2024 Music First Half Favs!
1-2 sentence blurbs for my favourite releases from the first half of 2024.
Somehow(?!) we’re over halfway through 2024 already. Here are some of my favourite music picks from the first half of this year in no meaningful order (aside from the first one (~_^) )
Playlist of all songs embedded below here!
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
I wrote a flash post about this record back when it came out in the spring, but, suffice to say, this album is my emphatic choice for 2024 AOTY. Every single time I have revisited it in the 3 months since its release, the record has floored me in a different way. I love Matthew Perpetua’s interpretation of the double album structure as representing “a complete body of work documenting a series of related musical phases.” As a longtime Cindy Lee fan, I’m still processing that this album exists, let alone that it is as awesome as it is. I was excited for the rumoured vinyl release at one point, but, since that rumour has subsided recently, I think the “definitive” version of the album will always exist somewhere between the 1.7 GB Dropbox folder of WAV files I was sent when I paid for it and this. (Also, this just got nominated for the Polaris shortlist today, which is deserved and completely wild for an album self-released on a freaking Geocities!)
Laughing - Because It’s True
Montréal power-poppers craft an effortless, instantly timeless debut record. Says JanglePopHub, “it almost feels a little obnoxious to have such an accomplished effort as their initial release!” I agree! (More thoughts here!)
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Another beautiful record from Lenker, who is on an unbelievable hot streak at this point. Not quite as moody as songs & instrumentals or abysskiss. More cowboy chords, more Prine-isms, and Lucinda Williams influence. (More thoughts here!)
Hovvdy - Hovvdy
The Texan indie sadbois Hovvdy never fully clicked for me until their self-titled this year, and boy did they click. (More thoughts here!)
Joanne Robertson & Dean Blunt - BACKSTAGE RAVER
Whenever Blunt indulges his jangle indie tendencies, I am immediately locked in for whatever he chooses to do. Bonus points for when he collaborates with cult singer-songwriter Joanne Robertson!
Charli XCX - BRAT
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Jane Penny - Surfacing
I’ve been a TOPS fan since their wonderful debut record, Tender Opposites, made me first dream of moving to Montréal in 2012, and, because of this, I will follow anything Jane Penny does. I enjoy how her new solo EP indulges more in sophistipop and synth textures.
The Smile - Wall of Eyes
Back in January 2024—which feels like a significant time ago—I was consumed by Wall of Eyes in a totally unexpected way. It is easily the most I’ve connected with a Radiohead-related project since the last Radiohead LP, A Moon Shaped Pool, in 2016. “Teleharmonic” was the clear standout on the record, along with the title track, “Friend of a Friend,” and the achingly gorgeous “Bending Hectic.” I still would love another Radiohead project at some point, but I never anticipated something from The Smile to feel this vital.
Various Artists - I Saw the TV Glow OST
Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw the TV Glow is easily my favourite film of 2024, and its soundtrack is an essential part of its power. Though, in a few moments, the OST veers a little too much into Bridgerscore sadgirl indie, the highs are so high. For example, see: Caroline Polachek’s explosive rocker “Starburned and Unkissed” (from that PERFECT tracking shot in the high-school hallway), Yeule’s BSS cover, “Anthems for a Seventeen Year‐Old Girl,” and Drab Majesty’s lightly gothy “Photograph.”
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
VW’s first record since 2019’s sprawling, cult favourite Father of the Bride changed things up by reigning in some of that record’s jambandier impusles, and, instead, adding distortion around the edges to their artfully refined songcraft. “Classical” is the best written song of the year solely from a lyrical perspective. If you listen to Ezra Koenig’s internet radio show on Apple Music 1, Time Crisis, you may know that he seems to have been going through a pretty big Dylan phase, and, on a track like “Classical,” the economy of language reflects it.
Ulla & Ultrafog - It Means a Lot
Ulla seems to be a perpetual presence on the lists I make. It Means a Lot is an exquisite ambient record. I love how, on it, Ulla and Ultrafog engage with post-rock textures, as on the sublime “jesses car.”
Claire Rousay - sentiment
Speaking of the nexus of ambient and post-rock: enter Claire Rousay and her “emo ambient.” Also, as a reference that plays nice with Yeule’s BSS cover on the I Saw the TV Glow OST, check Claire’s “lover's spit plays in the background.” I can honestly say that I’ve never heard music quite like what Claire is doing on sentiment. So fragile and moving.
Ducks Ltd. - Harm's Way
Ducks Ltd. are very similar to the abovementioned Laughing: they are such skilled writers and players that what could, at first, come off as by-the-numbers retro-fetishist genre homage is, instead, elevated to the level of Fucking Great Rock Music. Can the Ducks boys and Laughing please play a double bill near me ASAP? That would probably be the best rock show in Canada this year.
Nourished By Time - Catching Chickens EP
I wrote about Marcus Brown’s Nourished By Time project last year when he dropped his breakout LP, Erotic Probiotic 2. This follow-up EP, Catching Chickens, is incredible, and bodes extremely well for whatever he does next. If you have an NBT skeptic in your life, I’d say this EP is a great thing to throw at them, because, across its 17-minute runtime, it basically contains the full breadth of what makes Brown such a special musician. From Indie R&B (“Hand On Me,” “Had Ya Called”) to shoegaze (“Poison-Soaked”) to classic soul (“Romance in Me”) and beyond.
Homeshake - CD Wallet
CD Wallet is Peter Sagar’s extended reflection on the musical/cultural detritus (mostly mall rock and post-grunge) of his early life on the prairies. The title track (accompanied by its awesome video) is the record’s highlight, but the whole project is extremely poignant, to me, probably for obvious biographical reasons.
mk.gee - Two Star and the Dream Police
mk.gee and this record are already proving to be quite polarizing this year. Some people hate this shit lol. I have been a fan of mk.gee since discovering his work on Dijon’s underrated 2021 record Absolutely. (Seriously, if you haven’t seen the Absolutely one-take film that Dijon released alongside the record that features mk.gee, you should check it!) Anyway, I love this record and I think it will be feted at year end, because there has been a palpable slow burn of hype all year for this guy, what with all the deeply sick late night appearances and moody performance videos he has been dropping, etc. To spell this out for the haters, the appeal is as simple as: it sounds freaking amazing, and he’s a ridiculously inventive guitar player.
Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well
Deeper Well is a much less sunnier and lovestruck record than Musgraves’ 2018 Grammy-winning Golden Hour, and (thankfully) it doesn’t set its sights on pop crossover appeal like 2021’s star-crossed. Instead, it’s sparser and it takes its time. “Giver / Taker” has been my favourite on the LP since it dropped because it reminds me of Beck in his Sea Change/Morning Phase mode.
Fabiana Palladino - Fabiana Palladino
Reclusive cult indie-R&B artist Jai Paul collaborated with Palladino on some of her self-titled debut record. Come for Jai, but stay for Fabiana on heaters like album standout, “Shoulda,” which calls to mind what I loved about the early Haim singles.
Shane Parish - Repertoire
A super far-out collection of instrumental guitar covers! Repertoire contains Parish’s arrangements of material by Ornette Coleman, Roland Kirk, Minutemen, Alice Coltrane, Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, Eric Dolphy, Charles Mingus, Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, John Cage, and Mr. Rogers. You can probably guarantee that all of those names have never been listed together before!
naemi - Dust Devil
naemi’s Dust Devil is a sprawling work that I’m, honestly, still getting my head around. Collaborator heavy, and generically super varied, Dust Devil calls to mind an early-2000s chillout or electronica CD release. Check out Andrew Ryce’s great review for RA that is able to capture what is so special about this record in a way far more articulately than I could.
How to Dress Well - I Am Toward You
Freshly-minted philosophy PhD Tom Krell returns with his first LP since 2018’s underrated The Anteroom. I Am Toward You is a poetic and oblique listen, moving through a variety of genres and textures. Interestingly, it includes Krell revisiting demo recordings that he made earlier in his career, and recontextualizing them with the benefit of years of hindsight, including his significant disillusionment with the modern indie music industrial complex. (Check out this awesome interview that Conner Habib did with Krell on Against Everyone.)
Bob Dylan - “Shooting Star” and “Under the Red Sky” live on the Outlaw Tour
Bob is playing some pretty deep cuts on the Outlaw Tour currently, much to the absolute befuddlement of the Outlaw Tour audiences there to see Willie Nelson lol. “Shooting Star” along with “Under the Red Sky” have been my favourites from the first leg of the tour. <3 u Bob. Absolutely GOATed with the sauce. I mean, have you seen the freaking sick tunic that he’s rocking, too? Chadded sigma lifelong grindset KING!
A few upcoming 2024 albums that I am looking forward to!
Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer (12 July)
Chris Cohen - Paint a Room (12 July)
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks (6 September)
Christian Lee Hutson - Paradise Pop. 10 (27 September)
SOPHIE - SOPHIE (27 September)
Mustafa - Dunya (27 September)
Lana Del Rey - Lasso (September)