Best Music of 2024 Part 2

When is Billie Eilish gonna bring Knocked Loose on tour??

We’re back with the second part in this little series looking back on some of my favorite music to be released over the course of 2024! Last week’s post focused on music that released between January and March, so this week we’re gonna be looking at what came out between April and June. Before that though, reminder to everyone who hasn’t already seen it to check out Esty’s post from Monday where he talks about his debut album releasing early next year! Once you read that and get excited about 2025, come back here to check out some of the music you can check out to tide yourself over until then!

Malcolm Todd – Sweet Boy

Genre: Indie rock, chill guys

I’d never heard of Malcolm Todd until this spring when I was out on a walk and this album’s opening track, “Earrings,” started playing from autoplay on Spotify, and within the first 20 seconds I was a fan. This album ended up in heavy rotation for me throughout the spring at summer because it’s just got such a good vibe to it. If I had to compare it to other artists, I’d say it’s kind of like if a cross between someone like grentperez and a band like Peach Pit, like if grentperez had just a little more edge to his music. You’re still getting the whole wistful indie sadboi vibe, but you’ve also got songs like “Thailand” that bring in these big, sleazy guitar riffs that sound like they were ripped from a no-name blues band you’d come across in a random dive bar (and I mean that in the best way possible). On the other hand, you’ve also got songs like “4Me 4Me,” which almost lean towards an r&b sound, but the excellent production keeps it all feeling cohesive. The production isn’t super raw by any means, but its got enough grit to it that it gives the album a little bit of edge to its character, while still being clear enough to make it feel inviting and allowing Todd’s vocals to shine through. If you’ve been seeing all the “I’m just a chill guy” memes going around on TikTok, this album is kinda just that meme in musical form.

Northlane – Mirror’s Edge (EP)

Genre: Metalcore from outer space/Australia

I’ve been a fan of Northlane for years now, and they’re still one of the bands I get the most excited about new music from. Since their 2019 album Alien, the band has been locked in on this sound that feels as inspired by electronic music as it is by brain-breaking technical metal bands like Meshuggah and TesseracT. The great thing is that the band doesn’t let their technical proficiency get in the way of making their music groove, a great example of this is the song “Miasma.” The intro of the song is highly syncopated and creates this chaotic feeling, but at the same time it has such a strong sense of groove that kills any sense of disorientation one might feel. A big part of why I love Northlane is frontman Marcus Bridge’s absolutely insane vocal abilities, and he sounds better than ever on this EP. The EP’s closing track, “Dante,” features a particularly strong performance from Bridge, with the vocal melody in the chorus being one of the best hooks I’ve heard all year. Bridge delivers all of his lyrics with a ton of emotion, whether he’s screaming or singing, and even if the rest of the band wasn’t as talented as they are the EP would still be worth listening to just to hear him. Fortunately, the rest of the band are excellent at what they do as well and the EP is a joy to listen to from an instrumental standpoint. Drummer Nic Pettersen is an absolute machine in the best way possible, playing with a precision I’m still trying to replicate, and guitarists Jon Deiley and Josh Smith are not only writing some of the nuttiest riffs of the year, but also creating some really interesting soundscapes with synths courtesy of Deiley. If you want something that’s gonna melt your brain a little bit but still make you want to sing along, this is one of the best releases of 2024 you can check out.

Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT

Genre: Pop (I’m sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything stupid for this one)

This year has been really great for pop music with huge artists like Charli xcx and Sabrina Carpenter dropping massively successful albums, along with smaller artists like Magdalena Bay also dropping some great albums, but I really think that Billie Eilish’s new album stands above all of them as the best pop album of the year. I was never a giant fan of Eilish’s music, but I always thought the sound her and her brother Finneas were going for was unique and that they made some really solid songs. On this album though, the two of them really locked in and made something special that exceeded all of my expectations. Finneas’ production has always been great, but I think on Eilish’s first two albums he occasionally had the issue of trying to do too much when it wasn’t necessary, and that problem is completely gone here. He’s not afraid to go for a more minimalist vibe when its necessary, and it makes it hit significantly harder when the album does get to these big, climactic moments. And we obviously can’t talk about this album without talking about Eilish’s own performance. I don’t think anyone would disagree with me saying that this album is her at her best as a vocalist, with her exploring her range more than she ever did on previous releases. A personal highlight is her on the song “THE GREATEST,” which sees her going from a very delicate delivery in the song’s first half before full on belting in the song’s climax. That song is also a great example for how great the songwriting on this album is. These songs don’t feel like a lot of other pop songs coming out in the streaming era that rush to get to a hook within the first 30 seconds, the songs on this album actually take their time to build and go in different directions. The songs “BITTERSUITE” and “BLUE” are also great in this regard, going down these winding paths and taking the listener on a real journey in a way that I feel is missing from a lot of the other big popstars’ music. It feels like Eilish has really leveled up on this album and if she can keep this energy going forward, I think her next album is going to be insane.

Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Genre: A24 horror movie but it’s a metalcore album

Knocked Loose is another band that just gets better and better every time they release music, and judging by this album, they won’t be slowing down any time soon. This album sees the band not only dial their aggression up to 11, but also atmosphere of the music, continuing to build off of their previous release, the 2021 concept EP A Tear in the Fabric of Life. This new album brings the horror movie-vibe of that EP forward and goes even further with it, bringing in even more creepy ambience and dissonance, and closing with the band’s most cinematic song yet, “Sit & Mourn.” Guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon continue to write some of the most sick riffs in metalcore, delivering a healthy balance of riffs that can fit on a classic death metal record and breakdowns that would give a Victorian-era child a heart attack. Frontman Bryan Garris’ vocals are as intense as ever, the man has one of the most unique voices in heavy music right now and I can’t think of any other vocalist who could match his intensity on a Knocked Loose album. I don’t have much else to say about this one, if you wanna know who’s on top in the metal/hardcore scene then look no further.

Aaaaaand that’s gonna wrap it up for this week! I had more albums from this period I wanted to talk about, but I think I’ll be saving that for later. Check back next week as I continue my descent into madness!