Welcome to Stereoboard's Album of the Year rundown for 2024, where we delve into 12 months of head-spinning, pulse-quickening, thought-provoking music. Join us.
Charli XCX // Brat
Forget ‘Brat’ summer — this was ‘Brat’ year. Charli XCX’s impetuous sixth effort is a masterpiece that became a movement, later spawning remixes and reinventions that added new sounds and eye-popping collaborations with Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande and Troye Sivan, to name just a few. While ‘Crash’ showcased Charli’s take on post-disco two years ago, ‘Brat’ really upped the ante with its raging riot grrrl energy and a celebration of the aggressive yet carefree nature of the noughties rave scene. Charli XCX knows what she’s doing and she does it so well. This has the potential to be remembered as an era-defining record. // Issy Herring
Kendrick Lamar’s love letter to the west coast capped one of his most intriguing years to date. Having become embroiled in blockbuster beef with Drake, he produced a string of razor sharp diss tracks that had fans well fed. So when he dropped ‘GNX’ with just a 10 minute warning on November 22, our plates started to look like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Hungry and pissed off, Kendrick delivered one of his most straightforward records to date, stripping out much of the experimentation he’s become known for to just focus on repping himself and LA. The results speak for themselves. // Jack Butler-Terry
Born out of grief and loss, former Portishead singer and lyricist Beth Gibbons’ debut album confronts mortality, motherhood and the menopause, with Gibbons’ extraordinary candour paired with songs that are heartbreaking and hauntingly beautiful. Gibbons’ startling voice stands at its heart, at times broken and weary, at others, soaring and defiant. While the subject matter can be bleak, Gibbons finds a sense of acceptance by album closer Whispering Love. And on Floating On A Moment, a song that explores the fleeting nature of life, she suggests we should make the most of what we have now, against a children’s choir’s incantation, “we’re all going to nowhere”. Musically, the album feels like a fusion of east and west, its palette suiting its meditative nature with a diverse range of acoustic, electronic and orchestral instruments adding unexpected textures and hues. // Jeremy Blackmore
Arriving 16 years after their most recent album — the underwhelming ‘4:13 Dream’ — ‘Songs of a Lost World’ offered the perfect response for fans holding their collective breath in anticipation of something substantially better from a legendary band. The record subsequently surpassed anything anyone could have possibly hoped for, proving that miracles don’t only happen at Christmas. From the stunning opener Alone, which is already a firm fan favourite live, to the magnificent closing epic End Song, The Cure barely put a foot wrong. Robert Smith continues to defy his age vocally, and his lyrics of darkness and despair are now based on real, devastating events in his life rather than imagined ones. This was the triumphant return that even the most devout follower could barely have believed possible. // Graeme Marsh
Consciously or not, Mannequin Pussy have found themselves embracing multiplicity more than ever. They’ve hardly uprooted themselves from punk, as the scabrous OK? OK! OK? OK! and Aching proudly demonstrate, and their fury doesn’t come with blunted edges either. But they also relish leaning into their softer side, tapping into the all-consuming sweetness of infatuation and desire across dreamy shoegaze-inspired tracks such as I Don’t Know You and Split Me Open. ‘I Got Heaven’ is a record that beautifully sums up what it is to be at the mercy of one’s cravings and rage. // Emma Wilkes
Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood and Tom Skinner struck while the iron was hot with ‘Cutouts’, The Smile’s second album of this year. Rapidly following up January’s also-excellent ‘Wall of Eyes’, it further justified the band’s continued existence in the face of Radiohead reunion calls. Foreign Spies stunningly opened proceedings in a lullaby-esque manner, Instantly Psalm was a gorgeous slice of ’60s chamber pop, while frenetic highlight Zero Sum offered an absolute earworm and an unforgettable pre-chorus jab to old operating systems (“Windows 95! Windows 95!”). Meticulously crafted songs possessing heaps more groove than before, all without sacrificing the band’s knack for tense atmospherics. Their best work yet. // Matthew McLister
An exhilarating EP from one of Britain’s all-time greatest rappers. ‘Drop 7’ is Little Simz at her darkest and most forward-thinking and these seven tracks find the usually chilled Londoner in scintillating form; a mode that intuitively suits her precise, rapid-fire style. The standout tracks are Mood Swings, a minimalist techno-rap banger, and Torch, another pared-down, razor-sharp electronica cut. It might only be a brief gear change for Little Simz, but this brand of moody, club-infused rap-tronica suits her beautifully. // Tom Morgan
English Teacher’s debut album charts the group’s influences, taking in post-punk, indie and much more, while spinning them into something wholly fresh. Prior to its release the Leeds band had been building momentum through a string of EPs, but here vocalist Lily Fontaine’s wry lyrics, especially obvious on The World’s Biggest Paving Slab, really helped separate them from the chasing pack. There is plenty of energy in their sound but they showed they are also capable of something more ruminative on the stunning closer Albert Road. The album deservedly won the Mercury Prize, cementing them as future megastars. // Chris Connor
Slift aren’t from Planet Earth — or that’s the impression their third album gave. What terrestrial band could ever mix prog, metal, psych-rock, jazz and hardcore without it ending up a garbled mess? Furthering the alien atmosphere was drummer Canek Flores’ inhuman stamina, plus the fact this power trio treated ‘chorus’ like it were a four-letter word. At any moment they could blast off in a torrent of riffs, or hypnotise using ambient suites and Vangelis-like saxophones. Over its expansive 80 minutes, ‘Ilion’ sounded like a transmission from an advanced civilisation, showing us mere mortals what rock can really do. // Matt Mills
Despite Johnny Blue Skies being a brand new persona for Sturgill Simpson, ‘Passage du Desir’ sounds pretty familiar. Not only is it superb, relatable country music underscored by flashes or rock adventurism, it most closely resembles Simpson’s seminal record (up to now), ‘A Sailor’s Guide to Earth’. It’s poetic and thoughtful songwriting, hugely autobiographical and absolutely machine-tooled for solo drives across the countryside. It gives you space to think with lyric writing that has Proustian reverie and magnificent pastoral elegance. A welcome return to form, possibly thanks to the space a new name offers. // Jacob Brookman
‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ is the best Billie Eilish record we’ve heard yet. As much as it embraces the whispery pop she’s made her stock in trade, it also delves into genres as diverse as samba and arena rock without misplacing her own identity. Eilish and her producer brother Finneas continue to complement each other perfectly, with the beat switches in Chihiro amounting to some of their finest work to date. Elsewhere, Lunch is a bold exploration of sensuality, while Skinny laments the criticism she’s endured of her image and its impact on her mental health. A bold and perfectly produced example of modern, minimalist pop. // Will Marshall
Dark, fatalistic and swirling with existential drama, ‘The Tortured Poets Department' unveiled a series of compelling journal entries about the deceptive highs and gut wrenching lows of unprecedented mega-stardom and intense personal relationships. Rebooting the lo-fi aesthetic of ‘Folklore’ alongside swatches pulled from 'Lover', '1989' and 'Midnights', Swift leaned into brooding electro and eloquent pop melodies, serving up a sprawling opus bursting with heartache, scathing takedowns and intimate self reflection. She stripped away superstardom’s facade to reveal that, consciously or not, fame hasn’t immunised her against everyday human struggles in the way she dreamed it would. // Simon Ramsay
Two years after winning hearts with the introspective cult classic ‘Cub’, Wunderhorse returned with ‘Midas’, a deliberately raw follow up that was more vulnerable and self-destructive. Their second outing was recorded at Minnesota’s Pachyderm Studio with producer Craig Silvey and impressively captured the visceral atmosphere of Wunderhorse’s live performances. The record’s immediacy is its main strength, further progressing Jacob Slater and co’s status as one of the hottest bands of the moment. Having been selected as the main support for elite-tier acts Sam Fender and Fontaines D.C. — alongside a sellout headline tour of their own — Wunderhorse are going from strength to strength. // Matthew McLister
On their third album, Amyl and the Sniffers are biting, kicking, scratching and screaming with glee – and they’re becoming icons in the process. ‘Cartoon Darkness’ sees them take on the world with their bristling yet increasingly nuanced punk, tackling technological dominance, climate change and the shackles of the pressure for conformity. They’re loud people, and the real lightning-in-a-bottle moments come when they let loose and get boisterous. The joyously sweary Jerkin', the sassy U Should Not Be Doing That and the hedonistic Me And The Girls are stupidly fun, but also cement just how versatile the Aussie quartet can be. // Emma Wilkes
Accusations of being “industry plants” were lobbed at The Last Dinner Party as their debut album reaped critical acclaim and topped the UK charts, but how could pop this excellent not blow up instantly? ‘Prelude to Ecstasy’ cast listeners back to the bombastic days of Queen and Abba, with the touch of millennial rockers like Panic! at the Disco also tangible. It was new yet nostalgic, bolstered by the fact the Londoners proved themselves top-notch songwriters. Nothing Matters, Sinner and the sauntering Feminine Urge were all immediate earworms, showing a maturity and elegance almost unheard of from such a young band. // Matt Mills
With 'Patterns in Repeat', Laura Marling takes you into her warm family home. The English folk artist’s eighth studio album is full of direct confessional conversations, rich storytelling and textured parenting. It is a bit of a creative leap for an artist who has sometimes stayed in on her Dylanesque lily pad. But in the best traditions of Dylan (and Leonard Cohen for that matter) her fingerpicked verses and syrupy tones don’t shy away from the tougher stuff. She somehow covers generational trauma, regret and angst amongst the continual glimmer of maternal love. A lovely, complex and lush album to close the year and, perhaps, herald a new era for Marling. // Jacob Brookman
Counterbalancing picturesque, youthful nostalgia with the melancholy of encroaching mortality, while ruminating on life beyond his brief tenure, David Gilmour’s atmospheric and reflective fifth solo album delivered a thematically moving blend of past, present and future with an astute mix of fresh and familiar sounds. While referencing Pink Floyd’s Echoes and Comfortably Numb’s guitar solo on the jaw-dropping Scattered, producer Charlie Andrews also tastefully weaved modern textural strokes throughout. Past met present with the recorded presence of late Floyd keyboard maestro Richard Wright alongside Gilmour's daughter Romany, helping to make ‘Luck and Strange’ into a conceptually watertight gem that’s consistently caught somewhere between this world and the next. // Simon Ramsay
‘Cowboy Carter’ was a bold and defiant statement from Beyoncé, a thunderous clap-back to those who doubted her ability to conquer country. A love letter to the genre’s Black pioneers, the album's 27 tracks pay homage to their legacy and influence. From Linda Martell, the first Black woman to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, to up-and-coming artists such as Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Reyna Roberts, and Tiera Kennedy, who join Beyoncé on a reworking of The Beatles’ Blackbird, the album is a celebration of both past and present. With a runtime of 80 minutes, this ambitious project is a lengthy journey, but a rewarding one. // Katie Macbeth
Yard Act followed up their 2022 breakout album ‘The Overload’ with ‘Where’s My Utopia?’ in the spring, bringing a slightly poppier feel to their snarky post-punk. We Make Hits poked fun at the band’s history, becoming a firm fan favourite, while Dream Job was another standout. The album built on the sound found on their debut, incorporating elements of disco and art-rock, pushing the boundaries of what we might expect from a group so early on in their career. There’s infectious energy here that, perhaps against the odds, really brings a feel good atmosphere. // Chris Connor
A far cry from her wholesome Disney Channel roots, Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short N’ Sweet’ represents an artist coming into their own, oozing raw sensuality and sex appeal with every single chord. Shedding light on the complexities of romantic relationships and fully embracing her own desires, Carpenter is clearly at her most vulnerable and raw without ever forgetting to bring the fun. ‘Short N’ Sweet’ encapsulates love, infatuation and everything in between, generating unskippable bops such as Taste, Please, Please, Please and the infectious viral hit Espresso. // Issy Herring
One of 2024’s most heavenly collections of music, ‘Dreamstate’ is Kelly Lee Owens at her most lucid and transcendent. Club music’s internal language of being “taken higher” is put to spellbinding use across these 10 soaring tracks, highlighted by the potent Higher and the crisp, invigorating lead single Love You Got. The record's poetic portmanteau title fits the vibe perfectly: this is soulful electronica at its most intoxicating and otherworldly. // Tom Morgan
Irish garage-punks Sprints set the AOTY conversation rolling just five days into the new year with their exquisite debut. As self-assured as they come and brimming with raucous earworms, ‘Letter To Self’ was a shotgun blast of emotion and optimism, dealing with some incredibly heavy subject matter while allowing listeners to unify and rally around the anguished, cathartic howls of singer, songwriter and guitarist Karla Chubb. It may have been 11 months since its release, but ‘Letter To Self’ has lost none of its power. // Jack Butler-Terry
Katie Crutchfield’s Americana-infused ‘Saint Cloud’ (2020) marked her new-found sobriety and earned widespread critical acclaim. She wrote most of the songs for its follow up ‘Tigers Blood’ during a “hot hand spell” on tour in late 2022. At the helm again is go-to Americana producer Brad Cook, who injects energy and urgency by focusing on the band’s performance. Pivotal, too, was the recruitment of MJ Lenderman, who plays guitar throughout and duets on Right Back To It. Crutchfield is at her most confident yet in both performance and songwriting and she and her band really rock. She holds little back vocally, either, notably in the chorus to Bored, where she rails at a friendship that ended badly. In more tender moments, her rhythmic vocal melodies are captivating and confessional. Lyrically, themes include familial relationships, drawing on literary references for inspiration. But she is unafraid to interrogate herself as she turns her gaze inwards, or to focus on life's grittier moments. // Jeremy Blackmore
DIIV’s fourth album saw all band members stepping up to centre stage, marking a creative change. While this caused fractious moments, ‘Frog in Boiling Water’ took the promise of the shoegazers’ earlier releases and catapulted it further towards essential listening, picking up a layer of additional misery along the way. An enlightening chapter lyrically, the latest album saw the band tackle the reality of the potential collapse of society and its underlying banking system and just, well, life as we know it. “They own our lives and harvest our suffering,” is the message on Soul-net. ‘Frog in Boiling Water’ often makes for a grim listen but, cloaked in a coat of grungy noise, it’s one of the most compelling indie collections of recent times. // Graeme Marsh
Knocked Loose // You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To
Knocked Loose came into 2024 with a strong buzz behind them. Even though they were already regarded as one of hardcore’s most recognisable and consistent bands, their most stalwart fans could not have been ready for the levels the band reached with their third studio album, ‘You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To’. Its trio of singles — Don’t Reach For Me, Blinding Faith and the Poppy-featuring viral sensation Suffocate — all blew up, with the latter even being performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. But it was the record’s deeper cuts, such as Moss Covers All and Sit & Mourn, revealed a band truly at the peak of their powers. // Jack Butler-Terry
Ezra Collective are at the forefront of a revitalised London jazz scene and fresh off a Mercury Prize win, meaning that the pressure was on for them to continue their ascent with their third album, the aptly titled ‘Dance No One’s Watching’. It continued in a similar vein to their previous albums, with a real party vibe and a sense of escapism, but was bolstered by collabs with some of the hottest acts in R&B, soul and jazz, including Olivia Dean and Yazmin Lacey. It was hard not to lose yourself in the grooves. It still is. // Chris Connor
In fewer than 15 minutes, ‘Club Shy’ offered an exhilarating insight into Shygirl’s experimental sound. Standout tracks 4eva, featuring Empress Of and Kingdom, and Mr. Useless pushed genre boundaries by blending industrial noise, hyperpop, and R&B into a cohesive whole. Shygirl’s vocals are striking, shifting effortlessly from ethereal whispers to powerful roars, and despite its brief duration, the EP includes pulsating basslines, glitchy textures, and otherworldly synth soundscapes. It’s a combination that created the atmosphere of a vibrant underground club, enveloping listeners, and inviting you to lose yourself in the music. // Katie Macbeth
If there’s one lyric that encapsulates the essence of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ euphoric 18th album, it’s, “We’ve all had too much sorrow, now is the time for joy.” In contrast to 2019's minimalistic and vulnerable 'Ghosteen', which found a lonely sounding Cave processing personal tragedies, ‘Wild God’ is a full-blooded band affair that radiates community, reconnection and spirituality from every spine-tingling note. Beautifully enhanced by opulent, panoramic orchestration, and boosted to celestial heights by a wave of uplifting gospel backing vocals, ‘Wild God’ soared out of the darkness with transcendent power and grace. // Simon Ramsay
Cassandra Jenkins looks to the stars on her third album, embracing guitar-driven alt-rock, sophisti-pop and jazz, interspersed with snippets of conversation and field recordings. Jenkins’ confident vocal delivery stands in contrast with the vulnerability inherent in her lyrics and the exhaustion she felt touring her last record. But the album is also shot through with humour. During the synth-driven Only One she mocks heartbreak, comparing herself to Sisyphus, while elsewhere she wanders the aisles of a pet store, catching the sideways stare of a lizard as she seeks connection. Ambient piece Shatner’s Theme segues into Aurora, IL which finds her mid-tour, isolated in a hotel room with COVID, musing on the actor’s real-life trip to space aboard a billionaire’s rocket. In Betelgeuse we hear the voice of her science-teacher mother Sandra, wonder in her voice, teaching her daughter about the cosmos. It’s that sense of awe and curiosity that Jenkins resolves to draw on to keep her light intact, a reminder to enjoy life on earth for all its chaos and beauty. // Jeremy Blackmore
Jamie xx first appeared on the scene as one third of gloomy hipsters The xx, before establishing himself as a solo producer and DJ with his era-defining masterpiece ‘In Colour’ in 2015. As such, his second solo album has big shoes to fill, and the good news is that it pulls it off. ‘In Waves’ is a superb dance record, blending compositional chops, avant-garde arrangements and sampling to deliver a tapestry of terrific poise and hedonistic abandon. Though ‘In Waves’ doesn’t clobber you over the head with its quality, one suspects that, like ‘In Colour’, it will be a grower of an album that remains popular as the years pass. Not all the tracks arrive as stone cold classics, and yet new elements keep presenting themselves five, six, seven listens in. Some will continue to claim Jamie xx is overrated, and while there are probably more innovative DJ-producers out there, none of them quite manage to combine this innovation with raw, unbridled joy like he does. It’s a record of ecstatic wonder. // Jacob Brookman
After a whirlwind two years promoting their EP ‘Profound Morality’, metal upstarts Heriot sought to make their debut album the biggest statement of intent they could. The result took their sound into new, dark corners they’d previously only flirted with on the pulsating Lashed, as well as into excoriating blasts of hyperactive fury during Harm Sequence. In between, they filled the gaps with what Heriot fans know and love, only dialled up to 11 with a greater grasp on songwriting and a desire to push the envelope when it came to all things heavy. It amounted to a resounding success that put them right at the forefront of British metal. // Will Marshall
‘Romance’ showcased a striking evolution in Fontaines D.C.’s musical identity, radiating a fresh and invigorating sense of confidence. The title track was both haunting and chilling as Grian Chatten delicately navigated a descending riff, while Favourite flipped that script and burst forth as a vibrant burst of nostalgia, transporting listeners back to carefree summers spent drinking in parks with friends. It balanced joy with an underlying layer of melancholy, capturing the bittersweet essence of cherished memories. Here we saw a band unafraid to experiment, pushing the boundaries of their sound while staying true to their roots. With its blend of bruised beauty and raw energy, ‘Romance’ was a powerful statement of intent, propelling Fontaines D.C. towards a future as festival headliners. // Katie Macbeth
Khruangbin’s sound is hard to pin down and all the more invigorating for it. ‘A La Sala’, their fourth album, offers a more stripped back approach, perhaps reflecting the fact that this is their first LP made without outside collaborators. Built around a lo-fi approach, it delivers a gorgeous sonic tonic that helps to soothe the soul. It really puts the trio’s musicianship at the forefront and shows the variety of their palette. It is a welcome departure that is easy to luxuriate in, washing around in its ethereal movements. // Chris Connor
There’s so much to love about Drug Church, all of which was on glorious display on their latest full-length ‘Prude’. There’s the US alt-punks’s vibrant, off-kilter guitars, their stage-diveable anthemic energy and, of course, frontman Pat Kindlon’s intelligent, funny lyrics. Demolition Man posits vivid existential questions, Business Ethics offers provocative aphorisms, while the rousing highlight Hey Listen contains one of Kindlon’s greatest one-liners in “Thin moustache and greasy hair / looks like half my high school friends.” Another ultra-charming collection of deconstructed punk rock at its most effortless and fun. // Tom Morgan
If your quarter-life crisis needs a new soundtrack, ‘Chromakopia’ should be it. As undulating and weird as life for thirtysomethings can be, this is the sound of a musician who is continuing to grow and evolve through a tumultuous time in his life. That he put so much work into the visuals and presentation as well made ‘Chromakopia’ stand out as one of Tyler’s best works to date. But that’s not to say the tracks themselves are slouches — Rah Tah Tah, I Killed You and Sticky have proven the rapper’s flexibility and knack for innovation. Tyler is proving himself to be so much more than just a rapper. He’s an artist. // Jack Butler-Terry
Returning to his roots, Richard Hawley dials down the volume and focuses on vocals, harmonies and melody on an album reminiscent of his early solo work. This more minimalist approach is most apparent on tender ballad Heavy Rain, plus People, a love letter to fellow Sheffielders, and the gospel-flavoured Deep Waters, both perfectly captured as first takes in Hawley’s garden shed. Drawing from Hawley’s enduring love of the pre-Beatle era, Two For His Heels evokes the twangy guitar sound of Duane Eddy, Prism in Jeans is a sprightly slice of transatlantic rock and roll, while a Roy Orbison-esque feel extends to I'll Never Get Over You. Hawley contemplates mortality and absent friends, making sense of his place in this world, while the album’s only rocker Deep Space, with a blistering solo, highlights the plight of ordinary people in a cost-of-living crisis while billionaires travel into space. // Jeremy Blackmore
Everything about High Vis’s third album felt bigger – the sound, the scope, the hope, the grief. As such, this felt like the point where they blossomed into the form they had been working their way towards since they first broke out. It represents their hardcore-informed indie at its most dauntless, whether that comes through on the skyward-looking title track, the gigantic Feeling Bless or the emotive experimentalism of Mind’s A Lie. It’s easily one of the finest records to come out of the UK this year and it could very much be enjoyed by hardcore novices (or even hardcore haters). // Emma Wilkes
Channelling alt-country greats from Neil Young to Jason Molina, MJ Lenderman’s ‘Manning Fireworks’ is a gem of a record. The vocalist and guitarist (also a member of shoegazey indie act Wednesday) has a knack for vivid storytelling that plumbs melancholic depths. Lenderman’s metamodern lyrics blend sincerity and irony, portraying images of vulnerable masculinity at their most dated and pathetic. Wristwatch and She’s Leaving You hit with potent force, their tones infused with further emotion via the stark production style and endlessly evocative slide guitar. A brilliant effort that feels like the birth of a new indie star. // Tom Morgan
The British rapper has lived quite the life, which is probably why his fourth album ‘On Purpose, With Purpose’ is such a worldly and wise step up. There are still vitally sharp grime cuts here, see Mount Rushmore, Laps and Blood On My Hands, but the afrobeats influence throughout Tumbi, Gbedu and Hallelujah is beautifully vibrant. The deeply emotional reaches of Jonah’s Safety and Street Politics, meanwhile, showcase Ghetts as grime’s thinking man. Most importantly, it all blends together effortlessly, resulting in his most expansive and accomplished record yet. Ghetts has long been a legend, but ‘On Purpose, With Purpose’ cemented it. // Jack Butler-Terry
Since his previous album, Sinkane has completed a Master’s degree in composition, and the result is an enormously accomplished work of musical, tonal and generic flexibility, which enlists musical collaborators with confidence and humour. One of the side effects of the TikTokification of pop music is an increase in relentlessly repetitive, AutoTuned tracks that sound like they were generated by AI, but ‘We Belong’ is an album of joyous communitarian indie-pop, shot through with African and funk influences that bucks the trend. This is triple A songwriting played by a group of people really enjoying themselves. It’s fresh. // Jacob Brookman
Hardcore’s renaissance has catapulted many bands into the spotlight, but none embody its community ethos better than Speed. Their debut ‘Only One Mode’ lives up to its name, with 10 songs and 23 minutes of pulverising hardcore stomp delivered by a band that doesn’t see the need to do anything else. Real Life Love and Don’t Need deliver a boatload of attitude and mosh calls, while the excellent The First Test has a bona fide flute solo that somehow seamlessly fits in amid the fist-swinging riffs. If you want pure hardcore in 2024, look no further than the gang called Speed. // Will Marshall
Singer Chase Mason told Stereoboard that Gatecreeper had festival main-stage success in mind when penning their third album. That aspiration was clear throughout ‘Dark Superstition’, as its 10 songs pulled influences from goth-rock and pop, becoming stomp-along anthems stacked with addictive hooks. The Black Curtain and Dead Star were among the catchiest tracks to come from metal this year, though there was still plenty of edge in the chainsaw guitar tones and Kurt Ballou’s razor-sharp production. Writing accessible melodies without abandoning any intensity, the Arizona crew made death metal for the masses, and world domination seems well within their reach. // Matt Mills
Unleashing more textural colour than a candyfloss explosion in a rainbow factory, The Lemon Twigs’ follow up to last year’s 'Everything Harmony' offers the joyous celebratory flipside to its predecessor’s pensive balladeering. Like whimsical adventurers exploring the late ‘60s pop landscape and beyond — with huge nods to The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Hollies and Tages along the way — Brian and Michael D’Addario’s timeless songs boast a dazzling combination of dreamy melodies and sun-soaked harmonies. Alongside nostalgia-drenched storytelling, luminous instrumental flourishes and delightful arrangements, they swerve pastiche by delivering passion and authenticity. // Simon Ramsay
A then-unknown Skylar Gudasz stole the show at a star-studded Big Star tribute at the Barbican in 2012 before garnering critical acclaim for the albums ‘Oleander’ (2016) and ‘Cinema’ (2020). Combining folk and country with art-pop while exploring themes of power and gender, she’s been termed “the Joni Mitchell the South never had”. An unearthed beater guitar unlocked her songwriting for this third album, her most widescreen yet. The shimmering Fire Country builds to a swirling crescendo as wildfires blaze, the climate crisis a theme Gudasz revisits on minimalist piano ballad Australia.The plaintive Atoll, built around electric guitar and stacked ghostly harmonies, reflects on destruction caused by the American military’s hydrogen bomb tests in the Pacific.The infectious Truck, meanwhile, pays tribute to the female greats of country music. Gudasz’s storytelling retains a sense of intimacy, keeping real people at its centre, while her bell-like vocals skate across the album, exuding warmth, empathy and strength. // Jeremy Blackmore
‘Cascade’ takes Floating Points’ signature blend of jazz and electronica and packages it into nine-ish rip roaring progressive house tracks, blending a dizzying array of sounds and samples into a compelling musical happening. It’s thoughtful stuff, high on music theory and containing joyous sonic Easter eggs that present themselves anew over multiple listens. Electronic music from the 1990s and before was often quite rigid in its arrangement, with production software that sometimes restricted composition. This feels current because of the sophistication and integrity of the musical flourishes in the decays, the twists, the fills. It’s flexible and elastic; it’s made by a dance producer who is mastering the tech and growing as a composer. // Jacob Brookman
‘Eternal Sunshine’ marked Ariana Grande’s highly anticipated return to music after a three-year hiatus, showcasing her artistic evolution. The album blended the emotional landscapes of her previous works while taking a more introspective and nuanced approach. If ‘Thank U, Next’ explored raw heartbreak, it pulled together vulnerability and resilience. Grande’s signature vocal style shone throughout as she effortlessly navigated complex emotions, delivering both anthems and delicate moments. The production was equally impressive, melding pop, R&B, and electronic elements to create a cohesive and captivating experience. // Katie Macbeth
Goat’s sixth studio is unabashedly experimental, indulgent and throwback. It’s the kind of music you could show to a pensioner in a Hawkwind T-shirt with surprising success. He would reassure you that “they don’t make this kind of music any more” even as you demonstrated that they literally do. Though the album is not always successful in its genre-hopping — there are some dubious breakbeat loops — ‘Goat’ is tremendously enjoyable and exactly the kind of salve one would wish for in a music scene where marketing creativity is often the main creativity on show. It is the alternative to factory-processed, AutoTuned AI filler; stacked high and sold cheap. On that issue, Ol’ Hawkwind has a point. // Jacob Brookman
The debut album from south London trailblazers Fat Dog had just about everything. Not only did it mix techno, punk and industrial sounds, it threw some unhinged charisma into one of 2024’s most unique efforts. James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Foals) lent his capable hands to production duties and what arrived was a thrill-a-minute journey from raucous live performers who never take themselves too seriously, as evidenced by drummer Johnny ‘Doghead’ Hutchinson’s uniform latex dog mask. ‘WOOF.’ is 33 minutes of chaotic joy, unrivalled in the excitement levels it causes. // Matthew McLister
Chelsea Wolfe // She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
Put a Chelsea Wolfe record on and she’s guaranteed to transport you somewhere. The atmosphere she conjures through hazy layers of industrial, doom metal and even some synthwave is cold, airy and often rather foreboding — especially when she delivers her lines as if she’s whispering them right into your ear. Against that chilling landscape, she recounts the pain of untangling herself from past toxicity and addiction, but as dark as things frequently sound for her, she still manages to scramble towards the light. // Emma Wilkes
‘Only God Was Above Us’ was a slick and polished far cry from Vampire Weekend’s iconic 2008 self-titled debut, showing that the indie veterans could still deliver the goods in new ways. While it tackled dark and dismal subject matter, it exceeded all prior expectations with its dazzling production. Paired with the raw and honest Capricorn, tracks such as the despondent Classical are particularly moving, commanding relevancy in regards to mental health. Guided by the unforgettable croon of vocalist Ezra Koenig, ‘Only God Was Above Us’ simmers in Beatles-esque energy, while still being refreshing and unique in its own right. // Issy Herring
Touché Amoré are as candid as any musicians out there. Case in point: their last two records have tackled, in heart-rending fashion, the death of vocalist Jeremy Bolm’s mother and its grief-stricken aftermath. ‘Spiral In A Straight Line’ reverts back to the less specific but still intensely personal self-analysis of previous albums. As ever, Bolm’s distinctive voice dominates the emotional tenor of Touché Amoré’s music, but the band’s commanding, brittle post-hardcore is on fine form, with mid-tempo tracks such as This Routine and Goodbye For Now making for smart breaks between blasts of raw, masterful ferocity. // Tom Morgan
Rappers Open Mike Eagle, Still Rift and Video Dave are all nostalgic for the past. While most would settle for longing after days gone by, the trio decided to build a whole record around the concept. While ‘Service Merchandise’ may not possess the hooks and flamboyance of some of the year’s other big rap albums, it’s the group’s laser focus on top-tier raps that sets it apart as one of its best. The performances from all three are sharp and analytical, their flows and cadences are hypnotic, and there’s just the right amount of whimsy to give it a mountain of character and charisma. A rapper’s rap album that should be heard by everyone. // Jack Butler-Terry
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