Here are our all of our favorite albums of 2024. This is the year end review, all in one place.
Below are our picks for RtBE's favorite albums of the year. It starts with our honorable mentions then moves into our top ten albums of the year. There is a short blurb about the album and a song from it, click on the title to read our full review of the selected records. The focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen to all the way through.
We also took some time to discuss our favorite album artwork, our favorite archive/live album releases and favorite live shows from the year if you are interested.
Thanks for reading. Until next year....
Before we get to our favorites, I need to give a quick overview of 2024 album releases: This year kicked major ass.
It has been the best year for music since at least the start of the decade and probably well beyond. Covid and lockdown had something to do it that for sure, but this year it was so refreshing to have such a huge list to choose from.
2024 had so many great releases this list could have gone on for days.
Many solid albums just missed out as we cut this list down. Most of these records would have been high in our top ten had they come out in the past few years. All are worth your money and more importantly your time.
Honorable Mentions: In no particular order (until the last few):
Mary Timony - Untame The Tiger
For her first album in a decade and a half, Timony delivers a mix of freak folk, art rock, and a touch of pop on the excellently mysterious record.
A major shift in sound and style has really broadened King's world on this Rick Rubin produced record.
While maybe not as up there with her best (or at least our favorite), this record is still really good.
A fun find in 2024 for RtBE, Siri Undlin as Humbird makes interesting folk rock on Right On.
This and the next entry were RtBE's two favorite jazz albums released in 2024. Foreverland cooks from Harrold.
Garcia keeps on growing with new sounds and styles. Odyssey is, as the title suggests, and an intriguing listen all the way around.
For a Vampire Weekend fan, this album is a real treat, an evolution that will likely parallel one's own journey into those years of settling in and just settling.
As an instrumental album, Sonido Cósmico is perfectly titled. This record goes for a cosmic sound and nails it while still retaining the Latin guitar traits that make the duo a joy. Easy Eye Sound and Dan Auerbach produced a few good ones this year, this was the one we came back to the most.
The debut studio release from one of the best New Orleans acts playing live out there today. The Rumble rule.
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Another good one from Katie Crutchfield, Tigers Blood, is a confident mix of light rockers, pop-ish offerings and twangy strolls through stories and struggles. It is a lot like another album we put very high on our top ten, and this year was so stacked, if you thought this one belonged up there, RtBE wouldn't argue.
A really nice modern pop rock record from Sarah Tudzin's as each of these songs are catchy, intriguing and affecting.
A solid album from Japandroids and if it is truly the last for the duo, good for them.
The following four records all were in our Top Ten at various points when we were creating our year end review, so they should be pointed out as such:
Parisian band who write metal about sea faring folk? Unlikely to hit home, but it surely does. RtBE's favorite metal release of the year.
A very pleasant surprise as the unexpected return of Dr. Dog was a success. This self titled album feels mature and it seems the band still has something to offer, which is great news for good music lovers.
Scott McMicken and Greg Cartwright, two of RtBE's favorite current songwriters, partner up for this organic, low stakes record and it is a winner.
I want to take a second with this one. This album surprised me on a lot of levels. First, apparently it was marketed as a 'return to rock' album which is weird, because the band's last few never left their old sound. Second, it was joyful, those last few albums from the band seemed like they were contractually obligated to go through the motions. Third, it was really more like three EP's than one LP. A split EP with Beck, a retro soul/rock EP and a more hip-hop based Blakroc EP. Fourth, it BOMBED! Black Keys had to cancel their summer arena tour and I am not sure if the band has actually recovered as the year closes.
All of this is surprising because RtBE liked this album as their best since at least Turn Blue. Ohio Players just sounds like Patrick and Dan are having fun in the studio, which they hadn't sounded like in a long time. It just missed our top ten (some of the Beck tunes do feel a bit AI inspired) but it is clearly one that RtBE liked much more than others.
Here is our top ten:
This is just a solid rock record from White, who gave it away and then officially released it. No Name had no grand musical plans, no high end guests, just White with his friends and family banging away and rocking out. A damn good record that feels breezy and exactly what Jack needed after some disappointing studio releases.
With Manning Fireworks, Lenderman is taking his next steps on the road to something special as he mixes dark humor, languid guitar lines, country twang and splashes of rock into his slacker tunes. A really solid album, if you haven't heard Lenderman yet, go check this out ASAP.
The Hard Quartet’s debut self-titled double album is a gorgeous collection of fuzzy indie-rock earworms that ebb and flow with scruffy charm. The alt-rock legends (Emmett Kelly, Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, and Jim White) came together naturally to form this band, and the musical results speak to their joy in recording. This record is damn good and "Rio's Song" is one of the best songs released this year with a kick ass video to match.
A fun funk record that dips into pop, gospel and more as the quirky as all hell MonoNeon put out the best solo record of his career so far. As the legendary Mavis Staples says at the end of the groovy, soulful jam "Full Circle", "That's Alright, That's Alright, this is a FUN song!" Same thing should be said about the whole album.
A strutting mix of rock, punk, glam, pop that really throws up middle fingers and kicks over the table in a dive bar to get rowdy. A fun album that shows the band expanding a bit with a post-punk groove while still keeping things vibrant, snide and rude with a lot of fun mixed in. The more RtBE listens to the record the more we dig it and in a few years may regret we didn't rank it even higher.
The sophomore release from Fantastic Cat wasn't planned, but the four headed band of Anthony D'Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali had such fun on their excellent debut that they ran it back and the results are just as good, if not better, this go around. RtBE is a sucker for individual songwriters getting together in Wilbury style, and FC do it really really well. Here's hoping they keep it together for a few more albums.
#4 Brittany Howard - What Now
On their breakthrough, 2019’s Ilana: The Creator, Mdou Moctar used 70s-influenced psych rock mixed with Tuareg guitar music to great effect. The strong follow-up, 2021’s Afrique Victime, cast a wider sonic net with acoustic tracks mixed into their sound. Both were good and made our year end lists when they were released, but now comes Funeral for Justice, their most complete album yet, as it uses righteous protest fury and aggressive punk influences to propel the serpentine guitar majesty and hypnotic grooves. A fiery record that cooks with anger and is a winner all around.
Alynda Segarra has released some dynamite albums over their career, but The Past Is Still Alive is a new highpoint as Segarra looks back on their life with honesty, emotion and story telling that reels the listener in. The production from Brad Cook and team is understatedly great, allowing Segarra to dive into the heartfelt tales. The final three songs, "Dynamo", "The World Is Dangerous" and "Ogallala" are magnificent, putting a pin in an album that speaks to life's ongoing journey. A great record.
Ranking art is silly and nebulous, but also fun. The fact that Kim Gordon released this interesting, disorientating, challenging, artistic, exciting album this year just struck a nerve. Gordon stated, regarding this album:
“On this record, I wanted to express the absolute craziness I feel around me right now. This is a moment when nobody really knows what truth is, when facts don’t necessarily sway people, when everyone has their own side, creating a general sense of paranoia. To soothe, to dream, escape with drugs, TV shows, shopping, the internet, everything is easy, smooth, convenient, branded. It made me want to disrupt, to follow something unknown, maybe even to fail.”
She certainly didn't fail. Having been listening to Gordon since the early 90's it is so great to hear her still evolving and experimenting, taking the best aspects of 2019's No Home Record, and blowing it out via producer Justin Raisen's insane beats. This is how we closed our review:
With the world in various states of burning, The Collective plays perfectly as mental breakdown dance music with Kim Gordon continuing to expertly conjure sounds, cinematic scope, and cutting lines fantastically. Never a relaxing listen, but an artistic success all around.
The Collective, is a perfect soundtrack for such a disorienting time in the world, there is no doubt in my mind that it is the most representative album of 2024.
Full list below:
That is our list, how'd we do? Feel free to rip us apart, congratulate us, or give us your favorite records in the comments below. Until next year....- Kim Gordon - The Collective
- Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
- Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice
- Brittany Howard - What Now
- Fantastic Cat - Now That's What I Call Fantastic Cat
- Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness
- MonoNeon - Quilted Stereo
- The Hard Quartet - S/T
- MJ Lendermen - Manning Fireworks
- Jack White - No Name
No comments:
Post a Comment