![\"Poster](\"http:\/\/agitreader.com\/wp2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/posterpaints.jpg\")
<\/a><\/h4>\n#10
\nPoster Paints
\nPoster Paints
\nErnest Jenning Record Co.\/Olive Grove Records<\/h4>\n
After initially being introduced by Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee (of The Vaselines<\/a>), Carla Easton (of TeenCanteen) and Simon Liddell (of Frightened Rabbit<\/a>) created their self-titled Poster Paints debut collaborating remotely during the pandemic, soliciting contributions from Jonny Scott (of CHVRCHES) and Andy Monaghan (of Frightened Rabbit), as well as members of the Arab Strap<\/a> touring band, among others. Given the pedigrees of those involved, it shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise that the album is a stunner, but Easton is the star here. Her crystalline voice rings out amongst the record\u2019s at times nubilous atmospherics, as on \u201cStill Got You,\u201d where she sings, \u201cI\u2019ve still got you on the tip of my tongue,\u201d to a paramour she can\u2019t quite forget. The album\u2019s swirl of pop melodies, reverberating guitar notes, and cracking beats is just as beguiling as Easton\u2019s voice, and one can only hope this isn\u2019t just a one-off project.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To someone who grew up having to save his paper route money to buy records, it sometimes feels like the kids have it easy these days. But just because you have the universe of music at your fingertips doesn\u2019t mean you know what\u2019s worth hearing. The teenagers in Chicago trio Horsegirl have seemingly got the algorithm right, channeling a host of indie rock influences (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Unwound and other Kill Rock Stars highlights) that predate their birthdates. But while the fact that Steve Shelley and Lee Renaldo play on a couple of tracks and that the album was released by Matador further solidifies the \u201890s vibe, this fortunately isn\u2019t some tired retread. Instead, the Horsegirl girls have filtered their points of reference through a lens of their own, making music fittingly fresh-faced and irresistible.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Longtime Agit fav Zola Jesus<\/a> has always had a penchant for the dramatic, which is fitting given her operatic training. But that predilection has never been as vividly displayed as on this past year\u2019s Arkhon<\/i>. As song titles like \u201cLost,\u201d \u201cThe Fall,\u201d and \u201cInto the Wild\u201d might indicate, the record is something of a transformative journey that ebbs and flows as it unfolds. With percussionist Matt Chamberlain providing a propulsive backbeat throughout, the album feels very primal both sonically and emotionally, so that when Zola sings, \u201cLick my wounds like you can taste them. Would it make much of a difference if you knew my pain?\u201don the elegiac \u201cDesire,\u201d it feels like she\u2019s tapped a vein. With multiple crescendos throughout the record and Zola\u2019s voice seemingly always reaching for some precipice, the album is catharsis incarnate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Arriving on a wave of attention created by lead single \u201cChaise Lounge,\u201d late-night TV appearances, and a soldout US tour<\/a>, Wet Leg\u2019s self-titled debut (fortunately) lived up to the hype. Indeed, the album was everything that first single was\u2014smart, catchy, inherently cool\u2014and more. Channeling everyone from Elastica to The Breeders, the Isle of Wight duo\u2014Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers\u2014creates songs that seem light as air and at once inherently brash. On the leadoff \u201cBeing in Love,\u201d Teasdale sings, \u201cI feel like someone has punched me in the guts, but I kinda like it \u2018cause it feels like being in love\u201d atop chirping synth touches and waves of fuzzy guitar. The song lasts all of two minutes but conveys the endorphin rush of its subject matter perfectly. Similarly, on \u201cLoving You,\u201d Teasdale sings, \u201cI used to love you like you wanted me to. Now I wanna hate you like I tell you I do\u201d with the perfect amount of sweetness and spite followed by some la-la-las for effect. Wet Leg<\/i> is perfect pop, with its tongue in its cheek in all the right spots.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Last year\u2019s end-of-the-year list<\/a> had an abundance of Australian artists (and Amyl and the Sniffers\u2019 latest probably should have been on there too). That\u2019s not the case this year, but the land down under is still well-represented by bratty punk trio The Chats. The Aussie band\u2019s second album is everything you want in a punk record: loud, brash, and fast. But the band has plenty of catchy hooks and lyrical smarts in its arsenal as well. The leadoff \u201c6L GTR\u201d is perhaps the best of the bunch, big meaty guitar riffs played at speed and matched with lyrics spelling out a muscle car fantasy and sung in Aussie dialect. The rest of the record exhibits similar musical traits while tackling subjects like the rising cost of cigarettes (\u201cThe Price of Smokes\u201d) and getting drunk in every pub in Brisbane (\u201cI\u2019ve Been Drunk in Every Pub in Brisbane\u201d). It\u2019s an album that\u2019s hard not to love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fourth album from Warpaint was long in coming\u2014six years to be exact\u2014as a result of starting recording pre-pandemic only to be forced to shift gears and work remotely during lockdown. The time spent on Radiate Like This<\/i> was clearly worth it, however. The album is a mesmerizing mix of dusky aesthetics, both electronic and au natural sounds, and the beguiling vocals of all four members. Building slowly from the minimalist mantra of \u201cChampion\u201d (\u201cI\u2019m a champion. I\u2019m a champion.\u201d), the record soon blossoms on \u201cHard to Tell You\u201d to occupy a unique sonic space while echoing luminaries as wide-ranging as the Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, and All About Eve. The record reaches its apex on \u201cLike Sweetness,\u201d where a mix of bass and synth coalesce to create a brooding foundation on which Emily Kokal posits, \u201cOur fate just takes time\u2026 I\u2019ll wait forever.\u201d Few records were this enchanting this year.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As it had been seven years since Dungen\u2019s last proper record, 2015\u2019s Allas Sak<\/i>, you would be forgiven if (like me) you had forgotten about the Swedish psych maestros. Fortunately, the band has seemingly never allowed the dust to settle. The album, whose title translates to \u201cone is too much and a thousand is never enough,\u201d is perhaps the best record the group has made since 2004\u2019s breakout, Ta det lugnt<\/i>. While it exhibits all the lysergic earmarks of the Dungen oeuvre, it also is infused with a good deal of inventiveness as well as a healthy dose of pop smarts. Leadoff single \u201cNattens Sistat Strimma Ljus\u201d (\u2018the night\u2019s last shimmer of light\u2019) is lead by a phased guitar line and a shuffling beat, the combination of the two potent enough to be addictive as any mind-altering substance. Meanwhile, \u201cH\u00f6stens F\u00e4rger\u201d could be The Beatles had they sung in Swedish, piano and guitars melding into what can only be described as a pop song\u2014and a brilliant one at that. Dungen has seemingly pushed itself outside of its own comfort zone, and we are lucky enough to reap the rewards.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s tempting to call Spoon\u2019s latest a return to form, but aside from a couple of mediocre albums midway through their career, the band has been consistently releasing solid records for nearly 30 years. That said, Lucifer on the Sofa<\/i> does feel like a return to the lean sound of breakout albums like Girls Can Tell<\/i> and Kill the Moonlight<\/i>. Thank producer Mark Rankin who has rendered Britt Daniel\u2019s voice bone dry and placed it upfront with his Telecaster, so even though the record has plenty of other sounds in the mix, it doesn\u2019t feel particularly ornate. This Albini-esque aesthetic is upheld throughout the album, giving it a briny punch that\u2019s only offset by the sweetness of softer moments like album highlight \u201cMy Babe.\u201d As such, every utterance on Lucifer<\/i> seems purposeful, and with the album clocking in at just 10 tracks and 39 minutes, it\u2019s obvious this record was edited to its essentials. The end result is exactly that: an album that is Spoon boiled down to its principal elements and a record that is outright indispensable.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Capitalizing on the promise of its debut, Wednesday<\/i>, Just Mustard returned with a tsunami of a second record. Taking cues from shoegaze luminaries like fellow countrymen My Bloody Valentine and, perhaps even more so, Cranes, the Irish five-piece crafted a record layered in sonic textures that at times seem to grind against one another while simultaneously juxtaposing with singer Katie Ball\u2019s honey-coated vocals. This approach is best exemplified on \u201cSeed\u201d where bass rumbles churn against a primal beat and guitars slash in bolts. At times, it is Ball\u2019s voice that does the slashing, as on \u201cEarly,\u201d where her caterwaul contrasts with the muted backing. Listening to Heart Under<\/i> is like entering a sonic black hole, a realm unpenetratable by light or other sounds, and when you emerge on the other side it\u2019s impossible not to have been changed in some way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/h4>\n
<\/a>#9
\nHorsegirl
\nVersions of Modern Performance
\nMatador Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#8
\nZola Jesus
\nArkhon
\nSacred Bones Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#7
\nWet Leg
\nWet Leg
\nDomino Recording Company<\/h4>\n<\/a>#6
\nThe Chats
\nGet Fucked
\nBargain Bin Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#5
\nWarpaint
\nRadiate Like This
\nHeirlooms\/Virgin Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#4
\nDungen
\nEn \u00c4r F\u00f6r Mycket och Tusen Aldrig Nog
\nMexican Summer<\/h4>\n<\/a>#3
\nSpoon
\nLucifer on the Sofa
\nMatador Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#2
\nJust Mustard
\nHeart Under
\nPartisan Records<\/h4>\n<\/a>#1
\nCrows
\nBeware Believers
\nBad Vibration Records<\/h4>\n