absolutely!! so many great ones. I love seeing Adrianne Lenker, too! Many have overlooked her record, and I love seeing it get the attention it deserves.
I like the boldness of using the word "definitive" in your title! 👌
There were (I guess are, as the year isn't over) so many strong albums this year that I feel like I could come up with an alternate top 20 just with the albums I discover from other people's top albums lists! Maybe I'll do that and post it in February or March.
I have focused more on "world" music (for lack of a better term), ambient, and folk/country this year than in years past. I tend to be genre agnostic, but my body often craves a particular vibe, and in 2024 it was quieter than normal. No metal, punk, noise or hardcore rap in my top stuff this year, which is a big change for me.
I'll take a listen to the stuff in your list I'm not familiar with and maybe it'll make my future top 20 list!
Some fantastic picks here Matt, several of which made my top 40, but also a whole heap of new music that’s new to me. Hip hop’s not really my bag (not that I ignored your picks, though) but I added the albums by Total Blue, Ezra Collective, Zsela,Mildlife and Nala Sinephro to my listening queue to check out as I enjoyed the songs you included in your post.
To each their own, Mark. I appreciate you commenting here in the comments. :) I know I post/write about hip-hop more than many other scribes in the MusicStack community, but I did my best to diversify my listening portfolio more than last year. Will definitely be checking out your picks as well!
I certainly don’t dislike hip hop and I appreciate reading about and hearing the music. I listened to Mildlife last night and really enjoyed it. Ezra Collectve is on tap for tonight. Your picks are certainly diverse, which is probably more than you could say for mine 😂
On the hip hop front, I’m more of a fan of what I guess I would call conscious hip hop, along the lines of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Brother Ali with less talk about n***as and b**ches. I’m not a prude or anything, I curse on the regular but some types of language I have a hard time with. Much of hip hop is perhaps not written for someone like me, I get it, and I’m okay with it. Some of the acts I’ve appreciated in the last few years include Lil Simz and Dave from the UK. Do you have any recommendations for me to check out? The other piece is that I have to like the music as well as the songs themselves and that’s not always the case for me with hip hop. I’m open though.
I’m gonna go back and spend some with some of your hip hop picks as I don’t want to dismiss them out of hand either.
I can vouch for Ezra Collective. Amazing band. I'm with you in terms of hip-hop preferences. My favorites this year have been Lil Simz, Heems, Oddisee, Bob Vylan, and The Allergies.
And I think it was Matt who turned me on to Mildlife earlier this year, who will be in my next "favorite song" post this weekend!
absolutely!! so many great ones. I love seeing Adrianne Lenker, too! Many have overlooked her record, and I love seeing it get the attention it deserves.
Couldn’t agree more. It was one of the year’s absolute best releases. Thanks for reading!
Great choices. Number 4, The Cure, gets it for me every time.
It very nearly edged everything else out and made it to No. 1. Thanks for reading, Jon :)
I like the boldness of using the word "definitive" in your title! 👌
There were (I guess are, as the year isn't over) so many strong albums this year that I feel like I could come up with an alternate top 20 just with the albums I discover from other people's top albums lists! Maybe I'll do that and post it in February or March.
I have focused more on "world" music (for lack of a better term), ambient, and folk/country this year than in years past. I tend to be genre agnostic, but my body often craves a particular vibe, and in 2024 it was quieter than normal. No metal, punk, noise or hardcore rap in my top stuff this year, which is a big change for me.
I'll take a listen to the stuff in your list I'm not familiar with and maybe it'll make my future top 20 list!
Haha go big or go home with post titles, amirite? Appreciate you checking in, as always Steve. :)
Some fantastic picks here Matt, several of which made my top 40, but also a whole heap of new music that’s new to me. Hip hop’s not really my bag (not that I ignored your picks, though) but I added the albums by Total Blue, Ezra Collective, Zsela,Mildlife and Nala Sinephro to my listening queue to check out as I enjoyed the songs you included in your post.
I’ve just posted my honorable mentions if you’d lie to check them out: https://open.substack.com/pub/joyinthejourney/p/2024-honorable-mentions
To each their own, Mark. I appreciate you commenting here in the comments. :) I know I post/write about hip-hop more than many other scribes in the MusicStack community, but I did my best to diversify my listening portfolio more than last year. Will definitely be checking out your picks as well!
I certainly don’t dislike hip hop and I appreciate reading about and hearing the music. I listened to Mildlife last night and really enjoyed it. Ezra Collectve is on tap for tonight. Your picks are certainly diverse, which is probably more than you could say for mine 😂
On the hip hop front, I’m more of a fan of what I guess I would call conscious hip hop, along the lines of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Brother Ali with less talk about n***as and b**ches. I’m not a prude or anything, I curse on the regular but some types of language I have a hard time with. Much of hip hop is perhaps not written for someone like me, I get it, and I’m okay with it. Some of the acts I’ve appreciated in the last few years include Lil Simz and Dave from the UK. Do you have any recommendations for me to check out? The other piece is that I have to like the music as well as the songs themselves and that’s not always the case for me with hip hop. I’m open though.
I’m gonna go back and spend some with some of your hip hop picks as I don’t want to dismiss them out of hand either.
I can vouch for Ezra Collective. Amazing band. I'm with you in terms of hip-hop preferences. My favorites this year have been Lil Simz, Heems, Oddisee, Bob Vylan, and The Allergies.
And I think it was Matt who turned me on to Mildlife earlier this year, who will be in my next "favorite song" post this weekend!