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
Noah Cyrus & Fleet Foxes - Don’t Put It All On Me
Kali Uchis - Sunshine & Rain…
Dua Lipa - Physical (feat. Troye Sivan)
Artemas - southbound / test drive
Interested in giving a little bit of everything a listen? Find our full playlist on Spotify or Apple Music