Fontaines D.C. – A Hero’s Death [Partisan/Rough Trade 2020]
It’s smoked out, stoned if you will, and so there’s more pleasure in the guitars’ textures and the rhythm’s syncopation that catches you off guard. Grian Chatten’s still concerned with television like his beloved poets of the 20th century might’ve also been, the difference is how in the swirling and giant apocalypse – that this generation can objectively measure through Art’s sibling Science – around him n’ tha boys he finds comfort in the simple and accessible. A good socialist indeed. 4.1/5
Cloud Nothings – The Shadow I Remember [Carpark/Witchita 2021]
We know who he is by now – at his best Dylan Baldi is a melodic tunesmith who loves to create tension with noise. At his worst he spews diary shit and puts a lot of buzz around it in a cock rock posture. He’s gotta move past this “alienation on its face” thing at some point right? Different perspective? 3.7/5
Olivia Rodrigo – Sour [Geffen 2021]
Insecurity and ennui are her fortes and work extremely well in the pop-rock fusion that her ex-Warped Tour producer no doubt helped her flesh out. But these are inherent to American teendom either way so why does it hit so hard? Because this concept album about being young, famous, and heart-broken finds its place in the details; yes Billie Joel, the song she guesses he didn’t mean, and the masochism of secondary school love showcased by “which lover will I get today?” But also note the bookends – one the frustration of teendom in general, no romance mentioned, the other a wish of safety to friends in rough childhood situations. Each of these is so resonant that even if the listener hasn’t lived through it personally there’s always a proxy. By putting it to song Rodrigo reminds not only that hers is a generation with so much more visible empathy and good language but that in high school insecurity is your most potent form of both shame and discovery. 4.3/5
Modest Mouse – The Golden Casket [Epic 2021]
Their “dad rock” album in pretty much every sense there could be, a status that allows them to revel in their newly bright and semi hollow sense of sonics. It’s why for his first move Isaac Brock demands a ride home from a trip that he’s already on and why he’s so tender to his progeny seven moves later. Truth is he’s a changed man insofar as parentage can change someone, still the focus on paranoia, sure, but a sense of optimism that may be delusional and – on the one I initially loved but now only appreciate – a sense of grounded earnestness that’s not (which also happened to be conceptualized when he was tripping). The outro tellingly is the best front to back song; melodic centrism that explodes after every verse in a way “Dramamine” could’ve never pulled off. Post-manic mantra of the year: “Me just being here now is enough of me”. 3.8/5
Tyler the Creator – Call Me if You Get Lost [Columbia 2021]
Too much is given to the mythos and personas that I don’t have time for, yes the two epics are narratively engrossing and the rest is warm and fun. But it still feels more recursive than it should. 3.5/5
Outkast – Stankonia [LaFace/Arista 2000]
A mutant fusion that the Dirty South has never had before or since. Upped tempos, rhymes that kill, a goddam gospel choir on a song about bombing Iraq 3 years before Bush invaded. And always observation about community, sex, and relationships in such a nuanced way that never gets enough notice. At an epic 73 minutes it’s no stretch to say its an odyssey of hood anxiety and values going into the new millennium from two funk lovers who’d never be able to top it. 5/5
Cosmic Hero 