Once again, the music scene feels more alive than ever before. 2024 felt so in a more commercial sense. Some of the biggest pop acts today established themselves with the work they put out in 2024, and a shift in who is “it” was official. This year, in replacement of commercial appeal comes a new explosion of quality work from every sector you can find. Music that feels new, coming from artists old and new, are what floats to the top this year. Creativity thrives.

Simultaneously, what’s old is new again. This era were in with music feels like a time where artists have a great understanding of how to use nostalgia and the sounds that inspire them to their advantage. Not very often is the callback used disingenuously, instead it informs and builds upon the catalog.

The 20 albums listed here represent as many corners of the music world I live in to showcase this thesis. It’s my hope you feel validated, or find something new to try and enjoy.

As per usual, I limit myself to 20 albums. So here are ten honorable mentions that I’d be happy to talk your ear off about in person or through DMs. You can also yell at me over what I didn’t include, that’s cool too.

• Anxious – Bambi
• Arm’s Length – There’s A Whole World Out There
• Bad Bunny – DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
• The Beths – Straight Line Was A Lie
• Darkside – Nothing
• Die Spitz – Something To Consume
• Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)
• the Mountain Goats – Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan
• Wednesday – Bleeds
• Wet Leg – moisturizer

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Indie, Folk

Bon Iver’s latest album is equal parts a return to form to the style that made him prominent in the mid 2010’s, while also elevating his sound and lyricism to a new space. Standout track “Everything Is Peaceful Love” shows Justin Vernon skills paired with a bounce and joy that is in contrast with his previous melancholic projects. If Vernon continues to stay steady with his output of work, he’ll only continue to fall in higher regard as one of the signature artists of the 21st century. Expect this to go hard in your local millennial-run coffee shop during a light snowfall.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Midwest Emo/Post Rock

Let ’em know you heard it from me first (unless you didn’t). Racing Mount Pleasant brings the catharsis you’d expect on a Mom Jeans record with the instrumentation and aura of GY!BE. It’s the kind of genre blend that certainly has been done before (the Arcade Fire comparisons are fair), however there is just enough newness going on to make this worth while. Their arrangements are top notch as well, showing deliberate skill and focus to what they create. Looking forward to see where they go, and having an out of body experience seeing them at the Sinclair.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Art Rock

If 2024’s Prelude to Ecstasy was the arrival of TLDP, then From The Pyre is the insurance policy that they are here to stay. Someone, they lean even heavier into their 70’s inspirations and make some of the best baroque art rock you can find. Maybe not the place you’ll find the same hits as last year, but a strong album nonetheless. Sophomore slumps are typically a given, and yet here we are with a band that is certain to stay in the space.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Post-Emo, Midwest

I…I thought we weren’t making this kind of music anymore??? Through the ashes of mid-2000’s punk and 2010’s midwest emo comes Hot Mulligan, a band who refuse to take themselves that seriously (see, tracked titled Monica Lewinskibiti) but are not afraid of brining vulnerability back to the scene. Tightly arranged and catchy from the jump, Hot Mully shows the way to keep Alt Rock thriving. Maybe title your songs other stuff though, shit’s a little cringe.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Drone, Ambient, Scary

Ethel Cain does not want your pop girlie perception, and this album is that rejection personified. A highly conceptual ambient album left up to interpretation by the listener about perversion, faith, revenge, and suicide. Y’know, right alongside what Chappell and Sabrina are up to. Ethel is thinking deeply when making her music, and it shows through her fearless endeavors in what is her least commercially appealing project. Listen with the lights off and really good headphones (please don’t do that actually).

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Pop

Now That’s What I Call More Accessible Than Perverts! Ethel Cain will always find the right soundscape to explore that bring the best out of the concept she is delivering to the listener. Diving deeper into the characters explored in her seminal work Preacher’s Daughter, Ethel continues to make art that is rewarding for the listener that’s paying close attention. Even if you’re not, the songs still stand on their own as dreamy and intricate. May she continue to do whatever she wants and succeed at it.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Art Rock

Chrystia Cabral continues to be one of the most interesting voices in alt pop. Truly a “does whatever she wants” artist. In this album, SPELLLING brings grandiose rock arrangements that show clear skills from her 2021 epic The Turning Wheel, but with a sensibility that keeps the songs grounded in rock and pop fun. Even better, the moments of straight early 2000’s nu-metal are jarring, then cool, then fucking sick, in that order. This album serves as much more accessible piece to introduce SPELLLING to people, so please seak this out and dive deeper if you enjoy.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: EDM

Every time I think about this album, I can’t help but laugh. When I was in high school, EDM and dubstep was simplified as “wub wub” music and lesser than. Now, 400 years later, I listen to the April Fool’s Day surprise release of Skrillex’s deeply ironic album…and I think the world of it. It’s everything I remember the genre being in 2010, but bigger, wilder, self aware, and audacious. Equal parts funny and sincere, the album is a reflection of the EDM scene Skrillex popularized, while still pushing the genre forward. I’d like to think this album was made for folks like me, the ones who maybe didn’t fully get what EDM was at its commercial peak, but still chronically online and immersed in music, and gets a chance to be reintroduced. Insert the Danny DeVito “I get it now” meme.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Dance-Rap

In what has felt like an 18 month victory lap, Tyler caps off his most successful album and tour with a red hot 28 minute album of tracks that evoke pure energy. These just feel like songs Tyler *had* to get out of his system. Pulling from the past as always, Don’t Tap The Glass evokes 80s hip hop, disco, and straight up Michael Jackson chord progressions. By no means is this the same capital A album quality we’re used to with Tyler, but that’s not the point. It’s shit to dance to, and the people are dancing. Insane to me that Sugar on My Tongue will go down as his most successful song to date.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Pop

When I first heard Boy’s a liar Pt. 2, I came to grips with the fact that early 2000’s pop sounds and aesthetics are back and up to be reinterpreted. If I was going to trust anyone with this, it would be Pinkpantheress. Fast forward to the release of Fancy That, and it’s clear that I made the right choice. Anyone who thought Ice Spice carried her to stardom needs to be put in a school system.

Fancy That sounds like the future of pop in the most familiar way. The immediacy of which these songs burrow into your brain and make you dance is unlike anything else this year. The production is stellar, and is matched with well written lyrics that are worth giving attention to amongst the desire to dance. Quite simply, the most fun you can have listening to music in a 20 minute sprint.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Alternative, Brit Americana

A 31 year old from a town England that’s even more abstract than Newcastle upon Tyne is making the best Americana music in the scene. New Jersey should be ashamed. People Watching feels like Born To Run for a new generation, but like, for real this time. Sam Fender’s observations on the world shine so clearly through this sharp lyrics and booming voice. The band plays with an energy that matches the singing, creating a grandiose vibe that makes me proud to be an…American? Brit? Ah fuck it. Appreciate it regardless of nationality, and sneak these songs in while your aunt isn’t paying attention and see if she thinks it’s a new Bruce Springsteen song. I know I will this holiday season.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Post Punk, Shrimp-Core

This band is fucking gross. I love them. Chronically online, pissed off at the state of the world, and giving off vibes that would ruin the party, Viagra Boys make pretty catchy punk music for the people that know this world is shit. Driving guitars and well arranged instrumentation back singer Sebastian Murphy’s laments on our fascist, post-capitalism hell, as well as the side effects of having cigarettes for breakfast. Sardonic, sure, but it’s all coming from a real place of pain, and that’s what makes it worthy music to return to.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Hardcore

Forget all the articles about the fear of a hardcore band becoming too mainstream. Forget about the handwringing done over if Turnstile is even hardcore. Clear you mind. Notice how when you listen to these songs, they are good. So good in fact you may be interested in moshing to them in a public setting. Crowd surf perhaps! That’s what matters. Turnstile bring it every time, no matter what think piece is written. In contrast to 2021’s GLOW ON, Turnstile lean heavier into the moments in between the breakdowns and blasts. Extended interludes on NEVER ENOUGH and LOOK OUT FOR ME simultaneously give pause while also building tension. This album breathes in a way that you don’t hear often in rock. Masters of their craft.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Black Metal, Shoegaze

Like many college aged kids who were on /mu/ way too much, I was enamored with Deafheaven’s 2013 opus Sunbather. Truly an album that sounded like nothing else before in my life. Black metal with shoegaze guitars and a brightness coupled with sobering lyrics that left me in equally uneasy and in awe. Deafheaven’s new album is as close to recapturing the magic as it gets, and even without nostalgia is one of the best metal records of the year. What makes this a success is the band’s ability to take the soundscapes they have dabbled with in previous projects in between Sunbather and now, and have made the best of both worlds in a way that feels authentic to their sound. Deafheaven continues to innovate, and that only means good for where metal can go.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Rap

It’s easy for me to be a 31 year old unc and tell you that rap ain’t what it used to be. Then again, Clipse will release their first album in 15 years with Pharrell on production and then you kinda have to accept that, in fact, rap ain’t what it used to be, and they just reminded you as such. Let God Sort Em Out is pure in its intention, execution, and messaging. Pharrell is locked in with production, making some of his best beats in years. Lyrically reflective while still true to their braggadocio, Clipse remind us exactly who they are. For a year in rap with not much to speak on, Clipse come in to take the rightful spot on top.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Pop Punk

Pop-Punk is an ever evolving genre, and often is the end result of other genres smashing together. In this case, Militarie Gun take their Hardcore roots and dip them in indie rock sensibilities, creating their best record to date. 14 tracks at 37 minutes shouldn’t seem “long” in any sense, yet for MG it’s new territory as the band opens up their sound and lyrics to new areas. What sells it for me is how these tracks are sequenced. The punchier, poppier, hardcore tracks are put in front, with the back half growing in track length and deepening in content. The party isn’t over, but it’s certainly time to think. Militarie Gun have all the space in the world to grow and popularize. Seek out a Joyce Manor show near you to see them as an opener.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Post Rock, Prog Folk

Since the departure of guitarist and frontman Isaac Wood, a mere days before their critically acclaimed album Ants From Up There releases, Black Country, New Road have been figuring it out. 2023’s Live at Bush Hall was a statement of reassurance; there is plenty of talent among the six remaining members to warrant a continuation of the band. With Forever Howlong, the decision was made to leave the songwriting and vocals to the women of the group. What results is a fully realized sound that is familiar yet new, complex yet digestible, and as lyrically profound as ever. Abandoning the post rock sound that brought them to the dance, BC, NR shares more in common sonically with The Last Dinner Party than Arcade Fire. Bright, tender, and no boundaries. Whatever the gang does next should continue to be in the spirit of ambition.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Singer-Songwriter

If you fuckers can put a SZA albums released in December 2022 one the best albums of 2023, then I can do the same with Cameron “Bob Dylan If He Was Good (Joking)” Winter despite his December 2024 release of Heavy Metal.

Music is truly at its best when a guy with a weird voice is singing over interesting instrumental arrangements about things you can’t quite understand, but you know exactly what to feel when you listen to it. Cameron Winter mesmerizes with everything he does on this album, from playing on barely tuned pianos to belting about everything from love to cancer to the existence of God (I’m not kidding this time). The arrangements are insane too, and clearly indicative of his ability as a songwriter. These songs carry as if they have been around this whole time, and Cameron treats them that way too given how he plays with them in live settings. A new cult of personality has hit the scene, and very likely is here to stay.

“Love Takes Miles” song of the year, every year, until I’m dead.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Rock

2023’s 3D Country announced the arrival of Geese as the next indie act to watch. In 2025, Getting Killed announces them as the rock act of the moment. Pulling from the familiar sounds rock acts they clearly admire, Geese are still making this all their own with odd arrangements that bring new life into the space. Production by Kenny Beats surely puts them over the hump in realizing their sound, however this album is also the culmination of consistently putting out music since 2019. The subject matter of the songs bring a sense of urgency to what 2025 feels, while still being left up to interpretation. It’s all a part of mythos that the band has. Coming out of what feels like nowhere (it’s just Brooklyn), yet being completely polished in their act. Geese know who they are now, and Getting Killed is rock for a new generation.

“There is only dance music in times of war” lyric of the year, every year, until I’m dead.

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Apple Music // Spotify // Genre: Pop

It is a chore to have your album release stay relevant. These days, there are more hoops to jump through than ever before to keep your music in people’s ears. Surprise releases, months of teasing, a “deluxe” version two weeks later, a “from the vault” re-release with a song demo recorded on an iPhone (CD exclusive). It’s hard. It’s why the refreshing take that Hayley Williams brought to her release was much needed in the culture. Website only individual songs that were only downloadable for a short time, Hayley encouraged her fans to make their own track order and share within the community. There wasn’t even an album title yet! When consensus came around, a proper release was dropped on streaming. Then two more times for good measure, resulting in a 20 track creative opus.

Hayley will always be at the peak of her powers when she makes exactly what she wants to make. Soundscapes that are built upon influences from all over make her album an interesting listen throughout, even at over an hour long. There’s something for everyone, and all tracks bring a level of respect for trying something like that out. This album is also incredibly personal, showing every facet of emotion Hayley is carrying at any given moment. Its a level of vulnerability that we as long time fans would expect, but is still refreshing. Her laments on life, love, and much more have matured with the audience that she has cultivated. What results is music that most represents her generation of pop stars, and sets her apart from her contemporaries.

Hayley had two great albums release during COVID that did not get the praise they deserve. Now, the praise is here, loud, and she is as in demand as she has ever been.

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Thank you for reading this. Let me know what you’ve been into this year.

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Ben May is a contributing writer/editor on drew-lamp.com, and an opinionated hack. You can find them on this dying format serving dumb takes, or on this alright format serving face cards or whatever they call it.

Coming Soon: Ben May’s Fav Films of 2025