(Ironfish Editors Note: I had so much fun making fake album covers for my list that I'm going to go ahead and use it again to make them for Melse's list as well, even though his has nothing to do with AI.)
Honorable Mentions
White Denim - 12
Matt Duncan - I Will Write Your Song
Oso Oso - Life Til Bones
The Smile - Cutouts
The Top 15
15. Dawes - Oh Brother
After losing half the band, Taylor and Griff are off on their own and the results of this one are mixed. Half of it I really, really enjoy and the other half suffers from what every weak Dawes spot does for me - the slow songs are painfully boring. Coming off Doomscroller, I expected a little more. That said, I enjoyed it enough to get it on the list.
14. Deer Tick - Contractual Obligations
These guys never seem to disappoint me. The formula is simple - straight-ahead guitar rock with light to corny lyrics. It’s not the deepest most thought-provoking music ever made but it chugs along and keeps my attention the whole time.
13. David Nance - David Nance & Mowed Sound
This is a nifty little album that wiggles along through different sounds, moods, and tempos; A little psychy at times and also straightforward rock too. I really enjoyed it and played the hell out of it for several months.
12. Say She She - Silver
Three classically trained female singers backed by highly reputable & skilled soul musicians including a few of the guys from The Dap Kings. What could go wrong? Nothing. It’s a catchy-as-hell R&B banger that had me instantly and every other person in my vicinity asked me why?
11. Eggy - Waiting Game
This is a really low-key mid-tempo melodic-as-hell rock album that I loved for most of the year. They put out an EP that intrigued me and the full length didn’t disappoint. James Petralli on production. I don’t know shit else about them but check this out.
10. Ty Segall - Three Bells
The quintessential Ironman, Ty seemingly does nothing but write record and release new music. Sometimes his stuff hits for me and sometimes it doesn’t. Manipulator is an all-timer but most other stuff feels rushed. This one is different. What I love most is that he really seems to use a singular guitar tone (high-pitched; it almost feels like the guitar is yelling in agony) throughout the album but still maintains differentiation from song to song. A really great album.
9. The Black Keys - Ohio Players
Man, it's another sort of back-from-the-dead band for me. It’s been 9 years since Turn Blue, which I consider the last great Black Keys album. Let’s Rock and Dropout Boogie were teetering on the bland side and I was bummed that perhaps they had jumped the shark, but this album is very, very good. Aided by a fresh injection of energy with the production mostly by Beck, it’s super catchy in all the best ways and keeps my attention the whole way through.
8. Illiterate Light - Arches
These guys came onto my radar with 2019’s EP Sweet Beast, which I loved. Two full lengths followed in the coming years that didn’t particularly blow my skirt up. I love this one, however. Just upbeat catchy guitar-driven rock music in the simplest but best way possible with some minor electronic flourishes.
7. Sam Evian - Plunge
Sam has been making nonstop good stuff for his whole career which now spans 8 years and 4 albums. 2021’s Time to Melt delved into less of a guitar-driven sound than his first two and Plunge sort of bridges the gap. Always with the underrated falsetto, he steers this one along quite nicely. It’s probably my second favorite of his.
6. Cloud Nothings - Final Summer
Power pop/post-punk/emo is the longstanding formula for these guys and they keep cranking out what feels like the same album over and over. For some reason, I connected with this one more than the last few. Whether that’s because it’s actually better than the others is anybody’s guess. It’s catchy and riffy and keeps moving along and I really loved it. The second-best thing they’ve made IMO after Attack on Memory.
5. Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyans Slingshot
Straight out of the Weezer power chord power pop playbook, this one comes straight at you with riffs galore and weird catchy choruses/lyrics. At first, it sort of all blends together, but after a few listens I started to dissect it and discover the intricacies and nuances within. A real quick 25-minute shot to the face and boy does it rip. Similar to all of his other stuff but still stands out.
4. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
THE album of 2024 to like if you want to look cool is this one. Truth is, it is excellent and MJ is going to make excellent rock music for the next 30+ years. It feels like he can sing but chooses to do it sort of shitty and he can rip the guitar but usually chooses not to and he can write beautiful songs but chooses to mostly write weird ones instead. Intentional apathy. The reason this lands at 4 is that there are some skips on this for me; not a knock on him. If you combine the best half of this and the best of Boat Songs it's easily a top 20 all-time album for me.
3. Strand of Oaks - Miracle Focus
Strand of Oaks, aka Timothy Showalter, has been around for some time, but he didn’t get my full attention until 2019’s Eraserland, which he made with the full support of My Morning Jacket sans Jim James. He doubled back around with the same band/formula for 2021’s In Heaven which I liked even more. Miracle Focus does NOT feature any of the MMJ guys and the lead single was not good so I was ready to write it off until the whole thing dropped. It was a wise decision not to do that. The formula is different as this features a synthy-er approach and more trippy songs/moments but boy oh boy does it work. 3 for the last 3 Tim, thanks.
2. Jack White - No Name
It’s safe to say nobody expected this. A complete surprise release by Jack, it literally rips beginning to end, reminiscent of early White Stripes stuff. For him to bust out this gem this deep into his career at age 49 is truly mind-blowing. White has made 6 albums with The White Stripes, 3 with The Raconteurs, and 6 as a solo artist. I feel comfortable calling this the second-best record he’s ever made (behind Broken Boy Soldier). Don’t call it a comeback.
1. Fabiana Palladino - self titled
Man, what a surprise here. Fabiana is the daughter of Pino Palladino (he plays bass on the whole thing and produced half of it). A wizardly blend of 80’s synth r&b/pop with a futuristic sound as well, this album hooked me right away. As is established by now, I’m a huge fan of cohesiveness in an album and this one has it. Perfect to be played loud in a dimly lit room, I probably listened to this 20 times in the 2 weeks after I found it. This is my album of the year.
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