Another year done and gone, and what a great year for music. These are my top ten favorite albums of 2024, in alphabetical order by artist name . . . .
49 Winchester: Leavin' This Holler (New West - 8/2/24)
This six-piece country rock outfit out of southwest Virginia is one of independent roots music's greatest success stories in recent years, and one of my favorites - soundtracking many a road trip and impromptu singalong. Comfort food embodied in music. The title of their fifth album, Leavin’ This Holler, may as well be metaphorical as it finds the band spreading their wings and reaching for wider horizons. Following their breakout album from 2022, Fortune Favors The Bold, here we get even more expansive compositions featuring sweeping strings and thundering choirs, finding the band in more sophisticated spaces without compromising their down home Appalachian sensibility.
Ben Chapman: Downbeat (Hippie Shack - 12/13/24)
Georgia native, Nashville resident, and host of the recurring Peach Jam concert series at the Basement East, Ben Chapman released his third studio album just a few weeks ago. Produced by Anderson East and featuring co-writes and vocal accompaniment by Chapman’s partner, singer-songwriter Meg McRee, Downbeat walks a sonic path frequented by the likes of Alabama’s Adam Hood and fellow Georgia compatriot Brent Cobb - a groovy mix of cosmic country, soul, funk, and Southern rock. This has consistently been among my favorite flavors of roots music for a while now, so Downbeat was a welcome end-of-year treat and a worthy last-minute addition to my Top 10 favorite albums list.
Dependable as the rising sun, California thrash and sludge trio High on Fire returned this year with their ninth collection of face-melting metal - this time with new drummer Coady Willis in tow, stepping in for founding drummer Des Kensel. With longtime producer Kurt Ballou at the studio controls again, Cometh the Storm finds the band slowing tempos a bit and revisiting the bottom-heavy riffage of their early output while adding new Middle Eastern flourishes - a reflection of bassist Jeff Matz's study of Turkish folk music and recent mastery of the baglama. Of course, stoner hero Matt Pike brings the fury with his trademark raspy bellow sounding more dynamic than ever before.
Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson): Passage Du Desir (High Top Mountain - 7/12/24)
Nobody was sure whether country music renegade Sturgill Simpson would ever return with original solo material after claiming he’d retired and promptly falling off the grid a few years back. Well, after a restorative sojourn in France and Thailand, he reappeared stateside in 2024 with his eighth studio album, this time under the pseudonym Johnny Blue Skies. Despite the head-scratching rebrand, Passage du Desire finds ol' Sturg refreshed and at the height of his powers again flexing honey-soaked soul and psychedelic jams in equal measure - apt fodder for his latest live tour boasting performances approaching four hours in length apiece. Still, we may never know what the hell rhymes with Bronco.
Michigan Rattlers: Waving From a Sea (Michigan Rattlers - 8/9/24)
This trio of northwest Michigan songsters returned this year with their third studio album, Waving From a Sea, featuring a sonic palette even farther removed from the acoustic Americana of their early material, albeit without losing any of their heartland sincerity. Surprisingly, the key sonic touchstone here is 80's synth-pop. Think Roxy Music by way of Bruce Hornsby, and John Hughes film soundtracks - evoking a sense of nostalgic melancholy. The album’s knotty lyricism focuses on love and loss, life’s inherent transience, and its fleeting moments of joy and beauty amidst the pain and regret. It's not all so serious though - how about those killer saxophone solos?
The Red Clay Strays: Made By These Moments (RCA - 7/26/24)
Alabama roots-rockers Red Clay Strays have had a good year - signing with RCA, scoring a CMA Vocal Group of the Year nomination, and winning Billboard's Top Country Group Award. Well earned and all the more impressive considering the band released its independent debut only a couple of years ago. Their sophomore album, Made By These Moments, produced by Dave Cobb, is a stellar collection of barnstorming anthems that recall the raw thrust of Zeppelin and the Stones with plenty of Sun Records sizzle and Muscle Shoals soul. Lead singer Brandon Coleman might be the MVP here, flexing vocal range that had me wondering if there were multiple singers featured on each song. Watch out for these guys.
SB81: B292 (Metalheadz -5/31/24)
By now, London's Metalheadz, launched in 1994 with Goldie as its primary founder and curator, is an institutional record label in the genres of jungle and drum & bass music. It has always featured a distinctive sound and aesthetic - equal parts retro b-boyism and sci-fi futurism. Though the UK's breakbeat hardcore scene, a direct precursor to jungle, peaked just prior to Metalheadz's launch, SB81's conceptual double-album B292 is born of an alternate universe where Metalheadz touched that scene as well. Drawing deep from its unique sonic heritage, SB81 distills the label’s essence and delivers a heady and ominous blend of breakbeat, ambient, and bass music that sounds like an unearthed mixtape from 1992.
Settle Down: Voyage (SDWN- 8/9/24)
Underground UK dance music, ever forward-facing, has been looking back lately. With the hardcore continuum spanning nearly four decades now, it's time for a breakbeat hardcore/rave revival. As such, this year saw the release of Voyage, the debut album from multigenre UK-based producer Settle Down - an ode to early 90's UK breakbeat hardcore, rave, and proto-jungle. It’s all there: euphoric piano riffs, soul diva and chipmunk vocals, Belgian stabs, mentasms, and Reese basslines, pounding 4/4 beats, and chopped-up breaks. The album also includes a bonus DJ mix in the style of old Fantazia mixtapes, featuring crowd noise, horns, whistles, MC chatter, and vinyl skips for full immersion. You know the score!
Silverada: Silverada (Prairie Rose - 6/28/24)
Sturgill Simpson wasn't the only country music rebel to launch a surprise rebrand this year. Well into their second decade, Texas road warriors Mike & The Moonpies debuted a new band name, Silverada, and new sonic influences on their eighth studio album. Broad in scope like a good mixtape, this self-titled collection finds these honky-tonk heroes pushing the envelope with twinkly psychedelia, soft rock, hard rock, and a new penchant for freeform lyricism while maintaining their trademark twang and country music bona fides. “Americana is a myth, I told ya” imparts bandleader Mike Harmeier on album opener “Radio Wave”, a mission statement challenging the notion that this is anything but country music.
Tim Reaper & Kloke: In Full Effect (Hyperdub - 9/20/24)
Jungle music, with its blend of scattershot rhythms and sub-bass frequencies, has such a distinct and particular sound that it's a challenge finding new material that doesn't feel like it's been done a million times before - yet here we have an outstanding full-length album from London native Tim Reaper partnering with Kloke out of Australia that rivals classics from the genre's mid-90s peak. In Full Effect features everything an everyday junglist could wish for - galloping tempos, rapid-fire drum edits, bowel-quaking basslines, ragga chatter, and rave piano riffs. Every track here is distinct and memorable in ways most jungle revivalists these days rarely achieve, proving that this genre still has plenty of territory to explore.
2024 Runners Up & Honorable Mention here!
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