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101 Favorite Albums of 2024: 24-1

Well, we did it. We made through another year. I’m proud of you, I’m proud of us. If you’ve been through these lists with a magnifying glass, then thank you. If you’ve just clicked on this one to see a top 10, I still appreciate the time. This has been an extraordinarily fruitful year for new music, and narrowing this list down to 101 was so difficult. Narrowing out a top 24 was brutal, I mean brat didn’t even make the cut.

Curiously, this year was unbelievable for new albums, but I personally felt that it was missing that album. There was not an obvious #1 for me, no dominant album, no Rat Saw God shoo-in. Even now as I’m writing, I’m not confident that my #1 pick is actually my #1. Maybe it’s on me for not spending enough time with most of these albums, but I don’t know that there’s any here I’ll be revisiting for years. However only time will tell for that. All 24 of these albums are near-perfect barnburners regardless.

Nearly all of these write-ups are copied directly from other previous posts on this blog. I’m editing them but please keep that in mind in case there’s a nonsensical reference or anything. Alright – final 24.

#24. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

The hot streak continues. You may know Lenker best as the singer of Big Thief, a band seemingly incapable of writing a song even slightly mediocre. Well, she’s racked up more than enough songs to make a runoff solo album. Donned with just an acoustic guitar, Lenker delivers another set of heart-wrenching ditties, as well as a solo version of Big Thief’s “Vampire Empire,” one of my favorite tunes from 2023. Simple and devastating, it’s what you expect from indie’s best songwriter. Also, she released a Bandcamp-only accompany EP with all proceeds going to Gazan relief efforts, which is a nice 180 from what I had heard about her previous politics (possibly hearsay!). 

#23. ScHoolboy Q – Blue Lips

2024 has been a year for form-returning albums. St. Vincent and Vampire Weekend improved on their respective weakest releases, and the same goes for ScHoolboy. His previous album, 2019’s Crash Talk, was a change of pace, as the rapper opted for much shorter tracks. Rather than his normal 5+ minute journeys, the album was full of 2-minute bursts. It was also a change of pace in quality, as everything felt incomplete or off-hand. Blue Lips is a welcome return, technically “more of the same” for a rapper who always wears his heart on his sleeve, but the formula still pays dividends. Emotional, funny, raw and absolute banging: this is what you want from a ScHoolboy album. And there aren’t even any 5+ minute songs – there’s just a lot more energy and effort put in here. 

#22. JPEGMAFIA – I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

I’m sorry that I’m the flavor of caucasian who loves Peggy specifically but I am, and this is his finest set since Veteran. It’s also the most manic thing he’s ever released, closer to hyperpop than anything else. It’s absurdly beat-heavy, dense, and thrilling. Peggy even gets somewhat lost in the front half, in songs that focus heavily on the bass beats. He shines through on the more measured back half, with some songs that get much more earnest. His guests on this album are Vince Staples and Denzel Curry, two guys known just as much for their intense and mainstream-eschewing rap. So you know what you’re gonna get – paranoid and catchy music that’s too abrasive to play on the family speakers. One of my favorites of the year. I think Knocked Loose still has the best album with a cross on the cover, though.

#21. Jack White – No Name

I sometimes forget how much I love Jack White. Across his works with the Stripes, the Raconteurs, the Dead Weather and solo, there’s only four albums I would say I dislike. He’s always been an impatient songwriter, but his records have had measured levels of ambition. No Name might be his most down-to-earth set since the middle of the White Stripes run – just a good ol’ collection of no-frills blues rock. It’s the most White Stripes album since, to be honest, Get Behind Me Satan. There’s some of that garage-punk energy, a lot of bluesy riffs, and just compact songwriting everywhere. Some of the back half gets a little repetitive, there is a bit of an itch for some of Jack’s more ambitious stuff to be had. But overall, this is just a slambang rock record. “It’s Rough On Rats” into “Archbishop Harold Holmes” into the manic “Bombing Out” will go down as one of the best three-song runs of any 2024 album. And the closer “Terminal Archenemy Endling” – maybe the only patient song on the album – may be better than all of them. Another critical strike against the tedious and harmful “Rock is dead!!” crowd. 

#20. Uniform – American Standard

These next three albums get pretty abrasive. Uniform’s first few albums were solid but I kept waiting for a breakout release. 2020’s Shame was that record, a mix of industrial guitars and guttural post-hardcore that seemed to come out of the same catacombs that were on the cover. The band’s newest album is impossibly even bleaker, complete with a smog-heavy cover of industrial, rural anywhere. The band also sounds even bleaker, and stretches themselves way out of a comfort zone. That comfort zone is reasonably-lengthed songs. Side A of this record is one, 21-minute song. Side B is only three songs. By stretching their songs out, the band can hammer home the innate misery of their music. This is angry, humorless stuff, just the absolute depths of unhappiness. Uniform is not an easy band to classify musically, even harder here because they stretch into doom-metal for the first time. But this isn’t really metal, and not really post-hardcore. It exists in it’s own dimension, a hell dimension of some sort. This is not something that’s appealing to most people, but I love this band and they crushed my highest expectations. I also finally saw them earlier this month alongside our #101 entry Pharmakon – one of the best live bands I’ve seen in a long while.

#19. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Knocked Loose are one of those bands that I absolutely love but never know how to write about. The metal group doesn’t exist within the bounds of any specific subgenre, but they aren’t so radical as to define a new one, either. What they do is absolutely rip, and their third album rips even harder than their first two. They’re technically metalcore, a genre I usually don’t pay much attention to due to sheer repetition between bands. But Knocked Loose infuse metalcore with elements of hardcore punk and death metal, emitting short and brutal transmissions that always make sure to be on the fun side of things. The songs on this album (especially the first half) don’t so much start and end as they do operate as one puzzling suite. There’s an assist from Poppy that should go down as one of the best guest verses of the year, too. This is absolute fire start to finish. The band were already big prior to this album, but made a lot of waves recently as they appeared (with Poppy) on Slim Jim Kimmel’s late-night show and pissed off a lot of very vulnerable older folks.

#18. The Body – The Crying Out Of Things

The Body’s second album of 2024 is also their second to make this list. I love this band dearly, and this instantly became one of my favorite albums of theirs. These two guys always take their template sound, which is already intensely unique because of Chip King’s squawked vocals, and tweak it differently for each album. This time around, they’ve largely diluted their already flimsy song structures and added a lot of chopped elements into the vocals. It’s more directly synthy than most of their albums, while still unrelentingly heavy. It comes off a tad like Merzbow but with more restraint. It’s an album for metalheads even though it is not metal, it’s just noise music. But for anyone who likes dark, extreme or just heavy music, or a singer that sounds like a chicken, prioritize this one. One of the best from one of the best. 

#17. Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

After three unrelentingly heavy records, here’s an overcorrection. My expectations were set pretty high, given that “Right Back To It” was already my favorite song of the year before this was released. I’m also just a lifelong Waxahatchee fan, although she’s not someone who I listen to often. The rest of the record isn’t 100% consistent, but it often hits. While the lead single is her most straight-up country song yet, the rest of the album is familiar indie-folk, with occasional bursts of guitar. These tunes are very sweet, very casual and just extremely well-developed. Katie’s voice is as good as always, but this album is more about summer-y vibes anyways. These are songs for aimless car rides with the windows down, songs for drinking a beer on the front lawn. And yet, I can tell this is a record I’ll come back to during all seasons. As expected, one of the best of the year. 

#16. Torres – What an enormous room

Okay so I actually spun this one twice back in January in preparation of (finally!) seeing her live, but I gave it a proper headphones whirl in April. The indie singer has been bubbling under the radar for a good decade now, and I’m hoping this propels her forward. It might be her best album yet, a culmination of all the ideas she’s put forward till now. It’s got threatening guitar jams, tender ballads and poppy synth tunes. She continues to blend sexual and religious references like a more deranged Sufjan Stevens. There’s more individual ideas here than on previous Torres records, but she makes them all coalesce. Something for everyone, at least in the indie world. The third spin of this will certainly not be my last. 

#15. Denzel Curry – King of the Mischievous South Part 2

Hot damn. I accidentally slept on this one for a while despite loving basically everything Curry has done so far. Curry has made a name for himself making rap that’s intense without straying too far from genre conventions. This is more of a down-to-basics hip-hop mixtape that shows he can knock something a little more “normal” out of the park too. As a mixtape it is looser and more low-stakes than an album would be, but he puts in no less effort. Bombastic to the core. It’s a quick affair, maybe even a little too short. But Curry can practically do no wrong to this reviewer. Not a magnum opus or mission statement, just excellent, high-energy hip-hop.

Note: I listened to and reviewed the mixtape, not the subsequent album that featured mostly the same songs in a different order with a few more tracks. I don’t really understand what the deal was there?

#14. St. Vincent – All Born Screaming

St. Vincent’s now ten-year-old self-titled will always be my favorite release of hers; it’s a top ten favorite album of mine. For me, she’ll never top it – but this comes damn close. I was really not into her last album, Daddy’s Home, a set of mostly tepid ballads centered around a tone-deaf concept, and her trajectory into duller rock was a familiar one across the indie landscape. So shocking, then, when she dropped a record of heavy, industrial-inspired tunes instead. While the album fluctuates between crushing songs like “Flea” and softer ones like “Reckless,” the influence of heavier, offbeat alternative is clear throughout. Cate Le Bon steps in for a crucial assistance on the lengthy, flowing final track, and it’s a fitting welcome. I could write and probably will write something about how Jack Antonoff is ruining pop music – this record proves that artists can shake the stink of him off and still be alright. 

#13. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God

I’ve mentioned a few times that this flash review exercise has mostly become me showing my own ass, and here I must do it again: I am not very familiar with the Nick Cave catalog. I’ve listened to (and loved) his earliest and most recent records, but there’s 20 years in the middle I haven’t heard. In my limited experience though, I’ve realized the best Nick Cave songs are ones where there’s just minimal piano or static noise and Cave talking lyrics. He does that a lot here. There’s also songs that have full-band with choir backups, and they’re just as stunning. It’s unbelievable that Cave still stuns this much, but every track on this album works well. Most of them work tremendously well. Cave is one of music’s premier storytellers, and this is another legendary release. It’s one of the best albums of the year. No question. I’m in awe. 

#12. Foxing – Foxing

I’m floored. This is a gamechanger. I wasn’t familiar with Foxing before their year-end-list-dominating record Nearer My God in 2018, so that album’s radical left turn in sound was lost on me (although I adored the record nonetheless). This is another shift, into something heavier and darker. This record is unclassifiable, a mix of indie, emo and hardcore that often deteriorates into walls of harsh noise. Yet it is still indie rock. It’s got the harsh vulnerability and self-loathing of the 90’s emo scene that spawned Foxing, with added dissonance, anger and confusion. It has lighter moments for sure, and touches of everyday life, and these separate the more intense moments into individual spirals. It’s still an exhausting affair, and maybe even a touch too long at 56 minutes. But for those of us with depression, we’ve got a new magnum opus.

#11. MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Let’s not mince words – this was my most anticipated record of 2024. The first single off this album, “Rudolph” was one of my favorite songs of 2023. The second single, “She’s Leaving You,” is easily making my 2024 list. Lenderman’s primary band, Wednesday, handily won my Album of the Year mark in 2023. I set my sights ridiculously high for this one. Lenderman’s solo music bridges the gap between Neil Young and Kurt Vile; it’s off-the-cuff guitar playing and talk-sung vocals, with intricate and specific lyrics that detail American loneliness and wasted youths. Lenderman’s previous album focused on the grungier side of those artists, and this one is heavier on the Americana side. There’s enough Southern gothic here to make Flannery O’Connor happy but, predictably, there’s a lot of humor and just unpredictable references that make these stories entertaining. I don’t think Neil Young ever sang about Ferraris, Guitar Hero or the Cars film franchise. I always love specificity in lyrics even if it makes the songs less applicable – to me, it shows personality and care. Lenderman is always all about that. Only complaint here is that the energetic/somber balance is off in favor of the latter, but it’s a minor complaint. This guy is just on a different level from everyone else.

#10. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

Vampire Weekend’s self-titled debut will always be one of my favorite albums, but the aura of “rich (mostly) white boys repurpose African music” aged like milk almost immediately. In the years since, the band has taken different approaches to incorporate maturity into their works. Their fourth album, Father Of The Bride, is easily their worst, a set of adult-alternative yawners only one step above CVS radio. For this album, they overcorrected, releasing what is actually their most manic and experimental set to date. Every song on this album has crafted, unpredictable elements, and many of them are absurdly high-energy. Fifteen years after their debut, this is the record that builds upon that album the most – even going so far as to sample “Mansard Roof.” The lyrics remain a mix of serious and tongue-in-cheek. Even though I really dug the singles I heard in advance, I didn’t expect something this remarkably engaged from them. One of the highlights of the year so far.

#9. Melt-Banana – 3+5

Japan’s Melt-Banana served as my intro to noise music. They were the first, and for a long time only, noise band I really heard and digested; I’ve been a huge fan for almost 20 years now. Although the duo has gotten older and quainter, their hyper-aggressive punk is no less gnarly. Their first album in 11 years is short, and the songs are neither the experimental seconds-long chunks of Cactuses Come In Flocks nor the longer, more developed tracks of Cell-Scape. They’re the closest thing to true punk songs the band has done, and they absolutely rip. Every song rocks, and nearly all have the expected 1000BPM. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year, the duo was going to have to work hard to not make that cut. Also, I finally got to see them this spring – best show I’ve seen all year.

#8. Kal Marks – Wasteland Baby

Kal Marks are one of my favorite Boston bands, and yet this album still obliterated my expectations. The Kal Marks wheelhouse is midtempo post-hardcore that’s very bass-y in both music and vocals. Generally, their songs are ones that are heavy and divisive, but not exactly inaccessible. Here, they branch out a bit, introducing some poppier elements and some more optimistic lyrics. There’s plenty of just heavy shit, too, though; it’s a well-rounded record. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best heavy albums I’ve heard all year, local bias or not. Nearly every song floored me in some way. If you’re into a variety of post-hardcore bands like METZ or Protomartyr, then add this one to your list. They’ve done it again. This record hangs with the A-listers. Favorite local release of the year. Finally, a good album with the name “Wasteland Baby.”

#7. Mount Eerie – Night Palace

The best film I’ve watched this year for the first time is Lawrence of Arabia. I knew going in that I was going to love it, but the 3+ hour runtime looked daunting even for someone who loves long movies. The eleventh Mount Eerie album is 26 songs and 81 minutes long, extremely daunting for an artist who deals in gloom. But like Lawrence, I had trouble even pausing this once I got into it. The album is an amalgam of everything Phil Elverum has done to date. There’s short, ripping rock songs, drone tracks, gothic folk and a touch of metal. It’s like a greatest hits for a guy who has always stayed on the fringe. And when you follow the trajectory of Elverum’s last decade, it all makes sense. He’s had a child, with a wife who passed shortly after, married and quickly divorced Michelle Williams, and has gotten into meditation. These tumultuous ups and downs are all over this record, which changes on a dime so many times you’d have enough cash to buy the double vinyl. It’s purely one of the best albums of the year.

#6. Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven

This album had a lot to live up to. Mannequin Pussy are one of the only bands where I generally love every song they’ve put out. Ferocious, unpredictable and catchy, they’re a punk band that doesn’t really seem to think they’re a punk band. And on their fourth album, they do branch out a lot more. I don’t think the 100% streak continues, however, the best songs here are the best they’ve ever done. It’s a ripper of a record, and one that has more ideas and, *ahem,* patience than previous releases. Missy Dabice gives her best-yet vocal performance on “Sometimes,” a song that stretches closer to indie than anything else. But there’s still punk bruisers everywhere, too. Tremendous stuff.

#5. The Last Dinner Party – Prelude to Ecstasy

It’s been a long time since an indie debut was this hotly anticipated, the fervor was nearly at 08 Vampire Weekend levels. What I’m saying is, if you’re interested in this type of thing, then you’ve probably heard it already. But! It so lives up to the hype. This is a set of well-balanced, bombastic indie tunes with a lot of spunk and even more intelligence. These ladies have a tinge of chamber pop in their songs, with a lot of raucous elements. It’s a unique blend that calls back to the early riotous live shows – but not recorded material – of Arcade Fire. In fashion, this band allegedly has wild and destructive shows themselves. Also a small tic, but I love when a band doesn’t just chuck the singles at the front of the album but places them in where they make sense sequentially. The second single and my favorite track, “Sinner,” comes near the end!

#4. Ty Segall – Three Bells

It’s probably no secret that I’m a Ty Segall fanboy across all his projects, but I do generally prefer his barebones garage punk stuff more – Slaughterhouse, Freedom’s Goblin, Pre Strike Sweep. Some of his more recent, more experimental releases have been a bit above my head (First Taste in particular). So I approached this one with apprehension – only to find that this album ties the knot between Freedom’s Goblin and Manipulator, a great whale sized album that is lighter and more varied in tone, but doesn’t stray too far from Ty’s garage roots, too. It’s maybe his most well-rounded album yet, lengthy but varied where every song feels important and unique. It’s experimental and exciting, but warmer than an average Segall release all the same.

#3. SPRINTS – Letter To Self

Live music can be transcendent. Legend has it that Stu MacKenzie was inspired to start a band (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) while at a Tame Impala show. Sprints was birthed by a couple people at a Savages gig – one of the best live bands, and most dearly missed bands of the last 15 years. They realized they could simply make the music they want to hear, and years later, we’ve got their debut. It sounds like Savages. That couldn’t be more of a compliment for me. Loud, noisy, melodic and just restrained enough to fall under indie. It should be clear from this post that I love music that’s boisterous and stressful, and this band nailed it from moment one. This was the very first album I listened to this year, and it withstood hundreds of challengers.

#2. Pissed Jeans – Half Divorced

In direct opposition to a lot of albums in this post, and the norm in general, Pissed Jeans have gotten louder and more immature. This is the leanest and meanest version of Pissed Jeans we’ve ever seen. The post-hardcore band has always treated its aggressive music as a pseudo-joke, as they satirize specific topics like middle managers and guys who have humiliation fetishes. There’s some of that here, specifically in screeds against used underwear sales and guys who disturb you when you’re on break. But there’s also a general, visceral anger here. These songs are way shorter than normal, most under two minutes, just ferocious punk blasts from a band that normally stretches things out. The best song is still tongue-in-cheek; “Everywhere is Bad,” a parody of songs where singers get easy clout by listing cities, instead decrying every city, planet, galaxy, and dimension. Sure, they rag on Boston, Portland and Austin, but they also rag on Proxima B and nonexistence. It’s goofy while being menacing. The chaos balance feels like 2024 in a nutshell. It’s one of their best albums, and one of the most riveting and overlooked releases of the year.

#1. Kim Gordon – The Collective

Haha what the hell. The beautiful thing about listening to the solo projects from Sonic Youth members was seeing what influences they individually brought to the table – Thurston Moore brought the noise guitars, Lee Ranaldo brought the classic rock vibes, and Kim supplied the most experimental elements. On her second solo record (mind you, she is SEVENTY-ONE years old), she creates something entirely new and diabolical. This is noise-trap. It’s a noise-rock record centered around hip-hop beats, but not in any kind of Death Grips way. It sounds like something that isn’t supposed to be heard. Some of these songs were intended for Playboi Carti, but somehow ended up in her lap. And that’s really the only way to describe them. I’ve never heard anything like this, even from Kim. She’s back and she’s still the coolest person around.

And that does it! Another year in the books. I hope you enjoyed this and found some new music through it, or at least gave me a pageclick out of support. I am not planning on keeping my flash reviews going into 2025 – it was a one-year project. It was fun, it was exhausting. I’ll think of new ways to use this blog in the future. See you next December!

Because I can never help myself, here’s five albums that just missed the cut: Never Broke Again – Compliments of Grave Digger Mountain (trap), Melvins – Tarantula (doom/alt-metal), MGMT – Loss Of Life (indie), Undeath – More Insane (death metal), Wishy – Triple Seven (alternative rock). To be honest, Wishy should’ve made the list. I regret this.

My 40 Favorite Songs of 2024

Well, that’s done. Welcome to the first installment of my yearly series where I write thousands of needless words on all the music I loved this year. If you actually read what I do on this blog (why?) you may know that I attempted to chronicle every new release I listened to in blast reviews. I mostly kept up until mid-November, when year-end posts started looming. There’s a stalled-out half-post in my drafts that probably won’t ever get finished. It was a bad year to try and do this project – because this may have been the best year for new music of my whole life.

Every year I say the same thing – I prefer listening to and discussing full albums as opposed to songs. There are never as many songs I’m eager to discuss at year’s end as there are albums. But, I couldn’t narrow my list of songs down to any fewer than 40 (and I narrowly avoided a last-minute bump up to 45). One interesting trend in this list is collaborations: there’s five collabs on this list, and two more that initially made the cut but got dropped. I’m not sure why that is, exactly, but it really caught my eye. It’s also, much more predictably, an indie-heavy year. Most of my favorite albums this year were indie releases, which is the standard. It follows true for individual songs; 31 of the 40 songs here are ones I would describe as indie, and I’m being conservative. I promise I like every kind of music, I’m just an indie kid at heart. Alright enough talking, here’s 40 great ones.

#40. Orville Peck & Willie Nelson – “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other”

Sure, the song is a joke, but it was written for a reason. The culture of cowboys being hyper-masculine and tough is one that really isn’t true historically, and this one takes a delightful dig at homoeroticism from cowboy to cowboy. Who better to do it then the most famous outlaw country singer, and the gay upstart in his wake? The song was initially made famous by Nelson in the 80’s, but was already a cover then. Nowadays it’s a lot less controversial, but the tongue-in-cheek lyrics remain provoking. Also, it’s just a great country collaboration. Hearing Peck’s bass voice sing about sexuality and even gender questioning is itself comical, if also lending credence. It’s a light, fun and eye-opening tune.

KEY HUSH HUSH: And a small town don’t like it when somebody falls between sexes / No, a small town don’t like it when a cowboy has feelings for men

#39. TORRES – “Collect”

There’s always two sides of TORRES. The side that’s more common is the easy-going, tender side of her music, emphasized by the recent surprise collaborations with Julien Baker. But TORRES separates herself from indie contemporaries by sneaking in some menacing songs every so often. No secret that “Strange Hellos” is one of my favorite indie songs. The centerpiece of her new album – the best TORRES album yet – is this song that’s got a nice vocal melody undercut by lyrics that sound ripped from a gangster movie. It’s a tense song, and much the album surrounding it is softer and sweeter. People have been sleeping on TORRES for far too long; wake up before she comes to collect.

KEY TORRES MISSION STATEMENT: Did I hit a nerve?

#38. Sheer Mag – “Eat It And Beat It”

I’m usually against singers changing genders when they do a cover (looking at you, Buble), but this one I’ll allow. And no, this isn’t a cover, but it is a tune that sounds ripped from the 70’s. An obvious play on P-Funk’s “Hit It And Quit It,” this song has the aura of a classic rock tune, and inverted gender dynamics via singer Tina Halladay. Sheer Mag have always adapted a 70’s-rock style sound, but this might be the best and most unfiltered 70’s song yet. It’s Thin Lizzy or Deep Purple reawoken in 2024. Outside of some cool glitchy production that happens during the guitar solo, this is just a straight old-school rock song. Halladay sounds excellent on vocals, and the whole band is energized. I feel like I’ve been waiting for Sheer Mag to let loose on a song like this for a while. You like rock music? It’s alive and well.

KEY DOUBLE ENTENDRE I THINK: And when you hear that dinner bell ringin’ / You’re for whom it tolls

#37. The Body – “A Premonition”

The mark of a great band is one where you can hear a song you don’t know by them but instantly recognize who it is. The mark of a better band is when they can still experiment within their own unique style and produce something new. There is no band out there like The Body, and they’ve never made the same album twice. Chip King has some of the most, erm, distinctive vocals in all of music, and the band always finds new ways to incorporate them into the songs. This song takes King’s signature squawking and chops it into little metrical bits, as if it’s a remix of some sort. To be clear – this is not a song that will be enjoyable to most people. It’s relentlessly heavy, moody, devoid of rhythm and centered around unintelligible yelling. The Body are the kings of extreme music and this is one of the more rousing songs they’ve put in the last few years. Layers of suspiciously dormant synths sit under drums and squawks without a true song structure. This is far and away the most inaccessible song on this list (though I challenge the common man to test #15). Ready yo have your concept of music challenged? 

KEY TOTALLY UNINTELLIGIBLE LYRIC: Flames reflect on the low clouds

#36. Misuser – “Behind the Fence” 

I did a much better job at paying attention to regional New England music this year, and it was a truly fruitful experience. This isn’t the only Boston artist on the list! I stumbled onto Misuser totally blind while wandering around Nice, A Fest this year in between sets I had mapped out. I stepped into a goth party at the Rockwell, and this new one is the epitome of the sensation. This sounds ripped from the 80’s with breathy vocals, layers of synths and damp production. It’s a moody and engrossing song, one that’s easy to get lost in. Dark pop at its finest. Add in some excellent vocals and you’ve got a real great local gem. 

KEY VOCAL BREAKTHROUGH: On the outside! 

#35. Ducks Ltd. – “Train Full Of Gasoline”

I mentioned at the top that there’s a few truly dissonant and disruptive songs in this playlist, and you may think this is one based on the title. Nope! This is a very fun little indie ditty, just one that moves at a lightning speed. I wasn’t familiar with Ducks, Ltd. before this year, but it seems that most of their songs to date are like this one. It’s jangly, fun and clean guitar pop, not too far out of the realm as a band like The Hives. The lyrics are gleefully bombastic, and the vocal melodies are catchy as he*k. Despite the violence in the lyrics, there’s something about this song that feels purely innocent. Had I not heard this one a million times on indie rock radio I may not have warmed up to it so much, but I did, and it’s been stuck in my head since maybe March. 

KEY PLEASE SEE THE MOVIE SORCERER: A way to get yourself set Up to roll back down that same long track / Set up to explode like a train full of gasoline

#34. Arab Strap – “Allatonceness”

You can thank my constant indecisiveness for this song making the cut. Initially this hefty Arab Strap tune sat at #41, only making the list at the last minute because I didn’t feel like writing about (spoilers) a second Decemberists song. My list is mostly full of soft indie anyways, so let’s get some chugging bass going. This song is a mission statement, one that feels ripped from the IDLES song “Colossus” – an album opener with spoken-word vocals, bluntly left-wing lyrics and bass that sounds like it’s going to kill you. This is an intimidating song, one about the slow conservative takeover of the world. There’s no love lost in the lyrics, taking aim at grifters, groomers, rapists and the freaks who imploded their own lives because Buzz Lightyear kissed a guy or whatever. What I’m saying is: bring this energy into 2025. 

KEY SAY THIS WHILE IT’S STILL LEGAL: They’ve got your attention / The groomers and griftеrs and they’ve all done thеir own research / They’ve got your attention / Antagonized fanboys while Nazis and rapists sell merch

#33. Katy Kirby – “Hand To Hand”

Angel Olsen didn’t really do much in the public eye in 2024, so Katy Kirby was here to pick up the reigns. Her excellent second album is full of indie-folk tunes, but this one in particular sounds like Angel Olsen. Maybe a backhanded compliment to highlight it for sounding like someone else, but it’s here because it’s a gorgeously sung and expertly crafted song.I love music that’s ambitious and experimental, but sometimes a warm, beautiful indie song can really scratch an itch. This is mid-00’s forest indie at its best. 

KEY LYRIC: It’s a pact, it’s a covenant / Handshake deal, turning hand to hand

#32. Sasami – “Honeycrash”

Sasami is largely unclassifiable, and the fact that I heard this song on indie rock radio sort of proves that. Her previous album Squeeze saw her take a more industrial approach to her music, coupled with the very nu-metal album cover. And yet she’s still welcomed by the indie crowd. “Honeycrash” is somewhat similar, it’s a heavy song marked by blaring guitar and withdrawn (but gorgeous) vocals. But it still feels alternative, because it isn’t really dissonant or off-putting in a way that even basic industrial can be. Also, it’s a love song. This is a song that is easy to get lost in, one that feels way longer than it is in a good way. It’s pained and slow, and the only real melody comes from the vocals, but intoxicating nonetheless. A unique entry on this list. This is the first slice of a new album, and I’m already hype. 

KEY WEEPING ON THE FLOOR: Honey, crash into me / Like a storm into the sea / Like blood on the silver screen

#31. Hinds – “En Forma”

I’ve been in the Hinds camp since the beginning, something about the Spanish band’s joyous indie really touches me in a way a lot of indie bands don’t. The duo-turned-quartet is back down to a duo, and they’re freer than ever. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the song and video for “En Forma,” a rousing and emphatic vocal-and-percussion tune. Now I don’t speak a word of Spanish, but the energy of this song is easily infectious enough to where it doesn’t matter. Besides, why limit yourself to music you understand? This is energetic, poppy and supremely confident. Hinds have always been fun, but they’re better than ever. 

KEY MAKING RELATIVE SOUNDS WITH MY MOUTH: Mírame no puedo más

#30. Beach Bunny – “Vertigo”

I love Beach Bunny so this is a loaded statement: I think this may be their best song yet. Despite losing a member, the band has never sounded so locked-in. The energy in their power-pop is always infectious, but it hits a new high here. The guitar rhythms are simple but effective, and Lili Trifilio’s vocal melody is a best-ever. BB’s music is often at the edge of punk, but too innocently sweet to be lumped in the genre. The energy here is high-octane and the closest they’ve come to punk yet (though it’s still decisively pop). This band excels at making songs you can hear a hundred times, and this is one I don’t think I’ll get sick of for a while. This might be the taste of a new album, I’m not sure – I hope it is. 

KEY ENTIRE BAND MISSION STATEMENT IN ONE LINE: I’m protecting myself from emotional healing.

#29. Tunde Adebimpe – “Magnetic”

This is absolutely the song on this list I’ve heard the fewest times. Most of these I’ve heard 10+, maybe 20+ times. This one was a shoo-in the second time I heard it. I love TV on the Radio, but I was only ever into their high-energy stuff. The indie band had a knack for making ruthlessly fast-paced and danceable tunes, and the singer’s first true solo song picks up where the band left off a decade ago. Although the band has reunited for some shows, it seems this is the first taste of a solo record. This song is all about the whiplash tempo and Adebimpe’s adept vocals. He sounds as good as ever, keen to deliver standard lines like the opener “I was thinking about my time and space / I was thinking about the human race.” Just throw this one on and try not to snap your fingers.

KEY TUNDE HAS BEEN MISSED: I know the skill of doing loops in the fire / What they gonna do with a lightning rider?

#28. JPEGMAFIA – “don’t rely on other men”

I’m the specific blend of caucasian where there’s only one rap song on this list and it’s from JPEGMAFIA. Peggy is at his best when he leans into the heavy synths and unpredictability – the gnarlier the beat, the better the song. The beat of this one isn’t complex, it’s just a loud, plodding thump of a synth and a sample of the word “down,” taken from the line “I hear you went down.” Who spoke this? Brian Cox, in “Succession.” Beside the point but neat. Add in some metrical guitar and Peggy’s characteristically precise flow and comical-but-tough lyrics and you’ve got a classic JPEGMAFIA track. This one arguably stretches closer to hyperpop than full hip-hop.

KEY CLASSIC PEGGY LINE: I’m with my bi bitch, we being bipolar / Together we burn through that bread like a toaster

#27. Alluvial – “Death Is But A Door”

There isn’t much to say about this one – it’s a death metal song centered around a sick, one-note riff. The whole crux of this song is one guitar bend through distortion, and I can’t explain why it wails so hard but it does. By purist standards, this sneaks in as my favorite metal song of the year (although there’s one coming that I’d argue fits the bill). I don’t even particularly like this band but the mix of the punishing djent tempo and the nu-metal guitars is just heavy. 

KEY WELLNESS CHECK: An empty gun on the floor / To show you time is but a window / And death is but a door

#26. Vampire Weekend – “Gen-X Cops”

Vampire Weekend’s fourth album, Father Of The Bride, went the way I was afraid it would – complacent adult alternative. The whole album was somewhat boring, too sunny and devoid of the manic energy of early Vampire Weekend. Thankfully, they’ve kicked back into high gear. The intensity of this one rivals anything on their debut, and with better production. And in classic fashion, they’ve taken the throwaway name of a Hong Kong action film and turned into an examination of generational differences. It’s not profound, exactly, but it is poetic amid the mania. The guitar riff is sleek and energetic, there’s a great harp line in the chorus, and Ezra’s vocals are at their best. 

KEY INSIGHT: Each generation makes its own apology

#25. King Hannah & Sharon Van Etten – “Big Swimmer”

What a calm song. This is a very peaceful indie tune, with a unique format. The song is split into halves, with the same lyrics. The first half is acoustic, the second half electric. It’s the paralysis demon of Guided By Voices. Singer Hannah Merrick has a very smooth, soft voice, and her borderline-spoken word approach works magnificently here. Even in the electric portion, this song never gets very loud, it’s all about the beauty. Magnificently subtle and gorgeous, and a hell of a lot different than the boisterous songs peppering this list. 

KEY NOT SURE WHAT THIS LINE MEANS: I’ll swim at anything

#24. The Last Dinner Party – “Sinner”

These ladies shot to the top of the music world so quickly that I was initially very skeptical. But once their debut album came out, that was erased – yeah, they’re really that good. I got pretty obsessed with this song, their second single as a band, early in the year. The indie band has an aura of being fun but respectful, raunchy but sweet, and this song lives up to it. The music is straight indie, a classic verse-chorus-verse tune. There’s a healthy guitar lick that kicks in during the chorus and disrupts the metrical and balanced music around it. Vocally, their rhythms are always great. And lyrically, this song has that same tight balance – innocent, but hinting at a veiled provocation. It’s a full song, with many individual pieces. Most work in harmony, a few in discord, and the end result is one of the finest indie songs of the year. But also not even my favorite from them. More on them in a bit. 

KEY SECULAR FLESH: I wish I knew you / Before it felt like a sin

#23. Blondshell – “What’s Fair”

Sheesh this one is rough. There’s no sugar coating – this is a call-out to mom for doing a bad job. Blondshell, the solo project of Sabrina Mae Teitelbaum, dances around blaming her mom, herself and fate for her mom’s job as caretaker, or lack thereof. Blondshell’s music is guitar-heavy indie, largely a throwback to 90’s alternative fare. This song specifically wouldn’t sound out of place on Exile In Guyville, it has the 90’s snark and poppy vocal rhythms layered over a healthy guitar lick. It’s a despondent and self-critical song, but it’s somewhat easy to gloss over it because it is infinitely catchy, too. And if you think this is as mean as Blondshell can get, well, keep reading. 

KEY EVERCLEAR INSPIRATION: What’s fair, what’s a fair assessment of the job you did? Do you ever even regret it? 

#22. Lily Seabird – “Grace”

In a just world this would’ve been a breakout song. I heard this one on Allston Pudding radio (live on uncertain.fm every Monday 4-6pm and Tuesday 10-noon), and it’s just one of the most unique songs of the year. The intro piano rhythm has the innocent sound of a 2010 indie song, and Seabird’s voice matches it. It starts off as a pleasantly melodic little tune, until the guitar kicks in. The chorus is a rollicking, heavy guitar drone ripped from Dinosaur Jr., and it disappears just as quick. Listen closely and you’ll pick up the 5-second Neil Young guitar lick, too. This song is a true amalgam of just cool stuff, a lot of individual elements that shouldn’t work together and maybe don’t, but it’s extremely interesting. 

KEY PAINFUL RELATABILITY: I won’t forget the color of her eyes / The way she smiled when she said goodbye

#21. Yard Act – “We Make Hits”

I appreciate a good honest song. And “We Make Hits” might be the funniest song of 2024, a meta and self-effacing song analyzing why exactly Yard Act exists in the first place. It’s a song about remaining anticapitalist despite signing to Universal, because I mean, they’re poor and climate change is gonna get us all anyways. It’s existentialist, maybe, but it’s also very tongue-in-cheek. The culture of “selling out” seems pretty dormant (thankfully) and this song really puts it to bed. Oh also, it’s just a jam. Yard Act puts the -punk in post-punk, a genre that was surprisingly fruitful in 2024. It’s funky and energetic, obviously a song made to be played live. Even if you don’t pay attention to the lyrics, it’s easy to get lost in how hyper-catchy this one is. 

KEY UNDERSTAND THE NUANCE: I’m still an anti-C-A-P-I-T-A-L-I-S-T / It just so happens that there’s other things I happen to be

#20. Friko – “Crimson To Chrome”

The first time I heard Friko on the radio I was convinced it was a mid-00’s deep cut that I had missed. The band has the punk spirit and rough production of the dance-punk heyday. But no, they’re fresh out of the oven, and their debut is chock full of indie goodies. This song has like three or four insanely catchy rhythms, a rare song where the verses are just as memorable as the choruses. But that chorus, it’s perfect. The vocals are despondent and paranoid, the rhythm is unstable, and yet it’s all a giant jam. High-energy indie tune and one that sounds ripped from the same year that these youngsters were born. 

KEY THESE KIDS ARE WAY TOO YOUNG TO FEEL THIS WAY: We’re either too old, too bold or stupid to move, I guess we’re / Caught on the wrong side of the shoe again

#19. Rick Rude – “Wooden Knife”

One chronic problem I have with media is that I’m rarely ever interested in revisiting something. I almost never listen to an album twice, even ones I really love. This year, I tried to do flash reviews of every one I listened to, and Rick Rude’s Laverne fell through the cracks. The period between me listening and me attempting to write a review was so large that I had nothing to say. Thankfully, I listened to it again – which is when I fell in love with the opening track, one that I hadn’t even earmarked on the first listen. This is just a rousing punk song, one that’s got splashes of emo and pop-punk, but still stays firmly in raucous territory. Loud, fast, fun, and extremely catchy. And it’s all named after Rick Rude? Ravishing work. 

KEY alright i was afraid this was going to happen at some point, the lyrics of this song don’t seem to exist online anywhere. given the name of the band, i can instead offer a FIVE-STAR WRESTLING MATCH OF 2024: Donovan Dijak vs. Anthony Greene at Beyond Wrestling

#18. The Last Dinner Party – “The Feminine Urge”

You can pretty much transpose everything I said about “Sinner” here. A lot of the songs on their debut record have a bit of raucousness to them, but this one is mostly a ballad. Surprisingly, it’s my favorite track on the whole album. It’s not as baroque or full-band as most of their songs, opting instead to be a vocal-forward song. Lead singer Abigail Morris already has an excellent voice, and this one has a legendary vocal rhythm to lend an assist. The whole instrumentation of this song, and even the verses, are not the strongest work the band has done – but this song has maybe the best chorus of 2024. It’s one that plays on a loop in my head for hours, never getting old. 

KEY BEST VOCAL KEY CHANGE OF THE YEAR: Do you feel like a man when I can’t talk back? / Do you want me, or do you want control?

#17. The Smile – “Read The Room”

It is kind of amazing how Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood have managed to make a new band that simultaneously does and does not sound like Radiohead. This song on paper has the elements of a late-career Radiohead song, but in practice it’s not all that similar. A laggy, prog-like guitar line lumbers through this song and gives it an almost drone-like quality. Yorke provides a typical high-pitched vocal line, but it’s also more droning than normal. The song is tantric, at first middling but increasingly tantalizing, like a snake charmer. There’s also a nice left-field bridge where Greenwood briefly remembers that chords exist. These guys are kings of patience, and this is a fine example of how slow, droning and simple rhythms can still make something catchy and complex. 

KEY ATYPICAL THOM YORKE LINE: But I am gonna count to three / Keep this shit away from me

#16. Ride – “Portland Rocks”

While I always respect a band leaving their comfort zone, Ride’s seventh album was ultimately a big misfire. The best song on it, as it goes, was the only truly traditional Ride song. The shoegaze revival is just as alive as the nu-metal one, and Ride were originators. This song is centered around a spacey and heavy guitar riff, one that’s naturally melodic but also layered under enough distortion to make it sound like it’s actively fighting gravity. That alone would be enough for a classic song, but the vocals add another element here. The vocals are urgent and emphatic, a call to anyone listening. It gives the song a slightly unstable feel, even though everything exists in harmony. But more than anything else it’s just a great rock song. These guys can still kick absolute ass.

KEY VOCAL HOOK: Why do I feel this way? / Like I’m hanging off the edge of the world

#15. Uniform – “This Is Not A Prayer”

You can record all the death metal songs called like “Putrid Pus Seeping Out Of A Baby’s Anal Wound” all you want, stuff like this is the most unsettling music out there. Uniform are a melodic band, but they’re the most miserable band in music. Angry, misanthropic and passionate, this is music for people who feel bad. Their songs always fall through the cracks of genre, following basic rock structures but not really being rock, metal, or post-hardcore. They’re closer to industrial than anything, but even that isn’t quite right. Regardless, this is the best song they’ve ever done. Michael Berden’s signature growl renders most of the lyrics unintelligible, and sounds genuinely threatening. This is a percussive song, with a pounding drum line hitting for all six-plus minutes straight. It’s loud, frantic and paranoid. These are all the elements of Uniform’s music, but the band just keeps improving on them with every album. One of the most unsettling songs of the year, and despite all the earworms on this list, this is truly me music. 

KEY EVEN GENIUS ISN’T SURE: I’ve got a wish to be as lithe as a sapling / Waist pulled back into spine ([?])

#14. IDLES & LCD Soundsystem – “Dancer”

No reason to mince it, the new IDLES record was a major disappointment. The nominally punk band took a turn towards ballads, and most of them just didn’t work. The lead single is an absolute banger, one of the most bass-heavy songs in a bassy catalog. The music here is intimidating and the chorus is huge, one of the biggest sing-along songs they’ve done yet. Frustratingly, they don’t really have anything to say here – and they’re known for hyperspecific points of interest, political targets and satirical aims. I can’t find an angle here that’s anything than just dancing. And yet, the song is so huge that it doesn’t really matter. Only IDLES can make a song so danceable and raw at the same time. Also this “features LCD Soundsystem,” but it doesn’t – James Murphy and Nancy Whang sing background vocals in the chorus. Still a wild get!

KEY STILL KINDA IDLES: Shoulders back, chest out, I’m poised / Like a goddamn ape, so to speak

#13. Pissed Jeans – “Everywhere Is Bad”

The beauty of Pissed Jeans music prior to 2024 was the way they would take their sardonic pessimism and roast some very specific subject – middle managers, guys with fetishes for being ignored, etc. For their sixth album, though, they’ve expanded their horizons and overcorrected. The album’s best song satirizes the very concept of a place, in case the title was not enough of a clue. It’s the antithesis to the hokiness of “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” in that they list off place by place and why it sucks. Sure, it goes from Boston to Austin to Vegas, but in case you think they’re serious, they roll through Heaven to Proxima B to nonexistence, too. It’s low-hanging fruit, but it’s funny, and it rips. The band drains the normal sludge out of their music in favor of bulging hardcore, and even with normal lyrics this would be one of the best punk tunes of the year. As you can expect with these guys though, it’s funny as hell.

KEY ONE THAT’S PROBABLY ACCURATE: Hell? Too many dudes!

#12. Father John Misty – “She Cleans Up”

If you look closely, you’ll notice that Father John isn’t really doing his gimmick anymore. He’s quietly stripped away a lot of the ostentatious and questionable parts of his ‘personality’ in favor of just focusing on music. His new album sees him doing long songs – even by his standard – with a lot of folksy meandering. This one, though, rips. This is one of the most fun and lively songs he’s done since his early solo days. The chorus to this one is catchy as all hell, with a wicked guitar riff accompanying the otherwise jolly music. If you’re like I used to be, on the fence with this madman, then let this song sway you. Think this is the only FJM song on this list? Time will make a fool of you.

KEY OH BROTHER HERE WE GO AGAIN: I had a vision that Mary of Magdalene / Saw the future that awaits us just before Good Friday eve

#11. The Decemberists – “Oh No”

Outside of a few songs, the Decemberists never really hit for me. I think it’s on me, but I always found their style and aesthetics a little pretentious. Their ninth album was fine, I enjoyed it somewhat, but I do think it all ‘clicked’ for me. The second single and second track is fun, it’s got gleeful pessimism. Some soft horns kick it off, and the central, pulsating rhythm almost feels culturally mariachi or Latin. There’s some sort of dinner party feel to this, even as the lyrics cryptically hint at multiple evils befalling a wedding night. It’s good old sinister fun, and one of the best indie songs in a stacked year. Is this one of their best songs or did I finally just get older?

KEY COLIN MELOY HAS NOT CHANGED: And it seems that we’ve caught you in tow / Between the devil and the devil you know

#10. Real Estate – “Water Underground”

Another classic example of the “did I include it last year?” thing where a single comes out in one year and the album another. I’ve never been a fan of Real Estate, to me they’re always template indie, the most basic and diluted form of the genre. But sometimes it works, and I love this song. A bubbly guitar line matches a practiced vocal rhythm into something that’s just simply pleasant. It’s a very melodic song, a tick above their normal standard songs. Sometimes you just need a little feel-good burst, and this makes me feel nice and warm. It’s a summery song, good for laying down in the grass and watching the clouds.

KEY LINE THAT HAS BEEN STUCK IN MY HEAD ALL YEAR: Water underground / won’t you cool me down, wash over me?

#9. Blondshell & Bully – “Docket”

It was a quiet year for two of indie rock’s most detached ladies, but they did both jump on this stellar song. It’s a logical pairing – Bully, an established grunge singer with a pessimistic catalog, and Blondshell, a youngster who runs a bit poppier but still with heavy guitar. This song rips – still indie and melodic, but with a guitar-heavy chorus that would bring a tiny smirk to the face of J. Mascis. Also, in a cold year filled with international misery, this is just fucking mean. It’s about hoping your boyfriend leaves town so you can start scouting other guys for fun. It’s sung with a cold intensity that implies this one is 100% real. Still an earworm, though.

KEY PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO ME: I put men on the docket / Give me a curse, I caught a bug / He should be with someone who’s more in love / Not someone eating for free

#8. Fontaines D.C. – “Starburster”

Fontaines D.C. were probably already drying up the well across their first three albums, of midtempo and metrical post-punk. So they delivered a massive left-turn with a rap-rock song. The nu-metal revival is alive everywhere you look, and it’s infected the very Irish alternative band. This song is rousing and mean in a way that’s super fun. Grain Chatten is simply not a man who I ever expected to have bars but he does. He dominates this song and is clearly having a blast. It’s raucous and loud, a wild fusion of alternative, hip-hop and electronic with a jokingly somber bridge too. The power play worked – these guys are on top of the world now. 

KEY LINE I KEEP SINGING IN A BAD IRISH ACCENT: I wanna head to a mass and get cast in it / That shit’s funnier than any A-class, innit?

#7. Father John Misty – “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All”

Papa Drizzle does his best Dylan impression here, though the end result probably sounds closer to The War on Drugs. This 8+ minute folky meanderer sounds musically and lyrically ripped from Highway 61 Revisited, a loose but metrical and repetitive tune with a pleasant full-band melody and predictably forlorn lyrics. It’s the breeziest and most unwound that he’s sounded, even if the subject matter is more melancholy. This one hooked me immediately, it’s rare that I get obsessed with a tune as quickly as I did here, it’s also definitely the best song he’s put out to date, even if it does sound recycled from others. It’s refreshing to hear him shake off all the gimmicks and controversy and just embrace the raconteur elements he’s always had. The music speaks for itself.

KEY DYLAN INSPIRATION: The greatest minds of my generation gladly conscripted in war / Of defending any Goliath that would darken the door

#6. BRICKLAYER – “Gay Breakfast”

Punk’s not dead, it’s just gay now. This song from a short-lived local group (they’re already done) immediately caught my ear in the spring and it’s become a staple for me. When it comes to dance-punk, I’m very basic: I like it. Doesn’t matter if it’s the high-octane guitar frenzy of the Hives or the synthy repetition of LCD Soundsystem, I like it. This is the former, an excellent guitar ripper with earworm melody and punk energy. The vocals are strong and the production is humble, it has the warm and echoey production of a 00’s indie tune. Just fun as hell, to be honest. This one puts me in a good mood and has me shadowboxing the ceiling. Fun!

KEY BREAKFAST ITEM MENTIONED IN THE LYRICS: Lucky charms!

#5. MJ Lenderman – “She’s Leaving You”

I’m convinced that there’s nothing this guy can’t do. The Wednesday guitarist has a solo career that’s starting to surpass that of his primary band. I’ve been comparing him to Neil Young, with his off-the-cuff americana indie songs that can range from acoustic meanderings to gnarly grunge. I thought the reason I loved him was for how loose and seemingly semi-improvised his songs sounded, but this one is very metrical and stable in its structure, and it’s one of my favorite songs from him yet. With the exception of the first verse, it’s devoid of specific references and unique scenarios, and has a reasonable vocal meter. His vocal delivery is resigned, which matches the song’s “back to business” lyrical meaning. It’s a serious song from a guy who put a 10 minute song about Guitar Hero on the same album. Lenderman’s vocal delivery is the star. He’s an excellent guitarist but more often than not, his off-kilter vocals are the winner. Same goes here. Try to not start randomly singing the chorus to yourself during the day, I dare you. 

KEY RELATABLE LISTLESSNESS: You said “Vegas is beautiful at night” / And it’s not about the money, You just like the lights

#4. Mannequin Pussy – “Sometimes”

The beauty of all of Mannequin Pussy’s previous songs was their ability to take chaotic punk energy and cram it into the walls of an indie tune. The beauty of their true breakout hit, however, is Marisa Dabice’s vocals. This song takes what are admittedly barebones and thin lyrics and lets Dabice scream them into relevancy. She sings the extended climax of this song as if she’s screaming for help buried underground. It sends a chill down your spine. This song starts off a little more restrained than the band is used to, though still clearly punk. It’s a bit of a red herring; this isn’t a verse-chorus-verse song but one that crescendos to a huge climax. This might be the band’s biggest and most conventional song to date, so it’s surprising that it’s also their best. 

KEY SCREAMING IT IN THE SHOWER: I’m a giver I would give it all to you / Even if it meant that I would have to choose / Between my life and now it’s aging fast for you / Sometiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimes

#3. Warpaint – “Common Blue”

There’s a specific type of song that makes me feel like I’m on an airplane. It’s a spacey breeziness, and even most spacey songs don’t have it. The list is short, and I do have a playlist specifically for plane travel (“The New Pollution” by Beck, “1/1” by Brian Eno, “Miss U” by Kitty). I love air travel, and making this list is an extremely high honor in my eyes. This song is crafted in such a way that I always feel like I’m floating in the atmosphere, even when it’s on the car radio. Warpaint are always queens of breezy, light harmonies, but the real beauty lies in the production. Bands don’t always record together in the studio, something masked by producers. But here, it’s obvious that every element was recorded individually and textured together. Elements work against each other, not with. One synth line plays in the back of your ears when a vocal line suddenly plays at the front. It’s a simple song at its core, but sounds like a completed puzzle. And all of the pieces are calming – especially that synth line that plays before the chorus. It’s only a couple notes, but it’s like melodic Xanax – with headphones on, it’s something that soothes my brain immediately. This is a song to cure a headache, to disappear from the world, to listen to on liftoff, or just any other time you need a quick break. It’s a top 5 of the year easily.

KEY BRAIN MASSAGE: Maybe, baby, we only have one life to live / Maybe, baby, we can be a butterfly

#2. Kim Gordon – “BYE BYE”

I desperately want to know the story of how this song came to be. All eleven tracks on Kim Gordon’s beyond excellent record The Collective are centered around beats from Justin Raisen. Allegedly, he designed these beats for rapper Playboi Carti. Instead, they ended up in the hands of 71-year-old alternative legend Kim Gordon. The album’s lead single is the best of the bunch, and sounds like no wave updated for a mumble rap era: huge, menacing beats and Kim Gordon talking ‘lyrics’ that are just a list of things to do and pack before leaving for a vacation. And then two minutes of absolute guitar shredding. This is a dense and foreboding song, but if you’re into it, it’s an earworm. It’s one of my most played songs of the year. Few people have ever operated at Kim’s level, and she’s still doing this. 

KEY THINGS TO PACK: Eyelash curler, vibrator, teaser, bye bye!

#1. Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman – “Right Back To It”

The list started with an indie-country collaboration and it’s going to end with one. This song came out in early January and by the third or fourth time I heard it, I already knew it was going to be a lock at #1. This was an insanely competitive year but it was going to take a “Dance Yrself Clean” to top this. “Right Back To It” is one of the most beautiful slices of Americana in years, from one established artist already well-known for beauty, and one fitful youngster known for warped sincerity. The calm banjo opening to this implies the breeziness of it, and the tear-jerkingly happy lyrics bring it home. It’s simply an easy, harmonic and gorgeous song about almost-unconditional love. A hundred times in and it still sounds as fresh as the first time I heard it. The best song in a deep Waxahatchee catalog full of excellent Americana tunes. It was always going to be this.

KEY DON’T CRY LYRIC: But you just settle in, like a song with no end / If I can keep up, we’ll get right back to it

And that does it! However, because I just can’t help myself, here’s five more I almost included: Suki Waterhouse – “Supersad,” Jack White – “That’s How I’m Feeling,” The Decemberists & James Mercer – “Burial Ground,” girl in red – “Too Much,” Jamie XX & Honey Dijon – “Baddy On The Floor“

Check back in starting tomorrow for my 101 favorite albums of 2024! It’s a hefty list.

The Rundown: September 2024

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of me writing way too many words about albums you’ve already formed an opinion on! If you’ve stumbled on this, I’ve been doing flash reviews of (almost) every new album I listen to this year. Some of the previous posts have been, well, long, but this was a different month. I spent two weeks in September on a nice vacation, my ears far away from any streaming services. Still, I’ve got 27 flash reviews for you – and a lot of these are utterly fantastic albums. 2024 has spoiled us greatly. Below, we’ve got a ton of excellent new indie albums, a pair of post-hardcore releases that will be near the top of my AOTY list, some solid metal, and a predictably great country release. I hope you find some gems for yourself in here! Let’s get cracking.

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Wild God

I’ve mentioned a few times that this exercise has mostly become me showing my own ass, and here I must do it again: I am not very familiar with the Nick Cave catalog. I’ve listened to (and loved) his earliest and most recent records, but there’s 20 years in the middle I haven’t heard. In my limited experience though, I’ve realized the best Nick Cave songs are ones where there’s just minimal piano or static noise and Cave talking lyrics. He does that a lot here. There’s also songs that have full-band with choir backups, and they’re just as stunning. It’s unbelievable that Cave still stuns this much, but every track on this album works well. Most of them work tremendously well. Cave is one of music’s premier storytellers, and this is another legendary release. It’s one of the best albums of the year. No question. I’m in awe. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

Tycho – Infinite Health

This one is pretty tough to grade, because listening to this record served much more of a purpose than the sheer entertainment value of every other record. This album was hand-selected as background music for me to sleep to on a grueling, intercontinental flight. This sounds like an extreme backhanded compliment, and maybe it is, but it did the trick. Not to say that this boring, it’s an album that’s mentally stimulating but peaceful enough to nod off to. I’ve never been super into Tycho, because it’s not necessarily for me, but they’re a great band. It’s all instrumental post-rock that marries complex and layered rhythms with a fun and playful aura. When you’re listening to it while 75% asleep with your head on a hard plane window, it’s a fun stimulation; it’s tougher to tell when one idea ends and the next begins. Will I ever give this one a chance while I’m alert? Probably not – but if funky post-rock is your scene, you can’t go wrong here.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

DIIV – Frog In Boiling Water

This one kinda hurts to write. I really like DIIV, or at least I really like the idea of them. There’s no other band out there like them, a shoegaze-inspired psychedelic band doing tons of cool guitar noodling while still somehow firmly indie. “Doused” is easily one of my favorite songs. But the band’s fourth album was, to me, very limp. I respect bands taking new approaches, and I seem to (thankfully!) be in a tiny minority here, as the record is getting rave reviews. The music is denser and slower, with the fun noodling replaced by droning chords. It’s alright in practice, but an album full of it gets tedious quickly. I think the parts are better than the whole, as the album needed some songs of other tempos either quicker or slower. It didn’t click with me. Then again, this isn’t the first time DIIV hasn’t clicked with me – so maybe someday it will. For now, it’s…fine.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 5/24/24

Good Looks – Lived Here For A While

Alright I’m way behind and I don’t remember this album completely clearly so let’s be quick – this is a wickedly fun indie album, mostly standard indie but with some threatening shoegaze elements. I think I was just in the right mood for something like this, because it scratched an itch that I didn’t realize I had. There’s a handful of great songs here, and nearly all of them are inherently listenable. Very fun stuff!

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 6/7/24

Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown

I’m not overly familiar with Portishead, what I’ve heard I’ve liked, but it isn’t music I feel any nostalgia for personally. I’m even less familiar with solo endeavors from their singer, Beth Gibbons, who dropped her first proper solo album 33 years after the first Portishead record. It’s a gorgeous album, one that starts innocently before expanding into something grander. The cover implies a folksy affair, and at most times it is. It’s brooding chamber pop, sometimes soft but sometimes sinister, like slipping back into a nightmare. It’s also usually acoustic, but when the guitars kick in, they really kick in – some of these songs drone and shout loudly, unexpected explosions after multiple songs of slumber. It’s a gorgeous record, one of both extremes, yet often just restrained chamber pop. We expected nothing less.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/17

Oceanator – Everything Is Love and Death

I love Oceanator for the same reason I love illuminati hotties – basic, effective indie-punk. And like IH, Oceanator is much more indie than punk, just with some occasional punk flares. There isn’t much to say here, it’s another very standard but very fun record. There’s something very comforting about Elise Okusami’s music: it’s warm and inviting even as she sings about interpersonal differences. This isn’t really any different than previous Oceanator records, but hey the system still works. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 8/30/24

Aborted – Vault of Horrors

Now here’s something you don’t see every day – a death metal album with full collaborations. Every song features a different guest vocalist, so the full effect is one that’s far more unpredictable than a standard death metal release. It’s fun throughout, the songs rarely fall victim to normal death metal trappings. I will say, there isn’t really a standout song; they’re all good, but none are great. But considering how repetitive the genre can be, we’ll call it a win. Riffs, drums, screams, and massive ridiculousness, what more could you need?

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Beeef – Somebody’s Favorite

Bear with me, because there’s a few blast reviews I didn’t get to before leaving for a two-week, offline vacation. This is one and it is just no longer fresh in my brain. But, Beeef is one of Boston’s most prized groups right now, and Favorite showcases why. The band plays patient indie, nostalgic tunes about regional memories. The songs are conventionally appealing, but don’t have a forced alignment to radio structures. Some songs barely hit two minutes, some stretch past six. There’s a maturity here well beyond their goofy band name. Beeef has been great for years, and this only elevates them further. Please, check them out. This Beeef has some mustard on it.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Kal Marks – Wasteland Baby

Kal Marks are one of my favorite Boston bands, even more so than Beeef, and yet this album still obliterated my expectations. The Kal Marks wheelhouse is midtempo post-hardcore that’s very bass-y in both music and vocals. Generally, their songs are ones that are heavy and divisive, but not exactly inaccessible. Here, they branch out a bit, introducing some poppier elements and some more optimistic lyrics. There’s plenty of just heavy shit, too, though; it’s a well-rounded record. Quite frankly, it’s one of the best heavy albums I’ve heard all year, local bias or not. Nearly every song floored me in some way. If you’re into a variety of post-hardcore bands like METZ or Protomartyr, then add this one to your list. They’ve done it again. This will absolutely be one of my year-end favorites. Finally, a good album with the name “Wasteland Baby.”

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 9/13/24

Uranium Club – Infants Under the Bulb

This one came via recommendation from someone who I believed referred to it as punk; the band name and song titles certainly indicated so. It took me a few songs to really vibe with the style, which is really more post-punk than anything, but not really in the same style as other bands I’ve covered this year like Cheekface or Guppy. This band has a lot of energy and spunk, they just present it in an odd way. The talk-sung lyrics didn’t really work for me at first, but I wasn’t expecting something like it. Once I got more into it, I found some stuff to appreciate. The band has boldness and humor in their lyrics. My two favorite tracks came back-to-back, “2-600-LULLABY” and “Abandoned By The Narrator.” Stick around for the comically named “Big Guitar Jackoff In The Sky,” which aptly has some of the finest guitar work of this year. Fun stuff, but some of it is just a head-scratcher.

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Chromeo – Adult Contemporary

Another release that I jumped into blind, hell it wasn’t even really the genre I was expecting. I’ve definitely always lumped Chromeo and Chromatics together in my brain even though they’re not (particularly) similar. This was slight but ultimately fun funk music. The duo has been around a while and it’s clear this album is not meant for the youth – it’s a record about staying funky into middle age. There’s some tongue-in-cheek stuff (check the title!) but it’s also mostly played seriously. It’s very 2010’s, and it sticks to one gameplan. What starts as a fun record gets pretty played out by the midpoint, and less inspired. The duo is high-energy, but playing it very safe, which is fatal to the record’s back half. Still, throw on the first couple tracks for a quick lil dance party. We finally found the white boys bussin it down sexual style. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/16/24

MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Let’s not mince words – this was my most anticipated record of 2024. The first single off this album, “Rudolph” was one of my favorite songs of 2023. The second single, “She’s Leaving You,” is easily making my 2024 list. Lenderman’s primary band, Wednesday, handily won my Album of the Year mark in 2023. I really set my sights too high on this one, as it didn’t quite deliver, but that’s on me – it’s one of the best records of the year. Lenderman’s solo music bridges the gap between Neil Young and Kurt Vile; it’s off-the-cuff guitar playing and talk-sung vocals, with intricate and specific lyrics that detail American loneliness. Lenderman’s previous album focused on the grungier side of those artists, and this one is heavier on the Americana side. There’s enough Southern gothic here to make Flannery O’Connor happy but, predictably, there’s a lot of humor and just unpredictable references that make these stories entertaining. I don’t think Neil Young ever sang about Ferraris, Guitar Hero or the Cars film franchise. I always love specificity in lyrics even if it makes the songs less applicable – to me, it shows personality and care. Lenderman is always all about that. Only complaint here is that the energetic/somber balance is off in favor of the latter, but it’s a minor complaint. This guy is just on a different level from everyone else.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 9/6/24

Tierra Whack – WORLD WIDE WHACK

Ever since releasing a 15-song, 15-minute album, Tierra Whack has established herself as one of the more ambitious and exciting acts in rap. WWW follows the artist’s signature short songs, with only one song over three minutes here. The livelier songs that kick off both halves of the album are easily the best – namely “MS BEHAVE” and “X,” high-energy ditties that don’t settle for any conventional rap sound. Most of the songs are more template – sometimes frustratingly so, but often they’re still quite enjoyable. It isn’t Whack’s finest work, but it’s fun top-to-bottom, and it’s over as soon as it starts. 

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites

Sometimes you just need some good ol’ rock & roll. I was raised on classic rock and I will always have a deep appreciation for it. I love all of it, but the bluesy hard-rock of ZZ Top, Thin Lizzy, Foghat, etc, is music I particularly like. That’s what Sheer Mag has always done at least somewhat, and they lean way into it here. Good old guitar rock. The song “Eat It And Beat It” – an obvious play on “Hit It And Quit It” – will certainly be the best straightforward rock song I hear this year. It’s fun as hell. The best songs on the album are. There’s a lot of complacency here too, to be fair – a handful of rock songs that don’t really bring the heat and just exist. They prevent this from being an excellent album, but it is still a very good and fun one. In fact, it helps them align even more with classic rock bands – it’s all about the singles.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/1/24

Uniform – American Standard

Uniform’s first few albums were solid but I kept waiting for a breakout release. 2020’s Shame was that release, a mix of industrial guitars and guttural post-hardcore that seemed to come out of the same catacombs on that album’s cover. The band’s newest album is impossibly even bleaker, complete with a smog-heavy cover of smog-plagued rural anywhere. The band also sounds even bleaker, and stretches themselves way out of a comfort zone. That comfort zone is reasonably-lengthed songs. Side A of this record is one, 21-minute song. Side B is only three songs. By stretching their songs out, the band can hammer home the innate misery of their music. This is angry, humorless stuff, just the absolute depths of unhappiness. Uniform is not an easy band to classify musically, even harder here because they stretch into doom-metal for the first time. But this isn’t really metal, and not really post-hardcore. It exists in its own dimension, a hell dimension of some sort. This is not something that’s appealing to most people, but I love this band and they crushed my highest expectations.

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Einstürzende Neubauten – Rampen (apm: alien pop music)

This project has mostly resulted in me showing my ass a lot, and here I must do it again: I’ve listened to very little Einstürzende Neubauten in my time. It’s not like there’s little to listen to, this is the band’s 13th album in a 40-odd year career, plus tons of other releases. Although the industrial pioneers initially started by making super abrasive music, they’ve cooled off over the years. This is the only later-career album I’ve heard, and I got what I expected – mostly very chill music with an industrial background. Some of these songs stretch a bit (or fully) into ambient territory, although the better ones are more melodic. It’s never really heavy, opting instead for balanced rhythms. The opening two songs are quirky and fun, the two best on the album. There’s way too much, at 15 songs and 74 minutes, and a lot of it can feel like bloat. But, it’s a great workday record, surprising for a band that used to be so aggressive!

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/5/24

Gatecreeper – Dark Superstition

I always have trouble writing about death metal, so much of it is so similar that it can be difficult to separate bands, even if the albums are differing in quality. So excuse me when I just say – this is good ass death metal. I’ve loved Gatecreeper for a few years now, and this just rips. It’s not the most interesting Gatecreeper album, I think some previous ones have been more ambitious or exploratory. But, there’s nothing wrong with playing the basics when you’re this good at them. Sometimes, you just need the ground-pounding albums like this.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/17/24

Chick Corea & Béla Fleck – Remembrance

I am but one man who mostly loves garage rock, so I simply don’t keep up with modern jazz like I wish I could. Imagine my surprise at seeing two of my favorite jazz artists collaborating, hit immediately by the shock of remembering that the former artist has passed. This record is technically a compilation, a mix of studio songs, improvisations and live tracks, but it doesn’t feel like one. Everything is coherent and similar, and the smatterings of applause throughout signify a captive, sometimes nonexistent live audience. With Corea on piano and Fleck on banjo, you likely know what you’re going to get – and there’s a lot of it. It’s a beautiful set of collaborations, often just the two men alone, together. Very pretty and very fun music for any jazz fan.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 5/10/24

Kim Petras – Slut Pop Miami

I contain multitudes. Listening to this a day after Corea/Fleck was a whirlwind. This mini-album is both a parody of and the logical end to the 00’s pop scene, a set of short songs that are as sexually explicit as humanly possible. Gone are the metaphors, gone is even something like “If You Seek Amy,” replaced by songs like “Butt Slutt” and “Can we fuck?” On the one hand, the songs are fun, even if repetitive and simplistic. On the other hand, you have to wonder what the point is. Petras has made a name for herself in the same simple, bubblegum pop, so if this is satirical, then it starts in the wrong gate. More importantly, does this require this level of analysis? Hell, “Anal Y Sis” could be a track on this very album. It’s fun! 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 2/14/24

Kate Nash – 9 Sad Symphonies

I’ve been saying for years how unfair and unfortunate it is that Kate Nash fell out of the zeitgeist. I maintain that her previous album, 2018’s Yesterday Was Forever, is deeply underrated. Unfortunately, her comeback album just doesn’t have the juice. The indie singer has always had a flair for punk, even recording with bands like FIDLAR, but this record dilutes that energy. These are standard, template indie songs that are inherently pleasing but little else. The string-based opener feels like a red herring, but it isn’t. These tracks just don’t have the fitful spunk that set Nash apart from her contemporaries. If it were a quiet year for indie, this might be one to check out. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Grade: 6/10   Initial release date: 6/21/24

Big|Brave – A Chaos of Flowers

Big|Brave are a fascinating trio. They belong to the same circle of extreme metal like The Body and Full of Hell, and they belong to the same circle of Gothic folk like Chelsea Wolfe and Marissa Nadler. They’ve carved out a niche with practically no contemporaries. Flowers is a beautiful album, the songs are as haunting and gorgeous as the band has ever recorded. Every now and then, they remind you that they can get heavy and deeply inaccessible, but often they keep it quiet. Sometimes these songs edge on pure minimalism – the band works to hit both sides of the spectrum, and they do so very successfully. This isn’t a metal album, but it’s an album best appreciated by metal fans. A fascinating record by a fascinating band.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 4/19

Darkthrone – It Beckons Us All

Like any true metal band, Darkthrone has petered out into legacy status. Darkthrone were instrumental in the foundation of black metal, though they were just as quick to abandon it. In the years since, they’ve remained active as a duo, releasing albums meandering around concoctions of black, doom, and speed metal or even hardcore punk. This release is largely doom-metal based, although not exclusively. I’ll be honest, the first song is irritating. It’s boring doom with off-key vocals. But some of these songs rip, especially the ones that hide energy or have tempo changes. Darkthrone doesn’t really have anything to prove to anyone these days, but they’re still making solid metal records. 

Grade: 7/10   Initial release date: 4/26/24

Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk

I was hesitant to even put this on my list because the list is so clogged and I wasn’t sure I’d get around to it. But rave reviews of both professional and personal manners convinced me – and it’s fun as hell. A loaded but never bloated indie-pop record, this one is not afraid to take chances. One song might be bouncy, standard indie-pop a la Charly Bliss, the next might be jazzy indie. The duo jump into 70’s ballads and drone guitar on a whim. A curated tracklist means the more ambitious tunes elevate the more standard tunes, so they all bounce off each other rather than seem like filler. It’s nearly an hour and yet there isn’t a skippable moment. I’m not sure if I ever heard their debut album, but this sophomore release feels like a true mission statement. Don’t sleep on this one. 

Grade: 8.5/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Fontaines D.C. – Romance

The previous Fontaines D.C. records were inconsistent in how much they grabbed my attention, but they were consistent in that the songs all kinda sounded the same. The (very) Irish post-punk band has had a relatively standard sound prior to Romance. Well the book’s out the window. This record actually has a majority of songs that are ballads, but the band hits the highest energy of their career too. They rap, there’s punk, and there’s tender love tunes. The band has always sounded a little inauthentic in their emotions previously; not here. This is earnest and real from a band that has never sounded so ambitious or energized. Don’t go in expecting the high-octane energy of the singles, but do go in expecting what is easily the band’s best album to date. This will go down as a highlight in a stacked indie year. UPDATE: Shockingly, they picked up a few Grammy noms for this. Well deserved, lads.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 8/23/24

Chastity Belt – Live Laugh Love

I was a fan of Chastity Belt’s early work before the band went a little too soft for my taste. I’ll admit that I haven’t really kept up with their output but the album title and cover combo grabbed me, as did a general desire to see where the indie-punkish ladies were at. The soft-indie turn has mostly continued, although the album does offer some surprises. Early track “Funny” has an ominous drone quality, effective and unexpected. Other early tracks are fun and bouncy, but the back half suffers. Side B is mostly very uninspired, just routine indie. It’s a shame because there’s some good stuff here, but it gets very tedious. 

Grade: 6.5/10   Initial release date: 3/29/24 

Bat For Lashes – The Dream of Delphi

What a year it’s been for mature, legacy indie artists. I haven’t really kept up with BFL, but as a human with ears and a heart, I love her early albums. Delphi is in the same realm; at its best, these are dreamy and warm indie songs, almost hallucinatory. The title track – presented as both the opener and the closer with an extended version – is one of the most engaging and haunting songs I’ve heard all year. Other points on this album hit a volume so low that I had trouble even hearing anything on the train – not the ideal listening situation. Indeed, there’s a little too little here, the true structured moments are too far in between. But the great songs are great, and worth the price of admission on their own.

Grade: 7.5/10   Initial release date: 5/31/24

Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well

There’s been a few examples this year of artists I love rebounding from weaker albums (Vampire Weekend, St. Vincent, ScHoolboy Q). Add Kacey to the mix. Coming off her breathtaking and Grammy-crushing country album Golden Hour, Kacey turned to a more pop-focus for Star-Crossed, and it was, bluntly, meh. For Deeper Well, she’s gone back to the atmospheric country that made her an arena star. It’s a welcome return, as the whole here is excellent. It’s a dreamy album, the same summer-y camping vibes as before. She’ll probably never make another record as good as Hour, but that’s an immense bar to clear. This one doesn’t really have standout songs like that record did, but the full product is wonderful. She’s also shifted her lyrics into a more serious zone. So many of her previous songs coupled breezy music with lyrics about wasting time and days spent milling around. Here, she’s quitting weed and strengthening her relationships. This serves as both a sequel and companion piece to Hour. Loved it.

Grade: 8/10   Initial release date: 3/15/24

And that’s another month down! I hope you perused this and found something that sounds interesting to you – or potentially something to avoid. Check back in next month, I’ll be going over some great death metal, a couple of my favorite rap records of the year, a ton more great indie, a wild African album and, unfortunately, what’s probably my most disappointing record of the year. All that and more!

100 Best Albums of 2023: 25-1

Jump to: Songs | 100-76 | 75-51 | 50-26

I hope you’ve been doing a drumroll for four days, because it’s time: here’s my 25 perfectly ordered, objectively correct favorite albums of 2023. This has been a year of pleasant surprises, massive disappointments, and huge handful of wonderful discoveries. There are a couple big name artists on this list, and probably few surprises, but this final edition is mostly under-the-radar albums that I found myself returning over and over again. Happy new year’s folks, and here’s to another great year of music in 2024.

#25. Fucked Up – One Day

This album is suspiciously basic. Fucked Up have made careers out of universe-spanning, deeply complex and dense conceptual albums. Their last release was actually a four-disc, four-song “album” that was part of their ongoing Year of the ____ series. This album is back to basics hardcore, something they haven’t done in over a decade. It also proves that they can still put out one of the most brutal and blisteringly-intense albums of the year even with their ambition reined in 1000%. This album isn’t as good as, say, Dose Your Dreams or David Comes to Life, but its placement is a testament to how unbelievably good those heady, lengthy albums really are. The run this band has been on is unprecedented.

RIYL: Converge, Titus Andronicus, feeling angry every moment you’re awake

#24. Throat Locust – Dragged Through Glass

I’ve been going back and forth on the inclusion of this one, as it is just a 3-track demo EP. But if we’re calling it an EP, then it’s eligible for the list. There’s also little to say other than “it’s good ass death metal.” This is very standard death metal, with immaculate production and a confidence of a band that’s been doing it for decades. And they’re named after my favorite TAD song to boot. Metalheads, get this on your radar now. You heard it here first!

RIYL: Cannibal Corpse, Bolt Thrower, you know, death metal

#23. boygenius – the record

The first boygenius EP was near perfection, taking three of the brightest and best indie talents and tossing them all together. The full-length, initially a surprise but now a wildly popular release, only builds on it. There’s more diversity in the songs here, as some songs like “Satanist” and “$20” are closer to rock than you’d expect. Others, like “Not Strong Enough,” sound exactly like you’d expect a Julian Baker/Phoebe Bridgers/Lucy Dacus song to sound like. Soft, sensitive and sad. What makes boygenius work so well is that they clearly came together as friends first and musicians second. The interplay between the members is more natural than most supergroups. This could still be a one-off, but I hope we get more from the Traveling She’llburys. 

RIYL: Big Thief, Snail Mail, either being or loving a sad girl

#22. Noname – Sundial

For some reason Noname seems to have dropped off the radar. This came out in August but I only noticed in November. The reason could be, of course, her utter refusal to play by the rules of the industry. The rap icon has always worn her heart on her sleeve, unabashedly political and earnest in a way even the “political” musicians shy away from. In one key song here, she connects the dots on how superstars contribute to the country’s insultingly overinflated defense budget, namechecking Kendrick and Beyonce (and herself) for playing Coachella. On top of the refreshingly honest politics, there’s just great rhythms and raps here. These songs are quick, full and fun. It’s a short but intense rap record from someone choosing to stand alone.

RIYL: Flatbush Zombies, Clipping., getting nauseated at whatever the hell “hologram Tupac” was

#21. Black Country, New Road – Live At Bush Hall

Under normal circumstances, I would never consider a live album for a year end list, as they are collections of previous material, usually at least somewhat the artist’s best. But Black Country are never ones for normal circumstances. After dropping their first two albums in quick succession, their singer dipped. Rather than break up or hold tryouts for a replacement, they brought in a handful of guest singers and recorded a live album of entirely new material. And because this is Black Country, these songs are everything from smooth and jazzy to manic and unpredictable. The band loves to stretch themselves in every direction, ostensibly under the “alternative” banner but touching many different points. The use of multiple singers and a live setting lends a particular vibrancy to these tracks. On the DL, I didn’t care for their second album – and this one is a marked improvement! There’s something for everyone here.

RIYL: black midi, the Hold Steady, going to a classy party you’re dreading but having a surprisingly good time

#20. feeble little horse – Girl with Fish

This is the exact byproduct when you take 90’s fuzzed out alternative and channel it through today’s DIY bedroom movement. At only 26 minutes, this album looks slight. But jump in and you get a number of intricately-layered, crunchy and introspective alternative songs. They may be brief, but they are not underdeveloped. There is a painful earnestness to the vocals and lyrics of this record, which can often get buried (intentionally?) under the ceaseless distorted guitars. If you’re a sucker for 90’s grunge-adjacent sad rock, like me, then grab this one right away.

RIYL: Pavement, Hotline TNT, reading your old journal entries

#19. Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

The British funk scene is strong right now, all things considered, and the biggest standout of 2023 was Young Fathers. The group has always embraced their funky ways, but “Heavy Heavy” is a downright party. It’s a short album, and the tracks don’t stick around too long, which only adds to the ambiance. Songs come and go, occasionally feeling incomplete, like wandering through a party listening to parts of conversations. But one thing is for sure: it’s impossible to not have fun listening to this.

RIYL: Sudan Archives, Four Tet, making friends with everyone at the party (i don’t know what this one is like)

#18. Boris/Uniform – Brand New Disease

The collaborative album from Boris and Uniform brings exactly what you would expect and, perhaps more importantly, a lot of things you wouldn’t. Japanese noise institution Boris have frequently left their comfort zone, releasing straightforward rock or even jazzier albums. But NY noise upstarts Uniform – who have graced my lists before – generally stay in one noisy, angry lane. This album is bookended by harsh, bitter and grinding songs that you wouldn’t want to play at a party. But in the album’s middle is some more meandering, introspective tunes. Frankly, I wasn’t expecting it. The whole end result is a well-rounded album that doesn’t feel constrained to the walls of noise music, but takes time to revel in them gleefully nonetheless.

RIYL: The Body, Melt Banana, thinking about an interaction that made you angry and getting angry about it again

#17. Genesis Owusu – STRUGGLER

Oh man I love this one. I had the lucky opportunity to cover Genesis twice this year and let me say, this man puts on one of the most thrilling live shows you’ll ever see. The tracks on STRUGGLER are very funky, very synthy, very jazzy and still shaped around conventional rock songs. Everything feels very simple, and yet it is a mindmeld of genre fusion. And it is done completely effortlessly. For a man with very little experience under his belt, Owusu has supreme confidence in the power of his tunes. That this is also a concept album – about still finding reasons to love and cherish in the midst of an apocalypse – only adds to the strength. I have said it before: get this man on your radar.

RIYL: Talking Heads, Parliament, dancing as the bombs fall

#16. The Hirs Collective – We’re Still Here

The metal band that made their name doing albums full of 90-100 songs that are all <1:30 made a bold decision: do something a little more normal. The album clocks in at 31 minutes, less than half the length of some of their bolder works, but features their strongest production and most well-written songs to date. The band ropes in elements of grindcore and black metal into a ceaseless aural pounding. As always, they’re joined by huge name guests, like Melt Banana, Shirley Manson and Soul Glo, among others. How hard does this band go? They did a two-month tour behind the album and didn’t take a single night off.

RIYL: G.L.O.S.S., The Locust, slamdancing until you get so sweaty that your mohawk collapses

#15. 100 Gecs – 10,000 gecs

Listening to the first 100 gecs album was a humbling experience, because it was the first time I felt too old for an album. I didn’t entirely “get” it, and thought it was wildly hit-and-miss. For whatever reason though, their sophomore album clicked. From ska songs about frogs to genuine nu-metal, this album revels in everything that is uncool, thus making it cool again. These two kids have firm control over the zeitgeist, bringing old influences into brand-new hyperpop madness. Find me an album released this year more unique than this.

RIYL: Fire-Toolz, Machine Girl, every song on every machine at an arcade playing at the same time

#14. Oozing Wound – We Cater to Cowards

Oozing Wound have long been one of my favorite metal bands, with a distinct blend of rough thrash and tongue-in-cheek, pessimistic vocals. Well, this album is different, as the band takes more of a grunge approach. The tracks are slower and even rougher, with less of a focus on vocals/lyrics. And I’m a massive grunge-head, so I think I like this one *even more* than their previous albums. The new direction blindsided me, but once I adjusted I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

RIYL: Soundgarden, TAD, committing vehicular manslaughter

#13. JPEGMAFIA/Danny Brown – Scaring the Hoes

Peggy and Danny have always been masters of the same thing – rap that exists on the fringe of the mainstream, balancing the precision of radio sweetness with the ambition of pure avant-garde, and both men have allowed their solo work to swing in both directions. On their collaborative album, they simply both do what they do best: wild raps with huge beats, over the top comedy and intensely catchy rhythms. There’s a certain sense of derangement here, comedically apocalyptic. It’s fun as hell. It was only a matter of time before these two linked up, and it produced some of the finest work of both men. Check out the bonus EP they put out, which is just as great as the album. 

RIYL: Run the Jewels, Denzel Curry, the Alfred Molina scene from Boogie Nights

#12. Pile – All Fiction

I’m all in on bands messing around with genres and experimenting, but sometimes you just need some good old-fashioned rock, too. Pile does get sympathy points for being a Boston group, but their newest earns a high spot solely on songwriting. This album is full of dense and conceptual alt-rock, often lingering towards post-hardcore rather than indie. The band favors complexity over melody, which makes for a general lack of earworms, but a tremendous amount of curiosity. This is a rare mix that demands immediate replays – and not because the songs are stuck in your head. Tremendously original stuff.

RIYL: Pissed Jeans, Big Ups, knowing that you have better music taste than someone else

#11. Mandy, Indiana – i’ve seen a way

There seems to be a growing trend in music to blend genres beyond the normal definitions. Now this has always happened, of course, but there are always new avenues to explore. Mandy, Indiana – hailing from Europe – are a moody but fun group that tosses elements of dark synth and noise rock into indie. The final concoction is one of the best debut albums of the year, and one of the most eclectic albums in general. Recorded in a cave, you’ve got noisy guitars, foreboding synths and lyrics all in French. And yet it’s groovy. I can’t figure it out, maybe you can. I found them on indie radio, but I also didn’t bat an eye when one of their songs was remixed by Clipping. It’s all over the place, in serenely unpredictable chaos. 

RIYL: Sonic Youth, Savages, the general feeling of confusion

#10. Jeff Rosenstock – HELLMODE

My favorite musician, so it’s almost guaranteed he’d rank highly here. Rosenstock made his name doing immature, lonely and inebriated ska-punk songs, so with each passing year, he finds his muses further and further away. This is his prettiest record, with a number of songs softer and/or poppier than fans are used to. This is maturity, and while his lifelong themes of jealousy, loneliness and occasional fun are still present, they’re now more nuanced and diluted. But it’s also still distinctly punk – 90-second bruiser “Head” is one of the wildest songs he’s ever done. Rosenstock may have changed a lot over the years, but he’ll never be different. Perfect sound, whatever.

RIYL: Against Me!, PUP, hangovers

#9. Caroline Polachek – Desire, I Want to Turn Into You

This one got super hyped, and for good reason. Polachek took her decent previous albums and elevated every single good element, giving us an unexpected classic on impact. Polachek has been pivotal in the mainstream development of hyperpop, and this may be the first album to successfully dilute hyperpop to a broader audience while still keeping it interesting. Really, it’s just a fantastic pop album, one that bangs start to finish. It’s all bangers, all songs that are fun and wildly unique. It rocks. Chances are, you know that already.

RIYL: SOPHIE, FKA Twigs, basement raves

#8. Margo Price – Strays

With a release date of January 13th, this is the earliest entry on the list, and it sat at #1 for quite a while. Of course, a country album was always going to be a longshot to be the chart-topper here at PGMR, but I do love a good one when I hear it. Price fine-tuned every track on this album so they are all distinct and memorable songs, and most of them are bangers; there’s no getting bogged down in repetitive weepers here. Throw in some guest spots from decidedly non-country artists (Lucius, Sharon Van Etten, and Mike Campbell, guitarist for Tom Petty), and you’ve got an absolutely delightful stew of songs that really sneak up on you. The album doesn’t feel memorable at first, until you realize your feet have been tapping the whole time, and you toss it on repeat.

RIYL: Nikki Lane, Jason Isbell, havin’ a cold one on a hot night

#7. Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good!

With an album title like this, you kinda know what you’re getting into. Jessie Ware’s fifth album doesn’t reinvent the wheel, because it doesn’t need to. It’s the biggest party of the year, an album chock-full of disco-pop bangers crafted solely to make you, well, feel good. If you gave these songs to a different artist, you could very well end up with overly-produced plastic slop. But with Ware, we’re gifted by her outstanding vocals and healthy touches of soul music. These songs feel startlingly original and earnest within the confines of a genre that often disavows that. It’s simply the most fun album released all year.

RIYL: Lady Gaga, Rina Sawayama, playing that funky music, white boy

#6. Bully – Lucky For You

After the year opened with a string of disappointing albums from artists I adore, I was delighted that Alicia Bognanno released her best album yet. This compact album follows in the ways of her previous three albums, of indie rock heavily influenced by grunge and, more specifically, grunge-adjacent 90’s icons like Dino Jr. and Pavement. These songs, largely inspired by the passing of Bognanno’s dog, are despondent and jealous, and her snarl has never sounded better. Crisp production matches her best songwriting yet. A late-album pinch hit by Soccer Mommy is great, but it’s not needed – the whole album is already a distorted, melodic and depressive home run. It’s gonna make you feel like shit, but it’s so catchy that you won’t even care.

RIYL: Screaming Females, Hole, obsessively checking your ex’s social media to see that yes, they’re still doing better than you 

#5. Kelela – Raven

Something about me, possibly evident from this list, is that I always tend towards the bangers. Nine times out of ten, I’ll choose the louder and faster songs, whether that’s hardcore or bubblegum pop. Well, this is that tenth time. The R&B singer’s sophomore album is so minimalist and so fluid that it serves as one long 62 minute song cut into fifteen tracks. The album rarely moves at anything louder than a whisper, resulting in something that’s both calming and haunting at the same time, somehow. And even though there is fundamentally very little going on here, it grabs you from the opening moments and doesn’t let go. The album never wavers or falters, staying remarkably consistent across all fifteen songs. It is smooth and addictive, with positive lyrics about inclusivity within the dance music scene. It’s soft and feel-good, admittedly a nice antidote to many albums on this list.

RIYL: The Fugees, FKA Twigs, sitting inside and watching the rain

#4. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

Yeah, yeah, more Gizz. I’m fully initiated into the cult of Gizz. This album is about as ridiculous as the title implies, and they aren’t doing any favors to the naysaying crowd that for some reason thinks this band is to be taken seriously. This album – their second true metal album after Infest the Rat’s Nest – covers an extremely familiar Gizz topic: the apocalypse. In this one, the world is destroyed, and the survivors begin to praise a new god, in the form of a Gila Monster. Unlike their first metal album, which mind you was also about the apocalypse, this one is dense and slow. They’ve ditched the thrash influences that permeated both their previous metal album and some of the psych albums in favor of an old school hard rock album. It sounds similar to last year’s good-not-great album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, in that everything feels very dense and murky. There’s a full production to this. It’s the opposite of Rat’s Nest, which wasn’t even recorded with the full band. It isn’t exactly the newest ground they’re treading in this one, but there isn’t another Gizz album like it, either.

RIYL: Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, cool little lizards

#3. Model/Actriz – Dogsbody

Bands often come out of the gate hot, but this is one hell of a debut album. This band occupies the same sort of paranoid noise hellspace that Daughters vacated (because there is no jail that Alexis Marshall is worthy of being buried under). These are songs that have a certain paranoia to them, but one drawn through patient melodies. It’s not really post-hardcore, but it’s even less anything else. It’s extremely noisy and crazy while remaining even-tempoed, like the anxiety of realizing you’re bombing at an important job interview. This music is straight up stressful. Fun for the whole family!

RIYL: Daughters, black midi, accidentally perjuring yourself in a court of law

#2. Liturgy – 93696

If you’ve ever seen movies like Come and See or Ikiru or even Requiem For A Dream then you’ve probably described them as “absolutely incredible and I never wanna watch it again.” Well that same logic applies here. Liturgy, a paradoxically religious black metal band, have dropped some classic albums during their run; but the last couple have been weak, and I didn’t think they had the juice left. Well, 93696 proves otherwise, taking everything they’ve done in their career from heady and complex metal to maximalist harsh noise, and throwing it all into one 82-minute long album. It’s too much for one listen – it is two discs – as it is just too heavy, too daunting. I haven’t relistened to this one yet, and I may never. But my brain, which often forgets songs and albums the second they end, remembers this one start to finish. Thank you for reading this list, this is the single heaviest album on it.

RIYL: Deafheaven, Thou, suffering from religious trauma

#1. Wednesday – Rat Saw God

Instant classic. You may have seen my songs list, where this band took up three spots – and the guitarist took another with a solo track. This album is proving as a worthy breakthrough for the North Carolina group, which defies all classifications while remaining grounded in a grim reality. The band was already making waves in the indie underworld for their blending of country, americana and grunge into something resembling early Wilco, Drive-by Truckers, or – strictly contextually – Neil Young. Songs like “Chosen to Deserve” have a lot of country flair, while “Bull Believer” is straight grunge, the heaviest song the band has recorded to date. Lyrically, singer Karly Hartzman explores all of the lonely alleyways of America; these are songs of teenage alcoholism, domestic disturbances, loveless marriages and days spent just passing the time. There’s a specific type of American loneliness that runs rampant on this album, something that isn’t necessarily sad but just exists. It’s more flyover state, but all Americans feel it. Ten years from now, we’ll be holding this in the same regard that we hold Sonic Youth in now. 

RIYL: Neko Case, Drive-By Truckers, visiting your hometown and realizing all your childhood friends are in jail 

Thank you for reading this or, at least, thank you for scrolling to the bottom. As always, there were tons of other records I wanted to write about but didn’t have the space. Just to highlight a couple, those are: Dryad – The Abyssal Pain, an awe-inspiring metal album that blends tons of subgenres into one; The Armed – Perfect Saviors, a once-pop-metal band turned indie in an album that’s suspiciously conventional; Purling Hiss – Drag on Girard, one that initially made the list but didn’t stick in my brain enough – think a rougher Dino Jr.; The Croaks – Croakus Pokus, a wickedly fun local band that mixes all types of folk from folk-punk to straight medieval music; Death Valley Girls – Islands in the Sky, a punk group I absolutely adore that is reluctantly growing up and moving towards indie – maybe their weakest album, and still almost made the cut.

My wrists hurt. See you next year!