In no particular order (because I ain’t in the mood to split hairs):
Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Past is Still Alive (2024)
I’ve already written about this album and Alynda Segarra aka Hurray for the Riff Raff at length this year. It’s hard to overstate how special this album is.
Waxahatachee, St. Cloud (2020) and Tigers Blood (2024)
Ditto for Katie Crutchfield aka Waxahatchee and both of her albums from this decade.
J Mascis, What Do We Do Now (2024)
And ditto for this one too. I love all of these first four albums more than anything I heard last year.
With the possible exception of this…
MJ Lenderman & the Wind, Live and Loose (2023)
This is probably the best album of 2023, but I didn’t hear it until it was too late last year. I’ve been playing it ever since. Generally, I don’t love live albums, but I prefer most of the live versions of these songs to the album versions. Imagine Neil Young & Crazy Horse meets Pavement and Sonic Youth, though Lenderman cites Jason Molina of Magnolia Electric Company and Songs: Ohia, Dylan, Zevon, and others as his biggest influences. And I hear those too, especially the first of these.
This albums is mostly a live version of Lenderman’s fine 2022 album, Boat Songs, but it also includes a shaggy live version of his 2023 single “Rudolph,” three of the better songs from his slight, lo-fi 2021 album Ghost of Your Guitar Solo and a killer cover of “Long Black Veil.”
I first learned about this guy from a review written by top music journalist Steve Hyden (author of books about Radiohead, Pearl Jam, and Springsteen.) I think I’m not speaking out of turn by asserting that Lenderman is Hyden’s favorite new songwriter of the 2020s (although his promising eponymous debut album was released in 2019).
From Asheville, NC, Lenderman is also the lead guitarist and co-songwriter for indie rock band Wednesday, whose album Rat Saw God from last year helped them find a bigger following. Lenderman also performs with Waxahatchee on the fabulous duet, “Right Back to It,” the first single from her album this year. It will be interesting to see whether Lenderman remains a critic’s darling and songwriter’s songwriter or breaks out in some way by the end of the decade. On the strength of this live album, I’d be on the latter.
Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa (2022)
I’m part of a music nerd collective called the BSG (mostly musicians and lawyers, and in some cases both), and this is one of the few albums from this decade I think we all agree on more or less. Spoon’s best album since 2014’s They Want My Soul.
Guided by Voices, Styles We Paid For (2020) and Earth Man Blues (2021)
Have I mentioned I’m a fan of Robert Pollard & Guided by Voices? ; )
These back-to-back releases from the so-called “new classic lineup” of Guided by Voices are both stunners. If you delete the song “War of the Devils” from the former and “Ant Repellent” from the latter, the remaining 27 songs all kick ass. On the strength of the excellent single, “Serene King,” I am greatly looking forward to their upcoming 40th official album, Strut of Kings, which will be their only album this year for a change.
(If you have no idea what I’m talking about, read chapter nine of my book, Secret Stars: The Greatest Underdogs of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Era, available exclusively on Amazon.)
Aldous Harding, Warm Chris (2022)
Here’s an abridged version of what I wrote about this one in 2022: this Kiwi singer/songwriter is the most exciting new(-ish) songwriter to come out of New Zealand in decades. Her third and last album, "Designer", is half great. This one, her fourth, is perfect. That being said, Harding is not for everyone. Her music is not exactly rock, not exactly pop, and not exactly folk. She's truly sui generis. Kate Bush comes to mind. But so does David Byrne. At a minimum, I am certain that both of those artists would love this album. I am also quite sure that you have to be crazy talented to make this album. Half of it is immediately accessible ("Tick Tock", "Fever", "Lawn", "Passion Babe", and "Leathery Whip"); the other half is subtle and surprising and rewards concentrated listening on headphones. Regardless, I find it all insanely addictive.
Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band, Dear Scott (2022)
This is still my favorite album out of the UK in the 2020s (though I also loved last year’s Blur album). Liverpudlian Michael Head has been kicking around for nearly 40 years now, first as the Pale Fountains, then as Shack, and finally as Michael Head & the Strands and Michael Head & the Red Elastic Band. "The Magical World of the Strands" from 1997 was my favorite album of his...until this! Every song is a winner, and some shape-shift and surprise along the way. One of Head's all-time favorite albums, and mine, is Love's "Forever Changes" (1967), which is much more popular in the UK than it is in the U.S. You can hear its influence in subtle ways on the mostly acoustic orchestral pop found here.
Love and their enigmatic frontman Arthur Lee also happen to be the subject of the first chapter of my book. I had the pleasure and privilege of interviewing their 75-year old guitarist, Johnny Echols. He still performs as Love to this day.
*And because my top ten lists always “go to 11,” following is an album I probably like even more than the Spoon if I’m being honest, though it’s apples and trucks:
James McMurtry, The Horses and the Hounds (2021)
Texas singer/songwriter James McMurtry (Larry McMurtry’s son) has been making records since the late 80s, and there are some terrific songs on most of them. But this, his 10th album, was the first one that really made me sit up and take notice. For fans of Americana, Texas singer/songwriters, and top tier lyrics.
I’ll leave you with a live clip of a song from the first of these albums:
Nice to see some love for Michael Head on this list. I, too, adore 'Dear Scott,' 'The Magical World of The Strands,' and Shack's 'Waterpistol.' I saw Shack open for Mercury Rev in 1999 on MRs 'Deserter Songs' tour at the London Astoria. They were promoting 'HMS Fable' but also played a stunning version of Love's "A House Is Not A Motel."
Matt, agree on the Waxahatchee records and Spoon’s “Lucifer on the Sofa.” For Guided by Voices, I pick “Welshpool Frillies” and “Crystal Nuns Cathedral.” I’m looking forward to “Strut of Kings” too. I do love the new Hurray for the Riff Raff and am warming to the J Mascis record. I did like the Michael Head record (I listened to “Kismet” quite a bit!). I’ll give the MJ Lenderman record a listen (the opening track is great!) as well as the James McMurtry record.
I’d also suggest the new Lemon Twigs (which just released) and their 2023 release (can’t get enough of them), The Clientele “I Am Not There Anymore” (2023), The Beths “Jump Rope Gazers” (2020), Neal Francis “In Plain Sight” (2021), and Nathanial Ratliffe and the Night Sweats “The Future” (2021); I also expect big things from them going forward.