Cool Records From June 2024.
The Decemberists — As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
I’m well unsure of Decemberist lore. I don’t know if these songs “mean” “anything” or if there is a deeper contiguous nature to this particular blend of Festival Joy with Theatric Expression, but I love what they’ve done here on this particular record, whether it falls into their pantheon correctly or not. It feels like we’re on the brightest side of the Midsommar spectrum with flower crowns, rolling green plains and a distinct lack of burning tombs filled with ex-boyfriends. I’d always considered this band as one that was in the royalty tier of the ‘quirky indie’ genre, but over time, it seemed like they calloused a bit, developed a bit more of a frown throughout their more modern takes at music and I believe this record feels a bit like they’re having a great deal more fun with their songs this go around. Horns blare, instruments seem to flourish and thrive in fluid expression as flutes and triangles and chimes creep in and flow through on modest billows of a light breeze. I didn’t initially think I was going to be as into this album as I ended up being, but slowly this entire record feels like a great weekend, then feels like a wonderful month, then feels like a transformative season. The albums ability to win me over across its 67 minutes (a run time that is boosted considerably by the 19 minute closing track) is really the true indicator as it brought me from the mind of a skeptic to the heart of a believer in no time.
Check Out: Born to the Morning
From Indian Lakes — Head Void
It felt like Joey Vannucchi had packed the bags of From Indian Lakes and placed them forever in storage to never be exhumed. The two records between 2014–2016 were remarkable, and after those, things just seemed to fade into an image out of focus. Five years on from Dimly Lit, an album that didn’t quite feel as inspired and on the money as the previous work, the band returns with Head Void which has elements of the longing dreamy atmospheres which I loved about those two records, but also with a bit more of an “aggressive” and substantial shoegaze element to them. The focus seems less on minute emotions and introspective moments and instead builds on larger movements, expands into broader compositions. It’s great to see an artist I’ve loved return to a place of confidence and feel like they can create things that have grown alongside them while still being able to utilize the acute proficiencies of the heart and soul that granted them their talents in the first place.
Check Out: Holy
Charli XCX — Brat
I started seeing the bright, crass cover of Brat on Instagram for a little bit and had to check in with a friend who has elite Pop taste. Is this something I would like? What’s the deal with this record? He admitted that he was loving it but wasn’t sure if it was my thing. Not one to turn down a challenge, I had to jump in. And man, while he is seven billion percent correct in thinking this is not typically my jam, there’s something about this record that touched me in just the right way. Even when sending him the tracks that I was feeling off of it, he noted that these are NOT what he expected me to find, but was excited that I had. There is a reality where I do think some of the bounce and bop of this record can be a little bit empty, but between the full-blown rave energies and the grimy, dirty production, there are moments of true underground dance floor ecstasy. Some of the beats are so fat, so chunky and distorted that it makes me want to roll them around on my tongue, to bite down on them with my back teeth. On proper speakers, in the proper setting, I think these songs could be an unforgettable physical experience. On some level, I can see this feeling like a dance-pop album, but there are also elements of this that feel like some of the greatest moments of the mid 90s “techno” and hyper-industrial scene. When I first played this record, I was so intrigued at how I felt about it, listening to it again back to back. And then a few days later, I went back to it again. And even writing about this now, I want to start it all over again. I’m telling you, this album has me in its grasp.
Check Out: Everything is romantic
Been Stellar — Scream From New York, NY
When I first started spinning through this record, I felt a little bit like I was listening to a basic local rock record. The first two songs were fine, but didn’t seem to have much spirit. I was missing that beyond-soul personality that would stand out to make it something memorable, something that would deeply catch. It wasn’t until three or four songs on that I started to notice that there was a depth to the music that promised more beyond just what the surface spoke to. The further I traveled into this record, the more the walls started coming down, the more that the borders of reality began to dissolve a bit and I ended up in more shoegazey territiory, areas where stars seemed to stretch across the sky in long-exposure types of atmosphere. This is one of those albums that starts to feel more alive, the further you travel downward into its abyss. Past its teeth, down its esophagus, crawling through its veins, pulsing through its neurons. There are elements of this record that feel modern, that begin to push boundaries into new and innovative space. There are also places that have a nostalgic blush too, drawing clearly from their influences. Radiohead becomes an obvious one, but I would say that they pull more from the OK Computer and The Bends aspects moreso than the dark-tech future that the British legends ended up crescendoing into. This is an excellent record that is a slow burn, one that will reveal itself in time as it pulses through each of your nodes. I feel like this is a record that a lot of your favorite bands will be recommending.
Check Out: Sweet
Cola — The Gloss
Picking up right where they left off with 2022’s Deep In View, Cola brings a marvelously drab and overly cool sense of slick rock and roll that sounds, in some strange meta way, like they are trying to revive the revival that came around somewhere right around the turn of the century. The advantage of this record and this style is that they’ve been able to let the irony drop away from the process over the last two decades. They’ve been able to witness exactly the kinds of things that make other bands look like they’re trying too hard, trying to craft an image, trying to be something they’re not. I have the sense that Cola is a band comprised of exactly this entire aesthetic. There’s a warm burning light at the heart of each of these songs, a wretched little fire that still drips with the ink that the piece is written in, a weary newness that comes with the birth of a painfully extracted tooth. It’s raw, it’s pale, it’s still brimming with a filthy life. While these songs come across as minimal, sparse, there’s still a dark secret in every threadbare sentence.
Check Out: Bell Wheel
