This was the fifty-ninth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. While this album has a lot of variety and creativity behind it, I just didn't like it.

The biggest selling point behind "SCRAPYARD" is the variety. No two songs are quite alike. Some focus on catchy hooks, like "A LA CARTE" and "WAY TOO MANY FRIENDS." Other songs lean into hyper-autotuned mumble rap territory, like "GUESS WHO?" "GUIDE DOG" is a ... read more

This was the fifty-eighth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. Though I'm not really into this genre, I'd rather listen to this album than pretty much any other contemporary pop album out there.

"Imaginal Disk" is more than just a straight-up pop record. There's a wide variety of dreamy texture put to good use. While a lot of pop music focuses on simple, catchy vocal melodies with supporting rhythm in the background, this album goes ... read more

This was the fifty-seventh album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. This one was one of my favorites so far, and I can't wait to re-visit it.

I didn't realize how badly I had been craving some Bossa Nova until I listened to "Flower of the soul." A lot of the chord progressions are minor, but it somehow still feels like a very uplifting and summery album. Furthermore, she blends Bossa Nova with modern pop sensibilities, keeping the songs short ... read more

This was the fifty-sixth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. While I can appreciate it, I don't think it's my cup o tea. I actually found it to be rather mediocre.

You ever have that experience at an art museum where you look at a painting and you can see all the craft and talent that went into creating it, but you still don't like it for some reason? That experience where you can tell something took a lot of work to create, but you still ... read more

This was the fifty-fifth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It was pretty good!

This was my first time listening to Vince Staples, and I enjoyed it. This album has some very interesting music to supplement his verses, and the 35 minute runtime keeps it from outwearing its welcome. Vince's voice honestly isn't my favorite I've heard, and I didn't find that his lyrics resonated with me that much overall. I was actually much more moved by the ... read more

This was the fifty-fourth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It wasn't bad! Didn't exactly blow me away, but I think this is the best Vampire Weekend album to date.

I first heard Vampire Weekend when I was a young hipster in high school with their breakout single "A Punk," which instantly skyrocketed them into being one of the indie darlings of the late 2000's. It's hard for me to think about Vampire Weekend without also thinking ... read more

This was the fifty-third album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. This was a really cool post-rock album, and I recommend listening!

Genres are tricky for this album, because it goes through a lot of different styles. Sometimes, it feels like shoegaze or dreampop. Other times, it's soft, indie folk. But, it reaches those tremendous, post-rock crescendos at a couple of parts. Oddly enough, this isn't the first album on the "Must Hear" list I ... read more

This was the fifty-second record I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It's pretty good!

One of my favorite things about this album is the varied piano sounds. I think there was a different piano sound on nearly every track. I heard a wurlitzer, a rhodes, some kind of esoteric synth, an electric organ, at least two different kinds of string pianos, and maybe even more. There's a whole cast of characters on this album when it comes to texture and arrangement, ... read more

This was the fifty-first record I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It's decent, but it wasn't my favorite soul record that came out in 2024.

The production on this album is interesting, blending some of the more synthetic pop trends with organic instrumentation in a way that's decently tasteful. It all sounds good enough on the ears, but whenever I hear music like this, I can't shake the feeling in the back of my mind that there's just a ... read more

This was the fiftieth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. I enjoyed it, and I'm excited to have this in my library.

I've always been passionate about electronic music, but I'm not much of a club-goer, so I've always appreciated artists that can create something that sits between a dance-club banger and background music. Floating Points is an artist that walks that medium with great accuracy. His music functions well as something you have on ... read more

This was the forty-ninth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It's pretty good! It sounds pleasant on the ears, and there were some thought-provoking moments.

On of the most interesting things about this record is the recording itself. It's got a DIY feel to it, and there are little artifacts in the background which suggest it was quite literally recorded at home. Indeed, Laura's voice and guitar were recorded at her home. You can hear the daily ... read more

This was the forty-eighth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. I feel pretty mixed about it.

First, the positives. Liniker has an incredible vocal range, and puts it to great use. She can be deep and soulful, but can also crank it up to eleven and hit impressively high notes, like at the conclusion to "POPSTAR". It's cool to hear someone with such control over their voice. I also really appreciate the vocal production, which sounds clear and ... read more

This was the forthy-seventh album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It was alright, but I don't have the taste for it.

Parannoul is an artist I've always *wanted* to like, but he's never really resonated with me. Still, I always give his albums a fair shake because so many people seem to be enamored with his work. I'm intrigued by it, and I wouldn't keep coming back if I didn't believe there could potentially be something there that ... read more

This was the forty-sixth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. I didn't like it, and I probably won't listen again.

It's difficult for me to know what to say, because I'm aware Nick Cave has had a really, really tough time in recent years. He's gone through a lot of substantial loss and grief that no parent should have to deal with, and that's something that we can all empathize with. I can even hear some of that in the music ... read more

This was the forty-fifth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. This isn't really my thing.

I'm not a fluent Spanish speaker, so that makes it difficult for me to give a complete critique of this record, especially considering it's hip hop (and, therefore, relies on the lyrics for artistry moreso than other genres typically do). So, take what I say with that in mind. I can only talk about the music underneath, which I found to be kind of lackluster ... read more

This was the forty-fourth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. I liked it about as much as I enjoy earlier Pet Shop Boys material, and "Nonetheless" made me realize just how much of a musical identity they have.

When I say I liked "Nonetheless" as much as I enjoy their earlier material, I should note that, while I like Pet Shop Boys, they're not super high up on my list of favorite artists, even artists from the eighties. They have some ... read more

This was the forty-third album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. This one was very inspiring, absolutely worth your time.

This album was my introduction to Ka's music, and I will definitely be listening to more in the future. He sheds light on the ways Christianity has been used as a tool for oppressing black people. It's an important reminder of the ways the power structure of religion can relate to the power structure of race. He also uses this as an ... read more

This was the forty-second album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. I didn't like it.

I'm a bit biased because I've never particularly resonated with Logic's music. There's no nice way for me to put it, but I've always found his stuff to be kind of... cringe. It's really just a matter of personal taste, because the subject matter of his lyrics are usually topics people can relate to in a general sort of way. For example, I first ... read more

This was the forty-first album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It's very good - I'm actually somewhat at a loss for words.

Clocking in at just over two hours, this album is gargantuan, but not a moment of it feels like filler. It's a highly impressive piece of work, especially considering it was mostly performed and recorded by just Patrick Flegel on his own. It's consistently good throughout the entire album, and it holds the same sort of ... read more

This was the fortieth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. It's decent and pleasant on the ears, but it didn't really stick with me that much.

This is a very smooth and soulful album. Michael's voice is full of emotion and resonates with a calm, lush atmosphere. The production is absolutely stellar. Everything sounds full of life. His guitar playing is top-notch as well. He's so patient with the way he bends notes and allows things to ... read more