Any art appreciation is entirely subjective, so I don’t believe in rankings or claiming anything is the “best” for a given time period. These are albums that came out in 2024 that I would recommend.
Everything Everything – Mountainhead
So many bangers on this album. Would not be surprised if this was my most listened-to album of the year. From the almost Nosferatu-monologue quality lyrics of the first track “Wild Guess” (“The hideous old savagery comes and it knows what I want […] I count the vermin as friends”) to the covid-era alienation and heart break of “Cold Reactor” (“I haven’t left the house in nearly thirty thousand days / I sent you the image of a little yellow face / To tell you that I’m sad about the emptiness that’s all around me”), this album delivered the propulsive pop-rock I needed.
El Michels Affair – Boy Kills World (Songs From The Original Motion Picture)
Haven’t seen the movie, don’t care about the movie, but just about everything El Michels Affair puts out is funky and worth listening to. Horns from 70s exploitation cinema, vocals that sound straight from Thai and Indian discos, drums you could breakdance to… it’s all there.
Joey Valence & Brae – No Hands
Dumb party music. The sound harkens back to the 90s era of hip hop, especially Beastie Boys, and there’s something truly infectious about two young dudes shouting “Let’s go! Let’s go! Hands up! Hands up! Okay! Let’s go!” before declaring they’re “the baddest bitch in this club”, y’know?
Teen Mortgage – Teen Mortgage and Twisted Teens – Twisted Teens
Great year for self-titled punk rock from teen-named bands.