2024's Best Albums for Old Heads...So Far

Halfway through the year, let's review ten records that scratch a nostalgic itch

Since we’re all still new here, let me get this off my chest right off the bat: top ten lists stress me out.

The small number isn’t the problem. It doesn’t have to be exactly ten to stress me out; twenty, fifty, or a hundred will make me sweat just as much. More, even! No Ripcord (the internet’s most unpopular best kept secret music magazine) has kept me on their staff roster for nearly twenty years — god only knows why, since the cavernous time gaps between my music review submissions have seen entire careers rise and fall — and their annual end of year album ranking ritual, like every other music publication’s, is one I always dread. Lord knows I love a spreadsheet as much as the next guy, but there’s something about fighting over decimal place scoring systems that rises to a level of pedantry that even I can’t stomach.

I approach New Bands for Old Heads recommendations a little bit differently. There are no ratings, no specific order. And perhaps most importantly, while I’ll never recommend a record I don’t love, they aren’t necessarily my personal favorites, either. I’ll leave those for another time, and anyway I still need a while to mull that over.

As always, my goal is to curate music that will feel familiar to you if you haven’t listened to anything new since the second Bush administration, but won’t come across flat or derivative if you’re still routinely scouring the bins.

Below, you’ll find just that sort of list. Ten albums, with a little taste of what they sound like and who might like them. And yes, I’ll throw a playlist in for good measure. But you get to decide which one is best. Me, I’m done making decisions*.

Enjoy!

-Gabbie

*Get back to me at the end of the year when I sing a completely different tune, obviously.

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1. Friko - Where we’ve been, Where we go from here

For (former?) fans of: Saddle Creek circa 2002, fixies, index finger mustache tattoos, grandiose summer anthems
Sounds kinda like: Arcade Fire, mewithoutYou, Animal Collective

2. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know

For (former?) fans of: prom, appeasing the “nobody makes good music anymore” crowd, any album that came out in 1965, literal time travel
Sounds kinda like: The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Byrds

3. Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot

For (former?) fans of: 2000s pop punk, ditching class to go to the skate park, mosh pits, Oakleys
Sounds kinda like: blink-182, Guided by Voices, Lit

4. The Umbrellas - Fairweather Friend

For (former?) fans of: K Records, making or reading ‘zines, unrequited high school crushes, all things twee
Sounds kinda like: Beat Happening, The Magnetic Fields, The Vaselines

5. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven

For (former?) fans of: emotional devastation, vulnerable punk, ‘90s alt radio, religious blasphemy
Sounds kinda like: Hole, PJ Harvey, if The Cardigans played hardcore

6. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy

For (former?) fans of: boarding school, Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, masquerade balls, all things baroque
Sounds kinda like: ABBA, Kate Bush, Queen, David Bowie

7. Yard Act - Where’s My Utopia?

For (former?) fans of: Clint Eastwood-era Gorillaz, the Streets, Beck, sing-talking, unrestrained sarcasm
Sounds kinda like: if Jurassic Five made English post-punk

8. Master Peace - How To Make A Master Peace

For (former?) fans of: electroclash, skinny black ties, getting yelled at in a British accent
Sounds kinda like: CSS, The Ting Tings, Klaxons

9. Francis of Delirium - Lighthouse

For (former?) fans of: ‘90s coming-of-age movie trailers, road trip singalongs, Lilith Fair, fuzzy vocals
Sounds kinda like: 4 Non Blondes, The Cranberries

10. Heems, Lapgan - LAFANDAR

For (former?) fans of: backpack and blog-era hiphop, food, references to Lacanian philosophers
Sounds kinda like: Cannibal Ox, Madlib

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I keep a running list of excellent tracks coming out this year on the big fat playlist below. A more tightly curated version of Album of the Year contenders may soon follow… stay tuned.