Best albums of 2024

I usually write this one first. However, this year, I worked on both lists at the same time, listening wise. I usually start listening to albums and then maybe pick my favorite song from the album and not do much else with song list. Because 2024’s time was so inconsistent, I ended up having more small moments vs larger moments for listening. So, I used those smaller moments to work on the song list and I’m glad I did. It made it so much easier whenever I did start to get to a point of wrapping things up, even if it was later than I wanted. It was nice not to have a whole different list to work on. Anyways, here’s the shout out of albums that I listened to but didn’t make the cut or didn’t qualify but loved hearing (again in some cases) in 2024 (not ordered): Good Looks “Lived Here For a While”, Shannon & the Clams “The Moon is in the Wrong Place”, Foxing “Foxing”, Soccer Mommy “Evergreen”, Efterklang “Things We Have In Common”, St. Vincent “All Born Screaming”, Birdtalker “All Means, No Ends”, The Linda Lindas “No Obligation”, Switchfoot “interrobang”, Paramore “All We Know is Falling”, Haffway “Lady Lou and All Her Friends”, Royal Blood “Royal Blood”, blink-182 “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”, Ms. Lauryn Hill “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, Peach Pit “Being So Normal”, Chappell Roan “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess”, The Swell Season “The Swell Season”, Aphex Twin “Richard D. James Album”, American Football “American Football”, MF DOOM “Operation: Doomsday”, Lit “A Place in the Sun”, Labi Siffre “Crying, Laughing, Loving, Lying”, Sufjan Stevens “Illinois”, Mild High Club “Skiptracing”

20. Winnetka Bowling League - “Sha La La”

Yes, it’s another appearance from WBL. From being a solid indie band that takes some influence from early 2010’s indie to incorporating modern indie rock into their sound, the big pull is the interesting and amazing songwriting that the band creates. Displaying a large variety of sound without leaving a core sound, WBL’s solid record pushed through the competition with social commentary in hand. Their first record was formed carefully after releasing two eps and the experience and time shows as they made sure these songs were as good as they could get them and sounded exactly the way they intended. I’m excited what they can do next with such a complete first record and what other influences will come out next time. (fav songs: Sha La La, Handsome, America in Your 20’s)

19. Bright Eyes - “Five Dice, All Threes”

It’s another call back to the early 2010’s indie music scene but they were actually part of it, though it was more of the indie folk and I had only heard a couple songs. Bright Eyes appeared to me with their lead single on Discover Weekly after not hearing them for a long time. To my surprise, the sound was not bright indie folk any more and more keen to a gritty indie folk rock but with more emphasis on the rock than anything else. Bright Eyes welcomed me with keen songwriting, a tank still full of gas, and a raw cynicism that I wasn’t expecting from the once whimsy band. It’s like watching a flower that was basking in sunlight started welting immediately as it sits in the middle of a table surrounded by… well, dice and cigar smoke. Still a flower but a much different one after this night. It’s a good time to return to the band like I did and give their mellow rock a listen all the while sitting around the musty card table. (fav tracks: Hate, All Threes, Rainbow Overpass)

18. Madi Diaz - “Weird Faith”

Madi Diaz understood an opening line, “What the fuck do you want? / Cause I’ll give you all that I’ve got”. Diaz makes both lists too and she has made an album that does a dissection of relationships. She pulls every part and leaves it on the table for all of us to examine, most songs being a vital organ. Sigh… I hate to be negative in an review of the best of list but this album is really held back by the tracks “Girlfriend” and “KFM”. It’s those two songs that really takes away from the maturity of the piece and holds it back from being higher (could have been ranked around 8th place otherwise). That’s how good these other songs are and how much those two bring it down. They feel out of place in an otherwise amazing record that knots your insides together. When I say it reminds me of The Swell Season, that bar is almost unattainable and is not a compliment to hand out. The lyrics, music, and tone all have to line up and be so exact to even come close. Madi Diaz does have me looking at her backlog to see how consistently good she is before I found her. Regardless, the future can only be promising. (fav songs: Same Risk, Obsessive Thoughts, Hurting You)

17. Towa Bird - “American Hero”

This in-and-out record made sure to perfect its moment so that not a second is wasted since there is no lingering in place. It’s like watching a movie where the plot is moving so fast that when you get up to use the restroom and grab some snacks, it’ll take a more than a sentence to catch you up on what has happened. Normally this breakneck speed and lack of lingering doesn’t connect with me but Towa Bird really does seem to have a knack for modern pop punk tiktok hooks and not pushing a song to a place that it doesn’t need to be. It all feels like organic songwriting and I can tell that she put her heart onto this first record. It feels like any song could go viral at any moment. All I can do is say I found her relatively early. (fav songs: Wild Heart, This Isn’t Me, Drain Me!)

16. I Love Your Lifestyle - “Summerland (Torpa or Nothing)”

Swedish pop punk emo found me in 2022 with their 2020 album and I knew that I had to follow this band. Flash forward to 2024 when I wasn’t expecting anything from this band since it seems as though the audience is at the whim on if the band has time and songs to meet up with. Then a single dropped and I thought it was just a one off. Another single dropped with an album announcement and I was super excited to hear what they wrote. Unfortunately, I don’t speak Swedish nor do I know anyone who does. But that’s also part of the charm of the album that makes it feel way more authentic to this band identity. I gathered so much from this record just by listening and only understanding a part of it. My heart felt it and that’s what mattered to me most. It’s a well named album and I hope this album can also break the language barrier for you. (fav song: Plot Twist, Givet, Torpa)

15. Tall Heights - “Softly Softly”

A trip to the mountains with folk music. But not mountain folk sounding, not much hipster either. Music that feels like just two guys making music in the mountains and doesn’t care much for the audience that they may or may not attract. The fog, mist, and the ambience of the tall structures seep into the music. A tale of friendship, music, and living and loving in the moment, “Softly Softly” lives in space of its own and doesn’t crutch on anything to get by. It’s built from great songs and musicians that Tall Heights have built through experience. I found their song, “Still Feel the Same”, through Discover Weekly and I’m really glad I got the opportunity and chose to check them out. It’s a group of songs that didn’t jump out at me immediately but I grew with them over the course of listening to them. I can’t say the praises enough of how authentic of an album Tall Heights created. (fav songs: Still Feel The Same, Anti You, Animal)

14. salute - “TRUE MAGIC”

I have become enamored with music that reminds of late 90’s and early 2000’s racing music or even 90’s electronic music in general. Before it became clubby, the breakdowns, or losing yourself. Of course, a break down here and there is cool but I don’t want the song to revolve around it. salute has truly delivered on this craving for me, more on the racing sound since that’s a big theme of the album. Regardless, he’s incorporated so many genres of electronic music into this album while keeping it all in his distinct style. He does this by not shying away from a collaboration that would enhance the song, whether that be a fellow electronic artist or someone with a voice that he really thought would fit the song. salute’s production and songs truly got me entangled with his sound and excited every time his music comes on. Has me itching for a good race. (fav songs: system, maybe it’s u, saving flowers)

13. Cordae - “The Crossroads”

I’m still making my way slowly to listening to more rap/hip hop. It’s not a genre I grew up with nor did I find many songs I liked in the genre in most of the 2010’s. Trust me, I heard plenty since it was the hot new genre when I was in high school. I often find issues with the lyrics and the ego that some artists exude in the genre. The gangsta persona, the grind bros, and trying to one up the other is something I get pushed away from the genre. There’s been some exceptions and some artists I’ve kept up with as I try to sift through the genre and find the ones that I like. Cordae caught my attention with his 2019 “Lost Boy” album, being included on ARTV’s year end list. His follow up didn’t live up to the same standard in my opinion but had a couple songs. Cordae went into this album with advice to make every song count and it shows. It can be debated about which album is his best. However, I would say the intention behind this album is nothing like he’s done before. It’s like watching him pour his ideas out and each one is a solid piece of gold. The album is unrelenting of innovation of himself and keeping himself true to the advice, showing how multifaceted he is. Letting each song feel like it’s the complete version of itself and utilizing all tools available to him. (fav songs: Back to the Road, Mad as F*ck, Saturday Mornings)

12. Various Artists - “I Saw the TV Glow (Original Soundtrack)

I think this is the first soundtrack I’ve included. To be fair, there’s not many times that a full soundtrack comes out with all original songs. And yeah, I’m bending the rules a little as it’s mostly original (one song isn’t made for the soundtrack from what I know). But c’mon, it’s mostly there. It felt like someone else has a similar Discover Weekly that I have. I knew or at least heard of about half the artists on the list. Regardless, they all brought a great song to the mix to create a unified project. The film was also an incredible watch that was so close to being a top tier film for me. (It felt like a writer from tumblr sometimes and it could have used a draft of pulling some of that element out a little. It was still a unique and lovely movie.) Despite my gripes with the film, it’s soundtrack is as perfect as the Twilight’s. A great selection of artists making a great collection of songs that display the full variety of current indie music. (fav songs: Bury, Starburned and Unkissed, Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl)

11. Mat Kerekes - “To Dream of Something Wicked”

I truly can’t believe I almost didn’t hear this album from the incredible frontman of Citizen. It feels like it was a much needed departure from the responsibility to make songs for the band and keeping this as a solo project. The tone throughout the album feels like a struggle of an issue that needed to be done alone. It feeds upon it’s own isolation, anger, and confusion to all accumulate to a dispair. This journey isn’t a definite one as even Mat Kerekes doesn’t even know where the road is heading. In fact, it plans to get lost. This maybe self-destructive album didn’t click with me right away. It took many listens before I was lost with it too. I think maybe because I didn’t want to be lost. It wasn’t until I was taking the songs out of my listening playlist that I realized that I didn’t want any of the songs to leave. They’ve become the sound of my November, when I was losing hope with all the applying to jobs of getting to a better situation. I kept saying that anytime I wanted to do better for myself, it felt like life was banging my head against the cement wall telling me to sit tight where I belong as progress felt like it wasn’t moving forward. And this album felt like holding me in the aftermath and saying, “me too”. But we get up from these moments and we try our best to clear a new path and hope it doesn’t lead to another wall, quicksand, or a lost road. (fav songs: Along the Way, My Lonely Ghost, Always Right)

10. Kacey Musgraves - “Deeper Well”

I won’t lie, this album still feels a bit facade in the fact that it’s deliberate to return to the sound that got Kacey big and it’s love for the nature feels surface level. At least in the marketing department. But every time I listen to this album, I understand that Kacey understands. This type of album couldn’t be this consistent all the way through if it wasn’t fully felt in the heart. She takes us by the hand as we get lost in the greenery of the lost forest. Using her country roots to her advantage and using it to create the acoustic landscape of trees, vines, and fresh air. It was a really good album to start the year with, coming out just a few weeks before I moved. It was the album I needed for the fresh beginnings and kept me grounded in the new times. It also lead me to finish to listening to all of her discography so ended up being my top listened artist. (fav songs: Cardinal, Deeper Well, Dinner With Friends)

9. Alex Winston - “Bingo!

Alex Winston also went the extra mile like Cordae and made sure every song counted. Last putting out an album over 10 years ago, she comes back with a record that displays that she’s had many ideas but hasn’t been able to put them out all in release. She got signed but had to battle Lyme disease and I’m sure life had it’s way of also getting in the way of her career since then as she only was able to release a single here and there. It’s a extremely unfortunate but also hopeful story. It sounds like a story that is kind of close to mine. No, I haven’t gotten sick but life has gotten in the way of my artistic pursuits and I’ve not really been blessed with time or money. Anyways, Alex Winston triumphs over obstacles by releasing an record that puts it best foot forward. Each song is seeping with effort and love as she molds these songs into a memorable pop rock record that proclaims to not be forgotten nor stick to the standard of what a pop album should sound like. She embraces the variety of sounds and uses each instrument to it’s full value. I wish her career the success it deserves as the spotify streams don’t reflect the amount of talent she has. (fav songs: Stassia, Special Feeling, Swampland)

8. That Woman - “Find Joy”

Josephine came out with a surprise album, at least for me, that’s an honest look at motherhood, womanhood, and the pursuit of happiness. What does it mean to balance all of these things at once while being an artist. She composed a record that feels like the diary had slipped into the music but in the most fashionable way as she still displays the incredible talent of the synth and all the post production. Find Joy takes you on the journey it tells you it’s going to from the first song doing an amazing job as a thesis. I believe all it asks is to not judge but to listen and hear all the words that are coming out and accept them. You can judge later on whether you liked it or not but I believe this project is better interpreted by slipping off the shoes and allowing her to place you in her shoes. And I’m sure that’s a part of being a man and listening. Being a woman and listening will probably have a different effect. But I still feel that allowing her to take you on the emotional journey that is unique to her and her words will serve as an experience in itself. The fight of the light and the dark is never ceasing and she displays that through her different current identifiers as they felt like they were all in conflict at one moment and it’s all written within the words and sound. (fav songs: Enough, Joy, Space Time & Peace)

7. Remi Wolf - “Big Ideas”

Remi Wolf already feels like a pop queen writing songs that are all of this caliber just on her second record. Naming her record this way can seem self indulgent but really it just feels appropriately named as it sees her pushing her songwriting limits and reaching for something bigger. These are ideas that feel timeless and iconic that I’m sure to influence the music scene moving forward. Her sound has perfectly evolved around her voice and has created the most tasteful of music. Ironically, she has a song named “Soup” and that’s exactly how her music feels. This array of ingredients combined together to make a thick, rich experience that wouldn’t have existed without the chef making distinct decisions and what goes in and how much. The pop, funk, dance, and rock influences all in one has us all licking our chops for more. Looks like I have to check out her first album out more to see how far she’s come along. (fav songs: Kangaroo, Toro, Cinderella).

6. Pale Waves - “Smitten”

Pale Wave comes in with a consistent and fun album that fully embodies its title. It’s like falling in love with the band, well that’s what it was for me since I hadn’t heard of them before. It’s an album filled with pop rock tunes that stay interesting despite most, if not all, songs following the typical song structure. It doesn’t dive too deep into either genre so if you love both pop and rock, you’ve landed on an album that excels at both without leaving you craving for more of either. Pale Waves has perfected this balance with it’s light hearted tone and electric guitar. They also reach the hearts of misfits and the LBTQUI+ (according to their bio) fans with their songs bringing multiple backgrounds together to love a good time and talk about those butterflies in the stomach. A band that’s got your valentine’s and summer relationship soundtrack under wraps. (fav songs: Thinking About You, Perfume, Glasglow)

5. Orla Gartland - “Everybody Needs A Hero”

Not often do you get a record about being in love. It’s often falling in love or falling out. This album finds Orla in a relationship that feels safe and consistent. The outcome is the allowance of space and love to make an amazing album. From the first listen, I knew Orla had made something extraordinary. It also isn’t often that we get album that fills this space of love and being a good listen too. The fire is that there’s a wall to lean on and discovering yourself in the process. All of her words exude this warm hug, almost anticipating something bad to happen but it nothing does. There’s no song to write about the way she was mistreated, just the perfect words for staying in love. Of course she still talks about the struggles but it’s not this explosion of emotion. She talks about the nuance of it all. And that’s not even talking about the amazing songs she’s written. Full of rock, pop, and indie influences, she takes the sound she made for her last record and pushes the gas pedal further, testing the limits of her songwriting that took major time to learn from her collaborative band, “Flume”. Orla’s on fire and it’s all about seeing what she does next since it seems like she can’t sit still. (fav songs: Little Chaos, Mine, SOUND OF LETTING GO)

4. Kendrick Lamar - “GNX”

I feel Kendrick heard the complaints that the past two albums lacked the beats and musicality of his projects since they’ve been so emotion and lyrically driven that he “lost his touch” on what catchy and great music sounds like. He still makes great music, but people kept listening to his two big projects and not much to his others. So, he came out with “GNX” that took no shortcuts and gave something to everyone. Like his lyrics, all still here and full throttle. Like his beats, I can agree that he made some of the most interesting beats across all the songs and it hasn’t been this good for a bit. Like the concept in his albums, he did that too even though it felt like he was doing enough without it. And all I can hear in my head are the readers screaming at me how it isn’t number one or at least number 2. I don’t have a good excuse. Something about this album didn’t place itself in the middle of my heart like other projects did. When I hear it, I love it and really do like every track but it didn’t do the soul like the other albums did. It’s mentally stimulating and it’s well written still but my soul didn’t fully digest it like it did with even some other projects below this one. In fact, past 3 projects from Kendrick are closer to my soul than this one. Regardless, it’s so well made that it ranked this high despite this. Kendrick is a goat and this placement might change over time and can’t wait to hear how the opinion on this album will change over time within the fandom and music listeners. (fav songs: tv off, man at the garden, reincarnated)

3. Green Day - “Saviors”

Fight me. This album to me is one of the greatest for Green Day. Every song takes a distinct place on the album and is full of energy and purpose. And to have this much vigor and creativity this late in their career is beyond me. I’ll defend this album against the whole crowd of people who said that it was good but only if you liked Green Day and the fandom itself liking it but not giving it the rightful credit it deserves. Sure, it’s not reinventing the sound or being as new as American Idiot. But I will say that it feels like the band took their job of putting out another album very seriously and made sure that they put their heart and soul into it. Every track is distinct and shows why their name hasn’t left the public eye. And sure it might have been because the last album really didn’t land well at all but I would counter with that this album came out early in the year and listening to it at the end of the year should prove that it was just a relevance situation and my opinion would change after all the music I heard later in the year. It stayed firmly in my mind throughout the year, though, and I couldn’t get over how much I enjoyed listening to this album. Rock never felt so good to listen to. (fav songs: Look Ma, No Brains!, Bobby Sox, 1981)

2. Twenty-One Pilots - “Clancy”

They are so back. I wasn’t expecting a fluke like “Scaled and Icy” to happen again; I just wasn’t sure where the sound would be heading. When the first singles came out, I knew they weren’t in the same situation again. It’s clear that that the band put their heads together and wanted to make something that the fans would enjoy but also was something that they wanted to make and just for the sake of an easy comeback. I think they succeeded in every way possible. Clancy challenges themselves in making songs that only they could make that include elements of hip-hop, rock, pop punk, and indie. It was also the perfect time for the band to come clean about the concept of the albums and how they tie together as it pulled back the curtain at the exact moment when we needed the band to be more candid. Clancy is also about being candid as it feels that it doesn’t have any presentation to it lyrically. It’s not caring about the concept as much and there’s no vague metaphors that can sometimes be hard to fully understand. Clancy is the exact record they needed and they should be really proud of making. It reminds me precisely why I fell in love with this band. (fav songs: Next Semester, Midwest Indigo, Oldies Station)

1. slimdan - “Second Dinner”

   This feels like one of the silliest and most surprising number one spots. This guy who makes singer-songwriter type of music. I’m literally writing and telling you that I like this guy’s album more than Kendrick Lamar’s return to fame. More than amazing Orla Gartland’s album that displayed how much promise and variety she’s capable of. More than the redefining 21 pilot project. Yes, this guy with his guitar (most of the time) and his handful of songs on his first record. But I’ve not had an album explain the pain and love of being human so well. He expertly writes songs about the human condition and the shortcomings that feel prevalent all around. His knack to write those words in plain phrases but in a way I’ve never heard before. With enough instruments to fill a stage but isn’t layering the songs in anything crazy, it’s his use of what’s around him and relying upon his words and his songs. slimdan writes songs that makes it seem so easy. It’s so easy to just add a little bit of joy, a little bit of struggle, a little bit of self-awareness (actually a lot), a little bit of love, and a little bit of loss. It’s all in the emotion and carefully put together melodies that sound like he didn’t have to try too hard to find, he sang it in the way it should have. He’s perfected the storytelling of personal and relatable. slimdan has my full attention and my number one ranked album. (fav songs: Nosebleeds, Drank on Accutane, Mozart in my Mind)