3 Overlooked Albums from 2024

I love end of year lists because they become time capsules almost immediately. I think they often age poorly. Not because anyone is being untruthful, we just aren’t always accurate predictors of durability. Working in a used bookstore I would often come across books I’d never heard of proudly branded Pulitzer and National Book Award finalists. I’m not the best read reader in the world, but more often than not the authors stars had simply faded. Many of those books were good! Time moves faster than memory.

Chappell and Charli will live on; I have nothing interesting to add. MJ Lenderman will empower Timothee’s newly converted Bob Dylan fans to girlboss, gaslight, gatekeep like Lindsey Buckingham before him. The rest of folks’ top 10’s, 20’s, 100’s, have it harder.

Anyway, here are three albums I liked this year that haven’t gotten enough love. You should check them out.

Terrarium by Pet TV

For fans of: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, basement shows, Modern Baseball

Key tracks: Big Big Picture, Rocket, Turpentine

Pet TV is a guy named Cody who I met basically by accident. The record is a Baja Blast on a sunny longboard ride. Beneath the breezy surface is an intricate weave of anxiety and intent. Where others have succumbed to irony poisoning, Pet TV is achingly earnest. It’s an album of uneasy answers in an uncertain world, and that’s the most honest thing anyone can offer.

Maybe Tomorrow by Kennedy Mann

For fans of: Dead Oceans gang, overthinking, whimsy

Key Tracks: Be Myself, Phone, Tomorrow

I found Kennedy Mann the old fashioned way: an instagram account called Bionicle Affirmations posted a song of hers and I thought “Hey that’s pretty good!” Opener “To Myself” builds so naturally and is almost orchestral in its layering, the sticky synth laying out the red carpet for a confidently whimsical drumbeat. The final two tracks, “Phone",” and “Tomorrow,” build to wonderful guitar freakout crescendos, grit-teeth grins demanding attention.

The Only Love I Know by Voices in Vain

For fans of: blast beat breakdowns, the French Revolution, Knocked Loose

Key Tracks: Turned to Ash, Unheard No Longer, The Airless Quiet

Voices in Vain are a locomotive of righteous fury. While metal has always dealt in doom and gloom, Voices are particularly focused on climate degradation and America’s rising fascist tide. Their apocalypse forgoes the maudlin camp of their predecessors and presents a tangible reality. On the final song they howl, “Life as we know it could be so fucking simple. All we need is a guillotine to get ahead.” Also, that’s funny! Ahead? A head? Cmon! If the album is an invitation to the end, it is and end met laughing and not alone.

For some the apocalypse happens every day. Consider donating to help those in need.