30. State Champs by State Champs
SPOILER ALERT: State Champs is the first of two pop punk bands on this list that chose to release a self-titled album as their fifth full album. What are the odds? I sometimes wonder if doing a self-titled album that far into your history suggests a newfound confidence. But TBH, I don’t wonder about it for very long.
With State Champs, you don’t have to wonder. There’s too much high-powered pop-punk to enjoy. On radio-friendly “Silver Cloud,” they wonder out loud “Can we get back to basics somehow?” And that is a good description of the album and maybe of the year as a whole. The peppy echo on “Too Late to Say” or the pounding rhythm guitar on the sweetly emo “Golden Years” does sound an awful lot like 1994. But when you do it well, there’s nothing wrong with that. Their collaboration with Slope on “Save Face Story” does help vary the attack a little bit.
29. This Could Be Texas by English Teacher
The British rockers English Teacher hit big with their debut album This Could Be Texas. The slow-burn opener “Albatross” hints at the shimmering pop that vocalist Lily Fontaine can deliver. They follow that up with the more driven pulse of “The World’s Biggest Paving Stone,” while holding onto that lovely pop attitude.
Even in jagged exercises like “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying,” English Teacher maintains a hooky melodic sensibility that can entertain on the dance floor or while chilling on the couch equally well. Nicholas Eden’s bass steps forward as you might expect on a track called “R&B.” And it takes a unique vision to reference Shelley and Byron in a swirling sea of romance and name the song “Sideboob.”
28. Pinball by MIKE & Tony Seltzer
Tony Seltzer and MIKE are that rare mix that works almost in spite of themselves. MIKE’s gruff baritone delivery somehow nestles quite nicely inside some sparkling orchestrations. There’s always a percolating trap snare pulling the track forward no matter what direction the rapper or producer sets off in.
The low-key momentum of “100 Gecs” sucks you in and sets up the dense mashup with Earl Sweatshirt and Tony Shhnow “On God.” Later, MIKE does his own “R&B,” which has positively nothing to do with the English Teacher song mentioned above. That song is an ideal representation of the MIKE/Seltzer magic.
It comes off as woozy and intoxicating and it is not until you start paying attention that you hear a clever, incisive lyricist hiding in plain sight. Jay Critch and relative newcomer Niontay show up on other tracks – plugging nicely into MIKE’s vibe while offering another color or two.
27. Spiral on a Straight Line by Touche Amore
The L.A. rockers' sixth album sounds like a lot of the best SST bands that made post-hardcore punk such a thriving genre back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Album opener “Nobody’s” could have been a pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag tune, while the follow-up, “Disasters” could have come from Rollins himself. “Hal Ashby” edges out Angry Blackmen’s “Stanley Kubrick” for the best song of 2024 named for a director from fifty years ago.
Jeremy Bolm screams his way through a number of high-energy rockers until they throw in a couple of surprises toward the end. First, there’s the classic lo-fi sound of “Subversion (Brand New Love)” courtesy of a collaboration with lo-fi hero Lou Barlow. Then, to close things out, Touche Amore teams up with Julien Baker on the rough/sweet “Goodbye For Now.” Baker has worked with Bolm before but takes a more prominent role here, coming in on cue after Bolm shouts “But my voice is shot and you’re too high above my range.”
26. Cool World by Chat Pile
It can seem hard for new metal bands to break out in a field where death and dark metal have pushed the boundaries so far into ultra-energy power shrieking. Cool World, the Oklahoma band’s second album, can match massive drums and guttural shouting with the noisiest of noise metal. “I Am Dog Now,” “Shame,” and “Funny Man” are stand-outs that grind away without ever becoming redundant.
“Masc” takes things in a bit of a different direction – kind of a speed grunge that may not exactly be unique but is just more interesting than most others trying to find nuance within modern metal. “Milk of Human Kindness” accomplishes something similar but abandons the speed for something that kind of sounds like the doom grunge of Windhand.
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