Favorite music of 2024
Written on 08/12/2024 by konasquared.
I rate and rank my favourite bands, artists, albums and songs I listened to in 2024.
Preamble
As 2024 comes to a close, I think it's time to share my favorite songs, albums and bands/artists with you all. I listened to a lot of different songs, according to Spotify Wrapped something like 1,000 songs; quite a lot if I say so myself.
Favorite Bands/Artists
Honorable Mentions
Here's some honorable mentions who didn't quite make the cut but I want to talk about anyway. Firstly, Carpenter Brut. The first time I heard one of his songs in Hotline Miami 2 I couldn't finish the level properly because I was so fixated on the music. So good. Next is bôa, which you may know from either TikTok or Serial Experiments Lain (if the latter, you're cool, send me an email), but I just like a lot of their songs anyway. Hatsune Miku is unfortunately not an actual artist so she can't be on here really but she can be in the honorable mentions. And finally, canless valley, Golemm, Shibayan Records, Midge Ure, Starjunk 95, Daft Punk, Jamiroquai, and Mindless Self Indulgence.
10. Limp Bizkit
Limp Bizkit is just such a generic nu metal band, and yet, I've found myself listening to them over and over. I also love the fact that Fred Durst really loves Rei Ayanami, like, it's his profile pic and everything. Simple, heavy riffs, leading to neuron activation. Love it.
9. Nirvana
I've been listening to a bunch of Nirvana as well. I love their timbre and sound, it's really clean and crisp, every sound making up their songs feels so perfectly placed in them. Shame they had such a short career. RIP Kurt Cobain.
8. Linkin Park
Linkin Park's semi-industrial sound and cringe, emo lyrics have really stuck with me. Truly peak. I still need to listen to their whole discography, though. That's about it.
7. Rise Against
Rise Against is one of those bands that you've never heard of but somehow have 8 million monthly listeners. That's because all of those 8 million people are probably divorced dads. This is one of those bands where the lead singer likes to tell stories, Prayer Of The Refugee is a good example. Pretty nice hard rock band though, excellent tonality, love them.
6. Rob Zombie
And for you, Lil Uzi, a Rob Zombie poster; for my lovely readers, you get this review. Rob Zombie is advanced divorced dad rock. I'd listen to this barreling down the highway at 150, 7 beers deep and on my 8th one. I think I was most shocked to learn he was an actor. Guess which type of movies he stars in. Anyway, a little satanic, a bit of necromancy/philia, a lot of freakiness, all awesome music.
5. MASTER BOOT RECORD
MBR has been on my top charts for a while now, ever since I discovered him (through Ultrakill, thanks Hakita). Evil sounding, impossible inhuman computerised metal. You'd expect it to sound like chiptunes, but it actually sounds much more human than you'd think. Perhaps computers have some of their creators humanity left inside their digital souls. I also really love his side project Keygen Church, it's like if Bach had an electric guitar.
4. Psychoangel
An artist that makes... some kind of, uh, music. I deadass don't know what genre it is. I'm too scared to ask. But it's basically super fast electronic beats with like 8 genre switches in each song. It's very experimental, and a super unique sound, which I love so much.
3. femtanyl
Super aggressive and loud electronic hyperpop with lyrics that I can only describe as self loathing sadness and rage. I can't explain what it is either, or why I'm so drawn to it. It's also a favourite of that one guy who reviews cigarettes, I forgot his name.
2. System Of A Down
Where do I begin with System. I guess, firstly, their sound, which is so similar to everyone else, yet completely unique. I'm entranced by their guitar riffs, their tonality, their drum rhythms and sound, etc., etc. It's too good. They're kinda masters of minimalism, their songs aren't filled with 30 instruments - they're a band, not an orchestra. Just a couple of guitars, a drum track, a bass, their voices, that's about it. Though they do feature other instruments often, too - often hailing from their home region around Armenia, where they're from. Their lyrics are usually related to political issues, Serj (the lead singer) is an activist first, rockstar second. But he's also just a silly guy, so the lyrics are sometimes just them having fun ("Terracotta pie, hey! Terracotta pie, hey! "Terracotta pie, hey! Terracotta pie - BANANA BANANA BANANA BANANA, TERRACOTTA, BANANA TERRACOTTA, TERRACOTTA PIE!" - from Vicinity of Obscenity on Hypnotize). You really can tell the band is having fun making their songs, even though they haven't released a new album in quite some time, and there probably won't be a new one, sadly.
1. Type O Negative
Type O Negative tops the chart, once again, for my favourite bands list. I've listened to all of their songs at least thrice at this point - and I've never gotten sick of them. Don't think I will in a long time. Their songs differ a lot in sound from album to album, but overall they've kept that same "band in a basement" sound over their career. Loads of cheap distortion pedals, tons of mopey, muddy guitar riffs, though they can be really incredible if given the chance. One of Type O Negative's most interesting sound choices is that for the most part of their career, they used programmed drums in their songs because they didn't have a drummer. Peter really liked the work that their sound engineer did for their drums, so they stuck with that, until their last album, Dead Again, when they got a new drummer (and amazing backup singer, too). I'm very jealous of the programmed drums they have, as I can't come close to replicating them, and my friend didn't even notice the drums until I told him. I think the funniest thing about Type O Negative's songs is that amongst the hundreds of other songs that Peter wrote for the band, their number 1 song, I Don't Wanna Be Me, was not written by him. It was written by guitarist Kenny Hickey, after being tired of Peter's long, mopey, multi-part songs. He wrote an upbeat, power-pop, classic metal ballad, which seemed to resonate with people more, somehow. It really is a good song, and it's what got me and Haunted into the band in the first place. Well, Haunted heard it from his brother first, then they showed me it. So thanks, random brother from Ukraine. Anyway, Type O Negative is such a broad band in terms of music that I believe anyone that likes metal or hard rock could find a song they like by them. Peter was truly a genius writer, lyricist, singer, and bass player. RIP to the legend. I really want to visit his memorial in New York, so one day when I go on my grand expedition to America, I shall.
Favorite Albums
10. BANDCAMP MEGA COLLECTION - Evaboy
That's no joke - it really is mega. Evaboy is the kind of music they would play in a Zara store, just with freaky lyrics involving hookers. God, those beats are catchy as all hell. Also, there's some kind of story hidden throughout the tracks. I'm yet to unravel the lore in the album. Anyway, the music could be described as pretty much Y2K. It feels very much like something on a PS2 or PSP perhaps. And that's what puts it on this list.
9. CHASER - femtanyl
It's hard to describe femtanyl. Their songs sound painful - not an aching, dull pain, but sharp and agonising pain, like you're being stabbed. If anything, that's how your ears will feel afterwards. They're super loud in all their songs - a proper mix doesn't exist to them, but despite that, it does sound good. CHASER is the first album released by femtanyl, and it's more like a compilation of singles, really. Anyway, my favourite song on it is GIRL HELL 1999, next to KATAMARI and PUSH UR T3MPRR.
8. Buckshot Roulette - Mike Klubnika
I really didn't want to include any soundtracks in this list. But this one is too good to pass down. I'll spare you the details on Buckshot Roulette, the game. The songs in Buckshot are really perfect. The first song that plays when in the actual game, General Release, really has that feeling of being in a warehouse rave, and it has a sense of excitement and bravery associated with, yknow, gambling using your life as chips. The music slowly fades to what is basically just background ambience, as you dance the line between life and death. It becomes unnerving. If you win, you get a nice $70K. If you lose, you die. It's so unsettling - and I love it. It also kind of got me on acid techno, so that's cool.
7. October Rust - Type O Negative
This album is lovely. It starts with a recording of bad ground - pretty funny, because imagining buying this album and thinking your stereo system just blew up right as you were about to listen to your new album you just bought. After, there's a spoken word intro from the band members, and then the album begins with Love You to Death, my favourite song from the album. Very freaky song. Then songs like Be My Druidess, which is equally freaky, My Girlfriend's Girlfriend, and Cinnamon Girl. There's lots of mentions of love and romantic relationships in this album, and yet, it really does feel like seasonal depression - october rust, if you will.
6. System Of A Down - System Of A Down
System's self titled album was their debut album, and boy, they really exploded onto the scene with this. With songs like Suite-Pee, War? (my favourite), Darts, and most famously Sugar, this album was a hit and put System into the limelight. It was a lot more experimental before they rooted themselves with Toxicity, so each of the songs is unique and interesting. Amazing album.
5. Life Is Killing Me - Type O Negative
I've been listening to this album for a long time now. I've never gotten tired of it. It starts with a quick intro track, before getting right into I Don't Wanna Be Me. It features a lot of other great tracks, like I Like Goils, Life Is Killing Me, (We Were) Electrocute, Angry Inch, and Anesthesia. The album was dedicated to Peter Steele's father, who died in the hospital after essentially being kept alive against his own will, which sounds like it really sucks. This album was a departure from Type O Negative's old sound, being more upbeat and modern compared to their previous discography. Truly one of their greatest albums.
4. SMOKE IT TO THE BUTT - Cynthoni
If you know Cynthoni, you'll know Sewerslvt, and if you know Sewerslvt, you'll know that it's generally agreed upon that it's ambient neoclassic drum and bass. This album is not that. This albums sound is more similar to what would play in an underground club that you enter through a random rusting door in a back alley in the middle of nowhere. It's a much bigger sound, being basically made for a warehouse rave. I particularly love Dork After Dark, because it makes me want to strut like I'm on the runway at a fashion show. It's great.
3. Toxicity - System Of A Down
Toxicity is System's second album. This album was where they settled into their iconic sound, and has a lot of their most popular songs on it, notably Chop Suey!, Toxicity, and Aerials. It has that iconic album cover, with the Hollywood sign edited to say their band name instead. My favourite song on it is Aerials, I just love the guitar riffs in it. My second favourite song on it is Prison Song, which it opens with, discussing the topics of the war on drugs and the US prison system in general being used for essentially modern slavery. It gained a little bit of a trend on TikTok for some time because of the interjections by Serj saying some fun facts about the war on drugs, and then the drop afterwards. Very good album.
2. Dead Again - Type O Negative
Dead Again was Type O Negative's final album before Peter Steele died. Dead Again opens strong with... Dead Again, a song about drug abuse and it's perils. It then goes into Tripping a Blind Man, The Profit of Doom, which I feel is a semi-satirical song on prophets of doom proclaiming about certain events and connecting certain things to others which might have some (no) meaning. Next is September Sun, which honestly, I don't like that much, but they did enough to make it into a single, Halloween in Heaven, one of my personal favourites, and is just Peter Steele talking about what his dream band would be as well as, well, Halloween in Heaven (and Christmas in Hell). Some Stupid Tomorrow, which honestly, I have no idea what it's about, but it's really cool, An Ode to Locksmiths, which is more yapping about religious doom, and finishing with Hail and Farewell to Britain, which I don't remember what is about. This wasn't going to be their last album - Peter was already working in their next album, Double Crosses, but then he passed away soon after he started. No one knows what the album was gonna be like, but by this time, he was a Catholic, and was several months sober. The album itself was a lot more upbeat than their last works, no doubt the result of I Don't Wanna Be Me being their most popular song, and they just wanted to profit on that.
1. Steal This Album! - System Of A Down
Steal This Album is truly an amazing experience. My favourite thing about it is that it's their worst selling album. Go figure. Anyway, it starts off really strong, with one of my favourites by System, Chic 'N' Stu. It then goes straight into Innervision, which is an ethereal experience, and then songs like Boom! (which is more or less a voiceover with music in the background, being straight to the point - stop blowing up countries, you dumbass politicians), leading to my favourite song in the album, I-E-A-I-A-I-O, a fast paced ballad that goes so, so hard, finishing off the album with songs like Fuck the System (which, yeah) and Streamline, which is also a heavenly experience. It's sort of an encore to Toxicity, their previous album, which is also amazing - that's because Steal This Album was made because of a leaked Toxicity demo tape (known as Toxicity 2) which was making it's way around music sharing sites. So they took the songs in that tape which were unfinished, finished them, and released it as Steal This Album. Now you know why it's called that.