November ‘24 Monthly Music Recap
From unexpected Grammy nominations and snubs to a no-promo album from Kendrick Lamar, November was full of surprises in the music industry.
But, what’s not surprising is the penultimate month of the year’s delivery of stellar new releases. Between a fresh record from a classic band and younger artists’ reworkings of classic songs, the end of 2024 is clearly not the end of musical innovations.
Robert Smith and The Cure refuse to relent in “Drone:Nodrone” from long-awaited album
2024 seems to be the year of the comeback. With reunion announcements by iconic rock acts like Oasis and My Chemical Romance, industry staples have consistently proved they’re not going anywhere. Yet, since their 1976 inception and late 1980s rise to popularity, gothic rock band The Cure hasn’t had to make a comeback; whether or not they release music, the six-piece has remained an omnipresent force in the music industry. And with the release of Songs Of A Lost World, their first studio album since 2008 and their first to go number one in the U.S., The Cure is only adding to their legacy.
In the middle of the eight-track record sits the darkly revelational “Drone:Nodrone,” a change of pace from the more atmospheric tracks that precede it. As the band is known for their extended instrumental song intros, electric feedback ushers in the main, crunchy guitar melody and menacing bass line before a heavy drumbeat cements the moody groove. Interjections of a repetitive chromatic piano line give the song a manic feel, paralleling the lyrical theme of dread as Smith enters, lamenting “I’m breaking up again, I feel it in the air.” As evidenced by the main refrain, “Down, down, down yeah I’m pretty much done / Staring down the barrel of the same old gun,” “Drone:Nodrone” comes at a time when Smith is reckoning with what it means to be a constant force in an ever-changing environment. In an interview for The Cure’s official Youtube channel, Smith said the song came to him after spotting a drone surveying him outside his house, prompting him to come to terms with being an “old grouch” while wrestling with the ideas of mortality as he grows older.
As Off The Record contributor Ana Marks wrote in a review of Songs Of A Lost World, “The honesty and philosophical nature of this new release is something refreshing, yet balances the dread of life all at once. How lucky are we to love, and to remember; and how sad are we to know that it will all come to an end.”
Wussy tunes in to grief on “Desperation AM”
For many artists, music is the cure to heartache, and Ohio-based band Wussy is no exception. Their latest album, Cincinnati Ohio, is the band’s first since their long-time pedal steel guitarist John Erhardt passed away in 2020 and, as NPR Music’s Ann Powers described it, looks at grief “in the most infinitesimal detail.” The record opens with “The Great Divide,” the heartbreakingly lively lead single first released in September, before making its way to my personal favorite, “Desperation AM.”
“Desperation AM” paints the mundane picture of suburban America while interweaving the inescapable thoughts of regret: “Sitting at the four-way stoplight at the corporation line / Desperation AM playing, no one leaves this town alive.” Entrances of spacey electric guitar notes and barely-noticeable keyboard melodies accompany the ever-present soft strum of an acoustic guitar, giving the five-minute track a gentle yet eerie ambiance. Lead singer Lisa Walker’s silky voice floats over the arrangement, telling the story of lost dreams. The attention to detail in “Desperation AM” is what really gets me, like when Walker sings “and the note it always bends” and she shifts the melody up a half step on “bends,” creating dissonance against the stagnant instrumentals.
With meticulous songwriting and tender production, Wussy proves they don’t need a major record label to show off their artistry in Cincinnati Ohio. All they need is a method of looking inward and listeners that can appreciate their sonic navigation of complex emotions.
Bartees Strange, Anjimile and Kara Jackson join dozens of artists on trans-centered compilation
If your Spotify home page is anything like mine, it was recently flooded with new releases by a handful of familiar artists, all with the same cover art. The tracks are part of a new compilation by Red Hot, a non-profit production organization founded in the wake of the AIDS crisis that works to diversify public health through equal access to care. The 46-track compilation, TRANSA, features both original songs and covers by over 100 contributing musicians to center transgender and non-binary stories through music. TRANSA co-founder Dust Reid said the project had been swirling in his mind for a while, but the sudden and tragic death of trans visionary Sophie in 2021 spurred the project into motion. The result is an almost four-hour-long collection of songs celebrating what it means to be trans and non-binary today with epic collaborations by groundbreaking musicians.
Towards the finale of the eight discs sits “Wolf Like Me,” a reworking of TV On The Radio’s 2006 song by Bartees Strange, Anjimile and Kara Jackson. The trio of Black queer musicians perform a more subdued and electronic-driven version of the track, putting the revelatory lyrics at the forefront. In the context of TRANSA, the song’s chorus takes on a whole new narrative as they sing “My mind has changed my body’s frame, but, God, I like it” in three-part harmony.
There are too many powerhouses populating the compilation to list, but among them are names like André 3000, Clairo, L’Rain, Adrianne Lenker and Faye Webster. Moses Sumner, Lyra Pramuk and Sam Smith’s take on the “fabulous” Sylvester’s disco hit “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)”and Julien Baker, Calvin Lauber, Quinn Christopherson and SOAK’s cover of Belle and Sebastian’s “Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying” are some of my other favorites.
Lean into the December blues with Imogen and the Knife
There’s a certain beautiful melancholy that comes with the transition to winter. Sure, the end of November ushers in family gatherings and holiday festivities, but as the weather gets drearier, a looming sense of lethargy tends to prevail. Yet, there’s something so distinctly human about this collective experience of emotional duality. If this notion were to be translated into song, it would take form as Imogen and the Knife’s “Dream Died With You, Blue.”
The song is a bonus track on the extended version of her July EP, Some Kind of Love. In three minutes of delicate instrumentals and tender vocals, the English singer-songwriter exudes maturity as she sings of the freedom felt after leaving a suffocating relationship. As a sucker for horns, I was drawn into “Dream Died With You, Blue” from the start. An airy trumpet and baritone saxophone outline the piano chord progression, with soloistic lines occasionally popping out when Imogen’s vocals grow in passion. The mix of timbres and shifts between major and minor melodies are so sonically satisfying and perfectly complement her soothingly raw voice. The song also employs devastatingly poignant songwriting, with lyrics like “You dug in your claws, made it all yours and then you watched it all collapse” and “I do adore you, though my body creaks and whines / when the Autumn bites at ankles, I do think of you sometimes.”
Despite only having an eight-song discography, Imogen and the Knife has the songwriting skills of a long-time industry force and I cannot wait to see where her elegance takes her next.
Staff Picks:
Alyssa Scinta - “Missing Out” by future.exboyfriend
Tabita Bernardus - “People Watching” by Sam Fender
Sophie Weil - “Swing Dancing Through Paralysis” by Cayden Wemple
Logan Goettemoeller - “five minutes” by Jeremy Zucker and Chelsea Cutler
Madison Avery - “halo” by Poppy
Nymisha Mattapalli - “Best Friends” by BANKS
Sloane Johnson - “Keep That to Yourself” by Tristan
Seay Howell - “caught up in it” by vendor
Cece Faulkner - “Te Maldigo (From ‘Queer’)” by Omar Apollo, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
Grace Moioli - “What Have You Done To Me?” by Imogen Heap
Jack Kolpitcke - “My Star” by Junior Varsity
Ana Marks - “All I Ever Am” by The Cure
Jackie Fortis - “arm in arm” by Mori
Abra Richardson - “You Got Me Searching” by Jack White
Dany Mireles - “Feel Better” by Adrianne Lenker
Cassidy LaPointe - “Mental Health” by Father John Misty
Check out some of our November coverage!
New Music Reviews:
“‘Punish’ follows in the footsteps of the singer’s past work, reveling in echoing, nightmarish malaise, and culminates in a near seven minute slow burn of dread and, well, punishment.” - Avery Heeringa on Ethel Cain’s “Punish.”
“The melody is like a breath of fresh spring air amidst our current fall backdrop: fresh, winding, hopeful, and easy-going.” - Jaymee Gallagher on Alice Phoebe Lou’s “Better.”
“He doesn’t shy away from introspection, but rather gives us the chance to roll down the windows and feel the burning kiss of humanity– to feel the full weight of being alive.” - Tabita Bernardus on Sam Fender’s “People Watching.”
Live Show Reviews:
“For one glorious evening, the unassuming St. Louis home was transformed into an intimate, dynamic music haven, the walls shaking with the sounds of holiday cheer and the promise of good things to come from the surrounding music scene.”- Reegan-Tate Johnson on Off the Record’s “Home For The Holidays”
“One thing to note about this show was the sense of gratitude throughout the venue, both from the crowd and from Tokyo Police Club. This was more than a farewell, this was a celebration, a ‘thank you.’” - Sophia Bianco on Tokyo Police Club in St. Louis.
“Better Lovers is vicious from the first moment they step onto the stage, challenging fans to keep up with their unrelenting energy and power throughout their set. They toe the line between brilliant and unhinged, as the band balances droning distortion with fast guitars and heavy bass.” - Alex Stefan on Better Lovers in Toronto.
“The Sinclair may be a venue in a big city, drawing in people who may have never stepped foot in the South. Still, on that Saturday night with Illiterate Light, it was a one-way ticket to the roaring heart of Virginia, and a promise that there will always be something to shine a light on.” - Yashavi Upasani on Illiterate Light in Boston.
“Despite being openers, Nat and Alex performed with the confidence and charisma of headliners. They didn’t just play music—they brought the crowd into their world.” - Sloane Johnson on Nat and Alex Wolff in Chicago.
Interviews:
“But I'll say this, every line is intentional and references a specific snapshot or a memory in my brain that exists. I think of lyrics like little photographs that only I have seen and people like to interpret lyrics and photographs in their own meaning.” - Danny Marra of The Breaks Inc. in an interview with Emma Hug Rosenstein.
Music Extras: