The first quarter of 2024 is upon us, and the industry has some real incredible records set to arrive between now and the end of March. We are especially excited about the upcoming releases from Kali Uchis, Sleater-Kinney, Katy Kirby and Yard Act, though that only just scratches the surface of what’s to come. Be sure to check back in here in March to see what’s to come in April, May and June. Without further ado, here is the first installment of our most anticipated albums of 2024. —Matt Mitchell, Music Editor
January 5
Pile: Hot Air Balloon EP
Sprints: Letter to Self
January 12
@: Are You There God, It’s Me @ EP
Kali Uchis: Orquídeas
Colombian R&B goddess Kali Uchis invited us into her high femme universe in 2023 with Red Moon In Venus, and she is continuing her floral fantasy in 2024 with her second full-length Spanish album Orquideas. In this love letter to her heritage, she is creating a mystical wonderland dedicated to the flower of Colombia—the orchid. In the album’s singles so far—Te Mata, Muñekita and Labios Mordidos—the nostalgic soul of Red Moon In Venus has given way to a vibrant party of Latinx celebration. Uchis is ready to bring the party in 2024. —Olivia Abercrombie
Marika Hackman: Big Sigh
Marika Hackman just keeps getting better on Big Sigh, her first LP of new songs since 2019. On “Slime,” Hackman opens gracefully, in a dreamy folk space before suddenly erupting into a flickering brightness—as she sings “I see you / I see you.” Her dynamic composition draws the song in and out, both sonically and emotionally. “I want your head above mine,” she vocalizes, in a moment of unbroken intimacy. Even still, she then concedes “These things take a little time.” “Slime” is pure desire in full, animated joy. It is sensual, yet so brilliantly patient. “Hanging” is the definition of a slow burn, and we can’t get enough of it. The track begins soft, slow and unassuming—with Hackman’s sweet vocals gently echoing off the edges of the mix. She’s hurting, and she holds nothing back in metaphor or imagery to show us that—as she sings, “I know you don’t mean it / But I’m breaking like a wound.” At around the halfway point, the track’s instrumental almost fully drops out, leaving us caught between Hackman’s quivering cadence and an impossibly tense silence. Hackman, though, does the impossible throughout the course of the song: She lets go. Drums, guitar and violin punch and pulse through a newfound loudness, exploding through the track’s previous understatedness. Hackman vocalizes—or, rather, almost yells—over them, singing “You were a part of me / I’m so relieved it hurts.” It is only here, when she finds the past tense to assert over the loudness, that we are able to breathe a sigh of relief. —Madelyn Dawson
Nailah Hunter: Lovegaze
Vacations: No Place Like Home
January 19
glass beach: plastic death
Green Day: Saviors
February also marks the 30th anniversary of Dookie. Feel old yet?
PACKS: Melt the Honey
Toronto’s PACKS are keeping pace to release an album every year of the 2020s. With their fourth album since 2021, Melt the Honey brings shoegaze flourish to their laid-back indie rock sound. Madeline Link continues to impress with maturity and poise with PACKS’ sun-drenched sound. —Olivia Abercrombie
Sleater-Kinney: Little Rope
As they prepare for the release of their forthcoming 11th studio album, it’s become increasingly clear that we must, at long last, universally consider Sleater-Kinney as one of the very best groups to ever do it. The alt-rock legends prove as much on “Say It Like You Mean It,” a battle cry sustaining the energy with which it opens through its whole length. Corin Tucker’s voice is clear, peremptory and biting, especially when she asks you to “Say it like you mean it.”. There is no way to deny her what she demands. With a thundering back beat and quirky, sporadic riffing from her and Carrie Brownstein, “Say It Like You Mean It” is pure rock bliss; Dig Me Out for an eternally moving, ferocious future. Equally as eternal was lead single “Hell”—a loud, unfettered volcano of rock ‘n’ roll that traverses across several distortions and melodies. Through racing guitars and piercing, confident and unrestrained vocals, “Hell” is big, bold, ferocious and plainspoken. “Hell don’t have no worries, Hell don’t have no past,” the track rings out. “Hell is just a signpost when you take a certain path.” A part of Little Rope was conceived after Carrie Brownstein’s mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident in 2022, and you can feel the grief and anger from the tragedy as a vital backbone in the song’s thematic spectrum—and, likely, the album’s, too. —Madelyn Dawson & Matt Mitchell
January 26
Courting: New Last Name
Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore
We can all rejoice: Future Islands are back. After dropping a few singles—“King of Sweden” and “Deep in the Night”—late last year, the Baltimore synth-pop heroes properly announced their seventh studio album, People Who Aren’t There Anymore. “The Tower” is quintessential Future Islands. I can’t think of a band who is constantly fine-tuning their own trademark better than these four guys. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it—or so they say. But even then, Future Islands are still finding new ways to polish a diamond on “The Tower.” Be it through the pulsing teardrop synthesizers from Gerrit Welmers or the precise percussion from Michael Lowry or the underscoring melody from William Cashion, the song aches and wiggles across a sonic pattern that is as dense and refreshing as it is rewarding. As always, Samuel T. Herring continues to be one of the best bandleaders in the world; Future Islands make it all look easy on “The Tower.” Less uptempo than the momentous “The Tower,” “The Fight” finds Herring standing alone and belting to the heavens. Continuing his streak of being one of the brightest frontmen in contemporary music, Herring gives one of his best performances to-date here. Shedding the larger-than-life energy he normally harnesses without skipping a beat, he embraces an anthemic delivery on this ballad (or, what a Future Islands ballad might sound like). The work is introspective and delicate, as the synths speckle like teardrops and the undercurrent of throbbing, groovy bass and methodical, spaced-out percussion rumble beneath Herring’s shepherding. —Matt Mitchell
Goth Babe: Lola
Katy Kirby: Blue Raspberry
Katy Kirby had, easily, the best run of singles in 2023. Beginning with “Cubic Zirconia,” a swift, dazzling folk-rock emblem that is just pure singer/songwriter bliss, Kirby employed hints of country balladry and blues-inspired indie. The song builds like a Phoebe Bridgers song until it climaxes like a Katy Kirby number. “Face framed by hoodie like an oyster in a shell and your eyes are rolling at me as a pair of angry pearls,” she waxes poetic in an angelic octave. “You’re the prettiest mermaid in the souvenir shop, but you’re coming home this late, you know you’d better be drunk.” “Cubic Zirconia” is a whole-hearted, visceral take on how displacement and adoration can be juxtaposed in conversations around love, and Kirby’s approach is a particularly striking, rewarding and perfect one. “You look like dollar signs,” she insists. Come to think of it, that sounds quite nice. “Table” is a tender, buzzing ballad that swells into a massive, epic finale about Kirby’s upbringing as a home-schooled kid in an evangelical Christian family. “He pours a pool of salt in my hand, showing me how I ought to throw a little bit over the surface like rain, the surface like rain,” she sings. “On the wicked and righteous, the laymen and saints.” And, lastly, “Party of the Century” is another mark of distinctive, stirring beauty. “Party Of The Century” might, based on the title alone, suggest that it’s an anthemic, upbeat song—but Kirby is not the type of musician to let us off so easily. No, “Party Of The Century” is pensive and sublime and harmonic, as the largely acoustic arrangement—packed with violin and folkloric percussion—establishes itself, immediately, as one of the best Kirby has ever proctored. —Matt Mitchell
Sarah Jarosz: Polaroid Lovers
The Smile: Wall Of Eyes
Read our review of The Smile’s last LP, A Light For Attracting Attention, here.
TORRES: What An Enormous Room
The hollow claps of a futuristic drum introduce “I got the fear” before TORRES herself can. The track was Mackenzie Ruth Scott’s second single of 2023 under her beloved moniker, in anticipation of her upcoming album What an enormous room. On “I got the fear,” her voice is more angelic and delicate than we are used to, but she still brings an introspective darkness to the track’s forward-pointing airiness. “Though my usual tricks aren’t working / And our only world is burning / And even what is only real in my head / Destroys me, are we all doomed / To fulfill this prophecy?” she sings, as the steady percussive beat remains ceaseless. TORRES, in her own stirring way, reminds us of a world on fire. “Collect” is replete with seething theatrics but doesn’t try to veil its indignation. It’s a revenge song, and it’s damn proud of itself for being one. The subtle shrillness of Scott’s voice drills into you as she sings over and over, “Did I hit a nerve?,” in a way that makes sure you know she hopes the answer is yes. The synth beat brings the drama and TORRES’s voice, steeped in a caustic revilement, adds a sharpness that is wholly novel and wholly TORRES. She sings “I came here to collect,” and with writing, performance and production credits on a song this fiery, TORRES can be sure that she’s doing what she set out to. —Madelyn Dawson
Ty Segall: Three Bells
Willi Carlisle: Critterland
February 2
Brittany Howard: WHAT NOW
J Mascis: What Do We Do Now
Kirin J Callinan: If I Could Sing
Liquid Mike: Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot
The Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy
February 9
Chelsea Wolfe: She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She
Chelsea Wolfe has already begun to ensnare us in her newest project with deliciously dark singles “Dusk,” “Whispers In The Echo Chamber” and “Tunnel Lights.” She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She is a powerful journey of catharsis and healing for the alt-pop singer. —Olivia Abercrombie
Declan McKenna: What Happened to the Beach?
English singer/songwriter Declan Mckenna is set to drop his third studio album What Happened to the Beach? in February. After years of being burdened by the weight of industry expectations and feeling like his music has to be “right,” he is bringing back the joy of creation by channeling his favorite musicians. Staying true to his art of place, What Happened to the Beach? paints a picture of a sizzling beach transcendent of any feasible time and place. It’s a chance for McKenna and us to get lost in his art without consequence. —Olivia Abercrombie
Ducks Ltd: Harm’s Way
Helado Negro: Phasor
Loving: Any Light
Madi Diaz: Weird Faith
Pouty: Forget About Me
February 16
Friko: Where we’ve been, Where we go from here
Read our album announcement feature on Friko here.
Grandaddy: Blu Wav
IDLES: Tangk
Read our review of IDLES’ last album, CRAWLER, here.
Laura Jane Grace: Hole in My Head
Middle Child: Faith Crisis Pt 1
Omni: Souvenir
Serpentwithfeet: Grip
February 23
Glitterer: Rationale
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive
Read our review of Hurray for the Riff Raff’s last album, LIFE ON EARTH, here and see where their recent single “Alibi” landed on our list of the 100 best songs of 2023.
Laetitia Sadier: Rooting for Love
Mary Timony: Untame the Tiger
MGMT: Loss of Life
Real Estate: Daniel
February 28
Stay Inside: Ferried Away
March 1
Coco: 2
Footballhead: Overthinking Everything
Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
Philly punks Mannequin Pussy are bearing their teeth with their upcoming album I Got Heaven. They are showing off their new recording process—collaborating with producer John Congleton instead of writing at home—with three singles packed with the grit and whimsy Mannequin Pussy is best known for. Rich with shoegaze influences, raunchy lyrics and their unmistakable punk edge, I Got Heaven is going to be a killer follow-up to their 2019 punk paragon Patience. —Olivia Abercrombie
Sheer Mag: Playing Favorites
Yard Act: Where’s My Utopia?
Read our 2022 Best of What’s Next feature on Yard Act here.
March 8
Bleachers: Bleachers
Read our review of Bleachers’ last album, Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night, here.
brother bird: another year
Judas Priest: Invincible Shield
Meatbodies: Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom
The Jesus and Mary Chain: Glasgow Eyes
March 15
Sweet Pill: Starchild EP
March 22
Francis of Delirium: Lighthouse
Lauran Hibberd: Girlfriend Material
Odetta Hartman: Swansongs
March 29
Chastity Belt: Live Laugh Love
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers: Revelations
TBA / Anticipated
070 Shake: Mango Tree Story
Adrianne Lenker
Another Michael: Turn Me Upside Down
Bartees Strange
Charli XCX
Charly Bliss
Cheekface
Chris Acker
Cloud Nothings
DIIV
Dua Lipa
Joanna Newsom
JPEGMAFIA
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
Kississippi
Maggie Rogers
Marci
Sam Fender
Sierra Ferrell
Sinai Vessel
Sky Ferreira: Masochism
SZA: Lana
The Black Keys
The Lemon Twigs
Vampire Weekend