1 week ago
11
We finally did it. After 14 years of telling you the definitive “Best New Bands” of the preceding 12 months, Stereogum has evolved. Today, it is my unique honor to present the first edition of our Best New Artists list. It is exactly the same thing as the Best New Bands lists you know and love, just with a more accurate title.
For this project, the Stereogum staff evaluated our listening histories and the news and features we published since last fall to determine who we think are the best bands, singers, producers, rappers, and musicians to have emerged this year. As always, “new” is subjective; we prioritized artists who put out their debut full-length album this year, but that’s not a hard cutoff for eligibility. Maybe the artist has been around for a while but just signed to a label this year. Maybe they have a hefty Bandcamp catalog but their most recent project was a significant level up. Either way, we’re acknowledging artists who’ve made considerable strides and earned bigger spots on our radar over the past 12 months — sometimes it really all just comes down to vibes.
If you’re an avid Stereogum reader — first of all, thank you — a lot of these names should already ring a bell. We might’ve named them a Band To Watch. They might’ve earned themselves an Album Of The Week accolade. Stereogum might’ve even presented one of their concerts this year. The Best New Bands Artists list is not a year-end list. But our 2024 In Review package is just around the corner, so you’ll probably be seeing some of these names again soon enough.
And now we present you with Stereogum’s 40 Best New Artists Of 2024, listed in alphabetical order. Below that you’ll find playlists on Spotify and Apple Music highlighting the honorees. —Abby Jones
London quintet Ain’t have already made a solid name for themselves as an underground live staple, building a word-of-mouth reputation with their haunting, enticing strain of indie rock. They have only put out two singles so far, but both seem to highlight the Ain’t ethos: The rousing “Oar” pours out like a furious stream of consciousness, while the mellower “Teething” trudges along, dragging you into its atmospheric dread. —Abby
[Photo by Marieke Macklon.]
These French indie-poppers record for Static Shock Records, one of the world’s greatest DIY punk labels, and they share a certain trebley urgency with labelmates like Warthog and the Flex. But Alvilda’s style is way cuter and more accessible than anything those guys have made. Alvilda’s full-length debut C’est Déjà L’heure is a joyously playful hook-attack. Imagine the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, but with French-girl insouciance instead of Brooklyn-dude reserve. —Tom Breihan
On the surface, Anycia looks like one more product of the commercially flourishing but creatively somewhat stagnant Atlanta rap universe. On her debut album Princess Pop That, Anycia exchanges hedonistic flexes with established stars like Latto and Luh Tyler. But Anycia’s delivery, a sleepy deadpan purr, sets her apart. So does her taste in nervously blinky synth-beats. Anycia’s music has a cool, detached grace that seems to belong to an entirely different world. —Tom
A healthy percentage of the most exciting emcees of the last two decades are the ones who’ve figured out how to wring pathos out of Auto-Tuned sing-rapping. The Bronx’s Baby Osamaa grabs the hypnotic-melodic mantle on releases like this year’s SEXC SUMMER, sounding like a Dej Loaf for a world after hyperpop and sexy drill. Her voice is entrancing on luxuriant R&B songs like “Body,” even more so amidst the deconstructed clatter of “Free Max B.” —Chris DeVille
A debut album this strong means we can forgive the terrible pun in Been Stellar’s band name. On Scream From New York, NY, the city’s proudest transplants teamed up with Dan Carey, your favorite UK buzz band’s favorite producer, to put a dark post-punk spin on today’s ever-popular ’90s alt-rock touchstones. It’s bleary and raw in a way that ensures even the catchy parts, which are myriad, seem to be swallowed up by fog. —Chris
[Photo by Gabe Long.]
The young man born Devante McCreary was already a regional phenom in the Florida rap underground, but 2024 was the year that he broke containment and went national, landing the out-of-nowhere viral hit “Get In With Me” and then following it with a series of bangers. DLow delivers his devil-may-care drug-dealer talk in a chirpy twang, and he favors beats that veer toward Detroit splat rather than Florida boom. He’s new to stardom, but he already sounds at-home next to stars like Lil Baby and GloRilla, or rapping over a sample of the Twin Peaks theme on Babyface Ray’s “Count Money.” —Tom
Few bands make me wish I’d been born in California instead of New York, but Boycomma do. At their shows, fans jump off roofs, scream along to the lyrics, and get into fights. How often does such passion occur at live music events? Besides, Boycomma’s music warrants such insanity; this year’s Stress Starving EP is vicious in its crashing emo instrumentation and despondent lyrics, coming to a head on the almost nu-metal “MEOWING IN PUBLIC.” —Danielle Chelosky
Dream pop probably isn’t the first genre you think of when you think of Detroit, but Clinic Stars — who, as of now, have yet to play a show outside of Michigan — have the wherewithal to change that. The duo of Giovanna Lenski and Christian Molik recorded their new album Only Hinting at their home studio, and the result makes it sound like they graduated from the school of Cocteau Twins with Harold Budd. At once warm and eerie, Clinic Stars are a fitting listen for when the Motor City and beyond begins to feel a bit too concrete. —Abby
[Photo by Ivan Fucich.]
Channeling 2010s party-punk greats like PUP and Prince Daddy, this year Baltimore’s Combat launched forth with the unhinged and inspired Stay Golden. It’s an album full of lyrical meta-references, shout-your-lungs-out hooks, and enough jacked-up energy to power the amplifiers at a basement show. Holden Wolf sounds dejected and directionless on the lyric sheet, threatening to collapse under the weight of his quarter-life crises. Yet his band’s meticulously assembled, ferociously performed, unrelentingly fun breakthrough LP belies those sentiments at every turn. —Chris
Naming your debut album Greatest Hits: That’s funny. But there’s nothing especially humorous about Mali Obamsawin and Magdalena Abrego’s music as Deerlady. The duo plays shadowy indie rock marked by hypnotic melodies, squalls of noise, and moments of eerie quiet. Their jazzy Berklee background comes through not in antiseptic conservatory fussiness but in arrangements that make the old singer-songwriter indie tropes feel vibrantly alive. Meanwhile Obamsawin translates the First Nations experience into piercing, surreal reflections carried across the bombast like siren songs. —Chris
[Photo by Kaelyn Lynch.]
“I won’t be objectified!” Doubt vocalist Claire Abila roars those words on the band’s fiery ripper “The Hard Way,” and she makes that line into a call to arms. Doubt are among the latest products of an endlessly fertile and diverse Baltimore hardcore scene. They’ve got the bounce and ferocity of fellow Baltimore bands like Trapped Under Ice or End It, but there’s no playfulness to their urgent riffage. Instead, they are here to take up space, to stand tall. —Tom
[Photo by Micah E. Wood.]
For Ekko Astral, anxiety isn’t just a musical quality; it’s a reason for being. Ekko Astral’s chaotically playful form of punk rock, shot though with deadpan humor and dizzy pop energy, is a reaction against the banal inhumanity that they see all around. The jumpy, staccato quality of their righteous debut album Pink Balloons represents their best attempt to push back. You’d be anxious, too. —Tom
[Photo by John Lee.]
fantasy of a broken heart find power in juxtapositions. The Brooklyn duo’s name alone is enough of a headscratcher, as if heartbreak is an aspiration; similarly, their new album Feats Of Engineering contrasts themes of loss, desperation, and overall gloom with their playful, psychedelic brand of indie pop. “I thought a devil called my name,” they sing together on album highlight “AFV,” sounding more hopeful than concerned. Lucifer wouldn’t bother pursuing a boring band, now would he? —Abby
[Photo by Emilio Herce.]
Few dance-rock bands hit both sides of the hyphen as hard as Font. The Austin combo’s debut album Strange Burden courses with intensity, not least of all thanks to Thom Waddill’s perpetually trembling vocals. He brings the drama every time, and his band provides the seething contortions. As heard on “Looking At Engines,” they can shift from an ominous creep to an exultant pop song on a dime. And when they properly cut loose on tracks like “Hey Kekulé,” there’s no stopping them. —Chris
[Photo by Rosie Clements.]
For fans of Bright Eyes, the Shins, and Modest Mouse is Friko, a Chicago duo who formed in 2019 and released their debut album Where we’ve been, Where we go from here in February. Already, Niko Kapetan and Bailey Minzenberger feel like ringleaders in the new generation of indie rock. Songs like “Where We’ve Been” and “Get Numb To It!” call to mind the rootsy grandiosity of Saddle Creek bands before them, as if celebrating the end of the world. Call it nostalgia bait if you will, but there’s nothing wrong with relying on a classic recipe sometimes, especially if it’s a crowd-pleaser. —Abby
[Photo by Daniel Topete.]
Heaven Schmitt, frontperson of Grumpy, is living the stuff of nightmares: Their band includes three of their exes. Drama aside, there are plenty of reasons to keep your ears on the New York project. Their self-titled 2020 debut album presented them as a classic, guitar-forward indie-pop crew, but their new EP Wolfed ups the ante, filtering that sound through off-kilter electronic production on songs like “Saltlick.” Others like “Holding,” meanwhile, lean into those rock roots with a punchier approach. On both ends of the spectrum, Grumpy make a splash. —Abby
julie have been around for a while, but this year the grungy shoegazers finally shared their debut album, intriguingly titled my anti-aircraft friend. The young group offers massive songs that fluctuate with eerie brooding moments and crashing whirlwinds of sound, delivering on the promise of their viral 2020 song “flutter.” The lyrics are amazingly morbid, the riffs are impassioned; it’s music to mosh to and music to contemplate your life to. —Danielle
[Photo by Silken Weinberg.]
Rising from the ashes of beloved Philly indie rockers Palm is Kassie Krut, an experimental trio that’s delightfully tricky to pin down. After a few one-off singles over the past couple of years, they reemerged in 2024 with a Fire Talk deal and, as we’ve gathered from the new songs we’ve heard, a more crystallized sense of how they wanted to sound. “Reckless” is a perfect reintroduction to Kassie Krut, interweaving blasts of freaky noise with industrial percussion and whimsical vocals. It’s an absolute trip, and one that we’re more than happy to take. —Abby
[Photo by Kit Ramsey.]
Montreal’s knitting began as a pandemic hibernation project, but they’re here to stay. The indie rockers lean toward dark, haunting textures, but always provide powerful catharsis. Some Kind Of Heaven is often brooding and eerie, balanced with sweeping walls of sound and shrieking, Ovlov-like guitar solos that embody transcendence, such as on the great “Spirit Gum” and the spectacularly titled “College Rock Song #1.” —Danielle
[Photo by Frank Climenhage.]
Plenty of bands in the past decade have taken cues from Death Grips, but few pull off the modern rap-rock schtick as well as Lip Critic. In an era when “genre-bending” is used ad nauseam, the New York four-piece warrants that label on their new album Hex Dealer, blending elements of hip-hop, hardcore punk, and dance music until it’s a sound distinctly their own. Songs like the hilariously titled “In The Wawa (Convinced I Am God)” soundtrack existential woes — and a slight superiority complex — with frenzied drum ‘n’ bass breakdowns. It’s a blast. —Abby
[Photo by Justin Villar.]
Going Through It is a fitting title for a singer-songwriter’s debut album, and Eliza McLamb is truly going through it in the songs. On the gorgeous sprawl “Glitter,” McLamb makes an infectious refrain out of the words “I wanna kill your boyfriend” (seriously, it’s almost too fun to sing along to). On the endearing earworm “Modern Woman,” she grapples with the ridiculousness of being a female musician: “They love me when I am miserable/ Cause I’m super marketable,” a sagacious one-two punch that defies all expectations, which she’ll probably do even more in the future. —Danielle
[Photo by Kaya Kelley.]
They’re named after a Grand Funk Railroad song, but Mean Mistreater howl, chug, and shred like a different kind of ‘70s rock band, channeling the early gods of heavy metal on windows-down highway anthems like “Bleeding The Night.” There’s some radio-friendly Heart influence in there too, but mostly this band blasts off aggressively and entertainingly, like Sheer Mag on rocket fuel. Their debut Razor Wire fits perfectly on one LP, and it sounds like a record you’d treasure forever after pulling from a dusty old stack. —Chris
New-era guitar hero Michael Todd Gordon doesn’t really have a genre. His meditative lo-fi excursions have something to do with indie rock, but they draw just as much on the blurry romanticism of underground R&B and the sparkling wistfulness of ’80s studio-rock. His full-length debut Two Star & The Dream Police vibrates with a mysterious energy, and that’s somehow translated to Mk.gee playing sold-out big-room tours and recording with Justin Bieber. What a world. —Tom
[Photo by Danica Arias Kleinknecht.]
“My New Shirt,” the third single from New York band My Wonderful Boyfriend, unfolds with the excitement of a coming-of-age film: “That was the summer when I grew my hair out long/ Played in the basement some, learned how to drive the car.” I don’t need to know anything about singer P.J. McCormick to feel the magnitude of this summer he’s narrating, especially when he shouts about his cigarette butt burning a hole in the fabric. It’s nostalgic, but at the same time it’s new and promising. —Danielle
[Photo by Caroline Wallis.]
Onsloow’s melodies may be bigger and brighter than those of any other young band right now. Every song on the emo- and indie pop-tinted Norwegian rockers’ debut album Full Speed Anywhere Else bursts with life and color. In one especially potent stretch of the tracklist, “Brakes” races through the space between Alvvays and Everyone Asked About You, then “Body Parts” slo(o)ws things down to midtempo to make room for chunky power chords and even bigger feelings. At any speed, this band rules. —Chris
Fabiana Palladino, the London-based daughter of world-renowned bass wizard Pino, has been steadily working for many years, backing up people like Jessie Ware and SBTRKT while releasing her own music on Jai Paul’s Paul Institute label. On her self-titled debut, Palladino builds sparse and deliberate soul-pop universes, showing exquisite levels of restraint and spatial understanding. Her voice hovers through gleaming synths and drum machines, icily precise but always emotionally present. —Tom
[Photo by Phoebe Plimmer.]
Drawing inspiration from rock ‘n’ roll’s mod era, from its striped T-shirt fashion sense to its reckless unbound energy, Perennial play explosive shout-along indie rock that finds common ground between basement shows and cheerleader chants. The New England band’s breakout album Art History is one of the most smile-inducing releases of the year. Laced with shaking tambourines and blaring organ sounds, the songs are lean and hard-hitting, delivered with a sense of style and intellectual rigor that never get in the way of the fun. —Chris
Prize Horse, like a whole bunch of bands on this list, could easily be thrown under the “shoegaze” umbrella. But when we first posted about the Minneapolis trio a year ago, we compared their sound to Hum, a descriptor I think still stands. Like Hum, Prize Horse don’t quite ascribe to the overblown noise of My Bloody Valentine, instead making something more in the vein of dreamy, reverb-heavy grunge. Their debut album Under Sound is heavy without ever getting too overwhelming. —Abby
Thanks to TikTok, Addison Rae was globally famous before she released a note of music. Rae blew up as a dancer and influencer — not exactly a career path that leads to guaranteed pop greatness. But she’s leveraged that power and her general charisma into a series of sharp, playful pop songs that have fun with her starpower: “When you’re obsessed with me, me too.” Making her ascent official, she appeared on Charli XCX’s “Von dutch” remix and sang her own stealth hit “Diet Pepsi” onstage at the Madison Square Garden stop of the Sweat Tour. —Tom
Gathering data in National Parks during her job as a field scientist served as an inspiration for Lindsay Reamer’s debut album Natural Science. The twangy songs flutter and glimmer with a refreshing sense of earthiness, and the Philly indie singer-songwriter’s serene soprano is the centerpiece, even amongst the abundance of beautiful elements: sparkling synths, whimsical fiddle, eloquent cello, and more. —Danielle
Robber Robber’s Wild Guess is truly a wild card. You could call the Burlington band post-punk, but you’d be better off describing them as playful or restless. The tunes don’t follow any rules, but often they’re hurried and disruptive like on the blaring “Mouth” and the jittery “Backup Plans.” Still, they’re unpredictable; “Sea Or War” is a sprawling and dreamy reprieve. Maybe don’t try to label Robber Robber at all and just enjoy the madness instead. —Danielle
[Photo by Connor Turque.]
Alithea Tuttle had never even played an instrument a couple of years ago. Now, she plays bass and sings in Rocket, a young LA quartet that nods to ’90s indie rock staples on its debut EP Versions Of You. Tracks like “Sugarcoated” evoke the blissfully detached dream-pop of Lush, while hard-hitting numbers like “On Your Knees” and “Future Memory” make you wonder if their band name is a Smashing Pumpkins reference. Either way, Rocket have built themselves a solid launching pad. —Abby
[Photo by Jim Larson.]
Shower Curtain began back in 2018 as the solo project of Victoria Winter, who at the time was living in Curitiba, Brazil; now, she’s based in Brooklyn, and Shower Curtain has evolved into a full-on band. Lucky for us. Blending slacker rock, dreamy shoegaze, and pop-forward melodies, Shower Curtain’s debut album words from a wishing well is haunting, sentimental, and catchy. Evoking both the magic of daydreams and the arresting nature of nightmares, Shower Curtain testify to the appeal of ’90s revivalism in the first place. —Abby
[Photo by Nicole Miller.]
Slowhole’s self-titled debut album is categorized as metal, which, fair enough. There’s more than a little kvlt grotesquerie in the New Orleans band’s hellish sound, even if it reminds me more of lurching noise-mongers like Couch Slut. Shannon Arsenault’s haunted screams are just one layer in the overwhelming waves of devastation this band conjures up, but if you catch footage of Slowhole on stage, you won’t be able to take your eyes off her possessed performance. —Chris
This year, New York’s Starcleaner Reunion released Café Life, made up of songs much too enrapturing to be played in cafés while coffee drinkers are typing away on laptops. “The Hand That I Put Down” sweeps you into its dreamy, shrieking guitars; “Snowfeel” is a simultaneous gut-punch and oasis with its swaying, evocative chords. The band gets particularly captivating on the feathery “Plein Air,” moving with remarkable grace that shows they know what they’re doing. —Danielle
[Photo by Catrina Kokkoris.]
Nate Amos has been churning out music as This Is Lorelei for years, treating songs and EPs as time capsules. But Box For Buddy, Box For Star was his label debut and his attempt at a traditional album, and he succeeded before it even arrived because singles like “Dancing In The Club” and “I’m All Fucked Up” were just so good. Amos is the Elliott Smith of the TikTok era, full of lacerating lyrics, poignant delivery, and moving, quirky instrumentation. —Danielle
[Photo by Eve Alpert.]
It sounds so ugly that it’s hard to process. The downtuned riffs lurch and splatter. The drums sound like rabid animals trying to escape from dumpsters. There are lyrics, but you can’t tell, since the vocals sound like literal pig noises. Torture is the auteurist vision of drummer and vocalist K.K., the band’s only permanent member, and it’s entirely sincere — one guy’s attempt to make sense of the disgusting brutality in the world. Everything about the music is exaggerated to the point of parody, and it makes people go absolutely buckshit at live shows. It’s a strange and fascinating phenomenon, and we have no idea where it will go. —Tom
[Photo by Myles Jaeckel.]
Water Damage do one thing, and they do it extremely well. Conjuring a Godspeed-scale post-rock drone, the Austin collective locks into a static-laden groove and repeats it ad infinitum, drawing it out until it could fill a vinyl side or even an episode of your favorite prestige dramedy. The band spends part of that time layering in textures, but ultimately their big trick is to hold steady in that sweet spot until you’re as locked-in as they are. —Chris
[Photo by David Fox.]
Fragments of Brennan Wedl’s lyrics can portray the alt-country singer-songwriter’s deftness better than I can: “A montage of monologues big talk and Smirnoff,” on the clever “Fake Cowboy,” or “The summer scorched the front lawn/ The jungle gym and the kids were gone,” on the doomed “Heartland.” Wedl paints vivid scenes of decay and chaos in the South, but she also delivers them with a singular beauty and wit that only she could. —Danielle
[Photo by Blaire Beamer.]
These days, world news does not tend to be good news. London’s World News might not have the most SEO-friendly band name, but their moniker does reflect the free-floating anxiety of their music. In World News’ excellent Escape EP, one can find echoes of entire generations of alternative music — college-rock jangle, post-punk lurch, gothic throb, lo-fi twinkle. The band’s approach to those sounds is always assured, but it reflects a pervasive sense of unease. Their name might not be the easiest thing to Google, but its vibe is dead-on. —Tom
Stereogum relies on reader subscriptions to deliver articles like this. Support us with a VIP Membership and you’ll get ad-free viewing, exclusive articles, Discord access, and more.
Below, stream a playlist featuring all 40 artists.
English (US) · 