July 3rd, 2024
Below, (in no particular order) explore 31 albums that have been the most important, influential and adored by us at Rough Trade US!
Input from George Clinton, André 3000 and Washington’s toddler daughter feature on his virtuosic, richly varied celebration of Black American music.
A beautiful slice of country-tinged magic that never descends into nostalgia, this a twisting country album of anthemic earworms that evoke long summer evenings, intimate chats and misty-eyed regret.
Charli XCX gets her hands dirty to guarantee you the best night out of your life.
Too cryptic to be apathetic, too funky to be downbeat and too layered and haunting to be a simple ‘fuck you’ to the system, this LP is among the best work from Thom and Jonny since In Rainbows.
New Yorker’s incredible 5th LP features catchy dancefloor bangers, alongside soulful odes, homespun funk, and R&B… Unmissable.
A beautiful record that tactfully captures the often confusing and contradicting feelings when truly in love, this LP showcases good old-fashioned song craftsmanship at its most inspiring finest.
The fourth full-length release from the Brooklyn four-piece is a masterful example of political shoegaze. Truly special.
Some of the most beautiful but disquieting indie-rock in recent memory.
This is punk at its most multifaceted and emotional, overflowing with desire and angst.
A little bit Kate Bush, a little bit BCNR, a little bit Weyes Blood, and a little bit of your favorite indie band, this debut from the all-female London band is as promising as it gets.
Cleveland indie rock, full of gargantuan hooks that make you feel alive.
70s-tinged alt-country is delicate and eclectic, complete with guest spots from Wilco’s Nels Cline and rapper Lil Yachty
Wry, riveting, chaotic, and infectious throughout, this is a fearless album brimming with innovative arrangements and mind-altering narratives, all held together by danceable grooves and infectious musicianship.
So engaging, you might even forget your phone for 40 minutes, this debut is a bracing, frantic record designed for both thrashing mosh pits and solo meltdowns, best heard with the volume turned up loud.
Timeless and considered, Lives Outgrown by Portishead‘s Beth Gibbons is a complete, but still complicated, portrait of the intersection of grief and life.
Pulsing like summer, maybe album of the summer (?), this is fun, fresh indie rock that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
One of the year’s most innovative and exciting rock albums, it’s a raw, vulnerable, raucous expression of love.
Packed with rollicking, sugar-sweet verses and vocalizations you can twirl your body to and curl up and anguish over all the same.
Kentucky metalcore. What more do you need to know? Just when you thought it couldn’t get any heavier, it does. Epic.
Another great summer record by the Houston trio, their intricate instrumental music is so gentle it lulls the listener into a newly imaginative state.
A delectable mélange of Harrisonian 12-string riffs, Wilsonian harmonies and layer-cake hooks – crooning sugary pop-rock in the best of ways.
From the noisy low end of lead track “Broken Man,” through Flea’s prowling industrial pop and the superlative goth jazz, Bond-like theme of “Violent Times,” it’s a loud and unapologetically varied work.
Montreal’s Corridor sing in French, and draw from both European and American influences, creating a distinct, wide-eyed melody that’s constantly changing and being disrupted. A thrilling, mesmerizing listen.
Contender for punk album of the year. Fast, furious, funny, sad and above all real.
A near-effortless reinvention of retro pop, soul, funk, and R&B, with a glossy modern sheen, all voiced with captivating and confident flair by a razor-sharp songwriter. One of the finest debuts in a long, long while.
A Brooklyn band everyone seems to have seen live either on some guy’s rooftop or in a small, crowded bar—and all that hard work has culminated into a gorgeous, career-long debut.
Unsurprisingly adventurous, charmingly deadpan and visceral at every turn, Sonic Youth‘s Kim Gordon has created an underground hip-hop record made by an inveterate envelope-pushing postmodernist.
The London-based Afro-funk electronic collective merge hypnotic rhythms with pulsing electro, and the result is a potent fusion.
A fun, adventurous record confirming Peggy Gou‘s status as one of the more distinctive figures in club music, with guest appearances by Villano Antillano and Lenny Kravitz.
Gleeful & glorious psych-rock. What’s not to like?
One of this year’s most engrossing listening experiences courtesy of the French electronic maestros. Featuring guest appearances by Miguel, Connan Mockasin, Rimon, Tame Impala, The Flints, and Thundercat.
