25. Guided by Voices – Strut of Kings (GBV Inc.)
The title Guided by Voices’ Strut of Kings is a giveaway for the attitude of the LP, which is confident while also possessing an undertone of self-deprecation. It is also unusual, given Robert Pollard’s past propensity for promoting the underdog, whether in elementary school or life. He has never given the slightest impression of being a monarchist, whether metaphorically or factually. That said, there is a lot of guitar pomp and swagger on this album, to which Pollard is entitled. It shows up in the coda to the opening track, “Show Me the Castle”, and it is foregrounded further down the track listing on the exuberant “Fictional Environment Dream”, which is one of the best Guided by Voices’ songs in a long while.
The remainder of the album sustains this upbeat atmosphere. The following track, “Olympus Cock in Radiana”, contains the LP’s title in its lyrics and is another song with a bring-it-on attitude. With its stomp and roll, the waggishly named “Cavemen Running Naked” is sure to be a fist-pumping favorite live. The swing of “Timing Voice” recalls the songcraft of 1990s-era Guided by Voices. The introspective acoustic songs “This Will Go On” and “Bit of a Crunch” bring the volume down with minor key melodramas that further enhance the buoyant mood surrounding them. — Christopher J. Lee
24. Dehd – Poetry (Fat Possum)
Poetry, Dehd‘s follow-up to Blue Skies (2022), takes their sound another step forward, as they have done with each successive record. The album was primarily written on a road trip that took them from Washington’s Bainbridge Island to Taos, New Mexico. They regrouped in their home base in Chicago and recorded the LP with co-producer Ziyad Asrar. The result is that four albums in Dehd continue to deliver their signature sound while evolving slightly in some positive ways.
The three-piece piece act conceal their complexity behind seemingly simple instrumentation. Dehd’s deception is that they often build sophisticated sound structures upon contrasting parts (“Mood Ring”, “So Good”). At any time, they can drop the entire weight of their music for maximum impact (“Alien”, “Light On”). Poetry is three musicians locked in but also willing to expand the confines of their sound. – Patrick Gill
23. Future Islands – People Who Aren’t There Anymore (4AD)
Only a few weeks into 2024, the indomitable Future Islands gave us a new album that is neither escapist nor overtly social or political in its purpose or commentary. People Who Aren’t There Anymore provides a torch in dark times. It gives hope. This is a more introspective recording, as implied by the title. Across its 12 songs that reach three-quarters of an hour, loss and mortality are abiding themes. Songs like “Deep in the Night”, “Say Goodbye”, and “Give Me the Ghost Back’ construct spare worlds of disconnection, absence, and longing. In this manner, the unrequited sensibility of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” returns once more.
With its imagery and abstract sentiments, “The Tower” is one of the best tracks on People Who Aren’t There Anymore. Herring is known for his literary references – The Far Field is titled after a collection by Theodore Roethke – and other tracks allude to other poets. The excellent opening song “King of Sweden” may or may not be inspired by William Wordsworth’s “The King of Sweden”. Either way, Herring brings the force of his intelligence to bear on the musical proceedings, adding weight to the danceable beats that take listeners in another direction. – Christopher J. Lee
22. Dirty Three – Love Changes Everything (Drag City)
Dirty Three’s Love Changes Everything marks their return with a torrent of unfiltered instrumental music. It contains a ragged, optimistic, unforgivingly pure kind of jazz that is distilled distinctly through iconoclasts of their respective artistic crafts. The record is a collection of musical variations on the title’s theme, with each song a mere numbered piece of the cumulative whole.
Dirty Three continue their long career of making exactly that: organic, meditative post-rock jazz that always humbly approaches a single moment without pretense or distraction. The album is a study of spontaneous communal artistic creation, purposefully human in this increasingly technological void. If it’s another decade before we get another album, we should be content to revel in this collaborative joy and the musical curiosity contained within Love Changes Everything. – Avery Gregurich
21. Wild Pink – Dulling the Horns (Fire Talk)
On Dulling the Horns, Wild Pink deliver a solid record from top to bottom, with moments of brilliance spread throughout. Standout “St. Catherine St” describes being hungover in another country, with the revelatory observation that “quitting drinking is like swimming away from land”. The commanding track builds to a guitar solo, the entirety of which sounds like it might crumble under its own weight. Tracking the album live and removing some of the overproduced elements could have backfired for a band known for their contemplative rather than commanding presence. However, this LP proves to be the shot in the arm needed at this particular moment, unearthing new tones resulting from Wild Pink’s maturation. – Patrick Gill
20. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us (Columbia)
Let’s start with the headline. In Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend sound like Vampire Weekend again. Father of the Bride (2019) was a sunny folk-rock record where roughly half of the tracks felt like vocalist Ezra Koenig fronting a different band with Danielle Haim. Not only did guitarist Rostam Batmanglij leave the group before the record, but bassist Chris Baio and drummer Chris Tomson didn’t play on it either. Only God Was Above Us has plenty of interesting wrinkles, but it’s recognizably connected to what Vampire Weekend did over their first three albums. Only God Was Above Us demonstrates that melodic, clean guitars are welcome but optional and that they have plenty of other tricks up their sleeves. – Chris Conaton
19. Torres – What an Enormous Room (Merge)
Despite its reserved, dry, soft, and tranquil harmonies, Torres’ What an Enormous Room sounds even more poppy and self-confident than its predecessors, with its multilayered, luscious yet intimate arrangements and a lot of ringing void. If Brian Eno‘s Ambient 1 was music for airports, Torres’ offering is a soundtrack for enormous empty rooms. It’s noteworthy that Torres winks at David Byrne and Eno in two of her nearly most electronic songs. “Jerk into Joy” resonates almost like a deep house cut by way of a slightly slowed-down Romy, with a spoken-word part which calls to mind Talking Heads’ chants (“You may ask yourself, ‘What is that beautiful house?’”, Byrne echoes her).
“Songbird Forever” is an utterly ambient-ish, birdsong-laden coda into which the entire album dissolves at the end, making one little “jerk into joy” at the threshold of a new life. Then there’s “Forever Home”, a lightweight art pop with almost St. Vincent-esque vocals. This triptych of tranquility, closing What an Enormous Room on a positive note, is preceded by a buoyant first half of the record, which does “hit a nerve”. – Igor Bannikov
18. CNTS – Thoughts & Prayers (Ipecac)
CNTS’ Thoughts & Prayers weds socially conscious energy to riotous punk rock crunch and songs that just wanna have fun. Who wouldn’t enjoy yelling: “I’m still a shit-talking smart mouth son of a bitch!” as a chorus line? The quintet of Matt Cronk (vocals), Koko Arabian (rhythm), Kevin Avery (drums), Rico Adair (bass), and Michael Crain (lead) have created a tight album that brings the hothouse vibe of a crammed club, bare concrete walls, bodies slamming in from all angles and crowd-surfers hemming you in from above – I mean that as a compliment.
The closer, “Drown”, stands out from its first moments as CNTS build one at a time into an all-in slam, then everything cuts to a spinetingling tap-tap-tap before returning with new levels of dissonance and discord matching the song’s sentiments. It’s intriguing how CNTS keep up the pressure on Thoughts & Prayers from start to finish, with each change of mood ratcheting the energy up. That ability to move in a direction beyond loud/quiet, fast/slow, marks out the group’s talent, which shows across this profoundly compelling marriage of words, music, and emotion. – Nick Soulsby
17. Cloud Nothings – Final Summer (Pure Noise)
Few indie rock bands this century have been able to make one banger after another. Many flavors of the month have fallen off, broken up, or both. But for the past 15 or so years, Cloud Nothings have delivered record after record of catchy, energetic songs without getting stale or repetitive. While that might not get headlines every time, there’s something to be said for their ability to continue delivering hook-filled records with intelligent, sometimes heart-rending lyrics.
The latest installment is Final Summer, and the streak remains unbroken. Saying a group’s latest release is more of the same sounds like a backhanded compliment, but Cloud Nothings don’t have to reinvent themselves every time out. There is no need to fix what isn’t broken. – Brian Stout