Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 by 
DommeDamian 
- Chart updated: 05/24/2025 20:45
- (Created: 03/05/2024 16:17).
- Chart size: 36 albums.
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90/100
Are you gonna run away from your demons and let them haunt you, are you gonna stay and fight them until they conquer you, are you gonna become one of them to forget yourself, or are you gonna control them back divinely? Through the experience of Impossible Light, your reply lies somewhere in-between, depending on how much this album will cut into you. This is the greatest new discovery that I have had in a long time. It's a possibility this is now even my album of the decade alongside Today I Laid Down (edit: it fucking is). Industrial and ambient league-riser Uboa has produced a highly personal record of soundscapes from the most wondrously traumatic yet oddly familiar places of my psyche. I view the record as one, only with the smaller parts being divided into the "songs". Maybe one day I can decipher each track, but right now the overwhelm is getting the best of me, and I don't want it to go away.
Xandra continues where the impeccably devastating and black mass The Origin of My Depression left off, into Impossible Light (a play on her debut album Sometimes Light), but she has honestly done an impossible task: making something more universal and personal at the same time. Where TOoMD was pure grief, suicide, hopelessness, and emotional trauma from transness and abuse, this album hints at an enigma that is not only hides inside more souls, but simultaneously is even more singular. Making this both cinematic and utterly realistic, Impossible Light is when the things that make you panic, the things that thrills you, the things you cannot understand for better/worse, and forgotten traumatizations find a metaphysical unity. If this is psychodrama, never has it been so colorful. And the scream are less humane, more otherworldly. I love every single turn Impossible Light gave me, every second was great. From the cool cool industrial elements to the legitimately wonderful ambient breaks of psychological paralyzation, even ending with a "nostalgic" tribute to herself alongside a climax that is the equivalent of industrial touching shoegaze. On top of that, Xandra perfectly carries the industrial rock torch where the forefather were burned alive. Magnificent album. It's like a symphony and if so, it's an inventive auditory of dystopia that rivals Beethoven. Never did I realize that this is the kind of album I crave. For lack of a better term, this is my delicious industrial autistic service. I am stunned. [First added to this chart: 11/02/2024]
Are you gonna run away from your demons and let them haunt you, are you gonna stay and fight them until they conquer you, are you gonna become one of them to forget yourself, or are you gonna control them back divinely? Through the experience of Impossible Light, your reply lies somewhere in-between, depending on how much this album will cut into you. This is the greatest new discovery that I have had in a long time. It's a possibility this is now even my album of the decade alongside Today I Laid Down (edit: it fucking is). Industrial and ambient league-riser Uboa has produced a highly personal record of soundscapes from the most wondrously traumatic yet oddly familiar places of my psyche. I view the record as one, only with the smaller parts being divided into the "songs". Maybe one day I can decipher each track, but right now the overwhelm is getting the best of me, and I don't want it to go away.
Xandra continues where the impeccably devastating and black mass The Origin of My Depression left off, into Impossible Light (a play on her debut album Sometimes Light), but she has honestly done an impossible task: making something more universal and personal at the same time. Where TOoMD was pure grief, suicide, hopelessness, and emotional trauma from transness and abuse, this album hints at an enigma that is not only hides inside more souls, but simultaneously is even more singular. Making this both cinematic and utterly realistic, Impossible Light is when the things that make you panic, the things that thrills you, the things you cannot understand for better/worse, and forgotten traumatizations find a metaphysical unity. If this is psychodrama, never has it been so colorful. And the scream are less humane, more otherworldly. I love every single turn Impossible Light gave me, every second was great. From the cool cool industrial elements to the legitimately wonderful ambient breaks of psychological paralyzation, even ending with a "nostalgic" tribute to herself alongside a climax that is the equivalent of industrial touching shoegaze. On top of that, Xandra perfectly carries the industrial rock torch where the forefather were burned alive. Magnificent album. It's like a symphony and if so, it's an inventive auditory of dystopia that rivals Beethoven. Never did I realize that this is the kind of album I crave. For lack of a better term, this is my delicious industrial autistic service. I am stunned. [First added to this chart: 11/02/2024]
1
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85/100
"If I could stand again, I'd stand by your side, take a ride to where the butterflies go" - from there I was sold. This album is a heartbreaking snippet of emotionality when you just have lost your closest parent.
The record reminds me a bit of A Crow Looked At Me's spiritual brother and Carrie & Lowell's companion and topic cousin. However Dude Central brings more melodiousness than the former and more sonic rawness than the latter. Best 'riff' comes in I Love You, Goodbye, with also the slowest tempo maybe. "Your family is watching, they want you here, but I just cannot do this anymore" he sighs on I Can't Do This Anymore, because he is still a part of the family.
His guitar is on the floor while his bass voice fills the room in your headphones. Any syllable coming out of his mouth is filled with grief but you can hear how tired of crying he is. He is barely singing, on the verge of rasp-mumbling or whispering. "I'm sorry I love you mom" followed immediately by "I still watch our favorite shows" are direct yet subtle illustrations of how your mind is trying to move on, but at the same time it doesn't feel right to not linger in your loss. Every song starts with five seconds of silence, of where Dude Central takes a breath, as if him singing and playing guitar is a hard task in the midst of his loss, this adds another brick of authenticity to this already super intimate tape; he even says on Think of Me From Up There "I'm so lonely I cannot breathe". There is no in-joke or intelligent metaphor found here, it's as naked as you will get your folk. Witness how he straight up tells how all the dreams and must-dos are gone in I Don't Wanna Grow Up, effective is what I would say. The details of how things were beforehand never matter, it's the simply the tragic consequce that punches away all reasoning and stupid rationality. Hey Mama is the most devastating cover of a Kanye song, imaginable, I prefer this to the original, also love the arguing sample in the background and even at the end with tortured falsetto, really surprising and nailing my heartstrings.
With the exception of the legitimately eerie synth on the hypnagogic pop-filled Goodbye (that also contains him sobbing dry), it is an album that actually how much loss takes away from you, by not featuring anything spectacular of what would make a normal spectacular album. Dude Central created a superb indie folk mourner, whether he is capable of knowing or not. Even though the first voice mail is utterly worthless, the second one shows to the outside listener like myself how I could never understand somebody else's connection like my own; I don't understand what there were being said, but that's the point; it's his loss and his grief. Making the authenticity, uniqueness and sadness circling back to actually seeing everything myself. I'm gonna say to my mom she is my best friend now. [First added to this chart: 12/13/2024]
"If I could stand again, I'd stand by your side, take a ride to where the butterflies go" - from there I was sold. This album is a heartbreaking snippet of emotionality when you just have lost your closest parent.
The record reminds me a bit of A Crow Looked At Me's spiritual brother and Carrie & Lowell's companion and topic cousin. However Dude Central brings more melodiousness than the former and more sonic rawness than the latter. Best 'riff' comes in I Love You, Goodbye, with also the slowest tempo maybe. "Your family is watching, they want you here, but I just cannot do this anymore" he sighs on I Can't Do This Anymore, because he is still a part of the family.
His guitar is on the floor while his bass voice fills the room in your headphones. Any syllable coming out of his mouth is filled with grief but you can hear how tired of crying he is. He is barely singing, on the verge of rasp-mumbling or whispering. "I'm sorry I love you mom" followed immediately by "I still watch our favorite shows" are direct yet subtle illustrations of how your mind is trying to move on, but at the same time it doesn't feel right to not linger in your loss. Every song starts with five seconds of silence, of where Dude Central takes a breath, as if him singing and playing guitar is a hard task in the midst of his loss, this adds another brick of authenticity to this already super intimate tape; he even says on Think of Me From Up There "I'm so lonely I cannot breathe". There is no in-joke or intelligent metaphor found here, it's as naked as you will get your folk. Witness how he straight up tells how all the dreams and must-dos are gone in I Don't Wanna Grow Up, effective is what I would say. The details of how things were beforehand never matter, it's the simply the tragic consequce that punches away all reasoning and stupid rationality. Hey Mama is the most devastating cover of a Kanye song, imaginable, I prefer this to the original, also love the arguing sample in the background and even at the end with tortured falsetto, really surprising and nailing my heartstrings.
With the exception of the legitimately eerie synth on the hypnagogic pop-filled Goodbye (that also contains him sobbing dry), it is an album that actually how much loss takes away from you, by not featuring anything spectacular of what would make a normal spectacular album. Dude Central created a superb indie folk mourner, whether he is capable of knowing or not. Even though the first voice mail is utterly worthless, the second one shows to the outside listener like myself how I could never understand somebody else's connection like my own; I don't understand what there were being said, but that's the point; it's his loss and his grief. Making the authenticity, uniqueness and sadness circling back to actually seeing everything myself. I'm gonna say to my mom she is my best friend now. [First added to this chart: 12/13/2024]
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80/100
Before TJO comes through with a fantastic blend of Talk Talk, late 90s art pop, and dream pop commonness on Seeing Glass, as well as the best psychedelic rock tune of the year in Two Stones (bordering on lenient jazz rock too), she sets the mood with a title track full of atmosphere and a tenderness with more soul than the average mainstreamer. And unlike many other contemporarys, Tara understands how to control the flow of the universe with as little and simplistic delivery as possible. If Willie Nelson's Stardust was traveling into space, songs like that reach the Milky Way's summit. Once you've got there, We Bright is levitating slowly where you are; a wonderful harmony of feeling both placid and ready to look around you. Glass Island is interesting because it's engineered like ambient or drone metal: the bass is very forward it's almost frightening. Buuut the once again delicacy of Tara's voice is contrasting. The thickness of the eerie jazz influence makes the solo seem nonchalant. There's even some post-rock influence on the divine epilogue Kaichan Kitchen, wrapping up it all.
The keyboard in instrumental Fresh End makes for an odd edition, but the tune itself is strong enough for me to buy. On the other hand, Curling knacks it down from being album of 2024 status because here the rhythm doesn't match what the mood has been building up.
Still, I had no idea she was around the age of my mom, this sounds like a fresh and new exciting face in singer-songwriter, with lots of bite. Albums like The Cool Cloud of Okayness are what I'm looking at when thinking of psychedelic rock and singer-songwriter progressing in its unabashed nature. [First added to this chart: 01/03/2025]
Before TJO comes through with a fantastic blend of Talk Talk, late 90s art pop, and dream pop commonness on Seeing Glass, as well as the best psychedelic rock tune of the year in Two Stones (bordering on lenient jazz rock too), she sets the mood with a title track full of atmosphere and a tenderness with more soul than the average mainstreamer. And unlike many other contemporarys, Tara understands how to control the flow of the universe with as little and simplistic delivery as possible. If Willie Nelson's Stardust was traveling into space, songs like that reach the Milky Way's summit. Once you've got there, We Bright is levitating slowly where you are; a wonderful harmony of feeling both placid and ready to look around you. Glass Island is interesting because it's engineered like ambient or drone metal: the bass is very forward it's almost frightening. Buuut the once again delicacy of Tara's voice is contrasting. The thickness of the eerie jazz influence makes the solo seem nonchalant. There's even some post-rock influence on the divine epilogue Kaichan Kitchen, wrapping up it all.
The keyboard in instrumental Fresh End makes for an odd edition, but the tune itself is strong enough for me to buy. On the other hand, Curling knacks it down from being album of 2024 status because here the rhythm doesn't match what the mood has been building up.
Still, I had no idea she was around the age of my mom, this sounds like a fresh and new exciting face in singer-songwriter, with lots of bite. Albums like The Cool Cloud of Okayness are what I'm looking at when thinking of psychedelic rock and singer-songwriter progressing in its unabashed nature. [First added to this chart: 01/03/2025]
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80/100
After the mid Space 1.8, I figured I'd give Nala Sinephro another chance. Let's see how it goes with the amount of John Mayer's third album on Endlessness.
1 - Right off the bad, the blend is fantastic. Giving me a groovy beat for 20 seconds, before snatching it away with relaxing oddity and where the synth take a backseat to flute, until around four minutes where it bubbles up to warm the heart. The experiment becomes meditative yet awakening, like Tangerine Dream, but also percussion-heavy unlike TD. Morgan Simpson kills those drums, some of the best work in jazz this decade, if not the best, he should do more of that instead.
2 - Ooh there is a yacht vibe on that one. I am sailing away. Nonetheless, this would be easy to half-bake, yet the laid-back trumpet, the steady slowcore rhythm that counterpoints the vigorous piano keeps it at mastery, especially with the surprising outro solo of expressive harp. All of the organic instrumentation breaths the breeze that a music lover like myself could only love. This concludes, before the last track, the long cuts on Endlessness, and obviously the epic ones.
3 — This track sonically represents what psychologically happens when you daydream and go beyond your consciousness. You reach into the unknown nirvana only true meditation can give. Those winding weather patterns are so incredibly still. Combined with harp and keyboard of sprinkling water from a brook in the distance, this is an astral traveler. Also much credit to the hypnotic melody of the deep bass keys of the synth.
4 - This works as an interlude, and honestly it borders on the vaporwave charm. Obviously this is meant to be jazz, but if they ever had a brief overlap, I couldn't imagine a better one. Superb little moment here.
5 - Pleasant cut, but didn't do much for me. I appreciate the saxophone, and more of the electronic patterns, but some of the ideas were already done more wholesomely. When I listen to the record, I don't skip it because it's less than two minutes, and, as said, it's still a pleasant.
6 - Okay, we're getting more uptempo and freakish. The modular synthesizer is mixed in stereo fascinatingly, tapping your ears by every second, whilst the sax and keyboard are in mono, creating the soundscape you are driving towards. It's an excellent vision, even if the execution ain't as soulful as the previous compos.
7 - Those dominating modular synth taps are segueing into here where after a few seconds of Daft Punk melody, it succumbs itself to a liquid sphere where the bass is the water flow and the next synth dynamics are the texture of things filling the emptiness. It's hard to tell whether you are traveling slow or fast, but just the right tempo regardless. By that, it makes this song hypnotic in a subtle tease.
8 - Why does this start with the modular playing a bitmusic melody, and how does it become the main lead of moodiness next to Sheila Maurice-Grey's cool as heck fludgehorn? Commanding this record for surprising me with ideas that could be trite yet are warped in excellence, unpredictability and definingly alternate jazz statements. The previous melody is turned to a regular synth percussion that also is quite good.
9 - The same melody refrain from a previous track is repeated, but again through a bitmusic filter, kind of like The Prelude to FFVII. Mollison's saxophone dresses the synth up, and its silhouette, that comes in another modular synth underneath, dances around. Other than that, this track doesn't have the same direction as what we've already experienced, it just kind of hangs. It's great prog-electronic nevertheless.
10 - Last track, we are returning with a 7 minute composition, just like the first two tracks. Not to my surprise, it goes orchestral all over. Not quite magnificent, neither is the repetitious melody-line, played by the modular synthesizer, but the drumming, just like the first track, is the real star here, and makes sure the piece stays grounded in enjoyability. That very last minute of piano felt like an afterthought but fine.
All in all, this is such a marvellous jazz and progressive electronic fusion album front to back. What it paints is both nostalgic, forward thinking, melodic and meditative, and I wouldn't ask for anything else. Truly a highlight for both genres. [First added to this chart: 01/10/2025]
After the mid Space 1.8, I figured I'd give Nala Sinephro another chance. Let's see how it goes with the amount of John Mayer's third album on Endlessness.
1 - Right off the bad, the blend is fantastic. Giving me a groovy beat for 20 seconds, before snatching it away with relaxing oddity and where the synth take a backseat to flute, until around four minutes where it bubbles up to warm the heart. The experiment becomes meditative yet awakening, like Tangerine Dream, but also percussion-heavy unlike TD. Morgan Simpson kills those drums, some of the best work in jazz this decade, if not the best, he should do more of that instead.
2 - Ooh there is a yacht vibe on that one. I am sailing away. Nonetheless, this would be easy to half-bake, yet the laid-back trumpet, the steady slowcore rhythm that counterpoints the vigorous piano keeps it at mastery, especially with the surprising outro solo of expressive harp. All of the organic instrumentation breaths the breeze that a music lover like myself could only love. This concludes, before the last track, the long cuts on Endlessness, and obviously the epic ones.
3 — This track sonically represents what psychologically happens when you daydream and go beyond your consciousness. You reach into the unknown nirvana only true meditation can give. Those winding weather patterns are so incredibly still. Combined with harp and keyboard of sprinkling water from a brook in the distance, this is an astral traveler. Also much credit to the hypnotic melody of the deep bass keys of the synth.
4 - This works as an interlude, and honestly it borders on the vaporwave charm. Obviously this is meant to be jazz, but if they ever had a brief overlap, I couldn't imagine a better one. Superb little moment here.
5 - Pleasant cut, but didn't do much for me. I appreciate the saxophone, and more of the electronic patterns, but some of the ideas were already done more wholesomely. When I listen to the record, I don't skip it because it's less than two minutes, and, as said, it's still a pleasant.
6 - Okay, we're getting more uptempo and freakish. The modular synthesizer is mixed in stereo fascinatingly, tapping your ears by every second, whilst the sax and keyboard are in mono, creating the soundscape you are driving towards. It's an excellent vision, even if the execution ain't as soulful as the previous compos.
7 - Those dominating modular synth taps are segueing into here where after a few seconds of Daft Punk melody, it succumbs itself to a liquid sphere where the bass is the water flow and the next synth dynamics are the texture of things filling the emptiness. It's hard to tell whether you are traveling slow or fast, but just the right tempo regardless. By that, it makes this song hypnotic in a subtle tease.
8 - Why does this start with the modular playing a bitmusic melody, and how does it become the main lead of moodiness next to Sheila Maurice-Grey's cool as heck fludgehorn? Commanding this record for surprising me with ideas that could be trite yet are warped in excellence, unpredictability and definingly alternate jazz statements. The previous melody is turned to a regular synth percussion that also is quite good.
9 - The same melody refrain from a previous track is repeated, but again through a bitmusic filter, kind of like The Prelude to FFVII. Mollison's saxophone dresses the synth up, and its silhouette, that comes in another modular synth underneath, dances around. Other than that, this track doesn't have the same direction as what we've already experienced, it just kind of hangs. It's great prog-electronic nevertheless.
10 - Last track, we are returning with a 7 minute composition, just like the first two tracks. Not to my surprise, it goes orchestral all over. Not quite magnificent, neither is the repetitious melody-line, played by the modular synthesizer, but the drumming, just like the first track, is the real star here, and makes sure the piece stays grounded in enjoyability. That very last minute of piano felt like an afterthought but fine.
All in all, this is such a marvellous jazz and progressive electronic fusion album front to back. What it paints is both nostalgic, forward thinking, melodic and meditative, and I wouldn't ask for anything else. Truly a highlight for both genres. [First added to this chart: 01/10/2025]
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80/100
How to make a comeback record or how to make a compelling disc that sticks to your roots whilst you are grandpa age?
When I heard upon it's release, it was like the worst song was Alone and then the record slowly progressed in a more dynamic route until we reached the end with the biggest masterpiece. The reason why I found Alone to be mid at first, was highly cause of the keyboard through the whole song: it's as amateurish as a person with no musical knowledge thinking "how should I set an atmosphere" and playing the most simple notes. That said, all other instruments, especially the wavy guitar and earthly bassline, create a satisfying scape. That is a common throughout the album's best tunes, they're all atmospherically THICK. Robert dreams of past times and subtly mourns "where did it go?". Typical, but the execution is all but plain, it's great.
Though Drone:Nodrone is said by many by most to be the absolute weakest on the record, and you know I just, don't, get it! If there ever was a spiritual and thriving counterbrother to Fascination Street, it's this. The difference here is that the drums, although still derivative of the 80s new wave but set to a 2020s production, are organic; the guitar are washing them in Yo La Tengo-ish gestures, unlike FS where they sounded a bit more orchestrated. Previously, it was the guitar who brought most of the hard riffs, here the guitar is influencing the atmosphere whereas the repeated piano gets more shine.
Lastly, the engineering of not only FS but all of Disintegration was brilliantly lush, this song is fuller and punchier. If Fascination Street was a main theme of a cool nightmare, Drone:Nodrone is a speed drive where the nightmare have become reality. It almost ends as disappointingly as some of the other, but those 10 seconds of scatterbrained synths kind of makes up for it because they sound awesome.
Because yeah a few of the songs have a lackluster ending, case in point the warm A Fragile Thing. However the worst one being Warsong, it's kind of sudden and goes against the typical Cure-characteristic of letting the song live out fully. To its defense, the topic of war and poison can lead to sudden death, and maybe that's why it can have a purpose, and even in the midst of the Cure-world of musicianship, that funereal keyboard is quite excellent of a touch. The band shows in I Can Never Say Goodbye they have that songwriting where it feels like you've heard it many more times than you initially have because of how familiar and welcoming it is. Mostly the piano melody is classic Cure, but also the words to his brother grates the song to higher territory. "Something wicked this way comes, to steal away my brother's life" almost hurts.
I would say that And Nothing Is Forever could be the most lighthearted and hopeful song here. Mostly cause the keyboard's harmony with piano is even less of post-punk, and it lyrically covers the hope of Robert wanting to be with his brother (in my interpretation), calling out to him. Also love the callback to Lovesong ("However far away"), the brightest song on Disintegration. SellMeAGod called it poppy depression, and who can beg to differ?!
I would say the oldest sounding song on SoALW is All I Ever Am, cause this could've been on the deluxe of Seventeen Seconds. This is also the only song that grew off me a little bit. I still enjoy it, but it does not contain any of the otherworldly melodiousness nor the melancholic soulfulness that fuels the greatest material. Just like Alone, the keyboard is amateurish. The best part, other than Robert's observant statement of "I lose all my life like this, reflecting time and memories (...) All I hold to in belief that all I ever am, is somehow never quite all I am now" is that piano lick that reminds me of Gorillaz' Desole. If it wasn't for the Rob's performance in the chorus nailing it, I would take this as an intermission between the predecessor and succeeding track.
And then, Endsong, like...wow. Endsong. I...., this is one of the best songs of the 2020s. Almost their longest song, if not slightly beaten by Watching Me Fall, it incorporates the hypnosis of Yo La Tengo with the psychedelic depth of The Doors, and then with the utter melancholia, the stunningly ethereal idiosyncratic soundscape of themselves. Has anybody said that the drum groove is perfect, I cannot help but bop my head as if it's an MJ song, despite it being so dreamy and moody simultaneously. Colossal. Everything you see fading away from your spiritual eyesight is captured by the lingering guitar riff. This time, it takes almost seven minutes of awe-inspiring musicianship before you hear Robert transporting in with the dear and heartbreaking statements about old age. "It's all gone" and "Left alone with nothing at the end of every song" not only are devastating, not only communicate his status of where he is late in life but also summarize his philosophy and sophisticated emotions he's had his entire life. Yet, if we take I Can Never Say Goodbye into account, it also illustrates the fact that he can never come to terms with it; he wants content in his life and that's part of why he feels alone. Even if we take the record's last seconds of fuzz, it's himself dusting away, being gone. Looking at the big picture, it's a potent description of Robert's inner feelings.
During the entirety of the disc, Robert Smith does not sound a day over 30. If you gave me Disintegration and this album back in 2019 and said to me they were released the same year, I would believe you in a heartbeat. Maybe he doesn't feature as many high note moments, but again he's 65. The grief is authentic and contagious. Singing about his brother and also his own mortality, it ends up sending chills down my spine. Here, I'd like to point out that the effect is stronger since it's been decades since they peaked; it's like life goes by so quickly for Robert and now this is where he is left. And also considering the hiatus where he and co. probably have had lives to deal with (including Robert doing his night-farm thing), people've lost families and those old depressing feelings have found their way back, but in a different light. And that different light is also what differs this album slightly from Disintegration and Pornography.
Spectrum Pulse made a point about "it also feels like a phenomenal capstone to a legacy rather that one that adds new dimension". To me, that's totally fine, because (and maybe it's my amount of stupidity) that I cannot imagine more scapes coming from them, so them coloring the same house with new brushes is enough, yeah. Being in their 60s and still showing all the sauce, it signals that no one can sound like The Cure quite like The Cure. [First added to this chart: 11/11/2024]
How to make a comeback record or how to make a compelling disc that sticks to your roots whilst you are grandpa age?
When I heard upon it's release, it was like the worst song was Alone and then the record slowly progressed in a more dynamic route until we reached the end with the biggest masterpiece. The reason why I found Alone to be mid at first, was highly cause of the keyboard through the whole song: it's as amateurish as a person with no musical knowledge thinking "how should I set an atmosphere" and playing the most simple notes. That said, all other instruments, especially the wavy guitar and earthly bassline, create a satisfying scape. That is a common throughout the album's best tunes, they're all atmospherically THICK. Robert dreams of past times and subtly mourns "where did it go?". Typical, but the execution is all but plain, it's great.
Though Drone:Nodrone is said by many by most to be the absolute weakest on the record, and you know I just, don't, get it! If there ever was a spiritual and thriving counterbrother to Fascination Street, it's this. The difference here is that the drums, although still derivative of the 80s new wave but set to a 2020s production, are organic; the guitar are washing them in Yo La Tengo-ish gestures, unlike FS where they sounded a bit more orchestrated. Previously, it was the guitar who brought most of the hard riffs, here the guitar is influencing the atmosphere whereas the repeated piano gets more shine.
Lastly, the engineering of not only FS but all of Disintegration was brilliantly lush, this song is fuller and punchier. If Fascination Street was a main theme of a cool nightmare, Drone:Nodrone is a speed drive where the nightmare have become reality. It almost ends as disappointingly as some of the other, but those 10 seconds of scatterbrained synths kind of makes up for it because they sound awesome.
Because yeah a few of the songs have a lackluster ending, case in point the warm A Fragile Thing. However the worst one being Warsong, it's kind of sudden and goes against the typical Cure-characteristic of letting the song live out fully. To its defense, the topic of war and poison can lead to sudden death, and maybe that's why it can have a purpose, and even in the midst of the Cure-world of musicianship, that funereal keyboard is quite excellent of a touch. The band shows in I Can Never Say Goodbye they have that songwriting where it feels like you've heard it many more times than you initially have because of how familiar and welcoming it is. Mostly the piano melody is classic Cure, but also the words to his brother grates the song to higher territory. "Something wicked this way comes, to steal away my brother's life" almost hurts.
I would say that And Nothing Is Forever could be the most lighthearted and hopeful song here. Mostly cause the keyboard's harmony with piano is even less of post-punk, and it lyrically covers the hope of Robert wanting to be with his brother (in my interpretation), calling out to him. Also love the callback to Lovesong ("However far away"), the brightest song on Disintegration. SellMeAGod called it poppy depression, and who can beg to differ?!
I would say the oldest sounding song on SoALW is All I Ever Am, cause this could've been on the deluxe of Seventeen Seconds. This is also the only song that grew off me a little bit. I still enjoy it, but it does not contain any of the otherworldly melodiousness nor the melancholic soulfulness that fuels the greatest material. Just like Alone, the keyboard is amateurish. The best part, other than Robert's observant statement of "I lose all my life like this, reflecting time and memories (...) All I hold to in belief that all I ever am, is somehow never quite all I am now" is that piano lick that reminds me of Gorillaz' Desole. If it wasn't for the Rob's performance in the chorus nailing it, I would take this as an intermission between the predecessor and succeeding track.
And then, Endsong, like...wow. Endsong. I...., this is one of the best songs of the 2020s. Almost their longest song, if not slightly beaten by Watching Me Fall, it incorporates the hypnosis of Yo La Tengo with the psychedelic depth of The Doors, and then with the utter melancholia, the stunningly ethereal idiosyncratic soundscape of themselves. Has anybody said that the drum groove is perfect, I cannot help but bop my head as if it's an MJ song, despite it being so dreamy and moody simultaneously. Colossal. Everything you see fading away from your spiritual eyesight is captured by the lingering guitar riff. This time, it takes almost seven minutes of awe-inspiring musicianship before you hear Robert transporting in with the dear and heartbreaking statements about old age. "It's all gone" and "Left alone with nothing at the end of every song" not only are devastating, not only communicate his status of where he is late in life but also summarize his philosophy and sophisticated emotions he's had his entire life. Yet, if we take I Can Never Say Goodbye into account, it also illustrates the fact that he can never come to terms with it; he wants content in his life and that's part of why he feels alone. Even if we take the record's last seconds of fuzz, it's himself dusting away, being gone. Looking at the big picture, it's a potent description of Robert's inner feelings.
During the entirety of the disc, Robert Smith does not sound a day over 30. If you gave me Disintegration and this album back in 2019 and said to me they were released the same year, I would believe you in a heartbeat. Maybe he doesn't feature as many high note moments, but again he's 65. The grief is authentic and contagious. Singing about his brother and also his own mortality, it ends up sending chills down my spine. Here, I'd like to point out that the effect is stronger since it's been decades since they peaked; it's like life goes by so quickly for Robert and now this is where he is left. And also considering the hiatus where he and co. probably have had lives to deal with (including Robert doing his night-farm thing), people've lost families and those old depressing feelings have found their way back, but in a different light. And that different light is also what differs this album slightly from Disintegration and Pornography.
Spectrum Pulse made a point about "it also feels like a phenomenal capstone to a legacy rather that one that adds new dimension". To me, that's totally fine, because (and maybe it's my amount of stupidity) that I cannot imagine more scapes coming from them, so them coloring the same house with new brushes is enough, yeah. Being in their 60s and still showing all the sauce, it signals that no one can sound like The Cure quite like The Cure. [First added to this chart: 11/11/2024]
Year of Release:
2024
Appears in:
Rank Score:
1,398
Rank in 2024:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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75/100
A mixtape from wanna the most solid-build musicians and artists this decade. Quadeca managed to make a top 20 album in 2021 (From Me To You, solid one), and a top 10 album in 2022 (I didn't mean to haunt you, a record I still have a hard time describing - but easily wanna the biggest sonic artistic statements of the 2020s). No surprise, every new release sounds different but inspired. This new one, Scrapyard, is the most varied one yet, sparing from emo rap to shoegaze to art pop to psychedelic hip hop. At first, this feels like a drug trip but a cute one. The tape has its own flow and brings the listener along with it. The switch-ups in genres when it comes to single tracks (particularly Pretty Privilege) go over so well, and he continues to elevate it the deeper into the (scrap)yard ya go. Easier is emo-folk but with a flanger that makes it sound trippier and honestly it tastes and feels good, and then gets a slow trap hi-hat drum, but then is a hypnagogic pop song. Even If I Tried is a Playboi Carti-styled song, but is buried under noisy synths that float on a cloud 1 kilometer too high in altitude, and we are taking to them for sonic clarity in the second half that exceeds the first. The stream-of-consciousness lyricism displayed on What's It To Him oddly conveys the musical sphere that is going on underneath, a mixture of Cloud Rap and more hypnagogic pop, though not in the sense of what it sounds like on paper. Again, Qua outdoes any average composer's expressions. The utterly wonderful melodic progression on U Don't Know Me Like That, mixed with trippy-pitched vocals and cutsy synth drums is like a warm nostalgic summer dream, and the autotune is something adopted from Bladee's universe. And the same can be said about I Make It Look Effortless, basically Exeter's 10th song. Every single throwback rapper of this era that is not Joey Bada$$ gets their ass handed to them on Way Too Many Friends, because this dynamic mix of 90s hip-hop drums and that piano, literally sounds forward-thinking even in 2024. But that's because of Ben's filters of driven delivery, as well as his way of writing a melody that syncopates on beat, truly excellent. Guess Who contains a dose of electronic effects, both the hi-hat and synth lines, and the only low point on the tape. No means terrible like most of its brothers and sisters, but terrible for Scrapyard's standards. Under My Skin is a deconstructed late-era XXXTentacion-tune, with a reverb as choir, some snares as musical flashing lights, and a drenched violin as thunder strikes. Being Yourself might be the most surrealistic song here, and if I didn't notice it, my enjoyment wouldn't be as strong, but this is a David Lynch short movie in music form, and it's like it gets druggier by the minute as the music is copping out...until there is 20 seconds of rhythmic cop-out. This is unbelievable. Right after that, we go electronic bleeps coupled with laughing ASMR-style vocal engineering on U Tried That Thing Where Ur Human, is this still Quadeca? Or is he just on another level... Either way, this is the song that, comparable to the experience of insane colorful magnitudes, is the moment of lying on the shore, half-passed out and the sun reaching your consciousness here and there. It connects to Guide Dog which is the most accessible song here, a straight indie slacker folk tune, worthy of early Bright Eyes and Dashboard Confessional. The drug trip concludes on Texas Blue, and it isn't as amusing as the previous, however, it definitely belongs here because it is in family with the un-pigeonholable compositions that preceded it.
All in all, I am in awe of Ben's passion and unapologetic way of creating idealistic music, going beyond stereotypical sub-genres and experimental cliches. Though not as much conceptual depth and storytelling as IDMTHY, and even if the replayability isn't as strong as the compositions themselves, the tape is rewarding when I do feel the need to relisten. Rarely since Gorillaz has someone consistently mixed so variable genres into so fascinating and original musical recipes. [First added to this chart: 03/08/2024]
A mixtape from wanna the most solid-build musicians and artists this decade. Quadeca managed to make a top 20 album in 2021 (From Me To You, solid one), and a top 10 album in 2022 (I didn't mean to haunt you, a record I still have a hard time describing - but easily wanna the biggest sonic artistic statements of the 2020s). No surprise, every new release sounds different but inspired. This new one, Scrapyard, is the most varied one yet, sparing from emo rap to shoegaze to art pop to psychedelic hip hop. At first, this feels like a drug trip but a cute one. The tape has its own flow and brings the listener along with it. The switch-ups in genres when it comes to single tracks (particularly Pretty Privilege) go over so well, and he continues to elevate it the deeper into the (scrap)yard ya go. Easier is emo-folk but with a flanger that makes it sound trippier and honestly it tastes and feels good, and then gets a slow trap hi-hat drum, but then is a hypnagogic pop song. Even If I Tried is a Playboi Carti-styled song, but is buried under noisy synths that float on a cloud 1 kilometer too high in altitude, and we are taking to them for sonic clarity in the second half that exceeds the first. The stream-of-consciousness lyricism displayed on What's It To Him oddly conveys the musical sphere that is going on underneath, a mixture of Cloud Rap and more hypnagogic pop, though not in the sense of what it sounds like on paper. Again, Qua outdoes any average composer's expressions. The utterly wonderful melodic progression on U Don't Know Me Like That, mixed with trippy-pitched vocals and cutsy synth drums is like a warm nostalgic summer dream, and the autotune is something adopted from Bladee's universe. And the same can be said about I Make It Look Effortless, basically Exeter's 10th song. Every single throwback rapper of this era that is not Joey Bada$$ gets their ass handed to them on Way Too Many Friends, because this dynamic mix of 90s hip-hop drums and that piano, literally sounds forward-thinking even in 2024. But that's because of Ben's filters of driven delivery, as well as his way of writing a melody that syncopates on beat, truly excellent. Guess Who contains a dose of electronic effects, both the hi-hat and synth lines, and the only low point on the tape. No means terrible like most of its brothers and sisters, but terrible for Scrapyard's standards. Under My Skin is a deconstructed late-era XXXTentacion-tune, with a reverb as choir, some snares as musical flashing lights, and a drenched violin as thunder strikes. Being Yourself might be the most surrealistic song here, and if I didn't notice it, my enjoyment wouldn't be as strong, but this is a David Lynch short movie in music form, and it's like it gets druggier by the minute as the music is copping out...until there is 20 seconds of rhythmic cop-out. This is unbelievable. Right after that, we go electronic bleeps coupled with laughing ASMR-style vocal engineering on U Tried That Thing Where Ur Human, is this still Quadeca? Or is he just on another level... Either way, this is the song that, comparable to the experience of insane colorful magnitudes, is the moment of lying on the shore, half-passed out and the sun reaching your consciousness here and there. It connects to Guide Dog which is the most accessible song here, a straight indie slacker folk tune, worthy of early Bright Eyes and Dashboard Confessional. The drug trip concludes on Texas Blue, and it isn't as amusing as the previous, however, it definitely belongs here because it is in family with the un-pigeonholable compositions that preceded it.
All in all, I am in awe of Ben's passion and unapologetic way of creating idealistic music, going beyond stereotypical sub-genres and experimental cliches. Though not as much conceptual depth and storytelling as IDMTHY, and even if the replayability isn't as strong as the compositions themselves, the tape is rewarding when I do feel the need to relisten. Rarely since Gorillaz has someone consistently mixed so variable genres into so fascinating and original musical recipes. [First added to this chart: 03/08/2024]
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75/100
If you asked me to pick a musician to hold the title for most artistically pristine of the last 10 years, a good choice of mine would be Julia Holter. My favorite album of hers, Aviary, is wanna the greatest, most explosively creative albums of the 2010s, possibly of the century. This is the follow-up to the album, so obviously it's gonna be a tough act to follow, even though we shouldn't really compare as Julia's philosophy is how each piece stands on its own. The album kicks off with Sun Girl, a tremendous meditation on dreamcore-esque lounge music. The repetitive nature of the song makes it even further hypnotic in the back of my mind. Superb song all around. These Morning is even more easy-going, however, it borders on dreamy new age that, at best, is indescribable. The title track, although pleasant, can seem a bit more tedious in its idealistic approach to flanger-guitar, as well as underdeveloped minimalism. It's a fine song, but a huge step-down compared to the first 2. Then Materia picks it up a little bit, but just a little bit as it sounds like a lost ballad underneath the sonic disguise as an ambient dream pop song; my biggest gripe is that it drives by pretty quickly despite its slow tempo. Then it gets to Meyou which is a 6-minute acapella Lied. Although it could be more atmospheric, I still thoroughly enjoy it with no remorse. Around the 2-minute mark, it starts to sound humorous, a different approach to this kind of music that's quite something. Spinning comes in with a sloppy rhythm that is played through the whole song, and honestly gets annoying, tacky, and distracting. The pop song surrounding it is not that good either, by far the weakest song on the album (who knows what she was doing here). Thankfully, Ocean with its Spirit-of-Eden-inspired synth and organs helps it back up to good status. Actually great status. Instrumental piece that gets a bit more sore and unsettling but then very naturally dives back into peacefulness, I have not a piece with quite this build-up before, and in Holterland it's a tradition to be taken by surprise like that. Definitely a highlight. It goes to even another warm place on Evening Mood, a semi-psychedelic art pop tune that has created its own flow and tempo, and Holter is the captain of the unknown landscape that is both unfamiliar and super welcoming. When this marvellous piece of music slided that guitar in, I knew this as arguably the masterpiece of 2024. The very odd-but-it-works art pop song Talking To The Whisper has a drum pattern that is still a bit confusing, but because of the instrumentation around it, becomes a bit floaty and almost trippy; those being flutes and organs that are just pure jazzy goodies. Though Holter's vocal melodies here are the weak link of the song, it's still largely forgivable. Its eventful ending with the clashing of musicianship makes it transcendent. The closer Who Brings Me is very very very eerie, especially with the organ swimming around Holter's voice. It's engineered in a way that makes it engaging and make you wanna listen to it all the way simultaneously. She sings almost like a sleepwalker, it's a fitting way to end an album that is almost as polarisingly diverse in sound as its sprawling predecessor. Contemporary musical artistry have another example in the bag. [First added to this chart: 06/30/2024]
If you asked me to pick a musician to hold the title for most artistically pristine of the last 10 years, a good choice of mine would be Julia Holter. My favorite album of hers, Aviary, is wanna the greatest, most explosively creative albums of the 2010s, possibly of the century. This is the follow-up to the album, so obviously it's gonna be a tough act to follow, even though we shouldn't really compare as Julia's philosophy is how each piece stands on its own. The album kicks off with Sun Girl, a tremendous meditation on dreamcore-esque lounge music. The repetitive nature of the song makes it even further hypnotic in the back of my mind. Superb song all around. These Morning is even more easy-going, however, it borders on dreamy new age that, at best, is indescribable. The title track, although pleasant, can seem a bit more tedious in its idealistic approach to flanger-guitar, as well as underdeveloped minimalism. It's a fine song, but a huge step-down compared to the first 2. Then Materia picks it up a little bit, but just a little bit as it sounds like a lost ballad underneath the sonic disguise as an ambient dream pop song; my biggest gripe is that it drives by pretty quickly despite its slow tempo. Then it gets to Meyou which is a 6-minute acapella Lied. Although it could be more atmospheric, I still thoroughly enjoy it with no remorse. Around the 2-minute mark, it starts to sound humorous, a different approach to this kind of music that's quite something. Spinning comes in with a sloppy rhythm that is played through the whole song, and honestly gets annoying, tacky, and distracting. The pop song surrounding it is not that good either, by far the weakest song on the album (who knows what she was doing here). Thankfully, Ocean with its Spirit-of-Eden-inspired synth and organs helps it back up to good status. Actually great status. Instrumental piece that gets a bit more sore and unsettling but then very naturally dives back into peacefulness, I have not a piece with quite this build-up before, and in Holterland it's a tradition to be taken by surprise like that. Definitely a highlight. It goes to even another warm place on Evening Mood, a semi-psychedelic art pop tune that has created its own flow and tempo, and Holter is the captain of the unknown landscape that is both unfamiliar and super welcoming. When this marvellous piece of music slided that guitar in, I knew this as arguably the masterpiece of 2024. The very odd-but-it-works art pop song Talking To The Whisper has a drum pattern that is still a bit confusing, but because of the instrumentation around it, becomes a bit floaty and almost trippy; those being flutes and organs that are just pure jazzy goodies. Though Holter's vocal melodies here are the weak link of the song, it's still largely forgivable. Its eventful ending with the clashing of musicianship makes it transcendent. The closer Who Brings Me is very very very eerie, especially with the organ swimming around Holter's voice. It's engineered in a way that makes it engaging and make you wanna listen to it all the way simultaneously. She sings almost like a sleepwalker, it's a fitting way to end an album that is almost as polarisingly diverse in sound as its sprawling predecessor. Contemporary musical artistry have another example in the bag. [First added to this chart: 06/30/2024]
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75/100
Ms. Pratt has studied 60s girl folk and brought her own songwriting prowess down to a T. If you listened to Here In The Pitch without context, you would've thought it was a lost treasure from 1968. That was of course a better time for music, so I mean that as a compliment. The touches of brill building and lighthearted lounge identify the songs as more than pleasant. Exquisitely easy on the ears little record. [First added to this chart: 12/15/2024]
Ms. Pratt has studied 60s girl folk and brought her own songwriting prowess down to a T. If you listened to Here In The Pitch without context, you would've thought it was a lost treasure from 1968. That was of course a better time for music, so I mean that as a compliment. The touches of brill building and lighthearted lounge identify the songs as more than pleasant. Exquisitely easy on the ears little record. [First added to this chart: 12/15/2024]
Year of Release:
2024
Appears in:
Rank Score:
368
Rank in 2024:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
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75/100
Instrumentation blending folk and jazz in a unique way in 2024. How do you make gentle spacey folk-rock without borrowing from ambient clothing? The answer is Constellation by Coilfhionn Rose.
The Spotify description is on point, Caoilfhionn Rose is an ancient taking you on an airy ride that not goes to her homeland, but to a scape of her own psychology. But an ancient also reads the minds of humans and she doesn't come too short of that here: Rose listens to your unspoken requests and also flagmentally motivates your spirit.
We enter places without true gravity but endless gentle glows (Rainfall (a collision for classical, jazz and new age, where the freaking drums are not even rhythmic, but...fulfilling rainy fuzz), Into Sky, title track, Fall Into Place) but the radical sense of Rose's voice keeps you from falling to instead wafting in its airspace. Instrumentally speaking, Constellation's secret weapon is the friendship of gentle saxophone and Tangerine Dream-ian keyboard plugs. The most unusual experiment is Wandering Mind because of how it uses the same ingredients as YouTube background muzak, but cooks something more artistic. Even the more humdrum-songs like Simple are still so enjoyable that you won't put a finger on them.
If I should say some weaknesses, is that Rose sometimes can get into odd melody-registering (the choruses of both Josephine and Fall Into Place), combined with lyricism that has direction but lacks the final bit of arrant poesy. I wish she did more what she did on the song ambient jazz cut Momentary that perfectly simply displays her philosophy of the aesthetic person according to Kierkegaard: it's momentarily pain or joy, because we live in the moment along with the soft saying "All I do is not what I feel". I wouldn't mind if she did one or two more instrumental cuts like the pen-ultimate Sigur Ros tribute Drifting Dust. The record ends with A Light In The Middle's ultimate 'n', again, motivational mantra to the listener: "It's possible", which also happens to be the one slightly (intended) melodic chorus here that sticks.
TLDR: wonderful to hear ancients are still alive and with us. [First added to this chart: 12/21/2024]
Instrumentation blending folk and jazz in a unique way in 2024. How do you make gentle spacey folk-rock without borrowing from ambient clothing? The answer is Constellation by Coilfhionn Rose.
The Spotify description is on point, Caoilfhionn Rose is an ancient taking you on an airy ride that not goes to her homeland, but to a scape of her own psychology. But an ancient also reads the minds of humans and she doesn't come too short of that here: Rose listens to your unspoken requests and also flagmentally motivates your spirit.
We enter places without true gravity but endless gentle glows (Rainfall (a collision for classical, jazz and new age, where the freaking drums are not even rhythmic, but...fulfilling rainy fuzz), Into Sky, title track, Fall Into Place) but the radical sense of Rose's voice keeps you from falling to instead wafting in its airspace. Instrumentally speaking, Constellation's secret weapon is the friendship of gentle saxophone and Tangerine Dream-ian keyboard plugs. The most unusual experiment is Wandering Mind because of how it uses the same ingredients as YouTube background muzak, but cooks something more artistic. Even the more humdrum-songs like Simple are still so enjoyable that you won't put a finger on them.
If I should say some weaknesses, is that Rose sometimes can get into odd melody-registering (the choruses of both Josephine and Fall Into Place), combined with lyricism that has direction but lacks the final bit of arrant poesy. I wish she did more what she did on the song ambient jazz cut Momentary that perfectly simply displays her philosophy of the aesthetic person according to Kierkegaard: it's momentarily pain or joy, because we live in the moment along with the soft saying "All I do is not what I feel". I wouldn't mind if she did one or two more instrumental cuts like the pen-ultimate Sigur Ros tribute Drifting Dust. The record ends with A Light In The Middle's ultimate 'n', again, motivational mantra to the listener: "It's possible", which also happens to be the one slightly (intended) melodic chorus here that sticks.
TLDR: wonderful to hear ancients are still alive and with us. [First added to this chart: 12/21/2024]
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75/100
I almost didn't check this one, both because I'd rather focus on music coming out of preferred genres as well as unknown musicians I haven't heard of, but mainly cause I really dislike Billie Eilish's music, for the most part. When she has a great song, it's bullseye (like Everything I Wanted, Ilomilo, When The Party's Over, Happier Than Ever just to name some of them are all incredible), but most of it is drenched in pretentious studio wizardry, phoned in singing style, and uninteresting lyricism.
But it's great I ended up checking this new out, Hit Me Hard And Soft, the first out of three albums of hers that I not only like but really like. Ms Eilish has not taken steps up, but a mountain in terms of singing ability; now she uses the quiet sphere to ethereal and comforting advantages; she now even sounds like a friend to the listener. Finneas' production style is also more consistent in sound landscape, and knows what it does good so it sticks with it. A few of the tracks, principally on the back end, have a switch up, and with the big exception of atrocious L'Amour De La Vie, they all work (Blue above all else, going from euphonious rhythm to quasi-metaphysical vocal jazz and organic singer-songwriter, with a sprinkle trip hot beat sandwiched between). All of the pretense of "ha spooky" and faux-avant garde mess of the previous tracks are all gone and sweetly replaced with more sterling lyricism alongside dancing intimacy.
For what I wonder, she is opening up to her queerness on this album. And surprisingly, the emotional maturity as well as the ambiguity Billie leaves with thematic, tensive prowess, really took me for a loop. Despite being the biggest artist at the moment, she chooses to look for the lesser "headline-grabbing" features of her sexuality as opposed to something that would get the press in sicko mode. And for that, the experience becomes even more unraveling in quality and personality. Good to hear her in the flirtatious/subtle humor-bag on Lunch (kind of the same musical vibe as Therefore I Am, wanna the only good songs on the predecessor), and that funky chorus with surf rock guitarisms elevate it higher. Even better hearing how healthy she is coping with guilt on the steady Wildflower. The Greatest is the most reminiscent of her past, lyrically, but much more aware and also in acceptance ("All the times I waited for you to want me naked" is a lyric I relate to more than I initially realized). She also pens wanna the best psychedelic trip hop songs I have heard in years, on The Diner (even if the main riff can remind me of Kahoot for some reason), and Bittersuite is a genuine indietronica artsy winner.
It's crazy how exceedingly popular Birds of A Feather has become, considering it's a rather weak track in the tracklisting. Todd In The Shadows says it sounds timeless because it could've been released anytime in the last 40 years. Kinda true, but it's ignoring the fact that there are countless tunes throughout that long period of time you could apply it to, that are catchier and more well-written than this, and yet a lot of them is still not considered "greatest of all time". It's too reminiscent of Wham!-styled unoriginality (quite the opposite of ALT-pop), and that makes it more safe than anything. More than that, this song is mostly impressive because Billie showcases a rarity of her belting notes, but in the grand scheme of music, it isn't too outstanding. And the way it's nestled into the mix, it's not reaching for a gear worthy of mastery. The main melody is rather tame, especially with its repetition, and the lyrics couldn't be more generic. The overdone faux-chillwave drumkit, combined with faux-hypnagogic pop soundscape isn't exactly Beethoven either. With all that aside, I do still really enjoy the song; the semi-cutlery percussion, Billie's voice is very pretty even when it doesn't resemble her established sonic identity, I don't doubt what she's singing to her love, and all her four refrains melodically do stick together at the end of the day. Not falling for overcooked hype on this composition, but still good.
Her voice is of course quiet on Chihiro, but its controlled, it's breathy, like a wind with its destination into your heart (the song's build-up in the synth and bouncy bass is also worthy of notice! Especially in the "Did you take, my love away, from meeeeeeeee" damn, it's so harmonious.) However, the album peaks with its opener Skinny, an ambient pop swimming pool fragmented with soulful bliss, it's almost breathtaking. But generally, the pacing and songwriting are both great and enthralling, growing on me for every spin I give this. Good job Billie and Finneas, this is the first time Billie has gotten #1 on Spotify and me thinking it's a breath of fresh air; she really dropped the richest and most characteristic pop album of the year. Feels great to be in tune with the zeitgeist finally.
Sorry for the cringe review, but I really like the album, that should be the takeaway :) [First added to this chart: 06/09/2024]
I almost didn't check this one, both because I'd rather focus on music coming out of preferred genres as well as unknown musicians I haven't heard of, but mainly cause I really dislike Billie Eilish's music, for the most part. When she has a great song, it's bullseye (like Everything I Wanted, Ilomilo, When The Party's Over, Happier Than Ever just to name some of them are all incredible), but most of it is drenched in pretentious studio wizardry, phoned in singing style, and uninteresting lyricism.
But it's great I ended up checking this new out, Hit Me Hard And Soft, the first out of three albums of hers that I not only like but really like. Ms Eilish has not taken steps up, but a mountain in terms of singing ability; now she uses the quiet sphere to ethereal and comforting advantages; she now even sounds like a friend to the listener. Finneas' production style is also more consistent in sound landscape, and knows what it does good so it sticks with it. A few of the tracks, principally on the back end, have a switch up, and with the big exception of atrocious L'Amour De La Vie, they all work (Blue above all else, going from euphonious rhythm to quasi-metaphysical vocal jazz and organic singer-songwriter, with a sprinkle trip hot beat sandwiched between). All of the pretense of "ha spooky" and faux-avant garde mess of the previous tracks are all gone and sweetly replaced with more sterling lyricism alongside dancing intimacy.
For what I wonder, she is opening up to her queerness on this album. And surprisingly, the emotional maturity as well as the ambiguity Billie leaves with thematic, tensive prowess, really took me for a loop. Despite being the biggest artist at the moment, she chooses to look for the lesser "headline-grabbing" features of her sexuality as opposed to something that would get the press in sicko mode. And for that, the experience becomes even more unraveling in quality and personality. Good to hear her in the flirtatious/subtle humor-bag on Lunch (kind of the same musical vibe as Therefore I Am, wanna the only good songs on the predecessor), and that funky chorus with surf rock guitarisms elevate it higher. Even better hearing how healthy she is coping with guilt on the steady Wildflower. The Greatest is the most reminiscent of her past, lyrically, but much more aware and also in acceptance ("All the times I waited for you to want me naked" is a lyric I relate to more than I initially realized). She also pens wanna the best psychedelic trip hop songs I have heard in years, on The Diner (even if the main riff can remind me of Kahoot for some reason), and Bittersuite is a genuine indietronica artsy winner.
It's crazy how exceedingly popular Birds of A Feather has become, considering it's a rather weak track in the tracklisting. Todd In The Shadows says it sounds timeless because it could've been released anytime in the last 40 years. Kinda true, but it's ignoring the fact that there are countless tunes throughout that long period of time you could apply it to, that are catchier and more well-written than this, and yet a lot of them is still not considered "greatest of all time". It's too reminiscent of Wham!-styled unoriginality (quite the opposite of ALT-pop), and that makes it more safe than anything. More than that, this song is mostly impressive because Billie showcases a rarity of her belting notes, but in the grand scheme of music, it isn't too outstanding. And the way it's nestled into the mix, it's not reaching for a gear worthy of mastery. The main melody is rather tame, especially with its repetition, and the lyrics couldn't be more generic. The overdone faux-chillwave drumkit, combined with faux-hypnagogic pop soundscape isn't exactly Beethoven either. With all that aside, I do still really enjoy the song; the semi-cutlery percussion, Billie's voice is very pretty even when it doesn't resemble her established sonic identity, I don't doubt what she's singing to her love, and all her four refrains melodically do stick together at the end of the day. Not falling for overcooked hype on this composition, but still good.
Her voice is of course quiet on Chihiro, but its controlled, it's breathy, like a wind with its destination into your heart (the song's build-up in the synth and bouncy bass is also worthy of notice! Especially in the "Did you take, my love away, from meeeeeeeee" damn, it's so harmonious.) However, the album peaks with its opener Skinny, an ambient pop swimming pool fragmented with soulful bliss, it's almost breathtaking. But generally, the pacing and songwriting are both great and enthralling, growing on me for every spin I give this. Good job Billie and Finneas, this is the first time Billie has gotten #1 on Spotify and me thinking it's a breath of fresh air; she really dropped the richest and most characteristic pop album of the year. Feels great to be in tune with the zeitgeist finally.
Sorry for the cringe review, but I really like the album, that should be the takeaway :) [First added to this chart: 06/09/2024]
Year of Release:
2024
Appears in:
Rank Score:
740
Rank in 2024:
Rank in 2020s:
Overall Rank:
Average Rating:
Comments:
Total albums: 36. Page 1 of 4
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Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 composition
| Artist | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
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|
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| Jack White | 1 | 3% | |
| Greg Foat | 1 | 3% | |
| Adrianne Lenker | 1 | 3% | |
| Uboa | 1 | 3% | |
| Amigo The Devil | 1 | 3% | |
| Herhums | 1 | 3% | |
| Nubya Garcia | 1 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
| Country | Albums | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
20 | 56% | |
 |
6 | 17% | |
 |
2 | 6% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
 |
1 | 3% | |
| Show all | |||
Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 chart changes
Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 similarity to your chart(s)
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Other year charts by DommeDamian
(from the 2020s)| Title | Source | Type | Published | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 3 Music Albums of 2025 | DommeDamian | 2025 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 | DommeDamian | 2024 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 49 Music Albums of 2023 | DommeDamian | 2023 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 52 Music Albums of 2022 | DommeDamian | 2022 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 29 Music Albums of 2021 | DommeDamian | 2021 year chart | 2025 | |
| Top 30 Music Albums of 2020 | DommeDamian | 2020 year chart | 2025 | |
Top 36 Music Albums of 2024 ratings
Not enough data Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
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We work very hard to ensure our site is as fast (and FREE!) as possible, and we respect your privacy.
| Best Ever Artists | |
|---|---|
| 1. The Beatles | |
| 2. Radiohead | |
| 3. Pink Floyd | |
| 4. David Bowie | |
| 5. Bob Dylan | |
| 6. Led Zeppelin | |
| 7. The Rolling Stones | |
| 8. Arcade Fire | |
| 9. Nirvana | |
| 10. The Velvet Underground | |
| 11. Kendrick Lamar | |
| 12. Neil Young | |
| 13. Miles Davis | |
| 14. The Smiths | |
| 15. The Beach Boys | |
| 16. Kanye West | |
| 17. R.E.M. | |
| 18. Pixies | |
| 19. Jimi Hendrix | |
| 20. Bruce Springsteen |