The KXLU team wishes you a Happy New Year! As we enter 2025, we would like to shine a spotlight on some our favorite releases from 2024. Check out the full playlist on Spotify.
Fine – Rocky Top Ballads
“This album is such a beautiful introduction into Fine’s discography, my favorite song right now is either ‘Losing Tennessee’ or ‘Big Muzzy’.”
Mount Eerie – Night Palace
“My top two tracks right now are ‘I Saw Another Bird’ and ‘I Spoke With a Fish’ ! I’ve loved Mount Eerie and The Microphones for a long time, so this release has been super exciting.”
Tinker Bell’s Cough – F. G. S.
“My favorite track off Tinker Bell’s Cough is “Beth’s Deth”… I love this album a lot and think F. G. S. is really going places. Might be bold to say, but to me her stuff captures a Mars Argo kind of spirit that I’ve always been drawn to musically.”
-Lily Baehr, KLMU Co-Director
Xiu Xiu – 13” Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips
“Maximum texture in every note and noise. Guitars and synths have never sounded this good. Raises the group’s manic danceability and earnest darkness to consistent new heights.”
Melt-Banana – 3+5
“Melt-Banana’s another group like Xiu Xiu who’s been around since the early 2000s and continued to innovate their sound to new heights. Twenty-five minutes rapid-fire raw power grooves, screeches, motor revving, and coiling peeps erupting into choruses of untethered revelry.”
Geordie Greep – Holy Holy
“A modern rock opera with literary merit and an amalgamative tour of musical styles: early Bowie artistry, Madame Butterfly revival, repetition and noise of his past work in Black Midi, jazz, samba, Genesis symphonic prog epic—doesn’t get stale for a second.”
-Brett Koehn, Music Director & A Fistful of Vinyl
Normal Bias – Kingdom Come
“Normal Bias (NYC)’s first full-length release has such a unique, distinguished sound. Infectious 80s-inspired electronics and breathy vocals. Yum.”
OP-ART – The Final Act
“Andrew Clinco’s new project via Minimal Wave Records is a breath of fresh air. Favorite track is ‘Sensitive Material’. ’11 Stars’ also features the legend Martin Dupont!”
Madeline Goldstein – “1996 Expectations”
“The first single from her upcoming album. Honest-to-God synthpop music from LA. Was on a constant loop for me this year.”
-Teia Ciornei, Social Media Director & NEW GLOOM
RM – Right Place, Wrong Person
“I am always grateful for RM’s rawness and introspectiveness as a human being. RPWP explores a variety of genres that place the listener in different, yet cohesive places. I appreciate his fearlessness in experimenting with various vocal styles and intricacies in producing music while being willing to learn along the way (as seen in his documentary ‘Right People Wrong Place’). Each song feels like a person with something to say, a story to tell, and a message to relay to those who truly hear it. RM is a poetic being himself and deserves the recognition he has already received, and more.”
Favorite Track: Groin / Honorable Mention: Around the world in a day (with Moses Sumney)
Tomorrow X Together – The Star Chapter: Sanctuary
“Sanctuary sounds like when I close my eyes and I’m transported to a field of rich green grass and a sky dotted with clouds and bubbles floating in the refreshing breeze. Sanctuary reminds me of riding in my Papa’s car after elementary/middle school, listening to a station playing 90s and 00s R&B. Sanctuary is like the pile of laundry straight from the dryer. Tomorrow X Together comes back with The Star Chapter, an entry in their no-skip discography that puts the maturity of their vocal performances in the forefront, expanding upon their abilities to blend with any genre and come with clean production. Sanctuary is a beautiful album that shows that TXT has more to show and more in store even after almost 7 years in the industry. Their unique colors shine and gracefully shape the album’s softness, clarity, and sweetness. I am so proud of their continued growth as a team, and I wish them all health and happiness for the many years beyond!”
Favorite Track (at the moment because I can’t choose): “Forty One Winks” / Honorable Mention: “Higher Than Heaven” (bridge 1:52-2:10 – actually heaven)
HANRORO – HOME
“This is why I love Hanroro. From start to finish, HOME is a sonic journey that follows their previous EP, Take-off, and confronts the qualms of life with poetic lyrics and resolutions.” Favorite Track: Ashes
-Clarke, Lala’s Playlist
Bleachers – Bleachers
“The punchy lyrics of this entire album are complimented and accented wonderfully by the rich orchestration of the album. there are times when it’s as gentle as a whisper and times where the whole brass section comes in in a cacophony unlike any other album I heard this year! Bleachers always impress me, but this album truly was something else! Fav Track: ‘Jesus Is Dead'”
Twenty One Pilots – Clancy
“As a childhood fan of Twenty One Pilots, I found this album’s total sound reflective of a lot of their best work from prior albums such as Regional at Best or Vessel, but with even harder hitting lyrics exploring the nuances of life’s unpredictable and unlinear journeys. It was an album for my past self as much as it was for my present one, and my personal favorite track off the album, Oldies Station, echos this “look how far you’ve come” narrative most perfectly!”
Maude Latour – Sugar Water
“Maude Latour has all the makings of the next pop music darling! Her sound in Sugar Water is perfect blend of lyrics surrounding the 20-something year old girl experience- with songs on this album ranging from topics of navigating queerness and yearning for what you can’t have to downright party anthems that fit right into the Charli XCX Brat sound and aesthetic- and experimental and borderline hyper pop orchestrations! You can’t go wrong with any song off this album, but my personal favorite is her track one: Officially Mine.”
-Jaz Galvez, Jaz’s Jukebox
Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk
Superfan – Tow Truck Jesus
“Favorite track: ’75 Germany’. A huge left turn for Superfan’s Kali, but not an unwelcome one. With roots in folk, the albums devastating lyrics hit like a truck as they document the struggles of self identity and growing up as a trans youth.”
Saya Gray – QWERTY II
“Incredibly creative sonically and lyrically. Saya is a force to be reckoned with and this was just a taste of her work to come.”
-Thomas Davies, General Manager & Cosmic Catalyst
“There is simply no one doing it quite like this, unapologetic expression at its finest, her songwriting and creative choices really hit home for me in ways that a lot of modern music does not, I love this project and its experimentation.”
-Peter Molaro, KLMU Co-Director & GAPTOOTH
Onira – Plain to See
“I met one of the band members, Alex, at KXLU earlier this year and he put me on. He’s rad, and so is Onira. This album rocks and you should listen to it if you haven’t already.”
Osamason – Flex Music (FLXTRA)
“I can’t play a second of this album on the air, but it’s phenomenal. The low end on “Rehhab” is bonkers and would likely put a Victorian child in a coma.”
Train Breaks Down – S/T
“Technically an EP, but I had to include. Guitar on “Consider Your Position” is so sick. Shoutout to them and also Sam T.”
Parker Giovannetti, Production Director & Polarity
Cover art by Lily Baehr.