A few months ago, "The Vince Staples Show" debuted on Netflix, and I was a little less enthusiastic about it than everybody else, mainly because I think he's a great rapper at his creative pinnacle right now and I don't want his focus pulled too much towards other projects like a moderately good but not mind-blowing TV show. But he just released another amazing album and got a season 2 renewal from Netflix in the space of a week, so it feels like everybody won here, hopefully he gets to keep exploring multiple mediums successfully. Much is made of the fact that Staples is a naturally funny and charismatic guy who doesn't necessarily make fun music, but I like that he leans into it with Dark Times even down to the title. "Government Cheese" is one of the more emotionally affecting songs he's ever made, "Freeman" is really good and thought-provoking too. It's interesting to hear a guy who has never chased radio hits make a nostalgic song about radio's role in his childhood like "'Radio,'" but there is some stuff on this album that I would love to hear on the radio, especially "Etouffee." Here's the 2024 albums Spotify playlist2024 albums Spotify playlist that I'm constantly updating with new releases. 

I already wrote a bit about this album for Spin's best albums of 2024 so far but this is my shit, I love how deep Willow Smith went into weird time signatures and jazz chords and unpredictable syncopation. The way her voice and the bassline dart around each other on "'I Know That Face.'" is so cool, I'm so impressed with the craft that went into this album. It kind of reminds me of one of my favorite albums of the last 10 years, Emily's D+Evolution by Esperanza Spalding, the way it feels like jazz songs performed as a high energy rock record. 

UK singer/songwriter Rachel Chinouriri has had some viral success on Soundcloud and TikTok but I hadn't really encountered her music before and just went into her debut album with no preconceived notions. And man I love the sound of this record, she really fuses a lot of things together in an interesting way, it made sense when I saw that she drew on a lot of Britpop influences for the album. "My Everything" is probably my favorite track, love the weird guitar tone on there, but "Dumb Bitch Juice" is also a really catchy song with a hilarious title. 

"Birds of a Feather" blew me away immediately, I think it's probably my favorite song Billie Eilish has made to date. It was also the only song that went up higher on the Hot 100 in its second week, so I feel like it's gonna be a hit, although I hope it doesn't push "Lunch" to the side too quickly, that's a great song too. It feels like Billie and Finneas started with this very distinctive signature sound and now they're slowly, subtly expanding it in these very deliberate and interesting ways and have yet to take a step in a direction that felt wrong or forced. I loved the sprawl and variety of Happier Than Ever but this album works really well as a more concise counterpoint. 

I don't really know or care much about Kevin Parker's work with Tame Impala or Danny L Harle's work with Caroline Polachek and PC Music, so I rolled my eyes a little at Dua Lipa's apparent bid for indie cred in making an album with them. And it doesn't seem to have worked anyway, given the reviews Radical Optimism has gotten. But I like this record, it feels like she just made another disco album with a slightly different sonic palette and still has a great sense of how her voice works best and what she wants to say with it, "Anything For Love" is such a pretty, appealingly brief song. People who never listened to or appreciate her first album have been bending over backwards to call it a flop but I think she's 3 for 3 with these albums and look forward to whatever she does next. I do miss Future Nostalgia's focus on prominent basslines, but at least "Whatcha Doing" has a really good one. 

I love that the D'Addario brothers have released back-to-back albums for the first time in 2023 and 2024, it feels like the jump from 4AD to Captured Tracks has worked out well for them and they're on a roll. This feels like their most '60s album after leaning more on '70s influences on previous albums, it's very Beatles/Beach Boys (Sean Ono Lennon co-produced one track, but it's the most Beach Boys one, "In The Eyes Of The Girl"). "A Dream Is All I Know" is probably my favorite track so far. 

I think Laila's Wisdom is still Rapsody's high water mark but I'm always happy to hear some new raps from her, great bars on "Marlanna" and "Stand Tall." I think more people would be Rapsody fans if they knew she could do stuff like "Back In My Bag," that should've been a single. I feel like she goes a little too heavy on samples/interpolations of classic records on here, though, some rap albums just feel like they're trying to siphon goodwill from old songs people are nostalgic for. 

For most of its history, Little Feat has had three members writing songs and singing lead, but since the 2019 death of guitarist Paul Barrere, there's just one left, founding pianist Bill Payne. So perhaps it was just the right time to make an album showcasing the charismatic percussionist Sam Clayton, who's always taken an occasional vocal spotlight here or there. Sam's Place opens with one original song, "Milkman," but is mostly comprised of Clayton singing songs written by guys like Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters. For a very blues-influenced band, Little Feat never did a whole lot of blues covers, so it's a lot of fun to hear them just let loose on these songs, and Bonnie Raitt does a great duet with Clayton on "Long Distance Call." 

The same day Little Feat's new album was released, we also got this nice big 25-track tribute to Little Feat founder Lowell George. Elvis Costello, a vocal Little Feat fan for decades, finally covers them with a nice rendition of "Long Distance Love," but I think my favorite cover on the album is Ben Harper's "Roll Um Easy." Joachim Cooder's reimagining of "Cold, Cold, Cold" is also really interesting, and Lady Blackbird does a good rendition of an underrated favorite of mine, "Be One Now." I didn't even realize Lowell George co-wrote Jackson Browne's "Love Needs A Heart" but Madison Cunningham does a beautiful cover of it. Lowell George's daughter Inara George sings three of his songs, including her band The Bird And The Bee's take on "Teenage Nervous Breakdown."  

I draw so much inspiration from the fact that Willie Nelson has written 300 songs over the last 70 years and is still writing more, including 4 new compositions on The Border along with a couple Rodney Crowell covers and songs from other writers. I particularly love hearing Willie sing with Mickey Raphael on harmonica on "Once Upon A Yesterday" and "Kiss Me When You're Through," it feels like his second voice to me.

I used to think 21 Savage was one of the worst rappers out, but he grew on me. So I suppose it's possible his soundalike sidekick 21 Lil Harold will make music I enjoy eventually, but I kind of doubt it, he's just too bland. He gets some pretty good production on Sick of Myself, but "Sundown" and "Too Many" should've gone to rappers that know what to do with them. And his name just looks hilarious, too many prefixes all leading up to...Harold. 

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