You Little Sick Thing, You Had Your Fun
This is Lorelei, Raveena, and the Best Albums of 2024 (So Far)
It’s July! Happy July! Do you know what that means? It means we’re halfway through 2024! And do you know what THAT means? It means we’ve spent six months and six newsletters dissecting the best new music of the year. And do you know what THAT means?? It means it’s time for a Best of 2024 (So Far) list!
Hooraaaayyyyy lists!
Now, I’ll let you in on a little secret, which is that we’re building to a big Best of 2024 extravaganza newsletter at the end of the year. So, this is not that. Rather, it’s a snapshot of the albums that have stuck with me through the year so far. I’m gonna leave them in alphabetical order rather than trying to rank them because we’re just not there yet.
So, without further ado, here are the 10 best albums of 2024 so far, followed by two reviews of new albums from June that I think will end up on this list.
The Best Albums of 2024 (So Far)
Arooj Aftab - Night Reign
The singer and composer’s fourth album is her most accessible yet, alternating lush harps and strings with spare guitar and percussion, but always supporting her haunting vocal performances. This is dark, romantic music that’s designed to be listened to in the wee hours. Songs like “Whiskey” and “Late Night Reprise” make me feel like I’m in a very sexy nightclub, instead of lying in my bed waiting for my 10 mg of melatonin to kick in at 11 PM.
Future Islands - People Who Aren't There Anymore
I bought into Future Islands as hard as everyone else after their internet-breaking Letterman performance back in 2014, but I have not followed their output closely since. That’s why it surprised me so much to find their newest album on repeat for much of 2024. The band has leaned into their 80s synth-pop sound in a way that provides gorgeous sound beds for leader Samuel T. Herring’s bittersweet stories of longing and strained love.
Hovvdy - Hovvdy
It’s taken me five albums to pick up what Hovvdy is putting down, but me and Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas both found ourselves enamored with the Austin duo’s indie-tinged 90s adult contemporary throwback sound earlier this year. The songs on this album ring out with just the right amount of nostalgia like you’re playing them from a dusty mix CD you found in the back of your car. Folks, we are having ourselves an Inside Track summer, so strap on those puka shells, hike up the cargo shorts, and crack open an ice-cold Fruitopia.
Brittany Howard - What Now
The former Alabama Shakes frontwoman has never made the same record twice, and she continues to push herself into bold new territory on What Now. The album’s production supports that eclectic creative spirit, following Howard’s larger-than-life voice up and down a cosmic radio dial, tuning into pop, soul, funk, classic rock, and much more.
Read my full review from March
Little Kid - A Million Easy Payments
Perhaps my favorite storytelling on any record this year, Little Kid’s songs all feel like tiny novellas, honing in on characters trying to calm their troubled minds to mixed success. Lead singer/songwriter Kenny Boothby always manages to convey empathy for his subjects, adopting musical tropes of whispery folk or antsy krautrock to put us in their headspace and make us care about them. A Million Easy Payments conjures the nostalgia and low-level anxiety of checking Facebook after years away, finding snapshots of people you once knew who are living very different lives now.
Read my full review from March
claire rousay - sentiment
Rousay called the music on this album “ambient emo,” and like the best ambient music, these songs have changed and evolved in my mind as they’ve filled in the background of my life since it came out. This is an artist brave enough to put her false starts and vulnerable moments on tape, and the songs end up more powerful because the listener understands what Rousay went through to create them.
Tapir! - The Pilgrim, Their God and The King Of My Decrepit Mountain
The verbose English folk rock band released a real January surprise. Their debut full-length —a concept album about a lost pilgrim making his way through the enchanted woods—came out in the first few weeks of 2024, and has been in my rotation ever since. After a big surge of diarist singer-songwriters who wear their hearts on their sleeves, I for one am ready for the resurgence of inscrutable story songs crammed with metaphors and symbolism.
Read my full review from February
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
A five-record run of bangers is the true test of a band, and Vampire Weekend has passed with flying colors. Nerds. I am truly impressed by the band’s ability to evolve and change while staying true to their own very unique and recognizable sound. Take for instance the guitars on this record. When Vampire Weekend’s debut dropped in 2007, they zagged on an indie scene filled with garage-y, noisy guitars by opting for the clean sound of Graceland-era Paul Simon. Now that the scene has caught up with them—and under the guidance of producer Ariel Rechtshaid—the band has embraced a fuzzy, distorted sound that somehow only expands their prep school vibe in a new direction.
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Look, maybe I’ll feel differently about this album come December, but the longer the days get, the more it hits. Katie Crutchfield’s collaboration with producer Brad Cook continues to bear fruit on the spiritual sequel to 2020’s fantastic Saint Cloud. This time around, Crutchfield’s stable has grown to include Gen Z guitar hero MJ Lenderman, whose laid-back picking and crooning take Waxahtachee’s 90s FM country revival to a whole new level.
Read my full review from April
Zero Point Energy - Tilted Planet
I’m calling it now, 2024 is the year of The Power of Friendship in music. BFFs Hovvdy released a breakout fifth album, Vampire Weekend have weathered the loss of writer/producer/instrumentalist Rostam by leaning on their strength as a trio, and Waxahtachee’s Katie Crutchfield has continued to blossom thanks to an expanding roster of collaborators. All of this bodes well for newcomers Zero Point Energy, the Brooklyn duo who came together years after the dissolution of their previous band to put out a stone-cold ripper of a debut album, filled with songs that go as deep as they do hard.
So, that’s the first half of 2024 in a nutshell! If that wasn’t enough, here are two new records that I think belong in the same breath (or at least the same newsletter).
This is Lorelei
Box for Buddy, Box for Star
The opening tack on Box for Buddy, Box for Star “Angel’s Eye” is a plaintive country duet in the style of John Prine and Iris Dement. The song’s two singers trade verses in a classic he-said-she-said, but digging into the lyrics (and, honestly, the song title) it becomes clear the conversation is between a mortal and some sort of omnipotent celestial being. “I will wait all alone in the solar winds until we fly again,” sings the angel. The mortal responds, “I cannot hide my heart from your angel's eye as you watch me from above.” It’s a clever take on a classic country ballad, and a fun introduction to This is Lorelei’s two lead singers.
Except, PSYCH! That’s the same dude, Nate Amos, duetting with himself by alternating verses in different registers. He totally got you!
Amos wrote, played, and recorded every sound on the album himself, taking the concept of DIY bedroom indie pop to staggering new heights. While this album has the presence and buzz of a debut, digging into This is Lorelei’s back catalog is like walking into the attic of the obsessive guy tracking a serial killer in a movie and seeing his research connected by thumbtacks and red string. In the last decade, Amos has put out 17 full-length albums, 33 EPs, and plenty of one-off singles. The sheer volume of Amos’s output gets even more ridiculous when you learn this isn’t even his main band! He’s also one half of Water from Your Eyes, the Brooklyn art-pop duo releasing albums on Matador Records. This is Lorelei is just this dude’s side project!
But don’t let any of the lore stop you from coming to Box for Buddy, Box for Star unprepared. The album is a glorious and accessible collection of folk, bedroom pop, and classic rock that begs to be played on a warm summer day. Immediately following the opening ventriloquist act is “Perfect Hand,” which mixes drum machine, keyboards, and Amos’s soft, vulnerable voice in a way that so clearly evokes early-2000s Ben Gibbard that it’s kind of eerie. Songs like “I’m All Fucked Up” and “An Extra Beat for You and Me” are unabashed heartland rock jams that bring to mind The Replacements or Tom Petty. Perhaps the most surprising track is “Where’s Your Love Now,” which features the kind of toy piano and synth strings that made bands like The Boy Least Likely To and Noah and the Whale mainstays of the Urban Outfitters indie scene some decade-and-a-half ago. I would have sworn that music was about as uncool as you could get at this point, but the hip Gen Z kid who plays all the instruments says otherwise, so don’t throw away those skinny jeans just yet, lads!
Despite Amos’s youth, his tendency to genre hop with reckless abandon, and his honestly disturbing level of output, there’s real maturity and wisdom behind these songs. Amos has called the record a “delayed recovery album,” and claims the idea for it came to him while visiting Stonehenge at the end of a European tour, right as he decided to stop smoking weed. In the songs’ lyrics, Amos often seems to be chastising an immature lover or friend, but one can’t help but wonder if he’s occasionally addressing his younger self. “You little sick thing, you had your fun,” he sings on “All Fucked Up.” Album closer “An Extra Beat for You and Me” makes good on the biblical imagery of the opening track, while reflecting on coming out of a series of dangerous lifestyle choices unscathed. “Satan gave my wings to some other mother’s son,” Amos sings, over a jaunty beat that feels both triumphant and a bit naive. Amos has lived enough of a life to be grateful for some sense of clarity while understanding he’s got a long way to go. The fact that he’s able to celebrate the victories along the way, and invite the listener to celebrate with him, shows his knack for communicating energy through music.
Raveena
Where Butterflies Go in the Rain
One thing about me is that I am not good at all at picking which indie artists will cross over to the mainstream and make it big. In 2004, in the runup to her third album The Reminder, I predicted Feist would be the next big thing, and that one panned out pretty well. But the fact that my go-to claim-to-fame came 20 years ago should tell you how rarely I get these things right.
Case in point: I don’t know why Raveena isn’t super famous by now. With three full-lengths to her name, she blends R&B and pop into a silky smooth concoction that sounds to me as polished and self-assured as anything dominating top 40 radio (I won’t name names, they know who they are). The most common comparison I read of Raveena’s music is Sade, which is a no-brainer. They have similar breathy vocals and impressive ranges, and their music slithers along in a very sultry way that seems custom-made for doing you know what, huh huh huh. But on Where Butterflies Go in the Rain she reminds me more of artists like Aaliyah and All For You era Janet Jackson, who so successfully infused R&B with world and dance rhythms for the masses. Raveena also gets a guest verse from rapper JPEGMAFIA on“Junebug,” a song that feels like it would have slayed on TRL in the summer of 2000.
Raveena isn’t just channeling throwback vibes for the sake of hopping on the Y2K trend, she’s pushing her music into exciting new territory, and leaning into some clear influences to help get her there. “Rise,” one of the album’s strongest tracks, owes a clear debt to Marvin Gaye. Not only does Raveena delve into soul and gospel instrumentation and vocals, but the lyrics harken back to a time when musicians used their songs as a rallying cry for peace and understanding in a violent, confusing world. But more than some naive peace sign being preached to the choir, the song is about waking up every day and choosing to adopt that mentality in spite of how impossible it all seems.
Still, Raveena knows where her strengths lie, and she seems more than happy to give the people what they want. “Pluto,” “Lose My Focus,” and “Smile For Me” are all breezy summertime jams that revel more in enjoying the little moments than taking a global view. Where Butterflies Go in the Rain is ultimately about accepting your place in the universe, not because you’re helpless but because you realize that it’s not always about you. As Raveena puts it, “Goner or goddess. Will you take me as I am? ”
To hear music from those albums and more from the month of June, check out the Adult Contemporary playlist on Spotify. Updated monthly! The weather is getting hot, so save this playlist now to stay coooool 😎.
Here are the albums I’m most excited to hear in July:
Cassandra Jenkins My Light, My Destroyer. Jenkins’s last album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature was a lovely collection of stylish pop, R&B, and jazz that had my head spinning in the waning days of the COVID lockdown. I have a surprisingly vivid memory of listening to that album’s standout track “Hard Drive” while sitting in my backyard dissociating. So, I’m looking forward to listening to these songs in a slightly (maybe??) more positive mindset.
Jake Xerxes Fussell When I’m Called. The Durham, NC singer-songwriter takes classic American folk songs and puts gorgeous touches of strings, piano, and steel guitar on them, making them weep and swoon. When I’m Called is his first release for Fat Possum Records, a great indie label that’s launched more than its share of incomparable artists.
Remi Wolf Big Ideas. Wolf’s 2021 debut Juno was one of my favorite pop records in recent memory, and every song she’s released since then has only improved on it. This new record also features a track called “Frog Rock,” so I think we’re talking legit AOTY contender here folks.
That’s it for June. See you in July! XOXOX