November 2024 Dispatch: Music on Repeat vol. 9
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The second half of 2024 has been kind to many music fans and even the veterans among us have been satisfied. From live gigs, new album releases, to hearing about plans, we can certainly say the future is looking bright as you’ll see while reading the onwards.
Let’s start with a few bombs, suprises, and slow down with revisiting the past.
Editorial note… season flu has delayed publication of this article. Apologies are offered.
The Cure – Drone:Nodrone
After 16 years, The Cure released a new album, Songs of a Lost World (2024), and it’s not just another album, it’s an album we’ve been waiting for a long time.
It’s a bit of a miracle and we’re not sure how he managed it, but Robert Smith has kept the band together for an astonishing forty-five years. Instead of chasing fame and trying to get back to the top of the charts, they focused on perfecting their live gigs.
Gigs. You can’t call them gigs anymore, since the band plays three and a half to four hours every single concert. To not let a single fan down, they’ve polished performances to absolute perfection.
In the meantime, their music was introduced to a new – much younger – audience, particularly thanks to the season of the TV series Wednesday (2022).
The new album is brilliant, Smith takes time and it’s not unusual for the singing to start a few minutes into the song and… it’s one of the best albums of 2024. You can read more in our two single reviews, ‘Alone’ and ‘A Fragile Thing’.
‘Drone:Nodrone’ is a great example of mastery – just listen to Gallup’s bass!
Watch The Cure – ‘Drone:Nodrone’ (Troxy 2024 Livestream)
Puma Theory – Foolish Boy
The Reading duo didn’t disappoint even with their third single.
Puma Theory’s ‘Foolish Boy’ presents us with a fully comprehensive study of self-destructive behaviour that leads to nothing good.
While they still don’t have a website(!), you can find out more about their gigs, plans, and band life on their Instagram account.
We say this often, but it’s the truth – if nothing goes wrong, they will be known to a much wider audience.
Watch Puma Theory – ‘Foolish Boy’.
Linkin Park – Casualty
We were not wrong when we mentioned in our review of Linkin Park’s From Zero Livestream that hiring Emily Armstrong would help the band move into new territories.
The new album, From Zero (2024), nods at their past music created with Chester with a smile but shows a few future directions.
Armstrong feels like a natural fit. She can go from a gentle voice to hardcore in an instant as Linkin Park demonstrate in ‘Over Each Other’ and ‘Casualty’.
Just as in their past, there are great things in their future.
Oh, and there are so many gigs announced that you can literally go from one country to another and enjoy them healthily.
Watch Linkin Park – ‘Over Each Other’ (Official Music Video).
Watch Linkin Park – ‘Casualty’ (Official Audio Visualizer).
Fontaines D.C. – Bug
Romance (2024) remains a blast album and has been heard in the office quite a few times. Sometimes it feels like one office finished playing it and another hits the play button.
The August 2024 Dispatch promoted ‘Here’s the Thing’, which featured ‘Bug’, a song that shows the craftsmanship the band’s lyrics come with.
Expect Fontaines D.C. to be one of the hottest contenders for the album of the year 2025.
Fontaines D.C. – Bug (Official Video)
Jack White – That’s How I’m Feeling
When celebrating all the music goodies here, we have to mention Jack White’s new album No Name which landed in August two years after Fear of the Dawn (2022) and Entering Heaven Alive (2022), the fourth and fifth albums respectively.
The champion of guitar music blends punk, garage rock, and blues, and doesn’t avoid certain punk features.
Make sure you don’t miss the album, it’s with it. Here’s what you can learn about White’s feelings…
Watch Jack White – ‘That’s How I’m Feeling’ (Official Video).
Poppy – The Cost of Giving Up
Poppy’s ‘New Way Out’ single signalled a new wave of her music and a slight genre change.
The transformation from an alt/dark pop to metalcore was accomplished by releasing the Negative Spaces (2024) EP. Sort of. It offers two metal songs and a visit to the pop days.
I don’t where Poppy intends to take us next time but we’ll be cheering in the front row.
Listn to Poppy – ‘the cost of giving up’ (Official Audio).
Rise Against – Prayer of the Refugee
Some of us sometimes revisit the past.
Rise Against – Prayer Of The Refugee (Official Music Video)
Breaking Benjamin – Awaken
I discovered the band in 2006 when “The Diary of Jane” was a huge hit playing everywhere.
And when I was revisiting the past more thoroughly I came across these guys.
There’s a new single out, ‘Awaken’. They’re still the same.
Listen to Breaking Benjamin – ‘Awaken’ (Official Audio).
Candi Carpenter – Seasonal Depression
It’d be a shame not to list the now classic piece by Candi Carpenter, ‘Seasonal Depression’.
The song is a hard hitter pointing out the impact of the (not everyone’s) favourite time of the year. The environmental impacts of overproduction and overconsumption leading to dead grass but no snow, and plastic everywhere to a general bad mouth taste of what’s become of the festive time.
Then, there are family issues and loneliness.
Depressing and it’s only the end of November. Ho. Ho. Ho.
Candi Carpenter – ‘Seasonal Depression’ (Official Video).
Written by Vinklarek on
