Best Debut Album

I need a better way to express “one chance at a first impression.”
You only have one soft note to make a first impression?
You only get one cheap shot?
You only have one life to live?
Or one life to lose?
You’re lucky to get a good chance at a first impression?
Your first chance at a good impression will be there when you’re really ready?
Fuck.

The “cheap shot” one works best, and New Brigade is the haymaker we didn’t see coming. I mean, sit back and consider this for a second: many artists spend years trying to find the sound of theirs that really hits at what they want to be expressing and what they want to be doing. This is why back catalogs are so fascinating. It’s also one of the more beneficial elements of music criticism, in providing a loose context for the existance of the work in time. Iceage skipped the back catalog step. At 18 years old, they have put out an album so self-assured and self-defined that it’s exciting: there’s no way to know what the future holds for Iceage, because the Danish Punk Fuck You might be a high watermark or a low tide. It’s wanting to see that next wave that makes Iceage a shoe-in here.

Plus, Zach Hill isn’t debuting at all, so it was hard to justify giving this to Death Grips.