Hey readers! Jeremy here. Long time, no updates. There are a multitude of reasons I’ve been absent from the blog, but I’ll save those updates for later. For now, let’s talk music.
A Little Background
At the start of 2024, I had an epiphany: I’d been really bad about listening to new music over the course of the last few years. In fact, the one and only time I posted any blog like this, a deep dive into my listening, was back in 2015. Coincidentally, it was also the year that I read this study from the AV Club, that suggested most adults stop listening to new music around the age of 33. The theory, in short, is that we spend our youth listening to what is most accessible. In our 20s, we start to explore other genres and find music that is representative of our identity as a human being. But in our 30s, the pangs of nostalgia kick in and we go back to listening to the music that was crucial during the coming of age period in our lives. Now, this concept really makes sense to me. It’s exactly why you can age bracket certain genres with specific generations of individuals.
But when I first read the study, I’d scoffed at the presumption. How could anyone stop consuming new music? Not me. I have always been on the hunt for music that challenged me and forced me to discover new things about what made me, well, me. How could I ever slow down with my voracious consumption of all new genres of music?
And yet, here we are. Recognizing that I’d last posted year’s end best of albums nearly a decade ago in my early thirties, I acknowledge that there’s certainly some truth to the study after all. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve continued to consume a lot of new music over the years. But truthfully, I’ll always and forever feel like I’m catching up.
Over the last nine years, life happened. And other forms of listening joined the mix. I discovered how much I loved audiobooks and podcasts. While I was still actively buying more vinyls than I’ll ever care to admit, this only reinforced listening to music that I’d already heard before. Who buys albums they haven’t heard? I was recommended tons of new music, and probably got around to listening to half those suggestions. As for the other half, well, if any of you are reading this and still waiting on my feedback, I’m sorry I maybe still haven’t gotten around to that album you love.
I turned 40 in 2024. This milestone resulted in some pretty big resolutions, plans, and goals, knowing that I may be halfway through my life—or more. Who knows? This realization inspired me to start living more fully than I had for the first 40 years of life. Setting attainable goals and celebrating the small victories seemed like the easiest approach to feeling more fulfilled.
The first goal I made: listening to more new music. At least 100 within the year. Spoiler alert: I did it… and then some. Hence, why you’re reading this. The final total for the year was 412—and I’m sure I missed some in my record keeping. It was a feat that I’m incredibly proud. It raised the bar for 2025: this year’s goal is 500.
The Process: Listening, Tracking & Supporting
How on earth have I been able to work so much new music into my days, let alone keep track of it all? Here are my best tips:
- I have not neglected my other responsibilities or hobbies. The difference now is that there is never a quiet moment in my life. There’s always music playing somewhere in my house and at my workplaces.
- I constantly read about what to listen to. There are so many blogs that I use to find new music. I’ve linked most of them through the entry posts but the big ones have been Stereogum, Heavy Blog Is Heavy, Pitchfork, Bandcamp, Fecking Bahamas, and many other smaller blogs.
- I have taken all recommendations very seriously. This has been easy. People are always recommending new music to me. Only now, I run and don’t walk to their recommendations. Some of the best music I’ve heard this year has been from someone recommending something to me. And best of all, it has always resulted in great conversation later.
- I don’t genre discriminate. Life is too short to only listen to one a specific genre. I’ve discovered that lately I’m loving genres I’d immediately casted out in my music repertoire in the past (specifically jazz).
- I have a few accountability partners. This concept was so new to me in 2024. A few friends and I made a pact that we would keep each other honest about our progress. By stating this goal out loud and talking about it with people I care about, I’ve found that it’s easy to keep up with any goal. It’s easy to disappoint yourself, but another thing to feel like you’ve disappointed someone else. Get yourself an accountability partner.
- SPREADSHEETS. Deserving of all caps. Without my master spreadsheet, I’d be lost tracking everything I’ve heard. Mine is super simple, consisting of: artist, album, release date, rating, and notes. My rating system is out of 1-5 and isn’t really based on anything mathematic (like rating each song and adding up the marks for a final score). It’s mostly based on feeling and what the album did for me personally. Who cares if something progresses a genre forward but doesn’t sound good to you? Am I right?
- I revisit things often. New music fatigue is real. So during those down times, I take the opportunity to go back and listen to favorites or albums that may not have gotten my proper attention on the first pass.
- I buy the albums I want on vinyl or via digital download to support the artists. Streaming services are a necessary evil when it comes to discovering new music. So the things I really like, I buy from local record stores, directly from the artist and record label, or as a digital download on Bandcamp. On the latter point, I always try to buy during Bandcamp Fridays where the website doesn’t take a cut of the sales from the artist. Don’t know when the next Bandcamp Friday is? Check this site and it will always let you know if it is Bandcamp Friday.
The Equipment
You certainly don’t need any fancy gear to work more music into your life. But if you’re looking to upgrade your listening experience, here are some of my favorites:
- Headphones: I use three pairs of headphones when listening to music.
- Koss PortaPros: I use these amazing headphones when I’m on the go and something that doesn’t require noise cancelation. These are the best cheap headphones I’ve ever owned and I cannot recommend them enough for their sturdy build quality and incredible responsive sound.
- Sony 1000XM4: These are the best noise canceling headphones I’ve ever used and the sound quality is unreal. With both a corded and cordless option, the build design is incredibly versatile and sturdy. Pro tip: when you buy them, consider buying them certified refurbished to save a significant amount of loot.
- Google Pixel Buds Pro: These are headphones that I use mostly for podcasts or when I know that I might be expecting a phone call. But I actually started using them while doing yard work, when I need something more lightweight.
- Turntable Setup: I could spend days recommending products or listing things that I’ve wanted to upgrade my own setup. But for simplicity’s sake, I’m going to limit my recommendations to products I own that have proven tried and true.
- Stereo Receiver: I won’t provide information about my own stereo receiver on account of not really recommending what I currently own (I’ve been looking into vintage amplifiers lately). I’m hoping to upgrade that at a later date.
- Turntable: Fluance RT81. I’m eventually looking to upgrade this to the Fluance RT85. The major difference between the 81, 82, and 85 models is stylus and platter. If I were to do it all over again, I would’ve just gone with the more expensive model and bought the RT85 initially.
- Turntable Accessories:
- Speakers: Klipsch RP-500M II
Alright. So, having listened to over 400 new albums, some stood out above the rest. Let’s get into my top 100 of 2024.
The 100 Best Albums of 2024
A word of note: I spent a lot of time mulling over the actual placement of the albums here in a ranked order system. Even as I hit publish, I’m not 100% committed to the firm placement of some of these releases in the overall ranked order. I did my best to provide some semblance of order based on a pretty rudimentary ranking system, which I plan to completely revamp for next year’s list.
100. Jesus Lizard: Rack
Released: September 13th | Ipecac Records
The first of many records on this list that feature an artist I love that released a surprise new album after years of being inactive. Jesus Lizard’s Rack comes 24 years after their last record, Bang. Age hasn’t affected the Austin, Texas band. They still possess the intensity they once did with the driving and brutal guitar riffs that became their signature sound and the unpredictable energy that their vocalist, David Yow, brings to the table.
While still a triumphant return for the band, I struggled to rank this higher on the end of year list, only on account of Rack sounding so much like the band’s earlier material. Additionally, while it is still new, I am not sure it ranks among their best (Goat will still always be my personal favorite) and therefore demands a more intensive listening session after a few months and within the context of their entire discography; a plan that will happen sometime in the near future. Only then do I think that Rack will climb this list.
99. Melt-Banana: 3+5
Released: August 23rd | A-ZAP Records
I saw Melt-Banana perform live in 2015 at the Eaux Claires music festival after many missed opportunities. I had been a fan since their seminal album, Cell Scape, but kind of lost track of the band for a few years following the next few releases. To date, they remain one of the most insane performances I’ve ever seen live.
Melt-Banana return with their first proper new album in 11 years. The almost impossibly fast skat style vocals and inhuman sounding guitar playing on top of chaotic electronic drum beats still remains and somehow feels slightly more mature from the Japanese noise rockers. If it wasn’t so abrasive and strange, this would have had many more plays this year but the specific mood that 3+5 demands makes for a very niche but pleasurable experience that only Melt-Banana can deliver.
98. Yard Act: Where’s My Utopia?
Released: March 1st | Island Records
Yard Act’s newest exists somewhere between a much more nihilistic and psychedelic version of the band Cake and British radio disco pop. I know how that sounds. But trust me that it is probably the closest comparison I can come up with for the magic happening on Where’s My Utopia?. The frontman, James Smith, calls it a “party album”. I’m not sure what parties this is being played at but it definitely made me start to realize how tame the soundtracks to my parties may be.
There’s something about Smith’s half sung/half spoken delivery of the lyrics and melodies that reminds me so much of bands like Sonic Youth, Dry Cleaning, or even English Teacher all on top of a foot tapping angular but danceable rhythm that will keep you coming back for more long after the album stops. Think of bands like LCD Soundsystem, Beck, and Gorillaz and then turn up the sass and you are at least halfway there.
97. Dirty Three: Love Changes Everything
Released: June 28th | Drag City Records
Just a preface: Dirty Three has always been one of my favorite bands. And like many records on this list, this one came as a huge surprise to me. It has been 12 years since the last Dirty Three album and this one seems to pick up exactly where the last one left off with a single elegiac song broken up into six movements. It’s sparse, full of rhythmic experimentation, and rarely comes together to find a cohesive linear structure. But when it hits, you’ll feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.
In brief, Love Changes Everything will leave you with an emotional experience that conveys a message of mournful, yet hopeful, yearning. This is Dirty Three doing what they do best. They are just a three piece band writing beautiful neo-classical post rock as soundtracks for movies that don’t exist yet with the simple structure of guitar, drums, and violin.
As a complete side note, if you like what you hear on this new record, please check out the earlier material and especially the In The Fishtank 7 release they did with Low in 2001. Dirty Three have been a master at their post rock craft for a long time and often get overlooked for more traditional, less jazzy, and more structured bands that helped form the genre. Also, if you love the violin work on the last decade of Nick Cave albums and soundtracks, please know that this is Warren Ellis–one of the three members of Dirty Three.
96. Hannah Frances: Keeper of the Shepherd
Released: March 1st | Ruination Record Co.
Hannah Frances has one of those voices that has the ability to stop you immediately in your tracks when hearing it and do a double take when checking the artist’s name. It is just so flawless with its impressive range, flawless vibrato, and almost effortless approach all while delivering unique melodies atop an experimental folk album. Her voice, in my humble opinion, reminds me so much of the late Mimi Parker of Low (I promise not to reference the band much more after this, I swear!). For those that are fans of Parker’s work, tell me I’m wrong. I dare you.
But beyond Frances’s voice, what we have here is an album that is one part Joni Mitchell’s alternate tunings and finger picked acoustic guitar, another part Jeff Buckley’s vocal range and underrated guitar chops, a dose of Karen Dalton’s knack for conveying a complex message through melody and lyrics, and a heavy dash of modern folk heroes like Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsome, and Mazzy Star all baked into an album conveying a period of hope after grief. A truly outstanding effort from an artist that is new to me but won’t be missed moving forward.
95. Stay Inside: Ferried Away
Released: February 28th | Self-Released
Stay Inside’s Ferried Away could have been released a lot earlier than 2024. It felt nostalgic to me after first listen. There is just so much here that is reminiscent of the late 90s and early 00s emo that I listened to while I was in high school; an era of the genre that is often replicated but never perfected. The genre was marked with jangly guitars, vocal hooks that dug deep into your brain, and self-deprecating lyrics that tore at your heart strings.
Ferried Away comes awfully close to that nostalgic magic genre but with the inclusion of horns. Yes, horns. But not in a shitty Ska way. Instead, they provide a fun juxtaposition that adds an asterisk next to the band’s decidedly more melodic post hardcore elements. The horns exist in a place of the long drawn out guitar outros of the genre and provide a triumphant moment that begs you to throw a raised fist into the air when you hear them kick in.
For those looking for examples of how emo is alive and well with new innovation (don’t worry there are more on this list), Ferried Away is one you shouldn’t miss.
94. Anna Butterss: Mighty Vertebrate
Released: October 24th | International Anthem Records
I first heard Mighty Vertebrate while driving through the streets of downtown Portland, Oregon, and couldn’t help but think “if this is what modern jazz sounds like, I am here for it.”
Butterss is a bass player by trade, playing for artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Jenny Lewis, and Jason Isbell, but also a composer and multi-instrumentalist who seems determined to rewrite the rules of the modern jazz scene and make it more influenced by the ever expanding genre of Post Rock. Electro beats, angular guitar playing, flutes, synths, and the always driving low end of Butterss’ bass, makes this such an incredibly difficult album to describe. At its start, there are moments that have more in common with a dreamed-up espionage themed Menahan Street Band. But as it progresses, there are tracks that sound like a b-side of a Battles album, complete with guitar playing that sounds like synths. But then there are tracks that sound like they fell off the soundtrack of an unannounced new season of Twin Peaks.
In short, Mighty Vertebrate might be the most interesting take on low-end driven modern jazz I’ve heard to date. It keeps me coming back and finding new things, just like every twist and turn of Portland’s vibrant downtown scene.
93. Sumac: The Healer
Released: June 21st | Thrill Jockey Records
Sumac’s newest is something. The atmospheric sludge band fronted by Aaron Turner (of Isis fame) rarely follow any traditional songwriting structure and instead choose to pave their own path of chaos, with slow building songs that occasionally erupt into cohesive sludgy intensity. The Healer, their fifth release since 2016, plays like it is a forgotten horror movie soundtrack that forever stays in the nail biting pursuit of a killer pursuing its victim. The guitars drone, the drums amble slowly building tension along the way, and the vocals are guttural and painful. Yet all this is so curiously beautiful within the spaces of its drone. These aren’t songs you are going to be playing for friends, but rather, turning on to experience the emotions it evokes when you listen with headphones in the spaces that seem to get a little too dark at night.
92. The Conformists: Midwestless
Released: April 5th | Computer Students
The Conformists are a relatively new band to me that has me wondering where I’ve been for their entire career. Thanks to the always amazing Computer Students record label (one of my favorite record labels right now), I came across Midwestless and quickly became obsessed with what I heard on the 30 minute release. What we have here is a band that is beautifully emulating the sounds of bands on Monitor Records (RIP) like Oxes, early and more experimental Shellac, and even has a touch of the oft forgotten math rock pioneers Faraquet. The recording is sparse and dry with little sense that you are in a room with the band because there is so little natural reverberation on any of the instruments. What’s more interesting is the sparing use of both guitar chords and vocals throughout. They seem to only be used whenever the mood fits and that doesn’t come too often. When it comes to vocals, definitely think early era Steve Albini projects like the aforementioned Shellac but also Rapeman and Big Black. And if the Albini influence wasn’t enough, he also recorded the album too. In short, this is a late 90s noise/math rock tour de force that shouldn’t be missed if you like any of the bands mentioned here.
91. Zombi: Direct Inject
Released: March 22nd | Relapse Records
For the uninitiated, Zombi have been releasing some of the best progressive rock horror/sci-fi movie soundtracks without films accompanying them for the last 20 years. Comprised of just two members, a drummer/synth and bass/synth, Zombi has been putting out some of the most amazing instrumental rock music to date.
Direct Inject, the band’s first album since 2020, plays out like a showcase of the band’s diverse talent existing as a perfect middle ground between the band’s dichotomous sound. It is a perfect blend of the band’s more progressive rock side and their more ethereal ambient synth driven sound all while providing the hallmark soundtrack tones of a late 70s space epic. As with all of their other work prior to this one, it had me so impressed that this breadth of sound can come from just two band members.
When I first heard Direct Inject, I was closing up shop at my the pub and turned on the 1972 film, Solaris, while I did my closing chores. It provided the ideal soundtrack for the peculiar visuals of the film and provided me with the rhythm I needed to keep on task. To date, this remains one of my fondest memories of listening to music in 2024 and I have yet to be able to recreate the moment with anything else on this list.
Man, I still really need to see this band live.
90. JPEGMafia: I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU
Released: August 1st | AWAL
If you quickly scroll through this list or spend more time reading each and every entry for every artist here, you will probably notice a glaring genre omission. Rap is a genre that I love but it currently feels so disposable and has little long term staying power. On the final tally of all the albums I heard this year, rap albums made up for about 20-30 records. There were major releases by Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Schoolboy Q, and Denzel Curry, yet none of them seemed to have me wanting to come back repeatedly after first and second listens. I spent a lot of time thinking about why this is and the answer is simple: innovation. Without getting too into it here, I think a lot of rap artists suffer from a little bit of sameness syndrome. In short, once you’ve heard an album, it starts to sound like everything else that is out there. Plus, I think it is a genre that is focused on individual tracks as opposed to full album experiences. I could go on, but I’ll save this discussion for another time.
Enter JPEGMafia.
I LAY DOWN MY LIFE is truly an innovative album. Why? Well, let me be blunt: I’m a beats guy over a lyric guy when it comes to rap. And this album has sick music behind the vocals. From what I can tell, the beats sound more like the Baltimore rapper is spitting his verses over the top of a live punk band, complete with guitar solos and heavily distorted guitar riffs. Sure, it’s been done before but there is something here that is noisy, frenetic, and very tongue-in-cheek behind the rather direct and aggressive lyrics. There are diss and hype tracks and, of course, tracks that center around the glory that comes with being successful. But through it all, the music is what sets it apart and gives this album staying power.
89. isleptonthemoon: Only the Stars Know of My Misfortune
Released: November 8th | Bindrune Recordings
Let’s get this out of the way first: I love blackgaze. It is currently one of my favorite genres because it combines a number of my favorites into one: shoegaze, black metal, and post rock. Best of all, I can convince my non-metal loving friends that these albums are worth their time. It is hard for them to ignore how the beautiful crescendos, soaring guitar parts, half time breakdowns, and delicately sung melodies all coalesce before the crushing blast beats and shrieking vocals take hold. The juxtaposition can be jarring but is often a necessary disruption to the tensions that the softer parts of the songs create. It always feels like a release.
This is my first isleptonthemoon album and it has me itching to go back and listen to their entire discography soon, something I’ve resisted doing ever since first hearing Only the Stars. It is a perfect entry into the blackgaze genre and definitely one that will be on my list of recommendations for anyone looking for a band that perfectly encapsulates what the genre entails. It is somber, reflective, gorgeous, lush, and brutal. For fans of bands like Deafheaven, Alcest, Oathbreaker, and Ghost Bath, Only the Stars Know of My Misfortune is an album that nestles perfectly within the genre’s best entries.
88. Origami Angel: Feeling Not Found
Released: September 27th | Counter Intuitive Records
Let me get this out of the way, first thing: I’m not the biggest fan of pop punk. In fact, I’ll be the first to admit that I prefer most of my punk, and its many subgenres, to be angry, sad, or just plain ambivalent. It isn’t that I don’t like to feel happy or find music that sounds cheery to be annoying or despicable. It is simply that wading through the muck of bullshit that is in the pop punk genre is exhausting and only occasionally yields diamonds in the rough.
But Origami Angel is different. By all intents and purposes, Feeling Not Found is pop punk. The lyrics are mostly self-deprecating songs about unrequited love or break-ups gone badly. But the melodies are catchy and clever and will have you singing along after the first or second chorus. What really shines, however, is the guitar playing. Clearly, Ryland Heagy grew up playing metal guitar riffs or was in hardcore bands. Because occasionally, the songs dip into this oddly heavy chugging that are strange yet fun juxtapositions of the otherwise fun and lighthearted nature of the song. But it isn’t this gimmick that has me being a bigger fan. Rather, there’s something here that is rooted in the best parts of the worst era of emo (3rd wave or the commercialism wave) where fashion became greater than function and the ability to sing-along was a greater focus than conveying an… emotion.
What I liked about that 3rd wave were those few bands that seemed to carry some level of authenticity and gave credit where credit was due. Bands that sounded like cookie cutter versions of their contemporaries were the norm with little understanding of where that influence came from; it was just hip to wear black eye-liner, tight pants, and write sad songs. On the contrary, Origami Angel sounds like they are exactly aware of what they are doing and are unabashedly doing it because it seems fun to them. They aren’t following a script or a template and are just writing music that sounds good to them, all while sounding very unique. And it all seems very genuine because you can almost hear them smile when playing their instruments: you know they know exactly what they are doing.
87. This Is Lorelei: Box for Buddy, Box for Star
Released: June 14th | Double Double Whammy Records
Maybe I’m way behind the curve here, but this is the first time I’ve heard a single This Is Lorelei album. As I write this review, I had to go back and check to see how long they have been around and, to no surprise to me, they have been putting out music for the last decade. I should have figured, because this is a band that seems to openly have found their sound long ago. Specifically, and as it relates to this review, there might not be a single track on Box for Buddy that sounds anything like the other songs on the album. There’s just a vibe here that is uniquely This Is Lorelei, whether that be the bluegrass influence on songs like “Angel’s Eye,” hyperpop on “I’m All Fucked Up,” dance club autotune bangers like “Dancing In The Club” (naturally), heartland rock on “Where’s Your Love Now,” and so on. In short, this is a genre spanning monolith of a release. But where many artists try to release something like this and make it slightly impenetrable, Box for Buddy welcomes you in and stays with you until the album is over. It is a tour de force of genre exploration in the highest degree.
Any other year, I would have discovered this album and it would have been all I listened to. Even as I listen to the album writing this review, I kind of regret the rather low spot I gave it on this list. But it mostly ranks so low because it does lose a little steam by the b-side of the album and seems to be front-loaded with some of the most memorable tunes. But hell, after I publish this and have some more time to think about my overall rankings, this might move to a top spot.
86. Jessica Pratt: Here in the Pitch
Released: May 3rd | Mexican Summer, LLC
A friend recently asked me if I had heard the new Jessica Pratt album. My immediate response was, “that Lynchian 1950s fever dream of an album?” Maybe I’m off base, but when I first heard Here In The Pitch, I felt like I was being transported to Club Silencio from the film, Mulholland Dr. There’s a small part of me that has me wondering if that was the intent. The ethereal production on the album sounds like you are hearing a warbling record player spinning the LP in the corner of an abandoned church. Pratt has written an album that is hypnagogic, nostalgic, and just down-right dreamy. If Pratt were to be performing this to an empty crowd in a seedy nightclub with only a handful of barflies puffing away at their cheap cigarettes and staring at their drinks, no one would be surprised.
And maybe I’m not totally off-base with my David Lynch comparison. Pratt herself is quoted as saying the album is inspired by Los Angeles hippie era and her obsession with the “emblematic…dark side of the Californian dream,” a common theme in Mulholland Dr. So it makes me happy knowing that I’m caught up on my loose David Lynch references and can immediately identify Here In The Pitch as a lost soundtrack for an unmade movie about a corrupt version of the American Dream taking place on the streets of Hollywood Blvd.
85. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Wild God
Released: August 30th | Bad Seed LTD
Nick Cave has been one of those artists that has aged like fine wine. Where many other musicians slow their output and dip in quality as they age, Cave has done the exact opposite. In the last ten years, Cave has released 10 soundtracks, four full length albums, and numerous other music projects, including providing the libretto to two operas. He shows no sign of slowing down. But to my surprise, this is the first Bad Seeds album in five years, the last one being the incredibly somber Ghosteen, in which Cave uses his band as an attempt to communicate with the dead.
Wild God is another solid entry to the Nick Cave and also the Bad Seeds discography adopting the cinematic flair that Cave started to embrace with his excellent 2001 release No More Shall We Part. While the original name of the album was supposed to be “Joy,” the heavy themes of grief and loss throughout, a theme that has carried throughout Cave’s most recent output after losing his 15 year old son in a cliff diving accident, most likely prevented the album from carrying the universal theme of joy. But what is a Cave album without the somber themes of his former output?
I could spend a lot more time writing about Cave and Wild God but ultimately want to keep this brief. This is an amazing record that only Cave could produce.
84. Crippled Black Phoenix: The Wolf Changes Its Fur But Not Its Nature
Released: November 8th | Season of Mist
I first discovered Crippled Black Phoenix when I was becoming deeply obsessed with post rock. I had already worked my way through the discographies of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Mogwai, Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós, and Tortoise. But I really wanted something more. Thankfully, I had just discovered this amazing music blog called After The Post Rock (RIP) that turned me on to so many bands that had similar pedigrees and, little did I know, helped that blog laid the firm bedrock of my taste in music forever.
Crippled Black Phoenix doesn’t follow the script of the standard post rock band with instrumental building crescendos and soaring guitars that come crashing into the outro climax of each song. Instead, they are the progressive rock pioneers of the genre, sounding more like a traditional heavy rock band. However, when you listen closely all the post rock elements are there: long songs that often have specific movements with most of them reaching their ultimate conclusion in an instrumental climax. But here we have vocals, some major metal guitar riff influence, and clever tricks that play with time signatures. If progressive post rock exists as a genre, Crippled Black Phoenix is it.
The Wolf Changes Its Fur came later in the year but I found myself continuing to come back to it over the next two months before the end of the year was over. The odd circus-like interstitial sound clips between incredibly well written rock songs and the sheer listenability of the more post metal influence on this record had me regretting losing track of the band for the better part of a decade. But I made up for that by also listening to their covers record Horrific Honorifics Number Two (2) and really getting a taste at the scope of talent that the band is capable of performing.
For those looking for a modern take on progressive rock with a noticeable post rock edge to it, you will probably get a lot out of The Wolf Changes Its Fur and the rest of the Crippled Black Phoenix discography. If not, let me know when you find a band that sounds this way and does it so well.
83. Night Verses: Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night
Released: March 15th | Equal Vision Records
I saw Night Verses close down the second day of Post Fest last year and was completely blown away. My friends and I were completely drained, sweaty, and gross, but Night Verses played and made us feel alive again. The performance sticks out among my favorite live performances of the year because of the visuals they used (a looping video backdrop that was absolutely visually arresting), the sheer precision that band had live, and just the high energy that I struggled to find in many other groups I saw this year. It was truly one of the coolest performances and, if they ever tour this way again, I will stop at nothing to see them.
I hadn’t done my homework in preparation for Post Fest. Well, I did. But I hadn’t gotten around to everything on the schedule. Night Verses was one of those bands that I just didn’t get to in time. So I gave Every Sound my first listen months after seeing most of it performed live, which I truly think helped solidify it as one of the better records released in 2024. Every Sound is like Russian Circles, if they had a heavy dose of Cave In and Botch thrown in for good mix. It is heavy, full of insanely quick arpeggiated guitar licks interspersed between all the gooey half time breakdowns you could ever want from a heavy instrumental post rock band. Since hearing the record, I keep finding myself throwing it on after I get off work after a long night. The high intensity and complexity is like a shot of adrenaline and I usually find myself more motivated to do my last hour of cleaning and get home, beaming from the album’s energy. A must listen for anyone who enjoys heavy post rock bands with almost sickening precision.
82. Pissed Jeans: Half Divorced
Released: March 1st | Sub Pop Records
There were a few albums that I felt really kick started this music project for 2024. The new albums from Sprints, Glitterer, Liquid Mike, Griffon, and this Pissed Jeans record were all the soundtrack for my monthly psychiatrist visit to Decatur, Indiana, in March. It felt like this one trip was the moment where I decided I was going to get serious about the project and these albums (all of which have made the list), kicking me in the ass and inspiring me to keep listening.
It is hard to believe that it’s been seven years since Pissed Jeans last album, Why Love Now. I remember giving that a listen and deciding I really liked the band, but rarely found myself going back to listening to it. But Half Divorced had me coming back often. This is really great, aggressive punk music that is often easy to find but not often with this level of quality. There are moments that remind me of the sludge punk pioneers of the 90s, The Melvins, while still holding root to the noisy punk of the 70s and 80s. Thematically, singer Matt Korvette states that Half Divorced has an aggression within:
“I don’t want this reality. There’s a power in being able to say, ‘I realize you want me to pay attention to these things, but I’m telling you that they don’t matter.’ I’m already looking elsewhere.”
This is a perfect way of putting its rather bleak and nihilistic point of view into perspective. This is an album I threw on when I just needed to scream a little and blow off some steam. And even now, over nine months with Half Divorced out in the wilderness, I still find myself throwing it on, turning it up, and screaming the lyrics in my car.
81. Rosali: Bite Down
Released: March 22nd | Merge Records
I put off listening to Bite Down for as long as I did because I really do not like the album cover. I know it is stupid but there is something about it that gave me the wrong impression of what the music would be like. Even searching for the album cover for this blog, I was subjected to rather unusual and disturbing imagery on a basic “Safe Search” turned on Google search. It helped me feel validated that this album cover unnerved me and made me resist giving this Rosali album a proper listen when I first discovered its existence.
But what the album has to offer is way less disturbing than its cover. In fact, the album stays comfortably in the realm of Americana and classic, yes, classic rock. There’s something incredibly timeless about the songs on Bite Down sounding at times like an unreleased mega-indie hit from bands we all knew and loved a decade or more prior and other times sounding a lot more like the jangly twang of a 1970s alt-country rock band writing a barn burner ballad. There are quite a few songs on Bite Down that have found themselves on many of my various playlists but “My Kind” has earned a permanent spot on many of them for its absolutely infectious chorus.
Don’t be like me and ignore this album with a needlessly silly and unnerving cover. Because I really regret not getting to it sooner.
80. High On Fire: Cometh The Storm
Released: April 19th | MNRK Records
Back in 2019, I finally had an opportunity to see High on Fire. Even though I was at the venue they were playing, I didn’t quite make it to their performance that day. We were at Dark Lord Day, already a little buzzed from the day’s festivities, when it began to rain… hard. A thunderstorm had rolled in and the event planners had advised that everyone vacate the premises until the storm had passed. This meant standing in the rain and simply waiting for all of it to blow over. We were all were soaked and miserable. All the bands were temporarily canceled so we weren’t even sure if High On Fire would play that day. But we toughed it out, drank, drank, and drank. About an hour or two before they were about to play with the rain clearing up, we had to go home to get our very drunk friend off of the festival grounds. I still haven’t seen High On Fire.
I’ve been a fan of High On Fire and the guitarist/vocalist Matt Pike since I first heard Sleep. I’ve felt like they have been pumping out some of the most consistent great heavy music over the last two decades. Cometh The Storm is more of the same of what they do best: heavy, sludgy metal songs. Yet it still feels fresh. Almost as if not many bands do this style of music as well as they do. There isn’t much else to say, other than you should probably listen to it.
79. Bnny: One Million Love Songs
Released: April 5th | Fire Talk Records
One Million Love Songs got its claws in me pretty quickly after first hearing it. The rather pared down sound with the whispery vocal delivery of Jessica Viscius are all songs, as the album suggests, about love and loss that just kind of bounce around your head after first hearing them. There is a very close attention to melody here that hooks you in, lets you live in its morose world, and spits you out feeling a little deflated. Yet the addiction to keep coming back to the bubblegum like choruses of songs like “Good Stuff” will have you wondering why you don’t hear some of Bnny’s tracks as overused vaporwave versions on TikTok videos with forlorn people showing off their latest 90s vintage thrift store finds. And this isn’t a criticism but rather a commentary about how easy it may be to resonate with the themes and melodies found on One Million Love Songs. It is deceptively simple with themes that everyone can relate to and has listenability that has major mass appeal.
78. Abrams: Blue City
Released: May 24th | Blues Funeral Recordings
I employed several techniques to find new music in genres that don’t often get a lot of mainstream press. But one of my most unexpected and most valuable resources was following specific users on the Stereogum comment section. In their album of the week review section and after the review of the album pick, they provide a fairly extensive list of albums that are coming out in that given week. But as exhaustive as it may seem, there are omissions that simply exist because the music world is vast and finding everything from major commercial to small record labels to self-released and self-distributed releases is a near impossible feat. But thankfully, a few dedicated forum users often provide rather obscure and difficult to find releases each week that help supplement the already overwhelming list of albums. Specifically, there is one user I can count on to post a single album of heavy rock gold each week that goes by the username “apache slowmo.” And this is how I discovered Abrams, a band that I would never have found on my own.
Abrams sounds a little like Queens of the Stone Age or maybe The Sword and even Failure but quite possibly Hum and hell, Isis, all bands that are among my favorites in the heavy riffage world of rock music. There is an element of the desert rock of Queens with the fuzzed out guitars and rhythmic experimentation. The Sword influence comes in from the decidedly slow stonery moments where the guitar riffs just crush and drone on. The Failure and Hum influence are all linked to the slower moments that sound like they crash landed to earth from the best of the best space rock records. Abrams pulls influence from the post metal gods, Isis, by lifting some of the best sounds off their late career discography where the heaviest moments were the slow crunchy guitars with somber, soaring vocals that sound like the world is caving in on itself.
But despite its massive influential pull from some of my favorite bands, Abrams manages to create an absolute must listen for any fans of genres like space rock, post metal, desert rock, and stoner metal all while putting their unique, consistent spin on this collection of songs. This is a band that is a new-to-me discovery that also has a pretty deep discography which has me excited to further explore how exactly this band got to sounding like they do on Blue City.
77. Dehd: Poetry
Released: May 10th | Fat Possum Records
I first discovered Dehd on a Saturday evening after an all-day shift at work. I started my car and happened to catch a radio program on NPR that was playing “Flying,” the final track on their 2020 album Flower of Devotion. I wasn’t quick enough to pull out my phone and check who the artist was so I had to poke around on the NPR website, looking for the program notes to figure out what I had just heard. I am so glad I did because the band has been a favorite ever since.
This record sounds remarkably like summer. It is the perfect album to turn up as loud as you can in your car with the windows down, which is exactly how I first heard it. The songs are breezy, catchy tunes that can be put on to meet the exact energy of a lackadaisical party that needs just the tiniest spark of energy to really get it going. Like that perfect record that everyone in the room will enjoy and keep getting people to ask you who you are listening to.
There’s something so incredibly timeless about Poetry that had me going back to check to see if I was still listening to the same album and not some Spotify suggested similar sounding band. Why? There are plenty of moments that sound like 70s psych-inspired pop but that can quickly flip to the often unexplored throwback of the best of the early 2000 garage rock revival. Maybe even a little bit of that supposed 2nd wave British invasion that came and went within a moment’s notice too. It is dreamy, beautiful and full of charm.
76. Whores: War.
Released: April 16th | Self-Released
Whores are another band on this list that surprised us with a new album years after their last one. It has been since 2016’s Gold, an album I spent a lot of time with back then yet admittedly forgot just how much I enjoyed it after listening to War. The noise rockers return here with their unique sound that is reminiscent of a blend of bands like Betty-era Helmet, Jesus Lizard, and Shellac. The songs are succinct, intense barn burners that make the entire album a hard one not to immediately turn back on after it finishes. There is also a significant amount of polish on this record compared to their others in both songwriting and production. Some may complain that there is no forward movement in the evolution of their sound but waiting 8 years for the next entry in the band’s discography only solidifies that there just aren’t enough bands that sound like Whores that are doing it with such perfection.
This will be a record that will be an insta-buy when I see it next at the record store.
75. Drug Church: Prude
Released: October 4th | Pure Noise Records
Prude creates an incredibly dystopian view of the world that is all dressed up in a high energy punk or post-hardcore sound. Songs about a man being freaked out by a missing children’s bulletin board at Wal-Mart, someone getting shot in a liquor store, and someone’s cousin faking being held hostage to get drug money from his mother through ransom notes are among the themes in Prude. It is a bleak yet fascinating world that the vocalist Patrick Kindlon creates through his lyrics and his alternating singing and screaming vocals throughout the album. To describe them, think bands like Turnstile, Fucked Up, and even Touché Amore. It is just amazing to me that Drug Church hasn’t become more of a household name for the sounds they create.
Prude was one of those albums that I put on all year when I didn’t know what else to play. There is something unique about the juxtaposition of the world that it creates while also being an album that is ridiculously re-listenable. In a few years, I think Drug Church is going to have one of those surprise breakthrough moments and become a band that is performing the late night TV circuit and touring with a major punk act. They just feel like a band on that trajectory with this excellent entry to their discography.
74. Bacchae: Next Time
Released: July 5th | Get Better Records
Bacchae is one of those punk bands that, on first listen, you immediately hear the influence they may have. Their sound is very reminiscent of the classic DC punk bands of the 80s and 90s and, well, it should be. The band hails from DC and proves that there are regional areas of the world that still somehow produce the scene’s sound nearly 40 years later. They weave their post punk influence through a collection of 10 songs in 30 minutes that will have you immediately putting the record back on once it is over.
But there is one thing that sets Bacchae apart on Next Time that is kind of a strange thing to come to terms with. Vocalist Katie McD’s vocals are so crystal clear and pitch perfect that it is almost disorienting to hear someone with such a clear sounding voice fronting a band that sounds like they could kick your ass.
The sound of the album is so well recorded and produced that I had to go looking to see who the band had recorded with. To no surprise, it was recorded by Jawbox’s J.Robbins, who has started to become a name as synonymous as Steve Albini for his unique and flawless recordings of indie and punk bands.
I had this album playing one night at my job at the pub while I was talking to a former paramedic now turned ER nurse. After a few songs in he asked me who the band was. I told him their name and then spent the next few minutes trying to help him find them on his music app of choice. Once we found them, he said that they sounded like the best punk band he has ever heard because the vocalist’s tone was just so perfect and almost sounded like she didn’t belong in the band. It helped me feel a little like I was right in my initial assessment when I first heard Bacchae’s Next Time while organizing some records in my basement.
73. Goat Girl: Below The Waste
Released: June 7th | Rough Trade Records
After the first few songs of Goal Girl’s Below The Waste, I got called away to go meet Aly somewhere. So I left the house, continued to listen to the album, and eventually got to my destination without finishing it to completion. When Aly asked me how I was doing, I responded with “I was listening to this album today that is just really sticking to me but I’m not sure if I like it yet”. A few days later, Aly happened to notice how I kept playing what sounded like the same album to her. It was the same album. I couldn’t stop listening to Below The Waste. Naturally, she asked “I thought you said you didn’t like that album. Why are you still listening to it?”. It was at that moment I realized I was just so intoxicated by their sound that I struggled to move past it. In fact, I even made the time to listen to their entire discography before moving on to the next few albums that were released more recently.
Goat Girl is one of those discoveries that immediately has you reaching for your phone and texting your friends about your discovery. There is just something for everyone the band has to offer. On one hand, they sound like a garage rock band. But then the noise rock kicks in and has you questioning that initial assessment. Maybe post punk is a more appropriate genre, maybe not. But then there are a few tunes like “words fell out” that sound like they could be on top 100 pop radio. The band weaves beautifully through a number of genres and it just works. But they have successfully created an overall mood here that is dark, brooding, and intoxicating. Through synths, vocal harmonies, bass heavy, reverbed-out guitars, and a decidedly dry and hollow production, Below The Waste is one of the most interesting records released in 2024 and will be something I return to long after the year is over.
72. Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee
Released: March 31st | Self-Released
Before I wrote this review, I went to see if Diamond Jubilee was finally streaming on any platforms. It appears that it is now on all of the major ones. I had to check because when this was first released in March it carried such an air of mystery. Prior to it being put on streaming services, the only way you could hear this album was going to the artist’s Geocities page (yes, the incredibly ancient website hosting platform), sifting through a wall of 90s style gifs and Times New Roman text, and finding a rather small link to download the album in wav format. It was all entirely too cryptic and weird. But somehow it works in the context of what the album is trying to accomplish. Even trying to figure out how to play it on my phone and cast it to my stereo felt a little like I was unlocking a further puzzle to finally hear what these files had to offer.
Diamond Jubilee is, in a nutshell, a masterwork tome of throwback 60s psychedelia with the occasional dash of 70s disco. While most albums can be enjoyed by choosing favorite songs, this album demands a complete sit through to experience what it has to offer. And this is a daunting task as its running length is over two hours. However, as someone who will openly talk about the ideal length of any album should be in the ballpark of 40 minutes, this is one that never feels like it outstayed its welcome because this is unlike anything I’ve heard in ages. It transports you to a world where these poppy psych songs seem to be transmitted through space and right into a failing FM radio with a blown out speaker. And with that, I’ll end this review to preserve some of Diamond Jubilee‘s mystique. Just listen and let’s talk soon.
71. Infant Island: Obsidian Wreath
Released: January 12th | Secret Voice
Initially, I did not have Obsidian Wreath on this list. There is one thing I learned while undertaking this massive project and that is that recency effect is very much the name of the game when it comes to rank ordering 100 of the 400+ albums you heard in a given year. But as my friends started putting out their list of favorite albums, I noticed that several of them had this Infant Island record on their end of year list. So I put it on again while I was on a short road trip and remembered that this was such a great record but, unfortunately, 11 months had passed and I hadn’t given it the attention it had deserved.
At its core, Obsidian Wreath can best be described as blackened screamo, a genre that I didn’t know I wanted until I heard this record. The Virginia based band definitely draws influence from other bands that share their homestead like Deafheaven and Panopticon. But where both lean more heavily in the area of black metal, Infant Island employs the traditional chaos of screamo with its angular and clashing guitars and shrieking vocals. Instead of breakdowns, we get blast beats and guttural screams. On more traditional interpretations of their influence, we get soaring guitars that coalesce into halftime breakdowns that serve as outros. The genre format works and, to my knowledge, this is one of the first albums I’ve heard that melds the genres so seamlessly. It is a wonder that I forgot about it for so long. However, I think on first listen I was expecting something different than what it was because of the way it was initially sold to me in a review. Rediscovering it after time had passed, I was hearing it with only my own expectations and it immediately clicked.
70. Pedro The Lion: Santa Cruz
Released: June 7th | Polyvinyl Record Co.
In 2019, David Bazan brought the 15-year band hiatus to a close and resurrected the Pedro The Lion moniker. His plan has been to release a series of 5 albums full of his trademark confessional songwriting, that loosely details the story of his life. Even without the planned quintuplet of new albums for the most recent decade, Bazan’s music has always been confessional, honest, and very, very personal. And Santa Cruz is no different. Here we have Bazan detailing his life as the son of a preacher, always on the move from state-to-state, as a young boy who is trying to find an identity.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t state my bias here: Pedro The Lion got me through high school. Albums like It’s Hard To Find A Friend and The Only Reason I Feel Secure are obvious album titles that perfectly encapsulated the insecurities I had while growing up during that crucial time in my life. But the songwriting felt fresh, real, and really spoke to me. His songwriting had such a deep impact on the complicated influence of who I was choosing to become back then and still does today. I mean I still give those early albums plenty of plays, twenty years later.
Santa Cruz really struck a chord with me with its overall theme of never having roots for long in any one area. My family also moved a lot when I was growing up, but all mostly within the same city. But it still had me learn at an early age to never get quite unpacked; never get really settled in the area where we had taken root. I love that, not only is Bazan exploring an unexplored chapter of storytelling from his past, he has also opted to play drums and keys, after years of being the guitar player. It almost feels as though it is a way to let his current band control a new direction his music may take. Maybe because of that, this album feels fresh and like the band is heading towards a newer sound that feels a little more aged and experienced, like the band itself. Or maybe it is to prove that even the oldest dogs can learn new tricks, but still never digging deep in the roots of its tradition and upbringing.
69. Malist: Of Scorched Earth
Released: March 15th | Avantgarde Music
There is an oft-written problem when it comes to atmospheric black metal of “sameness.” Oftentimes, it is hard for any artist who is dipping their toes in the water to buck the trend and create something with enough dynamics and melody that it sets it apart from any other solo project in the same genre. But with Of Scorched Earth, we have an album that drives home the emotional components of the genre with its decidedly more post rock loud-quiet-loud hallmarks; something I tend to love within the genre. While still relying on blast beats and shrieked vocals, Malist is not afraid to slow things down and adopt moments of quiet with contemplative piano, acoustic guitar, and melancholic emotive expressions. On songs like “Ode to the Night,” there is even a noticeable slight side stepping into genres like black and roll. While these offset the standard trends of the genre, it still feels like a welcome and strong entry for anyone looking to see what it has to offer. Of Scorched Earth became a staple for me this past year whenever I needed a black metal fix but also when I needed emotional release with its impressive dynamic interchange.
68. Tides From Nebula: Instant Rewards
Released: November 8th | Self-Released
Oddly, 2024 was a year where I struggled to find really great traditional post rock. Believe me when I say I looked everywhere. But already a few weeks into 2025, I’m quickly discovering that so many significant bands in the genre seem to have held out releasing anything until this year instead of last.
But here we have Polish post rock veterans returning with their first album in five years and delivering exactly what I was looking for through the year. For fans of bands like Mogwai, Caspian, If These Trees Could Talk, God Is An Astronaut, and even Russian Circles, Instant Rewards is an aptly titled album that fits perfectly in the upper echelon of instant classic post rock albums that help define the genre. The guitars are soaring, the breakdowns are beautiful, and the crescendos will make your hair stand on end. What’s more is that the production, something the band did themselves, is beautifully crystal clear and has a ton of definition; something that can often be lost in the noisier moments of the genre’s best records. The guitars are slightly more mathy and heavy compared to some post rock records (which is why I threw Russian Circles into the mix of influence) but always catchy and something you will be humming long after the record is over.
Like I’ve mentioned numerous times through this list, I’m looking forward to a time where I can go back and enjoy this band’s discography because Instant Rewards is something that stuck with me for long after it was over.
67. Julie Christmas: Ridiculous And Full of Blood
Released: June 14th | Siviana, Red CRK AB*
Julie Christmas’s former band, Made Out Of Babies, was one of my favorite post metal groups of the first and second decade of the 2000s. I remember countless hours driving around in a friend’s car with Coward being cranked as loud as we could handle it and all of us listening in complete silence as we took it all in for the hundredth time. Those are some of my fondest memories and every time I hear that band these days, I’m overwhelmed with nostalgia.
And to my surprise and delight, Ridiculous and Full of Blood is more of the same. Christmas’s trademark frenetic soprano vocals shriek, scream, and somberly sing throughout loud and aggressive bass driven noise that has become the trademark sound in all of her projects to date. Christmas knows how to evoke any emotion she seems fit with the use of her voice amidst the cacophony. This is her first solo effort in 14 years and her first release since her excellent collaboration album with Cult of Luna. But this album plays out more like a collection of greatest hits from her career in that each song seems to be pulled from each of the different iterations of her prior work. I wish there was more that I could say here but I just think that, for those unfamiliar, Julie Christmas is best just experienced firsthand.
66. VIAL: burnout
Released: March 29th | Get Better Records
When I started this project, I had two other friends that were trying to do the same with me. So frequently, we would spend our afternoons listening to new music and texting back and forth, holding each other accountable and also making it slightly like a competition to see who could listen to the most albums in the year. So when VIAL released Burnout and it touted a less than 20 minute run time for a full length album, none of us had any excuse not to give it a spin.
VIAL is an all female punk band doing short blasts of power pop songs that never outstay their welcome. It is one of those records that seems like it would be safe to throw on at any mood of a party and get someone to ask “who are we listening to?” The songs are catchy, clever, and fun. So quit reading this, go turn it on, and thank me in 20 minutes.
65. Outlander: Acts of Harm
Released: June 28th | Church Road Records
There are some genres that I don’t think get the attention they deserve, and post metal is one of them. It isn’t often that I turn on an album, hear huge crushing guitar riffs, snail’s pace style drumming, droning and soaring when appropriate, and barely audible vocals that are buried in the mix. But Outlander, a new band to me, is delivering the goods in unique and innovative ways. Where most traditional post metal bands employ shouted or screamed vocals, Outlander has only clean vocals delivered in a near whisper and as a means to add another textural soundscape to the mix. The guitars are droning and heavy, sounding a lot like late career gazed out Jesu, yet don’t shy away from melody. “Orbit,” one of the shortest and most direct songs on Acts of Harm, is just a single repeating guitar lead over a slow and building soaring guitar riff and half time drum beat that manages to be one of the most effective emotional pieces of instrumental music I’ve heard this past year.
I don’t exactly remember where I found the recommendation for Outlander, but I’m so glad I did. It strikes me as odd in my memory lapse because most of the albums here have a distinct memory of discovery tied to them. I just know that I was listening to this album a lot during the quiet hours after work, in an empty bar, or in my car delaying the inevitable by taking the long way home. Acts of Harm is a masterclass release in the post metal genre but is easily recommended to those that love heavy post rock. Fans of bands like Isis, Jesu, and Aereogramme will thank me later for finding something that finally fills the void those bands have left on the genre.
64. Human Impact: Gone Dark
Released: October 4th | Ipecac Recordings
For those unfamiliar, Human Impact is quite the noise rock supergroup for anyone who has been a long standing fan of the hardcore scene. Composed of members of Unsane, Swans, Cop Shoot Cop, Daughters, and Made out of Babies, this group has always felt like someone threw a dart board at all my favorite bands while trying to create a band and hit triple 20 every time. Gone Dark is dystopian in its themes, abrasive with its sound, and intense throughout. The band weaves seamlessly or coalesces genres like noise rock, industrial and post punk while creating a sound that is rhythmically complex, sometimes atonally driving, and always in your face. It is dark, gripping, and unforgiving in its world it creates. The view is bleak, police driven, and forever angry. In essence, Gone Dark seems to mimic the current state of the world and reflect back a little of the harsh reality through sound.
63. Chatte Royal: Mick Torres plays too f***ing loud
Released: March 8th | Kapitän Platte
Math rock is one genre that I either neglected this year or maybe it was just that there just weren’t that many releases in the broad landscape. Those that know me and my tastes should probably recognize that it is among my favorite, if not my favorite, subclasses of instrumental music. And those that really know me know just how much I’m a sucker for bands that play technically proficent music all done in major keys, making the band sound cheery and fun. I just want another Fang Island. Is there anything wrong with that? Well, these Belgian math rockers get us at least halfway there.
I distinctly remember putting this album on while I was in Decatur, waiting for my drink at a Scooter’s Coffee. I was told it was going to be a few minutes so I turned up the music with the windows down and patiently waited. I know I was bobbing my head and desperately wanting to play air guitar (as one does when listening to great bands in the genre) when I heard the cashier’s voice ask me who I was listening to. Admittedly, I didn’t really know. The band was, after all, very new to me. So I told her Chatte Royal after looking at my phone screen and I mentioned they were from Belgium. She said she liked it and she handed me my coffee. I drove away and was left wondering if maybe I did actually play air guitar in front of her. I truly don’t remember, but I’m sure as shit not embarrassed if I did. The band put me in such a great mood and it was an album that sounded like something I had been seeking for ages.
62. Fabiana Palladino: Fabiana Palladino
Released: April 5th | XL Recordings
Traditional pop music is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. But I don’t have any qualms about admitting that. There is a time and a place for what pop music has to offer all listeners. And its intention of casting the widest net to try and reach the largest pool of listeners and be successful at doing so has to be the most herculean task in the entire music industry. There just isn’t any other genre I can think of that has the amount of musicians trying to break out into the mainstream. What’s more, only the smallest fraction of artists gain any sort of notoriety or sought after mass appeal. Those that actually have real and recognizable talent often become a lighthouse among the storm of mediocrity.
If you go back and look at my post from almost 10 years ago about the best albums of 2015, you will notice that Carly Rae Jepson’s E•MO•TION ranks in the top 50. Since 2015, it is often an album that I turn back on when I just want something that is fun, isn’t complicated, and has incredible production. That album really did something for me and I’m forever looking for something to scratch that itch again.
While not exactly the same as Carly Rae Jepson’s release from a decade ago, Fabiana Palladino’s debut self-titled album is the closest thing I’ve heard to capturing the magic of a pop album bordering on perfection. When I first heard it, I was wearing my Koss PortaPros while opening up the brewery I work at. There was something about wearing those headphones and also listening to an album that is decidedly 80s influenced that had me feeling like I was transported back in time. That nostalgic feeling overwhelmed me and I just couldn’t help but crack a smile and get down while I did mundane tasks like scrubbing down the bar top or restocking the shelves. When a friend of mine asked me why I thought the album was so good, I very quickly responded with “she sounds like Paula Abdul or Janet Jackson for a modern generation,” a statement I still stand by. This is just incredibly inspired and beautifully fun pop that will get a ton of plays from me for the next decade. Where Carly Rae Jepsen’s album a decade ago felt like it was ushering in the return of the pop sounds of the 90s, Fabiana Palladino’s feels like the new template for pop music that is rooted in 80s influence. And I’m totally here for it.
61. Dödrist: Nocturnal Will
Released: March 22nd | Wolves of Hades
Full transparency here: I’m having a rather off week while writing these reviews. But more importantly, I’m discovering that it is so very hard to write about metal without sounding cliche. However, it was upon throwing this album on again for the first time in a few months that made me feel more energized and excited to continue writing about my favorite releases of the year.
You see, Dödrist is one of those black metal bands that remind you that the genre is complex and doesn’t follow a specific script. Where many black metal artists are content with churning out release after release of 300 bpm blast beats, shrieking vocals, and guitars that climb and soar, Dödrist instead turn to the dynamics of other genres like crust punk or post rock, thereby providing necessary relief from the usual black metal onslaught. The Swedish/Dutch four piece on their fourth album provide a no frills approach to melodic black metal that never outstayed its welcome and often had me stop what I was writing to simply sit and listen without interruption. There is an emotionality through the entire album that reminds me more of artists like Alcest than that of Emperor or Mayhem. You can tell that the core emotions in the album have range through both channels of music and voice. But the majority of the album lets the vocals take a back seat in favor of letting the music do the talking, making for the use of vocals to be ever more impactful. This is one of my favorite black metal releases in a long time and something any fan of the genre should get excited about hearing.
60. july: my anti-aircraft friend
Released: September 13th | Atlantic Records
Existing squarely between the noise grunge stylings of Sonic Youth and the reverb laden, fuzzed out My Bloody Valentine, julie is a band consisting of a bunch of 20 somethings that are producing music that is very nostalgic for a time much earlier than their mortal existence. When I first heard the album, I mistakenly took it for a straight-up shoegaze album because of its use of heavy reverb and distortion that created huge sonic textures. But the more I’ve listened to it since that initial very disrupted first listen, I’ve learned that julie isn’t as simple as they may seem. This band is clearly a huge fan of 90s bands like the aforementioned two groups but also bands like Unwound, Jesus and Mary Chain, but also have strong leanings into the noisier moments of Nirvana like the whole of In Utero. While somewhat melodic at times, I was struck by the fact that the use of melody is mostly used as another layer in the sonic soundscape throughout my anti-aircraft friend‘s running length. I’m curious to see where the band goes after this debut release because this album is a firm reminder that 90s nostalgia is alive and well in music right now. And I’m totally here for it.
59. Suburban Eyes: Self-Titled
Released: August 30th | Spartan Records
Suburban Eyes is a surprise supergroup consisting of Eric Richter (Christie Front Drive, Antarctica), Jeremy Gomez (Mineral, The Gloria Record), and John Anderson (Boys Life). While the band could have easily carried their past’s pedigree and released a truly epic emo record, the group has taken a decidedly more alternative rock approach with their self-titled debut that sounds like it was ripped from the pages of the late 90s or early 2000s. Borrowing from their previous bands, I personally feel like the Antarctica influence is more present here, mostly when accounting for the use of synths, reverb drenched production, and Richter’s vocals. And this is not a bad thing at all, especially given that I have always felt like we didn’t get enough proper releases from Antarctica when they were producing music over 20 years ago. Because of this slight influential edge to their past bands, I think it is easy to call this record shoegaze adjacent, much like the two records we got from Antarctica. But even with this noticeable shift, I think it is still fair to call it an emo record. The hallmark melody stylings are definitely nostalgic of the genre in that they are immensely catchy, towering, and wholly beautiful.
After first listen, it was almost hard for me to get this record off my rotation because it just reminded me of a very specific time of my life where I was still buying my albums off of mail order catalogues, reading reviews in printed zines like Skyscraper (RIP), and burning CDs for anyone that I thought would appreciate a new discovery. If the band sought out to pave new ground with a sound of veteran emo players, they achieved that in spades. However, the three hall-of-famers in the genre have also kept their trademark play stylings which infinitely will make me feel nostalgic for those moments long passed where their previous bands were all I listened to, always on LP or CD, and in the spaces of my youth that feel like they are 100 years in the past behind where I stand today.
58. Karate: Make It Fit
Released: October 18th | Numero Group
It has been 20 years since the last proper Karate album. And I truly thought I’d never live to see another album from the band in my lifetime. When I discovered Karate, I was already too late to the party. The band had just released their excellent live album 595, which gets its title from the number of shows that Karate played during their brief career. At the time, I had read that the only reason they hung up their instruments and called it quits was because Geoff Farina, the vocalist and guitarist of the band, was losing his hearing. So getting this album was truly a surprise.
At the time I discovered the band, I was in my sophomore year of college. I had just moved into a dorm room by myself, and had changed majors from Computer Engineering to Psychology and Criminal Justice. I didn’t have much free time outside of my study and would often look for bands that seemed to fit the mood for reading through lecture notes and tomes of textbooks. Karate became that comfort band during that time and I’d work through their discography weekly, sometimes daily, all while learning about the human mind. It seemed appropriate at the time. The band plays a unique alternative rock that definitely has one deep foot in traditional jazz, often forgoing long stretches of song without vocals. Farina’s excellent guitar playing just felt inspired and unlike anything I heard then and not much that I’ve heard now.
So how’s the new album? In short, it is more of the same in the best way. In the two decade absence, Karate hasn’t really missed a beat but somehow sounds just slightly more mature than they did back then. But they were pretty mature back then too. So maybe this is just another entry in their already perfect discography. Make It Fit sounds like it could, ahem, fit into any part of their discography and not 20 years since the last release. And this is not to say anything negative about the album. In fact, this is exactly what I would want from a band like Karate. It shows minimal progress because the band did not have to reinvent their sound.
57. Thank: I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed
Released: November 8th | Big Scary Monsters
I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed is, for all intents and purposes, a dance punk album that is dressed up in the noise rock subgenre with Thank’s trademark obsession with a nihilistic viewpoint fixating on death and religion. And I’m fucking here for it. But even as you could be shaking your ass to their dance punk approach on Physical Body, you should also be laughing at the rather hilariously bleak lyrics that Freddy Vinehill-Cliffe sing-screams throughout the album. Whether the songs are about right wing shock jock talking points like how the world has gone woke (including “your sick elderly cat”), narcissistic male machismo running amok in the form of small men disease with high credit scores, or being an elderly child addicted to the computer, Thank’s worldview is not one for the weak hearted. However, for those looking for a dark dance inspired punk album that fits perfectly in the world of aggressive English based post punk, Thank is for you.
56. Big|Brave: A Chaos of Flowers
Released: April 19th | Thrill Jockey Records
Big|Brave are kind of a hard band to pin down. In a nutshell, they are very much worthy of being called experimental doom metal. However, there is something less extreme about their sound. Here, we don’t have the usual shrieking or screaming amidst the funeral march of slow percussion that is often the case with most doom bands, but rather a female vocalist crooning in multiple languages, often frail, delicate, and uttered barely above a whisper. But more similarly to the doom metal template, the guitars are sludgy and over-distorted, so much so that they sound like the speakers of your stereo are being blown out. The drums are shockingly minimal and have more in common with the snail pacing of slowcore bands like Codeine or Low. And none of this is done with any sort of speed or urgency, which makes for a very contemplative experience. What’s more is that many of the songs on the album have lyrics that are direct lifts from famous poets like Emily Dickinson, E. Pauline Johnson, and Renne Vivien to name a few (hey, Taylor Swift, here’s your real tortured poets department). The end result is a shockingly beautiful sludgy album that is deceptively complex, despite its face value simplicity.
55. DIIV: Frog In Boiling Water
Released: May 24th | Fantasy Records
If 2024 saw the resurgence of one particular genre, that genre was shoegaze. While attending concerts this year, I felt like almost every show I attended had a shoegaze inspired opener. And we also saw major releases from shoegaze staples like Ride, Whirr, Starflyer 59, Parannoul, and Alcest. And some newcomers like Wishy, Outlander, Julie, and Prize Horse (many of these bands featured here), all released amazing albums that helped further expand the genre. And lastly, it even saw significant reissues from Majesty Crush, Swervedriver, and Ozean to help punctuate my theory that 2024 was the year of gaze.
So it just made sense that in a significant year like this for the genre, shoegaze veteran’s DIIV would put out a really great record and their first one in five years. Admittedly, I have a tendency to neglect DIIV’s body of work even though I’m a fan of everything I’ve heard. So this record really felt like a breath of fresh air when I first heard it and had me calling it the best shoegaze album of the year before I knew of everything else that was coming down the pipeline. Even as I write this today and am giving it another listen, I’m struggling not to put it in a higher placement on this list. However, even though this is great shoegaze, I think some of the other records in the genre slightly edge it out. And because of this, I found myself going back to it a lot less frequently than some of the other shoegaze albums that came out this year.
54. Frail Body: Artificial Bouquet
Released: March 29th | Deathwish Inc.
As I mentioned in the introduction of this post, there weren’t many moments this past year that were completely silent, as I always tried to listen to music during any free moment that I had. This made for some really unintentionally funny moments that are incredibly memorable for me. And Frail Body’s Artificial Bouquet was heard in a rather unusual place. It was a Monday and I had the day off from work. I desperately needed to run some errands and get an oil change. So, I cobbled together a list of albums I wanted to hear that day and set out on the tasks that needed to be fulfilled. I think I listened to around 7-8 albums that day, one of the better days I had with music consumption through the year. Anyway, it was later in the early afternoon and I decided I needed to get something to eat. I was in-between albums at the time so I decided on Frail Body and…Mexican food. I was craving a margarita and I was right next door to a place that I could grab one. So yes, I first heard Artificial Bouquet while sipping a margarita and eating a chimichanga. Somehow, I think it made the album better as I sat in my own silent disco and watched the rest of the world over a meal.
Frail Body have released a screamo masterpiece with Artificial Bouquet that gives homage to the genre’s past while also ushering in a splash of modernity to give it an update. Here are the anguished screams that are hallmarks of the genre amidst the rhythmic interchange that leaves you guessing where the album’s next moments might head. There are brief interludes of quiet reflection amidst the chaos that help highlight the band’s ability to craft a specific mood before the pummeling of shrieks and blast beats take hold and pummel the listener again. The major update to the genre really comes in its borrowing from genres like shoegaze and black metal, something that the band shares with labelmates Deafheaven despite being a little more straightforward with their screamo influences. It has been a long time since I’ve heard a record like this one that takes me back to days where I felt like I was one of the only people preaching the good word of bands like Funeral Diner, Jerome’s Dream, Saetia, Orchid, and Neil Perry. And damn, I miss those days.
53. Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice
Released: May 3rd | Matador Records
I discovered Mdou Moctar in a very great way and something I think about often. I was working at one of my brewery jobs with a coworker who almost never had shifts with me. At first, I was a little intimidated by him because I knew that he ran a local radio station and was incredibly well versed in all things music. As the day progressed and we found that there was a ton of overlap in our favorite artists, I began making mental notes on things we talked about that I should check out later. We were in complete control of the music that day so it was really quite nice that we would talk about an artist and immediately be able to play one of our favorite songs by them. Eventually, Mdou Moctar was brought up. I told the guy that I had no idea who that was so he thought for a second and described him as the “Nigerien Jimi Hendrix.” I told him that he shouldn’t hate me when I said that I wasn’t a big fan of Hendrix, but loved Band of Gypsys. His eyes lit up and he excitedly proclaimed “well then, Mdou Moctar is especially for you.” When he put them on, I heard the comparison and also suggested that he sounded a lot like a more rock version of Tinariwen. We pulled out a pen and paper and wrote down each other’s suggestions. That night, I bought Afrique Victime, on LP. It showed up a few days later and I instantly became a fan.
Funeral For Justice is a Tuareg guitar music, or desert blues, protest album with themes about anti-colonialism and anti-corruption. It is almost hard to take the time to read the lyrics of an album that is so dominated by the incredible guitar playing throughout. But the lyrics, when translated, are incredibly direct about the demands for equality and justice. In an interview with the New York Times, Mdou Moctar said he wanted his guitar to sound like a person crying for help or an ambulance siren, something that he achieves throughout the album. It is hard not to immediately make comparisons to guitar players like the aforementioned Hendrix but also to Eric Clapton and Eddie Van Halen. And what’s more fascinating is that his family forbade him from playing electric music for religious reasons. But this didn’t stop him from building his own guitars with bicycle cables for strings. For anyone who is a fan of unique and amazing guitar playing, this album should not be missed.
52. Rosie Tucker: UTOPIA NOW!
Released: March 22nd | Sentimental Records
Rosie Tucker is one of those artists that knows how to craft a perfect pop rock song that is almost shockingly honest and vulnerable. On UTOPIA NOW!, Tucker’s lyrics are the star of the show. Writing lyrics about Amazon delivery drivers pissing in bottles to make deliveries on time, idiots turning the moon into a sweatshop that haven’t heard of Gil Scott-Heron, and people’s metadata proving that they are, in fact, real, Tucker manages to write what I think is one of the smartest records I’ve heard about the nightmare era we currently live in. Their lyrics are just so pitch perfect and full of wry and hilarious commentary that will have the listener cringe-laughing through their bleak view of the current state of things. And all of this is done expertly over what is definitely 5th wave emo that is heavily inspired by the more pop-centric bands of the early 2000s. There isn’t a song that won’t have you singing along on repeated listens and have you looking at the lyrics because you are asking yourself “did they really just say that?” Seriously, make sure the first time you hear this that the lyrics are nearby.
51. Billie Eilish: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
Released: May 17th | Interscope Records
Every now and then, you have one of those days that just feels perfect. The day that HIT ME HARD AND SOFT was released, I spent the day bumming around Chicago. We attended a Cubs game, hit up a few breweries, stopped and got food and drinks for the weekend, and came back to our AirBnB. When trying to decide what to do, I suggested we all sit down and listen to this new album. To my surprise, that is exactly what we did.
Over the course of the album, we drank a few beers and kept quiet except for the occasional commentary after a song had ended. A quick “that song was great” or “this alum rules” was the only way we communicated. It was a perfect end to an already perfect day.
But aside from that day’s experience, this new Billie Eilish album is really quite good. I’ll be honest and admit that I don’t spend much time listening to much pop music these days. Very simply, I just don’t think that there is much in the way of moving the needle forward for the expansive genre. But every once in a while, an album like this comes along and it completely changes my opinion. It is fresh, original and full of very creative and unusual surprises along the way. For my friends that haven’t given it a chance, please make an exception for this one and give it a listen. Put it on after a great day and let it sweep you in.
As a final note, I had always been looking for a reason to like Billie Eilish more than I did. I really gained appreciation for her artistry and talent when I heard her episode on Song Exploder that explained the meaning and creative process behind the song “everything i wanted” and learning that the song was based on a dream she had where her fans wanted her to commit suicide. How this theme was achieved sonically and lyrically made me a forever fan. Give that episode a listen if you can.
50. Planes Mistaken for Stars: Do You Still Love Me?
Released: November 1st | Deathwish Inc.
We lost Gared O’Donnel three years ago. He would have been 47 this year and maybe would have seen this now posthumous release gaining some semblance of notoriety among the musicsphere. But here we are, celebrating the man’s legacy without him and knowing that this final piece of output is amongst the best music he ever put out for his fanbase to enjoy.
Planes Mistaken For Stars was just “one of those bands” for me. It is hard to explain. They were a band that I seemed to casually wrap my identity around and, fortunately, didn’t have any regrets doing so. In a crucial time of my life where I didn’t know I had a pathway forward or a pathway elsewhere, I chose the path of Planes.
There was just something about their music that spoke to me: a no fucks given mantra wrapped around vulnerable male expressionism. It was the first I’d heard in music where it could be both aggressive, introspective, and sensitive. On first take, many of the friends I introduced to the band couldn’t understand how their music was sensitive and full of love. Sure, they sound abrasive. But the outward pissed off sentiment was mired in the tragedy of the human condition.
This new, and ultimately, last album is a treasure trove of what made the band great. There’s beauty here amongst the chaotic wreckage. I just hate knowing that this is where the road ends: there will never be anything more after Do You Still Love Me? But it is a fitting end to a legacy of wearing your heart on your sleeve and just making music that begs you to throw up your fist and scream “thunder in the night forever.”
I only met you once, Gared. But I miss you everyday. Rest easy.
49. King Hannah: Big Swimmer
Released: May 31st | City Slang Records
When I first heard King Hannah’s Big Swimmer, I was up way too late and taking some rare free time to do some journaling. I was writing an entry about a former lover and their untimely death and how, for as young as I am, I seem to have too many people that were once in my life that are now gone. Naturally, I was feeling despondent and emotionally vulnerable. So I looked for an album that would fit my mood. I had just read a review of King Hannah’s second album and decided that that was a great place to start for the night. I turned it on and attempted to continue writing but became so overwhelmed with what I was hearing, that I had to stop and just listen to the album.
By the midway point in the album, Aly called for me from upstairs. Something had woken her up in the middle of the night and she just wanted me to sit with her for awhile until she fell back asleep. As she was falling asleep, I was telling her about I had just finished a song on the album that was clearly about sexual assault and how it brought me to tears. She sleepily tried to comfort me by addressing my emotional state, but also trying to match my energy for the excitement I was feeling about what I was hearing. Once she was asleep, I came back downstairs, purchased the LP, and turned on the rest of the album.
King Hannah is one of those groups that is hard to pinpoint exactly where they fall on the genre spectrum. There are moments on Big Swimmer that sound like Sonic Youth, others that fully embrace slowcore influences like Red House Painters or Low, still others like the song “Mattress” sounding so much like Portishead that you’d think it was a cover song, post rock pioneers like Slint are also clearly a significant influence, and a few tracks that sound like early Sharon Van Etten (who is featured on the first and second to last track of the album). But their influences are not detractors, rather they provide such pitch perfect homages that you can’t help but frequently think, “what’s next”. And all of this is given to us through Hannah Merrick’s half sung/half spoken delivery with pieced together stream-of-consciousness-like lyrics throughout. And it just works. Big Swimmer is one of those albums that rarely lets you up for air but you’ll feel so much better knowing that we live in a world where King Hannah exists.
48. Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers: Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Garden
Released: May 10th | Red Hook Ltd.
I’ll be honest: I don’t know much about jazz. I know enough to get by and know a few of the “must hear” formative records that helped shape the genre over the last 75 years. But again, I don’t know much about jazz. What I do know is that when I hear something in the genre that I like, it gets a lot of attention. And often these records are less upbeat and more contemplative and thoughtful. Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane remains as one of my favorite records I’ve ever heard in the genre. And that should give many fans of the genre an idea of just how deep that ocean of understanding is for me.
But when I heard Wadada Leo Smith & Amina Claudine Myers’ Central Park something immediately clicked. Doing my homework after my first listen, I discovered that Smith and Myers have been releasing music, albeit not collaboratively, for the better part of 40 years. While I haven’t heard their previous efforts, this record really moved me. What we have here is an elegiac ode to the titular park and its odd juxtaposition of city and nature captured through song. Throughout, Myers plays quiet and contemplative piano while Smith plays the trumpet over top and creates a mood unlike many other pieces of music I’ve heard in my lifetime. I was just so struck by the simplicity of just jazz and trumpet being so emotive and those instruments’ ability to provide such beauty without lyrics or overt technical musicianship to elicit such a visceral reaction. I want these songs to be heard by every reader because, if this is what modern jazz sounds like, I think Central Park has the ability to reach a much wider audience.
47. Chat Pile: Cool World
Released: October 11th | The Flenser
For some reason, I waited to get into Chat Pile until just this year. I don’t get it. Reading multiple reviews and discovering comparisons to bands like Shellac, Jesus Lizard, and Melvins, I just don’t understand why I didn’t immediately gravitate towards the band. Maybe it was my own stubborn nature or just not being on the right combination of psychiatric medicine that kept me away. But now that I’m here, I feel like a fucking idiot for not jumping on the bandwagon sooner.
Chat Pile’s new entry is, *ahem*, my first experience with their catalog. But I shouldn’t really beat myself up about finding them late given that it is only their second album. The band can best be described as sludge metal and definitely sound like a slightly heavier version of the bands I mentioned above. However, this album has some experimentation with their sound (I did go back and listen to God’s Country after hearing Cool World) with the band dipping their toes into 90s alternative, Bauhaus style gothic new wave, and other metal genres with tons of adjectives in front of the word. Lyrically, where God’s Country had its angry themes laser focused on the minutiae that causes suffering, Cool World expands that world view into a broad strokes view that the world around us just fucking sucks. “Outside there is no mercy,” the refrain from “Funny Man,” is a universal theme in the album where the band tackles topics like war, being in toxic relationships with a partner who doesn’t think much of themselves, and direct odes to political works like “On The Social Contract” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Cool World is a cathartic and visceral experience of an album and reminds us all that, if we don’t fucking change right fucking now, we are so fucked.
46. And So I Watch You From Afar: Megafauna
Released: August 9th | Velocity Records
This summer at Post Fest, I was finally able to see a band I’ve wanted to see for the better part of a decade. And So I Watch You From Afar has always been one of those guitar driven bands that I thought would be otherworldly live. And boy did they deliver. It was miserably hot, super crowded, but full of audience members that were head banging in sync to every single groovy guitar riff. But best of all, I was with the friend that introduced me to the band 15 years prior. After every song, we made eye contact and just smiled. All I needed to know was that we both were having the time of our lives enjoying a band that we only dreamed of seeing. It is amazing how a concert experience carries its own non-verbal language.
It was at this show that I purchased a copy of Megafauna, a few weeks before its actual release. And because life happened, I waited to listen to it until after it officially released while I was driving home from Chicago, after dropping off Aly at the airport for her flight to London. In the car, after a few breweries stops, I turned this up as loud as I could handle and rocked out as much as one can behind the wheel of a moving vehicle going at least 80 mph down the highway. This was And So I Watch You From Afar at their peak again, even though they keep discovering new peaks with each new album.
For those unfamiliar with And So I Watch You From Afar, they are an instrumental rock band from Belfast that specialize in monster guitar riffage. And that’s all you need to know.
45. Cola: The Gloss
Released: June 14th | Fire Talk
What struck me immediately when I turned on The Gloss is just how precise it sounded. The band plays with a laser-like focus and directness that isn’t heard very often. There is nothing loose about what Cola is doing. And it makes sense. Hitting all the hallmarks of post punk with dissonant staccato guitar playing, sardonic and almost sassy vocals with lyrics that fit their delivery, and constant and driving bass lines, Cola have pulled off something here that is nostalgic yet fresh. The bone dry production throughout the album helps give The Gloss a uniquely dated feel, like something that came out during the 80s or 90s, before everything that came out had to have strings, synths, or just simply overproduced; all features that make the album’s title seem more ironic. Drawing influence from bands like Television, Sonic Youth, Pavement, and Gang of Four, this is a band for anyone looking for amazing angular guitar playing, loose anti-melodies, and something that gets better after every completion. After this record, I’m really looking forward to what Cola is setting out to do. There is no doubt in my mind that this level of perfection will follow them through the rest of their bright career.
44. State Faults: Children of the Moon
Released: July 26th | Deathwish Inc.
Shortly after my father-in-law died, Aly left to go to the United Kingdom, leaving me to look after things at home. Every night around 4-5am (when does night become morning?), I would get home from work, put my headphones on, let Rosie out, grab a beer, and go water the garden using only the moonlight to see what I was doing. I listened to a lot of music this way because the task bordered on two hours to complete. So I have very distinct memories of everything I heard this way, as I watched the dew of our freshly watered garden glisten off the sunrise. I’ve obviously romanticized this moment. But truthfully, while it was peaceful and provided some much needed time to think through everything in my life, I was feeling so incredibly lonely and desperately sad. I just knew that nothing would be the same when Aly returned.
During this time period, I found myself listening to a lot of Pinegrove, a suggestion that came from a friend of mine who was performing a handful of their songs live at the pub when she performed there. But while Pinegrove helped me feel validated in my depressive mind, I needed something that also showcased the other complex emotions I was feeling when left to my own devices to deal with my grief.
I often use music as a means of healing. I’ve done so since I was very young. And those two weeks were no exception. I don’t know if I could have gotten through them without music. And specifically, I don’t know if I could have done it without State Faults Children of the Moon. Yet another screamo revival album on this list that was also released by Deathwish Records, State Faults have managed to create an epic album of magnitude and scale clocking in at just over an hour in running length and covering a lot of scope. Despite its long running length, it never outstayed its welcome. It blends genres like post-hardcore, traditional screamo, post rock, and even blackgaze seamlessly through the duration of the record, while being self described by the band as “flower violence.” This combination of genres keeps songs fresh and interesting throughout and sometimes can change at a moment’s notice within a song.
In essence, this record is heavy and contemplative when it needs to be and always honest. Its emotional core served as a reminder to myself to take things in slowly and as they need to be processed on a timeline that was my own. Children of the Moon became a soundtrack for the confusing emotions of grief and loneliness that I heard during a time that I needed it most. And I can’t thank State Faults enough for making a record like this in 2024.
43. Queen of Jeans: All Again
Released: June 18th | Memory Music
I first heard Queen of Jeans while doing my normal new release routine where I’d be reading music blogs, updating my spreadsheet, and listening to music. I had just completed reading a review of All Again and decided I needed to give it a listen. I turned it on to passively give it a first one over. But it immediately grabbed my attention and I sat there, doing nothing but listening to it with my headphones on, my hand over my gaping mouth, and heard it to completion. Once it was over, I immediately put it back on, which became the sure sign that any album would make my top 100 list this year.
As a general statement, I think pop is so underrated. The problem with the genre is that you have to sift through a lot of mediocre or downright bad songs to find something that really has any meaning or substance. All Again is, by all intents and purposes, a pop album. But this is what I want all pop music to sound like. The songs are catchy, the lyrics are smart and witty, it is honest, has re-listenability, and, most importantly, it never feels contrived. Queen of Jeans found that perfect blend here and released what is easily one of the best pop rock records I’ve heard in decades. The songs rattle around your head long after they are over and it keeps you coming back.
I was fortunate enough to unexpectedly see the band when they opened for Turnover and Movements during the summer. As the days were rapidly approaching and my excitement to see the headliners grew more intense, they finally announced the opening band as being Queen of Jeans. From that point on, it no longer was the Turnover/Movements show when I described it to friends. It had become the Queen of Jeans show.
For fans of any of the artists that make up Boygenius, Queen of Jeans is for you.
42. Mono: Oath
Released: June 14th | Pelagic Records
One of the last bands my friend Nate saw before he died was Mono. He described them as the single loudest band he had ever seen and said that they were life changing. As I write this today, I still haven’t seen Mono live to verify his statements but I have no reason not to believe that he is absolutely right.
Mono always has this ability to release an album when I need to hear it most. And Oath came out when I started to believe that there weren’t going to be many post rock records released this year that were going to be worthy of putting anywhere on a top 100 list. But thankfully, it delivers. And it appeared in the exact same spot it is now in an earlier version of this list at the halfway mark of the year when I ambitiously thought that I would be able to limit this list to 50.
Mono’s trademark elegiac themes helped provide a necessary soundtrack to an already hard and difficult year that, little did I know, would be getting a lot harder. For those that have never heard the band, they can best be described as neo-classical post rock. They are an instrumental rock band that has started touring with a full orchestra to help flesh out their epic sound. I’ve listened to every record the band has produced and think that Oath is one of their better releases in the last few years but still doesn’t compete with their masterpiece records One More Step And You Die and Under The Pipal Tree. But listicle rank ordered driven discography listeners (I’m totally this type of listener) should know that this isn’t too far from the top of the band’s apex.
41. Microwave: Let’s Start Degeneracy
Released: April 26th | Pure Noise Records
Microwave has always been that band that comes on when an album I hear on Spotify ends and a new song begins. The algorithm gods have been suggesting them to me for quite a few years now yet I’ve never taken the plunge. From what I gathered based on the limited samples I heard on that autoplay grind, I knew the band was 5th wave emo based on the band’s seminal work coming out in the mid-2010s, their use of electronic elements, and the pop punk influence of their melodies. From those autoplayed songs, I wasn’t necessarily super enthusiastic about digging deep into their discography. But when Stereogum had Let’s Start Degeneracy and praised it for its experimentation and further developing the genre, I had to give it a listen.
As I mentioned, Microwave is definitely 5th wave emo. But this album is moving the needle away from the roots of its influence and towards something new and exciting. This isn’t your simple “verse chorus verse”, jangly guitars, and whiney vocal stylings of the emo that your kid sister keeps insisting is really something you should be listening to. Let’s Start Degeneracy instead plays out more like an experimental rock record, drawing huge influence from 90s/00s alternative rock, complete with some production highlights, like double tracked vocals or walls of sound, that make it sound more rooted in that particular era’s trademark tunes. Of particular note is the singular excellent track “Bored of Being Sad,” which feels like the band coming to terms with the end of the emo roots of the band and the acceptance of this new found sound.
Let’s Start Degeneracy is a worthwhile entry to the 90s/00s alternative rock throwback that is increasingly becoming more popular. Or it could be resuscitating an oft cliche 5th wave emo format that has been in need of a new breath of life. Either way, this record will be getting a lot of plays for years to come for me. There is no way that I won’t be thinking of it often.
40. Bat For Lashes: Dream of Delphi
Released: May 31st | Mercury KX
If I were to have done a best of for 2019, Bat for Lashes’ Lost Girls would have been my choice for album of the year. That album means the world to me. So naturally the 5 year wait for The Dream of Delphi was worth it. Minutes after I first heard it and after a night of fairly heavy drinking, I wrote the following passages to describe my thoughts. I’ve tried my best to make certain edits for it to make more sense. But I stand by my initial reaction, even though I recognize it is a little, well, dense. So without further ado:
“The new Bat for Lashes is a far departure from her previous efforts. Where Lost Girls had Natasha Kahn exploring the beautiful pop sensibilities of the 1980s through a loose concept album centered around a female interpretation of the movie Lost Boys, The Dream of Delphi plays out like an extended mournful final scene of a somber dream sequence that punctuates a previously viewed surrealist vision of the post-tech future. This fictional new movie is set with visions rooted in a 1970s post-war naivety and malaise. It could be the literal musical interpretive dance before a wooden spaceship takes off to an unknown future. It could be about a future traveler, sent from another space in place or time, brought here from the future who meets a congregation of seaside witches who have lived for centuries believing that their God lives below the ocean.
I know this sounds ridiculous. But there’s a story and theme here. It is just that she may be hiding it in plain view with the odd juxtaposition of droning keyboards amidst harp flares, programmed drum beats undercutting orchestral overdubs, and the comfort in her cooing and howling over explicitly saying what she means through song.
Or it could be an album about her coming to terms with being a mother and the complexity that comes with that shift in life.
In short, this is another entry that proves Bat For Lashes is truly a gift from the heavens. I think this entry has further solidified her place in having the artistic fortitude that puts her squarely in the same league as her other contemporaries like Bjork, PJ Harvey, and Kate Bush.”
39. Shellac: To All Trains
Released: May 17th | Touch and Go Records
On May 7 2024, we lost Steve Albini at the age of 61. I’m still shocked at living in a world without his talent. For the uninitiated, Albini recorded every punk rock album worth a shit over the last 4 decades and was in some of the most influential bands in the punk rock scene. When I hear his music, I’m in disbelief. When I heard the news, I couldn’t believe it. There was a new album slated for release later this year from Shellac (their first in a decade) and a tour that was an absolute must-see for me. I was crushed. Someone that I admired but never met had died. Yet it felt like I lost a close friend.
When To All Trains came out 10 days later, I knew it was going to be an instant classic. I listened to it, slightly hungover from the night before, two cups of coffee already in my system, while driving as fast as I could to meet some friends before we went to Chicago for the weekend. Shellac’s usual brand of high anxiety, angular rock music really fit my state of mind.
Even without the tragedy of Albini’s death, To All Trains has to be ranked in the top echelon of best albums of the year. It feels like a breath of fresh air from a genre that is often emulated but rarely perfected. The album has become the soundtrack to an absolutely chaotic and crazy year and nestles beautifully in my present state of stressed mind. The world is chaotic but at least Shellac is consistent.
Rest in peace, Steve Albini.
“Something something something when this is over
I’ll leap in my grave like the arms of a lover
If there’s a heaven, I hope they’re having fun
Cause if there’s a hell, I’m gonna know everyone”
38. Still House Plants: If I don’t make it, I love u
Released: April 12th | Bison Records
I first encountered Still House Plants by reading the Album of the Week review on Stereogum’s site where Joshua Minsoo Kim starts his review by saying “listening to Still House Plants can feel like witnessing a song come together in real time.” He goes on and describes how during their 2020 tour in support of their album Fast Edit, the band would have the drummer’s kit all over the stage and in pieces. As he put together the kit, the band played without him. Once finished assembling, it would signal that it was time to start another song. I’m sure as an audience member at a show like this would have you questioning whether what you just saw was an extended warmup or a short rehearsal. But it was, in fact, a song.
If I don’t make it, I still love u is probably the strangest and most challenging album on this list. The band plays deceptively very tight songs all dressed up in how loose they sound both rhythmically and accurately. But what may seem like chaos is actually deeply organized and fascinating. I first heard this album after I got off work late at the pub. I had my headphones on, sat in the smallest booth, and listened to the album with no other distractions. I couldn’t figure it out but I couldn’t stop listening.
If I were to try and describe the band, they would exist somewhere in the middle between Trout Mask Replica era Captain Beefheart, Dilute, and Polvo. Jess Hickie-Kallenbach’s vocals remind me so much of Mariam Wellentin of Wildbirds & Peacedrums. In short, Still House Plants is something to be experienced. Every song sounds like it is falling apart or coming together in slow motion while a jazz vocalist continues to give it her all, despite the chaos behind her.
37. Griffon: De Republica
Released: February 16th | Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions
I had someone come into the bar sometime in April and accuse me of being a poser when it comes to my taste and appreciation for metal. He claimed that I am forever touting how much I love the genre but I rarely choose to write about it or share what I’m listening to on my social channels. Rather than argue with him, I just let him blow hot air and tell me exactly what he thought he knew about my interests, but was kind enough to very casually send him a list of metal albums I had listened to so far in 2024. When he left, I didn’t give the whole exchange a second thought. Until he came back a week later and told me that everything I recommended to him was way too extreme for his tastes. I thought I’d given him very approachable recommendations but I guess I was wrong. In the end, I felt like I had the last laugh.
One of those recommendations was De Republica by French black metal band Griffon. It answers the question, “what do you get when you combine traditional melodic black metal with French revolutionary history.” Yes, De Republica is about the French Revolution. But also, as the band explains “On one hand, the album is an ode to the Republic, defending the rule of law, egalitarianism and freedom, and on the other, a work sacralizing Revolution as a popular expression of the struggle against despotism and the attainment of freedom.” In short, it feels like an album worthy of the time we live in but be prepared to pull out a translator app or brush up on your French because the album is not often in English.
Sonically, the production is amazing in conveying the overarching theme with samples of marching soldiers, crowd chanting protest refrains, English overdubs that sound like the bourgeoisie piping in commands of violent harm on loudspeakers, and all of these huge production choices layers beautifully on top of one of the best black metal albums I’ve heard this year. If you are looking for one of the most distinctive interpretations of the genre I’ve heard in ages, De Republica is for you.
36. Allegra Krieger: Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine
Released: September 13th | Double Double Whammy
A friend recommended Allegra Krieger’s new album as I was about to leave work one Wednesday night. We had been texting each other as I was closing up the bar and I was already planning on trying to make a little extra money doing DoorDash delivery after a freakishly slow night. So I was looking for some new music to listen to while I did my deliveries. Krieger’s new album was the first thing I turned on that night. I was so distracted on first listen that I’m not sure I heard much of anything. However, “Into Eternity” came on and it snapped me back into reality. The song lifts a lot of themes from the best of Sun Kil Moon’s discography with an ambling guitar dragging the song along with an almost stream of consciousness sing/spoken delivery, complete lackadaisical musings on death and the belief of the atheist afterlife of an existence of nothing after your last breath. It brought everything on the record into sharper focus and forced me to restart the album, right there and then, and give it my full, undivided attention. Once it was over, I immediately restarted it. And I did it again and again. For the three hour delivery night, Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine was the only thing I listened to.
The 28 year old’s fifth album but my first experience is an incredibly innovative and unusual blend of indie folk. Always existential and thought provoking, Krieger writes a captivating album that skirts between Joni Mitchell like folk, Fay Webster inspired heart-on-your-sleeve indie, and dips occasionally into genres like slowcore. It is a tour de force in both its guitar innovation and its vocal range. Parts of the album were written in response to a tragic event that Krieger had during the recording process of the album. One night, she was awoken by smoke and alarms in her New York City apartment that had caused a fire, later determined to be an e-bike’s exploding battery as the culprit. Krieger made it out unscathed but her neighbor did not. On “One Or The Other”, Krieger sings, “I asked myself what I could have done different / But was just so thankful to some god I woke / So thankful,” a direct reference to her survivor’s guilt for making it through such a tragedy. But it isn’t just this song that has themes of mortality and the flitting understanding of life and how we are all just here for a short ride. It becomes the thesis of Art of the Unseen and makes for an amazing exploration of all of our existential fears.
35. Liquid Mike: Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot
Released: February 2nd | Self-Released
I had a group of friends go and see Saturdays At Your Place in Michigan that had Liquid Mike opening the show. At the time, they didn’t know who they were but came back telling me just how much I needed to listen to them. The thing was, I already had. Thanks to Stereogum’s excellent Album of the Week feature, I had discovered the small Marquette, Michigan band just a few weeks prior and was instantly a fan after just a few songs into Paul Bunyan’s Sling Shot. The surprising thing about Paul Bunyan’s is that this is the band’s fifth album in three years. They seem to just be cranking out these amazing high powered rock songs at an alarming rate. I’m just forever bummed that I didn’t know that they were playing this show because, had I known, I would have dropped everything and gone with them.
If I were to try and put Liquid Mike in a nutshell, it would be hard not to mention bands like Guided By Voices, The Foo Fighters, Weezer, Jawbreaker, and Japandroids. Their sound is highly driven by 90s style hooks and guitar riffs that will have you singing along and repeating songs before the album finishes. In fact, after my friends saw them, they came back and had requested we listen to them often at the pub. Out of all the bands that I have heard this year and listened to with other people, Liquid Mike got the most “who are we listening to” inquiries. The band just has this incredible infectious appeal that has a little something for everyone.
34. Hurray For The Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive
Released: February 23rd | Nonesuch Records
In the first third of the year, I had already chosen my top 10 albums for the year. The Past Is Still Alive was one of the first albums that stood out to me that had potential to earn the top spot. I remember sharing this with a few friends on a karaoke night at the pub. I had been telling them about my music project for 2024 and they were asking me if there was anything that stood out thus far. I made the early declaration that I thought that indie folk and alt-country would be the overall theme for the year for me. In 2023, I had spent a lot of time refreshing myself on classic country artists like Ernest Tubb, George Barnes, Townes Van Zandt, and Blaze Foley while peppering in more modern artists like William Elliot Whitmore and Tyler Childers. I thought for sure that Hurray For The Riff Raff had released an alt-country album that would stand alone. If you keep reading, you will know how I was partially right with my assessment of this being a heavy country themed year and I’m very happy with where The Past Is Still Alive has fallen on this comprehensive end of year list.
Specifically, Hurray For The Riff Raff has released an absolutely stellar entry into the genre of indie folk and alt-country. They rely heavily on painting an Americana themed retelling of their upbringing by utilizing lyrics about feeding grapefruits to cows, a refrain of “two weeks just to catch the buffalo” followed up by “some things take times don’t you know,” and how rats have chewed holes in the rabbit fur. In short, the lyrics are beautifully western themed and work well to help paint a specific vision of the American wild west and serve as a perfect co-mingling of sounds and sight that truly transports the listener into the world of the album. It will be easy to draw comparisons between this album and Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood (featured later on this list), not just because of their similar genres, but also their production. The producer Brian Cook happened to produce both albums, which skillfully helps craft a specific mood that matches the western theme of both of their respective albums.
The Past Is Still Alive helped set a theme for the year for me and transported me into a simpler wild west upbringing. And for this, I think it has so much appeal to anyone looking for alt-country escapism.
33. Envy: Eunoia
Released: October 11th | Temporary Residence Ltd.
Twenty years ago, I spent a lot of my free time in the back seat of my friend Nate’s car with my brother, Justin and friend, Kenny. We’d aimlessly drive around Fort Wayne and the surrounding areas looking for things to do but frequently hung out in the car and listened to music. At the time, we used to burn each other MP3 CDs full of albums and we’d use a portable discman hooked up to a tape deck FM transmitter to play those discs. It wasn’t the best setup but it worked for us and a good portion of my consumption of music happened this way at the time. But there was one disc that we spent all summer listening to that started with Antarctica’s 23:03 (recently remastered and re-released this year for its 25th anniversary) and transitioned to Envy’s A Dead Sinking Story. Every time we exited the car and the CD player would boot back up, we’d be listening to those two releases again. Because of the failings of the technology at the time, we listened to those two albums a lot.
Now twenty years later and thirty years of Envy being a band, they have returned with their 8th album Eunoia. This album sees the band making a drastic but expected step from their post metal and post hardcore roots into more of a post rock and shoegaze sound. And the result is absolutely amazing. Many of the heaviest moments are not the Envy of old where the guitars were crushing, the beats enormous, and the vocals screamed with force. They have now been replaced with songs that are more melancholy or hopeful with either spoken word or mournful singing. But don’t get me wrong, the Envy of old is still here and that old formula makes up for about half of the album, yielding a very emotional wavering experience. This might be their best work in the last decade. But considering this is only their third album in the last 10 years, the competition isn’t particularly fierce. Regardless, Eunoia is the best Envy album in years and it takes me back to a time where this band was one of the most important bands on the planet for me in a time where things were a little more innocent.
32. Soft Kill: Escape Forever
Released: April 12th | Cercle Social Records
Soft Kill is another new band to me on this list that I wish I had discovered so much sooner than I actually did. The band has been pumping out release after release for the better part of a decade. And yet, this is my first record I’ve ever heard from them. From what I’ve read, the band has been experimenting through many genres through their brief history but Escape Forever sees them doing what I can only begin to describe as 80s inspired pop punk. Think the catchiest and happiest parts of The Cure with the epic scope of a Japandroids rock anthem and you will get something that somewhat resembles what the band is doing here. The record is split into two halves of emotion, with the first being a collection of songs that are begging to be played loudly with the windows down on a beautiful spring day and its listener scream singing along to the hooks. The second half gets a little more real but still maintains that catchy, fist-in-the-air catchiness that makes this for one of the coolest rock albums I’ve heard this year.
As of late, this is an album that I keep finding myself putting on more frequently while the weather is cold. Every time I hear it, it transports me to warmer and happier times where I was on a road trip, blasting it on repeat until I got to my destination.
31. Zeal & Ardor: Greif
Released: August 23rd | Self-Released
The first time I heard Zeal & Ardor’s GREIF, I was driving through Chicago during rush hour traffic. I was on the Dan Ryan expressway going nearly 90 mph just to keep the pace of the rest of the traffic and had this album turned up way too loud. And I’m not sure I could have picked a better soundtrack for that moment.
Zeal & Ardor is probably best described as post-industrial gothic blackgaze. The Swedish group has a tendency to blend a number of styles but is self described as “Spiritual Black Metal Blues,” which is probably way more fitting than the word jargon that I came up with on the fly. Other places, I’ve heard them described as simply avant garde metal. And GREIF takes no time with the song “are you the only one now?” to assure you that the band is very much rooted in their unique genre blending. The song sounds like it exists somewhere between Nine Inch Nails, Neil Young, early Opeth, Deftones, and Tool. With the next song “Go home my friend,” we have a nearly acapella repeating refrain that sounds like early roots music on top of 90s industrial beats and synths. And so it goes.
GREIF may seem like a misspelling of but the album’s name is actually inspired by Der Vogel Greif, a hybrid carnival creature that takes its shape in the form of a griffin that is an important symbol in Swedish history. The name of the album is fitting on account of both the creature and the band’s sound being a cobbled together version of multiple powerful parts of other entities that fit together to create something new and unusual. The band always leaves you guessing where it is headed next while never varying from the chosen achieved themes of the album.
30. Wild Pink: Dulling The Horns
Released: October 4th | Fire Talk
I first heard Dulling The Horns while trying to make a little extra cash doing DoorDash delivery before a trip to Portland, Oregon. The album happened to come on when I had a delivery twenty minutes from my current location, which resulted in a twenty minute trek back before I got the next delivery. I managed to listen to the entire duration of the album while doing one order and kept saying to myself “this is such a great driving record.” Normally, I would have been pissed that a single order took so much of my time but Wild Pink made the whole experience so memorable that I always get flashbacks to that unexpected trip north of Decatur and back again, on the highway, with the windows down, and the music cranked to an unbearable volume.
Dulling The Horns is one of those albums that feels like it should have come out years prior to when it actually did. It sounds like something that would have come out in the late 2000s along with albums from bands like Spoon, The Shins, Arcade Fire, and In Rainbows-era Radiohead. The guitars are crunchy and loud with riffs that are mostly hooky, the songs are short, sweet, and to-the-point, and the lyrics are that brand of classic 2000s indecipherability complete with sports analogies about Michael Jordan’s late career that come prior to profound lyrics like “Sometimes a dream ain’t meant to be lived in, it’s meant to be forgotten.”
After giving this album another listen while writing the review, I had to go back and change my initial ranking, where it sat at 88. This album is truly something that is more in my wheelhouse than a lot of other albums released this year and plays into my undying love for the late 2000s era slacker rock that became a fixture of those years of growing up and making all the wrong decisions, something that felt very apropos for the year I just lived in 2024.
29. Wishy: Triple Seven
Released: August 16th | Winspear Records
I saw Wishy open for Guided By Voices in Indianapolis at the Hi-Fi. I knew nothing about them but was completely blown away by their performance. So much so that I pulled out my phone mid-set, texted a few of my friends, and begged them to give them a listen. In haste to get back to the show, I described them as noisy bubblegum pop-driven shoegaze. I stand by that assessment today. At the end of their set, I looked around for their merch table but couldn’t find it. So instead, I went to their label’s website (Winspear Records) and purchased everything they had available at the time (two cassette EPs) and learned that a full length was coming out in August.
Triple Seven plays out like a love letter to the expansive diversity that was 80s and 90s shoegaze. At times, sounding like My Bloody Valentine, Pale Saints, and Swervedriver but with some more modern interpretations like the underrated and short-lived band Yuck. But above all, Wishy stands apart as one of the only summery shoegaze bands I’ve heard. Each one of these songs will have you singing along, tapping your foot, and doing some much needed air guitar strumming. This is music you turn on to drive around town with the windows down, during those days where the air conditioning should be on full blast but the wind in your hair feels worth sweating it out a little.
And I truly needed this album this year. Triple Seven released 10 days after I lost my father-in-law. It was this collection of songs that may have been the first thing that made me feel human again. I don’t think I could have gotten through my grief without it.
28. The Supervoid Choral Ensemble: Live from the Downwhen Terminus
Released: September 22nd | Vitriol Records
Have you ever followed a particular artist through multiple bands and listened to every iteration of everything they have ever put out? I can think of only a handful of musicians that have had me follow them through their entire career. Most of them are guitarists. Ben Sharpe, one half of Supervoid Choral Ensemble, is one of those guitarists. I first discovered him when a friend of mine recommended them almost a million years ago when they suggested I check out Cloudkicker on a site called Bandcamp. I had heard of neither the band or the site but I quickly checked them out and really haven’t looked back ever since.
In this newest iteration of Sharpe’s music, we have him joining Vinny Roseboom of Gospel on drums. They are a two piece that sound absolutely huge and crushing, playing what I’ll call, for the sake of simplicity, instrumental mathy rock driven post rock. The guitar riffs span the fretboard and are flawless while the drums forever employ quick and seamless transitions of time that cause breakneck head bobbing. This is a band that I’ve waited to hear for a long time and it absolutely delivers, just like all of Sharpe’s other work. Definitely recommended for fans of bands like Russian Circles, Pelican, and sleepmakeswaves.
I was lucky enough to see Supervoid this year at Post Fest (how many other times have I mentioned this? Seriously, go to Post Fest!) It was scorching hot and the band absolutely ripped through their set while Sharpe wore a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses and made his guitar playing look absolutely effortless. And that friend that recommended Cloudkicker all those years ago? Yep. He was standing right next to me rocking out right along with me the entire time. Friends, take those recommendations seriously and share your music with those you love. Let music like this give you a wealth of memories and shared experience. You won’t regret it when you do.
27. Guenna: Peak of Jin’Arrah
Released: April 19th | The Sign Records
Peak of Jin’Arrah is the debut album from Swiss progressive stoner rock band Guenna. Sounding like a cross between Yes and The Sword, this band has managed to produce what I think is the best album in the genre I’ve heard in ages. This combination of progressive rock and stoner metal at first is pretty apparent and seems to follow the template of sludgy guitar chords that slowly walk their way up the fretboards with Sabbath style falsetto singing. But Guenna flipped the script and added their own flair. On the opening track, appropriately titled “Bongsai”, the guitars give way to a staccato flute solo that seems more fitting on a Jethro Tull record than a band that is emulating Black Sabbath. On the next track, the chorus slows the song from its guitar slaying and drops into a full band vocal harmony that sounds like it is pulled straight off of Yes’s The Fragile. These motifs and throwbacks continue through the duration of the album and help to keep Peak of Jin’Arrah engaging throughout. Definitely recommended for those that love Mastodon, Opeth, Tool, The Sword, Black Sabbath, Yes, and Crosby Stills Nash and Young. And yes, I recognize what an odd collection of bands that makes. But the influence that Guenna draws from each of these artists is very apparent.
As a fun little aside story, I have been listening to this album a lot after midnight when the bar starts to slow down. One night after a classic rock cover group played in the bar, I turned this on and watched as the entire band was bobbing their heads and packing up their equipment. One by one, the band members all approached me to ask what we were listening to and how I discovered the band. Each time, I became more and more excited that a band that was slightly more into the stoner metal echelon was engaging these guys who definitely spend a lot of time listening to classic rock. They all took note and told me how obsessed they were with the album the next time I saw them. And where did I discover them? Well, the comment section of Stereogum‘s album of the week from my favorite forum contributor “apache slowmo.” So whoever you are, thanks again!
26. Glitterer: Rationale
Released: February 23rd | Anti Records
It was no surprise to me at all when I discovered that Glitterer’s Rationale was one of my most listened-to albums of 2024. The year prior, I discovered just how much I liked the band Title Fight through repeated listens after many recommendations from friends that shared similar taste in music as me. Once discovered, I devoured their brief discography, fell in love with Floral Green (as one usually does with the band), but was kind of upset that there just wasn’t much else to sink my teeth into outside of their limited discography. As I often do, I went looking to see what the band members were up to these days and discovered that Ned Russin, the bass player and one of the vocalists, was doing a project under the moniker Glitterer. I made a mental note, checked out a few tracks, and really never went back to the side project.
But after getting back from a trip to St. Louis and deciding to take on this ambitious project of consuming more new music, I went back to look at my long list of handwritten notes about bands and cross checked that list to see if any of them had released anything to start the year. Given that it was just two months into the year, not many of them had. But Glitterer, a band that I only added because of Title Fight, had just put out an album that was getting a lot of praise. I remember discovering this on a Wednesday morning before setting of for an appointment and thought “well, that’s what I’m listening to today.”
Gliterrer is a D.C. based post-punk band that is producing music that sounds a lot like its regional influences. The songs are short bursts of high energy, catchy rock songs that almost always leave you wanting more. The brevity and brief song structures keep Rationale always fresh and makes it incredibly easy to flip the record over and start it again. Which is exactly why this album got so many plays for me. It felt like the perfect album to turn on when the weather was great, when I needed something to pick me up, or just something that appealed to a mass audience of people. Rationale is one of those records that you want to burn out but keep it pocketed for those special occasions when you just need to turn it up, roll the windows down, and just rock the fuck out.
25. Snarls: With Love
Released: May 3rd | Take This To Heart Records
How many albums have you listened to that have a song on it that completely eclipses the album? I think when I was younger, this was more of a prevalent phenomenon when I consumed more mainstream music and you would hear the song or watch the music video for weeks or months before the album actually released. But these days, the discovery of new music, at least for me, is a lot less fed to me by mainstream or singular sources. Rather, I’m often listening to an album without any prior knowledge or preview of what I’m about to consume. This has forced me to become more of an entire album vs. single song listener. Rarely do I listen to an album where a single song is the thing I come back to instead of experiencing the album in its entirety when I want to hear it again.
Initially, I had With Love, ranked much higher on the initial draft of this list. To date, I think that I still incorrectly ranked it too high on the list and it probably deserves a spot closer to the top 10. However, I have never had a song like “Baby Bangs” take me so out of an album that it became a singular obsession for months. I have no qualms about saying that that song is the best song I heard in 2024. And there are several people tend to agree. On first listen, I sent a flurry of texts to those that I knew would understand its brilliance. I’ve put it on in public and made an ass of myself by physically showing its dynamic range. I’ve found myself repeating its chorus in the moments before and after sleep. The song is four-and-a-half minutes of rock perfection, complete with a roller coaster of emotions about being the guilty party in the failing of a relationship. The song just… goes hard.
However, the album overall is still very, very good.
With Love, is an album I’ve blanketly recommended to everyone. Despite a “song is better than the album” syndrome, it is something I come back to for comfort almost daily. It has a massively wide appeal to anyone wanting an album that breaks new ground in rock music while also giving the warmest hug of nostalgia. These girls just know how to make you feel something relatable and appropriately urgent.
24. Heems & Lagpan: LAFANDAR | Heems: VEENA
Released: February 16th & August 23rd | Veena Sounds
Heems is a rapper from Queens, New York of Punjabi-Indian descent. Best known for being one third of the rap supergroup Das Racist, Heems is one of the most literate and vocabulary dense rappers I’ve heard in ages. Where many rap artists I’ve heard this year take comfort in sticking with the status quo with songs about money, women, and power, Heems is self referential, even self-deprecating, and incredibly thoughtful with his use of words to convey his emotions. He doesn’t shy away from his Punjabi descent and often employs heavy influence from the traditional sounds of the region. He is one of those artists that has given me faith that the rap genre isn’t doomed to be a rehashing of the same things just dressed in different packaging for the next century.
And here we have two albums released in the same year and his first proper albums in almost a decade. The albums are both fairly similar in their scope but VEENA seems far more personal and reflective. If I were to give a nod to one over the other, I might say that VEENA is the slightly better album of the two but LAFANDAR got more plays through the year. I first heard them both on road trips, both to or from Chicago. That uninterrupted time with both of albums at separate points of the year had different first impression impacts. But both left me feeling like Heems is one of the best rappers doing it these days.
23. The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis: Self-Titled
Released: March 15th | Verve Records
A few things to get out here first: 1. The Messthetics are the rhythm section of Fugazi. 2. This is their third record. 3. This is the first record they have released on the Impulse record label because they are now a jazz band.
With the addition of James Brandon Lewis on this release, The Messthetics have fully entered the realm of what I guess can only be called “noise jazz” or maybe “indie jazz” or, hell, I don’t know. In short, this record answers the question “what if a mathy punk band was fronted, not by a vocalist, but instead a jazz saxophonist.” And if you are wondering what that sounds like… yes, it rules. Maybe I’m slightly unversed in jazz sub-genres but, up to this point, I have heard nothing quite like it.
I’d be remiss to not tell a story about seeing the band earlier this year. In May, I bought tickets to see them perform at Bell’s Brewery. I made a short day trip by stopping at a few other breweries along the way before going to the show. I then rushed to get there to avoid the crowds and secure my spot when the doors opened. I was a little late. And to my surprise, I walked in and I was one of maybe 25 people there. I kept expecting more people to file in but it never happened. I saw The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis in an audience of less than 50 and even bought all three of their releases on LP from Brendan Canty, the former drummer of Fugazi. I was so starstruck that all I could muster was “I’ve waited a long time to finally see you guys in any fashion.” It was a very surreal moment that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.
This record means a lot to me. It really became a symbol for the year of simply trying something new, taking risks, and just doing things when it felt right. Whether it be buying tickets to go by yourself to see a jazz band play at one of your favorite breweries or adding a saxophonist to your punk band for a new sound, take the risk and enjoy the ride.
22. Mountaineer: Dawn and All That Follows
Released: July 26th | A Thousand Arms Music
Back in 2013, Palms released a self-titled album that became something I listened to quite often over the next few years. Palms was the collaborative album between vocalist Chino Moreno, best known for his work in Deftones, and the backing band to Isis. It was something I didn’t know that I wanted but glad I had it. Mountaineer’s newest album reminds me a lot of that particular sound that isn’t emulated very often. Technically, in its most simplistic genre terms it is post metal but, instead of the trademark screaming vocals, the vocals are beautifully sung. In fact, the vocals are just really, really, really good and not just for the genre.
I discovered Mountaineer on the blog Heavy Blog Is Heavy. The writer there describes the band as both “post-rock and doom adjacent”, which I also agree with. The album is incredibly atmospheric with tons of delayed guitars when they aren’t producing heavy sludgy doom riffage. It is because of this sonic texture that it is easy to see a shoegaze comparison too. But when it gets heavy, well, it gets really heavy. All the while the vocalist is employing incredibly beautiful and pitch perfect melodies that are bound to bounce around your head for a while after you finish a song. But metal heads, never fear, they also aren’t afraid to scream too.
All this to say that genres are a funny thing. We can spend a lot of time figuring out all the dashes and slashes to figure out where a band neatly falls into. But doing so, at least for me, is enough to drive me crazy. Mountaineer released a genre breaking great new album that reminds me a lot of what Palms was doing 10 years ago and that genre was hardly replicated. In fact, I just really miss traditional post metal but also love when those bands step comfortably in the shoes of, well, shoegaze. Just give it a listen. I’m sure if you like the genre word soup here, you will really dig the album.
21. The Arrival Note:…Home Is So Far From Here
Released: November 8th| Sunday Drive Records
From the moment that I heard the first few seconds of The Arrival Note’s excellent first album, I immediately thought I was transported back 20+ years to the heyday of 2nd wave emo. The Tampa based band sounds like they would have gone on tour with Elliot, Christie Front Drive, The Promise Ring, The Appleseed Cast or Mineral because they sound so much like music that was coming out during that particular golden era for the genre. They even somehow mastered the aesthetic of the album art. At the time, many bands releasing music from that era used a classic three tone color palette, typewriter font, and a single black and white photo. That photo seemingly had nothing to do with the album’s title but somehow fit within its overall emotional theme. When I first saw the cover, I immediately got Mineral’s Power of Failing vibes mixed with a very obvious formatting throwback to The Promise Ring’s Nothing Feels Good. Tell me I’m wrong.
…Home Is So Far From Here came out relatively late in the year but it remained in my rotation. I hear a lot of emo throwback albums that only partially understand the bands that they are paying homage to. But The Arrival Note wrote a love letter to a genre that often only has its fringe elements emulated. Specifically, I think the majority of bands releasing emo throwback albums seem to think the formula is just twinkly guitars and whiny vocals. But there is a whole wealth of bands from the era that wrote songs using only power chords, sang with a guttural growl because that is all they could muster, and were not afraid to have big catchy choruses that often had vocal harmonies with every member of the band contributing a part to the melody. This isn’t an emo album where the lyrics are coy and clever but rather simple and to the point and, therefore, a little more relatable. Had this album come out earlier in the year, I would expect it would have easily cracked the top 10. I haven’t felt surge of nostalgia for 2nd wave emo in a long while. Especially when hearing something released in recent years that has been captured so perfectly on a band’s debut record.
20. Godspeed You! Black Emperor: “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”
Released: October 4th | Constellation Records
Out of all the releases I’ve written about in this space, I don’t think any of them have given me as much anxiety as writing about this album. You see, Godspeed You! Black Emperor are masters of their craft when writing instrumental neoclassical inspired protest albums. And this is one hell of a protest album. Rather than spend much time on the message here and address the complexities of war and government involvement, I will simply say that human life is precious, beautiful, and fragile. And life is hard enough without the fear of being killed by someone or some “thing” that doesn’t even know or care that you exist. My heart always goes out to those that live in parts of the world that are perpetually under fire.
This world is just so cruel. If only the strength of all our human voices would rise higher above the influence of our leaders and hear that we believe that all life is precious. But at least there is music to help us forget the harshness of our realities.
Godspeed are back with their first album in three years. The production is top notch, the songs are urgent and direct, and this may be the best entry point for anyone looking to get into the band. While I’d always recommend that anyone start with a band’s first album, I recognize that Godspeed’s discography, while small, is daunting. So here’s your starting point and then go back to the beginning and restart there. In my opinion, this is the most approachable thing they have done since Yanqui U.X.O., another wartime album. When the band writes songs that are in direct relation to world events, it makes everything sound much more urgent and emotional. No Title will have you fighting back tears at every note and it will make your hair stand on end at every crescendo.
“Devils own this town. The good ones got evicted”
19. From Indian Lakes: Head Void
Released: May 15th | little shuteye
Shoegaze had a major revival in 2024 and I’m here for it. Among the many iterations and explorations of the genre, From Indian Lakes’ Head Void is a succinct love-letter to the genre. When I first heard the album, I was picking up notes of bands like Antarctica, The Cure, Drop Nineteens, and Pale Saints. We have a band here that has done their homework and are not afraid to wear their influence on their sleeves.
Rather than spend a lot of time on the album as a whole, I have to fixate on one of the best songs of 2024: The Flow. There is something instantly iconic about this song and sounds like it could fit onto a movie soundtrack where the resolution of the 2nd act comes into play and the heroes achieve victory with significant losses. Sonically, it masters the art of being both uplifting but juxtaposed to a rather heavy somber note. If this doesn’t make many 2024 end of year playlists, then maybe I don’t know as much about music as I thought I did.
Head Void is an album that leaves you wanting more and hoping the next release is not far off. It transports you into a place just outside of earth’s atmosphere but within the orbit of something uniquely human, which is maybe something that I struggled to feel in 2024.
18. Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood
Released: March 22nd | Anti- Records
In 2016, Aly and I were in New Orleans. We had plans to go to Jazz Fest to see artists like Tom Petty and Lorde that weekend. But before the festival, we had a free night and were looking at how we should spend our evening. We were going through a local monthly entertainment magazine that had more information about Jazz Fest but also included any other shows that were happening in the area. I spotted that Waxahatchee was playing at a small venue less than a mile away from our AirBnB and expressed my excitement, suggested we go and see her, and was caught off guard by Aly’s confused reaction. It turns out that Aly hadn’t really listened to the band and wasn’t sure if she would want to go and see a band she didn’t know. I respected that and have definitely been there myself in the past. But I told Aly that she should re-read my 50 Best Albums of 2015 post and see what I had to say about Waxahatchee’s Ivy Tripp. It was one of my favorite albums released that year.
A few years later, Aly came home from work one day and asked me to help her learn a song she was obsessed with on the piano. I was so excited to help her because she rarely asks me to do such a thing. She turned on the song and I must have gone ghost white. The song was Waxahatchee’s “Takes So Much.” I had to remind her at that moment that, just two years prior, she had no idea who I was talking about when I suggested we go see her in New Orleans. She had little memory of that but I let her know that her entire discography was amazing and she should learn this song and then go listen to the rest of it. I ended up learning the song, showing her how to play it, and then spent countless days listening to her practicing and singing. It was a really moving moment that I think about often.
A while later, Waxahatchee released the first single from her amazing 2020 release, St. Cloud. For weeks before the album was released, I heard Aly repeatedly singing the song while in the shower, when she got ready for work, as she was making dinner, and cleaning the house. It warmed my damn heart. Then the world shut down because of Covid. And a week later, St. Cloud was released in full. We listened to it repeatedly and both thought that it was the only thing that made any sense in the chaos of the pandemic stricken world.
All this to say, Waxahatchee has been putting out albums over the last few years that have had a significant impact on my life and the world around me. And Tigers Blood is no different. When it was released, I was just a few days out of my annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration at the pub where I put my mind and body to the test, usually working nearly 100 hours in the week with very little sleep. Like St. Cloud four years prior, it became the only album that made sense to me. It comforted me when I felt down and out and needed my spirits lifted.
Tigers Blood sees Katie Crutchfield lean fully into the country western sounds that peppered St. Cloud. With the same heart-on-your-sleeve approach that has always been present in all of her work, these might be some of the best songs she has ever written. She seems to mature on a similar timeline as my own growing maturity. Tigers Blood has less experimenting with genre weaving and more embracing a singular sound for the first time in her career, something that really works for Crutchfield and her songwriting.
17. Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
Released: March 1st | Epitaph Records
When I first discovered Mannequin Pussy, I immediately had the band pegged as being something that they are not. I was expecting something absolutely brutal and atonal and not some of the smartest aggressive post punk I’ve heard. I think it was around 2016 when I first decided to take the plunge in their small body of work and was pleasantly surprised to hear a band with a ton of pop sensibilities for being so aggressive. The odd juxtaposition of the sometimes sing-songy tunes next to songs that sound like the world is ending is just something I’m here for.
And I Got Heaven is their most experimental yet, weaving through multiple genres and sounds in an effort to find the best manner to deliver the message of Marisa Dabice’s overtly feminist lyrics. Of which, Dabice has produced her strongest effort that always keep you wavering between its delightfully wonderful constant contradictions (“I’ve got a loud bark, deep bite”) that often demand laughter (“Jesus himself ate my fucking snatch”). But where the band truly excel on this record is writing songs that sound like they could turn the music world upside down by being huge hit singles that sound like nothing else on the radio airwaves. Songs like “Sometimes”, “Loud Bark”, and “Nothing Like” are begging to be played loud and shared with all of your friends. These are the tunes that forever make their way onto playlists that are infinitely reshared and having people wonder what this band is all about. I Got Heaven has many songs on my own playlists and has me constantly shutting the playlist off when those songs come on and just play the proper album in full.
16. Alcest: Les Chants de l’Aurore
Released: June 21st | Nuclear Blast Records
When trying to introduce friends to genres of music that they don’t really know much about, I always think about what would be the best introductory album. I’ve had friends ask me how to get into genres like post rock, shoegaze, black metal, blackgaze, and so on. If you have been one of those friends, I have probably recommended one of the seven Alcest albums no matter the genre in question. The band not only is a blend of all four genres mentioned above, there are specific albums in their catalog that are decidedly more influenced by each of these specific genres. So maybe a better question is “how the hell do I get into Alcest.”
With most artists, it is just so easy to tell people to start at the beginning and work your way through the discography chronologically. I still think this is my preferred way to discover an artist. However, there are times where the perfect album exists later in an artist’s career that require you to just dive right in. Les Chants de l’Aurore (translated The Songs of Dawn) is the seventh perfect album by French black metal band, Alcest, and it is the most approachable album the band has released to date. On listening to the first few tracks, you may think you are just listening to a vocal heavy post rock or shoegaze album. But then the first time the blast beats and shrieking vocals hit, you will realize that this band is definitely different from anything else you’ve heard in the genre. It is just such a seamless and infectious blend that has quickly caused the band to be one of my absolute favorites in the scene.
15. Willi Carlisle: Critterland
Released: January 26th | Signature Sounds Recordings
Willi Carlisle’s Critterland is one of those albums that immediately struck a chord with me. Often, I listen to music and process everything but the lyrics first. Their understanding usually comes with time and repeated listens. But Carlisle’s lyrics on this release are perfect and have more in common with songwriter wordsmiths like Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen than many of the country contemporaries out there today. His ability to paint a picture with his words among the decidedly country western Americana his music embodies is such a beautiful juxtaposition in a genre often dominated with lyrics that seem to be an afterthought. The themes range from saying goodbye to a loved one who was not a good person in life, genetic mutations created by God’s hand and the tragic existence that ensues, musings on fentanyl, and seeing the sadness in a lone farm chicken, Critterland’s rather dense and depressing theme is not for the weak of heart.
Despite its darker themes, Carlisle has managed to write one of the most thought-provoking and honest albums I’ve heard in 2024. It embodies healing. There’s hope and beauty in the rather mucky existence that Critterland’s painted lyrical imagery creates. And that is worth celebrating. Because without the threadbare tapestry of its reality, how would we ever know a concept as simple as warmth?
14. SPRINTS: Letter To Self
Released: January 5th | City Slang Records
Letter To Self is one of those albums that I wish I could experience for the first time again. It came from a day different than no other. I had some errands to run and needed to listen to some music on the drive. I sat in front of my computer, went to my usual blogs to find recommendations on what to listen to, discovered Sprints, and thought “this sounds like my kind of band”. I jotted down the album name in a small notebook with a few other artists already there and hit the road. I didn’t start that list with Letter To Self but I certainly ended there. Repeating it after I finished it the first time.
I was driving back from a small town when I saw a series of ambulances and fire trucks dealing with a burning barn right off the highway. At the time, I was listening to “Shaking Their Hands”, already blown away by the amazing Irish punk rock band. The lyrics just hit me while I watched the barn burn:
“It’s been a long day
It’s been a long night
It’s been a long life
And I’m counting the minutes until the clock strikes six“
It seemed so fitting to see something so unusual while hearing a song clearly written about the trappings of a routine life.
Sprints have released one of the best records of 2025 with Letter To Self. This record just grabs you and never lets you up for air. It is some of the best rock music I’ve heard all year and has been constantly on the record player since I picked it up on LP. The songs are short bursts of raw, uninhibited human emotion while still being one of the most approachable albums that holds its intensity. It’s one of those records that I hope sets a template for a lot of music to follow. And it was one of the first albums I heard to start my 2024 project. And it probably has some of the most plays.
13. Gouge Away: Deep Sage
Released: March 15th | Deathwish Records
Deep Sage was one of those albums I heard early in the year, thought it was great, and then didn’t think anything of it. It was a huge oversight because Gouge Away wrote and recorded an album that fits a ton of qualities I look for in rock music. I just didn’t know it yet. After listening voraciously to so many other artists over the next few months, I kept finding myself turning on Deep Sage and just rocking the fuck out all over again. I seemed to always make time for another listen as kind of a palate cleanser when things weren’t nearly as good.
For those that think they sound aggressive, pay close attention to the very meaningful lyrics that do not match that sentiment. Christina Michelle’s use of her words through the record put into question the forced stability of a complacent life, having difficult conversations with the people you love because of their chosen idealized version of the world, and being overwhelmed with trying to find oneself in a world that is haunting while the future is bleak, among many other similar themes. In short, Michelle’s lyrics truly speak to the human condition and how difficult life can be in the current state of the world. After all, we are all figuring out every single thing we do in life for the first time with maybe just a little experience to help guide us.
Lyrics aside, the band is just good. Drawing obvious influences from bands like Fugazi, Brutus, Unwound, and even Nirvana, Gouge Away is a band that truly speaks to me. It is like someone had a dart board full of the bands I love and happened to hit bullseyes on all my favorites and decided to form a group. Hell, they even dip their toes into shoegaze with the closing track “Dallas.” Again, this band is truly for me.
But don’t be like me, turn this record on now, turn it up, and take it in. This truly is one of the best releases of 2024.
12. Porridge Radio: Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me
Released: October 18th | Secretly Canadian Records
Clouds In The Sky was one of those albums that, at first listen, I knew would be gracing a top spot for the year. The day after it was released, I had tons of friends who knew about this project reach out and tell me that I needed to hear the album. And believe it or not, this was not a common occurrence with any other album featured here. Everyone seemed to hear it and knew how good it was. The thing was that I had already heard the album the day it was released a few hours after midnight. And I felt the same.
One of the most surreal moments I’ve had with any album in 2024 is with Clouds In The Sky. Aly and I were in Portland, Oregon, and decided to take a day trip to the coast while we were there. We were driving through the mountains, among the sparsely populated areas on the stretch of highway between the city and the coastline while listening to Clouds In The Sky on repeat. It seemed fitting because of its somber otherworldly sonic landscape it creates and served as a sobering contrast to the uninhibited beauty on either side of us while we drove up and then down a mountainside. I remember this specific moment where the song “I Got Lost” was playing as we were about to pass through a tunnel and the lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks:
“3, 2, 1, you gave it your all
Swamp-coloured hill, the morning sun
And I don’t want to turn in the mud
A bird in the gust, where I got lost
For a while, the songs that we wrote
Turn up at my door from your head
Sun goes down, the pen fell and broke
So I sent you a note, my head it said”
Porridge Radio’s newest album has themes fitting for the year. Dana Margolin, the vocalist and primary songwriter of the band, had just ended a brutally long tour in 2022 that eventually ended in the breakup with her partner. It is an album about loss and burning out and the complicated emotions beyond sadness that accompany those experiences. Clouds In The Sky is often angry. Not as a knee jerk response to anger, but rather, as a last ditch effort to express yourself when there is nothing else left. And I felt that so much this year when I had been in the thick of flaming out and trying to process the sadness in the world around me. I turned to anger and it made it hard for me to recognize myself in those moments. Margolin expertly expresses these complex emotions that are beyond the simple words that represent them. It is through her lyrics and vocals that help make the listener understand her pleas of near desperation.
All this to say that this album is really personal to me. It came at a time where I needed it most and gave context to a difficult year where not a lot made sense. I’m so glad that I had it when I did because I don’t think I would have gained the clarity I needed without it.
11. Whirr: Raw Blue
Released: December 25th | Funeral Party
There were a lot of surprise releases in 2024 but nothing quite like Whirr’s Raw Blue. Quite literally, I woke up on Christmas morning to the gift of a new album waiting for me in my inbox. At first, I thought it was a joke or some sort of re-release of something I had already heard. But no, this was definitely a new album. And it was so shocking because it had been 5 years since the last album and there were rumors circulating the band had called it quits. I spent the next week, right before the new year, listening to almost nothing but this album.
For those unfamiliar, Whirr is producing some of the best shoegaze on the market right now. It is hard not to draw immediate comparisons to titans of the genre like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, and Ride. But Whirr is still putting their spin on the genre and moving it forward into time with their innovations. This record sounds huge with walls of sound emanating from layered guitars, vocals that are beautifully buried in the mix, and all the reverb drenched production you could ever want on a perfect shoegaze record.
I wish I had more to say but it still feels so fresh that it hasn’t really released its claws on my soul just yet. But I can confidently say that this is the single best shoegaze album I have heard all year and I cannot wait to give it more repeated listens over the next few months.
10. MJ Lenderman: Manning Fireworks
Released: September 6th | Anti Records
I was just at a record store asking about MJ Lenderman albums. The girl behind the counter couldn’t hide her excitement and immediately struck up a conversation with me about how much she loved Manning Fireworks, Lenderman’s latest album. I told her this story about how I didn’t know that the guitarist of Wednesday (another band that I absolutely love and would probably say had an album of the year with Rat Saw God when that was released a few years back) had such a rich solo career until just earlier last year. I went on and told her how I became a little obsessed with getting through the entire discography. And aside from my anticipation for The Cure’s new album, I don’t think there was any other album I was more excited about releasing in 2024 than Manning Fireworks. She just kind of stood there for a second and then told me that they were completely out-of-stock of all of his releases right now. I have a tendency to talk too much when I get excited, especially when it comes to music.
Before the album was released, I kept getting teased with hearing “She’s Leaving You” after every album finished, further hyping my excitement. I’m actually surprised that that song was not in my top 3 most listened to songs for the year. But I usually have this major rule that I don’t ever listen to the teaser singles from an album before it is released. I’ve felt that, when I do, I have a tendency to be waiting in anticipation for that song or hearing it takes me out of the context of the album as a whole. But I knew that Manning Fireworks was so good that, even when “She’s Leaving You” came on, I had almost completely forgotten that I had listened to that song so much through the year because it blended so much with the overall feel and charm of the rest of the album.
Recently, a friend commented that “the dude just created a new genre with this one” in reference to Manning Fireworks. And it got me thinking… what would you call it? There’s something decidedly loose and fluid about his guitar playing that reminds me so much of bands like Pavement, Archers of Loaf, and even Dinosaur Jr., all bands that I’d put into the very small company of slacker rock. The off-the-cuff and often funny lyrics further support that genre assessment. But there are definitely moments that sound more like Jason Molina, Waxahatchee, or Jason Isbell which I’d say are more in the camp of indie folk/country. So did he create a new genre in “slacker country” or “slacker folk?” Which do you prefer? Either way, there isn’t an artist quite like Lenderman and Manning Fireworks may be treading new ground for a sound that hasn’t really been touched before him. It is totally worth your time. Just make sure to laugh and cry at the right moments, which are sometimes hard to tell the difference.
9. The Cure: Songs of a Lost World
Released: November 1st | Polydor Records
There isn’t much to be said about Songs of a Lost World that hasn’t already been said. The album is great and a worthwhile comeback after such a long wait. Instead of writing a traditional review, I thought I’d share something incredibly personal about the relationship I have with the band.
My introduction to The Cure was Disintegration. I wrote about the album on my Instagram on Christmas in 2023. In it, I write about how for some reason, I’ve always associated The Cure with Christmas. The bleak themes in their lyrics and the shockingly ethereal sound that their discography embodies mimics my personal feeling about the holiday. There always seems to be a depressing undercurrent that is often masked by the cheery gleam of what the holiday represents, much like the band’s music. And this year, we had to celebrate Christmas alone because our families had gotten sick with Covid, which made the themes of Songs of a Lost World seem even more appropriate for the day.
It has been 16 years since the last Cure album. Back then, I was 24, with barely an understanding of where my life was headed. I had just come out of a deep depression after graduating from college the year prior and stuck in the jobless reality of a recession. I was living with my parents, didn’t have my own vehicle, and felt incredibly reliant on everyone else to keep me healthy and sane. But I kept my mind healthy by consuming large quantities of audio books, podcasts, radio programs, and, of course, music. The Cure’s discography was in heavy rotation then. If it wasn’t for this and friends, I didn’t think I’d make it.
Sixteen years later, I have had the worst year I’ve had in a long time. But compared to myself at 24, I feel so much more put together than I was. I have a deeper understanding of who I am and where my life is headed. Songs of a Lost World fits perfectly in how I feel this year; a little sad, somewhat alone, and full of darkness. But I’m 16 years wiser now, and know that everything is going to be okay. And I know it will be. It has to be. Tomorrow is always a brighter day.
I feel hopeful because this album happened.
8. Los Campesinos!: All Hell
Released: July 19th | Heart Swells Records
I often arrive late to parties and then am the last one to leave. Being late has nothing to do with not being punctual, it’s mostly related to my life being on a totally different sleep/wake schedule because of what I do for a living. And I’m usually the one staying until the very last minute to offer up my services for assisting with the cleanup after everyone else leaves, again because of what I do for a living. I imagine I’m one of those guests that the hosts spend a lot of time talking about long after I’m gone. Or maybe that is just me having some sort of inflated sense of self-worth. Either way, being late to the party is kind of my modus operandi.
What does this have to do with Los Campesinos! excellent All Hell? Well, everything. This is my first “LC” album from the Welsh band but their 7th. So I’m incredibly late to the party for this incredibly excellent band. And I have no excuse for that. I’ve always been vaguely aware of their existence and have had them recommended by friends and family over the years. But due to my former sleepy approach to discovering new music, I just actively chose to ignore them and wanted to organically find them on my own time. And now that I’ve discovered them, I’m that last guest at the party, still raring and willing to go after the last guest has left, preaching just how good this band really is and cleaning up my mess with apologies for ignoring the recommendations for so long.
Even when I first heard All Hell (on its release date), I was running late to see Guided By Voices in Indianapolis. My attention to the album was minimal because I was rushing through traffic to get there slightly later than on-time. But weaving through traffic, I kept catching small moments of brilliance on the album. From what I could tell, this was an emo album that didn’t really rely on the template laid out by my favorite godfathers of the genre or the “everything is midwest emo” (personal pet peeve) template of 5th wave. Rather, this album sounded big. Huge, even. There was just so much melody and complexity that demanded more time. And as I got to the venue, almost 40 minutes early due to a mistake in misremembering the door time, I put All Hell on for a second listen. But really a first proper listen, sitting in my car, and giving it the attention it deserved.
Since then, All Hell is one of those albums that I look for at every record store that I visit (I still haven’t scored it yet) and is something I’m constantly recommending to friends. It is one of the most approachable albums on this list and I think it has a little bit of something to offer to everyone.
7. Sour Widows: Revival of a Friend
Released: June 28th | Exploding In Sound Recordings
At times, Spotify’s algorithm works in my favor. Without it, I would have never discovered Sour Widows. Or maybe I would have. Maybe I did. I remember reading the review of Revival of a Friend on Pitchfork but, for some reason, I don’t remember if this came before or after I had heard the album. Regardless, discovering an album like this, especially with the year I had, felt like such a breath of fresh air that its discovery, in my neural pruned memory, feels like the album found me and I did not find it.
Revival of a Friend is the debut album from a band I hadn’t heard until last year. When I first heard it, like many other albums, I was driving in my car on my short commute to work. I had left the house a little earlier than usual because I had to run an errand before my shift started. As soon as I heard the first climax of the opening track, “Big Dogs,” it almost felt as if I was transported to another dimension. Hearing the shrieking screams of the two female vocalists who had, just a second before, been singing with the most beautiful harmonies, truly awakened something in my soul. My attention was transfixed and has not really ventured away from Revival of a Friend since then.
Sonically, Sour Widows carry the mantle of slowcore, a genre of music that rarely seems to get new interpretations or innovative iterations. The songs take their time building to their climax or refrain and seem to get comfortable in the spaces of just an ambling guitar riff that seems to be going in no particular direction. Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson, the creative force behind the band, harmonize throughout the album and take on a fairly similar sound as Low. Guitars create dreamy soundscapes, often using loud-quiet-loud dynamics, to fill in the spaces where intensity is necessary. Think bands like Red House Painters, Codeine, and Bedhead when trying to describe exactly what it is Sour Widows are doing.
But what really strikes me most about Revival of a Friend is how centered it is on the themes of grief, loss, and heartache; common themes that persisted through my year. There’s an emotional core through the album that kept me coming back and trying to live in its world to find comfort, which is exactly why a number of significant moments of the year have memories of this album being the soundtrack. I turned to it for comfort. It became like a friend that would be there to comfort me at my best and worst, always lifting me back up or just being available to experience what I was feeling in the moment.
6. Friko: Where we’ve been, Where we go from here
Released: February 16th | ATO Records
This is the album that started it all. I had just taken a trip with two of my best friends to St. Louis for the weekend. I was so sick, coughing and sneezing, and couldn’t really breathe. But despite it all, I still made the trek and had a great time going brewery hopping and having some of the best beer and the best times of my life.
On the way back home, hungover on top of feeling like all hell, my friend Zac turned on an album I had never heard: Friko’s Where we’ve been, Where we go from here. Hearing the first track, I fell in love. I was hearing a band that sounded like the absolute very best of the mid 2000s golden era of Saddle Creek Records. Think bands like Bright Eyes, Cursive, and Gabardine (throwing an obscure one here on purpose) but with a decidedly Chicagoan interpretation.
Somewhere around track four, I dozed off. But I awoke to hear what I consider one of the best tracks of the entire year: “Get Numb To It!” I was fighting sleep, but just couldn’t get over the lyrics, “it doesn’t get better, it just gets twice as bad.” It was after the song was over and my request from the backseat to turn it on again that I decided that I would take 2024 to listen to as many new albums as I possibly could. If I was missing bands like Friko, I was missing so much. So there I was, in the backseat of a car on a five hour road trip, creating a spreadsheet to track all of the albums I had listened to and would listen to over the course of the year.
You are never too old to listen to new music. You just have to get over yourself to do so. Sometimes it will take a band sounding like something you know and love and putting a modern twist on it. And then there are moments like this Friko album that forever change you for the better.
5. English Teacher: This Could Be Texas
Released: April 12th | Universal Music Operations Limited
When I first heard English Teacher’s debut album in 2024, I knew it would grace the top 10 of my list for the year. It just has a little bit of everything I want in music right now: angular guitar playing, half spoken/half sung vocals from an immensely talented lyricist and vocalist, unusual rhythms that have you constantly trying to figure out the time signature, and oddball song structures that always leave you trying to guess where the song may be headed next. There are moments on the album that remind me of the experimental prog punk band Deerhoof but just dressed up with a glossier veneer. It is decidedly post punk, in the most canned and succinct genre it could be placed in. But wow, this album just hits on all cylinders from start to finish.
There are themes that vocalist Lily Fontaine address in the 50 minute running length that deal with being a woman of color as a frontwoman in a band that sounds like they do, cultural references that are not so thinly veiled like the song very obviously about Elon Musk and the societal breakdown through government negligence, that are all delivered with either outwardly emotive expressions or rather droll and bored sounding ambivalence that will have you constantly checking the lyric book saying “did she just say that?”
For those looking for 2024’s Black Country, New Road post punk mastery, This Could Be Texas is in your wheelhouse.
And as a final note, the band put out an excellent live EP where they show how they interpret these songs in a live setting that has me even more excited to see them live eventually. On it, their cover of Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” is better than the original and must be heard by all.
4. Be Safe: Unwell
Released: January 19th | Count Your Lucky Stars Records
Be Safe’s Unwell is not only the best emo album I’ve heard in 2024, but truly one of the best albums of the year. Yet, I heard it very late, given its January release date; something I’m rather pissed at myself for doing. It often requires a little more digging to find the good stuff that is reviewed within emo and all of its subgenres. The genre is conspicuously absent from many mainstream platforms. Writing this today, I can’t recall where I found Unwell but believe it was just browsing the Count Your Lucky Stars recent release pages and just picking one at random (always check your favorite record label’s page).
I first heard Unwell under some rather unusual circumstances. A friend of mine had a small car accident and I was following him home to make sure he made it home safely. Between songs, I would respond to his text messages using text-to-talk, reassuring him that everything was okay. The record ended when I got to his driveway and I decided to flip it and over give it another spin. It ended perfectly again when I pulled in at home. As soon as it finished, I grabbed my phone, went to the record label, and purchased the cassette. I then texted everyone I knew to let them know that I had just heard an album that was going to be in a top spot for my albums of the year and to tell them I finally found an emo revivalist band that really, really did something for me.
So what about the album? Be Safe’s new album, appropriately titled Unwell, is a masterclass example on how you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to do something special. Through its running length, I had to keep double checking that this album actually came out in 2024. It sounds like the best stuff I heard back in the early 2000s, an era of music that I miss so much these days. To describe the band succinctly, think a modern take on a band possibly heavily influenced by Cross My Heart and Mineral, two groups who mastered the loud-quiet-loud dynamic with jangly, twinkly guitar playing and forever holding back on a building climax (also two of my favorite bands ever). Throw in the vocalist’s near whispering of his insecurities through heart-on-your-sleeve lyrics until he just can’t hold back anymore on explosive choruses and you have the recipe for an amazing throwback to an iconic sound often forgotten by bands that are considered revivalists of the genre. It is truly a stunning record and one that has had more than its fair share of plays this year.
3. Been Stellar: Scream from New York, NY
Released: June 21st | Dirty Hit
Every now and then, I hear an artist that just immediately hits me hard. I was getting some car maintenance done and had just read the Pitchfork review for Been Stellar’s first album and decided to give it a spin while I waited for the mechanics to tell me how much I owed them. After a few songs into my first listen, I pulled out my phone and sent this unedited text to a friend of mine:
“It has been such a long time since I’ve heard a rock album like this. If you put this on right now, you might have to keep checking that this actually came out two weeks ago and not back in the heyday of The Bends era Radiohead and maybe even Bows + Arrows era Walkmen or maybe when bands like The Strokes, Interpol, and Arctic Monkeys were gracing the airwaves. The throwback here is so realized that it has me wondering when the fuck rock music actually died and bands like this just actually ceased to be.
What’s the end year on the epitaph for rock bands actually making tried and true alternative rock? If this is the sign of rock music to come, I’m here for it. This damned album was like a cold glass of water after wandering the alternative music desert left behind with the rise of early 2000s boy bands and the commercial revisiting of underground genres that followed.”
I still stand by that statement and my excitement today, as Been Stellar are producing some of the best music I heard in 2024. Since hearing this album on that fateful day, I’ve since learned that the band has been together for eight years, yet this is their first full length album. It shows that they have executed patience to get it right the first time, as this record is perfect. Even playing it now as I write this, I’m still getting goosebumps like I did the first time I heard it and wonder why the hell aren’t there more bands like this.
Shortly after I wrote this, I had the pleasure of seeing Been Stellar live in a small venue in Columbus, Ohio. The venue was so intimate that the band was enjoying drinks at the bar before the show. I didn’t really want to bother them during their pre-show rituals so I kept my distance. Right before the show started, I stood next to a guy who happened to ask me if I had ever heard the band before. I told him that I had driven over 3 hours just to see them and that they were one of my favorite bands I had heard in 2024. I even gushed and said that, if they keep down the path that they are on, they are going to blow up and be huge. It was then that the guy confessed that he was the vocalist’s cousin, he had never seen them, and, in fact, he had never even heard them. Once they started, I watched him being blown away. It was an absolutely amazing experience and one that I will remember for a long, long time.
2. Sierra Ferrell: Trail Of Flowers
Released: March 22nd | Rounder Records
I first listened to Trail of Flowers when I was in the shower. Only three songs in, with suds still in my hair, I stepped out of the shower, water and soap everywhere, and promptly purchased the album.
Trail of Flowers is a masterclass in the versatility of the country music genre, explored beautifully by one of the genre’s most talented performers. It blazes and weaves through all of the hundred year history of the genre with songs that sound like the origin of radio country with 90s style ballads, stomp’n’holler barn burners that sound pulled from a soundtrack much older than its 36 year old songwriter, murder ballads that might as well have been originally released on an Edison cylinder, 70s rhinestone glam country that makes you want to get up off the couch and shake your ass, Loretta Lynn style confessionals complete with lyrics about plight of being a woman in today’s day-in-age, and pretty much everything else you can imagine in-between. When the album concluded, I sent a flurry of texts to my music loving friends and let them know that the best albums of the year had already been released. Sierra Ferrell has been crowned queen of modern country music.
It would be remiss to not mention that Ferrell completes this daunting encyclopedic ode to the genre she loves with such an almost effortless quality that it sounds like this music runs through her blood. Ferrell was born into country music and has lived it to tell the tale. She grew up in the hills of West Virginia, eventually adopted a nomadic lifestyle in her early 20s, busked from “Seattle to New Orleans” and hitchhiked, jumped trains, or lived in her van to make it happen. She claims to have died five times on drug overdoses. This woman is the real deal.
If it wasn’t for my emotional connection to the number one slot, Trail of Flowers would easily grace the top spot.
1. Pillow Queens: Name Your Sorrow
Released: April 19th | Royal Mountain Records
Friends, this is my album of the year.
I listened to 412 albums in 2024. There were exactly three albums that caused me to restart for a second listen as soon as it finished and then turn it on again and again and again. And this one would rarely leave my rotation through the rest of the year.
I first heard Name Your Sorrow while doing yard work during the first warm day of spring. It was beautiful outside. After each song, I had to keep stopping to take a beat and revel in what I just heard. Before long, I found myself sitting on my porch taking it all in. When it was over, I put it back on immediately for a second listen. And then a third.
The album does not reinvent the wheel or break new ground in the somber rock genre it encapsulates. But it maintains an emotional resonance like a long lost friend that you didn’t realize how much you missed until you see them again. It made me fall in love again with music that is simple, to the point, and honest; something that I definitely needed during this incredibly hard year.
I had a moment with this album I think about often: Aly and I were in Chicago, slightly drunk from the bar, Name Your Sorrow playing on my phone, lying in bed, and singing every word of the album. How often does this happen anymore? Ask yourself that. The world was easy to understand at that moment and little was put into question. Music made that possible.
I started this music project for the sole reason of connecting to people. Little did I know that it was this one album that would bring me so much closer to everyone that I shared it with. And now I want to share it with everyone. Please listen to it soon. And please tell me what you think. Let’s be closer friends because of it.
Conclusion
And that’s a wrap! Thank you all for taking the time to read this ranking and also for a year’s worth of recommendations and support through this massive undertaking. I could not have done this without the year of continuous encouragement from friends and family who were always there keeping me accountable and honest.
The world is an incredibly strange and unusual place, especially as I write these words today. But through music, a great and necessary equalizer, we have a space in art where we can all come together through a beautiful shared experience. There are very few mediums of human expression that afford us this opportunity that is also so readily available for all to discover and enjoy. Music is an extension of the human soul and something that should be treasured.
And it is meant to be discussed. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know if I missed one of your favorite albums released last year or if you have any strong feelings about anything I’ve ranked. Thanks again for reading. I hope to hear from you soon.
Until next year…
—Jeremy
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