For our 22nd version of The Glide 20- best albums of the year list, the names that came up were suddenly ones of artists we didn’t think might ever appear on a year-end again: The Cure, David Gilmour to ones we know won’t be for the final time: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Ty Segall, and Billy Strings. Also, in between, some artists might have made their most career-defining statements, like MJ Lenderman (pictured) with Manning Fireworks and Waxahatchee for Tigers Blood. So with the variety tuned into what we cover the most,here is the Glide 20 for 2024, with 20 honorable mentions (all in alphabetical order).
Aaron Frazer – Into The Blue
Soul music is inspiring, and Aaron Frazer is a big reason. The multi-hyphenate artist has spent years learning how to perfect that nostalgic, sinfully sweet sound the genre is known for, only to create his latest project, Into The Blue, which breaks all the rules. The sprawling and experimental effort has Frazer blending his passion for Hip-hop with his natural knack for crafting infectious melodies that harken back to his heroes while keeping Frazer planted firmly in the present with a vulture-like gaze on the future.
Amyl and the Sniffers- Cartoon Darkness
Underneath the surface, Cartoon Darkness is an experimental punk album. Amyl and The Sniffers pieced together a head-spinning tracklist that transitions from slow-burning psychedelia to the blistering punk fans have come to expect from the band, but Cartoon Darkness is not about what you desire; It’s about the current moment. Even during those moments when the band slips back into their old punk tricks, feel elevated as the searing guitars and acrobatic vocals elevate Amyl and The Sniffers’s fast-paced brand of punk. This is the band as you’ve never heard them before, and they sound better than ever.
Billy Strings – Highway Prayers
While Highway Prayers may surprise some fans due to its genuine old-school bluegrass environs, it ultimately stands as another testament to Strings’ unmatched artistic genius. Highway Prayers is a marked departure from his previous releases and takes on a “quality not quantity” approach to the song lengths, focusing on more traditional-leaning material in which none of the tracks surpass the six-minute mark and over half clock in at under four minutes.
Bonny Light Horseman – Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free
The core trio of Eric D. Johnson, Anaïs Mitchell, and Josh Kaufman reinvent their soaring harmonies with a masterful 20-track album. The trio touches into Celtic folk, Jazz, 60s vocal harmonies, and plenty of songwriting genius with experimental touches. This attention to sonic details and layers of instrumental touches, combined with the harmonious vocal connection, deft songwriting, and easy-rolling charm, makes Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free Bonny Light Horseman’s one of the most adventurous and melodic albums of the past year.
Brittany Howard – What Now
In 2019, Brittany Howard’s fantastic debut solo record Jaime was a genre-defying coming-out party. That exciting sense that anything can happen at any moment is alive and vibrant throughout this even better follow-up. Gone is the retro rock of The Alabama Shakes, and in its place is a radiating neon kaleidoscope of Afrofuturism. Supremely excellent pop bangers nestle next to soul ballads and collide with jazzy flights of fancy as speaker-shaking low-end, distorted synths, slapping percussion, and prayer bowls wander in and out wonderfully over twelve riveting tracks.
The Cure –Songs of A Lost World
The Cure breaks a 16-year new album silence with the release of Songs Of A Lost World. The 8-song outing has the iconic band blending their gothic tones with a theatrical flair, giving these songs a sense of urgency as The Cure’s bleak viewpoints are delivered via a familiar yet improved Cure sound. This late-career highlight doesn’t often happen as The Cure enters their golden era and are adored as much as ever.
David Gilmour – Luck & Strange
While most people consider the Endless River Pink Floyd’s final statement, this fourth solo album from one of the most critical voices and soloists in rock history leaves where The Division Bell left off. He didn’t have to gift us a new album, soaring guitar solos, and that soothing, distinguished vocals style that laid the soundtrack for many a casual or avid rock listener.
Geordie Greep – The New Sound
Former Black Midi member Geordie Greep wastes no time diving into his solo discography as the frontman releases The New Sound. The sound in question is a daring and ever-growing effort to push the boundaries of post-rock to the furthest and most nuanced corners, and these eleven songs show us that the mission is a success. “As If Waltz” is a nearly eight-minute outing that emphasizes Greep’s cartoonish approach to rock music with tempo and tone changes that can only be described as whimsical.
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – Woodland
On Woodland, the delicate duo dives head first into simplistic yet powerful folk with nothing to prove to anyone. This might be why their latest album is brimming with vivid storytelling that fills the sonic void left by Rawlings’s guitar’s sparse acoustics. “North Country” takes you on a twangy trip through the South as Welch’s storytelling abilities take center stage, while the warmth of the arrangement creates a hazy fog of folksy tropes.
The Hard Quartet – The Hard Quartet
The Hard Quartet brings together four veterans hellbent on challenging themselves to create a comprised of Emmet Kelly, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, and Jim White. The sprawling effort has the band diving into nostalgic Brit-pop and modern hard rock all the same, using their confessional songwriting as a connective tissue between the sonic realms.
Jessica Pratt – Here in the Pitch
Jessica Pratt continues to build a discography of touching poetry and moving vocal performances on her latest release. Here in the Pitch is a quick and powerful LP. Standing at only nine songs, Pratt ensured no second was wasted. “Better Hate” has the artist exploring the complexity of longing, delivering her lyrics on a bed of ambiance that quickly shifts to experimental folk-pop.
Johnny Blue Skies – Passage du Desir
Sturgill Simpson’s name won’t have to do any heavy lifting as he created a new persona, Johnny Blue Skies, while sounding like his classic Country records. Simpson’s core is mixing outlaw-based country with classic Nashville pop and slightly psychedelic flourishes. Those ingredients are all in play here to varying degrees, and while it seems he will never leave Country behind, the most successful efforts on Passage Du Desir are the least beholden to the genre.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard- Flight b741
The prolific Aussies made their most accessible album yet, where classic rock melodies, country twang experiments, and different band members taking various lead vocal duties fill up this album. The band sacrifices their love for challenging sonics for soaring harmonies that accent subtle nods to Western nostalgia while filling the room with glorious arrangements, creating a tight and consistently entertaining tracklist that still finds ways to shock and amaze.
Los Bitchos – Talkie Talkie
Drenched in swirling reverb, the atmosphere evoked by Talkie Talkie is lush and cinematic – whiffs of surf rock, loping Latin drums, and shiny, liquid guitar twangs. A dozen tracks highlight on Talkie Talkie including “Hi!,” with its bluesy, psychedelia-lace guitars riding a Latin-lite funk rhythm. In contrast, the rest of the album encompasses an all-around blast of kinetic rhythmic energy.
Man Man – Carrot On Strings
By diving into the familiar, Man Man emerges with something alien. Carrot on Strings may appear like an amalgamation of lofty ideas upon first listen, but a more profound concept must be digested here. By borrowing from the sonic worlds he has orbited for so long, Ryan Kattner was able to look more inward. By allowing themselves to work outside their usual parameters, Man Man created an album that is stubbornly present and wickedly honest for an outing that welcomes confusion and thrives on raw honesty.
Melissa Carper- Borned In Ya
The ever-expanding Western-fusion work of Melissa Carper has the artist blending Americana, blues, and subtle notes of jazz. Borned In Ya, is a hazy lo-fi folk outing with sentimental songwriting delivered with a quaint charm over the dusty twang of the arrangements. “There’ll Be Another One” sounds like a ballad straight out of an old Cowboy film, while her signature vocal tones evoke pure nostalgia as an ever-growing arrangement gives “There’ll Be Another One” a modern twist.
MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks
Manning Fireworks, the follow-up to 2022’s Boat Songs, has solidified him into the realm of Kurt Vile and Kevin Morby. This debut on ANTI is an unpretentious affair, filled with plenty of sly, witty humor and underdog energy. Mellow, sometimes bordering on melancholy, the wit in his lyrics is balanced out by sadness and starkness on a lot of the music, which plays like a long-lost Neil Young album.
Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites
Sheer Mag makes music that inspires you to have fun. It sure sounds like they had a blast recording their new record. Playing Favorites is an infectious country-rock album with anthems galore. There is something for everyone on here. “I Gotta Go” is for the hopeless romantics. The band creates an irresistible arrangement to croon about star-crossed lovers and the longing that comes with it.
Ty Segall – Three Bells
TySegall’s imaginative world of psychedelic garage rock seems to make a hyperbolized impression of itself on Three Bells. Segall is your shaman throughout Three Bells; his vocals float above these unpredictably dense arrangements and act as a guiding hand through complex rhythms and contradicting melodies. Segall created an album that leans into his loftiest ideas while making it sound human and present.
Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood
Katie Crutchfield’s unique take on modern country results in twangy guitar balladry and songwriting that reveals moving poetry. His first record for the Anti-label is a dozen laid-back, breezy singalongs sung over acoustic guitars, pianos, and the occasional banjo and dobro, where her most immediate artist statement has been made.
Honorable Mentions
Beachwood Sparks – Across The River Of Stars
Charley Crocket – $10 Cowboy
Charlie Parr – Little Sun
The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
Ducks LTD – Harm’s Way
Elbow – Audio Vertigo
Fat Dog – Woof.
Fontaines DC – Romance
Jean Dawson – Glimmer of God
Jeremie Albino – Our Time In The Sun
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield
Julian Lage – Speak to Me
Kelly Finigan – A Lover Was Born
Leslie Mendelson – After The Party
Melvins – Tarantula Heart
Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes
Pokey LaFarge – Rhumba Country
Samara Joy – Portrait
Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia?
