the 50 best albums of 2024 part one
number 50 through number 41
hello everyone and welcome to the inaugural post on the SHA-STACK!! Thank you all for tuning in.
before we proceed, I also want to thank my wonderful friend Nate Culbert for launching his own Substack earlier this year. It’s called the natey newsletter, and each edition features his thoughts on five awesome albums, many of which you might not be exposed to otherwise. The natey news is always such a joy to read, and it’s what inspired me to start a Substack of my own. Some of you may already be subscribed, but I’m putting the link here for any newcomers!
some context: finalizing these lists each year is honestly pretty demanding. I’ve listened to about 720 records released in 2024, which averages to roughly 15 new releases per week. This figure doesn’t include albums from prior years that I’ve explored, nor does it account for anything I’ve revisited. And of course, I’ve also gotta dedicate real time to the projects I love the most. I need to cherish them, put them on repeat and truly get to know them inside and out. Balancing these two modes, discovery and immersion, requires just as much discipline as it does time—it can get exhausting, but it’s still loads of fun and is always, always worth it.
but also, making this list isn’t a purely cerebral or practical undertaking. It’s no secret that music helps us process our lives—the beautiful beginnings smashed up against the crushing endings, the doldrums right before periods of rapid change, new bonds forming as others weaken. Certain albums on here provided light and guidance during the mildest winter of my life, but also, in other ways, one of the harshest. Others conjured distant visions of a bright future, while still others mirrored the despair when that future slipped away. Some records on here soundtracked every party and night out for a whole month—or a whole summer—while others lingered around in the stillness of the moments just before sleep. Some will forever be associated with brisk springtime bike rides along the East River, from the Financial District to Chinatown, and others with walks along the Chicago River to Lake Michigan, during a drawn-out end to summer, as the sky burned red and buildings came alight.
so when I open up my spreadsheet, look through my list, and revisit and re-rank each and every album, I’m also sifting through a sea of memories and excavating the emotions tied to each project. It’s a beautiful, therapeutic process—the power of music as memory is one reason why I love it so deeply. Recalling certain sounds, lyrics or melodies allows us to fly through moments of joy, sadness, hilarity, or love in mere seconds. I am so grateful to have so many amazing people in my life that I’ve experienced music with this year. Thank you all!
let’s get into it. I’m sure most of you are familiar with my Instagram stories (@shafrasier) counting down my 25 favorite records of the year, one a day, from December 1st until December 25th—an advent calendar of sorts. I’ve done that since 2021, inspired by my bestie David (@snowonmarsmusic), but I’ll be doing things a little differently this year. This is the first of five posts on here, each containing some thoughts on 10 albums that defined 2024. I’m hoping this format will allow me to share slightly more detailed reflections on each album—especially those higher on the list—in a less ephemeral medium.
sending hugs to everyone and thank you all for reading! I hope you’ll find something here to take with you. Stay warm and keep your loved ones close.
sha
50. Juçara Marçal — DEB RMX
post-industrial, EDM, vanguarda paulista
this collection of remixes to Brazilian avant-garde artist Juçara Marçal’s 2021 album Delta Estácio Blues is a complete reimagining of the original’s sound and features a richly collaborative blend of influences, including industrial, funk brasileiro, techno, and amapiano.
SELECTS: La Femme à Barbe (White Prata Rmx), Sem Cais (Mbé Rmx), Crash (Wallace Funçao Rmx), Baleia (Os Fita Rmx)
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
49. Quadeca — Scrapyard
art pop, experimental hip hop, electronic
Scrapyard, the latest release from YouTube comedian-turned-serious-musician Quadeca, is far more than just scraps—this collection of fully-formed loosies is a surreal, dense, and chaotic fusion of glitchy electronics, emo rap, psychedelia, and indie rock.
SELECTS: Dustcutter, U Don’t Know Me Like That, Texas Blue (w/ Kevin Abstract)
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
48. Jack White — No Name
garage rock revival, hard rock
this summer, Jack White took a clandestine approach to distributing what is by far his best project since The White Stripes disbanded. On July 19, unsuspecting customers at various locations of White’s own Third Man Records discovered unmarked white-label vinyl records slipped into their shopping bags. The music here is often just as direct as its initial method of distribution. Free from all the failed sonic experiments that have marred much of his solo work, No Name rips as hard as anything White has ever put out. At the same time, it showcases a bunch of lyrical experiments—in both structure and content—that for the most part, pay off.
SELECTS: Old Scratch Blues, What’s the Rumpus?, Terminal Archenemy Endling
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
47. Beth Gibbons — Lives Outgrown
chamber folk, singer-songwriter
Beth Gibbons, the lead vocalist of Portishead, returns with her first full-length project since 2008’s Third, abandoning the trip hop, electronica, and noirish atmosphere that became her band’s calling cards. Instead, Lives Outgrown lets richly orchestrated, introspective chamber folk frame Gibbons’ musings on mortality, personal history, and the transitions that define life’s stages.
SELECTS: Floating on a Moment, Reaching Out, Beyond the Sun
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
46. Erika de Casier — Still
contemporary R&B
on Still, Erika de Casier updates turn-of-the-millennium R&B hooks with a chilly electronic sheen and a quiet, reserved confidence. The liquid breakbeats and footwork programming on “Lucky” make it one of my favorite songs of the year—a standard of that hard winter in New York and a definitive example of 2020s alternative R&B.
SELECTS: Lucky, ice (feat. They Hate Change), My Day Off
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
45. CupcakKe — Dauntless Manifesto
hardcore hip hop, pop rap
Dauntless Manifesto, a career highlight for CupcakKe, finds her rapping about just about everything you’d expect her to with pure glee and abandon. This time, though, her head-spinning flows eat up a collection of beats that are more sophisticated, colorful, and varied than anything she’s put out before. Was anyone expecting CupcakKe on a pluggnb track, let alone multiple funk brasileiro beats?? Plus, she even goes conscious on the last track, “Cruella,” which addresses racial identity and calls for unity.
SELECTS: Grilling N*ggas II, Queef, Dementia
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
44. Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft
alt-pop
Billie and Finneas reach new heights on her third full-length, finding new ways to weave her chameleonic voice through playful instrumentation, surprising genre experiments, and elaborately progressive song structures. And the sophisti-pop sheen of “Birds of a Feather” perfectly frames Billie’s delicate, soaring vocals, making it not only one of the year’s most deserving hits but also the best song she’s ever released. She’s still only 22 years old!
SELECTS: Chihiro, Birds of a Feather, Blue
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
43. Jaubi — A Sound Heart
jazz fusion, spiritual jazz
Jaubi, an instrumental ensemble from Lahore, Pakistan, seamlessly blends jazz with North Indian classical music and raga traditions. A Sound Heart is a warm, enveloping experience, with contemplative tracks such as the stunning “Reflections of God” exuding sincerity and spiritual purity. Other, more fiery songs highlight the group’s dynamic percussive section, featuring intricate tabla work and complex rhythmic interplay. The group’s name, derived from the Urdu word for “whatever” or “whoever,” encapsulates how intuitive their fusion feels.
SELECTS: Lahori Blues, Raga Bairagi Todi, Reflections of God
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
42. Denzel Curry — King of the Mischievous South Vol. 2
Southern hip hop, trap, hardcore hip hop
Miami rapper Denzel Curry’s latest record is his most urgent project in years. Loosely connected by Memphis-inspired double time flows and half-time drum programming, the album relentlessly tears through the hardest strains of the past couple decades of Southern rap, from the gritty Dirty South sound of the early 2000s to the blown-out rage of the 2020s. It’s also a complete party—each song has at least one feature, and Curry puts on newer voices like Kenny Mason, That Mexican OT and TiaCorine, allowing them to share space with Southern heavyweights like Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and Project Pat.
SELECTS: Ultra Shxt (feat. Key Nyata), Black Flag Freestyle (feat. That Mexican OT), Sked (feat. Kenny Mason & Project Pat)
LISTEN: Apple Music | Spotify
41. Jackzebra — 王中王
trap
王中王 (King of Kings) is the latest tape from the guy that recently went viral as “Chinese Bladee”—but he’s really so much more than that. Songs like 说的狠话太逼真 (Harsh Words are Too Realistic) evoke a sense of being adrift, a feeling many of us—not just China’s youth—can relate to. The tape also doubles as an overview of some of the directions that trap has gone in this decade, frequently dipping into woozy ‘20s plugg and moments of majestic regalia.
SELECTS: 夜游台北 (track 11), 不能说的秘密 (track 24), 说的狠话太逼真 (track 25), p much anything from track 22 onward
LISTEN: SoundCloud
if you’ve made it this far down, I love and appreciate you! Stay tuned for part two! And if there’s anything here you disagree with, don’t hesitate to comment and call me out…