BY: Music Journalism Club

Take a moment to catch up with WSUM’s team of music journalists by checking out the singles, EPs and albums we’ve been loving recently!

Magdalena Bay, Imaginal Disk

STANDOUT TRACKS: “Image”, “Love Is Everywhere”, “The Ballad of Matt & Mica”

GENRE: Synth pop

RIYL: Lil Yachty – Let’s Start Here., Japanese Breakfast – Jubilee, Beabadoobee – Beatopia

Imaginal Disk is my current standout for Album of the Year. The concept album by indie duo Magdalena Bayhas been making massive waves in the indie scene as of late, with critics RAVING about the pure, unabashed creativity of this project. The production and instrumentation, the lyricism, the aesthetic of the music videos and promotional material, and the all around ETHEREAL sound, something about this album truly feels as if you’ve entered another dimension. The beautiful melodies and emotional theming are established from the very beginning, and continue to show up throughout the album. Every relisten of this album and each individual track brings something new to the table for me, whether it’s a previously unnoticed production choice, or a beautifully poetic lyric that flew over my head previously. I truly believe that this album will be talked about in conversations of greatness for years to come, and is a lesser appreciated future classic in my books.

— Joseph Martino

Sadness, Your Perfect Hands and My Repeated Words

Highlight Tracks: “Bury Your Kiss in Me”, “Please Don’t Let Go”

GENRE: Blackgaze, emo

RIYL: Deafheaven, Parannoul

Your Perfect Hands and My Repeated Words is the 44th project from the prolific Damián Antón Ojeda’s Sadness, one of their many projects that deal in atmospheric black metal, blackgaze, emo, and post-metal. With this much music under their belt in the span of just under 10 years, it’s no surprise that Sadness has delivered yet again with one of their most beautiful projects yet, leaning more towards emo then they ever have before. This album packs in 5 tracks, each almost equally heart-wrenching and longing, and finishes with the song “Please Don’t Let Go” which I have to admit, is the only song from 2024 so far that has made me cry. I highly recommend this to anyone who’s getting hit with that fleeting bittersweet feeling that summer is finally over and that things ahead might never be the same again.

— Gio Simonini

The Softies, Winter Pageant

STANDOUT MOMENTS: “Over”, “Fortune”

GENRE: Indie pop, indie rock

RIYL: Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions, The Sundays, Yo La Tengo

Only having released a total of four albums, their most recent released this year after a 27 year hiatus, The Softies have a small, coherent discography, which I discovered through their latest release, The Bed I Made. Throughout their projects, Rose Melberg and Jen Sbragia, the two members of The Softies, rely on little else besides their voices and guitars. Marked by soft, wistful singing and simple melodies, “Winter Pageant,” however, stands out as the most melancholic album, considering both composition and lyrics. The instrumental and vocal components of each song are very similar, contributing to the overall feeling of ennui, longing, pondering or whatever emotion you choose to exacerbate while listening to sad music. Winter Pageant feels like an intimate glimpse into the singers’ lives; longing and forlorn lyrics that paint scenes of the deterioration of and reflection on a relationship make this album incredibly personal.

— Emma Hoffman

Michael Kiwanuka, “Floating Parade”

STANDOUT MOMENTS: Background vocalists and violin melodies

GENRE: Soul, RnB, vocal

RIYL: Leon Bridges, Black Pumas, Curtis Harding 

Michael Kiwanuka’s single, “Floating Parade”, has been in my playlist since its release late August. The track delivers on all of Kiwankuka’s signature compositional styles: a mix of modern soul and sophisticated, folky lyricism. A multi-talented instrumentalist and vocalist, Kiwanuka’s steady voice cuts through soft, resonating combinations of acoustic guitar, violin, base, and background vocal melodies translating themes of love and self-resilience. The track takes the listener on a journey as the melodies rise and subside, the tide reinvigorated with Kiwanuka’s, “Count all your blessings, my mother said, Don’t keep repressing, a heart that’s heaven-sent”. This song is perfect for headphones and embraces the individualistic nature of how we often listen to music. I cannot wait for what else Kiwanuka has in store. 

— Fletcher Grubbs

Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack – *Mostly* the Bee Gees

STANDOUT MOMENTS: “A Fifth Of Beethoven” “More Than A Woman” “Open Sesame”

GENRE: Disco

Over the summer, my Aunt dumped a bunch of movie soundtrack CDs on me. While a lot of them weren’t what I was looking to listen to while driving – the Bladerunner soundtrack in particular always depressed me – the standout was for sure the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever. The movie is apparently about John Travolta dancing, but I’ve never seen it. As the soundtrack to a movie about disco, most of the album feels like what’s on the cover. The soundtrack is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard though. “A Fifth Of Beethoven” is a disco remix of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, and the first time it came on in the car my friends and I really couldn’t believe it. There’s another twist or two like that in the album, but I won’t expose them here.

— Oliver Gerharz