Great Albums Ahead: 2024

There's a blizzard of great new albums headed our way this winter and spring — and we gave FUV hosts the (nearly) impossible task of picking just one album — yes, just one — that they are most eagerly anticipating this year. The choice was tough, but our hosts persevered.

Green Day, Saviors (January 19)

I've always admired Green Day's ability to mix great pop songs that range from hard rock to sentimental sweetness with just the right edge of political commentary added when needed. With a big summer tour ahead of them and reunited for the first time in over a decade with producer Rob Cavallo, I'm looking forward to the sounds of Saviors. - Dennis Elsas

Brittany Howard, What Now (February 2)

Brittany Howard is as exciting a singer as they come and new music from her is number one on my looking-forward list of 2024. With her well-honed skills as a writer, producer, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist, and over four years since her post-Shakes solo debut, Jaime, to simmer her creative juices, I can’t wait to see how she answers the question, What Now. - Eric Holland

MGMT, Loss of Life (February 23)

The lead singles hint at more than just a secret sauce, but a secret weapon to get the duo/group back on track after some lost direction. That device is co-producer Patrick Wimberly, who has helped to steer Beyoncé and Solange to the top of the charts, but also has strong indie cred, having started in electronica with Chairlift. For that project, Wimberly (like Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser) worked in partnership with someone who has now beaten an impressive solo path, Caroline Polachek. I expect that the starry eyed MGMT boys won't lose the breadcrumb trail on this next and long overdue adventure in sound and supercool freakiness. - Paul Cavalconte

Real Estate, Daniel (February 23)

It's been nearly 15 years since Real Estate emerged from northern New Jersey with a gracefully enchanting sound rich with smart lyrics, billowy vocals, and ringing guitars that created a warmly intoxicating vibe. They recently revealed two new songs — "Water Underground" and "Haunted World" — from their sixth album, Daniel, and from these two samples, it's obvious that it promises to be another shimmering collection of indie pop melodies arriving just in time for the warmer weather ahead. - Darren DeVivo

John Lurie, Painting with John (March 15)

Fans of the Lounge Lizards and those who first became acquainted with them on the HBO series "Painting with John" will delight in the impending 56-track collection featuring new music by John Lurie written for the series plus classic recordings spanning his discography. Especially heartwarming are pieces that include the late trombonist and longtime Lizard, Curtis Fowlkes who died in 2023. The rest of the usual suspects, Jane Scarpantoni, G. Calvin Weston, and Steve Bernstein to name a few, are also in the mix. Expect to hear it on "The Whole Wide World." - Delphine Blue

Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future (March 22)

Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne Lenker has already started stealing my heart again with her new solo album. She's released a few songs from Bright Future already and all three are achingly gorgeous. Her music has a way of just cutting through all the noise. It feels so intimate and powerful. I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.  - Alisa Ali

The first single honestly ruined me, so I was hyped to hear that Adrianne Lenker would bless us with a full record right around season's turning. Both songs so far play with fundamental melodies any person with a beating heart always has rattling around, but the otherworldly vocals put the tunes just out of reach for mortals. Looking forward to these bright futures/sad gifts. - Benham Jones

Aoife O'Donovan, All My Friends (March 22)

Aoife O'Donovan, whose velvety voice has enchanted everyone from Yo-Yo Ma to Garrison Keillor, has been inspired by the writings of the early 20th century suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt on her sixth album, All My Friends. Produced for the first time with the help of her husband, classical conductor Eric Jacobson, the album includes guests Anaïs Mitchell, Sierra Hull, Noam Pikelny, Griffin Goldsmith, chamber orchestra The Knights, brass quartet The Westerlies, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus. - John Platt

Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood (March 22)

Katie Crutchfield's sixth album is on the way along with a tour, as she announced on Instagram. This artist writes and sings from the heart and I'm loving the first release, "Right Back To It." - Janet Bardini

 

The Black Keys, Ohio Players (April 5)

I have been cranking up the gritty, hook-laden rock 'n' roll of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney for more than 20 years and with their twelfth album, Ohio Players, they're turning up the fun factor. You may find yourself singing harmonies to the lead-off single, "Beautiful People (Stay High)," as did Beck who co-wrote the track. You'll also hear Noel Gallagher, Greg Kurstin and other friends that The Black Keys invited to the party. - Corny O'Connell

Gustaf, Package Pt. 2 (April 5)

I’ve caught local DIYers-turned-big-fest-faves Gustaf in Brooklyn, Barcelona, and Boise, and the art-punk pals, beloved (and remixed) by Beck, never disappoint. Of course, with a band that thrives live, the question is always whether the energy of the live experience can truly be captured and pressed into permanence. Is it even possible to translate the funconventional — say, the clink of a coffee can or the honk of a rubber chicken, both regular parts of Gustaf’s percussion section — from the stage to the studio? With their 2021 debut, Audio Drag for Ego Slobs, the five-piece proved that the “glorified mania” they pump out on stage does, in fact, translate into a really rad record, and given the countless shows they’ve played since that release — including tours with IDLES and Foals — I’m seriously stoked to find out what they’ve got in store for their second. - Sam Sumpter

English Teacher, This Could Be Texas (April 12)

Since their first single on the Nice Swan label in 2021, the slithering punk snarl of "R&B," English Teacher have delivered a string of artfully crafted releases, including an EP, 2022's Polyawkward. The Leeds quartet build their songs with intricate melodies that vacillate between dreamy perambulations, heart-thumping anxiety attacks, and waves of wary tenderness — often woven into the same composition. The band — Lily Fontaine, Lewis Whiting, Douglas Frost, and Nicholas Eden — finally release their debut album, This Could Be Texas, on April 12 on Island Records, produced by Marta Salogni. While the album's taut rock lashings thrill, it's the tricky ballads and mathematical mood swings, like "Albert Road," "Mastermind Specialism" and "Broken Biscuits," that astonish, elevated by Fontaine's prickly, half-spoken poetry, pierced with shards pulled from her rural hometown of Colne, literature, and lousy love affairs. This Could Be Texas is a flat-out masterpiece of a debut. - Kara Manning