jeff rosenstock – hellmode

Sep 7, 2023

26/30, album of the week, indie/alternative, punk, rock

The pleasure of power pop is that it takes expected turns, but executes them exactly and with a studio gloss. Punk is fun because of its purgation—cacophonous and uncomfortably real. Indie rock is most affecting when its chord sequences border on adolescent daydreaming. That’s how it all seems to me. So when I heard Jeff Rosenstock’s ‘HELLMODE,’ it was tough to keep tabs on all the things making love to my ears. Troubling image aside, the album’s conceptual victory is this: it conveys that artistic elation is possible despite personal or societal faltering. That’s an annoying route when the artist is smarmy. Jeff just fucking loves music I think.

26/30

A favourite: ‘DOUBT’

Hey!

You were born in the right generation and good music is out every day.

November 12, 2023

ml buch – suntub

This is a polished and glossy sound from the Dane.

22/30, art pop
September 7, 2023

jeff rosenstock – hellmode

‘HELLMODE’ proves that artistic elation is possible despite personal or societal faltering.

26/30, album of the week, indie/alternative, punk, rock
August 19, 2023

neil young – on the beach (1979)

This album was recorded as its makers consumed a said-to-be delightful mix of honey and marijuana called “honey slides.”

29/30, folk, revisited review, rock
August 12, 2023

v/a – murderers’ home (1957)

These haunting worksongs would be sung under the threat of physical punishment and the gaze of white officers.

26/30, blues, folk, revisited review
August 7, 2023

duster – stratosphere (1998)

Play Duster’s ‘Stratosphere.’ Stop for coffee and tip the server to get rid of coinage. Sit outside regardless of the weather and drink slowly.

30/30, post-rock, revisited review, slowcore
July 16, 2023

hiroshi yoshimura – GREEN

Yoshimura’s suggestion that “the levels of sound and music in the environment have exceeded man’s capacity to assimilate them” can be heard here.

27/30, ambient, new age, reissue
July 6, 2023

joanna sternberg – i’ve got me

Sternberg writes beautifully of a place beyond shelter—a self-sufficient, gutsy place.

26/30, album of the week, folk, singer-songwriter
June 24, 2023

two lone swordsmen – stay down (1998)

In terms of impact in the field of proliferating electronic music, Andrew Weatherall was important as any Brit.

25/30, electronic, idm, revisited review
June 20, 2023

home is where – the whaler

This record is counter-attacking and ultimately compassionate.

25/30, emo, punk
June 15, 2023

haruomi hosono – n.d.e

Hosono and co. give themselves room for the transience of bliss and heartache.

25/30, ambient, reissue, techno
June 13, 2023

king krule – space heavy

King Krule’s fourth record is charged with something deliberately hard to locate.

23/30, punk, rock
August 29, 2023

howlin’ wolf – the howlin’ wolf album (1969)

I say this with no disrespect: this album is not dog shit.

25/30, blues, psychedelic, revisited review

jeff rosenstock – hellmode

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