Best 2024 Albums and EPs

2024 wasn’t a great year on many metrics, but it did bring a lot of fantastic music. Of course, I did not solely listen to music released this year (The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess was still on heavy rotation). I found a lot of joy though not just jumping from playlist to playlist but instead intensely listening to full new records. Here you can now find a list of my highlights released in 2024. And, obviously, if you are more of a playlist fan, I have you also covered:

The Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy (02.02.)
I love the theatrics and drama. This album is so over the top but also emotionally resonating. I have listened to it in its entirety (as well as the later version with additional live and unplugged songs) throughout the whole year. It’s grand and fun and sad in all the right ways.

Little Simz: Drop 7 (09.02.)
“Nothing left to prove ’cause I done enough” raps Little Simz in “Torch”, and why not? Drop 7 is a fantastic entry into her series of EPs. Just 7 tracks in under 15 minutes but sometimes you do not need more.

Hurray For The Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive (23.02.)
If you were mean and forced me to decide, may be I would declare this my favourite album of the entire year. The vibe is queer punk-folk, the sound dusty Americana. And Alynda Segarra proves themself again as an incredible storyteller. The album has so many songs with the potential to become classics and one quotable line after the other (“say goodbye to America, I want to see it dissolve”). In the end, it feels like a warm hug, like a battle cry, like the perfect roadtrip soundtrack.

Temmie Ovwasa: Ajijobi; the Art of Ruining Your Reputation (01.03.)
Lesbian Nigerian musician Temmi Ovwasa puts out a lot of really great music. If I can believe the numbers Spotify displays on how little the songs of this album have been played, I have to see that apparently so many people havn’t found Ovwasa’s music yet. May be the time to press play is now?

AKWAEKE: Stop Dying, You Were Very Expensive (08.03.)
So far, I have loved the majority of Akwaeke Emezi’s books, so I was also interested to hear how their music would sound like – and I was not disappointed. Steeped in Igbo spirituality, the eight songs are explorations of some themes which Akwaeke also discusses in their literature but obviously in a drastically different form. Catchy and complex.

Adrianne Lenker: Bright Future (22.03.)
Cut straight to tape, Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker’s latest solo album is deeply intimate. Her solo rendition of “Vampire Empire” feels more raw and “Sadness As A Gift” is just utterly beautiful.

Leyla McCalls: Sun Without the Heat (12.04.)
Five years ago, I first fell in love with multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalls’ music when she released her album The Capitalist Blues. And just the first notes of the opener “Open The Road” on Sun Without the Heat hit all the right feelings for me. Partially inspired by Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons From Marine Mammals, McCalls tackles as always hard topics but crafts beautifull songs playing with different genres around them. In the 1960s “Sun Without the Heat” would have been one of THE protest songs.

Liz Brasher: Baby Damn (26.04.)
I can’t describe how smooth this album feels. Already the first song, “Room to Ride”, feels like it should have always been around.There is a groove to this record and Brasher’s voice shines above the guitar riffs and percussions.

Clover-Lynn and The Hellfires: County Traditions (30.04.)
I read somewhere abot this band: “in Appalachia, hell knows no fury like a trans goth with a banjo” – and what more would I need to tell you?

Rachel Chinouriri: What a Devastating Turn of Events (03.05.)
Countless times have I scream-sung the lines: “When you don’t belong, the hills will know/ It’s visible, you don’t belong here/ Long way down the road from the hill I know/ Invisible, my weakness” over the past year (and even more since Chinouriri released a live version of “The Hills”). And this song is just one of several incredibly catchy and emotionally resonating tracks on this debut album. This is what British alt-pop can sound like in 2024.

Billie Eilish: HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (17.05.)
I just enjoyed this. From “Lunch” to “Birds of a Feather”, so many moods.

Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown (17.05.)
Has it really been 22 years since Beth Gibbons released Out of Season? Now more than two decades later (and also 16 years after the last Portishead release), Gibbons is back with a solo album and it’s as moody and dark as you would expect. Folk but with haunting undertones, a deep melancholy flowing throughout the record. A quiet triumph.

Lady Parts: We Are Lady Parts (31.05.)
I absolutely enjoyed this comedy series about a British band made up of Muslim women navigating making art without comprimises, friendships and the racist and sexist music industry. The original music within the series has been so catchy and tongue-in-cheek funny, I am glad it was also released and we can now listen to these songs again and again.

Lola Young: This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway (21.06.)
Who hasn’t heard “Messy” by now? It’s a hit for a reason with it’s very memorable flow, anger and Young’s poignant lyrics. But this album is more than one song. Difficult break-ups, weed and intrusive thoughts, Young keeps it real.

Y’akoto: Pt.4: The Witch (10.07.)
Partially dance, partially R’n’B and always a bit of Afrobeats, Y’akoto shows again and again that she makes incredible music.

Cat Burns: early twenties (12.07.)
What a stunning coming-of-age album. Cat Burns’ beautiful voice stands out but there is so much more to love here. And songs like “People Pleaser” are unfortunately still relevant even if you have passed your early twenties already for quite some time.

Doechii: Alligator Bites Never Heal (30.08.)
Only late into this year have I started listening to Doechii’s album but since then it has been on heavy rotation. A formidable album which feels incredibly ambitious in its scope. To understand her full artistry watch her tiny desk concert online!

Ebow: FC Chaya (27.09.)
Possibly Ebow’s best album to date (and that says a lot). “Ebru’s Story” is a tender and complex coming out story, “Lesbisch” the perfect summer hit and “Free.” the political song of the year encapsulating so much of what has been going on.

Joy Oladokun: Observations From A Crowded Room (18.10.)
“made it farther than they thought I would/ But it doesn’t mean I should hang ’round and suffer/ This world on fire still has good to discover”, sings Oladokun about their chosen home Nashville, which hasn’t treated them particularily well as a Black and queer artist. This album is a potential good-bye to a place, but it also more. It is the assertion of one self in a space, within a faith, in this life – against all odds. Packaged into beautiful songs somewhere between folk and pop.

Lana Lubany: YAFA (24.10.)
Switching between Arabic and English and bringing together multiple genres, Palestinan-American musician Lana Lubany’s latest EP shows again her versatility. In particular touching is the haunting Yafa in which she incorporates a recording of her grandmother talking about her life.

Rett Madison: One More for Jackie (25.10.)
Madison’s artist description on Spotify reads: “I sing a lot about grief and queerness.” And as I love my little gay sad songs, obviously, One More Jackie worked perfectly for me. “Apocalyptic Folk Song” assumably reflects perfectly all your climate catastrophe feels.

Katie Gavin: What a Relief (25.10.)
Katie Gavin of MUNA fame makes also fantastic music solo. Scaled-back (in comparison to MUNA) these songs recall so many woman-with-their-instrument acts (think Fiona Apple or Ani DiFranco). But Gavin never looses her distinct voice. The wonderful “As Good As It Gets” features Mitski, and “Inconsolable” is hard to get out of ones brain once its in there.

Haley Heynderickx: Seed of a Seed (01.11.)
I Need to Start a Garden was the title of Heynderickx’ debut album. Now we get Seed of a Seed. So it’s very apparent that the focus on the natural world and nature inspired imagery carries on. Finger-picked guitarre and Heynderickx’s memorable voice lead throug the album – with other instruments added as need. And she sings in the title song: “If I get lucky/ Maybe a simple life/ If I get lucky/ Maybe some free time” and on the closing song: “There’s an artistry in the day to day to day to day.”

Michelle Gurevich: It Was The Moment (08.11.)
Gurevich’s music has been with me since 2007’s Party Girl album. It Was The Moment brings once again everything I would expect: Gurevich’s distinct deep voice, her specific way to sing, haunting, dark songs. Is this sadcore?

Soap&Skin: TORSO (22.11.)
Another artist I have been a fan of for quite some time. With TORSO presents Soap&Skin a album full of covers. But her very specific arrangements on the piano – winds and strings supporting – and her voice full of longing really reimagine these tracks from artists such as Desireless (“Voyage Voyage”) or David Bowie (“Girl Loves Me”).

Various: Transa (22.11.)
Released by the Red Hot Organization this album includes 46 songs in “celebration of the trans community” to bring awareness to trans rights. And that is not only a very worthy political project but also makes for a fantastic listening experience getting to hear many great artists in collaboration. The album also features the first new song by Sade for a while (“Young Lion” about her trans son).

Hadestown: Live From London (06.12.)
One of my highlights this year was to be able to see the Westend production of Hadestown. Melanie La Barre as Hades is one of the greatest things I ever saw on stage. This cast recording is from a live performance (in fact, the final one of Grace Hodgett Young as Eurydice and Dónal Finn as Orpheus). The atmosphere is incredible and all the performances stellar. But it remains sad that this release does exclude a lot of very fundamental songs of the musical. Leave you wanting more.

Bodies: Bodies (06.12.)
Kat Frankie’s a-capella project has been showing for years now what is possible with a-capella, and especially an a-capella group of solely women. Bodies brings together some older songs and fully new ones. Alternative pop, strange and catchy. I can’t wait to start 2025 with another Bodies concert in January!