The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2024 (Part One)

We’re already into February and I haven’t cracked out this list yet. Let’s fix that, shall we?

In 2024, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2024, in no particular order.

Brittany Howard

Album: What Now (Island)

Release Date: 2/2

Five years after dropping her solo debut, the former Alabama Shakes frontwoman is back. Howard’s sophomore follow-up — her first with major label Island Records (Demi Lovato, The Last Dinner Party, Sparks) — titled What Now has her returning with a “reinvigorated approach to her rich, rootsy, and emotionally perceptive songwriting,” as Pitchfork bluntly puts it. Co-produced by herself with help from six-time Grammy Award winner Shawn Everett (Alvvays, Miley Cyrus, Weezer), What Now will continue to show the world that Howard is a powerhouse. Just listen to that title track to see why.

Dead Years

Album: Night Thoughts (Dirt Cult)

Release Date: 2/2

German post-punk trio Dead Years were introduced to me via a press release last month. I’m not entirely sure what made me want to tap the link provided to me, and I am forever thankful that I did. The Bielefeld trio’s newest record Night Thoughts effortlessly creates a vibe that hypnotically attracts and embraces the listener. But it’s not just about the music: Dead Years’s lyrics reinforce the melancholy of their sound. They deal with self-doubt, social anxieties, and the daily struggle to find one’s way in an alientating world. Sounding like a combination of Hot Water Music, X, and The Wipers, Night Thoughts might be the album that goes under everyone’s radar this year. And for those that do check out this album, you’re welcome.

meth.

Album: SHAME (Prosthetic)

Release Date: 2/2

Chicago experimentalists meth. came across my radar through ads made by Prosthetic Records (ACxDC, gif from god, Wristmeetrazor) on my Facebook feed. And I was bewildered by the sound I heard. Thus I needed to hear more. Enter SHAME, the band’s second album. Tackling topics like bipolar disorder, addiction, and trauma, SHAME presents these themes over captivating melodies in the styles of grindcore, sludge, and noise. It might be too intense for some, but it’s definitely worth a listen.

The Chisel

Album: What A Fucking Nightmare (Pure Noise)

Releas Date: 2/9

2020 was a wild time. While some doors closed, others opened. For example, British hardcore act Arms Race called it a day at the end of 2019. Just a few months later, former Arms Race frontman turned drummer Nicholas Sarnella (who left the band in 2023) and Chisel’s frontman Callum Graham got tighter to discuss forming a band. From that came The Chisel, a punk act more akin to bands like the Ramones, Leatherface, and Angelic Upstarts. Fast forward to now and the band are set to drop album #2 What A Fucking Nightmare next week. Produced by Jonah Falco (Chubby And The Gang, Fucked Up, Lacquer), as a press release puts it, “the album is a high energy blend of Oi! hooks and hardcore stomp that’s sure to please fans of all things loud and catchy.”

Usher

Album: Coming Home (Mega/gamma.)

Release Date: 2/9

2024 is gonna be a big year for Usher. The R&B superstar will be playing the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show, his residency at the Colosseum at Caesars’ Palace is still going on strong, and for the first time ever, he’s going independent. Coming Home, his first album in six years, has him collaborating with artists like 21 Savage, Burna Boy, Summer Walker, Latto, and Jungkook from BTS. ”We’ve put a lot of thought and creativity into this new album to tell a story that is open to interpretation and that will connect with people in different ways,” Usher said in a press release. “I know this has been a long time coming for my fans and what I’ll say is that all good things come to those who wait. I hope you enjoy it once you hear it.”

Laura Jane Grace

Album: Hole In My Head (Polyvinyl)

Release Date: 2/16

Ever since her band Against Me! went on hiatus back in 2020, frontwoman Laura Jane Grace has been working on her solo content. Since then, she’s dropped an EP, an album under her name, and one under the moniker Laura Jane Grace & The Devouring Mothers. And now, her second one under her name will come out later this month via Polyvinyl (American Football, The Get Up Kids, STRFKR). While we may not be getting an Against Me! reunion anytime soon, at least we can still get some amazing folk punk from Laura.

I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Album: GLOOM DIVISION (Concord)

Release Date: 2/23

It’s been a long time since we heard from iDKHOW. Their last album dropped in 2020 with Fearless Records (Boys Like Girls, Flat Black, Movements) and everything pretty much went quiet during the pandemic. But in September 2023, iDKHOW finally broke the silence as to why nothing was coming out. First, iDKHOW cut ties with drummer Ryan Seaman, they left Fearless to sign with Concord Records (Elbow, The Offspring, Thirty Seconds To Mars), and that a new album was coming out in 2024. From what’s been unleashed so far, GLOOM DIVISION is gonna be a hit and worth the four year wait. Bring on the Dallon Weekes show, folks, it’s gonna be a proper good time.

Remo Drive

Album: Mercy (Epitaph)

Release Date: 2/23

Four years have passed since indie rock trio Remo Drive dropped their third album A Portrait Of An Ugly Man. During this time, frontman Erik Paulson decided to move from Minnesota to New York’s capital, while his brother/bassist Stephen stayed in Bloomington, which forms the basis for Mercy. This sense of finding your footing in a new place, as well as relationships and making art that others will see and critique make up their fourth album. In a press release from Epitaph Records (Architects, late night drive home, Royale Lynn), “the new album introduces a major sonic departure from records of Remo past. Less indebted to the emo and pop punk that foregrounded the duo’s career, instead Mercy is invested in thorny, baroque indie pop by way of Father John Misty and Fleet Foxes.” Produced by Phil Ek (Built To Spill, Pretty Girls Make Graves, The Shins), the ten-track album has the band at their most vulnerable.

Chance The Rapper

Album: Star Line Gallery (Self-Released)

Release Date: TBA

Everyone deserves a second chance, right? Even Chance The Rapper. Since dropping his long-awaited and loathed debut The Big Day in 2019, CTR has pretty much backed away from music to focus on being a dad and a husband. But rumors have popped up over the years that a follow-up was in the works. Last December, he told his fans on Instagram Live that Star Line Gallery was “coming out next spring!” Guess we’ll have to wait and see if he was being legit. Because it would suck if he fell off.

Nails

Album: TBA (Nuclear Blast)

Releas Date: TBA

Eight years have passed since beloved 2010s powerviolence act Nails dropped an album. And it’s been four years since a new album was announced. Nails is down to its frontman Todd Jones, and things have been quiet ever since album #4 was announced in 2020. But that all changed last November when out of nowhere, news broke that LP4 was real and coming out in 2024. “New Nails LP coming Summer 2024 via Nuclear Blast Records engineered by @KurtBallou,” wrote Nails on Instagram. “Thanks for sticking with us. Info forthcoming. Love you all.” So yeah, LP4 is happening, and it will be produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou (The Armed, Every Time I Die, Old Man Gloom) and that Nuclear Blast Records (Brand Of Sacrifice, Fuming Mouth, Hatebreed) will release it. Guess we’ll see what summer gives us, eh?

Part two will come out next week!

Best Coast To Go On Indefinite Hiatus, Frontwoman Announces Debut Solo Album

Indie darlings Best Coast are calling it a night for the time being.

The Californian duo of front woman Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno broke the news Wednesday. In a statement posted by Pitchfork, Cosentino wrote, “My identity as a human being, and as an artist, has been so wrapped up in Best Coast for over a decade. The decision to pause the project indefinitely, and explore a new side of myself, was a very difficult one to make—but it felt necessary for me. Life is too short to not give yourself what you feel you need and want. I am excited about being just Bethany Cosentino for a while and figuring out who I am outside of the ‘Bethany from Best Coast’ box I’ve lived in for such a long time.”

In that same article, Cosentino also unveiled she will be going solo, releasing her debut single “It’s Fine”. The track appears on her debut solo record Natural Disaster dropping July 28 via Concord Records (The Offspring, Tears For Fears, Zella Day). Natural Disaster was produced by Butch Walker (The Aces, Fall Out Boy, Lit).

Best Coast formed in 2009, releasing four albums throughout their career, their latest being 2020’s Always Tomorrow. After self-releasing a string of 7-inch and cassette singles, they signed with Mexican Summer (Cate Le Bon, Iceage, Mega Bog), who released their debut Crazy For You in 2010. The duo would sign with Harvest Records (Death Grips, George O’Hanlon, The Mysterines) in 2015, releasing their third record California Nights that same year. Best Coast have toured and performed with bands like Wavves, Paramore, Jawbreaker, Pixies, and Cherry Glazerr.

The Most Anticipated Albums Of 2022 (Part One)

New year, new music.

2021 was the year many musicians showed us the works they created during the 2020 pandemic. And since the pandemic is still (somewhat) raging around the world, it’s giving musicians even more time to perfect their craft.

In 2022, we’re getting several great albums some several great bands and artists, but out of all the albums that are coming out this year, these are the ones you need to keep your eyes on. Here are the most anticipated albums of 2022, in no particular order.

Tears For Fears

Album: The Tipping Point (Concord)

Release Date: 2/25

Could it be? Is this actually happening? Are we finally getting brand spanking new music from Tears For Fears? Yes. Sound the alarm. The last time these British legends dropped an album of new original material was 2004’s Everybody Loves A Happy Ending. 18 years later, we’ve been gifted The Tipping Point, ten songs fueled by sadness and pain which nearly pushed Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith to their tipping points (no pun intended). Let’s see if the nearly two decade long wait was worth it when it drops this Friday.

D.R.U.G.S.

Album: TBA (Velocity)

Release Date: TBA

Don’t call it a comeback. Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows aka D.R.U.G.S. have been really busy creating their second album, their first since 2011’s self-titled debut. Back in December, frontman Craig Owens announced that the vocals were all recorded. “Can’t begin to tell you how much this new D.R.U.G.S. album means” he wrote on Twitter earlier this month. “Those who’ve heard it say it’s my best work yet. We are at the beginning of a new era, and I can’t wait to share this experience with all of you. Get ready! It’s coming soon…” Earlier this month, the band dropped a new track called “DESTINY”. No release date has been posted, but it will come out this year on Velocity Records (Eve 6, If I Die First, Thursday).

†††

Album: TBA (Warner)

Release Date: Spring

It’s the return of Crosses (spelled †††)! The experimental superduo consisting of Deftones’s frontman Chino Moreno and Far’s Shaun Lopez dropped two covers over the last two years, but now they are confirming new music is on the way. “Very happy to announce that @crossesmusic recently signed a worldwide deal with @warnerrecords. Looking forward to working with such an amazing crew,” Lopez posted in a statement on Instagram. The record should come out this spring on Warner Records (Avenged Sevenfold, The Head And The Heart, Saweetie).

Weezer

Album: The SZNS Saga (Atlantic/Crush)

Release Dates: Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter

Last year, Weezer dropped two albums. Now, they’re upping the ante by releasing four albums in 2022. Dubbed the “SZNS” saga, each record is supposed to have a sound relating to its coordinated season. As NME put it, “Each of the project’s albums is due to be released on the first day of every season next year, and will feature its own unique style. For example, one of the four records will be inspired by Elliot Smith. Another will be inspired by Weezer themselves.” So if this is happening, the first album should come out March 20.

Avril Lavigne

Album: Love Sux (DTA)

Release Date: 2/25

If you told me a decade ago that Avril Lavigne would be making a comeback in the pop-punk world, I would’ve laughed. But alas I’m the fool. Coming this Friday is the Canadian pop-punk superstar’s comeback record Love Sux, dropping on Travis Barker’s label DTA. Her seventh album has her collaborating with stars like Machine Gun Kelly, blackbear, and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus, and was produced by her boyfriend Derek Smith aka Mod Sun and scene producer John Feldmann (311, Escape The Fate, The Used).

Streetlight Manifesto

Album: TBA (Pentimento)

Release Date: TBA

Just to let you know how long it’s been since Jersey ska legends Streetlight Manifesto dropped a record, Victory Records was still around, Obama was president, and I was still in high school. And it seemed that we would never get that long-awaited sixth album. That all changed when the band posted last July that a new album was underway. “So you’ve been asking about it and we’ve been coy about it. And there’s a reason we’ve been keeping things on the down low, and that’s simply because we don’t want to talk about something until it’s well under way and inevitable. That changes today because, well, it is now WELL under way and inevitable,” the band posted on Facebook. “Along with everyone else on the planet, our plans for 2020 and 2021 were a bit… steamrolled. We are now back on track and for the last few months have resumed working in the studio after a year apart from one another, both remotely and in person, on what will be our next album. This is simply a proof of life post, with some photos to prove that all of the SM gentlemen are alive and being kept busy in the studio. Hydration and food rations are being provided when absolutely necessary. We won’t have anything to share with your earballs for a bit, but we’re on course to release this behemoth of a record sometime in 2022. We will sporadically provide updates now and then, but we want all of you faithful and kind (and PATIENT) Streetlight fans to know we are hard at work and hope to exceed your expectations with a new batch of jams soon.” Now all we can do is be patient. But hey, at least we know it’s coming!

Dashboard Confessional

Album: All The Truth That I Can Tell (AWAL)

Release Date: 2/25

After a four year gap and an almost deadly motorcycle crash in 2020, Chris Carrabba’s beloved acoustic emo/rock band Dashboard Confessional has returned with new music on a new label. Dropping this Friday is the eighth album All The Truth That I Can Tell, releasing under the AWAL banner (Aly & AJ, Everything Everything, Lauv). Carrabba opened up about the album to Kerrang!, saying, “Honesty was at the heart of the writing process, at the heart of the recording process, and at the heart of this collection of songs. I had the rare opportunity to be unflinchingly honest. But I think I would have thought in the early days that that would be commonplace. Now, I realize it’s some kind of cycle within your life and there’s great personal reward in accepting that.”

Belmont

Album: Aftermath (Pure Noise)

Release Date: 3/4

After dropping two EPs with Pure Noise Records (Devon Kay & The Solutions, Grumpster, Moon Tooth), Chicago easycore trio Belmont will be finally dropping their first full-length with the label, Aftermath, next Friday. The album is the band’s second overall. Vocalist Taz Johnson talked about Aftermath in a press release, stating, “There’s a lot of serious stuff on this album. It’s personal and vulnerable and hopefully people can relate to it. But at the same time, the process of making it taught us to remember to have fun.” Drummer Brian Lada adds, “All our influences are here, and we put them into one big melting pot. More than anything, I just hope this album inspires people to give less of a fuck and instead do whatever they want.”

100 gecs

Album: 10000 gecs (Atlantic/Big Beat/Dog Show)

Release Date: TBA

100 gecs were one of the many bands I have let slip through my fingers on my Prenatt’s Picks a few years ago. Still won’t get over that, especially with how popular the experimental hyperpop duo of Laura Les and Dylan Brady have gotten. Their groundbreaking debut record 1000 gecs changed the game of pop music for the greater good (or not, your opinion). And now, with 10000 gecs, they’ll up the ante somehow. So far, we’ve heard some tracks off of 10000 gecs on their 10000 gecs tour last fall like “Hey Big Man”, “Fallen For You”, “One Million Dollars”, “Hollywood Baby”, and the only commercially released song “mememe” (with the Toronto date being cancelled and being moved to Buffalo, which I got to see with the creator of the Punk Goes Prenatt logo and icon. And someone recorded the show on their Nintendo 3DS.) With what has been performed and released, 10000 gecs will blow their debut out of the water.

Nekrogoblikon

Album: The Fundamental Slimes And Humours (Mystery Box)

Release Date: 4/1

The greatest goblin-inspired melodic death metal band has returned. Santa Barbara’s Nekrogoblikon are set to unleash their heaviest goblin-est record to date, The Fundamental Slimes And Humours, hitting stores and steaming services on April Fools’ Day. If you wanna hear a sneak peek at the record, check out “This Is It”, a heavy banger that has the band sounding as tight as ever. “This was the first song that got completed during the writing/demoing process, meaning it’s also the one we’ve been waiting the longest for you all to hear,” the band wrote in a press release. 2022 is no longe the year of the tiger, now it is the year of the goblin.

Part two will come out next week!

Victory Records Owner Launches New Label, Adds Bands

When one door closes, another opens.

Last year, people were shocked when independent label Victory Records announced that they were being purchased by Concord Records for an undisclosed amount of money, with Billboard claiming that the price was around “$27 million-$34 million for the Victory company.” But now ex-CEO/founder Tony Brummel and his team are back with a new label: Mission Two Entertainment.

“Same job, different name, bigger mission,” Brummel promised in a press release. “I started Victory Records in 1989 with $800.00. I made a different deal and I have not submitted like so many other ‘independents.’ I kept the entire staff. Let’s go!”

Mission Two Entertainment broke the news yesterday that they have already signed three bands: NYHC legends Cro-Mags, recently reunited 80’s hardcore troupe Insight, and hardcore punk supergroup Don’t Sleep. Both Don’t Sleep and Cro-Mags were previously signed with Victory.

The new label also launched Amuxe Publishing, their “cutting edge, dynamic, and risk taking independent music publishing entity.” This company works with other artists besides Mission Two Entertainment acts, like American Dreamer, Brodie Z, Jess Weimer, Sonic Graffiti, and Vein Collector.

The inaugural release will be delivered by Cro-Mags and is titled In The Beginning. The record drops June 19. In The Beginning is the first new full-length record by the hardcore legends in over two decades. A lyric video for “The Final Test” is out now.

As previously mentioned here on Punk Goes Prenatt, “Victory’s catalog will be working under Concord’s Craft Recordings, who own the back catalogs for artists and bands like AFI, Social Distortion, and former Victory Records band Taking Back Sunday…As for future releases, Concord’s chief business development officer Steve Salm said in a statement, ‘to the extent that we put out new albums from existing artists, Fearless [Records] is the most likely home [to market such albums].'”