Every end-of-the-year list published by some media entity is a group project that reflects the albums that were meaningful to many people on a given staff. Ours was no different: WNXP’s Top 30 Albums of 2024 was literally the albums that appeared on multiple DJs’ individual Top 10 lists. But music is personal and we wanted to make a list of albums that may not be as universally memorable as No Name by Jack White or brat by Charli xcx ten years from now, but meant a lot to each one of us personally. This is a list of our favorite oddball, underrepresented, overlooked or underappreciated albums released in 2024 — records that did not appear on our aggregate Top 30 but did carve out special spots in our hearts.
BODEGA – Our Brand Could Be Yr Life
Despite the fact we were jammin’ lead single “Tarkovski” for much of the year on WNXP, New York City band BODEGA’s springtime release Our Brand Could Be Yr Life didn’t get its proper shine on our aggregated Top 30 Albums of 2024 list. So I want to point you back to the goodness, which you might also enjoy on a deluxe, repackaged and expanded version jokily titled Brand On The Run. These hipsters are clearly clever, well-read, musically proficient and reverent. But the songs don’t feel scholarly or snobby. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead, BODEGA makes super palatable and fun rock ‘n roll with combo male-female vocals, like we’ve also enjoyed this year from The Bug Club. Some memorable moments of gentle headbanging on this record, like “Cultural Consumer III,” recall for me punk-leaning peers Gustaf, Deeper and White Reaper. For sanity and a bit of levity going into 2025 (please, God), I feel I need more BODEGA immersion. My renewed appreciation for a 2024 release goes to their LP Our Brand Could Be Yr Life, which proves you can sound smart without being serious, and be intentional without being intense. – Celia Gregory
Home Counties – Exactly As It Seems
In British music, there has long been crossover between alt-rock and dance music: The Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Underworld … all have toed the line between the mosh pit and the dance floor. Into this world stepped Home Counties. Their early releases leaned more toward the rock end of the spectrum, but the arrival of sixth and final member Lois Kelly on keys and vocals skewed them in the dancier direction that is encapsulated in their full-length debut, Exactly As It Seems.
I love me some witty lyrics, and Will Harrison has plenty, while also poking holes in the class/economic divides (the Yard Act-esque “Dividing Lines”), tackling social anxiety (Hot Chip-ish “Uptight”) and just flat-out making us dance (“Funk U Up”’s opening riff would make Prince proud).
One of the reasons this album may have been overlooked is that it dropped the same day as the Mercury Award Winning This Could Be Texas by English Teacher, and (alongside that album) it made up a large chuck of my summer listening. Enjoy! – Jude Mason
Foushee – Pointy Heights
The massive cuts at major labels didn’t just cost hundreds of people their jobs, it had a direct impact on artists. And we noticed a pattern. Adventurous albums by women of color whose music didn’t fit the copy and paste culture of most commercial pop and R&B were either under-promoted or outright ignored. With greatly reduced promotion and marketing staffs, an album of enormous potential like Rae Khalil’s Crybaby or Foushee’s Pointy Heights were criminally underserved. If you compare Google results for Crybaby to a similar, and equally cool, 2024 project from Ravyn Lanea, it wasn’t even close. Lanae’s reviews and interviews were everywhere and Khalil was less than an algorithm afterthought. Foushee received a little more press, but her album still deserved better and it belongs in the broader conversation of artists pushing the boundaries of pop in 2024. – Jason Moon Wilkins
Samara Cyn – The Drive Home
The Kendrick Lamar/Drake feud carried the conversation in hip-hop this year, but outside of the music that came out of that beef, the genre was dominated by the ladies. Doechii and GloRilla dropped two of 2024’s well-received albums, becoming household names in the process. Rapsody gets her long overdue flowers with her album Please Don’t Cry and a new star has emerged with Samara Cyn’s debut album The Drive Home. The Tennessee-born, LA-based rapper and singer delivers smooth flows and melodies while sonically fusing neo-soul and hip-hop similar to her influences Lauryn Hill & Erykah Badu. Cyn just finished opening up for legendary rapper Nas and is heading back on the road with Smino performing at Nashville’s newest venue The Pinnacle on June 19. - Marquis Munson
Various Artists – Congo Funk! – Sounds of Madness From the Shores of the Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1962-1982)
There are unwritten rules about End-of-the-Year lists and one is that compilations don’t count. Another is that reissues don’t count. So I’m grateful that we are doing this oddball list so that I can include what I think was one of the greatest releases of the year, Congo Funk! – Sounds of Madness From the Shores of the Mighty Congo River (Kinshasa/Brazzaville 1962-1982) from Analog Africa.
The music on this compilation can interestingly be attributed to one radio station in Africa and Muhammad Ali. The radio station was Brazzaville Radio, a powerhouse radio station 300 miles up the Congo River in what was, at the time, known as Zaire. The respected station spread the influence of Congolese Rumba across south central Africa. It also broadcast the “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman that took place in Zaire in 1974. More important than the match itself, Brazzaville broadcast the three-day music festival that occurred before the fight. The headliner of the festival was James Brown, who was operating at the height of his power. That performance alone stretched into the homes of Africa and inspired a generation of musicians to combine the rhumba sounds they had been hearing on Brazzaville Radio with American funk. The team at Analog Africa collected and compiled the songs of that time and released them on this beautiful labor of love, Congo Funk! – Justin Barney
KA – The Thief Next To Jesus
Brownsville KA has been one of underground hip-hop’s most potent and beloved voices over his entire career. On The Thief Next To Jesus, his 11th album, KA dedicates his sole focus to the complex relationship between Black people and Christianity. Production on the album is comprised almost entirely of sparse gospel loops and samples from various sermons, while KA explores heavy topics such as Christianity being foisted on enslaved Black people as a tool of control, and the ease with which the White church largely ignored or even endorsed slavery, lynchings and segregation.
As a lifelong resident of one of Brooklyn’s most notorious and volatile neighborhoods, and a veteran of the FDNY who was a Fire Captain and first responder on 9/11, KA has seen and done more than most could even imagine. His talent has always come in bringing these experiences to the listener in his arresting, poignant, matter-of-fact delivery. “When you’re broke, crushing coke don’t take much coaxing,” he muses on “Such Devotion,” while on “Borrowed Time“ he gives perhaps the most haunting line of the album, stating “I plan my death before I plan submission.”
KA passed away suddenly on October 12, at the age of 52. He never submitted. His legacy is incalculable. – Michael Pollard
Maude Latour – Sugar Water
It seems like Maude Latour came out of nowhere. Or at least that’s what you’d think if you’ve just now discovered her debut album Sugar Water. However, Latour has been slowly creating a sonic universe of her own since her bedroom pop anthem “One More Weekend” went viral on TikTok in 2020. Now, four years later, she’s honed in on a more concentrated, effervescent pop sound on Sugar Water, creating a philosophical concept album of sorts. She cited Tolstoy as inspiration for the album’s title, and through each song she finds “sugar water” of life through relationships, friendships and the death of her first love. Latour finds wholeness at the center of it all. With an unbelievably strong sense of self apparent in all 12 songs on Sugar Water, the album serves as Latour’s manifesto for trying to find the sweetness in life’s hardships. – Carly Butler
Thandii – Dream With You
My very favorite album of 2024 that flew under the radar of many year-end lists is Dream With You by Thandii, a “beat-driven art-pop” project from the Margate, UK duo of vocalist Jess Berry (who has previously worked with Ghostpoet, Hozier and Mr. Jukes of Bombay Bicycle Club) and drummer Graham Godfrey (known for his work with Michael Kiwanuka, Little Simz, Cleo Sol and Inflo). Those names alone should give you an indication of their sound: a blurry collage of lo-fi soul, experimental hip-hop and otherworldly psychedelia. Just listen to the delectable dah-dah-dah’s and woozy sax that serve as the opening of their best track “Sinus Node” and tell me you’re not instantly hooked. – Dan Digs
The Blessed Madonna – Godspeed
Kentucky-born Marea Stamper DJ’ed in Nashville before she gained the notoriety that she has today with her stage name The Blessed Madonna. Always a champion for LGBTQ rights and open-minded dance floors, The Blessed Madonna released her first album Godspeed in October and served the children a very personal slice of her talent as a house music producer and beacon for electronic music. Godspeed is not a collection of self-gratifying beats and boring samples; it’s an open-armed collaboration with some of the most regarded names in music across all genres like Danielle Ponder, James Vincent McMorrow, A-trak, Jacob Lusk (of Gabriels) and even the pop goddess Kylie Minogue. The result is a vibrant, soulful work that not only compels you to move but also invites you to experience the profound sense of community found on the dance floor—or in moments of spiritual connection. – Aaron Monty
MC Lyte – 1 of 1
Two albums of completely different genres have rocked my world in 2024. First is Rising Appalachia’s Folk & Anchor. Originally, the group was supposed to take 2024 off, but then they dropped this album of covers of their favorite tracks. Definitely check out their covers of Erykah Badu’s “On & On,” Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” and Maren Morris’ “The Bones.” My second album is MC Lyte’s 1 of 1, her first album in nine years. This album is full of collaborations with Queen Latifah, Stevie Wonder, Q-Tip, Ghostface Killah and more. It’s a solid return from a hip-hop legend. My favorite tracks are “Make A Livin’,” “Change Your Ways” and “Woman.” – Erica Shultz