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JURE: My top albums of 2024

Music has always played a giant role in my life. I have accounts on Spotify and Bandcamp, I spend a lot of time making playlists, I have an extensive record collection and CD collection.
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This album cover image released by Interscope Records shows “The Secret of Us” by Gracie Abrams. (Interscope Records via AP)

Music has always played a huge role in my life. I have accounts on Spotify and Bandcamp, I spend a lot of time making playlists, and I have an extensive record and CD collection. I spent most of my money on music during my teens and early 20s.

Yet, I rarely write about music. I guess 2025 is a great time to rectify it. 

Every year, I make a list of as many new releases as I can on a spreadsheet and rate them. Here are my favourite 10 albums of 2024 (in no order):

Alkaline Trio - Blood, Hair, And Eyeballs

Alkaline Trio has been in my life since elementary school. I even have a tattoo of the band's logo. Blood, Hairs, and Eyeballs is the band's tenth studio album and will be the first without long-term drummer Derek Grant, who left during the mixing process. 

While I think that it's not better than a lot of earlier Alkaline Trio albums, it is better than some of the albums on the latter half of the band's catalogue, such as This Addiction and Agony & Irony.

Interesting fact: The six-year gap between the release of Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs and Is This Thing Cursed? is the longest the band has gone without releasing an album.

Favourite song: "Broken Down In A Time"

Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties - In Lieu of Flowers

Believe it or not, the frontman of the band is not named Aaron West, but actually Dan Campbell. Campbell has fronted one of the most popular emo bands to emerge in the last two decades. 

Campbell started Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties as a solo project in 2014 to create a blend of emo and pop punk music with Americana and folk music. The project also follows the fictional life of Aaron West with each release (three studio albums and one extended play as of 2024). 

In Lieu of Flowers is the third LP of the project and continues the excellent story-crafting of Aaron West's journey to try and fix his life despite all the incredible sadness and suffering he puts himself through. 

Interesting fact: This album ties up the story of the project's titular character. 

Favourite song: "Paying Bills at the End of the World"

Medium Build - Country

I didn't know Medium Build before 2024. Medium Build is the stage name for American Nicholas Carpenter. Country is his fifth studio album.

The album is about the journey Carpenter has undertaken throughout his career, including touring, and relocating, with the good and the bad expressed throughout the music. 

Interesting fact: You can hear a dog rip open a squeak toy in "Hey Sandra."

Favourite song: Stick Around

Pillow Queens - Name Your Sorrow

The Dublin band's third album has some of the best vocals this year, with perfect pitches, guttural growls, and harmonizing voices that all clash to tell the story of love and loss.

What the Pillow Queens do great here is keeping the tension. It always feels like a bomb is about to go off, but just when you think it does, they bring it back down. It's like watching a pot of water waiting for it to boil over, but someone takes it off the stove just before it does. 

This is a record that needs to be in everyone's collection. 

Interesting fact: Despite being an Irish band, they are signed Canadian record label, Royal Mountain Records. 

Favourite song: "Like a Lesson"

Kneecap - Fine Art

I don't listen to a lot of rap. Some The NWA there, some RUN D.M.C. here, and some Public Enemy over there. Most of the time, rap just wasn't on the menu. But Kneecap has captivated me. They blend Gaeilge and English together, rap about the West Belfast experience and often get into the political ring. The album is high-energy and infectious. 

Fine Art is their second outing. It is much more polished than their debut effort, 3CAG. One downside of the record is that it has a lot of interludes, which vary from being funny to just a distraction. Another downside is that the album often feels rushed when it comes to its writing. 

Interesting fact: Not a fact about the album, but the rap duo also released a movie with the same name as the band. The movie also stars Michael Fassbender of X-Men: First Class fame. 

Favourite song: "Better Way to Live"

Fontaines D.C. - Romance

The band's fourth album took their sound in a different direction. When this usually happens, it feels very rare that the music becomes something better. It usually feels like when a band changes their sound, it's likelier to get worse. This doesn't happen here. 

Frontman Grian Chatten stated that the album was inspired by Japanese manga and Italian cinema, several locations across the world and a Lana Del Ray song. Other influences include the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, Nikolaj Schultz's Land Sickness, and the movies Sunset Boulevard, The Great Beauty and the Wings of Desire

Romance is not as aggressive or gritty as the band's past efforts, but it still works. This album is what happens when bands evolve the right way.

Interesting fact: Chatten originally wrote 12 versus for "Favourite". However, it was shortened to four by the rest of the band. 

Favourite song: "Starburster"

Gracie Abrams - The Secret of Us

Another case of hearing a song from someone's playlist and instantly falling in love. 

A sophomore effort from Gracie Abrams, The Secret of Us, reminded me a lot of Phoebe Bridgers, one of my favourite artists. The record showcases Abrams as an emerging talent and the emerging popularity of "sad girl pop."

Interesting fact: The Secret of Us peaked at number one in numerous charts, including Canada. Others were Australia, Scotland, Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

Favourite song: "Risk"

Pa Sheehy - Maybe It Was All For This

Pa Sheehy was the frontman of the band Walking on Cars until they split in 2020. Sheehy decided to pursue a career as a solo artist. He has released three extended plays since 2021, but Maybe It Was All For This is his debut record. 

Gritty vocals always seem to get me. If a vocalist sounds like he smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank a bottle of whiskey, and decided to sing after a coughing fit, their voice will likely resonate with me.

Fans of Bruce Springsteen will enjoy this.

Interesting fact: "The Night the School Burnt Down," references his childhood school.

Maxwell Stern - In the Good Light

Stern is a member of the band Signals Midwest. He decided to branch out in 2017 and release music that departs from his band's punkier sound. With various extended plays and a debut album, Stern roared into 2024 with a new album. Despite listening to Signals Midwest for a long time, I had no idea Stern had a solo career. In the Good Light managed to change that.

This album has slipped under the radar for most people, which is a shame. It's charming and hopeful. The album consists of a handful of heart-on-sleeve songs that make you smile. 

Interesting fact: Eleven people (not including Stern) contributed musically to this album.

Favourite song: "You Deserve A Great Love"

Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

Waxahatchee (the stage name for Katie Crutchfield) released her sixth album in March. Written during touring at the end of 2022, Tigers Blood is an easy album to listen to. It's catchy, has great vocals, and has a summer vibe to it despite it being mostly about fighting and addressing grievances with other people. 

The album sounds as if Sheryl Crow met Liz Phair. MJ Lenderman, who provides the electric guitar throughout the album, also has some harmony vocal parts in some of the tracks. He's most prevalent in "Right Back to It" where his parts on vocals and guitar steal the show. 

Interesting fact: Tigers Blood spent four weeks as the number one spot on NACC (North American College and Community) Canadian charts.

Favourite song: "Right Back to It"