Best of 2024 (so far)

Presenting my favorite music of the year, so far.

We're half-way through 2024 and like I've been doing for nearly a decade, I'm sharing my favorite music from the first six months of the year. We've heard from a lot from some of the biggest names in pop like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa as well as witnessed the meteoric rise of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter. After years of great music, Charli XCX has catapulted into a new echelon of star with her new album and that's all just in pop music. Kendrick and Drake got heated, The Smile proved they're more than just a one-off event, Beth Gibbons made her long-awaited solo debut, Kim Gordon continued to prove why she's one of the coolest people on the planet. Hard to believe we still have six more months to go.

ALBUMS

01  WAXAHATCHEE | Tigers Blood

On her latest record, Katie Crutchfield captures the sound she solidified on her stupendous album Saint Cloud and goes even deeper into her mellow grooves and elegant harmonies. It's an astounding accomplishment that finds her at the top of her game and ready to set herself as one of the country's best songwriters.

02  CINDY LEE | Diamond Jubilee

The only way to hear this one is via a YouTube link or to download the .wav files from Cindy Lee's geocities site. It's an interesting and very avant-guard approach in 2024, but with psych-pop, golden-age rock and roll, doo-wop, and '50s girl groups sounds that last for just over two hours, you're going to want to do whatever it takes to give this one a listen.

03  HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF | The Past is Still Alive

The new album from Hurray for the Riff Raff is undoubtedly the best. Taking swirls of country and folk music and mixing them together for something that's equally stirring as it is beautiful, The Past is Still Alive paints a vivid picture of life in America as we know it and all that it can be.

04  KIM GORDON | The Collective

Kim Gordon has been making music for decades, but somehow The Collective is only her second solo album. Over blown-out trap beats and scraping guitar tones, Gordon offers deadpan vocal delivery making the most mundane experiences (packing for a trip) seem like the most exhilarating things on the planet.

05  BEYONCÉ | Cowboy Carter

Beyoncé's country era might not be as country as some expected and too country for people who think they know better. Whatever genre you want to box it into doesn't really matter, what matters is that once again the Queen is playing by her own rules and still making better music than any of her mega-star peers.

06  THE SMILE | Wall of Eyes

On their second go around, Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke settle into looser, baggier grooves that feel a lot more relaxed and lived-in than their debut. Perhaps they've grown a lot more comfortable with Tom Skinner keeping the beat, but this trio continues to grow and evolve like any great project and show that they're more than a one-off affair.

07  MDOU MOCTAR | Funeral for Justice

Guitars ablaze, Mdou Moctar come out of the gates racing on their new record, one that was written while the band was stranded in their US as their home country of Niger fell into political collapse. Writing this album as a way to cope with being far from home, you can feel the pain, anguish, and sense of hope that rips across these songs, praying for a better tomorrow.

08  ASTRID SONNE | Great Doubt

Coming in at almost an EP length, Astrid Sonne's Great Doubt is a swirling haze of minimal electronics and low-key R&B vibes that creates a murky world of steamy tracks that glow with a radiant light. It's an intimate and detailed piece of work from an artist forging a path of their own.

09  ERIKA DE CASIER | Still

After lending a hand to NewJeans' massive sensation "Super Shy" in 2023, Erika de Casier melds together her knack for immaculate pop numbers with sultry R&B that has resulted in a killer album full of groovy hits and clubby jams. Full of bangers from start to finish, it's an album that goes hard from the beginning and maintains its pace throughout. 

10  BETH GIBBONS | Lives Outgrown

The time between Portishead's self-titled sophomore record and their legendary comeback album Third was shorter than the time between that last album and Beth Gibbon's remarkable debut. The fact that we've been gifted this slow-burning down-tempo gem at all is a rather incredible thing. 

(11-30 listed alphabetically)

200 STAB WOUNDS | Manual Manic Procedures

ADRIANNE LENKER | Bright Future
AMARO FREITAS | Y'Y

CAKES DA KILLA | Black Sheep

CHARLI XCX | Brat
DUCKS LTD. | Harm's Way

FABIANA PALLADINO | Fabiana Palladino
FOUR TET | Three

ITASCA | Imitation of War
JESSICA PRATT | Here in the Pitch
KAMASI WASHINGTON | Fearless Movement

MAGGIE ROGERS | Don't Forget Me

MANNEQUIN PUSSY | I Got Heaven

MK.GEE | Two Star & the Dream Police
NOURISHED BY TIME | Catching Chickens EP

OREN AMBARCHI / JOHAN BERTHLING / ANDREAS WERLIIN | Ghosted II

ROSALI | Bite Down

SHELLAC | To All Trains
THE MESSTHETICS AND JAMES BRANDON LEWIS | The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

VIJAY IYER TRIO | Compassion

SONGS

ADRIANNE LENKER | "Sadness as a Gift"
A.G. COOK | "Silver Thread Golden Needle"
ARMAND HAMMER | "Doves" (ft Benjamin Booker)
ASTRID SONNE | "Boost"

BEN FROST | "The River of Light and Radiation"

BETH GIBBONS | "Floating on a Moment"
BEYONCÉ | "II MOST WANTED" (ft Miley Cyrus)

BILLIE EILISH | "Lunch"
BULLION | "Rare" (ft Carly Rae Jepsen)
CAKES DA KILLA | "Do Dat Baby" (ft Dawn Richard)
CASSANDRA JENKINS | "Only One"

CHAPPELL ROAN | "Good Luck, Babe!"
CHARLI XCX | "The girl, so confusing version with lorde" (ft Lorde)
COLD CAVE | "Hourglass"
CONTAINER | "Eraser"
DEAN BLUNT | "Downer" (ft Panda Bear and Vegyn)
DUA LIPA | "Training Season"
DUCKS LTD | "Train Full of Gasoline"
ENUMCLAW | "Change"
ERIKA DE CASIER | "Lucky"

FABIANA PALLADINO | "Shoulda"

FAYE WEBSTER | "Lego Ring" (ft Lil Yachty)
FCUKERS | "Bon Bon"

FOUR TET | "Loved"
FRIKO | "Chemical"
FUTURE / METRO BOOMIN | "Like That" (ft Kendrick Lamar)
HURRAY FOR THE RIAFF RAFF | "Hawkmoon"
IRON AND WINE | "All in Good Time" (ft Fiona Apple)
JESSICA PRATT | "Life Is"
JESSIE WARE / ROMY | "Lift You Up"
JLIN | "The Precision of Infinity" (ft Philip Glass)
KAMASI WASHINGTON | "Prologue"
KENDRICK LAMAR | "Not Like Us"

KIM GORDON | "BYE BYE"

MAGDALENA BAY | "Death & Romance"
MAGGIE ROGERS | "So Sick of Dreaming"
MDOU MOCTAR | "Funeral for Justice"

MGMT | "Nothing to Declare"
MJ LENDERMAN | "She's Leaving You"
MK.GEE | "Dream police"
NEWJEANS | "Bubble Gum"
NORMANI | "Candy Paint"
NOURISHED BY TIME | "Hell of a Ride"
NUBYA GARCIA | "Fortify"
SHELLAC | "I Don't Fear Hell"
SUMAC | "Yellow Dawn"
THE MESSTHETICS AND JAMES BRANDON LEWIS | "Emergence"
THE SMILE | "Friend of a Friend"

WAXAHATCHEE | "Right Back to It" (ft MJ Lenderman)
WINTER | "the lonely girl"