Sound Advice- 13.Sept.2024
The flood of great 2024 releases continues! Today we're taking a quick look at several long players.
Hey there! You’ve landed at On Repeat Records, a newsletter & community recently described as ‘the nicest place on the internet.’ If you’ve been looking for an engaged community of people who share your love of music, you’re in the right spot.
We don’t run ads here. On Repeat is made entirely possible through the support of our paid supporters. You can back independent ad-free music journalism for less than $1 a week.
Longtime readers may recall that I reviewed 100 new (to me) records last year. Because I’m a glutton for punishment love music, I’m doing it again this year. This is the latest in the series.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at several records, including the latest from, well, all kinds of artists.
Every year, I celebrate all the great music we’ve been gifted while worrying that next year will see the other shoe drop. I did that last December and have been proven wrong every month since. Not only are there a ton of releases steadily coming out, but there’s also been a ton of great stuff, no matter your tastes. It’s almost overwhelming— but in all the best ways. Below are a few of the releases that have caught my attention recently.
Let’s get into it!
New Math- They Walk Among You (2024 remastered & expanded)
Propellor Sound Recordings is on a bit of a roll. First, remastering The dBs’ Stands For Decibels, then Repercussions, and now this one from Rochester, New York’s New Math. This is a reissue of the band’s 1981 5-song debut EP, which has been expanded to include three demo tracks and three live cuts and was initially released on SFO-based 415 Records.
They may have shared a label with bands like The Nuns and Romeo Void, but their sound is much goth-ier (is that a word? ) than their labelmates. Frontman Kevin Patrick once said, “ I think we just were like lots of kids. You just tried to mimic your favorite band at the time or your favorite sort of moment in music.”
Who they were into at the time quickly becomes evident, whether it’s from the first vaguely sinister notes of the title track or the synth-rock ride of “Garden of Delight.” Tracks like American Survival’s sound are much closer to outfits like the Buzzcocks or early Wire. Outtake “Dead Of Night” is a highlight just in time for spooky szn. They Walk Among You is a snapshot of a band pulling influences from all corners and making their own sound.
📻📻📻
Wishy- Triple Seven
You may have noticed that the Midwest is having a bit of a moment, so it only stands to reason that it would extend to bands hailing from flyover country. Enter Indiana’s Wishy. Late last year, the band gave us an early Christmas gift with their Paradise EP. Just eight short months later, they were back with Triple Seven. It would be easy to call this a shoegaze record (which is also having a moment), but it’s too pop for that. It’d also be easy to call it a pop record, except it’s…well, too shoegaze-y.
Opener “Sick Sweet” is a huge wave of sound that washes over the listener as Kevin Krauter sings about unrequited love. When he says Well it’s a sick sweet life and I’m gambling it all tonight/ With every shade of me flying like freaks on a free ride, you believe him. Literally. Triple Seven is a record putting it all on the line.
That’s followed up with Nina Pitchkites fronting the dreamy title track. And so it goes through the record, alternating between blast furnace guitars and poppier fare, depending on which influence the band had in mind. And they’re all here; the usual suspects like MBV, Coteau Twins, and Lush are on hand, but so too are elements of the late 90s/early 2000s pop and emo (before it became pejorative).
Hitting a triple 7 on a slot machine is a jackpot. So is this record. There’s still time on the clock, but don't be surprised to see this on one of my end-of-the-year best-of lists.
📻📻📻
James “Biscuit” Rouse- Biscuit & Buddy
Rouse is a Philly-based drummer who has sat in with everyone from Lauryn Hill to Living Color. Here, he takes on the work of Buddy Miles with delightful results. Miles inspired Rouse to become a musician and became the blueprint for Biscuit to become both a musician and director. The full record will be out on the 27th. The LP is 11 uptempo tracks and downbeat ones in equal measure. Lead single GI Gina is one of a couple of Rouse-penned originals worked into the mix here, and it will have you moving in your seat despite its less-than-celebratory lyrics. Rouse also brings an incredible roster of talent to the show here, including Living Color’s Vernon Reid, and it all makes for a soulful romp and a helluva good time. Stick around til the end for an incredible take on Prince’s “Baby I’m a Star.”
📻📻📻
The number one way my newsletter finds new readers is when people share it. So, feel free to spam share it with everyone.
Horse Doctor-A Place For Us
Horse Doctor got their start doing At The Drive In covers. That should tell you a lot. That they cite Sunny Day Real Estate as an influence will fill in some more of the blanks… But it won’t tell you everything. On their sophomore record, A Place For Us, the band (Jake Vogel (Vocals), Huy-Binh Nguyen (Guitar), Liam Crapper (Bass), and Arsenii Foudimov (Drums)) tear through 7 tracks.
Opener “Plasticine” comes out of the gate hard, and the record never quite figures out how to slow down. Even calmer tracks like “Steel” can only manage a slow pace for a minute. This is a good thing. Vogel’s forceful vocals won’t quite remind you of Cedric Bixler-Zavala, but it doesn’t matter. The guitar work is barely constrained chaos and V8-sized riffs, and the rhythm section holds it all down.
I made the mistake of playing this at work and was asked to turn it down (twice, actually). Don’t be like me. Listen to it in your car with the windows down instead. This record is clearly built to be played loud.
📻📻📻
X-Smoke & Fiction
Can I just say how excited I was to see the band back together? Word is that this is their last album and tour. I hope not, but if it is, they’re going out on a high note. If you like X, you’ll love this. If you’ve ever wondered why people often talk about them in reverent tones, play this—odds are good, you’ll love it too.
📻📻📻
The Walk Offs- Audio Recordings #5
The Walk-Offs are from San Antonio but would’ve been right at home in late 80s Minneapolis. Audio recordings #5 is their fourth record in five years and might be their best yet. The tracks here are a solid batch of kicks rock sure to get you moving. And speaking of Minneapolis, they made sure to include a cover of The Replacement’s I.O.U.
📻📻📻
Shelby Lynne-Consequences of the Crown
In 2000, Lynne broke through with her I Am Shelby Lynne record. Twenty-five (ish) years later, she’s back with a record as soulful and personal as ever. Lynne has never been shy about writing about heartache and people who have done her wrong, and this LP is no exception.
In a recent interview with Variety, Lynne noted that she didn't even intend to make a record; she’d moved to Nashville to be closer to her sister, fellow singer Allison Moorer, and to try to land a songwriting deal.
It was at a series of writing sessions with Little Big Town’s Karen Fairchild, recording artist Ashley Monroe and producer-engineer Gena Johnson that she was basically informed that she was making a record, whether she wanted or expected to or not.
Lucky us.
Consequences of the Crown revisits many of the recurrent themes of Lynne’s work; there’s heartbreak, there are spoken word parts, there’s soul. There’ll be the inevitable Dusty Springfield comparisons.
On paper it’s a country record, but Lynne’s work has never quite fit easily into a box. Her latest continues the tradition, even after several listens.
Ex-Pilots- Motel Cable
Ethan Olivia and co. are back! Last year’s self-titled record featured mostly Olivia, recording what could be described as someone doing their best to make a GBV record. There were sparks of pop and melody but also tracks that came and went in bursts of under a minute, which left listeners with the idea that they were more unfinished thoughts than anything else.
Motel Cable sees Ex-pilots as an actual band now counting six members. There is still plenty of Bob Pollard fan club stuff on the record, but that’s never a bad thing. Motel Cable elevates the best parts of Oliva’s earlier work. There are only a couple of songs that resemble those earlier snippets. The shoegaze parts are hazier, and the riffs are crunchier. It all makes for a wonderful ride that, like GBV, you wish would go on just a bit longer.
📻📻📻
Shazy Hade-Triumph Returns Again
Shazy Hade is a Madison WI band, and originally recorded this in 2009. The tapes were thought to have been lost forever and were only recently rediscovered by the band members. Released “as is” by the group, Triumph Returns Again is a little bit post-punk, a little bit psych-rock, and a lot awesome.
There’s no remixing and no remastering, and to be honest, it doesn’t need any. It’s a mix of different elements that, on paper, shouldn't work but manage to come together and make something incredible.
📻📻📻
As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on any (or all) of these records! Did I get it right, or am I way off the mark?
Thanks for being here,
Kevin—
it's a full time job, the new music listening thing, huh
Thanks Kevin! I had a great time talking with the guys of Shazy Hade.