Top 20 Music Albums of 2024
by 
ForegroundNoise 
Top 5 Short Releases of 2024
1. Material Girl - Chain User (No Agreements, 15:10) [US]
sound collage - 7.5/10
2. Camila Bañados - Viento 1. (Mescalina, 27:03) [CL]
chamber jazz • progressive folk - 7.5/10
3. Patrick Shiroishi - The Afterlife Is Letting Go (Touch, 22:26) [JP/US]
ambient - 7/10
4. @ - Are You There God? It’s Me, @ (Carpark, 14:17) [US]
neo-psychedelia • art pop • indietronica - 7/10
5. Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch (City Slang, 27:14) [US]
contemporary folk - 7/10
- Chart updated: 10/23/2025 16:45
- (Created: 02/24/2024 22:12).
- Chart size: 20 albums.
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art rock • indie rock
(n/a, 36:08)
8/10
"And passing by is just an accurate
Depiction of the ties
You were so sure would last eternity
So sure would last a while
Don't you just love to lie awake at night
Dependent on a lie
That you are better than the next man
And therefore, all the better prized?
Don't you just lie to love awake at night
Dependent on a lie
That you are better than the next man
But so much worse at the same time?"
Yes, the drummer is a good friend of mine so I'm bound to be a little biased. But this is probably the most assured and ambitious debut EPs I have ever heard. The way the record flits from art rock to folk to indie to prog (?!) so effortlessly is astonishing. Couldn't be prouder to have championed this band from the beginning, and I'm so excited to see what direction their album takes.
Maybe I would've preferred that the tracklist reflected their live shows a little more, and gone Shepherd's/Sha/Happy/Icy/Hands/Wheel. But when the songs are this good, the order you put them in hardly matters.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 03/17/2024]
art rock • indie rock
(n/a, 36:08)
8/10
"And passing by is just an accurate
Depiction of the ties
You were so sure would last eternity
So sure would last a while
Don't you just love to lie awake at night
Dependent on a lie
That you are better than the next man
And therefore, all the better prized?
Don't you just lie to love awake at night
Dependent on a lie
That you are better than the next man
But so much worse at the same time?"
Yes, the drummer is a good friend of mine so I'm bound to be a little biased. But this is probably the most assured and ambitious debut EPs I have ever heard. The way the record flits from art rock to folk to indie to prog (?!) so effortlessly is astonishing. Couldn't be prouder to have championed this band from the beginning, and I'm so excited to see what direction their album takes.
Maybe I would've preferred that the tracklist reflected their live shows a little more, and gone Shepherd's/Sha/Happy/Icy/Hands/Wheel. But when the songs are this good, the order you put them in hardly matters.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 03/17/2024]
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indie rock
(ATO, 36:04)
8/10
"And your teeth hurt more than
Than the day before, it's
Time to get another job
Four feet
Between a wall and window
Will make your wife a widow
So throw your arms around me"
Chicago's Friko have made a record that manages to capture the same adolescent fear of the adult world that Arcade Fire's debut did 20 years ago – tender and anxious and celebratory all at once.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 02/26/2024]
indie rock
(ATO, 36:04)
8/10
"And your teeth hurt more than
Than the day before, it's
Time to get another job
Four feet
Between a wall and window
Will make your wife a widow
So throw your arms around me"
Chicago's Friko have made a record that manages to capture the same adolescent fear of the adult world that Arcade Fire's debut did 20 years ago – tender and anxious and celebratory all at once.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 02/26/2024]
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progressive folk • poetry
(n/a, 45:54)
8/10
"Mientras la dulzura envuelve el rencor [While sweetness envelopes resentment]
La amargura sobrevive entre las hojas del otoño [Bitterness survives among the autumn leaves]
Todo sigue anestesiado [Everything is still anaesthetised]
El viento desordena tu pelo [The wind messes your hair]
El mundo llegó a su fin hace mucho tiempo [The world came to an end a long time ago]
Tú y yo ya no vivimos aquí" [You and I don't live here anymore]
This is probably the best "hidden gem" pic of the list. Both Cristobal Avendaño and Silvia Moreno have worked on other musical projects (mostly metal and electronica), but for some reason the two guitarists from Chile and Spain decided to make a sprawling prog folk record consisting of Moreno’s dense poetry with one stunning guitar pattern after another.
The two musicians are confident enough in their songwriting that outside influences are kept to a minimum; besides short sung passages and a few field recordings ("Espera" recalls the free folk of Animal Collective's "Visiting friends"), the album is entirely voice and acoustic guitar. Bursting with so much complex beauty, it needs a little else.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/21/2024]
progressive folk • poetry
(n/a, 45:54)
8/10
"Mientras la dulzura envuelve el rencor [While sweetness envelopes resentment]
La amargura sobrevive entre las hojas del otoño [Bitterness survives among the autumn leaves]
Todo sigue anestesiado [Everything is still anaesthetised]
El viento desordena tu pelo [The wind messes your hair]
El mundo llegó a su fin hace mucho tiempo [The world came to an end a long time ago]
Tú y yo ya no vivimos aquí" [You and I don't live here anymore]
This is probably the best "hidden gem" pic of the list. Both Cristobal Avendaño and Silvia Moreno have worked on other musical projects (mostly metal and electronica), but for some reason the two guitarists from Chile and Spain decided to make a sprawling prog folk record consisting of Moreno’s dense poetry with one stunning guitar pattern after another.
The two musicians are confident enough in their songwriting that outside influences are kept to a minimum; besides short sung passages and a few field recordings ("Espera" recalls the free folk of Animal Collective's "Visiting friends"), the album is entirely voice and acoustic guitar. Bursting with so much complex beauty, it needs a little else.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/21/2024]
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____________________________________________________________________________
drone • post-rock • ambient
(94837, 55:05)
7.5/10
My list last year mentioned that Sprain (at No. 2) broke up right after their 2023 album. Former singer Alex Kent is since pursuing his solo project Big Brown Cow as well as music under his own name: grand, swooning ambient suites that drift from one place to the next, eschewing lyricism in favour of wordless choruses.
This was one of two albums he put out this year, and between this and his project Shearling (with another ex-Sprain member Sylvie Simmons) I am massively excited for his future output.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 09/16/2024]
drone • post-rock • ambient
(94837, 55:05)
7.5/10
My list last year mentioned that Sprain (at No. 2) broke up right after their 2023 album. Former singer Alex Kent is since pursuing his solo project Big Brown Cow as well as music under his own name: grand, swooning ambient suites that drift from one place to the next, eschewing lyricism in favour of wordless choruses.
This was one of two albums he put out this year, and between this and his project Shearling (with another ex-Sprain member Sylvie Simmons) I am massively excited for his future output.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 09/16/2024]
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____________________________________________________________________________
slacker rock • avant-folk
(P.W. Elverum & Sun, 80:47)
7.5/10
"With decades of baggage
I moved a little bit away from the town of Anacortes
Where circling military jets roar their reminder
'There's wars,
This peace you breathe is flimsy. We rule.'
I bite the inside of my cheek and sidestep mere despair
At the gnashing human world"
It's funny – when Night Palace first came out, the album felt like a bit of a disappointment to me. Its lengthy tracklist split across 81 minutes of sketches, ideas, and samples were – I thought – too directionless to really resonate with me. Phil Elverum is one of my favourite ever musicians, but my initial impression was this seemed a little on the nose for him: a recording of the sea, poems about the Pacific Northwest, ruminations on what it means to be a songwriter.
Two listens later and I completely turn around on it, it's little idiosyncrasies and imperfections instead becoming details to adore and pour over. Phil has managed to create a diary in song form, with all the wisdom and limitations that come with a single person's perspective. A real treasure of an album that I think I love even more in time.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 12/13/2024]
slacker rock • avant-folk
(P.W. Elverum & Sun, 80:47)
7.5/10
"With decades of baggage
I moved a little bit away from the town of Anacortes
Where circling military jets roar their reminder
'There's wars,
This peace you breathe is flimsy. We rule.'
I bite the inside of my cheek and sidestep mere despair
At the gnashing human world"
It's funny – when Night Palace first came out, the album felt like a bit of a disappointment to me. Its lengthy tracklist split across 81 minutes of sketches, ideas, and samples were – I thought – too directionless to really resonate with me. Phil Elverum is one of my favourite ever musicians, but my initial impression was this seemed a little on the nose for him: a recording of the sea, poems about the Pacific Northwest, ruminations on what it means to be a songwriter.
Two listens later and I completely turn around on it, it's little idiosyncrasies and imperfections instead becoming details to adore and pour over. Phil has managed to create a diary in song form, with all the wisdom and limitations that come with a single person's perspective. A real treasure of an album that I think I love even more in time.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 12/13/2024]
Buy album
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____________________________________________________________________________
symphonic prog • avant-prog
(n/a, 55:54)
7.5/10
"A tigers nest, the secrets to wealth creation
How to dominate all power situations
With faith healing, rent seeking, lotus eating, enlightenment and new clothes
That's a brave little militia killing not for honour
For chemicals and minerals
For someone else
For something to do"
An exciting feature of this year was how many young unsigned bands appeared amongst my favourites. Eunuchs were one of these, bravely striking out with an ambitious and intricate record. Klezmer-inflected barnstormer "Bird Angel Dynasty" and gorgeous chamber pop ballad "Estuary of Dreams" might place them amongst the post-BCNR wave, but 18-minute fairytale prog epic "Heroin King" is pulled straight out of the maddest eccentricities of the 70s.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/13/2024]
symphonic prog • avant-prog
(n/a, 55:54)
7.5/10
"A tigers nest, the secrets to wealth creation
How to dominate all power situations
With faith healing, rent seeking, lotus eating, enlightenment and new clothes
That's a brave little militia killing not for honour
For chemicals and minerals
For someone else
For something to do"
An exciting feature of this year was how many young unsigned bands appeared amongst my favourites. Eunuchs were one of these, bravely striking out with an ambitious and intricate record. Klezmer-inflected barnstormer "Bird Angel Dynasty" and gorgeous chamber pop ballad "Estuary of Dreams" might place them amongst the post-BCNR wave, but 18-minute fairytale prog epic "Heroin King" is pulled straight out of the maddest eccentricities of the 70s.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/13/2024]
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____________________________________________________________________________
post-rock
(Constellation, 54:12)
7.5/10
The title (or lack thereof) says more than I ever could.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/21/2024]
post-rock
(Constellation, 54:12)
7.5/10
The title (or lack thereof) says more than I ever could.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 10/21/2024]
Year of Release:
2024
Appears in:
Rank Score:
490
Rank in 2024:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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____________________________________________________________________________
primitivism
(Centripetal Force, 40:37)
7.5/10
This album feels like the spiritual successor to Jim O'Rourke's 90s update on Fahey's pioneering "primitive" style: long, winding instrumental tracks that tug on the heartstrings.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/01/2024]
primitivism
(Centripetal Force, 40:37)
7.5/10
This album feels like the spiritual successor to Jim O'Rourke's 90s update on Fahey's pioneering "primitive" style: long, winding instrumental tracks that tug on the heartstrings.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 05/01/2024]
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____________________________________________________________________________
experimental rock • neo-psychedelia
(Polyvinyl, 36:17)
7/10
"In everyone’s life
There is only one person
Whose name can be called out
At the moment of death
And for me that name is yours"
It's a little bit mind-blowing how after 20 years into Xiu Xiu's career they can still deliver. On their 14th studio album, the band return to the poppier lilt of 2017’s Forget ("poppier" with Xiu Xiu is a relative term) in an album that's approachable without compromising what makes them so unique.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 11/25/2024]
experimental rock • neo-psychedelia
(Polyvinyl, 36:17)
7/10
"In everyone’s life
There is only one person
Whose name can be called out
At the moment of death
And for me that name is yours"
It's a little bit mind-blowing how after 20 years into Xiu Xiu's career they can still deliver. On their 14th studio album, the band return to the poppier lilt of 2017’s Forget ("poppier" with Xiu Xiu is a relative term) in an album that's approachable without compromising what makes them so unique.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 11/25/2024]
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____________________________________________________________________________
experimental hip hop • hardcore hip hop
(AWAL, 41:17)
7/10
"I been stuck in a car with the child-lock, tryna break out and answer the call
Can you hear it?
Actual love, actual heart, actual caring"
There would be plenty of reasons to be growing tired of Peggy‘s shtick. Last year's Scaring the Hoes had its moments, but an overly online vernacular and ropey finish stopped it from staying amongst my favourites of 2023 – not to mention his fawning over Kanye earlier this year when offered a production gig signaled his previously stringent antifascism didn't extent to his musical idols (and no doubt a hefty chunk of change).
I Lay Down My Life for You came as a real surprise then; I think this is the first time since 2019's All My Heroes… that his sampling has sounded truly joyful (even if "Sin Miedo" totally rips off that one "Heads Will Roll" remix). Even more of a surprise comes in the form of "Either on or off the Drugs" and "I Recovered From This", where Peggy is, against all odds, sincerely vulnerable.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 09/16/2024]
experimental hip hop • hardcore hip hop
(AWAL, 41:17)
7/10
"I been stuck in a car with the child-lock, tryna break out and answer the call
Can you hear it?
Actual love, actual heart, actual caring"
There would be plenty of reasons to be growing tired of Peggy‘s shtick. Last year's Scaring the Hoes had its moments, but an overly online vernacular and ropey finish stopped it from staying amongst my favourites of 2023 – not to mention his fawning over Kanye earlier this year when offered a production gig signaled his previously stringent antifascism didn't extent to his musical idols (and no doubt a hefty chunk of change).
I Lay Down My Life for You came as a real surprise then; I think this is the first time since 2019's All My Heroes… that his sampling has sounded truly joyful (even if "Sin Miedo" totally rips off that one "Heads Will Roll" remix). Even more of a surprise comes in the form of "Either on or off the Drugs" and "I Recovered From This", where Peggy is, against all odds, sincerely vulnerable.
____________________________________________________________________________ [First added to this chart: 09/16/2024]
Total albums: 20. Page 1 of 2
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Top 20 Music Albums of 2024 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
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| Alexander Gregory Kent | 1 | 5% | |
| Iglooghost | 1 | 5% | |
| Mount Eerie | 1 | 5% | |
| Cime | 1 | 5% | |
| Eunuchs | 1 | 5% | |
| Bianca Scout | 1 | 5% | |
| Godspeed You! Black Emperor | 1 | 5% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||
| |
10 | 50% | |
| |
4 | 20% | |
 |
1 | 5% | |
 |
1 | 5% | |
 |
1 | 5% | |
 |
1 | 5% | |
 |
1 | 5% | |
| Show all | |||
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Other year charts by ForegroundNoise
(from the 2020s)| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 20 Music Albums of 2025 | ForegroundNoise | 2025 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 20 Music Albums of 2024 | ForegroundNoise | 2024 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 20 Music Albums of 2023 | ForegroundNoise | 2023 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 20 Music Albums of 2022 | ForegroundNoise | 2022 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 20 Music Albums of 2021 | ForegroundNoise | 2021 year chart | 2025 | |
ForegroundNoise has created 71 other 2024 year charts - click here to explore them all.
Top 20 Music Albums of 2024 ratings
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