THE TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2024

 

So.  How're you holding up?

It feels weird to write Year End lists now, but I have the data, I have my feelings down in digital ink, and if you have the time, I'd like to share them.  Joy as an act of resistance and whatnot.

The way this works is I list off all the albums I heard this year and separate them into tiers: The Bottom Ten (which I uploaded in October), the Meh tier, the Okay tier, the Pretty Good tier, Honorable Mentions and The Top Ten.  Normally, I do a Top Twenty, but 2024 was what I was expecting 2023 to be: a year off.  A year that, despite a LOT of big music events happening, wound up kinda flat.  

This was still a good year for music, though.  The songs list expanded to a Top Forty for the first time.  Its just that albums mostly all fell into the same level of quality.  But think about this:

Everything in the Top Ten, Honorable Mention and Pretty Good tiers are albums I want to revisit (and have for the most part).  Any year with 88 projects that cross you personal threshold for "Good" is worth celebrating.  

So...albums, huh?  What's your favorites of 2024?  Like comment and subscribe or whateverthefuck!  This might be out literal last chance to dance, so do it like you've never done before!

LINK TO THE TOP TEN WORST ALBUMS OF 2024.  IT'S WORTH A GANDER.

MEH

Albums in this tier aren't all bad (though some of them are).  Some of 'em I respect but don't want to hear again.  Some of 'em are funny as shitposts, but bad as music.  Some of 'em have a couple good songs but suck the rest of the way.  Some of 'em just weren't my thing, but that's okay.  And a few aggressively weren't my thing but either had some kind of other merit to them, or just weren't distinct enough for the Worst List.  It's a varied tier.  And there's a lot of them as you can see here:

Andrew Bird, Alan Hampton & Ted Poor “Sunday Morning Put-On”
Ariana Grande “Eternal Sunshine”
Big Baller B “genre:bradboy”
The Black Crowes "Happiness Bastards"
Black Dresses “Laughingfish”
Blue Oyster Cult “Ghost Stories”
Cassandra Jenkins “My Light, My Destroyer”
Christophe de Babylon “Ach, Mensch”
Collective Soul “Here To Eternity”
Cory Gunz “Loosie Pack 3”
Crowded House “Gravity Stairs”
Denzel Curry “King Of The Mischievous South, Vol. 2”
Dissimulator “Lower Form Resistance”
Estee Nack & Futureware “Stone Temple Pyrex”
Fastball “Sonic Ranch”
Finneas "For Cryin' Out Loud!"
Floating Points "Cascade"
Future & Metro Boomin “We Don’t Trust You”
Helado Negro "Phasor"
The Hollydrug Couple “Bolero Tampoco”
Imagine Dragons “Loom”
Joan As A Policewoman "Lemons, Limes & Orchards"
Johnny Manchild and the Poor Bastards “Rapture Waltz”
Julia Holter “Something In The Room She Moves”
Kelela "Rave:N The Remixes"
Kenny Mason “9”
King Sacizzard + The Twizard Wizard “Infest The Gucci Vest”
Le Sserafim "Crazy"
Little Simz "Drop 7"
Lufthansa “Far From The Real Thing”
Mabe Fratti “Sentir Que No Sabes”
Markus King “Mood Swings”
Me'shell Ndegeocello "No More Water: The Gospel Of James Baldwin"
Mick Mars "The Other Side Of Mars"
Milton Nascimento & Esperanza Spalding "Milton + Esperanza"
My Dying Bride “A Mortal Binding”
Nelly Furtado "7"
Oddisee “Odd Sketches, Vol. 1”
Pat Metheny “Moondial”
Peter Gabriel "i/O"
Powerman 5000 “Abandon Ship”
RecordCollecter1972 “Pray MCMLXXII Reign (Tribute Album To “Pop Champagne”)”
The Rods "Rattle The Cage"
The Sawtooth Grin “Jabberwocky”
Serpentwithfeet "Grip"
Shellac “To All Trains”
Slope “Freak Dreams”
Soul Asylum "Slowly But Shirley"
Taylor Swift “The Tortured Poets Department”
Total Blue
Ultra Sun “Us”
The Warning "Keep Me Fed"
Windows 96 & Gavriel "Dated New Aesthetic"
Xan$x “Aw! Aw!”

• Ghost Stories is bad on two fronts: As a B-Side album with material from at least 40 years ago, it was listed upon release as Blue Oyster Cult's "final album" (which, what a wet fart to go out on), and two, there's some REAL dogshit on here.  I considered this for the worst of, and in a lesser year, it would've cracked The Bottom Ten.
• Cassandra Jenkins has two amazing songs on My Light, My Destroyer and one or two other pretty good ones, but they're all in the last 1/3rd of the project.  The rest is boooooring.
• The more I hear of Denzel Curry from before and after Melt My Eyes, See Your Future, the more I think that album was a flukey moment where our wavelengths synced up, never to converge again.
• The title track of For Cryin' Out Loud! was really nice and got me in the door; then the rest of the songs have really douchey lyrics and the tunes aren't nearly as sharp.  What a waste of time.
• The Hollydrug Couple had me going for a minute, (the song "Arthur" specifically,) but that minute has yet to resurface.  Liked some of their older stuff at one point, though.
• Avid readers may be shocked to see me put Esperanza Spalding in "Meh", (#2 in 2018; #1 retroactively in 2016) but this was more the other guy's project.  I just wasn't feeling it.
• I don't know whether or not I'm glad I didn't follow along with Peter Gabriel's experiment of releasing one track per month of his 12-song album, because the results had me underwhelmed to put it mildly.
• WOW that Powerman album was trash.  Not even fun trash this time, either.
• Pray MCMLXXII Rain was fun as a shitpost, but it's torture as an actual listen.  Five hours of mashups and remixes of the song "Pop Champagne" by Ron Brownz.  A little goes a long way.
• If you're curious about Soul Asylum, be prepared to hear them sounding way too old for this shit.  They're not even that old in the grand dinosaur scale of rock music, but damn do they sound it.
• Still haven't re-listened to The Tortured Poets Department.  Someday, I might make a playlist of the songs I didn't dislike, but I don't feel compelled to do that, y'know?   Heard 189 albums from 2024 and all, so don't know if I'll ever have time.
• Xan$x is only there because I "needed" an artist that began with an X.  Mission accomplished.

OKAY

These albums are at least alright.  Most of them I wouldn't mind hearing again, but I'm probably not deliberately choosing to do so.  Some of them are albums that could have made the "Pretty Good" tier if not for one or two flaws.  Some just have a "This is fine" average all the way through.  I think they're all worth at least one listen.

 

Amelia Rae "Ethereality"
Arrested Development "Bullets In The Chamber"
@ “Are You There God? It’s Me, @”
Bolis Pupul "Letters To Yu”
The Chainsmokers “No Hard Feelings”
Childish Gambino “Brando Stone And The New World”
Crumb “Amama”
Diamond Construct “Angel Killer Zero”
Ever Forthright “Techinflux”
The Fabulous Thunderbirds “Struck Down”
Faye Webster "Underdressed At The Symphony"
Four Tet “Three +”
Halestorm “Live At Wembley”
Horndal “Head Hammer Man”
Kaiser Chiefs "Kaiser Chiefs' Easy Eighth Album"
Kali Uchis "Orquideas"
Kevin Coleman “Imaginary Conversations”
Kim Gordon “The Collective”
KMFDM "Let Go"
Lacuna Coil "Oxygen"
Little Feat “Sam’s Place”
Mdou Moctar “Funeral For Justice”
Mori Calliope "Phantomime"
No Mana “I Contain Flashing Images”
NOFX “Half-Album”
Nourished By Time “Catching Chickens”
Orville Peck “Stampede”
Pearl Jam “Dark Matter”
Qveen Herby “The Alchemist”
Richard Thompson “Ship To Shore”
Terrace Martin "Nintindo Soul"
Terrace Martin “Two Drink Minimum”
Vince Staples “Dark Times”
Windows 96 & Gavriel “19999”
Yusef Dayes "The Yusef Dayes Experience (Live From Malibu)"
ZZ Ward "Mother"
ZZ Ward “Where Did All The Love Go?"

• This is Ever Forthright's second album.  Their first came out in 2011.  They haven't evolved a lot, but they're still...fine?  (Though they're also the victims of being at the forefront of the first wave of djent; they're trying to bring back a sound that hasn't gone away for long enough yet to be missed.)
• Faye Webster was in consideration for the Top 20, but the way she pronounces words drives me up a WALL.
• Believe it or not, this might be Kaiser Chiefs' best album in over a decade.  Low fucking bar, but they cleared it!
• Kevin Coleman and Kim Gordon both put out albums that I respect more than I like, so they wind up here.  But I'd still recommend giving them a try for being interesting.
• "Little Feat" isn't a shambling corpse, but it may be a mamboing one.  But it's still at least kind of the Feat, so I'm kinder to it than I probably should be.
• I Contain Flashing Images might be the best album title of the year.
• Think this is where all Orville Peck lands for me: smack dab in the middle.  I want to like him more, but he's just alright.
• Vince Staples was the closest to breaking into the next tier out of this group.

PRETTY GOOD

From here on in, these albums are all ones I'd listen to again.  Yes, all of them.

 

Action Bronson “Johan Sebastian Bachlava The Doctor”
Alice Merton “Heron”
Alien Ant Farm "~Mantras~"
Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham "Cunningham Bird"
Ani DiFranco “Unprecedented Sh!t”
Asher Roth & Heather Grey “Temporary Heaven”
Big Big Train “The Likes Of Us”
Billie Eilish “Hit Me Hard And Soft”
Bonk! “The Act Of Doing It”
BrhyM, Bruce Hornsby & yMusic “Deep Sea Vents”
bye2 "My Wife Is Drink Paint"
Cadence Weapon “Rollercoaster”
Charli XCX "Brat"
Chastity Belt "Live Laugh Love"
Cheekface "It's Sorted"
Clairo “Charm”
David Gilmour "Luck And Strange"
Devin Townsend "Powernerd"
The Dip “Love Direction”
El Michels Affair “Boy Kills World” (Music From The Original Motion Picture)
Empress Of “For Your Consideration”
The Fearless Flyers "IV"
Foxy HxC Macfly [F.H.x.C.M.] "Congregation Of Dreams - Volume 3"
Frost* "Life In The Wires"
Ghost Funk Orchestra "A Trip To The Moon"
GUM & Ambrose Kenny-Smith "Ill Times"
Hardy “Quit!!”
I Chased A Crow “Void”
Ibibio Sound Machine “Pull The Rope”
Iron & Wine “Light Verse”
Jack White "No Name"
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit "Live From The Ryman, Vol. 2"
Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks "True"
Kerry King “From Hell I Rise”
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard "Flight b741"
Lava LaRue “Starface”
Lenny Kravitz "Blue Electric Light"
Lil White Bitch “Crack Up At The Funeral”
Lil Yachty & James Blake “Bad Cameo”
Lunar Vacation “Everything Matters, Everything's Fire”
LustSickPuppy “Carousel From Hell”
Macross 82-99 "Jutsu"
MC Lyte "1 Of 1"
Night Verses “Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night”
Night Tapes “Assisted Memories”
Nilufer Yanya "My Method Actor"
Oddisee “And Yet Still”
Paul Speer "Adventures In Space"
Paula Cole "Lo"
Poppy "Negative Spaces"
Qveen Herby “Stripped”
Rhapsody "Please Don't Cry"
Rob Scallon "Crowded Rooms"
Sarah Jarosz "Polaroid Lovers"
Sheryl Crow "Evolution"
Sierra Ferrell “Trail Of Flowers”
Space Bwoi "20 Minutes Of Jungle Breakcore To Zone Out To"
Spirit Of The Beehive “You’ll Have To Lose Something”
St. Vincent “All Born Screaming”
Steve Conte “The Concrete Jangle”
Still Woozy “Loveseat”
Swamp Dogg “Blackgrass: From West Virginia To 125th St.”
The Tabula Rasa Record Company "Thank You, Dream Girl"
That Mexiacan OT “Texas Technician”
Thiiird Person "Kibbler 3P"
Tracey Brakes "My Twee Monsters"
Twen "Infinite Sky"
Tycho "Infinite Health"
Vylet Pony “I Was The Loner Of Paradise Valley”
The Waeve "City Lights"
William Doyle "Springs Eternal"
Willow “Empathogen"
Wishy "Triple Seven"
Zeal & Ardor “Grief”

• I love that Bruce Hornsby continues to follow his bizarre muse wherever it goes.  I never know what to expect from his next one, and this was no exception.
• That Hardy placement is contingent on me not finding out how much of a chode he is in real life.  Ignorance is bliss and all, but I fully expect that bubble to pop.
• Iron & Wine cooled on me a bit, I think because in the Summer I was a lot more hopeful for the future and was entertaining romantic notions.  Now it feels a little twee.  But still good.
• Considered Jason Isbell for #1 after first listen, but going back to it, 84 minutes is a LONG time to be that punished by lyrics that are just too real, you know what I mean?  The songs are still real good.
• Lo is Paula Cole's best album since the 90s.  I might've said that in the review, but it bears repeating.
• Albums that, if forced to make a Top 20, would have made the cut: Willow, Sarah Jarosz, Billie Eilish, Lava Larue, Jason Isbell and David Gilmour, in that order from 20 to 15.  I just didn't have much to say about any of them and didn't want to force it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Twenty One Pilots “Clancy”

Said this in the Top 40 Songs Of 2024 blog, but I've never been into Twenty One Pilots before now.  "Overcompensate" impressed me and "Next Semester" got me curious enough to listen to the project.  Overall: pretty good stuff.  One or two songs get a little thin, but for the most part is solid throughout.

Kendrick Lamar & Drake "The Whole Rap Beef"

I couldn't not mention this in some way.  Though it is fucked up that a playlist with four Drake songs on it (one of which using AI) could get into my top fifteen, but eh, fuck it.  You need the proper context of Drake's responses to better understand the takedown.  

Tyler, The Creator "Chromakopia"

Tyler putting out an album that's "Yep.  This is a Tyler album." is good enough to at least get into my Top 20 in any year (since 2017).

Beyonce “Cowboy Carter”

I remember liking B Day the one time I listened to it a decade ago, but other than that, this is the first time I've really liked a Beyonce project (and it held up to repeat listens!).  If this'd been a quarter to a third shorter, this would've been Top Five easy.

THE TOP 10

10. Laurie Anderson "Amelia"

A svelte, 33-minute story about Amelia Earhart and her quest to fly around the world.  Because we know how the story ends (and because it was from 90 years ago), we tend to dehumanize the people by mythologizing them.  Laurie Anderson adds that humanity back into Amelia and her story.

9. Lake Street Dive “Good Together”

The most fun you can have listening to adult contemporary in 2024.  Lake Street Dive makes a very particular kind of music and they have honed their craft to perfection.

8. Kacey Musgraves “Deeper Well”

Damn, I really need to listen to Golden Hour, huh?  Because though critical reception and sales for Deeper Well were good, the fans seem to really think this was mid as hell in comparison.  And if that's remotely true, Golden Hour must be one of the best albums of all time, because this landed three songs in my Top Forty.  Don't listen to the nay-sayers; this is beautiful.

7. Geordie Greep "The New Sound"

From the ashes of Black Midi comes this lump of prog-jazz weirdness with lyrics that might make Lou Reed's Lulu blush (for oddity and lewdity).  Scratches that itch in me that loves to hear a bunch of technical shit, but also has bizarrely catchy hooks to boot.

6. Kendrick Lamar "GNX"

Out of all albums on this list, this is the one I worry about most.  I haven't had enough time to sit with it yet, so I feel like it's too low.  But if I hear it too many times, I know I'll get sick of it, and it'll feel too high.  So #6 is definitely a compromise.  But it bumps in the whip; make no mistake.

5. Kaytranada “Timeless”

Very few distinct moments, but the 21-tracks work together to form a quite immaculate vibe.

4. Judas Priest “Invincible Shield”

Easily Judas Priest's best album.  Shit shreds.

3. Jpegmafia "I Lay Down My Life For You"

Peggy got this close to becoming the first back-to-back Number One on my albums lists; I truly considered it.  There's not a skip on this one.  I think the thing that made the decision for me was attitude: JPEG's confidence is more cold and calculated on this album, and in the face of my Top Two, I went with personalities that stuck out more.  But in a vacuum, that cold confidence is what put him this high anyway; if someone's gonna talk this much shit, they better be willing to back it up.

2. Lip Critic “Hex Dealer”

Lip Critic has a ferocious creative spirit.  They sound different.  They have an undeniable energy that's as weird as their album cover.  This is what I wish MSPAINT had sounded like last year.  The songs sort of blur together, but is only 31 minutes, so it's kinda like an industrial Gen Z Reign In Blood, except quirkier and more sardonic.  If that sounds rad, you need to get on board.

1. Remi Wolf “Big Ideas”

I had to think about this one, but what sealed it was doing the songs list and seeing Remi land three in my Top Ten.  Of course this was gonna top the list.  She's irrepressible.  The album's about finding yourself now that you've got a little success, the vulnerability of admitting you're maybe not doing such a good job on that journey, and the weird minutiae that comes along the way.  A topic that well-trodden takes talent to do in an interesting way but Remi Wolf came prepared with a dual-pronged attack: An unstoppable personality and killer tunes.


And that's a wrap on 2024 in music.  Next year, if things go according to plan, #MWE will be coming again in February (or March 1st on this blog if you're not hip to my Bluesky or Mastodon).  And I also have a plan for my first giant Blog project in eight years; stay tuned to see if we can pull that one off.

Until then, stay safe, stay sane.

Don't give up.