Blog

The 80 Best Albums of 2024

The 80 Best Albums of 2024

The best albums of 2024 challenged orthodoxies, blended and created new genres, and spanned a vast range of musical styles and traditions, while looking forward.

The 10 Best Shoegaze Albums of 2024

The 10 Best Shoegaze Albums of 2024

The genre rediscovery via TikTok during the first stages of the pandemic has been going on long enough that we might consider it a Shoegaze Revival Revival.

The 10 Best Psychedelic Albums of 2024

The 10 Best Psychedelic Albums of 2024

Artists worldwide have been exploring the visionary potential of electrical instruments in all manner of new and novel ways to create psychedelic music.

London Film Festival 2024 Brings Mindfulness Amidst a Bustling Metropolis

London Film Festival 2024 Brings Mindfulness Amidst a Bustling Metropolis

Mindfulness is integral to cinema; thus, it’s fitting to emphasize time in 2024’s London Film Festival Festival, because every story is running out of it.

The 25 Best Rock Albums of 2024

The 25 Best Rock Albums of 2024

As always, rock was a guitar-led extravaganza in 2024 with artists drawing from an ever-widening musical well. These are the 25 best rock albums of the year.

Peach Pit Prove Their Worth on ‘Magpie’

Peach Pit Prove Their Worth on ‘Magpie’

The songs on Peach Pit’s Magpie have little idiosyncrasies. They are built around sophisticated chord progressions and unique vocal and guitar melodies.

Annarella and Django Sparkle on Jazzy ‘Jouer’

Annarella and Django Sparkle on Jazzy ‘Jouer’

Annarella and Django’s Jouer is lush with thought, skill, and, yes, play, intangible elements that make this genre-defying album superb and satisfying.

The Vices and Virtues of Ignorance in These Times

The Vices and Virtues of Ignorance in These Times

In Understanding Ignorance, philosopher Daniel DeNicola invites us to explore the meaning and implication of what we don’t know, which may be as complex as knowledge itself.

The 18 Best Jazz Albums of 2024

The 18 Best Jazz Albums of 2024

This was another year of riches in the best jazz and creative music, with barriers between the tradition and the avant-garde melting away.

The 10 Best Punk and Hardcore Albums of 2024

The 10 Best Punk and Hardcore Albums of 2024

Thematically, much of this year’s best punk and hardcore music addressed mental health and working through the past while striving for a more peaceful present.

Jazz’s Historical Agenda as Protest Music in the Stellar ‘Brassroots Democracy’

Jazz’s Historical Agenda as Protest Music in the Stellar ‘Brassroots Democracy’

The excellent Brassroots Democracy details the beautiful and bleak ways that jazz music created the soundtrack of an emancipatory movement that lasts to this day.

The 24 Best Video Games of 2024

The 24 Best Video Games of 2024

PopMatters’ 24 Best Video Games of 2024 highlight achievements in game design and the risks creators take to lure gamers into the magic circle.