For those of you who are new to this podcast (or as a friendly reminder), I'm Mike Bankhead, bass player and songwriter from Dayton, Ohio. I'm an indie musician, not a journalist. My two esteemed guests on this episode are journalists. Juliet Fromholt is Music Director at WYSO, which is the NPR affiliate in Southwest Ohio. She hosts two music shows on the station, Alpha Rhythms and Kaleidoscope. Taylor Ruckle is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in FLOOD Magazine and Under the Radar, among other places. We had a chat back in December to talk about our favorite albums of 2024. Juliet and Taylor are both eloquent and enthusiastic in their descriptions of these albums.
I am so late putting this particular podcast episode up that today is the first day of Q2 in 2025. That said, if there are albums here that you haven't heard yet, well, they are still new to you. If you enjoy discovery, if you are passionate about music, if you want to reminisce about what life was like over three months ago, this episode is for you.
Of course, you can stream these albums wherever you happen to find music. If you'd like to support any of these artists in a more impactful way, I have included Bandcamp links to the albums anywhere I could, and you can buy physical copies or digital downloads at these links.
What was your favorite album of 2024? I invite you to leave a comment and let me know.
Juliet's top ten albums of 2024
10. Hiatus Kaiyote - Love Heart Cheat Code
9. Turboslacker - Pixelated Lithiums
8. Fontains D.C. - Romance
7. Red Hot - Transa
6. Haley Heynderickx - Seed of a Seed
5. Angélica Garcia - Gemelo
4. Jake Blount, Molly Obomsawin - Symbiont
3. Reyna Tropical - Malegría
2. Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More
1. Kim Gordon - The Collective
Taylor's top ten albums of 2024
10. The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis
9. Perennial - Art History
8. Yasmin Williams - Acadia
7. Another Sky - Beach Day
6. The Last Dinner Parrty - Prelude to Ecstasy
5. Ka - The Thief Next To Jesus
4. Ekko Astral - pink balloons
3. Oceanator - Everything is Love and Death
2. Cheekface - It's Sorted
1. Rosie Tucker - UTOPIA NOW!
Mike's top ten albums of 2024
Liquid Mike - Paul Bunyan's Slingshot
Elbow - Audio Vertigo
Dazy - I GET LOST (when i try to get found) & IT'S ONLY A SECRET (if you repeat it)
The Sheila Divine - I Am The Darkness. We Are The Light.
English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
The Decemberists - As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
Pouty - Forgot About Me
Charly Bliss - Forever
Sleater-Kinney - Little Rope
Friko - Where we've been, Where we go from here