Intro & 2024: Part 4 - Albums By New Artists (The 1st 3/4 Of 2024)

This part of the project evolved. To begin, I was going to ‘keep an eye’ on the album chart. Then I began to listen to albums by new artists only..... then all of them. I then started marking them out of 10 using my system that has been in place since 1996. But just a mark. Soon, I couldn't help adding little comments.... then as I got more and more into it they were more like mini-reviews. Something terrible happened during this project. In late June by phone device stopped synching to my OneDrive. So my writings were saving on my device but not my OneDrive. I couldn’t seem to solve it. Not a problem. Didn’t matter. However, in early September, out of nowhere, it synched again. I DID notice the message ‘you have unsaved changed, do you want to save them?’. I DIDN'T make the connection quick enough and thought ‘I’ve not made any changes..... so NO’. The second I did it, I realised. I reopened. Almost 3 months work.....gone. And as you might know, on a mobile device you can’t just retrieve this stuff unless you REALLY know what you’re doing. I did redo them but  have marked them with ORL (Original Review Lost).

THE NEW GUYS VS THE OLD GUYS:

I wasn’t going to bother with old acts at first, even though it was ‘new stuff’. But, then I felt I wasn’t getting a true reflection of things because older acts actually dominate the album chart (although it’s usually classic records). But I wanted to note the difference. But...... who is old and who is new? At first I thought it was about deciding a date. Everything before that date is old. Everything after it is new. But that didn’t quite work. For example, Taylor Swift's 1^st record was 2006 and she really rose to fame in 2009 and the rise has arguably never stopped. Jake Bugg’s 1^st album was 2012 and 2013 was a massive year for him. Both are still around. Swift is the older act. Yet, in my head I definitely think of Swift as a ‘new’ act and Bugg as an ‘old’ one. So...... why? I think its because Swift is still everywhere. Bugg still does well but has more of a quiet following now. I see Swift everywhere. I see Bugg nowhere. It’s about profile then, right? The ‘new’ acts are those you hear about everyday, see everywhere, they’re all over social media, even the news headlines. BUT....... that applies to the likes of Beyoncé and Eminem. I never stop hearing about then, but there’s no way I think of them as ‘new’ artists with Eminem being around near 25 years and Beyoncé longer than that! So, my only conclusion to this question that no-one asked is it’s a mix of age, profile, and just a gut feeling.

THE ALBUMS (THE NEW GUYS):

So these are mostly top ten albums, but I also have started some ‘alternative’ listening of albums that did not fare as well as that or did not chart at all. I haven’t got very far with that but they are marked AL (alternative listening)

Vaccines 5

D-Block Europe “Rolling Stone” (#1 for a week)

I'm reluctant to score albums connected to the hip hop genre because this is by far my weakest genre.  So don’t be swayed by my opinion for these ones. 5

21 Savage “American Dream”  5

The Last Dinner Party “Prelude To Ecstasy” (#1 for a week)

Read my horribly detailed and lengthy review of this album in the reviews section. 8

Jamie Webster “10 For The People”

Kinda great that he’s into the politics and around the same point on the political spectrum as me........ but its a little on the corny side of it.  5

Idles “Yangk” (#1 for a week) 5

Yard Act “Where’s My Utopia” 5

Ariana Grande “Eternal Sunshine” (#1 for 2 weeks)

It begins kinda like an old jazz singer  in a short song titled “Intro”. Now -  I like the ‘album as a work’ so this was ticking some boxes for me. The 2^nd track begins well and you start to get a little funk/disco. However, by track 4...... I was bored.  There were a few points of interest along the way. I do like the track ‘I Wish I Hated You’ which is just her vocal and a keyboard tinkling sound in the high register. There’s a little gesture in “Imperfect For You” where everytime she sings ‘imperfect’ for you she sings a triad a semi-tone higher than the instrumental harmony -  so it sounds wrong....   ‘out of tune’ if you like. There’s a keyboard shadowing the melody just for that bit so you know its intentional and not just her singing it wrong. Nice bit of ‘word-painting’.  But, on the whole just plain average pop. To be fair to her, if all you want from music is to head to the dance floor and go full energy with some slower sexy bump and grinding in there then, yea, 10/10 in that case. 3

Bleachers “Bleachers”

Really enjoyed this one. Very interesting. 7

Future & Metro Boomin “We Don’t Trust You”

I find the way the structure some of tracks and the style of rapping. 5

The K’s “I Wonder If The World Knows”

This is OK but I feel like they offer absolutely nothing different for a guitar band and that has to be a consideration. 5

Conan Gray “Found Heaven”

I was really surprised by this. It’s got a distinct ‘Depeche Mode’ feel to it. This guy began making YouTube covers at the same time I started making YouTube covers...... except he was younger, achieved millions of subscribers and got a record deal. I’m not bitter, not bitter at all. I absolutely love the track “Bourgeoisieses” and it was one of the handful of times this year I immediately messaged my mate Simon Ore telling him to give it a listen. I think I described it saying ‘it’s like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys, Soft Cell, and Adam Ant had a baby’. 6

Kris Barras Band “Halo Effetc” 5

English Teacher “This Could Be Texas”

I didn’t expect to find another superb album after The Last Dinner Party so was surprised it happened so soon........ and it was these guys. They masterfully play around with complex rhythmic figures and cross rhythms while exploring the sonic landscape modestly but notably. There is a killing of a track that about reduces me to tears everytime I hear it. “You Blister My Paint”. You can hear all the emotions on the spectrum (but mainly emotional pain) as the vocals echo then continually swirl around in the background like the millions of voices in your head with their conflicting emotions. Later in the year it won the Mercury Award for best album. Well deserved 8

Taylor Swift “The Tortured Poets Department” (#1 for 8 weeks)

I will dedicate a section to Swift so will try and limit the comments here to this particular album. She does seem to struggle with  melodic writing. You will mostly only hear the notes 1 2 & 3 of the tonic chord. A good melody writing hack, if you struggle with it,  is to use 1 2 3 5 6 of the current chord, but each time the chord changes, revert to 1 2 3 5 6 of the new chord (rather than sticking with 1 2 3 5 6 of the original chord while the harmony moves underneath it). Follow this guide and it can make it sound like you’ve written at least a half decent melody without even trying. Swift doesn’t even do this.

There’s a little confusion here, because a longer version (the “Anthology Version”) of the album was released within 24 hrs of the shorter one and they have the same listing, rather than 2 separate ones, on the album chart. So, in terms of reviewing, I’m not sure what I’m meant to be dealing with – because there IS a difference.

 I really like the track “Florida!!!” featuring Florence and the Machine (‘who’s afraid of little old me’) and I love what’s going on in the backing music of  “I Can Fix Him”. “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” is probably my favourite track. Moving to the Anthology version. “I Look In People’s Windows” is kinda simple but brilliant. I really like” Casandra”. Although it suffers a little from the melodic problem I’ve outlined, “Manuscript” is a beautiful track. Overall, for either version I feel there’s so many songs that are pretty good and feel as if they are about to ‘wow’ you........ but then they end. But, that’s still ‘good’ right? It is. Except I thought I was going to be wowed..... so WANTED to be wowed. Although there are good tracks on the Anthology Version I don’t think  they add a great deal to the original listening experience.........  they just make that experience longer.

Also, the ‘sound’  (the set up – instruments, arrangement etc) remains pretty similar as we journey through. Perhaps not for every single track, but certainly the vast majority. There’s no, “Shake It Off”, no “Look What You Made Me Do”, no “Cruel Summer” and no “Love Story”. I feel like it’s deliberate, calculated....  like there’s a ‘tone’ that we are sticking with here. The problem with that is it can make for very ‘flat line’ listening.

All that said........ she sings ‘I wrote a thousand songs that you found uncool. I built a legacy that you can’t undo.’ Absolutely. She wins either way.

First version 6

Anthology Version 5

Jess Glynne “Jess”

I was a mildly annoyed when I read she cited her own influences as being a batch of real legends. It made me think ‘well....where’s the evidence?’. But, it’s a good album. Not outstanding or anything. 6

Dua Lipa “Radical Optimism” (#1 for a week)

Read my review of this album in the review section.

This was a landmark in my Dua Lipa story. After reviewing The Last Dinner Party’s album (above) but also good 6 weeks or so after it’s release, I aimed to review a new album within the 1^st week of its release, before it charted, by the end of the year. As I’d been getting along with Dua Lipa this presented a great opportunity. It was released on the Friday and I posted my review on the Monday evening. I’d listened to it 4 to 5 times everyday Fri-Mon. With the significant exception of The Last Dinner Party’s “Prelude To Ecstasy” there’s no album released this year that I know better.

6

Gunna “One of Wun”

Again, not my genre, but I did quite enjoy it. 6

Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard and Soft” (#1 for a week)

This one took me a bit of grappling with..... so I knew this meant it was good and at least a 6. Its interesting, unconventional in parts, even a bit weird at times. In fact, she seems to be in place I thought and hoped Lady Gaga would get to - but never did. Strangely, the least interesting thing is Billie singing. That in itself isn’t a criticism. David Bowies’s “Low” is one-off my 9 out of 10 records and the least interesting thing about it is Bowie singing. However, I make the comparison because on that album he sings very little and hold off completely for 3 of the tracks. There seems to be an insistence with the Eilish album that each track MUST contain plenty of vocal work. I’d actually get rid of a good chunk of the vocals and I think you’d have an even better and more intriguing album. Half of what I’d get rid of I’d replace with extra instrumental work of some kind, the other half I’d just leave. This version of the album that exists only in my head is an 8 if not 9. But for this actual real life album.... 7

Zayn “Room Under The Stairs”

Actually more impressive than I expected. 6

Becky Hill “Believe Me Now?”

This starts off really strong. I love the 90s dance-pop feel and the quirky chorus with its unusual sliding vocal. However, this is the peak of the album. Enjoyable as it is, you don’t really get a lot different from the 1^st track (which is also the best one – so no improvements either) aside from one piano/string ballad that feels like it’s thrown in there to create the impression of ‘balance’. 6

Ateez “Golden Hour: Part 1”

This is a curious one to me, so I’m not sure what to do with it. Why? It’s an E.P. They used to belong to the singles chart in my day. That seems like the right place because the whole idea of ‘Extended Play’ is that it’s an extended single format ..... but not an album. In the late 90s an inexplicable rule, that nobody asked for as far as I could tell, was introduced that meant EPs had limits of 3 songs and 20 mins running time. You COULD release one that broke these rules, and many did in ‘protest’, but it didn’t qualify to chart, no matter how well it did. I’m guessing something else has happened in the interim, probably when streaming was introduced (pure speculation) that means they, or this one, qualifies for the album chart. These were my initial thoughts so I looked it up. it’s all a bit weird. See here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_play#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20Kingdom%2C%20an,album%20for%20sales%2Dchart%20purposes.

 I really enjoyed it. To say it’s interesting stuff is an understatement and it had my deep undivided attention for the full 25 mins. However, if it carried n the same vein for another 15-20 mins so it WAS a full album, it may have got a bit tiresome. 7

K-Trap “Smile” 6

Charli XCX “Brat”

This was absolutely not something I would normally choose to listen to. However, this album is done so well and held my full attention from start to Finnish. It definitely has an edge on other similar artists/albums. I had an instinct that despite my better judgement it should get a 7. Later in the year, I saw it had been nominated for the Mercury ‘Album Of The Year’ award – an award that differentiates itself from others like the Brits as a more ‘serious’ award, often for alternative acts that aren’t necessarily charting........ so that made me think my instincts were spot on as it turned out. 7

Sea Girls “Midnight Butterfly” (ORL) 5

Chappell Roan “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” (#1 for a week) (ORL)

I think its a great pop album. At times, I love the energy, and the solid song-writing coupled with a ‘sassy’ attitude. At other points, it does fall a bit flat. 6

Gracie Abrams “The Secret of Us” (#1 for a week) (ORL)

I did quite like this but as I was listening I got this feeling of ‘I think this lady may have listened to a lot of early Taylor Swift.’ I looked her up and she seemed the right age. Then a track came on and I thought ‘I know that voice’, looked at my phone...... ‘featuring Taylor Swift’....... hmmmm. 6

Imagine Dragons “Loom” (ORL)

Ah, the ‘new’ or ‘old’ debate. I still hear of them a lot so stuck them here but...... I dunno. Based on this album they do seem very good and I know they’ve been wildly popular over the years. 6

Griff “Vertigo” (ORL)

I’m afraid I can’t remember much but can remember thinking ‘very good pop with a razor sharp edge’. Oh, and I can remember the mark.... 6

Cat Burns “Early Twenties” (ORL)

I like this. It’s not incredible but I suspect this is an artist to keep an eye on. 6

Soft Play “Heavy Jelly”

It’s Heavy Mental..... but the kind that just bangs the drums as loud as possible, has a handful of power chords and a vocals screaming ‘this is Heavy mental! this is heavy metal’ over and over. 4

Glass Animals “I Love You So F***ing Much” (ORL)

This album gave me a moment of realisation. It starts off bland but then improves. I realised I was hearing this quite a bit. Years and years ago, in the days of vinyl, you would often find that ALL the weaker tracks of an album were pushed to the B-side. This was because people wouldn’t necessarily turn over and artists were aware that huge numbers of listeners would rarely, or even never, hear any B-side tracks. So all their best work would be on the A-side. The disadvantage to this was that my ‘album as art-form’ notion had the problem of albums beginning very strong and then weakening. As time went on this lessened as listening to popular music became a more serious affair. I think by the late 60s/early 70s you wouldn’t dare call yourself a lover of music and not turn the record over. However, it didn’t change totally – even in the 90s when the CD eventually accounted for over 90% of all record sales, it wasn’t unusual for albums to start incredibly, hold that for the 1^st half of the album, and then the quality dip somewhat. That was always curious to me, although I guess - get the listener interested and hold them for a while – they might forgive or not even notice weaker tracks later on (?). But even more curious is the whole thing turning the other way round. I have an ‘old man’ theory with no back up. In a world of short attention spans and such vast amount of music to consume at the tap of a finger – pushing boundaries, being a bit different etc., while good in the long run isn’t recommended from the offset. Keep the listener in familiar, safe, tried and tested territory to being, lest you run the risk of them thinking ‘what the heck is this?  Ain’t got time for ‘thinking’ about music’ and swipe on. Just a theory. Sorry, I only actually said one thing about this album. 6

Louis Zong “Rat Taxi” (AL) (ORL)

I did enjoy this. Very different and great fun. I think its meant to be watched with an animated film, so it may very well be outstanding/ genius with the appropriate visuals. I remember (well actually I cannot for the life of me remember the guy’s names) seeing a music composer/film makers collaboration at the Lake Side Theatre when I was doing my Masters Degree at Nottingham University. It was about an hour long. It was an incredible experience. I was quite overwhelmed. I rushed to the merch stand with a tenner and purchased the soundtrack on CD (audio only). I popped it on the next day. I was getting nothing. I tried again a couple of times over the next month or so . Same results. Never listened to it again. 6

Sam Tompkins “Hi, My Name Is Insecure” (ORL) 4

¥$ “Vultures 2” (ORL) 5

Beabadoobee “This Is How Tomorrow Moves” (#1 for a week) (ORL)

Really enjoyed this from start to finish. 7

Post Malone “F-1 Trillion” (#1 for a week)  (ORL)

When I saw this had come out I was very interested and looking forward to it. Because, I knew that this guy was really being hailed as something amazing. However, based on the little I’d heard, I did not get it. I mean, he seemed OK – but if this was what the kids were called incredible/genuis – worthy of the greatest we can name – then I wondered if that was perhaps a summary of things having gone vastly downhill. So, I listened. And....... OK, now I get it. (#Long Pause     (“Friends” jokes permitted)). Well, sort of anyway. This is a double album so quite long and it’s a very very mixed bag. It’s evenly split between some tracks being quite bad really, others being OK at best, some being very good indeed, and some being damn amazing to be fair. So, in terms of marking it in my way, I’m looking at things fairly favourable – but then can’t help thinking, ‘we could have had just 40 mins of the very good and amazing stuff, couldn’t we?’ 6

Sabrina Carpenter “Short n Sweet” (#1 for a week) (ORL)

I am so so pissed off my original review of this was lost because it was turning into one of my proper reviews. I was considering doing some more work/editing  and doing it as a single post. Basically, my summary was this. It’s quite fascinating because, in a way I don’t recall experiencing before, my pros list is exactly the same as my cons list. My praises and criticisms are identical. In a way, the album is a delight. Aside from a little bad language there’s nothing here that anyone is going to find offensive or unsure their children should be listening to. It’s definitely manufactured pop but it has a little more to it. The melodies good for the most part. The lyrics veer from the pop-standard ‘I love you’ or ‘I love you but its complicated’ or ‘post – break up heartbreak’. In one track ‘Taste’ the singer seems quite happy, if not proud, to be ‘the other/secret’ woman of an affair. In another, ‘Please Please Please’ the singer starts seemingly the victim of a terrible partner. However, this slowly morphs into something else and by the end they are, in fact, threatening the other person. It is clear the singer actually values keeping their pride intact, having defended their partner to others, over actually being in a healthy relationship.

All this said, there is another angle. The album being a ‘delight’ sort of also means ‘corny’. There’s tricks  like a bit of bad language forced upon it to hide the fact that it has no real ‘grit’ to it. It’s manufactured pop with ‘more to it’ thrown in by way of disguise. The melodies are a bit ‘twee’. Although the lyrics are arguably above average – it’s hardly ‘Morrissey’. 6

Fountains D.C. “Romance” (ORL)

I did really like this. It’s one of those albums where the basics of rock music are firmly intact but it’s boundaries are explored a little with the quirks, unusual arrangement and experimenting that I’m personally looking for as a listener. 7

Matt Champion “Mika’s Laundry” (AL)

Wow! This has hip hop at its core which, sorry to keep repeating it, is the genre I struggle with. But! This is something else. It’s incredibly creative, genre-fusing, mind-bending, inventive etc. Really loved this. 7

Wunderhouse “Midas”

This album DID get me thinking. And I’m going to rate it average. It’s very familiar ‘indie’ -type music that anyone of my age will have heard a zillion times before. It’s OK. Heard it a million times though. But, what got me thinking was this......... what if you’ve NOT heard it a zillion times before? If I somehow selectively wiped my memory Men In Black style so I’d not heard this type of music before, would it then be brilliant? And how would I then view the earlier stuff if I worked backwards and it was the oldest stuff I was hearing after zillions of other? Just a thought. 5

Fred Again “Ten Days”

This was the record that made me finally accept that there’s a flaw in my marking system I’ve had for nearly 30 years. Basically, I very often struggle between  a 6 or a 7. Really there should be something in-between 6 and 7. I could easily fix this by getting rid of the unattainable 10, move everything from 7 up one thus creating a new ‘7’. I’m not ready, and not convinced I every will be ready, to do that, however.

At first, this didn’t seem my kinda thing. A bit of house, garage, and hip hop all thrown in front of an electro backdrop (I think they broadly call it ‘downbeat’) with lots of intriguing bits going on. It’s a 7.

Eunuchs “Harbour Century” (AL)

Here. We. Go. This is very ‘me’ – someone described Eunuchs as ‘if Black Midi and Panic at the Disco had an emo baby who loves theatrics.’ 

Well I don’t really know what THAT means but I’m hearing Captain Beefheart, King Crimson, the spoken dialogue reminds me of the Moody Blues but delivered a bit more grittily, bit of progressive rock, bit of punk, big of art-rock, bit of acid jazz, a little experimental & avant-garde in parts. Love it. 8

London Grammar “The Greatest Love”

I wanted to love it, knowing they hailed from Nottingham. I know they have some highly acclaimed albums but this wasn’t particularly doing it for me. It actually picked up significantly in the last quarter (again the ‘ this album gets better later on’ trend) but was fairly flat until that point. I was plucking for 4 until the last quarter– a much higher mark towards the end but I can’t forget the 1^st three quarters. So overall. 5

My marking system in a nutshell.

10 = only 3 albums in history.

9 = basically 10 (just not those 3)

8 = Outstanding

7 = Brilliant

6 = Good

5 = Average

4 = Lots of potential but below average

3 = Some good points but poor overall

2 = Poor

1 = Abysmal