Hey waddup! The list this year is a bit different and has taken absolutely forever to make. Why? Because I am silly and decided I wanted to turn it into a video! I am really proud of it. So, if you would rather listen to me speak about the music, and hear little snippets of each album, please watch below!

If you would rather read, that is okay too (plus the video is blocked in Russia, so if you are from there, you have no choice). I haven’t put any images for each album below. I spent so long putting the video together that I can’t really be bothered! Sorry. Now, I should get back to my Master’s, what the heck am I doing why did I spend a million hours on this. Kind regard.

Hi. I am not a music critic. But I am a guy who likes music, and also has one of the most sensitive, emotional hearts in the world who feels music so much and is just so sensitive and emotional. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about how reading is kinda hard. And while I love writing these low effort pieces each year I wanted to find a way to make it a little more accessible. And so I thought what would Jesus do? And of course the answer was to become YouTube. So not only am I coming to you live from my blog, I am on video. Here I am, I’ve got camera one, camera two. I’m video now.

It’s been a pretty amazing year for music. I usually seek out new albums and try to listen to as much new stuff as possible. But this year, I was kinda busy. So I didn’t seek out new music at all. Instead, I went with the good old “let the good music find me” approach. So yeah, if you’re a big music head, there probably isn’t much here that will surprise you. But! If you’re not a big music nerd, welcome in. Here are some albums that I adore, and you might too! 

Honourable mentions 

First, I want to give a shout-out to these singles and ep.

Lithonia – Childish Gambino 

Satellite Business 2.0 – Sampha & Little Simz 

Drop 7 – Little Simz 

Give Mama a Hug – Dev Lemons 

A Dream Is All I Know – The Lemon Twigs 

And second, a shout-out to all of these albums that I added to my library and didn’t quite get the time for multiple listens. Sometimes an album just misses that window in your life. I’m sure you are all amazing, and maybe I will rediscover you in a few years! 

Okay, to the good stuff, my top sixteen albums of the year. 

16 – Tyler, the Creator – CHROMOKOPIA 

West Coast Hip Hop, Experimental Hip Hop

I really like this album. I really like Tyler. And I think what I like most about this album is that Tyler is an absolute master at capturing a vibe. He has a vision for his art and he nails it every time, and I just really appreciate the effort, you know?

Thankfully it’s not just the vibe that he nailed, the album is also great! Tyler is so good at words, I’m a big fan of words. His production is so addictive. There are great loud moments, great quiet moments, and it all flows really well. Noid is a perfect leading single with a killer sample. Good album. 

15 – Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future 

Singer-Songwriter, Contemporary Folk

Song to try: No Machine 

Gorgeous album. This album feels so alive, so tangible, so in front of you. I am obsessed with the minimal, analogue recording and production. There are moments when Adrianne moves away from the mic, and it leaves you hanging onto her words. With this kind of production, it gives you the opportunity to really sit with her words, feel the joy, feel the sadness. It is a really special experience. 

Real House, No Machine, Free Treasure, they’re all amazing. The closer Ruined, I can barely comprehend it. The way it makes me feel? It’s unreal. I wouldn’t say this is an album that you have on loop, but it is one you have to experience. 

14 – MGMT – Loss Of Life 

Neo-Psychedelia, Indie Rock, Psychedelic Pop 

Yes MGMT are still a band in the year of our lord 2024. And they are back with their best album since the last one! 

I love their vibe. I think that is all I have to say about this album. Andrew’s voice has such a great hypnotic tone. I feel so at ease when he is singing. There are a few songs here that have a real epic quality to them: People In The Streets, Nothing Changes, Loss Of Life. These songs build and build and really reward you for listening to them. 

I am obsessed with Nothing To Declare, it is such a tender, gorgeous song about exploring the universe and your place in it. Something about it really touches me. Shout out to the MGMT boys. 

13 – Rachel Chinouriri – What A Devastating Turn of Events 

Pop Rock, Indie Rock

Ever heard of powerful music? This album right here, it has power. Power in its writing. Power in its choruses. Power in Rachel’s voice. What an album. 

I have to rave about the choruses. Rachel has this incredible ability to chorus; The Hills, Never Need Me, All I Ever Asked, they all have me singing for the rest of the day. They are so unbelievably catchy, her voice is incredible, and for your debut album to have this many hits is unreal. 

Lyrically this album really shines too. It earns its title, there is some devastating storytelling. I really appreciate songs that capture a full story, and on the title track here it is truly incredible. It is a powerful song. 

I would love to sing these songs with a crowd. 

12 – Sarah Kinsley – Escaper 

Indie Pop, Pop Rock

After releasing a billion amazing EPs, Sarah Kinsley is finally here with her debut album. And I tell you what, she is pretty good at music! 

This album has such a great mix of bops and ballads. The front half of the album is stacked with bops that have such pace,it is impossible not to dance. Sarah’s voice is amazing, songs like My Name Is Dancing, when she just goes for it, I love it. There are so many moments and sounds and beeps and boops that I love too, shout out to sounds. 

Then we have the ballads, which are freaking beautiful and powerful and tender and good. They’re so good. And to top it all off, Escaper is such an incredible ending, one of the closers of the year. 

Also, this album cover is so early 2000s, it’s perfect. Wait what the hell she is my age? WHAT. 

11 – Hozier – Unheard & Unaired EP’s 

Pop Soul, Singer-Songwriter, Folk Rock

Unreal Unearth was my introduction to Hozier, and I really got into his previous albums this year. He ended up being my top artist for the year, I saw him live twice, and he also appeared in a lot of my dreams. 

While he didn’t release an album this year, he did release two ep’s, and I don’t know how his b-sides are this good. 

I think everyone has heard Too Sweet at this point, and rightfully so, because what a banger. I love Wildflower and Barley, the vibes are so perfect. July is also such a vibe, I could listen to those songs on loop forever. He has an unbelievable voice, I can’t comprehend how there are people on earth who can just do that, you know?

And to just comment on the concert experience for a second. Wow. The band? Perfection. The songs? Hit after hit. Hozier the man standing right in front of us? I’m gonna need a few years. 

10 – Father John Misty – Mahashmashana 

Singer-Songwriter, Soft Rock

I love Father John Misty. What a guy. However, I wasn’t all that crazy about his last album. It’s always scary when an artist you love releases an album that you don’t connect with, you begin to doubt yourself, and you begin to doubt them, will they ever release another good album?

Within a minute of listening to the opening track, all I had was one thought: We are so back. 

This is such an interesting and varied project. Eight long tracks, fifty minutes total, ranging from huge epic orchestral movements to rock and roll, to Screamland which is as close as you can get to making an Imagine Dragons song before becoming, well, an Imagine Dragons song. 

My absolute favourite track on the record though is Mental Health. I actually can’t believe how great this song is. I just listened to the whole song to take notes and didn’t take a single one, I was that captured. I don’t even know how to describe how much I love the song, you just need to listen to it. 

So happy to have you back Father John Misty. 

9 – Marlin’s Dreaming – HIRL

Indie Rock

The only Kiwi artists on this list! I’m sorry, I need to listen to more music from home. We are kinda great at it. 

I love this band and I love this album and I saw them live guess what, I loved it. There was a moment when they were playing Country Plaines, and there was this moment when they pulled out a harmonica, and that was just one of the greatest moments of my year. There was just this energy in the crowd where we all realised that they were really cooking something special.

I love the ethereal Hello My Dear. I love the momentum of Lucky Star. I love the singing in Earnestly. I love everything about Every Single Time. I loooooooooooove Samoa. DAMN! I could go on. There’s just something about this band. It’s the vibe of it. It’s the constitution. It’s Mabo. It’s justice. It’s law. It’s the vibe and ah, no that’s it. It’s the vibe. I rest my case.

If you find yourself driving around New Zealand this summer, with the setting sun, and the pink clouds, and a warm breeze flowing through the car, put this album on. You will fly. 

8 – Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT 

Alt-Pop

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of this little artist called Billie Eilish, but she is great, I would recommend her. 

I love that she released no singles in the lead-up to this, it was such a great fresh listening experience. For me, this is easily Billie’s best, most complete and cohesive album. It is so big, so gentle, so loud, so insanely nice on the ears. 

Birds of a Feather is so unbelievably good, that chorus is a perfect chorus, it layers in such a satisfying and addictive way and I am so glad that people have latched onto it. 

And while I love Billie’s voice and past work, I am so glad she has taken her volume to a new level on this album. I think Happier Than Ever (the song) had a huge influence on the direction of this album, and the power of that song shows itself in this album so much. Not so much in large explosive ways, but it’s there. 

Thank you for Chihiro and Wildflower and The Greatest. Blue is such an underrated closing track, something about it really gets me. Shout out Billie. 

7 – Luna Li – When a Thought Grows Wings 

Soft Rock, Indie Pop

Okay, I’m gonna have a little break, Luna Li better be the biggest artist in the world by the time I’m back. 

Luna Li is such a legend. I love all of her EPs, and her debut album is awesome, but just a little all over the place. As a debut should be! This one here though, this is a solid chill epic project. 

Whimsical would be the main word I use to describe this album. Luna Li’s voice is such a vibe, what an incredible instrument. She has a few of her classic shreds in here too, she absolutely slays the house down. And look at that cover, that is such a sick cover. Oh my GOD, I’m listening to I Imagine right now it is so good. 

I don’t know how she is so talented on so many instruments. From the flute to the guitar and bass, to the harp, it’s all in here, she’s playing it, and it’s absolutely phenomenal. You know that feeling when you touch a soft silk, and you rub your hands across it and go wow, this is nice, I could stand here forever. This album is that but for your ears. 

The chorus of Golden Hour, loop it forever. 

6 – Faye Webster – Underdressed at the Symphony 

Soft Rock, Singer-Songwriter

I love Faye Webster and I love this record and for the second year in a row, I love the song Lifetime. It is absurd how this song has stuck with me. In terms of listens, it was in my top three last year, and cracked the top twenty this year. I have never had a song like that. Can I explain why I like the song so much? Not really, last year I said: 

“This song is just. The bass is so. Her voice is so. The drums are so. That little guitar thing is so. The piano is so.” 

And you know what Jame? I agree. It is so! 

The album around it is also great. Feeling Good Today is such a silly goofy funny song. I am obsessed with the title track, the little orchestral flourish is so sweet. It is an easy second favourite. 

People may say this is all just fine, and not all that groundbreaking. But I can’t get enough, I will listen to Lifetime for the rest of my lifetime. 

5 – Clairo – Charm 

Soft Rock, Bedroom Pop

God. I love music. How good is music? Ever heard of Charm by Clairo? Bah. I love it so much. I’ve got to the part in this list where it has become even harder to describe why I love these albums. It might be easier to get my point across by screaming. This album? AAAHHH. 

This album is so Animal Crossing. To some that may sound like a huge insult, but I can assure you it is a complement of the highest order. It is literally perfect, the sounds here are perfect, I could listen to them everyday forever. 

Sexy to Someone is such a great track. Clario is in her yearning era. What a bop. The three track run of Terrapin, Juna, and Add Up My Love is so legendary. I listened to those songs together, I don’t know how many times, a million, a billion, around there.

This is the perfect evening album. If you’re having a rough go of life, chuck on some sweatpants, light a candle and spend the evening chilling with this album and playing Balatro (me a lot this year). 

4 – Haley Heynderickx – Seed of a Seed 

Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter

At the beginning of October, a close friend of mine recommended Haley’s music to me. I was immediately obsessed and she became my top artist of October and November. It was one of the moments this year where I couldn’t listen to anything else. I had her debut album, I Need to Start a Garden, on loop nonstop. 

In November, she released Seed of a Seed, and I tell you what, she did it again! I’m listening to the opening track Gemini as I write this and I’m laughing at how great it is. What an incredible build and satisfying reward. Foxglove has such a great pace and is so much fun. 

And the title track, Seed of a Seed, is so brilliant. Lyrically, it is so simple, so effective, it makes me scream. When she says 

If I get lucky

Maybe a simple life

If I get lucky

Maybe some free time

I feel that. 

And that CHORUS. 

No, if we don’t know better

No, will we try?

… 

No, if we don’t know better

If we don’t know better

Well, did my parents’ parents know better-better?

No, but they tried

There are so few words here, but they are so effective. I love it. There are so many lyrics on this album that I am obsessed with. I could do this with every song. Sorry Fahey is so beautiful. WOW. BAH. This is the pinnacle of the singer-songwriter genre in 2024. 

3 – twenty one pilots – Clancy 

Alt-Pop, Indie Rock

Yup! Yeah. Twenty one pilots in third place. I’ve had a year of reclaiming things I enjoyed in highschool, and these guys? They’re pretty great. Sure, they’ve released some cringe music, but they’ve also released some genuinely amazing, critically acclaimed music. Trench is one of the greatest pop-rock albums of the past ten years, the reviews speak for themselves. 

While I didn’t like their last album at all, I was always gonna listen to a new one. And when they released the first single, and they said: 

“Welcome back to trench.”

I got excited. 

They explore some great sounds in this album, stuff that really works for them. Next Semester caught me so off guard, I don’t know why I never expected a post-punk anthem from them, but it works so well. That chorus absolutely slaps. And speaking of choruses that slap, Backslide, what a chorus! Gang vocals are my favourite thing in the world. A huge shout out to Paul Meany for his production on this album.

Do I genuinely think this is the third-best album on this list? Honestly, no. But the numbers don’t lie, I played the hell out of this album this year. I liked these guys when I was younger, I like them now, I am cringe, but I am free. 

2 – Charli xcx – BRAT

Electropop, Electronic Dance Music

Ever heard of Brat? Neither! 

I shouldn’t need to sell this album to anyone, we have all heard it by now. This is the album of 2024. The album that will be remembered. The album that people will forever tie to that shade of lime green. What an unbelievable marketing campaign, no one will ever be able to replicate it. 

I like this album. It is really good. Each song has such a distinct attitude, and 360 is the perfect way to introduce the lot. My favourite song on the album. It’s already SO iconic, the way it has changed the vocabulary of the chronically online is hilarious. 

Sympathy is a Knife is for sure my favourite on the album, that chorus HITS. Easily one of the greatest choruses of the year, and this album has them in spades. Talk talk is another one, try and listen to this song and not move your body, it is impossible. What a bop, my favourite. 

Von Dutch is my real favourite song. The pumping bassy synth itches a part of my brain that very few songs have. Actually giggling as I write and listen to this, I will never get over how good this sounds. Then to move into Everything is Romantic? The best song on the album? WHAT A SONG. I can’t even explain my love for this song, the opening with the strings, the thumping bass, the ascension into the ending. That is a musical moment of all time. 

Charli doesn’t just deliver bops, she has the lyrics to match. So I is a stunning tribute to a friend, it’s one of the most powerful songs of the year, and yet it’s probably not the one people think of when they see that green. Girl, So Confusing is another outstanding song, and the remix with Lorde takes it to a whole new level, the vulnerability on display is so special. And perhaps the least talked about song on the album, I think about it all the time, is one that absolutely blew me away. It might be my favourite on the album. 

B2b and Apple get me moving every time, both of them are my favourite. Then the closer, 365, is a perfect reprise, an incredible way to end the album. It’s not my favourite, but it’s a close second. 

I did not expect to have my life so captured by Brat. But it got me. For a few months, I thought this was gonna be it, this was the album of the year. That was until… 

1 – Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk

Synthpop, Neo-Psychedelia

YYYEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I LOVE THIS ALBUM.

I am so excited to write about this. If you have seen me in person this year, there’s a good chance you’ve witnessed me being annoying about this album. 

This album had me at “hello.” She Looked Like Me is the introduction of the year, it builds and morphs and layers in so many unexpected sounds, and then it explodes into this crescendo of synthesisers and yelling and I have nothing but love for this song. They then flex their musicianship in Killing Time, a groovy bop that builds in intensity, and becomes a littleunhinged. The crunchy guitar really makes this song, and once it hits the bridge, and Mica says:

Count up all the years that we spend asleep

If time is meant for living, why’s it killing me?

I will never get over this song. 

Three tracks in and they already hit you with an interlude, which feels like a DVD menu from the 2000s, and really like a second introduction to the album. I love it. I like this album a lot. I don’t know if you know this. 

Image is one of the three songs that you have to try. The bass is addictive, Mica’s performance is perfect, and Matt’s production is so clean you can see yourself in its reflection. The last 45 seconds of this song are pure magic. Try not to dance challenge. 

Then we have my single of the year Death & Romance. I’ve said this a lot but this is a perfect song. The drums! The bass! The synth! Mica’s vocals! That chorus! The vibes are immaculate and to me, this is the best song of 2024. But it doesn’t stop there, because Magdalena Bay are nothing if not the goats of the transition. Fear, Sex is such a great epilogue and cool down. I’m truly in disbelief every time I hear it. 

If there’s one thing they nail on this album, it is the slow build – shown no better in the three-track run of Vampire in the Corner, Watching T.V, and Tunnel Vision. Each of these tracks was my favourite on the album at different times. Vampire in the Corner starts soft and sweet, but by the end it has me screaming. Mica has an unbelievable voice. Wow. Watching T.V. is drama. The glitches in the ending make me giggle with joy, and Mica has an unbelievable voice. Wow. Tunnel Vision might today be my favourite of the three, that prog rock ending is everything to me, two minutes of absolute bliss. And Mica has an unbelievable voice. Wow.

Phwoah, sorry I’m going on a bit here. Love Is Everywhere, what a bop 🙂 

Feeling Diskinserted eases us into what is a killer final four tracks. That’s My Floor is a dirty, rocky hit that really itches the depths of my brain. Every time I listen to it I yell hell yeah. Speaking of hell yeah, Cry for Me, hell yeah. This is one of the highest-rated songs on the album for a reason. It has that timeless Abba vibe that is impossible to not enjoy. This is one for the mums. 

The award for mostest beautifulest song goes to Angel on a Satellite. That sweeping piano that carries you through the song is stunning. Hypnotic is really the only word I can use. It is really the perfect way to land the album. 

On first listen I thought The Ballad of Matt & Mica was going to be a second soft landing. A cute little outro, with a twinkly little cityscape synth backdroping Mica’s vocals and the return of motifs from the beginning of the album. What a beautiful way to end the album! But then, that synth hits. This album goes out with a bang, it is an epic victory lap to an album that I will be returning to over and over again for years to come. 

0 – Alvvays – Blue Rev

Indie Pop, Shoegaze, Noise Pop

I generally only listen to new music. I just love it. There’s something so special about discovering something new, something to tie to this period in your life. It could only be a week, or a month, but when you find some new music to listen to, it becomes a part of your lore. If you really connect with an album, and then listen to it again months or years later, you are taken back to the emotions you had at that time. It’s so special.

And so, I’m always looking for new music. In the words of the great Edna Mode, “I never look back darling, it distracts from the now.” This year, for the first time in forever, my top album was one that I had already listened to a couple of years ago and thought “oh yeah, not bad.” But for some reason, I returned to it this year, and here I am, bending the laws of my 2024 albums ranked. 

I’m not going to go on a track-by-track rave about this album. All I am going to say is that I love it with all my heart. I screamed along to Easy On Your Own all year. After the Earthquake’s chorus is one of the greatest things I have ever heard. Bored In Bristol has this unbelievable yearning quality that kept me coming back again and again. I am addicted to every single song. 

Belinda Says was, by quite some margin, my top song of the year. Something about the simplicity of its chorus and the way the band comes together makes me unbelievably emotional. There aren’t many songs like it. 

And I find myself paralyzed

Knowing all too well terrified

But I’ll find my way

Blue Rev is so special. Imaginal Disk is so special. I give them both five James stars. 

I’m so excited for 2025, hoping to get music from Black Country New Road, Japanese Breakfast, Lorde, Weyes Blood, Tame Impala, Viagra Boys, Shame, and of course The Beths. But I don’t just have them to look forward to, the artists who dominate my lists are the ones who I have discovered for the first time. I’m so excited to hear what they have to offer. 

Music is cool, shout out to music.