Songs That Saved Your Life & Friends Top 10 Albums of 2024: Part 2

Which Artists Grabbed the Top Spots?

The gang is back with Part 2 of the Songs That Saved Your Life & Friends Top 10 Albums of 2024. This post covers our picks from #5 through to the coveted and totally biased top spot. Usually the guys and I have pretty varied tastes but 2024 saw us unified (mostly. get it together Kevin) around the fact that Brittany Howard’s sophomore solo album was worth the hype.

Allow me to reintroduce my co-conspirators.

Let the games begin!

---

#5

Jami: St. Vincent - All Born Screaming

All Born Screaming is album number seven for Annie Clark and it might be her most visceral. This is her David Bowie moment, which is ironic since it’s the first time she’s taken off the Bowie-esque stage persona to show us every ugly scar underneath. Bowie didn’t even do that until 11 albums into his career. While there are hints of Low on this album, there are also heavy traces of Tori Amos and Trent Reznor and a hefty dose of Nirvana (complete with Dave Grohl drumming on the tracks “Flea" and “Broken Man.) “Broken Man” might be one of Clark’s best songs to date. The explosion at minute 2:37 of “Reckless” also made me fall out of my goddamned chair. All Born Screaming is dark, brooding and sexy and proves that the unveiling of Annie Clark is just as interesting as all of the personas we’ve seen from St. Vincent.

Recommended tracks: Broken Man, Hell is Near, Flea, Reckless

Kevin: Maggie Rogers - Don’t Forget Me

The world was introduced to Maggie Rogers several years ago when a video surfaced of her as an NYU undergrad stunning Pharrell Wiliams with a demo of her track ‘Alaska.’ It’s one of those moments that’s the stuff of legends, but you don’t need the sound on to know what’s happening— just watching his reaction tells the entire story.

But you should have the volume up ‘cause Rogers has an exquisite voice. Flash forward eight years, and that same wide-eyed student is back with Don't Forget Me, her third studio LP and follow-up to 2022’s Surrender. For those of you who thought that record was lightning in a bottle, I’m pleased to tell you lightning’s stuck twice. If Rogers was once a wide-eyed undergrad, Don’t Forget Me finds her clear-eyed. She knows what she wants and how to get there.

Given the album's weight, it’s hard to believe the record was written & recorded over only a few days. Ian Fitchuk was behind the boards and brought out Rogers's strengths well. Her voice is exceptional, but so is the music. It has heft but never gets bogged down or turns too far into itself. Lead single ‘So Sick of Dreaming’ sounds as at home in your favorite coffee shop as it does turned up in your car. Don’t be surprised to find yourself bopping along. As her demo ends, Pharrell looks at her and says ‘I have no notes.” Neither do I.

Sam: Brittany Howard - What Now

What Now could be seen as a Jaime 2.0, and it is in a way, but this is a bigger, freer-thinking, and more dynamically audacious record. It’s sonically sprawling, plundering from psych-jazz, electro-funk, and soulful house, and each segment interlocks and expands, providing a greater whole than its separate parts. Every song feels giant and propulsive, a celestial tour through feelings of uncertainty, indignation, and crushing desire. Colorful and dynamic, it is impressive to see how soul rock seamlessly integrates into the same tracklist as a song like “Prove It to You,” which can turn the dance floor inside out. At each moment, no matter how much Brittany leans towards a specific corner of soul music, her sound continues to be deeply infected with all kinds of diverse and creative ideas.

Highlights: Earth Sign, I Don’t, What Now, Red Flags, Prove It to You, Samson, Power to Undo, Every Color in Blue

Steve: Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More

I wasn’t going to include Kim Deal’s brand new debut solo album, Nobody Loves You More, on this list. It was not released until November 22. It hasn’t been out for an entire month yet.

When I first heard the self-titled first single, I was floored. If I hadn’t known it was Kim Deal before playing it, I wouldn’t have guessed it was her. It’s a lush, open-hearted love song replete with string arrangement and pink flamingos in the accompanying gorgeous music video.

A week or so later, when I was able to listen to the full album, I remained on the floor. I do have plush carpet, but still, I couldn’t have stood up if I wanted. Many of these 11 stellar songs have been percolating and evolving for years, and the album utilizes several producers. Yet, somehow, even with a wide range of sonic colors, tempos, and moods — not to mention backing musicians — the whole thing feels cohesive.

I might still be in the honeymoon phase with this one — I do prefer to give albums more time before proclaiming them my favorite, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and believe this is a record that nobody will love more than me.

---

#4

Jami: Brittany Howard - What Now

You can’t have a sophomore slump if you’ve been making records for over a decade. The former Alabama Shakes lead singer pens her most free-ass, forward- thinking album to date with What Now. Brittany Howard has never shied away from seamlessly mixing genres from psychedelic funk to garage rock, both with her former band and in her debut solo album Jaime. Howard has always been a student of music history so it's fitting that the woman tapped to induct Sister Rosetta Tharpe, rock & roll’s innovative Godmother into the Hall of Fame, would also be a genre pushing disruptor. And Howard’s sophomore solo project is her most original work yet. From the acid house jam, “Prove It To You,” to the Thom Yorke inspired “Every Color in Blue,” Howard reminds us that she’s in this game for the long haul. We may need to start thinking about who will be fit to induct her into the Hall of Fame someday.

Recommended tracks: Earth Sign, What Now, Prove it To You

Kevin: The Fauns- How Lost

After a 10-year break, The Fauns are back with authority. The band made a name for themselves in the early ‘00s as a solid shoegaze outfit. On How Lost, they stay true to those roots but have moved much further toward dance music. It makes for a potent cocktail of sound. Will Slater has joined Michael Savage, Alison Garner, and Guy Rhys Davies, and the result is an incredibly intense blend of dance music, shoegaze, and dream pop. “Opener Mixtape Days” is an intense 3:46 of blue flame synth, propulsive beats, and a delicious dose of dark wave. Garner's vocals are particularly seductive here.When she whispers:

Close your eyes

Let the dream

Last Forever

Or just let go

You can't help but be transported back in time to all those nights at the club where you could feel the beat as much as you could hear it, and knowing what time it was was someone else's problem. “Shake Your Hair” gives you a second to catch your breath, but barely. “Afterburner”(a personal favorite) takes on a ride through the world of trip-hop and is as mysterious as it is gorgeous. Garner's vocals float in and out. “Doot Doot” plays like an homage to Cocteau Twins and is every bit as lovely as anything they ever did. “Dark Discotheque” is a dance floor filler. Garner's voice is a perfect fit here, and the combo will have you scrambling to remember which of your favorite 80s new wave bands it most reminds you of. If you're at home, turn it up. Your neighbors will dig it. Trust me.

Sam: Geordie Greep - The New Sound

The New Sound is Geordie Greep upping the ante on what we've heard him contribute to Black Midi. It’s frantic, kinetic, and moves in a mile-a-minute style through some unlikely directions. It’s a sonic rollercoaster through Japanese jazz, Brazilian Tropicalia, spiritual keyboards, smooth jazz, mid-century showtunes, bongos, twinned salsa-boogie guitar solos, and an exhausting parade of lecherous losers. This wiry, tangled music is set to the manic inner monologues of a man with an overactive imagination and libido. There is remarkable storytelling through all of these overblown personalities, and Greep complicates his characters by allowing us to peek into their motivating sadness. “I want you to put your hand on my knee,” the narrator of “Holy, Holy” finally tells the sex worker he’s spent the past five minutes badgering. “Will that be alright?” Across this 62-minute runtime, The New Sound portrays men in bars and nightclubs and boardrooms who seem almost as if they’re competing to see who can debase themselves the furthest, but seldom do they seem to successfully bed a woman. The narration is loaded with over-the-top absurdism, the music is extravagant, and the whole album is a fantastical ride through demented escapism and extreme hyperbole.

Highlights: Blues, Terra, Holy Holy, The New Sound, Walk Up, Through a War, As if Waltz, The Magician, If You Are But a Dream

Steve: Bob Vylan - Humble as the Sun

British rap-duo Bob Vylan’s third album takes the in-your-face, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach of their first two albums and somehow expands it even further on Humble as the Sun. They tackle England’s housing crisis, the culture of guns and violence, the music industry, racism, and other issues facing not just their home country, but the world at large.

Yet, this is not a bummer record. There’s plenty of humor even if much of it is dark.

Standout track “Dream Big” explores the dangers of a kid of a certain skin color and class daring to dream.

Big dreams start swirling in my head
Big dreams, big boy, small bed
Wanna share 'em all but the last time I did
I learnt things are better left unsaid

Like most of my favorite artists on this list, Bob Vylan explodes the boundaries of genre. Elements of punk, hip-hop, rock, grime, trap, drum and bass, and even heavy metal imbue each track, giving them a sound all their own.

---

#3

Jami: Kendrick Lamar - GNX

2024 was a marquee year for Kendrick Lamar after dropping two no.1 singles “Like That” and “Not Like Us” and winning this generation’s most epic rap battle against Drake. Lamar does a victory lap in his dad’s 1987 Buick GNX with the surprise album drop of the aptly titled GNX. Is it a perfect album from start to finish or am I just a Gen X’er who feels seen by all of the references in Kendrick’s samples? Shout out to 1983 two hit wonder Debbie Deb's “When I Hear Music,” which is sampled in the block party track “Squabble Up.” I rocked that jam in my living room when I was four. Lamar’s duet with the late Luther Vandross is also a standout. Putting my nostalgia aside, I fully admit that this isn’t Lamar’s best album and won’t win him another Pulitzer Prize. But it does pull out all of the stops of a West Coast party and you know what they say about West Coast parties….

Recommended tracks: Squabble Up, Luther, gnx

Kevin: BODEGA- Our Brand Could Be Yr Life

Michael Azzerad’s Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground, 1981–1991 is an excellent treatise on a roughly dozen bands that, while never quite hitting mainstream success, still wielded a massive influence on indie music. These bands also cultivated incredibly devoted fans who were almost as committed to the band’s not selling out as they were to the music itself.

Much time and energy was committed to rationalizing the commercialization of staunchly anti-capitalism sounds. More often than not, the end result was proof that you could make exceptionally good music outside the (already then) sclerotic structure of the music industry.

How strange it must feel for these bands/fans to look at the world in 2024, where the line between art and commerce is almost always fuzzy and often nonexistent and where “branding” is often given as much importance as the art itself. Luckily, there are still plenty of holdouts, including New York’s BODEGA. The band's latest release is a spin on the book's title, viewed through today's cynical lens. Actually, that’s only half correct. Much of the work here reshapes tracks from a 2015 release when they were still known as Bodega Bay. Ben Hozie sings lead on most of the record, but Brand really shines when Nikki Bonfiglio takes the wheel. “GND Deity” is the sort of “snarky talking instead of singing” track that is very hard to nail and easy to wreck. In this case, it works great, becoming a funky new wave/post-punk dance number.

The album is a wild ride through various genres, taking shots at various subjects- capitalism and people mindlessly consuming among them. “What is the difference between an Artist and an Advertiser?” is the question asked at the beginning of “BODEGA Bait,” and one that is returned to throughout the record.

The closing track, “City Is Taken” —again with Bonfiglio singing—feels incredibly New York. It’s my favorite on the record, and the perfect ender for a 2024 record: arty, sophisticated, sarcastic, and angry.

Sam: Jack White - No Name

I needed a cigarette after listening to this. Wish I could remember the name of this album. This is 43 minutes of pure fuzz, blues riffs, and raw power. While I enjoyed the surreal Boarding House Reach and the epic ragers of Fear of the Dawn, this album is reminiscent of the direct garage rock aggression and distortion of early-White Stripes but adds the finesse and songwriting sophistication and guitar tone wizardry that Jack White picked up on later in his career. The results here are impressive when put into context: How many artists have tried to recapture a more revered era of their sound only for their attempts to do so fall flat and lead to an awkward facsimile? Instead, Jack’s guitars are heavy and his vocals are vicious. There isn’t much else left to say other than that No Name slams on the gas from the start and doesn’t let off.

Highlights: Old Scratch Blues, Bless Yourself, That’s How I’m Feeling, It’s Rough on the Rats, Bombing Out, What’s the Rumpus?, Tonight was a Long Time Ago, Underground, Number One with a Bullet, Missionary, Terminal Archenemy Endling

Steve: Bodega - Brand On the Run’

I didn’t grow up in New York City, so I didn’t understand the importance or ubiquity of bodegas, which essentially are corner stores, or small neighborhood markets. I equate them to 7-11s, which were and are everywhere in California (where I grew up and live now).

Bodegas (or 7-11s) are great because they have a little bit of everything. Except half-and-half. I’ve tried to find it when I was in Manhattan and had to get milk instead.

Bodega is also a perfect name for a band that contains a little bit of everything in their sound. They are definitively an indie rock band, but there’s plenty of other genres and subgenres mixed in. According to vocalist Ben Hozie in describing their latest album: "It's got dance-punk. There's some shoegaze on there. There's slacker rock on there. There's psychedelic rock on there. R.E.M, too.”

Brand on the Run is an expanded rerelease of their early 2024 album Our Brand Could Be Yr Life. I chose this one because the 7 bonus songs are all killer no filler. Including my favorite, “Myrtle Parade.”

---

#2

Jami: Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal

The hype is real. Doechii is a future hip hop legend in the making and my prediction is that she’ll be a household name after this year’s awards season. “Boiled Peanuts” is reminiscent of Andre 3000 in his ATAliens era. It’s retro and also like nothing you’ve heard. “Nissan Altima” sounds like Lil Kim if she tried trap music. If you’re a fan of the Golden Era of ‘90s hip-hop but also want to know what a fresh can of whoop ass sounds like, Alligator Bites Never Heal is a slap in the right direction. Album review aside, her stage presence is also so electric that her performances on Late Night with Stephen Colbert or NPR’s Tiny Desk are breaking all of the social media algorithms. Sorry Kendrick, Doechii has the number 2 spot on my list solidly locked.

Recommended tracks: Denial is a River, Boiled Peanuts, Nissan Altima, Catfish

Kevin: Nada Surf - Moon Mirror

30ish years ago, Nada Surf had a hit, made a huge splash, and seemingly punched their ticket to one-hit wonder land. That’s not quite how it played out, of course. The band spent the ensuing three decades making clever, energetic pop records. Four years after their last release, they’re back with one of their strongest yet. (IMO, the best since 2005’s The Weight Is A Gift). The band is at the stage in life where some themes emerge—the usual suspects are all here—indeed, the press release takes care to note that these new songs thrum with love, grief, deep loneliness, doubt, wonder, and hope. There is hard-won wisdom and hard-won belief in possibility. It has everything fans love and expect from the band: play-on-repeat heart punches, poetic and thought-provoking musings on the world around them, and bittersweet anthems that begin quietly but explode into soaring harmonies.

And to be fair, that's not too far off the mark. Moon Mirror does, in fact, “thrum” with all of those themes. Frontman Matthew Caws wrestles with these themes in his usual literate style. It’s smart but always light. They’re old enough to be wiser and have a few regrets, yet still are young enough to fix them. When Caws says, I used to be missing when I was kissing/Why wasn't I present?/ I could have been living on “In Front of Me Now,” you get it.

There are spots where the record feels like it’s trying a bit too much to make something anthemic happen, but by and large, this is rock solid power pop from one the most consistent, if not popular, bands of our generation.

Sam: Godspeed You! Black Emperor - NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD

The title is a clear reference to the ongoing genocide in Palestine at the hands of Israel and the Western governments that continue to arm and fund this onslaught of abject violence. As of this writing, the death toll in Gaza is over 44,600, but these numbers are probably flawed, given that their health infrastructure has been reduced to rubble and we have no way of accounting for the many more Palestinians who have gone missing or have been subjected to a year-and-a-half’s worth of famine and pestilence.

In the face of this heartless insanity, this new Godspeed album is a reminder of this dystopian hell we live in and how powerless artistic expression can feel in the face of such a horrifying reality. It’s unclear how a song could capture the urgency and tragedy caused by a ghoul like Benjamin Netanyahu and the neocon fossils who turn the other way as bombs disintegrate babies and disembody entire families. But Godspeed offers hope that the efforts to stop the grinding gears of the soul harvester will eventually prevail. They said more in an album with no lyrics than many bands do in an entire discography. We will see rising death tolls, gruesome headlines, and stomach-churning videos, but the true scale and extremity of what is happening in Gaza will always be incomprehensible and abstracted, as we cannot truly understand the terror of what these people are experiencing. I encourage everyone to read the Gaza Healthcare Letters. The human cost, in every sense of the phrase, is unbelievable. We need a global reset towards peace.

Steve: Storefront Church - Ink & Oil

I was fertilizing tomatoes the first time I heard Storefront Church. I remember the day distinctly. The date, not so much. Late June, maybe July. It was a Sunday. I was streaming, I think, Habibi’s Dreamachine album. It might have been Air Supply.

When the album ended, Spotify continued playing “similar artists” and chose the opening track, “The High Room” from their new album.

I was transfixed by the orchestral grandeur of the music as well as by vocalist (and multi-instrumentalist) Lukas Frank’s powerful pipes. It’s hard to describe his sound - it’s like one part Sinatra'-esque crooner merged with gothic overtones, by way of musical theater. I know that sounds insane, but it totally works.

I loved the song so much, that I immediately stopped gardening, peeled off my gloves, and played the entire Ink and Oil album. I had no idea what Lukas was singing about (at first), but the music and his voice exuded desperation and immediacy.

It’s apparently about the fascist, capitalistic chaos that is consuming America or something like that — but following along lyrically isn’t necessary to appreciate the album’s epic, bonkers, cinematic, orchestral dynamism.

Oh, although Lukas wrote both the music and lyrics for the album, he hired an entire orchestra to play on the album, and the recording is stellar.

---

#1

Jami: Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter

Sometimes the most obvious answer is still the correct one. The best country albums are always from scorned women (Fist City by Loretta Lynn being my personal favorite) and Hell hath no fury like Beyoncé reclaiming musical genres that have always belonged to Black folx. In 2022, she reclaimed 90’s House music as a Black, queer genre with Renaissance. Country music was next and after the racist response she received at the 2016 CMAs after her performance with The Chicks. With pistols a’blazin, Beyoncé partnered with country legends like Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson and newer Black artists in country music like Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, and Tierra Kennedy to release Cowboy Carter, which would put her on the map as the first Black woman to top the Billboard Country Chart. With standout tracks like “16 Carriages,” and a stunning remake of Paul McCartney’s “BLACKBIIRD,” Beyoncé wields her artistic prowess to not just smash imaginary boundaries of musical genres but also to restore and preserve a culture that has always stood on the shoulders of Black musicians.

Recommended tracks: “16 Carriages,” “Jolene,” “Texas Hold ‘Em,” “BLACKBIIRD”

Kevin: Wussy- Cincinnati Ohio

I don't know what it is about this band, but man, they strike a chord in me that few other bands can hit. Readers may recall that their 2005 Funeral Dress record recently made my 100 Best Albums list, clocking in at #52. It was—and is—a sublime record. And 19 years later, so too is the Cincy band’s latest release, the aptly titled Cincinnati, Ohio (pre-orders have been shipped; the LP will be fully released along with EPs The Great Divide and Cellar Door on the 15th). This is the band’s first record in 6 years and the first since the death of guitarist John Erhardt.

Wussy records are gem after gem, just waiting to be discovered. There is a dogged determination, and sometimes there is desolation. There are always good melodies and painting of vivid pictures. In this record’s case, the opening track, “The Great Divide,” kicks things off in a cinematic fashion, pulling listeners in immediately. Its counterpart on the B-side is “Inhaler,” a 6-minute belter. Both are highlights on a record stocked with top-notch tracks.

On paper, this band shouldn’t work; Lisa Walker and Chuck Cleaver’s voices couldn't be any different, but together, they shine. The driving rhythm section of Joe Klug and Mark Messerly combines well with jangly and/or acoustic guitars running across the top. It’s Americana one minute, shoegaze the next. But everything’s here in just the right amount, and it all makes for a vivid snapshot of the very real people leading very real lives in middle America….and for an incredible album.

Sam: Vampire Weekend - Only God was Above Us

After the fairly forgettable Father of the Bride, it was clear that Rastam’s departure left an unignorable hole in Vampire Weekend’s sound, as their kind of Grateful Dead worshipping felt fairly bland in comparison to their trademark catchy/chaotic oddball combination of Jamaican ska, Central African rhythms, contemporary folk, classical strings, and hip-hop. But Ezra Koenig and company bounced back with Only God was Above Us, as it is the most honest album they’ve ever made, both melodic and abstruse. The mindboggling production is back, all replete with a crazy blend of Indian classical music and Congolese guitar licks and baroque piano breaks in this mixed-fidelity mayhem. I was not ready for “Connect,” which gave me goosebumps. “Classical” begins with pounding drum loops and ride symbols, topped with watery keyboard cords and spicy searing guitar leads and upright bass and wild sax and pianos; this exemplifies how VW can assemble a soundscape that sounds so methodical and whimsically explosive. The band has captured the beautiful and incidental orchestration of the New York City subway–the whistles of oncoming trains, the chatter of passing strangers, the familiar melodies of street musicians–rendering all this cacophony into a momentary sense of bliss. The shift in lyrical perspective is also evident: They went from youthful idealists critiquing the world and basking in their privilege with a crooked eye, and now they are resigned adults grappling with their place within it.

Highlights: Ice Cream Piano, Classical, Capricorn, Connect, Prep-School Gangsters, Mary Boone, Pravda, Hope

Steve: Brittany Howard - What Now

I fell for Brittany Howard the moment I first heard her with Alabama Shakes, like 12 years ago. Her stop-you-in-your-tracks vocals and groovy guitar licks made it clear she (and the band) were a singular talent. But Brittany had bigger plans than to be part of a kick-ass blues-rock band. She wanted to explore other styles of music and pursue more personal themes, lyrically. Her 2019 solo debut, Jaime, was a knockout, both critically and commercially. It’d been five years since she’d released that Grammy-winning album. What could she do to follow it up? Only up the ante ten-fold with What Now. Lyrically, it focuses on relationship dynamics — not necessarily the most original topic. But there’s a reason love songs have endured since the beginning of time. Howard imbues the album’s 12 tracks (really 11, there’s a 30-second James Baldwin spoken word interlude) with elements of Jazz, Funk, Rock, Soul, Blues, Techno, Ambient, and probably something else I’m forgetting.

She doesn’t genre-hop so much as genre-blend and genre-transform.

It’s an album that pushes the boundaries yet never feels inaccessible. What ties it all together are calming chimes that are used as a segue between the songs, giving a short breather for listeners to realign between the ecstatic heights.

---

Jami’s Honorable Mentions:

The Collective - Kim Gordon

Small Changes - Michael Kiwanuka

Samurai - Lupe Fiasco

Al la Sala - Khruangbin

Check out the gang’s posts to see their Honorable Mentions for 2023. We hope you enjoyed our top picks of 2024! We’d love to hear what you think. What was your top album of 2024?

---

If you missed picks 5-10: