My Top 12 Favorite Songs Of 2024

 Woundlicker, 2024. Pic by @obliviousMystic

"But you only know the one I've been
I've shed a thousand skins since then
A curse upon the monster of more
That shit does not define me anymore" - Chelsea Wolfe "Whispers In The Echo Chamber"

My top songs of 2024 are a wide-ranging lot. Anthems from the edge. Lovers, dreamers and you.

Let's go.

                                                                                     soft kill

1. Molly Nilsson became a dominant force in my musical consumption in 2024, perfect coping fuel for the dark times we live in as well as the literal coolest. "Jackboots Return" is the lo fi anti-conformity alarm sounding bowl of Communist Cheerios I really needed and it is an infectious dance march, yet ominous as fuck. Stay vigilant! But try to also party. 

2. It is trippy to see the Acid Bath love since the Sick New World reunion announcement on such a big scale (and wonderful). For years I felt like us Bath devotees were part of a lovely and dark secret cult. I am honestly even more stoked about new Dax Riggs solo material. We really thought 'Say Goodnight To The World' was GOODNIGHT, ya know? Crumbs since til now! 

I love his bluesy and psych-glam-bluesy forrays and they have hugely inspired my work in my band Walking Bombs. My fave dude singer prob ever, "Deceiver" is all longtime fans could ask for and more. If you miss Chris Cornell and want some wailing, woeful yet morbidly romantic shadow work to soothe the hole, dive in. This song is basically like Carl Sagan wrote an atheist Honky Tonk/grunge ballad.

                                                        wise man dax back with the track attack.

3. Jisei gave us the heaviest queer anthems this year and my pick is this illest song intro/hype build up and it isn't even close. Says so much in such a short metallic moment. Do not sleep on this record. It will crush your ass so hard. It feels like rage release therapy and queer joy all in one, actually. Bringing queer punks front and center with a rallying cry and then delivering on some of the most intense heavy styles of the year, this is well worth your time and praise.

4. The prolific and extremely influential Soft Kill were so good when I finally saw them this year in Santa Ana, even with sore throat issues. Just brilliant. Oh, and they also released maybe their catchiest yet most wry and dour anthem yet. "Joy Is A Crime" is already a certified underground banger. This band is one of our greatest national treasures in a time where there isn't fucking much to celebrate. 

5. 'Date Night In Gaza City' by Triz Nathaniel is too slept on and absolutely crucial. A full takedown of people with no scruples and a verbose examination of humanity versus the inhumane. Pure hip hop activism. My favorite track is "Liberals Like These", a gorgeous and deeply sad, soulful slow burn you can find deep empathy in and a measure of solace that someone insightful cares about the lives lost. "We Netflix and chill while they are ethnic cleansing..." and an amazing Chris Wallace lyrical work in ensure this song blows minds with potent lines cutting through lies. 

6. Macklemore's "Hind's Hall" was a ray of hope from a widely streamed artist in a time when way too many people were signing on to 'Kamala is Brat' geno simping neoliberal bullshit. Fuck a response from Drake. My jaw literally dropped at some of the verses in this song and how sharply our dude aimed his rage at the heart of the beast. The Nakba never ended, the colonizer lied. Blasted this driving around Orange County, CA a LOT this year. 

7. Emasculator is making some of the sickest feminist death metal with spiritual resonance out right now, periodt. Read my recent extensive interview with vocalist Mallika HERE at Ghost Cult Magazine. This band is poised to win victory after victory.

8. Winter Lantern keep getting more adept and sincere sounding at unleashing raw chaotic yet precise portals of concentrated black metal tendrils. "A Bottomless Curse, A Bottomless Sea" gives a lot of bands a run for their money and is entirely all encompassing. I really love the dirgy passages and the audible bass. This song is sure to shake the cobwebs from your castle walls.

9. Woundlicker brings DIY pulsing Puppy vibes to "Pressed Petals", a raging and imaginative twist of a track from an already inventive project. Hoping to hold on to humanity in a world of darkness. Deep genderqueer survival themes and alienation abound in this often manic song that feels like many chapters of a dystopian escape route paired with the stages of grief. 

10. The long awaited new Kurious album Majician and Soul Amazing (pt 13) by Blu made me feel love for both coasts in hip hop this year. The former is just a complete masterpiece, Kurious Jorge making me homesick for New York over extremely elite and cultured beats with a positive message, Memorializing longtime friend and collaborator MF Doom along the way and cementing his own legacy even further. "Separation Anxiety" to me is the key track, a celebration of keeping uplifting, philosophical messages and word play at the forefront in rap and a slap to the face of commercial lowered standards. A reminder that community can be revolutionary and not to give up your inner shine. 

11. Chelsea Wolfe has quite often done brilliant things but "Whispers In The Echo Chamber" sounds like nothing short of a spell for undoing massive wrong, beamed live from a pineal gland in the vortex of time's end.  A death knell for falsehoods. If you are listening you can feel how small humans are but vast our repressed souls can be. It is utterly enthralling and ranks very high among her best work. This world can be so much more than our petty selves allow, and will be regardless of our vanity. 

12. Thotcrime endured major tragedy (RIP Dot) and came back swinging on their latest opus Connection Anxiety. "The Wrong Way" is such a good song about the neurosis of feeling judged while trying to find your authentic path or not repeat yourself. "I'd rather die a clown than hide myself". I love the hyper pop elements of this song and the "I don't need to be tough/need to be you" themes of self-worth. It reminds me of why I was drawn back in the 90s to the lo fi sensitive or quirky indie of Sebadoh after Lou Barlow eschewed the tropes of the hardcore scene. With so many hardcore bands being just bland as fuck and getting their asses kissed way too hard, it is refreshing to see a "newer" band not dialing it in.