Favorite albums of 2024

Yard Act – Where is My Utopia?

Illustration of a skeleton on fire, standing on a beach holding a briefcase and a telephone. A hand is reaching up from the water. In the orange sky, an angry looking sun stares at the skeleton.

Upon initial listen I thought I was absolutely going to hate this album. It’s a huge departure from their previous work, which was listed as my second favorite album of 2022. But the snarky spoken word still delivers, this time with danceable beats that are quite enjoyable once you’ve gotten past the initial shock. It was a huge risk, but it paid off. I saw them live at the Grog Shop (my neighborhood rock venue), and their artistry absolutely shows. I haven’t been able to really dive into the lyrics or backstory of the album, but my sense is that at least part of it relates to adjusting to career and personal art and ambition while balancing family and concerns of the future, which I feel I can relate to. Personal highlights include: “When the Laughter Stops“, “We Make Hits“, “A Vineyard for the North“.

Fontaines DC – Romance

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There were a couple of Fontaines DC albums I didn’t really listen to (A Hero’s Death and Skinty Fia) since their debut album (Dogrel), so it’s nice to have one of their albums click immediately again. I remember seeing them open for Idles back in 2019, and they really FELT like a brand new band thrust into the (indie music) spotlight. It’s interesting paying attention them again, now 5 years later. I remember seeing a review that said that the singer learning to use his breathing to punctuate his spoken-word singing, and I agree. This is relevant on such songs as “Starburster“, “Here’s the Thing“, “Bug“, “Death Kink“.

Los Campesinos! – All Hell

A man facing towards a car with its lights on

One of my all-time favorite bands, and I was kind of sad that their most recent album at the time, Sick Scenes (2017), never really hit for me. Thus, I was super happy to realize that I dug their new album. Another one of my favorite shows of 2024, but they’re just so practiced at this point and Gareth still cares so much that they’ll always be good shows. No specific A+ songs (I feel like they’re all a range of B- to B+), but they have a good album closer: “Adult Acne Stigmata“.

The Cure – Songs of a Lost World

A stone carving of a face with a mountain on top

How the hell does Robert Smith still sound exactly the same as he did 40 years later? It’s cliche, but the Cure was inadvertently very formative for me. This albums is very solid, and it’s been a great one for me to write to.

Charlie XCX – BRAT

The word "brat" written in lowercase, low resolution Arial Narrow font on a lime green background.

Album of summer 2024. It will forever sound like our trip to visit my family outside of Seattle that summer.