MARCH IN REVIEW

Marked by a myriad of highly anticipated albums, the past month saw a lot of great records come out, and we’ll cover all our recommendations, from the mainstream to the underground, here.

BIG HIT RECOMMENDATIONS

Mayhem – Lady Gaga – Industrial, dance-floor pop anthems (Apple Music / Spotify)

Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling – Folk-tinged, mellow acoustic (Apple Music / Spotify)

MUSIC – Playboi Carti – a restless (and reckless) rap mix worth the 5 year wait (Apple Music / Spotify)

Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) – romantic, orchestral, chamber rock-y alternative (Apple Music / Spotify)

JENNIE – RUBY – a synthetic blend of pop and rap (Apple Music / Spotify)

EMO/PUNK RECOMMENDATIONS

Emo and Punk may not be at their heyday, but loyalists will find a lot of enjoyment in some of this month’s albums, an eclectic, perfectly angsty mix.

Gloin – All of your anger is actually shame (and I bet that makes you angry) – electric-tinged, noisy punk (Apple Music / Spotify)

Michael Cera Palin – We Could Be Brave – rough-edged, loud, and perfectly angry (Apple Music / Spotify)

Spring Break! – Harrison Gordon – pop-punk’s guitar and emo’s angst make a great EP (Apple Music / Spotify)

ROCK RECOMMENDATIONS

Rock’s an old genre, and it can get old easily – these picks are some of the newest artists at the frontline, keeping the genre ever-evolving.

Vundabar – Surgery and Pleasure – steely, jagged post-post-post punk (Apple Music / Spotify)

Courting – Lust for Life – metallic, genre defiant indie anthems (Apple Music / Spotify)

HotWax – Hot Shock – explosive pop-rock (Apple Music / Spotify)

Greer – Big Smile – grungy, distortion laden hits reminiscent of the best of the 90s (Apple Music / Spotify)

INDIE ROCK RECOMMENDATIONS

Indie rock is a bit of a nebulous genre, but at its best it’s about not letting genre definitions hold the best instrumentalists back from experimentation – and these tracks show the best results of putting our artists in the sonic laboratory.

Wallows – More – catchy, chimerical b-sides round out 2024’s Model (Apple Music / Spotify)

Pictoria Vark – Nothing Sticks – candid, soft(er)-rock tracks for late drives (Apple Music / Spotify)

Muzzle – Carmine – new, salacious guitar riffs build out an attractive first EP (Apple Music / Spotify)

Perfume Genius – Glory – inside an instrumentally spiraling album is a heart of anxieties (Apple Music / Spotify)

Neal Francis – Return to Zero – unabashedly retro tracks form one of March’s most unique LP’s (Apple Music / Spotify)

Great Grandpa – Patience, Moonbeam – genres swirl like a cloud on this emotional journey, full of guitar and lyrical masterpieces (Apple Music / Spotify)

POP RECOMMENDATIONS

The pop mainstream might have remained a bit quiet outside of Gage and JENNIE, but a number of smaller artists filled the gaps.

Alfie Jukes – All Dressed Up For Nothing – summer-y pop attempts to grab the trails of Short n’ Sweet’s success, and it does a pretty good job (Apple Music / Spotify)

Zoe Ko – not ur girlfriend – viral, dirty alt-pop embraces the strangeness (Apple Music / Spotify)

Flora from Kansas – Homesick – nostalgia runs deep in an indie-pop dreamscape (Apple Music / Spotify)

Panda Bear – Sinister Grift – indie pop made for beach reflections (Apple Music / Spotify)

SPELLLING – Portrait of my Heart – grandiose art pop gives thorny lyricism a soft overlay of theatrical production (Apple Music / Spotify)

aya – hexed! – hyper pop artist aya embraces a new kind of weird on a half-droning, half thumping dance mix (Apple Music / Spotify)

chloe moriondo – oyster – gloomy bedroom pop (Apple Music / Spotify)

SYNTH ROCK RECOMMENDATIONS

March also saw a number of bands embracing the edges between alternative and electronic rock – here’s just a few of our recommendations

The Horrors – Night Life – space age electronica that feels exactly like its title, with just a dash of gothic inspiration keeping the album weird (Apple Music / Spotify)

Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside – haunting, eerie club tracks (Apple Music / Spotify)

Anberlin – Nevertake (feat. Matty Mullins) – arena rock is back, and it’s pumped full of synthesizers (Apple Music / Spotify)

CocoRosie – Little Death Wishes – digital effects unite an array of pop and hip-hop tracks (Apple Music / Spotify)

Mixed Language Picks

At the end of our list, we’d like to remind our readers the power of the musical language itself, and encourage them to explore a few LP’s outside the English language.

Terraplana – natural – brazilian shoegaze proves you don’t need to speak the language to love an LP (Apple Music / Spotify)

Iliona – What if I break up with u? – light, soothing french pop (Apple Music / Spotify)

Jonathan Personne – Nouveau Monde – there’s a certain language to guitar, and a melody to simple lyrics that even non-french speakers can appreciate in this rock album (Apple Music / Spotify)

Polo & Pan – 22:22 – the french (sorry we don’t know why March was so french) doing what they do best – dance music (Apple Music / Spotify)

Notable Singles

Lord Huron – Nothing I Need

Car Seat Headrest – Gethsemane

Doechii – Anxiety

HAIM – Relationships

Lil Nas X – Dreamboy (and subsequent others)
Wishy – Planet Popstar
Sleep Token – Emergence

Chappel Roan – The Giver

Bon Iver – Walk Home, If Only I Could Wait

Ashnikko – Itty Bitty

Jack Harlow – Just Us

MARINA – CUPID’S GIRL