Our Favorite Songs of 2024

Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St  is a big departure from Swamp Dogg’s  discography. It’s mostly acoustic, and there’s a relative lack of satire. The closer, though, does enjoy idiosyncratic moments, enhanced by creepy string swells and a tortured falsetto.

Super goofy. but also extremely catchy. I imagine a Black Knight-type scenario; uncouth merrymaking against a medieval backdrop. I’m picturing egregious finger guns, strutting on the dining hall table, and sloshing grog across the court with shades on and in a fuzzy bathrobe.

Alex Marrero introduced me to this slinky, sinister instrumental on Horizontes. Love the weight of the cowbell sound and those conniving brass riffs. Overall, it’s been a great addition to my personal heavy rotation, be it cruising on the bike in the daylight or skulking around my neighborhood at night.

Once in a blue moon, a band recommendation from someone you’ve just met becomes your next obsession. That’s what happened to me after an event with the band Peter Cat Recording Co. Two weeks following this discovery, I found myself interviewing the Delhi-based group for KVRX, experiencing one of the best concerts of my life, making a new friend in the crowd, and riding a wave of pure kismet through every moment. 

My love for Shannon & the Clams is sooo reeaallll, and if the countless hours I’ve clocked listening to The Moon Is In The Wrong Place isn’t enough, I don’t know what is. I may not be able to put the charm of this John Waters-adjacent band to justice in words like Ryan Wen can do, but I’m thankful to have finally hopped on Shannon Shaw’s magic carpet ride of a career. Now it’s time to finally get some of those pointed micro bangs…

It’s ludicrous for me to have to choose just one song from this monumental, AWESOME Austin-bred album (Grandmaster). If listening to “Eternal Cycle” isn’t enough to convert you into the newest Zealot (followers of The Grandmaster), maybe the fact that this 11-piece-powerhouse is not only a band, but rather a design lab/studio/arcade/marketing agency/production company/party zone, will. Long live The Grandmaster!

The California singer-songwriter touches on one of my favorite musical motifs- groovy female singers from the 60s and early 70s. From her fourth studio album released in May, Here in the Pitch. ❤

The super talented Aubrey Hayes, a Gulfport, Mississippi native and Austin-based singer-songwriter since 2015, has crafted a piano ballad that makes me stop whatever I’m doing and listen every time I hear this undiscovered masterpiece. Their voice. The melody. The emotion.  LOVE it.

Instant mood lifter. Transports me to a boisterous London pub where everyone is spilling beer and singing along to a chorus that no one really knows the actual words to, but it doesn’t matter.

I have been talking with my friends about dying of late.  And since we are all going to die and we don’t know when, we had best enjoy this life as much as possible. The good and the bad. This song is about the wisdom of growing old and learning from mistakes we make in this life.  

Common and Pete Rock.  That just about sums it up for me.    

Such a well-crafted pop tune. Fun to listen to

A standout hip hop track for me this year. Mike’s production feels super unique and fresh. The beat textures and his distinctive vocal delivery bring an ethereal feel that might sound stark at first, but those spaces are filled with a ton of vibe. I hope to hear a lot more from Mike Melinoe.

Urban Heat dropped an incredible record this year with The Tower. “Sanitizer”’s fuzzy arpeggiated bass synth, generous use of harmonic distortion, and distinctive melody bring a sense of urgency and nostalgia that reminds me of early-oughts darkwave and the Contra video game music on NES. It’s a standout from a record of great tracks. 

I love Angelica’s use of down-tempo cumbia. It’s trippy, energetic, and texturally rich. The bass builds this droning tension in the verses that blows wide open when she brings in the hook. Her gorgeous vocal delivery is both precise and feral all at once. This track was on loop a lot for me this year.  

I wasn’t sure what a solo Kim Deal would be that wasn’t what we already were getting with The Breeders. Turns out: fuzzier, more distorted, extra driving—and still distinctly her.

2024 is when everything really started coming up MJ Lenderman (though Wednesday’s 2023 album Rat Saw God got a lot of attention too). This song feels a bit like alt-country you’d have heard at Electric Lounge in the ‘90s, while also being definitively of this century. 

Sure, this list is about individual songs, but I want to emphasize how great Gartland’s whole album Everybody Needs a Hero is, because it’s a lot more than this (excellent) single might suggest. Gartland is an astonishing talent, and this is just the start from her.

The Dublin City rockers stretch their sonic wings on their new album Romance, with the first single being my favorite. Pomp and brash, experiential and existential, with attitude and altitude, the future of rock ‘n’ roll is in good hands. 

Gordon synthesizes her decades as a noise rock pioneer into a 21st century manifesto on her new album The Collective, melding trap house street beats with her NYC kool thang demure. Dark, glitchy, pathos-filled, and as fresh as anything she’s ever recorded, yielding two Grammy nominations (including 1 for the single “BYE BYE”). 

A new release from the influential and under-appreciated Coltrane will always prick up my ears. Alice Coltrane’s transcendental meditation remains a spiritual revelation. And this Carnegie Hall live recording is worthy of her monumental legacy. 

The vocal style of The Mamas & The Papas meets the fuzzed-out guitar of Dinosaur Jr., with lyrics that I can’t make heads or tails of. This song is a fever dream.

This song also made my mid-year list, and it still hasn’t let me go. At turns soothing and jarring, it kicks my synesthesia into high gear: all I can hear is landscape.

If your 2024 bingo card featured the Alabama Shakes frontwoman cutting an absolute banger of a dance song, I want your card. Howard’s voice was made for this. More, please!

It emanates elements I love about ‘80s goth and industrial – dark, pulsating, relentless. Audiences worldwide are discovering this trio is an unstoppable force.

I’ve said it before. The opening track on Got A Story To Tell sets the tone for the entire album. It’s everything that makes soul hit the way it does; sensual, beautiful, romantic, cool and timeless.

Delicate ferocity from this South London trio. An intriguing diversity of arrangements and instrumentation makes it so distinctive.

My ultimate test for new music is if it sounds good when I’m taking a shower. This record from Leon Bridges passed that test immediately and with flying colors. This is the R&B I love!

Hometown bands are a dime a dozen but every once in a while one stands out. Grandmaster has more members than Wu-Tang, but their sound is distinctive and unique. They told me this song is inspired by Funkadelic’s “You and Your Folks, Me and My Folks” so that’s a huge plus. 

In 2023, Thee Sacred Souls performed at Scholtz Garden for KUTX, and the crowd loved them. Fast forward to October of this year and they sold out Stubbs outdoors! It’s not surprising, considering how great of a band they are. I’m happy to have been an early fan.

This band’s superpower is writing songs the old-fashioned way: short, sweet, and packed with hooks.

Are musicians from San Antonio weirder than their Austin counterparts? Could be. At the very least, these Alamo City guys are going further than “far out” with their cosmic country.

This song sounds timeless, as in: it stops time whenever you listen to it.

Angelica’s 2024 “Gemelo” album has a special feel to it and great production. There’s something about this song that hits a certain way. The track is moody and vibey, and she succeeds at something both visceral and difficult: the alchemy of meaningful and poetic lyrics with a vulnerable & powerful vocal performance.

This Brazilian ensemble never disappoints. They are accomplished musicians constantly on the search. This composition embodies their sense of adventure and reflects a handful of their influences in a subtle and wonderful way. I hear traces of Jorge Ben’s classic, funky acoustic rhythm guitar style, Hermeto Pascoal’s quirky musical adventure, a series of heavy, funky grooves as well as plenty of musical twists and turns. Just when you think you know what the tune is, they flip the script on you in a very Zappa-esque way. 

That which is old will become new again…eventually. Orquesta Akokán has always been a throwback to an earlier era of Cuban music: the 50’s era big bands. Akokán succeeds in making a throwback feel current again. “Caracoles” has all the markings of Beny Moré, Perez Prado, Machito, and traditional Afro-Cuban rumba. In a world full of Timba acrobatics, it’s nice to hear a modern-day twist on such classic and timeless Cuban music. 

A leading fashion model in the UK these days, but it’s her beginnings as an underground poet and rapper that guide her experimental music. Glacier’s eerie, unsettling grooves always seem on the verge of collapsing, as her ghostly chants pull you in deeper. Here, it’s a mission statement: “Steady as I am, never change.” Let’s hope not.

This weird, nervy slab of danceable art funk is typical of their impressive Austin debut Strange Burden (really, throw a dart), but as their first single, singer Thom Waddill applies his warbly vocals to the tale of the 1800’s chemist and his snake-like polymers. Not necessarily the kind of thing you want stuck in your head, but there it is nonetheless.  

Another mid-year pick that won’t leave me alone, there hasn’t been a finer song this year than “Life Is”. The LA folkie floats a clockwork drum over her ethereal spareness. “Time is time and time and time again,” she intones. “And what would you say if you can’t get out of here?”

It’s hard to explain the sound of this, other than a crashing wave of emotion on the choruses that evoke the soul’s need for connection. It’s a hazy wash of splendor by this Danish band, and though I may not understand what the song is really about, I can feel the yearning. It gets me every time.

This one came out of left field like a long-lost track by LCD Soundsystem.  Harrison Patrick Smith, aka “The Dare,” flaunts a bit of snark and sleaze recounting how effective his $5.99 perfume is on others. It’s a banger and a farce: “You’ll have to pry it from my cold dead grip/In fact, spray it in my grave so the worms can get a whiff.” Put this on your party playlist.

Yannis Philippakis, the frontman for Foals, had the opportunity to work with drummer and Afrobeat legend Tony Allen before the latter died during Covid.  Their sessions resulted in this divine slice of rhythmic heat that wasn’t released until this year. It’s unfortunate that Tony is gone, but lawdy, what a mighty swan song.

I love everything about this song, from the opening synth notes to the super melodic verse to chorus to the bridge that ends in a scream/wail. Look, this is my favorite song from my favorite artist of 2024 okay? Deal with it.

San Gabriel’s music speaks to my eighties inner child, and I pretty much love everything he puts out. This song just has all the right sounds, riffs and lyrics for me. I’m a San Gabriel super fan. Deal with it.

I’ve been a fan of Aubrey Hays for a while now, and was excited to hear they were performing under a new name – Somebody Someone. The first song from this new project is a gorgeous, soaring work that captures the feeling you have when you finally get to the other side of devastating heartbreak. I’ve listened to this song on repeat. Deal with it.

I can’t believe this year is almost over and that Font’s “Hey Kekule” came out just this year! Hearing this tune’s frenetic energy live for the first time took me back to the quirky & twitchy days of my 1980’s youth. I’m so glad that the recorded version captured so much of their live feeling.

Speaking of live performances, Grandmaster is on a whole ‘nother level (maybe a whole ‘nother galaxy, parallel to ours?). “Castle Door” might be the best example of what the Grandmaster does- and what he can teach us. Clever songwriting with groovy rhythms and a pretty healthy dose of theater. 

This year, I got introduced to the music of ISTA, and it kinda blew my mind. I don’t know how their previous work slipped past me, but “MEGAWATT!!” is such a groovy, funky throwback with some classic rock guitar & a little sprinkle of modern production trickery. Dig it!

Font has been my 2024 Austin obsession since seeing them at KUTX Live at Scholz for SXSW back in March, and I’m excited to see them rising. I love their debut album, Strange Burden from front to back, and this song is all kinds of cool.

With this song, I can conquer the world — and be a silly billy doing it.

Amyl and the Sniffers is exactly what we need right now. Praise be.

I’ve been a Foals fan for years and this left turn was a pleasant surprise. England’s Yannis Philippakis, frontman of Foals, teamed up with the late Nigerian legend Tony Allen, and found a way to make their genres (grandiose alt rock and Afrobeat, respectively) mesh in a way that is at once exciting and new, yet familiar.

On first listen, this song was nothing special. I felt I’d heard a million versions of it before. Then I listened a second time. And a third. And something shifted. In addition to being a total earworm that lived rent free in my head for weeks, this song is sort of confusing. While lyrically simple, Lenderman plays deftly with time signature and phrasing in a way that makes this an unusual song. Therefore, I love it. 

Guitar-based acts are historically what Austin is known for, so it’s cool when an artist comes out of Bat City representing another dimension of Austin music. LP Giobbi is well-known in many places, but she hasn’t really tracked back to Austin like our rock, country and blues exports have. With this song, that starts out like it belongs in a Bond film and morphs into a dance track that’s impossible to sit still for, hopefully that changes.  

Long among my favorite Austin bands, this dance-happy, Latin-grooved tune shows why they are one of our premier party acts here in town.

Somehow, this Brighton, UK band has channeled the flower-power vibe and sound of late ‘60s-early ‘70s Southern California, Laurel Canyon-inspired rock.  Makes me a little homesick, to be honest……

This song stops me in my tracks every time I hear its thumping beat, conscious lyrics and Vylan’s rat-tat-tat delivery.  Dream Big, indeed.

It’s not just the reference to John Travolta’s bald head (though that doesn’t hurt). The line, “every day is a miracle, not to mention a threat,” hasn’t left me. The riffs grab your ear, and the lyrics secure the tether. Stepping out from country rock into the college rock fold, Manning Fireworks has become my comfort food of 2024, and “On My Knees” is the bite with that little pocket of extra sauce.

Being Dead has always been great, with nary a lilt in their petals. But Eels is an impressive progression as they continue to trust in their idiosyncratic intuition. “Goodnight” is dark, brooding, a little cavernous at the beginning, slowly building into a fun, rollicky jam with all of their familiar, haunting harmonies. And this isn’t even their final form. My prediction for Being Dead in the last half of the decade: world domination.

Though I’ve seen photos of this band, I am still not entirely convinced that Being Dead and Big Bill didn’t hop over to the UK and start this band. This is a slick, sick, tight 2 minutes and 13 seconds of a danceable ear worm. A pointed melody, propelling bassline, and slightly distorted vocals really do make you want to put on your Lonsdale slipons…and sway.

When life feels bad it always feels good to point one’s finger in every outward direction. Until it continues to feel bad, and you’ve run out of people to blame. This song reminds me of RuPaul’s eternal wisdom: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?” 

With all the myopic and belligerent ways we wield modern technology, Roberto Carlos Lange’s eighth record Phasor is a vital reminder that we can choose to use the same technology to dream, too. There is tranquility in the complexity of Lange’s electronic music as tender melodies dance with delicately funky grooves. I like this dream.

Sure, Grian Chatten’s gifted gab is a jaded hue relative to Robert Smith’s saccharine innocence, but something about this song feels like hearing the Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” for the first time again.