Is Slacker rock like this vintage now or is it maybe eternal, Dad rock nostalgia, or a lingering bohemian fantasy of life without work or the hard un-fun kind of work anyway? When the first Slacker movie came out in '91 rents were still cheap, flop houses and flopping on couches plentiful enough, and squats were always around, so urbanites could get by with minimal work and maximum hanging out or 'slacking' to make their art or party or just hang out! In the 20th century, anyway, the arts thrived in the cities on the accessibility of cheap housing and relevantly decent paid work and/or maximum free time to make art, which, yes, a lot of times still looked like people just hanging out like slackers and partying. But do such slacker conditions even exist today? Rents are so high. MJ Lenderman, guitar, vocals, member of North Carolina standard bearing indie rockers, Wednesday, made the Number 1 record on my favorite NY-er music writer's Best Albums of 2024, and is why I'm here, basically. If nothing else, I'll be damned if MJL is not heroically still living out the slacker code in 2024 somehow someway one someday at a time. And let me tell you I've fallen for my share of records in the Slacker rock vein over the years: Sparklehorse. Waxahatchee. Courtney Barnett. Car Seat Headrest. Even a Bon Iver song! But rarely does the mopey slacker vibe alone make me a follower of these semi-industrious artists and their semi-pop music. What keeps me coming back in the following, "Rudolph," for example, is the alt-country riff-rock crescendoing guitar chorus that whips, momentarily, like a strong wind, the slacker longing and regret into something like catharsis, like a full-throated sing-along with some old friends, warm and familiar, if also sad and wistful. Tis the season for year-end record lists! Enjoy.
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