It sure has been a long time since I’ve done one of these columns, huh?  I should probably try to fix that in the new year, considering I need some resolutions I /actually/ want to follow through on, and because I have so much fun dipping away from the metal world for a second to appreciate the sheer breadth of music the year has to offer us.  And offer us it did; 2024 was no exception to that rule, and some of the finest music that was released this year wasn’t even metal.  Because I just can’t help myself when it comes to list season, I am pathologically compelled to write to you, dear reader, about it.  I hope you’re ready to expand your consciousness and take in some more stellar music if you haven’t already, because these albums have been burning a hole in my brain just as much as any metal album has.

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Soccer Mommy – Evergreen

If Evergreen was only one song long, and that song was “Abigail”, it would still have a place on this list.  Unabashedly, that song has been my favorite single track released this year, because my current video game obsession happens to be Stardew Valley, and it would seem the same is true for Sophia Allison, aka Soccer Mommy.  But the beauty of Evergreen is that it’s way more than just one single: the whole album is an equally delightful and painful look at love, loss and sad girl anthems.  The one-two punch of “Lost” and “M” that open the album are haunting tales of absence that mirror the bright, unbridled joy of “Abigail” and “Driver” in a way that shows growth, depth and maturity from the Nashville-based songwriter.  Allison seems poised to be on top of the world with this release, and who can argue with that?

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Kendrick Lamar – GNX

It’s not dickriding if it’s true, right?  Speaking of being on top of the world, here we have someone who, quite literally, has it in writing that they are the best in the world.  Huge dubs for the West Coast.  GNX came as an almost total surprise, but the fact that it is so genuinely good should come as no surprise.  For one thing, Lamar has always been ahead of the game, at least as far back as good kid, m.A.A.d. city, and GNX sees him continuing to up his game as far as lyricism, flow and vibe-cultivation.  For another thing, the unabashed confidence, nay, bravado that Lamar brings to every bar is palpable.  This is a guy who has known he has won for a while, but instead of taking it easy and doing a victory lap of the predictable, he continues to innovate and leave every other rapper from New York to Toronto in his dust.

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Shellac – To All Trains

The loss of Steve Albini still seems incomprehensible to me.  Just for his production work alone, he is counted among the best that has ever touched a board, but his work in the noise rock scene as well also deserves to be lauded, and what I am assuming is the final Shellac release should get that same recognition.  To All Trains was recorded in batches over several years, it is the first Shellac album in a decade, and it was released just ten days after Albini’s sudden passing, all of which is a really strange set of coincidences coming together.  The album itself, though, is a brooding romp through the ins and outs of life in Chicago, the music scene at large, and other off-the-cuff musings from Albini and co., and its minimalist setup belies a huge sound that combines acerbic wit with just the right amount of scuzzy guitars to make the whole thing feel genuine, authentic and unforced.  Pretty much the perfect testament to Albini as a person.

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MONO – OATH

A double feature in this year’s tribute to Steve Albini finds us revisiting Oath, another monumental release from a band whose every album leaves me with my jaw on the floor.  Oath is another in a series of albums that look at aging and the legacy we leave behind us (wait…is there something I’m trying to tell myself with these lists?), but done in only the way that MONO can: haunting, beautiful, delicate, soul-crushing, and overwhelming in a manner that leaves you wanting more.  Sadly, it too marks the end of their partnership with Steve Albini, but if that Shellac album wasn’t enough to sell you on his production chops, please listen to OATH and tell me he didn’t have one of the finest minds to ever sit behind the board.  And then make sure you check out MONO when they come to the US with Alcest in the spring, because holy shit I’ve dreamed about that exact tour package before..

I didn’t do a lot of Rainbows this year, but I couldn’t pass up doing this one!

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Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She

She Reaches Out To She was released so early in the year it very well could have been lost and forgotten about now that the end of 2024 is almost upon us, but the fact that this album has stuck with me for so long is a testament to how good this album is.  Chelsea Wolfe has always been a chameleon of a songwriter: from acoustic folk to harsh noise to metal and electronic, she never manages to make the same album twice.  Here, she experiments very heavily with modular synths, and electronics make up the bulk of the instruments, which back her plaintive croon incredibly well and create the kind of bleak and gloomy atmosphere she is known for.  Obviously, though, the vocals are the star of the show, and Wolfe has never sounded better or more deliberate with her take on cutting ties and the cyclical nature of grief and healing.

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Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

Only God Was Above Us is the return to form that I personally have been waiting for from Vampire Weekend.  Not that they’ve put out what anyone would call a “bad” album, but upon first firing this album up, I was immediately hit with the kind of vibes their self-titled debut and Contra provided that made me and countless others fall in love with them.  Yes, Only God is still *kind of* an Ezra Koenig solo release, but the re-inclusion of his fellow Vampires on most tracks (even Rostam Batmanglij gets writing credit on “The Surfer”) is very welcome, and it helps make this sound a whole lot more like Vampire Weekend proper than they have in a while.  There’s a joy here that is undeniable, and coupled with Koenig’s gift for wit and wordplay, this stands up with the best of what the band has offered in their almost two decades of making music.

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Tim Heidecker – Slipping Away

Tim Heidecker’s music truly could not be farther away from what he may be best known for, but, if I’m being honest, that is one of the things I appreciate the most about his solo albums.  Slipping Away is a brutally honest and unironic treatise on fatherhood, baseball, comedy and growing older, and Heidecker’s understated delivery and plain take on these topics reveals a wisdom you might not expect from Jan Skylar, one half of the only married news team in the tri-county area.  It also doesn’t hurt that the Very Good Band (that’s their name, not just a comment on their chops) playing behind him groove monstrously and inject some serious pep into the ten tracks that make up Slipping Away.  You could say it…spooked me how much I liked this album.  Eh?  Eh?  Thanks, Cinco.

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Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD”

GSY!BE are not a band that are known to take soft, middle-of-the-road stances on anything, least of all their creative vision when it comes to their music.  They are a collective that are truly at their best when they have a point to make, and NO TITLE is an urgent, vital and uncompromisingly compelling plea to the world.  To listen to this album is to be affected by it.  To listen to this album is to feel the crushing weight of loss and despair.  To listen to this album is to feel the warm glow of hope, however faint, however far away it may seem.  Threading that needle has always been something that GSY!BE have been masters of, but now more than ever their music pulls no punches and leaves me absolutely stunned when the final note rings out.

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toe – Now I See the Light

There is almost nothing that causes a stir like the release of a new toe album, but the simple fact that it exists isn’t what has Now I See the Light taking the coveted number one spot for non-metal releases, in my opinion.  It’s also not the fact that toe quite simply never miss, although that much is certainly true.  It’s about how much they manage to pull off here, and pull off more than convincingly without ever having to turn the gain or volume up.  Guitar acrobatics, gorgeous melodies and harmonies, drum wizardry and warm, round bass tones all come together in a package that is downright enchanting, and from the first notes on this album I was hooked.  Now I See the Light is the sonic equivalent of staying up to watch the sun rise with someone you really care about, and the warm glow of sunlight and human connection seems prepacked with this album, right along with the music and artwork.  There’s an indescribable feeling that hits when I listen to this album, one that defies classification or description.  You just have to listen to this to be convinced.

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Sylvaine – Eg Er Framand

I love the journey that Sylvaine have been on, especially with respect to letting frontwoman Katherine Shepard show off her incredible vocal talent.  True, Sylvaine has bounced back and forth to varying degrees of “full band” in their lineup, but Eg Er Framand sees Shepard back as the sole contributor, and the EP is almost entirely her vocals, with sparse instrumentation at best backing her Norwegian lilt.  Haunting doesn’t really begin to describe it; if you’ve listened to the work that she’s been putting in on the most recent Sylvaine releases, you know how mesmerizing her voice is, and here she shows off everything that it can do.  Angela was right (about a good many things, this being one of them): this EP makes me really want a full album of music like this.  I love everything that Sylvaine can do, and it really seems like there’s no hurdle that Shepard can’t clear with absolute ease.

Wondering where you can read more of Angela’s thoughts on Eg Er Framand?  Look no further!

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2024 was a year that truly never stopped giving for me, and that statement is genre-agnostic.  When I first started writing here, I used to wonder why Chris and Hera would put out multiple lists, or lists with 30+ albums on them, or both!  Well, now I know.  There really is too much out there to just contain within a strict boundary, and I’m not the kind of person who is able to show much restraint when it comes to preaching the gospel of good music.  So here ya go.  More of the best of what the year had to offer, and I’m sure there’s at least a couple of albums my fellow staff will back me up on.  As always, stay tuned, because I haven’t even crossed the half-way point for my lists, and there’s already plenty more on the docket for next year.

-Ian