THE 2024 UNDIES
Most topical release: M.A.C.E.
In an end-times year where nightmare dystopia has become batshit reality, the debut release by Orlando punks M.A.C.E. nutshelled the current state of affairs like no other. Their In Your Face EP is a six-part polemic against America’s current collective insanity. Attacking hate, discrimination and toxicity from a perspective that’s unabashedly feminist, queer and POC, M.A.C.E.’s debut is a necessary broadside of pure punk pushback that’ll be painfully relevant for at least four more years.
Best Prometheus: Moxie Booking
In a breakout year for Moxie, Casey Laughman’s boutique booking house has been on an inspired concert run that’s brought the best of the underground to Orlando and established her as an independent force in the music scene. From outsider egg-punk shows to the “Modern Moog” series, Moxie’s smartly curated bookings have been consistently interesting. Already, Laughman’s built a reputation where you need only see the name Moxie Booking on the bill to know it’s a show worth attending.
Best new heavies: Thrull
While they’d built some steam opening for the likes of Weekend Nachos, Crowbar, the HIRS Collective and Primitive Man, young supergroup Thrull cemented their spot as a new home-grown juggernaut with debut EP Hard Mental Reset. On it, they merge hardcore, metal and noise rock into a brutal singularity that bludgeons with glorious abandon.
Best new noise: Saucers Over Washington
Proof that shoegaze is hot again is the fact that it’s now one of the most misused music terms. Saucers Over Washington are the real McCoy and their debut album, American Cosmic, is some of the best shoegaze to ever come out of Orlando.
Best underdog: Blue Bamboo Center
Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts beating out Rollins College to take over the old Winter Park Library building this summer was possibly the biggest David-and-Goliath music story around here this year. It’s a victory that speaks to the depth of passion and vision that this independent, artist-run jazz bastion has fostered in our area from the grass roots up.
Best hip-hop phoenix: Wahid
As a member of Seeyousoon, local rapper Wahid went on an Icarus ride that swept him up to the verge of national eminence then down into despair when the group imploded. But across two collections released this year on Innovative Leisure, he worked through the disillusionment and reemerged as a solo force rising anew.
Biggest swerve: Tele & the Ghost of Our Lord
As Tele & the Ghost of Our Lord, Matt Kamm’s status as outsider royalty has come by way of psychedelic adventurism across the musical map. But of all the things for a weirdo to do, going traditional is maybe the weirdest. This year, Kamm made a surprising pivot toward classic country music with Tele, releasing three studious cowboy songs and even playing a country set at Southern Fried Sunday. Shine on, you crazy rhinestone.
Best reboot: Luscious Lisa
Legendary for their lechery and ridiculous- ness, local party-rap pervs Luscious Lisa finally came out of a nearly decade-long release hiatus with a serious new look and sound. While the big sexy energy’s still there, they’re now more intent on owning your ass than just tapping it with new jams that pump with more message and point than ever. This one took me by total surprise.
Best siren songs: Vestis
From the alt fringe of folk music, Vestis delivered some of the year’s most haunting work in their sophomore collection. Heavy in mood and harrowingly evocative, Vestis II weaves dark hypnosis with pastoral dirges equally suited for contemplation or suicide.
Built around real audio of America’s most notorious murderers, the beats aren’t even the sickest thing on Black Wick’s Serial Thriller U.S.A. album (released on Orlando’s Popnihil label). But the combined effect of those deviant confessionals and Black Wick’s sinister sounds is a demented magnum opus of true-crime hip-hop.
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This article appears in Dec 25-31, 2024.