Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM

At this point in the countdown, at the high end of the top 20, almost the halfway point, I want to acknowledge how each day this past week has been progressively more and more difficult to write these posts. The past week has been very chaotic here in the United States, and the next week — until we’re safely past Biden’s inauguration — is looking to be even moreso. Music is most often an escape for me, but the noise of the world is starting to drown it out. For now, I feel the draw to keep up the pace, but there may come a time in the next week where either I can no longer concentrate on anything but the insanity, or — and more likely — I feel I should no longer distract from what is happening out there with my pithy reviews. If such a time comes up, rest assured it will just be a short break, and not a forever move. We all need closure, in so many ways.

/digression

Yesterday’s band made the point of not creating Top 40 radio-friendly pop music, and today’s band is the yin to its yang. The three sisters known solely by their surname HAIM have really outdone themselves on their third album, Women in Music Pt. III. The album is anything but a collection about women in music, presenting a biting collection of songs that paints the difficult picture of being a woman in the music business.

The sisters pull together all the right elements for a pop-rock masterpiece, including personal difficulty and tragedy, fantastic writing by the three sisters and Ariel Rechtshaid and Rostam Batmaglij, who also produced and engineered the album (the same Rostam who was not only a former member of Vampire Weekend, but who also appeared all the way up at #2 with his own solo debut album back in 2017 – a good reminder to put that album back into the rotation. Man, it’s so good.).

I’ve had trouble getting into HAIM in the past — their first two albums felt a bit vacuous. But Women is just a great time, all the way through. Another addition to the great team the band has collected for this album is their video producer, who is none other than Paul Thomas Anderson. He directed the above video, for the fantastic song “The Steps” as well as four other videos for the album: “Now I’m In It,” “Summer Girl,” and “Hallelujah.” He even took the photo used on the album cover.

This album is the complete package. You best get on it if you haven’t already.

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1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

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