Best of 2024
My favorite release from the past two weeks is by far I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy (Listen), which was released this past Friday. It is probably my favorite record released this year so far, it’s that good. The record oscillates between the sweet sonic melodies of 90s alternative
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We’re back with another Crucial Tracks feature – this time it’s talented musician Vic Lazar, who we met during college at the University at Buffalo. Vic played in the the legendary Buffalo hardcore band Union, as well as fronted many of his own indie leaning bands, including Grey In-between,
Best of 2024
Busy, busy! I did not expect February to go like it has (so far), as all of my free time has been taken up with the travel hockey season winding down and my daughter’s high school hockey team going all the way to the state championship finals! Then Chris
Best of 2024
This week was a little light in terms of albums that immediately caught my attention, but Liquid Mike’s Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot (Listen) definitely won me over as the favorite. The album hits you hard with power pop earworms – 13 of them in just 26 minutes. It’s fast,
Best of 2024
Now we are talking! I added thirteen albums to my library to check out on this release day. I’m mostly through them all and while there wasn’t one release that absolutely blew me away, there were a lot of good releases this week. Let’s dig in! My
Best of 2024
New releases are starting to ramp up as we move away from the holiday season. This week had notably more new releases than last week and I see a lot of good artists on the horizon for the coming weeks. Looking at this week, though, I do have one standout
Featured
Buckle your seatbelts folks, the show is about to get really good. If you’ve been on the journey so far, we’ve covered the Crucial Tracks for both Chris and I, as well as some administrivia and end-of-year music picks. Standard fare…but NOW it’s time to dig
Best of 2024
Another typical January release day, however things are picking up a little bit as there were more new albums this week than last. There were two albums I enjoyed this week, one being Big Sigh by Marika Hackman (Listen) and the other being Penalty of Leadership by Boldy James &
Best of 2023
I have to be honest: I had a different experience of the 2023 musical landscape than Jay – it was hard for me to find any anything to really settle into, anything that moved me, or anything that shocked me in a way that was wholly new. Some years are like
Best of 2024
There weren’t many new releases this week, but one album still stood out as interesting and I have a feeling it will last the year on my “Best Of” list. That would be SPRINTS new album Letter to Self. (Listen) From the band: Inspired by Savages, their sound matured
News
Happy New Year from Crucial Tracks. With 2023 in the books, I’ve got some updates to my end of year post. First up is my 2023 song-a-day playlist… now with 365 songs! Since it’s January 1, it’s also a perfect time to take up this project in
Best of 2023
I posted these lists to Substack Notes before I published by year end post, so I will move these over to the main site, so everyone can see them. Some albums that didn’t make my list of 2023 favorites, but I still really enjoyed: Alternative/Indie * Pure Music by