New year, new favourites. That’s the great promise for any music fan as December becomes January, and here at Stereoboard we’re no different. Head below to check out 10 thrilling propositions for the forthcoming months, from sense-rearranging screamo to flawless technical rap and atmospheric pop.
Cristale
Artists stand out for a bunch of reasons — sometimes it’s charisma, other times it’s technical mastery, or maybe a look, or an intuitive way with a hook. Rarely it’s all of these things at once, unless you’re being stared down by Cristale in the opening 30 seconds of her recent Antisocial video, a campfire at her feet and tents to either side as she counts off zinging bars. Musically, the Brixton rapper has it all, with canny wordplay butting up against instrumentals that roll from drill to evocative hip-hop, and she also has the obvious star quality to match.
MJ Lenderman
Truly the rockingest of dudes. Having lit up Wednesday’s ‘Rat Saw God’ last year while rolling out a killer live record of his own in the still-bubbling wake of 2022’s ‘Boat Songs’, the Asheville guitarist is set for a banner year. He recently signed with Anti- and is loping towards a new record, while his voice and characterful leads are all over ‘Tigers Blood’, the feverishly-anticipated new Waxahatchee record. Jams, man. Jams.
Cosmic Joke
Some bands just get what they’re about in a way that’s completely obvious from the get-go. And Cosmic Joke just get it. The Los Angeles band's take on hardcore is defined by buzzsaw rock ‘n’ roll riffage and barked, rapid-fire melodies from singer Mac Miller. They began the year by releasing a 14-minute debut album that displays total commitment in evoking some of their idols — the grimy, party-ready fury of Circle Jerks looms large — alongside more contemporary acts such as their recent tourmates in Destiny Bond, whose own approach foregrounds hooks at every turn. Fun, fun, fun.
Micromoon
Led by Ben Spence — founder and creative lynchpin of Fuzzbrain Studios in Walthamstow, East London — and featuring former Island of Love bassist Dan Alvarez-Giraldo on guitar, Micromoon are an intriguing, sound-splicing proposition. With new music lurking somewhere in the top half of 2024, we can expect them to expand on their collab-heavy mash of hip hop, post-rock and electro-era Leonard Cohen. Innovative and unpredictable, their next moves should be studied carefully.
Peggy Gou
One of those overnight-but-not success stories. Peggy Gou has been peppering a stacked live schedule with one-off releases for the best part of a decade, but the unveiling and subsequent viral glow-up of It Goes Like (Nanana) last summer changed the game for the South Korean DJ. Her debut album, expected later this year through XL, is set to soundtrack a lot of late nights and early mornings once festival season rolls around.
Sprints
Sprints kicked off 2024 by releasing a debut album that doubled as a fiery statement of intent. Based in Dublin, they play a strain of post-punk that shares DNA with their compatriots in Fontaines D.C. and the Murder Capital, but with a rolling, furious garage-rock edge that is all their own. Guitarist-vocalist Karla Chubb is a vibrant, intuitive conductor of the chaos, chopping in and out of driving riffs with lyrics that are oblique until they’re not and she’s got you by the throat. Their spring tour is set to be a barnburner.
Lola Brooke
Out of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Lola Brooke’s 2024 is all about the next step. Having broken out a couple of years ago thanks to the viral hit Don’t Play With It, the rapper’s first album ‘Dennis Daughter’ was a multifaceted portrait of her style, melding insights into her life story with a sense of outsized fun as her percussive flow and quick wit sparred with spiky trap instrumentals. Brooke’s edges are never less than razor sharp, making the keenly therapeutic vulnerability of her writing all the more compelling.
Cardinals
Emerging from the Cork scene, Cardinals play an enticing amalgamation of past and current fascinations in post-punk. More obviously melodic than the headline names to have emerged from Ireland in recent years, their accordion-dusted sound is driven by an apparent storytelling compulsion and a wicked sense of skyscraping Echo and the Bunnymen-style dynamics. Their recent single Roseland is the perfect introduction to a band that already feels lived-in and fully realised.
Fleshwater
Sometimes the stars align. Fleshwater — an offshoot of sorts from the punishing hardcore band Vein.fm — are in possession of an effortlessly intense style that might catapult them to the front of the nu-gaze line at any moment. They closed out 2023 with the patchwork ‘Sounds of Grieving’ EP, but a more studied full-length follow-up to ‘We're Not Here to Be Loved’ is the real prize hanging over anyone who likes their noise serrated but dreamy.
Kaonashi
Kaonashi offer a blood-fizzing combination of conceptual ambition and chaotic, ceaselessly confrontational music. The Philadelphia screamo band’s new EP ‘The 3 Faces Of Beauty: A Violent Misinterpretation of Morgan Montgomery’ is the first in a trilogy delving further into the mythology established on earlier releases. It feels like a fine time to jump aboard — the spotlight is still on everything hardcore-adjacent while this sort of involved, detailed storytelling is catnip to any rock fan who skews prog or goth. Expect to have your face melted and your brain engaged.
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