I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve done one of these midyear album updates since 2020, but given how many solid or better albums there have already been this year, I had plenty of choices for this post, and I know from experience it helps me do the year-end wrap-up if I\u2019ve at least gotten a head start and summarized the first six months. This list is in alphabetical order by artist, although I do identify my favorite album of the year in the text. (No spoilers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alcest, Les chantes de l\u2019aurore<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alcest started out as a death-metal project for the musician who goes by Neige, then incorporated shoegaze sounds to create something called \u201cblackgaze\u201d that was later co-opted by Deafheaven (with whom Neige has worked), after which Alcest added a second member and released an album that was all shoegaze with no metal. They\u2019ve varied their mix of genres on subsequent albums, but this latest one gets the balance right, as they did on 2016\u2019s incredible Kodama<\/em>. The album is primarily heavy shoegaze, with some very infrequent screamed vocals deeper in the mix, so the wall-of-guitars sound is really the emphasis. Other strong metal albums this year include Wheel\u2019s Charismatic Leaders<\/em>, Pallbearer\u2019s The Mind Burns Alive<\/em>, and Crypt Sermon\u2019s The Stygian Rose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Courting, New Last Name<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Quirky pop music with a post-punk edge, New Last Name<\/em> grabs you right away with the 2023 single \u201cThrow,\u201d followed by the poppiest track on the record, \u201cWe Look Good Together (Big Words),\u201d both of which are anchored by infectious, clean guitar riffs. They show their post-punk influences more on \u201cFlex,\u201d which has some clear Buzzcocks influence and lyrically references \u201cMr. Brightside,\u201d because that song is over 20 years old. You\u2019re welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kid Kapichi, There Goes the Neighborhood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n They\u2019re probably never quite going to match their incredible, no-skips debut album, but Kid Kapichi keeps churning out angry yet catchy working-class anthems with a touch of Alex Turner in the lyrics but a heavier, crunchier backdrop of guitars more inspired by punk and pub-rock. Highlights here include \u201cLet\u2019s Get to Work,\u201d \u201cCan EU Hear Me?,\u201d and the wonderfully weird \u201cTamagotchi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Libertines, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is my most listened-to album of the year so far, as the likely lads came back better than ever, with a slew of intoxicating and surprisingly upbeat tracks \u2013 \u201dOh Shit,\u201d \u201cRun Run Run,\u201d \u201cShiver,\u201d and \u201cNight of the Hunter\u201d \u2013 that still bear that clear Doherty\/Bar\u00e2t sound, just with better production and less breaking and entering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is my album of the year so far, and it\u2019ll be hard to top. Hailing from Niger, a country that has been torn by political strife including a military coup this time last year, Moctar blends Tuareg music with western rock styles, particularly psychedelic rock and blues rock, crafting indelible guitar riffs and furious solos beneath the protest lyrics (sung in his native language, Tamasheq) that have boosted his popularity in the Sahel. I caught the last show of Moctar\u2019s U.S. tour, at Union Transfer in Philly, and he blew the doors off the place, with incredible shredding and extended jams for several of the songs he played, including jumping into the crowd for his final guitar solo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Mysterines, Afraid of Tomorrows<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I loved the Mysterines\u2019 early output, fun, punchy, uptempo tracks like \u201cGasoline,\u201d \u201cI Win Every Time,\u201d \u201cBet Your Pretty Face,\u201d and more, but their debut album Reeling<\/em> didn\u2019t include any of those, and saw Lia Metcalfe & co. wallowing a bit more in slower and less catchy territory. This album, released last month, is far more in line with what I want from the Mysterines, because it puts the rock part front and center, and then Metcalfe\u2019s smoky voice is that much more potent. Highlights include \u201cSink Ya Teeth,\u201d \u201cStray,\u201d and \u201cThe Last Dance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pond \u2013 Stung!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pond are all over the place yet again, and I\u2019m good with it because the highs are high enough. They\u2019re an experimental rock band from Australia with a heavy emphasis on psychedelic rock, but are comfortable veering into funk-pop (\u201cSo Lo\u201d) or a m\u00e9lange of 1970s hard rock and 1960s Motown rhythms (\u201c(I\u2019m) Stung\u201d), or just straight-up psychedelic rock that your parents might have heard at Woodstock (\u201cNeon River\u201d). The album is 14 songs and 54+ minutes long, so it does wear out its welcome a bit as it goes on, but I put it on this list over some other albums I liked, such as Ride\u2019s Interplay <\/em>and Parsnip\u2019s Behold<\/em>, because it\u2019s more ambitious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sprints, Letter to Self<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The long-awaited debut full-length from this Dublin punk-rock band did not disappoint, and it\u2019s one of the most true-to-form punk albums of the last few years, with spare lyrics and repeated lines over fast-paced guitar lines that mostly get out in under 3\u00bd minutes. (Unfortunately, lead guitarist Colm O\u2019Reilly left the band abruptly in mid-May.) Highlights include \u201cHeavy,\u201d \u201cAdore Adore Adore,\u201d \u201cLiterary Mind,\u201d and \u201cUp and Comer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While I loved Katie Crutchfield\u2019s 2020 album Saint Cloud<\/em>, I think I respect this album more than I love it, as it\u2019s a slower, more tenebrous affair than the previous record, and I like her music when she incorporates a little more rock or folk and works less in the traditional country lane. Highlights include \u201c3 Sisters,\u201d \u201cEvil Spawn,\u201d \u201cBored,\u201d and \u201cCrimes of the Heart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yard Act, Where\u2019s My Utopia?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This wasn\u2019t quite up to the level of their debut album The Overload<\/em>, but Yard Act are always messing around with styles and genres, and \u201cDream Job\u201d might be their mostly overtly poppy song yet, even with their typical offbeat lyrics \u2013 how many pop hits can you name that use the word \u201ckowtow?\u201d Vocalist James Smith has cited his love of hip-hop in interviews, and that\u2019s more evident in the words and his delivery across this album, and he moves seamlessly between rapping, talk-singing, and outright singing across the record. Other highlights include \u201cWe Make Hits,\u201d \u201cPetroleum,\u201d and \u201cWhen the Laughter Stops.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve done one of these midyear album updates since 2020, but given how many solid or better albums there have already been this year, I had plenty of choices for this post, and I know from experience it helps me do the year-end wrap-up if I\u2019ve at least gotten a head start […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1374,852],"class_list":["post-10318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2024-in-music","tag-music","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10319,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10318\/revisions\/10319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}