This year the electroscape published a few of in-depth stories, including Brain Simulation: Quiddity and Quietus by Burial Grid, Where does emotion in music come from? and Yota: Sonic diary. If you haven’t read these stories, I hope you will take a moment to give them a read. This year I decided to share a list of albums I know I’ll be revisiting for years to come, the type of list I haven’t published since 2020. To generate the list, I asked myself, what albums were released in 2024 did I find myself reaching for again and again? I constrained the list to eight albums. The downside is this means many incredible albums were missed. The list below is, of course, one of personal highlights. If you haven’t heard the albums on this list, I hope it will inspire you to dig into them. If you have heard the albums, I hope the list will inspire you to revisit them. The list is in alphabetical order.
Anthems of a Sunken Generation by 36
An abstract and obscure atmosphere populated with crushing synth sounds that convey pure and undiluted emotion, and through the haze and the humming, a touch of insanity infiltrates a wildly electrified soundscape. The album is reminiscent of synths on Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, but mind-warped, leaving the listener questioning whether the pulsating is reverberating in their head or emitted from the speakers.
Death Romantique by Skeleton Lipstick
The album title sets the mood for these after-party, room-spinning grooves with haunted atmospheres, raving beats, and heart-breaking energy, populated with skin-scraping textures that ebb and flow like monsters rising and the frightened hiding.
Die Urkatastrophe by Kanonenfieber
The lone metal album on the list is a fierce one with a possessed spirit. Aggressive, brutal, heart-thumping force. Beautifully orchestrated songwriting that is brilliantly delivered, with atmospheres created by the haunting, barking vocals and resonate guitars.
Hell's Teeth by Speculum Bunny
This is one of the most interesting albums I heard this year. The range of atmospheres and moods is striking. It is artfully choreographed from sounds that buzz, grind, and pulsate across a black, minimalist canvas over which beautifully unholy, possessed vocals stirred up from the depths ethereally hover.
Rose Room by Donor Lens
The songs across the album are perfectly placed to bring out a full experience. Features several collaborations, a huge range of rhythms and sounds used to construct the beats, and a heavy dose of psychedelic atmospheres. There’s great depth to the soundscapes, and multiple listens scratch away at the surface, each offering its own trip. So, strap on the glasses on the cover art and enter an endless space with no walls, where you’re small and everything around you is big, squishy, and colored, and traverse mind-altering landscapes.
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure
The patient and dramatic songwriting we’ve come to expect from The Cure. Darkened, dreamy atmospheres populated with swaying, pulsating, and mesmerizing rhythms and bass lines. Lyricism that is sad, introspective, and grapples with realities of mortality that are delivered in a hopeful, broken-hearted fashion.
The Pact by John 3:16
The percussion is bone crushing and rhythms entrancing. The drones envelop the space, sucking the listener in and trapping them where there is nothing but immense noise and spoken word to hear. The atmosphere is dark, gripping, and frightening with powerfully haunting energy, all with elegant songwriting on a perfectly arranged album that showcases truly diverse soundscapes that lure the listener back again and again to experience all its nuances.
The Secret Life of Birds by Patricia Wolf
A gorgeous offering that is both peaceful and settling. The soundscape is deep and complex, as are the compositions where notes drawn from mysterious places flutter in space. Best appreciated as the focal point of your experience.