The forecast is in, and we’re predicting 2024 will be an exciting year for music! You’ll find music and tours that make you feel wrapped up in the warmth of the sun, or ones that meet you where you are in your sadness while you go through a patch of rain. From new Brittany Howard to Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour, one thing seems certain: catastrophic emotional impact.
ALBUMS WE’RE ANTICIPATING
VAMPIRE WEEKEND: TBA
Move over Olivia Rodrigo and Big Thief, the original rock-adjacent owners of the vampire image are back in town. Vampire Weekend wrote in a newsletter at the end of last year that “LP5 is officially done.” The band has one of the most distinctive sounds in indie-rock. Many have tried to mimic their guitar riffs and iconic buildups, but none do it better. With five years having passed since their last release, Father of the Bride, there is plenty of room for growth on its follow-up. Plus, with features on their last album like Steve Lacy (ahead of his massive fame with “Bad Habits,”) and Danielle HAIM, who’s to tell what cool features might be on this one.
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
BRITTANY HOWARD: WHAT NOW
Legendary Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard is back! What Now, the highly anticipated sophomore solo album from the acclaimed Rock musician, will hit the shelves on February 2nd. And Howard’s Grammy Award-winning vocals (showcased in the album’s two lead singles “What Now” and “Red Flags”) are bound to wow die-hard fans and casual listeners alike.
Read our pick of the week on What Now’s title track here or our deep dive on Brittany Howard’s genre-fusing sound here!
- Claire Dunham, Music Coordinator
CORAL MOONS: TBA
We may or may not have been a little over-eager when including Coral Moons’ sophomore album on our 2023 forecast, as not even a new single came out of the group last year. But I mean, who can blame us? We’ve been big fans of the Boston-formed group since their debut EP in 2019 and have gotten excited for every release after that. Not much is known about the upcoming record, but it will surely shine if it has Coral Moons’ usual characteristics, from Carly Kraft’s timeless vocals to the band’s full-of-life instrumentation. And considering Coral Moons recently posted a soundless clip of the new LP spinning on a record player, we promise that it’s looking a lot more in the cards for this year!
Get to know Coral Moons by reading our interview with the group here!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
AOIFE O’DONOVAN: ALL MY FRIENDS
When I sat down with Grammy-winner Aoife O’Donovan shortly after she released Age of Apathy and asked what she saw for herself next career-wise, she said “I have a lot more to say.” Her upcoming album, which she announced just days ago, is the manifestation of those words. The record, titled All My Friends, has a backdrop with significant weight. It started as a commission by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra to create a piece in honor of the centennial of the passage of the 19th amendment. Aoife O’Donovan drew on the life and work of women’s suffrage crusader Carrie Chapman Catt while writing for the album in 2020. She shared that even when the songs turn inward and look at things like her experience of motherhood, “you can hear shades of her letters and speeches in [them].” With these themes in mind as well as the inclusion of an all-girls chorus, the band Dawes and more “friends,” it is expected to be nothing short of powerful.
You can read our interview with Aoife O’Donovan here!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
SZA: LANA
In 2022, SZA released SOS, her first album in over five years. The brilliant sophomore record consisted of a whopping 23 songs, but the R&B singer is ready to share more. She is already teasing her next project Lana, and if it is anything like SOS or her debut album Ctrl, it is sure to be packed with buttery smooth vocals, poignant lyrics, and a few transcendent, tear-jerker ballads. As of now, SZA has not announced a release date for the album, but many are speculating that it will be out sometime this year!
- Claire Dunham, Music Coordinator
SLEATER-KINNEY: LITTLE ROPE
Riot Grrl royalty Sleater-Kinney haven’t lost an ounce of angst, eleven albums and 29 years in. Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker have collaborated as a duo for the most recent three of those eleven albums after the departure of their drummer Janet Weiss. The powerful pairing raise “Hell” on their new record, singing, “Hell is just a place that, we can’t seem to live without” against instrumentation that ebbs and flows between sly and heavy. Little Rope is set to come out January 19th.
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
THE SMILE: WALL OF EYES
The Smile, which many are calling the most successful Radiohead offshoot, are gearing up to put out their sophomore record, Wall of Eyes, on January 26th. The group has a transformative, ethereal sonic nature. But “Bending Hectic,” an initial taste of the album, grounds itself with elements like the acoustic guitar — a contrast that creates intrigue. The singles so far also display the Smile’s brilliant way of inserting peaks of energy into their sometimes mesmerizingly mellow soundscapes. Fans can be thankful this project of Thom Yorke’s wasn’t one and done — the Smile have little to prove in terms of their already well-established talent, but much more to say.
Read our Pick of the Week on the record’s title track, “Wall of Eyes,” here!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
TORRES: WHAT AN ENORMOUS ROOM
As the title of TORRES’ forthcoming album suggests, it has a big space to fill, being their sixth full length LP. And if the three singles that are out so far are any sign, the furniture is set well and the walls beautifully embellished. Julien Baker wrote the official biography for the record, writing that their music is “art that bears all these little artifacts of the divine and of the real and [shows] it to people and [knows] it is valuable.” What an Enormous Room is set to come out January 26th.
Read our Pick of the Week on TORRES’ lead single What an Enormous Room, “Collect,” here!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
MGMT: LOSS OF LIFE
Six years since the release of their last album, the psychedelic-rock duo of Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser (together, MGMT) are back with a new album in 2024, and with it, they prove that they’re not “Kids” any more. By that, I mean that Loss of Life shows an evolution of both their sounds and lyrics. It makes nods to the upbeat electronics they first became known for in 2007, as well as the more stripped-back nature of their last album, Little Dark Age. They express in writing how their musings on life have changed since their earliest works, too. It’s hard to imagine that MGMT have been releasing music for nearly two decades, but let this album serve as a positive reminder of all of the things you have learned since 2007, also.
Read our pick of the week on the lead single of Loss of Life, “Mother Nature,” here!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
HURRAY FOR THE RIFF RAFF: THE PAST IS STILL ALIVE
Alynda Segarra — the musical powerhouse behind Hurray for the Riff Raff — released “Alibi,” the lead single from their upcoming album, back in November. The expertly written song, rooted in its Americana sound, is a powerful love ballad with undertones of grief. If “Alibi” is any indication of what’s to come from Segarra’s next album, The Past is Still Alive is sure to be a sentimental musical masterpiece.
- Claire Dunham, Music Coordinator
BLEACHERS: BLEACHERS
Four records in, indie-rock outlet Bleachers have decided it’s time for a self-titled album. Cue the upbeat saxophone solos! “Modern Girl” kicked off what’s to come, and it brought a high-energy sound reminiscent of Bleachers’ song “Rollercoaster” meets Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A. (perhaps an unintentional nod to Jack Antonoff’s New Jersey roots?). The only other single, “Alma Mater,” sees the group slow down and deliver something that’s the 1975-esque. With such a range demonstrated in these first two tastes of the new record, I am on the edge of my seat. Bleachers is set to release on March 8th.
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
TOURS WE’RE SEEING
NOAH KAHAN AT FENWAY PARK
2023 was an extraordinary year for New England-native Noah Kahan who released the deluxe version of his hit album Stick Season and collaborated with major musicians like Post Malone, Kacey Musgraves, and Hozier. This summer, the folk artist will play two sold out shows at Boston’s very own Fenway Park. Kahan who currently lives in Watertown is no stranger to the Green Monster, a historic venue that will be overflowing with adoring Bostonian fans on July 18th and 19th!
- Claire Dunham, Music Coordinator
FOO FIGHTERS AT FENWAY
Foo Fighters at Fenway has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? And luckily, it’s more than phonetics that makes this upcoming show so great! July 21st, 2024, Foo Fighters will perform at the iconic home of the Boston Red Sox for the third time. The show is part of the Everything or Nothing At All Tour in support of Foo Fighters’ eleventh studio album, But Here We Are. Foo Fighters rocked the crowd at Boston Calling last summer, and they’re ready to do the same a second summer in a row!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
THE ROLLING STONES: HACKNEY DIAMONDS TOUR
Even as all of the members are at or are approaching 80 years old, the Rolling Stones still know how to bring a crowd on their feet. This year they are touring in support of their 2023 album Hackney Diamonds. The record was their first new material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang, as well as their first album since Charlie Watts’ passing. After such a long hiatus, it was uncertain if they would record original material again, but with the help of their new drummer Steve Jordan, they did. And luckily, you have a chance to see it performed live! The Rolling Stones will make a stop at Gillette Stadium on May 30th. With features as big as Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney on the album, it’s perhaps unlikely these stars will appear as on-stage guests, but at a Rolling Stones show, you never know what will happen!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
OLIVIA RODRIGO: GUTS WORLD TOUR
Young musical sensation Olivia Rodrigo is going on a world tour in support of her sophomore album, Guts, and it will be a show you don’t want to miss! This latest release of her brings out more of a rock-influenced pop sound. It will surely be interesting to see how this translates in her stage presence. If her Saturday Night Live performance indicates anything, cakes will be smashed and fake blood will ooze. Olivia Rodrigo might be playing TD Garden on April Fool’s Day, but it’s no joke!
- Nora Onanian, Web Services Coordinator
