Tag: Gum Ambrose Kenny-Smith

Top 25 albums of 2021 – 2025: #’s 10 – 6

We’ve reach the top ten albums I reviewed in the last five years. It gets more difficult to make these lists as the numbers grow smaller, but here goes.

#10: Yard Act – The Overload (2022)

These post-punkers seemed to come out of nowhere and hit us with multiple sharp singles from their debut. The whole album was witty, biting, and wicked.

#9: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – PostDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023)

Part-thrash metal, part-environmental activism record, all great. The title and cover image alone let you know you’re in for a wild time, and King Gizz pull no punches on it.

#8: DITZ – Never Exhale (2025)

A whole post-punk album about tension – a topic that post-punk does very well, as do these Brits. The cover image conveys the sense of the record and, like the music, puts you on edge and keeps you there.

#7: Aaron Frazer – Introducing… (2021)

Stepping out from his main gig with Durand Jones and The Indications, Frazer dropped one of the best soul records of recent memory and probably got a thousand date offers just from the first couple tracks.

#6: Gum / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times (2024)

This dynamic Australian duo created a cool, electro / dance-rock record that tackled grief and uncertainty. It made you want another one from them right away. I still do.

Who made the top five? Come back tomorrow. It was a tough call, but I made it.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2024: #’s 5 – 1

We’ve reached the top of the peak. Who’s the grand champion? Read on to learn more.

#5: Fake Youth Cult – White Light / Black Noise

This stunning industrial / darkwave album is loud and heavy enough to cause the damage seen on this cover. This album came out of nowhere for me and about knocked me out of my chair.

#4: Maquina – Prata

Speaking of heavy damage, the cover to Maquina’s Prata album appears to feature a piece of steel that’s been shot, pried, scratched, and gouged. It’s a fitting image for a record full of wild noise punk, assaulting post-punk guitars, and grindhouse vocals.

#3: LAIR – NgĂ©lar

This Indonesian funk / psych band was one of my top discoveries of 2024. They blend traditional Indonesian music with psych-rock, South Pacific juke, and other stuff you can’t quite define.

#2: GUM / Kenny Ambrose-Smith – Ill Times

Possibly the best collaboration of the year, this album combines the powers of two excellent Australians to create synth-psych that covers a lot of heavy topics with uplifting beats (i.e., the death of a parent – Kenny-Smith’s father, fear of the future and your place in it). I hope this isn’t just a one-time thing for them.

#1: A Place to Bury Strangers – Synthesizer

I mean, come on. One of my favorite bands creates an album that has a record sleeve that’s also a circuit board that you can turn into a real synthesizer that they also used to make the album. Only APTBS could pull off something like this and make an excellent record to go with it. It’s like a Moebius strip of post-punk psychedelic power that wallops you from the first note.

Onto 2025! Which albums are you anticipating the most?

Keep your mind open.

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