Albums of the Year 2024

Artwork by George Adamson

Behold! These are the records that lingered, the ones that stayed with us throughout the year. Out of hundreds of albums that drifted through the New Commute headphones this year, narrowing it down felt less like a process and more like a reckoning—a celebration of the works that spoke to something essential about this year.

We are grateful, profoundly so, for every moment of your attention, for the ways you’ve engaged with the blog. If these artists have moved you, consider supporting them. A dollar, a moment of your time—it all carries weight.

Stream some selections on Spotify / Apple Music but please support at the links below.

Alex Izenberg & The Exiles
S/T
[Weird World]

Allegra Krieger
Art of the Unseen Infinity Machine
[Double Double Whammy]

Amery
Continue As Amery
[Night School]

Anna Butterss
Mighty Vertebrate
[International Anthem]

Armlock
Seashell Angel Lucky Charm
[Run For Cover]

Astrid Sonne
Great Doubt
[Escho]

Barrie Archie Johnson
Fortune’s Mirror
[VDSQ]

Beachwood Sparks
Across The River Of Stars
[Curation Records

Begale
Loose Ender
[People In A Position To Know]

Being Dead
EELS
[Bayonet Records]

Ben Varian
SNIP
[Bumpy]

Bloomsday
Heart of the Artichoke
[Bayonet Records]

Bondo
Harmonica
[Day End Records]

The Bures Band
Fool Circle
[Love Police Records]

Chris Acker
Famous Lunch
[Gar Hole Records]

Christo Graham
Music For Horses
[We Are Busy Bodies]

Christopher Owens
I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair
[True Panther]

Cindy Lee
Diamond Jubilee
[Superior Viaduct]

Color Green
Fool’s Parade
[New West Records]

Daryl Johns
Daryl Johns
[Mac’s Record Label]

David Nance
David Nance & Mowed Sound
[Third Man Records]

The Dead Tongues
Body of Light / I Am A Cloud
[Psychic Hotline]

Dummy
Free Energy
[Trouble In Mind Records]

Fabiano do Nascimento & Sam Gendel
The Room
[Real World Records]

Fantasy of a Broken Heart
Feats of Engineering
[Dots Per Inch Music]

Floreana
Floreana One
[Day End Records]

Fust
Songs of the Rail
[Dear Life Records]

Future Museums
Peace Park
[Hippie Scum]

Gee Tee
Prehistoric Chrome
[Nailbiter Records]

Ghost Trees
Intercept Method
[Miami Tree Music]

Guerra / de Paiva / Hornsby / Konradsen
Contrahouse
[ULYSSA]

Hannah Miette
Hannah Miette
[self-released]

Hataałii
Waiting For A Sign
[Dangerbird Records]

Hayden Pedigo
Live in Amarillo, Texas
[Mexican Summer]

Helado Negro
PHASOR
[4AD]

hemlock
444
[self-released]

Henning Schmiedt
Orange
[FLAU]

Hour
Ease The Work
[Dear Life Records]

Hovvdy
Hovvdy
[Arts & Crafts]

Iji
Automatically
[We Be Friends]

Itasca
Imitation of War
[Paradise of Bachelors]

Jahsh Banks
dude <3
[Leaving Records]

Jake Xerxes Fussell
When I’m Called
[Fat Possum]

Jeffrey Silverstein
Roseway
[Arrowhawk]

Jessica Pratt
Here in the Pitch
[Mexican Summer]

Joe Ghatt
Caper
[Third Eye Stimuli]

John Roseboro
Fools
[Public Confession Art House]

Jon Mckiel
Hex
[You’ve Changed Records]

Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, Cleek Schrey
Beehive Cathedral
[Dear Life Records]

J.R.C.G.
Grim Iconic​.​.​.​(​Sadistic Mantra)
[Sub Pop]

Kane Pour
The Last Wave
[Sound As Language]

Kate Bollinger
Songs From A Thousand Frames of Mind
[Ghostly International]

Kevin Coleman
Imaginary Conversations
[Centripetal Force]

Kolumbo
Sandy Legs
[Calico Discos]

Lee Baggett
Waves for a Begull
[Perpetual Doom]

The Lemon Twigs
A Dream Is All We Know
[Captured Tracks]

Little Wings
High On The Glade
[Perpetual Doom]

Loving
Any Light
[Last Gang Records]

Lutalo
The Academy
[Winspear]

Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice
Phantasy & Reality
[Moon Glyph]

Magic Fig
Magic Fig
[Silver Current]

Magic Tuber Stringband
Needlefall
[Thrill Jockey]

Mavis the Dog
White Plastic Chairs
[self-released]

The Medium
City Life
[Earth Libraries]

Mei Semones
Kabutomushi
[Bayonet Records]

Merce Lemon
Watch Me Drive Them Dogs Wild
[Darling Recordings]

Milan W.
Leave Another Day
[STROOM.tv]

Misha Panfilov Septet
Live In Stockholm And Tallinn
[Funk Night Records]

MJ Lenderman
Manning Fireworks
[Anti- Records]

Molly Lewis
On The Lips
[Jagjaguwar]

Mountain Movers
Walking After Dark
[Trouble In Mind Records]

Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra
Tension
[Batov Records]

The Mystery Lights
Purgatory
[Daptone/Wick Records]

Nala Sinephro
Endlessness
[Warp Records]

Nap Eyes
The Neon Gate
[Paradise of Bachelors]

Nathan Bowles Trio
Are Possible
[Drag City]

Nathaniel Russell
Songs Of
[Psychic Hotline]

OHMA
On Loving Earth
[Astral Projections]

Oval Angle
Figures of Speech
[Moon Glyph]

Pearl & The Oysters
Planet Pearl
[Stones Throw]

Peel Dream Magazine
Rose Main Reading Room
[Topshelf Records]

Pleasant Mob
Pleasant Mob
[Inscrutable Records]

Porches
Shirt
[Domino Recording Co]

Raphael Rogiń​ski
Žaltys
[Unsound]

Real Companion
N​ü​-​metal Heroes
[Real Companion Records]

Real Estate
Daniel
[Domino Recording Co.]

Rich Ruth
Water Still Flows
[Third Man Records]

Rosali
Bite Down
[Merge Records]

Ruby of Thanks
In Another World
[Primordial Void]

Sam Evian
Plunge
[Flying Cloud Recordings]

Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes
The Doober
[Leaving Records]

Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib, and Dylan Day
Sam Wilkes, Craig Weinrib, and Dylan Day
[Leaving Records]

Scott McMicken & The EVER-EXPANDING
When It’s Happening
[Press On Records]

Sean Thompson’s Weird Ears
Head In The Sand
[self-released]

Setting
at Eulogy
[DoS Records]

Shallowater
There Is A Well
[self-released]

Sharp Pins
Radio DDR
[self-released]

SiP
Leos Ultras
[Not Not Fun Records]

The Smashing Times
Mrs Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys
[perennialdeath]

SML
Small Medium Large
[International Anthem]

Sofia Wolfson
Imposing on a Hometown
[self-released]

Sons of Sevilla
Lullabies For A Wildcat
[Ubiquity Records]

Soup Activists
Mummy What Are Flowers For?
[Inscrutable Records]

Steel Fringe
Steel Fringe
[Curation Records]

Styrofoam Winos
Real Time
[Sophomore Lounge]

Tashi Dorji
we will be wherever the fires are lit
[Drag City]

Tex Crick
Droplets
[Mac’s Record Label]

Tex Patrello
Minotaur
[self-released]

This Is Lorelei
Box for Buddy, Box for Star
[Double Double Whammy]

Tim Heidecker
Slipping Away
[Bloodshot Records]

Tomin
A Willed and Conscious Balance
[International Anthem]

Trace Mountains
Into The Burning Blue
[Lame-O Records]

Traffik Island
Ghost Notes
[Library of the Occult]

Trummors
5
[Ernest Jenning Record Co.]

Tucker Zimmerman
Dance Of Love
[4AD]

Verity Den
Verity Den
[Amish Records]

Wagging
My Own Private Rodeo
[self-released]

Winter McQuinn
Move To The Trees
[Third Eye Stimuli]

Workers Comp
Workers Comp
[ever/never records]

World Brain
Open Source
[Mansions and Millions]

Yasmin Williams
Acadia
[Nonesuch Records]

David Walker