This was the nineteenth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must hear" 2024 list. This was an interesting one. Pretty decent, but hard for me to recommend.

Reading a bit about Nadine's career, she's a vocalist and singer/songwriter, so this album is very impressive when viewed through that lens. There's a diverse range of instrumentation, and the use of saxophones bring a nice, gritty bite into the mix. As I’ve said for a lot of these "must hear" ... read more

This was the eighteenth album I listened to from AOTY's "must hear" 2024 list. This album was just okay for me.

I loved "Spitfire" back in 2011, and Porter Robinson has definitely evolved his sound since then. It’s a lot more pop-oriented now, and there's a lot more of an emphasis on lyrics and vocals than ever before in his music. It’s cute to hear chiptune synth sounds on this album, but it kind of felt more like he was a tourist to chiptune as a ... read more

This was the seventeenth album I listened to from AOTY's "must hear" 2024 list. It was okay, but I doubt I'll listen again.

"She Reaches Out to..." is a moody, dark album that blended pop production with heavier indie rock vibes. The guitar work is good, and it fits the music well, and I appreciated the moody atmosphere. Chelsea Wolfe has a breathy vocal style that isn't particularly to my taste, but I really appreciated that the production felt more ... read more

This was the sixteenth album I listened to from AOTY's "Must Hear" 2024 list. You know, I'm not really in my club house era anymore. I listened to a lot of Deamau5, Benny Benassi, and other artists like that in high school, but I'm just kind of tired of it at this point.

I don’t really want to listen to this kind of music unless I'm at a dance club, and even then, there are many more albums I'd rather have a DJ spin on a big sound system. It’s ... read more

This was the fifteenth album I listened to from AOTY's "must hear" 2024 list. I wasn't terribly impressed with this one.

It's more interesting than your average pop slop, but it wasn't anything that surprised me consistently. I was a bit intrigued by the opening track, and I thought it had an interesting chord progression that felt less "safe" than I'd expect in pop music, but once I adapted to the texture of the album, I lost interest and almost ... read more

This is the fourteenth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. A glance at the album art reveals that this is some furry stuff, so I was immediately intrigued by that. I'm not a furry, and I'm not into MLP fandom or anything like that, but I've met some very nice people within those communities, and I've always felt like somewhat of an outsider myself, so I can relate on that human sort of level.

I was thinking I was not going to like this ... read more

This is the thirteenth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. It's pretty good!

"The Past Is Still Alive" has some really nice production. There were a couple of songs where her vocals were nice and saturated to warm buzziness, which I didn’t really expect to hear on a country folk record. The last couple of songs also descended into some experimental chaos that I found interesting. Other than that, though, I found it unremarkable. ... read more

This is the twelfth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. This one was okay, but nothing I'd re-visit.

"Tiger's Blood" is a straight-up country album. It’s clear that Katie Crutchfield is a talented songwriter, and she has a wide vocal range, but to be perfectly transparent, I’m just not into country music, even though I can appreciate what she does here. Maybe part of it is because I'm a city boy, and I can't relate ... read more

This is the eleventh album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. This is my favorite one I've come across so far.

At least on bandcamp and wikipedia, this album is genre'd as a pop album, and I'm not a big pop guy, so I kind of went into it with sour expectations. Thankfully, I was proven wrong with that expectation. This is one of my favorite albums that came out this year, easily. I’m not surprised it’s on Domino records, as it sounds ... read more

This is the tenth studio album I’ve listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. I'm not a big solo-pop-artist kind of guy, and I dove into this one thinking I wasn't going to like it. Sadly, I was proven correct. I didn't like it.

To be honest, I was blown away by the first track on the album. I found myself bobbing my head to the funkiness and making a stank-face. The production is stellar, and I was surprised to hear acoustic instruments to set up ... read more

This is the ninth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. I loved it.

This is becoming somewhat of a nitpick for me these days, but the vocal production (not the performance) tainted the experience for me, sadly. It’s disappointing, because this album has pretty much everything else I could have asked for. It doesn’t particularly sound like a human voice, in my opinion. It sounds more like a robot at parts, and it took this record from being a ... read more

This is the eighth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024. It's decent, but nothing to write home about, in my opinion.

I'm a newcomer to Billie Eilish, so I haven't been able to compare at all to her previous work. I'm also generally avoidant of pop music because I'm a hipster, but I took the plunge and tried to keep an open mind. The production is impressive. It’s obviously a pop album, but it didn’t make me cringe at all like ... read more

This is the seventh album from the AOTY “Must Hear” 2024 list that I listened to. I liked it!

The production is crazy smooth. Her voice kind of sounds like Karen Carpenter at certain points, one of my favorite vocalists of all time. Overall, I’m not exactly into the silly, melancholy indie pop stuff. I just don’t find the idea of looking at lizards at the pet store to make myself feel less alone to be particularly relatable, but it’s kind of played off that way. ... read more

This is the sixth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024 list. It's pretty good, definitely worth a listen!

I’m not crazy about this guy’s voice when he’s singing. He has this laid-back kind of style that doesn’t always hit for me. But, that’s really just a nitpick, and when he’s rapping in a less melodic fashion, it sounds great. Not to mention, the production is intriguing and head-nodding at various moments. The beats ... read more

This was the fifth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” 2024. It was pretty decent.

I’d say I liked it enough that I wouldn’t mind listening to it again, but not enough that I’d want to add it to my library. This band knows how to write some hook-ey melodies, and the production is very interesting at parts, making use of vocal loops and other odd sounds to create a variety of texture. It’s more than a pop rock album. I’d compare it to the ... read more

This was the fourth album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” of 2024, and I absolutely loved it. That was really, really good.

EDIT: changed rating from 85-94, because after listening to some of the other hip hop records that came out this year, it really put things into perspective for me and made me realize just how incredible this album is. This one stands out beyond anything else in this genre I heard this year. Great work, Tyler.

Tyler is so much more than a hip hop ... read more

This is the third album I listened to from AOTY’s “Must Hear” of 2024 list, and this was the first one that I finally thought was actually worth listening to.

Not only did I enjoy it, but I thought it was an excellent album, definitely one of the best I’ve heard this year. Joanna Wang has some pop sensibilities that are on-par with the Beatles, and with all the goofiness that comes with that comparison. She introduces strange and unexpected melodies and chord ... read more

This was the second record from AOTY’s “Must Hear Albums” of 2024 that I listened to.

I don't know who Alan Sparhawk is, and I had never heard of his broader work (like the band Low) before I checked out this album. Having just finished listening, I get the sense that this album was only ranked so highly because of this artist’s broader work. This album was my entry point into his art. So, my best guess is that this album came as a surprise to fans of his other ... read more

As we transition into 2025, I've decided to listen to all of the AOTY "Must Hear" albums from 2024 and review them. I didn't listen to them in any particular order, just listed them all out and picked whichever one I wanted to go with next.

This was the first one I listened to from 2024, and I picked it because intrigued by the album art and title. However, I wasn’t particularly moved by it. I’m really not into this guy’s voice, and I found the most ... read more

Holy Wave allows their sound to evolve again with "Five of Cups." This album is a lot more subdued and toned-back than "Interloper," the songs generally leaning towards the slower, calmer side of psychedelia. But, what it lacks in pumping, drum-driven bangers, it makes up for with texture, mood, and instrumentation. In particular, the keyboard sounds on "Five of Cups" are noteworthy. There are a lot of bell and voice sounds coming from the keyboards, which makes ... read more