Top Albums of 2024

6 min read

Album cover of Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk.

For years, I have been posting the list of my favourite albums of that year in the last days of December on my preferred microblogging platform. But after all the drama this year on my former microblogging preference, I thought it was a good idea to write an accompanying macroblogging post for it as well.

Now with more characters at my disposal, I’ll change my list-making a little. Every year, I present my favourite albums in a top-five format. Instead of a top five, I will present a top ten. For albums and/or artists who didn’t make it to this top ten, I also wrote an exhaustive list of my honourable mentions.

2024 was a year where A LOT of good music came out - so let’s get started.

The Top Ten

  1. Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk - The duo’s music never really got to me, until this year. Imaginal Disk is an album which sounds modern, and experimental, but also very nostalgic for the bygone era of the 2000’s, all at the same time. With every re-listening, you hear a new detail you didn’t notice the last time you listened.
  2. Jack White - No Name - If you stalk my Last.fm, I can’t possibly deny my fandom for Jack White’s body of work. As a loyal fan, I can concur that Jack is very good at producing consistently good blues rock with a lot of experimentation. This album is no different: it’s loud, it slaps, and it does something new.
  3. Eefje de Visser - Heimwee - Eefje’s follow-up for 2020’s Bitterzoet continues where it has left off: building dreamy soundscapes with dreamy Dutch lyrics which doesn’t sound Dutch when you listen to it the first time. Heimwee’s production is top-notch - it doesn’t miss any beat in relation to how the whole album is balanced.
  4. JPEGMAFIA - I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU - For me personally, JPEGMAFIA is the only hip-hop artist who really dares to be fundamentally different from his counterparts. His self-produced music can be as aggressive, chaotic, and loud as classic ‘70ies punk, yet still conveys a message. This album is an exact continuation of this recipe and is in my opinion on par with last year’s Scaring the Hoes.
  5. Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy - Crockett’s voice is something which makes country music so interesting. His deep voice tells you everything about his journey towards a country singer. This goes hand-in-hand with his great band which produces such a balanced sound of country licks.
  6. Denzel Curry - King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2 - During the year, I constantly came back to this album to listen to fun, loud, and party-esque Southern hip-hop on my bicycle.
  7. Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers - After seeing Sierra Ferrell live on Lowlands 2023, her music is on heavy rotation in my headphones. What jumps out on this album is her lovely lyricism - Fox Hunt is an absolute sing-a-long banger. The best way to discover Ferrell’s music is to listen to her Tiny Desk concert (opens in new tab).
  8. Osees - SCORS 80 - My love for Osees/Thee Oh Sees is conveyed in the Dutch saying “it does not have to be pretty as long as it is hard”. SCORS 80 is a sci-fi album which replaces the traditional garage rock sounds with synthesizers, while still containing its extreme loudness.
  9. Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us - The ‘00 brought us Vampire Weekend - which luckily didn’t stay a one-hit-wonder. Their 2024 album was a very well thought out answer on their old sound, which is mega-refreshing. If you like to pigeonhole this band into indie music, this is the best indie album of 2024.
  10. Future Islands - People Who Aren’t There Anymore - After seeing Future Islands at Sziget 2015, they made a lasting impression on me. Their shows are captivating and really suck you in. But the music never stroke a chord with me, until this album. It’s a coherent produced indie album with a theme where everyone can relate to.

Honourable Mentions

My top ten list is sacred: it should be an album which came out this year, and most of all, it SHOULD be an album. Call me snobby, but only in the album format I can rate the output of an artist to its full extent. But as every music lover knows, you sometimes love your random singles. My honourable mentions will include albums, bands, songs, and other artists which made an impact on my listening this year.

  • Charli XCX - BRAT - Don’t believe the hype. Or do, and enjoy a great pop album which also sounds a little bit like the music which was popular during secondary school (which was, in my case, around ~2010).
  • Zaho de Sagazan - La symphonie des éclairs - Combine perfect renditions of French chanchons with the clean sounds of Kraftwerk and you get Zaho de Sagazan. In 2024, I discovered her 2023 debut album, which was an instant classic in my Spotify algorithm.
  • The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy - This band felt like an industry-plant to me for a very long time (and therefore didn’t convince). But after their debut album, I yield my criticisms. Love their energy and singles.
  • Kendrick Lamar - Both his rap battle with the cringiest rapper ever and his album GNX made clear why he’s still worthy of his nickname King Kenny. What I especially liked about this 2024 output was its freshness. Despite Kendrick being an older guy now, his music and lyricism are top-of-the-pop, hands down.
  • Beige Banquet - An unknown British postpunk band I happen to see live at Haarlem’s Patronaat. Their droning sound suck you in and spit you out at the end of their song catalogue. Check out their banger ‘Acid Bath’ to get what I am trying to say.
  • Fontaines D.C. - Romance - Fontaines D.C. became a ’love them or hate them’ band after concluding their debut with two very mediocre/weak follow-up albums. But with Romance, they make up for it a lot. It’s a newer sound, it’s VERY Gen-Z, and it’s mainstream-proof. Go listen to it if you like festival-ready indie rock.
  • Ploegendienst ft. Spinvis - Interessant - This single by Ploegendienst is a return to form for Spinvis, who played punk in his early days (opens in new tab). But what if Spinvis would create a punk song in 2024? Enter Interessant, a great song with Spinvis-like lyrics, and with the same Spinvis strangeness attached. This song was on heavy rotation when I was in a punk mood this year.

If you like numbers, please check out my Last.fm (opens in new tab) for my exact listening preferences this year.