Well, once again, it took me way too long to complete this, so let's jump right in. It's my list of Top 20 Albums of 2024!!! And in case you missed it, here's a post with my Top 100+ Songs of 2024 with some other Odds & Sods.
A quick side note, most of the links here are YouTube links. I haven't watched a lot of these videos, but it seemed like the most agnostic way to share music as to not alienate any streaming services out there.
20. St. Vincent - All Born Screaming
St. Vincent is BACK. Her last few albums just haven’t done it for me. Sometimes it just feels like she’s being weird to be weird. This one is slick and features a lot of BANGERS - “Reckless” (stick with it, the outro sounds like NIN going pop), “Broken Man,” “Big Time Nothing.” She even makes a song about a flea sound incredible. I need to see her live again soon.
19. Fontaines D.C. - Romance
This Dublin rock outfit has been on my radar for a bit, but honestly, I’ve found the lead singer’s vocals to be a bit grating. That all changed this year with their pummeling breakout song, “Starburster.” It’s one of the most infectious songs I heard this year, part Butthole Surfers, part boxing ring entrance music, I couldn’t get enough of it this year.
There are some other great singles on it. Album opener “Romance” sets an eerie tone, “Favourite” is a much prettier number, “In the Modern World” is feels like you’re steadily floating above the modern world he sings about, and “Bug” is a more jangly perfect rock song. I read that they took some major risks on this album, inspired by Radiohead’s reinventions throughout their career. Let’s hope they keep that mindset going.
18. Scott McMicken & the Ever Expanding Sound - When It’s Happening
Dr. Dog made a surprise comeback this year with a new album and a handful of shows (it was not a tour, however). While I was glad to have them back in the mix, I far more enjoyed this solo effort from the Dog’s Scott McMicken. It’s a mellow, chill affair and a great atmospheric vibe. It sounds like a Richard Swift-produced album played through a broken speaker (that's a very good thing).
17. Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice
Mdou Moctar continues to churn out amazing Tuareg desert rock from his homeland of Niger. His latest installment offers a blend of guitar-shreddery and some ambient campfire chants. He’s one of the best and most innovative artists in this movement. You can learn more about him in this great interview that Pitchfork did earlier this year. I’d love to see him and his band just take over a Guitar Center sometime. If you like this sound, I also recommend Tinarawen and Etran de L’Air.
15. Rosali - Bite Down
This album may feature my favorite 1-2 punch (opening 2 songs) of the year. It comes out of the gates so strongly, and the guitar solo at the 2:35 mark of “Rewind” may be the most blissful moment of listening that I experienced all year. Truly transcendent (I'm sure it's intentional but the solo has shades of an old tape rewinding). Rosali’s last album set a really high bar, and I’m still not sure if this one is better than that, but it’s still a damn good listen. The David Nance Band as her backup is a collaboration that I hope goes on forever. The latter half of the album kind of drifts off at times, but there are multiple sections that allow the band to flex a bit more as well.
15. Mk.gee - Two Star and the Dream Police
I gotta give my guy Adam in Indy credit here. He was way ahead of the curve on this one. It took a long time for it to sink in. It kind of sounds like you’re hearing the band play inside the rock club while you’re standing outside of it. Or like it’s echoing up from just an inch underwater while you hover above. There are elements of this album that remind me a bit of Youth Lagoon - it features strange earworms that sound like they are coming from underwater and get stuck in your head. This dude's SNL performance was haunting and spellbinding and I can't wait to hear what he does next.
14. The Hanging Stars - On a Golden Shore
If you like the sound of a pedal steel guitar and a lot of other guitars making sweet love with said pedal steel guitar, boy is this “Americana” album for you. I used parentheses because this band is actually from North London. You wouldn’t guess it though, as they paint landscapes of a pastoral American West (hey, at one point it was western Britain!). This one scratches the same itch as some other Dead adjacent bands, as well as any Ripley Johnson project. If that’s in your wheelhouse, enjoy the landscapes of Northern London! This band should be bigger. Let’s make that happen.
13. Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
This feels like an amalgamation of all of FJM’s work to date. From the bombastic opening title track, it also takes all of his over-the-topness even more over the top. Half of the songs are longer than 6 and a half minutes. There are orchestral swells, ridiculous lyrics, funky grooves, rants, and epic apocalyptic songs - “Screamland” might be the most epic thing he’s ever done, I cannot wait to see this song live.
His previous two albums kind of lost me (Chloe… didn’t catch me at all, and I feel like I’m still unpacking the vastness of Pure Comedy since its release in 2017), but this one is a return to form and then some. It probably would have scored higher on this list had it been released before November. I know it’s going to continue to grow on me, and I’m sure the February concert in Louisville that I’ll be attending will further drive home the epicness of this album.*
*I know I used the word epic 3 times in this album review. It really is the perfect word for this album.
12. The Smile - Wall of Eyes
The Smile continued their quest of raising fears that Radiohead is dead by releasing not one, but two albums this year. The second one never really connected with me, even though it came from the same sessions. In other words, it was no Amnesiac to Kid A. The first one, however, offered an incredibly diverse array of sounds.
Its opener, the title track, is actually just an acoustic ballad when you break it down to its core, but the reverb on Thom Yorke’s voice coupled with the flourishes of sound from Jonny Greenwood take it to a special place. “Teleharmonic” sounds like it could have been at home on Amnesiac. “Read the Room” opens with a guitar intro that sounds like giant spiders crawling.
One area that I think the Smile improves over Radiohead is the drumming. Tom Skinner’s jazz and percussion background brings a new level of interesting layers to Yorke/J. Greenwood’s compositions. I think this is especially evident on “Read the Room.” While much of the song features a similar guitar riff repeated over and over, but once Skinner's drums get going, the possibilities begin to become endless.
“Friend of a Friend” is another amazingly beautiful song. I’ve heard it compared to the Beatles, which I can understand when the orchestral swells kick in. That being said, the rest of it sounds like something else to me that I can’t put my finger on. It manages to sounds familiar and foreign all at once. Additionally, this song may feature one of my favorite videos in years. It features the band setting up in a grade school to perform an impromptu performance in front of some confused, and sometimes annoyed, distracted and dismayed, students (there’s even a nose-picker at one point!). It’s a charmingly vulnerable video for artists of this stature.
They dropped “Bending Hectic” as the lead single from this album in late 2023. It's another example of Yorke/J. Greenwood trying your patience and nearly lulling you to sleep before jerking you awake with an orchestral swell (or screech) that sounds like an alarm for a pending disaster that lasts a full 28 seconds. It feels like an ode to the screaming swell at the end of the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” but doubles its length (and therefore tension).
Unlike the Beatles’ version which ends with the slamming of an E-major chord to conclude the song, the Smile’s version pays off with one of the most gnarly and epic sections of the Yorke/J. Greenwood oeuvre. It’s a brilliant send-off that sounds like a rocket ship flying out of a nuclear explosion. This could have been the soundtrack to the first atomic bomb detonation scene in Oppenheimer. I’d love to see someone mash those up. It's one of my favorite musical moments of the year.
As I look back on it, maybe I should have ranked this one higher. Still many great things ahead though...
11. Billy Strings - Highway Prayer
I’ll admit that before this album, I’ve never listened to a Billy Strings album more than a handful of times. Often, when I go to shows, I won’t know one song. And the thing is, listening to his studio albums wouldn’t always pay off live either as his sets tend to be all over the place. I’m not complaining. I actually like it that way with a lot of jam bands. It’s fun to walk in with minimal expectations beyond seeing an amazing live unit flex for a few hours. Every once in a while a song will catch you that you know.
For the above reasons, I really held off on this album as well, and that was a mistake. The oddball lead single, “Leadfoot,” as well as its accompanying video, set the tone that this would be a really fun ride. I initially took it as a more of a silly one-off, but that vibe permeates much of this entire album (many moments on this one make me chuckle).
There are serious and somber moments as well, “Gild the Lily” fits that description and is my favorite song from the album. Like a Strings show, it’s a tour de force, clocking in at nearly 75 minutes. And in a rare exception for a jam band studio album, that’s a really good thing.
10. Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
I have probably been writing some iteration of this year-end list for 20 years now. Pearl Jam, for reasons deeply tied to my youth, probably remains my favorite band ever and their concerts tend to give me the most “feels” when I see them.
The above being said, I don’t think Pearl Jam has ever made it on one of these lists for an album. The reason is pretty simple - They’ve been releasing decent albums for the last 20 years, usually with one to three really good songs, a handful of decent songs, and a few duds. This is all fine. There comes a point in a legacy act where you just hope that each album features a couple of awesome songs so they can further mix up their set, and when they get to the part of the show where they start playing the new songs that it’s not an automatic bathroom break.
After years (now decades) of getting my hopes up that that next PJ album could be the next great one, I’ve all but eliminated expectations of them dropping another truly great album. That’s why Dark Matter was such a pleasant surprise. It features all of the best components of PJ albums and songs - driving/angry rockers (“Dark Matter,” “Scared of Fear”), deep-thinking midtempo ballads (“Wreckage,” “Setting Sun,”) soaring anthems (“Waiting for Stevie,” “Won’t Tell,” “Upper Hand”), amazing tribal sounding interludes, contemplative lyrics that ride the wave of the music, and incredible send-offs that take the songs to new heights at their conclusion.
Those send-offs are accentuated by an incredible array of Mike McCready solos that range from a solo that sounds like an attacking swarm of bees (“React, Respond”) to absolute pop gem guitar vamps that will take you straight back to the bliss of the end of “Better Man” or "Alive" (“Upper Hand,” “Waiting for Stevie,” “Won’t Tell”).
Vedder’s lyrics and vocals are as good as ever as well. The lyrics to songs like “Wreckage” and “Setting Sun” are those of a survivor - a survivor of trauma, the last man standing from the “grunge” era, and a survivor of rock ‘n’ roll. His vocals incredibly soar to the highest of heights as well. At this point in his career, it might be easier to keep it in the midrange and not push himself to the upper reaches of the stratosphere, but he continues to reach for new heights. With his background as a surfer, I have long thought of his melodies as surfing on top of songs, gliding along to squeeze the most out of each and every wave. This album features some of the very best of those moments.
With a band that's been around this long, it's nearly impossible to evaluate the present without looking to the past. I've just done that here. The relevance is certainly much more limited than it once was, and I know that this album isn’t going to convert many non-PJ fans. But for those Faithful who have been waiting for their next great album for a couple of decades, it has finally arrived.
9. Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past is Still Alive
I discovered long ago some of my favorite music is music that has a certain amount of yearning to it. I honestly don’t know what a lot of songs on this album are about, but there is an absolute yearning to it. I know there’s a much bigger story here, for the artist and the album. However, every time I put this album on, I enjoy listening to it so much that I don’t even bother doing further research. It feels like a cross-country trek, but I can’t tell if it’s running towards or away from something, and that ambiguity is somehow comforting. It sounds like a cross-country trek with a headful of questions, with an eye for adventure, and the wisdom to know your way.
8. Friko - Where We've Been, Where We Go from Here
This is one of my favorite debut albums of the last few years. In reviews of the album, I saw this band compared to bands like Wolf Parade or Bright Eyes, or any peak 2000’s indie band. I’ve also seen a couple of pre-Ok Computer Radiohead comparisons, which I like as well.
Interestingly (though for obvious reasons), no one compared them to the bleeding-heart anthem band that they remind me of the most. I’ll refrain from doing so here as well, but let’s just say that they help fill the Arcade Fire-shaped hole in my heart. It's an amazing rock 'n' roll debut album and while the songs vary greatly, there's not really a miss on it.
8. Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
This album was a “grower, not a show-er.” The early singles were good, but not mind-blowing. I didn’t get really excited about this album until the final pre-release single, “Mary Boone,” dropped. I’m honestly convinced that if this song had been the first single, this entire album would have been received differently (it also didn’t help that this song landed in the 8 slot on the album). It’s hard to compete with the sonic landscapes of previous releases like “Harmony Hall” or “Step,” but “Mary Boone” does just that. It goes from a ballad to a hip hop beat,* to a children’s choir. How many bands could pull that off?
Back to my original point, this album gets better with every listen and has multiple standouts. Even the original singles grew on me a lot after hearing them in the context of the album a few times. The album closer, “Hope,” is a damn perfect song. It steadily marches along, building in sound (and HOPE!) as it goes. This album isn’t their best (that still belongs to the previous album of the year, Modern Vampires of the City), but it’s still close to a masterpiece.
As a side note, I caught VW live this summer and as I took in their fun and positive vibe coupled with the sophistication of their sound, I thought to myself, “Wow, this band has ascended to a more fun Wilco.” My praise can’t get much higher than that.
* Or maybe a Primitive Radio Gods beat? I always think of that song when the beat drops on “Mary Boone.”
6. Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
I’ve often described epic albums as “a world to get lost in” (the War on Drugs’ Lost in the Dream comes to mind). This album is an entire universe to get lost in. Good luck finding that universe though. Until recently, the only way to access this album was via a YouTube stream or a cryptic download from a website. While it’s still not streaming, a vinyl release has been announced for 2025.
This release method kept me from being able to add any songs from the album to my Top Songs list this year, but that might be just as well. I couldn’t tell you the name of one song on this album. It’s more of a piece that you just dive into. Put it on for a lazy weekend morning and just let it carry you away. There are elements of 60’s doo-wop, as well as circa-2010 indie soundscapes (I hear elements of Foxygen’s 2013 album, We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic in there, and a few other albums from that era). This album was released in March, and I’ve been listening to it regularly since then, but in many ways, it’s still unfurling for me.
5. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
While this album didn't quite reach the heights of its predecessor, Saint Cloud (which received Album of the Year from me the year it was released), it comes damn close. Saint Cloud had about two more songs on it that got stuck in my head all year than this one does, but it's nearly every bit as good. It features an indie/Americana all-star cast - Phil Cook (member of Bon Iver's previous band and Megafaun and producer of Saint Cloud, and albums by Kevin Morby, Nathanial Rateliff, War on Drugs, William Tyler and countless other albums/collaborations), MJ Lenderman, Spencer Tweedy and more. It's a sound that fits squarely in my wheelhouse.
The high mark is the duet with MJ Lenderman, "Right Back to It" which features him on harmonies and lead guitar, a perfect amalgamation of these two comet-hot artists. Other highlights include "Evil Spawn," "Ice Cold," "Bored," and the title track. I was fortunate to catch the album release show at the Empty Bottle in Chicago for this one. It was an electric environment, and I couldn't help thinking to myself, "I'll probably never see her in a venue this small again."
4. Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers
Sierra Ferrell has seen some shit. She has overdosed five times, spent many years homeless while train-hopping between New Orleans, Chicago, and Seattle (here’s a clip of her busking in New Orleans 10 years ago), and more recently has released two of the best Americana albums ever. I first heard the alternate version of one of her singles, "Silver Dollar," was the first thing to catch, then our friends James and Marjan took us to a show that featured many of these songs before they were released. I was hooked.
Her latest is an incredible blend of folk, Americana, and bluegrass, with Ferrell writing or cowriting almost every song. It plays like the soundtrack to one of her cross-country train rides. The album opens with my Song of the Year, “American Dreaming,” a yearning song that builds to an epic climax. It serves as a soundtrack for her road-weary travels, but the refrain of the chorus - “I’m American dreamin’, but I can’t seem to get no rest” - could serve as a soundtrack for any over-worked, over-stimulated, over-it, American working that grind today.
“Dollar Bill Bar” is a lilting fun number that’s an earworm for days (“I Can Drive You Crazy” may drive you crazy as it’s even more ear-wormy). The captivating “Fox Hunt” is an amazing assault of fiddles and voices harmonizing on a frantic run. “I Wish You Well” is one of the best and wisest songs about a lover who did you wrong that you’ll ever hear. There’s not a miss on this album. It’s a masterpiece after an enduring road to get there.
3. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
After MJ Lenderman’s previous album where to made a lot of sports references, including another MJ’s “flu game,” and a dig about Dan Marino, I must admit that I was a bit nervous about the new album’s title. Does he know something about the Manning family that I don’t?? Fortunately, the album title has nothing to do with them.
While this one lacks the fun sports references of his last album, he continues to have a knack for taking seemingly mundane topics and scenes and tying them to much heavier and deeper topics. He’s one of the few artists who can infuse humor into his lyrics as well (sarcastic lines like “I’ve got a houseboat docked at the Himbo Dome” will forever crack me up).
He was coming off of a breakup with a Wednesday bandmate (his other band) when he recorded this one, and the themes are heavier than previous efforts. He's so good at taking seemingly mundane and funny topics in the verses, and driving them home with a universal truth on the chorus or send-off. It really sneaks up on you at times.
Beyond that, his guitar playing is so tasty and tasteful (there is a difference, in my mind at least). I love his tone, his perfectly tasteful solos, and just...everything he does on the guitar, on this album and everywhere else (more on that later).
2. Jack White - No Name
Good Lord, I didn’t think an album like this could happen. From the moment he secretly dropped this album into random shoppers’ bags at his record store and encouraged them to leak it, I’ve been obsessed with this album. It jumps right out of the gates with one of the best anthems of the year (and his entire catalog). That being said, I’ve thought about it, and every song on this album is so good that it could have opened the album. It's just that damn good.
Beyond this album, Jack White remains the Willy Wonka of Rock ‘n’ Roll. As mentioned, some fans were lucky enough to get the golden ticket of receiving this album in his store for free before it was even released. He encouraged those lucky winners to rip it and share it online. He then embarked on a tour across the US where he only announced each date a few days before the show. It was basically a rock ‘n’ roll traveling circus, with only the luckiest getting in the tent. White may be one of the last bastions of rock ‘n’ roll, but I can’t think of a better representative to keep the fire burning (sorry, Oasis).
1. Johnny Blue Skies - Passage Du Desir
This album came out of the gates with a ton of hype, a ton of perfect or near-perfect reviews, and I was having trouble wrapping my head around it. By my original assessment, this was Sturgill’s third-best album, behind Metamodern Sounds and Sailor’s Guid. That assessment still may not have changed, but that’s more of a testament to Sturgill’s incredible output than it is a knock on this album (obviously, based on where this album landed on my list!).
The contrarian in me (Sturgill should be proud), wanted to write a dog shit review of this album just to go against the grain. I had quite a few quips written about (almost) each song in my mind.
Swamp of Sadness - Oh so the album everyone is rating higher than any other Sturgill album features the third-best opening track in his catalog??? (This is still true by the way, see the aforementioned albums and their respective openers).
If the Sun Never Rises Again - Great. Because the world needs more John #$%&ing Mayer yacht rock. Is this Sturgill’s attempt at replacing John Mayer in the Dead, or is he just trying to sound like him? If it's the former, I’d actually be ok with that.
Scooter Blues - Great. Now he’s trying to be the Jimmy Buffett of the Indian Ocean.
Jupiter’s Faerie - I could not come up with anything negative about this song. It’s so soul-crushing that I want to hear Adele cover it. Holy wow, just perfection. I do kind of wish that it would get to the first chorus a bit more quickly, but that’s being very nitpicky.
Who I Am - Does this guy really claim that Waylon isn’t an influence? This is the most Waylon-sounding non-Waylon song I’ve ever heard.
Right Kind of Dream - This sounds like an underproduced Arcade Fire song with a pedal steel guitar thrown on top of it.
Mint Tea - What is this, an ode to toxic masculinity??
One for the Road - This is another one that's hard to poke holes in. I wanted to make a divorce joke, but that wouldn't even be true, so we're just going to say that this song is really damn good as well.
Yet, despite these contrarian thoughts (it really just became a fun game after a while), I kept listening. And listening. And listening. My favorite current rock critic, Steven Hyden wrote that it’s his best patio listening album (it is), so I listened to it on the patio. I listened on my commutes, at the gym, with my wife Liz (it ended up being her album of the year as well, and she's the furthest thing from a country fan), and it continued to grow. I’ve never had a single album represent all Top 5 songs on my Spotify Wrapped list, but it happened this year and they were all from this album.
I ate all of those contrarian words (but not before putting them down here!). As it grew, it became this larger, cohesive thing. It’s not as cohesive as A Sailor’s Guide but it's cohesive in a more complex way. Where Sailor’s Guide had a straightforward theme of an album to his son, this one wrestles with much more prickly and complex emotions. It’s not written and performed by a perfect man, but it’s a man on an endless journey. There may be more questions than answers, but he continues to seek.
Like a modern-day Odysseus, his journey may take him from the hills of Kentucky, around the world on a Navy ship, to Utah to work on trains, to the Mecca of country music (Nashville) only to turn his back on it, to Detroit for a blazing rock 'n' roll album, to a foray into roots and bluegrass, to Paris, to Thailand, and across America on a barn-burning tour that featured 3-hour-plus non-stop sets. He may never be content. He may never have the answers he seeks, but maybe the seeking is the ultimate answer (authenticity helps too, and this dude just drips authenticity).
Finally, if this man's journey comes near your town, go see him and his band. I’ve probably seen 1,000 bands’ sets, and the Lexington show from this tour was an instant Top-10er.
Alright, good night, and good luck. See you next year! It should be a great one!*
*Thanks for this link, Rehn Man!
