My Favorite Records of 2024

Colorful collage of music icons: reel to reel tape player, blank cassette tape cases, vintage turntable, blank cassette tape, speaker, and cassette player.

Music is of my favorite parts of the human experience. Few things bring me more joy. So every year I compile a list of my favorites to share with everyone.

This year I’m sharing 20 in total. Some were newly released. Others were new to me. And some simply captivated me because they were what I needed to survive.

In alphabetical order…

3D illustration of a bouquet of colorful flowers, partially cocooned in white plastic sheathing, silhouetted on a white background.

Big|Brave, “A Chaos of Flowers”

Favorite track: quotidian : solemnity
Listen: bigbrave.bandcamp.com…

Retro illustration of a pink angry male face with a laughing female face used for his eyeballs silhouetted over a solid black background. The band name and record title are overlaid in a rugged font.

Calibro 35, “Ritornano Quelli Di…”

Favorite track: Calling All Units to Broccolino
Listen: calibro35rk.bandcamp.com…

Washed out black and white photo of two young children standing at the edge of a large lake with mountains behind them, hazy from the setting sun. There are old trees around them and some other partially obstructed people near an old white deck type structure.

Chihei Hatakeyama and Shaun Ishiwaka, “Magnificent Little Dudes, Volume 02”

Favorite track: M3 (feat. Cecilia Bignall)
Listen: gearboxrecords.bandcamp.com…

Silhouette of a partially completed stone sculpture of a human face. The band name and title are overlaid in a smudgy and misaligned font.

The Cure, “Songs of a Lost World”

Favorite track: Alone
Listen: thecure.lnk.to…

School photo of a male with glasses. He’s smiling wide and wearing a pattern button-up shirt with a bolo tie. He has various tattoos graphically added to his face. The band’s name is tiled in the background.

Dead Pioneers, “Dead Pioneers”

Favorite track: Bad Indian
Listen: deadpioneers.bandcamp.com…

Comic book style illustration of a record player on a leather watch band. It’s floating with an explosion behind it.

DJ Qbert, “ORIGINS (Wave Twisters Zero)”

Favorite track: Doom Box
Listen: djqbert.bandcamp.com…

Very dark and crude painting of a dark battle field with a giant bomb explosion in the background over a golden smoke-filled sky. There are silhouettes of soldiers on the horizon and a faint skull in the smoke. The band name and record title are overlaid along in the horizon in rough fonts.

Domain, “Life’s Cold Grasp”

Favorite track: Life’s Cold Grasp
Listen: dazestyle.bandcamp.com…

Native American woman sitting with her hands folded, facing off to the side. She’s wearing a black long sleeve tee-shirt and colorful earrings and necklace. There’s a pastel Native American pattern in the background. Her name and the title are overlaid in feminine fonts.

Fawn Wood, “Kik​a​wiynaw”

Favorite track: For Dallas
Listen: canyonrecords.bandcamp.com…

Detailed illustration of the backside of a male anthropomorphic bipedal creature with antlers and big muscles, standing on the ready with his head bowed, thigh-deep in water. Facing him in the background is a demonic dragon with spread wings, with its mouth open as if screaming. The band name and record title are subtilely overlaid.

Flotsam & Jetsam, “I Am the Weapon”

Favorite track: Primal
Listen: flotsamandjetsam.bfan.link…

Black and white line-art illustration of an anthropomorphic creature with myriad tubes and wires stemming from its body. Its tongue is extended with drool hanging from its mouth. The thorny band logo and record title are overlaid sideways.

GraveRipper, “Cybernetic Nightmare”

Favorite track: Cybernetic Nightmare
Listen: graveripper.bandcamp.com…

Duotone photo of two Ecuadorian men, silhouetted over a blue background. One has a moustache and scruffy hair. He is wearing a suit coat over a polo and pants with a large belt buckle. He’s reaching into his pocket and looking off into the distance behind the camera. The second has a moustache, short beard, and long hair in two braids set from behind his head. He’s wearing a light pattern sweater, open over a t-shirt, with sleeves rolled up to reveal tattoos, and pants with a large belt buckle. He’s holding a hat with his other hand holding the first. They’re covered in bracelets and rings. There is an Ecuadorian pattern used for side borders. The band name is set in a comic-book style 3D font. The record title is set in a simple artistic font.

Hermanos Gutierrez, “Sonido Cósmico”

Favorite track: Low Sun
Listen: hermanosgutierrez.bandcamp.com…

Duotone photograph of Aztec art carved in stone. The band logo is overlaid next to the record title which is set in a small subtle font.

Indication, “Ataraxia of the Phoenix”

Favorite track: Dawn Rising
Listen: dazestyle.bandcamp.com…

Three red stars with soft corners in a staggered column on a light gray background.

Junior Varsity, “My Star”

Favorite track: Cross the Street
Listen: vyd.co…

Photograph of Marnie, a white barefoot woman in a short dress with long blonde hair in a pony tail. She is standing on blacktop next to a small breed dog with a desert landscape behind her. The sun is setting, causing a blinding effect overall. Her name and the record title are set above the photo in a light font that fades to transparent from left-to-right.

Marnie Stern, “The Chronicles of Marnia”

Favorite track: You Don’t Turn Down
Listen: marniestern.bandcamp.com…

Grainy black and white photo of a woman’s hands with rings on her fingers, playing an electric guitar.

Midwife, “No Depression in Heaven”

Favorite track: Better Off Alone
Listen: heavenmetal.bandcamp.com…

Busts of four Japanese women wearing brightly colorful makeup and clothing. They’re lying down in a circle with scrunched up faces from boxing gloves as if being punched. Each boxing glove is a different color, matching a clothing and makeup color theme for each. There are various painted shapes and splatters overlaid, and the record title is in the center, set with an electricity style font.

Otoboke Beaver, “Super Champion”

Favorite track: PARDON?
Listen: otobokebeaver.bandcamp.com…

Very dim raised fist with brown skin in a resistance and protest pose, over a solid black background.

Sault, “Untitled (Black Is)”

Favorite track: Stop Dem
Listen: saultglobal.bandcamp.com…

Smudgy bright blue background of a cassette tape insert with black and white typography and illustrations overlaid. The cover illustration is woman wearing a niqab with punk studs, looking directly forward. In the background is a crowd in civil unrest and a building that’s being smashed by a wrecking ball, and smoke billowing out of it. The band name is written in Arabic above it, and a statement is written below it in a simple font that reads: ‘victory belongs to those who fight for a right cause.’ The band name is written in Arabic on the spine. The back flap shows an illustration of a man’s severed head on the ground. He’s wearing a turban and grimacing. The tracks are listed in Arabic.

Taqbir, “Taqbir”

Favorite track: Tfou 3lik
Listen: taqbir.bandcamp.com…

Duotone photograph of Tyler, a black man, wearing a solid black mask shaped like a face with open eye holes. His hair is neatly shaped into two shapes reminiscent of bows or ears. He’s wearing a dark leather coat over a white tee-shirt and white tie. He’s staring slightly behind the camera with one hand propped upright with his fingers slightly bent. There's a single spotlight reflection behind him.

Tyler the Creator, “Chromakopia”

Favorite track: Thought I Was Dead
Listen: tylerthecreator.lnk.to…

Black illustration over a light gray background with the Wrong War and Compulsion band logos above it, set in grungy fonts. There is a sketchy border surrounding everything. The illustration is a collage of body parts, animal parts, plants, and fire. They're jumbled together in a sporadic quilted pattern. At the top is a factory emitting smoke, and there are stars in the background throughout.

Wrong War, “Split LP”

Favorite track: Profit Net
Listen: wrongwar.bandcamp.com…

I really loved compiling this list. I hope you find something on it that brings you joy. You can also check out previous years:

Note that most of these can be found on Spotify or Apple Music, so you can give them a risk-free spin. But if you truly love something, I encourage you to purchase it from the artist. That’s why I link to Bandcamp and the like.

#Music #FavoriteRecords #BestOf2024 #Metal #Hardcore #Punk #HipHop #NativeAmerican #Indigenous #RockAndRoll #AcousticGuitar #Funk #Electronic #FemaleMusicians #Slowcore

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Illustration of me with a content facial expression. I am wearing a wine colored beanie, teal glasses, and my long full beard is brown with gray edges. There is a dreary forest in the background.
I’m Mark Wyner, an activist, dad, husband, Designer, writer, public speaker, and Mastodon moderator. If you want me to write for you or speak at your event please say hello.