September 2024 Recs

Hello Mary, Jack Spicer, Perfume Genius, and more

Happy fall to everyone except for the people in the Bay Area who are in extreme heat atm :P #climatecrisis September was chock full of new releases; I put out 23 reviews (well 3 today but including those). A lot of the new music was really good, so it was hard to make the call about what to post on — but not too hard lol. Regardless, a lot of great music didn’t make the cut for the post but made it into my monthly playlist, so go check that out if you want to! It’s a good one I think.

Fav Album That Came Out This Month: “Emita Ox” by Hello Mary

My top album of the month was probably a tie for “Manning Fireworks” by MJ Lenderman and “Emita Ox,” but given that everyone and their mom is writing up MJ and the fact that I was expecting MJ to be good but didn’t even know any songs by Hello Mary before this, I’ve chosen to go w “Emita Ox.” As I said, while I’d heard of the band before this month, I don’t think I’d listened to any of Hello Mary’s songs before this. On first listen I was like okay this is meh just more nugaze, but then on second and every following listen, I was blown away. Actually unlike any of the other alt rock bands out there rn I think. They’ve got keys. Interesting song structures and a mix of more acoustic stripped back and blown out electric. And not super novel, but they also do a great little talky thing every once in a while that I’m such a sucker for (see Mad Planets). I immediately picked up tickets to see them next week at Brick n Mortar in Sf, and I’m stoked.

Full review here.

Fav Album That Didn’t Come Out This Month: “high on my own supply” by Amelia Cry Til I Die

Ok because there was such an influx of new music this month, I didn’t actually listen to much older stuff. I started a deep dive into Bay Area local bands (Aluminum, Blue Zero, April Magazine) and also listened to a Juliana Hatfield album that is going to vinyl for the first time (“How To Walk Away”), but my favorite album was this one by Amelia Cry Til I Die from 2022. After becoming obsessed w the song “Country Girl” last month, I decided to listen to the whole album and was just so endeared by it. Stripped back raw earnest songs w great writing. I think you have to be brave to put voice cracks out there the way this album does. And some people will be turned off by that. But I luv it.

Full review here.

Fav Live Performance I Saw This Month: Perfume Genius at Great American Music Hall

This month I went to some great concerts. First I saw Unity x Tony Molina at Bottom of the Hill, which was awesome. Unity revitalized my excitement about the SF underground (check em out here) and Tony Molina has been a hero of mine for a while now. I also saw Built to Spill at the Fillmore last week which was great, but it wasn’t my first time seeing them and they were performing “There’s Nothing Wrong With Love” which isn’t my fav album of theirs. I initially wasn’t too excited about the PG concert and tried to sell my tickets a few months ago (Horse Jumper of Love was playing the same night), but I’m so glad I ended up going. Hadreas is just such an amazing performer. It was everything I could’ve hoped for and more, and “Queen” is one of my fav songs of all time and I got to see it performed TWICE!

Fav Book I Read This Month: My Vocabulary Did This To Me (Collected Jack Spicer) edited by Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian

I’ve been spending about the last month and a half with Jack Spicer’s collected (amazingly titled) edited by Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian. I fell in love with After Lorca a few years ago and have had this collected on my shelf for years, but I finally got the will to go diligently through the whole thing. There’s a lot of allusions that I feel go over my head and sometimes I get bored bc of that, but there’s so many wonderful gems in here to find and I feel like I’ll keep finding more and more the older I get. As I’ve been settling into life back in the Bay, it feels like a good time to be doing this.

Monthly Reviews Wrap Up

So many reviews this month, so these are just my top/most notable ones.

Manning Fireworks, MJ Lenderman (9/10), indie rock

Free Energy, Dummy (6/10), art pop

my anti-aircraft friend, julie (8/10), shoegaze

Everything Matters, Everything’s Fire, Lunar Vacation (7/10), indie rock

Water Giants, Nina Ryser (5/10), art pop

Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine, Allegra Krieger (7/10), indie rock

Feats of Teenage Engineering, Fantasy of a Broken Heart (7/10), prog pop

Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild, Merce Lemon (7/10), indie rock

SOPHIE, SOPHIE (8/10), electronic

Pointy Heights, Fousheé (7/10) indie r&b

MONTHLY PLAYLIST!!!!

Xoxo