A Fairly Tenable Best of 2024

Elijah’s top 20:

Alienate, Eye Eater (independent). Crushing guitars and winding rhythms interlaced with strange melodies, made in apparent anonymity in New Zealand.

Antithesis, Suldusk (Napalm). Australia’s one-of-a-kind ensemble brings haunting melodicism to the rich atmospheres of black metal idioms.

As Spoken, Knoll (independent). The extremity of madness presented in its purest, yet most refined form. Victorian-era aesthetics and incredible synchronicity between band members make for an unforgettable listen.

The Bird of a Thousand Voices, Tigran Hamasyan (Nonesuch). Jagged rhythms juxtaposed with folk melodies across an epic release from the Armenian pianist extraordinaire, all drenched in synthesizers that taste like rainbow frosting.

Exhaust, Pyrrhon (Willowtip). New York avant-death metal powerhouse Pyrrhon wrote some portion of this album while taking psychedelics in seclusion, and boy, does it show. Just mind-bending.

GREIF, Zeal & Ardor (Redacted). Z&A’s first album written and recorded as a full band, more genres are brought into the ever-growing vocabulary of an ensemble founded on musical paradoxes. Catchy choruses abound.

The Healer, Sumac (Thrill Jockey). Odysseys of sludge and noise, composition and improvisation, four tracks that keep you gripped to every second and never sure what will happen next.

IHSAHN, Ihsahn (Candlelight). The eponymous album from his long-standing eponymous project, the man who innovated symphonic elements in extreme metal reminds us why he’s the best in the biz.

It’s Inside You, Candy (Relapse). Punishing beats, riffs, electronics, and vocals take the modern age of hardcore to the next level.

Musow Danse, Les Amazones d’Afrique (Real World). The all-star group from Africa balances intense beats with gorgeous melodies effortlessly. To be played on repeat for days at a time, because it never gets old.

Of the Last Human Being, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum (The End). Everyone’s favorite Bay Area circus-metal legends return triumphantly, sounding like they never took a 17 year gap between albums.

Ontology of Nought, Ingurgitating Oblivion (Willowtip). Metal, jazz, spoken word, classical, ambient, new age; this German trio DEFIES you to categorize them, for you will fail.

Planned Obsolescence, Chaser (Decoherence). Wild vocals complement manic instrumentation for a powerful punk representation of the modern age.

The Poetic Edda, Disembodied Tyrant & Synestia (independent). An international collaboration that has paved the way for the future of its genre. Crushing production and soaring violin/guitar unisons set the mind ablaze.

Pull the Rope, Ibibio Sound Machine (Merge). Afrobeat doesn’t get funkier or catchier than this. Heavy on the low end and exciting in the arrangements, gyrate gleefully everywhere you go when you listen to this.

Umbilical, Thou (Sacred Bones). The heaviest heavy band around drops their catchiest album to date. Who knew sludge metal could have so many hooks?

Vida, Ana Tijoux (Altafonte). Ten years in the making, and well worth the wait, rapidly changing hip hop trends can’t keep Tijoux from adapting to the times and proving she will always be at the top of the rap game.

Wanderlust, Illyria (independent). Adventurous in its capacity to explore melody in every form and context, the ebb and flow of atmosphere and kineticism carry the listener across sonic landscapes previously unimagined.

Year Two, Doodseskader (independent). Distorted bass, echoing drums, and unpredictable vocals drive this Belgian duo through the nooks and crannies of the human soul in all of its states.

You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed to, Knocked Loose (Pure Noise). Uncompromising hardcore music with a death metal edge that remains catchy enough to inexplicably ooze onto mainstream late night television. What a time to be alive.

Adriane’s top 20:

BELIEVE, Men Seni Suyemin (2MR). Darkwave-dreampop from Kazakh producer and guitarist Minona Volandova packs a serious electronic punch.

blush, girl ultra (Big Dada). An aspirationally cool and still emotive dancepop EP from CDMX-based indie darling girl ultra.

BUTU, KOKOKO! (Transgressive). Stripped down to its two core members (vocalist Makara Bianko and producer Xavier Thomas, aka Débruit), plugged-in, post-punk French-Congolese group KOKOKO! rocks.

Clean Clear White, Anushka Chkheidze (ISA Records). Chkheidze is a master composer with many shades. On this album, she evokes the space of the University of Basel’s Biozentrum with choirs, keys, and IDM beats.

Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996, various artists (Light in the Attic). Careful curation opens up a kaleidoscopic world of Cold War-era Ukrainian underground music across genres.

Funeral for Justice, Mdou Moctar (Matador). Moctar might be one of the planet’s greatest living guitarists, and he holds nothing back as he rips the hegemonic status quo to shreds here.

Harvest, BALTHVS (Mixto). Colorful swirls of psychedelia transport BALTHVS’s listeners to tropical wonderlands.

I Hear You, Peggy Gou (XL). Dance music is so back, and Peggy Gou styles it perfectly. House beats, lounge beats, and a feature from Lenny Kravitz make this album especially chic.

I hit the water, Lollise (Switch Hit). Multilingual and multimodal artist Lollise wears her heart on her sleeve as she takes us from her childhood in Botswana to her present reality based in New York. Listen to this one start to finish.

Maisha, The Zawose Queens (Real World). Tanzania’s Zawose Queens join longtime Wagogo musical traditions with electronic production techniques. 90s worldbeat wished it could be this.

MESTIZX, Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti and Frank Rosaly (International Anthem). Based in Amsterdam, Ferragutti and Rosaly intensely examine their roots in Latin America in this luscious experimental work.

Musow Danse, Les Amazones d’Afrique (Real World). The third album from this rotating supergroup of West African women might be their most invigorating and empowering work yet.

mute, El Khat (Glitterbeat). The DIY spirit is never purer than in the work of now-Berlin-based El Khat, a trio that works in Yemeni melodic modes on self-made instruments and always refuses to be silenced.

New Internationale, Kit Sebastian (Brainfeeder). Groovy, retro-inspired art pop from cosmopolitan duo Kit Sebastian that draws on ’60s R&B, Anatolian rock, Ethiojazz, and gamelan, among other things.

Sentir que no sabes, Mabe Fratti (Tin Angel). Her expansive viewpoint on how to use a cello has long set Mabe Fratti apart as an experimental musician, and this latest album takes her even further, into beautiful unknowns.

Sonido Cósmico, Hermanos Gutiérrez (Easy Eye). The sky is no limit for the Gutiérrez brothers, who take their nimble guitar work all the way through the atmosphere while paying tribute to their Ecuadorian roots.

Swaken, Bab L’ Bluz (Real World). An ecstatic exploration of North African rhythms and styles with shades of psych rock.

Talitakum, Avalanche Kaito (Glitterbeat). Jagged electroacoustic noise radiates from the avant-garde Burkinabé-Belgian rock outfit’s latest.

Tähdet palaavat paikoilleen, Joose Keskitalo and the Mystic Revelation of Teppo Repo (Helmi). Mystical, sometimes nostalgic lyrics over dubby indie folk sounds. You might want to go learn Finnish now just to fully appreciate this album. I think that’s reasonable.

World of Work, Clarissa Connelly (Warp). With a voice that is clear, keen, and somehow still powder-soft, Clarissa Connelly navigates a lonesome world with achingly poetic perspective. An album startling for its odd and crystalline beauty.

Adriane’s full and carefully organized 2024 YouTube playlist is here.

If you shuffle it, you’re a bad person.

Elijah’s Bonus 80 for the Absurdly Deep Listener/Shut-In:

Absolute Elsewhere, Blood Incantation

Alienation Manifesto, Thanatotherion

All Born Screaming, St. Vincent

Another Side of You, Illumishade

Artificial Bouquet, Frail Body

Aumicide, Atræ Bilis

Boisterous Love, Ogives Big Band

BUTU, KOKOKO!

Celestial Shrine, Waidelotte