2024 was nothing short of extraordinary for lovers of music – a year so rich in new releases that it almost felt impossible to keep up with everything. Above all else, it reminded us why we care so deeply about music in the first place, from under-the-radar albums that suddenly captured the zeitgeist to beloved artists delivering career-defining works and promising figures making their mark in every genre. Some records became so inescapable they defined entire seasons, while others quietly reshaped the musical landscape in real time.
At Music and Riots, we’ve once again compiled our year-end list, drawing from staff favorites and community feedback to showcase the best albums of the past 12 months, highlighting a wide array of genres and celebrating everything from breakout debuts to long-awaited returns. This list also reflects the chaotic climate that shapes the modern era: while the cultural landscape grows increasingly precarious and uncertain, this year’s releases proved again and again that great artistry still thrives even in challenging times. These are the albums that shaped the sound of 2024, each one of them a triumph worth celebrating.
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Arooj Aftab - Night Reign [Verve]
There’s an entrancing, contemplative lightness that permeates the singing spells of Arooj Aftab, who has spent the first half of this decade perfecting her ear for atmosphere to capture the beauty of moments often left unseen. Other than nocturnal by definition, Night Reign bursts through shadow and light with Aftab’s crawling voice at the center of it, bending the ramifications of Pakistani ghazal - between jazz standards, electronic tendencies and chamber instrumentation - into an amorphous, perennial world entirely her own.
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Being Dead – EELS (Bayonet Records)
Revitalizing the basics of garage and surf rock in a kaleidoscopic fashion, the Austin duo’s sophomore record is brimming with fresh ideas that tumble unpredictably from one moment to the next. Each track on EELS acts as its own rollercoaster ride, always powered by Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy’s playful synergy - a partnership so integral it becomes hard to imagine these songs existing without their harmonizing, infectious energy. Whether dabbling in irreverent post-punk reminiscent of Parquet Courts or delivering sun-soaked pop hooks, Being Dead confidently steer towards the eccentricities that define them, embracing both the chaos and the joyfully weird with disarming ease.
Revitalizing the basics of garage and surf rock in a kaleidoscopic fashion, the Austin duo’s sophomore record is brimming with fresh ideas that tumble unpredictably from one moment to the next. Each track on EELS acts as its own rollercoaster ride, always powered by Falcon Bitch and Shmoofy’s playful synergy - a partnership so integral it becomes hard to imagine these songs existing without their harmonizing, infectious energy. Whether dabbling in irreverent post-punk reminiscent of Parquet Courts or delivering sun-soaked pop hooks, Being Dead confidently steer towards the eccentricities that define them, embracing both the chaos and the joyfully weird with disarming ease.
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Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)
Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before, a game-changing effort in the way it blends prog with death metal. The Denver outfit has, over the years, really outperformed themselves and easily set the bar quite high for extreme music. Absolute Elsewhere masterfully captures the feeling of being dragged through a wormhole to a distant planet. An epic and genre-defining masterpiece from start to finish.
Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before, a game-changing effort in the way it blends prog with death metal. The Denver outfit has, over the years, really outperformed themselves and easily set the bar quite high for extreme music. Absolute Elsewhere masterfully captures the feeling of being dragged through a wormhole to a distant planet. An epic and genre-defining masterpiece from start to finish.
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Spectral Voice – Sparagmos (Dark Descent)
Spectral Voice’s Sparagmos is a relentless descent into the heart of death metal's most suffocating realms. The band’s signature style - a colossal, oppressive combination of cavernous death metal and funeral doom – informs Spectral Voice’s ability to craft a sonic experience that is both immersive and terrifying. It is not simply a collection of songs, but an ordeal and journey into a world of decay and inevitable dissolution that will resonate with listeners who crave the darkest corners of metal.
Spectral Voice’s Sparagmos is a relentless descent into the heart of death metal's most suffocating realms. The band’s signature style - a colossal, oppressive combination of cavernous death metal and funeral doom – informs Spectral Voice’s ability to craft a sonic experience that is both immersive and terrifying. It is not simply a collection of songs, but an ordeal and journey into a world of decay and inevitable dissolution that will resonate with listeners who crave the darkest corners of metal.
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Charli xcx – BRAT (Atlantic/Asylum)
After spending a decade navigating the roles of major-label pop veteran and cult icon, Charli xcx’s inescapable breakthrough into the mainstream consciousness was the one music-related phenomenon of 2024 that nearly overwhelmed the music itself. BRAT - the lime-green cover art, the attitude and the word - transcended its die-hard fanbase, conquered the masses, condemned the summer before it ever really began and unintentionally squeezed its way into the political debate. Even when the artistic value and the commercial product grew inseparable, BRAT the album’s unabashed coolness never weakened, with Charli caught between the free-spirited pleasure of party-girl hedonism and the existential messiness awaiting her when the glitter is dead and gone, still reclaiming balance in the inevitable chaos of unleashing both. It’s a thrilling, self-referential club record that doubles as a discomforting, refreshingly honest breakdown of the growing anxieties that simmer underneath the stardom. Not only did Charli overturn many of her more plastic, tame and brand-oriented contemporaries with one of the most rewarding records of pop’s in vogue era, it brilliantly captured the zeitgeist and smashed its way through the coronation.
After spending a decade navigating the roles of major-label pop veteran and cult icon, Charli xcx’s inescapable breakthrough into the mainstream consciousness was the one music-related phenomenon of 2024 that nearly overwhelmed the music itself. BRAT - the lime-green cover art, the attitude and the word - transcended its die-hard fanbase, conquered the masses, condemned the summer before it ever really began and unintentionally squeezed its way into the political debate. Even when the artistic value and the commercial product grew inseparable, BRAT the album’s unabashed coolness never weakened, with Charli caught between the free-spirited pleasure of party-girl hedonism and the existential messiness awaiting her when the glitter is dead and gone, still reclaiming balance in the inevitable chaos of unleashing both. It’s a thrilling, self-referential club record that doubles as a discomforting, refreshingly honest breakdown of the growing anxieties that simmer underneath the stardom. Not only did Charli overturn many of her more plastic, tame and brand-oriented contemporaries with one of the most rewarding records of pop’s in vogue era, it brilliantly captured the zeitgeist and smashed its way through the coronation.
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Rafael Toral - Spectral Evolution (Moikai/Drag City)
Portuguese guitarist Rafael Toral once spoke of his work as “post-free jazz electronic music”, a fitting tag for an artist often caught navigating the interplay of improvised frequencies and spatial deviations, always eager to swap his original instrument and immerse himself in the sonic possibilities of the beyond. In that department, Spectral Evolution - released through Jim O’Rourke’s revived Moikai label - is a homecoming and a culmination of Toral’s entire body of work all in one, deconstructed and broken down to a powdered level as it tweaks the pillars of jazz harmony into minimal birdsongs of modular ambiguity. Guitar passages get interwoven by dissonant chirping noises, the biosphere overpowered amid alien textures with Toral at the epicenter of the tidal wave, guiding you through the touch of man, the corruption of nature and the synthetic pulse of the machine.
Portuguese guitarist Rafael Toral once spoke of his work as “post-free jazz electronic music”, a fitting tag for an artist often caught navigating the interplay of improvised frequencies and spatial deviations, always eager to swap his original instrument and immerse himself in the sonic possibilities of the beyond. In that department, Spectral Evolution - released through Jim O’Rourke’s revived Moikai label - is a homecoming and a culmination of Toral’s entire body of work all in one, deconstructed and broken down to a powdered level as it tweaks the pillars of jazz harmony into minimal birdsongs of modular ambiguity. Guitar passages get interwoven by dissonant chirping noises, the biosphere overpowered amid alien textures with Toral at the epicenter of the tidal wave, guiding you through the touch of man, the corruption of nature and the synthetic pulse of the machine.
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Chat Pile – Cool World (The Flenser)
Chat Pile’s Cool World is the second full-length from the Oklahoma City natives, infused with the same Chat Pile formula and punch, as well as the bleak, grim and violent in-your-face approach that shapes their music, lyrically calling out the horrors of late-stage capitalism. Aside from how heavy it sounds, the album is a must-listen just for the social commentary alone. Chat Pile just gave another masterclass on how we continue to live in our boring middle-class, pseudo-capitalist, near-but-not-fully-all-the-way dystopian reality.
Chat Pile’s Cool World is the second full-length from the Oklahoma City natives, infused with the same Chat Pile formula and punch, as well as the bleak, grim and violent in-your-face approach that shapes their music, lyrically calling out the horrors of late-stage capitalism. Aside from how heavy it sounds, the album is a must-listen just for the social commentary alone. Chat Pile just gave another masterclass on how we continue to live in our boring middle-class, pseudo-capitalist, near-but-not-fully-all-the-way dystopian reality.
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Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (Loma Vista)
Chelsea Wolfe's latest album, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, marks a haunting return to the darker, more atmospheric aspects of her sound, while venturing into new territories of sonic exploration. This record is a haunting fusion of folk, doom, and electronic elements, a rich tapestry where every note feels deliberate, painting a picture of both emotional turmoil and introspective calm. She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She is not just an album, but a journey through the depths of personal and artistic evolution. There is a masterful exploration of contrast—light against shadow, clarity against distortion. While the album contains the characteristic haunting beauty that Chelsea Wolfe is known for, there is also an evolution in her approach to instrumentation and structure. With She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, Chelsea Wolfe delivers a deeply personal yet universally resonant work, one that not only explores her own demons, but allows the listener to confront their own.
Chelsea Wolfe's latest album, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, marks a haunting return to the darker, more atmospheric aspects of her sound, while venturing into new territories of sonic exploration. This record is a haunting fusion of folk, doom, and electronic elements, a rich tapestry where every note feels deliberate, painting a picture of both emotional turmoil and introspective calm. She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She is not just an album, but a journey through the depths of personal and artistic evolution. There is a masterful exploration of contrast—light against shadow, clarity against distortion. While the album contains the characteristic haunting beauty that Chelsea Wolfe is known for, there is also an evolution in her approach to instrumentation and structure. With She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, Chelsea Wolfe delivers a deeply personal yet universally resonant work, one that not only explores her own demons, but allows the listener to confront their own.
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Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (Realistik)
Originally shared on YouTube and a GeoCities website, the two hours and discs of Patrick Flegel’s seventh - and possibly final - release as Cindy Lee often come across like a distant recollection from another era, both comfortingly nostalgic and intriguingly outlandish to the human ear. Diamond Jubilee somehow commands your attention rather than overwhelming you, and weaves together countless influences from music’s past without letting its own ambition and fluidity crumble the listening experience. When and where these 32 tracks start to assume form becomes a secondary thought, as does the obliqueness that beams through the sprawling soundscapes of sun-soaked pop, psychedelia, glam dissonance and lo-fi clutter. Exploring Diamond Jubilee - a work that feels more realm than record - might demand much time and effort from any listener, but the rewards for doing so are endless and hidden in plain sight.
Originally shared on YouTube and a GeoCities website, the two hours and discs of Patrick Flegel’s seventh - and possibly final - release as Cindy Lee often come across like a distant recollection from another era, both comfortingly nostalgic and intriguingly outlandish to the human ear. Diamond Jubilee somehow commands your attention rather than overwhelming you, and weaves together countless influences from music’s past without letting its own ambition and fluidity crumble the listening experience. When and where these 32 tracks start to assume form becomes a secondary thought, as does the obliqueness that beams through the sprawling soundscapes of sun-soaked pop, psychedelia, glam dissonance and lo-fi clutter. Exploring Diamond Jubilee - a work that feels more realm than record - might demand much time and effort from any listener, but the rewards for doing so are endless and hidden in plain sight.
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Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp)
For Nala Sinephro’s long-awaited follow-up to Space 1.8, the Caribbean-Belgian multi-instrumentalist and composer, currently based in London, converges the pathways of ambient music, instrumental jazz and electronic soundscapes at an ever-shifting nexus. Endlessness unfurls across its 10 movements like a soothing Möbius strip, weaving the album’s root arpeggio into a greater tapestry of liminal states, with Sinephro on full command as you float towards the indecipherable grandeur of the night sky. Piano melodies and saxophone bursts get dissipated by majestic strings, the shimmering resonance of Sinephro’s harp or Morgan Simpson’s drumming overlaid by modular synthesizers, much like every other element melting between each arrangement and morphed into oblivion. When Endlessness allows you to glimpse the contours of these swelling galaxies of sound, the framework is miraculously transcendent and celestial, illuminating the cosmos up above with otherworldly collages that often feel too elegant for human ears.
For Nala Sinephro’s long-awaited follow-up to Space 1.8, the Caribbean-Belgian multi-instrumentalist and composer, currently based in London, converges the pathways of ambient music, instrumental jazz and electronic soundscapes at an ever-shifting nexus. Endlessness unfurls across its 10 movements like a soothing Möbius strip, weaving the album’s root arpeggio into a greater tapestry of liminal states, with Sinephro on full command as you float towards the indecipherable grandeur of the night sky. Piano melodies and saxophone bursts get dissipated by majestic strings, the shimmering resonance of Sinephro’s harp or Morgan Simpson’s drumming overlaid by modular synthesizers, much like every other element melting between each arrangement and morphed into oblivion. When Endlessness allows you to glimpse the contours of these swelling galaxies of sound, the framework is miraculously transcendent and celestial, illuminating the cosmos up above with otherworldly collages that often feel too elegant for human ears.
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Clarissa Connelly – World of Work (Warp)
World of Work is a stunning album that came out of nowhere. Clarissa Connely’s celestial precision adapts the present to the past with an experimentation that feels completely outside the metrics of time. This a deeply reflective and meditative effort that demands your carefully attention - it’s hardly the most accessible piece of work, but once you really sit with it, you cannot escape from it. It’s an addictive and immersive experience. Experimental Folk? Progressive Folk? Whatever you may call it, this is the perfect gap between Joanna Newsom’s pastoral world, ML Buch’s experimental folk and Kate Bush earliest sound.
World of Work is a stunning album that came out of nowhere. Clarissa Connely’s celestial precision adapts the present to the past with an experimentation that feels completely outside the metrics of time. This a deeply reflective and meditative effort that demands your carefully attention - it’s hardly the most accessible piece of work, but once you really sit with it, you cannot escape from it. It’s an addictive and immersive experience. Experimental Folk? Progressive Folk? Whatever you may call it, this is the perfect gap between Joanna Newsom’s pastoral world, ML Buch’s experimental folk and Kate Bush earliest sound.
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The Cure - Songs of a Lost World (Universal Music/Polydor)
A brand-new album from The Cure after 16 years of recording hiatus is enough of an eyebrow-raiser, but the true glory of Songs of a Lost World lies in it being much more than a mere comeback from one of rock’s greats. Staying firmly rooted in what already works is by no means a detriment when the eight tracks are this brilliantly pulsating and cohesive, infusing life into Robert Smith’s ageless, melancholic performances as he confronts the dire undertows of finality looking for silver linings. Whether or not it truly marks their swan song (two more albums are apparently in the works), Smith and co. do the unthinkable and drop a show-stopping, late-career triumph that could very well stand against their finest works.
A brand-new album from The Cure after 16 years of recording hiatus is enough of an eyebrow-raiser, but the true glory of Songs of a Lost World lies in it being much more than a mere comeback from one of rock’s greats. Staying firmly rooted in what already works is by no means a detriment when the eight tracks are this brilliantly pulsating and cohesive, infusing life into Robert Smith’s ageless, melancholic performances as he confronts the dire undertows of finality looking for silver linings. Whether or not it truly marks their swan song (two more albums are apparently in the works), Smith and co. do the unthinkable and drop a show-stopping, late-career triumph that could very well stand against their finest works.
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Denzel Curry - King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2 (PH Recordings/Loma Vista/Concord)
Returning to his Big Ultra persona for a brand-new chapter of his own King of the Mischievous South project, Florida’s own Denzel Curry crafts an exhilarating love letter to Southern hip-hop, steeped in nostalgia, braggadocious attitude and a profound appreciation for the pioneers who helped shape its sound. Shifting away from the autoanalytical depth of Melt My Eyez See Your Future to embrace a more hard-hitting tone, the 15 tracks that comprise Vol. 2 offer exhilarating energy and star-studded team-ups, carelessly bridging the gap between Curry’s fully-fledged studio albums and the gritty looseness of a mixtape aesthetic without ever sacrificing its lasting impact.
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Godspeed You! Black Emperor - “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” (Constellation)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor returns with a colossal work that channels the weight of a fractured world into raw, visceral soundscapes. NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD is a haunting reflection on despair and destruction, yet it never fully relinquishes the possibility of renewal. The music is deeply rooted in reality. Its title, referencing the grim toll of war, anchors the compositions in harrowing truth, but there’s a subtle defiance in the closing moments of GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS where delicate notes ascend like fragile prayers. It’s not a promise of salvation, but a quiet acknowledgment of life’s persistence. With this latest masterpiece, Godspeed You! Black Emperor creates an overwhelming and deeply affecting exploration of loss and endurance. The pieces demand to be experienced fully, forcing listeners to confront the fractures within themselves and the world around them. In its dissonance and beauty, the record carves a space for grief, but refuses to let it be the final word.
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Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To (Pure Noise)
Knocked Loose's You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To unravels like a storm caught mid-collapse, a raw study of chaos and control. The album relentless barrage of jagged riffs and primal screams feels like a world imploding, but its true power lies in the disquieting moments of space between—echoes that linger, threatening return. Each track wrestles with inevitability, where violence and vulnerability share a brutal handshake. It's a sound both serrated and deliberate, a record that doesn't just demand attention—it seizes it with the force of something unstoppable. A devastating step forward in their uncompromising evolution.
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Bad Breeding – Contempt (One Little Indian)
Bad Breeding's Contempt is a manifesto of modern discontent, churning with unrelenting ferocity. The album tears through its runtime like a Molotov cocktail in sonic form, fusing anarcho-punk urgency with industrial textures that suffocate and provoke in equal measure. Each track feels like a direct confrontation, its caustic lyrics dissecting the hypocrisies of authority and the bleak grind of late capitalism. Yet amid the chaos, there's a sense of defiant purpose—a refusal to succumb. Contempt is not just an album; it's a rallying cry, a jagged mirror reflecting a world on the edge. Harrowing, essential, and utterly uncompromising.
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Regional Justice Center – Freedom Sweet Freedom (Closed Casket Activities)
Regional Justice Center's Freedom Sweet Freedom is a blistering indictment, capturing rage and misery with surgical precision. The album is a relentless barrage of grinding tempos and guttural howls, compressing catharsis into every second of its runtime. Lyrically, it lays bare the scars of systemic injustice, offering neither reprieve nor resolution, only unfiltered confrontation. The raw, claustrophobic production amplifies its urgency, as if the songs are clawing their way out of confinement. Freedom Sweet Freedom is an uncompromised act of resistance—volatile, unrelenting, and seething with purpose.
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Thou – Umbilical (Sacred Bones)
Umbilical is a sprawling descent into desolation, where crushing heaviness meets introspective nuance. The album weaves doom metal's tectonic riffs with moments of delicate melancholy, creating a stark interplay between weight and fragility. Lyrically, it's both introspective and existential, exploring themes of connection and rupture with a poetic bleakness. Tracks shift between suffocating walls of sound and haunting atmospheres, as though tethered to a thread that frays with every note. Umbilical is less a collection of songs and more an experience—an unflinching confrontation with vulnerability and resilience, rendered in sound. It solidifies Thou's place as masters of emotive extremity.
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American Culture – Hey Brother, It’s Been a While (Convulse Records)
American Culture's new effort unfolds like a well-worn letter from the past, filled with quiet yearning and a sense of lost time. The album blends jangly guitars, lo-fi aesthetics, and reflective lyrics, crafting a sound both deeply personal and expansively nostalgic. Its hazy textures carry a raw sincerity, as if each track captures the fragile beauty of fleeting moments. Melodies meander without losing purpose, evoking a world simultaneously familiar and distant. Unpolished yet deeply affecting, it's an ode to connection and the spaces it leaves behind—a quiet triumph that is aching, tender, and unshakably human.
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Colin Stetson – The Love It Took to Leave You (Invada)
What you get from Colin Stetson's new masterpiece is a haunting and expansive exploration of human emotion, conveyed through his distinctive saxophone work. The album blends rich, immersive soundscapes with intense, textured improvisation, building a sense of tension that ebbs and flows like an emotional tide. Stetson's masterful use of circular breathing and layered effects creates a sonic landscape that feels both intimate and vast, as if each note carries the weight of its own narrative. Lyrically, the album delves into themes of love, loss, and self-reclamation, all while maintaining a contemplative, almost meditative pace.
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Spaced – This Is All We Ever Get (Revelation)
This Is All We Ever Get by Spaced grabs you with its unrelenting energy, immediately pulling you into its storm of discordant noise and frenzied rhythms. The album doesn't adhere to comfort or predictability—instead, it thrives in chaos, where each track feels like a desperate, momentary explosion. Rather than offering polished refinement, the album embraces its rough edges, making each second feel urgent and unfinished. Spaced's dissonance is intentional, and this unapologetic energy is what makes the record stand out in its embrace of messy, unfiltered emotion.
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English Teacher – This Could Be Texas (Island)
This Could Be Texas by English Teacher pulses with an infectious sense of unease, blending post-punk energy with sharp, observational lyrics. The album balances a tightrope between tension and release, using angular guitar riffs and driving rhythms to create a sense of unease without ever becoming overwhelming. There's a distinct, almost cinematic quality to the way the band builds its sound-lyrical moments that feel both personal and universal, delivered with a cool detachment. It's a record that quietly questions and observes, offering a raw, almost cinematic narrative. This Could Be Texas is a testament to the band's ability to carve out their own space in a crowded genre, delivering something refreshingly complex yet accessible.
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Uboa – Impossible Light (The Flenser)
Uboa's Impossible Light is a harrowing plunge into the depths of emotional turmoil, blurring the lines between ambient, noise, and doom. The album alternates between moments of fragile quiet and crushing, distorted chaos, creating a dynamic that feels both suffocating and cathartic. Each track unravels like a confrontation, peeling back layers of pain, vulnerability, and fury with unsettling honesty. The sparse, haunting melodies give way to walls of oppressive sound, embodying the raw weight of grief and introspection. Impossible Light is not an easy listen, nor does it aim to be—it's an unflinching examination of despair, devastating in its beauty and unmatched in its intensity.
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Elucid – Revelator (Fat Possum)
Revelator moves like a labyrinth, its twisting beats and cryptic verses pulling you further into a world both intimate and untouchable. The production feels jagged and alive, full of warped rhythms and shadowy textures that unsettle as much as they intrigue. Elucid's voice cuts through like a narrator who knows more than he's telling, layering personal confessions with sharp social observations. There's no clean resolution here—just fragments of meaning and mood that demand careful attention. Revelator is less an album to consume and more a puzzle to sit with, revealing something new each time you return.
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Kali Malone – All Life Long (Ideologic Organ)
Kali Malone has garnered widespread acclaim for its minimalist compositions and emotive depth. All Life Long unfolds with a solemn, hypnotic grace, drawing the listener into a world shaped by slow, deliberate movement. Malone's approach is minimalist yet deeply emotive, exploring the weight of repetition and the resonance of decay. All Life Long is not merely heard but felt, its meditative quality inviting a profound stillness. It's a work of quiet intensity, as introspective as it is transcendent.
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The Body and Dis Fig – Orchards of a Futile Heaven (Thrill Jockey)
Orchards of a Futile Heaven, the collaboration between The Body and Dis Fig, is a visceral confrontation with despair and defiance. The album drags listeners through harsh, industrial landscapes, where suffocating noise and haunting vocals collide in a cathartic tempest. Dis Fig's ethereal yet anguished delivery cuts through The Body's signature onslaught of distortion and percussive brutality, creating moments of startling vulnerability amidst the chaos. Orchards of a Futile Heaven is an audacious, unflinching exploration of emotional extremes, blurring the line between agony and release.
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Claire Rousay – Sentiment (Thrill Jockey)
Claire Rousay's Sentiment unfolds like a series of quiet confessions, pieced together from fragments of sound, voice, and memory. Field recordings merge seamlessly with minimal instrumentation, creating a sense of immersive intimacy. Each piece lingers in its pauses and imperfections, drawing attention to the beauty found in stillness and the mundane. There's a raw honesty in how it navigates the emotional weight of small, personal moments, making each track resonate like a whispered thought. With its understated brilliance, Sentiment transforms the everyday into something deeply moving and quietly unforgettable.
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Tristwch Y Fenywod - S/T (Night School)
Tristwch Y Fenywod is a haunting exploration of grief and strength, where melancholic melodies intertwine with the raw energy of electronic experimentation. The album flows through an array of textures—synths that pulse like a heartbeat, vocals that evoke a sense of longing, and rhythms that quietly build into moments of powerful release. There's a deep sense of emotional weight to the work, but also a quiet resilience that emerges as it progresses. The album's beauty lies in its subtlety, as it captures complex feelings without ever fully explaining them, allowing the listener to experience its depth in their own way. Tristwch Y Fenywod is an evocative journey through vulnerability, strength, and the spaces between.
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Gouge Away – Deep Sage (Deathwish Inc.)
Gouge Away return with their best album to date, taking what they accomplished on their debut, Burnt Sugar, and truly fine-tuning their sound. Deep Sage is dark, gloomy, moody, driving post-hardcore that is not afraid of blending intensity with their very own rowdy energy. Christina Michelle’s totally captivating singing voice sings-screams across an album of reflective, liminal, and self-assured anthems. Deep Sage already sounds like a post-hardcore instant classic, but the way they flirt with grunge, shoegaze and noise rock also shows a band comfortable in their own sound, peaking in their comfort zone while branching out ever so carefully to new territories, with the means and skill to accomplish everything.
Gouge Away return with their best album to date, taking what they accomplished on their debut, Burnt Sugar, and truly fine-tuning their sound. Deep Sage is dark, gloomy, moody, driving post-hardcore that is not afraid of blending intensity with their very own rowdy energy. Christina Michelle’s totally captivating singing voice sings-screams across an album of reflective, liminal, and self-assured anthems. Deep Sage already sounds like a post-hardcore instant classic, but the way they flirt with grunge, shoegaze and noise rock also shows a band comfortable in their own sound, peaking in their comfort zone while branching out ever so carefully to new territories, with the means and skill to accomplish everything.
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High Vis – Guided Tour (Dais Records)
Guide Tour is full of moments of post-punk brilliance, tender britpop and driving melodies, punk anthems that could fill the biggest stadium, as well as fiery hooks that could warm the coldest pessimist. Their new effort feels like next level High Vis, sounding big without sacrificing their very own hardcore ethos and working-class roots. Make no mistake about it, High Vis are one of the best bands in the UK right now.
Guide Tour is full of moments of post-punk brilliance, tender britpop and driving melodies, punk anthems that could fill the biggest stadium, as well as fiery hooks that could warm the coldest pessimist. Their new effort feels like next level High Vis, sounding big without sacrificing their very own hardcore ethos and working-class roots. Make no mistake about it, High Vis are one of the best bands in the UK right now.
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Jeff Parker & ETA IVtet - The Way Out of Easy [Nonesuch/International Anthem]
Guitarist Jeff Parker’s The Way Out of Easy devotes itself to capturing the dynamic interplay and exploratory spirit of his ETA IVtet, honed over a seven-year residency at the now-shuttered Los Angeles venue. Alongside bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose and saxophonist Josh Johnson, the innate grooves and spaces guiding the album’s four lengthy tracks are seamlessly unified and adapted through collaborative synergy. The resulting performances are devoid of time, but never of immersiveness, with Parker keeping listeners spellbound for as long as its intricate weave of motifs continues to blossom.
Guitarist Jeff Parker’s The Way Out of Easy devotes itself to capturing the dynamic interplay and exploratory spirit of his ETA IVtet, honed over a seven-year residency at the now-shuttered Los Angeles venue. Alongside bassist Anna Butterss, drummer Jay Bellerose and saxophonist Josh Johnson, the innate grooves and spaces guiding the album’s four lengthy tracks are seamlessly unified and adapted through collaborative synergy. The resulting performances are devoid of time, but never of immersiveness, with Parker keeping listeners spellbound for as long as its intricate weave of motifs continues to blossom.
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Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch (City Slang)
Jessica Pratt's music has consistently hit the mark on what frames the passage and forgetting of time. Her enduring enchantment with 60’s sunshine acoustic pop remains as the cradle for Here in the Pitch, but it is now surrounded by larger-scale, ornate instrumental ensembles - more than on any of her previous records - and uncannily blended with the warmth psychedelia and the gentle sway of bossa nova. Pratt’s delicate voice is still at the core of it all, elevating the stripped-down intimacy of these nine tracks into a realm of their own. Echoes of what came before are, of course, woven into the album's ghostly essence, but Pratt’s bewitching presence manages to stay detached, estranged from the outside world in an unbound, trance-like state, gliding through the chapters of a storybook passed through generations and extracting timeless insight from it. And for as tightly crystallized and mystical as Here in the Pitch’s presentation might be, Pratt keeps past hardships and current hopes at a distance, choosing to linger on the age of what’s to come, when time itself unravels in its notion and reality may need a soundtrack to return to.
Jessica Pratt's music has consistently hit the mark on what frames the passage and forgetting of time. Her enduring enchantment with 60’s sunshine acoustic pop remains as the cradle for Here in the Pitch, but it is now surrounded by larger-scale, ornate instrumental ensembles - more than on any of her previous records - and uncannily blended with the warmth psychedelia and the gentle sway of bossa nova. Pratt’s delicate voice is still at the core of it all, elevating the stripped-down intimacy of these nine tracks into a realm of their own. Echoes of what came before are, of course, woven into the album's ghostly essence, but Pratt’s bewitching presence manages to stay detached, estranged from the outside world in an unbound, trance-like state, gliding through the chapters of a storybook passed through generations and extracting timeless insight from it. And for as tightly crystallized and mystical as Here in the Pitch’s presentation might be, Pratt keeps past hardships and current hopes at a distance, choosing to linger on the age of what’s to come, when time itself unravels in its notion and reality may need a soundtrack to return to.
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JPEGMAFIA - I LAY MY LIFE DOWN FOR YOU (AWAL)
For one of modern hip-hop’s most erratic artisans, provocation is less a choice than a necessity to be unconventional. Few are as committed to the bit as JPEGMAFIA, who orchestrates the chaos of I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU like a rider on the storm, leaping across hyperactive beats, distorted samples and an expanded armory of metal guitars and string sections with the galvanizing assurance of a tyrant. The songs, as corrosive and volatile as ever, soon turn into an ego-stripping riptide when Peggy’s defiant confrontations open up powerful laments of self-reflection and, with it, a longing to be understood when the trolling mask inevitably crumbles to ashes.
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Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves (Domino)
The floating universes of Julia Holter have long manifested in unparalleled elegance, still unveiling new ways to mesmerize those who surrender to her magic. In a career overflowing with transformative works, her latest, Something in the Room She Moves, remains faithful to this eternal commitment. Aviary’s operatic grandeur turns inward, the songs themselves sliding between the corporeal and the metaphysical in a free-flowing record spurred by the nurturing ecstasy of motherhood. The dichotomy between sonic precision and structural looseness is further disconcerted, amidst an amorphousness of faces, places and emotions, as beauty itself remains the unshakable force wherever Holter channels her efforts.
The floating universes of Julia Holter have long manifested in unparalleled elegance, still unveiling new ways to mesmerize those who surrender to her magic. In a career overflowing with transformative works, her latest, Something in the Room She Moves, remains faithful to this eternal commitment. Aviary’s operatic grandeur turns inward, the songs themselves sliding between the corporeal and the metaphysical in a free-flowing record spurred by the nurturing ecstasy of motherhood. The dichotomy between sonic precision and structural looseness is further disconcerted, amidst an amorphousness of faces, places and emotions, as beauty itself remains the unshakable force wherever Holter channels her efforts.
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Kim Gordon - The Collective (Matador)
At 71 years of age, Kim Gordon’s second release under Matador channels its anarchy as a relentless and inescapable state of existence, distilling the endless sense of paranoia and mundanity that seems to guide the modern era through a transgressive blend of fiery trap music and the abrasive, experimental rock that has defined her entire career. Direct in its messaging and crushing in execution, The Collective’s disorientating assault of sound pairs seamlessly with Gordon’s streams of consciousness. Each song breathes down your neck, scrolling through the cultural algorithm of today and crushing the guiding images of our very own dystopian nightmare into your skull.
At 71 years of age, Kim Gordon’s second release under Matador channels its anarchy as a relentless and inescapable state of existence, distilling the endless sense of paranoia and mundanity that seems to guide the modern era through a transgressive blend of fiery trap music and the abrasive, experimental rock that has defined her entire career. Direct in its messaging and crushing in execution, The Collective’s disorientating assault of sound pairs seamlessly with Gordon’s streams of consciousness. Each song breathes down your neck, scrolling through the cultural algorithm of today and crushing the guiding images of our very own dystopian nightmare into your skull.
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Laura Marling - Patterns in Repeat (Partisan/Chrysalis)
Facing the transformative shifts of motherhood once prophesied in Songs For Our Daughter, Laura Marling retraces her artistry to fit the familial sphere. The heart-wrenching lullabies of Patterns in Repeat - delicately plucked and recorded with her newborn daughter close by - always resonate from a place of tenderness and reassurance, Marling’s voice embracing you in the soothing warmth of maternal certainty, passionately capturing the cycles of life with eternal wisdom as they willingly change her own.
Facing the transformative shifts of motherhood once prophesied in Songs For Our Daughter, Laura Marling retraces her artistry to fit the familial sphere. The heart-wrenching lullabies of Patterns in Repeat - delicately plucked and recorded with her newborn daughter close by - always resonate from a place of tenderness and reassurance, Marling’s voice embracing you in the soothing warmth of maternal certainty, passionately capturing the cycles of life with eternal wisdom as they willingly change her own.
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Moin – You Never End (AD 93)
The dynamic post-hardcore/post-rock/post-whatever trio brings on Olan Monk, James K and more to refine their blend of sensibilities and incise new emotional depths. You Never End is an effort that is hard to pin down and fails to provide some kind of comfort to the listener, one of the main reasons why it’s so good and unconventionally addictive. Moin’s sound has so much of Slint or Fugazi, but as a project born of collaboration, they’re able to tap into something deeper on You Never End. It’s an impressive and unsettling work of art and demands your full attention, layered and almost cynically detailed, almost feeling like a 2024 version of Slint.
The dynamic post-hardcore/post-rock/post-whatever trio brings on Olan Monk, James K and more to refine their blend of sensibilities and incise new emotional depths. You Never End is an effort that is hard to pin down and fails to provide some kind of comfort to the listener, one of the main reasons why it’s so good and unconventionally addictive. Moin’s sound has so much of Slint or Fugazi, but as a project born of collaboration, they’re able to tap into something deeper on You Never End. It’s an impressive and unsettling work of art and demands your full attention, layered and almost cynically detailed, almost feeling like a 2024 version of Slint.
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Lip Critic - Hex Dealer (Partisan)
Lip Critic’s Partisan debut is a relentless barrage of electrifying shocks and rapturous bombasts. From SUNY Purchase’s campus phenoms to a rising force in the current New York hardcore scene, the band ambitiously collides their hardcore foundations with industrial and dance music throughout an air-tight, deeply unserious loose narrative. The songs themselves, so infectious and erratic to the point of feeling almost speedran, perpetually beg for some sort of release, as Hex Dealer proudly delivers its whirlwind of blaring noise with an all-consuming, inescapable etching for maniacal insanity.
Lip Critic’s Partisan debut is a relentless barrage of electrifying shocks and rapturous bombasts. From SUNY Purchase’s campus phenoms to a rising force in the current New York hardcore scene, the band ambitiously collides their hardcore foundations with industrial and dance music throughout an air-tight, deeply unserious loose narrative. The songs themselves, so infectious and erratic to the point of feeling almost speedran, perpetually beg for some sort of release, as Hex Dealer proudly delivers its whirlwind of blaring noise with an all-consuming, inescapable etching for maniacal insanity.
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Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced (Sub Pop)
Pissed Jeans returned with one of the most important noise punk records of 2024. Actually, it’s fair to say that this is their best album to date, filled with bangers from start to finish. It’s fast, furious and sounds fucking catchy. It’s easy to say noise rock is finally having its moment in today’s music and Half Divorced reminds us that we really should give more credit to the 90’s noise scene. Without Shellac, Big Black, The Jesus Lizard, Cows, Unsane, Surgery and Drive Like Jehu, we probably wouldn’t get Pissed Jeans, Idles, Chat Pile or acts like Ken Mode nowadays. Half Divorced is a brilliant, funny and a cynical take on the traditional American family values and a big ‘fuck you’ to this rotten system. One of the most real and essential albums of 2024.
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Mabe Fratti - Sentir Que No Sabes (Unheard of Hope)
Ranging from jarring and textural to melodically tender, the Guatemalan artist (currently based in Mexico City) strikingly contorts her cello to its expressive limits on Sentir Que No Sabes. It’s Mabe Fratti at her most accessible and full-bodied, never affecting the dynamic enchantments shaping her boundless world, endlessly circling a solar system of its own. The pop-driven production either reflects or counterpoints how she treats her instrument of choice, often subdued and sinuous just before its many esoteric triumphs of sonic disarray remind you of how vibrantly alive her meticulous, laser-focused touch can make you feel.
Ranging from jarring and textural to melodically tender, the Guatemalan artist (currently based in Mexico City) strikingly contorts her cello to its expressive limits on Sentir Que No Sabes. It’s Mabe Fratti at her most accessible and full-bodied, never affecting the dynamic enchantments shaping her boundless world, endlessly circling a solar system of its own. The pop-driven production either reflects or counterpoints how she treats her instrument of choice, often subdued and sinuous just before its many esoteric triumphs of sonic disarray remind you of how vibrantly alive her meticulous, laser-focused touch can make you feel.
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Martha Skye Murphy – Um (AD 93)
Each song on Martha Skye Murphy’s enthralling debut sways between tension and release. The album’s production oozes a sense of looming threat through soaring, operatic crescendos seemingly emanating from a distant realm, only to disintegrate those same elements into shatters of contemplative restraint when the opportunity arises. Um contently devotes itself to keeping you second-guessing, alienating the listener via art pop collage before the much-needed flowings of textural beauty - tempered by Murphy’s ethereal soprano - uncover the towering, amorphous vision keeping its sonic spaces just out of reach.
Each song on Martha Skye Murphy’s enthralling debut sways between tension and release. The album’s production oozes a sense of looming threat through soaring, operatic crescendos seemingly emanating from a distant realm, only to disintegrate those same elements into shatters of contemplative restraint when the opportunity arises. Um contently devotes itself to keeping you second-guessing, alienating the listener via art pop collage before the much-needed flowings of textural beauty - tempered by Murphy’s ethereal soprano - uncover the towering, amorphous vision keeping its sonic spaces just out of reach.
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Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor (Ninja Tune)
It’s not a bold statement to say Nilüfer Yanya began her career already sounding fully formed. Her first two albums certainly helped solidify the singular voice and songwriting style she possesses, continually evolving to embrace new, broader possibilities for how she could express them. My Method Actor builds on those same trademarks, but exudes the kind of effortlessness only an artist fully confident in her aspirations can possess. Boasting rhythms and fuzzy guitars make Yanya’s surroundings feel richer and more inviting than ever, the emotions hidden underneath the many sincere confessions take on a therapeutic quality and, all of a sudden, the compelling comfort zone embedded in her music proceeds to turn vulnerability into strength.
It’s not a bold statement to say Nilüfer Yanya began her career already sounding fully formed. Her first two albums certainly helped solidify the singular voice and songwriting style she possesses, continually evolving to embrace new, broader possibilities for how she could express them. My Method Actor builds on those same trademarks, but exudes the kind of effortlessness only an artist fully confident in her aspirations can possess. Boasting rhythms and fuzzy guitars make Yanya’s surroundings feel richer and more inviting than ever, the emotions hidden underneath the many sincere confessions take on a therapeutic quality and, all of a sudden, the compelling comfort zone embedded in her music proceeds to turn vulnerability into strength.
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Shellac – To All Trains (Touch & Go)
To All Trains turned out to be the last Shellac studio album, a suitable farewell for a band and bandleader who always refused to compromise. To All Trains serves as a near-perfect blend of all the best parts of Shellac’s sound and very own identity, with remarkably little filler across its ten tracks. It already feels like an instant classic, but also the tightest, leanest album in their entire body of work. RIP Steve Albini!
To All Trains turned out to be the last Shellac studio album, a suitable farewell for a band and bandleader who always refused to compromise. To All Trains serves as a near-perfect blend of all the best parts of Shellac’s sound and very own identity, with remarkably little filler across its ten tracks. It already feels like an instant classic, but also the tightest, leanest album in their entire body of work. RIP Steve Albini!
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Still House Plants – If I don’t make it, I love u (AD93)
If I don't make it, I love u is Still House Plants' third LP and the fullest embodiment of their sound to date. The London-based avant-rock trio relentlessly experimental style mixes This Heat’s post-punk etchings with the unpredictable approach of Bill Orcutt and the astonishing voice of Jessica Hickie-Kallenbach for a truly intense piece of work. This is the sound of a band solidifying themselves and pushing forward into something genuinely their own.
If I don't make it, I love u is Still House Plants' third LP and the fullest embodiment of their sound to date. The London-based avant-rock trio relentlessly experimental style mixes This Heat’s post-punk etchings with the unpredictable approach of Bill Orcutt and the astonishing voice of Jessica Hickie-Kallenbach for a truly intense piece of work. This is the sound of a band solidifying themselves and pushing forward into something genuinely their own.
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Touché Amoré - Spiral in a Straight Line (Rise)
Touché Amoré have once again shown us why they’ve gathered so much respect over the years, as they continue to deliver outstanding hardcore anthems that, most importantly, we’re able to relate to and connect with. On Spiral in a Straight Line, nothing is held back and you can actually feel it all. Every song sees the band playing up their strengths. Jeremy Bolm sounds as upset as ever and the experimentation previously heard on Stage Four is still present, showing a band willing to push their lush, melodic sound in order to find some sort of progression.
Touché Amoré have once again shown us why they’ve gathered so much respect over the years, as they continue to deliver outstanding hardcore anthems that, most importantly, we’re able to relate to and connect with. On Spiral in a Straight Line, nothing is held back and you can actually feel it all. Every song sees the band playing up their strengths. Jeremy Bolm sounds as upset as ever and the experimentation previously heard on Stage Four is still present, showing a band willing to push their lush, melodic sound in order to find some sort of progression.
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Trauma Ray – Chameleon (Dais)
Trauma Ray’s debut album, Chameleon, is a striking exploration of musical contrasts, where ethereal atmospheres collide with raw intensity. The band perfectly blends shoegaze’s dreamlike textures with elements of post-hardcore and noise rock, crafting a sound that is both haunting and exhilarating. It’s a bold debut from trauma ray, not only showcasing their technical ability, but also their knack for evoking deep emotional resonance. With its multifaceted layers and ambitious range, Chameleon stands as a significant moment in the band's development, positioning them as a promising force within the experimental rock scene. Perfect for fans of Nothing, Cold Gawd and Narrow Head. Top Notch!
Trauma Ray’s debut album, Chameleon, is a striking exploration of musical contrasts, where ethereal atmospheres collide with raw intensity. The band perfectly blends shoegaze’s dreamlike textures with elements of post-hardcore and noise rock, crafting a sound that is both haunting and exhilarating. It’s a bold debut from trauma ray, not only showcasing their technical ability, but also their knack for evoking deep emotional resonance. With its multifaceted layers and ambitious range, Chameleon stands as a significant moment in the band's development, positioning them as a promising force within the experimental rock scene. Perfect for fans of Nothing, Cold Gawd and Narrow Head. Top Notch!
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Uniform – American Standard (Sacred Bones)
American Standard is a brutally sinister soundscape where genres easily collide. Their raw blend of hardcore-noise-industrial sound doesn't come any more blunt or direct than this. Full of depth and range, Uniform are doing their thing, with the knowledge that they are a unique musical entity doing something that sets them apart. American Standard is a gem, an elegant but also punishing effort that will leave you uncomfortable, but also caustically incisive.
American Standard is a brutally sinister soundscape where genres easily collide. Their raw blend of hardcore-noise-industrial sound doesn't come any more blunt or direct than this. Full of depth and range, Uniform are doing their thing, with the knowledge that they are a unique musical entity doing something that sets them apart. American Standard is a gem, an elegant but also punishing effort that will leave you uncomfortable, but also caustically incisive.
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Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood (Anti-)
If Saint Cloud marked Katie Crutchield’s metamorphosis into the realms of country, folk and americana (far removed from her grunge roots), then her sixth album, Tigers Blood, inherits that same aesthetic and fine tunes it with a deeper sense of poignancy. Accompanied by a stellar ensemble which includes Brad Cook, Spencer Tweedy and Wednesday’s own MJ Lenderman, her sixth album pays a treasuring ode to human resilience, wrapped in the warmth of musical camaraderie by a heart that knows no bounds. Its intimate confessions are displayed as unavoidable and weary, but shared in quiet, communal secrecy like folklores told around a campfire, settling into Crutchfeld’s newfound clarity without sacrificing the sharp melodic and lyrical edge that gives her music such striking lucidity.
If Saint Cloud marked Katie Crutchield’s metamorphosis into the realms of country, folk and americana (far removed from her grunge roots), then her sixth album, Tigers Blood, inherits that same aesthetic and fine tunes it with a deeper sense of poignancy. Accompanied by a stellar ensemble which includes Brad Cook, Spencer Tweedy and Wednesday’s own MJ Lenderman, her sixth album pays a treasuring ode to human resilience, wrapped in the warmth of musical camaraderie by a heart that knows no bounds. Its intimate confessions are displayed as unavoidable and weary, but shared in quiet, communal secrecy like folklores told around a campfire, settling into Crutchfeld’s newfound clarity without sacrificing the sharp melodic and lyrical edge that gives her music such striking lucidity.
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Ulcerate – Cutting the Throat of God (Debemur Morti)
Cutting the Throat of God by Ulcerate is a masterclass in tension and technicality, a relentless journey through dissonance and density. The album marries blistering precision with an overwhelming atmosphere, making it feel like a descent into a vast, mechanical underworld. Every riff seems deliberately jagged, bending melody into strange, angular shapes that unsettle as much as they captivate. Cutting the Throat of God both brutal and cerebral, a testament to Ulcerate's ability to craft music that challenges and devastates in equal measure.
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Spectral Wound – Songs of Blood and Mire (Profound Lore)
Songs of Blood and Mire by Spectral Wound is black metal at its most visceral and punishing, yet it carries a clarity that elevates it beyond the mire of raw aggression. The guitars drive the album's dark, melodic core, weaving harrowing yet strangely majestic passages that shift seamlessly between chaos and bleak harmony. The vocals are a rasping snarl, drenched in venom and despair, cutting through the mix like a blade. What stands out most is the atmosphere—a feeling of being trapped in a storm of frost and fury, where every note heightens the dread. Songs of Blood and Mire is unflinchingly grim, but within its cold, unyielding heart lies an undeniable grandeur that commands attention.
Words: Fausto Casais and Rui Cunha