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My Favorite Albums of 2024

Previously: 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014

It's been another amazing year for new music! I've written about several of these artists at Rolling Stone, including profiles of This Is Lorelei, Allegra Krieger, Thus Love, and Lip Critic, and reviews of the Common/Pete Rock and Sophie albums. (As always, you can find all my recent stories at my RS author page.) Without further ado, here are my 40 favorite albums released in 2024!

Charli XCX, Brat (Atlantic)

This Is Lorelei, Box for Buddy, Box for Star (Double Double Whammy)

Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood (Anti-)

Fontaines D.C., Romance (XL)

Allegra Krieger, Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine (Double Double Whammy)

Kim Gordon, The Collective (Matador)

Kendrick Lamar, GNX (pgLang/Interscope)

MJ Lenderman, Manning Fireworks (Anti-)

Common and Pete Rock, The Auditorium, Vol. 1 (Loma Vista)

Thus Love, All Pleasure (Captured Tracks)

Cindy Lee, Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)

The Smile, Wall of Eyes/Cutouts (XL)

Soccer Mommy, Evergreen (Loma Vista)

Lip Critic, Hex Dealer (Partisan)

Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven (Epitaph)

Anycia, Princess Pop That (UnitedMasters)

Young Miko, att. (Capitol)

Hello Mary, Emita Ox (Frenchkiss)

Doechii, Alligator Bites Don’t Heal (TDE/Capitol)

Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice (Matador)

Future and Metro Boomin, We Still Don't Trust You (Epic/Republic)

Taylor Swift, The Tortured Poets Department (Republic)

Cavalier, Different Type Time (Backwoodz Studioz)

Hinds, Viva Hinds (Lucky Number)

Rauw Alejandro, Cosa Nuestra (Sony Latin)

Johnny Irion, Sleeping Soldiers of Love (Blackwing)

GIFT, Illuminator (Captured Tracks)

Been Stellar, Scream from New York, NY (Dirty Hit)

Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope (Loma Vista)

Ekko Astral, Pink Balloons (Topshelf)

Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (Parkwood/Columbia)

Jack White, No Name (Third Man)

Bnny, One Million Love Songs (Fire Talk)

Sinkane, We Belong (City Slang)

Sabrina Carpenter, Short 'n Sweet (Island)

Sophie, Sophie (Transgressive)

Brutus VIII, Pure Gluttony (Ramp Local)

Schoolboy Q, Blue Lips (TDE/Interscope)

May Rio, Elegant Ensemble (DPI)

Sinaka, Kema (La única compañía)

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My Favorite Albums of 2023

Previously: 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014

I haven't been posting here much lately. In fact, my last post was exactly a year ago, when I shared my last year-end list. You can always find my most recent writing over at my Rolling Stone author page, if you're looking for it. Anyway.... here are 30 albums I loved in 2023!

Boygenius, The Record (Interscope)

Blondshell, Blondshell (Partisan)

Model/Actriz, Dogsbody (True Panther)

McKinley Dixon, Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!? (City Slang)

El Michels Affair & Black Thought, Glorious Game (Big Crown)

Wilco, Cousin (dBPM)

Annie Blackman, Bug EP (Father/Daughter)

Mitski, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans)

Tainy, Data (Neon16)

NewJeans, Get Up EP (ADOR)

billy woods & Kenny Segal, Maps (Backwoodz Studioz)

U.S. Girls, Bless This Mess (4AD)

Olivia Rodrigo, Guts (Geffen)

Blur, The Ballad of Darren (Parlophone)

Debby Friday, Good Luck (Sub Pop)

Hello Mary, Hello Mary (Frenchkiss)

Belle and Sebastian, Late Developers (Matador)

Anohni and the Johnsons, My Back Was a Bridge for You To Cross (Secretly Canadian)

Bonny Doon, Let There Be Music (ANTI-)

The Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds (Polydor)

Water From Your Eyes, Everyone's Crushed (Matador)

Katie Von Schleicher, A Little Touch of Schleicher in the Night (Sipsman)

Victoria Monet, Jaguar II (Lovett/RCA)

Patio, Collection (Fire Talk)

Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here (Quality Control/Motown)

Bar Italia, The Twits / Tracey Denim (Matador)

Allegra Krieger, I Keep My Feet on the Fragile Plane (Double Double Whammy)

Sen Morimoto, Diagnosis (City Slang)

Palehound, Eye on the Bat (Polyvinyl)

Bully, Lucky for You (Sub Pop)

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Best Music of 2022: SVL’s Picks

Previously: 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014

Might post more thoughts later, but for now: These are the albums I couldn’t get enough of in 2022. Truly an amazing year for new music!

TOP 40 ALBUMS

Bartees Strange, Farm to Table (4AD)

Pusha T, It's Almost Dry (G.O.O.D./Def Jam)

Alvvays, Blue Rev (Polyvinyl)

Sunflower Bean, Headful of Sugar (Mom + Pop)

The Smile, A Light for Attracting Attention (XL)

FKA Twigs, Caprisongs (Young/Atlantic)

Zora, Z1 (Get Better)

Bad Bunny, Un Verano Sin Ti (Rimas)

Soccer Mommy, Sometimes, Forever (Loma Vista)

Alex G, God Save the Animals (Domino)

Wilco, Cruel Country (dBPM)

Taylor Swift, Midnights (Republic)

Beyoncé, Renaissance (Parkwood/Columbia)

Angel Olsen, Big Time (Jagjaguwar)

Kurt Vile, Watch My Moves (Verve)

Empath, Visitor (Fat Possum)

Ribbon Stage, Hit With the Most (Perennial)

Katie Alice Greer, Barbarism (FourFour)

Trupa Trupa, B Flat A (Glitterbeat/Lovitt)

Pictoria Vark, The Parts I Dread (Get Better)

Blackpink, Born Pink (YG/Interscope)

Spoon, Lucifer on the Sofa (Matador)

Interpol, The Other Side of Make-Believe (Matador)

Saba, Few Good Things (Pivot Gang)

Say Sue Me, The Last Thing Left (Damnably)

Bruce Springsteen, Only the Strong Survive (Columbia)

Flasher, Love Is Yours (Domino)

Mitski, Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)

Charli XCX, Crash (Asylum)

Lucrecia Dalt, ¡Ay! (RVNG Intl)

The Weeknd, Dawn FM (XO/Republic)

Tomberlin, I Don't Know Who Needs To Hear This... (Saddle Creek)

Billy Woods, Aethiopes (Backwoodz)

Cola, Deep in View (Fire Talk)

Flo Milli, You Still Here, Ho? (RCA)

Phoenix, Alpha Zulu (Glassnote)

Grace Ives, Janky Star (True Panther)

Belle and Sebastian, A Bit of Previous (Matador)

Jana Horn, Optimism (No Quarter)

Los Bitchos, Let the Festivities Begin! (City Slang)

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They say that rock is dying, guitar solos are old news, and kids today don’t like that kind of noise. OK, sure — but have they heard Hello Mary? 

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Pusha T on Rolling Stone’s 2023 Grammy Preview cover. Story by me. Photos by Eric Johnson.

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“I figure, ‘This is what got me here, doing it like this.’...I don’t want to jinx it.”

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Former Priests singer Katie Alice Greer's solo debut is a gem — radical, strange, moving. Thanks to Katie for telling me the story behind it.

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There’s a new Alvvays album! Five years was a long wait for a band this great to come back. I spoke with Molly Rankin about their fantastic return.

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Catching up with Flasher, whose new album is a welcome surprise.

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I interviewed the new artist who made 2022′s best debut.

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Wilco links x 2

It’s been a Wilco-heavy season for me, and thank goodness for that. Back in April, I caught up with Jeff Tweedy about the impending return of the band’s Solid Sound Festival. A few days later, I saw two of Wilco’s remarkable Yankee Hotel Foxtrot 20th anniversary shows in New York and wrote a bit about that. Then, I spent Memorial Day weekend in North Adams, MA, experiencing the joy of Solid Sound in person, with two fantastic Wilco shows, a chance to appreciate the artwork of Sol LeWitt and James Turrell, and a whole lot more (photo of one highlight from the festival below). Til next time!

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It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from our old buddy KV, and it seems he’s spent much of that time relaxing in his castle of chords, feeling the cosmic breeze, listening to the colors of the wind, and watching time pass slowly...

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Two Great New Songs to Listen to Right Now

Short hits on a couple of songs I couldn’t stop playing this week, from Rolling Stone’s Song You Need to Know series...

D.C. punks Flasher returned with one fewer member and a new sense of groove on “Sideways”

Minneapolis rapper/singer/producer Zora debuted with an anti-capitalist techno-rap bop called “Runnitup”

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One of the last in-person interviews I did in February 2020 was a quick catch-up with Sunflower Bean before they played a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in New Hampshire. Two years later, i went out to Long Island to hear about the challenging times that followed — and get the story of their new album, Headful of Sugar, which is the best thing they’ve ever done.⁣  Click through  to read my 2,800-word profile at Rolling Stone.