Oxford University Press named “brain rot” the word of the year for 2024. That looks like two words to me, but I’m not a linguist. Merriam-Webster did manage to confine itself to one word – “polarization.” Now, if, like me, you spend a lot of your time reading music reviews, you can be forgiven if you just assumed the word of 2024 was “introspective.”
Yep, lots of 2024 music was apparently introspective. That isn’t much of a surprise. Introspection has had a major place at the table since the pandemic forced everybody, well, inside. It seems that with major wars in full effect, political (dare I say) polarization running rampant, and, you know, general brain rot, artists are looking inside more than ever.
I should probably mention – before moving on to my own personal choices for the thirty best albums of 2024 – that I .. hate.. introspection.
Ranking the 30 best albums of 2024
That may be an overstatement. Hell, I never miss a Jason Isbell show and he’s nothing if not introspective. But Isbell does it in an expansive way that lets listeners inside his pain without becoming painful itself. It’s the old dramatic saw about how you can show boring without being boring. I found a lot of 2024’s most introspective music inveterate navel-gazing. I don’t deny that some of it was compelling, but too much of it made me work too hard to crack its inscrutable veneer.
But an interesting thing happened amid all that inward pull. Under the surface, some really outstanding modern rock & roll bubbled up. While some older genres like hip hop and metal continued their search for relevance in late middle age, the oldest modern genre of them all was finding an eighth or ninth wind.
That’s not to say that mainstream pop, or country, and even the aforementioned hip-hop and metal left completely barren fields. There always is good music floating around out there if you go looking. The trick is finding it amid the din. That’s why I’m here today. To silence the din.
The following list is certainly not obscure. It may have some obscure inclusions, but it also has heavy hitters. It has a lot of genres. It has veterans. It has newbies. In very broad terms, I think 2024 was a year of great depth. As much as I love the handful of albums at the top of this list, I’m not sure they are as good as, say, the top five in any of the past few years.
But I balance that with the fact that numbers 26-30 are probably stronger than their counterparts in the recent past. That made choosing thirty albums and then ranking them a bit of a challenge. But it was also great fun because each of these – even the introspective ones – has so much fine music to offer. And with that, let us begin…
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30. State Champs by State Champs
SPOILER ALERT: State Champs is the first of two pop punk bands on this list that chose to release a self-titled album as their fifth full album. What are the odds? I sometimes wonder if doing a self-titled album that far into your history suggests a newfound confidence. But TBH, I don’t wonder about it for very long.
With State Champs, you don’t have to wonder. There’s too much high-powered pop-punk to enjoy. On radio-friendly “Silver Cloud,” they wonder out loud “Can we get back to basics somehow?” And that is a good description of the album and maybe of the year as a whole. The peppy echo on “Too Late to Say” or the pounding rhythm guitar on the sweetly emo “Golden Years” does sound an awful lot like 1994. But when you do it well, there’s nothing wrong with that. Their collaboration with Slope on “Save Face Story” does help vary the attack a little bit.
29. This Could Be Texas by English Teacher
The British rockers English Teacher hit big with their debut album This Could Be Texas. The slow-burn opener “Albatross” hints at the shimmering pop that vocalist Lily Fontaine can deliver. They follow that up with the more driven pulse of “The World’s Biggest Paving Stone,” while holding onto that lovely pop attitude.
Even in jagged exercises like “I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying,” English Teacher maintains a hooky melodic sensibility that can entertain on the dance floor or while chilling on the couch equally well. Nicholas Eden’s bass steps forward as you might expect on a track called “R&B.” And it takes a unique vision to reference Shelley and Byron in a swirling sea of romance and name the song “Sideboob.”
28. Pinball by MIKE & Tony Seltzer
Tony Seltzer and MIKE are that rare mix that works almost in spite of themselves. MIKE’s gruff baritone delivery somehow nestles quite nicely inside some sparkling orchestrations. There’s always a percolating trap snare pulling the track forward no matter what direction the rapper or producer sets off in.
The low-key momentum of “100 Gecs” sucks you in and sets up the dense mashup with Earl Sweatshirt and Tony Shhnow “On God.” Later, MIKE does his own “R&B,” which has positively nothing to do with the English Teacher song mentioned above. That song is an ideal representation of the MIKE/Seltzer magic.
It comes off as woozy and intoxicating and it is not until you start paying attention that you hear a clever, incisive lyricist hiding in plain sight. Jay Critch and relative newcomer Niontay show up on other tracks – plugging nicely into MIKE’s vibe while offering another color or two.
27. Spiral on a Straight Line by Touche Amore
The L.A. rockers' sixth album sounds like a lot of the best SST bands that made post-hardcore punk such a thriving genre back in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Album opener “Nobody’s” could have been a pre-Henry Rollins Black Flag tune, while the follow-up, “Disasters” could have come from Rollins himself. “Hal Ashby” edges out Angry Blackmen’s “Stanley Kubrick” for the best song of 2024 named for a director from fifty years ago.
Jeremy Bolm screams his way through a number of high-energy rockers until they throw in a couple of surprises toward the end. First, there’s the classic lo-fi sound of “Subversion (Brand New Love)” courtesy of a collaboration with lo-fi hero Lou Barlow. Then, to close things out, Touche Amore teams up with Julien Baker on the rough/sweet “Goodbye For Now.” Baker has worked with Bolm before but takes a more prominent role here, coming in on cue after Bolm shouts “But my voice is shot and you’re too high above my range.”
26. Cool World by Chat Pile
It can seem hard for new metal bands to break out in a field where death and dark metal have pushed the boundaries so far into ultra-energy power shrieking. Cool World, the Oklahoma band’s second album, can match massive drums and guttural shouting with the noisiest of noise metal. “I Am Dog Now,” “Shame,” and “Funny Man” are stand-outs that grind away without ever becoming redundant.
“Masc” takes things in a bit of a different direction – kind of a speed grunge that may not exactly be unique but is just more interesting than most others trying to find nuance within modern metal. “Milk of Human Kindness” accomplishes something similar but abandons the speed for something that kind of sounds like the doom grunge of Windhand.
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25. Deep Sage by Gouge Away
It took six years for Florida hardcore punk rocker Gouge Away to release their third album. Christina Michelle gets things started fast screaming out the refrain of opener “Stuck in a Dream” off the hammering twin guitars of Dylan Downey and Mick Forward. “Maybe Blue” fuzzes things up a bit but maintains the raw energy Gouge Away is best known for. The band may cite Nirvana and the Pixies as inspirations, but on “Maybe Blue,” it’s hard to imagine they are not channeling early hardcore bands like the Slits as well.
The Nirvana link is clear on the grungy closer “Dallas,” which shows Gouge’s ability to be both melodious and messy at the same time. Gouge is one of many bands who saw some early momentum stunted by the pandemic. With Deep Sage, they show that unlike so many that fell by the wayside, they are resilient, and have a lot more to say.
24. Deeper Well by Kacey Musgraves
Kacey Musgraves is still being classified as a country artist, and that has led to some trouble in evaluating her recent work. To be sure, country touches remain in some of the tracks on her sixth album, Deeper Well. But this is a singer-songwriter/pop album. There is nothing remotely related to country music on the album opener “Cardinal” apart from Musgraves’ name. It is just a lovely, slow-burn pop song. Taken as such, the song, like the entire album, is a delight.
The title track is much closer to Musgraves' brand of country, although it’s really just a sweet melody more aligned with the folk-pop of Brandi Carlile than something from Lainey Wilson or Megan Moroney. Whatever you call it, Musgraves remains a writer of great detail and a singer whose soft voice can’t hide a steely interior that takes hard looks, life, and love. The wistfully poignant “Dinner with Friends” may come the closest to country, and that’s largely because it references Texas. “The Architect” is simply a beautiful song and sentiment regardless of genre.
23. Weird Faith by Maddy Diaz
Maddy Diaz has the rare ability to sing sweet, melodious songs without ever sounding the least bit saccharine. It’s evident from the opening track, “Same Risk” which examines the pitfalls of a new relationship through the closer “Obsessive Thoughts,” a trundling rocker that builds in surprising ways.
In between, there is the insanely sweet pop of “Everything Almost” and a piano ballad (“Hurting You”) that is far tougher-minded than similar fare from other young singer-songwriters. She even teams up with Kacey Musgraves for another strong ballad, “Don’t Do Me Good.” Her strong – dare I say – introspective songwriting skills are on full display in “Kiss the Wall,” a somber yet hopeful meditation of small things that make up small lives, and yet, as she constantly reminds us ‘’nothing is a waste of time.”
22. King of the Mischievous South, Vol 2 by Denzell Curry
It may seem strange to lament stagnation within mainstream hip-hop and then suggest a mixtape-style throwback to an album more than a decade old is among the best hip-hop albums of the year. But that’s part of the magic of Denzell Curry, and it just proves that artistry transcends labels. Besides, even if this revisiting of the King mixtape recalls the past, Curry has never really been one to chase popular trends. He usually manages to sound authentic.
The new King of the Mischievous South album/tape is a big, wide-ranging project, bringing in many of the very best of southern rappers, from the intro featuring Memphis’ Kingpin Skinny Pimp to the likes of 2 Chainz and Kenny Mason. Of course, he doesn’t restrict himself to Southern support. He has lots of friends helping out – the main requirement seems to be having a unique voice.
Curry slides effortlessly from one entrancing track to another. It can be in your face and intense, like “G’Z UP,” with 2 Chainz and Mike Dimes, or it can be downright sweet, like “Cole Pimp,” which features help from Ty Dolla Sign and Juicy J. Or he can still just deliver a simple freestyle like “Black Flag Freestyle” and sound more interesting than almost everyone else out there.
21. The Collective by Kim Gordon
For fans of guitar-based post-punk, no album in 2024 was more satisfying than Kim Gordon’s second solo album. The legendary bass player from Sonic Youth turned 70 in 2023, but her sense of creative noise was not diminished in the least. Her distorted guitar on “Bye Bye” kicks things off in high gear. Then she goes even further on the hypnotic "The Candy House." All of the tracks, primarily written by producer Justin Raisen with lyrics coming from Gordon, maintain that same sense of high drama.
Gordon’s songs aren’t melodious but they are always engaging. The gloriously sludgy, in-your-face “I’m a Man” and cacophonous “Tree House” somehow manage to stay hummable despite having virtually nothing that can be even remotely called a tune. That was part of the beauty of Sonic Youth and if anything, Gordon makes it even more palatable without dimming the noise at all.
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20. Fine Ho, Stay by Flo Milli
Flo Milli begins her second album on a much harder edge, recalling some ’90’s style hardcore bragging. She toughens her delivery and delivers a crackling "Understand." Then she is back to her more playful persona on “New Me.” No one in contemporary hip hop can make vulgarity and raunch sound as sweet and pretty as Flo Milli. Her delivery remains engaging throughout.
By the time she gets to the centerpiece – a new version of her hit “Never Lose Me,” with support from both SZA and Cardi B – you have to be sold. Flo Milli can make aggressive dis tracks sound like gorgeous pop or can make romantic pop sound edgy as hell. There may be a type of song she can’t pull off, but if so, I haven’t heard it yet. As good as “Never Lose Me” is, I find myself returning to the immersive “Can’t Stay Mad” even more often.
19. New Heaven by Inter Arma
This title track from Richmond’s Inter Arma’s sixth studio album is so disorienting that you may wonder exactly what brand of metal you are listening to. There are machine-gun drums and growling, snarling vocals, but there are also wild, experimental guitar runs and various other sounds that seem to leak in from nowhere. “Violet Seizures” and “Desolation’s Harp” are both titanic grindcore tracks that never fail to reach for unexpected progressions.
That is true of the album overall. The theatrically gothic “Gardens in the Dark” is begging to be the soundtrack to a new remake of some old horror franchise. And the portentous closing track “Forest Service Road Blues” could have been a Dire Straits song if Mark Knopfler were possessed of a deep southern drawl – or perhaps was just possessed. It even has a fiddle, sounding as mournful as a fiddle ever did.
18. Split by Dancer & Whisper Hiss
Dancer is a peppy dance band from Glasgow. Whisper Hiss plays spiky dream pop from their home base in Portland, Oregon. If you use some fuzzy math, Athens, Georgia kind of forms the point of a triangle between the two. And so it was that HHBTM Records in Athens put together an album featuring six songs from each band. Usually, such experiments are kind of hit and miss. For some glorious reason, this one was all hit.
The discoey pulse of “Priority Girl” matches the energetic grunge of “Fawn.” Dancer can do a nice Talking Heads on “Gig Economy” while Whisper Hiss fuzzes up a Shangri-Las vibe on “Never Again.” Gemma Fleet, the lead singer of Dancer, has the style. Whisper Hiss’s Rhiannon Flowers has the power. I’m not sure why it works, but HHBTM’s Mike Turner saw it, and that’s why he’s running a cool record label. In his notes about the two bands, he compares them both to Athens’ legends Pylon and if you’re making people think of Pylon, you rate high in the world of indie rock.
17. Funeral for Justice by Mdou Moctar
Sometimes, you just need to hear some kick-ass guitar-based rock & roll. When Mdou Moctar does it, you know you’ll get a lot more than that, with incisive commentary on whatever is going on in the world. But even if you don’t understand the Tamasheq language he mostly sings in, you know you are hearing urgent music.
The title track from Funeral for Justice is a searing guitar track. He follows it with some all-encompassing Southern blues. Of course, being provincial, I am translating this into my North American reference points. Moctar’s music is primarily inspired by desert blues, the hybrid blend of rock and blues with the Tuareg music of his native Nigeria.
That’s how he ends up with the fabulous guitar workout “Oh France,” which places its inventive electric guitar inside a propulsive tribal rhythm. Moctar has what appears to be an acoustic version of Funeral… due out this February, and if the early cuts are any indication, it is going to be a strong contender for Best-Of lists a year from now.
16. Cowboy Carter by Beyonce
I’m not going to tell you anything about Cowboy Carter that you don’t already know. It’s a great album, but then, we have come to expect that from Beyonce. It is a genuine country album in the same way Ray Charles’ New Sounds in Country and Western Music was written more than sixty years ago. Some battles rage for a long, long time.
Forget the “statement” that she may or may not be making about which artists are permitted to do which styles. You’re left with many great tracks. “American Requiem” brings more rock, blues, and gospel sounds to the mix than we might expect. We might not expect to hear a cover of the Beatles “Blackbird.” If she offered an exclusive mix of songs like that, maybe the argument over the authenticity of it as a country album could get traction.
But beginning with “16 Carriages,” we are in the country, and it’s a consistently involving, surprising place to be. Later, we get a radio skit with Willie Nelson setting up the most obvious country-pop on the album, “Texas Hold ‘Em.” Dolly Parton introduces the slinky, blues-drenched “Jolene.” Dolly will sing later on, as will Willie. And Miley. And Post Malone. And Shaboozey.
Of course, none of that guarantees the album will kill. Beyonce’s presence mostly takes care of that. I think it’s finally going to get Beyonce her Album of the Year Grammy this year, though that will have at least a little bit to do with politics. My only complaint – and it’s a minor one – is that across 80 minutes and 27 tracks (some of which are spoken word skits), the album occasionally lags. Maybe trimming it back a bit would have made it stronger. But scaling back isn’t exactly in this performer’s DNA.
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15. Toxic by Yours Truly
The minimalist punk trio from Sydney released their second album this year. Mikaela Delgado lays out their concerns in the high-powered opener “Back 2 U.” How do we go forward when doom and gloom is all around? “Sour” is an even more dynamic and angry exploration of that theme. “California Sober” is drenched in distortion that brilliantly manifests the relative degrees of what passes for “sober.”
Fellow Aussies Bloom gives a metalcore edge to “Sinking.” And even when they soften the sound, on the acoustic “Love Feels Like” or the downright romantic “Call My Name,” there is always a spiky, jittery energy that makes Yours Truly immediate. Late in the year, they released a stone-cold killer pop-punk single, “Love Bombs,” a collab with another Aussie punk band, BESTIES.
14. No Name by Jack White
No Name is the closest Jack White has come to the White Stripes since that iconic pairing split up more than a decade ago. “Old Scratch Blues” sets the tone immediately. There will be strong, guitar-driven blues alongside hooky melodies. “Bless Yourself” has more punk bludgeoning while “That’s How I’m Feeling” is far slinkier. But it all still remains powerhouse guitar and earworm melody.
The Titanic “Archbishop Harold Holmes” is a tongue-in-cheek, fire-and-brimstone sermon about the power of love. White can ricochet from bluesy to bouncy, and he usually manages to find a happy medium. Of course, there is no guarantee that whatever White does next will sound anything like No Name. That’s part of his charm. But it’s hard not to simply wish he’d do about ten more albums just like this one.
13. Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay
It’s hard to classify Magdalena Bay. In the same way that I’m pretty sure “Imaginel” isn’t a real world, their second album, Imaginal Disk, can sometimes sound like a made-up world with logic that we’ll never understand. A little less gonzo and silly than 100 gecs, Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin create both atmosphere and melody. There are major nods to disco-inspired pop hits in synth-drenched hits-in-the-making like “Death & Romance” or the dreamier “Image.”
The quirkiness of Magdalena Bay shows up most of all on “Vampire in the Corner,” which could be the photo negative of Butthole Surfers’ “Creep in the Cellar.” There is a spacy, other-worldly substructure that holds up a concept album, but TBH, I pay no attention to the concept. I just listen to the all-immersive music.
12. Box for Buddy, Box for Star by This is Lorelei
When you’re being judged in a group, you never want to go first. Well, when I sat down to review my long list of albums for this list, Nate Amos’ first solo album was the first thing I listened to. And one half of Water From Eyes was so endlessly inventive and tuneful in his This is Lorelei persona that the album held its place against almost all comers. I was immediately struck by the gentle country opener “Angel’s Eyes.” Then he instantly starts shifting gears, diving into R&B, trip beats, and pure pop. “I’m All F**ked Up” would be a simply inescapable radio hit if he just named it something else.
There will be more country-tinged balladry and more soft dream pop, a jangly title track, and “Where’s Your Love Now,” a spaced-out Neil Diamond kind of tune. Amos is astonishingly prolific. He has a lot of singles as This is Lorelei, and still performs with Rachel Brown as Water From Your Eyes. He has said that the duo is more concerned with experimentation, while his solo Lorelei work focuses more on classic pop songwriting. But there is always something a little off-kilter on Box for Buddy… and that is what makes Amos’ work so compelling.
11. Neck Deep by Neck Deep
What’s wrong with being a Welsh version of Blink 182? If you like Blink, and if the Welsh rockers are recalling the very best of them, nothing at all. The Blink comparisons go beyond the obvious sonic similarity. Neck Deep is the band’s fifth album. Blink’s fifth album, commonly known as untitled, is also referred to as a self-titled album. Both bands’ fifth releases maintained the pop-punk sound that they built their reps on but also featured somewhat more sophisticated, mature lyrics and songwriting.
Maybe “maturity” seems like a stretch when you read the title of the opener, “Dumbstruck Dumbf**k,” but it’s there if you listen for it. The swirling “We Need More Bricks” shouts out that “the kids are wide awake and they rage against the palace,” while the equally propulsive “Heartbreak of the Century” has enough wisdom to admit that “this won’t be the first time I’ve been wrong about you.”
Maybe the most poignant track is an unsteady attempt to come to terms with the whole idea of parents ”They May Not Mean To (But They Do)." They follow it with the supremely optimistic “It Won’t Be Like This Forever.” It’s nice to hear an emotionally vulnerable Neck Deep. But it’s even nicer to hear that the newfound maturity isn’t tempering their rock & roll chops.
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10. Forever by Charly Bliss
I admit that Forever meant a great deal to me. Pandemic-related delays resulted in the Brooklyn quartet’s third album not dropping for five years. Personally, that meant Young Enough’s song “Capacity” has been stuck in my head since 2019. I needed some new Bliss to push it out of there. The pure pop beauty of “Tragedy,” which opens Forever, signals that I have found a remedy.
“Calling You Out” is an unstoppable pop anthem. “Nineteen” is a supremely wistful piano ballad that calls on Eva Hendricks’ most delicate vocals, while “How Do You Do It” reveals the toughness that sometimes hides in the sweet deliveries and tunes. Spencer Fox’s versatile guitar can be fuzzy and jangly as needed.
He can take a back seat to the synths that carry some of the songs on Forever but can throw in fills that keep the sound from getting too pasteurized. Forever is concerned with love, whether it’s the nostalgic sadness of “Nineteen” or the opening of a new chapter in the album closer “Last First Kiss.” And it’s all bliss.
9. Sha La La by Winnetka Bowling League
Winnetka Bowling League’s debut album reveals a band that can handle a wide range of sounds, all nestled within the broad confines of modern pop. They can do shimmering pop as on the title track of Sha La La. They can do wistful as on “No One’s Ever Kissed You,” which augments the pop with strings and sax. And there’s a propulsive techno beat on “America in Your 20s,” with its observation, “There’s nothing as serious or as funny as America in your 20s.”
Sha La La moves within small circles, but every song is a pop gem. “We’re Not Having Any Fun” is sadly dramatic, while “Breakfast For Dinner” is fairly perfect pop rock, and “Jesus Saves” milks all the delicacy out of vocalist Matthew Koma’s voice. BTW – Koma is on a bowling team – hence the name.
8. Pink Balloons by Ekko Astral
I’d like to think I’d still have Ekko Astral’s smashing debut album on my list even if they weren’t from my hometown of Washington, DC. But the fact is I may have never been aware of them if not for the proximity. Singer Jael Holzman can go sweet or tough with the slightest of turns of her voice, and that is an ideal fit for Ekko’s music. It is bubblegum noise. It is pop punk that exaggerates both parts of the name. The opening title track encapsulates all of that. They rock harder on “Baethoven” and get sludgier in “On Brand.”
They also draw on our mutual hometown for disturbing imagery in “Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between L’enfant and Eastern Market” – a largely spoken word poem on violence and death – and the creepy instrumental “Buring Alive on K Street.” But then they can go pure jangle on the infectious “Make Me Young” to keep things from getting too morbid.
One of the best albums of 2023 was Ratboys’ The Window, and its opening track, “Making Noise for the Ones You Love,” could be a good title for an Ekko Astral album. Like Ratboys, Ekko can explore varied flavors of pop punk, but they are at their absolute best just making waves of compelling noise.
7. Manning Fireworks by MJ Lenderman
It’s hard to believe Lenderman is just 25 years old. He has already put out a ton of excellent music, either on his own or as the guitarist with his band Wednesday. One listen to the opening title track from his fourth solo album, Manning Fireworks, reveals a singer/songwriter who sings like he has been around forever and seen it all. He is helped on that track by Wednesday vocalist Karly Hartzman and also gets some fiddle and trombone from multi-instrumentalist Landon George to create that down-homey feel.
Producer Alex Farrar adds a mellotron to the Allman Brothers-inspired “Joker Lips.” Lenderman doesn’t try to match Gregg Allman’s blues vocals, because, really, who can do that? But his voice still has enough edge to sell his consistent tunes. It can go harder, into Jason Isbell territory on “Wristwatch” or pay fine homage to the Band in “You Don’t Know the Shape I’m In.” There seems to be no end to the number of strong songs coming from Lenderman. I wonder what he’ll do when he turns 26.
6. Romance by Fontaines DC
I’ll keep this one simple. Some people lament the tired state of traditional rock & roll in 2024. I am often one of those people. Then I listen to the Irish quintet Fontaines DC and realize we are all overstating things just a bit. From the portentous opening track, “Romance” to the bright jangle of the closer, “Favourite,” they do nothing but rock.
This is not old-school R&B-based rock. This is modern rock that moves easily between squelchy guitar rockers and more- how shall I put it - atmospheric fare. When Fontaines does atmosphere, it is in the guise of the inescapable dance beat of something like “Starburster.”
“Here’s the Thing” and “Death Kiss” are the guitar rockers. “In the Modern World” and “Sundowner” are the orchestral atmosphere numbers. Fontaines pulls both poles off with aplomb. They can even skirt the midline on a song like “Bug.” Romance was produced by James Ford, known for his work with bands like Arctic Monkeys and Depeche Mode. The result is a wider soundscape that suggests Fontaines DC could go in many directions down the road.
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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.”