#stand still

The zombie virus infection spread very quickly. In just a week, hundreds of residents became zombies. They now wander slowly. And stand and stare into the distance. This virus is less active. And it makes them more passive. It's as if they're just standing and staring. As if they're tired. And they need to rest. But it's the same thing. A zombie virus. Only different.

2024 has been a wonderful year for new music. I feel like I developed a deeper relationship with music this year than ever before. I started writing full reviews and actually consistently posting on this blog. The year has been challenging, but this dumb act of trying to structure my thoughts on a subject has given me a place to escape to while simultaneously strengthening the relationship between my brain, fingers, and ears. Read on for my favourite records of the year.

25. fantasy of a broken heart - Feats of Engineering

SOUNDS LIKE: SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS AND SWEET CEREAL MILK / LISTEN

Something about fantasy of a broken heart’s music feels nostalgic, like watching Saturday morning cartoons with a bowl of fruit loops. Synthesizers and electric guitars swirl around funky drum and bass rhythms to create fun melodies in colourful matrimony, and the disposition between the vocalist Al Nardo’s cutesy swoons and Bailey Wollowitz’s lower register narrations gives everything a kind of goofy and lighthearted Adventure Time appeal. There is a bit of an adolescent charm to the music that just makes me smile, but this is some of the most fun and forward thinking pop music I’ve heard in ages.

24. Elias Rønnenfelt - Heavy Glory

SOUNDS LIKE: GRITTY AND ORCHESTRAL ACOUSTIC BALLADS / LISTEN

Elias Rønnenfelt’s debut solo album might struggle to draw over casual Iceage listeners, but if you liked Rønnenfelt’s other band Marching Church, and can get down with a heavy dose of melodramatic embellishment, then you’re in for a real treat. Heavy Glory finds Rønnenfelt reaching for the acoustic guitar to focus more on grounded story telling as he strings together a collection of moody ballads that are ornamented by a collection of chamber instruments like double bass, violin, cello, and piano, amongst other oddities. The album is a bit of a mixed bag of production and songwriting techniques, but the atmosphere is fairly consistent throughout, and Elias sounds like he has found his sonic palace.

23. Christopher Owens - I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair

SOUNDS LIKE: DEPRESSING DREAM POP & SURF ROCK / LISTEN

Christopher Owens has returned with his first solo album in nine years, and in that span of time, life has thrown a lot of shit in Owens’ face. I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair find Owens writing some of his most depressing lyrics ever as he ponders life, death, and heaven as his backing band lays down some surprisingly bright and jangly grooves with all the surf and psych sensibilities that made Girls sophomore album so light and catchy. It’s a beautiful return to form for Owens, and I couldn’t be happier.

22. Inter Arma - New Heaven

SOUNDS LIKE: DISSONANT DEATH METAL AND GOTHIC BLUES / LISTEN

This was my first exposure to Inter Arma, and the turn this album took was so unexpected and fascinating to me. New Heaven starts off with a dissonant, blackened death pummel fest that lasts for the first three songs before transitioning to the dark side of the moon with an epic instrumental passage of soulful leads and plodding, funeral-esque drums. Then the second half begins to get really experimental with it’s blend of gothic blues, post metal and neo-folk. Guitars are sharp like razor wire, vocals are low and evil, and the whole thing just thunders with an atmospheric, dark energy. It’s truly a journey of an album for those who appreciate some genre diversity in their metal.

21. One Step Closer - All You Embrace

SOUNDS LIKE: MELODIC HARDCORE WITH GIGANTIC FUZZY HOOKS / LISTEN

Ever since One Step Closer's EP Songs for the Willow swept me off my feet in early 2023, I had been on the edge of my seat waiting for a full length. That EP showed a distinct shift toward more melodic inclinations, and the result was three of their most structurally interesting and emotionally fulfilling songs to date. This new album marks a further push into melodic pop-punk territory while still retaining the grit of their hardcore past, and while the song structures might be a tad less adventurous, it's still absolutely oozing in heart and brimming with memorable hooks and chunky nostalgic riffs that feel like the morning glow dissolving into your bed.

20. Porter Robinson - SMILE! :D

SOUNDS LIKE: SYNTH POP, INDIETRONICA, DISSOLVING SUGAR / LISTEN

I didn't want to love this album, but it hugged me tight and didn't let go. This one is for all the kids who grew up listening to shit like Owl City, Hellogoodbye, and maybe even a bit of The Postal Service. Gigantic synthesizers, catchy pop melodies, dance breaks, and bittersweet vocals. It’s a brand of nostalgia that makes me feel like a spoonful of sugar dissolving in rice krispies. I think Porter shot himself in the foot by frontloading this album with bangers, because the drop in energy almost deterred me from continuing to listen. But that opening sequence kept dragging me back in, and the mellow indietronica vibes of the second half grew on me big time, in big part due to Porter's self aware lyrics and sugary vocal melodies. This album is like that teddy bear from your childhood that you just can't let go of.

19. The Requiem - A Cure To Poison The World

SOUNDS LIKE: MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE REVIVAL / LISTEN

A Cure To Poison The World is an unadulterated love letter to the MySpace era of post-hardcore and emo that brings us straight back in time with a familiar sense of desperation and dramatic flair drawn from the school of My Chemical Romance and The Used. Despite it's derivative nature, this is still a highly competent release from a band that is genuinely just trying to recapture the glory days of raw and emotive rock music. No, they aren't doing anything new, but what they are doing is executed with such a high standard of quality and reverence for their predecessors that it doesn't even matter. I'm always impressed by how engaging this record is when I return to it.

18. Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey - Compassion

SOUNDS LIKE: HIGHLY EVOCATIVE PIANO, BASS AND DRUM JAZZ / LISTEN

When I signed up for Sputnik's "review a random album" game and was assigned this one, I was pretty excited about the opportunity to indulge myself in a genre that I don’t fully understand. Thankfully, you don’t have to be particularly smart or have a degree in music theory to enjoy this album. Vijay Iyer speaks directly to the soul with his piano playing, and together with Linda May Han Oh and Tyshawn Sorey, they have created a beautiful exploration of the human experience that covers a lot of emotional ground. There are some small bits of intensity and chaos sprinkled here and there, but the majority of the record is quite easygoing, and the ebb and wide range of moods on display keeps it incredibly engaging. If you listen to ONE jazz album this year, let it be this one. Shout out MiloRuggles!

17. Straw Man Army - Earthworks

SOUNDS LIKE: MELODIC PUNK WITH DEEP ANARCHO ROOTS / LISTEN

Without an ounce of hyperbole, Straw Man Army are simply one of those once-in-a-generation punk bands that are truly pushing the envelope of what punk can be. Not by reinventing the wheel, but by casting aside the self-perpetuating constraints the genre imposes upon itself, and grasping for influences that fall outside the fault line. At the end of the day, Straw Man Army are just doing what everyone else does: combining different aspects of the wheel into something that hopefully displays a shred of novelty, but it’s the way that they do so while still remaining arguably more punk than any other band in the scene that is so damn impressive. Earthworks is one of the most original and thought provoking punk albums ever made, and will probably remain so for quite some time.

16. Balance And Composure - with you in spirit

SOUNDS LIKE: POST-HARDCORE, A CALL FROM AN OLD FRIEND / LISTEN

I never cared much for Balance And Composure's post-Separation albums, but when they dropped two singles in 2023, I was ecstatic to hear a familiar (albeit matured) version of the same band that courted me through so many of my big teenage feelings. I think we were all on the edge of our seats hoping those singles would lead to an LP, and my gosh, when with you in spirit was announced, it felt like the band personally gave my younger self a paternal pat on the shoulder. Unfortunately, this album isn't perfect, it has some glaring flaws that kept me from binging it like I expected to, but it still holds up as one of my favourites of the year, and one of the most symbolically important comebacks ever.

15. Stand Still - Steps Ascending

SOUNDS LIKE: MELODIC HARDCORE, POP PUNK / LISTEN

A lot of my most treasured albums in the world are ones that initially confused me and forced me to drop my expectations. The first track I listened to from this album threw me off balance big time. I wasn’t prepared for Stand Still’s angle on hardcore to be so bold, unapologetically catchy, and with a singer that still has some grit, no less. They effortlessly blend punchy melodic hardcore and pop punk into 10 anthems of self determination and gratitude. Embracing positivity seems like one of the most defiant things you can do these days, especially within the realm of hardcore, and that's a big part of what makes this record so special. Don't get it twisted though, these riffs still pack a punch that could set a room on fire.

14. Interpersonal - The Long Bright Dark

SOUNDS LIKE: NOSTALGIC POST-HARDCORE AND POP PUNK / LISTEN

Interpersonal came out of nowhere and blew me away. When I clicked on sputnik user LucretiaMyReflection's list promoting his bands album, I never expected I would find something so polished and engaging. This little-known band from Missouri deserves to be huge, and I think they will be one day if they maintain this quality of production and songwriting. The Long Bright Dark morphs in a few different directions during it’s run-time from emo to post-hardcore and pop-punk, but all of its ideas are executed to near perfection, and they maintain a surprising sense of cohesion considering the diverse range of genre aptitudes that are displayed here in bright shiny cases. It all adds up to a package that is slick, memorable, and endlessly replayable. One of the best post-hardcore albums of the year, hands down. Interpersonal has a Long Bright future ahead of them.

13. Tenue - Arcos, b​ó​vedas, p​ó​rticos

SOUNDS LIKE: A MONOLITH OF CRUSHING RIFFS / LISTEN

Atmospheric, crushing, epic—all words that could easily be applied to this release. Tenue blends screamo with atmospheric post rock, black metal, and crusty hardcore in a way that feels truly powerful. The songs on this album average at over seven minutes long, but they are brimming with jaw dropping dynamic shifts that keep every corner and bend feeling exciting and fresh. The Spanish vocals are raw and emotive, the riffs are punishing, and the tightly polished production job makes the atmospheric post-rock sections feel like columns of light breaking through the storm clouds. It's beautiful, it's crushing, it's intense. This will easily go down as the most underrated album of the year for screamo enjoyers, don’t fuck up!

12. drive your plow over the bones of the dead - tragedy as catharsis

SOUNDS LIKE: DARK & CHAOTIC EMOVIOENCE / LISTEN

drive your plow over the bones of the dead might have the best screamo band names ever, but their riffs and songwriting chops are even better, trust me. drive your plow effortlessly balance chaos and melody into a maelstrom of octave chords and fretboard mashing, but each song still retains unique properties and subtle hooks that really reward attentive and repeated listens. I highly suggest keeping the tracklist open for this one, because the songs fly by so fast and are connected by strings of feedback in a way that makes each song flow into the next like you’re really watching a live performance. Not only is this one of the best emoviolence records of the year, it stands up against the classics that defined the genre.

11. Clairo - Charm

SOUNDS LIKE: ANALOG POP & FOLK WITH A SLIGHT PSYCH EDGE / LISTEN

Clario's third full length came as a big surprise to me. The rollout was quick, with only two of its eleven songs released as singed, so it was really hard to set expectations for, and that was probably a good thing. Clairo went in a more soulful direction this time around, channeling 70s analog pop and folk music with a light psychedelic edge. Charm pulls from the same lush arrangement of instruments that accompanied her on Sling, but there's just a little more snap and groove from the rhythm section, and the record is just a little more upbeat and less forlorn than Sling, both in it's vibe and lyrical themes. It took me a while to get used to as someone who played Sling to death, but it grew on me fast. It's infectious once you get it's quirks.

10. Dora Jar - No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire

SOUNDS LIKE: ALICE IN WONDERLAND TYPE POP & FOLK / LISTEN

Pop music can be so fun and fresh in the right hands. I had never heard of Dora Jar before this album released (shoutout sputnik user verdant for putting her on my radar), but No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire swept me off my feet faster than I could react. The palette of sounds here is just so diverse and full of life, Jar mixes all the best and weirdest aspects of pop and folk music and puts them in a blender. There are some moments on here that almost remind me of a cross between MGMT and Kate Bush, it's wild. She seamlessly reinvents her sound with almost every song, but the album still comes out feeling incredibly cohesive even if some of the styles she experiments with don't land as well as others. I have a feeling her sophomore album will be a HUGE success.

9. Foreign Hands - What's Left Unsaid

SOUNDS LIKE: OG METALCORE, POISON THE WELL, HOPESFALL, 7A7P / LISTEN

Among the current crop of early metalcore revival bands, these guys always stood out to me as having a bit of an extra edge, for lack of a better word. The bitter reality of their industrial hometown just seemed to resonate through every chord and scream like billows of smoke that only Delaware and Pennsylvania could produce. Foreign Hands just bring a hardcore ethos to everything they do—even in the studio, they chose to leave fancy production tricks behind to craft an album that feels like the portrayal of a band who never stopped playing in the garage. Guitars were plugged into amps, riffs were served straight to the dome, amen. The stripped down aesthetic of their sound can perhaps initially come off as plain in comparison to other current bands in the scene, but just pull your hood over your eyes, crank the volume, and let the agony consume you.

8. julie - my anti-aircraft friend

SOUNDS LIKE: 90s INDIE ROCK & SHOEGAZE / LISTEN

I never needed a reason to restore my faith in Gen Z. As a cusper myself, I always thought highly of their sense of humour and artistic creativity. Julie is just one more reason for me to believe that the kids are, in fact, alright. The members of this band are all currently in their early 20s, but they have managed to pin down the sound of 90s shoegaze and indie rock as if they were time travelers. I’ve never heard a modern record that sounds so close to Swirlies’ “Blonder Tongue Audio Baton”, not only in the way the guitar riffs and vocals are written and performed, but the production too. If you put a blindfold on me, I would swear this album was from '93. I don’t want to act like this album doesn’t have any merit outside of it’s ability to evoke nostalgia though. These songs are incredible in their own right and really put julie into a class of their own as contemporary songwriters. Do not sleep on this band.

7. Poppy - Negative Spaces

SOUNDS LIKE: POPPY GOES METALCORE / LISTEN

This album ended up being way more diverse than I could have ever expected. While I enjoyed the first few singles for this album, I was a little worried that FIFTEEN tracks of metalcore Poppy would get stale super fast. Thankfully, Negative Spaces retains a significant amount of Poppy's signature synth-pop weirdness, and ends up sounding more like a proper follow-up to 2020's I Disagree. The difference is that this time around, Poppy's metal influence is given ample room to blossom into fully formed ideas instead of being restrained to a collection of rock opera mashups. The track list ebbs and flows between moments of blistering aggression and dancefloor bangers that coalesce into a theme park ride that never gets boring, despite it's moments of derivative indulgence. If you look closely, it's pretty easy to see which tracks are just imitations other bands (BMTH, Knocked Loose, Loathe, Evanescence), but Poppy brings everything together with her unique personality into a package that is just so much god damn fun, and that's all that matters.

6. Crack Cloud - Red Mile

SOUNDS LIKE: ART SCHOOL PUNKS MAKE A PROG RECORD / LISTEN

Crack Cloud pulls a lot of inspiration from the era of 70s and 80s art punk, post punk, and new wave, but where the group really excels is with their plodding and methodic use of negative space. Red Mile is an exercise in minimalist song structures with maximal intent—gracefully shifting to make space for new layers of ideas and orchestral instruments without any trace of busyness or clutter. This is the punk kid's take on progressive rock, and it works so damn well. This album also just speaks to me on a personal level, being from the same city this band has spent a lot of time living in. There are lots of familiar themes regarding addiction, social class, dejection, and the scene itself that are all too relatable, but it approached these topics with a cryptic sense of poetry that is a ton of fun to sift through and find meaning in, it feels foolish to think I truly understand it at all. This actually might end up being one of my favourite albums of all time, no cap.

5. nothing,nowhere. - Hell Or Highwater

SOUNDS LIKE: EMO GONE COUNTRY / LISTEN

nothing,nowhere. has been one of my favourite artists since I discovered him through last year's VOID ETERNAL, which funnily enough shares the exact same #5 spot on my 2023 list. I swear I didn't plan that. It's safe to say I'm much more into the rock and metal oriented side of Mulherin's music than his emo-rap side, but while Hell Or Highwater still retains that influence, it's blended to a very well enjoyable degree here. Mulherin has been on a roll with switching things up with each release and incorporating disparate genres into his core sound, and the country direction he took here worked so well for him. It really allowed his knack for writing hook-centric emotional rock anthems to shine in a new light. This completely delivered on everything I could have wanted in another post-VOID ETERNAL album and cemented nothing,nowhere. as one of my all-time favourite current artists.

4. Touché Amoré - Spiral In A Straight Line

SOUNDS LIKE: IT SOUNDS LIKE TOUCHE AMORE DUH / LISTEN

Another band that has been important to me for over a decade. My dad once came home from work early and walked in on me practicing vocals in the living room to PTSBBAM blasted on the stereo. I was probably 16. The fact that they even found enough longevity as a melodic hardcore band to be putting out new music 17 years into their career is testament to their impact on people. Spiral In A Straight Line sounds like Touché Amoré finally shaking off the cobwebs and finding joy in making music again after the band being a heavy vessel of grief since 2016, it's such a breath of fresh air. I won't pretend I wasn't skeptical when the first single for this record dropped, but the simplistic and pure sense of melody that the band managed to imbue into their trademark aggression really won me over and quickly slotted this album into not only one of my favourite albums of the year, and also into my top 3 TA releases along with PTSBBAM and Is Survived By...

3. Like Moths To Flames - The Cycles Of Trying To Cope

SOUNDS LIKE: METALCORE, 2010s RISECORE ALL GROWN UP / LISTEN

Like Moths To Flames has been one of my favourite metalcore bands since I re-discovered them a few years ago. They've been consistently solid, albeit a tad generic risecore sounding since their first EP in 2010, but they have only grown a stronger sense of identity and a wealth of musical talent over the years, in large part thanks to the addition of Zach Pishney on guitars in 2016. It's actually quite rare for a metalcore band from the 2010's to still be improving and putting out some of their best material after 6 LP's. One of my favourite things about this band, and why I believe they've managed to be so consistent over the years, is that they aren't afraid to wax and wane in their evolution without ever losing sight of their DNA, thanks to Chris Roetter's steadfast vision. Over their career they have released albums that have gone back and forth from heavy metalcore to a more hook centric alt-metal sound, but it's always been good and it's always sounded like the same band. The Cycles Of Trying To Cope truly feels like their magnum opus, everything they've been chipping away at finally coming together in it's most cohesive and pristine form. Not only some of their most aggressive material to date, but their catchiest as well. Bravo.

2. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

SOUNDS LIKE: AMERICANA, FOLK ROCK / LISTEN

Waxahatchee's discography is one of those rare collections of music I can say I feel like I've grown up beside. Katie Crutchfield's music is like an old friend that drifts in and out of your life, but reconnecting always feels an exchange of tangential life experiences and mutual growth. American Weekend was there for me at 17 when I was naïve and confused about who I wanted to be in this world, in the same way that Tigers Blood is here for me at 29; settled into myself, a thousand times more emotionally aware, and dealing with much bigger problems. The Americana sound that Crutchfield has been growing into over the past few years suits her voice so well, and her songwriting and lyricism has reached a whole new level of subtle intricacy on this album. Seeing her perform this live in a beautiful theater only made my appreciation grow tenfold. She sounds even better live than on record, it's insane. It's just amazing to watch her evolve from lo-fi recordings in the bathtub into one of the most powerful singer-songwriters on Earth. Easy 5/5

1. SeeYouSpaceCowboy - Coup De Grâce

SOUNDS LIKE: METALCORE! AT THE DISCO / LISTEN