Cool Records From July 2024.
Clairo — Charm
I fall into the same footfalls that everyone else does with Clairo. The whole isn’t she the girl who sang ‘Sofia’ and ‘4ever’? Trope. And yeah, sure, I’m guilty of not really vibing with her second record, the one that I ended up coming around on a little too late with songs like ‘Blouse’ and ‘Zinnias’. As an artist, she really has had such a wild ride of highs and lows that it’s tough to know where to land on her as a staple in every day listening, but she certainly is one of those artists who knew exactly how to take advantage of Tik-Tok and Instagram and whichever form of social media would have her. Her impact was so potent on me, though, that when this record came around, I was certainly not going to be able to miss it. And I’m so happy that I stuck around with her because the vibe throughout Charm is utterly immaculate. It feels like laying around in the undertow of one of your most immense and heart-swelling dreams, your eyes fighting against the braying sunlight, clinging to a draining euphoria. And in the second track on the record, Sexy to Somebody is one of the most virtually perfect songs I’ve heard in a decade. Keys hum and bellow in low fuzzy voices. Flutes dance in robust and organic rivulets. And Cottrill’s vocals whisper and drift like marvelous little dreary lavender flotsam in a three hundred and sixty degree sunrise. This is an album that feels like what it means to glow. I found it pretty surprising that towards the end of the record, she takes all of the vibey groove elements she’d been summoning and channeled it a distinctly Stereolab direction in ‘Echo’. The final portions of the feel like a bit of a celebration of all of the moments leading up to it, seeming to pause all modern time and presenting as a mod period piece.
Check Out: Echo
Remi Wolf — Big Ideas
This is a super fun, super funky record that reminds me of the two Tegan and Sara records that dropped in the mid/late 10s. There are no inhibitions here, just danceable vocal hook after big chorus that sit on top of shiny and glittery synth tracks meant for bopping and dancing around a living room to. They all have that kind of A24 vibe to them, something indie and off-color about them. The songs are big and somehow forgotten, a little flawed in their polish but earnest. Honest. The instruments they use are cool and a little weird, a little off color. Some parts of it remind me in ways of how Mark Mothersbaugh would create without boundary, using sounds like sit like pastels against primary colors and form strange little relationships within a standard soundscape. These songs overflow with personality.
Check Out: Toro
Childish Gambino — Bando Stone and The New World
We all know that this is going to be Glover’s last record as Childish Gambino and that’s cool. I’m not too sure if that explicitly means that he’ll no longer be releasing music, but perhaps just under that particular moniker/persona. For a man so wildly prolific, so instantly and actively inspired, I have a hard time believing he’ll be able to continue along the path he’s been on and not want to Create in the voice of music. Donald Glover has been able to use his gift for alchemy in so many ways that he has become such a deep inspiration to me in terms of how he approaches his ideas and how far he’s willing to go with his creations. On this record, he explores so many different ways to Make Music, experimenting in ways that could be off-putting to some, but that will take root in anyone who is willing to share his vision of raw and pure design. We hear standard hip-hop, modern trap, afro-futurist inspired R&B, neo-dark futurist electronic music, and far, far beyond. Something interesting about his output is that I can talk to so many people who “want him to go back to his original sound” and that original sound is different for EVERYONE! The highlight for me throughout this whole record, a reaction that I can distinctly remember when I first started hearing the first concepts of it is during ‘Got to Be’. As soon as I started hearing the samples being used, I lost my mind. One of my favorite surprises of the year. Dude, and how about the rad features from the rap Grimes, Amaarae? One of the most interesting and unique voices I’ve gotten turned on to in 2024. Love where this record dares to go and how this record dares to offer its sound up to us. There is no one particular fan base, no one particular genre, no one particular person this is for. It goes everywhere, and you should be able to buy this ticket. Take this ride.
Check Out: Got to Be
State Faults — Children of the Moon
It’s been a long time since a new record from these guys came out, but they forever lived on in my mind as a sound, as a genre. I would compare bands to their sound, despite them not being a widely well-known band. There’s something about their particular brand of… screamo? noise metal?… that bears a sound so unique that it’s hard to distinctly define them. Upon my first spin on this record, I started trying to put out the word that this was one not to miss, comparing it to what I thought Night Verses might sound like if George from Alexisonfire joined up with them and tried to sing through the very distinct vocals of Chino during the song Hexagram. This is an aggressive record which brings with it all of the implications therein: it gets heavy, it tears into you. But within all of that, there is a tenderness that begs you to place your arms elbow deep into its pool. There’s a mysticism at odds with a brutality and the syzygy invents a new chaotic tide that pulls the listener into its vortex. This is a tough spiral to tear away from, building hex after hex to keep one bound. I think the barrier to entry is its vocals which can either engulf or repel you, as it’s kind of a very specific ‘screech’, but once you determine if it’s your order, I think it’s hard to escape this one. Easily on my AOTY short list, this is going to get endless spins. The album goes at just over an hour and I think there could have been some editing here and there to detract from its intimidating length, but simultaneously I think the enormous space that the band conjures from only acts as a way for them to harness an infinite strength from the waxing and waning of the lunar phases. Bring this one with you for a full ride.
Check Out: Heat Death
