October's Best New Releases
Featuring sublime slowcore, fuzzy power pop, underground hip hop, and a contemporary folk masterclass
Was October a vintage month for new music? Many of the prominent releases (The Smile, Godspeed, Hard Quartet, Caribou, Japandroids) were a little disappointing, and some of the more critically acclaimed albums (Geordie Greep, Confidence Man, Touché Amoré) didn’t really do it for me either. But there is always good music if you’re prepared to dig a little, which is what this feature is all about.
As ever, I’m just going to stick to the standouts here. I’ve included a Spotify playlist at the bottom, which features all my selections. If you think I’ve missed anything noteworthy, please feel free to shout at me in the comments.
A quick note: these playlists prioritise quality over cohesion. It’s hard to blend metal, folk, and hip hop with those obligatory power pop picks, but I want to celebrate the best releases, regardless of genre. If that sounds messy, so be it. I hope you enjoy the mess.
CINDY
Swan Lake EP
San Francisco’s Cindy are making some lovely slow music at the moment. This is the sort of thing that often gets drowned out by more dramatic releases, but it’s so hard to execute it with this level of proficiency. At the risk of raising expectations too high, it reminds me of the Velvet Underground’s self-titled third album in places.
JIM NOTHING
Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn
Fuzzy power pop from New Zealand is always going to hit the spot for me. Last month’s Best Releases playlist featured a great track from Best Bets and Auckland’s Jim Nothing has arguably raised the bar with “Hourglass”. The album isn’t all this good, but there’s still plenty to enjoy throughout.
YASMIN WILLIAMS
Acadia
Acadia is a broader, more ambitious collection than 2021’s Urban Driftwood, with Williams skilfully bouncing off various collaborators to explore the boundaries of her significant talent. While I probably preferred the pastoral beauty of its predecessor, it’s hard not to be blown away by some of the performances here.
E L U C I D
Revelator
You may know ELUCID as one half of acclaimed hip hop duo Armand Hammer, who released one of last year’s best hip hop records, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips. Or two of the best, if you include Maps, billy woods’ collaboration with Kenny Segal. ELUCID’s masterful Revelator extends the duo’s winning streak. A dense, uncompromising work, it doesn’t exactly serve up instantly gratifying playlist fodder, but I wanted to flag it up as a highlight regardless. I’ve heard plenty of people saying “it hasn’t been a great year for hip hop” or words to that effect; usually this means they’re not keen on drill and didn’t rate the recent Eminem record. There’s always something interesting going on and I’m going to do my best to shine a light on it.
2ND GRADE
Scheduled Explosions
The Philly power pop stars have embraced the spirit of Bee Thousand-era Guided By Voices on this borderline exhausting collection. It’s undeniably fun, but the variable fidelity and unexplored ideas can be a tad frustrating at times. In other words, it’s very good rather than truly great.
ALBUM OF THE MONTH
CHRISTOPHER OWENS
I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair
“It might not be new and it might not follow the current trends, but this is a rare document of heartbreak and hope with the power to move you to tears and make you smile, sometimes at the same time. It deserves any accolades it will receive and many, many more.”
Read my full below here:
You can find all the picks above and many more in my creatively titled Best of October 2024 playlist on Spotify. Please feel free to share your own favourites in the comments!
PLAYING CATCH-UP? EXPLORE MORE BEST RELEASES HERE
I am really digging the new Porridge radio, which I saw made your playlist.
Regarding the Smile record, I was actually very pleasantly surprised by it. I’m a total sucker for repetitive guitar lines, and it was nice to hear Jonny’s guitar acrobatics again…