The ache of the wind on the windows

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2023

#11 : Rat Saw God - Wednesday

The settings of Wednesday songs tend to be pretty shabby: truck crashes, car park overdoses, accidental firework arson, a “sex shop off the highway with a biblical name”. But songwriter Karly Hartzman practically consecrates the defining locales of her North Carolina youth into sites of religious pilgrimage, honouring this vanishing, violent detritus and the overlooked rural lives of those who witness it. Blurring allegory and anecdote into ripping anthems caught halfway between the disaffection of the 90s Touch and Go catalogue and the Drive-By Truckers’ take on southern rock, Rat Saw God is the year’s best rock album, and a place you’ll want to keep visiting again and again.

I've never heard of Wednesday and I've have to say it doesn't seem like the best band name to have in these search engine optimised times - and that was the case even before Netflix got in on the action with their Addams Family based series (which is well worth a watch if you've not seen it - I can't believe I haven't written it up yet).  I'm not going to argue with having to listen to the year's best rock album though - assuming The Guardian isn't lying to me.  They wouldn't do that would they?

Oh yes, I really quite like this.  And younger me would have liked it even more - it's very early 90s Throwing Muses-esque.  Older me did think I could have lived without the screaming on some tracks, but as a whole I generally enjoyed it and there's not too many people making too many sounds like this these days.  It's also a very Throwing Muses-esque album cover as well.

Wikipedia tells me this is their fifth album - they've been around since 2017 and previous album titles include Yup Definitely, I Was Trying To Describe You To Someone and Mowing The Leaves Instead Of Piling 'Em Up.  The critics were very nice about it and Paste and Stereogum declared it to be their #1 album of the year - there's no word on commercial performance anywhere though.

"Customers also listened to" feeble little horse, Water From Your Eyes, Bully and Blondshell - all of who sound like they're going to be indie bands, don't they?  I've never heard of any of them, but I'd never heard of Wednesday either and I really like this - if you like a spot of 80s/90s US indie noise then I'd certainly recommend you check this out.

#10 is another one we've seen already - Olivia Rodrigo's Guts.  I've not revisited this, but my daughters still play the odd track from it from time to time and I don't mind them - but I still don't think it's as good as Sour.

#9 : Fountain Baby - Amaarae

Fountain Baby is a lavish and playful album with a borderless vision shaped by Amaarae’s upbringing between Accra and Atlanta: the sleek percussive elements of Afrobeats and the euphoric boundlessness of alté meet the cascading vocal delivery of southern US trap, or breathy Janet Jackson-esque trills. Revelling in excess and ambiguity, densely saturated and constantly shapeshifting, Amaarae’s experimentation also takes in punk, R&B, flamenco, melodic rap, g-funk, soft rock and more, all topped off with her sugar-sweet voice.

I have heard of Amaarae, but only because she's popped up in "customers also listened to" several times on this list - but that, and The Guardian's introduction above, gives me absolutely no idea what to expect.  "Punk, R&B, flamenco, melodic rap, g-funk, soft rock and more" apparently - along with Afrobeats and alté, and I've never even heard of alté ("a fusion genre of music that combines elements of afrobeats, dancehall, reggae, hip hop, and alternative R&B" according to Wikipedia).

Funnily enough, that wasn't the exact combination that sprung to mind when listening to it - if I'm being honest then "huh?" was probably my overriding opinion.  But it was a good "huh?" - the backing tracks are what I think Afrobeats should sound like, but rarely (in my limited experience) does.  And the vocals are quite odd - I've got no real point of reference for this but it's all well put together and I didn't mind it at all. 

Wikipedia tells me it's her second album and the critics loved it, with it making quite a few year-end lists - but there's no word on commercial performance.

"Customers also listened to" Bloody Civilian, Adekunle Gold, Rvdical The Kid and Lojay - ah yes, that lot. I doubt I'd ever listen to this again because I've no idea what to do with it, but it wasn't unpleasant.

Three very different albums, but they all feel well constructed and, even if they're not your cup of tea, I think you'll find something to admire (if not enjoy) here.

#13/12 - Not so great
#8/7/6 - Three more well put together albums