The Absolute Best Records and Reissues of 2024

As 2024 unfolded, that now familiar thought that there is less new music that interests me was in my head a lot.  And it's true, from a quantity standpoint, I probably bought fewer new releases than any other prior year.  That said, as far as quality goes, when I started to assemble this list I realized that my fears of new music drying up are unfounded.

Now I will say, this year was lacking that singular, blow away unbelievable number one record.  There were lots of excellent, excellent records, but there wasn't that one that I went back to on repeat non stop.  After a lot of consideration, I ended up putting the J. Robbins record at number one this year.  I’m not sure it would have been the number one record most prior years, but in 2024 the stars aligned.  And it really is a great record.  

I debated that number one spot for a while as Swami and the Bed of Nails, Gentlemen Rogues and Custody all put out albums that could be argued as being the best.  For the Swami record, I mostly just wish that it was longer.  It leaves me wanting more in a way that's almost unsatisfying sometimes.  It's right up there and it might be more accurate to call it 1B as opposed to 2.  

The Absolute Best New Records of 2024

01 - J. Robbins - Basilisk - Dischord

02 - Swami & The Bed of Nails - All Of This Awaits You... - Swami

03 - Gentlemen Rogues - Surface Noise - Double Helix / Shifting Sounds

04 - Custody - 3 -   Brassneck / My Ruin / Combat Rock Industry / Shield / Sell The Heart

05 - Fig Dish - Feels Like The Very First Two Times - Forge Again

06 - Stress Eater - Everybody Eats - Silver Age

07 - Fastbacks - For WHAT Reason! - No Threes

08 - Short Straw Fate - Forgotten But Begotten - Self Released

09 - Pinhead Gunpowder - Unt - 1234 Go!

10 - The Hard Quartet - The Hard Quartet - Matador

11 - Cloud Nothings – Final Summer – Pure Noise 

12 - Four Lights - Four Lights - Bypolar / Double Dōs

13 - Bad Year - Bad Year - Snappy Little Numbers / Motorcycle Potluck

14 - Surrender - Summer Never Comes - Waterslide 

15 - Spells - Past Our Prime - Snappy Little Numbers / Big Neck / Rad Girlfriend / Keep It A Secret / Shield   

I don't normally list or rank reissues reissues at the end of the year, but it's become very apparent that the older I get, the more I'm drawn to the more formative music of my life.  I tend to play records from the 90s as much or more than new releases these days, so I figure it's probably worthwhile to point out some of the best as there were outstanding reissues this year.  

From the hip hop side of things, the label 90s Tapes had an insane year.  I put five of their records in my top fifteen reissues and they had others that didn't make the list that were also very good.  They also claimed the number one spot with their rerelease of the 1993 Yall So Stupid LP, which was a desperately needed reissue that they knocked out of the park.  It was also nice to finally get a double LP, full artwork version of one of my favorite hip hop records of all time, Casual's 1994 masterpiece Fear Itself.

For the punk, indie and rock records it's certainly hard to beat Sicko's reissues of all four of their full length albums.  Multiple colors of vinyl, remastered sound, new liner notes and bonus tracks all make these must haves.  I did rank all four together instead of splitting them up since they were released at the same time and I don't want to have to try to rank individual Sicko records against each other and the rest of the 90s.  It's too chaotic to try.  There are some on this list I haven't written about yet, so I want to also point out in particular the Ween reissue of Chocolate & Cheese.  It has essentially an entire album worth of bonus unreleased tracks.  I wish they'd do that for Pure Guava as well.

It's difficult to rank these as I'm sort of juggling how much I like the record and how good it sounds and how comprehensive it is along with the records being in different genres.  So while something like Boys Life probably has the best packaging of anything on the list, I can't ever say I like Boys Life more than Casual.  And while I like Casual more than Yall So Stupid, 90s Tapes had a much nicer overall release when you take into account sound quality, artwork and completeness than Get On Down.  Everything on this list is great and the differences between number one and number fifteen are kind of trivial at the end of the day. Not to mention we had reissues of Organized Konfusion, Shipyards and Unwound that are just outside of this top 15.

The Absolute Best Reissues of 2024

01 - Y'all So Stupid - Van Full Of Pakistans - 90s Tapes

02 - Sicko - All Four Albums - Top Drawer

03 - Casual - Fear Itself - Get On Down

04 - Jesse - Complete Discography -  Waterslide Records / Little Rocket / Sounds Of Subterrania /Rad Girlfriend Records

05 - Overwhelming Colorfast - Two Words - Beihai Park

06 - Ween - Chocolate & Cheese - Rhino

07 - Yaggfu Front - Action Packed Adventure! - 90s Tapes

08 - China Drum - XXX - Mad Butcher Classics

09 - Boys Life - Home Is A Highway - Numero

10 - The Troubleneck Brothers - Love/Hate - 90s Tapes

11 - Boogie Down Productions - Edutainment - Get On Down

12 - Da Homlez - Abandoned In Da Streetz - 90s Tapes

13 - Ultimate Fakebook - This Will Be Laughing Week - Rocket Heart

14 - Saafir - Boxcar Sessions - Rare Breed

15 - Mystidious Misfitss - A Who Dat? - 90s Tapes

As usual I will likely be taking a break for a few weeks to start up the year and recharge my batteries a bit.  As I go into the fourteenth year of doing this stupid website, I do think a lot about wrapping it up at some point, or at least maybe changing up what I do on it a little bit.  I don't know what I'll end up doing, but I'm pretty sure that it will be business as usual in 2025 at least.  Merry New Year everyone.

Bad Idea - Breakout 12" - Red Vinyl

Self Released (2024)

I wrote about Bad Idea's full length, Sonic Hellride, last year.  This year, they followed it up with a five song, 12" EP.  I'll throw in my obligatory complaint that I really don't like EPs as I prefer a full length or a single if you want to get less than a full course meal out into the world.  It just always seems like a waste to press up an LP but not put an LPs worth of music on it.  But that's far from a complaint unique to Bad Idea, they're just the record in front of me right now.

Like their album from last year, this EP has songs very much in the straight up punk rock space, occasionally leaning towards a more hardcore sound and sometimes having a garage-y sort of vibe.  In general this sort of thing is fine for me, but it's also not the kind of music that typically fits neatly into my wheelhouse.  I'm usually into a poppier sound...

Which the band is obviously capable of after one listen to the best song on here "Too Good To Die."  Does that main chord progression sound kind of familiar, of course, but they band still gets milage out of it by putting their own spin on things.  And as I mentioned last time I wrote about the band, they have a really great singer which helps them stand head and shoulders above other bands with similar sounds, who always seem to have uniquely shitty singers.

I think folks that are into meat and potatoes punk rock more than I am will get more milage out of this EP than I do.  It wouldn't surprise me for someone to listen to this and have the exact opposite opinion as me and think "Too Good To Die" stands out in a less than positive way from the others.  But I think we'd all agree that Bad Idea is very good at whatever they are doing.

Bad Idea - Breakout 12":
https://badideampls.bandcamp.com/album/breakout

Stress Eater - Everybody Eats LP - Red Vinyl

Silver Age (2024)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

If you know me, you know I love early 90s hip hop.  If you know me, you also know that I really struggle to find hip hop that came out after 1994 that I can connect with.  I'll occasionally find something from the later 90s or early 2000s that scratches a similar itch, but as far as new records being release right now, it's exceedingly rare that anything makes sense to me.  The one exception to that is Czarface.  You may be able to tell from the artwork that Stress Eater is a new group from that same 'Czarface Universe.'

Where Czarface is 7L, Esoteric and Inspectah Deck, Stress Eater is 7L, Esoteric and Kool Keith.  So, we get the really nice production that is what always draws me into Czarface and then we swap out one of the guys from Wu Tang for one of the guys from Ultramagnetic MCs.  Not sure how this is a record that could possibly miss for me.  And it does not.  I mean is has a song called "Mecha and the Sole Brother" and that is one of the best song names I've seen in a long, long time.

The thing about Czarface (and now Stress Eater) that really sets it apart from most hip hop these days is the production.  It's full, it's varied, it has loud drums, it's everything I like about the sound of 90s hip hop without actually sounding like it's from the 90s.  I mean, there are echos, for sure, but it sounds like a modern evolution of that sound - not a carbon copy of an older sound.  

Lyrically, Esoteric is coming out with his usual rapid fire, pop culture heavy lyrical flow.  Dropping references that I chuckle about and also making some deep cut comic references that go completely over my head, his raps always hit for me and make me pay attention to what he's saying.  Speaking of paying attention to lyrics, Kool Keith is one of those MCs that always benefitted from repeated listens.  

For me, this is the best Keith has sounded since the 90s, and a lot of that is because he finally has top tier production that really take advantage of his unique delivery.  I feel like you'll always get the best results from Kool Keith if you give him a beat that has a steady, consistent pace.  He's at his best when you let him go off beat if he needs to, rather than forcing him to adapt to some bizarre, nutty production.

It's nice that it seems like we can count on a Czarface project most years.  I'm hopeful that means we can also start to count on future Stress Eater records in the future.  I dig this every bit as much as any of the Czarface records I have.

Stress Eater - Everybody Eats:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_l9VsBx05p_mg8SmPSSMJOeFOuoGyCh3DM

Fastbacks - For WHAT Reason! LP - Clear Red Vinyl

No Threes (2024)

I will never pretend I am the world's foremost authority on the Fastbacks' discography.  I was a latecomer to the party and wasn't paying attention like I should have when the band was in their 90s heyday.  I've been doing my best to make up for lost time, picking up a record here and there as I see them available for the nice price™.  I can't say that I was expecting a new album from them in 2024, 25 years after their 1999 full length The Day That Didn't Exist.

And to my untrained, novice ears, it sure sounds like this is an album that could easily slide in next to one of their 90s records.  Everything that I'm looking for in a Fastbacks record.  The band as a whole is tight as hell with bouncy upbeat songs driven by an impeccable rhythm section.  Lulu & Kim's harmonies are as slick as they've ever been, complimenting each other and elevating each song.  Lulu and Kurt's guitar antics also are perfectly in sync with Kurt's extra riffing as top notch as you'd expect.

I know many people who evangelize Fastbacks as one of the great rock bands of our era.  It makes me annoyed that I missed out when they were active in the 90s.  While I really dig their records quite a bit, I don't think I'll ever have the same emotional attachment as people who have 30+ years history with them.  But I can say they are a great band and this is absolutely one of the best records to come out this year.

Fastbacks - For WHAT Reason!:
https://fastbacks.bandcamp.com/album/for-what-reason

Sicko – You Are Not The Boss Of Me - Blue Vinyl (/250) & Blue With White Splatter Vinyl (/250)

Top Drawer (2024, Reissue) 

30 years after their first full length was released, Sicko is reissuing all of their albums on vinyl and CD. These boys have put out some really important records to me and over the next few Fridays I'm going to be writing about each of them (Maybe not on Black Friday, but we'll see how that goes). In the 90s, Sicko was part of my holy trinity of pop punk bands that also included The Mr. T Experience and Zoinks. I still obsess over all three to this day.

Here we are at the fourth and final Sicko reissue, 1997's You Are Not The Boss Of Me.  I don't know how it was everywhere, but when this album came out it felt like there wasn't as much fanfare as there was for Chef Boy-R-U-Dum, at least in our little world in NJ.  It's not that anyone had ever expressed disappointment in it or anything like that, but it felt like had gone from Sicko being kings of the world to folks being like, 'Oh yeah, I like Sicko.  They have a new album?  That's cool.'  While my fandom was no less fervent when the album was released, it didn't feel like that was the case for everyone. 

Maybe it's because Sicko wouldn't make it back out this way to play any more shows.  Maybe the writing was on the wall that the band was reaching the end of their lifespan.  Maybe because things were moving so fast musically back then that in the two years between albums tastes had started to change.  It could have been any of those things, but what it doesn't change is that looking back on this record all these years later, I still think it's pretty stellar.

The album starts with "Window of Opportunity."  An incredible album opener from a band that sure knows how to open albums.  And it's just full of great songs like "Hipster Boyfriend," "High Hopes" and my favorite Ean song, "Indie Rock Daydream."  If there was ever a song that should be twice as long as it is, that's the one that would get my vote.

While I wouldn't say that "A Song About A Rabbit," "My Sister Is A Werewolf Tonight" or the "Wrathchild" cover would rank as my favorite Sicko moments, they do flesh out the album with a more varied sound.  Though I think back then probably I just wanted more pop punk.  I've also never really liked any kind of metal, so an Iron Maiden cover would always probably lose me no matter the band or the time.

Like all of the reissues, this one sounds great.  We've got two bonus tracks as well, both covers.  The first is the Misfits' "Astro Zombies."  I probably wouldn't care too much about Misfits covers most times, but they do a good job with it, playing it at warp speed.  The second is a cover of "8.6" by Husking Bee, who were another band that I really loved around this time.  This version is sped up a bit, but it fits right into the Sicko canon.

And that's going to wrap up all of the Sicko reissues.  At least until a grand, all encompassing, demos, singles and compilation songs collection is released (which I encourage).  It's great to see these albums out and being talked about again.  They truly mean so much to me and sure I have the original pressings, but you could spend your money a lot worse than having three copies of each Sicko record (well, four if I also count the CDs).  

They'll also be playing a few shows here and there, and while I don't think I'm going to be able to get out to Seattle next year, I'm still happy it's happening and hope it continues to happen every now and again.  Even though those are the days that I will remember, these songs are all too important to just leave in the past.

Sicko – You Are Not The Boss Of Me:
https://sicko.bandcamp.com/album/you-are-not-the-boss-of-me-remastered

Todd 1 Featuring Doctor Dre And Ed Lover – Down Wit' MTV 12"

Tommy Boy (1991) 

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

This record is something that I've been hunting for ages, but I just never saw it come up on Discogs or eBay for whatever reason.  If you looks at Discogs sales history, it has popped up a few times over the last couple of years, but I just never saw it I guess.  But, a few months ago one popped up for $25 and I just went for it as I really have wanted it in the collection for a while.

That said, the record is kind of dumb.  Good dumb, but still dumb.  It's a parody of "O.P.P." by Naughty By Nature except now we're "Down Wit MTV."  I vividly remember when they used to play this video on Yo! MTV Raps.  Even then I recognized it as something kind of silly that just took time away from the other videos I wanted to see.  But as the years have gone by, I look back on it with warmer feelings than I had back then.

Todd 1 and Ed Lover are totally fine delivering their goofy lyrics about why MTV is fun and cool and what not.  Neither excel, but they don't embarrass themselves either.  the beat is essentially just lifted from "O.P.P.," but it's an iconic beat so I find it difficult to not get caught up in the silliness.  is this record the sort of thing I'll even play once a year?  Not a chance, but there's a comfort knowing it's on my record shelf and I *could* play it if I had that insatiable urge to hear the song again.

Todd 1 Featuring Doctor Dre And Ed Lover – Down Wit' MTV:
https://youtu.be/eTpiZwO8mgQ?si=PZ3vkUeEw_lYftss

Superchunk / Quivers - Split 7"

Merge (2024)

I love me a good split 7" and I also do enjoy it when bands have exclusive merch when they tour.  But when that exclusive merch becomes impossible to obtain unless you happened to go to a show at a very specific time in an extremely specific geographic region, I'm not as into that.  That's where this split 7" comes in. Sold only on the briefest run of tour dates in the center of America, had it not been for the tremendous kindness of my buddy Danny, I would have been shit out of luck.  Nary a copy has shown up anywhere on the internet since this tour happened, not even on eBay or Discogs.  Again, I like cool merch, but some of us have been collecting Superchunk records for 30+ years.  I would have been most distraut to miss this.

Anyway, the Superchunk song is a fun little cover of Dead Moon's "Fire in the Western World."  I can't say that I'm familiar with the original, but Superchunk have turned it into one of their standard, upper-mid tempo numbers.  I  really enjoy it and for me it's miles better than a lot of the mopey songs they've been slinging the past couple of years.  Give me more Superchunk like this!

I had not heard of Quivers prior to the announcement of this 7" and I don't know the Yo La Tengo song they are covering, "Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind." This one is slower, dreamier and for me kind of fades into the background a little bit.  It's good, but it's nothing that grabs me and makes me think that I must track down more music by this band.

I'm very grateful to have this record and again send many thanks to Danny.  I had a complete Superchunk 7" collection prior to this release (including a longtime omission that's sitting in a stash of records another friend is hording for me in the UK) and I thought that once I had this 7", I was set again.  Then Discogs alerted me to another regional exclusive.  But that's a story for another day.

Superchunk / Quivers - Split 7":
https://superchunk.bandcamp.com/album/fire-in-the-western-world-pass-the-hatchet-i-think-im-goodkind

Sicko – Chef Boy-R-U-Dum - Blue Vinyl (/250) & Yellow With Red Splatter Vinyl (/250)

Top Drawer (2024, Reissue)

30 years after their first full length was released, Sicko is reissuing all of their albums on vinyl and CD.  These boys have put out some really important records to me and over the next few Fridays I'm going to be writing about each of them (Maybe not on Black Friday, but we'll see how that goes).  In the 90s, Sicko was part of my holy trinity of pop punk bands that also included The Mr. T Experience and Zoinks.  I still obsess over all three to this day.

The release of Chef Boy-R-U-Dum was when Sicko-mania really peaked, at least in the little record store that I spent an inordinate amount of my time in back then.  I would stop there multiple times a week, hanging out for many hours at a time, soaking up as much music as I could.  The legend of Sicko really was growing after Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy made its way around town and anticipation for the next record was pretty high.  Flipside is the store pictured in the liner notes of this reissue that made the window display of mock Chef Boy-R-U-Dum cans and when that record finally came out, it felt like nearly everyone owned a copy.

This is also the time when Sicko finally made it out east.  They played at Coney Island High in NYC and The Pipeline in Newark.  I will never, ever figure our why I was not able to go to the NYC show.  There was some sort of conflict that I guess was important at the time, be it work, school or some other nonsense, but I don't know how important it could have actually been since I don't remember what it was at all but sure do remember missing the show.  I did, however, get to see them play at The Pipeline and it was just a joy.  I also interviewed Denny and Ean for my college paper and asked them many stupid questions that were all the rage in interviews back then. Boba Fett and Wedge were their favorite Star Wars characters at the time, if you're curious.

But let us not overlook the record itself.  While I mentioned last week that Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy will probably always be my favorite for sentimental reasons, it really could be argued that Chef Boy-R-U-Dum was their crowning achievement.  Especially in hindsight, it's really impressive to look back on this and see how strong and cohesive it is top to bottom.  This is a record crammed full of songs under two minutes, yet they've been lodged in my brain for nearly three decades.  They don't feel short, they just sort of feel perfect.

Among the many, many highlights are "Half the Battle." "Believe," "Escalator" (which had a music video!) and maybe the song that galvanized our little crew of dorks more than any other: "The Dateless Losers Club."  Despite the fact that the bulk of us had significant others at the time, it felt very much like a song speaking to us as it often felt like we were all just seconds away from being dateless losers again at any moment.  I so vividly remember the moment they played it at The Pipeline and everyone in the room throwing up the 'L' with their hands when the "stuck to my forehead" line came.

Like the other reissues, this one sounds great.  The best Chef Boy-R-U-Dum has ever sounded.  And on this version, the song is listed as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as opposed to "Donit Ask, Donit Tell" like the LP I had from Spain!  We've got one bonus track, which is "Escape Velocity" from the More Bounce To The Ounce compilation album, but I must ask - where is "The Rainy Day" song from the Japanese version of the CD?  See, this is what happens when an obsessive record collector starts writing about records like this.  I ask the tough questions, man.  But that aside, it is most difficult to really articulate how much I love this record and how it's stuck with me for all of these years.  It can't be recommended more highly from me and it's great to see it back in print and on vinyl in America for the very first time.

Sicko - Chef Boy-R-U-Dum:
https://sicko.bandcamp.com/album/chef-boy-r-u-dum-remastered

The Troubleneck Brothers - Love/Hate 2xLP

90s Tapes (2024)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

90s Tapes is one of the best record labels going these days, as far as consistency of releases, there are few that are at their level.  In addition to rereleasing some incredible classics of the golden era, they constantly surprise me with indie rereleases of groups I was unfamiliar with.  Now, I had heard of Troubleneck Brothers prior to this release, but honestly only by a couple of months.  And then here's 90s Tapes swooping in with a double LP of early 90s hip hop greatness.

From what I have been able to surmise from various internet writings, Troubleneck Brothers were primarily active as far as releasing music from 1992 to 1994.  Those that bother to read my writing about hip hop know that's my sweet spot where so much wonderful and innovative hip hop was being created.  Love/Hate is a compilation of various material Troubleneck Brothers released as demo tapes and singles.  They were signed to Step Sun for a time, which was a subsidiary of Tommy Boy.  No clue why they weren't just on Tommy proper, I have a feeling more people would have probably heard them if they had been.

Troubleneck is a seven person crew, so I'll be the first to admit that I don't really know who is rapping when, but what I can say is every one of them has skills and shine when it's their time.  And the best part is they're are all rapping over exactly the type of beats I'm looking for with lots of upbeat bass lines, hard hitting kick and snare drums and cuts in the hooks.  It's absolutely a product of its era and I mean that as a huge compliment.  Had I heard this back in my Source reading, Yo! MTV Raps! watching, I likely would have been obsessed.

I'm always grateful when 90s Tapes steps up and rereleases a classic, I'm especially thankful that they saved these tracks and gave them the classy treatment they deserve.

The Troubleneck Brothers - Love/Hate:

https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/love-hate

Fig Dish - Feels Like The Very First Two Times LP & Flexi 7" - Green In Clear Swirl Vinyl

Forge Again (2024)

I've had this Fig Dish LP for a while and for some reason I have struggled trying to figure out what to write about it.  First thing first, it's great.  That's not the issue.  But I feel like there's some sort of story that I should be telling about my relationship to Fig Dish over the years.  The only problem is that it's not a particularly deep or profound relationship.  They have always been a band that I really liked and never understood why their CDs were always in the used/cutout bins next to The Figgs and Flop.  Writing that sounds like I'm taking a shot at those bands, but all three put out records in the mid 90s that I think are just outstanding.  If anything, the story of Fig Dish to me is that of a band that for whatever reason never got their due at the time.

Feels Like The Very First Two Times contains songs that were recorded for a planned third Fig Dish LP that was meant to come out in 1998 or 1999 I would assume.  That never happened, though when I listen to these songs, it takes me right back to everything I loved about Fig Dish.  The big, crunchy guitars driving through monster hooks with wry lyrics.  These songs are every bit as good as anything on their second or third albums (Thanks to Alan for reminding me about their first album that I always forget about).  Part of my brain then wonders why material this strong never came out at the time, but then the other part wonders if this album would have been received any different than the others?  I don't really know the answer and that's frustrating in some ways, but the fact that it did finally come out is really the thing I should be focused on.  And the fact that it's out on vinyl is even better.

This is easily one of the best records I've heard this year.  Sure, technically these songs aren't 'new' songs in 2024, but they've never been officially released before, so I'm definitely counting it as a top record of 2024.  I just hope this is the first of at least three Fig Dish records being released on vinyl as mentioned in the excellent liner notes.  I need those first two albums!

Fig Dish - Feels Like The Very First Two Times:

https://forgeagainrecords.bandcamp.com/album/feels-like-the-very-first-two-times