my 2024 musical reflective
better late than never <3
I’ve had my blog on Substack in hibernation for quite a long time, lying dormant for the right time when I felt I needed another outlet for my thoughts about music. Though I often write about my musical feelings for Tonitruale, I felt that 2024 was a special year for music and a turning point in my life as I entered ~real adulthood. While 2025 has already started, I find it difficult to reminisce upon a year’s ending before it’s properly happened. I never want to miss anything, and truly, my mark of a new year is my January birthday.
Last May, I graduated college, retiring from my favorite job as college music director at 90.3 KRNU. In this role, I was able to succinctly blend the technical aspects of curating radio programming and new music rotations with communicating to an audience about music on air. Protected by the guise of student-programming and university funding, it didn’t really matter how large that audience was, or how much subjective feedback I got about the music, just that I was able to talk about it. Gushing about the latest releases from long-time favorite artists and brand new discoveries was so rewarding, no matter how many people were listening at any given time. I wrote about a lot of my feelings in this essay, but essentially, since graduating I’ve needed a place to pour those feelings into now that that chapter has closed. I dream of a spot on All Songs Considered, I have a lot to say.
With that being said, I wanted to begin my blog with a reflective of some of the music that made 2024 such a standout. Below, I’ve created a Topster for the sake of visual representation, but it remains unranked. These are 50 of my favorite releases from 2024, and I’m missing many more I also loved!
This year was full of a lot of firsts including Charli XCX’s mainstream breakthrough, which still gives me a bit of cognitive dissonance if I think too hard about it, Kim Gordon’s effortlessly cool hip-hop album featuring industrial, Justin Raisen-produced beats, Girls’ Christopher Owens’ first album in a decade, three projects from hemlock, Jai Paul’s return from hibernation to release music with his breakout mentee, Fabiana Palladino, one of my favorite debut albums from Geese frontman, Cameron Winter, and more.
I feel that the more honed in and sharply tuned in I am to up-and-coming artists and new music discovery, the more fulfilled I am, and the more music-related news and occurrences I find to be excited about. This may be an obvious observation for those in the industry or for those who share similar feelings as I do, but I can’t help but sometimes feel bad for those who aren’t seeking out bubbling-under and emerging acts. There was more music released in a single day in 2024 than in the entire year of 1989, so why limit ourselves and not find more music to love?
I wrote about my five favorite albums here, but I wanted to gush about a few of my favorite releases and discoveries from 2024. There’s countless I could’ve talked about, these are just some off the top of mind.
“Frog Rinse” by Kacy Hill
Kacy Hill’s album, BUG, was sent out to radio the week I graduated college, meaning I couldn’t talk about it on my weekly show. Much like fellow redhead, Anna Wise, Kacy Hill has suffered a similar fate. Both artists worked as backing vocalists for two of the most prominent artists in hip-hop, for Anna, it’s Kendrick Lamar, and for Kacy, it’s Travis Scott, and subsequently have remained criminally underrated thereafter. After getting out of her record deal with Def Jam, Hill has been creating stunning music, and I loved BUG. “Frog Rinse” was the standout track for me, due to it’s sputtering electronic production created in collaboration with Bartees Strange, and heavenly, yet anxious uncertainty in its lyricism as she repeats, “I love you, is that enough to get through anything we go through?”
I Saw The TV Glow Soundtrack by Various Artists
I Saw The TV Glow was one of my favorite movies of 2024. I saw it twice in theaters and have already mourned several times over the fact that I don’t have the ability to see it in that setting again. The passing of David Lynch this past month really only cemented a lot of the feelings I have towards the film even more deeply. While Jane Schoenbrun felt direct inspiration from the director, none of that influence on the film feels derivative. It conjured in me many of the same emotions I felt at 12 years-old watching Twin Peaks for the first time. Many of those feelings were caused by their use of music. As the singles rolled out for the soundtrack, my personal excitement only grew. From yeule’s glitchy reimagining of the Broken Social Scene classic, “Anthems For A Seventeen Year-Old Girl,” to originals from Maria BC and Caroline Polachek, the variety in style and artistic delivery all fall completely in the vein of the film’s sometimes soul-crushing sense of self and the subsequent discovery of it. I assumed while watching the film that these tracks wouldn’t appear in it, that they were just thematic companions, letting Alex G’s score take center stage. This was delightfully not the case, and each needle drop felt so precisely timed. If the bar in the film represents Twin Peaks’ Roadhouse, then I will gladly accept King Woman as the film’s Julee Cruise with open arms.
Darning Woman by Anastasia Coope
The debut album from Anastasia Coope is something so singular, I found it difficult to put my finger on what I loved about it for some time. I’ve never heard a record quite like it, but it’s also not a jarring or shocking album to listen to. I love its jagged edges, layered and guttural vocals, and the collage of sounds created on it. It’s a folk record I could imagine being plucked out of any decade, yet it still feels so modern. It’s a little CocoRosie-esque, but so of it’s own that comparison feels wrong. I’d love to see her make a project with someone like Okay Kaya someday.
“She Looked Like Me!” by Magdalena Bay
Everyone has kind of said their piece about this album, so I really won’t harbor on it for too long. That being said, I don’t think enough people discuss the gusto of the opening track to Magdalena Bay’s breakthrough record, Imaginal Disk. Something I talk about a lot is the importance of the opening and closing tracks of an album, and this duo showcases how to carry out that sequencing and structure perfectly. This opener feels like fireworks, like glitter, like a rebirth. It’s never stagnant or stationary, but it has a clear melody and core that keeps it center concise and thesis stabilized. The song details the duo’s families and the idea that grounding comes from “ordinary love.” It’s kind of humorous to break down its lyrics, realizing how simplistic its subject matter is compared to how bombastic it sounds, but I think that makes it special.
“So I” by Charli XCX & A.G. Cook
When talking about Charli XCX this year, I’ve really tried my hardest to be quiet and just be happy for all of her much deserved success. As a listener since the True Romance Days and a PC Music fan since high school, it’s difficult for me not to discuss the significance and meaning behind a lot of Charli’s moves, the history between her and her collaborators, and the significance of her music becoming so wildly beloved and accepted after being sometimes critically panned and ignored by the mainstream pop world. Unfortunately with this track specifically, there’s just some history here that might go unnoticed or may not resonate for new listeners. From its opening seconds on my first listen, I immediately felt so emotional, with it’s high-frequency sounds echoing “L.O.V.E” by Sophie and utilization of her producer tag. The whole track is a love letter to a lost friend and the sonic embodiment of nostalgia in sound and subject, maintaining a continuous buildup throughout, not letting that memory fade. If the original version showcased the feelings of a regret friendship, the remix is a celebration of life and a stream-of-consciousness memorial.
“Devil Eye” by Dora Jar
Dora Jar is an artist who masters kinetic, sonic movement and wordplay. Her debut album, No Way To Relax When You Are On Fire, is filled with clever lyricism and constant momentum. “Devil Eye” is a track I had a moment with, and I listened to it on repeat for a couple of days. Her slight turn of phrases and switches like “Down boy, tease me” to “Dumb boy, teach me” fit so well in this hypnotic track that just kind of slinks along like syrup. Her lyricism always takes you slightly off guard, but in the best way. It’s an earworm I still get caught up in.
“Cunty Bang Bang” by Kate Davis
Kate Davis has emerged as one of my favorite singer-songwriters working currently over the past year. She’s a writer with equal parts humor, sincerity, and a sense of grit that comes through despite her sweet sound vocally. She also helped cowrite one of my favorite songs of 2025 so far. This stand-alone song from last April tells the story of a protagonist who seems brave and heroic, but also blunt and full of rage. The melancholy of the track is the opposite of what you’d initially expect from the song, but it kind of makes it perfect. Our protagonist may be vengeful and cold hearted, but why is that a negative? You can feel negatively about someone, but go on living a perfectly happy life and remain a hero in your own right. Cunty Bang Bang is not a one dimensional character. Davis said this track was “for the girls,” and I feel that she was completely correct. The song documents a feminine manifestation of anger in a way that feels unique, hopeful, and without bitterness.
Heavy Metal by Cameron Winter
It’s a blessing and a curse that this album came out in December. In a way, it’s the perfect album to bring up as a case study in the conversation of year end lists. Publications who were ready to hit publish on their best of 2024 lists on the first of December completely missed out on this gem. The sounds on this album are endlessly lush, with ethereal and warm production and Winter’s warbly vocals. I find this to be much more compelling than Geese’s work if I’m being honest. While I enjoyed 3D Country, I find the bombastic energy of their music to overtake the quiet nuances that make Winter sound unlike any modern vocalist or performer. Like last winter with Suntub by ML Buch, I always find myself continually going back to an album that feels like winter, that transports me to a bit of sterile and quiet place. Heavy Metal is definitely that album for me this year, ironically. I never thought that, “Like Brian Jones, I was born to swim,” could sound so profound.
To see more of my favorite music from the year, you can listen to my favorites of 2024 playlist.
There’s a lot of music that I’m looking forward to this year, and I hope to take advantage of the opportunities I can to write about it, through whatever medium possible. Thank you for reading <3