It was a shorter week due to Labor Day, but not a less eventful one. TV On The Radio are officially back, so are Linkin Park (with a new singer and drummer), and Oasis basically confirmed US shows. There are also a lot of great albums out this week, including one of the most anticipated and very best albums of the year (hint: it’s the one by the guy pictured above).
I highlight eight new albums below, and Bill tackles more in Indie Basement, including the first album in 24 years by The The (who Bill also interviewed), Fcukers, SUUNS, Mercury Rev, Dummy, Molchat Doma, Tall Juan, Party Dozen, and Peel Dream Magazine.
On top of those, this week’s honorable mentions include Paris Hilton, LL Cool J, David Gilmour, Fred again.., a surprise Pyrrhon album, Midwife, Hinds, Toro y Moi, Collapsed Skull (Full of Hell), 40 Watt Sun, Jhayco, Nicky Jam, PeelingFlesh, Okay Kaya, Man’s Gin (Cobalt), Boston Manor, slenderbodies, Ransom/Conway the Machine/V Don, G Herbo, Ant of Atmosphere, SleazyWorld Go, ShittyBoyz, Factor Chandelier, The Deslondes, God Is An Astronaut, Whisper States (Faraquet, Medications), Sonny Singh, Callahan & Witscher, Amy Allen, Prim, HONNE, Max Richter, Knitting, Cheridomingo, Lollise, Basic, Bremer/McCoy, Shovels & Rope, The Heavy Heavy, Chow Lee, Claude Fontaine, Isik Kural, Laila!, Masayoshi Fujita, Ashe, Rex Orange County, The Dare, the Laura Jane Grace & the Mississippi Medicals EP, the Georgia Gets By EP, the Godthrymm EP, the Scout Gillett EP, the Killing Of A Sacred Deer (Serration, World of Pleasure) EP, the Ibibio Sound Machine EP, the Hayden Pedigo live album, the Cass McCombs previously unreleased cassette demo & reissues, the latest archival Neil Young release, and the deluxe edition of blink-182’s One More Time with 8 new songs.
Read on for my picks. What’s your favorite release of the week?
MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks (ANTI-)
The Wednesday guitarist and solo artist casually levels up on the best countrified indie rock album of the year
When lockdown ended and live music opened back up, Asheville, NC’s Mark Jacob Lenderman found himself as a member of two of the fastest-rising indie bands at once: the guitarist of Wednesday and the leader of his own solo project, MJ Lenderman. Both acts are at the center of the countrified indie rock boom that also includes recent albums by Waxahatchee (whose latest LP Lenderman plays guitar and sings on), Big Thief, Angel Olsen, and Ratboys, the last of whom half-jokingly coined the term “post-country” to describe this new era of twang.
Last year, Wednesday followed a string of sleeper-hit DIY albums with their Big Indie debut, Rat Saw God (Dead Oceans), a natural leveling-up that resulted in one of the most acclaimed albums of the year, and now Lenderman does the same with his ANTI- debut, Manning Fireworks. The changes between 2022’s Boat Songs and Manning Fireworks are subtle but they make a big difference; the latter is his best album yet. Boat Songs was made during lockdown, but Manning Fireworks follows the busiest touring schedule of MJ Lenderman’s life thus far (and a live album from MJ Lenderman and his touring band The Wind), and you can feel the energy of his live show coming through on this ever so slightly more sprightly LP. Picking up where Boat Songs left off, Manning Fireworks is basking in shaggy, rugged, country-leaning rock songs that follow in the footsteps of Lenderman’s heroes like Drive-By Truckers, Neil Young, J Mascis, and Jason Molina. Recorded with the same producer as Boat Songs (Alex Farrar) and a cast of musicians made up of members of Wednesday, The Wind, and other musicians from Lenderman’s local scene, Manning Fireworks is cleaner and less lo-fi than Boat Songs but otherwise just as earthy and humble. As a songwriter, Lenderman just keeps gradually getting better and more original. These are his catchiest songs yet, and as on Boat Songs, his strongest weapon is his lyrics, which are funny, poignant, and full of familiar pop culture references that add weight to both the emotion and the humor.
The album’s best song, “Wristwatch,” is sung from the perspective of an intentionally unlikable male narrator who brags about having a “beach home up in Buffalo and a wristwatch that’s a compass and a cell phone” after being accused of wasting his life away. On “She’s Leaving You,” Lenderman speaks to a man at the end of a troubled relationship: “No time to apologize for the things you do,” he sings. “Go rent a Ferrari, and sing the blues, believe that Clapton was the second coming.” On album closer “Bark at the Moon,” Lenderman depicts the narrator playing the Ozzy Osbourne classic that the song is named after on Guitar Hero and uses it as a metaphor for loneliness. (The song that ends with over six minutes of noisy guitar feedback.) These are the ways that Lenderman explores various angles of the human experience, and it’s highly effective. It’s one of the deepest, most vivid albums in recent memory, and it’s wrapped in a warm, comforting exterior that also makes it one of the most inviting.
Fat Dog – WOOF. (Domino)
The UK’s hottest new synthpunk band’s debut album will make you believe the hype
We’re in the midst of a little synthpunk/industrial-punk renaissance thanks to recent records by Model/Actriz, MSPAINT, Lip Critic, and Working Men’s Club, and the latest album to propel this forward is the debut LP from South London’s Fat Dog. The band’s backstory is a unique one, especially in today’s music climate: Joe Love launched the project in 2020 during lockdown, and when live music returned, Fat Dog grew into a five-piece and began building up a reputation as a powerful live band even before they released their first single. Once they did finally drop a track, 2023’s seven-minute “King of the Slugs,” the buzz only got louder. Now their debut album is here, with nine songs that prove the hype is anything but unfounded. It makes sense that a band equally interested in punk and dance music would prioritize the live show, and WOOF. entirely captures the energy that this band is known for bringing to the stage. It’s an onslaught of monstrous buzzing synths, head-pounding beats, and pulsating build-ups, and Joe rises above it all, sounding as commanding as any of today’s post-punk shouters. Always keeping you on your toes, WOOF. also makes detours into things like auto-tune overkill and klezmer ska. It has co-production from James Ford, who’s worked on most Arctic Monkeys albums and who’s having a big year that’s included producing the new Fontaines D.C., The Last Dinner Party, and Beth Gibbons albums, but what feels most apt to mention in this review are James Ford’s contributions to the late 2000s “new rave” era, like his own Simian Mobile Disco and the first Klaxons album. In the bio for the album, keyboardist Chris Hughes said, “Our music is the polar opposite of thinking music. Itʼs music you feel in your body more than your brain.” With all due respect, I think Chris is underselling how much Fat Dog does tug at the brain, but the main point stands. You can’t listen to WOOF. and stay still.
Many Eyes – The Light Age (Perseverance Media Group)
Former Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley gets personal on the hardcore/grunge-blending debut album by his new band Many Eyes
After the sudden breakup of Every Time I Die, vocalist Keith Buckley largely retreated from the public eye and took time to himself to focus on his path to recovery from alcoholism and strengthening his connection to his daughter, whose childhood he was often forced to miss out on due to touring commitments, until he got a call from Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta. Jasta encouraged him to continue to create, and he introduced him to his own longtime collaborators Charlie and Nick Bellmore, who also played together in Corpsegrinder’s band, Dee Snider’s band, Tim “Ripper” Owens’ band, Jamey anKirk Windstein’s band Kingdom of Sorrow, and more. The three ended up forming Many Eyes, and, after gradually introducing the band to the world, their debut album The Light Age is here. (Many Eyes and Charlie have since parted ways, though Charlie did handle keys, some bass, and all the guitar on the album.) Keith has said that the goal for the band was to dive into the melody and the mystique of the ’90s grunge era and mix it with the sounds and energy of the hardcore scene that ETID came up in, and that’s exactly what The Light Age does. It constantly seesaws between the kind of throat-shredding riffy metalcore that ETID made their name on and soaring clean-sung alt-rock, and Many Eyes pull all of it off with expertise. The songs are all pretty immediate, and Keith uses the album as a vessel to open up about the peaks and valleys of his personal journey in the years since beginning his path to sobriety and working through ETID’s messy demise. Coming off of Keith’s deeply personal lyricism on Every Time I Die’s swan song Radical, The Light Age feels both like a necessary epilogue and a new beginning.
Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp)
The UK artist’s sophomore album is a wonderful addition to the current ambient jazz pantheon
Nala Sinephro is a master of relaxation and suspense all at once. The UK-based, Caribbean-Belgian jazz musician turned heads with her acclaimed 2021 debut album Space 1.8, and her new one Endlessness might be even more gripping. The heart of the album is Nala’s pulsating, arpeggiated synth work that’s more Tangerine Dream than Herbie Hancock, and it’s fleshed out by twinkling pianos, orchestral swells, ambient textures, and the soaring horns of fellow UK jazz staples like Nubya Garcia, Sheila Maurice-Grey, and Ezra Collective’s James Mollison. A subtly effective rhythm section puts an extra stop in Endlessness‘ step when it’s needed and cuts out for entire extended passages when it’s not. Like Space 1.8, Endlessness is broken up into a series of numbered movements that all share the same title (on this album it’s “Continuum 1, 2, 3, etc”), fitting for an album that functions best as one large piece. Endlessness is a wonderful addition to the current ambient jazz pantheon that also includes recent albums by Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders, Shabaka Hutchings, and André 3000, and for something so meditative, it might surprise you how consistently attention-grabbing it is.
Public Opinion – Painted On Smile (Convulse)
The Denver punks fuse alt-rock melodies and hardcore grit on their first full-length, co-produced by Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton and Taylor Young
When Public Opinion released their breakthrough 2022 EP Modern Convenience, the elevator pitch from myself and others was “hardcore kids doing The Hives.” That’s a pretty great formula, but it’s also the kind of thing that risks becoming a bit of a gimmick if you do it for too long. It’s good news then, that Public Opinion’s debut full-length is a more seamless fusion of their influences than anything else they’ve done. The Painted On Smile mood board has some hardcore, some early 2000s indie rock, some ’90s alt-rock, some emo, and more, and it fits really nicely alongside the hardcore/rock crossover of contemporaries like Militarie Gun and Drug Church. (The album was produced by Militarie Gun’s Ian Shelton and Ian’s longtime producer/collaborator Taylor Young, and Public Opinion leader Kevin Hart played in the Sex With A Terrorist side project with Ian and Drug Church’s Patrick Kindlon.) Kevin’s got a gravelly shout and the whole album has a gritty exterior, but Painted On Smile is also overflowing with big, catchy melodies. It puts Public Opinion in a long line of punk bands that realized they could funnel their cacophony into sugary choruses. As Militarie Gun often do, I think Public Opinion sound even better at their cleanest and sweetest.
Kevin also told us about his 9 favorite 2000s rock songs.
Denitia – Sunset Drive (County Road)
The shapeshifting New York-via-Houston singer/songwriter makes breezy songs for the open road on her second consecutive country album
On 2022’s excellent Highways, Denitia Odigie made a 180 from the indie-R&B she was previously best known for and instead began embracing the country and folk music that the New York-based Houston native grew up listening to. Right down to its title, Sunset Drive comes off like a direct sequel to Highways, and it embraces a similar set of influences (including Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Neil Young, and Kacey Musgraves). Co-written and produced by her Highways partner Brad Allen Williams (who’s also a touring and studio guitarist for Brittany Howard), it’s got some real-deal country signifiers (pedal steel, rollicking honky tonk rhythms), along with enough indie pop/rock vibes to keep the album firmly in crossover territory. Like Highways, it’s also just great, timeless songwriting. The car references in both album titles are fitting; this is music for the open road.
Sarah Kinsley – Escaper (Verve Forecast)
The NYC artist delivers a debut LP of orchestral alt-pop, co-produced by John Congleton
Building on her childhood studies of classical piano, violin, and musical theory, NYC-based artist Sarah Kinsley began releasing EPs of lively alt-pop starting with The Fall in 2020. After self-producing her previous work, collaborating with John Congleton, who co-produced Escaper, made for a big change, and one of her strongest statements yet. “I don’t know if it comes from being a classical musician, but I have this intent for technicality, a need for every detail to be perfect,” Kinsley told NME. “John sort of took all that and let it breathe out into something way more organic and real.” The sparkling alt-pop, lush with orchestral flourishes and dramatic energy, recalls Lorde’s Melodrama, which Kinsley has often cited as a major inspiration, as well as Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Lana Del Rey, and a little of Chappell Roan’s energetic camp. Kinsley’s trilling voice is equally confident soaring over her inventive arrangements, or hushed and intimate on “Beautiful Things” and “Starling.” “Knights,” a major standout, is a tour de force that I can easily see inspiring fervent singalongs on her upcoming tour. Kinsley’s described herself as “a sucker for massive, grand songs,” and the ones she’s crafted on Escaper are standouts. [Amanda Hatfield]
Skullpresser – Positions of Power EP (Born Losers)
Members of Mannequin Pussy, The Wonder Years and more team up on a menacing political hardcore EP
Skullpresser is a political, metallic hardcore band that formed in 2022 with some familiar faces. Mannequin Pussy’s Colins “Bear” Regisford on bass/vocals and The Wonder Years’ Mike Kennedy on drums/vocals are the marquee names, but everyone in this band is a veteran of the Philly hardcore scene: lead vocalist Jared Birdseye and guitarist Dan Zimmerman both played together in early ’10s-era band Burdens, and guitarist Sam Tropio did time in early/mid aughts-era metalcore band One Dead Three Wounded and in No Roses after that. They self-released their self-titled debut EP last year, and now they’ve followed it with Positions of Power, via Born Losers Records (who’s also pairing it with the S/T on vinyl). They came out swinging on the self-titled (sorry), and they sound even more menacing on Positions of Power. Influenced by bands like Converge, Cursed, and The Hope Conspiracy, it offers up five hard-hitting songs that take aim at police violence, elected war criminals, and all types of other corruption within our political and economic systems. They sound as pissed-off and ruthless as any great political hardcore band should.
—
Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including The The, Fcukers, SUUNS, Mercury Rev, Dummy, Molchat Doma, Tall Juan, Party Dozen, and Peel Dream Magazine.
Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases archive.
Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out our new episode with The Get Up Kids about Something To Write Home About for its 25th anniversary.
Pick up the BrooklynVegan x Alexisonfire special edition 80-page magazine, which tells the career-spanning story of Alexisonfire and comes on its own or paired with our new exclusive AOF box set and/or individual reissues, in the BV shop. Also pick up the new Glassjaw box set & book, created in part with BrooklynVegan.
And, if you haven’t already, subscribe to the new BrooklynVegan digital magazine for free! Our first three editions are out now, with cover stars Jessica Pratt, Mannequin Pussy and Paramore.
