Five Cool Ones: Five New Albums Released This Week (January 19, 2024)

The heat is on and there is a ton of new long- players to digest this round.

The mighty Saxon is scorching the earth with a new single and video.

Judas Priest never fails to amaze and will likely go on forever, case in point, their latest single and video, Panic Attack.

And, if AOR is your jam, Grand and their new single “Kryptonite” will wet your early Journey and Europe whistle.

But grab the popcorn, the main event is coming up with five new platters the likes of which we have not heard in a very long time.

Sleater – Kinney – Little Rope

Returning from a ten-year hiatus, Sleater Kinney is releasing their 11th album. One of the more taut efforts from Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker, the guitar lines seem to be crisper, and the vocals are more textured than we are used to coming from the OG’s of the riot grrrl movement in the Pacific northwest.

The angst is still there front and center on “Six Mistakes” and the no-flinching songwriting has not been lost most notably with the lyric “get up girl, and dress yourself in clothes you love for a world you hate” as exhibit A.

The Love Gone Wrong song “Say It Like You Mean It” might be the poppiest of the pop songs the band has ever written, and “Don’t Feel Right” jumps right out of the speakers.

Look for this one staking a claim in the end of the year lists. The welcome return of a band we had forgotten we missed.

Chemtrails – The Joy of Sects

One of the rare female-centric Post Punk bands in the game today, Manchester-based Chemtrails has almost created their own sub genre, Garage Pop.

The opener “Detitrus Andronicus” sucks you in with the first bouncy guitar riffs, with the distinct vocals of Mia Lust and Laura Orlova introducing themselves to your ears.

Most, at first listen, will have a love-hate relationship with the Cindy Lauper fronting the B-52’s vocal stylings that some might find irrating at best, unlistenable at worst.

A record that needs to be savored in the correct setting, don’t jump off the island until you check out the “Rock Lobster” vibing of “Superhuman Highway.”

Lizzie No – Halfsies

Emerging Folk-Americana artist Lizzie No, with her latest record, Halfsies, is poised to be one of the hottest break-out artists of 2024.

A New York to Nashville transplant, Lizzie combines the best of the musical melting pot waving the inclusion flag in everything she does.

All of the hot spots are touched here with elements of Country, Bluegrass, Folk, Pop, and Rock all represented with aplomb.

80’s ladies’ country is all over “The Heartbreak Store,” “Lagunita” is a straight-up rocker, and “Deadbeat” is pure Laurel Canyon Joni Mitchell.

This record is a stunner well worth your aural respect.

Green Day – Saviors

Green Day is one of those bands that will immediately transport you to a place in time from your not so distant past where life was simpler and music was real.

With this, their 14th album Billie Joe and the fellas build that bridge connecting 1994’s Dookie, American Idiot, their most popular record, and now Saviors.

Weighing in at a compact 15 songs in 45 minutes, this one has Green Day doing what they do best, melding a scattershot of socially relevant songs around a soundscape of Post Punk fury that is unique to the band.

The opener, “The American Dream Is Killing Me” will remind you why you fell in love with the band in the first place, and “Corvette Summer” could be a long lost Jellyfish B-Side.

A welcome return from a band of our youth.

Emperor Penguin – Emperor Thieves

“What’s The Worst That Could Happen,” the leadoff single from Psych Pop band Emperor Penguin pre-dispositions the template on this one with the early Beatles rock and roll groove and psychedelic undertones.

“ I Wouldn’t Put It Like That” is Elvis Costello at his poppiest, “You And Me” will envelope you in the secondhand smoke of a Sgt. Pepper sit-in listening party and the band goes all hipster French on “Sonnez Les Martines.”

Pristine Power Pop for pure people.

Song of the Day: LJ Makkay And The Six – Bad Weather Blues

With a voice that seemingly comes from Hades that floats somewhere Between Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen, Long John Makkay and his 66 crew ride the Americana/Country Rock range.

The songwriting is first-rate storyteller fare with a big sound along with varying soundscapes that make every song an immersive experience. Consider us among the several that missed placing their latest record, Bridges, on our album of the year poll for 2023. It was well deserving.