–
Each year I make an effort to listen to new music. Full, complete albums. And like a nut, I keep track of it. There are lists and files. In 2024, I listened to 137 new albums, frequently more than once, always straight through. Overall, I listened 524 full-length albums.
Of course, I curate and reflect my own bubble. I’d like to think that my palate is more colorful, more inclusive than most. But I surely have my blind spots, weaknesses. This year I haven’t listened to enough world music, for example; and though I like rap, I don’t have a deep knowledge; and I really need to do better with Latin music, which is exploding. And on and on and on.
I mean to say: this is what I found, what I liked. Albums that hit me, that stood out, that seemed distinctive, original, exciting, “new.” Annually, I keep the list to 55 albums, but this year that meant eliminating a lot of really good music that I loved — but that didn’t, for me, quite make the cut.
Hopefully, you arrive at this list with fresh ears and an open heart. If so . . . you are my kind of listener.
If I waited another week, or 17 more minutes, the contents here would change. There will be things I’ve missed or over- or under-rated. That’s why I embrace the “nobody cares” aesthetic. It’s liberating. I’m free. I’m not going for perfection. It’s all for fun, folks.
TOP 20 (in alphabetical order)
Being Dead: Eels
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild Love
Waxahatchee: Tiger’s Blood
The Cure: Songs of a Lost World
Sierra Ferrell: Trail of Flowers
Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive
Kendrick Lamar: GNX
MJ Lenderman: Manning Fireworks
Adrianne Lenker: Bright Future
Laura Marling: Patterns in Repeat
Peter Perrett: The Cleansing
Phosphorescent: Revelator
Jessica Pratt: Here in the Pitch
Bill Ryder-Jones: lechyd Da
Sturgill Simpson, Johnny Blue Skies: Passage du desir
Nala Sinephro: Endlessness
Wadada Leo Smith, Amina Myers: Central Park Mosaics
Vince Staples: Dark Times
Nulifer Yanya: Method Actor
HONORABLE MENTIONS (35)
EXPERIMENTAL, AMBIENT, NEW MUSIC
Terry Riley & Maya Beiser: In C
Sarah Davachi: The Head as Form’d in Crier’s Choir
Four Set: Three
Gastr del Sól: We Have Dozens of Titles
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: No Title As Of . . .
Mk.gee: Two Star and the Dream Police
JAZZ
Charlie Ballantine: Love Letters and Graffiti
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Open Me, A Higher …
Amanda Gardier: Auteur.
Charles Lloyd: The Sky Will Still be There Tomorrow
Milton Nascimento, Esperanza Spalding: Milton
Matthew Shipp: New Concepts in Piano Trio Jazz
ROCK, INDIE
Amyl and the Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness
Camera Obscura: Look to the East, Look to the West
Eels: Eels Time!
Father John Misty: Mahashmashana
The Fountaines DC. Romance
Hovvdy: s/t
Nick Lowe: Indoor Safari
Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven
Gruff Rhys: Sadness Sets Me Free
Shannon and the Clams: The Moon Is In Wrong Place
The Smile: Wall of Eyes
This is Lorelei: Box for Buddy, Box for Star
AMERICANA, FOLK, COUNTRY & ALT-COUNTRY
Dave Alvin, Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Mexicali
Beachwood Sparks: Across the River of Stars
Naima Bock: Beneath a Massive Dark Land
Bonnie Light Horseman: Keep Me/See You Free
James Elkington, Nathan Salsburg: All Gist
Gillian Welch: Woodland
Yasmin Williams: Acadia
HIP HOP, R & B, WORLD
Beyonce: Cowboy Carter
Charli xvx: BRAT
Chief Keef: Almighty So 2
Schoolboy Q: Blue Lips
–
–
CLICK BELOW FOR YEARS PAST.
I started formalizing these lists, and putting them here, in 2019 when I began my “full album project,” which has been ongoing for six years now.
5th Annual Year in Review . . . 2023
4th Annual Year in Review . . . 2022
3rd Annual Year in Review . . . 2021
2nd Annual Year in Review . . . 2020
1st Annual Year in Review . . . 2019
–
