A Running Start: The Year So Far in Music
A run-down on the best and most notable releases of 2024, so far
After a particularly slow year for music in 2023, artists wasted no time in many 2024 a jam-packed year for major releases. Indie geniuses like Waxahatchee and Sleater-Kinney made their long-awaited returns, while superstars like Ariana Grande and Beyoncé made their splashy comebacks. At the same time, emerging talents like Willi Carlisle and The Last Dinner Party introduced themselves to many listeners for the first time.
Bill Ryder-Jones - formally of The Coral - released the first album of the year that got critics properly excited, with Iechyd Da. A talented, vivid lyricist with an evocative voice and an eye for affecting detail, it’s easy to see why Ryder-Jones’ best solo LP to date earned the praise that it did. “If Tomorrow Starts Without Me” is a stunning ballad about trying to pull yourself into love and out of a depressive funk, while opener “I Know That It’s Like This (Baby)” recalls The Velvet Underground & Nico at its warmest and most inviting. In it’s few weaker moments, however, the album does get caught in a dreary monotony, with Bill fading into the crowd of sad Brits with guitars.
Every year, the British press seems to collectively decide on which band is The Most Important Band in The World Right Now. In 2021, it was Wolf Alice - whose LP Blue Weekend earned the sort of praise usually reserved for once-in-a-generation masterpieces - and in 2022, it was Wet Leg - for whom the enduring hype helped land them an opening spot on Harry Style’s blockbuster tour.
Last year, the honour went to The Last Dinner Party who debuted with the single “Nothing Matters” and became press and industry favourites overnight. How you feel about that single will likely determine how you feel about their debut Prelude to Ecstasy - if you think “Nothing Matters” is the electrifying jump-start rock music was crying out for, you’ll likely feel the same about the album it leads. If, by contrast, you think the song is too stiff, too self-serious, and too polished to capture the spirit of most great rock albums, Prelude will likely leave you feeling the same. For now, put me down as being in the latter category.
Far from being newcomers, Sleater-Kinney returned this year and delivered their most exciting album since the departure of drummer extraordinaire Janet Weiss. Shaped by grief, Little Rope contained some of the most heart-wrenching lyrics in the band’s history (“Hunt You Down”), their most compelling melodies (“Needlessly Wild”, “Don’t Feel Right”) and the sort of hair-raising assaults that many had assumed the band had long stopped making (“Hell”, “Untidy Creature”). Read my full thoughts on the album HERE.
Another late-career highlight from a band formed in the 90s arrived via The Pineapple Thief, whose newest effort, It Leads To This is progressive rock revivalism done right - chock full of moody vocal delivery, intoxicating guitar riffs and searching lyricism. Underpinning it all is a keen eye for memorable melodies, which helps to set the band apart from their peers.
Meanwhile, one of the best southern rock albums of January arrived courtesy of Old Heavy Hands, whose newest effort offered 10 rip-roaring country-rockers that carry a punk spirit. Small Fires sees the North Carolina band refine their sound into a fine art. Their newest LP recalls the music of Drive-By Truckers, Lucero and other genre stalwarts.
An early indie highlight of 2024 came via Marika Hackman - at first, a seemingly modest singer-songwriter album that reveals layers, from the almost psychedelic opener “The Ground” to the folky finger-picked closer “The Yellow Mile”. The real highlight, however, is “No Caffeine”, which begins understated before abruptly shifting into restlessness.
Unfortunately, a less inspiring return arrived via England’s Declan McKenna this month, who stumbled upon a lighter touch while creating his newest LP in California. It’s understandable why the festival mainstay who emerged as a teenage viral sensation with the dreaded ‘voice of a generation’ moniker, would want to embrace his lighter sound, but What Happened To The Beach? makes clear he hasn’t yet found an equally affecting alternative to the classic rock-indebted protest music that made him a star. His incompatibility with his new style is most apparent on “I Write The News”, where McKenna’s once-charming rough-edged vocals provide a grating contrast against the unassuming instrumental. Elsewhere, things go down more smoothly, like on the melodic and poppy “Sympathy” and the glammy “Nothing Works”, but there’s still nothing as arresting here as the best songs on 2020’s Zeros.
Far more arresting than What Happened To The Beach? was
s newest effort, The Interrogator, by the husband-wife duo led by music critic Elizabeth Nelson The album demonstrates a critic’s careful, incisive understanding of rock history and what makes not just a good rock album, but an urgent one too. Over bristling, rollicking arrangements, Nelson intones with an effortless swagger. “The next time you call me, make sure it’s important”, she declares on “I Love The Sound of Structured Class”. The LP moves between arch humour, insightful cultural commentary and a select few moments on vulnerability (“Are You Loathsome Tonight?”). The result is one of the most intriguing rock albums of 2024 so far.Another fascinating LP arrived via Brittany Howard (formerly of: Alabama Shakes), who reached a creative apex with her self-titled 2019 debut. Five years later and she’s back with a Prince-indebted collection of funky tunes. It’s as impressive a set of tunes as you would expect from a musical genius like Howard and the best moments are genuinely electrifying - like the title track, “What Now”, and pre-release single “Red Flags”. But What Now? also sounds more placeless than its predecessor and lacks Jaimie’s more carefully written lyrics. Combine that with one too many slower songs, and the end result is an album that is impressive but frustratingly unsatisfying when taken as a whole.
That is not something that can be said about the new album from Friko - a love letter to indie-rock past and present that recalls Arcade Fire, Wednesday and Black Country, New Road. Where We’ve Been, Where We Go From Here is a noisy, rangy, and at times, lovingly ramshackle album that suggests endless exciting possibilities for this new band. The clear highlight is the penultimate “Get Numb To It!”, a commanding and spontaneous burn-out anthem that recalls the dizzying heights of Arcade Fire’s Funeral.
Best album of 2024 so-far:
It took less than a month to get our first country/folk classic of 2024. Willi Carlisle’s Critterland is a staggering and expansive statement, filled with hugely empathetic songs written from the perspective of those too often left out of the genre. The LP moves from its anthemic, opening title track, the John Prine-esque tearjerker “Higher Lonesome”, to the epic spoken word outro “The Money Grows on Trees”. As I wrote in my review for Slant Magazine, "“Critterland” is “stadium-sized country for those who could never imagine a stadium filled with people like them.”
Other albums I’ve been listening to this year: Cloudward by Mary Halvorson, Phasor by Helado Negro
Exciting albums coming up: The Past is Still Alive by Hurray For The Riff Raff (out: February 23), Girl With No Face by Allie X (out: February 23), Untame The Tiger by Mary Timony (out: February 23), Underdressed at the Symphony by Faye Webster (out: March 1), I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy (out: March 1), Where’s My Utopia? by Yard Act (out: March 1), Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande (out: March 8), Letter To Yu by Bolis Pupil (out: March 8), The Collective by Kim Gordon (out: March 8), Deeper Well by Kacey Musgraves (out: March 15), World Wide Whack by Tierra Whack (out: March 15), Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker (out: March 22), Trail of Flowers by Sierra Ferrell (out: March 22), Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee (out: March 22), Act II by Beyonce (out: March 29)