Lilly Symonds—I pay close attention to the album releases of any given month, and there is usually some excellent stuff, so here is a selection of the best albums from the year that I heard this month.
CONNIE – TEK.USB*
After immediately jumping onto the scene with an excellent debut record, CONNIE is already back with an EP. This one immediately sets itself apart from said album by being less feature-focused and instead getting its vocals from samples and created vocals, and it works well with this more dance-oriented sound. While not as outwardly inventive as the producer’s last release of the year, this thing is still a total blast.
PAS TASTA – GRAND POP
PAS TASTA immediately made themselves known to me back in 2023 as a rare example of a group still doing interesting things with Hyperpop, so it should come as no shock that with their sophomore work, they have mostly dropped Hyperpop. Adopting more anthemic Pop conventions and Rock aesthetics, GRAND POP immediately sets itself apart from the previous album sonically, but not in quality. This is still a great time, from the ridiculous Metalcore breakdowns of “BULLDOZER+” to the gleeful bounce of “Teinei Life”, the album is always surprising in delightful ways. The Hyperpop era has mostly fizzled now but I’m glad PAS TASTA have continued making weird Pop instead of dropping it all and making pure Indie Rock.
Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia
For someone who parades the idea that he doesn’t care, it feels as if Tyler, the Creator is always trying to prove himself, as a musician, as an artist, as a director, there is a pervasive sense of insecurity about his place in music. Insecurity is the pervasive emotion for Chromakopia. Every song is different, with a new set of emotions, a new set of sounds, and a new set of influences, it feels like in every song he is trying to prove himself in a new way, marrying this with the introspection that made Igor interesting. But it’s also a record about love, love lost, and love gained, and it seems to act as a series of vignettes about Tyler’s love life, further adding to the album’s scattered tone. Working yourself out takes a long time, as he says on this very record, but Chromakopia is an album of healing and a damn good one at that.
The Cure – Songs of a Lost World
As I’ve said in a few of my reviews this year, 2024 has become the year of the comeback album, and The Cure’s return after 16 years of no albums may be the biggest yet. It has extremely high expectations to live up to, and what’s shocking is that it does. The scale here is huge, every song feels vast in size and power, yet it never feels excessive, and also never sacrifices the core songwriting. Robert Smith sounds amazing, it’s shocking how good he sounds on every single song here, his voice hasn’t aged a day. This isn’t just the band playing to their strengths though, they are willing to experiment and it works out, heavier tones and more open songwriting add a lot and make this not feel like a rehash. I don’t know if they will ever put out another album but this is a very satisfying final work.
Bad Nerves – Still Nervous
Bad Nerves are playing to a proud lineage of Punk Pop bands, following in the footsteps of M.O.T.O., Nobunny and a certain Jay, and they do very well. Stellar Pop melodies are delivered via pummelling and scuzzy Garage Punk and it is a delight to hear. There is a real joy to these songs, an atmosphere that the band is having as much fun making it as you are listening to it. This is a style of music I have historically loved so it comes as no surprise I had an amazing time with this.
The Hellp – LL
Of all the artists I’ve been meaning to check out, The Hellp are probably the one I’ve been putting off the most, and after listening to this newest album by them, I have realised that this reluctance was a grave mistake. This is everything I look for in Pop, a gleeful and intense synth-heavy sound with a desire to innovate. “Go Somewhere” feels as if it is falling apart on top of itself through thick glitchy textures, the thick club stomp of “Rllynice”, the murky production of “Halo”, the whispery verses on “Kill4Me”, the duo always have another idea to surprise you with. However, my favourite song might be the sneering and thumping “Caustic” which has a perfect hook. The vocals either speak to a specific period of 2000s Indie Rock that you think wouldn’t pair with the music and a more fitting scene brattiness but they do both styles wonderfully and they are the perfect match to the sound. LL feels like it is pandering to me specifically, and well, it did a good job of doing that.
Photo By Jonathan Cooper
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