2024 needs to relax.

In times of unrest, we tend to get a lot of great music, don’t we? I don’t need to explain why that is; all you need to know is that, yes, 2024 is off to a roaring start for good music. I’ve found so much value in a lot of what’s been released this year and that’s why this installment of What I’ve been spinnin’ will solely focus on songs released in 2024.

I don’t want to waste any time. Let’s get into it.

Caesar on a TV Screen – The Last Dinner Party

The Last Dinner Party are so, incredibly fun. The baroque-indie-rock fusion quintet are caught the eye of many with their full length debut –‘Prelude to Ecstacy – and for good reason.

Caesar on a TV Screen was the fifth and final single for the album, and it might be the best of the bunch. The band’s theatrical approach to rock shines bright on this one, and lead singer Abigail Morris’s performance builds on said theatrics, creating one of my favourite vocal performances of the year thus far. Her consistently passionate delivery steals the show, which is saying something because of just how good the band sounds.

The instrumental layering and production is so flawless that it’s honestly stunning that this is a part of a band’s debut album; it sounds like they’ve been doing this for years.

I would keep my eyes and ears peeled for The Last Dinner Party, if I were you. I think they have a chance to be something real special in rather short order.

Oh, and their music videos are really, REALLY cool, too.

Don’t Reach For Me + Blinding Faith – Knocked Loose

The current best band in metal continues to make some of the most relentless and brutal music in the genre.

The Kentucky based hardcore/metal act ‘Knocked Loose’ are among favourite band and their 2021 EP ‘A Tear in the Fabric of Life’ remains as my favourite EP of all time. I was wondering if this would be the year we’d get a new full length release from the band, as it’s been nearly five years since their last LP – ‘A Different Shade of Blue’ – was released.

With the announcement of their forthcoming record – ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’ – the band released ‘Blinding Faith’, a song which focuses on lead vocalist Bryan Garris’s struggles with religion.

“I’ve seen a lot of comments surprised and confused by the lyrical content in this song. The idea of being confused by religion or questioning a higher power is something I’ve struggled with and written about since the first song we ever released for Pop Culture. I hope you enjoy, and if you struggle with the same questions I hope you feel comfort in not being alone.” – Bryan Garris (via Instagram)

It’s just more visceral, loud, and brutally heavy metal that Knocked Loose has mastered, but with more maxed out production and distorted ambience, which I think is a welcome change. This song shows the band going back to their hardcore roots as the pacing is continuously quick and intense, but the sounds and instrumentals pull from influences of death metal and metalcore.

Then there’s ‘Don’t Reach For Me’, another song which focuses on Bryan’s qualms with Christianity and religion. It’s not as fast-paced as Blinding Faith, but it doesn’t need to be; the sheer brutality and pissed-off feel of the track is palpable and makes this one arguably more memorable than the previous. The band’s performances are always what makes these songs as good as they are, but the production choices on both tracks are so stellar and I think they especially sign on Don’t Reach For Me. I would also like to note that this song’s chorus is a bit more in the A Different Shade of Blue mold, but it’s sinister feel and emotional intensity are fantastic.

These guys will not stop putting out quality, they simply refuse to.

RAPID FIRE TIME!

A LA CARTE – Quadeca, Brakence

This song is going to live in my head forever.

Like That – Future, Metro Boomin, Kendrick Lamar

This song bangs but, like, Kendrick’s verse on this thing is ruthless. It’s one of his best features ever and he kind of carries a lot of the weight on this one.

That was as rapid fire as rapid fire can get, but it’s because there’s a song that I’m honestly dying to talk about.

symptom of life – WILLOW

I am absolutely floored.

WILLOW is an artist that I have never typically enjoyed, in all honesty. Her pop-punk material of the last few years never really spoke to me; I’m not sure if that sound really fits for her vocal capabilities, especially for a song like ‘t r a n s p e r a n t s o u l’ where her sustained high notes were a little rough: But again, I think it’s more of a ‘fit’ issue than a talent issue.

She proved me right with symptom of life. 

I listened to this track yesterday for the very first time and I can say this with absolute certainty: This, so far, is the biggest stunner of the year for me, even more so than Quadeca’s ‘SCRAPYARD’ mixtape, which absolutely blew me away and will stay in my rotation for a while now. WILLOW’s ‘symptom of life’ is now an early ‘song of the year’ candidate and an incredibly blissful tune.

Ditching the pop-punk, Willow takes more inspiration from genres like jazz, funk, soul, and also adds in some soulful, yet popstar-esque vocals that are nothing short of stunning. The song structure is simple but the depth of instrumentals here is impossible to deny – I’m really struggling to properly give this song its flowers because it doesn’t need them: The song itself does all the talking.

The opening, warm piano progression that persists throughout the song is gorgeous and it bodes well with the rest of the instrumentals. The chorus on this track is wordy, groovy, and fun as hell; and the bass tone and playing in this section is to die for. And the drumming. Oh my god, the drumming. I would like to apologize to ‘PRETTY PRIVELAGE’ by Quadeca: There’s a new challenger for best drum performance of the year. If this is the song that’ll make me set up my drumkit then fair enough.

This song is also immersive, it creates its own sonic world with a consistent vibe and it’s just pure bliss; it’s perfectly timed with the arrival of Spring. I don’t know if this track could, I don’t know, cure a hangover or replace therapy; but it sure as hell invokes a lot of positive emotion out of me, and a song that can do that holds a lot of power.

WILLOW absolutely nailed it with ‘symptom of life’. I know that this’ll be a song that I keep with me once 2024 passes: It’s an incredibly introspective and immersive song with incredible performances and crystal clear production. The jazzy, soulful piano and vocals mixes lush textures with grooving drums and bass and is, simply put, a match made in heaven. An incredible track; one I am confident in saying is a 10/10.

Now that we have the Rate Your Music type paragraph out of the way, this song rules. Full stop. Just listen to it, dammit!