My Week In Music: 30 Sep-4 Oct
New work from The Waeve, Honeyglaze and Pale Waves join a pair of last years best from Armand Hammer and Sufjan Stevens.
Monday:
Armand Hammer - We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (2023)
I'm still trekking my way back through some of the best of 2023 and, as someone who recently had to start buying diabetic test strips (well, getting diabetic test strips; fortunately they're covered by our public health system) I chuckled at the title of the latest from Armand Hammer.
The group is a collab between Elucid and Billy Woods (who released the brilliant Maps with Kenny Segal last year), and this latest record features production from the likes of JPEGMafia, Segal and El-P (who produces and guests on maybe the best track on the album, "The Gods Must Be Crazy").
WBDTS is an eclectic album, but it belongs firmly to a style of hip-hop that I consider, rightly or wrongly, to be kind of separate from the mainstream - like its more artistic, more experimental, less reliant on hip-hop tropes or popular style.
I could name individual tracks - aside fromĀ "The Gods Must Be Crazy", I also loved "I Keep A Mirror In My Pocket" and the Kenny Segal produced "Total Recall" - but I feel like We Buy Diabetic Test Strips is better as a complete experience.
Monday:
NEW: Honeyglaze - Real Deal (2024)
Self described as "the ungodly fusion of 3 humans into a clamouring superorganism", Honeyglaze are actually a trio of musicians from London who make art-rock; Real Deal is their second album, following a debut in 2022.
In practice, Honeyglaze straddle the line between alt-rock and art-rock - time and again, while the instrument work sits firmly in rock music, the vocal veers into spoken word territory. Check the stilted verse delivery on "Cold Caller", or the entirety of "Don't", singer and guitarist Anouska Sokolow giving a warning to an unnamed paramour ('Don't raise your voice and interrupt me when I'm speaking / I'm a person too you know I've got things to say I've got fucking feelings') before the song devolves into a raucous, almost metallic breakdown.
Also shouts to drummer Yuri Shibuichi who turns in a stellar performance on that track, and might be the MVP of the album whole. I enjoyed this one.
Tuesday:
NEW: The Waeve - City Lights (2024)
It's albums in consecutive years for The Waeve, the romance-turned-musical project of Graham Coxon (Blur) and Rose Elinor Dougall (the Pipettes) that formed in 2021 following a meeting at a festival in 2020, with the pair writing together and Coxon playing most of the instruments.
City Lights is their second album and is a pretty good time: as you might expect from someone so closely associated with Blur, it lands somewhere between alt-rock and prog-rock, the multi-instrumentalism of both members coming through in the variety of sounds. Highlights like "Broken Boys" or "Moth To The Flame" feature drums and guitars, but plenty of synths too (even though the best song here is the Dougall led "Song For Eliza May", its gorgeous vocal and dramatic string section standing as the best moment of the record).
Musically, it does evoke mid-90s Blur - especially the albums Parklife and The Great Escape, which I reckon are maybe their best.
I can't honestly say I was super enamoured by this one but I did enjoy it; its not something I'll go back to frequently, but Coxon is a helluva talent and always worth a listen.
Wednesday:
NEW: Bright Eyes - Five Dice, All Threes (2024)
My review of their new album comes the same week that Bright Eyes have cancelled all their upcoming touring so that singer and primary songwriter can seek treatment for āa condition that is exacerbated by excessive singing, requiring both treatment and recuperationā.
It sounds terrible to say but you can hear it on Five Dice, All Threes: the song quality is still there but Oberst sounds depleted, like a sober Shane MacGowan.
When it clicks, though, the new record sounds great. As I say, the quality is still there, and the instrument work is as good as ever. After a short intro, the first song proper, āBells And Whistlesā is a raucous re-introduction to the group. I also like enjoyed the fact that the piano and trumpet are both a bit more prominent on this one; Nate Walcottās solo on āEl Capitanā is a fun button on that track. I also enjoyed āThe Time I Have Leftā, a slower collab with The Nationalās Matt Berninger.
Five Dice is their first in four years, and only their second since 2011. Oberst, of course, has four other solo albums and a couple dozen guest spots in that time. Itās hard to keep a songwriter down. But I reckon his Bright Eyes work is always his best. Hereās to a quick recovery.
Wednesday:
The Police - Regatta De Blanc (1979)
Iāve always had a weird relationship with the Police - a band that I would say I enjoy when I hear them, but a band I never seek out. I get tired of Sting, if Iām honest. I donāt dislike him. But two or three songs and Iām good.
As their albums go, 1979ās Regatta de Blanc is one of their better ones, for my money. Where later albums went more in the new wave and jazz direction - influences of both are here - I find their mix of reggae and punk more palatable.
Opener āMessage In A Bottleā and āItās Alright For Youā are two early highlights, while āWalking On The Moonā - maybe their best single - leads of Side B, just ahead of āThe Beds Too Big Without Youā, which manages to fuse the reggae-punk and jazz elements in a catchy way.
Regatta de Blanc was The Policeās second album, and the first of four #1 records in a row in the UK. And itās pretty good. Even if I can only manage a few tracks at a time.
Thursday:
NEW: The Black Dahlia Murder - Servitude (2024)
Death metallers The Black Dahlia Murder are back with their tenth album, and first following the passing of singer Trevor Strnad. Rhythm guitarist Brian Eschbach takes over lead vocals and is now the only remaining original member of the group.
Despite upheaval and grief and lineup changes, BDM have lost none of their potency, the metal outfit as fast and unrelenting as ever.
And despite their speed, theyāre as melodic as ever too. The guitar work here is exceptional, the pairing of Ryan Knight and Brandon Ellis in sync while Eschbach growls almost continuously.
āPanic Hystericā is an early highlight, while āCursed Creatorā slows down enough in its middle section for a couple of harmonic lead breaks. This is old school death metal, and it is glorious.
While I donāt think thereāll be a new direction for the band or anything, I do think that BDM needed to show they were still as good as ever in the post-Strnad era. Mission accomplished in that regard.
Friday:
NEW: Pale Waves - Smitten (2024)
The Manchester quartet led by singer-songwriter Heather Baron-Gracie hit the big time a few years back with their second album Who Am I? (2021), then quickly followed it up with another hit in 2022, Unwanted, which evolved the sound into something a bit heavier, a bit closer to pop-punk.
Smitten is their latest record and it shifts away from the pop-punk of those earlier albums and toward something a bit more in the alt-pop realm, still bass heavy and with distorted guitars here and there, but a bit more dreamy, a bit more poppy than before.
Songs like "Not A Love Song" or "Thinking About You" are certainly closer in tone to someone like Carly Rae-Jepsen than to the Pale Waves albums of yore. The drums, too, have a distinctly 80s/90s tone and feel; combined with Baron-Gracie's vocal, its giving Sinead O'Connor and The Cranberries.
All of which is not to say that this is a bad album; I actually enjoyed it a lot. But it is a departure of sorts from what Pale Waves were doing before, and I reckon less interesting as a result.
Friday:
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin (2023)
Sufjan Stevens is a distinctly unique creative talent: after hitting the big time back in 2005 with Illinoise (the first of what was supposed to be albums about each of the fifty states in the union, a project presumably derailed by the success of the first entry), Stevens has been trying his hand at all sorts - still releasing new music, but also contributing to soundtracks, being nominated for Academy Awards, and turning that first album into a Broadway musical (it debuted in January).
Javelin is his latest solo album and was released last year; it keeps showing up at or near the top of Best of 2023 and Best Of The 2020s lists - and rightly so, its a sheer delight. Stevens has this knack for writing whimsical sounding tracks with emotional heft, his soft, almost whispered vocal sitting back in the mix like he's trying to tell us a secret.
I reckon Javelin might be his best solo album to date; "A Running Start" is an early highlight, followed by the beautiful "Will Anybody Ever Love Me?", but its a wonderful record from start to the finishing notes of closer "There's A World". Loved this.
Kia ora e te whanau, and ngÄ mihi nui for your reading and support this week.
Have a great weekend,
Chris xo
Yeah the Police, Synchronicity 2 is pretty great, that whole trampoline act...