Music Week 2024
Friends - welcome!
This year was trickier than usual for me to come up with my top songs & albums. My listening habits this year trended older as opposed to my usual cutting-edge, fully-consume-every-“New Music Friday”-playlist style. My top artists on Spotify wrapped were Fleetwood Mac, Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Steely Dan if that gives you any indication.
That said, I stuck with my personal challenge of selecting songs released in ‘24. Found that I hit a real rap stride this year. It was a big year for Future, J. Cole, Tyler, Gunna, & last but not least Mr. Kendrick Lamar. Them and the pop girlies were big in rotation: Charli, Kesha, Camila, Remi, and Clairo to name a few. The one-offs included Mk.gee, Romy, Vampire Weekend, & The Marías.
Hope you enjoy the playlist - listen in order or shuffle it. Below that are my top 10 albums of the year (in no particular order) with a corresponding blurb to give you a lil teaser. Every album has at least one song on the playlist.
Cheers & a happy MW to you all 🍻
Trey
brat, Charli xcx
No surprise that Charli made the top list for me this year - she was my 5th top artist and the only contemporary artist on the list (except Future). I’ve been an Angel since Pop2 but she really struck a personal & cultural moment with this one. It was truly a Big Rigs And Trucks summer.
Only God Was Above Us, Vampire Weekend
I don’t remember exactly how I described this in STL, but essentially it’s a great album in full but hard to pull a single song out of context and experience it the same way. You need the surrounding songs to “get” it - which sounds pretentious I know, but that comes with the VW territory. I did pull Mary Boone out as the stand out for my playlist tho.
fear is an acronym, Fixupboy
Sometimes you just need an ignorant sounding, 20-something, British boy screaming in your ear over the filthiest & distorted-est 808 you’ve ever heard to get you through a morning in the office. Fixupboy provides it.
GNX, Kendrick Lamar
A late and unexpected contender but easily one of my faves of the year as soon as I heard it. The best way to describe this album is via someone else’s tweet: “Kendrick rapping about going to therapy last album and coming back a more hateful person is so funny” @srchengn
Charm, Clairo
idk if Clairo even misses. It’s still bedroom pop but damn-near as elevated as it gets. I’ve long said that there’s a generation of artists getting big on the internet only and they have a hard time transitioning in to “Big Act” material. Clairo is doing it introspectively, soulfully, but still with some whimsy.
Barely Blue, Midland
I’ve described this band as Eagles-esqe, but it’s actually true 90s country in a contemporary package. It’s a tight 30-min album that hands you a flannel shirt, a pack of Marlboros, and sends you on your way. Shout out to Wes for the rec on this one.
We Still Don’t Trust You, Future
What a year for Future. He put out like three projects all at a super high level of polish. Honestly was hard to pick a fave but I would consider Future my personal ‘artist of the year’ if I were able to bestow such an award. You could almost shuffle all of We Don’t Trust You, We Still Don’t Trust You, and Mixtape Pluto and you’d be rewarded with any number of future Magic City classics.
Two Star & The Dream Police, Mk.gee
Think I first learned about Mk.gee this year from Popcast (NYT music & pop culture pod) and they had no idea how to: 1) pronounce his name or 2) describe his musical influence. I know how to pronounce it now (Mick-Ghee), but I still couldn’t do the latter. If you’re familiar with Dijon - this is his co-writer & guitarist.
C,XOXO, Camila Cabello
I feel like this album flopped but honestly it’s got a ton of hits on it. People were baffled by the Playboi Carti feature + Gucci Mane interpolation (they’re wrong, it’s a banger) and the Drake features were both a distraction & unfortunately timed, but I’ll be damned if this album doesn't make you feel like a bad bitch.
2093, Yeat
Similar to Fixupboy, Yeat is another dummy just mumbling through a mic on a beat that rattles your brain. Kinda Travis Scott, Future, Thugger vibes IMO.