''Let's Start Degeneracy'' is a 2024 studio album by American rock band
Microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequency, frequencies between 300&n ...
. It has received positive reviews from critics.
Reception
Andrew Sacher of ''
BrooklynVegan
''BrooklynVegan'' is an American online music magazine founded in 2004 by David Levine. The company is headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, and originally focused on vegan food and the music community in and around New York City, before broadeni ...
'' included this among the notable releases of the week, calling it "some return-to-form moments compared to its caustic predecessor
019 album ''Death Is a Warm Blanket'' but overall it's unlike any Microwave album before it", containing "some trippy elements" alongside more conventional alternative rock that he compares to "
Weezer
Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...
meets
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...
meets
Manchester Orchestra
Manchester Orchestra is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, that formed in 2004. The group's current line-up is composed of lead singer, songwriter and rhythm guitarist Andy Hull, lead guitarist Robert McDowell, bassist Andy Pri ...
".
At ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'', Jake Richardson scored this album a 3 out of 5, calling it "a riotous affair" that is a "collection of mellow songs that fall somewhere between shoegazy emo and ambient indie-pop" that is "a little too self-indulgent for some".
Editors at ''Stereogum'' named this Album of the Week, with critic Danielle Chelosky that "words of wisdom" in the lyrics are "evidence that this pivot into liberated, uplifting territory is sincere and earned" and that "the result is an album that doesn't waste any time; every word and every instrumental is worthwhile".
On June 4, ''Stereogum'' did a roundup of the best albums of the year so far and rated this 31, with Danielle Chelosky stating that it "is shocking, powerful, and catchy".
Track listing
#"Portals" – 3:26
#"Ferrari" – 2:23
#"Circling the Drain" – 3:46
#"Bored of Being Sad" – 3:20
#"Straw Hat" – 3:31
#"Let's Start Degeneracy" – 3:58
#"Omni" – 3:32
#"Strangers" – 2:54
#"Concertito in G Major" – 1:16
#"Huperzine Dreams" – 3:17
Vinyl editions have a hidden track recording of "Santeria (song), Santeria".
Personnel
Microwave
*Nathan Hardy – lead vocals, guitar, recording, record producer, production
*Tyler Hill – bass guitar, backing vocals, recording
*Timothy "Tito" Pittard – drums
Additional personnel
*Brad Blackwood – audio mastering
*Jeremy Ferguson – recording
*Josh Wilbur – Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing
See also
*2024 in American music
*List of 2024 albums
References
External links
*
*
An Evening with Microwave in ''Paste (magazine), Paste''
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2024 albums
Microwave (band) albums
Pure Noise Records albums