These are the best albums of 2024

Whether you’re looking for suggested listening or want to compare notes, check out these lists of the 10 best albums of 2024, by four music writers at Cult MTL.

The Best Albums of 2024

Stephan Boissonneault

Yoo Doo Right From the Heights of Our Pastureland review mothland

Best Albums of 2024

Yoo Doo Right, From the Heights of Our Pastureland (Mothland)
Alix Fernz, Bizou (Mothland)
Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us (Colombia)
The Cure, Songs of a Lost World (Fiction/Lost Music)
Magdalena Bay, Imaginal Disk (Mom + Pop)
Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven (Epitaph)
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD (Constellation)
Chelsea Wolfe, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She (Loma Vista)
Chat Pile, Cool World (The Flenser)
Ducks LTD., Harm’s Way (Carpark)

Biggest Disappointment

Kendrick Lamar’s GNX.

Best Concert

Mannequin Pussy, Osheaga, Aug. 2

When I attended Osheaga this year, I managed to catch almost all of Mannequin Pussy’s set on the main stage. I had always known the name but was not prepared for this onslaught of vicious punk/noise and vocalist Marisa “Missy” Dabice’s charming demeanour. But it wasn’t charming in a normal way; Missy has a way of introducing her songs, going on little diatribes about the darker side of capitalism and the church, and bringing her voice to a hushed, tantalizing whisper that pulls you in. I found myself getting closer and closer to the stage. She then explodes into a scream and the band unleashes. At one point, bassist Colins “Bear” Regisford took the microphone and sang lead, which is probably the closest I’ll ever get to seeing someone like Bad Brains. The album I Got Heaven is good, but this band is meant to be experienced in the live setting.

Darcy MacDonald

Best Albums of 2024

P’tit Belliveau, P’tit Belliveau (self-released)
Kendrick Lamar, GNX (PGLang/Interscope)
Blu & Exile, Love (the) Ominous World (Dirty Science)
Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal (Top Dawg)
Safia Nolin, UFO RELIGION (Gladiateur Sourire)
Hawa B, better sad than sorry (Duprince)
Brown Family, Durags & coeurs brisés (7ème Ciel)
Common & Pete Rock, The Auditorium Vol. 1 (Loma Vista)
Brother Ali & Ant, Satisfied Soul EP (Travellers Media)
Joey Valence & Brae, No Hands (self-released)

Best Concert

Queens of the Stone Age, Place Bell, April 13

Biggest Disappointment

Kaytranada’s third LP, Timeless, is anything but.

Compiling year-end lists is hardly an exact science. At Cult MTL, our music team is mandated not to ascribe any numerical order to our Top 10 picks, allowing us to praise our personal favourites rather than arbitrarily rank the importance or impact of a project.

It’s therefore doubly disheartening that hometown hero Kaytranda’s third outing couldn’t keep my attention for more than a few listens when it dropped in June, whereas its predecessors, 99.9% and Bubba, have never left my rotation. Overlong and overstuffed with guests who insist on singing along to basslines, Timeless is low on heart. One of the most creative, gifted musicians of his generation, Kaytra’s production here sounds bored and uninspired. Granted, a mediocre Kaytranada project is still a decent album by any standard. But mediocrity has never been his jam. Here’s hoping he got whatever this was out of his system and finds his way back to making truly exciting sounds. And for the love of music, can we please bench the charismaless Lou Phelps now? Take Your Little Brother to Work Day has been cancelled indefinitely.

Dave MacIntyre

Best Albums of 2024

Bibi Club, Feu de garde (Secret City)
Charli XCX, Brat (Atlantic)
The Cure, Songs of a Lost World (Fiction/Lost/Polydor/Universal/Capitol)
Fontaines D.C., Romance (XL)
Gulfer, Third Wind (Topshelf)
Jamie xx, In Waves (Young)
Kendrick Lamar, GNX (PGLang/Interscope)
Porter Robinson, Smile! :D (Mom + Pop)
salute, TRUE MAGIC (Ninja Tune)
Tems, Born in the Wild (RCA/Since ’93)

Biggest Disappointment

A close tie between la Tulipe’s closure, Gulfer disbanding and Pitchfork being swallowed up by GQ.

Best Concert

Population II at la Tulipe during this year’s Taverne Tour.

There were many Best Concert contenders for me this year: Chappell Roan’s instantly iconic mid-afternoon Osheaga set. SZA, Confidence Man and Romy’s sets that weekend stand out, too, as do regular old shows from Porter Robinson, Tems and a hugely entertaining Vampire Weekend concert in Laval.

But I think Population II — a band I saw live three times this year, including in front of a woodworker’s garage in Baie-Saint-Paul — takes the cake for the first time I saw them, at the maddeningly now-shuttered la Tulipe. The proggy, psychedelic krautrock trio used the relative expansiveness of the room to their advantage, creating an ominous and freaky atmosphere with the use of red and green lighting, loud, punishing basslines and tunes that were experimental yet simultaneously very controlled and calculated. That was in February, and it stood tall throughout the rest of the year as my favourite 2024 gig.

Mr. Wavvy

Best Albums of 2024

NxWorries, Why Lawd? (Stones Throw)
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Wild God (PIAS)
Kendrick Lamar, GNX (Interscope)
Tyler, the Creator, CHROMAKOPIA (Columbia)
Soran, Loneliness Confetti (Audiogram)
Rodrigo Recabarren, Pablo Menares & Yago Vazquez – Familla (Greenleaf)
Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter (Columbia)
Kaytranada, Timeless (RCA)
Billie Eilish, Hit Me Hard N Soft (Interscope)

Biggest Disappointment

SOPHIE, SOPHIE (Future Classic)

Best Concert

Missy Elliott, Bell Centre, Aug. 17

Missy Elliott’s Montreal debut was a masterclass in hip hop spectacle. As a singular artist who raps, sings, choreographs and reinvents the art of costume design with every wardrobe change, she embodies the multidisciplinary brilliance of a true pop auteur. She’s hip hop’s answer to Lady Gaga, but with a fiercer edge.

Openers Ciara and Busta Rhymes were “supporting acts” in the literal sense of the term, their presence bearing a deep sense of gratitude towards a woman who shaped the trajectory of their respective careers. Missy’s long-overdue inaugural headlining tour was a celebration of her unshakable legacy, an evening nothing short of spectacular.

This article was originally published in the Dec. 2024 issue of Cult MTL.

For more Montreal music coverage, please visit the Music section.