2024, what a year! It was, like, a whole 12 months… In that time span some artists released records and others didn’t. And the former are lucky, because they are eligible to be on the list which relays my favorite albums of the previous calendar year! Remember how I struggled last year to confine this list to ten entries and had to settle for fifteen? Well, this year that did not happen, thankfully. This year I ended up with twenty albums. But before I reveal the list, I would be amiss to not first dedicate a few words on its – naturally painstaking – compilation and on some of the throughlines that can be said to characterize last year’s music. Because, as you might have guessed, this list is not (merely) meant to display my ridiculously refined tastes but to provide you all with some of the excellent music produced in 2024 that you might have missed and which can hopefully help with a good start of the new year.

Of course I realize that there are folks who just can’t get enough of new music. And this is totally understandable! For them – and anyone else, for that matter – I have also published my longlist with all the albums that have been considered for the blog below. You can find it by clicking here.

This blog is also available in Dutch.

2024 in Music

In order to give a faithful overview of last year’s music, I have focused on new albums and excluded expanded versions or reissues. So even if the latter were excellent – and here I cannot help myself but mention the anniversary edition of the 1993 album Dropout by East Village – they sadly did not qualify.¹ Again I am primarily indebted to the tireless editors of Allmusic.com for finding new music to listen to.² That having said, I did not manage to sample any and all new albums, so it is inevitable that a lot of outstanding music from 2024 which should have made this list has simply slipped through the proverbial cracks.

Last year’s new music, at least on the albums that I got my hands on, exhibited a few interesting trends. As you may be aware of, a number of artists that were until then – at most – adjacent to the genre, ventured into country music proper. There was of course the mega hit Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé, Lana del Rey announced a country album called Lasso that got eventually reworked for a delayed release later this year, and even Adrianne Lenker appeared on the cover of Bright Future in a cowboy hat.³ And this is even leaving out all the veritable triumphs by artists with a longer experience in country music, like Charley Crocket, Kasey Chambers, Carly Pearce, and those that I discuss below.⁴ Fitting for an eventful year, a surprising large number of albums – at least surprising to me! – urged us to embrace sadness. If I may give merely two examples: the aforementioned Lenker album features a song called ‘Sadness As a Gift’, while the excellent album Sadness Sets Me Free by Gruff Rhys, which narrowly missed out on this year’s list, explores this theme perhaps the fullest.⁵

Most of all, it was a delight to see contemporary artists revel in all the opportunities afforded by the plethora of music genres that have come around since the jazz age. On bona fide works of art, like the albums of Suki Waterhouse or Amos Lee that made my top ten and are can be found below, we encounter coherent masterpieces that – at the same time – utilize impressively many sonic and lyrical possibilities. And that alone makes 2024 a year worth listening to!

20. The Secret Sisters – Mind, Man, Medicine

Perhaps it is the people who I surround myself with, but many of the albums that I listened to and discuss today harken, in one way or another, back to parenthood. And Mind, Man Medicine is perhaps the most wholesome of the bunch, with its celebration of motherhood and – as an underlying theme – love through melodic folk and country music.⁶ Though throughout the album, we get a sense that much of this peace was acquired the hard way, through letting go of once important persons and things.⁷

19. The Felice Brothers – Valley of Abandoned Songs

Sometimes an artist or band does not have to reinvent the proverbial wheel to produce a classic album – they are called timeless for a reason! And The Felice Brothers, three of which are actually related, have arguably succeeded in creating a folk album that is out of time, while harking back to various influences from the 1960’s onwards.⁸ Especially their songcraft takes center stage here. From the wry wit of the topical ‘Crime Scene Queen’ and the melancholic feeling of an evening that stretches into the early morning on ‘It’s Midnight and the Doves Are in Tears’, to the earnest closer ‘To Be a Papa’, which – obviously – chronicles the many emotions adjacent to parenthood.⁹

18. Rosali – Bite Down

People listen to music for many different reasons throughout their lives. And many of us, I would wager, sometimes turn to music just to feel alive and free of our daily routine. One could do scarcely better in that regard than with this fourth album by singer-songwriter Rosali. When experiencing Bite Down, expressing complex emotions does not seem that difficult anymore or may even appear to be fun!¹⁰ Moreover, almost every track here has a musical flourish that makes it memorable and you may catch yourself still humming them days later. Especially the song ‘My Kind’ is a jangling rambunctious work of art. As we should all strive to be.

17. Lake Street Dive – Good Together

It is hard to appear effortless – and even harder to sound effortless. But the band Lake Street Dive manages to achieve that on this excellent throwback to some of the most popular genres and styles of the 1970’s and 1980’s.¹¹ As a result, it is a varied album that has a song for every mood and any occasion. Whether it be the optimism of the title track, or the almost uplifting cynicism of ‘Far Gone’. And all these songs – you’ve guessed it! – go very good together.

16. Billy Strings – Highway Prayers

It takes a lot of self-confidence, if not sheer guts, to release a double album. But no-one could fault music-legend-in-the-making Billy Strings this attempt, because Highway Prayers is perhaps the best country album of last year – and maybe also of this one! The genius of this album lays in the expert integration of Strings’ musicianship and their previous endeavors in the blue grass genre with the more traditional story-telling aspects of country. But the album is not beholden to tradition – no, sir! There are a number fruitful experiments here, including the psychedelic ‘Stratosphere Blues/I Believe in You’ and the instrumental ‘Escanaba’, which give the album a unique personality.¹²

15. Hurray for the Riff Raff – The Past is Still Alive

Hurray, I guess, for Hurray for the Riff Raff. Because The Past is Still Alive is a veritable triumph for the brain behind this musical vehicle, singer/songwriter Alynda Segarra.¹³ As much as many people would like to forget their past, it is – for better, for worse, and for cringe – a part of us. And on this album Segarra intertwines their personal history beautifully with staples of the Americana genre. Both their sadnesses and their hopes are reflected in tracks that paint an emphatic image of people and places that have seen better days – and may still do so eventually.¹⁴

14. Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West

The indie veterans of Camera Obscura have spoiled us with a meticulously crafted album, which has the rare quality that one can listen to it at any time, regardless of how many times you already heard it. Because Look to the East, Look to the West contains an exquisite collection of light pop that is easy to the ear but reveals more tricks and layers on repeat spins. Specifically the country-rock influence – fitting for a 2024 release! – enriches the all-round sound of the record. As this is their first album since the death of bandmember Carey Lander, one can also see this album as a tribute to them, especially on songs like ‘Sugar Almond’.¹⁵ And it is a beautiful tribute at that.

13. Bec Sykes – Pepperpot Magic

Some albums have the ability to transport you, even if it is just for a little while, to another plane of existence. And this rare feat is singlehandedly achieved by the atmosphere that singer/songwriter Bec Sykes creates on their debut album Pepperpot Magic. Driven by a piano and style of percussion that appear brooding and enchanting at the same time, their mesmerizing voice tells stories that combine setbacks with catharsis and find surprising kinds of, well, magic in the many mundanities of everyday life.¹⁶

12. Eliza Hardy Jones – Pickpocket

A regular collaborator of renowned musical projects like The War on Drugs and Iron & Wine, Elizabeth Hardy Jones’ new solo album can stand next to the best work of their other projects. Pickpocket is for a large part inspired by the long and winding road the artist had to travel to become a mother. And this journey is chronicled in a set of gorgeous pop/rock-songs wherein grief takes center stage as the titular pickpocket. But there is also hope to find here, for our own dreams as well as the wider world. And at least in the former instant this kind of hope was not unfounded, because Jones luckily did become parent to a little boy.¹⁷

11. Chime School – The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel

For people who missed the legendary Britpop band Oasis, 2024 was a good year. Because the Gallagher brothers announced that an iteration of their band will go on tour again.¹⁸ But for those who crave new music which harkens back to Britpop, among other eminently listenable adjacent styles and genres, Chime School’s The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel may scratch that particular itch. From the song ‘The End’, which paradoxically opens the album, until closer ‘Points of Light’ we are treated to an uplifting yet quietly melancholic set of tracks, whereby every song has the potential to become your favorite.¹⁹

10. Lizzy McAlpine – Older

To share you music with the world may be a frightening prospect, I can imagine. Especially when your art is deeply personal. But such possible insights in the inner world of an artist can also be both enriching and valuable. The album Older is exactly such an enriching and valuable documentation of Lizzy McAlpine’s poignant personal emotional journeys. And the musical prowess on display only adds to the often diary-like quality of the songs, with both expectedly subdued brilliance as well as innovative flourishes in the singing, instrumentation and production.²⁰ Though the record can be confronting at times – try not to have an existential crises after experiencing the title track! – it simply belongs with the best of the alternative pop genre.

9. Real Estate – Daniel

Change may be inevitable, grappling with it– as eagle-eyed observers may have noticed in their own social circles – is often considered optional. But for those of us who want to face the changes in their lives and the world in which they live head-on, the album Daniel by the band Real Estate delivers on exactly those themes.²¹ One intriguing aspect is that the changes which are featured in these effortlessly melodic pop songs are often not earth-shattering, but part of the more-or-less expected course of a human life. And wherever we are on our own path throughout this existence, these songs are recognizable or will one day become so.

8. Amos Lee – Transmissions

When we move through the world of everyday life, there are often things we experience as important to us, but which we struggle to explain to others. Be it the beauty that we encounter in the simple things or our feelings regarding all the injustice in the world – sometimes the words just escape you. Luckily for all of us, Amos Lee appears to have no such problems and delivers one of the most poignant and topical albums of the year. Their musical style may echo artists like Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Chet Baker, and Neil Young, but is in the end entirely their own.²² And whether they are more folksy or more poppy, every song here is brilliant on its own merits.

7. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

To bemoan the lost innocence of one’s youth, might in a very real sense be part of the process of mourning for the maturing of one’s perceptive abilities. Because, however carefree our younger years may have been, there was still suffering and injustice beyond the borders of our small worlds. The sardonically titled Bright Future by Big Thief’s chief songwriter Adrianne Lenker views this situation both from the perspective of the first breaches made by the regular harshness of reality into their own childhood, as well as with an eye for the problems humanity faces at the moment of writing this album.²³ And she does so in songs which vary from comfortable to more unsettling, but which always carry a warmth that may even console the most restless of hearts.

6. Katy Kirby – Blue Raspberry

Most of us would rather hide our more ugly inclinations, but these are (sadly) as much a part of us as our more commendable characteristics. And on their flawlessly executed chronicle of a turbulent relationship that is the album Blue Raspberry, Katy Kirby does not shy away from the more confessional aspects of their songwriting.²⁴ This makes these eleven songs all too recognizable for all those who ever had a relationship, even those that succeeded in the end. And even without this context, one is still able enjoy the clever word play, beautiful turns of phrase, and undeniable musical genius during every minute that this record spins.

5. Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed

After she wanted to start a garden on their debut album, singer/songwriter Haley Heynderickx finds herself in the wild on their second record. And this second record has become a transcended set of songs which are united through an underlying reverence for nature, specifically forests and their inhabitants. But nature is no playground and it is therefore not surprising that an unnerving energy permeates the album.²⁵ The ambiguous nature of, indeed, nature is reflected in the struggles and injustices that permeate human societies, especially on the second half of this record. Pared with the sometimes mystical sounds and phrases employed by Heynderickx, we have here a record that is both of its time and ageless

4. Madi Diaz – Weird Faith

Where Blue Raspberry by Katy Kirby taught us about the turbulences of a new relationship, on Madi Diaz’ Weird Faith we learn that even if a love affair reaches a more advanced stage – like living together, getting children, and mourning the passing of each other’s parents – one may still be confronted with, in the words of Marcy Donelson, “the dark underbelly of love”.²⁶ Some insecurities only take prolonged absences but never disappear entirely and compromises will always remain necessary. And seldom has this inescapable but, in its own way, beautiful realization better been caught in words and music than on these twelve intimately majestic pop songs.

3. Iron & Wine – Light Verse

Iron & Wine is just good vibes, you know? The initiator of this musical project, Sam Beam, has always showed a knack for surrounding himself with exciting collaborators as well as exploring new artistic territory – and Light Verse is perhaps one of their best sets of songs yet.²⁷ Like other Iron & Wine albums, the atmosphere here conjures a cozy and inviting environs, a world in which anything is still possible. And there is perhaps no clearer example, of this than the song ‘Anyone’s Game’, which ruminates on the inevitable setbacks of the human existence and all that we could achieve if we had but more than one chance at this life-thing. The beauty of our regrets for everything we did and did not do during the years allotted to us is subsequently perfectly captured by ‘All in Good Time’, which features Fiona Apple. If you look for, to cite Tim Sendra, “acceptance, the need for human connection, and even joy” you could do worse than Iron & Wine’s brand of folksy alternative pop music.²⁸

2. Lightheaded – Combustible Gems

When one aims to curate the best albums of a given year, one – unsurprisingly –needs to listen to a lot of music. Like, a lot a lot. And sometimes this left me melancholic. Because there is so much music which is not bad perse, but that does not achieve anything that hasn’t been done in the past and does not add much to its predecessors. This is, I must admit, a telltale sign of my advanced age: I could easily imagine younger me being obsessed with many of these records for weeks on end, as they would constitute my first introduction to a genre, a style, or a musical persona. Luckily, at each of the two pivotal moments of dejection there was a new album that convinced me that I had to continue to listen. These were Combustible Gems by Lightheaded and the other album left on the list – as far as you could call two albums a list still! Especially Combustible Gems elated me, as it is genuinely inspiring to hear young people take on existing genres and do their own thing with them, carving out their personal niche despite everything that came before. From the supreme confidence of the opener ‘Always Sideways’, through the effortless melodicity of ‘You and Your Mother’ and towards the closer ‘Because of You’, this is music that makes you happy to have ears and lets you know that – no matter your age – there will always be new music which is genuinely novel and exciting.²⁹

1. Suki Waterhouse – Memoir of a Sparklemuffin

Indeed, that title tops this very serious list with – in my opinion, at least – the best albums of last year. And the name is perhaps more fitting for an album about human relationships and ambitions than you would think at first blush. Because “sparklemuffin” is the colloquial name for Maratus Jactatusa, a carnivorous “species of spider known for its elaborative courtship rituals” which may even turn violent.³⁰ Frankly, I think Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is indisputably the greatest record of 2024. And how could I proclaim any differently, with the craft on display? Every song here presents its own sonic adventure, be it through impeccable musicianship, magistral production, or evocative lyricism – but most of the time through a combination of all three. This albums pulls the threads of many genres together and, in doing so, creates an experience that is both immediately familiar and entirely surprising. The emotions on display are universal, but at the same time offer a glimpse into being like other people whose lives do not even resemble ours. When every entry is a highlight, it is difficult to single one or two tracks out for praise. But let me cite some song titles and convince you to not ‘Think Twice’ or be ‘Supersad’, but allow Waterhouse ‘To Get You’ and be your ‘Gateway Drug’ into all the ‘Legendary’ music 2024 had to offer!

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References

1. Tim Sendra, “East Village Biography”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
2. Allmusic Editors, “New Releases: Editor’s Choice”, Allmusic (retrieved 13 January 2025).
3. Basje Boer, “Conservatieve Verlangens”, Groene Amsterdammer August 29^th 2024, p. 68; Neil Z. Yeung, “Cowboy Carter Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025); Peter van der Ploeg, “Zekerheidjes, Geruchten en Pure Hoop: Welke Nieuwe Popalbums Kunnen (en Durven) We te Verwachten in 2025?”, NRC Handelsblad January 6^th 2025, Muziek, p. 6; Marcy Donelson, “Bright Future Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
4. For these albums, see: Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “$10 Cowboy Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025); Mark Deming, “Backbone Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025); Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “Hummingbird Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
5. Tim Sendra, “Sadness Sets Me Free Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
6. Muziekredactie V., “Deze Albums Doen Ertoe”, deVolkskrant, December 16^th 2024, V., p. 14.
7. Marcy Donelson, “Mind, Man, Medicine Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
8. Mark Deming, “The Felice Brothers Biography”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
9. James Wilkinson, “Valley of Abandoned Songs Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
10. Fred Thomas, “Bite Down Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
11. Matt Collar, “Good Together Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
12. Timothy Monger, “Highway Prayers Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 13 January 2025).
13. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “Hurray for the Riff Raff Biography”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
14. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, “The Past Is Still Alive Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
15. Tim Sendra, “Look to the East, Look to the West Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
16. Mitch Mosk, “Trauma, Heartache, & Healing: Melbourne’s Bec Sykes Delves into the Intimate Alt-Folk Depths of Debut LP ‘Pepperpot Magic’”, atwoodmagazine.com (retrieved 14 January 2025); Bec Sykes, “Pepperpot Magic”, Becsykes.bandcamp,com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
17. Jeff Yerger, “Eliza Hardy Jones on Broken Dreams, Motherhood and New Album Pickpocket”, Treblezine.com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
18. Menno Pot, “Broers Leggen Ruzie na 15 Jaar bij: Oasis Herrijst uit Zijn As”, deVolkskrant August 28^th 2024, Slotakkoord, p. 27.
19. Fred Thomas, “The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 14 January 2025).
20. Matt Collar, “Older Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
21. Fred Thomas, “Daniel Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
22. Matt Collar, “Transmissions Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
23. Marcy Donelson, “Bright Future Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
24. Marcy Donelson, “Blue Raspberry Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
25. Marcy Donelson, “Seed of a Seed Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
26. Marcy Donelson, “Weird Faith Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
27. James Christopher Monger, “Iron & Wine Biography”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
28. Tim Sendra, “Light Verse Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
29. Fred Thomas, “Combustible Gems Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025).
30. Marcy Donelson, “Memoir of a Sparklemuffin Review”, Allmusic.com (retrieved 15 January 2025); Robert Whyte & Greg Anderson, A Field Guide to Spiders in Australia (Clayton: Csiro Publishing, 2017), p. 13.