2024 Year-End Wrap Up: Music
It’s the Media Boat 2024 Year-End Wrap-Up! Today we’re taking a look back at the year in Music! First we’ll choose one news story that defined the year. Next, we’ll give our individual Top Five Albums, followed by our choice for Media Boat’s Album of the Year!
Matt’s Top Five Albums of 2024
While I was familiar with MJ Lenderman through the band Wednesday and his appearances on Waxahatchee’s Tigers Blood (which barely missed this top five at number 7), I hadn’t listened to his solo work before the release of Manning Fireworks. I remembered some buzz around his last album Boat Songs, but also knew that the style of the production was a little rough around the edges. I’m happy to say I’m a complete convert. Production-wise, this album doesn’t exactly sound rough, but there’s a roughness to the vibe that I appreciate. Lenderman tells stories about trying to better himself without shying away from the messy side of that process, and as someone who has worked a lot on himself lately, it’s very relatable. The little details sprinkled throughout are too, like staying up late playing Guitar Hero. Speaking of which, Lenderman’s own guitar virtuosity steals the show, and is ultimately what kept me coming back to this album time and time again.
“Mean Girls” is honestly the one thing preventing this album from being higher on this list. Without it, brat could easily be number one. Charli XCX has created a record that transcends being labeled “just another pop album,” creating an entire cultural moment for itself. The best part? She accomplished all this without a single compromise. While Crash was her self-described “sellout” record, brat returns to the acid-laced production of my favorite album of 2020, how i’m feeling now. To paraphrase Charli herself, brat is a party album but also it’s not—it’s about anxiety and jealousy and feeling adrift in your early 30s. For me, however, the most fascinating part about brat is how it explores Charli’s place amongst her peers in the current music scene, between “girl, so confusing” and its remix with Lorde herself, and the lurking presence of Taylor Swift in “sympathy is a knife.” The fact that music so specific and so purposefully experimental can break through to the mainstream like this is exciting, for sure.
Mannequin Pussy has a knack for balance. Their albums can be angry and loud, yet soft and melodic. They can be about the sweetest love or the most carnal lust. I Got Heaven contains all of these themes and adds on a few more, including the contrast between sin and holiness. You won’t believe what singer Marisa Dabice imagines Jesus doing in the title track. All of this make I Got Heaven a rare heavy record with mountains of substance to back it up, and something that easily bests most of what we call “rock” on radio or the Grammy stage. In fact, the sheer ignorance the Recording Academy must have to ignore Mannequin Pussy in the Rock categories this year is ridiculous. Come on, say their name. I dare you.
Rosie Tucker wants “nothing but unending bliss” for their enemies, which at first seems like a charitable take considering the horrors of the American political landscape. Look deeper, however, and Tucker has determined that if there really is nothing after we all die, perhaps we all deserve a little bit of happiness. This universality is what gives life to Rosie Tucker’s music, and why I think I’m so drawn to it. Their creativity can easily be heard in both their lyrics (“a paragon of puritanical panoptical persistence,” goes one line from “Paperclip Maximzer”) and their countless, perfect hooks. Seriously, just “Suffer! Like You Mean It” feels like a pop-punk song from a better, alternate 2007 in the way it drips with polish and attitude, and that’s only one of the perfect songs here (the stretch of “All My Exes Live in Vortexes” through “Paperclip Maximizer” is particularly breathtaking). The first time I heard this, I knew it would be an all-timer, and when I got to see Rosie in LA earlier this year, it was sublime. I think I’ll be listening to this album until I’m a pile of plastic on an island of garbage.
Imaginal Disk is less an album and more an experience. Or perhaps a seminar? Some kind of infomercial downloaded to your brain while you’ve been deep asleep? It’s a dramatic, grand, and sweeping, concept album about what would happen if you were implanted with some strange disk that... well, it’s complicated. What really matters is the music, and it just sounds impeccable. Literally nothing else sounds like Magdalena Bay. They grab influences from pretty much every decade and genre, creating a disco-pop hybrid that feels of the moment but not trend-chasing. Every track feels like a little soundscape to explore, and Mica Tenenbaum’s voice is a pleasant, yet nuanced guide. The experience of listening to Imaginal Disk is all-encompassing like little else in 2024, which makes me wonder if this disconcerting (and disk-inserting) fantasy has a little bit of truth to it. If so, I will gladly succumb to my fate.
Mike’s Top Five Albums of 2024
Is it really a Media Boat Year End Wrap Up list if Taylor Swift doesn’t make the cut? This year she surprisingly announced her next album during her acceptance speech for winning Best Pop Vocal Album for Midnights at The Grammys earlier this year. An album that she has been working on for 2 years during The Eras Tour brings together hours worth of pop and melancholy that at times doesn’t hit the same highs as Midnights, but a strong album nonetheless.
A bounce back album from Star-Crossed, her sixth studio album brings with it a list of earworm songs that are distinguished from each other while falling in line with the same melodic comfort of Golden Hour. Kacey delivers with her songwriting depth as only a few simple strums of the guitar can send you into a hypnotic trance for the full album. There are some new favorites on here as well, with “The Architect”, “Jade Green”, and “Cardinal” to name just a few.
Beyonce knocks it out of the park as she continues to expand her genre reach into making a country album. Coming out of the gate hot with singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” she only solidified her country claim on the album with “Blackbiird,” “Bodyguard,” and her own take on “Jolene.” This is an hour long album diving into the deep depths of country music while delivering an epic journey through time.
Do I like Luke Combs? No, but I am overly impressed with his album that arrived just in time for Father’s Day. A full concept album that tackles themes of being a father and a son and what it means to have and be a dad. The variety of songs that switch perspectives from a child to adult gives this album that unique edge to place it high on my list. Not to be too sentimental, but some songs here did bring tears to my eyes by the end. Still not a fan of Luke Combs, but I am a fan of this album in particular.
Call me biased, but when September’s surprise announcement that Linkin Park was returning with a new lead singer and a new album, I knew that I had to go to the LA concert 5 days later. While nothing could replace the loss of lead vocals by Chester Bennington, the ones provided by the bands new lead singer (Emily Armstrong) hit with all the same energy and veracity that fans have come to expect from Linkin Park. From Zero is not a back to basics album, but a return to form after a 7 year hiatus that showcases everything they have learned while also putting to rest any concerns about their sound moving forward. The quick album is a fine mixture of pop-alt-rock where any fan can find a new song to enjoy as Linkin Park moves into the next chapter of their storied journey.