Favorite Albums of 2024

958 albums later, we have several winners

Early on in 2024, I didn’t really feel like we had a great year on our hands. The music took ages to trickle in, and it wasn’t until at least March that we had our first strong run of great albums. Luckily, the back half of the year delivered in spades. So there’s more than 50 albums on this list.

Some forewarning, I didn’t really edit this. I’ve been sitting on it so long that re-reading the reviews then endlessly tinkering with them will feel like pulling out my own toenails with a pair of rusted pliers. Forgive my mistakes, omissions, and lapses of judgment when it comes to prose. I tried.

One quick reminder on how this works. The list is divided into tiers. Within the tiers there is no order whatsoever. If something is in Tier 2, it’s roughly as good as everything else in Tier 2. The order within the tiers is either entirely random or based on release date.

Finally, please share this around if you liked it! I listen to so much music, by my count it was 958 albums this year. While I do it for the love of the game, it’s nice to know that people read it. So if you liked it, share it, shoot me a text, hit the little heart button up there, etc etc.

Oh and don’t forget to view this in your browser. It definitely won’t fit into the email.

Let’s get this show on the road.

TIER 5

Diva Karr - Hardly Still Walking, Not Yet Flying

Flitting between swirling technicality and walls of hellish miasma, Diva Karr creates a transportive piece of metal that is at once uplifting and disturbing. Though most of the album operates at a whirlwind pace, the band never neglects to inject microsends of peace. Stabs of silence and rest rip through noisy curtains, making the violence seem louder and more disorienting than it would be on its own. It’s a blessing the album rushes by at only 31 minutes in length, just enough time to breathe then dive back into the trench.

Goblin Band - Come Slack Your Horse!

Do you remember the time when high school boys and nerdy college kids were obsessed with sea shanties? If you look back on that period fondly, or were yourself hollering centuries old pirate songs, then you’ll enjoy Goblin Band. Come Slack Your Horse! is more feudal pub sing along than oar-pulling chant, but the spirit of the thing seems similar enough from a 500 plus year distance. Remarkably, the music is more than just a curio. Each tankard thumping tune invites a relisten or two, and it won’t be long till you lift your voice with the choir.

Fievel is Glauque - Rong Weicknes

Bright, brilliant, and soothing, Fievel is Glauque crafts a listening experience that rewards the close listen, and encourages the distant background tune. The closer you lean in, the more you’ll find, particularly on “I’m Scanning Things I Can’t See” which switches constantly between an easy, reverb-laden jazziness and chaotic solos. If modern rock has grown stale for you, Rong Weicknes is sure to have something invigorating for you to explore.

Los Campesinos! - All Hell

Anyone hunting for twinkling midwest emo guitars, evocative lyrics, and occasional bursts of crescendoing emotionality should spin up All Hell. While there were other emo albums that I enjoyed more this year, All Hell stands out as the best one to hold pure to the genre, free of the tempting allure of hardcore fusions.

Takkak Takkak - Takkak Takkak

Takkak Takkak sounds like a panic attack. Rhythmic, powerful, and mysteriously dark, an edge of menace lurks behind each drum beat and ringing cymbal. It’s impossible to listen to the album without raising your heart rate. The driving rhythms take center stage in most instances, yet each song has just enough looming intensity behind it that you’re left looking over your shoulder. It’s not a dance party in the jungle, it’s a hunt, and you might be the prey.

Ski Mask the Slump God - 11th Dimension

Ski Mask the Slump God refuses to be held in place. 11th Dimension sees him jump between Miami club hits, Atlanta trap, and his own verbose blend of joke-laden rap, often several times within the same track. The mixture does occasionally contribute to a lack of focus, however, it’s more often that it impresses with an awe-inspiring restlessness. If nothing else, you won’t be bored.

Melvins - Tarantula Heart

Melvins still has it. After four decades of making music, Tarantula Heart bursts through with all the ferocity of their teenage albums. Only now, there’s a patience lingering behind the noise, a reserve that allows them to shoot a throat ripping claw out from behind the cacophonous curtain at will. It’s not a wall of noise, it’s a tapestry. Just watch out for the jutting needles, they’ll stick you in the eye if you lean in too close.

TIER 4

Glass Beach - plastic death

Glass Beach has crafted the ideal listening expeirence for the now 30-something post-hardcore fan who can never decide what to listen to. The math-rock tinged complexity echoes back some of my favorite Chiodos and Fall of Troy records run through a more softboi indie filter. The amateurish, froggy screaming could be offputting to some. For me, it’s the perfect touch to encapsulate what made the emo hardcore of the aughts so invigorating and raw.

M​ú​r - M​ú​r

Headbangers rejoice, great things come from unexpected packages. Despite putting out one of the least inspiring album covers of maybe all time, the music more than makes up for it. Múr oozes heft. Monstrous, hulking sounds leak from every second of this record. The vocals and riffs are particularly impressive, leaning twoard a more tech death presentation that elides the overly flashy elements that the genre is so prone to. If heft isn’t really what you’re after, you’ll still find plenty of dreaminess here, though it mostly exists to balance out the meaty sound that dominates the record.

The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

I’ve seen this floating around the top spot on a lot of 2024 AOTY lists, and while I don’t agree with that level of acclaim, this is still quite the achievement. More than 55 years on, Robert Smith and company have yet to lose a step. Smith’s voice sounds as great as it did in the ‘80s (I had the good fortune to see him live in 2023, and can confirm this isn’t a studio trick) and the songwriting is as tight as ever. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see this lurking near records like Bowie’s Blackstar as one of the all time great late-career albums.

Tyler, the Creator - Chromakopia

Regrettably I must accept that my favorite Tyler, the Creator album (Flower Boy) was also the album where he stopped making the music I wanted to hear. That said, he still makes a great version of music I don’t much care for. Chromakopia is yet another stellar example of cutting-edge smooth pop, and it still bristles with a bit of Cherry Bomb energy. I’d prefer that more tracks on the record emulated “Sticky” and “Rah Tah Tah,” though what we have is pretty top-notch.

Escuela Grind - Dreams on Algorithms

In a genre that can often feel monotonous and punishing, Escuela Grind manages to inject flair and technicality. Dreams on Algorithms is the apotheosis of their sound. It bounces between blast-beat laden grindcore, roaring death metal, and plodding sludge with surprising agility, spilling gorgeously putrid riffs all over the place. Whatever your preference for metal, you’ll find something to latch onto in this madcap ride of a record.

Nails - Every Bridge Burning

Speaking of rewriting the book on grindcore, Nails is back after what felt like an interminable wait. Fortunately for all of us, the results make up for the delay. On Every Bridge Burning the band eschews their beloved ear-splitting powerviolence sound for something that whines and squeals instead of bludgeons. Though it wasn’t what I expected, it satiated my cravings admirably. The guitar tone is unlike almost anything I’ve ever heard in metal, and their mastery of pulse-pounding riffs is up there with some of the best thrash metal bands out there.

CASIOPEA-P4 - RIGHT NOW

With Yacht Rock and City Pop having something of a revival as of late, it was fortunate timing for CASIOPEA (formerly just CASIOPEA) to dive back into releasing new music. Fans of the band should come knowing what to expect, but if you’re new, here’s the breakdown: soothing, technical guitars, funky as hell basslines, and invigorating synthwork. Personally, the music reminds me a lot of something you’d hear in a Sonic Adventure or Mario Kart game, which is probably because CASIOPEA inspired all the artists who made those soundtracks. All I can say for certain, the band still has their chops, and once you put them on, it’s hard to listen to anything else.

JPEGMAFIA - I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU

I never know how to react when I hear JPEGMAFIA’s music these days. The jittering samples are enough to send one into convulsions, so I am compelled to yearn for a live setting in which I can at least see how other people respond to the chaos. I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU continues Peggy’s foray into ever more eclectic samples, flows and production techniques. One moment he’ll be hitting you with a chipmunkified version of a mid 90s pop song, the next he’ll blow out his voice and sledgehammer you with a garageband heavy metal power chord. It’s unpredictable, thrilling, and hopelessly addictive.

Wheel - Charismatic Leaders

In my previous writeup for this record, I positively compared Charismatic Leaders to a Tool album that didn’t inspire all of the most obnoxious people you know. That still holds true. As I’ve continued to listen to this record, it’s become clearer and clearer that this is the idealized form of 2000s and late ‘90s prog metal. Perhaps it doesn’t push the genre forward, but who really cares. When you make something this good, this technical, and this easy to listen to, you deserve some flowers.

Skullflower - IIIrd Gatekeeper

Skullflower’s IIIrd Gatekeeper is one of the largest albums I heard this year. No, not in length, but in sheer, colossal volume. Each guitar chug is deeper than feels possible, the noise louder, the soft zones plushier. What puts it on this list though is its capability to explore both the raw and soothing sides of harsh music. Noise gets talked about like a challenge, and drone right along with it. But done a certain way, both can transform into some of the most meditative and thought provoking genres out there. Even if you don’t normally give harsh music the time of day, IIIrd Gatekeeper is well worth your time.

Santacreu - Canc​̧​ons d'Amor, Dol i Enyoran​ç​a

Santacreu wants to take you on an odyssey. Fortunately, they have the guitar tones and songwriting chops to do it. Nearly every track weaves and plunges through shimmering rivers of sound, framed by glistening asides and meandering pathways. By the time you finish a track, you feel as if you’ve gone on a long journey. Taken in whole, it plays out like a heavy metal symphony that is liable to sweep you off your feet with each relisten.

Mach Hommy - #RICHAXXHAITIAN

Anyone who adores classic hip hop, with all it’s verbosity and focused storytelling, should try out #RICHAXXHAITIAN at least once. The project, like most of Mach Hommy’s work to date, calls to mind the free-flowing, nimble-tongued approach of Black Thought (who features on the album) and rewards close listens. In a year marked by a briefly entertaining, but ultimately embarrassing beef that took over rap for months, it’s nice to escape back to something that is thoughtful, considered, and luxurious.

Party Cannon - Injuries are Inevitable

If Nails and Escuela Grind are evolving their sound beyond the confines of powerviolence and grindcore, Party Cannon is pushing the genre to its theoretical limits. Each track is pulsing with grimy, gory delight. Blast beats blow by at speeds that shouldn’t be possible, growls grow more guttural than the human voice should be capable of, and the riffs swirl with all the madness of Action Park’s infamous cannonball loop. The record isn’t for everyone (obviously, just look at that cover), but those it caters to will be hard-pressed to find anything as gleefully excessive.

TIER 3

Papangu - Lampi​ã​o Rei

Albums like Lampi​ã​o Rei are why I wait until January of the following year to assemble my year end lists. What I was so ready to write off as another good but not fantastic metal album revealed itself to be so much. Instead of that, Lampi​ã​o Rei turned out to be the most thrilling jam together of prog rock, heavy metal, indie rock, and so much more that I don’t even know how to classify it. You might come close to imagining the sound if you joined the roaring vocals of a metal band with the synth work of Styx and the soaring crescendos of South American math rock. If anything, I’ve placed this album too low. The list had to come out at some point though, so if this floats your boat, check back with me in February to see if it should have been one or even two tiers higher.

Hesaitix - Noctian Airgap

Oh my god the SOUNDS on this record. I’m on record as a lover of noises, the weirder the better. It’s what made last year’s Blawan record rank so highly on my 2023 list. Well, this is the equivalent of that record, at least in how it relates to my taste. The low buzzing beats crackle and split as they grasp towards noise and static. If album covers are considered as part of the package, I can almost imagine a microphone in that canyon, picking up the sounds of dozens of robots toppling into the sea. Oh, you could dance to it if you were so inclined too. It’s just a blast.

Mount Eerie - Night Palace

It is nice to have Mount Eerie back. This statement must be made. For all the pain Elverum has endured over the past decade, it would be no surprise if he had retreated to private life after securing some sort of life to be private within. Time, thankfully does heal, or paste over something in a dulling way. What Night Palace does then, is free Elverum to return to the beautiful poetry he once did, still pain stained and well-lived, just freer. To compare his works to one another is not necessarily productive, so I won’t. I’m just happy to hear this, the cold, scratchy sound that called me to The Microphones and Mount Eerie so long ago, evolved and beautiful once more.

Geordie Greep - The New Sound

Peak “theater dudes rock” music. All thumping jazz and Steely Dan slammed together with Primus and Hella. It flits from soothing to chaotic, as Greep wears his manic jazz influences so plainly they’re tatted on his face rather than banded on his sleeve. That admitted, the audience to whom this is aimed, won’t find something that scratches so specific an itch until Greep puts out another record. Those who have enjoyed the prog-rock elements of the last few black midi records are guaranteed to love The New Sound, those who preferred Schlagenheim might prefer to look elsewhere.

Underneath - It Exists Between Us

Metal doesn’t always have to be a morbid affair. Sure, it does need some level of aggression and maybe even violence to be viewed as successful by fans. The violence can, and often should be fun though. Underneath perfectly walks the line between these realms. I can plainly imagine a pit at these shows, bodies circling and circling as condensation forms on the ceiling of the bar. It’s all smiles and gasping mouths until the tempo drops, and a joyous grimace spreads across each face. This is the sound of a 2020s mosh pit at its most ferocious and gleeful.

Uniform - American Standard

In the world of industrial hardcore, no band has their finger so tightly pressed to the jugular of a dying America as Uniform does. Agonized howls stain the fabric of an already dirty garment, the lyrics hollered within accepting the dissatisfaction as inevitable. The instruments complement it all perfectly. A jangly bass and Chat Pile-esque drums rattle around the skull, a game of pong played against your brain. The record is as dark as the edges of the cover, it’s music for a dying world.

Olof Dreijer - Coral

Coral, much like it’s cover, is the most beautiful selection of music released this year. The songs sound like a cool spring morning, raindrops tinkling off of tin roofs, showering ferns in your yard as you gaze out with mug of tea in hand. It’s music that begs you to lose yourself, and in doing so, equally rewards the close listen and the background accompaniment. It’s tropical without being bombastic, and ambient without being dull.

Mk.gee - Two Star and The Dream Police

I don’t know enough about playing guitar to really tell whether or not Mk.gee is redefining what can be done with the beloved instrument. All I can say for certain is that he’s jamming together some of the best stuff of the 80s (namely Sting/The Police and Phil Collins) with a generous helping of Bon Iver at his weird, experimental best. It’s genuinely shocking that music like his has gained so much acclaim, or at least, it is on paper. In the real world, I have yet to bump into anyone who dislikes this guy. Sure, some claim he’s overrated or slightly derivative, accusations I don’t concur with, for the most part though, the whole experiment seems to be a rousing success. If this is the last great hope for popular guitar music to come back to the fore, we sure as hell could do worse.

Shellac - To All Trains

Even if this wasn’t Albini’s final album, it would have earned its spot on just about every self respecting list. The album is a wonderful thesis on everything that made Shellac, and by extension Albini, so excellent. It’s sound is unreplicated, raw and visceral, the lyrics often irreverent and brusquely yelped into the microphone over skittering, scraping guitars. The line between comedy and sincerity remains ever blurred, as it should. It’s just a shame this is the last of this we’ll ever get.

Candy - It’s Inside You

Since vein.fm didn’t decide to put out a record this year, I needed some sort of methadone for them. Fortunately, Candy stepped into that role without my asking. It’s Inside You blends cacophonic riffs, punishing drums, and the occasional sprinkle of DnB to really tingle your ear drums. As a devotee of electronic inspired heavy music, Candy has rocketed into the scene with such intensity that it seems like they’ve always been here. And to top it all off, they put out a kick ass EP later in the year that probably could have made this list if It’s Inside You wasn’t already here.

Dos Monos - Dos Atomos

Dos Monos will not be nailed down. What I initially assumed to be a somewhat eclectic, off-the-wall Japanese hip-hop group has instead revealed themselves to be a forward-thinking proponent of rock, hip-hop, and genres I hadn’t even considered. Rap flows constantly skid out into ditches of fuzzy guitars only to be replaced with cadences that register as wrong to my American brain. Even when I re-listen I’m caught off guard by the shocking shifts in motion of each song. It’s a perfect prescription for anyone who feels that hip-hop has grown stale.

TIER 2

ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips

ScHoolboy Q is one of the few rappers out there who can convincingly deliver lines that are chillingly violent and braggadocious. For my money, there’s no better example than on “Pop” where, right before Rico Nasty comes in for her voice, Q raspily shouts “hat gets soaked, spill that yolk.” It’s evocative, intense, and laid over a horror film-style beat that wavers and shakes under the weight of Q’s punctuated delivery. This formula repeats itself across several tracks, occasionally taking time off on songs like “Yeern 101” to showcase Q’s silky flows and scripted prowess. Q’s timing couldn’t have been better either. With Kendrick’s departure from TDE, he’s the new king of the label’s rap side, and his ability to outdo the former emperor in the same year speaks volumes to the future of the imprint.

Father John Misty - Mahashmashana

Father John Misty has more than earned his reputation as a music-industry shit-stirrer. Plenty of digital ink has been expended discussing the irritating nature of his lyrics, yet, comparatively little has been used to discuss his growth as a crafter of songs. Mahashmashana finally lets that side of him explode forth in a way that no one can deny. His songs, formerly sparse, in service of lyric, are now blossoming crescendos. The explosive chorus of “Screamland” in particular, is a blown out miracle, you can practically see the cumulonimbus breach the atmosphere, billowing out and anviling to spin a tornado of sound. If there’s a better single moment of music this year, I didn’t find it.

Xiu Xiu - 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips

I’m a well-documented lover of a band’s stranger side. However, sometimes the real magic happens when a weird band brings itself back to earth. Xiu Xiu falls into the latter category. Now, no one would describe 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips as “normal,” yet it’s not so experimental as to be instantly off-putting; a mode that Xiu Xiu tends toward. You can imagine a world where this soundtracks a relatively accessible indie film. The peaks and valleys are soft enough to pass over, smooth-topped with some rocks, rather than jagged Matterhorns. If you have a friend who has been veering toward the strange, this is the album to tilt them over the edge.

julie - my anti-aircraft friend

Shoegaze has been a wonderful beneficiary of the streaming-industrial complex. The fuzzy guitars, nigh-incomprehensible lyrics and gorgeous atmospherics that the genre lends itself to perfectly compliment the half-listening lifestyle we’re so accustomed to. Fortunately, a few enterprising young folks paid enough attention to the music to resurrect the genre, and in some cases push it forward. Count julie among them. my anti-aircraft friend has that perfectly grungy touch that made early shoegaze such a great complement to the emotional ravings of scuzzy ‘90s rock bands. The guitars flare and sputter like the dying engine of a muscle car communicated over a blown out PA system. Sound isn’t enough to place this high on the list though. What really earns julie their spot is the command of songcraft, switching between cooly-detached, Brand New adjacent guitars with lyrical whispers and roaring Smashing Pumpkins-style guitar bursts. As a final product, it carries forward the legacy of grunge with respect, understanding, and the detached edge the genre always wore on its sleeve.

Fontaines D.C. - Romance

With bands like Fontaines D.C. out here making music, the state of rock doesn’t feel quite so dire. Romance exudes a clear mastery of the genre’s edge, coupled with it’s sing-along playfulness. If you grew up on early 2000s rock music and 90s grunge, then moved toward the lush indie rock of the 2010s, Fontaines D.C. has crafted the exact sort of album you’ll love. Some songs, like “Romance” have a startling air of menace, then others like “In the Modern World” are vibrant and melancholic. The sound is well captured by that album cover, which is at once absurd, bright, and a little bit unsettling. As pure, listenable rock goes, Fontaines D.C. put out the album of the year.

Lord Spikeheart - The Adept

This pick is pure id. The roaring black metal screams laid over a bed of the gnarliest electronics and processed drums I’ve heard this year were built especially for me. Some tracks like “Nobody” seem designed to start mosh pits. Others, like “Vistas” seem destined for the scariest warehouse club in the world. I find it particularly interesting to view this album as a bridge between the harshest metal and the most dance-ready electronic music available. While these genres collide often, usually it’s not from such disparate points within themselves. Most will not find what they are looking for in this record, but if you’re looking for something you’ve never heard, something heart-racing and hair-raising, then give it a spin.

NxWorries - Why Lawd?

This appeared on my mid-year list, albeit much lower. Fortunately for me, I listened to it several more times. Negatives first, it’s probably a bit long. Given that it’s supposed to accompany long drives and backyard gatherings with the boys though, that could be taken as a positive. Why Lawd? doesn’t stray too far from the formula established on NxWorries’ previous record, but evolves it just enough that it improves on its predecessor in every regard. Knxwledge’s beats are lush and brilliant, laying the perfect picnic blanket for Anderson .Paak to spread out on. Lyricall, there’s more of an edge, a heartbroken acidity that leaches through the braggadocio with more frequency than could be accidental. Thanks to this, the album is as enjoyable during a backyard BBQ as it is while lonesomely sipping brandy.

Meth. - SHAME

If I was forced to listen to one genre of metal for the rest of my days, it would be sludge metal. SHAME is a perfect example of why. The album is ever surprising, operating at a high degree of tension, to such a point that it has to snap, tear and burst. You just never know exactly when. The tracks turn over like the engine of a dying vehicle, sputtering and sputtering until they roar to life. Just know that it’ll die again, at the worst time, in the scariest stretch of road during the darkest hour of night. Then it’ll burst to life, the killer in the rear view mirror you knew was there but never wanted to see.

Locsil // Lawrence English - Chroma

Do you need to get something done? Do you need to escape from life for just a few minutes? Then you need to listen to Chroma. This is the most lovingly-crafted ambient record of the year by my estimation. It sounds like if Tim Hecker weren’t ominous, and was instead solely focused on creating the most beautiful music that hid within the confines of “The Piano Drop.” What flows forth from Chroma is just over 30 minutes of pure bliss. I would suggest listening to it at the loudest volume you can, not because you need it to pump your blood or thrill you, but because so much hides beneath the surface that you’re liable to miss it if you treat this like your run of the mill ambient background noise.

RXKNephew - Till I’m Dead 2

It takes a special rapper to convey the irreverence that RXKNephew does. In the hands of a sillier or more serious rapper, these songs would crumble into pieces, laughable and, frankly, pretty bad. Neph, however, carries a level of authenticity that makes these songs work. Each bar feels completely off the dome, an instant reaction to the elevator music adjacent beats laid down by Brainstorm. It’s that belief in the joke, the knife edge line where you can’t tell if Neph is messing around or really wants to ball out at Walmart with four shopping carts, where everything clicks into place. I don’t think I had more fun all year listening to a record.

Persher - Sleep Well

Sleep Well asks the question, what if blowing into your N64 cartridge actually imbued it with the spirit. Persher crafts the sound of a living machine, one that lurks in the dark beating on your bedroom door. Screams and static hums, courtesy of two of the more interesting voices in electronic music today (Blawan and Pariah), sizzle with a vibrancy that few albums in this space can activate. If the general view of industrial is a cold, dead warehouse populated by a score of Terminators, Sleep Well is the sound of an angry machine sewing flesh onto its pneumatic piping, looking to pull the viciousness of humanity into itself.

Lanark Artefax - Metallur

Did you like The Matrix? Do you want to live inside of music that feels like the neon green glow of code on a black screen? Spin up Lanark Artefax’s Metallur. The record has a chilly life to it, a bristing static that compels your limbs to spasm and dance, almost free from your direction. Musically, it holds close to the formula of sputtering IDM you might expect from an Autechre record, just with a “wetter” edge. Each sound has a bit more vibrancy, a squelch, less like metal clanging into metal, machines speaking to one another. It’s the voice of people, isolated reaching out through mechanical means that have become their sole existence. Fortunately, you can still dance to that.

Thou - Umbilical

Here you go, the heaviest album of the year. Umbilical, like many Thou projects, yearns to sink deeper into the swamp than other sludge metal bands willingly go. There is no fear in the riffs, only punishment, a muck-caked cacophony of drums, bass, and roaring drop tuned guitars all beaten into their amplifiers. You can practically hear the alligators bellowing outside the studio, sad to be left out because their 100 million year old roars simply weren’t primordial enough for the sound that Thou is after.

Knocked Loose - You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Congrats to Knocked Loose, the last living hope of popular metal. Good news for us, they’re one hell of an act to wear those expectations. Despite my decades of listening to metal, specifically breakdown-driven metal, no band has really approached the soaring heights, though maybe depths is a better descriptor, that Knocked Loose has. Whether you first hear the stammering breakdown of “Don’t Reach for Me” or the click-clack reloading of drum rims on “The Calm that Keeps You Awake” you know you’re in the hands of a band that has mastered this particular craft. Lucky for us, the breakdown isn’t the only thing they’ve claimed. The surrounding sections have moved from pure metalcore into blasting hints of death metal, black metal, and even more experimental selections that provide something more than just a visceral need to start crowdkilling in the middle of your living room.

TIER 1

Chat Pile - Cool World

I’ve heard whispers that some are growing tired of the Chat Pile sound. Well, considering I saw them play live three times last year, it’s safe to say I’m not among that group. In many ways, Cool World reads as an extension of God’s Country, but with a bit more of the silliness injected back into the project. For those who have only listened to God’s Country the natural absurdity of songs like “I Am Dog Now” might seem odd for a band that has made terrifying tracks about slaughterhouses, mass shootings and homelessness. Those who have listened to their original EPs, though, won’t be surprised to see the band return to their “Rainbow Meat” roots. Regardless of where you come from on the Chat Pile project, you’re getting what you signed up for — panicked vocal delivery, rattling bass strings, and loud, echoing drums strewn across each track. It may not quite reach the heights of God’s Country, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to pop on in the car.

Foxing - Foxing

I renewed my membership in the emo-lovers club thanks to the Best Friends Forever festival last october. Of the countless excellent bands I got to see, Foxing was damn near the top, and their self-titled record only convinced me further of their place in the genre’s upper echelon. The band has been active for some time, but it took this masterful jam-up of post-punk, hardcore and classic emo to really activate my interest in the project. Songs like “Gratitude,” “Hell 99” and “Secret History” are easily some of the best rock songs of the past several years. They recall some of the ultimate heights of Brand New on the underrated Daisy, but even better.

Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere

It takes a very very special metal band to pull off what Blood Incantation does here. Prog death is, by nature, inaccessible, strange, and punishing. But Blood Incantation makes it seem like an entry point for extreme metal. Their songs flow along the stars, an alien spaceship guiding us from one hellish vista to the next, interrupted only by the soothing hum of stellar engines. If another band attempted to get this complex, then fall into something so calming, they would be more than likely to craft a bloody mess. When Blood Incantation tries it, they make better death metal than 99% of bands in the genre, and better psych rock than all but the best desert rockers out there. They’re rewriting the book on how death metal can be done. What a triumph.

Ornassi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Black metal is by necessity impenetrable. Slapping the word “psychedelic” in front of it only makes it more so. But occasionally, something is so vital and impressive, that even the most urgent long-term nuclear waste warning messages shouldn’t deter you from listening. Muuntautuja is the notable exception in question. The album is, despite the harrowing blast beats of black metal and all its static roars, beautiful and enrapturing. Bursts of hellish chaos punctuate passages of pure spinning beauty. On paper there is little that could be said to attract anyone to this record. Listening to it tells a different story entirely.

Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk

Whoever said this is just 2014 H&M music was too young to have stepped foot in an H&M in 2014. This music is like if Grimes wasn’t a total weirdo, if the off kilter sounds of art pop from the 2010s and earlier never curdled into technocracy worship and dull amateurism. I initially didn’t feel that this album hit the heights of 2021’s Mercurial World, but I was incorrect. The album digs its hooks into you slowly, peppering you with one catchy chorus after another until you realize that you’ve only thought of this album for the past 48 hours. If there’s other pop music out here operating at this level, tell me about it so I can call you a liar (read to the end of this list before you submit the obvious one though). I cannot make this album get old, I cannot find a dud. Bow down before the new emperors of indie pop.

Lip Critic - Hex Dealer

For every Black Country, New Road or Black Midi, there are dozens of bands that attempt to do the eclectic panic attack genre expression. Most are quite bad. Lip Critic might be better than even their best influences though. This mania-inducing group smushes together dancey percussion, anxiety-filled talk singing, and a driving, near-maddening hit of guitar riffs that pummel and pummel and pummel until you either love it or hit eject and toss the metaphorical CD onto the roadway. Personally, I find this mode of post-punk appealing and refreshing, even if it does increase my blood pressure numbers past a point my doctor would like.

Couch Slut - You Could Do It Tonight

Much like Chat Pile, Couch Slut is a horror movie pressed onto wax. It knows what it is though, and lithley springs between passages of pure panic and moments of sighing hilarity. If you need a quick showcase of what I’m talking about, stop reading and go listen to “The Donkey.” This horrific song has plenty of gore, and more than enough laughs. Scream takes at least 90 minutes to get this much entertainment across. If you’re not up for a gooey, wet, bloody excursion through various modes of noise rock and sludge metal, it’s not gonna be your cup of tea. But if you can stomach the guts, and are okay with being the butt of the joke from time to time, few metal albums will reward you like You Could Do It Tonight will.

Charli XCX - brat

No, this hasn’t dropped one bit in my estimation. Though I found the remix album a bit much perhaps, even the ever-present nature of this album throughout the summer and early fall did nothing to diminish my opinion of it. brat is the culmination of Charli XCX’s efforts to date. It’s catchy, noisy, intense, engaging, lyrically interesting, thematically cogent, and has very few skips. If there’s an album from this year that is destined to endure in the broader cultural memory, it will doubtlessly be this one. In 10 years, we’ll have 90 artists that are Charli wannabes. Hell, we might have 20 right now. That it did all this and then was good to basically everyone who wasn’t trying to be a hater contrarian, is remarkable, and well worth praising.