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The Top Albums of 2024, According to ‘The Aquarian’ Staff

Arts Weekly
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Over the last 360-something days, we have seen just as many artists break into the mainstream (The Warning, Suki Waterhouse) as we have seen bands close up shop (Sum 41). We witnessed re-vamps and reunions (Linkin Park, The Dictators) and hard-hitting return-to-forms (Green Day, twenty one pilots). There were also notable shifts in careers and genres that took the masses by surprise in the best ways (Mick Mars) and occasionally underrated ways (Ariana Grande). It’s been a wild ride – and an unsuspecting one – but we are grateful for all the music we had the chance to explore in 2024.

It’s safe to say that this was the year of two stand-out things: collaboration – unexpected, on brand (as the kids say), or somewhere in between – and country. These two C’s of the industry in 2024 took us by surprise after last year’s roots were deep in the world of emerging acts, artists kicking their career into high gear – genres be damned – but we are not complaining. It was fun. This year has been fun, too, yee-haw-adjacent and all. We had Halestorm featured on a re-booted honky-tonk classic by Brooks & Dunn… and we loved it. We heard Dolly Parton duet with Post Malone on his foray into the world of singers, songwriters, cowboys, and country-folk, which also including a stint on the chart-topping yet somehow underrated album from the Texas-born Queen Bey. Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll got permission from the John Denver Estate to re-work the iconic “Take Me Home, Country Roads” for their chart-topper, “Lonely Road.” This was a year for musicians who thrive in the studio alongside both mentors and peers, and artists who had genre-defying dreams that they realized they could achieve with an extra helping of heart and soul (and by shaking off any expectation).

The sounds of singer-songwriters and southern-born creatives prevailed in the mainstream and shook the industry up a little bit, but we welcomed it with open arms. A little experimenting never hurt anyone, right? As much as it’s always five o’clock somewhere, there’s also an audience for everything, so if you found yourself sitting back and enjoying your drink of choice and listening to a song (or two or 10) that you normally wouldn’t be spinning in your free time, but found yourself inclined to due to the über-innovative, formidable year that the music industry had, you’re far from alone. Kate Hudson showed off her synth-y, belt-y, subtly gritty pop chops and released one of the most grounded records of the year (her sparkling debut, at that). Vampire Weekend came back to us with their first LP in five years – and it was released to immediate acclaim in all of its psychedelic rock glory, which included the intricate, mind-blowing, folksy arrangements on the beloved song “Connect.” Even Sabrina Carpenter’s Grammy-nominated smash hit of a record, Short ‘N Sweet, got a little bit of a twangy treatment recently as she re-imagined it’s hit single, “Please Please Please,” and other tracks for NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series in a way that would’ve made the late Loretta Lynn proud and the aforementioned Ms. Parton. All of these songs, artists, albums, shows, and more are seeped in sincerity and artistry, which is, at its core, the goal of true musical expression.

Look at us – last year we had The Rolling Stones, Paramore, Foo Fighters, and boygenius all over our staff picks. This year we have Willie Nelson, Wilderado, Kacey Musgraves, and Luke Combs. (As well as Green Day, St. Vincent, Judas Priest, and Jesse Malin, because two things can be true at once!) Nevertheless, we rocked, rolled, and ruled our favorites from 2024, which cover the two C’s of 2024 that we stated in the beginning: collaboration and country. (Carpenter, in honor of the inescapable popstar, and Chappell [as in, Roan, and the meteoritic rise to her alt pop stardom that was widely discussed this year], would be the other two C’s if w needed more.)

Check it out below and let us know what you think, what you found defined the year at large, and what you loved listening to.

Debra Schafer – Managing Editor

  1. Post Malone – F-1 Trillion: Long Bed (Mercury Records / Republic Records)
  2. Green Day – Saviors (Reprise Records)
  3. Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (Darkroom / Interscope Records)
  4. Luke Combs – Fathers & Sons (Seven Ridges Records / Sony)
  5. Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine (Republic Records / UMG)
  6. Suki Waterhouse – Memoir of a Sparklemuffin (Sub Pop)
  7. twenty one pilots – Clancy (Fueled By Ramen)
  8. The Cure – Songs of a Lost World (Lost Music Limited / UMG)
  9. Kate Hudson – Glorious (HK Music)
  10. Marcus King – Mood Swings (Republic Records / UMG)

Valentino Petrarca – Writer/Photographer

  1. Bring Me The Horizon – POST HUMAN: NeX GEn (Sony)
  2. Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – In Lieu of Flowers (Hopeless Records)
  3. Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To (Pure Noise Records)
  4. Amigo The Devil – Yours Until the War is Over (Liars Club / Regime Music Group)
  5. Green Day – Saviors (Reprise Records)
  6. Bayside – There Are Worse Things Than Being Alive (Hopeless Records)
  7. The Home Team – The Crucible of Life (Thriller Records)
  8. Boston Manor – Sundiver (SHARPTONE)
  9. SeeYouSpaceCowboy… – Coup De Grǎce (Pure Noise Records)
  10. Stand Atlantic – WAS HERE (Hopeless Records)

Brian Aberback – Writer

  1. The Dictators – The Dictators (Valley Entertainment)
  2. Joanne Shaw Taylor – Heavy Soul (Journeyman Records)
  3. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (Sony)
  4. David Gilmour – Luck and Strange (Sony)
  5. Johnny Cash – Songwriter (UMG)
  6. Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project (Duellist Holdings Ltd. / BMG)
  7. Walter Trout – Broken (Mascot Label Group / Provogue)
  8. Jerry Cantrell – I Want Blood (Jerry Cantrell)
  9. Opeth – The Last Will And Testament (Moderbolaget / Reigning Phoenix Music)
  10. Kerry King – From Hell I Rise (Reigning Phoenix Music)

Anthony Vito Cosentino – Photographer

  1. Sum 41 – Heaven :x: Hell (Sum41Music / Rise Records)
  2. Four Year Strong – Analysis Paralysis (Pure Noise Records)
  3. Frank Turner – Undefeated (Xtra Mile Recordings)
  4. Gary Clark Jr. – JPEG RAW (Warner Records)
  5. Bilmuri – AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS (420CC EDITION) (Johnny Franck Productions / Columbia Records / Sony)
  6. Stand Atlantic – WAS HERE (Hopeless Records)
  7. Nothing More – Carnal (Better Noise Music)
  8. The Warning – Keep Me Fed (Republic Records / UMG / Lava Music)
  9. CLIFFDIVER – Birdwatching (SideOneDummyRecords)
  10. Amyl and The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness (Amyl and The Sniffers)

Veronica Rajadnya – Writer

  1. Charli XCX – Brat and It’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat (Atlantic Records)
  2. Porter Robinson – Smile! :D (Sample Seed LLC / Mom + Pop Music)
  3. St. Vincent – All Born Screaming (Total Pleasure Records)
  4. Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – Challengers (Original Score) (MGM Pictures / Milan Records / Sony)
  5. SOPHIE – SOPHIE (MSMSMSM / Future Classic)
  6. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us (Spring Snow / Columbia Records / Sony)
  7. Bright Eyes – Five Dice, All Threes (Dead Oceans)
  8. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future (Adrianne Lenker / 4AD)
  9. Kim Gordon – The Collective (Kim Gordon / Matador Records)
  10. Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood (Anti)

Mike Greenblatt – Columnist

  1. Sue Foley – One Guitar Woman: A Tribute To The Female Pioneers Of Guitar (Guitar Woman LLC / Stony Plain)
  2. David Liebman & The CNY Jazz Orchestra – If A White Horse From Jerusalem… (CNY Jazz Central)
  3. Michael Dease – Found In Space: The Music Of Greg Hill (Origin Records)
  4. Mike Zito – Life Is Hard (Gulf Coast Records / The SRG/ILS Group)
  5. Randy Weinstein – HarmoniMonk (Random Chance Records)
  6. Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  7. Dion – Girlfriends (Keeping the Blues Alive Records)
  8. John Primer & Bob Corritore – Crawlin’ Kingsnake (VizzTone / Southwest Musical Arts Foundation)
  9. Will Kimbrough – For The Life Of Me (Daphne / Soundly Music)
  10. Colin James – Chasing The Sun (Stony Plain)

Bob Makin – Writer, Columnist

  1. Unthanks – In Winter (RabbleRouser Music)
  2. Olivia Chaney – Circus of Desire (Olivia Chaney)
  3. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – Woodland (Acony Records)
  4. Rising Appalachia – Folk & Anchor (Rising Appalachia) 
  5. Jackson Pines – Pine Barrens Volume Two (Jackson Pines)
  6. Emerson Woolf & the Wishbones – Everything Must Go (Eightsixteen Recording)
  7. Jesper Lindell – Before the Sun (Gamlestans Grammofonbolag)
  8. Joe P. – Garden State Vampire (Atlantic)
  9. James Mastro – Dawn of a New Error (MPress Records)
  10. Xavier Rudd – Freedom Sessions (Salt.X Records)

James Campion – Writer, Associate Editor

  1. Rosie Tucker – UTOPIA NOW! (Sentimental Records)
  2. St. Vincent – All Born Screaming (Total Pleasure Records)
  3. Fantastic Cat – Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat (Fantastic Cat / Missing Piece Records)
  4. Mary Shelley – Bloodhounds (Sweatshop Unlimited)
  5. Red Wanting Blue – Light It Up (Blue Elan Records)
  6. Tyler, The Creator – Chromakopia (Columbia Records / Sony)
  7. Matt Sucich – Talking at Walls (Five & Dime Records)
  8. Cornbread Harris – Blue Blue Blue (Cornbread Harris)
  9. Brick Briscoe – Paris, Indiana (French Fries Records)
  10. Eric Hutchinson – Cliff Notes: The Best of 2014 – 2024 (Let’s Break Records)

Grace Prachthauser – Photographer

  1. Wallows – Model (Atlantic Records)
  2. Remi Wolf – Big Ideas (Island Records / UMG)
  3. Juice – Nothing Like A Dream (Juice)
  4. Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT (Darkroom / Interscope Records)
  5. Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet (Island Records / UMG)
  6. Halsey – The Great Impersonator (Anti-Pop LLC / Columbia Records / Sony)
  7. Chandler Leighton – Proof You Weren’t The Only One (Boom.Records)
  8. Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well (Interscope Records / MCA Nashville / UMG)
  9. Ariana Grande – Eternal Sunshine (Republic Records / UMG)
  10. The Marias – Submarine (Nice Life Recording Company / Atlantic Records)

Jeff Burger – Columnist

  1. Amy Annelle – The Toll (High Plains Sigh)
  2. Collective Soul – Here to Eternity (Fuzze-Flex Records)
  3. Dire Straits – Live 1978-1992 (Rhino / Warner Music Group)
  4. Joni Mitchell – Archives, Vol. 4: The Asylum Years (1976-1980) (Rhino / Warner Music Group)
  5. Willie Nelson – The Border (Sony)
  6. Laura Nyro – Hear My Song: The Collection, 1966–1995 (Madfish)
  7. The Rascals – It’s Wonderful: The Complete Atlantic Studio Recordings (Now Sounds)
  8. Al Stewart – Past, Present & Future (50th Anniversary edition) (Esoteric)
  9.  James Talley – Bandits, Ballads and Blues (Cimarron Records / Torreon Productions)
  10. Wonder Women of Country – Willis, Carper, Leigh (Bismeaux Records)

Sherry Thomas – Writer, Columnist

  1. Billy Morrison – The Morrison Project (TLG | ZOID)
  2. Low Cut Connie – CONNIE LIVE (Contender Records) 
  3. Jesse Malin – Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin (Jesse Malin / Glassnote Music LLC)
  4. Lucia Cifarelli – No God Here (Suki Swift International)
  5. MonoNeon – Quilted Stereo (Court Square Recordings)
  6. Lorne Behrman – Blue Love (Lorne Behrman)
  7. Kula Shaker – Natural Magick (Strange F.O.LK. LLP)
  8. BLACKBOOK – Radio Strange (darkTunes Music Group)
  9. Continental Lovers – Continental Lovers (Cadiz Music & Digital / Continental Lovers)
  10. Royal Republic – LoveCop (Royal Republic / OMN Label Services)

Tim Louie – Writer

  1. Sebastian Bach – Child Within The Man (Reigning Phoenix Music)
  2. Mick Mars – The Other Side of Mars (1313 LLC)
  3. Ace Frehley – 10,000 Volts (MNRK Records)
  4. Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (Sony)
  5. Skid Row – Live In London (earMUSIC / Eden Music & Entertainment)
  6. Category 7 – Category 7 (Metal Blade Records)
  7. Kerry King – From Hell I Rise (Reigning Phoenix Music)
  8. Swim The Current – Stay (Swim The Current)
  9. Stryper – When We Were Kings (Frontiers Records)
  10. DragonForce – Warp Speed Warriors (Napalm Records)

Reader’s Picks

  • Linkin Park – From Zero (Warner Records)
  • Pearl Jam – Dark Matter (Monkey Wrench / Republic Records / UMG)
  • Beyoncé – COWBOY CARTER (Parkwood Entertainment / Columbia Records / Sony)
  • Lake Street Dive – Good Together (Lake Street Dive Music / Fantasy Records / Concord)
  • Bleachers – Bleachers (Dirty Hit)
  • Wilderado – Talker (Wilderado / Bright Antenna Records)
  • Fontaines D.C. – Romance (32 County Love Train / XL Recordings)
  • Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk (Mom+Pop Records)
  • Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken (This Is Hit Inc. / Stoney Creek Records / Republic Records / UMG)
  • Middle Kids – Faith Crisis Pt 1 (Middle Kids)