Wes Eisold spent 2024 releasing the new Cold Cave album Passion Depression, supporting it on tour, and contributing a Cold Cave cover of “Refused Are Fucking Dead” to Refused’s The Shape Of Punk To Come Obliterated, and next year his beloved hardcore band American Nightmare will play a 25th anniversary show in NYC (with fellow veterans Indecision, No Warning, and The Suicide File, and well-matched newer bands Restraining Order and Face The Pain), which takes place 25 years to the month after their first very first show. As of now, their only other show happening in 2025 is Netherlands festival Revolution Calling.
With the year coming to a close, Wes has made us a list of his 20 favorite albums of the year, and it ranges from legends who paved the way for his bands (The Cure, Nick Cave, Shellac, Redd Kross, Kim Gordon, Pixies, former Pixies member Kim Deal) to American Nightmare peers (The Hope Conspiracy, Nails, Pissed Jeans) to electronic music (Gesaffelstein, Kontravoid, Helena Hauff) to rising industrial-punks Lip Critic and plenty of other cool stuff. See his full list, in no particular order, below.
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Wes Eisold’s 20 Favorite Albums of 2024
The Living Rainbow – The Dusty Clock
Broadcast – Distant Call – Collected Demos
Skeet – Simple Reality
Rosa Anschutz – Interior
Gesaffelstein – Gamma
Sunshine Bandits – Freak In Paradise EP
Kontravoid – Detachment
Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod
Helena Hauff – Multiply Your Absurdities
The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
Pixies – The Night the Zombies Came
Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More
Kim Gordon – The Collective
Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced
Redd Kross – Redd Kross
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God
Nails – Every Bridge Burning
The Hope Conspiracy – Tools Of Oppression
Shellac – To All Trains
Lip Critic – Hex Dealer