June 2024 - Favourite albums

Music-wise, June has been very intense, with a lot of interesting releases from artists we have under our radar: Kaytranada, L’Impératrice, NxWorries, Charli XCX, Aurora, Lupe Fiasco, Kate Nash, Don Toliver… But to keep it as short as possible, we stuck to a selection of four albums that made our month.

AURORA - What Happened To The Heart?

As you may now know, we’re suckers for the blending of genres, and Aurora shows us how it’s done.

“A Soul With No King” takes a rock turn amidst the overall folk feeling, “Do You Feel?” is a real dance bop, and the end of “Starvation” sounds like a rave music. Her featuring with Bring Me The Horizon already showed how adaptable her voice was, but this album pushes this even further while gaining more maturity than the previous ones. She explores such a diversity of sounds and instruments, while remaining cohesive and expressing her vulnerability.

One of our favourite albums of the year for sure. And the more you listen to it, the better it gets.

Standout tracks: "Conflict Of The Heart", "A Soul With No King", "Do You Feel?", "Starvation", "The Blade", "Invisible Wounds".

Charli XCX - brat

Another album with a great replay value (yes, it's been on rotation ever since it was released) is Charli XCX's latest release, brat.

This album is for our fellow party people, but not only. It’s almost impossible not to bop your head along the infectious “360”, “Talk talk” or “Von dutch”.

However, don’t let the bounciness and catchiness of this record distract you from how personal Charli is getting. It’s obvious with slower songs like “I might say something stupid” or “So I”, but even her dance tracks showcase her vulnerability (her and great writing skills). Her song "Girl, so confusing", which was talking about her relationship with the singer Lorde, even has a version with... Lorde herself.

Yes, brat is probably the summer album of 2024.

Standout tracks: "360", "Von dutch", "Everything is romantic", "Girl, so confusing, "Rewind," "365".

Lucky Daye - Algorithm

Among the many underrated artists in today's r&b scene, Lucky Daye is high on the list. 

While sticking to his roots, the album doesn’t shy away from adding groovy guitar riffs and bass lines, therefore blurring the frontiers between r&b, rock and pop. And the opening track alone, "Never Leavin' U Lonely", is testimony enough to how much Lucky Daye has been willing to explore on this album: it felt like the love child of Tame Impala and "Dawn FM", the introduction of the eponym album by The Weeknd. 

Tracks like “Top”, “Blame” or “That’s You” play on the safer side with a more traditional r&b, but the quality vocals and production prevent them from being corny.

Algorithm shows the artistry Lucky Daye is capable of and we haven’t been able to stop playing it since its release.

Standout tracks: "Never Leavin’ U Lonely", "Soft", "Algorithm", "Lemonde", "Diamonds in Teal". 

Alcest - Les Chants de l'Aurore

Fans expecting darker sounds might be disappointed (but they might enjoy “Améthyste”), because this record is bright, although tainted with melancholy. After all, the title already gives us a hint about its luminosity: les chants de l'aurore translates as the songs of the dawn. 

And Les Chants de l’Aurore takes us on a real musical and spiritual voyage. The long instrumental breaks combined with Neige’s French chants put us in a trance-like state, and we even dream of Japan with “Komorebi” or “L’Enfant de la Lune”. Even if the album only has seven tracks, they last long enough to make the trip worth our while.

What can we say, Alcest is just great at building an atmosphere!

Standout tracks: "L'Envol", "Améthyste", "Flamme Jumelle". 

Now it's with a high anticipation that we're waiting for the July releases!