Paul Gilbert

Sorry I'm late to work, I saw "melts like dairy" on my vegan cheese, involuntarily said "Just like Bart!" aloud, and had to go watch the Borth Sampson Monster Factory video again before leaving the house.

@ryanboyd.bsky.social Smoking that shit that has you your signing emails

This mf said “and it to him”

Don’t think I told you before that I was wearing it at Coney this summer when a ride operator yelled out and asked where I got it. I did the right thing and it to him off my head (cause we have a spare at home and Gleni can’t do baseball caps).

Entirely understandable! Gotta be a version out there without it.

Still insanely slept on and underrated!

For me it's Leave.

Ed Sheeran, coming soon

This image is a threat, Apple Music

Yeah, it was rainy that night and my feet were screaming at me in my rain boots by the time they did the Boygenius set. Should have been a seated venue!

He also meets someone at that concert which never happens, c’mon.

Got the opposite of recency bias: nothing on here since 2018. I've loved a lot of stuff this decade, but nothing's solidified into enough of a classic to uproot these stone cold faves.

The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2
Lucy Dacus - Historian
Jeff Rosenstock - Worry
Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
The Fiery Furnaces - Blueberry Boat
Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
The New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
The Dodos - Visiter
Superchunk - Majesty Shredding

This is right in my wheelhouse. It’s always as it’s pronounced. E.g. in house we have front-and-spine memos for every book, and I regularly type “can you send an F&S.” Definitely “an 0-2 count.”

mf said Daucas

Dave (complimentary)

1. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice
Afrique Victime was a top 10 record for me in 2021. This is somehow even better. The grooves are at once smooth and relentless, and Mdou’s guitar rips and soars over everything. The most original, invigorating rock being done today. Game changing.

2. Sprints - Letter to Self
I’ve followed this Irish band since their promising pandemic EPs, and this debut album fulfills that promise, delivering one ferocious punk anthem after another, from the keening shout of “Can anybody be happy?” in "Cathedral" to the soaring heights of "Literary Mind."

3. This Is Lorelei - Box for Buddy, Box for Star
Nate Amos has released hundreds of tracks under this moniker, and this album feels like a culmination of thousands of hours of woodshedding, pulling from all over today’s pop landscape to create a pile of absolute earworms.

4. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
MP have been adding strength onto strength these past few years. “Sometimes” is a perfect rock anthem, and the record closes with the ballad “Split Me Open,” but only after they drop the brutal “Ok? Ok! Ok? Ok!” and “Of Her,” reminding you of their hardcore roots.

5. Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
The 21st century's top indie-rock crooner drops a definitive record and immerses you in his world. Groovy, lush, and sure to enshrine a legendary reputation. I was never a huge FJM guy, but with this one, I’m all in.

6. Rosie Tucker - Utopia Now!
Rosie’s always been undersung, and this might be their best yet. They'll do a song on consumerism and stuff it with hooks and clever lines, clinching it with the chorus's overlapping “I want everything all at once” and “take the trash out, fill the trash up."

7. Arab Strap - I’m totally fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore 👍
Twenty years after their first run, Arab Strap are putting out the best music of their career. They wrote old-man music when they were young, but now their songs about anxiety, deep longing, and existential discomfort hit hard.

8. Ducks Ltd. - Harm’s Way
I’m an absolute sucker for jangle pop, and Ducks Ltd. have mastered the form. Harm’s Way is their best record yet in a very strong catalog.

9. Kim Gordon - The Collective
This shouldn’t work. Kim Gordon, luminary of noise rock, has put out a rap album in 2024. Her beats are all twisted, deep in the red, making a bed of grungy industrial production that any rapper would kill for, a perfect complement to her deep, breathy lyrics.

10. Friko - Where we've been, Where we go from here
Time for aught’s nostalgia? Hell yes. Friko pulls from the warbly emo rhythms of that decade, tapping influences like Bright Eyes and Arcade Fire, but they can still lay down raging anthems like “Chemical” and “Get Numb to It!”

11. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Nothing flashy, just a collection of country- and shoegaze-infused rock with impeccable musicianship and lyrics that get more clever with each listen.

12. Geordie Greep - The New Sound
As Black Midi progressed, jazz infused their hardcore roots. Now on his first solo, their singer Greep goes all in with an absolutely deranged record, like a samba group on 9 different kinds of uppers. It’s sometimes too much, but it’s mesmerizing all the same.

13. Jack White - No Name
White's music never really grabbed me, but this sounds like he just woke up and decided to make the best blues rock record he could. He has no business going this hard this late in his career. A well-deserved victory lap.

14. Gouge Away - Deep Sage
Ferocious, unrelenting, and focused like they’ve never been before. Christina Michelle's amazing scream is bracing, layered over thick melodic riffs throughout this pummeling album. This band sounds like I feel as this rough, disappointing year stumbles to a close.

Ryan literal lol here

15. Angry Blackmen - The Legend of ABM
Yeezus first really got me into rap, but its sound has been confined to a small corner of the genre since (oh, btw, fuck Kanye). This fills that void, with harsh beats that could shake a building to its foundation and relentless lyrics that more than keep up.