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Cartoon Darkness

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Cartoon Darkness
The band members at a parking lot with Amy Taylor flashing her breasts (blurred out)
Studio album by
Amyl and the Sniffers
Released25 October 2024 (2024-10-25)
Studio
Length33:48
Label
ProducerNick Launay
Amyl and the Sniffers chronology
Comfort to Me
(2021) 		Cartoon Darkness
(2024)
Singles from Cartoon Darkness
  1. "U Should Not Be Doing That"
    Released: 21 May 2024
  2. "Chewing Gum"
    Released: 23 August 2024[1]
  3. "Big Dreams"
    Released: 25 September 2024
  4. "Jerkin'"
    Released: 21 October 2024[2]

Cartoon Darkness is the third studio album by Australian pub rock and punk band Amyl and the Sniffers. It was released on 25 October 2024 through B2B Records and Virgin Music Group. It is the band's first studio album since 2021's Comfort to Me.

The album was preceded by the singles and music videos for "U Should Not Be Doing That", "Chewing Gum", "Big Dreams" and "Jerkin'".[3] The music video for "Jerkin'" was released through the band's website because of its graphic full frontal nudity throughout the video. A disclaimer was issued for it to be viewed by adults 18 years and older. A censored version was also released on YouTube.[4]

At the 2024 J Awards, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year.[5] The album was nominated for the 2024 Australian Music Prize.[6]

Background

[edit]

Singer Amy Taylor said of the album,

Cartoon Darkness is about climate crisis, war, A.I., tiptoeing on the eggshells of politics, and people feeling like they're helping by having a voice online when we're all just feeding the data beast of Big Tech, our modern-day god. It's about the fact that our generation is spoon-fed information. We look like adults, but we're children forever cocooned in a shell. We're all passively gulping up distractions that don't even cause pleasure, sensation or joy, they just cause numbness. Cartoon Darkness is driving headfirst into the unknown, into this looming sketch of the future that feels terrible but doesn't even exist yet. A childlike darkness. I don't want to meet the devil half-way and mourn what we have right now. The future is cartoon, the prescription is dark, but it's novelty. It's just a joke. It's fun.[3]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic81/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Clash9/10[9]
The Line of Best Fit9/10[10]
Pitchfork6.8/10[11]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Cartoon Darkness received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 81 out of 100 from 15 critic scores.[7]

Year-end lists

[edit]
Select year-end rankings for Cartoon Darkness
Publication/critic Accolade Rank Ref.
BBC Radio 6 Music 26 Albums of the Year 2024 - [12]
MOJO 75 Best Albums of 2024 34 [13]
Rough Trade UK Albums of the Year 2024 7 [14]

Track listing

[edit]

All lyrics are written by Amy Taylor.

Cartoon Darkness track listing
No.TitleMusicLength
1."Jerkin'"
2:08
2."Chewing Gum"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
3:20
3."Tiny Bikini"
  • Taylor
  • Wilson
2:14
4."Big Dreams"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
3:11
5."It's Mine"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
1:37
6."Motorbike Song"
2:24
7."Doing in Me Head"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
3:01
8."Pigs"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
2:23
9."Bailing on Me"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
2:41
10."U Should Not Be Doing That"
  • Mehrtens
  • Romer
  • Taylor
  • Wilson
3:26
11."Do It Do It"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
2:26
12."Going Somewhere"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
2:49
13."Me and the Girls"
  • Mehrtens
  • Taylor
  • Wilson
2:08
Total length:33:48

Personnel

[edit]

Amyl and the Sniffers

  • Amy Taylor – vocals
  • Declan Mehrtens – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
  • Gus Romer – bass, backing vocals
  • Bryce Wilson – drums, backing vocals

Additional contributors

  • Nick Launay – production, recording, mixing
  • Bernie Grundman – mastering
  • Oliver Roman – additional engineering
  • Charlie LoPresti – studio assistance
  • Jerred Polacci – studio assistance
  • Atom Greenspan – additional sound warping
  • Harry Cooper – saxophone on "U Should Not Be Doing That"
  • Barnaby Clay – harp on "Me and the Girls"
  • John Stewart – photography
  • Olivia Jaffe – photography assistance
  • Thomas Ronnie – artwork

Charts

[edit]
Chart performance for Cartoon Darkness
Chart (2024) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 2
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 37
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[17] 63
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[18] 144
French Albums (SNEP)[19] 55
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[20] 9
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[21] 17
Scottish Albums (OCC)[22] 8
Swedish Physical Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[23] 12
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 45
UK Albums (OCC)[25] 9
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[26] 2
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[27] 1
US Billboard 200[28] 196

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "New Music Discoveries 23rd Aug: King Stingray, Thelma Plum, Mallrat, and more". The AU Review. 23 August 2024. Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  2. ^ "This music video contains explicit material and can only be viewed by adults". 21 October 2024. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  3. ^ a b Strauss, Matthew (21 August 2024). "Amyl and the Sniffers Announce Album, Share New "Chewing Gum" Video: Watch". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  4. ^ Skinner, Tom (22 October 2024). "Watch Amyl & The Sniffers' NSFW X-rated video for cathartic single Jerkin'". NME. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  5. ^ Varvaris, Mary (1 November 2024). "Amyl And The Sniffers, Speed, Emily Wurramara Lead 2024 J Award Nominees". The Music. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  6. ^ "SoundMerch Australian Music Prize Unveils 2024 Shortlist". The Music. 14 November 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Cartoon Darkness by Amyl and the Sniffers". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  8. ^ Yeung, Neil Z. "Cartoon Darkness - Amyl and the Sniffers". AllMusic. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  9. ^ Hodge, Jazz (10 October 2024). "Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness". Clash. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  10. ^ Loftin, Steven (24 October 2024). "Amyl and the Sniffers harness their power on Cartoon Darkness". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  11. ^ Sanders, Brad (30 October 2024). "Amyl and the Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
  12. ^ BBC Radio 6 Music. "Albums of the Year 2024". BBC.com. Retrieved 27 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "MOJO's 75 Best Albums of 2024". albumoftheyear.org. 11 November 2024. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
  14. ^ "Albums of the Year 2024". roughtrade.com. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
  15. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart". Australian Recording Industry Association. 4 November 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  16. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
  17. ^ "Ultratop.be – Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  18. ^ "Ultratop.be – Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  19. ^ "Top Albums (Week 44, 2024)". SNEP. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  20. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Official Top 40 Albums". Recorded Music NZ. 1 November 2024. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  22. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  23. ^ "Veckolista Album Fysiskt, vecka 44". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  24. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Amyl and the Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
  26. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  27. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
  28. ^ "Debuts on this week's #Billboard200". Billboard on X. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
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