My Top 24 Albums of 2024... plus some other songs I liked
What’s up Substack World. It’s yours truly.
It’s that time of year—when I invariably decide my opinions on music are important and must be expressed to the general public.
I thought this was a particularly great year for music… I don’t know if it was just happenstance, if we’re starting to fully escape the shadow of COVID or what, but there was so much good stuff big and small.
Here’s what I settled on.
24. Shaboozey - Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going
This is a bit. Sort of. I’ve just got four words:
Oh My. Good Lord.
23. Merce Lemon -Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild
Outside of the Pitt volleyball team, this is probably the best thing Pittsburgh has produced this year. Juliyinz Baker? Bueller? Bueller?
22. Hovvdy - Hovvdy
This album took a bit to grow on me, particularly because I loved 2021’s True Love so much. But there’s such a charm to how earnest everything they do is. I thought the last record for a beer on the porch. This one is for a nice morning coffee.
21. Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
I was a Vampire Weekend agnostic early in my 20s. But my journey with them is kinda the opposite of the one I had with this album, where I immediately loved it and never revisited it. It was a delight to go back to compiling this list; for all the easy jokes, they still are as distinct as it gets in popular indie rock.
20. dog eyes - holy friend
I had to include at least one Bandcamp find. I loved this record; in a year where Alex G didn’t drop any music, this was going to have to do.
19. DIIV - Frog In Boiling Water
Steady. Reliable. Always know what you’re getting. That’s DIIV. They’ll probably never make a bad record ever again. More bands should cultivate sounds that are nearly impossible to fail.
18. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
I ignored this one for a while, then caught up and got all the hype. Just some perfect, hook-heavy pop that doesn’t quite scratch the Caroline Polachek itch but gets damn close.
17. Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
Diaz hits all the right notes that so many Phoebe Bridgers-core singers have missed. There’s an alchemy to irreverence and sincerity, and after digging into this album this month, I think she balances everything exceptionally.
16. Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
I’ve been a FJM diehard for about a decade, back to when my Jewish grandmother got mad at me for wearing an I Love You, Honeybear shirt because she thought it was a picture of Jesus. But I had given up on him after finding Chloe and the Next 20th Century. So maybe that’s why this places this high despite some stuff that feels like filler—the peaks are prime FJM stuff.
15. Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
God, I hate writing the name. One of the greats, though.
14. Charli XCX - BRAT
…and then Kamala Harris got elected and we all lived happily ever after. The end!
13. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Challengers (Original Score)
I really don’t like placing scores/soundtracks on these lists. But it feels less like cheating when it’s Reznor. As someone who started playing pickleball this summer, this should be blasting at every tennis court—and churro shop—in America perpetually.
12. Waxhatchee - Tigers Blood
I was really tempted to put this higher after the awesome Tiny Desk performance just dropped. Katie Crutchfield just keeps getting better as a singer. I don’t think this touches Saint Cloud, but still continues the project on just an all-timer trajectory.
11. Porridge Radio - Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me
OYYYY! IT’S TIME TO EAT YA PORRIDGE, MATE! QUALITY! The most stereotypically British name always makes this a tough band to recommend. But this album is the best since Every Bad. More bands need to make music that feels big.
10. How To Dress Well - I Am Toward You
I forgot this dude existed for a minute. What a comeback—floating in non-Dan relevance ether to Top 10! Hurray for synths.
9. Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor
She’s come a long way from having no clue who she was and seeing her open for John Mulaney and Sharon Van Etten pre-COVID.
8. Good Looks - Lived Here For A While
**Cracks beer* intensifies*
7. The War On Drugs - Live Drugs … Again
Live albums sorta feel like cheating. But as the previous War On Drugs live record did, this one also crystalized some of their songs in my head and gave me some new context to appreciate them. Particularly Harmonia’s Dream, which is just what… uh… I don’t know… music should sound like. Can’t put it more flowery than that.
6. Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
I wasn’t gaga over Adrianne’s last solo record despite being a massive Big Thief fan, but this one did the trick. She’s obviously one of the greatest songwriting/vocal packages of this turn of the century, and we’re all lucky to be here to take it in.
5. Wild Pink - Dulling The Horns
Find another rock band that is making Wizards Jordan references. Find one! John Ross is the king of reinvention without reformation—everything still feels distinctly Wild Pink, which just continues to entrench itself as an ultimately reliable indie rock presence.
4. Young Jesus - The Fool
It feels, to me, like a lot of people didn’t really like this album—particularly people who love Young Jesus. For me, its highs are unmatched by any record this year. The crescendo in MOTY, the guttural screams in Sunrise, the Bruce Hornsby-ass Brenda and Diane chorus. It’s all groovy as gravy.
3. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
I had no idea where I’d place this initially. The singles were all sock-knocker-offers. But on first listen, I was simply whelmed. I realize now that I think that was just from unfair and unreachable expectations for a guy I think is going to be a pantheon-level artist when it’s all said and done. This album is fantastic. I need summer beer weather to come back
2. The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick - The Iliad and the Odyssey and the Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
I hope this is the last time I ever have to type the name in full. I was a fan of their debut record, but this one was a leap in scope. If you can’t tell, I’m a sucker for songs that build to something resounding and epic, and as the album title portends, this does that. I still need to watch the Wim Wenders movie.
1. Passage Du Desir - Johnny Blue Skies
My criteria for deciding my No. 1 album of the year in a loaded 2024 ended up being “Which album will I still have on repeat in 20 years.” I think Sturg—um, Johnny wins that distinction. Perhaps timing helped—this dropped right as I drove to the beach, and listening to Mr. Blue Skies croon about dreaming and space and skies just added purpose to sights and sounds. I loved the bluegrass era, but hopefully JBS ushers in some more Sturgilling.
And as a bonus…
These were 24 other songs that were either singles or just standalone songs on albums that I loved this year
Waxahatchee - Much Ado About Nothing
This Is Lorelai - I’m All Fucked Up
Mount Eerie - I Spoke With a Fish
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Hawkmoon
Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
Indigo De Souza - FANTASY
Dummy - Blue Dada
Nick Cave - Frogs
Cassandra Jenkins - Petco
julie - clairbourne practice
Maggie Rogers - Don’t Forget Me
Four Tet - Loved
Haley Heynderickx - Foxglove
Trace Mountains - In A Dream
Slow Joy - Pulling Teeth
Aaberg - NU
Oso Oso - that’s what the time does
Friko - Crimson to Chrome
Zach Bryan - Pink Skies
fantasy of a broken heart - Ur Heart Stops
Caroline Polachek - Starburned and Unkissed
Ben Seretan - New Air
Addison Rae - Diet Pepsi