That's What I Wanted: My Favorite 2020 Albums

As I was putting this list together, I noticed an unmistakable trend in how my musical taste has evolved over the past few years. Back in 2017, just 3 out of my top 10 albums were by female artists. In 2018, I didn't have my standard top-10 albums list, but I did list my top songs, and 5 out of my top 10 songs that year were by female artists. Then last year, 7 out of my top 10 albums (and 10 of my top 20) were by female artists, including my top 5. Those numbers grew this year: each of my top 8 albums are by female artists, as are 14 out of my top 20. I can't think of a single logical reason for this. I remember my my dad went through a little bit of a Lilith Fair phase in the late '90s, when he was a little bit older than I am right now. Like father, like son? Or maybe it's more obvious than that: women are simply putting out better music right now. I'm not gonna say its NOT that. Whatever the reason, I'm not mad about it. This year has been the latest in a long line of shitty years (at least four in a row by my count; hmmm, wonder why?), but it's been a fantastic year for music, rivaling 2018 for the strongest in recent memory. So without further ado, here are my favorite albums by the women (and men) who made 2020 a memorable year in music.

Honorable Mentions (in alphabetical order):

Beach Slang – The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City

Diet Cig – Do You Wonder About Me?

Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling/The New OK

Frances Quinlan – Likewise

The Front Bottoms – In Sickness & In Flames

Katie Pruitt – Expectations

The Killers – Imploding the Mirage

Lydia Loveless – Daughter

Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

Sløtface – Sorry for the late reply

10) Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin' Grass (Vols. 1 and 2)

Best Tracks: "Life Ain't Fair and the World Is Mean," "Long White Line," "Oh Sarah," "Keep It Between the Lines"

I don't know what teenage John would be more surprised to see on this list: such a preponderance of female artists or a bluegrass album. (Technically two bluegrass albums.) Even though teenage John listened to a super macho nü metal diet of Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, and Papa Roach, he might be more surprised to see the bluegrass. But Sturgill Simpson's two albums of bluegrass versions of his songs is that good. Simpson's country sound has always put an idiosyncratic spin on the conventions of the genre—lyrical content, song structure, instrumentation. (The album title Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is apt.) But on these records, Simpson sounds like an old hand at bluegrass, and his songs sounds like genre standards. Or maybe I just need to check out more bluegrass. (Although I'm not unfamiliar with the genre, as I love this album and its all-time album cover.) Either way, this is just a super fun listen, at once easygoing and invigorating and perfect for any number of moods—and we've all gone through any number of moods here in twenty-twenty. If "musicians touring" and "live music" were things this year, I would have 100% gone to a Sturgill Simpson bluegrass show at (probably) the Van Buren and had a blast. Maybe in 2021, maybe in 2021 (he repeats into oblivion).

9) Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Reunions

Best tracks: "Dreamsicle," "Only Children," "Overseas," "Be Afraid"

Jason Isbell's follow-up to 2017's phenomenal The Nashville Sound (my #4 that year) doesn't quite reach the same lofty heights as its predecessor, but that's more a function of Nashville's near perfection than any commentary on the quality of Reunions. Don't get me wrong—this is an outstanding album. The more personal, introspective songwriting here ("Children, "Letting You Go") might be even better than that on Nashville, and the musicianship is top notch, with the production and guitarwork at times reminding me of Dire Straits, one of my all-time favorite bands. (Isbell apparently covered "Brothers In Arms" on his last tour, which, kill me now.) Just listen to the opening riff on "Running with Our Eyes Closed"—it's pure fucking Mark Knopfler. Overall, Reunions has a very timeless feel, whereas Nashville, with its more outward-looking, political themes (which aren't entirely absent here, to be sure) felt more immediate and of its time. I wonder which will age better. I know I haven't tired of going back to Nashville yet; we'll see if Reunions has the same staying power. If only I could hear some of these songs live to further burn them into my mind...

8) Best Coast – Always Tomorrow

Best Tracks: "Different Light," "Everything Has Changed," "For the First Time," "Master of My Own Mind"

Sturgill Simpson has a song called "Turtles All the Way Down" (which is included on Cuttin' Grass!). Well, from here it's women all the way down. As I mentioned above, my top 8 albums of the year are all by female artists, which is pretty remarkable. We'll start with Best Coast, whose last full length—2015's California Nights—also cracked my top-10 that year (the top 5, in fact). Their latest isn't quite the near-masterpiece as their last one, but it's another addictive dose of Bethany Cosentino's cynical-yet-hopeful musings brilliantly bathed in Bobb Bruno's sunshiny, pristine production. (I like alliteration, okay?) This is just a righteous collection of earworms, led by "For the First Time," the most delightfully dreamy song in the band's catalogue, an upbeat, poppy little gem that shines brighter than just about anything else here in 2020. I was looking forward to hearing it live earlier in the year... but, alas, the show was in late March and was the very first (of several) COVID cancellations. Maybe we will get live music back sometime in 2021?

7) Margo Price – That's How Rumors Get Started

Best Tracks: "That's How Rumors Get Started," "Letting Me Down," "Twinkle Twinkle," "Stone Me"

Margo Price first grabbed my attention with a Tom Petty reference on the title track of 2017's All American Made. It's pretty much impossible to make a better first impression than that. I liked that album a good deal, but Rumors is on another level. "Stone Me" was one of the first singles that really grabbed me in 2020 and has some of my favorite lyrics of the year: "Call me a bitch, then call me baby / You don't know me / You don't own me / Yeah, that's no way to stone me." What a statement, and one that all the country goddesses of old who clearly inspired her would have put to music if they could during their era. But I think the best track here might be "Letting Me Down," an absolute jam where Price almost sounds like she's backed by the Heartbreakers themselves—are we sure that's not Campbell and Tench on this one? The rest of the album is more of the same—Price channeling those goddesses (Lynn, Wynette, Raitt, et al.) while her band puts a modern spin on a '70s classic/country rock sound. (Try to tell me you don't hear the Eagles on "Gone to Stay.") Inject this shit directly into my veins, please.

6) HAIM – Women in Music Pt. III

Best Tracks: "Los Angeles," "The Steps," "Gasoline," "Summer Girl"

Next up is the latest from the Haim sisters, who must not have listened to Spotify's CEO advice about musicians releasing music more frequently. (Uh, fuck that guy.) This is only the sisters' third album, after 2013's Days Are Gone (which made my top-10 that year) and 2017's Something to Tell You (which garnered an honorable mention but might crack the list proper if I redid it today). I still remember seeing them at the Crescent Ballroom when they were still getting their feet wet as a live act and now they're nominated for Album of the Year. Crazy. Anyway, Women in Music is another slick, soulful jukebox journey through various eras and styles, like the sisters went to town on a box of old vinyls from Mr. and Mrs. Haim's garage. The Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac comparison is still as apt as ever, but there's also a decided '80s Cyndi Lauper/Wilson Phillips vibe on a lot of tracks, even some Sheryl Crow (100% "I've Been Down"). I generally dig acts that wear their influences on their sleeves, and HAIM fits that to a tee (shirt). But those influences are all gussied up in an ultramodern pop sensibility courtesy of producer Ariel Rechtshaid—who I just learned was once the lead singer of The Hippos, one of the dozens of SoCal ska bands I listened to as a youth. Could the next HAIM record be... a ska-punk album? I would definitely... pick it up.

5) Soccer Mommy – color theory

Best Tracks: "circle the drain," "crawling in my skin," "yellow is the color of her eyes," "lucy"

Like the Jason Isbell and Best Coast releases, my only quibble with the new Soccer Mommy album is that it isn't quite as good as its predecessor. I consider 2018's Clean to be one of the best albums of the previous decade, so it was always going to be tough to follow it up. But Sophie Allison was up to the task and very nearly equaled her landmark debut. Her follow-up is even more intimate than Clean from a lyrical standpoint, but the arrangements and production give color theory almost a removed kind of feel, like Allison is armoring her most personal songwriting yet behind a veneer of studio polish, creating a fascinating discord that just seems to fit 2020. The album also has probably the most 2020 song of 2020, "circle the drain": "Things feel that low sometimes / Even when everything is fine," right into the line that perfectly sums up this godawful year: "Hey, I've been falling apart these days." Haven't we all? The album as a whole isn't the easiest listen on this list, but it's one of the most vital and perhaps the most apt for this year. I can't even imagine what Allison has in store for her next album, but I know that I wait for it as eagerly as just about anything.

4) MisterWives – SUPERBLOOM

Best Tracks: "whywhywhy," "rock bottom," "decide to be happy," "SUPERBLOOM"

Changing tracks a bit, this MisterWives album is the catchiest damn thing I heard all year. Seriously, this album is more jam-packed than a jelly donut and has more bangers than a British breakfast. It's got jangly keys and smooth, sexy horns aplenty, backed by a crisp rhythm section and all topped by Mandy Lee's vivacious, honeyed vocals. I had heard of but not really heard this group before this year (truth be told, I was put off by their name, which is kind of bad), but if someone had told me they're like a poppier Naked and Famous (who also put out a solid album this year), I'd have been all over them. I dug into their other albums and they're just as hooky and infectious as SUPERBLOOM. (Hmmm, that's maybe not the best word choice here in 2020...) But nothing in the band's catalogue—or anything released this year, really—can touch "rock bottom," one of my three favorite songs of the year, in the catchiness category. It starts slow and deliberate before picking up on a propulsive rhythm, adding those keys and horns on the way to an absolutely MONSTER chorus that hits like a disco wrecking ball. Just an unbelievable jam. This album was a much-needed dose of energy and positivity in 2020.

3) Taylor Swift – folklore (and evermore)

Best Tracks: "the 1," "cardigan," "exile," "betty"

If we can revisit the teenage John question for a second, he'd surely be shocked to see the predominant pop star of the past decade or so on this list at all, much less ranked this highly. But Taylor Swift is as unassailable as she is unavoidable, and I long ago gave in and embraced my inner Swiftie, which teenage John would be horrified to learn. In the late '90s/TRL days, pop music (the boy bands, Britney/Christina, et al.) was the enemy. It was just so... manufactured. That's not to say Swift's music isn't manufactured—it most certainly is, and carefully so—but it's also important to point out that she write almost all her own songs, and there's a kind of try-hard earnestness about most of her music that actually really works. The most manufactured-sounding of her music (several regrettable lead singles, pretty much the entire Reputation album) is easily her worst. Which brings us to folklore (and its sister album, evermore, which I haven't listened to as much but still quite dig). It might be the "best" album of her career—the deepest lyrically, the most accomplished from a songcrafting standpoint, the most immaculately produced. The sensational "Teenage Love Triangle" ("cardigan"/"august"/"betty") is a microcosm of her career—at once girlish and mature, manufactured yet earnest. I have no problem saying this, teenage John be damned: Taylor Swift is really fucking good. Excited to see where she goes from here. (Also, what's with all the stylized lowercase song titles this year?)

2) The Beths – Jump Rope Gazers

Best Tracks: "I'm Not Getting Excited," "Dying to Believe," "Jump Rope Gazers," "Out of Sight"

This year was actually a pretty good year for new* discoveries. In the honorable mentions, Beach Slang, Diet Cig, Katie Pruitt, and Sløtface are all excellent new-to-me acts I got into in 2020. (* I'm sure I had heard a song or two from these acts before this year, but this is the first time I actively listened to them.) MisterWives cracked my top 5. But by far the most important new discovery this year was New Zealand indie pop/rock band The Beths. I vaguely recall seeing 2018's Future Me Hates Me on a few year-end lists, and I probably even gave it a listen or two. I'm not sure why it didn't make much of an impression, and their new one wasn't really on my radar this year. I think it might have been the baseball writer Keith Law who put it on my radar in one of his (excellent) periodic newsletters. I checked it out and was immediately hooked by the two opening tracks: the feisty, rollicking "I'm Not Getting Excited" and the joyous, monumentally catchy "Dying to Believe." But the best song of the album—and one of the best of the year—is the slower, more heartfelt title track. (The opening three tracks are as good of a three-track run as you'll hear this year.) "Jump Rope Gazers" didn't grab me right away like the first two tracks, but once it grabbed me, it it grabbed me HARD and refused to let go. In most years, this plaintive ballad would have been my #1 song. The guitarwork is beautiful, and singer Liz Stokes's impassioned, yearning vocals are just heartrending. I don't know how this band can follow up this record, but I can't wait to see them try.

1) Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud

Best Tracks: "Can't Do Much," "Fire," "Lilacs," "War"

Most years, if you're lucky, you find one album that immediately enters your personal pantheon, one that you know you'll revisit again and again and again over the years. It's the first album you'll think about when you think of that year, towering over the rest of the music released that year. No disrespect to the other albums on this list, but for 2020, that album is Waxahatchee's Saint Cloud. It's far and away the best album on this list, and the most important to me. I was familiar with Waxahatchee, Katie Crutchfield's once solo project and now band, prior to this year and had enjoyed several of her songs/albums. So her new album was definitely on my radar (Steven Hyden hyping it up on Twitter didn't hurt either). But I wasn't adequately prepared for just how incredible this album would be. Saint Cloud features Crutchfield's typically confessional songwriting, but is another step forward after 2017's Out In the Storm sound-wise, with a fuller, richer sound that that album and, especially, her more rough-hewn earlier albums. It's a (mostly) sunny, twangy trip through the backcountry, capturing a carefree Americana sound that serves as accompaniment to Crutchfield's wry observations and struggles with sobriety and self-doubt. Her masterful lyrics range from the devastatingly simple ("And the lilacs drank the water / And the lilacs die / And the lilacs drank the water / Marking in the slow, slow, slow passing of time" on "Lilacs" to figuratively clever ("In my loneliness, I'm locked in a room / When you see me, I'm honey on a spoon" on "Can't Do Much"). But the centerpiece of the album (to me anyway) and what might very well be the song of the decade (yes, just one year in) is "Fire." I've already listened to it more this in year than any song (but one) I've listened to total since 2005. It hit me like an emotional sledgehammer when I first heard it one afternoon working in my home office, and I probably listened to it 10-15 times that day, and several times a day for weeks thereafter. From the delicate opening keys to Crutchfield's croon of "That's what I wanted" to the gentle percussion to that transcendent moment a little over a minute in when the whole band kicks in, it's just a perfect fucking song. One of my sincerest regrets of this year was not getting able to see her perform this song live. That's really what I wanted. I hope I get the chance to in 2021.

Bonus: My Top 10 Songs of 2020 (roughly in order):

"Fire" – Waxahatchee

"Jump Rope Gazers" – The Beths

"rock bottom" – MisterWives

"Smokestack" – Alkaline Trio

"circle the drain" – Soccer Mommy

"For the First Time" – Best Coast

"Letting Me Down" – Margo Price

"Armageddon's Back in Town" – Drive-By Truckers

"Be Afraid" – Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit

"Kyoto" – Phoebe Bridgers

Here's a link if you want to check out a playlist of all my favorite songs of the year.

That's all for this year. As always, thanks for reading (if anyone is reading). I know 2021 will be a better year overall, even though I tend to doubt it'll be a better year for music. I guess we'll see!

Algorithmic Echo Chamber?: My Favorite 2024 Music

As is tradition, I'll open my usual year-end music blog post with a quick glance back at the major trend(s) in my music listening habits this year. Last year, the major theme was underwhelming releases by some of my all-time favorite artists. That doesn't really apply this year, as not too many of my all-timers released new albums. Less Than Jake (yes, really) put out an EP that I dug quite a bit, and the new Decemberists album was pretty solid. Spoilers: Kendrick Lamar's new album was outstanding. None of the other albums in contention for AOTY were from longtime favorites, though (although a few of them could certainly end up as such in a few years).

No, the major trend this year was somewhat in the opposite direction: the number of "new-to-me" artists in this space is WAY down. Last year, artists like Joy Oladokun, Noah Kahan, The Beaches, Bully, and Hot Mulligan appeared here, with the latter a major contender for both AOTY and SOTY. This year, there are no new-to-me contenders in either of those categories, with only a meager handful sprinkled in the other categories. If I tried to do a Best New (To Me) Artist category (great idea in any other year!), I don't think I'd really be able to fill it. And, besides, the winner would clearly be Chappell Roan... whose album actually came out in 2023. (Not that stopped the Grammys from nominating her for Best New Artist. Forever the worst major pop culture awards body.)

So what does this mean? Am I finally, actually, irrefutably too old for new music (like I first thought back in 2017)? Maybe. Or is there just less good new music being released these days? Possibly, but I doubt it. No, I suspect there are two main culprits: 1) Spotify algorithms, and 2) my avenues for discovering new music have become more and more limited.

I do almost all of my music listening on Spotify, and instead of listening to tons of new and cool and hip artists, I instead listened to a lot of... well, a lot of what I listened to. According to my Last.FM (yep, I still keep up with mine in the year of our lord 2024), three of my top five artists were Waxahatchee, Maggie Rogers, and Kacey Musgraves. And I'm pretty sure the reason for that is simple (and somewhat concerning): they all kinda sorta sound a bit similar, and Spotify's algorithm likely played the other two after I finished listening to one of them, like some ouroboros of country/folk/pop–tinged singer-songwriters. I suspect that's also why there's so much Alkaline Trio/Laura Jane Grace/The Menzingers on there as well. Spotify is just one big ol' echo chamber now, isn't it?

Not only are my listening habits being influenced by goddamn Al Gore rhythms, but they are also decidedly NOT being influenced by real people like they used to be. Five or ten years ago, I would have had a much larger network of real-life friends to trade music recs with as well as plenty of reliable means to find new music recs online. By now, both of those wells have mostly dried up, unfortunately. I still have almost all the same friends (I think), but music doesn't come up as often in conversation now that we're in our 30s and 40s, and our tastes have probably diverged anyway. I'll still trade the occasional rec with my brother or fiancée (life developments!), but that's about it. (And my tastes don't 100%—or even 50%—align with theirs either.)

Online, the old reliables used to be the AV Club or Grantland. I've never found any kind of adequate replacement for those two once stalwart pop culture sites. (Never been a Pitchfork or Ringer guy.) I still do keep up with some of my favorite music writers from those days (especially Steven Hyden, my spirit animal), but the rapid deterioration of Twitter has made that exponentially more difficult. One thing I usually do toward the end of the year is scour all the big year-end lists (yes, including Pitchfork), and I did find a ton of promising new-to-me artists: Good Looks, Trace Mountains, Liquid Mike, CLIFFDIVER, Wishy. But I haven't yet spent enough time with those albums and artists to include them in this blog post.

So I guess my music goal in 2025 is less to be less reliant on algorithms (and maybe get away from Spotify entirely—yikes) and more actively seek out new music from real people, whether they be IRL or online. Sounds like a good plan to me! Anyway, that preamble was way longer than usual, so let's get into the actual music I dug the most in 2024, shall we?

* = saw live this year

Best Punk (or Punk-Adjacent) Album

Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – In Lieu of Flowers
Alkaline Trio* – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs
Amyl and The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
Frank Turner – Undefeated
Laura Jane Grace – Hole in My Head

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Also enjoyed: DEADLETTER – Hysterical Strength, Less Than Jake – Uncharted

Last year was an embarrassment of riches for fans of punk (or punk-adjacent) music. This year, not so much. I had a somewhat hard time filling this category, and there's certainly nothing here that's as good as the Hot Mulligan or Sincere Engineer records from last year. There's also not much that's truly "punk" here—DEADLETTER (h/t to the baseball writer Keith Law's newsletter) is more post-punk, LTJ is ska, Aaron West is more emo/folk (albeit certainly punk tinged), and Frank Turner has definitely softened a ton since his punkier days. (The rest seem to fit the bill, though.) But genres aren't super important, and these artists all fit well enough under the same umbrella, so let's dive in.

• We'll do a quick alphabetical lightning round before the winner. I'd listened to Aaron West a bit before this year, and I've enjoyed getting to know The Wonder Years better in recent years, but this was the first Aaron West album I've really listened to—and it's pretty great! Lush arrangements (love the strings and steel guitar), strong songwriting, and Campbell's typical committed vocals. "Roman Candles" and, especially, the title track are absolute standouts.
• I don't think an ALK3 album has truly grabbed me since probably 2008's Agony & Irony... and that trend continues this year. Like their previous several albums, there's plenty to like here (the title track and "Versions of You" are great) but the album as a whole isn't particularly memorable. But in a relatively weak year for this category, this one sneaks into the field.
• Amyl and The Sniffers is basically a new-to-me band this year. I met up with a cousin of mine last year sometime and he mentioned this band, so I think I gave them a cursory listen or two at the time. Well, Al Gore and His Rhythms must've been paying attention and served up their feisty new album on Spotify. It's mostly snarling vocals and guitars and raucous percussion ("Jerkin'," "Chewing Gum") but they can hit a nice groove as well ("Big Dreams"). Hella fun stuff!
• Turner's album also likely wouldn't have made the field in a stronger year—and it probably barely belongs here anyway. It's very strummy with plenty of ballads, and even the upbeat numbers are more like powerpop. But he still gets lumped in with the punks sometimes, so I'm slotting him here. His new one isn't quite on the level of 2022's FTHC, but tracks like "Letters" and "No Thank You for the Music" are very good.

That brings us to the easy winner here, Laura Jane Grace and her exuberant yet introspective new album, Hole in My Head. There are buoyant, retro-punk jams like the title track, "I'm Not a Cop," and "Punk Rock in Basements" combined with acoustic strummers like "Dysphoria Hoodie," "Cuffing Season," and "Mercenary." You've gotta love an album that fits ACAB screeds, Red Hot Chili Peppers references, George Harrison riffs, and gender dysmorphia into just 25 minutes. It feels a lot like the latter (post-transition) Against Me! albums, which is some of Grace's best material. I fell off a bit with her after that, but I plan on checking out her previous two solo albums more in depth now. And, obviously, whatever comes next.

Best Indie Pop/Rock Album
Charly Bliss – Forever
Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol
Los Campesinos! – All Hell
Sammy Rae & The Friends* – Something For Everybody
Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope
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Also enjoyed: Beabadoobee – This Is How Tomorrow Moves, The Decemberists* – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

More fun with genres! This category is mostly just what doesn't obviously fit into either of the other two genre categories—no punk leanings here (although Japandroids and Sleater-Kinney are close), and these are all groups that don't fit neatly into the singer-songwriter category. But they all definitely fit under the ever-nebulous "indie" umbrella, so we're going with it. Again, I'll try to keep the non-winner write-ups relatively brief and go alphabetical.

• I was lucky enough to see Japandroids live when they were touring for Celebration Rock at a pretty small venue in Tempe many years ago. Nothing they did before or since reached the highs of that epic opus (my #2 of 2012), but their final album tries is damnedest. Lead single "Chicago" had my hopes through the roof, and while the album as a whole didn't quite live up to that promise, it's probably right on the level of their previous album, 2017's Near to the Wild Heart of Life (AOTY HM that year, about where this one will land).
• I think I would probably count Los Campesinos! as a new-to-me artist in 2024. I had certainly heard of the Welsh indie/rock/emo band previously, but I'm not sure I'd ever listened to more than a handful of songs here and there. Then I think I spotted them in my Release Radar Spotify playlist and gave their new album a whirl—and I dug it quite a bit. It's a little bit Arcade Fire, a little bit Coheed and Cambria, a little bit, I dunno, Tigers Jaw? It's an album—and group—I need to spend more time with, which I very much look forward to.
• I first encountered Sammy Rae & The Friends in 2022 thanks to my then-girlfriend (now-fiancée), back when they were only putting out singles/EPs. Despite that, they will won their category that year. Their full-length debut didn't quite manage the same feat this year. Don't get me wrong, it's a great record, but I think I have a hard time thinking about it like an album since it was mostly released as singles beforehand (which seems to be their MO), and it also doesn't quite *feel* like an album to me either (the songs and styles are so disparate). But it's got a couple of my favorite songs of the year ("Thieves" and "Coming Home Song") and will figure in the AOTY race anyway.
• The same old girlfriend that introduced me to Japandroids also introduced me to Sleater-Kinney. Well, that's not technically accurate—I knew of the band because of this all-time great SNL sketch, but I'd never actually listened to them before. They obviously rule. They're now down to a duo and this record is no Dig Me Out or All Hands on the Bad One, but Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker still totally wail. Especially on the first five tracks, with "Hunt You Down" as the true highlight of the album.

It seems fitting that Charly Bliss would have one of my favorite albums this year, as I first encountered them in 2017 by scouring year-end lists like I described above. And just like this year, back in 2017 I was complaining about not finding enough good new-to-me artists that year. Well, just two years later they had my #2 album that year with the outstanding Young Enough. It look them five years to put out another album, but Forever is just as good—if not better—than Young Enough. I will (spoiler alert) have more to say about it below, but for now suffice to say that it was an easy winner in this category with its bouncy riffs, sleek production, and Eva Hendricks' indelible lyrics and vocals.

Best Singer-Songwriter Album
Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well
Katie Pruitt – Mantras
Maggie Rogers – Don't Forget Me
MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks
Waxahatchee* – Tigers Blood
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Johnny Blue Skies – Passage Du Desir, Katie Gavin – What a Relief, Soccer Mommy – Evergreen, Zach Bryan – The Great American Bar Scene

As mentioned in the intro, this is the "genre" I listened to most this year. Waxahatchee was by far my most-listened artist, and Rogers and Musgraves weren't too far behind. Some of this was due to Spotify algorithms, sure, but the artists here are all exceedingly pleasant listens that were very easy to throw on sitting at my computer working in the afternoons. Which is probably how/when I listen to music the most these days (that and on the elliptical at the gym). Mostly gone are the days of listening to music while driving around—I work from home (so no commute) and on the short drives to the store or gym or wherever, I usually listen to sports or FM radio. These albums would be great driving music, though. On to the blurbs.

• I've always been a bit of a fan of Kacey Musgraves, one of the biggest names (if not the biggest) to appear in this year's post. I don't think I listened to her first album much, but I enjoyed Pageant Material, and "High Horse" from Golden Hour made an appearance here in 2018. Star-Crossed never grabbed me a few years ago, but Deeper Well absolutely did this year. She just seems like she's at the heights of her powers on this record, and tracks like "Cardinal," the title track, and "The Architect" received a lot of spins for sure.
• Katie Pruitt also has one previous appearance here, an HM shoutout in 2020 for Expectations. I had high hopes for her follow-up after hearing "White Lies, White Jesus, and You" earlier in the year—such great songwriting, plus a killer guitar riff. I wasn't quite as wowed by the album overall, but there were enough strong songs like "All My Friends" and "Worst Case Scenario" to get a nomination here.
• The Maggie Rogers (HMs appearances in 2019 and 2022) record *is* an example of an album that lived up to the promise of an early single. That single was "So Sick of Dreaming," easily one of my favorite songs of the year. I'll have more to say about it later (spoilers), but the album itself could have easily won this category. It feels like it should have been a huge breakout for Rogers, a songwriter's showcase with scorchers like "Drunk," "The Kill," and "On & On & On" that should've made her as big as Musgraves. Maybe her next album? It'll at least be eagerly anticipated by me, if no one else.
• The much-beloved MJ Lenderman album was actually my last inclusion here—I'm just not quite as enamored by his slacker-poet aesthetic as most seem to be. But I wound up including it largely on the strength of two songs: the sardonic himbo takedown "Wristwatch" and omnipresent-in-indie-circles "She's Leaving You." The fact that he features on SOTY contender "Right Back to It" with Waxahatchee doesn't hurt matters, either. I very much doubt I'll revisit the album as a whole, but those two songs will have some staying power, and I'm at least intrigued by what he does next.

Speaking of Waxahatchee, it was going to be damn near impossible for anyone to top her for her follow-up to 2020's tour de force, Saint Cloud, which is probably the album of the decade as we near the halfway point of the 2020s. Tiger's Blood is, of course, not quite on that level (almost nothing is!), but it's still an AOTY contender and the winner here, with the Maggie Rogers record not all that far behind (and then a big gap before the other three). It also plays *great* live—that was probably my favorite concert of the year. Now, let's see if Katie Crutchfield has another masterpiece in her. (There's a strong possibility that she does.)

Song of the Year
"Back There Now" – Charly Bliss

"Coming Home Song" – Sammy Rae & The Friends*
"In Lieu of Flowers" – Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties
"Punk Rock in Basements" – Laura Jane Grace
"So Sick of Dreaming" – Maggie Rogers
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Honorable mentions: "Bored" – Waxahatchee*, "Chicago" – Japandroids, "Obsessed" – Olivia Rodrigo, "Starburned and Unkissed" – Caroline Polachek, "Swear to God That I'm (FINE)" – Winona Fighter

This was a tough field to narrow down to five, with not much of a gap at all between the final 2-3 songs in the field and most of the HMs. The Japandroids, Rodrigo, and Waxahatchee songs were all in the #4 or #5 spot at one point before I settled on the final field. Before I get to the blurbs, I wanted to give a special shoutout to what is probably the best band name I've heard in a while: Winona Fighter. They're a new pop-punk band out of Nashville with a female vocalist (I've got a type) whose upcoming debut in February is probably already the frontrunner for 2025 AOTY. They rule. Anyway, back to 2024.

• Charly Bliss was always going to have a nominee here, and I almost went with "Nineteen," a ballad (with a sweet sax solo) that feels like a companion piece to the Young Enough title track, which almost won SOTY back in 2019. Instead, I went with what the youths would describe as a "bop" in "Back There Now," which is actually the track right before "Nineteen." It's got a bubbly, video-gamey synth line, cheer-squad vocals, and is absolutely irresistible—just like the album as a whole.
• Sammy Rae lands a nomination here for the second time in three years. I think "For the Time Being" is the better song, but "Coming Home Song" has maybe the best chorus she's ever written. She's maybe my favorite *singer* right now, and this is just a perfect showcase for her powerful, elastic voice. I think she turns the word "falling" into about 10 syllabus and it's just fantastic. Really great live song, too, complete with crowd participation reminiscent of a Ben Folds Five concert (he was obviously not the first to do that). Looking forward to the next time she comes to town, and to whatever she does next—be it 17 more singles or another actual album.
• A True Fact™ about me: Adding horns to just about anything makes it better. (I mean, see above.) So if you take The Wonder Years' Dan Campbell's emo-folk side project that already has keys *and* steel guitar, and then add horns? Yep, that shit rules. That's never more apparent than the title track to their latest album, which has one of the most epic horn lines since the heyday of 3rd-wave ska, plus just a massive, soaring chorus. This was the #2 here and one I feel I'll keep returning to as the decade goes on.
• As mentioned above, I went back and forth between several tracks for the final slot or two here, and this slight-seeming (2:09) track from Grace wound up being the final nominee in this field. It doesn't have the epic classic rock chorus of the Japandroids track or the "shoot this directly into my veins" quality of the Rodrigo track, but what it does have is an irrepressible riff, handclap percussion, boisterous chorus, an a "Whoa-oh-oh" outro. What more do you need? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The most purely fun song of the year.

Have you ever heard a song for the first time and were like, "Oh yeah, that's obviously one of my favorite songs"? That was my reaction to hearing "So Sick of Dreaming" by Maggie Rogers for the first time. More specifically, I felt like the Jewish record producers hearing "Walk Hard" for the first time. Like I said above, I definitely liked Rogers before this, but this song—and album—just seemed so... assured and attuned to my taste that it landed like she'd been a longtime favorite. (Which she very much might prove to be!) But in a category dominated by awesome choruses, hers was the best—by far. I don't watch a ton of music videos anymore (who does?), but I wish there was a real one for this song.

If you'd like a playlist or two of the rest of my favorite songs of the year, click the Spotify links below:

• 2024 A-Sides
• 2024 B-Sides

Album of the Year

1. Charly Bliss – Forever

2. Waxahatchee* – Tigers' Blood

3. Maggie Rogers – Don't Forget Me

4. Sammy Rae & The Friends* – Something for Everybody

5. Laura Jane Grace – Hole in My Head

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Honorable mentions:

6. Kendrick Lamar – GNX

7. Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – In Lieu of Flowers

8. Kacey Musgraves – Deeper Well

9. Various Artists – I Saw the TV Glow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

10. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – Challengers (Original Motion Picture Score)

No blurbs for each individual album—I've said enough about them above already. But I did want to touch on some of the HMs before wrapping things up. The new Kendrick album was *thisclose* to cracking the top 5, but it came out too late in the year for me to really spend enough time with it. But after the first several listens, it seems like it might be his best since To Pimp a Butterfly, only my #1 album of 2015 and the decade as a whole. It seems like his feud with Drake got him back on his A-game (Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers had its moments but was a bit of a misstep, to me). The mid-album run of "reincarnated"/"tv off"/"dodger blue" is as good as anything in his discography. When I look back in a few years, I'll likely look like a dumbass for not including it in the AOTY noms, but this is where it wound up here just about a month after its release.

This past year was also a great year for movie music. Challengers, the latest collaboration between Trent Reznor/Atticus Ross and Luca Guadagnino, is maybe the duo's best since their seismic (Oscar winning and top-10 of the decade) soundtrack for The Social Network. It's tense, throbbing, constantly on the verge of explosion... just like the, uh... the relationship between the three leads in the movie. Not any part of my anatomy whilst watching said movie. Anyway, Ross/Reznor made the Oscar shortlist for Best Original Score *and* Original Song for credits closer "Compress/Repress" and would be easy winners for both categories if they existed in my Fake Oscars. But they do not so I'll honor them here.

Remember when movie soundtracks used to be events unto themselves? I vividly remember rocking out in nu metal bliss to the Dracula 2000 and Queen of the Damned soundtracks, even if I couldn't tell you a thing about the movies themselves. Event soundtracks were a thing even as recently as the Hunger Games movies, but the practice seems to have fallen out of favor recently. We used to be a country! But Jane Schoenbrun revived the trend for her excellent second feature. It's full of moody, ethereal jams from indie It Girls like Phoebe Bridgers, Caroline Polachek (SOTY HM!), Frances Quinlan (of Hop Along), Jay Som, etc., that would've caused riots in whatever the Gen Z equivalent of Hot Topic would be. I mean, there's a cover of "Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl" for chrissakes. I hope this practice comes back!

I wanted to end by saying that the AOTY call between Charly Bliss and Waxahatchee was razor-close. I had the Waxahatchee record atop my list for most of the year, but wound up switching to Charly Bliss as I was putting this post together. The highs of Forever were just a bit higher than the highs of Tiger's Blood, which tends to stay in a certain gear for most of its runtime, whereas Forever covers more sonic territory. And nothing beats that "Back There Now"/"Nineteen" double-whammy at tracks 3-4. I'll be forever bummed that I missed them when they played the Rebel Lounge back in October (had a stupid final project due for a class in my Instructional Design grad cert program).

All that said, it doesn't seem like either album—or the year in general—will go down in my personal annals. Both albums feel more like Hall of Very Good than truly Hall of Fame–type albums. And you know what? You don't always get a true HOF album every year. So this year feels more like 2019 and 2021—a lot of very good music, yes, but nothing truly transcendent that will resonate into the next decade and beyond. Unless, of course, Kendrick proves me wrong (would not be surprised at all) or some heretofore unheard-of artist like Chappell Roan has already released 2024's true AOTY. Which is exactly why I keep listenin' to music and writin' up these blog posts.

And I hope anyone reading this also keeps listenin' and keeps readin' what I write. Here's hoping that 2025 is better than 2024, at least musically-speaking. (There's almost no way it will be a good year otherwise for obvious reasons.) Happy New Year, y'all

***MAY 2025 UPDATE***

Album of the Year

1. Kendrick Lamar – GNX

2. Charly Bliss – Forever

3. Waxahatchee* – Tigers' Blood

4. Maggie Rogers – Don't Forget Me

5. Sammy Rae & The Friends* – Something for Everybody

Yeah, Kendrick is obviously #1. GNX is a masterpiece just like Good Kid, M.A.A.D City and To Pimp a Butterfly. The former would have been my #2 in 2012 had I heard it at the time, and the latter was my #1 of 2015—and the entire decade of the 2010s. I don't know that GNX will be my #1 of the 2020s—right now it's almost certainly Waxahatchee's Saint Cloud, my #1 of 2020—but it'll definitely be way up there.

No shade to Charly Bliss, it's telling that I haven't really revisited Forever much at all here in 2025, whereas I've listened to GNX a ton. As I said above, I just didn't have enough time to spend with the album at the end of the year (it came out in late November). I listened to it a bunch after finishing this post, and then the Super Bowl halftime show really made me consider my #1—what a fucking show. Finally, "tv off" was everywhere in Vegas when my wife(!) and I went on our mini-honeymoon in Vegas in March, which finally cemented this as the (what should have been in the first place) AOTY.

Of course, "Not Like Us" isn't even on the album. I'm not going to redo the Song of the Year category, but if I did, it'd absolutely be a nominee. But I still think "I'm So Sick of Dreaming" would take the category. We'll see if that still holds in 2029 when I do my decade recap post. (Crazy that we're already halfway through the decade!)

Anyway, I doubt anyone will be reading this, but I wanted to mark this change down for posterity's sake. Kendrick fucking did it again.