Wait, it’s July already? Damn. That was fast. I’d say time flies when you’re having fun, but I don’t know anybody who’s really having any. But even if the world is a dumpster fire being towed straight to hell by a clown car, at least we’ve got some decent music to hear while we plunge into the abyss. Here are my favourite albums of 2024’s first half, listed in alphabetical order. Will any of them make the cut six months from now? Who knows? Hell, who knows if any of us will be here six months from now. So carpe those diems, bitches. Enjoy.
Ryan Adams
1985 / Heatwave / Prisoners (Live) / Star Sign / Sword & Stone
You can call Ryan Adams a lot of things — and a lot of people have, justifiably or not — but you cannot call him lazy.
For those who haven’t been keeping score at home, the absurdly prolific singer-songwriter and guitarist has released more than 30 albums in the past 23 years. And is seems he’s just getting warmed up. While the rest of us were still nursing hangovers and wiping 2023’s sleep out of our eyes on Jan. 1, Adams surprise-released five new albums. Yes, you read that right: Five new full-length releases. To be precise, four new studio sets and one live album. A grand total of 77 songs that run the gamut from ragged roots-rock to moody meditations and even pugilistic punk salvos. What do they have in common? They’re all pretty goddamn fantastic.
Barry Adamson
Cut To Black
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cut To Black is Barry Adamson’s 10th solo studio album, and finds him in a fertile period of creativity, reflection and investigation.
Up Above The City, Down Beneath The Stars, the first volume of his memoirs, was released in 2021, charting the years from his inception in Manchester’s Brutalist heart, his difficult journey through childhood and how art and music became his liberation, via his father’s jazz record collection and the spy theme sounds of John Barry, through transformative years in Magazine, The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds, and up to the release of his first solo album, Moss Side Story in 1989. The book’s concept is typically inventive, with Adamson looking at the world as an observer. As he puts it, “I started to imagine my life without me in it. An author-as-observer, looking down upon this Murky World during that time and making a record of what I found there.”
Atarashii Gakko!
AG! Calling
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “AG! Calling is the first album in five years from dance vocal unit Atarashii Gakko!, and the followup to their 2019 full-length Wakage Ga Itaru.
AG! Calling includes the single Tokyo Calling, a song that wowed overseas audiences at this year’s Coachella — one of the largest music festivals in the United States — as well as Fly High, the theme song for the upcoming film Hanma Baki vs. Kengan Ashura. Whirlwind group Atarashii Gakko! represent a new generation of Japanese youth (seishun in their native language), one embracing personal expression and pushing against traditional boundaries a little at a time. The outlandish quartet — comprised of kawaii-but-fierce Mizyu, wildcard Suzuka, graceful Kanon and funky Rin — break genre walls to create music mixing elements of pop, jazz, hip-hop, rock, and more, delivered with punk energy and featuring frantic dance moves, choreographed by the four members themselves.”
The Avett Brothers
The Avett Brothers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Avett Brothers’ new self-titled album — their first in five years — was produced by longtime collaborator, friend and early champion Rick Rubin. The Avett Brothers is as much untitled as it is self-titled, for as Thomas Keating said: “Silence is God’s first language — everything else is a poor translation.”
From the album’s all-vocal opening to the sharp, scrappy and scorching rock ’n’ roll blast of lead single Love Of A Girl — along with the novel strains of folk, roots, synth and strings that have landed The Avett Brothers numerous Billboard Top 5 and chart-topping albums, three Grammy nominations, five Americana Music Awards, a documentary co-directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, and so much more — this record is one that revealed itself naturally over time. Recorded in Malibu’s Shangri-La Studios, as well as Nashville, Mar Vista, and the band’s hometown of Concord, N.C., The Avett Brothers is a collection of songs seen through a lens of independently studied spirituality; questions and considerations in the interest of the divine unknowable.”
Babe Report
Did You Get Better
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With a squall of guitar and a crash of drums, Chicago noisemakers Babe Report finally release their debut album — the rough-and-ready Did You Get Better. Arriving two years after their exhilarating debut EP, and featuring 10 new songs that speed by in under half an hour, it’s an immediate and breathless arrival.
Opening track Turtle Of Reaper arrives in a flurry of noise and energy. Presented as an indictment of the fear-mongering in click-bait media, it’s a cacophonous two-minutes of scorched vocals and frenetic drums, the chorus a call back to 12/31/99, when all the news told people to turn off their computers before Y2K hit. However it finds you or you find it, Did You Get Better finds a way to take the reins, ploughing headfirst into its journey and rarely looking back for approval, to even worry if anyone else is joining for the ride.”
Baratro
The Sweet Smell of Unrest
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Baratro was born when guitarist Federico Bonuccelli (Council of Rats) and bassist Dave Curran (Unsane) met at a show in legendary Milan squat Cox18 and started to trade riffs and song ideas.
These experiments led to the band’s creation, with Luca Antonozzi (Marnero) joining in to complete the lineup. After a few months of practice and a couple of shows in Italy, they recorded their very first six songs in the empty concert hall of Cox18, consequently released as the Terms and Condition” EP in July 2021. Given the worldwide shutdown of live performances through 2020/2021, the band focused on writing new music and eventually started recording the 11 tracks on their first full-length The Sweet Smell of Unrest.”
The Bevis Frond
Focus On Nature
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Focus On Nature is the new studio album from celebrated post-psyche singer songwriter Nick Saloman and his band The Bevis Frond. It delivers 75 minutes of glorious melodies that span ’60s psych, English folk, the art-punk of Seattle’s Wipers, the buzzsaw pop of Dinosaur Jr. and Jimi Hendrix-esque explorations. There’s always an element of playful Englishness to their music.
Heavily influencing the likes of Lemonheads, Teenage Fanclub, Elliot Smith, Pavement and more, the cult icons have produced another off-kilter mix of melodic piano-led melancholy, acoustic ruminations, scratchy garage rock with a punky edge and full-on guitar histrionics. Like its much-praised predecessor Little Eden, the new record studies the world’s weariness but fills out a bigger canvas; fast food and global warming, broken hearts and long gone nights out, everyday immortality and being God’s gift all share space. It’s like Pete Townshend at his most thematic; Big Star in all their acoustic glory, perfectly balancing the punky garage-rock combo who end up running on Empty with David Gilmour breaks that elevate it all to grandeur.”
Andrew Bird
Sunday Morning Put-On
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Andrew Bird’s Sunday Morning Put-On features Bird’s own unique takes on classic songs by Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Lerner & Loewe, Rodgers & Hart and more. The record finds him re-immersed in a lifelong love of mid-century, small group jazz and the Great American Songbook.
Accompanied by a masterful rhythm section — Ted Poor on drums and Alan Hampton on bass — Sunday Morning Put-On marks the culmination of a passion that has been building within Bird for nearly 30 years. The music he interprets dates back to his formative encounters with the titans who have consciously and subliminally influenced his career, and all of its numerous changes and acclaimed chapters. Sonically and personally, Sunday Morning Put-On is unlike anything he has done before.”
Bleachers
Bleachers
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “There’s a rich depth to the band’s sound on Bleachers that’s laid out in bright, soulful technicolour.
The album is frontman Jack Antonoff’s distinctly New Jersey take on the bizarre sensory contradictions of modern life, on his position in culture, and the things he cares about. Sonically, it’s sad, it’s joyful, it’s music for driving on the highway to, for crying to and for dancing to at weddings. There’s something reassuringly touchable and concrete about its sentiment: exist in crazy times but remember what counts. Since releasing their debut Strange Desire in 2014, the band have built a huge, passionate following across three studio albums, becoming renowned for their impressive live show and infectious camaraderie. The band’s previous album Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night took them to new heights, showcasing Antonoff’s immersive songwriting and, as one reviewer testified, his innate skill at “supersizing personal stories into larger-than-life pop anthems.”
Cedric Burnside
Hill Country Love
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Cedric Burnside has just released his deeply personal and artistically bold new album Hill Country Love. The record vibrantly explores the subset genre of Hill Country blues, infused with Burnside’s singular experiences and musical heritage from the rolling hills of Northern Mississippi.
Hill Country Love was recorded in an unconventional location — an old building in the small town of Ripley, MS. This space, initially earmarked to be Burnside’s juke joint, created an authentic and resonant sound environment, capturing the essence of the album’s soulful and gritty aesthetic. Produced alongside fellow Mississippian Luther Dickinson, the album’s 14 tracks were completed in an extraordinary two-day session, highlighting the spontaneous and raw energy of Burnside’s music. Beyond the music, Burnside’s story is one of resilience, evolution, and the enduring power of family legacy. His journey from drumming in his grandfather’s band to becoming a celebrated artist in his own right is a narrative of dedication and passion for the blues tradition. Hill Country Love is an immersive experience into the heart of Hill Country blues, inviting listeners to partake in a musical journey that is both deeply personal and universally relatable.”
Johnny Cash
Songwriter
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In early 1993, the legendary Johnny Cash found himself between contracts in his then-nearly 40-year career and recorded an album’s worth of songwriting demos at LSI Studios in Nashville of songs he’d written over many years. LSI at the time was owned by his son-in-law Mike Daniels and daughter Rosey, and he wanted to help the family financially while also record some songs special to him. Not long after the fruitful session, Johnny met producer Rick Rubin, and the recordings were shelved as the two embarked on an important and prolific musical partnership that revitalized the Man in Black’s career that would last the rest of his life.
Some 30 years later, John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June Carter Cash, rediscovered the songs and stripped them back to just Johnny’s powerful, pristine vocals and acoustic guitar. Along with co-producer David “Fergie” Ferguson, the two invited a handpicked group of musicians that played with Johnny, including guitarist Marty Stuart and the late bassist Dave Roe, along with drummer Pete Abbott and several others, to the Cash Cabin, a hallowed space in Hendersonville, Tenn. where Johnny would write, record and relax, to breathe new life into the tracks, taking the sound back to the roots and heart of the songs.”
Gary Clark Jr.
JPEG RAW
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Anyone who has listened to a Gary Clark Jr. album or seen the four-time Grammy winner live knows that he’s a gifted multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and performer. And never more so than on his last album, 2019’s illuminating This Land. But while that album signaled a breakthrough in displaying his musical versatility beyond the blues, his latest album JPEG RAW represents a quantum leap.
“Blues will always be my foundation,” says Clark. “But that’s just scratching the surface. I’m also a beat maker and an impressionist who likes to do different voices. I’ve always loved theater and being able to tell a story. At home when I play the trumpet, I think Lee Morgan, or John Coltrane when I play the sax. I’ve even got bagpipes just in case I need them. So while this is my most honest and vulnerable album about relating to the human condition, it’s also the most freeing.” At once powerful, insightful and thought-provoking, JPEG RAW picks up where This Land left off. But unlike its predecessor, Clark’s fourth studio album was born out of an unprecedented two years during which the country was rocked by a global pandemic, coast-to-coast civil rights protests following the murder of George Floyd and a political insurrection inside the nation’s capitol. As a Black man and father concerned about the future for his three young children in a still challenging climate, Clark found himself back in the studio recording a personal call-to-action that’s compelling both musically and lyrically.”
Cola
The Gloss
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With roots in Montreal, Cola were formed by ex-Ought members Tim Darcy and Ben Stidworthy. Evan Cartwright, an in-demand session musician and collaborator in Toronto’s vibrant jazz/experimental scene with acts such as U.S. Girls and Brodie West, joined after their first practice in 2019. From their inception, they’ve expanded on the DIY ethic of the Dischord and SST eras, creating potent sounds from a minimal palette of drums/bass/guitar and lacing their songs with winsome one-liners and societal commentary. What’s another word for commentary? Gloss, apparently.
There are themes of regaining balance and joy throughout the record, perhaps a linear companion to the relatable ennui and frustration present on the trio’s 2022 debut Deep In View. “Skip the malnutrition / A sign of what you need / Oh, better come back to it / Basking and serene,” sings Darcy on the chiming opener Tracing Hallmarks.”
Charley Crockett
$10 Cowboy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “With $10 Cowboy, Charley Crockett didn’t set out to make a themed record. He had released a concept album in 2022, the critically acclaimed Man From Waco, propelling Crockett to new heights and establishing him as one of the leaders of a sparkling revival of traditional country and folk.
For the followup, Crockett wrote freely, over a two-month period, as he wound his way across the United States on the back of a tour bus. The resulting songs — raw, personal, vivid portraits of a country in transition — ended up being connected after all. “This material is written at truck stops, it’s written at casinos, it’s written in the alleys behind the venues, it’s written in my truck parked up on South Congress in Austin,” explains Crockett. “A ramblin’ man like me, a genuine transient, is in a pretty damn good position to have something to say about America.” As the album unfolds, you begin to understand that a $10 Cowboy is anyone who has hustled to get by, who didn’t fit in, who has slept on other people’s couches, or the street, who has fallen down, gotten up, and ventured from home chasing a paying gig, or a new start.”
Cross Dog
All Hard Feelings
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Cross Dog is a noisy, experimental, bass-driven hardcore punk band from Peterborough, Ont. Their new album (and first for Stomp), All Hard Feelings, was recorded at High Wattage Cottage, produced and engineered by Scott Middleton (ex-Cancer Bats), and features guest appearances by The Anti-Queens.
All Hard Feelings is as sonically relentless as it is thoughtful. It has its feet firmly planted in hardcore punk rock, but doesn’t shy away from varied influences of noise rock, heavy metal, and rock ’n’ roll. Aptly titled, the lyrics journey from the public to the personal, confronting the sociological, psychological, and emotional challenges that many of us face in this life, yet do so in a way that somehow feels simultaneously universal and deeply individual.”
The Dandy Warhols
Rockmaker
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The cheekiest band in the land are back with Rockmaker, The Dandy Warhols’ 12th album. Produced and recorded by the band at their studio/funhouse The Odditorium in Portland, OR, Rockmaker sees the Bohemian Like You hitmakers celebrate their 30 years together with a sprinkle of glitter on their grime.
Accompanied by guests Debbie Harry, Slash and Pixies’ Frank Black, The Dandy Warhols wrangle paranoia, untangle anxious discontent, and lust after life while the dance grooves go deeper, heady drones get weirder, and riffage fit for bong rips hammers. Rockmaker is the Dandy’s clearest statement yet, at no sacrifice to their outré leanings. This is the sound of outsider alt-psych fixtures looking in as the walls come down.”
The Darts
Boomerang
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Darts can’t stop, won’t stop! Hot on the heels on last year’s groundbreaking album, Snake Oil,The Darts have returned guns blazing with a brand-new album, Boomerang. While on a break from their intense international touring schedule, The Darts stopped at Station House Studio in Los Angeles to work with producer Mark Rains (Hooveriii, Death Valley Girls, Hunx & His Punx), with the mission of capturing the band’s raw rock spirit.
From the opening chords of Hang Around, listeners are launched into an explosive garage party, with the Farfisa organ bringing a carnival and snarky gang vocals adding to the fray. The action doesn’t let up from there. With Nicole Laurenne on vocals and Farfisa, Christina Nunez on bass and backup vocals, Meliza Jackson on guitars, and Mary Rose Gonzales on drums, the tight lineup fuels the album’s themes of resilience and empowerment. Each track on Boomerang packs a punch, drawing the listener into a world of infectious hooks and soaring riffs.”
The Decemberists
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For over 20 years, The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling U.S. rock bands. Their distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start, releasing nine ambitious albums unbound by genre. Now the beloved indie band are back with their first album in six years, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again — not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hope
Reuniting with producer Tucker Martine (R.E.M., Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens) who began working with the band on The Crane Wife, the album features R.E.M.’s Mike Mills, The Shins’ James Mercer and Lizzie Ellison on background vocals. This, songwriter Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists album and perhaps the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. In many ways, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again feels like an aptly titled renewal for The Decemberists. The first full-length release on the band’s own label, after a run of nearly two decades with Capitol. As they were once, here are the Decemberists again, now an independent band empowered by singing stories that sound instantly familiar and convey some bit of hard-won wisdom.”
Deep Purple
Machine Head Super Deluxe Edition
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Deep Purple unleashed one of the best guitar riffs since the invention of rock ’n’ roll in Smoke On The Water, a song dubbed the Beethoven’s 5th of hard rock. Since its 1972 debut on Machine Head, the song and the album have left an indelible mark on music, inspiring countless bands around the world.
Now, more than half a dentury since its debut, the band honor the album’s enormous legacy with a comprehensive version introducing new mixes and previously unreleased live recordings. Highlighting the collection are several different versions of the album, including new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes by Dweezil Zappa. The 1974 quadraphonic mix and a newly remastered version of the original album are also featured, adding depth to the extraordinary set. The Super Deluxe Edition also contains two captivating live performances. The first, recorded on March 9, 1972, at the Paris Theatre in London, captures the group’s unrivaled stage presence during the Machine Head Tour. The second, previously unreleased, was recorded in April 1971 at the Montreux Casino in Switzerland. The band planned to record Machine Head there that December, but the venue burned down right before the sessions began, an event immortalized in Smoke On The Water.”
Dirty Three
Love Changes Everything
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Dirty Three Ahoy! Appropriately disheveled, the Three emerge from the unending waves of time to pick up their guitar drum and viola / violin / piano / synthesizer / loops / percussion for their first album in a decade. Their playing encompasses all — from the original fury of their unlikely power trio to an impressionist cinema later on; mercurial, tumultuous to ambient to adagio, mood and emotion drawn up to dazzling heights from the humble human scale.
Emerging once again from the unending waves crashing upon our fragile time-craft (adrift on the eternal ocean, and taking on water), Dirty Three are a) back, b) tangled in seaweed, rank with saltwater and possessed of three rather ominous thousand-mile stares (at least!), and c) not wasting another minute — as nothing is guaranteed. For their first album in over a decade, they flew in, got together and started playing. Music’s their language, their true love; they never stop listening to that. And like the label says, Love Changes Everything. The Dirty Three — Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White — formed in Melbourne in 1992, to play with guitar, drums and violin or viola, and within a couple years, they’d broken out. Out of Australia, out of anything else they might have been inside of, to boot — and got worldwide. Worldwide.
Earth Tongue
Great Haunting
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Acclaimed New Zealand heavy-psych duo Earth Tongue have just released sophomore album Great Haunting. It sees Gussie Larkin (vocals, guitar) and Ezra Simons (vocals, drums) reach for new heights and horrors, possessed by relentless riffs and demonic distortion. “On Great Haunting we’ve tightened things up, and added MORE of everything: More layers of guitar fuzz, more soaring harmonies, more oscillating vintage sense and more tom rolls!” shares Larkin.
Earth Tongue is a heavy psychedelic rock two-piece band hailing from Aotearoa. They are renowned for their spellbinding fusion of ethereal melodies and thunderous drums. They have carved a niche within the global music scene, captivating audiences with their mesmerizing live performances and transcendent sonic soundscapes.”
Elbow
Audio Vertigo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Elbow’s 10th studio album Audio Vertigo marks a significant change for the group following 2021’s Flying Dream 1. In the words of lead singer and lyricist Guy Garvey, Audio Vertigo was built from “gnarly, seedy grooves created by us playing together in garagey rooms” and is both more direct and sonically varied by purpose that its predecessor.
Characterised by the band as an album heavy on stomp, swing, and infectious oil-can funk beats, Audio Vertigo sees Elbow on the front foot, fusing their love of varied and various styles on a collection that ranges from the Beastie Boys-meets-John Bonham breaks of opener Things I’ve Been Telling Myself For Years and the “theme for a futuristic cop show” Lover’s Leap to the infectiously funky Balu. The wide-screen ambition doesn’t end with the music. Guy delivers a lyrical sweep on the album that considers our obsession with star crossed lovers, admonishes, and forgives his self-delusion, puzzles the nature of loss in a digital age, and narrates a real-life knife fight, all the while finding friends, real and imagined, and experiences, genuine and mythical, along the way. Long a fan of Radio 4’s In Our Time, the lyrics of Audio Vertigo match that program’s scale and scope in their ambition and their execution, including surely the only recorded presence of the Chandrasekhar Limit in a pop song in Knife Fight.”
