This reminds me to listen to more jazz. It’s a great album with inspiring and uplifting music.
The Lewis Express – Doo-Ha!
Ela Minus – Día
This woman has been keeping me mesmerized for about a month now. I stumbled upon Upwards randomly and can’t not listen to this album all the time.
Her music has a strong kinship with electropop classics that have this eerie vocal nature to them, like The Knife. However, her personal character, creativity, and connection to the hardware aspect of electronic music production gives me strong Björk vibes, too. And yet, she’s definitely her own thing: it’s not like I get reminded of these other performers and I get back to listen to those, but I stick with Ela’s album and keep listening this.
Beyond the fantastic music her lyrics are also so smart and interesting and artistic. There’s message to be told, layers of ideas to unfold. I don’t even know when was the last time I was looking up and reading lyrics for an electronic music record to understand properly all it has to say.
I do believe this is an album to mark and remember. I’d love to have it on vinyl and put it on display as one of the milestones of this year.
Suburban Architecture – Dancefloor Heritage Volume 2 (Mixed Version)
Liquid drum and bass, like the good old days. The mixed album gives an awesome continuous ride for 76 minutes.
Dear Omen – The S Tapes
I went to see a science lecture and there was a band playing before, that was Dear Omens. It’s hard to describe the experience when a bunch of science nerds are waiting for a speech about brain functions and what they get is a stage lit with candles, faces painted white, and loud full-on goth rock in their faces.
Besides being extremely surprising, it was also an amazing performance and absolutely impressive music. Listening to the record brings back the memories and it’s a great album, even if a short one. I’m happy that I can remember Fay Ruza’s absolutely commanding stage presence while listening to the songs, that definitely gives the experience an extra edge.
Heartworms – Glutton For Punishment
I don’t know whether I’ve ever waited for a debut album so much like this one. I’ve been listening to the singles a ton and was checking the countdown regularly. By the end I knew the date by heart. Finally it’s here, and there’s zero disappointment. The songs that have not been out as singles are as brilliant as the rest, and the whole thing works amazingly well as an album. Coherent, beautiful, unique, fantastic sound, fantastic journey.
If there’s going to be something to take the album of the year title from this one, well, then this will have been a super strong year for good records.
Funniest thing, I haven’t even checked tour dates until a few days ago, when I realized she will be performing in town in two weeks. Could I be any more excited? No, I couldn’t. I feel the vibes of Zeal & Ardor when their debut dropped and I was there in a club concert on the tour, and now I cannot even get a ticket for their arena tour. I feel the same level of rising star here, although I secretly hope that she can be just successful enough to fit into a larger concert hall in a year or two, but without going to the stadium.
Btw, on the note of goth being on the rise, if that is a thing, we may see her leading that trend to a larger audience.
Touché Amoré – Spiral In A Straight Line
I saw these guys yesterday live and I previously hadn’t listened to a full album, just went on an invitation. It was a very powerful, high-energy gig, mostly dominated by Jeremy Bolm’s stage presence, and lots of stage diving (by people from the crowd, not Jeremy) and occasionally wall-to-wall mosh pit. Touché Amoré is one of those hardcore bands that are just dripping authenticity that I can’t resist.
Now, the day after I’m listening to their latest record and it’s pretty good. I assume as I go towards the previous ones they will get rawer. I’ll check that out.
Dina Summer – Girls Gang
Kinda dark wave, goth vibes but also to dance to. There are some great tunes in here, and some bedroom B-sides. Schall & Rauch is a favorite, it’s definitely one for the goth disco dancefloor.
I’m hesitant and cautious to jump to conclusions, but based on the number of albums being released in the genre and the general product quality of these, is it possible that the goth scene is making a comeback? I’m very excited for some stuff that I hear nowadays and it’s really a treat how often I get to hear good new music.
Getdown Services – Your Medal’s In The Post
Apparently they define themselves as art-disco, but my hook on this record is Dog Dribble, which is rather an upbeat indie rock thing, as I see it. In any case, that song is such a smash hit, and again it’s so not about the fancy technique.
Also, it’s just ridiculous that almost all new records that I listened to and loved this year so far were British ones. The scene is on fire. (Or was at least, last year, since all these albums are from 2024.)
Deadletter – Hysterical Strength
Post-punk sensibility with indie rock vibes and occasional banger hits. The moody songs with the saxophone remind me of Morphine.
King Hannah – Big Swimmer
Honest, calm, heartfelt, soothing, mysterious. Alternative guitar music. The spoken word bits are the extra gold nuggets that I didn’t expect to find.