It's that time of year again, when we blogging or writing types start unpacking a whole 12 months worth of songs, albums, movies, and more that made all the time and things a little more bearable. 2024 sure has been...something, hasn't it? On a personal level, i'm learning what it's like to live with a middle schooler in the house, and that sure is...something too. It can be hard to stay positive these days. There is a veritable world of shit just outside the door. And all i can say is to take solace in the things and people you have, and the people and things you love. I know i've said it all before, but i have a wife who i've been kicking around with in some form or another for over 25 years now, my two beautiful and hysterically funny sons, my family, my friends who i love like they're my family, my dog, and one enormous and kick-ass record collection. These are the things that make it easier to wade through all the bullshit and horror in the world. I'll take what i can get.
So without further delay, here are 25 albums i really, really liked this year. As per usual, rather than doing a ranked system, the albums are just presented alphabetically, as God intended. My 25 favorite albums of 2024. Check 'em out.
1. Bill Baird - Soundtrack
Fellow Texas and former Soundteam member Bill Baird has been cracking out the homemade psych pop records for years now. Ever the prolific artist, he released two new albums in 2024, one of which, "Soundtrack," is an homage to European film scores and library music with some hints of psych, drone, neo-classical, and ambient music thrown in for good measure. If i was still in school, this one would probably be one of my study records.
2. Beak> - >>>>
Geoff Barrow may be hanging up his touring shoes, calling it quits for his time with proggy, psych-laden, experimental band Beak>, but man, he sure is going out on a high note with new album ">>>>." This is a weird one that had my ears piqued at the opening, funereal organ notes of "Strawberry Line" and then kept me hooked from there. It's one of those albums that upon my first listen through, immediately started over and listened start to finish again.
3. Broadcast - Spell Blanket: Collected Demos 2006-2009
I still miss the music and magic of Trish Keenan on a daily basis, but this year saw the release of two new collections of demos from her band Broadcast that made things a little easier. It's a bittersweet feeling though, as listening to the snippets and songs on "Spell Blanket," one has to wonder what these might have sounded like if given the attention and time to gestate into a proper studio album. Lone Broadcast member James Cargill has also said that these two demo collections will be their final releases, closing the door on the band.
4. Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
When all is said and done, Cindy Lee's massive new album "Diamond Jubilee" is probably my favorite album of the year. I've always enjoyed the lo-fi, girl group pop sounds the artist employs, and the new record distills it down to its purest essence. If there's never another release, this is the magnum opus.
5. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
The Cure's new album is the best work from the band in decades, probably their best since "Disintegration." What a wonderful surprise for 2024.
6. Dead Bandit - Memory Thirteen
Chicago band Dead Bandit makes an extension of the kind of post rock we used to get back in the '90s, off kilter and often instrumental melodies simultaneously in debt to punk, prog, jazz, and more. "Memory Thirteen" feels like an exploration of sound, dark aural tunnels leading to new undiscovered regions.
7. Deary - Aurelia
I am a shoegazer at heart, and UK band Deary's 2nd EP continues their (so far) flawless stretch. Dreamy reverbed jams for dreamy reverbed people.
8. The Drin - Elude the Torch
There's a lot of excitement in the post punk scene of Cincinnati, Ohio, and my favorite artist from said scene is probably the scruffy, noisy band The Drin. Their latest feels like it was recorded through permanent gray skies, elements of post punk, no-wave, and art rock fused into a fuzzy din, an old black and white photo made into sound.
9. Fat Dog - WOOF.
"It's fucking Fat Dog baby!!!" My favorite new artist of the year, and favorite live act to boot, birthed into the world an album of cheeky, sardonic weirdness, but let's everyone in on the joke. And listening, i don't know whether to gyrate, dance, or get into a fist fight, the blend of Eastern-tinged industrial techno noise punk skronk giving me uncontrollable fits and shakes. This is the shit right here. All hail the King of the Slugs.
10. Fine - Rocky Top Ballads
A late entry to my year-end bevy of goodies, but a fine one (see what i did there) nonetheless. "Rocky Top Ballads" is full of dreampop, folk, country, and indie pop vibes, playing like some undiscovered project Hope Sandoval might have been involved in years ago. Denmark does it right.
11. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons continues to be one of the best voices in all of pop music. There's an eternal quality to it, an ever-present classic tone that strikes a nerve like no other. That "Lives Outgrown" is her real debut solo effort is mindboggling.
12. Grandaddy - Blu Wav
It's been a few years, but the death of original Grandaddy member Kevin Garcia weighs heavy on the band's 2024 album "Blu Wav." Jason Lytle and company have always had a way of wrapping the melancholy with the silly in a way that feels profound, and while that's still certainly the case with the new record, there are some moments of deep sadness that just hit differently. KGAR 4EVR.
13. IDLES - TANGK
I don't know if there's another band out there who sound quite the way that Bristol band IDLES do. They're kind of post punk, kind of dancey art rock, kind of political protest music, kind of something else entirely. New album "TANGK" even has some moments that dip into trip-hop territory. And then there's front man Joe Talbot's unmistakable, heavily accented vocals. These guys get better and better with each new release.
14. Ka - The Thief Next to Jesus
"The Thief Next to Jesus" is a powerful swan song from the late, great Ka. The New York rapper and firefighter has been releasing singular work for almost two decades. And while it's sad and upsetting that we won't be getting any more music from the man, what an album to go out on.
15. Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, & Marta Sofia Honer - The Closest Thing to Silence
Improvisational jazz, new age synths, and psychedelia collide on this collaborative effort from experimental composers and musicians Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, and Marta Sofia Honer, and we are all the better for it.
16. Midwife - No Depression in Heaven
Colorado's Midwife makes dusty, lo-fi dreampop, drone, and shoegaze for the masses, floating, fragmented sounds that play like slowly fading memories. She perfects that sound on new album "No Depression in Heaven."
17. Mount Eerie - Night Palace
Another massive and sprawling album on the list, this time around from the long running Phil Elverum project Mount Eerie. New album "Night Palace" is a noisy, dusty, sometimes hushed, and at times almost chaotic piece of work. It's a lot to sift through, but so rewarding getting to the other side.
18. Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch
LA based artist Jessica Pratt released what is probably the album of her career so far with "Here in the Pitch," a record that pulls from '60s pop, wall-of-sound production, and spectral folk. It's a beautiful listen.
19. Previous Industries - Service Merchandise
Previous Industries are the hip-hop trio of Open Mike Eagle, Video Dave, and STILL RIFT, and their debut is a stoned and quirky throwback trip, something to nod your head to through the haze of smoke, chuckling to yourself all the while.
20. Cassie Ramone - Sweetheart
Cassie Ramone's new album "Sweetheart" really reminded me about how much i love that girl group indie rock sound, and how much i miss bands like Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls and so on. These songs get into your head and stay there, echoing around forever more.
21. Daisy Rickman - Howl
UK artist Daisy Rickman released quite the British folk album this year with "Howl," a haunting, Pagan sonic tome that feels of the seasons. It's equinox music for walks through the woods and valleys.
22. Wand - Vertigo
LA band Wand seems to grow artistically with each subsequent release, and 2024's "Vertigo" continues that streak. The group used to be a garage rock band or psych rock band. It's a bit harder to categorize them these days, but the output is stellar.
23. White Shape - Through the Lupine
Illinois band White Shape describe themselves as a reverb soaked experimental heavy psychedelic rock band. While that's all certainly true, new album "Through the Lupine" plays like a kind of dreamy synth folk, humming tones that hang in the air and gentle melodies that seem to keep you there floating along too.
24. Winged Wheel - Big Hotel
Detroit band Winged Wheel make krautrock-infused noise rock, motorik rhythms and fuzz for days on end. Put the headphones on and just melt away.
And finally we get to goth chanteuse Chelsea Wolfe and her new album "She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She," a mix of dark folk, metal, industrial noise, and trip-hop. I've come to expect nothing less from her. She always delivers the goods.
And there you have it, my favorite 25 albums of 2024. Be back here tomorrow for my favorite 100 songs of the year.
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