Best Music šŸŽ¶ of 2024!

This is a solid listā€¦
Wow, yeah, this list tracks so closely with my personal "Best Albums of '24" list that I made a separate playlist of the few albums on here that I haven't listened to yet (Rosie Tucker, Rachel Chinouriri, Hannah Frances), since I'm guessing I'll love them.
 
YOU ARE ALL ON NOTICE!!!!

Why didnā€™t any of you insist I listen to this King Hannah album? What the fuck people?

Because their debut effort is better. It was my #3 from '22.
This new one is a slightly elevated D r y C l e a n i n g to me.
I'm listening to this right now off these comments and I'm getting very strong Julia Jacklin vibes with the lead singer's voice. I only listened to their 2022 album, I'll give the new one a shot next.
 
RBF
Not sure how I've missed this "band" for so long (it's a one-man band with session musicians), but I just discovered ā€ŠAquilus today. This is their 4th LP (which dropped back on May 3rd) since their debut in 2011. This newest installment, Bellum II, the second part to their 2021 album Bellum I, is 8 tracks, 59 minutes (with two, 16-minute tracks in the mix). This album is haunting, beautiful, devastating, eloquent, gripping, and unsettling (the album art basically says all those things). With an amazing blend of atmospheric metal, neo-folk, and classical styles, along with beautiful accompaniments of piano, flute, violin, and operatic vocals, Bellum II boasts one of the most unique metal listens I've had this year and this decade. Surely a metal frontrunner and overall album frontrunner for me for 2024 so far.

 
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RBF
Not sure how I've missed this "band" for so long (it's a one-man band with session musicians), but I just discovered ā€ŠAquilus today. This is their 4th LP (which dropped back on May 3rd) since their debut in 2011. This newest installment, Bellum II, the second part to their 2021 album Bellum I, is 8 tracks, 59 minutes (with two, 16-minute tracks in the mix). This album is haunting, beautiful, devastating, eloquent, gripping, and unsettling (the album art basically says all those things). With an amazing blend of atmospheric metal, neo-folk, and classical styles, along with beautiful accompaniments of piano, flute, violin, and operatic vocals, Bellum II boasts one of the most unique metal listens I've had this year and this decade. Surely a metal frontrunner and overall album frontrunner for me for 2024 so far.



This is fuggin' awesome! Thanks!!
 
Q2 Update

Total 2024 releases (albums/EPs/mixtapes) listened to as of March 31: 60 113

It's starting to become a better year for new music. Kinda. But here, you can see that I'm submitting to the vices of RYM, particularly their current aggregate top4 of the year. šŸ˜‚ When they get it right, they get it very right.

Again, a 3x3 for this month. Almost guaranteed to not have a top50 by the end of this year.

Saving (most) releases from Jun 28 to be considered for Q3. Entries are alphabetized by band name/artist last name.

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Arooj Aftab - Night Reign [chamber jazz, chamber folk]
Charli XCX - brat [electropop, bubblegum bass, EDM]
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee [indie rock, noise pop, psychedelic pop]

Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown [chamber folk, singer/songwriter]
Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To [metalcore]
The Lemon Twigs - A Dream is All We Know [psychedelic pop, sunshine pop, soft rock]

Sumac - The Healer [atmospheric sludge metal, drone metal, avant-garde metal]
Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God [technical death metal, black metal]
Tashi Wada - What is Not Strange? [drone, ambient, experimental]

Q1 Update
 
This is a solid listā€¦

Wow, yeah, this list tracks so closely with my personal "Best Albums of '24" list that I made a separate playlist of the few albums on here that I haven't listened to yet (Rosie Tucker, Rachel Chinouriri, Hannah Frances), since I'm guessing I'll love them.

I listened to the albums on this list I didn't already know. I thought the Rosie Tucker and Hannah Frances albums were good, but they didn't totally click for me after one listen.

The Rachel Chinouriri album though, damn, that album is friggen fantastic!!!
 
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ALBUMS
Kronos Quartet & Friends ā€“ Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra
Hermanos GutiĆ©rrez ā€“ Sonido CĆ³smico
Dirty Three ā€“ Love Changes Everything
Rick White & The Sadies ā€“ Rick White and The Sadies
Megan Thee Stallion ā€“ MEGAN
Charli xcx ā€“ Brat
Nduduzo Makhathini ā€“ uNomkhubulwane
Actress ā€“ Statik
Malcolm Jiyane Tree-O ā€“ True Story
EPs
Wacław Zimpel ā€“ Japanese Journal Vol. 1
Benji Vaughan ā€“ Oneiric
Ford Trio & Mong Tong ā€“ Khun Pra! ę±ē¦
 
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24% of the releases on this list I discovered after their month of release.

Africa Yontii by Tidiane Thiam
Ahadu by Esy Tadesse
Bellum 2 by Aquilus
The Border by Willie Nelson
Brat by Charli xcx

The Confluence LP
by Dele Sosimi & The Estuary 21
Cosmos Giants by Janko Nilovic | J.J. Whitefield | Igor Zhukovsky
Folk Songs by Zelenaya
Funeral for Justice by Mdou Moctar
Hypocrite by Stephanie Lambring

Infinite Love Infinite Tears
by Alan Braufman
The Kindest One by Jorga Mesfin
Last Bloom by Tony Njoku
Light Verse by Iron & Wine
Love Changes Everything by Dirty Three

MEGAN
by Megan Thee Stallion
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace by Shabaka
Red Hot + Ra: The Magic City by Meshell Ndegeocello
Red Hot + Ra: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Kronos Quartet & Friends Meet Sun Ra) by Kronos Quartet & Friends
Reflections Of Purple Sun by EABS

Rick White and The Sadies
by Rick White & The Sadies
Senseless Acts Of Love by Rosa Brunello
Sonido CĆ³smico by Hermanos GutiĆ©rrez
Umbilical by Thou
USB by Fred Againā€¦
 
I was going to give myself a few more days to listen through my lists to anything I might have missed, but nothing has grabbed me so I think this may be it!

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Best of 2024! June!
  1. TenHornedBeast ā€” Capra Hircus
  2. KMRU, Kevin Richard Martin ā€” Disconnect
  3. SUMAC ā€” The Healer
  4. Ulcerate ā€” Cutting the Throat of God
  5. Julie Christmas ā€” Ridiculous and Full of Blood
  6. Frank Bretschneider ā€” Pounding
  7. Tristan Perich, Ensemble 0 ā€” Open Symmetry
  8. Actress ā€” Statik
  9. Fu Manchu ā€” The Return Of Tomorrow
  10. Malignancy ā€” Discontinued


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June:
Lake Street Dive - Good Together
Bonny Light Horseman - Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free
Various Artists - Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty
Aaron Frazer - Into the Blue
Nduduzo Makhathini - uNomkhubulwane
NxWorries - Why Lawd?
Johnny Cash - Songwriter
Concurrence - Indivisible
Red Hot Org - Outer Spaceways Incorporated: Kronos Quartet and Friends Meet Sun Ra
Kaitlin Butts - Roadrunner!
Channel Tres - Head Rush
 
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