Along with major releases by the likes of Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande, this year has given us peak work from long-beloved artists like Tems, Charli XCX, Kali Uchis, Schoolboy Q, Faye Webster, and Waxahatchee, fantastic LPs from breakout innovators like Sexxy Red, Mk.gee, Brittney Spencer, and Álvaro Díaz, as well as heartening reinventions from durable icons like Kim Gordon, Gary Clark Jr., and Pearl Jam.
Here is the rundown of our favorite LPs of 2024 so far, unranked and in alphabetical order. The Peruvian artist A. Chal had gained some serious momentum around 2018, thanks to trap-tinged songs like “000000.
” But as his team pushed for more hits, he started to wonder if making label-approved tracks was actually what he wanted. So instead, he decided to go off completely on his own with Espíritu , a deeply experimental, alt-leaning album that pulls from New Wave, Peruvian traditions, and Latin American punk. Songs like “Saico” and “Walk on Everything” channel the deep history of rock en español — and show A.
Chal at his most honest. —J.L.
The Big Thief singer-songwriter’s fifth solo album carries an aura of raw, one-take candidness. It’s sweet and subtle in its sound, though Adrianne Lenker’s lyricism remains characteristically brutal and brave. The tracks share a similar sparseness and uniformity in instrumentation — piano, violin, guitar, and occasional percussion — but rather than melding together, ea.