Best of 2024 (So Far)
All Gist - James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg
A duet (or duel) between guitar heroes should be some fiery affair. All thoughts but speed and dexterity pushed to the side. But throughout their collective careers, James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg have never let their inherent virtuosity get in the way of a good tune. All Gist can be a fiendish display of six string hysterics, but melody is the guiding light, and the duo are quite happy to let guests take the spotlight in their homespun world. Just listen to the radiant warmth of the violin lead on opener “Death Wishes to Kill” or the aching upright bass from “Fears of this Nature.” The best of the bunch does come from the pair ascending into guitar legend with “Nicest Distinction,” a spinning dirge that turns on a hairpin in the second half into a all engulfing groove, still tinged with beautiful dread.
The Fish Factory Sessions - Greg Foat and Gigi Masin
I felt like I needed a suit and tie to listen to The Fish Factory Sessions. From the ever tinkering fingers of piano maestro Greg Foat comes a new collection of space age jams, somewhere between lounge, jazz and cosmic meditations. Nearly 16-minute long “Three Piece Suite” is the behemoth holding the album together with its swaying flair, but (relatively) miniature closer “Viento Calido” is a gentle reminder that not everything needs to be a sweeping opus, instead falling into intimate comfort; the cool down after a raging, yet stately, party.
Ponta da Lingua - Sofia Freire
When we interviewed Sofia Freire, it became clear that she viewed her music and her body constantly on the edge of mutation, shedding old forms and taking on a new visages. And the mutant pop of Ponta da Lingua certainly sounds like it got bit by a radioactive Bjork. “Orlando” pays tribute to Virginia Wolfe gender-destroying protagonist with regal-sounding funk while “Big Bang” shudders at our own smallness compared to eternity, all while swirling horns soak the song in dread. But the title track (and closer) serves as a personal hymn. If we are mutable, changeable, then we should revel in it.
Exploring Together - Saphileaum
We all need a traveling companion. Even if they don’t know the route. Georgian composer Saphileaum stitches together the odds and ends of ambient, house and lounge on Exploring Together for a welcoming trek across the globe. Goofy bops like “Kilimanjaro” reference exotica cheese, but tracks like “A Glimpse of Enlightenment” and “Golden Tan” point to the enthusiasm and gregariousness Saphileaum injects into every instrument. (Interview)
The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain - Tapir!
Paper mache masks, Canterbury Tales cosplay and the end times. Quite the recipe. It’s not that the absurd narrative of UK highfalutin youngins Tapir! should be ignored. Instead, The Pilgrim stands next to XTC’s Skylarking as a stratospherically high concept album still mostly concerned with making great pop songs. Tapir! lean more chamber-folk than new wave, lending a sense of grandeur to their bittersweet tales. On album standout “My God,” Tapir! have pointed questions for the man upstairs only to get radio interference from iphone and Hugo Boss commercials as a hurricane bears down–leaving them, and us, with the uncomfortable feeling that the divine might only speak in ads.
Critterland - Willi Carlisle
What will the Battle of Critterland look like? Be assured, my Willi Carlisle’s reckoning, it’s coming soon. And if Critterland is the last testament before the war begins, then it’s a lasting beauty even in the face of death. Carlisle’s conflicted country, wrangling with god, sexuality and a dying earth is composed with a sorrow deeper than the Great Basin, and a windswept feeling that seems like the moments after a Western shootout. There are moments of unbalanced hope (“Two Headed Lamb”) but Carlisle also delivers 2024’s saddest (and maybe best) song in “When the Pills Wear Off.” “And what I called a love affair/ They say was a death of despair,” coos Carlisle at his lowest point.
There Is A Well - Shallowater
“I’m going to be so mad if that’s a hit.”
Well you should’ve written a worse song boys! Houston power trio Shallowater pulls equally from post-rock, shoegaze and country to make an eerie reflection of Texas cult heroes Lift to Experience. There is a Well is a stunningly assured debut, conjuring up images of dust flooded west Texas landscapes, both in terror (“Birdshot,” “Snap”) and beauty (“Angels.”) (Interview)
Dark Times - Vince Staples
Vince Staples has spent every second of his career tunneling inward since his breakout. When he delivered the scene stealing double verse on Earl Sweatshirt’s “Hive” over 10 years ago, it seemed like the birth of a new star. That was just about true, but not in any recognizable way. Vince became rap’s most reliable comedian with razor sharp deadpan wit, but he became ever more paranoid and uninterested in a world obsessed with plucking pieces of his soul. Dark Times arrives as the conclusion of a sorta trilogy that started in 2021 with his self-titled album. Each record found him more introverted, more indebted to a James Blake-touched production style that sounded like ghosts haunting a studio full of 808s. Dark Times is the best of the trio, finding Staples nearly moving to sorrowful soul music on lead single “Shame on the Devil,” and brandishing his short story pen with deadly precision on “Justin.” But the best moment is album midpoint “Etouffee,” the singular banger on the album, while still being a meditation on his family in NOLA, his relationship with fans who want the old Vince and the unnerving feeling that he’s never truly home–no matter how far he travels.
Ethos - Frank & Tony
2024 has been an excellent year for electronic slowburns, and no one has had beauty and grace in equal amounts like Frank & Tony. The hyper-minimal Ethos unfurls every song slowly, each guest vocalist beamed in from the Xanax dimension. Somewhere between the spa and the club, the duo have made something sublime.
Artificial Bouquet - Frail Body
Friends have compared the opening salvo of Artificial Bouquet to Deafheaven’s mammoth breakout “Dream House” or Hüsker Dü’s triumphant “New Day Rising.” The comparisons say less about the notes, or even the genre and more about the emotion. Frail Body overwhelm to find transcendence. And my personal attachment runs deeper. The week before I saw Frail Body, I attended two memorials in one day, scattering my grandmother’s ashes in bluebonnet patches and consoling my Step-brother who had lost his mom. Artificial Bouquet is about death and grief, Lowell Shaffer sifting through the memories of his mother who passed from cancer. Over an avalanche from drummer Nicholas Clemenson, Shaffer and bassist Nic Kuczynski create a sonic wall that is completely consuming: much like grief. (Interview)
Keeper of the Shepherd - Hannah Frances
Horror movie logic dictates that the more grizzly a killing, the more haunted the space. Negative energy festers above the spot where some heinous crime was committed. Hannah Frances asks an odd and reality warping question: if that’s true, isn’t the most haunted place of all the natural world?
Snakeskin, buckhide, ribs jutting from roots, ruins that may or may not be organic, Frances treks through them all, in raw rapture and grief. This is Americana brought on Baba Yaga legs, mystic and unnerving. (Interview)
Voice Memos From a Winter in China - Mary Sue
Winter probably shouldn’t sound this warm. But Singaporean rapper Mary Sue had a season that will stay with him for the rest of his life. Voice Memos From a Winter in China recounts a magical tour, flipping back and forth between songs recorded in hotels and between train rides, spliced with live show ambiance. The result is a more welcoming version of Earl Sweatshirt’s Some Rap Songs, all bite-sized beauties breathing out comfort through sumptuous samples. (Interview)
There Must Be Something Here - acloudyskye
Indie rock, by both its moniker and general disposition, was never supposed to get big. But by the mid ‘00s, bands like Snow Patrol and Franz Ferdinand realized that it wasn’t too hard to elevate Pavement jams into stadium fillers. Rap and EDM eventually took the torch on arena anthems, but there was some tenuous connective tissue between the two. And acloudyskye has found the nexus. Originally an electronic and instrumental project, Skye’s newest There Must Be Something Here, links indie rock and EDM by their common maximalism. The hooks, production, the everything leans on a need for scope and size to be blown out to their absolute limit. (Interview)
Obsidian Wreath - Infant Island
Year of the scramz.
Truly there hasn’t been a year in recent memory where one subgenre has held court so masterfully. But 2024 is the year of screamo (thus far). And the twin-headed behemoths of Infant Island and Frail Body are both frontrunners for album of the year. While Artificial Bouquet elevates through its viciousness, Obsidian Wreath aims for sheer, brutal force. It’s a rare album that demands to be played all the way through, each song acting less like an individual, and more like cogs in an imposing machine. Except perhaps for the heavenly heaviness of closer “Vestygian,” which will tear the skin from your bones and the heart right out your chest.
미래의 고향 Hometown to Come - Minhwi Lee
Can you have nostalgia for a place that doesn’t exist–yet? In our interview with Minhwi Lee, she spoke about a generational malaise where no one feels at home, even while at home. So can a new hometown be built? There are no answers on Hometown to Come, but there is a lovely, ambivalent sort of comfort. Lee’s compositions take from Joni Mitchell’s Hajira and the warmest versions of 1980’s production to craft longing chamber-folk. (Interview)
Chandler - Wyatt C. Louis
Hypothetically, all country music should be pastoral. But Wyatt C. Louis’ newest is an immaculate conjuring of wide open spaces like few others. This First Nations fella’s soft, swinging voice gives a touching empathy to each song as the instruments swell with warmth, all of it stitched together with pedal steel.
Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity - Saidan
Don’t let the visual novel as album art fool you, this is some straightforward, deeply tasty black metal. Like a few other grand metal releases this year, Saidan knows the importance of hooks. Even over blast beats that sound as crusty as freshly hardened lava, there’s no denying the Enslaved influence showing up the in the riffs, which could just as easily be played on pumping keyboards.
Hex - Jon Mckiel
To be clear, this entire section could just be about the title track. “Hex,” the tune, is the best song of 2024. A dark groove infected by Tom Waits’ “Clap Hands” and further mutated by a slinky saxophone solo. But that’s just the hook to reel you into the rest of the frayed and paranoid album. Catchiness abounds but so does fear. The hallucinogenic folk of “String” unravels itself over its runtime and the off-kilter beach jam “Lady’s Mantle” seems ready to doze off into a nightmare. So, enter Jon Mckiel’s bizarre world–just don’t get lost.
Trash Can Lamb - K. Freund
Noise (the genre) can be a deeply unwelcoming place. No tonal center, odd textures, rythems that are as disjointed as they are disorienting. So to make noise feel like a hug—that takes a certain empathetic talent. K.Freund (Fruend is even German for Friend!) delivers radiant warmth on Trash Can Lamb, fusing ambient jazz passages with spinning, sputtering noise blitzes that seemed beamed in by friendly aliens. (Interview)