Wow, didn't 2024 go quickly? Here we are at another New Year's Eve and fast approaching 2025. That makes it now a great time to close 2024 by listing some of our writer's choices for their album of the year.
During the year we've all shared our news, thoughts, and views on all sorts of music and artists. We’ve covered music coming out in 2024 along with live gigs for artists new and old too. Not to mention lots of great lists of amazing sounds and artists from the past decades. We’ve also paid respect to some who have left us during the year.
We’ve all had fun sharing our thoughts with you. Whether you've agreed or disagreed with us, we hope you enjoyed reading the articles. We’re looking forward to sharing more in 2025, so do keep looking for a wide range of music news and thoughts.
We'd all like to wish our readers a Happy New Year and lots of great music in 2025. It looks like an exciting year with plenty to look forward to. As we wait for all that to come, let’s take that look back at the past year with some of our writers sharing their favorite albums of 2024.
AudioPhix Albums of the Year for 2024
Grumpy - Wolfed
Chosen by Jonathan Eig
I've already given you my favorite albums of the year from the likes of Charli XCX, Sierra Ferrell, Mannequin Pussy, Ekko Astral, Inter Alia, and Flo Milli. So I wanted to close the year with one extra - an EP from a sensational young artist who you might like to check out.
Wolfed by Grumpy is a six-song buffet of quirky, lovely gems from Heaven Schmitt. Belmont-trained Schmitt has been writing and recording songs since they were 14. Now settled in Brooklyn, and with one full album behind them, Grumpy is growing by leaps and bounds, evolving as a stripped-down version of Pom Pom Girls. Incisive, funny, and always tuneful, Grumpy will make for a happy new year. Here's looking ahead to lots more music in 2025!
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
Chosen by Danilo Castro
Many considered Father John Misty's last album, Chloe and the Next 20th Century, to be a sonic curio, a detour in which the erudite musician tried his hand at styles from bygone eras. Mahashmashana has, consequently, been viewed as a return to form. I loved Chloe, personally, but I cannot deny that Mahashmashana lifts the strongest elements of the former and fuses them with the virtues of every other Misty release.
There are lyrical nods to his debut, Fear Fun, on the stunning, Cole Porter-esque closer "Summer's Gone." There's a trippy sequel to a standout I Love You, Honeybear cut with "Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose." And then there's "She Cleans Up," Misty's best rocker since "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings." Mahashmashana is a culmination and a maturation for one of the best singer/songwriters of his generation. How could it not be my favorite album of the year?
Saint Etienne - The Night
Chosen by Ljubinko Zivkovic
Saint Etienne, probably one of the best electro-pop bands around may have previously released 11 excellent albums, but as a band, they haven't been heard about for a while. Now the waiting is over, and Saint Etienne have just come up with aptly titled The Night.
If anybody is able to come up with a faultless, subtly hushed sounds that are not just ephemeral, ambiental sounds, it is Saint Etienne, moving forward into a new ground, but still coming up with their personal, recognizable sound, that with 14 songs here gives a new look at all things nocturnal. It is at the same time thematic and specific and at the same time one of the most coherent efforts the trio has come up with so far.
David Gilmour - Luck and Strange
Chosen by Steviemac
This was a long wait, around nine years since his previous album, but well worth it. The album is a mix of the legendary and trademark David Gilmour style and guitar solos, with freshness from producer Charlie Andrews and Gilmour’s own family providing new twists.
It’s a very cool sound throughout especially when Gilmour’s daughter Romany provides the vocals on “Between Two Points,” a rare cover song from Gilmour. A real highlight, though, is a bonus track on some versions of the album. “Luck And Strange (Original Barn Jam)” features the late Richard Wright on keyboards and a soft jazzy-sounding version of the title track. It’s very chilled, about 15 minutes long, and was recorded in a laid-back jam session at the old barn at Gilmour’s home way back in 2007. The album has dominated my playlists sinceit’s early September release.
Black Crowes - Happiness Bastards
Chosen by Lee Vowell
Rock is dead. That is at least true in the greater realm of what we hear on the radio. There are plenty of classic rock stations, but their playlists normally end in the 1990s. After that decade, there was still great rock being made, but there were so many subgenres that rock was fragmented. Few bands seemingly made straight-forward rock and roll at a high level. The Black Crowes have never made a bad album, but they also took a lot of years off after 2010.
Thankfully, Chris and Rich Robinson chose to get over their anger with each other and decided to get back to creating great tunes. The new record is full of them. The first single, "Wanting and Waiting," sets the tone for the record, while "Dirty Cold Sun" gives up rock organ that we simply do not hear much anymore. Still, this album is no homage to the past; it is vibrant and excellent. The Black Crowes prove rock is not truly dead, but the shock is the album sounds like little else in 2024 but still feels like home.