Top 24 albums of 2024.

My gimmick of ranking a number of albums equal to the last two digits of the year lives once more, although I think I may just have to cap it at 25 next December before it gets out of hand. I had plenty of albums to consider in 2024, though, as it was a strong year for albums overall and for albums that might be 1-1 worthy in any year. Some honorable mentions include Blood Incantation – Absolute Elsewhere (some brilliant music, but I just can’t do with that much of the death metal trappings), Childish Gambino – Bando Stone & the New World, Bob Vylan – Humble as the Sun, Katie Gavin – What a Relief, Parsnip – Behold, Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol.

You can see my previous year-end album rankings here: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and my top albums of the 2010s. My top 100 songs of 2024 will go up some time in the next week.

24. Griff – Vertigo

Griff is a pretty big deal in the U.K. and opened for Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift this year, although she hasn’t broken through at all in the U.S. yet. I’m generally not a fan of highly polished pop music, but her brand of sophisticated pop that isn’t overproduced and that lets her powerful alto voice shine is much more in line with my tastes. Highlights include the title track, “Astronaut,” and “Tears for Fun.”

23. Wheel – Charismatic Leaders

Wheel keeps changing personnel, with only lead singer/guitarist James Lascelles left from the original lineup, but the sound remains the same. This is heavy, crunchy prog metal, driven by powerful and intricate guitar work, but never deviates into blast beats or death growls that might destroy the intense vibe of the music. I don’t think this is their best album, but it’s so much in my wheelhouse (pun intended) that I still like it quite a bit. Highlights include “Empire,” “Submission,” and “Porcelain.”

22. Pond – Stung!

Pond are all over the place yet again, and I’m good with it because the highs are high enough. They’re an experimental rock band from Australia with a heavy emphasis on psychedelic rock, but are comfortable veering into funk-pop (“So Lo”) or a mélange of 1970s hard rock and 1960s Motown rhythms (“(I’m) Stung”), or just straight-up psychedelic rock that your parents might have heard at Woodstock (“Neon River”). The album is 14 songs and 54+ minutes long, so it does wear out its welcome a bit as it goes on, so it’s a little lower here than it would have been at midyear, when I had it on my unordered list over some other titles like Ride’s Interplay.

21. HINDS – Viva Hinds

HINDS went back to its original lineup, shedding two members to become a duo again, and their first album since 2020’s The Prettiest Curse is their most assured and polished record yet. HINDS has always thrived on a bit of chaos, the question of whether these two women can really even play their instruments or carry a decent tune, only to have them pull it together with a strong chorus or wry lyrics. On Viva Hinds, they’ve tightened things up across the board but haven’t lost that sense that they’re always on the verge of careening off the track. It’s lo-fi and proud of it, but now it’s not quite so rough around the edges. Standouts include “Boom Boom Back” (featuring Beck), “Mala Vista,” and “En Forma.”

20. Foxing – Foxing

Pitchfork summarized this album by calling it “Nearer My God’s evil genius twin,” and I can’t beat that. It’s wild and weird and ambitious and despairing, the sound of someone coming apart at the seams, with death metal-style screaming, soaring and haunting backing tracks, and despondent lyrics about mortality and isolation. It’s incredible, but also a difficult listen – and, as you might guess, it’s really hard to talk about individual tracks here, although if forced I’d highlight “Barking” and “Hell 99.”

19. GIFT – Illuminator

This Brooklyn psychedelic rock band put out an album in 2022, Momentary Presence, that was largely recorded by singer/guitarist TJ Freda during the early days of the pandemic, when getting the whole band together wasn’t possible, so while Illuminator is their second album, it’s also a first in some ways – and it shows. This is a stronger, more coherent record, and it’s full of bright hooks and a blend of psychedelia and shoegaze that manages to feel fresh even though those styles date back decades. Highlights include “Wish Me Away,” “Going in Circles,” “Later,” and “Light Runner.”

18. Elbow – Audio Vertigo

I admit to being very late to the party on Elbow; I didn’t love their most acclaimed album, The Seldom Seen Kid, winner of the 2008 Mercury Prize, and kind of wrote them off as a dream-pop band that was too chill to hold my attention. That was unfair to them and probably to my ears, as they’re way more ambitious and experimental than that, which showed on their tenth album, Audio Vertigo, a wide-ranging collection of songs that go from the mellower sounds of Kid to some aggressively uptempo and progressive tracks like my favorites on this record, “Lovers’ Leap” and “Good Blood Mexico City.”

17. Ride – Interplay

Ride hit their stride here on their third post-reunion album, with a more mature sound that blends the shoegaze of their first incarnation with mellower synth-pop sounds from their influences, producing a record that shimmers enough to stand apart even with the glut of neo-shoegaze releases that have flooded the scene in the last two years. Standout tracks include “Peace Sign,” “Last Frontier,” and “Portland Rocks.”

16. SPRINTS – Letter to Self

The long-awaited debut full-length from this Dublin punk-rock band did not disappoint, and it’s one of the most true-to-form punk albums of the last few years, with spare lyrics and repeated lines over fast-paced guitar lines that mostly get out in under 3½ minutes. (Unfortunately, lead guitarist Colm O’Reilly left the band abruptly in mid-May.) Highlights include “Heavy,” “Adore Adore Adore,” “Literary Mind,” and “Up and Comer.”

15. Kid Kapichi – There Goes the Neighborhood

They’re probably never quite going to match their incredible, no-skips debut album, but Kid Kapichi keeps churning out angry yet catchy working-class anthems with a touch of Alex Turner in the lyrics but a heavier, crunchier backdrop of guitars more inspired by punk and pub-rock. Highlights here include “Let’s Get to Work,” “Can EU Hear Me?,” and the wonderfully weird “Tamagotchi.”

14. Charly Bliss – Forever

This is the album I was waiting for Charly Bliss to make, after the promising but a little tepid Young Enough in 2019. It’s mostly sunny power-pop goodness, with bigger and better hooks than their previous albums, although the ballad “Nineteen” is a stunner on its own thanks to Eva Hendricks’s plaintive vocals. Other highlights include “Calling You Out” and “Back There Now.”

13. Mysterines – Afraid of Tomorrows

I was all about the Mysterines’ earliest singles and EPs, but was disappointed when their debut album, Reeling, saw them take the pedal off the gas, eschewing some of the heavier, snarling riffs and vocals that made me a fan of the band and specifically of singer/guitarist Lia Metcalfe. This is a much stronger, more confident record, and has far more hooks than its predecessor. Unfortunately, the band cancelled their fall/winter tour at the last minute with an ominous note saying it was “due to recent circumstances,” with no further word from the band since that message on August 31^st. Highlights include “Sink Ya Teeth,” “Stray,” and “The Last Dance.”

12. Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia?

Yard Act’s first album, 2022’s The Overload, was my #3 record of that year, as they nailed their contemporary twist on the classic post-punk sounds of Gang of Four and the Fall; their sophomore album finds them expanding their musical palate, with more electronic and disco elements and less post-punk in the music, although that ethos remains in the lyrics. I preferred The Overload, but this one still has some bangers, including “We Make Hits,” “Dream Job,” and “When the Laughter Stops.”

11. Courting – New Last Name

Courting sound like they’re having a blast on just about every song they produce, and the result is that this album, their second full-length, explodes with joy and youthful exuberance throughout. They’ve dialed back a little of the weirdness from their debut, Guitar Music, but they’re still off-kilter in smaller ways, including some of the tones they use for the lead guitars and the often lo-fi production that contrasts with the electronic elements that seep in. Standout tracks include “Throw,” “Flex,” and “We Look Good Together (Big Words).”

10. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World

The Cure hadn’t released an album in 16 years, to the point where I assumed Robert Smith, now 65 years old, was probably done writing new material. Instead he surprised everyone (I think) with the band’s best record since their best album, Disintegration, came out 35 years ago. Songs of a Lost World is, of course, a dark and brooding record, with mortality a major theme throughout the album, anchored by the melancholy “Alone” and “I Can Never Say Goodbye,” although there’s more of a hint of the band’s prior melodic leanings in “A Fragile Thing,” my favorite track from the album.

9. Opeth – The Last Will and Testament

When I heard Opeth was bringing back the death growls for their first new album in five years, I had mixed feelings; their 2001 album Blackwater Park, which is a progressive death metal record that has those vocals, might be my favorite metal record of all time, but they had gone so long without visiting that style that I worried this would come off as gimmicky or outdated. That worry was misplaced – this is a fantastic, complex, rich record that doesn’t overdo the death growls and still puts their intricate guitarwork front and center. It’s a concept record where all tracks but the last one are just named with the section symbol and a number, and if you listen straight through there isn’t the typical variation between songs, although if I had to pick one or two to isolate as the best it would be “§1” and “§3.” It’s a return to form, certainly, even though I liked their prog phase for what it was.

8. Jack White – No Name

Man, I’ve been waiting for White to rock out like this for a decade, at least, and he finally delivered. This is a crunchy, loud, old-fashioned rock album. It grabs you by the throat from the start, with the first four tracks all guitar-driven riff-fests, and doesn’t really let go. It’s not a White Stripes album, but it might be the most similar thing he’s done to peak White Stripes since they broke up. Highlights include “That’s How I’m Feeling,” “It’s Rough on Rats (If You’re Asking,” and “Old Scratch Blues.”

7. Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes

Kiwanuka won the Mercury Prize with his last album, KIWANUKA, which leaned more into 1970s R&B with a dash of funk, including some unbelievable bass lines. On his follow-up, Small Changes, he goes for a much more understated sound, with slower tempos and sparse production (by Danger Mouse and inflo) that put much greater emphasis on his vocals. He doesn’t swing for the fences anywhere on the record, in his lyrics or the music, producing something that’s a little less immediate but ends up quite lovely in its own way. Highlights include “Floating Parade,” “Lowdown (part i),” and the title track.

6. Waxahatchee – Tiger’s Blood

I loved Katie Crutchfield’s 2020 album Saint Cloud, and still think that’s the superior album of the two, but she is on a heck of a run right now with those LPs and her newest single “Much Ado About Nothing.” Tiger’s Blood is a slower, more tenebrous affair than the previous record, and I prefer her music when she incorporates a little more rock or folk and works less in the traditional country lane. There are some great hooks here, though, and her voice shines throughout, perhaps even more so on the more somber tracks that don’t appeal to me as much with their music. Highlights include “3 Sisters,” “Evil Spawn,” “Bored,” and “Crimes of the Heart.”

5. Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching

This is the latest example of a band winning the Mercury Prize for an album that didn’t do much for me, only for their follow-up to become one of my favorites of its year; the same thing happened with Sampha, to pick one other case. Ezra Collective is a jazz quintet that brings in a lot of Afrobeat and other African musical traditions, and on their latest album they leaned a little more into Afropop and even just mainstream pop sounds to create an album that’s a bit more accessible and certainly more full of hooks. Highlights include “God Gave Me Feet for Dancing,” “Ajala,” and “No One’s Watching Me.”

4. Fontaines D.C. – Romance

Fontaines D.C. went from punk to something between punk and post-punk between their second and third albums, but on their fourth album, they went in a totally different musical and lyrical direction – several directions, really, delivering one of the most unusual and ambitious records of the year. Vocalist Grian Chatten is still front and center with his commanding delivery, while they go from sheer pop beauty on “Favourite” to something like nu-metal on “Starburster” to a bluesy, funky groove on “Death Kink.” There are elements of shoegaze, nods to rap, and still some vestiges of their punk origins. It doesn’t always work, but they absolutely went for it, and few bands have that kind of vision or musical courage.

3. Alcest – Les chantes de l’aurore

Alcest started out as a death-metal project for the musician who goes by Neige, then incorporated shoegaze sounds to create something called “blackgaze” that was later co-opted by Deafheaven (with whom Neige has worked), after which Alcest added a second member and released an album that was all shoegaze with no metal. They’ve varied their mix of genres on subsequent albums, but this latest one gets the balance right, as they did on 2016’s incredible Kodama. The album is primarily heavy shoegaze, with some very infrequent screamed vocals deeper in the mix, so the wall-of-guitars sound is really the emphasis. Highlights include “Flamme Junelle,” “Komorebi,” and “L’envol.”

2. Mdou Moctar – Funeral for Justice

Hailing from Niger, a country that has been torn by political strife including a military coup this time last year, Moctar blends Tuareg music with western rock styles, particularly psychedelic rock and blues rock, crafting indelible guitar riffs and furious solos beneath the protest lyrics (sung in his native language, Tamasheq) that have boosted his popularity in the Sahel. I caught the last show of Moctar’s U.S. tour, at Union Transfer in Philly, and he blew the doors off the place, with incredible shredding and extended jams for several of the songs he played, including jumping into the crowd for his final guitar solo. Highlights include the title track, “Imouhar,” and “Oh France.”

1. The Libertines – All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

I ended up flipping this with Funeral for Justice because this is by far the album I came back to the most this year; if I’m pretending to be a professional critic, I probably put Mdou Moctar first, but the fact is this was my favorite record of 2024 and nothing else was close. The likely lads came back better than ever, with a slew of intoxicating and surprisingly upbeat tracks – ”Oh Shit,” “Run Run Run,” “Shiver,” and “Night of the Hunter” – that still bear that clear Doherty/Barât sound, just with better production and less breaking and entering. That this album exists at all might itself be a wonderful gift to their fans; that it’s this good is musical miracle.