THE LOUDER STUFF
DEFTONES – Private Music
Their trademark sound hasn’t changed much, and you wouldn’t expect it to. But this batch of songs is one of the best in many years for that most shoegaze-y of nu-metal bands. (8)
HALESTORM – Everest
An excellent heavy rock album full of bangers and tremendous power ballads, the way this sort of album used to be. Probably their best, 16 years after the debut, which is an impressive achievement in itself. (8)
HIS LORDSHIP – Bored Animal
A couple of guys from later incarnations of The Pretenders play sleazy garage punk rock ‘n roll, and they do it extremely well. (8)
THE HIVES – The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
A garage rock juggernaut, catchier than VD and certainly more fun. (8)
ROBERT JON & THE WRECK – Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes
Based in California but recording with producer Dave Cobb in Georgia, these guys just released the best, toughest, meatiest southern rock album of the year. (8)
RÚN – Rún
A tremendous and terrifying aural experience by three Irish artists blending pagan folk with electronica and sludge metal. It scared the shit out of me, TBH. (8)
SPINAL TAP – The End Continues
The joke’s never funnier the second time you hear it, but of course this one goes to (11).
YEAR OF THE GOAT – Trivia Goddess
Occult heavy rockers return with anther solid effort. (8)
THE OTHER STUFF
EVE ADAMS – American Dust
A very American and quite dusty sound somewhere between folk, goth, and country. (8)
BIG THIEF – Double Infinity
Indie folk rock darlings will certainly make a few year-end lists in a few months’ time with this one, but personally, I think they’re a bit overrated. (7)
THE BLACK KEYS – No Rain, No Flowers
The Keys try to rebound from a bad 2024 (even though last year’s album was actually pretty good) by going pop. It works, sometimes. (7)
CASE OATS – Last Missouri Exit
A nice debut for this Chicago-based alt-country band centered around a promising female vocalist and featuring Spencer Tweedy, son of the Wilco guy. (7)
TYLER CHILDERS – Snipe Hunter
As the boundaries between country and rock become blurrier each day, it was about time we got a country artist who sounds like John “Cougar” Mellencamp. Produced by Rick Rubin. (8)
RODNEY CROWELL – Airline Highway
Another strong effort from one of the best country/americana singer-songwriters of his generation. (8)
DR. FEELGOOD – Stupidity
One of the best live albums ever and a surprise hit at its time gets the remaster treatment almost 50 years after its original release. Pub rock rules! (10)
KATHLEEN EDWARDS – Billionaire
Canadian singer-songwriter returns with a solid album of country rock, Americana, call it what you like. Jason Isbell co-produces and plays guitar, brings most of his band The 400 Unit along for the ride – a good hint of what this sounds like. (8)
ETHEL CAIN – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
The goth Taylor Swift. (8)
FAITHLESS – Champion Sound
I’ll always have a soft spot for these guys even if the hits have dried up. (7)
TAV FALCO – Desire On Ice
This is one cool dude who has been creating an anarchic blend of surf, blues, rockabilly for decades. If you don’t know him, then this album is the perfect way to start as he revisits a bunch of songs from his back catalogue with a little help from guests including Jon Spencer, Reverend Horton Heat, Bobby Gillespie, Jim Sclavunos, and Kid Congo Powers. (8)
GUERILLA TOSS – You’re Weird Now
They’ve always been weird, it’s not just now. These experimental dance/punks actually manage to streamline their bonkers sound a bit and enlist high-profile collaborators from Pavement and Phish. It’s actually tons of fun, sort of like The Cardiacs doing LCD Soundsystem. (8)
LERA LYNN – Comic Book Cowboy
Having first discovered Lynn through her recurring gothy, torchy character on “True Detective” Season 2, I still find it hard to understand why her later albums sound sunnier than that, but if you’re into country-leaning stuff with a strong pop sensibility, you’ll enjoy this. (7)
ASHLEY MONROE – Tennessee Lightning
After a four-year hiatus to (successfully) battle a cancer diagnosis, Monroe is back with one of the best country music albums of the year. Also includes covers of tunes by Leonard Cohen and Jeff Lynne, showing off the diversity of her influences. If she had trimmed it down from 17 tracks to maybe 13 by throwing out a few tracks from the second half of the record, it would certainly make The List in a few months. (8)
MARGO PRICE – Hard Headed Woman
Price returns to old-school country after her psychedelic experiments. Very nice, if you enjoy a tear in your beer at the honky-tonk. (8)
MOLLY TUTTLE – So Long Miss Sunshine
Master guitarist, queen of bluegrass, and multiple Grammy winner Tuttle goes pop, and (unsurprisingly) it’s really good. (8)
SHRUNKEN ELVIS – Shrunken Elvis
Interesting experimental ambient rock – across nine instrumentals, the trio gently floats above a discreet rhythmic background with airy guitars and ethereal synths. Perfect for chilling out. (8)
WOLF ALICE – The Clearing
I really love 2021’s “Blue Weekend”, arguably the best album of that year, but this one’s a much poppier affair, closer to Fleetwood mac than to anything remotely “indie”, and doesn’t really fulfill the promise even though it has its moments. (7)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – I Wanna Be a Teen Again: American Power Pop 1980-1989
A really fun compilation. 3 CDs, 78 tracks, all the expected suspects from The Ramones to The Romantics, plus a whole bunch of stuff you didn’t know existed. (9)
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Time! Gentlemen! Pub Rock Rhythm ‘N’ Grooves: Classic Cuts and Rarities 1974-1982
A really fun compilation. 3 CDs, 72 tracks, all the expected suspects from Dr. Feelgood to Elvis Costello, plus a whole bunch of stuff you didn’t know existed. (9)
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