Best Albums of 2024 (early-bird chat & playlist)

A year-in-music worksheet, a playlist and a chatroom.

It’s that time of year in the Northeastern United States, when leaves are falling and music journalists — and folks with similar inclinations — start compiling Best of the Year lists. To be honest, I start mine in January, so as not to forget early faves, which can include December LPs from the year prior, always missed by the chronically-premature legacy media lists that drop between late November and mid-December.

At risk of compounding timeline creep, but also to pull the curtain back on a critic’s process and give you catch-up time on excellent records you might’ve overlooked or underplayed, I’m posting the latest rough draft of my year-end list, and as a bonus for paid subscribers, a streaming mixtape of choice cuts + a chat thread. Let us know what records are going to top your lists!

But first: a new + old music message from the fine Georgia-based band R.E.M. — you might have heard of them? My fellow Americans, please vote Tuesday, and make sure your friends, relatives, and neighbors do the same. It’s a dead-serious moment in this country.

I haven’t numbered things yet, but it’s in roughly hierarchical order. Some of these will be no surprise to regular readers. But many I haven’t yet had a chance to write about.

• Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

• MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

• Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee

• Rogê - Curyman 2

• Rosali - Bite Down

• Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

• Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland

• Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us

• Charli XCX - Brat

• Nia Archives - Silence Is Loud

• Reyna Tropical - Malegría

• SML - Small Medium Large

• Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter

• Jessica Pratt - Here in the Pitch

• Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers

• T Bone Burnett - The Other Side

• Porridge Radio - Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me

• Arooj Aftab - Night Reign

• Alan Sparhawk - White Roses, My God

• Billy Strings - Highway Prayers

• Johnny Blue Skies (Sturgill Simpson) - Passage du Desir

• Mercury Rev - Born Horses

• Nala Sinephro - Endlessness

• Khruangbin - A La Sala

• Carlos Niño & Friends - Placenta

• Mdou Moctar - Funeral for Justice

• Etran De L’Air - 100% Sahara Guitar

• Lo Carmen & The Great Beyond - Transatlantic Light

• Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past is Still Alive

• Morgan Wade - Obsessed

• Brittany Howard - What Now

• Illuminati Hotties - Power

• Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer

There will be more to come. Re: the playlist below, some songs are not represented by albums here, and it’s obviously missing titles not on Spotify etc., notably Cindy Lee’s brilliant and beautiful Diamond Jubilee — which as of last week, is available for vinyl preorder and digital download at Bandcamp. But it’s a solid 4+ hour mix of bangers, weepers and floaters — put it on shuffle for a different spin — and I’ve added a link to the original YouTube post of Cindy Lee’s LP. Happy listening, and listing. — Will