10) The Crooked Rugs – “Tales of the Great Western Sky” (2022)
The Crooked Rugs are one of our local bands! The band formed here in Fort Collins and released their first EP in 2020. This summer, KCSU played songs from the band’s 2022 release, “Tales of the Great Western Sky”, a concept album that draws on classic rock sounds blending with psychedelic elements.
The title track is split into two parts, the first building up an instrumental with the energy of a classic cowboy movie. The second part keeps up the tempo while adding in some sick guitars. It feels like it would be the shootout or a train robbery part of the movie.
The highlighted track is “Gunmetal” It opens with a slow riff and rattlesnake sound before the track really takes off, doing a great job of building energy throughout.
9) Mannequin P- – “I Got Heaven” (2024)
Hailing from Philadelphia, the four-piece rock band is fronted by guitarist/vocalist Marisa “Missy” Dabice, with the other members Kaleen Reading, Colins “Bear” Regisford, and Maxine Stern having joined the band later on in their career. “I Got Heaven” marks the group’s first full-length project since the pandemic forced them to cancel tour dates back in 2020.
The group is known for their aggressive lyricism, intense punk instrumentation, and vocal delivery. They remind me of some of my favorite riot grrrl acts of the ’90s, especially on tracks like “Drunk II” and “I Got Heaven”. This album does a good job of showing several sides of the band with lush tracks like “I Don’t Know You” on the same lineup as hard-hitting pieces like “OK? OK! OK? OK!”.
The highlighted track, “Loud Bark” highlights a standout vocal performance from Missy and a unique blend of soft and strong energies.
8) The Drones – “Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Wills Float By” (2005)
Australian rock band The Drones got a lot of love from KCSU DJs this summer and is the oldest album on this week’s list. The group formed in Perth in 1997 with founding members Warren Hall (drums), Garreth Liddiard (vocals/guitar), James McCann (guitar), and Rui Pereira (bass). Though the group underwent lineup changes throughout the years, this is the aptest roster when talking about the group’s sophomore studio album “Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Wills Float By”.
This album was recorded live and most of the songwriting is credited to Liddiard, who cites his experiences growing up in Australia as the biggest inspiration for the album’s subject matter. Listening to any track from this album you can’t escape the feelings of anger and sadness emanating from the track list. Specifically on the track “Locust”, Liddiard mentions racism towards Aboriginal peoples as the driving force behind the song’s lyrics. Other tracks speak more generally to the singer/songwriter’s painful experiences throughout his adolescence.
The highlighted track, and biggest single from the album, “Shark Fin Blues” discusses feelings of grief that Liddiard experienced following the deaths of his mother and ex-girlfriend. After the group’s freshman studio LP (Here Come The Lies), which had a distinctly more angry sound, Liddiard made a concerted effort to slow down and make the songs more accessible to the band’s audience.
7) Childish Gambino – “Atavista” (2024)
Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, got his musical career started in 2011 with his album “Camp”. Before he was known widely as a comedian, who got his start as a writer for “30 Rock” before becoming an actor. Both of us on the music team were big fans of his work in the show “Community” as Troy Barnes.
His comedy background and musical inclination explain the silly nature of his earlier work. When Gambino shifted into a more serious tone while maintaining his whimsy, is when he really began to shine as a musician. A good example from this album is the track “Psilocybae”, a quirky chronicle of his first time trying magic mushrooms.
Our highlighted track, “Human Sacrifice” is a great showcase of both Gambino’s vocals and lush, tasteful production that has come after years of honing this sound.
6) Danny Brown – “Quaranta” (2023)
Danny Brown’s 6th studio album was released last October, his first solo album since 2019. The Detroit rapper became known for his irreverent lyricism and unique production. Brown has referred to “Quaranta” as one of his most personal works to date discussing his low points before becoming sober. The album has a distinctly more mature tone than the artist’s earlier work.
This was especially interesting for fans of the rapper’s more bombastic work, but the album was overall very well received as Brown bared his soul over a new sound.
The highlighted track, “Dark Sword Angel”, talks about some of the hard knocks Brown experienced growing up over a heavy, hard-hitting instrumental.
5) Good Morning – “Good Morning Seven” (2024)
Good Morning is a duo hailing from Australia and their fifth album, “Good Morning Seven” came out in the spring earlier this year. The band gained lots of recognition when their song “Don’t Come Home Today” was sampled by A$AP Rocky on the song “Kids Turned Out Fine”. This gave the duo lots of momentum preceding the release of their album “Basketball Breakups” and their North American tour.
This latest album has been the group’s largest release to date, and actually aided them in embarking on their latest North American tour with another artist featured on this week’s list, Waxahatchee.
The highlighted track, “Just In Time”, is bright with its piano chords, harmonies, and lyrics full of optimism.
4) Beyonce – “COWBOY CARTER” (2024)
“B-E-Y-I-N-C-E, ya”
Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter” was released as the second installment of a three-part project with 2022’s “Renaissance” being the first. The album is Beyoncé combining country with gospel for an all-American record. The singer/songwriter is no stranger to either genre, but the country sound on this album was particularly highlighted due to the artist being overlooked in the past. Beyoncé’s song, “Daddy Lessons”, off the 2017 album “Lemonade” was an unmistakable country ballad detailing the Texas singer’s coming of age. The singer even performed the song at the Country Music Awards with The Chicks, yet was overlooked from any nominations.
With something to prove, Beyoncé threads this album with a lot of introspection about growing up in the South, and shows her appreciation for country music in both the references she chooses and the featured artists. Notably, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Linda Martell, and Miley Cyrus all make an appearance.
The highlighted track, “YA YA”, has references to both Nancy Sinatra and The Beach Boys, and is one of the most fun on the album.
3) Waxahatchee – “Tiger’s Blood” (2024)
Waxahatchee is musician Kate Crutchfield’s musical project that has spanned the last decade and a half. Named after Alabama’s Waxahatchee Creek, Crutchfield, with Brad Cook, has become one of the biggest folk acts out right now. The majority of the album was penned by Crutchfield while on tour in 2022. Having a more pop-ish sound than the previous album, this was a refreshing release for the spring of this year.
KCSU isn’t the only station that has been loving this album. Upon “Tiger’s Blood” being released, the project spent 5 weeks at the top of the NACC chart, a first for Waxahatchee.
The highlighted track, “Right Back to It”, features harmonies from MJ Lenderman, is the album’s lead single, and one of the best from this batch of tracks.
2) Adrianne Lenker – “Bright Future” (2024)
Known as the vocalist, guitarist, and lyricist for the folk band Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker’s latest solo album, “Bright Future”, has been one of the most played at the station since its release.
Lenker has been releasing music since 2006, when she was only 14 years old, and has made a reputation as one of the most prolific songwriters of the folk music scene. She has a way of bringing the poetry out of some of the rawest human emotions which is why she has been able to amass such a dedicated fanbase since the formation of Big Thief in 2015. “Bright Future” is everything a fan would want from an Adrianne Lenker project: deeply emotional lyricism with ambient instrumentals from an acoustic guitar to accompany it. One notable song on the project is a demo version of the song “Vampire Empire” which was eventually released as a Big Thief track with some intense vocal delivery, drumming, and bells to back it up. The demo on Lenker’s project is a lot more stripped back and offers a different perspective on the track’s subject matter.
Our highlighted track, “Donut Seam”, is homophonic to the words “Don’t it seem”, which is a repeated quandary throughout the song.
1) Charli XCX – “BRAT” (2024)
This summer, neon green and Arial font were inescapable due to hyper pop sensation Charli XCX’s latest full-length album, “brat”. The UK singer teamed up with many of her longtime collaborators to produce one of the freshest batch of dance tracks in recent memory.
The singles for this album, “Von dutch”, “B2b”, “Club classics”, and “360” garnered lots of hype for the album to be full of upbeat party tracks. The song “Von dutch” even had a remix with TikToker Addison Rae released before the album was dropped. Despite all of the party girl energy exuded, some tracks offer introspection. One such song is “So I”, in which Charli reflects on her friendship with late hyper pop pioneer SOPHIE. Another is “Girl, so confusing” where she details her sometimes fraught relationship with fellow singer, Lorde. This track gave rise to a remix with Lorde herself. The latest notable remix was for a song from the deluxe edition of the album “Guess”, which was produced by The Dare and featured Billie Eilish for a guest verse.
For the highlighted track, we think that “Everything is romantic” was a great example of “brat summer”. It describes the beautiful Italian coast in a way only Charli XCX could put into song.