20 Great albums you might have missed from summer/fall 2024
It’s an annual tradition: We kick off our Best of Year season with a roundup of albums that probably slipped under your radar, and probably ours too. Hey, we’re not perfect, and the sheer volume of music being released in 2024 means that we simply don’t have enough hours in the day to hear everything. That’s just math. But we’re getting caught up now with a set of albums that merit a second (or first) listen. Catch up on some great albums you might have missed from summer and fall 2024.
Blurbs by Brad Cohan (BC), Jeff Terich (JT), Konstantin Rega (KR), and Wil Lewellyn (WL).
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.
Patricia Brennan Septet – Breaking Stretch
Vibraphonist Patricia Brennan lent her talents to one of the early highlights of the year, guitarist Mary Halvorson’s Cloudward, but her latest expands on the minimalism of early releases like 2021’s Maquishti in favor of a larger and richer ensemble sound. Breaking Stretch makes the most of its six-piece band sound, Brennan’s eerie and atmospheric vibes juxtaposed with deeper grooves from bassist Kim Cass, as well as commanding and harmonic leads from trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and saxophonists Mark Shim and Jon Irabagon. Breaking Stretch retains the haunted mystery of Brennan’s starker compositions while building out from her sonic template into a lush and fully realized avant-garde jazz galaxy. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Nico Carreño – ISRS
Singer/songwriter Nico Carreño made his debut with 2020’s Heterónimo, a melodic and intricate album of folk-pop that showcased the promise of the young Chilean artist’s talents. ISRS pushes even further beyond that impressive baseline with a set of songs more heavily inspired by prog and jazz fusion, elaborately presented and always exploring fascinating new terrain. Amid relatively straightforward and accessible moments like “La Daniela de Antes” are gorgeous art-pop pieces such as “Escansión” and dizzying prog guitar exercises like “Temporal.” Frequently beautiful and often labyrinthine, ISRS is a wild but endlessly rewarding ride. – JT
Listen: Spotify
Christ Dillinger & Seepy – There’s Evil in This Club
It’s been an odd year for hip-hop, less a blockbuster year than one rife with unexpected comebacks, rewarding collaborations and low-key standouts. But I also never expected to hear 20 minutes of relentless, high-energy hip-house from Christ Dillinger & Seepy that goes this hard. There’s Evil in This Club finds its creators never taking themselves too seriously (promo voice drops like “This song is fucking terrible!” throughout), flipping Mac DeMarco samples into pulsing house bangers and delivering goofball party anthems that slap for days. It comes and goes quickly, but the fun is off the charts. – JT
Listen: Spotify
Corker – Hallways of Grey
Cincinnati post-punk group Corker aren’t new to us by any means—we premiered their single “Molotov” off previous album Falser Truths in 2023. But the group’s follow-up to that standout debut is an even stronger and more versatile set of songs that showcases an evolution and sophistication in their songwriting, which seems to be taking place at a rapid clip. Like their peers in The Serfs and The Drin, the group are expert at balancing mood with melody, and hooks with stylistic darkness. With surfy riffs, streamlined grooves and an artful sense of space, Corker are delivering the goods on Hallways of Grey. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed
You don’t need to be Emerson or Thoreau to be interested in nature or invested in a return to the natural world. Oregon singer/songwriter Haley Heynderickx sings about modern life and the worry that it is dragging us away from the forests and streams around us. Seed of a Seed is her second release, and it builds on the folk-rock traditions that blossomed in the late ’60s through the ’70s. She has a husky voice like Joni Mitchell or Laura Nyro, but her guitar playing (as on the title track) occasionally sounds more contemporary, bringing to mind artists like Feist.
Songs like “Foxglove” and “Redwoods (Anxious God)” are clear highpoints; a lush earthiness of tone and depth inhabit them. There is warmth, there is energy. Her songs focus on simple pleasures like a glass of wine or holding someone’s hand and the beauty of towering redwoods or clover in a field. In her lyrics, Heynderickx balances the inner mind, its thoughts and worries, with the wonders of nature and the life-giving energy they offer humanity.
Seed of a Seed builds on the alternative folk stylings from Heynderickx’s 2018 debut, I Need to Start a Garden. Both have vaguely ambient undertones with reverb and slightly blurry or mumbled vocals. On this second release, though, the Oregon singer-songwriter stretches her musical muscles, yet retains that homespun, front-porch type of sound. It is a sunlit, quiet, and mature work that carefully curates—without completely smoothing over—the rawness of Heynderickx’s emotions and ideas about life. – Konstantin Rega
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
HHY and the Macumbas – Bom Sangue Mau
Portugal’s HHY and the Macumbas landed on our list of the best jazz of 2020 on the strength of a live album featuring mixing from On-U Sound founder Adrian Sherwood. But their latest is far from any kind of jazz you’d recognize, or really any familiar genre. The group’s sound is rooted in the rhythmic sound of batida, but they bathe it in terrifying shades of deep red and dread-inducing stabs of synth. It’s akin to the soundtrack to a horror film set at Carnaval. It’s not always easy to move your hips while constantly watching over your shoulder, but HHY and the Macumbas are finding new connections between primal fear and ecstatic movement. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Human Trophy – Primary Instinct
The sophomore release by Human Trophy is pretty much exactly what you might imagine a death rock album released on Iron Lung Records might sound like: dense, sludgy, lo-fi, menacing, and absolutely nothing to be fucked with. Primary Instinct is something of a reshuffling of the goth-metal sound that’s risen to prominence in recent years, steeped more in noise than glossy romantic sheen, still heavy but dirtier, rawer, writhing around on dirty dungeon floors and with mud caked on its leather boots. A nasty goth-punk album in all the best ways. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Kit Sebastian – New Internationale
Kit Sebastian—the London-based duo of multi-instrumentalist Kit Martin and vocalist Merve Erdem—have been crafting eclectic, crate-digging psychedelic pop records since 2019, and their third finds them paired with electronic and jazz powerhouse label Brainfeeder. New Internationale isn’t merely a clever name, however, it’s an apt description for the group’s globe-trotting sounds, which swirl Anatolian rock alongside French yé-yé and Brazilian tropicalia (plus funk, garage rock and so on). It’s a playful and rich set of sounds, masterfully executed and endlessly fun. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Rough Trade (vinyl)
Louse – Passions Like Tar
A good number of the albums on this list lean toward the goth end of the spectrum, which shouldn’t necessarily surprise anyone who’s been reading this website for any stretch of time. It’s also been an excellent year for goth-tinged music overall, be it darkwave or industrial, but Cincinnati’s Louse is rooted more in shimmering guitars and hazy atmosphere. The group’s debut, Passions Like Tar, take a somewhat glossier and more romantic tack than some of their Buckeye State peers, but they wear it well, conjuring a seductively shadowy vibe through eerie melodies and guitars that sparkle like raindrops on spiderwebs. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
New Skeletal Faces – Until the Night
If you go into the second album from San Diego trio New Skeletal Faces expecting death rock or dark wave, the thrashing hard-core heart of this album might be a little jarring. There are effects on Errol Fritz’s guitar that are true to the death rock aesthetic, but his vocals are screamed with enough aggression that the rest of the band rallies behind them with a muscle to match. The overall sound of the album has more common with old AFI than it does with Night Sins, and not only does Until the Night pack a punch, but the songwriting blends the sound assembled in an organic manner that weaves familiar sound from the shadows of punk’s past. – WL
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
ØKSE – ØKSE
The Backwoodz label is, for all intents and purposes, a hip-hop label. Its releases comprise a vast swath of what comprises hip-hop, from warm jazz rap to more cacophonous strains, but rap is encoded in its DNA. So the arrival of a record like the debut by Denmark’s ØKSE on the venerated imprint, naturally, is bound to turn some heads. Featuring guest appearances by the likes of labelmates billy woods and ELUCID, ØKSE is a work of hip-hop-informed jazz fusion, deep in groove, far-out in its sensibilities, and astonishing as a whole. Mesmerizing, rhythmic workouts like “Amar Økse” and “Onwards (keep going)” reveal the stunning heart and soul of the project, while the billy woods collab “Amager,” dark and driving, showcase their full potential, awe-inspiring in their pursuit of instrumental ecstasy. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Porcelain – S/T
Austin post-hardcore group Porcelain were one of the first bands I saw at the Dark Days Bright Nights festival in Richmond this year, and they were likewise one of the most exciting discoveries. The group released their debut via Portrayal of Guilt’s DIY imprint earlier this year, a graceful and abrasive set of rippers that balance post-rock intricacy with the noise rock punch of early Unwound. Where a song like “Vanity” punches hard and holds nothing back, “History” rides an uneasy tension through open space and below-the-bridge scrapes, and “Plastic” finds an unexpected pop immediacy. One of the year’s most blistering debuts from a band that can transition from eerie stillness to outright pummel with ease. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Previous Industries – Service Merchandise
Service Merchandise is a kinda-sorta concept album by Previous Industries, a kinda-sorta concept group comprising Open Mike Eagle, Video Dave and STILL RIFT. And the concept is retail chains that no longer exist: Montgomery Ward, Babbages, Kay Bee, Zayre, and so on. But this is less a nostalgia trip than a warped VHS video tour through lyrical surrealism and woozy productions, playful and psychedelic, weird and wonderful. Which shouldn’t come as a surprise, particularly to longtime listeners of Mike’s music in particular, but the trio have a fluid chemistry and a compelling ear for the peculiar in all the best ways. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp | Amazon (vinyl)
Sharp Pins – Radio DDR
Kai Slater of Chicago noise rock/post-hardcore group Lifeguard makes pristine power pop under the name Sharp Pins, and has already delivered three releases under that mantle in just two years. Radio DDR is the best of the trio, jangly and tuneful, lo-fi and lovely, drawing from a similar well of hooks as vintage Guided by Voices but with decidedly meatier song lengths. Still, after hearing Slater deliver taut, rhythmically intricate bruisers with his primary group, it’s thrilling to witness an entirely new aspect of his songwriting, one that revels in bright and joyful melodies and a sunnier palette. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Brandon Seabrook – Object of Unknown Function
As far as solo guitar records go, you won’t hear a more mind-blowingly bonkers maelstrom—in any year—than Object of Unknown Function by New York City experimental shredder Brandon Seabrook. The heroics that the bionic-powered Seabrook sprays out on his beat-up guitar and banjo(!) comprise a heady and absurdist collision of prog-rock, arena metal, freaky folk and damaged bluegrass, delivered through a punk rock lens. The lightning-speed guitar army-like sonic din Seabrook whips up raises the question: how is it even remotely possible a single guitarist can raise such an ungodly racket? On his second solo album, Seabrook achieves the impossible, somehow sounding like the late greats Glenn Branca and Eddie Van Halen and Meat Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood and Bill Orcutt wrapped into one. Epic, trippy riffage. – BC
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Somos La Herencia – Joven Predicador
Madrid goth-rock group Somos La Herencia aren’t a new band—they formed back in 2012, but only released their debut album, Dolo, in 2020. So it’s not necessarily surprising that the sound of the group on sophomore album Joven Predicador (“youth pastor”) is one of a bold and seasoned group, connecting disparate parts into a darkly intoxicating whole. Braiding threads of post-punk, industrial, noise rock, even rap (in its most cacophonous form, naturally), Somos La Herencia feel like transatlantic counterparts to an American group like Model/Actriz or Amiture, capturing apocalyptic moods through seductive soundscapes. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Soshi Takeda – Secret Communication
Japanese beatmaker Soshi Takeda crafts productions that lean toward either blissful Balearic beat and house or ethereal new age, and the distance between the two isn’t all that distant when you get down to it. His latest EP Secret Communication, his first for the typically excellent 100% Silk label, bridges that gap brilliantly, with moments like “Can Imagination Transcend Distance?” simultaneously weightless and pulsing, while “Long Dream” pushes a little heavier on the back end with an old-school synth bassline and dreamy bell tones, and “Rain Storm” is, simply put, pure mood. This is dance music, or come down music, or early morning contemplation music—Takeda leaves it up to us to decide when and where to let his productions shape the sound of our experience. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Tenue – Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos
The melancholy melody of trumpet that opens the latest album from Galicia, Spain crustpunk group Tenue gives some indication that they’re not simply playing from the same script of crust and screamo bands before them. Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos is at once blisteringly intense and gorgeously graceful, incorporating atmospheric post-rock interludes, maximalist arrangements with horns, multi-layered vocals, soaring melodies, sections of bossa nova rhythms, and an unrelenting fury throughout. It’s not necessarily a surprise to hear such an ambitious record within the screamo sphere yet again this year, after having already heard such great releases from Infant Island and Frail Body. In its most intense moments, it’s an album of blazing riffs and unstoppable power, but the whole of the journey just makes it that much more interesting.
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Upright Forms – Blurred Wires
Nick Sakes is a Midwestern post-hardcore, math-rock and noise-rock OG. Over a monumental three decade-plus run that began in 1990 with Dazzling Killmen then on to Colossamite, Sicbay and Xaddax, he unleashed nails-on-chalkboard guitar and shouting fury that’s still booming today. The convulsive debut of Upright Forms, his new trio, shows Sakes not only hasn’t lost a step but he’s still miles ahead of the pack. Blurred Wires is an instant math-punk classic, its addictive ragers loaded to the hilt with spiky licks, sing-along yelps and a Minutemen-like rhythm section. Sakes, bassist/vocalist Noah Paster and drummer Shaun Westphal inject new life into the angular template, adding arena-sized choruses and chunky hooks into their crisp sonic pummel. With Upright Forms, Sakes further enhances his legend status. – BC
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
Various Artists – Club Moss
Founded in 2014 by Oscar Henson (Facta) and Josiah Gladwell (K-Lone), Wisdom Teeth has become a reliably strong outpost for contemporary electronic music. And coinciding with its 10-year anniversary is the excellent Club Moss compilation, featuring both founders’ projects along with standout moments from Purelink, Maya Q, Yushh and Leif, among others, showcasing some of the year’s boldest and most rewarding sounds in bass, IDM, drum and bass, techno and more. True to its name, it’s like a downloadable/streamable club, rife with sounds for movement and chillout alike, while providing consistent headphone stimulation throughout. – JT
Listen/Buy: Bandcamp
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