5. No Obligation by the Linda Lindas
OK – I promise to take a break from pushing the red-hot quarter from SoCal. At least until their next album comes out. Now that the oldest Linda – Bela Salazar – has graduated high school, perhaps that next album will come fast. Then again, drummer Mila de la Garcia just started her own high school career, so perhaps single-minded attention to the band may have to wait a bit.
The Lindas have been a thing for several years now. The raging punk screed “Racist Sexist Boy” introduced them to the world, and they have proven that they have a lot more in their arsenal than one viral moment. On their second album, bassist Eloise Wong is still channeling the best of the classic punk bands they grew up with on the scorching title track.
And guitarist Lucia de la Garcia (Mila’s older sister) is still writing and singing shimmering pop rock like “All in My Head.” Their lyrical concerns have grown as the performers have. No Obligation is constantly exploring a young woman’s place in the world, especially on Salazar tracks like “Resolution/Revolution” and the martial “Yo Me Estreso,” with an almost invisible assist from Weird Al Yankovic’s accordion.
4. Stampede by Orville Peck
Peck, the mysterious South African with a deep baritone and an affinity for classic American country music, put out a duets album in 2024. Duets are popular concept albums in the world of country. Whether it's Dolly Parton sweetening Porter Wagoner or Emmylou Harris joining Graham Parsons, when the chemistry is right, the results are magic. John Prine did two albums of duets with an assortment of female singers that focused on the melodrama of romance.
Peck gathers together an extraordinary range of icons to sing a wide range of songs on his duets project. There’s Willie Nelson on the Brokeback Mountain-ish “Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other.” There’s Elton John helping to recreate his own “Saturday Night’s All Right for Fighting.” He also has Beck along to recreate his “Death Valley High.”
And it never lets up. Molly Tuttle, Nathaniel Ratliff, Teddy Swims, TJ Osborne, Kylie Minogue, and Diplo… key artists from alt-country and beyond all drop in. He does a lot of clever covers but also can do powerful originals, such as “Where Are We Now” with Mickey Guyton. And there’s the undeniable genius of Margo Price pairing with Peck on her own “You’re an A**hole, I Can’t Stand You (and I Want a Divorce). Fifteen duets (or trios, etc,…), and every one of them a winner.
3. I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy
It’s not as if the punk rockers from Philly haven’t put out powerful music up til now. But I Got Heaven blows the doors of rock music in 2024. It is the best pure rocker of the year and one of the best this decade. Marisa Dabice’s passion explodes through the opening title track. “Loud Bark” seesaws between sweetness and violence, which becomes a hallmark of the entire album.
“Ok? Ok! OK? OK!” plows through everything in its way, like the Waitresses on Adderall and Southern Comfort. “Of Her” and “Aching” are no less violently addictive. But they can vary the attack on absolutely gorgeous dream pop like “I Don’t Know You” and “Split Me Open.” It’s a fully mature, dynamic album.
2. Trail of Flowers by Sierra Ferrell
Ferrell is probably best considered as a progressive bluegrass artist. She certainly dives deep into bluegrass traditions on her epic Trail of Flowers. But her songs and her sound go well beyond that. “American Dreaming” introduces an album that will explore a range of personal subjects.
OK – I admit it. Ferrell’s album might be called introspective, and it is nonetheless fabulous. Because when you offer lovely, deeply-realized meditations like “Wish You Well” alongside breezy rockers about loves gained and lost like “Dollar Bill Bar,” introspection actually becomes a very good thing. She’s also got the ultra-cool voodoo blues of “Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County,” and the perfect throwback rockabilly of “Why Haven’t You Loved Me Yet.” There’s plenty of fiddle, there’s plenty of mountain music, and there are a lot of great stories told on Trail of Flowers.
1. Brat by Charli XCX
Brat didn’t just rule the dance charts in the Summer of 2024. It became a soundtrack that moved beyond the clubs. That doesn’t mean it’s a great album. Albums can catch cultural waves. Brat is the best album of 2024 because it pushes out 40+ minutes of propulsive sound that never sounds derivative, even though it clearly is inspired by a lot of what has come before. “Club Classics” updates what Ke$ha was doing before the dollar sign became an “S.” “360” and “Apple” don't break new ground, but they are perfect dance-pop tracks.
Where Charli separates herself from the dance-pop that has come before is through the towering heartbreak of “I Might Say Something Stupid.” Her lyric “I look perfect for the background” is as poignant as dance-pop has ever been. She builds on that vibe with “So I.” But Charli is never too far removed from a dance banger. There is the utterly hypnotic “B2B,” the insistent mashup of EDM, and neo-soul on “Sympathy is a Knife.” Long story short – fast or slow, looking inward or outward, there’s no weak track.
Therefore, no offense to Oxford University Press or Merriam-Webster, but I’m going to Collins’ word of the year – “Brat.”