Howdy! This article’s just gonna be me talking about horses and guitars- my two picks for album of the year (2025): American Muscle & God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars, the sophomore LPs of Worlds Worst & Shallowater.
SLC slacker rock champions Worlds Worst dropped my most anticipated record of 2025 with American Muscle through Smoking Room. The discography is already a goldmine (don’t sleep on the EPs), but here on this second full length LP, Worlds Worst has managed to amp up the noise further and fly out guns blazin’, all without shedding their Midas slowcore touch. If you need more credentials, they played shows with Dinosaur Jr. & TAGABOW and this follow up has only rocketed the band higher into the stratosphere of noise rock GOATs- the sky’s not even the limit anymore. I wrote a review of their self-titled debut for NCC when the record dropped in 2023 (ranking it #3 in our yearly AOTY list) & I already reviewed American Muscle for Heaven Or Holy Issue iii earlier this year, but I will take any and every opportunity to talk about this band… so here we are again.
The first time I ever heard Worlds Worst was at Charleston’s Royal American, where they played with Dawning in 2022 on a tour through the south east. ****ing GOATed, potentially my favorite show I’ve ever attended. It’s really full circle now ‘cause Jackson Wise from Dawning has since joined Worlds Worst, helping to sculpt this new record with lead lines that flicker between serene and menacing, a la “Cannonball” (real heads track) to “Motor Mouth” (instant classic).
We’ll dive more into the tracklist of American Muscle in a little but first I want to pivot over to Shallowater and the superbly titled God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars.
I actually had the pleasure of chatting with Shallowater and one of the things we talked about was the album cover and its relation to the album name. We were all joking pretty pessimistically about the current state of the music industry and I wanted to lighten the mood so I said “sure, A.I.’s gonna take everyone’s jobs but, hey, it’s gonna be okay, God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars” – and at that frontman Blake Skipper’s eyes lit up, adding, “That’s exactly how I want people to say it! When I was talking to artists to get the cover art, there were a lot of pitches with fistfuls of cash and I had to communicate that it’s really got nothing to do with money. It’s more of a ‘everything’s gonna be alright, God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars.’”
Released on Friday (9/5), Shallowater’s God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars was awarded album of the week by Stereogum and placed on bandcamp’s essential releases. The record drew praise from various trusted curators such as the likes of Fantano, The Yellow Button, Swim Into Sound, etc., etc. (the list goes on).
Shallowater’s debut There Is A Well (2024) has even been lauded by the legendary Lift to Experience, a Texas trio of horseshoegazers who trailblazed their own wild n’ whirling sounds with The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads at the turn of the century (I cannot recommend this masterpiece enough).
All of this acclaim is awesome (and well deserved), but I think the most convincing reason you should listen to Shallowater comes from a special memory during their tour together with Worlds Worst back in July, following the release of American Muscle. The bands played a stacked and packed bill in Columbia, SC, at The Spaze, alongside Combat affiliate: Virtua dx (listen to Guitarpop Forever), Lever Puller (debut), and Curly Blue. All the bands played shortened sets due to the sheer size of the bill, with Shallowater just noise jamming for the length of their set. Following, frontman Blake Skipper was talking to an attendee who’d traveled from far away with hopes of hearing “Angels”, off their debut, There Is A Well (2024), stating how the 7-minute epic was “among the most beautiful songs they’d ever heard.”
With this in mind, they got to scheming. After Worlds Worst’s closing set, the SLC rockers left their gear up on stage. Lo and behold, Shallowater took to the floor for an encore – playin’ “Angels” on the WW setups. Best of all, Worlds Worst’s lead guitarist Jackson Wise joined in, delivering the heavensent solos of “Angels” as a farewell transmission. Safe to say, it was “among the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard.”
A full report on the three days I spent following the tour and an interview with Shallowater spanning topics of Mormonism to SpotifA.I. will be spotlighted in the very first NCC newspaper coming this winter.
Now, let’s get into the weeds of these rowdy sophomore records. Both bands have since refined their sound from what were already bold and impactful debuts, albums strongly characterized by their rough and raucous takes on slowcore. In these followups, they’ve dialed in their sonics to where every bit of chaotic noise feels placed right where it belongs. The listening experiences are immersive and it’s just so easy to get lost in the storm of sounds that paint these projects.
On God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars, Shallowater delves deeper into their slowcore/shoegaze sounds, utilizing dramatic silences which hang on the lyricism of Blake Skipper before erupting into volcanic instrumentals that burst skyward. It’s almost like listening to a classical composition that’s been channelled through a million distortion pedals while an ol’ cowboy warbles overtop. The way Shallowater paints with sound and word in this record makes ya feel like you’re in a movie from the very namesake of God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars’ first 10 seconds. There’s guitar solos on here that plain as day feel like “horses”, often followed by some stampede of glorious distortion. I’ve literally turned to friends when we got to the break at 4:09 on “Highway” and simply said, “that’s the most ‘horse’ guitar sound I’ve ever heard,” hence, horseshoegaze.
Where Shallowater opts for a more downtempo approach to rockin’, Worlds Worst proudly hastens their step into mother f*ckin’ rock & roll- again, it’s not without its faithful slowcore roots- rather using those segments the way Shallowater uses pause… for effect. Both bands make the most of the ever-famed Pixies philosophy of quiet-loud-quiet, giving dynamics to the context of their respective records.
My favorite moment from American Muscle showcases this brilliantly, where on “Angus” the band literally cocks a shotgun at the break of the chorus; it’s kind of the coolest thing ever and that’s enough to earn my Song of the Year vote. The penultimate “Cannonball” stands out as my other favorite track from American Muscle; the way its sullen slowcore stumbles through wisdoms and waste lingers long after the record spins out.
So, give ’em a spin, they’re as good as it gets.
American Muscle – Worlds Worst (7/11/25)
tl;dr: The guitarists from F-Zero, Third Eye Blind, and At the Drive-In team up to save rock & roll.
Favorite tracks: “Angus” & “Cannonball”
God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars – Shallowater (9/5/25)
tl;dr: A vast and weathered liminal space, much like Texas.
Favorite tracks: “Untitled Cowboy” & “Sadie”
Thanks for reading & caring about awesome music, stay curious. -Elliott
