Best albums of 2024
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Today, we’re talking about music, specifically all of the good CDs that came out this year.
In my opinion, the point of a year-end list isn’t meant to represent some sort of monument to your personal taste. It’s meant to be a list of stuff that people should check out, because it’s the holidays and you might want some stuff to listen to while traveling or if you’re not doing work. There are lists that do serve that function — a Pitchfork list, for example, isn’t necessarily a list of the best albums of the year as much as it’s an attempt to sum up the vibe of an entire year’s music in list form. It will place “important” albums at the top of the list, and the stuff that a contributor or two really loved ends up going towards the top.
You probably don’t need me to tell you to listen to Mk.gee or ScHoolboy Q or Claire Rousay, because their albums are really good and will be on other lists. I am including MJ Lenderman on the list, but I’m allowed to because we’re both from North Carolina.
As I get older and have more adult-style obligations, I’ve become less able to listen to every single thing that comes out, even stuff that I might like, and as a result I feel like I have more blind spots than usual this year.
Some of these records were made by friends. So what. I’ve got friends who make music because I am a music nerd in my thirties. A lot of them I found out about through Nina Protocol, because I helped them set up their blog and continue to enjoy the writing there (shouts out Nina editor John, also of John’s Music Blog fame, which I consider to be another indispensable music discovery resource).
So with all that out of the way, here is a list of albums I enjoyed this year. I didn’t say a bunch of stuff about them because the last time I made a list of albums I did and it ended up taking me like three weeks to write. My hope is that you haven’t listened to too many of the records on this list and will give them a shot. My secondary hope is that some random music editors end up reading this list and sneak some of these onto some big publication’s year-end list, which is why I’m doing this now.
So without further ado, I hereby present:
CATEGORY A: THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2024, ACCORDING TO ME, AND PRESENTED IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (EXCEPT FOR THE THREE BEST ALBUMS OF 2024, WHICH WILL COME LATER) (ALSO IF YOU’RE READING THIS IN YOUR EMAIL AND CAN’T SEE THE EMBEDS JUST OPEN THIS POST IN YOUR BROWSER AND GIVE ME A DOLLAR, IT’S WORTH IT I’M ABOUT TO PUT YOU ONTO A BUNCH OF SUPER GOOD SHIT)
dj paul (from the bible) — the top shottas collection
Mashups/edits etc. never left but dj paul (from the bible) is reviving this non-gone art and is also good at naming tracks.
Yak Ballz — Young Yashar EP
Fun fact: I saw Yak Ballz live in 2009 when he opened for Cage at Local 506 in Chapel Hill. Cage kinda rolled around on the floor and yelled a lot but Yak ripped it. Now it is 2024 and Yak Ballz is my friend, but I would have put this on the list anyway.
Kurious — Majician
If you’re a gray-haired New Yorker with a Jansport full of MF Doom beats, you might as well rap while wearing a top hat. I love shit like this.
I AM THE INTIMIDATOR — I AM THE INTIMIDATOR
Why yes, this is a metal album about Dale Earnhardt from a band whose sole member sings from the perspective of The Intimidator itself. Not sure what gave it away.
The Era — COMBO PACK
Chicago rap group/dance crew on Teklife, each member is a Chicago legend in their own right. Had the honor of helping these dudes get press for this and it is so so so so so fucking good. Big shouts to Litebulb and Chief Manny for letting Emilie and I be involved.
Sematary — Bloody Angel
Kid influenced EXCLUSIVELY by Chief Keef and all black metal discovers Joy Division, makes album that occasionally sounds like Joy Division playing black metal if they were fronted by Chief Keef. RAWURRRRGH!
Chief Keef — Almighty So 2
Speaking of which, it’s not Chief Keef’s problem that he’s been making great music that critics haven’t noticed for a while now, but hey. Be happy that people finally noticed the young vet’s still got it.
Ruby Bell — Greatest Hits EP
Post-hyperpop-trap-trance, proves anything that’s great and sounds like a hit can go on a thing you call Greatest Hits. I’m a total sucker for stuff like this. Dylan Brady from 100 gecs produced it.
Japandroids — Whatever the New Japandroids Album Is Called
Didn’t actually listen, but I am 35 years old so I had to put it on my list.
Post Malone — F-One Trillion
Mercenary pop-rapper goes mercenary pop-country with predictably great, if mercenary (duh) results. Wrote about it here.
This video of Theo Von interviewing $uicideboy$
Not actually an album, just an interview with Theo Von, but probably the piece of media involving a musician most instructive if you would like to understand America.
Jelly Roll — Beautifully Broken
Elias Ronnenfelt — Heavy Glory
The vibe of IceAge as a band is basically “accidental profundity via zonked on uppers,” Elias’s solo record reaches its accidental profundity via the comedown. Probably too consistent with the accidental profundity for it to actually be an accident.
Teen Daze — Elegant Rhythms
Teen Daze is the homie, and when he sent me his excellent latest record, I told him it sounded like T-Pain doing an 80s Herbie Hancock thing. This is very much a compliment.
MJ Lenderman — Manning Fireworks
People my age sometimes like to read MJ Lenderman’s whole shit as somehow indebted to Millennial irony, and by extension, 2010s jean-jacket rock, but I, who just like MJ Lenderman am a hipster from North Carolina, have a different perspective: People in the DIY scene there have been wearing plaid shirts on a roof while drinking shitty beer and talking about deep sports shit since time immemorial. Anyways, MJ Lenderman is tied with Lamelo Ball for the title of Coolest Zoomer in NC.
Callahan & Witscher — Think Differently
I don’t know much about experimental music but I do know that, in the music video for their 1999 hit song “Steal My Sunshine,” the band Len rides around on scooters that have VICE Magazine stickers on the handlebars. This is an important fact to remember when considering Think Differently, the 2024 album by Callahan & Witscher.
TOXE — Toxe2
DIY electropop from Sweden, released on Year0001. Important data point: TOXE told Nina Protocol that she grew up listening to the Tough Alliance and Korn.
Yung Lean and Bladee — Psykos
I commissioned one of the first English-language interviews with Yung Lean and I will never stop talking about it even as I age into oblivion.
YFG FATSO — A Reaper’s Ceremony
I think it’s FATSO for president. Shouts out dj paul (from the bible) for putting me onto this kid via including his track “Racing” in the the top shottas collection, which led to me checking his album, which led to me enjoying it so much that it is now on my year-end list.
F.G.S. — Tinker Bell’s Cough
Dolly Parton meets David Berman. If that’s not enough to sell you on the new project from Flannery Silva, then you’re not allowed to read Media Events.
Fat Tony and Fatboi Sharif — Brain Candy
The two best underground rappers with the word “fat” in their names unite. Sharif gets Tony into his murkiest register; Tony’s presence provides some grounding for Sharif that lets him do all the wild shit he was gonna do anyway. Entire thing produced and recorded by the homie Steel Tipped Dove and released on his label Fused Arrow.
CATEGORY B: THE THREE BEST ALBUMS OF 2024, ACCORDING TO ME, IN THE CATEGORIES OF “POP,” “GUITAR MUSIC,” AND “HIP-HOP/RAP”
Camila Cabello — C,XOXO
In retrospect, everybody being so into brat was fucking embarrassing. This is the best pop album of the year, and you should listen to it twice for each time you listened to brat this summer.
Skrilla — Zombie Love Kensington Paradise
Best hip-hop/rap album of the year. I’m biased because I live in Philly now and Skrilla is so inextricable from the Kensington neighborhood here, but still. Zombie Love Kensington Paradise creates a hermetic world that cannot be punctured by outsiders, only visited and adapted to — peep the way Lil Baby changes his whole flow up on “Talk” to match his host — one that’s dark and funny and in its own way hopeful.
Dan Spencer — Return to your Dark Master
Best guitar album of the year. DIY dude who’s Nashville-adjacent in multiple senses of the word, very funny and weird and loves metal and is randomly in with Post Malone. Concept album about a vampire, whole thing goes hard.
