From euphoric Swedish pop to sensual British triphop via a peerless theatrical rock opus, here's our pick of the three albums celebrating a major anniversary this month.
ADVERTISEMENTEvery month of 2024, Euronews Culture takes a trip down memory lane and handpicks a trio of albums celebrating a major milestone.
These are the three records you should choose to (re)discover as they respectively turn 10, 20, and 30 this September.
Turning 10 in 2024: Tove Lo – Queen Of The Clouds
(Release date: 30 September 2014)
2014 was a great year for pop, with releases like La Roux’s electro-pop debut 'Trouble In Paradise', Lana Del Rey’s 'Ultraviolence', Charli XCX’s punky dance gem ‘SUCKER’, St. Vincent’s self-titled rock-pop opus, and of course, Taylor Swift’s '1989'.
However, one release frequently gets overlooked and unfairly so: Tove Ebba Elsa Nilsson aka: Tove Lo’s debut album ‘Queen Of The Clouds’.
This synth / EDM / new wave dance extravaganza saw the Swedish pop star delivering banger after banger with playful verve, the melodies, lyrics and style exuding sex appeal aplenty. It’s a lively tracklist which takes the listener through what it’s like to be young, in love, out of love, and dealing with the messiness of raw emotions. There’s a bracingly honest and borderline drunken messiness to the feelings on show, making Tove Lo something of the original Brat.
The singles ‘Habits (Stay High)’ and ‘Talking Body’ both stand out as excellent calling cards for the album as a whole. The first describes the behaviour of someone trying to cope with a break-up, and pulls no punches. “I eat my dinner in my bathtub / Then I go to sex clubs / Watching freaky people gettin’ it on (...) I get home, I got the munchies / Binge on all my Twinkies / Throw up in the tub / Then I go to sleep.” The proto-Brat goes on to “pick up daddies at the playground” and “make it fast and greasy” because she’s “numb and way too easy.”
The second single ups the sexiness with the beats and the more explicit declaration: “If you love me right, we fuck for life / On and on and on.”
It may all sound provocative for the sake of it, but the album’s hooks are impeccably structured and there’s a genuine playfulness that shouldn’t be dismissed as empty posturing. It was one of the most fully realized pop records that year, and it holds up as a euphoric pop high that has nothing to envy some of its successors ten years down the line.
Since 2014, Tove Lo’s star has risen considerably: her albums ‘Lady Wood’ (2016) and ‘Blue Lips’ (2017) also delivered the hits, and her newest record ‘Dirt Femme’ (2022) is no slouch, with tracks like ‘How Long’ and ‘No One Dies From Love’ - the former featuring on the soundtrack for the second season of the TV show Euphoria. And if you haven’t seen her live yet, don’t miss out the next time she’s at a festival or coming to a town near you. You won’t regret it.
“On my good days I am charming as fuck,” Tove Lo brags on ‘Moments’. She’s not wrong there.
Also turning 10 in September: ‘Crush Songs’, the debut solo album by Yeah Yeah Yeah frontwoman Karen O; Irish singer-songwriter Hozier’s self-titled debut, featuring his hit song ‘Take Me To Church’; Perfume Genius’ stunning third album ‘Too Bright’; British indie darlings Alt-J's second album ‘This Is All Yours’, with the excellent singles ‘Left Hand Free’ and ‘Hunger of the Pine’; and the Americana gem ‘Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone’ by Lucinda Williams.
Turning 20 in 2024: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
(Release date: 20 September 2004)
2024 is a big year for fans of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. We’ve just had their new album ‘Wild God’, and this year marks the 40th anniversary of their debut album ‘From Her To Eternity’, as well as the 30th anniversary of one of their most celebrated efforts, 1994’s ‘Let Love In’ - featuring their single ‘Red Right Hand’. However, the anniversary we’re most excited about is the 20 years of their 2004 double album ‘Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus’, undoubtedly their greatest LP to date.
Coming after one of the band’s most beloved albums, 1997’s ‘The Boatman’s Call’, and the balladeering double-tap of ‘No More Shall We Part’ and ‘Nocturama’ - both poorly received - ‘Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus’ was the destruction of what seemed like a mournful plateau.
ADVERTISEMENTThe album is an endlessly mesmerising collection of songs that show the Bad Seeds at their most theatrical. The two contrasting sides - ‘Abattoir Blues’ being the more raucous and rockier one, while ‘Lyre’ is an elegant retelling of the Orphic myth – work in unison to create a grandiose statement. The instrumentation and gospel choirs lend it much dramatic oomph; the lyrics on these two halves are riotous and emotionally satisfying; and despite the departure of long-term Bad Seed Blixa Bargeld, the band felt like it had been energized like never before.
Tracks like the stomping opener ‘Get Ready For Love’, the epic ‘Hiding All Away’ (which recalled some of the storytelling prowess of ‘Murder Ballads’) and the gorgeous ‘Abattoir Blues’ stand out on the first half. The tender ‘Breathless’ is a highlight on the second, as well as the breathtaking closer ‘O Children’, which is sheer rousing and emotional perfection.
All to say that the band’s thirteenth record was far from unlucky. It managed to marry the early, full-blooded intensity of the Bad Seeds with the gentle poetry they had perfected in the second half of their career. It’s nothing short of a perfect record, and one well worth listening to on repeat this year as it celebrates its second decade.
Also turning 20 in September: Green Day’s return to punk-pop form with their ambitious concept album ‘American Idiot’; Interpol’s second album ‘Antics’; Arcade Fire’s debut album ‘Funeral’, which ties with ‘The Suburbs’ as their best to date; Devendra Banhart’s fourth studio release 'Niño Rojo', a gorgeous folk gem; and 'Brian Wilson Presents Smile', a wonderful album with then all-new recordings of music that Wilson had originally created for the unfinished album by the Beach Boys that was abandoned in 1967.
ADVERTISEMENTTurning 30 in 2024: Massive Attack – Protection
(Release date: 26 September 1994)
When they emerged with their first album, 1991’s ‘Blue Lines’, Massive Attack were at the vanguard of a new trip-hop sound. Their sensual electronica, which merged hip-hop, dub, jazz and soul, made the Bristol collective stand out amongst their trip-hop peers Portishead, DJ Shadow, Tricky (one of their frequent collaborators) and Morcheeba.
This year, their second album ‘Protection’ turns 30, and it doesn’t get enough praise. Largely dismissed because it is chronologically sandwiched between their massively influential debut and arguably their greatest album, 1998’s ‘Mezzanine’, ‘Protection’ deserves more love.
Despite lacking the unique aura of its predecessor ‘Blue Lines’, the two albums share plenty of DNA. Both even feature the same “flammable gas” image on their covers. Robert Del Naja, Andrew Vowles and Grant Marshall did move towards more ambient, some might say subdued sounds, as evidenced by the titular track featuring vocals from Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn. It’s a hauntingly beautiful song, featuring a timeless message about the essence of care. Most of all, its atmospherics continue to resonate within and outside of the band’s discography.
ADVERTISEMENTThere are callbacks to ‘Blue Lines’ with songs like ‘Weather Storm’ and its funky baseline; ‘Karmacoma’ and its reggae sounds; and the ominous ‘Heat Miser’. However, ‘Protection’ as a whole is the moody and immersive sound of a band succeeding in pushing their avant-garde sound beyond the trip-hop trend they’d contributed to. It's evolve or crumble – and the same could be said about Massive Attack’s later work, not only with ‘Mezzanine’ but also with 2003’s misunderstood ‘100th Window’, which significantly dialled down the hip-hop/jazz fusion of the previous albums, and their last album to date, 2010’s 'Heligoland'.
Let’s hope that the wait is nearly over for a new album. In the meantime, you’d do well to rediscover ‘Protection’ and its entrancing sounds.
Also turning 30 in September: Christopher George Latore Wallace aka: The Notorious B.I.G.’s debut album ‘Ready To Die’, a hip-hop classic featuring the singles ‘Juicy’, ‘Big Poppa’ and ‘One More Chance’.
See you next month!
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