Albums of 2024

Or, "Does this list strike the right balance of coolness and accessibility?"

It’s been a fun 2024. I did some travelling, got to spend some time with family (no mean feat when they all live in a different hemisphere to me) and and had the pleasure of hanging out with David and Gabbie in Europe. On a musical note, I heard around 150 new albums, went to some gigs locally and, while in Barcelona, had the opportunity to see both Pulp (who I’ve been waiting almost three decades to see) and Jai Paul (who I honestly thought I’d never see).

I also started this Substack. It’s been a little neglected in recent months (see previous note about family) but I hope I get opportunities to write more in 2025, and I really enjoy the community and interactive elements here.

While I write generally about older music, I’m still a music critic (of sorts) in the present day, so it makes sense for me to share my albums of the year list. My longlists were part of the overall tallying for both No Ripcord and Clash but I’ll just breeze through the Top 20 here, listing records 20-11 and writing a few lines for 10-1. If you’re interested in hearing more, I’ve made a playlist featuring one track from each of my Top 50 albums (except Acts of Faith by SAULT, which isn’t available on streaming).

20. Pearl & The Oysters - Planet Pearl

19. SOPHIE - SOPHIE

18. Shabaka - Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

17. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know

16. NxWorries - Why Lawd?

15. Jamie xx - In Waves

14. Justice - Hyperdrama

13. BADBADNOTGOOD - Mid Spiral

12. Aaron Frazer - Into the Blue

11. L’Impératrice - Pulsar

10. Los Bitchos - Talkie Talkie

I’ve really enjoyed the kind of instrumental, surf rock plus “world music” vibe that a few bands have had going on in their most recent releases (think Khruangbin or Glass Beams) but no one did it better in 2024 than Los Bitchos. Talkie Talkie is fun, varied, and has a bunch of killer riffs that it comes back to time and time again. Closing track, Let Me Cook You, is full of taut, funky energy, like a South American version of Talking Heads, and made it onto my tracks of the year list… which is also a playlist you can listen to.

9. Tyler, the Creator - CHROMAKOPIA

At this point, I’ve loved everything Tyler has done for almost the past decade or so. Cherry Bomb was good but Flower Boy was where it really went up a level and he’s been once of the most innovative and consistent hip-hop acts since. CHROMAKOPIA is as melodic as anything he’s ever done while still retaining that sharp edge, but it’s also arguably his most personal work. Tracks about family, pregnancies and absent fathers recall 2Pac at his most reflective and that’s not a hyperbolic comparison—he’s starting to reach that level.

8. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk

I love pop acts who look like they’re enjoying being pop stars but I also love high-concept pop acts who take their stagecraft deathly seriously. Magdalena Bay’s aesthetics take most of their cues from late 1990s Internet culture but it’s never a matter of style over substance. On Imaginal Disk they’ve written the songs to go with their fully-realised vision, and it’s a big leap forward. Also, their chord changes are incredible. Angel on a Satellite continually keeps you guessing and somehow seems to be continually ascending.

7. Sprints - Letter to Self

A garage-punk record that came out in the opening weeks of 2024 is an unlikely candidate to make my end of year list. However, there’s an intensity to Sprints that wins you over, and they employ lyrical repetition to hone their songs better than any alternative band since Bloc Party. Letter to Self is raw and irresistible and, while it’s packed with righteous fury, it makes it clear that you’re on the right side with the band. It also makes me think of Savages—whatever happened to them?

6. The Umbrellas - Fairweather Friend

Back in the mid-2000s, I had a mild Sarah Records obsession. But, given music wasn’t as accessible then as it is now, that obsession mainly took the form of reading about the label and its ethos rather than actually listening to the music. A lot of what I did hear (eventually) didn’t live up to my expectations, and I actually ended up being more of a fan of the Sarah-indebted bands I found on MySpace. Anyway, The Umbrellas are exactly what I always wanted from a slightly shambolic, Sarah-adjacent indiepop band. Their melodies are so good that you would be forgiven for thinking some of their songs were covers, and their lack of polish comes through as giddy enthusiasm.

5. Party Dozen - Crime in Australia

I’d heard a lot of good things about Party Dozen in Australian music circles before I’d even heard a note of their music, and it was worth waiting for. Opening with a skronky, attention-grabbing jam called Coup de Gronk, Crime in Australia is the kind of record that can’t be ignored. Is it jazz? Is it noise? Is it prog? Yes, and more. There’s a ferocity to this record that makes it hard to believe that Party Dozen is just a two-piece. They seem intense, and I love it.

4. Ezra Collective - Dance, No One’s Watching

UK jazz has been so good the last few years. It wasn’t that long ago that it only made headlines for token Mercury Prize nominations but acts like Sons of Kemet, Yazmin Lacey, Yussuf Dayes and more have been pushing the boundaries of the genre while simultaneously dragging it into the mainstream. Ezra Collective’s previous album, Where I’m Meant To Be, actually won the Mercury Prize, but Dance, No One’s Watching is even better in my eyes. It’s a celebratory record that showcases Britain but also brings in elements of highlife, afropop and blues to fashion a creative and cohesive whole. Plus, God Gave Me Feet For Dancing is my song of the year.

3. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy

The narrative around hotly-tipped bands can often be predictable and tedious, and that goes doubly so when the band members are women. There are certainly debates to be had and questions to be answered about the arts becoming a pursuit primarily for the wealthy, but no one could claim The Last Dinner Party don’t deserve their plaudits after hearing Prelude to Ecstasy. It’s melodramatic, Baroque and faintly proggy but, like many of the records on this list, it sweeps you up and carries you along. I saw TLDP twice this year and their stage presence—particularly that of frontwoman Abigail Morris—was on the money. It’s ridiculous to think they’re basically a new band.

2. Fat Dog - WOOF.

As mentioned in the intro, I went to Barcelona this year, which meant I spent three days at Primavera. The night before it started, we (David, Gabbie and I) attended a show specifically to see The Dare play, who was great. Before him, however, was a band I’d never heard of before that show, and that band was Fat Dog. I was blown away. All praise of Fat Dog seems to focus on their live show but their debut album, WOOF., is genuinely just as exciting. It’s thrilling to hear a band so committed—every note, every word, is thrown onto the record like their lives depend on it. The end result is an experience impossible to ignore—you need this in your life.

1. Charli xcx - BRAT

Is this predictable? Maybe, but as a fan of Charli for over a decade now, it was so good to see her get her flowers in 2024. You know the story, the memes, the font, the lime green (fine, chartreuse), the endorsements, the takeover of an entire season, but we shouldn’t forget what a superlative record BRAT was. Since the Vroom Vroom EP in 2016, Charli has been trying to balance her pop instincts with her love of outsider experimentation, and has always leant too far into one of those camps. On BRAT, she finally nailed it, perfecting the art of being a news cycle-dominating star while also pushing the influence of hyperpop progenitors A. G. Cook and SOPHIE front and centre. And this is without even mentioning the deluxe edition of the record, or the remix album. There was so much to love about BRAT—it’s maybe the record of the decade so far.

If you want to read even more about it, I reviewed it upon its release for No Ripcord.

And that’s that for 2024. I’m off to eat my bodyweight in stollen and listen to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Thanks for reading—have a restful break and I’ll see you on the other side.