Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
Intentionally kept off the dominant streaming platforms (except YouTube), this sprawling lo-fi collection from somewhere/someone in Canada has retained its mystery all year. What if Royal Trux arranged Lesley Gore’s 60s pop heartbreak? Now we know.
Quivers – Oyster Cuts
Australian in both origin and musical tradition, this quartet’s jangle-pop and winsome group harmonies gained emotional breadth by having bassist Bella Quinlan take the lead on several cuts.
Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds – That Delicious Vice
At the ripe old age of “I published my memoir this year,” Kid Congo Powers — revered guitarist from the Gun Club, the Cramps, and the Bad Seeds — tapped a rich vein of chicano garage rock with his bass-less Pink Monkey Birds.
Psychic Temple – Doggie Paddlin’ Thru The Cosmic Consciousness
Middle-aged dad-rock album of the year, and reportedly the last one Chris Schlarb will record with his mysteriously named collective.
Ty Segall – Three Bells
A savory feast of proggy, shredding riff-rock on album no. 22 (really?!?!) for Ty Segall.
Loma – How Will I Live Without A Body?
I criss-crossed the Berkshire mountains several times this year, sometimes lost but never panicked, with the latest album of spectral art music by this Texas-to-Europe trio.
Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja
The Finnish psychedelic metal unit has almost left their blackened origins entirely behind with an electronic sound that Nine Inch Nails fans could fall for.
Dina Ögon – Orion
Beguiling soft rock for the Sunday brunch crowd in Sweden. OMG this woman’s voice!
LL Cool J – The Force
Sure I’m a little bemused that the star of the NCIS franchise made my hip-hop record of the year, but… have you heard this yet?! Studded with tasty samples (Can!) by producer Q-Tip, this was his post-A Tribe Called Quest album that we all needed.
Johnny Blue Skies – Passage Du Desir
So Sturgill Simpson made a yacht rock album? Does that make Johnny Blue Skies his “Chris Gaines” alias?
Floating Points – Cascade
My electronic album of the year, where Moroder-esque sequencers add pointillistic textures to cerebral techno and drum’n’bass.
Midnight – Hellish Expectations
Cleveland’s satanic rock terrorists are by now such an extreme metal institution, this year they became the subject of a coffee table book.
Grace Cummings – Ramona
Dusky folk rock given cinematic flourishes for an Australian vocalist with an, um, sensual contralto.
Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol – Big Dumb Riffs
2024 truth in advertising, Big Dumb Riffs serves up some goofy retro nü-metal that I had to crank up in the Honda Civic from time to time.
Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
Sadé came back this year, but “your next new Sadé album” of 2024 was actually Night Reign, the sound of satin sheets and Sufi mysticism.
Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn – Quiet In A World Full Of Noise
A piano-based ambient album featuring an R&B singer in self-imposed exile from Sean Combs’ crashing nightmare.
Dummy – Free Energy
I think it’s swell that some bands still create the kind of “post-” music that can charm an 8.0 out of a Pitchfork review.