RIFF’s best albums of 2024 include Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Magdalena Bay, Allie X, Kim Gordon, ScHoolboy Q, Kali Uchis, Adrianne Lenker, Knocked Loose and Clairo. If you haven’t read it yet, you should start at the beginning of our countdown. Caught up? Part two includes some big names…

Hailing from a formerly dry county in Kentucky, the five sludgecore warriors in Knocked Loose pick up right where they left off with 2016’s Laugh Tracks—slamming ears. For its second LP, the band again teamed up with engineer Will Putney to deliver a crisp artifact of punishing sound. A…

Clockwise from top left: Wreck and Reference, Lingua Ignota, Knocked Loose, Daydream Masi, Jordan Klassen and Shenseea. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of music on the internet. Don’t get me wrong; I love how platforms like YouTube, Bandcamp and Soundcloud have opened the floodgates of independent…

Clockwise from top left: Knocked Loose, CYN, Good Kid, Ex Hex, Yuna, Amber Mark. Every week, there’s a plethora of new music at our fingertips. Artists on platforms like Spotify and Bandcamp are plentiful, and the radio offers a steady deluge of new singles, but who has time to…