Every year I start this post making excuses for why my list isn’t more “hip”. Last year I talked about finding peace in my growingly mainstream lists. This year I feel the same BUT I want to make a vow that I’ll never start another one of these lists with apologizing. I put a lot of time into movies, podcasts and books. What, I’m supposed to be Anthony Fantano too? No more. Welcome to my basic bitch era.
As for “What Kind of Year was 2024 for Music?” I have no fucking idea. A lot of pop. Like, real talk if we didn’t all sleep on Chappell Roan last year and her debut came out this year then she would 1000% be my number one. I got a couple of pop princesses but 2024 was Chappell’s year. Anyways here’s some bullshit:
Honorable Mention
Rafael Toral – Spectral Evolution
Colin Stetson – The Love it Took to Leave You
Kendrick Lamar – GNX
It’s like Radiohead but it’s not for some reason. I like it!
What did Megan Thee Stallion want to rap about on her first self-funded, independent release? Snakes and anime of course. The results? A bunch of ssssassy bangersss. Megan calls out her haters and celebrates her hot girl fierceness on snake-themed cuts like “Boa”, “Cobra” and “Hiss” and spits Japanese verses alongside rapper Yuki Chiba on “Mamushi”. Thanks to Megan for another savage Hot Girl Sssummer.
A soundtrack? Yeah dude, you better fuckin’ believe it. I was pumping Trent’s synth beats for weeks after seeing Challengers. This is a score that hits so hard it drowns out dialogue in the movie and I don’t even care. If this score doesn’t win an Oscar then the Academy is a bunch of fuckin’ nerds.
I love jazz and I love beeps and boops. This is the perfect album for when I wanna write or when I take a gummy and wanna vibe out. Like Sean said, this kind of music is perfect for zoning out or hyper-focusing. So go read his blurb for more insights like that. Hurry! Now! You’re wasting valuable seconds!
“Espresso” was one of my Top 5 songs of the year on Spotify’s embarrassing Wrapped. Did I get a video message from Sabrina? No, I got a tired message from my number four, but that’s fine because Sabrina was pretty much everywhere else in 2024. I couldn’t escape her earworm bops nor her innocuous Netflix special. She’s not my favorite of the pop queens but she might be the most fun. Anyone who mentions the Nintendo Switch in a hit pop song is okay in my book.
All three Billie Eilish albums have made my end of year list. She has two Oscars. She is only 23 years old. She is very talented.
Skinty Fia was my favorite album of 2022, so I had high expectations for Fontaine DC’s fourth album. Will it be more punk this time? More like the Smiths? Oasis? If you ask me, Romance sounds like Blur if they dressed like the kids from the movie Hackers. Or if a Danny Boyle movie was a band. We got some keyboard action and mellotron making an appearance on a majority of the album’s tracks along with other electro-pop influences.
“Starburster” was deemed poppy enough to be a staple of my local mainstream “alternative” station 107.7. It was also in the trailer to Borderlands 4. So even if the band has a traded hipster appeal for mainstream appeal the music hasn’t changed. Britpop is back, baby.
this list is brat
I’d lost faith in Vampire Weekend after Father of the Bride. To me that album felt less like a band and more like Ezra Koenig and a bunch of backing musicians dicking around for an hour.
But now I know THERE IS A GOD! And it’s above us or something. Anyways, this album is cool. It also feels like the album that should have followed up my fave Modern Vampires of the City. It’s got lo-fi, hi-fi, chamber pop, bedroom pop, it’s clean, it’s messy, it’s perfect. It was almost my number one but of course then we have…
Not surprising if you know me, but I’d actually fallen off a bit with our Father. My torrid love affair with Josh Tillman began when I was working in the music department of a Barnes & Noble in the spring of 2015. I was setting up an endcap display when I discovered I Love You, Honeybear. I’d heard his name but not his music but I liked the weird Jesus-y painting and blind bought it after my shift. All it took was a few bars into the title track and I was weepy. I never looked back.
I went back and checked out FJM’s first album soon after and then two years later went to see the man live on the Pure Comedy Tour. I felt complete. God’s Favorite Customer came out a year later, but with its rushed release and shorter runtime, felt more like a B-sides album. Chloë and the Next 20th Century was released in 2022 but never hooked me with its ballads and deliberate pace.
I had zero expectation for Mahashmashana but when FJM was confident enough to put the lead off single, “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” on his 2024 Greatest Hits, I was intrigued. Now I’m glad to say album no. 6 feels like the FJM I first fell for. Indie folk rock with lavish strings, funky saxophone and garage band guitar. Songs that tackle serious subjects with a mix of both sad and funny. The song “Mental Health” being a perfect example.
Just as I thought FJM was fading from my life he’s back with a vengeance and he’s coming for that number one spot. Praise be to him.
Damn, you’re making Colin and I look like fools for not making custom Brat covers!