This year was a tumultuous one! I spent most of it in class and digging my way out of an endless stream of work, and it unfortunately meant I was unable to listen to nearly as much new music this year. However, there are some albums that I feel deserve to be highlighted. If only for the reason that I want to write about these, all of these projects in one way or another are very good and resonated with me in a meaningful way. All wildly underrated, I encourage checking out everything here! Without further ado, some of my favorite projects from the year 2024!

Quick Disclaimer

I absolutely forgot multiple amazing works of art from this year, and I will do my best to update the lists, but if your project isn’t here, it means nothing more than these I did mention have been on my mind recently!

My long list of Honorable Mentions (incredible projects you should absolutely go listen to)

Quiche in the Oven by .Tetsuo, 19521 Chaos by Rap Man Gavin & The Dark Cow, AUTHOR by herratic, History Repeats Itself 2 by Lil Figurative, 2016 by High Girlfriend, Killingsworth Blues by Saige Wolley & Nate Habits, Seven Bless by Fuzhjin, No Shimmering Heaven by A Place Called Hell and will we ever dance again? by sleepingdogs

Records I’ve already talked about:

Con Filtro by Maximus & Mashoni

Link to previous review

Now I’ve already covered both of these projects in length, but I have a bit of the benefit of hindsight here. While the first half of this project always really connected with me, the second half has really grown on me. I’m typically a fan of Maxximus over darker beats (just a personal thing), but some of these lighter beats like La Raza have really grown on me especially given fantastic performances from both producer and artist. I’ve heard from socials that they will be spinning it back with another project, and I for one will be highly anticipating this.

Behemoth by Sacco & Vanzetti

Link to previous review

Behemoth is another album I’ve spoken on before and surprise, it also grew on me a lot as time progressed. In the same fashion as Con Filtro some of the brighter cuts like Kill Shit For featuring the prolific NahReally or the slamming spectacle of 1, 2, 3 featuring Tomcantsleep and Jesse the Tree really found their groove in my listening journey this year. The post-apocalyptic feel lives in this album as well as the project’s I’ll mention below, but the massive scope of this project as a double album lives uniquely in an era of bite sized servings.

New Reviews:

The Beach by Support

Though I am new to her music, The Beach was easily one of my favorite albums of the year. Support’s unrelenting flow and ability to switch it with ease reminds me a lot of some of my favorite parts of Serengeti’s music. The sound palette that Support employs on this project at it’s best allows the tracklist to float by, each track feeling more like a written story about an experience with an old friend. Specifically from Bedlam to the break in the fog on Misery, this album feels its most hazy and intoxicating. I really enjoy the path it takes afterwards with some more experimental & long form tracks on the back half, especially since this is Support’s debut project. It gives the album a new dimension and so much more variety, but I would love to see her return to this sound on another project at some point. I think something else that has to be brought up is that this project was largely self produced, and that on its own is a feat. The production on this album is consistently great, ranging from evolving dynamic beats to incredibly catchy guitar riffs inhabiting the barebone instrumental, every beat feels deliberate and hand crafted. As you will see as a theme on this list, I enjoy projects I’ll be unpacking for years to come, and this just happens to be one. A lot is being said on this project, and I feel that Support puts it in a way I just can’t, so I would suggest you to go check out this new artist, and give her a listen because I certainly didn’t regret it.

ADHD by xhef & Millennium

One of my favorite projects of the year especially considering the creative exercise taking place here. For those who don’t know, xhef recorded these verses & sent them to Millenium to build the production around. For those who know me, I am a massive fan of this approach myself especially with a focused producer specifically because of projects like this. This project is raw, unforgiving, and unrelenting, with xhef’s incredibly dense lyricism contrasting with Millenium’s absolutely absurd production in a dizzying 20 minutes. The music itself is rarely stagnant, with each song developing and changing in some incredibly creative directions. Even the moments of instrumental peace like FAUXCUS, the bleak atmosphere conjured here is intoxicating in the way of a warm blanket in a cold storm. This project flies by but demands your attention for every second, and xhef’s lyricism navigates that same space. Covering some deeply personal topics, its very easy to connect with xhef’s pained delivery. xhef has always been an impressive writer, but this may be his best work yet. This project is incredibly layered and personal, and I implore you to go experience it for yourself.

The Hottest year on Record by Sasco

This record came on my radar through the incredible feature list with Shemar, Rap Man Gavin, Baegul & many more, all which I listen to & on a couple occasions have collaborated with. Sasco brings an ear for an album & an equally impressive skill of creating beats that are both falling apart at the seams and wildly different & entertaining. This is shown all over this record, but specifically with tracks like Leaks featuring Hester Valentine or Make Yourself Useful featuring Joshua Virtue & Shemar. This post apocalyptic atmosphere is accentuated through a focus on the dystopian state of the world as it is, specifically in relation to global warming. I won’t pretend that I fully understand this record yet, or even that I grasp a lot of its thematic work or production choices. However, this is the type of album that invites the listener to uncover these answers through lived experience and growth, which happens to be my favorite kind of art to digest. I love the split beat tape/artist centric approach to this project as well, with instrumental tracks spliced throughout appearances from some of the underground’s best and brightest. One of the year’s best projects and I for one am excited to see what comes next from what is obviously an extremely talented artist!

Written By Blank Thought: linktr.ee/b1ankthought