Best 50 Releases of 2024 (25–11)
PAGE 1 (#50–31) – PAGE 2 (#25–11) – PAGE 3 (#10–1 & Award Winners)
This second page is contains our 25th to 11th favorite releases of the year, along with short writeups explaining why we pushed for those records to be listed so highly. Almost all of these records had a real shot at the top 10, and I think at least one of these will be remembered as a top 10 record for 2024, but we do the best we can. Let us know who we criminally underrated:
25. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us
At this point, Vampire Weekend knows what they do best. Only God Was Above Us waxes poetic about the ghosts of New York City and turns inward to reflect on the band’s legacy, but the trio ultimately resigns themselves to the city’s decay. On their most introspective album yet, they loosen their J. Crew buttons and lean into jam band culture (something they flirted with on Father of the Bride tour in 2019) with freewheeling instrumental breaks. – Giliann Karon
24. Jimmy Montague – Tomorrow’s Coffee
The delightful Netflix documentary about yacht rock made one thing abundantly clear: the key ingredient to the sublimely smooth tunes of the ’70s and ’80s was not commercial ambition, white suit aesthetics, or terminal chillness. The golden thread binding all yacht rock together was CHOPS, the ability to make the ornate song structures and key changes look effortless—a Frank Lloyd Wright house so perfectly arranged that it could balance on the head of a pin. Jimmy Montague’s second full-length LP, Tomorrow’s Coffee, uses Steely Dan, Nilsson, and Newman as its stylistic North Stars, but anything Casual about Montague’s output is incidental, the result of being such a gifted arranger and composer that the seams don’t show. “The Smoke After the Kill” saunters in the shadows, confident and careful, rocking much harder than its calm pace might otherwise lead you to believe. It’s a work of supreme confidence and competence with enough pop hooks woven in to keep you coming back over and over, always uncovering another layer. – Keegan Bradford
23. Wishy – Triple Seven
A lot of bands THINK they’re doing a ’90s-influenced pop-rock thing. There’s countless examples of songs from the last five years that sound like anemic Sheryl Crow, stripped of sunlight and substance. On Triple Seven, Wishy does something much more interesting than aping ’90s lodestones. They actually write fresh and exciting songs that turn familiar source material into a launchpad for a unique, hooky rock record that blends a little shoegaze texture into bright, chiming college rock. The chorus of “Love on the Outside” is a mini miracle, rushed strings of words tumbling out in bursts without ever hurrying the song’s relaxed pace. The band doesn’t care about being nostalgic with their production; instead, they drill down into the alchemy of clever twists on big dumb rock music that led to Oasis’s skyscraper hits and Jimmy Eat World’s most searing riffs. Every second of opening duo “Sick Sweet” and “Triple Seven” soars, deftly threading the gap between their influences and a future where rock music returns to dominate the radio, unique and catchy and begging to be looped over and over again. – Keegan Bradford
22. The Story So Far – I Want to Disappear
The Story So Far continue to deliver their signature punchy riffs and dense lyrics on I Want to Disappear. The band hark back to their roots and bring forth a tried-and-true classic pop-punk record, one rich with fast guitar licks and backed by an even faster drum beat, all accompanied by lyrical themes of love and loss. I Want to Disappear is definitely a record that will stand the test of time for lovers of the genre. – Sarah Knoll
21. Glorilla – Ehhthang Ehhthang
2024 was an incredible year for hip hop, and largely that was because of women MC’s who took centerstage like we’ve never seen before. Latto, Sexyy Red, Megan, Doja, Cardi, Nicki, and more had big moments, but for my money the best was GloRilla. You know it’s a DMX kind of breakout year when even her diehards question which was her better LP of 2024. She just capped off December with an absolutely wild Christmas song, so we can stop the count. Her 2nd full length release of the year, GloRious, had some absolute hits, which is why it says a lot that her 1st, Ehhthang Ehhthang, is even better. Every record should start with a pump up entrance song like “Yeah Glo!” ~ “I’m cocky bitch, when I was just humble they didn’t appreciate“ But all the best bars and bopping Southern beats can’t buy the authenticity to her hometown scene that Glo brings throughout Ehhthang. Her ability to bring a smokey Tennessee strip club right to mainstream radio is a natural talent that shows itself on Ehhthang. Throughout the entire record she brings a twist on an iconic Memphis sound, announcing herself to the world as the next rapstar. “Remember sitting in the nosebleeds, nobody was on top of me. Now I’m courtside, Ja Morant can pass the ball to me.” All the while wearing her superwoman cape and lyrical kicking fuck boy teeth through a gas station curb. This is no wilting industry flower. “First, let me introduce myself. Bitch, I’m her.” Believe it. – Henderson Cole
20. Combat – Stay Golden
Put Pup and Jeff Rosenstock into a bottle of Diet Coke, add Mentos, shake vigorously, and chuck it at a cop car. Take the brakes off your bike, close your eyes, and launch yourself down the biggest hill in your neighborhood. Circle pit in the basement of a church with your friends, drink lite beers in the alleyway where you parked your car. You have $8 and work tomorrow. At least you still have your Black Flag t-shirt. “First things first I’m feeling great / I’m not thinking ’bout all my past mistakes / Just sweep under the rug everything that sucks / Just like a pile of dust,” songwriter Holden Wolf sings to open Stay Golden. “I straight up don’t know how to be normal,” Wolf told Stereogum earlier this year, which makes him the voice of a generation, a jittery and enthusiastic crew of Gen Z musicians operating from a place of extreme dread, unable to imagine a future worth inhabiting but barrelling full speed ahead into it anyways. Fuck it. “Trying to stay golden’s getting harder than it looks every day,” Wolf howls on the album’s final track, but it sounds like the band is doing a damn good job of it regardless. – Keegan Bradford
19. Kendrick Lamar – GNX
I remember I was conflicted—on one hand, GNX is everything new and exciting about the genre; at the same time, it was so classically Kendrick that I couldn’t escape a nagging suspicion: here is the genre-defining artist of hip hop. On GNX, Kendrick deploys characteristically introspective cataloging through his eclectic flow (and metaphysical beliefs) over both vibrant and elegiac beats. Songs like “hey now,” “tv off,” and “squabble up” synthesize these brilliantly, canonizing these tracks in the ‘Kendrick Party Jams’ playlist. Evocative and quintessential Lamar lines—”bitch I’ll cut my granny off if she don’t see it how I see!”—litter this album, which together prove a perfect opus for this reinvigorated icon. GNX showcases a razor-edged Kendrick; honed by a spring exhibition, he holds nothing back, opening fire, and his heart. – Hanson Egerland
18. Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk
Danceable existentialism is so in. Imaginal Disk is Magdalena Bay’s most accessible album boasting now-retro future funk grooves, polished production, and synth-heavy hooks. If you have never heard of this band, now is your chance to get into it. And yet, even their older fans don’t seem to hate it, a good sign. It is the most ~alternative~ this duo has gotten. If you like the platonic ideal of lasers, and a CD driver forward doesn’t throw you off instantly, this is for the record for you. – Anne Hurban
17. Macseal – Permanent Repeat
Macseal’s Permanent Repeat is one of those endlessly listenable records that it feels a bit on the nose and obvious to point out that it’s aptly named—the type of record you’re likely to be hitting play on again and again. Recorded at Two Worlds Studio with Billy Mannino, the songs here have a palpable, comforting warmth to them. The electric guitars buzz and hum (but never get overly sharp), while each strum of the acoustics on “A+B” and “Dinner for Two” lands like a raindrop in a Zen garden. Songs like “Easily Undone” and “Beach Vacation” have a pleasant breeziness to them, while the pair of tunes they bookend almost lull you into a trance with “October” planting the refrain of “Permanent Repeat” into your head before you hear it in its full context.
16. Lip Critic – Hex Dealer
This record makes me feel like I can run forever! This record makes me feel like I will never die! Lip Critic’s music sounds unlike anything else, which makes sense for a band with the stupefying lineup of two drummers, two samplers, and one vocalist. Combining elements of hyperpop, hardcore, and synth-punk—but somehow also defying all these genres—Hex Dealer feels like the birth of something truly new in music. The music throbs and stabs, as in the slow escalation on the album’s opener “It’s the Magic,” and feels compulsively danceable, as on “Milky Max.” Listening to this record feels like being pierced by a beam of ultraviolet radiation. I love it! I love it! Lip Critic forever! – Elizabeth Piasecki Phelan
15. Balance and Composure – with you in spirit
Balance and Composure returned to form on their fourth album with you in spirit and with the help of their long time collaborator Will Yip, it was impossible for them to miss. Even though it’s the follow-up album to 2016’s Light We Made, it sounds like the more appropriate successor to The Things We Think We’re Missing. Over the course of ten emotionally rife tracks, the album roils through familiar heartache, subdued anger, and varying degrees of grief with pointed honesty and stirring melodies that are unmistakably at the heart of everything Balance and Composure does. In this day and age it’s no easy feat to disappear and then return eight years later to put out your best work—but these kings of sorrow did just that. Believe the hype. – Loan Pham
14. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
Knocked Loose have been pushing their sound further and further with each release, and You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is no exception. From opening track “Thirst” all the way through its 27:33 runtime, the entire LP is packed with wall-to-wall sound in the best way possible. With features from heavy hitters like Poppy on “Suffocate” and Chris Motionless on “Slaughterhouse Part 2,” Knocked Loose have pulled all the stops. The band crafted an intense, brutal sound, that is a sonic bomb, but carefully written and meticulously coaxed into this beautiful arrangement. Certainly one of the best heavy releases of 2024. – Sarah Knoll
13. This Is Lorelei – Box for Buddy, Box for Star
There’s a passing similarity between This Is Lorelei and Alex G, a resemblance that’s only there if you catch them out of the corner of your eye. They’re cryptic and prolific, shaggy and meandering. Both revel in unexpected sonic textures creeping into more traditional indie pop songs informed by twangy Americana. Both have roughly 400,000 songs scattered across Bandcamp profiles. Alex G thrives in a kind of murky half-light, vocals distorted in every direction like a chorus of Batman villains, gentle meditations interrupted by explosions of harsh noise.
But there’s this giant essential difference. Nate Amos is not cagey or guarded, not sly or winking. He’s tired—sober and continuing to cut out vices, trying to find some kind of elusive peace—but he’s not bitter. “You little sick thing / you had your fun,” he wryly tells himself on album highlight (and one of the year’s best songs) “I’m All Fucked Up.” That song is also the closest he gets to outright anger: “I knew it all along that you might not be no friend to me / I wanna steal every happy thought you have / fucking nickel fucking dime trade them back to you for mine.” But on “Dancing in the Club” when he sings, “A loser never wins / and I’m a loser, always been,” he doesn’t sound bitter. He’s genuinely funny. He avoids navel gazing, looking instead to the stars, to a nosebleed that tastes like god, at your perfect hands. He’s reflective, and even when asking “Where’s Your Love Now?” he can’t help but notice, “I’m happier now.” – Keegan Bradford
12. Vince Staples – Dark Times
One of the most beautiful albums of the year was Vince Staples’ cavernous, hauntingly sonorous Dark Times. Each song is imbued with a forgiving mood—even those reproaching his enemies, like “Children’s Song,” saying “Don’t play with my crippin’ / go play with your kids, bitch“—with a triumphant tone. Songs like “Black&Blue,” “Etouffee,” and “Government Cheese” deal out tight verses over resounding beats and choruses that instill listeners with crystalized good vibes. Vince Staples’ masterpiece outlines a new way to live, to engage with the world. In contradiction to ‘fans’ who say “cuh been weak since” 2015, here’s Vince at his best, making art. – Hanson Egerland
11. Origami Angel – Feeling Not Found
From minute one, Origami Angel hits the ground running on Feeling Not Found. Following the duo’s resume of wacky musical structures and highlighting their ability to just shred so effortlessly, their third album is so damn fun to breathe in. Even in its darker moments, it makes sure to pump white light into its sonic make-up so as to not take itself too seriously. The waves of experimentation, the perfect toss between melody and harmony, and the addictive personality of this record proves that, as always, Origami Angel are two steps ahead of the rest of the scene they reside in. To be honest, Feeling Not Found is just really heavy and really good. If you like that, you’ll love this journey. – Hope Ankney
PAGE 1 (#50–31) – PAGE 2 (#25–11) – PAGE 3 (#10–1 & Award Winners)
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