#040: JPEGMAFIA – I Lay Down My Life For You
Released August 1st, 2024 on AWAL Recordings
Peggy continues to prove his worth as a leading light in alt hip hop, skating through an iffy and short-lived partnership with Kanye and coming out the other side stronger for it. It’s not all that much more different than Veteran or All My Heroes Are Cornballs, but it’s somehow more Peggy, like he’s continually distilling his essence into more refined forms each time. By that logic, I Lay Down My Life For You is the most JPEG album to date.
#039: King Hannah – Big Swimmer
Released May 31st, 2024 on City Slang Records
A hypnotizing collection of slowcore slacker rock songs that like to stretch out and jam. The guitars rip appropriately but also know when to tone it down and let the vibe carry everything through. A lot of bands have that, of course, but none of the others have Hannah Merrick’s eye for weary detail and her soaring voice, an instrument that sounds both nonchalant and emotionally devastating.
#038: Nicolas Jaar – Piedras 1 & 2
Released October 25th, 2024 on Other People Records
A pair of records from the lord of microhouse that present a slimmed-down version of a five hour radio play dealing with Chilean history and Palestine. It’s an embrace of pop on one hand and a deep dive into experimentation with deconstructed club on the other, with a big look at Latin electronic forms that pays off in an enormous way. Despite the length, the mood never lets up once.
#037: Faye Webster – Underdressed At The Symphony
Released March 1st, 2024 on Secretly Canadian Records
Atlanta’s very own Faye Webster has always been one to proffer tastefully underdone alt-slacker songs, but rarely in such a put-together fashion as on Underdressed At The Symphony. Her ironic ruminations border on Malkmus at times, and her songwriting has an edge that could cut you, if it could just get out of bed.
#036: Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
Released February 9th, 2024 on Loma Vista
Yes, Nick Cave and The Cure both released new albums this year. In terms of pure vibes, though, nothing that came out this year is more goth than Chelsea Wolfe. She is the absolute queen of dark atmospherics, and the industrial tinge she puts on this collection only serves to deepen the shadows further. The perfect album for divination day at the coven.
#035: Nubya Garcia – Odyssey
Released September 20th, 2024 on Concord Jazz
The London jazz artist takes her signature saxophone playing and pushes it into orchestra territory. Odyssey is just that, a journey through cool, nighttime dive jazz that crashes into a black tie affair at the local charity ball. The chief of police ends up with a lampshade on his head, someone says “Well, I never!” and the local orphanage is saved after the spirit of Garcia’s impassioned sax playing inspires some retired millionaire to fork over a bunch of money. Classic Rodney Dangerfield is the police chief.
#034: The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
Released November 1st, 2024 on Polydor Records
Coming off an ultra-successful world tour, the Cure’s obvious next move was to record new music, something hadn’t done in forever. They hadn’t done it decently well in 24 years, and they hadn’t achieved real excellence in 35. Any band in that situation would go back to the latter for inspiration, but in the Cure’s case it meant going back to 1989’s Disintegration – allegedly the greatest album ever made. While Songs Of A Lost World didn’t exactly replicate the greatness of that album precisely (what could?) it’s certainly their absolute best since.
#033: M.J. Lenderman – Manning Fireworks
Released September 6th, 2024 on ANTI- Records
Wednesday guitarist and staple of the Asheville, NC scene M.J. Lenderman has been quite busy of late. The last Wednesday album broke them to a wider audience. He provided guitar and vocals for Waxahatchee’s big 2024 release. Lest anyone forget, his own third solo record came out this year as well. No one could forget, of course; “Joker Lips”, “Wristwatch”, and “She’s Leaving You” have all been on heavy rotation since their release. The man’s on a hot streak, and if you have even the slightest interest in indie-tinged alt-country, you know why.
#032: BIG|BRAVE – A Chaos Of Flowers
Released April 19th, 2024 on Thrill Jockey Records
BIG|BRAVE dial the clock back on metal – and music in general – to the beginning, forming primitive chants out of the building blocks of massive amplified guitars and huge drums. It’s doom metal, to be sure, but it’s got more in common with the rough wind blowing through an ancient forest than it does other scene bands. It’s poetry, set to death, and sung mournfully like a voice from out of time.
#031: Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch
Released May 3rd, 2024 on Mexican Summer Records
Jessica Pratt summons Motown soul, breezy Laurel Canyon folk, Sixties bossa nova singers, and cool sultry jazz into one twenty-seven minute package that feels like it just arrives and simultaneously always has been. It’s mysterious and playful aware all at once, and it will worm its way into your consciousness and set up shop there for good.
