David Emery Online

Vicennial

Two decades ago today, I walked into an unassuming converted collection of terrace houses, somewhere in Wandsworth, South London, and began working in the music industry. It was purely by chance that I ended up there, really. Growing up, I had always wanted to work in music, but I never really knew how, or even where to start. I had no connections, no understanding of the industry beyond a vague notion of what a record label was, and certainly no resources to work as an unpaid intern — the “traditional” route in.

I did, though, have a knack for computers — a genetic trait, seemingly, as I ended up doing roughly the same computer science degree as both my parents and brother. That degree took me to working as a graduate at a Mac software developer — an ideal job, perfectly suited to my at-the-time quite specific skill set, in a field that wasn’t exactly awash with roles.

I got made redundant after six months.

In hindsight, it was the most fortunate thing that could have happened, but it sure didn’t feel like it at the time. It led me to bouncing around doing various freelance things, which turned out wasn’t all that...

Oasis, Wembley 2025

What Was That by Lorde

It would be unfair to say — like many others already have — that ‘What Was That’, the new single by Lorde from her upcoming fourth album ‘Virgin’, is a return to form. That would perpetuate the prevalent narrative that 2021’s ‘Solar Power’ was a dud. The internet has decided so, therefore it is so.

Which is tiresome, isn’t it?

Not only am I a ‘Solar Power’ apologist (both record and power source), but it speaks to the exhausting nature of online music criticism. Which has, for the most part, shifted from the professional to the amateur, with a million comment sections, every social post allowing for a snipe, gripe, and reinforcement of the aggregate cultural opinion. ‘Solar Power’ is a good record, a subtle record, that for me fits a slightly different space than a lot of Lorde’s other work. I suspect that, in a decade or so’s time, it will get a reevaluation once there’s a better perspective on her breadth of catalogue.

None of this is to say that ‘What Was That’ isn’t a banger, though, because it is. But interestingly, it still carries through some of the previous records’ lightness of touch, like how the chorus never quite lives up to the build-up, replacing the drop you think you might be getting with a squelchy synth line. Subtlety doesn’t often carry well in the ‘discourse’, but for me Lorde is wielding it on this track with great power (no pun intended).

Spike Island by Pulp

A long time ago I had lunch in a pub with Jarvis Cocker. Working in music has given the odd opportunity for such escapades, others which include “having a pint with Pet Shop Boys” and “hanging out at 5am in a hotel bar with Adele” — more on those another time.

I think he had a glass of red wine and the steak and chips, if I recall correctly, and his company was just as entertainingly articulate as you would hope and expect. It was around the time of his second solo record “Further Complications”, which was a very good record but shares an unfortunate truth with all such spinoff projects from the singer of a popular band: it was not a record from the aforementioned popular band, but something else not quite as good.

That record came out in 2009, which was not even half way between when the last Pulp record was released — 2001’s “We Love Life” — and when we now know the next Pulp record will, in modern parlance, drop, which is this year.

If this first single is anything to go by, it may share a kinship with Blur’s latest from 2023, which is to say that it sounds very clearly like the band you know and love, but weathered slightly with the passage of time — a patina of experience adding something new to something old.

Shadows by Goddess & Ex:Re

I have two playlists that I update regularly and listen to almost every day. The first — #20 — is my favourite twenty songs right now, no more no less, and roughly corresponds to the tracks I post on here. If it makes it to #20, it makes it to the blog.

The other — imaginatively titled “New Music” — is a seventy seven hour long dumping ground of any new music that comes out that I might want to listen to. Every week I trawl through the new releases — songs and albums — and if there’s anything interesting I’ll add it to the playlist. Then I’ll listen to all of it on shuffle. Every once in a while I’ll sweep through and clean out anything that I’ve been skipping too much.

The one and only album by Ex:Re — the solo moniker for Elena from Daughter — has been in my New Music playlist, in full, ever since it came out in 2018. It’s a no skips record. But, being a solo project, and Daughter still very much being a going concern, it always felt like a one off.

And yet, here we are in 2025 with a new Ex:Re track. Well, sort of. This track is from a project called “Goddess”, which is created and curated by ex Savages drummer Fay Milton, and it brings some of that Savages energy to the depth of Elena’s vocal, and it all works exceptionally well.

Guericke's Unicorn by Beirut

Beirut is an artist that I have slowly found indispensable — a soothing balm for the soul whenever I most need it. His last album “Hadsel” wormed it’s way in to my listening habits to such a great extent that it was #5 in my most played albums last year, despite it coming out the year before.

The press release for this new song reports that the album that it comes from, “A Study Of Losses”, was commissioned by a Swedish circus. Judging by “Guericke’s Unicorn”, which is beautiful, circuses may be an A&R source that has been, up until this point, sorely overlooked.

Besties by Black Country, New Road

Black Country, New Road’s recent live album is one I frequently go back to — in fact, I’m going to put it on right now, wait a minute — and while it’s increasingly clear that we are unlikely to get studio versions of those songs, if what we do get are as good as this first track from new album “Forever Howlong”, we’ll be doing ok.

Everything is romantic by Charli xcx & Caroline Polachek

I realise that I have failed to properly post about Brat, apologies. It feels almost inappropriate to mention it in 2025, such is its foundational position in the 2024 zeitgeist, but yet here we are, in a post-Brat hellscape.

The original Brat is a masterpiece, of course, building on everything that Charli has been assembling piece by piece for years. But, somehow, the remix album “brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” is, to my mind, even better. It is not a remix album in a traditional sense, but a meta-reworking of the whole thing, capturing in audio form not just an interesting new take on the songs, but also a commentary on the cultural impact of the original album itself. While also, somehow, simultaneously deepening the aforementioned cultural impact, with the addition of Billie Eilish on ‘Guess’, and the version of ‘Girl, so confusing’ — a song, originally sub-tweeting Lorde, which, now, features Lorde.

However, with all of that to the side, the highlight of both Brat and the Brat remix is this version of Everything is Romnatic featuring Caroline Polachek, which is far deeper than it has any right to be.

Wanna Start A Band? by Sleigh Bells

I had an unfortunate nu-metal phase in my teenage years — we all do things we regret, it could have been worse — but that primed me to be a fan of Sleigh Bells from the start. Not that they are nu-metal in any discernible way, I’m not here to slander them, but there’s a certain aggression that I think connects them both.

Interestingly, you could also draw a through line from Sleigh Bells to Brat — pop at it’s core, but revelling in an attempt to corrupt and break it.

This new song is great and weird. It’s good to have them back.

2024 in Music

If you checked my Apple Music Replay it would tell you that for the 3rd year in a row Taylor Swift was my post listened to artist, and who am I to argue with a data story like that? That stat was bolstered by her latest album — The Tortured Poets Department — which I thought was one of her best, especially the second disc (i.e. the one with all the songs produced by Aaron from The National).

Two other albums got heavy repeat listening: Charli xcx’s Brat (and the superb remixed version “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat”), and latecomer GNX by Kendrick Lamar, proving why you should always wait until January 1st to do an end of year wrap up.

Other highlights include Vampire Weekend, Four Tet, Fontaines D.C., Fabiana Palladino, The Smile (who released two albums, the first one being better, slightly), Nilüfer Yanya, Sault and many, many others.