Wait! There’s more!
A few notables that slipped through the Substack cracks last year
Since I keep my music reviews to individual artists and bands, I expend a fair amount of effort on each one in an attempt to give the reader a well rounded assessment of the artists. Someday I’ll have enough time to write ALL the Substacks, but that time has not yet come, sadly. As a result, I wasn’t able to cover all of the music I would have liked, so I’m doing a roundup of my remaining favorites that I didn’t get to. In the interest of holding the modern adult attention span, bands and artists that I saw live will get a more thorough review, and those that I didn’t will get a succinct paragraph or maybe even just a single, possibly witty line to convey my thoughts, accompanied by a link so you can listen and form your own opinions. I hope you enjoy these ‘Best of the Rest’ artists… They all deserved a full ‘Stack but alas, I ran out of year.
Carolina Chauffe, all smiles
Currently on a relatively rootless, international “permatour” for over a year, Carolina Chauffe is the driving (see what I did there?) force behind the mind-bendingly beautiful music of Hemlock that is at once familiar and yet completely fresh. With lyrics that feel sometimes like off-the-cuff scribbled notes and other times heavy, emotional missives, their 2024 release, 444 arrives with birdsongs and easy but dynamic vocal melodies like rays of sunlight through your window in the morning. Hemlock is both a solo project and a full band that features collaborators from Free Range and Friko (Bailey Minzenberger, Andy PK and Jack Henry), the album weaving comfortably between the two with soft whispers revving up to grungy, distortion rich rock sounds, never losing its core of Chauffe’s unique and spirited vocal style. The songs are part of a larger ongoing project that seems almost impossible, given the continuous transient nature of their permatour. Started in 2019, the Song-a-Day project keeps Chauffe’s songwriting acumen sharp, while lending a more capricious aspect to the practice. In addition to 444, Carolina has released November, from 2024’s collection of Songs-a-Day, available on Bandcamp along with an extensive collection of other collected songs and releases.
Lake Martin, 444 (2024) Carolina Chaufffe, Bailey Minzenberger
Thus Love: L to R, Ally Juleen, Echo Mars, Louie Racine, Shane Blank
Bringing a super high intensity new wave punk rock that generates energy like a power plant and ricochets off the walls of contemporary post-punk, Thus Love are coming up like a tidal wave, and there’s not much anyone can do about it. With a contagious blend of attitude and talent, their brash and irreverent performances drag the audience into whatever this sonic revolution is that they’re perpetrating. Their 2024 release, All Pleasure, is a bold and joyful explosion of emotion that hits confidently right out of the gate with a blend of 80’s punk minimalism, Mars and Blank’s layered, seething guitar tracks, Juleen’s heavy overdriven bass and Racine’s hard-hitting power pop drumming.
The album is an instant classic, but if it’s possible to outdo themselves, they do it every time with their live performances. I was lucky enough to see them four times in 2024 (Stone Church Brattleboro, Spirit of Vermont Fest Williston, Elsewhere Brooklyn and Burlington Waterfront NYE Fest). I highly recommend getting to a show if they’re anywhere near you!
On the Floor, Stone Church Brattleboro 11.1.24
Allegra Krieger’s 2024 release, Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine, adds an ambitious layer of experimentation to her already spooky and contemplative sound.
As a kid, I used to dig through my mom’s vinyl looking for new sounds that might be hiding in there. I can remember certain discoveries that gave me goosebumps and the exciting sensation of a lyric or a minor chord scratching a groove in my eight year old soul, most of which persist to this day. I still pull those records out occasionally, and the feeling returns. It’s rare that a new record or artist will have that profound of an effect on me now. As we age, we experience more and more of what the world has to offer, making those moments less and less likely. Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine is one of those rare records that brings back that feeling of instant nostalgia. The album lures you in with a couple of slightly pop-sounding songs that cast long shadows and eventually reveal themselves as the inherently spooky pieces they are after all. The energy of the album continually dances a fine line between these territories throughout, with Krieger’s vocals consistently reminding us that things aren’t always what they seem. Her guitar playing is truly singular and daring, using tightly defined arpeggios and fingerpicking as a backdrop for her mercurial and meandering vocal stylings.
Came, Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine 2024 boasts dazzling, otherworldly vocal work.
Krieger is another artist I was able to see live multiple times in 2024, and her performances truly highlight her vocal range and impressive talent on guitar:
Into Eternity live at The Rockwell, Somerville MA 10.29.24
JJ Weihl of Discovery Zone creates a universe all her own using multimedia and audiovisuals packed with retro-futuristic psychedelia
The Spirit of Vermont festival at Red Barn Gardens was held on September 28, 2024, hosting a wide array of musical acts from country/folk to shoegaze and punk. What I wasn’t expecting was electronic/ambient cyberpunk dance music. Discovery Zone surprised me not only as a bit of an outlier style-wise, but with their hard lean into the genre and retro sound. Stacked with heavenly vocal melodies and synth, live drums and multimedia digital and animation graphics on a transparent screen in front of the band, the result was a full sensory experience.
I wish I took a complete video, but this short clip from Spirit of Vermont will have to do. The screen and graphics in front of the band create a trippy sci-fi atmosphere on stage.
Quantum Web (2024) is a complete immersion into Discovery Zone’s ambient electronic landscape
Mall of Luv, Quantum Web (2024) Anime/Blade Runner/8 bit video game vibes
Wooll are squarely in the middle of the Providence indie music scene revival
Falling somewhere between folk-rock and shoegaze, up and coming indie rockers Wooll are breathing life back into the once prodigious Providence music scene. Their 2024 debut album Unwind captures a vibe that is constantly but effortlessly spilling over from one sound to another, with sparkling production that gives it a broad yet uncomplicated feel.
Currently in residency at East Providence machine-shop-turned-honkytonk Myrtle, the quintet are headlining once a month live performances at the area’s coolest new venue with other local and national acts. They’ve also got a couple newer songs to be released on 7” vinyl in late January:
The newest EP, 2, from Austin TX melodic noise rock artists Queen Serene is a study in wailing, distorted, reverb-soaked guitar reminiscent of some of the best late 80’s - early 90’s art rock, with grungy but hypnotic and layered instrumentation and sweet, cascading vocals.
Crafty and charismatic Philly punkers Boo Boo Spoiler, current contenders for Best Band Name Ever™️, released their debut effort aptly named Boo Boo, last year. It absolutely kicks ass.
Nashville, TN power pop that you cannot resist, Budge’s 2024 EP, Hrtsrngs is cool and catchy and you’ll involuntarily play air drums to it.
UK based Drahla’s most recent release, Angeltape is what Robber Robber would have sounded like if they lived in the 1980’s.
I really try to avoid direct comparisons, but since I have the nod from the artist on this one, The Dead Shakers latest 2024 release, So I guess I Keep Making Albums Until I Die? is Syd Barrett-meets-Brian Jonestown Massacre, and oh so much more. There’s a lot in there, and I don’t mean just quantity. I barely missed them at Spirit of Vermont in September and am still kicking myself.
Brooklyn rockers Nara’s Room’s 2024 album, Glassy Star is a perfect and shameless clinic on 1980’s pop-meets-1990’s shoegaze. It’s nostalgic as fuck.
LA duo Magdalena Bay released a doozy last year entitled Imaginal Disk. It’s like warped Disco/EDM from a David Lynch film soundtrack. It’s complete genius.
Brooklyn rock trio Hello Mary’s 2024 album, Emita Ox could be described as polyrhythmic math grunge that grooves. Drummer/vocalist Stella Wave somehow finds a pocket while simultaneously cranking out complex layered beats and singing harmonies. You probably wish you could do that.
OK, so that finally puts a bow on 2024 for me. Although there were even more artists I loved, I had to pare it down somehow, so I picked the ones that I returned to most often. Last year will go down as the most fruitful year ever for me as far as music discovery; I can only hope that 2025 comes close to the abundance of 2024. ✌️
I love the title of this blog post: 'Wait, There’s More!' It reminds me of the statements said in old late-night infomercials. But it's a play on that? Right? Because those infomercials were offering something too good to be true. But this post is the opposite of that. Inside this post is is a wealth of thought-provoking insights and interesting nuggets. It looks like it took alot of thought to review and write with personal anecdotes and careful reviews of artists. I love this so much!