The 50 Best Albums of 2024

Alt-pop princesses, DIY guys, rap bridge burners and hardcore bands upset the status quo this year. Now that’s ANTIART.

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Note From The Editor

Hey everyone, welcome to the 4th annual ANTIART Best Albums of the Year list. I think it’s important to note right up top that this is the first year since I started this page that I really didn’t listen to records as they came out on a weekly, or even a monthly basis. I’ve been enjoying digging deeper into hot topics as well as making my own music, which you will begin to hear starting in early 2025. David Lynch said that he never really watches new movies because he’s always working on his own endeavors, and this year was very much that for me. But, have no fear, I have…gotten over myself.

That’s right, see as I was binging these records all throughout this month and November to prepare for this list, a spark inside me was ignited. It was a passion for music that I hadn’t really felt since I started this page with my friend Troy (assisted by my buddies Ryan and Ibe) in 2020. Along with that new inspiration, by making my own music, I began to understand the finer details of mixing, mastering and songwriting. Now, I feel like I actually have a much clearer picture of what a body of work, or album, should really be, and how fucking hard it is to get right over 40+ minutes of music.

I considered about 200 or so records for this list. It was a quest to find the best and brightest of 2024, and I present to you today a humble 50. Each one of these LPs is carefully selected based on its artistic merit, replay value, speculative future influence and cohesiveness as a project. I really wanted to try to reward the 50 most fearless and confident artists that I could, as to inspire new acts to learn from them. And, to give audiences something to listen to front-to-back, aside from just brat, although, spoiler, brat is very high on this list. Without any further fanfare, here are my picks for the 50 Best Albums of 2024.

Sincerely,

Ryan ANTIART

Photo by Justin Belmondo

Albums #50-11

50. syzy, Weight of the world

49. Bassvictim, Basspunk

48. Yeat, 2093

47. Jamie xx, In Waves

46. Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven

45. Nilufer Yanya, Method Actor

44. The Hellp, LL

43. Nia Archives, Silence Is Loud

42. Godspeed You! Black Emperor, “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28.340 DEAD”

41. Navy Blue, Memoirs In Armour

40. Billie Eilish, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT

39. Johnny Blue Skies, Passage Du Desir

38. Two Shell, Two Shell

37. Justice, Hyperdrama

36. Chanel Beads, Your Day Will Come

35. SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE, YOU’LL HAVE TO LOSE SOMETHING

34. Nails, Every Bridge Burning

33. Future / Metro Boomin, WE DON’T TRUST YOU

32. Kim Gordon, The Collective

31. fantasy of a broken heart, Feats of Engineering

30. Chat Pile, Cool World

29. Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal

28. The Last Dinner Party, Prelude To Ecstacy

27. Floating Points, Cascade

26. Geordie Greep, The New Sound

25. The Smile, Wall of Eyes

24. Mach-Hommy, #RICHAXXHAITIAN

23. Xiu Xiu, 13” Frank Belframe Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips

22. Denzel Curry, KING OF THE MISCHIEVOUS SOUTH

21. Zach Bryan, The Great American Bar Scene

20. Schoolboy Q, Blue Lips

19. Blood Incantation, Absolute Elsewhere

18. Father John Misty, Mashashmashana

17. Jessica Pratt, Here in the Pitch

16. Vince Staples, Dark Times

15. Helado Negro, PHASOR

14. Bladee, Cold Visions

13. Lip Critic, Hex Dealer

12. Clairo, Charm

11. Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future

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The Top 10

10. Kelly Lee Owens, Dreamstate

This year, The 1975’s drummer George Daniel made a smart turn to the world of electronic music with his new imprint under Dirty Hit Records, dh2. Along with him, he gave Welsh dream pop and techno artist Kelly Lee Owens a fresh start under a bigger platform. The result is what Pitchfork brilliantly called “architectural”, aka methodically calculated and beautifully built electronic music. Owens’ artfully subdued production style matched with her spellbinding vocals yields such incredible cuts as “Love You Get” and “Dark Angel”. It's versatile music that rewards deeper headphone listening, but could also soundtrack a Molly-fueled, sweaty rave just as effectively. This one really crept up on me so don’t miss this one.

9. Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us

Each record from Vampire Weekend, one after the next since 2006, seems to just get sharper and smarter. While their debut was fun and a classic in its own right, it could sometimes get a little gimmicky, sounding like a smattering of historical references and Ivy League hoopla. With later entries, the writing has gotten more personal and universal, culminating with their latest record: Only God Was Above Us. It throws back to the brevity of earlier entries with just ten tracks, but makes more out of each moment. Whether it’s the string-laden mad dash of the opener “Ice Cream Piano” or the sobering slow burner “The Surfer”, this record is always trying to capture your attention, and your heart. This is what you get when you release music on terms, taking as much time as you need between full length releases. It’s a well-crafted collision of blissful baroque and rock music with a filmic grit that no other band could do but Vampire, Motherfuckin’, Weekend.

8. Kendrick Lamar, GNX

After smacking around one of the world’s biggest pop stars and then securing the Super Bowl halftime show because of it, Kendrick Lamar must’ve felt on top of the world. The potent and lingering energy of his brutal Drake disses such “Euphoria” and “Not Like Us” had to go somewhere, but no one expected a project before the end of the year. Let alone, one of his best. GNX is a black-and-white snapshot of a moment, keeping production and lyrics simple but effective to get his point across. The intro “wacced out murals” describes an event that just happened, and lays out the thesis of the record. That is, stand on your morals, never letting people disrespect you, and never being afraid to remind the people why you’re that guy. It’s 45 minutes of crash out soundtracks (“squabble up” and “tv off”), cerebral slow cuts (“heart pt. 6”), and Cali bops (“hey now”). He brings along West Coast hometown heroes like dody6, lefty gunplay and Wallie the Sensei to really drive the point home, as well as his future football stadium touring mate SZA to really anchor the project. If he merely mentioned / honored Drakeo The Ruler (who’s production style and cadence this album draws from) this would be a bit higher up, but oh well. But, aside from that, disappointments are quite limited on GNX.

7. Chappell Roan, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess

I really want to try to get this quote attributed to myself so I’m repeating it in another Substack: great art makes you make exceptions. Yes, this record came out in late 2023, but no one was buzzing about it. Yes, lyrics like “get it hot like Papa John’s” on the opener “Femininomenon”, and the title itself, make me cringe a tiny bit, but the song is still amazing. The earth shattering, festival crowd record breaking debut album is not only worth the hype, but I’d argue needs even more critical praise than it’s gotten. The versatility on here on cannot be overstated. She gives us touching modern-dating balladry (“Coffee”, “Casual”), stadium-sized anthems (“Red Wine Supernova”, “HOT TO GO!”) and queer club staples (“Pink Pony Club”) all under one roof. It could’ve been a mixed bag, but instead it all comes together like a well-created collection of greatest hits. All visuals and performances involved all continue to bolster the strong body of work and make me confident that we will be talking about this record for decades to come.

6. JPEGMAFIA, I Lay Down My Life

Man, I love music that creates massive rifts in opinions. Recently, I was speaking to a longtime friend of the page who’s taste I greatly respect, who hated JPEGMAFIA’s most recent record, I Lay Down My Life. He argued that it leans into all his worst production quirks, focuses too much on his own ego and personal controversies, and doesn’t have any standout singles. Well, one man's trash is another man’s treasure, because for me, this is the rap record of the year. It’s a perfect showcase and sharpening of the many tools and weapons of JPEGMAFIA. After salvaging Kanye West’s Vultures 1, he turned his production expertise to literally flipping samples better than other producers have done in the past on “New Black History” and the masterful “Exmilitary”, which uses the same sample as Wu-Tang Clan’s “Tearz”. He is an expert marksman of sonics but also hits the bullseye with his diction and comedic wordplay, “.45 always there like State Farm”, “I’m G.I. Joe fallin’ down them steps”, “Bitch I go Amber Rose with these MAGA raps”. Every other line on this record makes me laugh and bang my head simultaneously. This is one of the most thoughtfully sequenced records of his career as well. I agree with my friend about the “no singles” point, but only because this is a capital A album. I could listen to this from front to back all day, and it even gets more clear eyed and vulnerable as it goes along, culminating with the acoustic, reflective meditation on “i recovered from this”. Him rapping “Everyone that I dated deserves better” as the sample interlocks “would you ever leave me?” gives me chills every time. “I been working on this shit a long time” he candidly states at the end, and I think it shows.

5. Knocked Loose, You Don’t Go Before You’re Supposed To

Now because I don’t have as much of a history with this band, I don’t have too much to say in this description. But since this is 27-minutes of visceral force, I’ll keep this brief. I forgot how much I love hardcore music, and this record encapsulates everything great about the genre. It’s technical and complex as fuck, shoving 20 ideas into a 2-minute space and nailing all of them, as on “Suffocate” featuring Poppy. We get (of course) hardcore, speedy punk sections, metal riffs, insane drum fills, female feature vocals, breakdowns, spoken word, reggaeton and an ambient field recording faster than you can pop a bag of popcorn. And that’s just on one song, imagine spread across an entire record. Not since Deafheaven’s Sunbather have I seen an album that will unite the snobby hipsters and the nihilistic headbangers, and I think that is no small feat. Pure fire, no notes.

4. 2hollis, boy

   

   With boy, 2hollis continues to build on everything that’s made him a favorite of the Gen-Z internet crowd, turning a trendy sound into something more genuinely impactful. It kicks off with the best opener of the year, “you once said my name”, which leads one to believe it’s a simple autotune ballad before hitting the listener with an all-out assault of synths and drum hits. Each song after this feels exactly like the album cover looks: God himself opened up the skies to hand thirteen bangers to a shirtless, hyper-online dude with bleach blonde hair. “two bad”, “sister” and “crush” effortlessly flow into each other, all harnessing the simple yet potent power of catchy choral melodies and left-field, fiery electronic production. Like Kelly Lee Owen’s Dreamstate, hollis takes the calculated and icy beatwork to another level with his strong vocal presence. The music on display here is nostalgic of the 2010’s swag era yet shoots for the future at light speed. Idk this shit just hits all the emotional highs and lows with no fear at all, how the fuck do you go from the sad boy crooning of “promise” to the digital onslaught of “3”? Who else is trying this hard but also coming off as effortless? The transitions are on point, the lyrics are often kind of sweet and thoughtful despite the harshness that surrounds them — it just paints a really exciting portrait of what humans can do when they ceaselessly pursue a specific vision.

3. Magdalena Bay, Imaginal Disk

Speaking of ceaseless pursuits of a specific vision and otherworldly entities coming to the Earthly realm to implant music in the brain of a shirtless person: behold Magdalena Bay’s Imaginal Disk. The duo did the rare feat of synthesizing many genres into one signature style on their sophomore record, Mercurial World, but with this one, they really triple down. Warm disco, 8-bit textures, vaporware and vocal pop all swirl together in beautiful ruminations on human mundanities like “Killing Time” and “Watching T.V.”. It’s an album full of lyrical allusions to waiting for it all to end, as on the lead single “Death & Romance”. Imaginal Disk feels like making out in a cute, baby blue ‘90s Japanese import car as the gust of a world ending nuclear blast is slowly, but inevitably ripping towards you. Or scrolling on message boards so long that you get sucked into the computer scene. There is this real potent element of conceptual fantasy here, further made real with gorgeous string arrangements, chunky bass and a clever but non-disruptive interludes. This record made me fall in love with it towards the very end of the year, so it will be a mainstay for 2025 listening.

2. Mk.gee, Two Star & The Dream Police

I confidently trust young American folk heroes like 2hollis, Nourished By Time, and Mk.gee with the future of music for years to come. They prove that you don’t need a multi-million dollar studio or big, flashy videos to make the art stick with people. All you need is awesome music and a bit of steez. Like JPEG’s latest record, this is a self-produced and performed top-to-bottom sonic experience like no other that you’ll come across this year. The way this kid plays the guitar is simply fucking incredible, fusing everything from the distorted folk stylings of a Neil Young (“Are You Looking Up”) to the future funk rock of the enigmatic Jai Paul (“Candy”). The sudden starts and stops with various effects channels a kind of subconscious melody that most artists don’t ever really strike on. Even real life guitar hero Eric Clapton was singing his praises earlier this year. Mk.gee really builds on the avant-garde energy of the DIY rock and electronic flourishes that Alex G harnessed while working on Frank Ocean’s Endless. Imagine a man with a Fender Stratocaster on a smoky stage, delay and reverb pedals and wires at his feet trapped between tall racks of Modular synths. It’s the type simple yet classic songwriting coupled with a hypnogogic, hazy X-factor that we need more of in the music industry. Two Star & The Dream Police is a shimming gem amongst its contemporaries, and should be celebrated as such.

1. Charli xcx, BRAT

I mean, listen, I called this before it came out and within a few days of it’s release. Despite an ultimately pointless disagreement (Kamala lost by a landslide even after a small boost from a tweet from Charli) that eventually lead to her posting me on main, I gotta be objective and give it up to the queen. Just because an artist and a critic don’t see eye-to-eye on some things, doesn’t make the music not astounding. Since the PC Music link-up in 2014, I have been hoping and praying for her to become the world’s biggest pop star, and this year, it happened. brat is a proof of concept for the very idea of Charli xcx. Her last record CRASH and her 2024 pre-brat single “In The City” were her trying to appease the label and take the typical channels to fight for a much-delayed Grammy nomination. brat feels almost like a punk revolt, “Fine, you won’t accept me in your little Academy of Music? Well here’s a low-res word against neon green background and a bunch of bangers for my hardcore fans.” It’s kind of like a shit post of an album in attitude, but not in quality. By this, I mean that it’s quick and shot from the hip. The result is the most culturally significant pop statement piece of the 2020’s, only rivaling The Weekend’s run at the beginning of the decade. I mean come on, this is a record full of solid gold hits, “360”, “club classics”, “sympathy is a knife”, “von dutch”, “Rewind", “Girl so confusing”, “Apple”, “b2b”, “365”, not to mention the remixes that are either equally good or better in some cases. Normally, I’d be annoyed with an artist milking a hot streak and doing bonus tour after bonus tour and remix after remix. In this case, I give her full reign to be the brat she’s always strived to be. Sold out stadiums, packed festivals, random events in Times Square, why the fuck not? Let’s keep the brat mobile rolling at 150 MPH until the damn brat wheels fall off (bumpin’ that). I even saw a normie mom explain to normie another mom what brat is the other day at Starbucks, now that’s a household name.