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Car Seat Headrest: The Scholars
New album: This first album in five years by the band fronted by Virginia singer and songwriter Will Toledo is a flamboyant, grandiose concept piece, a galloping, epic, theatrical, dynamic, multifarious rock opera inspired by the likes of The Who’s Tommy, but set in a fictional Parnassus University campus, each song representing a character and perspective in the story
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Little Barrie and Malcolm Catto: Electric War
New album: Sharp, stylish, bluesy, 60s garage rock and psychedelia by the British power trio, of Barrie Cadogan and Lewis Wharton, best known for the theme from Better Call Saul, teaming up with acclaimed producer and drummer of The Heliocentrics
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The Moonlandingz: No Rocket Required
New album: Seven years since their last LP together, and many different projects in the meantime, Fat White Family’s Lias Saoudi and Eccentronic Research Council’s Dean Honer and Adrian Flanagan return with their clever, witty electro-dance satire on a dystopian world, with guests including Iggy Pop, Nadine Shah, Jessica Winter and actor Ewen Bremner
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Mamalarky: Hex Key
New album: Defying definition other than the label of experimental psych-rock four-piece – the Los Angeles band’s album is an eccentric, quirky set of songs that can’t easily be unlocked with this tool or any other, but still pull you into their enjoyably agile mystery
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UMMA, the fourth album by Ecuador’s Don Bolo
New album: Striking, otherworldly, ghostly, evocatively cinematic and powerful experimental instrumentals by the band from Quito, Ecuador, this fourth LP is inspired by the work of Dune author George Herbert as well as the dark, dystopian events of modern times
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Valerie June: Owls, Omens, and Oracles
New album: Stylish, catchy, charismatic, effervescent, uplifting, retro, Memphis soul, Americana and country by the singer-songwriter from Jackson, Tennessee whose distinctive, bright resonant voice has some echoes of Eartha Kitt and Macy Gray
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Index For Working Musik: Which Direction Goes The Beam
New album: Fantastically inventive, stylishly strange, experimental post-punk by the London band on this latest release, with angular guitars, thrumming guffawing brass, jittery, ghostly orchestral strings, and semi-spoken, sometimes whispered, arresting, often menacing vocals
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The Waterboys: Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
New album: A sprawling, lengthy, pseudo-beatnik rock-country release by the British band fronted by Mike Scott, here celebrating the life of the charismatic, often misunderstand hell-raising Hollywood icon, spanning multiple genres, particularly Americana, with a spread of guests including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple
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Brian D'Addario: Till The Morning
New album: A solo album by one half of the Long Island brothers band The Lemon Twigs, here channelling his many 60s and 70s influences, from The Beatles to The Hollies, Beach Boys to Byrds to Dave Clark Five, bringing balladic beauty and melancholy, and old-school vocal harmony pop
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Echolalia
New album: A Nashville ‘supergroup’ in the most free-flowing, relaxed form imaginable, Spencer Cullum, Andrew Combs, Jordan Lehning, Dominic Billett and others combine in a beautiful intertwining of pastoral folk, country, and dream-like, psychedelic Americana
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Melin Melyn: Mill On The Hill
New album: Enormously entertaining, witty, catchy, folk-country-psych-rock by the Cardiff-London band, with clear, upbeat comparisons to Gruff Rhys and Super Furry Animals as well as other original twists in this warm, vintage-feel new release
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da Googie + Cary Tivey: The Golden Thread
New album: A mesmeric, cutting-edge, experimental tapestry of dark, magical, musical textures and songs by an English duo of seasoned, innovative collaborators – My Bloody Valentine bass player Deb Googe, and pianist and composer Cara Tivey in a superb debut LP together
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DARKSIDE: Nothing
New album: Filled with infectious, mystifying oddball but at times brilliant grooves across a range of styles – krautrock, funk, Latin, indie, psyche, prog rock, warped pop, contemporary classical and jazz among others, this third LP by New York’s Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington sees an expansion of their eclectic experimentation now joined by drummer and instrument designer Tlacael Esparza
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Panda Bear: Sinister Grift
New album: The ever eclectic Animal Collective, Lisbon-based frontman Noah Lennox’s first solo album for five years is an oddly reflective but rather beautiful heartbreak album, one coming out of his divorce, but rich in many styles, from Beach Boys vocal harmonies to reggae, Latin to disco, jaunty 70s pop to psychedelia
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Doves: Constellations For The Lonely
New album: A glorious sixth LP by the Manchester indie band, weathering many ups and downs, including ongoing mental health issues for lead vocalist and bass player Jimi Goodwin who is unable to tour, but despite that, summoning a powerful, dynamic, passionate work of darkness and light, and one of the best in the 25 years since their debut, Lost Souls
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Squid: Cowards
New album: Fabulously strange, inventive and and cleverly unsettling third album by the Brighton experimental post-punk, alt-rock quintet with a series of first-person narratives and inner monologues by fictional, disturbing characters - from cult leaders, serial killers, cannibals, sociopaths and arsonists
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Matt Berry: Heard Noises
New album: The British comic actor, known now for 20 years, from Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place to Toast of London to What We Do In The Shadows, returns with his other great indulgent passion, as eccentric multi-instrumentalist and singer of 60s and 70s-inspired psychedelic rock and pop on this impressive 11th studio album
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Cameron Winter: Heavy Metal
New album: Released last month, the Geese frontman’s solo LP is nothing like its title in genre, but a brilliantly eccentric, eclectic, inventive, surreal mosaic of dream-like DIY oddness – blues, folk, pop and psych rolled up in droll humour, existential dread and creative patchwork streams of the sub-conscious and non-sequitur
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The second part of our favourite albums of 2024
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 2. Part 1 can be found here. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but please dig into this rich seam of originality and quality, and even suggest more of your own
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This year’s selections include some returning veterans at the top of their game as well as some fabulous newcomers
Favourite albums of 2024: Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 1. There’s no such thing as ‘best of’ and everything is subjective, but rich seams of originality and quality are certainly here to be enjoyed. Peruse away …
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