Year In Review 2024 - Favorite Albums Part 2 (#10-6)

Another year is finishing up and @RockBodElec wouldn't be a proper music site if we didn't end the year with a "Best Of" list, so RtBE presents 2024's Favorite Albums Part 2 (Numbers 10-6):

In the instance that RtBE has reviewed the album, either on this site or elsewhere, we will link to that review and just give a quick summation; click on the name/title and you can read our full opinion. RtBE worked with the Glide Team to give input on their Top 20 so you can expect some overlap if you already have seen that list.

Again the focus here is on full albums, not singles, but long playing releases you can slap on and listen all the way through. We know these are a dying breed, but it still is the way we consume music, no shuffle, Spotify or singles for us.

This begins our top ten and we will wrap it up tomorrow. You can also find our list of Honorable Mentions that were just out of our top ten. 

Like all of our lists or 'best of' roundups, these are meant to start conversations, not end them...

As we stated in the honorable mentions post, 2024 was the best year for new music since pre-pandemic, and probably longer. These albums would all top other lists from the '20's. 

#10 Jack White - No Name

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.  

#9 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

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.  

#8 The Hard Quartet - S/T

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.  

#7 MonoNeon - Quilted Stereo

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. 

#6 Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness

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. 

This is a REALLY strong 10-6 so that means the top 5 really kick ass. Stay tuned, will post them tomorrow.