I swear I’m catching up.

The Best

The Big Thief frontperson starts their all-important big followup record with a loose, emotionally fraught track in the style of Mount Eerie. Things get poppier after, but it’s an impressive sort of artistic gesture – the artist in control and not the marketing. Lenker’s songwriting shines through, their explosive strengths on full display. Plus there’s a solo acoustic reimagining of their band’s biggest non-album single, “Vampire Empire”, and it alone is worth the price of admission.

Katie Crutchfield has turned down the alt-rock amplifiers over the last two albums and has let a gorgeous, rambling, sharp-edged take on Americana fill the ringing silence. She finds a sort of peace in the chaos of modern existence and lets that inform her songs, which are fuller and more well-rounded than before, even on her first go-round with this kind of sound on 2020’s Saint Cloud. MJ Lenderman ain’t no slouch on the guitar, either – but I think that tends to go without saying.

It’s been fourteen years since Vampire Weekend released their highwater mark, Modern Vampires Of The City. In the time since, they’d lost a songwriter, gone through a period of solo albums, and released a rather jam-heavy Deadhead type of record, 2019’s Father Of The Bride. The chances of a band coming back from that lengthy time in the wilderness to record their best material are virtually nil, but Vampire Weekend were never a group that followed the accepted pattern. Their first album was a wild success almost in spite of itself. Their origin story in the dorms of Columbia University is almost a little Too Campus, and their status as anthem makers of New York City’s upper middle class a bit too Gossip Girl. When Contra came out – when it debuted at #1, I might add – some Brooklynite asked me if I’d heard it yet, and followed it up with “I’m assuming it sucks, of course.” The group managed to dodge all those tiresome hipper-than-thous, somehow, and have emerged on top in this brave year of 2024. They still bear the marks of their recent past – their Coachella set on weekend one just past was mostly a 30-minute version of “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa” that devolved into a game show and a cover of a Grateful Dead jam from Europe ’72 – but their work on Only God Was Above Us references and elevates the parts of the band that have made them last all these years. I am, of course, partial to their debut, but I will readily entertain arguments that this may just be their best record.

Expansive and utterly moving, inflected with breezy jazz moments and reaching tantalizingly for pop melodies before shattering everything and swerving to the left, Julia Holter defines experimental pop in the 2020s. Dark and mystical, the album is that witchy girl you know, the one you’re never sure is going to tell you a joke or simply slit your throat for reagents.

Yeah, that album cover is unhinged, but Rosali Middleman’s voice is contemporary folk singer gold and the band sounds like Crazy Horse. Honestly, she had me at “the band sounds like Crazy Horse.”

Blah blah Downfall Of The Neon Youth, globalized collab records, Parannoul. Look: the two Korean artists on that record may be at the forefront of the modern global shoegaze revival, but São Paulo’s sonhos tomam conta is taking the genre into strange new places. Specifically here they fuse the wall-of-sound guitars and general haziness with elements of samba and Afro-originating spiritual ideas and practices. It’s an act of resistance against the Christian hegemony of Brazil, the devolving global situation of the West, and an attempt, much like Sepultura’s Roots, to connect with the deeper cultural practices of Brazil. On the surface you can label it sambagaze and move on, I suppose, but underneath is a moving body of water, and as Olaf will tell you, water has memory.

It’s an easy enough album to listen to once, amiable even, but if you go through it more than once you’ll be struck by how deliberate each seemingly off-the-cuff move is. Blending elements of 90s slacker Pavement-esque rock, shoegaze, and alt-country, Life On The Lawn is built for listeners who can’t help but deconstruct the noise coming out of their speakers.

The Black Keys have never been original, and I’m not sure why everyone thought they would start now. They’ve managed to settle into a groove that they have mastered, and they play in that groove exceedingly well. Call me basic, idgaf.

I hesitate to use the word ‘accessible’ because it’s often used as a stand-in for ‘ugh sellout’ but in the purer sense of the word, where it means that the melodies are less inscrutable and it’s something you can play for your normie friends and not have them immediately ban you from the aux for three weeks – Love In Constant Spectacle is Jane Weaver’s most accessible album to date. It’s still weird, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a more welcoming form of weird.

Out-there psychedelic pop that really does feel as though it were made under the influence of strong drugs. That’s a compliment, of course.

Ella Smoker’s debut is that rarity: intimate songwriting with barbed hooks and an adventurous sense of dynamics. It’s quiet – for the most part – but grows with each song to fill the entire room.

Neo-yacht rock? I mean, the vibe is correct, but musically this record rockets beyond what the ‘yacht rock’ (derogatory) moniker signifies. This is yacht gone glam, shot through with razor-sharp hair metal guitars, sleek disco production, and art-rock concept framing. If you’re not familiar with her work – hell, maybe even if you are – the first spin will be a total groove.

Doom metal functions best when it’s not trying to experiment too hard. Just deliver the funeral riffs, the immaculate post-Sabbath vibes, and if you’re going to play with the formula, keep it easy. Temple Of The Fuzz Witch does this exactly, and they do it exceedingly well.

Garage punk at its finest, full of those moments that make you bust out the air guitar and stomp around the room with your head down, hopefully but not likely avoiding the wall with your head.

The Rest

Les Big Byrd – Diamonds, Rhinestones and Hard Rain ★★★☆ (Chimp Limbs) Swedish psych rock that makes a major case for the human ability to fly.

Rosie Tucker – Utopia Now! ★★★☆ (Sentimental) Power pop done right, with big hooks and fiery songwriting.

Khruangbin – A LA SALSA ★★★☆ (Dead Oceans) The usual global-psych guitar workout, a little more relaxed, and a little more desert sunset.

Sinkane – We Belong ★★★☆ (City Slang) Moving, physically and otherwise, drawing from Afrobeat and electronica to create a tapestry on which to discuss Black identity and the ongoing process of liberation.

DSRT MTHR – dark ★★★☆ (none) There are a great many psychedelic bands out there now, and very few of them can manage to get that haunted, staring-into-the-dark quality that DSRT MTHR manage here.

Jlin – Akoma ★★★☆ (Planet Mu) Is this post-footwork, at long last? It’s tight as hell at any rate.

Gary Clark, Jr. – JPEG Raw ★★★☆ (Warner) Earthy, funky, bluesy, it seems Mr. Clark Jr can turn out solid work at any time.

Zombi – Direct Inject ★★★☆ (Relapse)

Mount Kimbie – The Sunset Violent ★★★☆ (WARP) The group has made an odd turn from their UK dubstep/left-field origins, but it’s an interesting one at least.

Fabiana Palladino – Fabiana Palladino ★★★☆ (XL) Modern R&B with a good tweak of retro pop.

Drahla – angeltape ★★★☆ (Captured Tracks) They came back, messy and dripping with chaos, and doubled down on the promise of their original work.

Elbow – Audio Vertigo ★★★☆ (Polydor) The long-running veteran indie band has perked up finally. I thought they were winding away down to sleep at long last.

Blanket – Ceremonia ★★★☆ (Church Road) Noisy shoegaze with grunge affectations is always a good choice.

VR SEX – Hard Copy ★★★☆ (DAIS)

Beyonce – Cowboy Carter ★★★☆ (Columbia) If she had gone all-in on the country concept this might have lived up to its hype and justified its length. As it is, she only tries on the trappings of her upbringing, keeping things Bey with a cowboy hat.

Sum 41 – Heaven & Hell ★★★☆ (Rise) As fitting a cap to their career as anything they could have come up with, Sum 41’s swan song sums up the best parts of their career and ends on a satisfactory note. Secretly one of the best live acts going, they will be missed.

Chicano Batman – Notebook Fantasy ★★★☆ (ATO) It doesn’t do anything particularly new but it does it well – they’ve been around long enough that this might be a bare minimum, but the sound is also amiable and that will get you pretty far.

Eunuchs – Harbour Century ★★★☆ Jazz/prog/fusion nuttiness that has some definite overlap with black midi but is crucially somewhat different.

The Jesus And Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes ★★★ (Fuzz Club) Uneven, but less uneven than their last few records, the JAMC always keep things at least moderately interesting.

Empress Of – For Your Consideration ★★★ (Major Arcana) Lush drama pop. Plays it too safe overall but when she experiments, glimpses of an alternate reality where she’s a major star show through.

villagerrr – Tear Your Heart Out ★★★ (Daring) Indie rock with a draping of alt-country, a talented songwriter that might do big things in the future, if their luck plays out well.

Kelly Moran – Moves In The Field ★★★ (WARP) Ghostly neoclassical player piano (OK, it’s a Yamaha Disklavier, whatever) that shows a promising level of compositional skill.

The Rocky Valentines – Erase ★★★ (Tooth & Nail) The son of the guy from Starflyer 59 (“Fell In Love At 22”) proving that he’s at least alright at poppy indie rock.

Lily Piette – Her Computerized Machinery Complex ★★★

Still Corners – Dream Talk ★★★ (Wrecking Light) Tessa Murray’s dream journal, set to softly psychedelic guitars and electronics. Less exciting than you might think.

Winter McQuinn – Move To The Trees ★★★ (Third Eye Stimuli)

GloRilla – Ehhthang Ehhthang ★★★ (Cocaine) Trappy crunk. Or crunky trap. Either way an alright way to spend an hour while drinking.

Gossip – Real Power ★★★ (Columbia) Maturity is fine and all, but the genteel veneer we feel the need to put on ‘growing up’ is a bit depressing.

Saint Saviour – Sunseeker ★★★ (VLF) It all sounds very nice but if you squint at it too hard it disappears like morning mist.

Future & Metro Boomin – We Don’t Trust You ★★★ (Epic) Earlier in either’s career this might have been an explosive, exciting collab, but as it stands both are too entrenched in their brand to do anything too interesting. Except let K Dot kick off the Great Rap War of 2024, of course.

The Libertines – All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade ★★★ (EMI) Less awful than you might expect for The Libertines as geezers.

Katie Pruitt – Mantras ★★★ (Rounder) We need more queer country, but is it too much to ask for it to have a little grit and heft while we’re at it?

Halo Maud – Celebrate ★★★ (Heavenly) Not sure where to land between experimentalism and Sixties psych homage, Halo Maud lands somewhere in the broad middle and is swallowed in a sea of similarity.

Odetta Hartman – swansongs ★★★ (Transgressive) The collection of sounds and influences is interesting enough but nothing sticks long enough to stay.

USA Nails – Feel Worse ★★★ (One Little Independent) They do a great Pissed Jeans impression.

Lo Moon – I Wish You Way More Than Luck ★★★ (Thirty Tigers) It feels like a delivery mechanism for a good voice, but without any real effort put into the structure of the songs around that voice.

Vegyn – The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions ★★★ (PLZ Make It Ruins) Good moves but not much coherence, like a fractured and hastily put together playlist of great tracks.

Lizzy McAlpine – Older ★★★ (RCA) Part exploration of aging, part a rut of surface-level musings on love that would make an adolescent uneasy.

Good Morning – Good Morning Seven ★★★ (Polyvinyl) A step outside their comfort zone is commendable, but more time will be needed to see if it’s a worthwhile step.

Karkara – All Is Dust ★★★ (Stolen Body) It’s pretty standard heavy psych, and if you’ve listened to enough of it you can imagine this record without ever having put it on.

Chastity Belt – Live Laugh Love ★★★ (Suicide Squeeze) They seem like they’re having fun together, but are we?

Sunglaciers – Regular Nature ★★★ (Mothland) Good, musically, but much longer than it needs to be.

Serengeti – KDIV ★★★ In and out without much sticking around, but it’s interesting that both Kenny Segal and Sufjan Stevens are listed as producers on this thing.

Tori Kelly – Tori ★★★ (Epic) Proof that having a good voice is really only 1/4 of the battle to being an A-list pop star.

Rubber Band Gun – Zero Love Songs ★★★

Gustaf – Package Pt 2 ★★★ (Royal Mountain) Decent enough post-punk in a world overrun with decent enough post-punk.

Palace – Ultrasound ★★☆ (Universal) A flashy race car on a closed loop driving around and around without ever making it anywhere.

Habitants – Alma ★★☆ (Psychonaut) Dream pop alt rock that doesn’t care to leave the launchpad.

Analisa Six – Shadows of 9 ★★☆

The Palms – Wonderland ★★☆

Phosphorescent – Revelator ★★☆ (Verve) Never liked this act even when they broke big, and subsequent releases have done nothing to change my initial opinion of them. An indie/folk/alt-country combo that doesn’t do any part all that well.

Dent May – What’s For Breakfast? ★★☆ (Carpark) Too treacly by half.

Ride – Interplay ★★☆ (Witchita Recordings) Well, not everyone can be Slowdive. The first Ride album after shoegaze came back again was actually alright but this just spins its wheels and begs for nostalgia love.

The High Llamas – Hey Panda ★★ (Drag City) Literally what the fuck did I just listen to?