a new path for the band. New drummer is great too. 

[Fitzy]

This will take some getting us to, but I like her voice and happy that LP are back together making music.

[Forky]

I don't know how to feel about it. I felt like they could have called themselves any other name. I'll give the new album a shot but damn.  

[apsham]

She's fucking amazing, and this is top notch.

[DFF]

8 hours ago, Forky said:

I don't know how to feel about it. I felt like they could have called themselves any other name. I'll give the new album a shot but damn.  

Plenty of bands change members (including singers) over the years. 

[Forky]

3 hours ago, DFF said:

Plenty of bands change members (including singers) over the years. 

I didn’t say my thought was rational. I do get that but it doesn’t mean I like it. I think she’s fine and I know people will say the band was more than Chester but he just felt like the thing that made have them their entire aura

[Colly]

I think it's tricky, it would have been daft to call themselves something different then played LP songs live anyway, this is clearly a continuation of the band. If they keep writing and performing new stuff I'm all for it, if they start flogging the songs to detergent commercials like May and Taylor for decades less so...