Top Albums of 2024: Part 2

22 more records that amazed me

I’m not great at math! No one noticed, but I skimped on one album when I put together the list for Part 1, only to edit it back up like 7 hours later and making sure I included the incredible Ansonia Records compilation I forgot!

I also realized I had a record on the list that WAS NOT supposed to be there (despite it being very good). That’s irrelevant and the total number of records is totally unimportant BUTTTTTT we actually now have 50 instead of 51 (wow, yay!)

Anyway, below we have the second half of the “Bottom 44” of the top 50. I separated these two posts by just randomizing a list, splitting it in half and sorting alphabetically. There are some real HEAVY hitters on this one, prepare for me to gush.

I’ll have one more post after this at some point with my SIX 5-star records this year (3 archival/live, 3 brand new and 5 out of 6 being almost entirely instrumental. It be like that sometimes.)

Thanks for the feedback so far! Hope you find some sick music to check out that you may have missed.

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Ajate
Dala Toni (180g)
Intense Afrobeat played with traditional Japanese instruments

Shoutout to my boy Seki for telling me to check out this album over Thanksgiving weekend because it really knocked me on my ass. Ajate is a group of 10 Japanese musicians led by John Imaeda who blend dance-heavy Afrobeat with Japanese Ohayashi festival music and while disparate fusions like this can often be problematic and silly - this absolutely fuckin’ bangs.

Les Amazones d’Afrique
Musow Danse (Real World)
West African female supergroup with one of the most powerful records of the year

I wrote about this record a couple of times back in the beginning of the year as it really struck a chord with me and was maybe the clearest indication I’ve had of the advantages of hi-def streaming vs. Spotify, but regardless - this record is amazing and runs the gamut of West African pop genres and features incredible vocals throughout.

Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper
Ballaké Sissoko & Derek Gripper (Matsuli)
Kora legend and acoustic guitar wizard jam for 3 hours to make 40 minutes of bliss

Ballaké Sissoko had two other albums come out this year but this is the masterpiece. 40 minutes of two masters just playing off each other, anticipating movements, filling space and creating pure beauty.

Bill MacKay
Locust Land (Drag City)
Guitarist cuts a 29-minute breezy folk record

Despite playing with a lot of my favorite active musicians over the last 10-15 years and seeing his name in various places - this is my first Bill MacKay record and it’s so good. It’s a short, Drag City-centric folk record that alternates between instrumental and vocalized tracks and feels like some lost 70s private press masterpiece. Super comforting.

Chuck Johnson
Sun Glories (Western Vinyl)
Modern “Ambient Americana” sounds mixed with epic classic post-rock

In my head, I’ve listened to most Chuck Johnson releases but looking at his discography, I haven’t even approached half. This release has him going back to guitar and pedal steel and blending his western soundscapes with beautifully droning ambient and Explosions in the Sky-esque highs. That’s less en vogue these days but it REALLY works here.

The Cure
Songs of a Lost World (Polydor)
The legends return with one of their best albums ever

It’s The Cure. It’s their 14th album and first in 16 years and it sounds more like Disintegration than any of their other records. Honestly, even people who expected it to be good didn’t expect it to be THIS good. At worst a Top 5 Cure album, potentially as good as their second best for me.

Duda Beat
Tara e tal (Universal)
Brazilian electronic pop/disco.

I don’t recall where I found out about this record, but it is pretty easily my favorite big time pop record of the year. Think along the lines of Jessie Ware (but not really), and Brazilian club music (but not really). This is just superbly produced and super danceable electronic pop and I love it. I know nothing about Duda Beat, the popularity, the singer, nothing! But this was a really good record to keep me awake on drives to work this year.

Ellis Bullard
Honky Tonk Ain’t Noise Pollution (Feels So Good)
100% pure, classic Honky Tonk

I wrote about this back in February as well and it has maintained it’s place as my favorite traditional country record of the year. 70s Outlaw swagger, 80s Outlaw execution, this is country music the way I like it. Awesome voice, awesome songwriting, awesome musicianship. I need to see Ellis live soon.

Four Tet
Three (Type)
Kieran goes downtempo for an album that is pure Four Tet

Writing about this record back in March, I claimed that at this point Four Tet is my favorite electronic producer ever. That holds true as this record has only gotten stronger for me as the year has gone on. Four Tet has clunker-ish albums (none bad), but when he hits (like here), there is really very few musicians ever who connect with me in the same way. The album sounds like waking up on a warm Spring day.

Tha God Fahim x Cookin’ Soul
Supreme Dump Legend: Soul Cook Saga (Self-Released)
The most prolific rapper alive makes his best album

It’s impossible to keep up with Fahim. Since 2015 he has released 70+ albums and 50+ EPs. Every day it seems like Spanish production duo Cookin’ Soul puts something on Bandcamp or YouTube and yet - here, both acts create something that coalesces into the best thing either has done. If Kendrick didn’t come through at the end of the year, this would be my favorite rap release of the year - a near perfect recreation of 1994 Boom Bap stuff.

Hayden Pedigo
Live in Amarillo, Texas (Mexican Summer)
A man, his guitar, his hometown, beauty

I don't quite know why I don’t have this as a 5-star record. It’s probably the record from this year I THINK about the most (other than my actual album of the year) and anticipate it being the record from this list I will listen to the most for the rest of my life but I haven’t pulled that trigger. It doesn’t matter, really - because this record is perfect and transcendent and I am so excited to hear what Hayden’s next record sounds like. (Oh this is solo guitar music, by the way).

Johnny Blue Skies
Passage du Desir (High Top Mountain)
Sturgill stretches and smooths it out for some of his strongest music ever

I think I’m in the minority as someone who still puts Sturgill Simpson’s debut as his best record but honestly - I love every single one of his records except for Sound & Fury and while this didn’t connect incredibly strong on first listen, by my third listen, this felt like a truly classic record. Probably his most “AOR” record (perfect for 2024) and showcases Sturgill’s musicianship and “session” chops incredibly well. The type of record you throw on when nothing else sounds good.

Konkolo Orchestra
Future Pasts (Rocafort)
Swiss (???) Afrobeat and Highlife played expertly

Yes, our second Afrobeat record from a country far outside of Africa! This is a Zurich based group who has also nearly perfected the sound and vibe of classic Fela and many of the tracks feature guest vocalists from the genre. Perhaps more jazzy and smooth than the Ajate album from earlier, but an excellent vibe.

Kriegshög
Love & Revenge (La Vida Es un Mus)
Japanese hardcore played with super heavy Stoner Metal-esque bass and drums

22 minutes of pure rock n roll riffs and brutally sick punk songs. I didn’t know the band prior to this record but the first time I heard it, probably sent to me from the homie Kevin, I sent it to like everyone I know. This absolutely rips as hard as anything I heard all year.

Louis Armstrong
Louis In London (Verve)
Satchmo at almost 70 is still one of the best entertainers ever

There is absolutely no shortage of Louis Armstrong releases to listen to. New compilations, concerts and radio recordings come out every year. His christmas music gets put out in different sets frequently. This TV broadcast (?) is different from lots of the other posthumous releases in that the audio quality is somehow OUTSTANDING. But like typical Louis shows, he’s exuberant throughout. It’s a setlist with a lot of his standard songs but they’re all expertly played, sang and just so much fun.

Magic Tuber Stringband
Needlefall (Thrill Jockey)
String duo makes another album that sounds like each season of the dark woods

Magic Tuber Stringband were one of my favorite discoveries last year. An instrumental duo that can sound like the most peaceful walk along an ancient trail one minute and a thoroughly alienating Harry Partch composition the next. This is another in a line of incredible records.

The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis
The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis (Impulse!)
Fugazi rhythm section links up with ripping guitarist and sax player for sick ass jazz

This is basically like heavy ass post-punk jazz where all 4 players spend the entirety of the record alternatively grooving and just rippin’ shit up. It’s loud and brash without being “out” or prog rock or metal. Modern jazz to score an action movie to.

musclecars
Sugar Honey Iced Tea! (BBE)
NY House rooted in r&b with a loose narrative structure

At 74 minutes long, this one of the longest records on this list but it doesn’t drag. As a debut record it seems fully realized, with skits, introductions and song themes that reflect a real-life NY experience for the duo. Really beautiful, summery, jazzy, r&b heavy house music at many different tempos to keep it interesting, from flute-based latin house to ambient pop, one of the brightest records of the year.

samlrc
A Lonely Sinner (Starrcade)
Epic DIY shoegaze/post-rock made on mediocre (at best) equipment

The whole BREAKERS GANG crew of RYM-core artists from around the world is sort of mind boggling. A bunch of kids raised on the internet seemingly without limits but a ton of talent creating a bunch of one-person bands that have no hard and fast genres and do whatever they want. Some of the releases are the worst thing you’ve ever heard, some like this, are mind-boggling how good they are considering the lack of budget. This won’t be for everyone and it’s Zoomer-core, but it’s incredibly realized (if overly ambitious) - clearly influenced by Mount Eerie as the primary touchstone but so much more too. Kudos to the creator.

Skylark Vocal Ensemble
Clear Voices In The Dark (Sonos Luminus)
18 member choral ensemble doing Civil War & French Resistance songs with astounding beauty and clarity

I try to listen to every record released on Sonos Luminus because I find the art direction, piece selection and clarity of recordings just absolutely stunning. In a year where I DID listen to a lot of choral music, this was my favorite and genuinely almost brought tears to my eyes multiple times. I love choral folk music and this was a real standout, taking Poulenc and others to heavenly places. Read about it here.

Tony Trischka
Earl Jam (Down the Road)
Banjo master records rare Scruggs/Hartford jams with supreme guests

Tony Trischka has been perhaps the leading banjo player for Scruggs-style progressive bluegrass for 50 years, but upon receiving a thumb drive of hundreds of hours of nearly unheard Scruggs jams with John Hartford, he learned a bunch of the tracks, transcribed them for modern times and enlisted a guest list including Billy Strings, Sierra Ferrell, Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush, Vince Gill and more to put out this record. Absolutely perfectly executed bluegrass.

Vampire Weekend
Only God Was Above Us (Columbia)
VW’s 5th album their noisiest but still optimistic and rad

Listen, I understand anyone who doesn’t like Vampire Weekend. I don’t agree because I find their music so easy to listen to, genuinely interesting and also super good. I like all of their albums, love most of them and enjoy that they’re all distinctly THEM despite being quite different. If this is their “New York” album as it’s the one with hip hop beats and distorted guitar so be it, it’s some of Ezra’s strongest writing and is another excellent album in their catalogue.

So there we go, 44 albums down. My final 6 (lol) left. Should be out soon!

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