Music of 2024

I have a deep affinity to music. I listed to almost 25 thousand minutes of music in 2024. Surprisingly, that is a bit below my average. Though, I am eternally grateful that I have a job that allows me to just play music all day.

I am not sure when I started, but I wrote a small command-line application that prints out my most played artists of the week. I wrote this in Rust as an opportunity to learn how to write command-line applications that interact with an API. You can find the code here if it is an interest to you. However, more than the early Rust code I wrote I thought it would be interesting to give a bit more context for the music I loved in 2024.

There are two categories that I am going to talk share below. First, I’ll share my top albums that were released in 2024. Second, I will share the albums that are new to me, but were not newly released. I hope you enjoy a trip down my musical history of 2024. I tried to give a bit of explanation as to what each of these entries meant to me for some extra flavor.

Please note, I do not have the energy nor the will power to rank these. There is no particular order to the list below!

New Albums of 2024

• Bando Stone and The New World by Childish Gambino

  Absolutely amazing first song. And the rest of the album does not disappoint. I think this is the strongest album Childish Gambino put out so far.

• I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU by JPEGMAFIA

  There are a few central themes about my music that I thoroughly enjoyed this year. One of them is loud, chaotic music. Even though I don’t think this is JPEGMAFIA’s most chaotic album, it is a great one and worth a listen.

• As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again by The Decemberists

  What can be said here. The Decemberists are great. I have seen them live 5 times already and would never give up an opportunity. And I cannot wait to hear “Joan in the Garden” live. I must have listened to it this year 100 times.

• Rome by The National

  I absolutely love The National. They still, to this day, are my most listened band. And I had a terrible time the only time I saw them live. So having this album, a live concert, which sounds amazing is truly a gift!

• 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grip by Xiu Xiu

  Xiu Xiu is another band in the noise/chaos camp. They are a joy to listen to, but you really have to be in the mood. I was happy to get this album though, as it is probably the most approachable album of theirs yet.

• Short n’ Sweet by Sabrina Carpenter

  My queen. I love everything about this album. And I really do not care who knows it.

• Mahashmashana by Father John Misty

  This album is a continuation on amazing albums put out by Father John Misty. I am relatively new into listening to their discography, but I have been obsessed with everything they have put out. This is a very strong addition to their amazing catalogue.

• Lola by Goth Babe

  What a surprise this album was. I remember walking by a marquee with “Goth Babe” headlining a show and laughing at the name. I never imagined it would be on the list of top albums of the year. It is such a great listen.

• Country by Medium Build

  Very much like Father John Misty, there is an absolute treat listening to Medium Build. I have enjoyed “Be Your Boy” for ages and to have a whole new album is just fantastic. It is raw. It is real. And it was a great concert to see live this year.

• GNX by Kendrick Lamar

  After the beef with Drake, I did not know there would be more. But this album is great. It probably has the strongest 3 songs in a row that I can remember. I will forever be listening to “hey now”, “reincarnated” and “tv off” back to back to back.

• TANGK by IDLES

  IDLES snuck up on me and this album is just fantastic. I am so glad I found this album and their whole catalogue. Great music.

• BRAT by Charli xcx

  It was certainly a BRAT summer here. Though I have to admit I do think I enjoy the “Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat” remixes. Give them all a listen though!

New (to me) Albums of 2024

• The Money Store (2012) by Death Grips

  I am not too sure what took me so long to get into Death Grips. But I have certainly been experimenting more with noise music overall, and they fit a happy niche for me.

• Lean Into Life (2023) by Petey

  I did not understand how much I needed Petey in my life. Every song they sing hits the core of my soul. It’s really magic.

• Being Kind (2022) by Star Slinger

  Star Slinger really surprised me with this one. I have been following them for a while since I first heard their single Supermane. This album was a great collection of tunes I listened to a lot.

• Cave World (2022) by Viagra Boys

  Not sure where I first heard them, but I could not stop listening to Viagra Boys. The whole band is amazingly talented and are great performers. I hope to see them live one day!

Top Singles of 2024

For each of the singles, I pulled the Youtube video for them. I have started to have a renewed appreciation for music videos and none of these disappoint.

• Tispy - Tipsy by clipping.

  I love everything Daveed Digs and these gentlemen do. This is just a lovely cover to an already great song!

• Guillotine - Guillotine (2011) by Death Grips

  This is now my goto song to introducing people to Death Grips. It has it all. Definitely worth a listen!

• Sprinter - Sprinter (2023) by Central Cee & Dave

  This song has been a super ear worm for me all year. I would say that this single handedly got me into UK Drill music and I am so happy to have been introduced.

• Torch - Drop 7 (2024) & Point and Kill - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert (2021) by Little Simz

  These two songs were also part of my constant rotation of UK Drill this year.

• Memory Box - Bismillah (2019) by Peter Cat Recording Co.

  This song is amazingly fun to listen to. It reminds me of some soulful disco. It is really a vibe.

• Ziggy Starfish (Anxiety Raps) - A Special Episode - EP (2015) by Open Mike Eagle

• Legend Has It - Run The Jewels 3 (2016) by Run the Jewels

• Rubbernecker - Viscerals (2020) by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs

Conclusion

Agree? Disagree? Did I miss something that I 100% should listen to? Find me on Bluesky and we can chat it out!

This was a fun post to write. I want to shout out Patrick Berry who gave me this idea. Read their list here. Happy New Year!