The Beginning And The End
The Top 50 Albums Of 2024: Honorable Mention Edition
The final days of 2024 are fast approaching. God knows what next year holds for us. Can things get any worse? If so, how much worse? C’mon in 2025, let’s find out.
Setting all grievances/fear/doubt aside, the music of 2024 was pretty good! I’m even going to expand my list from a top 25 to a top 50 this year! As usual, the final rankings will be posted during the last week of the month. I might have one or two more related/unrelated posts to share before then. It’s going to a busy month for me socially, but not so busy that I can’t spew some words for you on some topic or another.
That said, here is the first glimpse at where my head is at when it comes to deciding the best albums of 2024. These honorable mentions were all good, just not good enough to crack my top 50. You should obviously always listen to everything I recommend, but more important than just listening to these records is how you listen to them. Please please please do not support the criminals at Spotify. If you use Qobuz (you should!), I suppose that’s better than the other alternatives in regards to artist royalties. Ideally you’ll like what you hear and buy these records directly from the artists or — at the very least — through Bandcamp…even though they’re owned by an evil music marketing company now.
Jesus Christ, is this the shape we’re in? We are so screwed.
The Top 50 Albums Of 2024 Honorable Mention
Dirty Three - Love Changes Everything (Drag City) - Throughout their illustrious career, Dirty Three have mastered the art of evoking emotion through their instrumental soundscapes. From the fiery “Everything’s Fucked” (1995) to mournful “Backwards Voyager” (1998) to chaos “The Zither Player” (2005) and just about everything in between, they have claimed a spot among the pantheon of the gods of post-rock. On this new one, “Love Changes Everything IV” in particular is the pinnacle, as crushing as anything they’ve put to tape since Ocean Songs. [Listen on Bandcamp]
Huntsmen - The Dry Land (Prosthetic) - Be forewarned, if you liked American Scrap (I did!) or Mandala Of Fear (I didn’t!) this is a different sounding Huntsmen than those records. The Americana influence is dialed back a bit, a focal point on only two of the six tracks here. The remaining four songs are a lovely blend of post-metal, doom, sludge, and a touch of psychedelia. Vocalist Aimee Bueno-Knipe also has an expanded role now, she’s no longer mostly relegated to back-up duties. These small tweaks to the band’s sound has resulted in their best record yet. [Listen on Bandcamp]
Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free (Rough Trade) - Does anyone else get major Purple Mountains vibes from this one? The mix of melancholy and happiness, morbidity and humor juxtaposed to lush arrangements and catchy melodies? It’s exactly what I want if I’m going to listen to “modern” rock records. You know, the ones with vocals and melodies and all that. “Celestial Candyfloss” is the real winner here, but winners are everywhere when you listen to Rhys’ oeuvre — from ‘90s until now. [Listen on Bandcamp]
High On Fire - Cometh The Storm (MNRK Heavy) - There are no bad High On Fire records. They exist on a spectrum that ranges from “Very Good” to “Incredible” (for example: Electric Messiah is “Very Good” and De Vermis Mysteriis is “Incredible”). This one is somewhere in the middle, closer to “Very Good,” but I happen to think that new drummer Coady Willis (Melvins, Big Business) has made a seamless transition and pairs well with Matt Pike. Hopefully this is the start of an exciting new chapter for the band. [Listen On Bandcamp]
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - Of The Last Human Being (Avant Night) - How the hell do you describe Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to someone who has never heard of them? Swans covering Magma? Tom Waits and Bjork fronting Kayo Dot or Henry Cow? The result is a giddying fusion of styles you’ll either love of hate. This year finally marked the end of a 17-year hiatus (!!!) with a full-length which has more than quenched the thirst of long-suffering fans. Filled with heady excess and avant metal weirdness, you’d be hard pressed to find a more bizarre 65-minutes of music put to tape this year. That’s a good thing. [Listen on Bandcamp]
Moor Mother - The Great Bailout (Anti-) - Perhaps no other record this year contains as much fury and brutality. An astounding, haunting portrayal of British colonialism/imperialism that will leave you gobsmacked, and — if you’re at all like me — searching for answers to the numerous questions it poses. Records like this make me hopeful that more artists in the coming years will quit their navel-gazing and focus more on calling out the ills of past, present, and future. We need more records like The Great Bailout.
…it also features contributions by Swan Fungus-stalwarts C. Spencer Yeh (ugh…remember Burning Star Core?!), Aaron Dilloway (Wolf Eyes 4 Ever), and Mary Lattimore (honorable mention last year)! [Listen on Bandcamp]
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media) - Why yes, I did just call Moor Mother’s record one of the most brutal of 2024 on a list that also includes a death metal band. And if Absolute Elsewhere felt like a traditional death metal record, I might have to alter my wording. But! This is no ordinary metal record. This is a downright Pink Floyd-ian effort, with flourishes that would not sound out of place on a Tangerine Dream or Cluster record. Which, of course, means this is my favorite Blood Incantation record to date. I’ve listened to so much metal in the past 7 or 8 years that it now takes a Herculean feat to impress me. Innovation like this — exemplified by “The Message [Tablet III]” — is what I’m looking for. If I had longer to sit with it, it probably would have cracked my Top 50. [Listen on Bandcamp]
Still House Plants - If I Don’t Make It, I Love U (Bison) - 2020’s Fast Edit was not on my radar, but someone hipped me to this record earlier this year by describing it as “Evan-rock,” a genre which has historically blended the finer elements of post-rock and math rock (see: June Of 44, Kowloon Walled City, The Narrows, Bear Claw, et al.). If I had to describe Still House Plants I would say imagine if Electrelane eschewed motorik rhythms for something looser and jazzier with crunchy, angular guitars. What if Jeff Buckley fronted Storm & Stress? If any of these references click with you, give this one a listen. [Listen on Bandcamp]
Slimelord - Chytridiomycosis Relinquished (20 Buck Spin) - This is no ordinary death metal record. There’s a psychedelic muck (or should I say…slime?) oozing from these songs. It permeates the record, which is somewhat unusual for the genre. You don’t often hear frog ribbits (“Gut-Brain Axis”) or geese honks (“The Beckoning Bell”) on metal records, but here they’re just another element bubbling up from the bog in which these songs formed. Stick around long enough and you’ll be treated to an insane slab of doom/death metal, “Tidal Slaughtermarsh,” which is a trip in and of itself. Just don’t ask me to pronounce the name of the album for you. [Listen on Bandcamp]
The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World (Polydor) - I somehow managed to avoid hearing any new Cure songs until the day this album was officially released. Man, hearing Robert Smith’s voice singing a new Cure song for the first time in years was truly comforting. It’s only eight songs, and the vibe is decidedly introspective and morbid/grim, but it’s a new Cure album, and that’s enough to satisfy me. As long as that voice is singing new songs, carrying the weight of a new album, I’m happy. [Listen on Apple Music]
As always…