This is the first record in the "fringe" category that I'm posting in my will-probably-take-all-of-2025 2024 retrospective, so I'll explain briefly that this category represents stuff that I had some vague appreciation for but never quite "took to" in 2024. (For those keeping track, that makes the current category list for 2024 records: "Safe Bets", "You Could Make a Case For", and "The Fringe"; there are 6 more categories making up my notes that I have yet to write any reviews from). I'll be writing about "fringe" records either because they became more important to me in the months that followed or because I still have some nagging idea that there's something there, even if I never found myself listening to the album regularly. This first one is a case where I've actually found myself reaching for it more in the first few months of 2025!

https://bubblelove.bandcamp.com/album/bubble-love

Bubble Love took a while to grow on me because I wanted more Tread and this is not that–but of course it's not, it's even released under a different name! Tread's tracks had this cool forward momentum to them; they were headed somewhere and I was getting to hear what happened along the way. This one in contrast simmers, perhaps giving the DJ the reins with any track selection to stay somewhere for a moment before their work takes people on to the next destination. The sampling simultaneously feels blunt and like a more restrained DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ, and there are some gloriously 90s steel drum and panflute patches that sound like they come from a CD-ROM where a cartoon dog teaches you chemistry concepts. The "Love"/"Hate" combo is very good back to back, but I'm partial to "Ugly"

I unironically love this music video reaction video on youtube dot com. The way this guy responds to the moment of discovering who Heems is makes me so happy. I have not looked at literally anything else he has said or done so apologies in advance but yeah man

https://oklou.bandcamp.com/album/choke-enough

here’s an album that’s a great example of “I put it on while doing something else and found it vaguely pleasant; I sat down and listened to it while doing little else and realized it was extremely my shit”. The little synth horns and flutes on this thing are so good. Love how many moments just don’t have drums? The Taste or Waste crew heard Stardew Valley in “thank you for recording” but I hear, like… Microsoft Encarta? Computer programmers who are obsessed with Kraftwerk? It’s icy and weird but kinda boppy, it’s got features by bladee and underscores, it’s hitting all the right notes for me. I’m not quite convinced it’s all-timer album material but I am definitely going to enjoy it right now

https://cheekface.bandcamp.com/album/middle-spoon

Last year's album It's Sorted felt kind of like they had polished the whole Cheekface bit to a perfect point so it's not surprising that this one would be a ~transitional record~; it sounds like the members of the band have been through a lot in the last year (relatable!) and this album is being kind of press junketed as the result of that but I'm not sure that really pays off. I think it's cool that they collaborated with McKinley Dixon for "Military Gum" but I'm not sure the result is as good as a Cheekface track or a McKinley Dixon track. "Growth Sux" has a funny and possibly insightful point but to me it feels like they barely scratched the surface and I find it hard to say where their commonly-employed satirical voice ends on the topic, which sort of defeats the point of their whole schtick.

I do think there's something cool that's happening with Cheekface's particular blend of music and writing and comedy and politics and I want to see it continue and get better and smarter. There are individual moments on here that are catchy enough that I'm sure they will pop into my head unbidden for years to come ("Wind is Gone"'s refrain of "Dial 999-9999" has been on loop, maddeningly, for the past 48 hours), but... I dunno. I'm not seeing the depth that I know they are capable of.

Your Old Droog is the kind of rapper who can release a song with Denzel Curry and Method Man verses and a Celebrity Death Match-inspired music video in 2024 and still be someone you might not know exists; a weird mix of access to the ability to realize a creative vision and also criminal near-anonymity in the mainstream. I was made aware of him via his 2017 collaboration with Heems "Bangladesh", a song I'll probably dedicate at least one full post to at some point, and I did listen to the album it was on (Packs) a decent amount, but I somehow checked out for... 6 albums in 7 years after that?

Movie, from last year, has Pretty Toney-era decadence vibes. "I Think I Love Her" is a slick parasocial love song complete with a music video that feels like the perfect companion to Charli XCX's "Boys" visual. "Mantra" addresses his upbringing as a Russian immigrant. "The Interview" is maybe the funniest skit I've heard on a hip-hop album since Prince Paul's peak? "What Else" recalls Clipse's "Mr. Me Too" with its confidence.

There's also an incredible punch-in tactic at play on a handful of tracks on this album where Droog acts as his own... hype man, sort of? Because one of the things that he does is self-consciously shout "what?" or "who?" whenever he makes a reference that I guess he thinks is too obscure? It's so funny and weird and charming and is honestly the best argument for why you should listen to this album, so I'll stop there.

The whole Ice Spice thing has maybe not panned out so far the way it looked like she might when she co-starred with Nicki in the "Barbie World" interpolation in 2023 but nothing can take away the moment of watching this video when it came out and being like "oh shit Worldstar is actually breaking a genuine new star in 2022?"

Kendrick saying “brother” at the end of every line in the middle part of his verse never fails to crack me up

https://cliffdiverok.bandcamp.com/album/birdwatching

Cliffdiver's second full-length album really delivered for me. It's not surprising in hindsight that their debut album Exercise Your Demons wouldn't live up to the high expectations set by their 2020 song Gas City; it's by all means a good album but for me it lacked the sort of top-tier memorability that I'm looking for when listening to this sort of on-the-nose pop-punk "DIY" music. Birdwatching, as a counterpoint, sold me from the very start with opener "thirty, flirty, and thriving!!!" Co-lead vocalists Joey Duffy and Briana Wright are both extremely charming, the band's work continues to be my favorite use of the saxophone in recent memory, the whole album kinda breezes by and dares you to go back to the start and listen all over again like many of my favorite albums this year, and I would like one hundred more years of Cliffdiver songs to put me in a good mood and make me feel thirty years old again.

bards will be like "so baby listen carefully / while I sing my combat song"

https://armlock.bandcamp.com/album/seashell-angel-lucky-charm

This second album by the Australian slacker-rock duo is a perfect example of why I love Run For Cover Records. It's unfortunately brief, weighing in at just 19 minutes across 7 tracks, but I had it in the rotation pretty regularly in 2024. The lofi music videos put out over the course of the year match the vibe pretty well. More of this please!