Top 13 Vinyl Albums of 2024

Welcome to the Syndicate X Library where we love books, but we also love vinyl and we are high fi enthusiasts. Today we're going to go through my top 13 vinyl albums of 2024. These are albums that I spent time with, that I enjoy and that sound good. On Viny.

We can go over a couple ground rules. First of all, this is my list. It is my personal taste. I did do a lot of research going through other people's lists and rolling stones top 100 of 2024 and experienced some music that I might not have experienced if I wouldn't have done the research. But at the end of the day, these are albums that I spent time with that I enjoy and that sound good on vinyl. That is a criteria for me is if the vinyl doesn't sound better than the streaming, it's not going to make the list. Case in point, Billy Aish's new album is incredible. The it's called Hit Me Hard and Soft but the vinyl's absolute garbage. Billie, just like Adele and Metallica and others before her, do not care about vinyl, must not be able to afford a record player or something. I don't know. But her vinyl sounds like trash. Like they literally left trash in the sun, recycled it and tried to make it into a record is absolutely terrible. So she would have been high on this list if there was a good pressing of it. But you know, the. That is what it is. Second of all, if it's not available on vinyl, it's not on this list. This is purely vinyl. So there's quite a few albums that would make this list and I'll talk about a couple of them but you can't get them on vinyl or I couldn't get them on vinyl in, in time. So they're excluded from our top 13 here. I'm going to start off really quick with just an honorable mention. This Sabrina Carpenter album is very well produced and executed. It does kind of look like a Playboy magazine. I think it's like it says USA $4 up here. I paid more than $4 for this. It's, you know, it's pretty cool. There is also like this little like kind of pinup fold out thing.

Which looks very like, I don't know, would you say 1990s playboy? I'm not sure but it's a good album. There's a lot of hits on here for pop. It is, it is, it is well executed and I really dig her, her vibe and what she is doing. She's kind of fun that way. But let's get to the list. So at number 13, I have kings of Leon. Can we please have fun?

It is not my favorite Kings of Leon album of.

All time. So I should probably.

Middle of the pack. But they are doing something a little bit different with the songwriting and.

The playing on it. The musicianship, it's a little more sparse in places.

Not for back of it.

But it's a good listen. It's a good album.

Number 12.

The Black Keys. I think this album is called Ohio Players. I love the Black Keys. I love.

How they treat vinyl just sonically. Whenever you put one of their albums on, it just comes to life. Their songs are great. This album is kind of like a snack. It goes by really quick.

But really well executed and fun.

Next one. A lot of people had this. This one on their list is their number one album.

Good old Charlie XCX Brat.

I. I think it's a. A really good album. It definitely has a style. And.

My. My significant other said the other day when we were listening to it, she said, I feel like.

I had a period in life where I did a lot of cocaine. And this album is from then. Neither one of us has actually ever done cocaine. But it seems like that kind of a club album that's a little more tense and up. You know, like, have you ever hung around somebody who's done blow and they just seem like a little edgier than everybody else? There's kind of that vibe. But her songwriting is incredible. The production of it is. I love the execution of this album.

This little kind of like printed out dot matrix credits here.

Is really cool.

So.

Number 10 is Midland's new album.

I. I love Midland so much. And the best way that I can describe them is that they are what you kind of wish the Eagles were without Don Henley's crappy attitude. Even their harmonies feel that way. This album is very optimistic and.

You just feel good after. After you listen to it.

Old Fashioned Feeling is. Is a great song. Barely Blue. Better than A Memory.

It's. It's wonderful. I. I do.

Kind of have the feeling that in the future I would love if Midland would work with somebody like Rick Rubin.

And they kind of.

Expanded what they were doing a little bit in a sense because, man, they're incredible and he's an incredible singer. It's just so great, their songwriting, all of it. Midland.

Number eight is Alpha Mist and the Micah Quartet Recurring. This is one of three live albums on my list. It's just great jazz. I love it. I love putting it on it. Sonically is incredible. The. The musicianship, everything about it, and it just feels.

Feels really, really good. Very fun.

Next, I have Hugo.

And album by Loyal Carner. I actually left the plastic on here because I don't know really who Loyal Carner is.

This is live from Royal Albert hall. And I.

Randomly. I think I found this on Tidal.

When I just go through new albums and I was hooked. I came in, I played it for everybody. I ordered the vinyl and I just love it. I love his style. He's kind of rap singing in a way, but it's so confident, and his storytelling and his personality and then the musicianship of the band that's behind him is great. It's not hip hop, it's not jazz, it's not R and B. It's kind of just him. Like, it's unique.

To.

To him. To.

Loyal Carner, if I'm saying that right. But, man, what a great album.

Next is a DJ set. And this is Jamie XX in Waves. I read a review of this that said.

This album is the perfect club you wish existed, in a sense. And here, living in Los Angeles, the dance clubs here are kind of trash, kind of trashy. The DJs really are not that good. You have to go to Vegas or Barcelona to find a good club or. That's been my experience. Maybe there's clubs that I'm not invited to that I don't know about, but this album is the club that you would want. Like, the music makes you feel like.

You wish it existed in real life somewhere. And I guess that is a little confusing in a sense, but once you hear it, you're like, oh, yeah, I get it. His breaks and changes are very original. And even when you listen to the album over and over again, it never feels repetitive. Even if you're hearing it for the 20th time. It feels fresh and new, which is something that's really, really hard to execute.

It's in a. It's an amazing album and one that I put on very, very often.

Next is we have the good old Cure.

I love the Cure. I've. I've been Cure tired. So this is Songs of a Lost World.

And it feels like the Cure just kind of like picked up where they left off. The opening song, like, goes for, like, I don't know, two and a half minutes or three minutes before Robert Smith starts singing.

But it. It's a complete album. There isn't one song on here where you're like, oh, let's skip that one and go to the. To the next one. I would say a Fragile Thing is my favorite song.

But it's great.

I was, you know, pleasantly surprised when I saw that they had a new album and.

Was in heavy rotation for. For quite a while.

Next one is Gary Clark Jr. JPEG raw.

There's something really special and unique about this album. I don't know a lot about it in the sense that.

I, you know, put it on and instantly like, thought, wow. Like a lot of times his stuff seems very. Just bluesy and kind of in one lane. This is not in one lane. This is elevated. Very original, but fun to listen to. Has a really cool energy about it. Well produced. It sounds amazing.

But really good. Gary Clark Jr. JPEG RAW.

The next one is a live album that came out recently and that's the National Rome. So this is a concert that they did.

In Rome, Italy. Probably inspired by all the caravaggios there and fun stuff.

I struggled a little bit because I know a lot a live album maybe wouldn't make most people's list, but there's something that, that is special about what's going on here. Clearly that's why they put it out as a live album, because they have other albums that they have done that are live, right?

It's kind of hard to explain. There's just a vibe to it.

It's my favorite rendition of Vander Lyle Cry Baby Geeks, which is hard to say because really the lyric is Vander Lyon Cry baby Cry.

But the horn on that song just. Oh, it's. It's so good. Fake Empire, so good. The. The drums and.

Vocals on it, it's just really cool. I love this picture too, on the inside, but.

Check it out if you haven't heard it. The National Rome.

Next we have the Smile Wall of Eyes.

Which is kind of their second full length album. I think Johnny is hit another level with his.

Ability to.

Write songs that are cinematic. Some of the time signatures are really hard to understand on this, but if you're not familiar with them, it's, you know, singer and guitar player from Radiohead with a different drummer.

What's great about the Smile albums too, the last one was like, this is the way that they design them. They start off really good and then it just gets better and better and better and it really takes you on a journey. It's a great one to throw on when you have people over and you just start playing it and then everybody's like, oh, what is this? And then you just notice that the attention in the room just starts going to the album because you don't Expect it to just keep building and getting better and better and better. And their last one was that way too. But Wall of Eyes by the Smile.

Now this is my number two.

It's pearl jam, dark matter.

This is produced by a kid, I think his name is Watt. He's a pop producer, more or less. He produced Bieber, Gaga, Demi Lovato, Post Malone, and he's done other stuff like Iggy Pop and the Rolling Stones, that sort of thing. But he's mostly known as a pop producer. The way that I understand the story here is that Pearl Jam usually takes a couple years to make an album. He kind of got him in a room and they made this fairly quick.

The songs are great. I think Eddie Vedder is at his best here. This is the kind of album that you get. You put it on the turntable and you get out the lyrics and you read the lyrics while you're listening to it, which is the old fashioned way to do it.

And the thing I was trying to figure out about this album is, is it about Eddie's wife or is it about America?

Maybe if you know, please put it in the comments or if we know each other personally, just text me. But.

It feels like it's about America.

But it also feels like it's about his wife. And.

He'S always trying to figure out how to close the gap between.

This lost love.

Some of the lyrics are just insane. Eddie is so good. And the other thing too is Matt Cameron.

Maybe is it his best on this? Like I felt for a little while, Matt was trying to play like Pearl Jam. And if you. If you're not familiar with Matt, he was the drummer for Soundgarden. He played on Temple of the Dog with Eddie and Stone and Mike when they did that. But I think that that Pearl Jam always wanted Matt after Temple of the Dog to be their drummer. And they kissed a bunch of frogs on the way. And then he eventually joined and he was doing Pearl Jam and Soundgarden when Chris Cornell passed away. He ended up kind of joining Pearl Jam full time.

This feels like the most complete.

Execution for them with Matt and Matt's drumming. It feels like there's a little bit of Matt from Soundgarden and there's a little bit of Matt from Pearl Jam, but it's just Matt expressing himself in a really cool way. But his drumming man alive, Stone and McCready on the guitar and Jeff on the bass, they really.

They really are good at what they do. And so if you haven't experienced this album, I think a Lot of people slept on it. And you're into vinyl. Just order it, don't stream it. Sit down.

Shut off the phone. Just open it up and kind of go through the story with. With Eddie and read the lyrics as he. As he's performing. And you'll kind of see what I mean about. Is it about our times in the country and what's going on politically, or is it about his wife? And, man, if it's about his wife, ouch. He's, like, being very vulnerable, if that's what it is. Because. Yeah, the other thing, too, about Eddie that's interesting to me is, like, you know, growing up in Seattle and in this scene.

He'S really the only one left. Like, we. We. We lost Mark Lanigan recently. Chris Cornell is gone. Lane Staley is gone. Kurt Cobain is gone. The only. The only person I can think of, really, that's left from that scene is Mark Arm from Mud Honey. But it's just Eddie like it. It's, you know, interesting. I remember watching Mookie Blaylock. So Pearl Jam was called Mookie Blaylock.

Play at the Color Box in Seattle for not that many people. And Eddie wouldn't turn around. Like he sang. Looking at the drummer at the time, I think that drummer, Dave Cruzen was his name. And then, same thing. I saw them open for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theater. It was the same sort of thing where Eddie gave this. This vibe that he was shy, like he was kind of like Jim Morrison or something, where he, you know, he was just focused on the song, but the audience was an intruder in a way.

And to think about that guy.

And. I don't know, there's that same sort of feeling on this is like you feel like you're peeping in on something. But that's my number two. Pearl Jam, Dark Matter. Well done, gentlemen. I'm gonna do an honorable mention here for what I think is the album cover of the year. Deeper well by Casey Musgraves. This. This cover is so intimate. It tells you everything about the album. You almost don't even have to hear it. Like her laying naked in. In the Fields.

This was limited. So the, you know, average album out there, the mass produced one, is not this cover. But when. When I saw this, I was just like, oh, my goodness, this didn't make my list because there's really only one song on here that I really like. The rest of it, I just don't connect to, and I wish I did. Or, you know, maybe if I saw her live or something. I. I would, but.

Really, really cool. And then I would. I would say to. You know, just putting vinyl aside for a moment, that by far the. The best album of this year is Kendrick Lamar's Was it gnx, I think it's called. I don't think anything even comes close, but the vinyl isn't coming out until I think, March of 2025.

But that album is. Is special. And I. I think he's. He's in a league all. All by himself with. With that. And like, I find myself listening to that album almost like imagining the person that I have a battle with and I'm like, I'm talking to them. It's just so elevated. And, you know, poor Drake. I don't. What happens to Drake now? Has anybody seen Drake? Are. Are there people out there that actually think that Drake's relevant in this? No. Yeah. No chance whatsoever. Also highlight going to the World Series Game 2 here in LA Dodger Stadium.

Them playing you're Not Like Us, that isn't on this album. But his other song, the Crowd singing that while the New York Yankees are coming out and standing there. I could not imagine.

Being the Yankees at that point. Like, there's just nothing cooler than what he's doing right now. And I would suggest that somebody please piss him off when he's done with Drake so we can keep this going. Because when he's pissed, he elevates his game in a way that not too many people can do. It's Jordanes.

In a way. It's amazing. Okay. My number one album.

Zach Brian, the Great American Bar Scene.

I don't know what to say about this album. I don't have to say about Zach.

We. We as a team went and saw him when he played here. We went. Well, I went two nights.

And he just got better.

On the third night. So I saw him the first night and the third night of three shows. John Mayer came out and played.

Now that was nuts too.

And then, you know, John Mayer does a song on here with them. But I don't know, I kind of feel like Zach is in a. In a different league.

With what he is doing. And his last album is still one of my go to's to this day. I put it on all the time.

But songwriting, everything about this is great.

Same thing. I have a hard time picking a favorite. American Nights is great. Oak Island, I love.

And then the Better Days with John Mayer, I loop that one over and over again. I would say the only song that I'm. I'm not kind of crazy about on here is Sandpaper with Bruce Springsteen. But I kind of get why Bruce is on here, because some of these songs definitely nod to Bruce. American Nights.

But, man, what a great album. Well done, Zach. So that is my top 13 albums of 2024.

It's a personal list. So, you know, whether you agree with me or not, I would love to hear your top albums, because I might, you know, I might learn something. But right now, as we're recording this, this is where I'm at, and.

Thank you for hanging out, and we'll see you next time.