2024 in Music, Part No. 1

Okay! It’s that time of the year again (i.e. the end of it). Last year, I did a little countdown article of my 30 favorite songs for the first time (well, the first time in the lifetime my dear readers and community here have known me). This year, I managed to find even more good music that I thought worth mentioning, so much so that I ended up splitting this year’s music review into two articles.

Rankings songs can be a funny thing, especially for an arbitrary calendar marker. Maybe there’s a song that came out two weeks ago I’ll end up loving with time, but it hasn’t had the time to sink in that a song that came out in March did. Or maybe I just recently heard it and I still like it, but I felt the same way about a similar song months ago and felt less positive about it with time.

And sometimes that late timing and lack of radio play makes new music tougher for me to get to, like with Kendrick Lamar’s GNX: I gave it a spin and liked it, but I haven’t gotten the chance to listen to it enough to decide what, if any, are my favorite tracks. Of course, I still enjoy yelling “MUSTAAAAAAAAAARD” as much the next guy. For another example, I’ve been meaning to get to Los Campesinos!’ All Hell for months, but still haven’t found the time. (It hasn’t gotten any radio play here, which is how I discover a lot of the music I listen to. Shout out to indie 102.3!)

So if one of your favorites is missing, you can probably assume I just didn’t get to listen to it, or if I did, I didn’t have a real chance to evaluate it before the end of the year. (Either that, or your taste is bad and you should feel bad.)

In the end, I did what I always do: I carefully considered all of these factors, tried to have some sort of objective algorithm based on positive feelings, sustainability, and frequency of play in my mind, and then, of course, threw all of that out and went on vibes.

The second article will be the true countdown. I’m gonna take some time to both look over some songs that didn’t make the countdown cut, and look back at what’s changed since 2023. Let’s start there, in fact:

2023 a year later

There are some things in my rankings that have changed with time since I published them. Not a lot of major changes. My playlist for the year expanded to 40, but almost all on the back end. There were only a few significant changes on the chart, a couple of songs that entered significantly highly and one that made a substantial move upward. Let’s look at the three songs that made significant moves onto or upward the chart.

Laufey
“From the Start”
Bewitched

What fascinates me about Laufey’s music is that it’s in a kind of traditional pop-and-jazz style that really no one else is doing in this century. The kind of thing that would fit in perfectly at an old piano bar, even 80 years ago. I’ve heard a few songs from her, but I think “From the Start” is my favorite and best captures what I like about the style. It now appears at #25 on the 2023 countdown.

Deer Tick
“Forgiving Ties”
Emotional Contracts

Deer Tick’s been around a while, having released their first album in 2007, but I wasn’t really familiar with them. They’re rock that’s sorta rooted in more, uh, rootsy stuff like folk, blues, and country, but this song is pretty rollicking, and that’s part of the fun.

For me, personally, it’s the lyrics that really elevate it, with everything I’ve been dealing with in the last year-plus. Sometimes after going through something traumatic, or something that fractures some of your relationships with others… forgiveness isn’t really an option, or even if it is, it’s not enough to repair those relationships, or that they’ll ever be the same again. I’m not looking for forgiving ties; I’m just looking for a way to survive.

Maybe it was just something I needed to hear, but it really resonated with me– enough to rise all the way to #10 on the 2023 countdown.

The Beaches
“Blame Brett”
Blame My Ex

Speaking of songs I ended up loving with time. I didn’t even hear “Blame Brett” until a couple of weeks after I initially published my 2023 countdown, but I liked it so much even then that I edited the article to include it. Over time, it both gradually and sharply rose in my heart. Now? It’s my new #1 for 2023.

If I had to compare it to my top two songs in the original list, I’d say it captures both the pop-punk energy of “Bad Idea Right?” and the anthemic sing-along feel of “Modern Girl.” This is the kind of music I love, garage-rock power-pop with great harmonies and sound and structure. It just hits me in all the right places. It brings me joy whenever it comes on the radio, and I always stop to listen and sing along. Even if I’ll never be an asshole disguised as a bad girl.

Here’s that updated top 40 of 2023, again as a countdown. (If you remember last year’s article, you may notice that a few songs here and there that I didn’t mention have moved around a little bit.)

Now, onto music released in 2024.

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Best songs if somehow in the year of our lord 2024 you still like that stomp-clap hey-ho shit

James Bay featuring The Lumineers and Noah Kahan – “Up All Night”
Mumford & Sons and Pharrell Williams – “Good People”

Songs From Familiar Artists

None of these found their way on my list, but none of them are bad, either. If you like the artist, you’ll like them. I mostly liked them at least a little (I didn’t include anything I didn’t like just because it was from a familiar artist), but they also mostly didn’t make a strong impression on me.

Bleachers – “Tiny Moves”
Bright Eyes – “Bells and Whistles”
Johnny Cash – “Well Alright”
Cloud Nothings – “Running Through the Campus”
The Decemberists – “Burial Ground,” “Oh No!”
Future Islands – “Glimpse,” “Say Goodbye”
Glass Animals – “Creatures in Heaven”
The Jesus and Mary Chain – “jamcod”
Kula Shaker – “Give Me Tomorrow”
The Linda Lindas – “All in My Head”
Local Natives – “April”
Nada Surf – “New Propeller”
Pearl Jam – “Dark Matter”
Pixies – “Chicken,” “You’re So Impatient”
Caroline Polachek – “Starburned and Unkissed,” “Butterfly Net” (with Weyes Blood)
St. Vincent – “Broken Man,” “Big Time Nothing”
Mavis Staples – “Worthy”
Vampire Weekend – “Capricorn,” “Gen-X Cops”
Wilco – “Annihilation”

Most Blatantly Channeling Springsteen Song

The Killers – “Bright Lights”

It’s actually the second-best blatantly channeling Springsteen song, but the most blatant about it.

Honorable Mentions

A lot of songs that I liked enough to want to highlight here, but not that I actually wanted to rank or write much on. I mean, we’d be pushing over 90 if I did that, and I’m only one man. I do have two brief notes on the very last entries to make this list– chronologically speaking, as it’s alphabetical by artist.

Tunde Adebimpe – “Magnetic”
beabadoobee – “Take a Bite”
CITRA – “Papercuts”
Clairo – “Sexy to Someone”
Dehd – “Mood Ring”
Billie Eilish – “LUNCH”
Sam Fender – “People Watching” – The actual best blatantly channeling Springsteen song.
The Heavy Heavy – “Happiness,” “Feel”
Hinds w/Beck – “Boom Boom Back”
Jamie xx w/Romy & Oliver Sim – “Waited All Night”
Justice & Tame Impala – “One Night / All Night”
Lady Blackbird – “Like a Woman”
Laufey – “Bored”
Liquid Chicken – “She Says to Me”
Metz – “Superior Mirage”
Mk.gee – “ROCKMAN” – I don’t exactly know where all the hype has come from because I haven’t listened to him much. This sounds a little reminiscent of The Police to me, though, and I quite like that band.
Mondo Kozmo – “Wild Horses”
The Mssng – “Rock Island”
Mt. Joy – “Highway Queen”
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – “Call Me (Whatever You Like)”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – “Wild God,” “Song of the Lake”
Paramore & David Byrne – “David Byrne Does Hard Times”
Rainbow Kitten Surprise – “Superstar”
Real Estate – “Water Underground”
Reyna Tropical – “Cartagena”
Maggie Rogers – “Don’t Forget Me”
Thee Sacred Souls – “Live For You”
Waxahatchee – “Bored,” “Much Ado About Nothing”
Remi Wolf – “Cinderella”

Special Mentions

Amyl and the Sniffers – “Chewing Gum,” “Big Dreams,” “U Should Not Be Doing That”

None of these songs I quite liked enough individually to make the countdown, but Amyl and the Sniffers are the only band that put three singles out that I found worth at least an honorable mention, and they deserve credit for that. However, part of me wishes they’d gone with “Amyl and the Poppers.”

Olivia Rodrigo – “So American”

I’m a pretty big fan of Rodrigo, generally speaking, but with this being a track released only on the expanded version of GUTS this year, I gave it one listen and didn’t think much about it again. Then after seeing it mentioned elsewhere on a best-of-the-year list, I decided to try it again, and I realized I didn’t really give it a fair shake the first time. The list is pretty well set now, though, and I’m not sure where it would go even if I did have more time. Still, it’s worth highlighting and mentioning– it’s good and upbeat, with a funky driving riff, and for once, a romantic song of Rodrigo’s that’s celebratory. Good for her.

The Final Cuts

These almost made the final countdown, but I struggled to rank them and mostly didn’t have much to say about them. Plus, the countdown is already at 40, and that’s a lot to write and a lot to read. Here are the 15 songs that just missed the countdown, alphabetically by artist, with a brief comment where applicable:

bby – “Kinky”

beabadoobee – “Beaches”

Blondshell – “What’s Fair”

Leon Bridges – “Peaceful Place” – Not really my usual thing, but something in Bridges’ voice and music reminds me of another not-my-usual-thing favorite: the late, great Arthur Russell.

Brigitte Calls Me Baby – “We Were Never Alive” – I wanted to like this one more, but it reminded me of The Killers, a band I mostly find aggressively mid, a little too much. Solid song, though.

The Cure – “Alone”

Dehd – “Dog Days”

Guster – “Keep Going”

Hippo Campus – “Paranoid”

The Last Dinner Party – “The Feminine Urge”

MJ Lenderman – “Wristwatch”

Michigander – “Giving Up”

Soccer Mommy – “Driver” – I haven’t quite clicked with most of Soccer Mommy’s music, although it seems like it should be up my alley. This is a little punchier and more rock-oriented, which is enough for it to rise above the rest of her work for me.

tuff bluff – “Banishing Spell”

Washed Out – “The Hardest Part”

Tomorrow, I’ll count down my top 40 songs of the year.