Most of the time, the half-year mark sneaks up on me.

I’m usually not ready to reflect on being six months into 20xx, let alone recognize that the year before it is already over. Such was the case in 2021, 2022, and 2023…

But in 2024, I wasn’t just prepared for this moment – I was looking forward to it! This year has been filled with so much exciting and inspiring music, that ever since March, I couldn’t wait to look back on the first half of the year and celebrate our favorite releases. There must be something in the water these days, because the energy is electric wherever you turn. The pop world is having a party all year long, led by global sensation Chappell Roan together with Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX (it is the year of brat, after all). Renowned artists like Hozier, Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have enjoyed smashing successes with songs that enchant and enthrall, moving the ears and heart simultaneously; elsewhere, Kacey Musgraves has soothed our souls, whilst Glass Animals have proved to be more provocative than ever before. And of course, who can forget the feud that birthed Kendrick Lamar’s “euphoria”?

That same exhilarating passion extends well beyond these mainstream, instantly recognizable names; artists like Mk.gee, Medium Build, Novo Amor, Matt Champion, and Hurray for the Riff Raff have delivered powerful, striking, and instantly memorable records, as have bands like The Marías, The Last Dinner Party, MGMT, Vampire Weekend, The Staves, Pillow Queens, and The Mysterines.

As the year hits its halfway point, our staff took a step back to honor the songs and albums that have had the greatest impact on our lives. This list is not exhaustive, but it was made for the love of music: Without further ado, Atwood Magazine is proud to present our curated list of the best albums of 2024 (so far), in alphabetical order by artist.

Mitch Mosk, Editor-in-Chief

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The Best Music of 2024 (So Far)

The Best Albums of 2024 (So Far)

Click on the artist’s name to skip right to their album’s entry!

1010Benja, Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties, Adrienne Lenker, Amanda Bergman, Ariana Grande, Axel Flóvent, Been Stellar, Bleachers, Bloomsday, Bob Vylan, Brimheim, Cementation Anxiety, Charley Crockett, Charli XCX, Crossfaith, Donna Lewis, Everything Everything, Fabiana Palladino, Four Tet, Francis of Delirium, Friko, Future Islands, Gatecreeper, Hermanos Gutierrez, Hovvdy, Hurray for the Riff Raff, Joey Valence & Brae, Kamasi Washington, L’Impératrice, Linn Koch-Emmery, Luna Shadows, Maggie Rogers, Matt Champion, Medium Build, MGMT, Mk.gee, Nia Archives, Nothing But Thieves, Novo Amor, Pillow Queens, Sheer Mag, Sunday (1994), The Last Dinner Party, The Marías, The Mysterines, The Staves, Tomato Flower, Tyla, Vampire Weekend, WILLOW, Winged Wheel,

In the simplest of terms, 1010Benja makes music that just sounds cool. After years of releasing scattered singles and EP’s, 1010Benja’s debut album Ten Total delivers a highly immersive and experimental musical experience, easily making it one of the most memorable debuts of 2024 so far. One of the best qualities of Ten Total is how it constantly keeps the listener guessing, jumping from experimental, genre-bending tracks, to freestyle raps, to pop songs, and ballads. There’s moments where the album will go for minutes without a single lyric, just a cacophony of noises over perfectly mixed production. To say the least, it works – and what it delivers is a highly interesting, highly intentional album that showcases both the range of 1010Benja’s talent and the ambition of an artist who knows exactly what they want their music to sound like. – Brian Denney

The third album from The Wonder Years’ frontman Dan Campbell is a satisfying life point for the titular character of the Aaron West saga. After the triumphant Routine Maintenance in 2019, In Lieu of Flowers is a deep exploration into mending the issues that Aaron may not have tackled head on throughout the prior two albums.

Throughout In Lieu of Flowers, Campbell performs as Aaron going through the COVID pandemic, feelings of isolation, and substance use disorder with bombastic heartland rock with all the fireworks that a 16-piece band can provide. If this ends up being the final chapter in Aaron’s saga, it certainly closes in a fitting place. – James Crowley

Intuitive and raw, Bright Future is a pastoral, folk jewel that shows Lenker’s keen sense of artistry and her deep understanding of how to connect through music. As her fifth studio album Bright Future brings about an intimate landscape for the intricacies of relationships to be reflected on. It truly is a representation of some of Lenker’s best work as it showcases what she does best, show mundanity in all its typical glory through an uncomplicated sonic blend with lyrics that speak directly to the soul of listeners. From “Sadness As A Gift” to “Vampire Empire” this collection of carefully crafted tunes, is without a doubt one of the best works to come out of the industry thus far, this year. It sounds like gazing across a gentle flowing creek with loved ones by your side, as you chat about the simple pleasures and light grievances that are a part of human existence. – Brianna Corrine

Dver since I first pressed ‘play’ back in June, Amanda Bergman’s sophomore album has become a constant companion to my daily comings and goings. It’s a soothing, soul-stirring, endless lullaby; a spellbinding set of sweet serenades that envelop the ears while warming the heart and nourishing the soul. Calm yet cathartic, charming yet charged, Your Hands Forever Checking on My Fever is a breathtakingly beautiful triumph of the human spirit. It’s at once tender and dramatic – an infectiously catchy, all-consuming collection of radiant reveries, intimate inner reckonings, and vulnerable reflections on life and death, purpose and place – what it means to live, and what it means to live well.

Amanda Bergman has described music as “the answer to life,” and this album certainly feels like the full-bodied realization of that philosophical statement. From the smoky, scintillating seduction of album opener “Wild Geese, Wild Love” and the heartrending romantic ache of “I Love Him Til I Love Him Right,” to the exhilarating propulsion of “Day 2000 Awake,” the cinematic, ethereal exhale of “My Hands in the Water,” the gentle, tranquil ebb and flow of “The World Is Tired of You” and beyond, Bergman unpacks life itself – the world around us, as well as her very own existence – through songs filled with light, love, and an intimate, undeniable sense of awe. Like a waking dream or a fantasy fulfilled, Your Hands Forever Checking on My Fever feels otherworldly, yet comforting. It’s the musical blanket we didn’t know we needed, ready to tuck us in every night. – Mitch Mosk

After a too-long 3.5 year absence, Ariana Grande came back this February with Eternal Sunshine. The album helped her score another three hits – “Yes, And?” and “We Can’t Be Friends” both impressively made it to #1 in the States, while “The Boy Is Mine” so far has achieved a respectable position of #16. On top of that, there were plenty of delightful album cuts for the beyond-surface-level fans to appreciate – “Bye,” “Supernatural,” and the title track were among my personal favorite, but many others impressed as well. Given all of that, it’s perfectly fair to call Eternal Sunshine an all-around success and the record that has helped Ariana to complete a solid decade of dominance as a solo artist. – Josh Weiner

Inspired by his vintage Juno-60 synthesizer, Axel Flóvent’s sophomore album Away From This Dream contains everything from summery pop anthems to heart-tugging ballads. I was quickly drawn in by the shimmering production and catchy melodies, and the emotional depth of the lyrics kept me coming back. There are some great singles here, but I also appreciate how the songs on this album work together to create an immersive listening experience. There is a focused, cohesive sound to the record, and many of the songs circle around similar lyrical themes, but from different perspectives – themes of doubt, overthinking, and finding joy and contentment in the midst of these complicated emotions. – Aaron Childree

True to its name, Been Stellar’s debut album really is a Scream From New York, NY. And yet, the quintet’s first full-length effort is so much more than that: Embedded within that scream are whispers, shouts, howls, and roars from the nether reaches of a city full of life, overflowing with stories untold and strangers who will never be anything more than passersby. Into that primal scream, the band pack heavy, visceral drum beats, lush, overdriven electric guitars riffs that send shivers down the spine, and passionate vocal performances that stop us in our tracks. It’s a thunderous metropolitan tempest – a spellbinding superstorm of intimate, aching emotions channeled into raw, ruthless noise. Brutal and brooding, seductive and soul-stirring, Scream From New York, NY is a sonically and emotionally charged indie rock fever dream: A heavy, unapologetic, urgent, and all-consuming record that hits hard and leaves an instant, lasting mark as Been Stellar unleash all the energy and tension built up within them and their city. – Mitch Mosk

Dominating the industry and seemingly every pop musicians’ production creds, Jack Antonoff took the forefront this year with his band Bleachers, releasing their self-titled record. Bleachers brought collaborators such as Lana Del Rey for the low hums of “Alma Mater,” while tracks like “Modern Girl” experimented with the explosiveness of a full band sound. Marked by scintillating synths and dynamic compositions, Bleachers reminds us time and time again what timelessness sounds like. The record captures a certain photo album quality of a passing moment, keeping it frozen in time like a dream, one to revisit again and again. – Rachel Leong

Originally catching my attention during the summer of 2022, with their EP, Place to Land, Iris Garrison’s indie folk adjacent project, Bloomsday, issued their debut full length, Heart of The Artichoke, in May – including the band’s one-off single, “Where I End and You Begin,” which had been issued late last year, the album collects nine new songs that find Garrison’s growth and maturation in introspective lyricism is as noticeable as it is astounding in terms of the phrase turns found throughout; and the assemblege of players on the record coming across as sounding very tight in terms of their musicianship, and extraordinarily gentle in the overall aesthetic. There is truly not a “bad” song or even a misfire from start to finish—a delicate, thoughtful statement of beauty that sounds both serene and refreshing with each listen. – Kevin Krein

How do you describe a band that are continually bucking trends while growing in exciting and unexpected ways. Bob Vylan are one of the most unique bands around right now, taking over the punk scene with their DIY approach and sonically diverse albums. Humble as the Sun is another great addition to their catalogue, going heavier on the electronic beats and quick fire rhymes while never losing the ethos that makes them great. At their peak, Bob Vylan are hopeful, real-talking punks with screaming guitars, pounding drums and a message we all need to hear. They deliver this on pretty much every track.

Album standouts like “Dream Big” are just waiting to be screamed back at them in clubs (or arenas) around the world, while “GYAG (Get Yourself a Gun)” is just begging to be put on a t-shirt. Perhaps the best of the bunch is “Hunger Games,” with their advice to “live everyday as if it’s your first, fun of wonder and excitement, as you wonder along excited.”

More Bob Vylan words to live by. – Oliver Crook

All hail the RATKING, in all her tragic glory! Or is it a glorious tragedy? Brimheim’s Helena Heinesen Rebensdorff is vulnerable, unfiltered, and unapologetic throughout her sophomore album. She wears her truths with pride and pain, delving into those dark depths we often hide away – even from ourselves – with a relentless drive and raw passion. RATKING is her diary, her confession, her confrontation; a record of inner reckoning without the promise of redemption. “I’ll climb on bleeding hands and knees to stand on the hill alone with myself, dancing in the rubble,” she sings at the start. “I’m dancing in the rubble without you.”

So begins an instantly memorable, all-consuming fever dream: Breathtakingly bold, brutally intimate, and hauntingly human, RATKING is the scab you can’t ignore, the ache you can’t cover up, and the beat you can’t deny all in one cinematic, soul-stirring collection. Cathartic and churning, Brimheim’s second full-length album hits hard and leaves a lasting mark through sonically and emotionally charged songs built out of the tension and turmoil within. – Mitch Mosk

Agnosia is a neurological condition whereby an individual cannot distinguish, or even recognise objects, persons, sounds, shapes or smells, despite there being none of these senses being evidently damaged, or the individual suffering from memory loss. Such bewildering confusion, isolation, and the resultant anxiety are expedited within AGNOSIAREIGN‘s 2024 dark ambient evocation.

It is a catalogue of synths and ephemeral stringed instruments that evoke screams rattling the labyrinth of memory, or images, faces one deemed friendly, muddling into grotesque, indescribable masses that suddenly snarl, or slash, and then fade again. If at any point you find the confusion too subduing, the horror of it all rears into moments of spontaneous, startling cacophony. It is an album which is “The Caretaker,” at his most stupefying. – Frederick Bloy

Charley Crockett is a bit like chocolate – sweet, smooth, and has no haters. His classic interpretation of country music is well-played, authentic, and easy-listening. Crockett’s latest album, $10 Cowboy, pushed him even further into the mainstream, with a masterful performance of the lead single on Jimmy Kimmel. Of course, like the best performers, his deep, rich vocals stand up live. – Hamish Monk

Nearly a month before the release of Charli XCX’s groundbreaking album Brat, the British singer prefaced insecurities that people wouldn’t get the project upon release, telling a crowded room “it’s hard being ahead.” But what Charli XCX has been able to achieve with Brat is a project so monumental that it sounds like the future of pop music, while also being highly resonant to listeners today. There’s moments of brash arrogance countered by moments of insecurity and vulnerability – with some lyrics that the whole world could relate to, and others that feel like they’re just there for Charli. It’s an emotional journey set to an upbeat club beat, culminating in a perfect pop album.

For fans, it is clear that Charli XCX’s ‘Brat Summer’ isn’t slowing down. On the recently released, “The girl, so confusing version with lorde” Charli XCX and Lorde settled rumors of their feud by joining forces to “work it out on the remix”, in what The Guardian called the year’s “most powerful pop moment.” It’s surprises like this that have always made Charli XCX’s music so exciting to follow. On Brat she swings bigger than she ever has before, and knocks it out of the park with one of the best albums of 2024 so far. – Brian Denney

Warped Tour 2015 saw my first and last encounter with the Japanese electronic metal band Crossfaith, and nine years later, I have yet to see or hear a comparable band. There was one album released following that discovery in 2018, but it’s been radio silence ever since; six years of indefinite hiatus, a departed bass player, and a whole lot of readjusting later, Crossfaith’s latest album AЯK finally arrived on June 26th, marking the beginning of a new era for the Osaka metalcore superstars.

With collaborators from UK electronic duo WARGASM to SiM and Bobby Wolfgang, AЯK finds Crossfaith expanding their influences and incorporating nu-metal flair, building from where they left off in 2018. Intense beats and dubstep rhythms have historically been keystone elements of the band’s sound, and though that hasn’t changed on the new record, it’s exactly what keeps them authentic and memorable. Cinematic and relentless as ever, Crossfaith’s AЯK is an infectious, adrenaline-packed album that makes for a larger-than-life (and larger-than-death) comeback. – Isabella Le

Donna Lewis’ music provides so much nostalgia and holds a special place in my heart. I can remember distinctly being in the car as a kid listening to her iconic romance hit “I Love You Always Forever” as my mom and I blissfully sang along. Now she is crafting pieces that are equally as touching and powerful, still leaving a lasting impact. Her highly poignant album Rooms With a View is one that is for sure worth the listen. The mesmerizing 10-track collection centers on her difficult and courageous journey with Breast Cancer. The atmospheric opener “Messenger” is a haunting and hazy work detailing the uncertainty of receiving her diagnosis. It is so smooth and lush it almost feels like it can slip through your fingers. That is much like how she may have felt as if things were falling apart. “Corridors” is a more up-tempo offering with a funk-infused backdrop. This inspiring ode to all the nurses who stood by her side is infectious yet so emotively raw.

Rooms With a View is a collaboration with Lewis’ son, Archie Lewis-Harris. This tender title-track is a narration of remaining hopeful within the good times as well as the bad. The warm, twinkling arrangement draws you deeper and deeper in. It is these along with other intimate releases on the album that allow us to feel profoundly bonded to Lewis. – Chloe Robinson

Prodigious Everything Everything’s seventh album, concept record Mountainhead, is a dazzling testament to their prowess in songwriting and production. The band trades guitars for pizzicato violins and traditional backing vocals for choral harmonies on this magnum opus that melds intellectual depth, pop hooks, and provocative imagery of technology’s grotesque impacts. Jonathan Higgins’ dystopian lyrics weave a narrative of a caste society, blending modern capitalism with ancient myth, as tracks like “Wild Guess” and “Cold Reactor” explore themes of isolation and relentless ambition. The latter truly astounds – “Cold Reactor’s” frenetic pace, double- and triple-meanings, visual verses, and head-bobbing beat support Higgins’ signature falsetto. Fewer lyrics have resonated with this reviewer better than “I sent you the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me.” “Sorry, Satan,” but this album slaps. – Christine Buckley

Nepo-baby status aside and honestly forgiven (she is the daughter of legendary bassist Pino Palladino), Fabiana’s debut, self-titled, full-length Fabiana Palladino is an absolutely gorgeous slice of 1980s-inspired, Top 40 slanting pop music. Right down to the cover art, Palladino effortlessly conjures up an shimmering aesthetic from, like 35 years ago by leaning hard into glistening synthesizers, slinky rhythms, and a smoldering, sensual voice, all of which blend effortlessly to create a sound that, even in its homage to the past, sound very firmly planted in the present. – Kevin Krein

Four Tet’s latest, Three, is a return to form. Not that he’s really been out-of-form much, as both Sixteen Oceans and Parallel were both solid, respectable efforts from 2020. However, both were indulgent; the former prone to Kieran Hebden’s sense of expanse, the latter a heady play session that challenged listeners in ambient space. Three pulls back on those far-reaching ideas to bring an experience that crosses the vibes of Sixteen Oceans with the focus of Rounds. Each song on the record is meticulous, fitting into the album’s energy-space as tech-heavy folktronica. Basically, Hebden takes the driving instrumentation of techno breakbeats (sometimes framing them in house rhythm, sometimes not), and then massages it all with folksy pianos, synthlines and guitars. The resulting work is less an album of songs and more a soundtrack of vistas, perfect for a drive through the rolling hills and great plains of the Cotswolds or whatever countryside you find yourself in. For “Loved” the road is wet with rain and fog rolls over hilltops; for “Skater,” the torrent has stopped, the sun cracks the clouds and the province becomes a patchwork of light and shadow; for “Three Drums,” the sky is clear and blue, the wheatfields golden and the horizon shimmering. It’s on this basis that keeps this album ever-present in mind and after having not listened to it for months. This is not Hebden at his most groundbreaking, but it is Four Tet at their best. – Ben Niesen

Luxembourg’s Francis of Delirium has always been a beacon – of raw emotion; of uncompromising vulnerability; of heated, visceral energy. From her earliest releases back in 2020, the indie rock project of singer/songwriter Jana Bahrich has held nothing back in sharing the depths of her heart and soul, which for a long time were full of what can only be described as an unrelenting aching.

Now, she’s a lighthouse; it’s like someone flipped a switch, and the darkness that once permeated her music has been replaced by stunning pools of color. And there’s Bahrich, basking in the sweet glow of her new reality – a world filled with warmth, connection, and love. Make no mistake: That aching is still there, but where Francis of Delirium once dwelled, she now shines. Burning bright and fueled from a fire within, her debut album Lighthouse is a beautifully radiant and spirited record: A cathartic coming-of-age reverie that comes alive as she learns to let love’s light into her life.

Released March 22, 2024 via Dalliance Records, Lighthouse is as enchanting as it is inspiring: Francis of Delirium’s debut album stays true to its name as 22-year-old Bahrich and her bandmates unapologetically embrace one of the most important aspects of our lives – human connection. Together they create soul-stirring sonic worlds full of passion and tenderness, with rich instrumental harmonies, charged electric guitars, and driving beats serving as powerful building blocks: The foundation of the band’s identity and artistry remains the same as it’s been through their first three EPs – 2020’s All Change, 2021’s Wading, and 2022’s The Funhouse; if anything, Lighthouse is an evolution of that music, an expansion building upon everything that came before it. – Mitch Mosk

Frisson is a term described as reacting with intense emotion to something stimulating; a more notorious example is experiencing goosebumps or tearing up while listening to any form of music. Friko nailed this sensation with their debut album, Where we’ve been, Where we go from here. Every song is perfectly crafted to either intensely shake your core or let you ascend into another realm of temperament. From the subtle piano features to the fuzzy guitars, the entire record is an expedition of the senses. Track after track, stories form, and worlds are built around what feels like a past life but transition effortlessly, designing a colossal debut that already reads as timeless. – Kevin Cost

Future Islands quite literally inspire one to take in the surrounding landscape: Beach foam, rolling fields, the tall grass, the beating heart of the shore and the beating heart within oneself. On People Who Aren’t There Anymore, that landscape covers figurative and literal flights across the ocean, it covers a tower boring through one’s soul, and it dives deep into a failed relationship for lead singer Sam Herring. And yet, the enthralling, energetic, heartbreaking and somehow propulsive album covers that relationship from its middle, rather than the start, and carries through across its conclusion. It features the band’s most sonically diverse output yet, it features Herring’s best performance as a writer and poet, and it makes for magnetic, life-affirming music. When you’re ready to enter a new chapter of your life, there’s a Future Islands record for that – through good and bad, you can count on Sam Herring & co. to lend perspective. – Beau Hayhoe

Underground metal is littered with gatekeepers, but Gatecreeper are hellbent on converting the masses. Despite getting dismissed out the gate as just another chip off the ol’ Swedish block, these guys shredded that label by unabashedly gunning for stadium-filled onslaught. With the way hardcore is trending, they might be the last death metal band to share a bill with Turnstile. But I’ll be damned if they’re not the first to shoot beer pong backstage with Post Malone.

Still, even though this is their first public offering since moving to Nuclear Blast, Gatecreeper haven’t deserted their roots. Dark Superstition is named after the craggy, volcanic mountain range near their home base in Arizona that some natives believe holds the key to the underworld. Gatecreeper still dig along the left-hand path with the familiar tools of the trade. Pit-dwellers will rejoice that Matt “Metal” Arebello hasn’t reinstated the band’s moratorium on blast beats. And while they haven’t stopped crawling toward the finish line, the HM-2 buzzsaws will keep churning through Bloodstock until the open fields are a sea of headbanging.

Only now, Gatecreeper have a truly sinister trick up their long sleeves. By adding a heavier dose of melody to the band’s spellbook, Dark Superstition conjures the kind of death metal that I can play in the car without my girlfriend threatening to jump out the window. Sure, Chase “Hellahammer” Mason screams like he just hugged a cactus, but his greasy mane practically blows in the billowing riffs of “The Black Curtain”. “Say my name / Tear through the veil”.

The corpse paint crowd can stick to the shadows. On Dark Superstition, Gatecreeper are ready for their close-up. – Will Yarbrough

The great state of New Mexico – most are familiar with it through “Breaking Bad,” but if you’ve given a listen to Hermanos Gutierrez’ stunning new record Sonido Cosmico, chances are you’ll stumble upon a sound and style largely influenced by the mysterious beauty of the southwestern state. The Swiss–Ecuadorian brother duo found themselves captivated by the unearthly beauty of the plains of New Mexico and the Southwest region of the United States as a whole, and found a special way of depicting said beauty, atmosphere and aura through the intertwinement of their guitars, each note and chord a cry of yearning, condolence, gratitude, or suffering, amongst many other emotions that coincide with the passion in which they write music. Twinges of 60’s and 70’s Cumbia mix their way into western-inspired progressions, blending into an elixir of eerie delightfulness. The duo remains on an unstoppable run, establishing an international cult following all the while joining Khruangbin on their North American tour. This record marks a newfound cohesiveness to their music; an arrangement of tracks that combine to tell a story and establish an atmospheric setting in a way that I haven’t quite experienced before when it comes to solely instrumental music. – Miles Campbell

There’s really no better way to say it: Hovvdy have never sounded more ‘Hovvdy’ than they do on Hovvdy. Building upon the intimacy and vulnerability of 2021’s critically acclaimed fourth LP True Love, the Austin-based duo of Charlie Martin and Will Taylor realized their full, true potential on their self-titled fifth studio album – an ambitious, sweeping 19-track double album that, despite its considerable size and scope, still manages to feel like a tight, focused hug from your best friend.

The music is dusty, dreamy, cozy, and warm; the songs themselves range from introspective reflections on life and love to tender snapshots of those little moments of meaning and connection that fill our days with light, beauty, and purpose – in essence, making our very existences worthwhile. Not a single song breaches the four-minute mark, and yet Hovvdy naturally and effortlessly foster a sense of space and depth throughout their record’s hour-long journey.

Ultimately, Hovvdy is a breathable, lightweight masterpiece delivering the very best of that soothing, soul-stirring folk-soaked indie rock that has already made the Texan duo a household name in so many circles. It’s Hovvdy at their most refined, at their most experimental, at their most expansive, and at their most vulnerable – giving their full, unfiltered, uncompromisingly raw selves to audiences through an hour of radiant, deeply resonant songs. – Mitch Mosk

I’m convinced that this will still be my album of the year come December, and if not, then what a year in music it’ll be. Hurray for the Riff Raff’s The Past Is Still Alive is a magical trip through an underground life most us know so little about. A life spent riding the rails, roughing it, and performing Americana music across the country prepared Alynda Segarra for this record—and they met the challenge effortlessly. They not only draw from their own experience but reference Eileen Myles, and artist Colossus of Roads amid a ton of other beautiful souls that have shaped their life.

It’s a modern road novel through a dystopian America, a mid-tempo guided tour through the end of the world. I’m not going to recommend individual songs, as it’s an album that really needs to be listened to front-to-back. Segarra is the voice of our generation, and The Past Is Alive is her magnum opus. Enjoy! – Oliver Crook

Raise your hand if you had nerd rap on your 2024 bingo card. Littered with references to Xbox Live, Spongebob Squarepants, Ben 10’s Omnitrix, and Pokémon cards, NO HANDS is a fun, energetic, and gut-bustingly funny rap album from the creative minds of Joey Valence & Brae. In a show of fresh beats and eclectic flows, the duo lean into their goofy personalities to forge a style that is unashamedly their own. But it’s not all just cringe meme humor; JVB did their homework. The duo’s rap delivery pays homage to golden age Beastie Boys and Run DMC while maintaining the fresh and youthful punch of a BROCKHAMPTON or an Injury Reserve – tl;dr, these dudes know how to make a *banger*. Even when boasting about ripping Beyblades, JVB’s musical sensibilities and highly stylized presentation show a high level of intelligence driving their creative ethos. In all, NO HANDS is a tremendously good time which is sure to “make ‘em say ‘WoW’’ like they’re “Leeroy Jenkins.” – Jake Fewx

Why am I adding Kamasi Washington to this list? Maybe it’s because, over a year later, I’m still riding high on the adrenaline he generated as the headlining act at the Burlington Jazz Festival, with me and my hiking friends in attendance. Maybe it’s because I’m currently wrapping up a trip to New Orleans and I just can’t bring myself to not honor jazz in some form or other while I’m still here.

Or maybe (more than maybe lol) it’s because Fearless Movement is another outstanding effort by the man I’m convinced is the World’s Greatest Saxophonist, and on top of ‘Masi being in as stellar form as ever, he makes full usage of his friends and creative companions in the West Coast Get Down jazz collective – Thundercat and Terrace Martin among them – while also bringing in some guest MC’s for what ultimately becomes his most hip-hop-influenced album to-date. With so many guests making valuable contributions, and with the Main Man himself at the top of his game, an undenirable tour de force of contemporary jazz has emerged with Fearless Movement. – Josh Weiner

While Tako Tsubo leaned on indie-alternative thematic choices, L’Impératrice perfected their futuristic disco aesthetic with their latest release — Pulsar. It’s a cohesive story sonically, specifically with the transition between “Cosmogonie” and “Amour Ex Machina,” and yet each track is so captivating individually. There’s almost an ease to “Love on the Other Side,” while “Sweet & Sublime” feels hefty and funky. If you want to dance, whether or not your name is Marilù, this album is for you. – Julia Dzurillay

“I need a room where I can scream,” Linn Koch-Emmery declares mere seconds into her sophomore album. “To be a mess and not be seen.” Her voice is hot on the mic, channeling her inner fire out alongside a rush of heavy guitars and thunderous drums. It’s an intense, emotionally charged scene, and the perfect introduction to a record full of raw passion, unfiltered vulnerability, and deeply cathartic reckoning. Unapologetic and uncompromising, Borderline Iconic is a breathtakingly bold, beautifully brutal fever dream: An intimate and restless indie rock record finds Koch-Emmery dwelling in the depths of her own humanity, picking apart what it means to be active and engaged in this chaotic world – to think, to feel, to be present, and to be alive.

Because she knows what it’s like to be absent from her life – and that’s not living. Sometimes, you just need a room where you can scream.

Released in May, Borderline Iconic is the dramatic upheaval of an aching heart and soul. Produced by Pete Robertson of The Vaccines, Linn Koch-Emmery’s highly-anticipated sophomore album arrives three long years after the Swedish Grammy-nominated artist’s 2021 debut Being the Girl, itself a shiver-inducing record that deserved all the acclaim it received upon its release.

While her first record set a baseline of excellence, Borderline Iconic sees Koch-Emmery hitting her stride as a true sonic and emotional power hitter. Eleven songs, each one as charming and churning as the last, find the Swedish singer/songwriter embracing a vast spectrum of music and feeling – essentially finding her comfort zone by essentially getting out of her comfort zone. From graceful, elegant power-ballads, to angsty, messy anthems (and everything in-between), Borderline Iconic is definitively iconic, riding the zeitgeist by capturing the turbulence and turmoil of our times – both on a societal level, and on a personal, individual level. – Mitch Mosk

This record is quintessentially Luna Shadows – through and through. An intentional project from the writing to the production and the visuals, it’s impossible to appreciate this album as anything less than a true labor of love and creative resolution. bathwater speaks to a feeling of love that is all around you – as the title suggests – like a bath whose warmth is all-encompassing. From self-realization to self-reckoning, Shadows champions the femininity of it all in a way that is powerful, innovative and disarmingly authentic. – Rachel Leong

Maggie Rogers takes the best parts of Surrender – the insecurities, the addictive melodies, the sense of not knowing yourself in a world of online personalities that know it all and can fix it for you – and magnified it, honing in and expanding these elements to till they creak at the seams on Don’t Forget Me. Take “So Sick of Dreaming”: Over it’s four minutes you’ll giggle (“By the way, the Knicks lost,”) forlornly sing along (what an insanely catchy chorus), and be seen (basically the whole song.) Meanwhile “Drunk” is a rapid fire upper that’ll have you dancing before the weight of her words land. It’s an album that keeps giving, from an artist who never fails to find new ways of letting us into her personal world.

Rogers’ brand of dance-while-you-cry-indie-pop has never felt so potent, and we’re all the better for it. – Oliver Crook

True to his last name, Matt Champion has emerged as a singular, striking visionary with his sweaty, smoldering, and soul-stirring debut solo album. Mika’s Laundry is more than a “breakout” for the former Brockhampton member; it’s a reintroduction, and to a certain degree, a revolution. Champion lets neither genre nor song structure hold him back from building worlds of sonic wonder and emotional weight as he experiments with textures, timbres, beats, bars, and everything else under the sun.

The music is alternative; it’s ambient; it’s hip-hop; it’s expressive; it’s visceral; and it’s human. From the charming churn of album opener “Green” and its brooding, laid-back refrain of “Alabama blue,” to the sweet, hazy, irresistibly danceable intoxication of “Slug,” the unassailable intimacy of “Code Red,” the exhilarating pulse of “Steel” (ft. Dora Jar), and the spiritually cleansing cathartic release of “Aphid” (ft. Dijon), Mika’s Laundry feels like a portal to another dimension – one where we all wear our hearts unapologetically on sleeves, where emotions swim through the air in striking psychedelic currents, and where our wildest dreams can become our truest reality.

And so yes, Matt Champion is a champion, in my book. He has defied convention, subverted expectation, embraced the unconventional, and dared to be unique throughout his debut solo LP. With Mika’s Laundry as a ‘new’ creative benchmark and his artistic launchpad, there’s no limit to what Champion can do, where he might go from here, or how high he might climb. To join him on that adventure, merely as listener, is both an honor and a privilege. – Mitch Mosk

Released in April via slowplay / Island Records, Medium Build’s fifth studio album (and his first major label LP) Country is an honest and achingly vulnerable masterpiece: An intimate, unfiltered, and unapologetically exposed folk rock record that highlights and embraces Nick Carpenter’s humanity in a way that his past records, while personal to him in their own rights, never quite accomplished. It’s an album full of real, raw highs and lows – moments of heartfelt confession, human connection, spiritual release, inner reckoning, soul-searching.

Now 32, the singer/songwriter who once fled the Lower 48 to Alaska is no longer hiding – at least, not in his music. The goal of Country was to make something sweet, raw, and direct – “something you love with and dance with and cry with and sleep with and lean into” – and by all accounts, he succeeded: Working with his longtime creative partner Jake LiBassi, aka Laiko, Carpenter dug deep – into his childhood and upbringing, into his family and friends, into his own hopes and dreams, insecurities and fears. Prevailing over many of his songs is a search for home and a sense of belonging; of Carpenter the human trying to understand his place in the world, and get in touch with his roots.

From the innocence and youthful yearning of lead single “In My Room” to the dramatic emotional release of “Cutting Thru the Country,” Carpenter holds nothing back in his writing and performance, painting vivid images of life’s little sparks of meaning and letting colorful, catchy melodies run wild and free.

Truth be told, every song is a highlight. The tender “Knowing U Exist” is beautiful folk balladry at its finest – a tranquil, softly-sung acoustic number (reminiscent of The Goo Goo Dolls’ “Acoustic #3” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”) that expresses just how much Carpenter’s loved ones mean to him in two and a half deeply moving minutes. The Springsteen-esque folk song “Hey Sandra” aches from the inside out as Carpenter delivers a gut-wrenching love song, in the form of a confessional letter written by a fictional man (very loosely based of his father) to the love of his life, who has walked out on him (or kicked him out of the house).

A – Miles Campbell

Mk.gee isn’t just a guitarist or a singer/songwriter or a producer; he’s an artistic visionary crafting his own signature style and unique, revolutionary sound. It’s a sonic stamp that’s been brewing for several years now – you can hear it steadily taking shape on 2018’s Pronounced McGee and Fool EPs, and 2020’s A Museum of Contradiction mixtape – and on his debut album, that musical bud flourishes into a dazzling, dynamic, and dramatic full bloom. Two Star & the Dream Police is a breathtakingly bold experience – a feast for the ears and a blanket for the soul. Its twelve songs are at once angular and ambient, jarring and soothing, dramatic and dreamy – each one a multi-dimensional melding of warm, wondrous melodies, shiver-inducing textures, awe-inspiring timbres, cryptically cathartic lyrics, and raw, rich emotions worthy of repeat listens and deep-diving examinations.

Mk.gee defies genre, song structure, and more as he wrestles with demons, bares his soul, and builds his very own musical empire in 33 intimate, exhilarating, and instantly memorable minutes of music. From the industrial churn and feverish beats of the album’s brutally raw opener “New Low” to the haunting, hypnotic pull of “Dream Police” and everything in-between those bookends, Two Star & the Dream Police delivers to its audience a cinematic world into which they can sink or swim. There’s the brooding, heavy propulsion of “I Want” and the intoxicating charm of “Candy”; the burning and yearning of “Are You Looking Up” and the moody, glitchy heat of “How many miles”; the dramatic, sweaty passion of “Rylee & I,” the kinetic, tender pulse of “Little Bit More,” the immersive, unabating ache of “Alesis,” the droning rush and roar of “DNM,” and the soft, late-night touch of “You got it.” Every moment on Two Star & the Dream Police contains multitudes, and every track is worth revisiting five, ten, and twenty times – making Mk.gee’s debut album a record of truly limitless returns. – Mitch Mosk

The moment I heard Nia Archives’ debut album Silence Is Loud, I knew I was listening to one of the most exciting albums of 2024. An intoxicating fusion of humility and boldness, this artist’s complex personality shines through in the intricacy of her sound. Silence Is Loud amalgamates ferocious jungle beats and electronic influences with neo-soul vocals and a confessional-pop style narrative. This unprecedented approach pushes jungle music in a fresh direction whilst promoting inclusivity within a traditionally exclusionary genre. – Liv Goodbody

Maybe this one’s cheating since the original Dead Club City has been out more than a year – but Dead Club City Deluxe released in March, so let’s go with it. This reviewer has loved Nothing But Thieves a long time, but they outdid themselves with this concept album that even Elton John lauded, calling it “full of life” and “vivacious” on his Rocket Hour. The Thieves explore concepts of elitism and belonging with the conceit of a city-sized members only club, each song depicting a different perspective or moment in the timeline of becoming part of a group – or is it a cult? That question’s never answered, but the songs are just top quality, ranging from prog to nu metal to R&B, and surely many other genres this reviewer isn’t smart enough to know. Pop The Balloon gives Queen meets Limp Bizkit with some bhangra thrown in, turning on a dime anchored by Conor Mason’s chimeric voice. Count on NBT to always zig when you think they’ll zag. – Christine Buckley

After the release of his 2020 album Cannot Be, Whatsoever, Ali Lacey, the singer, songwriter, and producer behind Novo Amor, packed up his belongings and moved to the Welsh countryside. Collapse List chronicles this new season of Lacey’s life, and it’s an absolutely gorgeous album. Lacey is primarily known for his wistful, downtempo ballads, and this album contains some of his best work in that mode. But he also explores his more exuberant, upbeat side on Collapse List. He experiments with a wider range of sounds and studio techniques here, even sampling sounds from his previous work and using them in wildly different ways on the new songs. It’s an album that flows from track to track like the movements of a symphony, and it’s a wonderful addition to Novo Amor’s already excellent discography. – Aaron Childree

Pillow Queens’ third album opens in the midst of a heavy, sweaty mess. Guitars drone and drums churn as the Irish indie rock band channel emotional pain into a thick musical heat. “Tell me if I’m gonna wake up… Tell me how I’m gonna dissolve this body quicker,” Pamela Connolly sings, her voice white-hot on the mic, distressed and passionate and yearning for release as tension rises all around her. “If I’m gonna wake up, I just wanna learn to avoid this hairline trigger.” It’s a sonic and emotional fever dream; the wreckage after the storm. We’ve all been to that dark place, and Pillow Queens bring us back there once more on Name Your Sorrow, a bold, brutal, and breathtaking record of grief and growth, heartache and healing.

It’s a heavy, sweaty, beautiful mess the whole way through – and one that unapologetically dwells in the raw, vulnerable depths of the human experience, processing what it means to feel emotions so intensely; to hurt so badly; to lose yourself in someone else; and to find your way back from the darkness, into the light. – Mitch Mosk

The Philadelphia-based quartet put their best foot forward on their third album, Playing Favorites. It’s chock-full of punk and rock bangers that drew inspiration from ’70s classic rock, glam metal, and even pop. The band lamented that nobody seemed to be making straight-up rock bangers anymore, so they stepped up and delivered this record this spring to change that. Tina Halladay’s gritty vocals and screams are the most impressive they’ve ever been, as are Kyle Seely and Matt Palmer’s engaging, dynamic guitar work. It’s so much fun to headbang along to.

“Eat It And Beat It” is an excellent song and a perfect representation of the energy across this album. Here, Halladay laments the old, stale groups that have overstayed their welcome in rock music and juxtaposes that sentiment against the naysayers who, for some reason, still believe that a woman-fronted rock ‘n’ roll band does not have merit or can’t have longevity or legitimacy in this industry. An archaic perspective that Sheer Mag laughs in the face of, before melting that face off with their incredibly catchy tunes. – Kendall Graham

New to the scene is three-piece band Sunday (1994) with their debut self-titled EP, and it is one that deserves all the praise. While the work consists of a mere six songs, for being the band’s first official release, it is a romantic, melancholic masterpiece that speaks to a dark ambiguity that resides in love. With juxtaposing religious and sexual undertones peppering the lyrics, there is an undeniable push and pull that is utterly captivating and speaks to the grander idea of forbidden or challenged love.

I took some pictures
Of me and you and I superglued
Them over scriptures
So, I can worship something true

The music in all its dark humor, glimmering guitars, gently thudding drums, and ethereal vocals is as fresh sounding as it is reminiscent of something classically nostalgic. – Brianna Corrine

Few debut albums in recent memory are as emphatic, as expressive, or as immediately defining as Prelude to Ecstasy. But that’s The Last Dinner Party for you: The British indie rock band of Abigail Morris, Lizzie Mayland, Emily Roberts, Georgia Davies, and Aurora Nishevci came to us as a fully realized juggernaut just over a year ago, and every song they’ve since put out combines refinement with edge, passion and purpose, fire with fury.

Hit singles like “Nothing Matters” and “Sinner” capture the cinematic fever burning deep in The Last Dinner Party’s bones, whilst tracks like “The Feminine Urge,” “Caesar on a TV Screen,” and “My Lady of Mercy” round out their artistry as one built around raw talent; around musical self-expression; and around that endless chase for emotional release. Prelude to Ecstasy rages and roars whilst regaling its audience in cathartic, compelling, and utterly captivating coming-of-age tales of self-discovery, romance, and reckoning. It’s a bold, breathtaking mission statement from five queens who want nothing more than to stun our ears, stir our hearts, and serenade the living daylights out of anyone and everyone willing to listen and learn. – Mitch Mosk

The way trends are going, The Marías may very well be one of 2024’s breakout artists, and it’s all thanks to their breathtakingly beautiful, bold, brooding, and buoyant sophomore album. María Zardoya has described the immersive, all-consuming Submarine as an “escape into your own world” – a seductive and spellbinding musical journey through wet n’ wondrous alternative-R&B landscapes soaked in soothing psychedelia, warm soul, and ambient bliss. For her, the record represents “transform[ing] my pain into tangible words and sounds.” For listeners, it’s at once exposure therapy, emotional catharsis, and lush melodic indulgence.

The songs on Submarine are as dreamy as they are dramatic, as intimate as they are expansive, as technically impressive as they are instantly memorable. Standout singles like “No One Noticed” and “Run Your Mouth” showcase The Marías’ refined pop sensibilities, whilst deeper cuts like “Real Life,” “Blur,” and “Paranoia” drench the ears – and in turn, the soul – in rich, hot, steamy soundwaves and poetic, introspective lyrics. From the opening rush of “Ride” to the final shiver-inducing seconds “Sienna,” Submarine stays true to its name as an enchanting, exhilarating adventure into our innermost, vulnerable depths. It’s the vehicle we can use to get in touch with ourselves; a vessel for our reflection, for our reckonings, and for everything in-between.

Melting pain into beauty, The Marías have seamlessly crafted an intoxicating exhale that fills the room with a sense of longing, of aching, of romance, and of awe. Submarine is truly the stuff of dreams come to life. – Mitch Mosk

There’s a dark edge to The Mysterines’ sophomore album that, quite frankly, makes it all the more seductive: An unapologetically intense alt-rock fever dream, Afraid of Tomorrows is roaring, raging, and relentless in its pursuit of soul-stirring sound and emotional self-expression. The follow-up to 2022’s critically acclaimed debut LP Reeling (one of that year’s best releases) sees the Liverpool four-piece of Lia Metcalfe, George Favager, Callum Thompson, and Paul Crilly expanding their sonic palette into both lighter and heavier territories, whilst further homing their collective artistic vision for what The Mysterines can be – and what The Mysterines make.

Whereas LP 1 captured “life’s chaos and inner turmoil with raw intensity, bold flavors, and soul-stirring candor,” LP 2 delivers “a collage of what’s been lost and of love unbounded” (per Lia Metcalfe) through a series of bold and brash reckonings (“Stray,” “Sink Ya Teeth,” “The Last Dance”) and moody, brooding, all-consuming eruptions (“Jesse You’re a Superstar,” “Another Another Another,” “Tired Animal”). At the core of so many of these songs lies trauma, and like the ‘original sin,’ it is at once inescapable, indelible, and unforgiving: A permanent scar on the heart and soul that can only be eased through musical release.

And ultimately, that’s what makes Afraid of Tomorrows so irresistible and undeniable: The Mysterines wear their battle scars like plates of armor, channeling pain into passion, fury into fire, and torment into tempestuous, tantalizing sound. Charged and churning, the band’s second album is a beautiful, if not brutally honest and bittersweet marriage of inward emotional catharsis and external connection that captures the warmth, the weight, and the endless ache of our fragile human experience.

You may come away from this album with a weightless sense of healing and resolve; you may come away from it feeling heavier than ever. But no matter what, The Mysterines will move you – and what more can you ask for, especially from such a hard-hitting album? – Mitch Mosk

A product of passion and perseverance, soul-searching and self-knowing, All Now is an emboldened, cathartic release that sees The Staves basking in beautiful folk rock pastures as they take on the world, one song at a time. Released in March via Nonesuch Records and produced by John Congleton, the band’s fourth studio album is a spirited and expansive joyride filled with moments of light and love, grief and wondering, and that cheeky, biting English humor that, quite literally, kicks off the whole record with the simple, loaded phrase: It’s all now, isn’t it exciting?

From the unfiltered, cinematic title track “All Now” and the breathtakingly beautiful, achingly exposed campfire singalong “I’ll Never Leave You Alone,” to nuanced reflections on emotional overload (“I Don’t Say It, But I Feel It”), sisterhood (“After School”), love (“So Gracefully”), processing grief (“Recognise”) and everything else life throws our way (“Fundamental Memory”), All Now is utterly enchanting – a catchy, cohesive, and many-sided listening experience with endless returns. – Mitch Mosk

Unbelievably cathartic, Tomato Flower’s, No, swerves in and out of anger and heartache but keeps one finger on the pulse to see if you are still paying attention. Within the theme of a relationship ending, the whole album plays like a grab bag of several varying sentiments. It shifts throughout but perseveres.

The shifty guitar melodies raise an eyebrow, keeping you on your toes. Vocals resembling what purgatory must appear as, and overall production that after your first listen, you ask yourself, should I drop the needle on this record during a dinner party and see what happens? – Kevin Cost

Steamy, flirty, and effortlessly catchy, Tyla is making waves globally with her self-titled debut. This production is a strong perspective on contemporary R&B/amapiano music, with lyrics that are as Instagram caption-able as they are candid and energizing. Aside from being easy to listen to, the album teases Tyla’s potential as an artist — with a Grammy win and the commercial success with “Water” already under her belt, it feels as though Tyla is just getting started. – Julia Dzurillay

Vampire Weekend last released an album in 2019, with Father of the Bride. Prior to that, they culminated a trio of critically acclaimed releases with Modern Vampires of the City, released all the way back in a dizzying 2013. Father of the Bride was, for some, a somewhat enervated release of deficiently trite music, especially when compared to the brilliance of those first three records. Vampire Weekend had established themselves as a band of witticisms, sophisticated soundscapes of chamber arrangements and electronic tinkerings, and a sleek finish. Imagine then the excitement of a 2024 release, promising a triumphant return to exactly all of that.

Only God Was Above Us delivers on all fronts with aplomb. A piano shimmers throughout the album, the leading voice on a returning cast of chamber chums. The band themselves are all in excellent form, with Ezra Koenig sounding as youthful as the M79 passenger we were introduced to on their debut, self-titled album, but polished, with the cultured proficiency of a songwriter soaring to his own alpine peak.

What is most prevalent on this album is its maturity. It is a profoundly reflective record; Koenig faces the all-too-common anxieties of ageing and change with poise, conjugating the social evolutions he witnesses around him concisely, and, more poignantly, swallowing the realities of his own shifting, progressing existence, contracting it into dazzling artistic output. It is more than a coping mechanism. It is a dismantling of a perceived disconnect with the world; it is a stomaching of dissolved opportunities; it is a truly beautiful acceptance that time, ‘your enemy’, is ‘invincible’, and we all must ‘let it go’. No matter what changes, I am bolstered by the evidence that Vampire Weekend will persist, and be there to offer me pristine, tuneful wisdom whenever I might need it. – Frederick Bloy

You cannot say that WILLOW is not a singular type of artist who is completely in her lane. There’s something so interesting and un-pin-down-able about her music; it almost blatantly refuses to be categorized. To use the wide, catch-all umbrella of “alternative” is to almost do her music a disservice, even though you may be hard-pressed to classify it any other way. On her newest album, empathogen, you hear rock one minute, then you hear chamber and baroque, then you hear pop that takes you back to the 2000s adult-alternative radio station days. It’s purposefully “unclockable” in this way, and it’s so much fun to listen to because there’s always something new. Not to mention WILLOW’s vocals which are strange and fun and unique.

“b i g f e e l i n g s” finds WILLOW in her Fiona Apple, St. Vincent, avant-garde lane. The piano against her almost strained vocals makes this such an engaging listen, and the percussion stutters along in a way that would sound clunky from anybody else. The refrain of “I have such big feelings / Can’t shut ‘em down or let ‘em out / I have such big feelings / Can’t shut ‘em down without a sound” when she floats up into her falsetto is both comforting and empowering for those who share her sentiments. By the time she gets to the bridge, everything goes disjointed in the most enjoyable way. It’s a track that keeps me coming back again and again. – Kendall Graham

Emboldened over three days in Kingston, New York, the six-piece troupe formulated this indispensable epic with numbing pulsation. In the elongated 40 minutes, you are transfixed into multiple universes, skating across astral planes, rebirthing into a new entity. Through the various waves and layers of reverberation, you almost lose yourself, freefalling to whatever moment your mind settles on. Big Hotel is a monumental piece of music in every nook and cranny while also floating along the strings of an “easy” listen. – Kevin Cost

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Music of 2024 (So Far)