The year keeps on moving along, the backlog keeps on growing, music keeps getting released. Oh god, does it keep getting released. Artists and bands are just putting out music, like, constantly. What a world we live in! Here’s three more that I listened to and wrote about! Spoon’s 10th album, Allegaeon’s 6th album, and the Linda Lindas’ debut album.

Spoon – Lucifer on the Sofa
(February 11, 2022)

When I listen to a brand new album by a bunch of old farts like Spoon, I feel it necessary to consciously avoid waving it off completely as a new album by a bunch of old farts. I don’t know where this mindset comes from. Maybe it’s because Spoon has already had their heyday long ago, and I perceive them taking up valuable space in the current zeitgeist? Maybe it’s because I automatically assume that a studio album release in the double-digits of a band’s discography will be expectedly underwhelming and superfluous? Misguided mindsets! Spoon’s got a great track record. Why would I unfairly saddle them with my own shitty preconceived notions?

What’s my point? I had to listen to Lucifer on the Sofa quite a few times before I felt it could successfully shattered my negative expectations. It’s for no other reason, either, other than that this is the tenth Spoon album. They’ve already made nine, and this is number ten; it sounds like a Spoon album. It’s not better or worse than anything else they’ve recorded. That means it’s good, I guess. Hard to get too excited, sorry.

What hits me first about Lucifer on the Sofa is that it’s got to be their most straightforward effort since 2007’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Tight blues-rock songs with melodies and choruses! Like a rather uptight Rolling Stones with a fraction of the swagger, and that’s a dang compliment. Speaking of the Stones, “Wild” is a dead ringer for a Beggars Banquet-era Stones track. Deliberate? It must be. But it just goes to show the kind of balls these seasoned vets have. And earned.

For my money, this short and sweet collection of fresh, compelling songs is almost completely consistent. Their trademark slacker-adjacent sound is as quintessential as to be expected, with the extra touch of the production and recording decisions deliberately hearkening back to ’70s hard rock traditions. There’s definitely a classic rock warmth to Lucifer and the Sofa. Anyone who likes music should like this.

I just don’t really like the ending title track. Kinda drags!

Early Verdict:

Allegaeon – DAMNUM
(February 25, 2022)

Allegaeon is a metal band that doesn’t seem to know exactly what it wants to be, which isn’t really what you want to say about any band with six studio albums under their belt over the last twelve years.

My passing knowledge of Allegaeon’s output is a meager cache indeed. I’ve probably listened to only two other albums, and there’s nothing to really write home about. Credit where credit is due, their eclectic mix of melody-driven tech-death and metalcore sensibilities is accomplished, but the mix isn’t very homogenous. Usually I’d praise a band for diversity, but when the guitar tones run the whole range of preciously clean to scratchy and filthy, and the vocals bounce between moody prog metal balefulness to raspy screamo to ultra-low guttural growls to the occasional soaring pop punk crooning, there’s just too much throw out there to expect to stick. It’s overwhelming trying to find adequacy with the project in its entirety. And it’s pretty long anyway.

Like any flawed progressive metal album, there are plenty of isolated gems strewn about to give the listener what they might want. “To Carry My Grief Through Torpor and Silence” has a cool acoustic flamenco section. “Called Home” feels like a reasonably authentic outtake from an Opeth session. “The Dopamine Void Pt. II” displays the kind of Mach 1 punctuated vocal section that you’d expect from Archspire, and a respectable effort at that. “Blight” is my favorite track, which rips and roars through a chaotic multifaceted tapestry that works better than everything else here. I like the psychedelic industrial drones and the gorgeously speedy acoustic piano section. And vocals that don’t make me cringe! From beginning to end, this is the only track that really does it for me.

But most of this is just fine. I’d be hard-pressed to find this one on a semi-regular rotation going forward. I just finished listening to it for the umpteenth time and I barely remember any of it!

Early Verdict:

The Linda Lindas – Growing Up
(April 8, 2022)

Now THIS is interesting! All-girl punk group made up of literal girls. As of this typing, their ages range from 11 to 17, so it floors me that the nascent beginnings of the band date back to January 2018! I mean, Jesus, the drummer was only seven years old then.

Even though the Lindas Lindas already have this unique characteristic going for them to help their distinction, the icing on the cake is that the music is also good enough to stand on its own merits, thankfully. It’s not incredible, and a lot of the band’s origin story smacks of an almost disgusting degree of nepotism and lucky connections, but any music listener worth his or her salt will be able to detect an incredible well of potential here.

Above all else, there is earnest outpouring of emotion and energy in both the playing and singing, of which all four members share instrumental and vocal duties. The pop-punk earworm of “Oh!” sounds like a mix between the riot grrrl intensity of Bikini Kill, the feminist hard rock of Sleater-Kinney, and the power pop of the Go-Gos. You get seething, angsty teenage numbers like “Fine”. You get social commentary with “Racist, Sexist Boy”. You even get the ballad of a pet cat with “Nino”, the killer of mice and rats! Gentleman by day, hunter by night, friendliest cat you’ll meet will protect you with all his might!

So, yes, a lot of this is cute and spunky with a lot of shallow subject matter and youthful energy, and what the hell else should one expect from kids? These are kids, man. Some day Eloise Wong’s dad is going to let them cuss in their songs, and maybe then the naysayers will get the complexity and depth they think they need from a punk band…but until then, enjoy the musicianship for what it is from four very talented girls. This is only the beginning.

Early Verdict: