Editor's Albums of the Year
Words by Easton Parks
Over the course of the year I have compiled my favorite albums with the list reaching over 100. This is a small taste of that list and is how I am currently feeling as the year comes to a close. I find my current favorites and tastes are more fluid than not, so this list is subject to change as soon as tomorrow, but as of today, these are my favorite 15 albums of the year (with some honorable mentions that aren’t in any particular order).
5 Honorable Mentions
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Manning Fireworks is a wonderful curation of alt-country, slacker rock and americana in which MJ Lenderman croons funny one liners and sings introspective passages. Sonic cohesion may be the project’s greatest strength while still maintaining some slight variation across the tracklist. The hits are truly hits and the album is an incredibly enjoyable listen front to back. What a year for MJ Lenderman.
Highlight Track: “She’s Leaving You”
villagerrr - Tear Your Heart Out
When it comes to midwest bootgaze, Tear Your Heart Out might be the current pinnacle. This is a simple, yet charming home recorded indie album with some infectious musical passages to hum to. There’s no lack of personality in this album as you hear the warmth in Mark Scott's voice, reminiscent of both hot tea and the home in which the album was recorded in. Dealing with relationships and conflict, this album internalizes pain and creates something beautiful.
Highlight Track: “See”
Chat Pile - Cool World
Sludge metal noise rock outfit Chat Pile is in the business of melting faces. Haunting vocals pair with a super sludgy mix of a rhythm section and crisp riffs to bring a super consistent project. While 2022’s God’s Country is more exciting in my eyes, Chat Pile cements themselves as one of the best metal acts on the planet. I have got to give it up to The Flenser for continuing to be the premier heavy record label and supporting bands like Chat Pile.
Highlight Track: “Masc”
Mach-Hommy - #RICHAXXHAITIAN
Relatively unknown and semi-inaccessible abstract rapper Mach-Hommy devours beats for dinner. With a massive discography despite only being around for a short period of time, Hommy releases in bulk but provides standout projects every few years. #RICHAXXHAITIAN shows Hommy’s unbelievable skills as an emcee switching between languages as he creates an ultra cohesive project. Hommy has a lot to say on this project, so I suggest listening with a notebook nearby – appreciate the greatness.
Highlight Track: “PADON (feat. Tha God Fahim)”
Frail Body - Artificial Bouquet
I’m nowhere close to being a metal head, but it’s that blackgaze tinged screamo that does it for me. Artificial Bouquet is an emotionally and sonically dense album that is heavy in the atmosphere department. Backed by blast beats, a wall of sound and blood chilling screams, this project is 40 minutes of the most beautifully aggressive metal music this year.
Highlight Track: “Devotion”
15
JPEGMAFIA - I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU
For essentially five years straight, music nerds have penciled in a JPEGMAFIA album as one of their favorites of the year and this year is no different. This project has grown on me quite a bit and seeing it live really helped it click (I may be a prisoner to the moment). Peggy leans into a metal-ish sound with electric guitar being one of the focal points. The guitars bring a new energy to this project and the crisp drums continue to amaze me. Peggy shows why he’s one of the best producers on the planet while blending his signature shit-talking throughout the project with some less hype but incredibly rapped songs like “either on or off the drugs” and “Exmilitary.” Peggy continues to innovate and make some of the most interesting music every year.
Highlight Track: “vulgar display of power”
14
Amen Dunes - Death Jokes
Death Jokes marks the end to Damon McMahon’s project Amen Dunes and it does so fittingly. This album is intentionally very odd but extremely well thought out – as it took over 4 years just to have rough demos. McMahon’s lyrics read like poems, bolstering his already unique voice. As an experimental singer-songwriter project, the production doesn’t get much more distinctive and personally curated. It’s moments like the sampled cymbals hits that come in over halfway through the song “Boys” that truly have finesse. This album is a journey in which our author tries to create their magnum opus and all we can do is listen and enjoy. Thank you Damon.
Highlight Track: “Boys”
13
Xiu Xiu - 13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips
I'm not sure anyone was expecting a neo-psychedelic rock album from Xiu Xiu, but man is it good. Short and sweet at 36 minutes and 9 songs, we see Jamie Stewart and Co. at their most catchy with songs like “Common Loon” and “Veneficium” that you can dance and head-bang to. The opener “Arp Omni” is gorgeously subtle with layers of orchestral swells and chillingly poetic lyrics. The project is overwhelmingly consistent in tone and combines their signature experimental textures with more straightforward western psych rock to create a most interesting listen.
Highlight Track: “Common Loon”
12
Your Arms Are My Cocoon - death of a rabbit
This is the type of album to get emo fans arguing real fast, but it’s also an album that gave me pause. It’s charming and forward-thinking. It’s messy, yet original. Seldom do you find an album this ambitious, divisive and exciting. death of a rabbit accomplishes everything it sets out to do. It’s incredibly lofi and it overflows with bittersweet tones wearing its identity on its sleeve. Every big instrumental crescendo hits like a semi-truck with electronic sounds, guitars and driving drums making long and short builds alike worth it. The singing and screaming across the album fit like a glove and contribute to the messy nature of the project. Never would I have thought I would be using messy as a compliment, but on this album it makes all the sense.
Highlight Track: “Runner Duck”
11
Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal
Being released just three weeks ago, Heavy Metal is the most recent release on this list. That being said, I haven’t been able to sit with this album very long, but in a short time, I’ve quite enjoyed its company. Contrary to the album title, this project is more americana singer-songwriter leaning, with lush and understated instrumentals when compared to Winter’s band Geese. Winter’s vocals and writing are the highlight of the entire album as he croons and sings softly to pair incredibly well with the instrumentation. Winter manages to sound astonishingly genuine and raw, unlike what I’ve heard from him in the past. It’s simple, understated and packs a lot of emotional complexity.
Highlight Track: “Love Takes Miles”
10
Loveblaster - The Way Things Work
Released on January 5th, 2024, this album only made the cut by five days! Loveblaster is a slowcore group from the city we call EMMIE’s playground, Madison. The Way Things Work is the most beautiful album on this list by far. Loveblaster provides lush open guitar tones, simple and warm drums and gorgeous soft vocal performances. Not dissimilar to other slowcore groups, slow tempos and beautiful sounds make this album easy on the ears. What makes this album so special is how hyperlocal it feels. It relates to life in our lovely city better than anything that’s been released in the past few years and does so in a shimmering fashion.
Highlight Track: “Wings Over Madison”
9
twikipedia - For the Rest of Your Life
Where shoegaze meets digicore is where you’ll find For the Rest of Your Life. It’s almost been a trend for hyper pop and adjacent musicians to dive into shoegaze, with twikipedia citing Parannoul as a direct influence on this project. I always appreciated the potential of Parannoul, but twikipedia’s polish is why this charts so high for me. These indietronicagaze projects are usually noisy and anthemic, and that still holds true here, but twikipedia is consistent. There’s so many bangers and every crescendo is fulfilling. The emotional moments feel raw, but don’t stray too far from the overall sound of the project. This album is both fun and fearless in its sonics.
Highlight Track: “Paper Planes”
8
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
Everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) Ivy League rockers sound more mature than ever on Only God Was Above Us. Vampire Weekend has always been a love 'em or hate 'em type of band and this release allows previous fans and potential deniers a chance to enjoy their music. While still unapologetically themselves, this is extremely polished with loads of strings and interesting instrumental swells. The project culminates into catchy chamber pop that’s high-brow in a way that somehow feels less pretentious than their previous work. Their diverse influences combine cleaner than previous attempts and front-to-back this project is simply satisfying.
Highlight Track: “Classical”
7
Charli XCX - Brat
There’s nothing I can add to the discourse around this album. Brat is brilliant in its danceable witty minimalist way. It was Charli’s year and we were just living in it.
Highlight Track: “Talk talk”
6
Wild Pink - Dulling the Horns
Dulling the Horns expands on the gentler folk-rock of past Wild Pink albums with the addition of some heavier shoegaze-esque guitars. In some ways, it feels like an understanding and taming down of the soul-crushing guitars from “Sucking On The Birdshot” off their last album ILYSM. “Sucking On The Birdshot” was an outlier on an album with a majority of tender moments, and that’s not to say Dulling the Horns isn’t tender because of its comparatively harsher sound, but it’s definitely more cohesive with less variation in sonic tone.
Read the rest of my review here.
Highlight Track: “Bonnie One”
5
Armand Hammer - BLK LBL
Water becomes real murky when I start adding albums that aren’t really albums but more like compilations that happen to have only been released on vinyl and sold at select Armand Hammer shows, but BLK LBL is that good. As from what I’ve heard from Soundcloud mp3s ripped from the vinyl, Armand Hammer return with some of the best chemistry you’ll hear from a hip-hop duo this century. The dark eerie energy delivers in a more casual way than previous projects but still works just as well in the cohesion department. billy woods and E L U C I D can do no wrong.
Highlight Track: “Girl Dinner”
4
Mk.gee - Two Star & The Dream Police
When I wrote about this album back in February for our last print magazine, I had no idea the cultural stamp it would leave on this year. Mk.gee has since blown up in part due to his unique guitar tones and song structures, but mainly because of his authenticity.
Head here and go to the ninth page to read how I was feeling about this project back in February.
Highlight Track: “Are You Looking Up”
3
Mount Eerie - Night Palace
While Phil Elverum’s last release, Microphones in 2020, was one 44-minute-long song, Night Palace takes a different approach with 26 songs across 81 minutes. While it’s a long project, my attention is retained through new sounds and bursts of energy from one-minute songs to the 12-minute “Demolition.” This brings together a lot of Phil’s best work from straight-up slacker rock to avant folk to post rock and everything in between. This album presents a breath of fresh, cold air, as it’s a lot to digest, but easy to understand. It’s existential as ever and brimming with personality and poetic imagery. It feels like Phil has done this forever and will continue for an eternity.
Highlight Track: “Wind & Fog”
2
Tapir! - The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain
It’s not often you find a band whose debut is this good. In fact, it’s not often you find a band whose debut is a three-act epic of serene indie art folk. As a concept album, the plot seems loose as the Pilgrim leaves its home and ventures out into an unknown world with many temptations across this mythical landscape. Listeners can choose to dive deep into that unknown world or listen removed from the story and, either way, it’s brilliant and emotionally moving. The instrumentation is lush and folky, with some additions of electronics which all seemingly fit into this world’s narrative as well as the project's overall sound. This project is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.
Highlight Track: “The Nether (Face To Face)”
1
22° Halo - Lily of the Valley
Everything about this album makes me feel good inside. From the plucky and bubbly guitar sounds, to Will Kennedy's beautiful love for his wife during her struggle with cancer to the shade of green on the album cover, it all fills my heart. Every second of this 30-minute project feels intentional and touching while still being incredibly laid back. This project is infectious and DIY to the core. It portrays what it feels like to be human in its vulnerable positions, but encourages us to keep pushing forward.
“You can make it the year / You can make it decades / You can make it decades.”
Highlight Track: “Bird Sanctuary”
May the music be this good next year and every year,
Happy New Year from EMMIE