Our seven favourite indie albums released in August 2024 - featuring Fontaines D.C., Jack White, Wunderhorse, Yannis & the Yaw and more!
Welcome to the latest edition of our monthly indie review blog. In this edition, we review the best new indie music released from the month that’s just been.
August itself was an absolute bumper month for new music giving us plenty to mull over! With contributions from Matthew McLister and Neil Renton, here's a review of the best albums from August 2024.
Albums
Jack White - No Name
Hands up if you thought it was a gimmick?
Jack White caught everyone, including his own publicist, by surprise when he released his new album on vinyl and having Third Man Records hand it out to lucky customers. There were minimum details on its contents with a social media post commanding fans to "Rip It".
Ironically enough, that’s what White himself has done. It’s both bluesy and punk without an ounce of fat on it. Nothing is wasted.
Straight from the off No Name grabs your attention. ‘Old Scratch Blues’ has White competing with his guitar to find out who can snarl the most. ‘Bless Yourself’ continues with the scuzzy garage sound and ramps it up.
‘Underground’ tugs the listener in about fourteen different directions while ‘Archbishop Harold Homes’ has him as a preacher converting everything in his way. Picking a single track as a standout is cruel when the whole collection is as good as this.
It might have arrived without a name but that doesn’t matter when you can call it one of the finest released this year. And easily his best material since The White Stripes. (Words by Neil Renton)
Wunderhorse - Midas
Wunderhorse are a band defined by second chances. After the premature demise of punk outfit Dead Pretties in 2017, Jakob Slater retired from music altogether to work as a surf instructor in Cornwall. Over the years the creative itch would gradually return, rekindling his love as his focus shifted from fury to personal reflection in the form of his Wunderhorse project.
In 2022, the band’s introspective debut Cub arrived as a collection of hazy, sprawling psych-rock numbers and grunge moments. Two years on we have Midas - a purposely raw and no-frills follow-up that’s more chaotic, vulnerable and gravel-voiced.
Recorded with producer Craig Silvey, Midas captures the visceral atmosphere of Wunderhorse’s live performances. It may be filled with disillusionment and a raw sense of imperfection, but Midas is rarely anything but perfectly enthralling.
Fontaines D.C. - Romance
At last, after what seemed like an eternity of hype and hope, Fontaines D.C. release their fourth album.
Is it as good as we all wanted it to be? In a word - yes.
Don’t be caught off track by the day glow costumes and their new appearance that owes a debt to Korn. They’re still the same band as they’ve always been, now just more confident in their own abilities.
We’ll all know ‘Starbuster’ by now which isn’t the finest song on here. That could be ‘In The Modern World’ a stunningly beautiful song that leaves Fontaines peerless. It could be ‘Death Kink’ a dark, vitriol-fired love number that you could imagine The Pixies knocking out the park.
Album closer ‘Favourite’ is another, eh, favourite, more poppy than the rest that came before it but not worse of for it.
That’s the thing with Romance. The band have made an album, one that demands to be listened to and savoured from start to finish. Selecting a stand-out track is an almost impossible task.
Its musical style might be all over the place but the band aren’t. They’re at the top of the pile. (Words by Neil Renton)
Yannis and the Yaw - Lagos Paris London
Back in 2016, Yannis Philippakis received an unexpected invitation to join pioneering Afrobeat musician Tony Allen for a recording session in Paris. It would turn out to be a life-changing moment for the Foals frontman, resulting in a blooming friendship and fruitful experience with an icon who remained creatively dialled in throughout the final years of his life.
Four years on from Allen’s death at the age of 79 that meeting of minds has found the light of day as the impressive five-track EP Lagos Paris London, which matches Afrobeat excellence with Philippakis’s idiosyncratic guitars and impassioned vocals.
Lagos Paris London wins on two fronts. Firstly, its ambitious scope furthers Philippakis’s artistic reputation and, secondly, it provides a fitting farewell to the late, great Allen as two masters of differing crafts combine for an enrapturing experience. (Words by Matthew McLister)
Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
On the first listen of A Firmer Hand I wasn’t that keen on it. Who knows why, maybe the brooding tones didn’t catch my interest. I stuck with it. Gave it a few more listens. Then it clicked.
BBC 6-friendly ‘Men Like Wire’ was probably the reason. You get why it’s a single as it soars on the way to an epic chorus that demands attention and respect.
The more you hear the more you notice. Like the fiendishly clever lyrics, the 1980s production and the observations on the modern man.
‘You Can Film Me’ and ‘Disingenuous’ also have sprawling values but scratch below them and the words hit home. This is elevated so much more in the albums quieter moments such as ‘St Christopher’ and ‘Autobiography of Spy’ where you savour the his skill and craft.
Eventually I couldn’t remember why I found the whole experience difficult. Perseverance is the moral of the story.
The cover of the album has Hamish Hawk’s face half covered in darkness as if he’s the villain of a black and white horror or thriller. With material as striking as this, he’s anything but the bad guy. (Words by Neil Renton)
beabadoobee - This Is How Tomorrow Moves
Beatrice Laus quietly goes about her business and has earned herself her first number one album whilst establishing her fine reputation.
Quiet is the key word. Debut release Fake It Flowers came at us with flaying grunge limbs and kicks but long player number three is far more reflective and mature.
Another 90s presence looms large over the offering and it’s Elliot Smith. He is name checked in the final track ‘This Is How It Went’ and the whole hushed delivery that follows this evokes the singer songwriter.
Despite it being her third album it almost, at times, feels like a second album, the type where the artist longs for home comforts after tasting success.
Don’t worry. It’s not a masterclass in wallowing in self pity. The opening three tracks ‘Take A Bite’ ‘California’ and ‘One Time’ set the scene perfectly and it’s all engaging as opposed to being indulgent.
Laus was one of the support acts on Taylor Swifts behemoth Eras tour and you can see why. They both share more than a stage in their songwriting and ability to expose their hearts while earning plaudits. (Words by Neil Renton)
F***ed Up - Another Day
Across a career that spans more than 20 years and a head-spinning amount of music, Fucked Up have balanced straight-up hardcore with a sideline as art-punk provocateurs. Their breakthrough album The Chemistry of Common Life scooped the Polaris Prize — Canada’s answer to the Mercury — in 2009, while with David Comes To Life they went full concept in 2011, setting out an experimental ethos they’d further develop on.
Their seventh album Another Day shows that there is mileage in countering that impulse with something more straightforward. Following on from last year’s time-constrained writing exercise ‘One Day’, here the Toronto-headquartered band return to the direct sound of their early years, finding something fresh to say in rapid-fire songs that are both joyful and explosive.
The opening run of tracks, beginning with the frenetic 'Face', flow with effortless vibrancy. Stimming has Damian Abraham singing about the joyful, soothing release of musical performance and later, on ‘Tell Yourself You Will’, his roars meet a soaring riff for a chest-thumping, earwormy highpoint.
There is interesting tension on the almost nihilistic Paternal Instinct, where a bleak-but-infectious refrain — “We’re the ones that’ll burn it all down” — achieves a sort of fist-pumping defiance. Divining Gods offers a delightful contrast by moving the lyrical theme towards society’s worship of false idols: “We’ll make our gods where we can find them.”
If we’re being picky a mid-point breather would’ve been welcome — to guard against weariness and allow the second half of Another Day the chance to shine — but it’s not a big deal. This is another uplifting hardcore punk experience from musicians who can still go as hard as they did two decades ago. (words by Matthew McLister)
For the best tunes of each month, listen to our Best indie songs of the month 2024 playlist below.
Comments