Jimmy "Explosive Diarrhea" B's 2024 Musical Obsessions

New Model Army, Unbroken (2024). 

I know this album is going to appear on other lists. To prevent redundancy, I will refrain from saying very much about it. NMA is an amazing band and every album is fucking great.

The Doors. 

It is weird to me that prior to 2024 I didn’t have a single studio release from The Doors in my collection. This year I purchased every album both with and without Jim Morrison. There were surprises. I expected the two albums the band made after Morrison’s death to be shit. They are weak compared to the Morrison output, but all in all they are passable records. I was also surprised by how bad the LA Woman record is. And finally, I was surprised by how great the deep tracks are on most of the records.

Voltozash.  

I heard this band while messing around on Bandcamp late one night. I was so blown away by them that I ordered a copy of every album where the band had a physical copy. They call themselves a jazz-metal band. I can’t improve on that.

Karaba, Pheremon Crumble Wax (2020). 

Karaba plays psychedelic jazz with a heavy groove. If that is your jam, then Karaba might be what you need.

Deceased, Children of the Morgue (2024). 

1980s influenced thrash metal is the stuff of my youth, and I seek it out. I had never heard of Deceased, and they started putting out music in the late 1980s or early '90s. How did I miss this wonderful band? This is the metal release of 2024 for me.

Black Tusk, The Way Forward (2024). 

I am sometimes a finicky fucker. There are bands that I want a style change to keep me interested; other times I get pissed off when a band changes their style (fuck you Pallbearer!). Black Tusk is one of the latter bands. I can’t imagine them doing anything else, and I would be disappointed if they tried. The Way Forward is typical Black Tusk – fast, brash, and dirty, and I love it.

Rotting Christ, Pro Xriston (2024). 

It has been decades since Rotting Christ released an album I didn’t think was great. Pro Xriston continues the trend of great albums, and it is my favorite since 2016’s Rituals.

Trilok Gurtu, One Thought Away (2022). 

Trilok Gurtu is a talented percussionist who has played with a lot of jazz musicians over the decades. I was surprised to see that he had also played with the art-rock band, Swans. I really enjoy Gurtu’s version of jazz, which I would call Indian jazz. Most people would call it world music. Of the Gurtu’s albums that I have heard, One Thought Away is my favorite.

Aziola Cry, The Ironic Divide (2021). 

My first listening session of The Ironic Divide left me with the impression that I was listening to a progressive-metal album. I have subsequently changed my mind. There are a lot of different styles presented in this instrumental metal album, and there are progressive elements. It’s plain metal and it is very good.

Angel Witch, Angel Witch (2018). 

I bought this record out of curiosity. I read a couple of books about the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and a lot of pages were devoted to Angel Witch. I expected the album to have cheeseball elements like some of the other NWOBHM bands that didn’t make it to the big league. I can definitely see why the mid-1980s Los Angeles-metal scene was heavily influenced by Angel Witch. The album holds up.

Beak, >>>> (2024). 

A friend who rides motorcycles with me recommended this record while we were sitting around in a motel room after a day of hard and dusty riding. Beak is not an easy band to define, so I will try a comparison instead: I sometimes like to call the post-Barrett Pink Floyd albums as background music. Beak does not sound like Pink Floyd, but the same principal applies. If you drop your book, or pull up your pants and listen closely to the music you can get caught up in it. Or you can play it in the background as a soundtrack to whatever else you are doing.

High Tide, The Complete Liberty Recordings (2023). 

Here is a bit of trivia for you Hawkwind fans, what band did Hawkwind violinist Simon House play in before joining Dave Brock and  Hawkwind? Clearly the answer is High Tide. I read in a Hawkwind biography that the record company (or was it their management?) believed that their break out band was going to be High Tide rather than Hawkwind. This didn’t happen. High Tide released two albums and were gone. They are two great albums. Sometimes when a band doesn’t make it big, it makes sense – they were the wrong band at the wrong time, or they just weren’t good enough. High Tide should have been much bigger than they were; the two albums in this box set are fucking great. The guitar playing will be interesting to any guitar players who read my rambling description. This band disbanded in 1970, and Tony Hill somehow managed to play with a style and tone that were 15 years too early. The intermingling of lead guitar and lead violin make High Tide unique and very intriguing.