Tag Archives for Knocked Loose

101 Favorite Albums of 2024: 24-1

Well, we did it. We made through another year. I’m proud of you, I’m proud of us. If you’ve been through these lists with a magnifying glass, then thank you. If you’ve just clicked on this one to see a top 10, I still appreciate the time. This has been an extraordinarily fruitful year for new music, and narrowing this list down to 101 was so difficult. Narrowing out a top 24 was brutal, I mean brat didn’t even make the cut.

Curiously, this year was unbelievable for new albums, but I personally felt that it was missing that album. There was not an obvious #1 for me, no dominant album, no Rat Saw God shoo-in. Even now as I’m writing, I’m not confident that my #1 pick is actually my #1. Maybe it’s on me for not spending enough time with most of these albums, but I don’t know that there’s any here I’ll be revisiting for years. However only time will tell for that. All 24 of these albums are near-perfect barnburners regardless.

Nearly all of these write-ups are copied directly from other previous posts on this blog. I’m editing them but please keep that in mind in case there’s a nonsensical reference or anything. Alright – final 24.

#24. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

The hot streak continues. You may know Lenker best as the singer of Big Thief, a band seemingly incapable of writing a song even slightly mediocre. Well, she’s racked up more than enough songs to make a runoff solo album. Donned with just an acoustic guitar, Lenker delivers another set of heart-wrenching ditties, as well as a solo version of Big Thief’s “Vampire Empire,” one of my favorite tunes from 2023. Simple and devastating, it’s what you expect from indie’s best songwriter. Also, she released a Bandcamp-only accompany EP with all proceeds going to Gazan relief efforts, which is a nice 180 from what I had heard about her previous politics (possibly hearsay!). 

#23. ScHoolboy Q – Blue Lips

2024 has been a year for form-returning albums. St. Vincent and Vampire Weekend improved on their respective weakest releases, and the same goes for ScHoolboy. His previous album, 2019’s Crash Talk, was a change of pace, as the rapper opted for much shorter tracks. Rather than his normal 5+ minute journeys, the album was full of 2-minute bursts. It was also a change of pace in quality, as everything felt incomplete or off-hand. Blue Lips is a welcome return, technically “more of the same” for a rapper who always wears his heart on his sleeve, but the formula still pays dividends. Emotional, funny, raw and absolute banging: this is what you want from a ScHoolboy album. And there aren’t even any 5+ minute songs – there’s just a lot more energy and effort put in here. 

#22. JPEGMAFIA – I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

I’m sorry that I’m the flavor of caucasian who loves Peggy specifically but I am, and this is his finest set since Veteran. It’s also the most manic thing he’s ever released, closer to hyperpop than anything else. It’s absurdly beat-heavy, dense, and thrilling. Peggy even gets somewhat lost in the front half, in songs that focus heavily on the bass beats. He shines through on the more measured back half, with some songs that get much more earnest. His guests on this album are Vince Staples and Denzel Curry, two guys known just as much for their intense and mainstream-eschewing rap. So you know what you’re gonna get – paranoid and catchy music that’s too abrasive to play on the family speakers. One of my favorites of the year. I think Knocked Loose still has the best album with a cross on the cover, though.

#21. Jack White – No Name

I sometimes forget how much I love Jack White. Across his works with the Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and solo, there’s only four albums I would say I dislike. He’s always been an impatient songwriter, but his records have had measured levels of ambition. No Name might be his most down-to-earth set since the middle of the White Stripes run – just a good ol’ collection of no-frills blues rock. It’s the most White Stripes album since, to be honest, Get Behind Me Satan. There’s some of that garage-punk energy, a lot of bluesy riffs, and just compact songwriting everywhere. Some of the back half gets a little repetitive, there is a bit of an itch for some of Jack’s more ambitious stuff to be had. But overall, this is just a slambang rock record. “It’s Rough On Rats” into “Archbishop Harold Holmes” into the manic “Bombing Out” will go down as one of the best three-song runs of any 2024 album. And the closer “Terminal Archenemy Endling” – maybe the only patient song on the album – may be better than all of them. Another critical strike against the tedious and harmful “Rock is dead!!” crowd. 

#20. Uniform – American Standard

These next three albums get pretty abrasive. Uniform’s first few albums were solid but I kept waiting for a breakout release. 2020’s Shame was that record, a mix of industrial guitars and guttural post-hardcore that seemed to come out of the same catacombs that were on the cover. The band’s newest album is impossibly even bleaker, complete with a smog-heavy cover of industrial, rural anywhere. The band also sounds even bleaker, and stretches themselves way out of a comfort zone. That comfort zone is reasonably-lengthed songs. Side A of this record is one, 21-minute song. Side B is only three songs. By stretching their songs out, the band can hammer home the innate misery of their music. This is angry, humorless stuff, just the absolute depths of unhappiness. Uniform is not an easy band to classify musically, even harder here because they stretch into doom-metal for the first time. But this isn’t really metal, and not really post-hardcore. It exists in it’s own dimension, a hell dimension of some sort. This is not something that’s appealing to most people, but I love this band and they crushed my highest expectations. I also finally saw them earlier this month alongside our #101 entry Pharmakon – one of the best live bands I’ve seen in a long while.

#19. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Knocked Loose are one of those bands that I absolutely love but never know how to write about. The metal group doesn’t exist within the bounds of any specific subgenre, but they aren’t so radical as to define a new one, either. What they do is absolutely rip, and their third album rips even harder than their first two. They’re technically metalcore, a genre I usually don’t pay much attention to due to sheer repetition between bands. But Knocked Loose infuse metalcore with elements of hardcore punk and death metal, emitting short and brutal transmissions that always make sure to be on the fun side of things. The songs on this album (especially the first half) don’t so much start and end as they do operate as one puzzling suite. There’s an assist from Poppy that should go down as one of the best guest verses of the year, too. This is absolute fire start to finish. The band were already big prior to this album, but made a lot of waves recently as they appeared (with Poppy) on Slim Jim Kimmel’s late-night show and pissed off a lot of very vulnerable older folks.

#18. The Body – The Crying Out Of Things

The Body’s second album of 2024 is also their second to make this list. I love this band dearly, and this instantly became one of my favorite albums of theirs. These two guys always take their template sound, which is already intensely unique because of Chip King’s squawked vocals, and tweak it differently for each album. This time around, they’ve largely diluted their already flimsy song structures and added a lot of chopped elements into the vocals. It’s more directly synthy than most of their albums, while still unrelentingly heavy. It comes off a tad like Merzbow but with more restraint. It’s an album for metalheads even though it is not metal, it’s just noise music. But for anyone who likes dark, extreme or just heavy music, or a singer that sounds like a chicken, prioritize this one. One of the best from one of the best. 

#17. Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

After three unrelentingly heavy records, here’s an overcorrection. My expectations were set pretty high, given that “Right Back To It” was already my favorite song of the year before this was released. I’m also just a lifelong Waxahatchee fan, although she’s not someone who I listen to often. The rest of the record isn’t 100% consistent, but it often hits. While the lead single is her most straight-up country song yet, the rest of the album is familiar indie-folk, with occasional bursts of guitar. These tunes are very sweet, very casual and just extremely well-developed. Katie’s voice is as good as always, but this album is more about summer-y vibes anyways. These are songs for aimless car rides with the windows down, songs for drinking a beer on the front lawn. And yet, I can tell this is a record I’ll come back to during all seasons. As expected, one of the best of the year. 

#16. Torres – What an enormous room

Okay so I actually spun this one twice back in January in preparation of (finally!) seeing her live, but I gave it a proper headphones whirl in April. The indie singer has been bubbling under the radar for a good decade now, and I’m hoping this propels her forward. It might be her best album yet, a culmination of all the ideas she’s put forward till now. It’s got threatening guitar jams, tender ballads and poppy synth tunes. She continues to blend sexual and religious references like a more deranged Sufjan Stevens. There’s more individual ideas here than on previous Torres records, but she makes them all coalesce. Something for everyone, at least in the indie world. The third spin of this will certainly not be my last. 

#15. Denzel Curry – King of the Mischievous South Part 2

Hot damn. I accidentally slept on this one for a while despite loving basically everything Curry has done so far. Curry has made a name for himself making rap that’s intense without straying too far from genre conventions. This is more of a down-to-basics hip-hop mixtape that shows he can knock something a little more “normal” out of the park too. As a mixtape it is looser and more low-stakes than an album would be, but he puts in no less effort. Bombastic to the core. It’s a quick affair, maybe even a little too short. But Curry can practically do no wrong to this reviewer. Not a magnum opus or mission statement, just excellent, high-energy hip-hop.

Note: I listened to and reviewed the mixtape, not the subsequent album that featured mostly the same songs in a different order with a few more tracks. I don’t really understand what the deal was there?

#14. St. Vincent – All Born Screaming

St. Vincent’s now ten-year-old self-titled will always be my favorite release of hers; it’s a top ten favorite album of mine. For me, she’ll never top it – but this comes damn close. I was really not into her last album, Daddy’s Home, a set of mostly tepid ballads centered around a tone-deaf concept, and her trajectory into duller rock was a familiar one across the indie landscape. So shocking, then, when she dropped a record of heavy, industrial-inspired tunes instead. While the album fluctuates between crushing songs like “Flea” and softer ones like “Reckless,” the influence of heavier, offbeat alternative is clear throughout. Cate Le Bon steps in for a crucial assistance on the lengthy, flowing final track, and it’s a fitting welcome. I could write and probably will write something about how Jack Antonoff is ruining pop music – this record proves that artists can shake the stink of him off and still be alright. 

#13. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God

I’ve mentioned a few times that this flash review exercise has mostly become me showing my own ass, and here I must do it again: I am not very familiar with the Nick Cave catalog. I’ve listened to (and loved) his earliest and most recent records, but there’s 20 years in the middle I haven’t heard. In my limited experience though, I’ve realized the best Nick Cave songs are ones where there’s just minimal piano or static noise and Cave talking lyrics. He does that a lot here. There’s also songs that have full-band with choir backups, and they’re just as stunning. It’s unbelievable that Cave still stuns this much, but every track on this album works well. Most of them work tremendously well. Cave is one of music’s premier storytellers, and this is another legendary release. It’s one of the best albums of the year. No question. I’m in awe. 

#12. Foxing – Foxing

I’m floored. This is a gamechanger. I wasn’t familiar with Foxing before their year-end-list-dominating record Nearer My God in 2018, so that album’s radical left turn in sound was lost on me (although I adored the record nonetheless). This is another shift, into something heavier and darker. This record is unclassifiable, a mix of indie, emo and hardcore that often deteriorates into walls of harsh noise. Yet it is still indie rock. It’s got the harsh vulnerability and self-loathing of the 90’s emo scene that spawned Foxing, with added dissonance, anger and confusion. It has lighter moments for sure, and touches of everyday life, and these separate the more intense moments into individual spirals. It’s still an exhausting affair, and maybe even a touch too long at 56 minutes. But for those of us with depression, we’ve got a new magnum opus.

#11. MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Let’s not mince words – this was my most anticipated record of 2024. The first single off this album, “Rudolph” was one of my favorite songs of 2023. The second single, “She’s Leaving You,” is easily making my 2024 list. Lenderman’s primary band, Wednesday, handily won my Album of the Year mark in 2023. I set my sights ridiculously high for this one. Lenderman’s solo music bridges the gap between Neil Young and Kurt Vile; it’s off-the-cuff guitar playing and talk-sung vocals, with intricate and specific lyrics that detail American loneliness and wasted youths. Lenderman’s previous album focused on the grungier side of those artists, and this one is heavier on the Americana side. There’s enough Southern gothic here to make Flannery O’Connor happy but, predictably, there’s a lot of humor and just unpredictable references that make these stories entertaining. I don’t think Neil Young ever sang about Ferraris, Guitar Hero or the Cars film franchise. I always love specificity in lyrics even if it makes the songs less applicable – to me, it shows personality and care. Lenderman is always all about that. Only complaint here is that the energetic/somber balance is off in favor of the latter, but it’s a minor complaint. This guy is just on a different level from everyone else.

#10. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut will always be one of my favorite albums, but the aura of “rich (mostly) white boys repurpose African music” aged like milk almost immediately. In the years since, the band has taken different approaches to incorporate maturity into their works. Their fourth album, Father Of The Bride, is easily their worst, a set of adult-alternative yawners only one step above CVS radio. For this album, they overcorrected, releasing what is actually their most manic and experimental set to date. Every song on this album has crafted, unpredictable elements, and many of them are absurdly high-energy. Fifteen years after their debut, this is the record that builds upon that album the most – even going so far as to sample “Mansard Roof.” The lyrics remain a mix of serious and tongue-in-cheek. Even though I really dug the singles I heard in advance, I didn’t expect something this remarkably engaged from them. One of the highlights of the year so far.

#9. Melt-Banana – 3+5

Japan’s Melt-Banana served as my intro to noise music. They were the first, and for a long time only, noise band I really heard and digested; I’ve been a huge fan for almost 20 years now. Although the duo has gotten older and quainter, their hyper-aggressive punk is no less gnarly. Their first album in 11 years is short, and the songs are neither the experimental seconds-long chunks of Cactuses Come In Flocks nor the longer, more developed tracks of Cell-Scape. They’re the closest thing to true punk songs the band has done, and they absolutely rip. Every song rocks, and nearly all have the expected 1000BPM. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year, the duo was going to have to work hard to not make that cut. Also, I finally got to see them this spring – best show I’ve seen all year.

#8. Kal Marks – Wasteland Baby

Kal Marks are one of my favorite Boston bands, and yet this album still obliterated my expectations. The Kal Marks wheelhouse is midtempo post-hardcore that’s very bass-y in both music and vocals. Generally, their songs are ones that are heavy and divisive, but not exactly inaccessible. Here, they branch out a bit, introducing some poppier elements and some more optimistic lyrics. There’s plenty of just heavy shit, too, though; it’s a well-rounded record. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best heavy albums I’ve heard all year, local bias or not. Nearly every song floored me in some way. If you’re into a variety of post-hardcore bands like METZ or Protomartyr, then add this one to your list. They’ve done it again. This record hangs with the A-listers. Favorite local release of the year. Finally, a good album with the name “Wasteland Baby.”

#7. Mount Eerie – Night Palace

The best film I’ve watched this year for the first time is Lawrence of Arabia. I knew going in that I was going to love it, but the 3+ hour runtime looked daunting even for someone who loves long movies. The eleventh Mount Eerie album is 26 songs and 81 minutes long, extremely daunting for an artist who deals in gloom. But like Lawrence, I had trouble even pausing this once I got into it. The album is an amalgam of everything Phil Elverum has done to date. There’s short, ripping rock songs, drone tracks, gothic folk and a touch of metal. It’s like a greatest hits for a guy who has always stayed on the fringe. And when you follow the trajectory of Elverum’s last decade, it all makes sense. He’s had a child, with a wife who passed shortly after, married and quickly divorced Michelle Williams, and has gotten into meditation. These tumultuous ups and downs are all over this record, which changes on a dime so many times you’d have enough cash to buy the double vinyl. It’s purely one of the best albums of the year.

#6. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven

This album had a lot to live up to. Mannequin Pussy are one of the only bands where I generally love every song they’ve put out. Ferocious, unpredictable and catchy, they’re a punk band that doesn’t really seem to think they’re a punk band. And on their fourth album, they do branch out a lot more. I don’t think the 100% streak continues, however, the best songs here are the best they’ve ever done. It’s a ripper of a record, and one that has more ideas and, *ahem,* patience than previous releases. Missy Dabice gives her best-yet vocal performance on “Sometimes,” a song that stretches closer to indie than anything else. But there’s still punk bruisers everywhere, too. Tremendous stuff.

#5. The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy

It’s been a long time since an indie debut was this hotly anticipated, the fervor was nearly at 08 Vampire Weekend levels. What I’m saying is, if you’re interested in this type of thing, then you’ve probably heard it already. But! It so lives up to the hype. This is a set of well-balanced, bombastic indie tunes with a lot of spunk and even more intelligence. These ladies have a tinge of chamber pop in their songs, with a lot of raucous elements. It’s a unique blend that calls back to the early riotous live shows – but not recorded material – of Arcade Fire. In fashion, this band allegedly has wild and destructive shows themselves. Also a small tic, but I love when a band doesn’t just chuck the singles at the front of the album but places them in where they make sense sequentially. The second single and my favorite track, “Sinner,” comes near the end!

#4. Ty Segall – Three Bells

It’s probably no secret that I’m a Ty Segall fanboy across all his projects, but I do generally prefer his barebones garage punk stuff more – Slaughterhouse, Freedom’s Goblin, Pre Strike Sweep. Some of his more recent, more experimental releases have been a bit above my head (First Taste in particular). So I approached this one with apprehension – only to find that this album ties the knot between Freedom’s Goblin and Manipulator, a great whale sized album that is lighter and more varied in tone, but doesn’t stray too far from Ty’s garage roots, too. It’s maybe his most well-rounded album yet, lengthy but varied where every song feels important and unique. It’s experimental and exciting, but warmer than an average Segall release all the same.

#3. SPRINTS – Letter To Self

Live music can be transcendent. Legend has it that Stu MacKenzie was inspired to start a band (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) while at a Tame Impala show. Sprints was birthed by a couple people at a Savages gig – one of the best live bands, and most dearly missed bands of the last 15 years. They realized they could simply make the music they want to hear, and years later, we’ve got their debut. It sounds like Savages. That couldn’t be more of a compliment for me. Loud, noisy, melodic and just restrained enough to fall under indie. It should be clear from this post that I love music that’s boisterous and stressful, and this band nailed it from moment one. This was the very first album I listened to this year, and it withstood hundreds of challengers.

#2. Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced

In direct opposition to a lot of albums in this post, and the norm in general, Pissed Jeans have gotten louder and more immature. This is the leanest and meanest version of Pissed Jeans we’ve ever seen. The post-hardcore band has always treated its aggressive music as a pseudo-joke, as they satirize specific topics like middle managers and guys who have humiliation fetishes. There’s some of that here, specifically in screeds against used underwear sales and guys who disturb you when you’re on break. But there’s also a general, visceral anger here. These songs are way shorter than normal, most under two minutes, just ferocious punk blasts from a band that normally stretches things out. The best song is still tongue-in-cheek; “Everywhere is Bad,” a parody of songs where singers get easy clout by listing cities, instead decrying every city, planet, galaxy, and dimension. Sure, they rag on Boston, Portland and Austin, but they also rag on Proxima B and nonexistence. It’s goofy while being menacing. The chaos balance feels like 2024 in a nutshell. It’s one of their best albums, and one of the most riveting and overlooked releases of the year.

#1. Kim Gordon – The Collective

Haha what the hell. The beautiful thing about listening to the solo projects from Sonic Youth members was seeing what influences they individually brought to the table – Thurston Moore brought the noise guitars, Lee Ranaldo brought the classic rock vibes, and Kim supplied the most experimental elements. On her second solo record (mind you, she is SEVENTY-ONE years old), she creates something entirely new and diabolical. This is noise-trap. It’s a noise-rock record centered around hip-hop beats, but not in any kind of Death Grips way. It sounds like something that isn’t supposed to be heard. Some of these songs were intended for Playboi Carti, but somehow ended up in her lap. And that’s really the only way to describe them. I’ve never heard anything like this, even from Kim. She’s back and she’s still the coolest person around.

And that does it! Another year in the books. I hope you enjoyed this and found some new music through it, or at least gave me a pageclick out of support. I am not planning on keeping my flash reviews going into 2025 – it was a one-year project. It was fun, it was exhausting. I’ll think of new ways to use this blog in the future. See you next December!

Because I can never help myself, here’s five albums that just missed the cut: Never Broke Again – Compliments of Grave Digger Mountain (trap), Melvins – Tarantula (doom/alt-metal), MGMT – Loss Of Life (indie), Undeath – More Insane (death metal), Wishy – Triple Seven (alternative rock). To be honest, Wishy should’ve made the list. I regret this.

The Rundown: May 2024

Hello! How’s it going? How’s your year been? Over in the music world, it’s one of the best years I’ve ever seen. Comparable with 2016, if not even better. I wish I had known that would be the case when I decided to do flash reviews of every new album I listen to! I’m tired, folks. We’ve got a lot of great stuff this month, and a few weaker ones. These are not in any order whatsoever. There’s a lot of big names this post, but I hope you find some gems from this. Check out the third record here, in particular.

Shellac – To All Trains

Rest in peace Steve Albini. If you’re reading this, then you’re probably well-versed in Albini’s work already, but he was a god in the music scene. A talented musician who utterly despised the industry, most of his work was production. He produced records for anyone ranging from Nirvana to your shithead neighbor’s weird noise band – and never took a penny for his work. His last record as a musician came only days after his sudden passing, and it’s hauntingly beautiful. It’s also a pretty normal Shellac record; chunky and bass-heavy post-punk with snarled and often witty lyrics. The band was self-described as “minimalist,” I wouldn’t exactly use that term but these songs are all surprisingly easy. Most of them are perfectly digestible and just off-putting enough to drive away casual folks. Opener “WSOD” jams on a fun riff for a while. But the real ominous standout is closer “I Don’t Fear Hell,” where Albini sings about waiting to join all his friends down below. Classic Albini – dark, funny, groovy and eerily prescient. Albini was one of the best guys around but if he ended up in Hell, then brother, we’ll all see you there. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

I was saving, cherishing this one for the perfect day. Well it’s a sunny, warm Friday just before a long weekend and I’m in a good mood, finally time. My expectations were set pretty high, given that “Right Back To It” is my favorite song of the year and I don’t see anything else topping it. I’m also a lifelong Waxahatchee fan, although she’s not someone who I listen to often. The rest of the record isn’t 100% consistent, but it often hits. While the lead single is her most straight-up country song yet, the rest of the album is familiar indie-folk, with occasional bursts of guitar. These tunes are very sweet, very casual and just extremely well-developed. Katie’s voice is as good as always, but this album is more about summer-y vibes anyways. These are songs for aimless car rides with the windows down, songs for drinking a beer on the front lawn. And yet, I can tell this is a record I’ll come back to during all seasons. As expected, one of the best of the year. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

Salt Cathedral – Before It’s Gone

I heard one of the songs from this album on the radio many moons ago and kept a mental note to check back for an album. Finally, it’s here, and it’s glorious. There’s nothing particularly inventive happening here, yet it all feels original. I know little about this duo, but what they make is beautiful. This is atmospheric indie, almost gospel-like. There’s always rhythms, but some are fainter than others. Some exist only on a breeze and a vocal lick, others bring in hand drums and conventional pop songwriting. Add in some authentic and balanced lyrics, and you’ve got a multi-influenced gem of a record. This is pop music for people who don’t like pop music. Real winner!

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

Latrell James – Running In Place

If I had to pick a word to describe this album, it would be: vibrant. The local (Boston) rapper’s new album is quick and diverse, a bunch of short songs that range from muddied to sweet. Mostly, the album is very fun. Pristine production is a key factor here, making the brightest songs pop with effortless energy. No idea sticks around too long, making every song seem like a fleeting thought in a complicated mind. There’s some easy, brilliant stuff happening here. 

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Middle Kids – Faith Crisis, Pt. 1

Middle Kids have never been the most exciting band, but they’ve always put out some great songs here and there. The band is mostly known for guitar indie-rock, a mix of 90’s throwback and current poppier indie. Their new album stays close to home, a group of pleasantly banging alternative tunes. The opening track “Petition” is a ripper, and the two real closing tracks (excusing an interlude) are great tunes on the ballad side of things. The entire middle of the album is made of fun but largely uninspired cuts, songs to enjoy once and forget immediately. This is kinda what they do, and they’ve carved out their own niche, but it doesn’t make for the most exciting listen.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

Dua Lipa – Radical Optimism

I love Dua Lipa, but the public’s expectations were set too high for this one. Her first two albums proved that someone can still be entertaining and authentic within the confines of overproduced pop music; her third album falls victim to sterilization. Radical Optimism was promoted as more of an experimental, disco-influenced album, something that does not come through at all. Instead, it’s a collection of songs that are still very fun, but the blandest she’s sounded. This might be her best vocal work to date, and some songs on the front half have enough working for them to be replayable and memorable. But, a majority of these tunes are frustratingly rote. Dua Lipa has always been confident, an artist who is into herself and not making music because she’s a corporation – an idea taken too far, as these songs sound like they were made for an audience of one: Dua Lipa. The album is still a blast front-to-back, but after two of the best pop albums of the last decade, it’s a massive letdown. Listen once, digest it and forget it. 

A few days after I wrote the above paragraph, I was sitting in a dentist chair listening to dentist radio. “Houdini,” one of the singles off this album, played and it took three quarters of the song to realize what it was. A good note as to how disposable these songs really feel. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/3/24

Jlin – Akoma

Ok so I put this one on blind, thinking Jlin was more of a pseudo-R&B artist and not someone working more in glitch electronic. This is a whole world I know little about. Since I’m out of my wheelhouse, I can just say that I loved the bookend tracks here, especially a fun and rousing closer with an assist from Philip Glass (!). In between those was a set of avant-garde, lighter tracks that maybe didn’t do much for me but certainly weren’t unpleasant to listen to. I know just enough to understand that for the respective genre, this is a masterclass – strictly personally, it mostly went over my head.

Grade: 7.5/10  Initial release date: 3/22/24

Flo Milli – Fine Ho, Stay

I’m absolutely not qualified to be writing about artists like Flo Milli but hell I loved this. The songs are relatively rudimentary in nature but Flo Milli has an amazing, well, flow. Comically big boasts litter the rap tracks, and touches of tenderness hit the more R&B-inspired ones. But it’s mostly the former – this is a big, fun record. Don’t listen to it around your parents; this one is horny as all hell. SZA and Cardi B show up on a remix, almost predictably. They represent the best of a few solid assists throughout; enough to feel like a party, few enough that the focus is still on Flo Milli. If you like fun and carefree rap, add it to the list.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

High On Fire – Cometh the Storm

As much as I’ve always been obsessed with Sleep, Matt Pike’s other, less-prolific-but-arguably-more-well-known metal band, High On Fire has never truly hit for me. Their ninth album is a pummeling burst of sludge metal, with nonstop guitar assault and Pike’s characteristic screamed vocals. More than ever, he sounds like he’s being tortured in the studio. With the exception of a mid-album lull, these songs offer no breaks at all, exhaustingly heavy from start to finish. They cast a wide rope, as this record really isn’t “sludge metal” and could pull in more standard heavy metal fans. The album’s big concern is bloat. The album starts with four songs over five minutes, which is not uncommon for a Pike band – my favorite song of his is the 13 minute “Sonic Titan.” But when the album itself is just shy of an hour, and nearly every song follows the same formula, it becomes too much. The album is too long-winded, although the back half is actually better than the front. Still, this is a hell of a metal record, and one that I could see myself going back to. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19/24

Ride – Interplay

This one feels bad to write. Ride were always one of the loudest of the shoegaze bands, pushing guitar distortion to new levels. Even on their reunion albums prior, we’ve seen the band turn the amps up and crush out. But practically everything on their seventh album just sort of…exists. The songs are well-written but aimless, not really searching for that signature sound. It’s a shame, because I’ve been hearing “Portland Rocks” on the radio and have loved it – as it is a signature Ride song. And it’s not the only one on the album; “Stay Free” and “Essaouira” are vintage Ride. But a lot of these tracks just don’t really achieve much and don’t have much of anything to say. Some good foundations here, and a lot of missed opportunities.

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Past Is Still Alive

The alt-country scene is alive and well. This album seems to have already gotten swept up in the wake of Waxahatchee’s similar and more prominent release, but it shouldn’t. Alynda Segarra has always known how to wear their heart on their sleeve, and this record is no different. I guess it’s “more of the same,” really, but when the same is this good, does it matter? These americana songs are soulful, breezy, earnest and twangy. Segarra is a natural when it comes to country-fied folk songs like this. While it won’t stand as the best record of this nature this year, it should turn some heads. Watch for local legend Anjimile pop up on the excellent “Ogallala”! 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 2/23/24

Empress Of – For Your Consideration

2024 has been such an unprecedented year for music so far that plenty of “pretty good” albums are going to get completely lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately I think that’s true for the fourth Empress Of album, which already seems to be getting overlooked unfairly. The Honduran singer is back with more bedroom alternative-via-R&B smoothness. The album’s front half is very solid, with “Lorelei” and the Rina Sawayama-aided “Kiss Me” being the best of the best. These songs straddle the line between sultry and indie, an alt-pop barrier that’s eroding with each month. The album’s back half is more of the same, it doesn’t really stand up to the front half. The full picture is one that’s worth checking out if it’s your type of thing, but it isn’t going to change the world.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/22/24

girl in red – I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY!

I’ll admit that I went into this one with low expectations – girl in red’s debut album was a bold mix of indie and trap influences, but something about it really didn’t grab me personally. Obviously I was alone, as it immediately launched her into a stratosphere rarely seen by indie artists. Well I’m aboard now, because this sophomore album is a blast start to finish. These songs are abrupt, and mostly very energizing and manic. When they’re not, they’re sweet and earnest. It’s a mix of stuff more chaotic and varied than her debut, and all the better for it. At 27 minutes, the only real downside is that it could’ve used some more. A genuine surprise to me, and one of the best listens of the year so far.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 4/12/24

Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Knocked Loose are one of those bands that I absolutely love but never know how to write about. The metal group doesn’t exist within the bounds of any specific subgenre, but they aren’t so radical as to define a new one, either. What they do is absolutely rip, and their third album rips even harder than their first two. They’re technically metalcore, a genre I usually don’t pay much attention to due to sheer repetition between bands. But Knocked Loose infuse it with elements of hardcore punk and death metal, emitting short and brutal transmissions that always make sure to be on the fun side of things. The songs on this album (especially the first half) don’t so much start and end as they do operate as one puzzling suite. There’s an assist from Poppy that should go down as one of the best guest verses of the year, too. This is absolute fire start to finish. EDIT: Since writing this, I’ve seen them live, and they absolutely smashed it. Premier live band, too.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Knoll – As Spoken

Look at the cover of this record – an ominous, black and white photo of a mirror, pointing diagonally away from the camera. It’s unsettling. I put this record on knowing it was metal, but not much more. This is powerful black metal. Abrasive, pounding, sounding like the depths of Hell. What I’m saying is, it’s extremely me music. I love raw black metal. Oddly, this album eschews one of the normal characteristics of black metal – lengthy songs. It’s a genre devoted to wearing you down through both repetition and ferocity, but the band does away with the former. Only four of the album’s eleven tracks are over five minutes, and the rest are all under four. Instead of repetition, the band gives you whiplash transitions. It’s just as effective. Great stuff.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 1/26/24

Alluvial – Death Is But A Door

This is just a 4-track EP so I’ll keep this quick. This is proper death metal, grinding and brutal but still pretty fun. Three of the four songs didn’t truly leave an effect on me, even though I enjoyed them. But the song “Fogbelt” is rapidly becoming one of my favorite songs of the year. It’s got a nasty guitar riff in the chorus that sounds more nu-metal than anything; compliment, from my mouth. If nothing else, check that track out.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 1/12/24

B3CCA4EVER – SMILEY FACE

This is an artist I’ve seen live. Last year, around my birthday, when B3CCA and her tag team partner Aaron Rourke took on The Miracle Generation for the IWTV Tag Team Titles in Beyond Wrestling. It’s one of the best matches I’ve ever seen in person. Since then, the wrestler has been focusing her efforts on music (check the penultimate track for a fellow grappler). It’s an EP of bubblegum pop, decently produced and not overlong. In classic kayfabe fashion, it’s not really clear if it’s a joke or not. B3CCA is a riot on social media, and there’s some tongue-in-cheek lyrics across this release – but some songs seem serious! It’s a fairly promising start, either way. It’s still real to me, dammit.

Grade: Meltzer gave this a 7.5/5   Initial release date: 5/3

Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard And Soft

I really respect the boldness of this record. Eilish’s first two records both had distinct identities, and were wholly separate from each other. Her third seems to intentionally go against this idea, combining elements from her first two dichotomous albums and filtering in new ideas, too. The album opens with “Skinny,” a stripped down and powerful vocal ballad. The second track is “Lunch,” a synth-heavy tongue-in-cheek song that sounds ripped from her abrasive debut. This album is clearly one made by and for Eilish, and she throws everything at the wall. While some songs stay within familiar territory, others are unpredictable. After some time, we may agree that “L’Amour de Ma Vie” is her best song yet, a track that starts as a ballad and ends with wild club beats. While I don’t think this album quite stands up to her enigmatic debut album, it’s still a very solid pop release – and a refreshingly bold direction for a star at the top. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell

Sum 41 was completely formative for me – All Killer No Filler was the first album I ever bought, and one I still know every word to. The band quickly moved beyond the immature pop-punk into other territories, but for their final album, they’ve devoted one-half to old habits. The first half of the two-disc record is old-school pop-punk, the musical equivalent of fitting perfectly into that suit/dress you wore to prom. It’s some of the best pop-punk stuff they’ve ever done, which is really saying something. Energetic, fun and raucous, it’s a reminder how powerful this band once was. 

In their later years, the band transitioned into metal. And as such that this is a double-album, it’s a double-review. The back half of this album is ten (well, nine) metal tracks that show the odd trajectory that the canucks have been on. Side B is fine, but it’s pretty middling compared to what came before it. The issue isn’t that the songs are bad, it’s that they have no place. Sum 41 carved out a unique and important niche in punk, something they never did successfully in metal. Metalheads rejected them for the pop-punk origins, and the songs weren’t unique enough to bring in old fans. These aren’t bad songs, but they don’t have much to do. It’s telling that the ten songs on this side include a short intro and a Stones cover (that sounds remarkably like the one done by The Unseen some 20 years ago). The back half is fun in comparison to the front, but it’s skippable. Still – as a whole, this is a wonderful sendoff for the band.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24

Sheesh! What a month. Lot of great releases this month, I don’t think this year can sustain this momentum. We need some garbage to even this out. Maybe I’ll find some for June. I can’t tell you fully what I’ll be listening between then and now, but you will see some British indie, some local dance-punk, and Charli XCX. Also, I am investing in strengthening my home security system, because I will finally be tackling Taylor Swift. Oh dear. Check back in July!