It Gets Late Early These Days: Favorite Albums of 2024

You certainly didn't ask for it, but here's a list of 10 great albums from 2024, as heard by a stay-at-home dad with a fondness for pop hooks and under-appreciated artists. I am blissfully unattached to any sort of "required listening," and have the privilege of seeking out a lot of things I enjoy. This list is in that spirit, and hopefully may offer you something a little different to consider. Thanks for reading!

10. Sabrina Carpenter, Short N' Sweet (Island)

This was a year for the pop girls on the Billboard charts, and for my money, Sabrina Carpenter's breakthrough album was the one to beat. There's an appealing silliness to her ribald wordplay that doesn't get in the way of some genuinely appealing hooks. Due credit to collaborators John Ryan and Julian Bunetta (One Direction), Ian Kirkpatrick (Dua Lipa) and, yes, Jack Antonoff (a bunch of stuff) for bringing the juice on the radio.

9. Hell Beach, BEACHWORLD (Uncle Style)

Three of Hell Beach's music videos do a solid job of capturing the Manchester, NH band's vibe: feel-good pop-punk from that age of endless wasted time. You're probably paying bills and dealing with adult life; don't you deserve a break sometimes? This was one of my favorite diversions of the year.

8. Megan from Work, Girl Suit (self-released)

Singer/songwriter Megan Simon (who plays keys in Hell Beach and used to front a great power-pop combo called Bad Sandy) is on a roll with their first project as Megan from Work. It's a terrific, hook-laden statement of purpose and identity from someone who, if this record is any indication, is having a lot of fun figuring out some things and blowing off some steam when that puzzle-solving gets too stressful.

7. Katie Gavin, What a Relief (Saddest Factory)

What could have easily been a MUNA outtakes record (and, only part way into opening tracks "I Want It All" and "Aftertaste," kind of threaten to be at first) quickly becomes a mix of fun skeins from the margins of Gavin's notebook, unafraid of setting that immediately recognizable voice to something a little more personal (raw) and direct in ways that the trio doesn't always let themselves be (less yearning, more ruminating, a ton more folk).

6. Pom Pom Squad, Mirror Starts Moving Without Me (City Slang)

When Pom Pom Squad burst onto the scene with Death of a Cheerleader in 2021, it was a triumphant moment for female-forward crunchy guitar pop. For their next act, leader Mia Berrin deconstructed what fans might have expected on a follow-up, offering stomping lite-disco, wistful self-portraits and droning, acidic alt-pop that expands on the band's approach without alienating anyone who liked what they were doing before.

5. Little Hag, Now That's What I Call Little Hag! (Bar None)

Like Pom Pom Squad, Little Hag's sophomore album built upon previous work by pushing the boundaries of what a band can be. Anchored by the pen and quavering voice of Avery Mandeville, Now That's What I Call Little Hag! rocketed from freaky to tender like bumpers on a pinball table at a Jersey Shore arcade. The only predictability was how Avery was going to keep you locked in to her whip-smart songcraft.

4. The Damnwells, Bad At Beautiful (Poor Man/Pasadena)

You can go home again. Singer/songwriter Alex Dezen followed The Damnwells' last album (2015's self-titled effort, featuring a reunion of the original four-piece line-up from the early '00s) with four solo albums' worth of material, a burgeoning career as a producer/engineer and a growing body of work with post-punk band Broken Baby (featuring his partner Amber Bollinger on vocals). But the clarion call of another ride with The Damnwells proved hard to resist, so with nothing necessarily to prove, the quartet did what they do best: gently affecting modern rock with all the thoughtful lyrics and catchy melodies you could want.

3. Charly Bliss, Forever (Lucky Number)

Being in a band has to be one of the most thrilling and frustrating experiences in all of the music business. On one hand, you're engaging in some of the most fulfilling camaraderie around the power of song; on the other hand, if you're not signed to a major, it's something you're probably doing in between other gigs and hustles. Charly Bliss' third album (and first in five years, a gap that saw singer Eva Hendricks move from New York to Australia and her brother/drummer Sam start a family) reckons with that tension and says, "Might as well!" A real, earned moment of triumph in a year that got unbearably difficult for so many people.

2. Crowded House, Gravity Stairs (BMG)

This is the third phase of New Zealand singer-songwriter Neil Finn's unforgettable Crowded House, following their original decade-long run from 1986 to 1996 and a brief revival in the late '00s/early '10s. With a new familial line-up (original bassist Nick Seymour and keyboardist Mitchell Froom, who produced the band's first three albums, alongside Neil's sons Liam and Elroy on guitar and drums), Crowded House builds mightily upon 2021's fine-if-a-bit-opaque Dreamers Are Waiting, offering tunes of beauty and wonder that solidify the elder Finn as one of the best songwriters today. (And he's not the only one: standout "The Howl" is one of Liam's!)

1. Julian Velard, In the Middle of Something (Chloebro)

Look, I wrote liner notes for this, but even if I didn't (and I wrote them not long after my children were born, so I barely remember doing so!) I'd still have great things to say about Julian Velard's latest work. Never one to pass up a good concept, this time sees the New York-born, L.A.-displaced musician/dad thinking deeply, playfully and tunefully about middle age and avoiding easy comparisons to other sharp-tongued, piano-pounding troubadours from Newman to Joel. Fun arrangements and studio sheen from producer Dave Way are the icing on the cake. (It also includes one of the least expected cameos from a major force in the musical comedy world, which you need to hear for yourself.) Velard's music has been there for me when I believed there might be love after a period of anguish and loneliness, soundtracked a move to a new city and even inspires my wife to sing along every once in a while. I'm so glad his reflection on such a period of transition is there as I consider what might be ahead of me, and I can't wait to see how his next works will fit into my next phases.