You guys remember a few years ago when I tried to do away with the end-of-year lists and top-10 stuff? Yeah, you hated that. Let it be known that I am a trainable music editor!
To be fair to, um, me, when I started as your friendly neighborhood music editor, we were coming out of the pandemic and I wasn’t exactly spoiled for choices with releases. That is definitely not a problem in 2024’s local music scene. This year featured not only more releases than I’ve ever received but also — just maybe — the best crop of Vermont albums that have come along in a long while. How do I know? Compiling the lists you’re about to read was harder than ever.
Some disclaimers before we get started: No, there’s no Noah Kahan or Phish on this list. Phish did put out a pretty good album this year with Evolve, but I think we can all agree that while the Phab Phour are from Vermont, they’ve long since transcended its scene. And thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I don’t have to wade into the “Is Kahan part of the Vermont music scene?” debate, because he didn’t release a record in 2024. I’m actually slightly worried about the mental state of his local fans if he drops another love letter to the Green Mountains; we could reach real “Beatles at Shea Stadium”-level mania. Free suggestion to Kahan: Title the new record Don’t Jersey Vermont and start a feud with Bruce Springsteen. It’ll be like Kendrick Lamar versus Drake for the Subaru-driving set!
I also disqualified the excellent new Of Montreal album, Lady on the Cusp. While Kevin Barnes, the mastermind behind the project, moved to Marlboro in 2024, this was his final album recorded while still living in Athens, Ga. I don’t think we get to call dibs on this one.
OK! Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, let’s get to the best of 2024 in Vermont music.
Best Albums of 2024
1. Robber Robber, Wild Guess
The local indie-rock scene is as robust as it has been since the glory days of the ’90s in Burlington. With acts such as Greg Freeman, Greaseface, the Dead Shakers and Lily Seabird, there’s been a resurgence of top-shelf bands and artists making wildly original rock. And no band delivered better than Burlington’s Robber Robber, who released the scintillating Wild Guess in July. Caught somewhere between the quirky indie stylings of Sonic Youth and harder-edged post-punk, the foursome created a record suffused with equal parts airy detachment and captivating tension.
2. Astral Underground, Sunsets Are Sacred
Enosburgh cosmic-jazz trio Astral Underground might have the most unorthodox origin of any Vermont act. Local mainstays Ben Maddox (the Mountain Says No) and John Notaro (Mushroom Teeth) joined forces with influential flutist Margaux Simmons, who formed the avant-garde African jazz band the Pyramids in the 1970s. Together, their debut record, Sunsets Are Sacred, is a blast of free jazz blended with pulsing electronic music and flashes of shoegaze and post-punk. It’s a startlingly unique sound that delivers from start to finish.
3. Caleb Lodish, An Evening Into Sweet Despair
A product of the Burlington Technical Center’s Digital Media Lab program, producer Caleb Lodish put out one of the year’s best albums with his sophomore effort, An Evening Into Sweet Despair. Stuffed full of smooth R&B, glitched-out jazz and sleek, modern hip-hop, the record offers new insights into Lodish’s songcraft and beat-making at every turn. It also spotlights some of the best up-and-coming talent in the 802 hip-hop scene, including verses from Rsieh Raxan, rivan, Charlie Mayne, Tyler Serrani and Flywlkr.
4. THUS LOVE, All Pleasure
Brattleboro post-punk and indie-rock outfit THUS LOVE continued evolving in 2024, adding two new members and taking the new wave-leaning sound of their 2022 debut, Memorial, and pushing it closer to ’90s-era grunge and college-radio indie rock for All Pleasure. Even as the group caught fire in Europe, playing big festivals such as Reading, its members have never forsaken their Vermont roots, staying put in their small but artistically vital Brattleboro scene. The album reveals a group unafraid to tweak its sound despite the buzz around it. We all reap the benefits of that bravery.
5. The Dead Shakers, So I Guess I Keep Making Albums Until I Die?
Kevin Bloom doesn’t fuck around when it comes to making LPs. The talismanic front man for Burlington psych-rock outfit the Dead Shakers released the 20-track double album So I Guess I Keep Making Albums Until I Die? in September, an opus chock-full of fuzz; ambience; acid jazz; sometimes inscrutable, sometimes hilarious lyrics; and, most of all, Bloom’s skewed brilliance.
6. Lily Seabird, Alas,
Burlington singer-songwriter Lily Seabird dropped one of the best local debuts I’ve ever heard with Beside Myself in 2021. Her full-length follow-up, Alas, is an emotionally raw and gripping piece of music, often vacillating between crushing sorrow and peaceful acceptance. It’s a record about loss, grief and how to live with absence — or, as freelance writer Nina Sablan put it in her review, “Alas, shows us Seabird digging into her psyche until she grasps something vulnerable, raw and ultimately healing.”
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7. The Pilgrims, Joking but Serious
One of the cornerstone bands of the What Doth Life collective out of Windsor, the Pilgrims took a long time between their 2017 album, No Focus, and their 2024 follow-up, Joking but Serious. It’s a perfect title, as the hard-charging punk act’s dark sense of humor only slightly dulls the record’s themes of insecurity and isolation.
Best Singles
1. rivan, “Deep Blue”
2. The Mountain Says No, “Side by Side”
3. THUS LOVE, “On the Floor”
4. Night Protocol, “Mindkiller”
5. The Wormdogs, “Done Workin'”
6. Lutalo, Claud, “Running”
7. Sarah King, “When It All Goes Down”
8. Topia, “THISMYFATE”
9. McAsh, “Healthcare”
10. Cady Ternity, “Who’s D’Boss?”
Best Music Videos
1. Hunter Paye, “The Piper and the Prey”
2. The Butterfields, “Alberta Bound”
3. THUS LOVE, “All Pleasure”
4. Robber Robber, “Sea or War”
5. Spencer Lewis, “The Grower”
6. Robscure, “NEON SIGNS”
7. Rik Palieri, “Hands of Time”
8. The Dead Shakers, “My Garlic and Me”
9. VT Union feat. R.A. the Rugged Man, “Rockstar”
10. Moira Smiley feat. Merrill Garbus, “Go Dig My Grave”
This article appears in Dec 25, 2024 – Jan 7, 2025.
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