2024 Year End Top Tens, Part Three
And now, part three of the 2024 Year End Top Tens!
Here are parts one and two, if you missed those. Also, be sure to scroll all the way down to see the Top Tens of this year’s Top Tens!
Ben Perkins
Ben Perkins publishes Another Subculture, a London punk newsletter, and co-hosts Repetitive Strain with Victoria Porter on Balamii Radio. He works(?) in legacy media and lives in Lewisham, England.
Keeping myself busy as the world continues to fall to pieces. I’ve ended 2024 a little wiser and wearier, and there have been some Top Times: I put on a festival in the correct side of the city, joined a powerlifting gym, moved in with my partner (and our cat, the People’s Princess), and quit my job a fortnight before Christmas. The band I alluded to in my 2022 list has been a constant and a delight; consider RUBBER for your idiot music needs.
I went to fewer gigs but more performances than in 2023, and for me the highlights included R.AGGS, GIMIC, TRAIDORA, Sam Campbell’s show at the Clapham Grand, and each and every karaoke opportunity not wasted. Watched the 40th anniversary of the seminal BBC apocalypse feature Threads in a cinema, and it disrupted my sleep for days as I connected the dots between the images evoked and those autoplaying on our feeds.
2025 predictions: best of luck.
Free Palestine, free Ola, [redacted] [redacted] Wes Streeting.
Ten records that meant a lot to me this year:
BILLIAM – Animation Cel LP (Erste Theke Tonträger / Legless)
Kindred spirits, and not just because of the blue hedgehog references. Quick, bouncy, catchy, inevitably to be grouped with the egg-punks du jour, but with more hooks and pure heart that sets him and the SPLIT BILLS apart.
CATASTROPHE – Dead on Arrival cassette (Pogo Till You Drop)
One of London’s best next-gen hardcore bands and one I’ve had the pleasure of seeing about twelve times this year—keep going back to this cassette for the purposes of giant metallic riffs left, right, and centre. Extremely fun, it is Mosh Time.
CUNTROACHES – Cuntroaches LP (Skin Graft)
Evil, life-affirming music that is best listened to inside a railway arch soundproofed, for some reason, with only aluminium sheeting. Takes their earlier template and adds space and depth, in the way that THX makes your head explode.
HELLSCAPE – Cujo EP (Advanced Perspective / Donor)
One of the best singles to come out in the UK this year, big riffs and choruses for the anarchic deathrocker from the ever-busy West Yorkshire scene.
鏡 (KAGAMI) – 鏡 (Kagami) cassette (Advanced Perspective / A-Z / Brainrotter / Rising Voltage)
Seven songs in eight minutes—wonderful. Clear shots at mosh magic, the instruments piercing through, and vocals to match—that early ’80s gleeful formula all the way. Take me to BUSHBASH, I want to pogo.
MARBLED EYE – Read the Air LP (Digital Regress / Summer Shade)
“In the Static” is my most-played song of the year, and the whole record builds on the lads’ deadpan, serene post-punk with extra touches here and there, maybe even a little Britpop. Irresistible tunes.
MARCEL WAVE – Something Looming LP (Feel It / Upset! The Rhythm)
Best world-building in an album this year, with tales of sordid characters from Britain’s suburbs and town centres wrapped up in sparkling post-synth-punk and earworms for days. For fans of NEUTRALS, whose New Town Dream LP was also fantastic this year, and HYGIENE, a.k.a. Me.
MOIST CREVICE – Psychic Violence cassette (self-released)
Always a treat when a band sounds like their name. The sort of gothic post-punkers that would have played with SONIC YOUTH in the early ’80s, and with riffs that evoke the best of a band like DIÄT. Another band who don’t play London enough, and really should.
STILL HOUSE PLANTS – If I Don’t Make It, I Love U LP (Bison)
A meditative, devastating and euphoric listen, as much indebted to ’90s emo records (this observation is Vic’s, and she’s right) as it is to loop masters and improv alike. “M M M” is the song of 2024, and I need to catch them live before they escape to bigger buildings.
STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Sometimes you make art that unwittingly speaks to the exact moment of release, so of course this came out ten days after Trump ascended once again. The end of a trilogy, and one that keeps that twin-guitar, twin “lyrics-that-could-be-slogans” vocal delivery that sticks in your head for days on end. What a way to end a year.
Ben Trogdon
NYC
ABYZM band / NUZZZZZZZZINE fanzine
vegetablesgreen@gmail.com
P.O. Box 1959 NY, NY 10013
www.tattoopunkfanzine.com
@VBDBCT on Instagram
INYECCIÓN – live in Queens, NY
This year, Latino punk fest was three days straight with short breaks from 4 to 11 am. Some people left during these hours to “sleep,” but a lot of punks just hung out drinking outside of the venue until the bands started again. Once again, here in NYC we’re spoiled to see so many amazing bands from all over the world. V says HAREN from Spain/Colombia was awesome, but I missed ‘em for some reason. INYECCIÓN was my fave. Their set was super colorful: the band, the crowd, everyone was outrageous-looking, with big mohawks, violent tattoos, broken teeth, and leopard print. People pogoed as the singer crouched down on the stage and talked/yelled the songs. It was a big dirty circus. I was riding an elephant high above everyone watching drunk Flintstones characters beat each other up.
SALVAJE PUNK – live in Queens, NY
Unofficially (maybe actually officially), SALVAJE PUNK describes themselves as “poser-destroying ultra hardcore,” which I think is mostly true. Their music doesn’t have much to grip onto. It slides around so fast and out of control it can be hard to hear what’s up. There is freedom in the noize, but yeah, it’s hard to hear it at first. I saw ‘em play a few months ago and at the climax of the set, when guitarist Mateo usually shreds some crude, extreme guitar bullshit, instead a dinky version of “Ode to Joy” was heard above the mess of noise punk. I thought it was a cellphone ring or something, but I looked over at Mateo and instead of his usual solo, he was plucking away at the strings, playing the elementary school rudimentary classic. It was insane-sounding. I felt like a lunatic at first. Like everyone’s crazy and we’re in the madhouse loony bin. But after that passed, I felt a feeling of intense joy.
Biff Bifaro
Biff Bifaro reviews cassettes for MRR, runs Feral Kid Records and Tetryon Tapes, plays in SCIENCE MAN and EYES & FLYS, and does solo projects NERVOUS TICK & THE ZIPPER LIPS and SPOOKY VISIONS.
Yet another year of rip-roaring punk in the books! I’m not gonna waste too much time on an intro, just give a quick little reminder of why my list might seem a bit different than the rest you’ve already read. As a reviewer who only covers cassettes, that is what I will be focusing on for my MRR year-end top ten. Thankfully, this year I was sent way more killer releases to review than last year, and all of the following and more will soon be heard on my sporadic Maximum Rocknroll radio show, First Glimpse From the Crowbar Hotel. And away we go!
(+39) 375-649-94-64 MY TELEPHONE NUMBER – Demo #01 cassette (Knuckles On Stun / Pollice Di Fuoco)
Italian garage-pop-infused dance punk two-piece. You can’t explain this band without using far too many descriptive terms. Regardless of what you call it, its catchiness is undeniable. I have been so obsessed with this tape that I am currently working with the band on doing the US version of their debut vinyl release.
ЗАВІРЮГА – Complete Discography 2024 cassette (self-released / XTRO)
I was sent the XXX cassette, the fifth single released by this Ukranian egg-punk solo project, to review, and was completely floored. At the time, I went back and thoroughly digested all the rest of the releases, but ЗАВІРЮГА has done us the service of releasing a collection cassette of the five previously released EPs, and even included a few extra songs. Of course, the very next month he dropped another single, making it an incomplete discography. I can barely keep up! Give it all a listen.
ACHTERLICHT – Demo III cassette (Gips / Knuckles On Stun)
High-octane, synth-heavy punk from the Netherlands. Buckle in!
AMOR, MUERTE, Y LEONORA – Amor, Muerte y Leonora cassette (Knuckles On Stun)
Apparently the absolute poppiest egg-punk tracks come from Spain. Collection of the band’s first two EPs.
GEODUCK DIODES – Must Fry All Planets! cassette (self-released)
Lo-fi, spaced-out, poppy egg-punk from Germany. This year had a lot of new faces keeping the egg-punk trend alive, and when it’s done well, I am admittedly very much a fan.
GOBLIN DAYCARE – Agitprop Hotline!! cassette (Painters Tapes)
Solo egg-punk project from Istanbul, Turkey. Mama Goblin is a true force to be reckoned with!
NECRON 9 – Flower Children cassette (Unlawful Assembly)
Third cassette release from this Milwaukee, WI band, and it’s the best one yet. Grimy, lo-fi four-track live recording. The way this style of hardcore punk should be digested.
THEE SYCK BUBBLEGUM – Introducing…Thee Syck Bubblegum cassette (Floating Skull)
Demented, horror-themed garage punk from Gainesville, FL. I know, I know, that sounds incredibly cheesy, but I tell you, it works. This release has gotten a lot of spins here this year.
WASTED DENIM – Wasted Denim cassette (self-released)
Debut release of self-proclaimed “chainsaw basement punk.” It’s RAMONES-core, and it’s done so much better than most bands who dip their toes into that world these days. Released mid-December 2023, but I’m counting it here as it wasn’t on my radar until I was sent it for review in February.
MÖNEY / SPRGRS – SMPÖRNGERYS split cassette (Chicken Attack / Punk Valley)
Snagged from Spanish egg-punks SPRGRS on their US tour, and was pleasantly surprised by the flipside also being killer. MÖNEY is from Bristol, UK and plays unbelievably catchy modern new wave. Split tape, not my favorite format, and making it onto a year-end list feels crazy, but I absolutely stand by it.
HONORABLE MENTION:
V/A – Palestine Solidarity Compilation cassette (Dirty Slap / Grog / Iron Crotch / Noise Merchant / Painters Tapes / Swimming Faith)
V/A – Palestine Solidarity Compilation Vol. 2 cassette (Dirty Slap / Grog / Iron Crotch / Noise Merchant / Painters Tapes / Swimming Faith)
With all these top-notch cassette releases having dropped this year, there were two that are absolutely worth a mention which I didn’t include in my main list. Rather than taking a slot away from an up-and-coming band, I figured mentioning the two volumes of the Palestine Solidarity Compilation cassettes on their own would be the smarter thing to do. Each installment has 27 tracks, and there is just an unbelievable amount of killer acts on both of them. I was honored to have one of my solo projects, NERVOUS TICK AND THE ZIPPER LIPS, asked to provide a track for the second installment (another reason I wouldn’t put it fully in a top ten slot). If you listen to only one tape release this year, may I suggest it be one of these.
Billy Reilly
Billy Reilly is from Sydney, Australia, where he has been booking punk shows and running the label Computer Human Records for the past five years. He sings in RESEARCH REACTOR CORP, 3D AND THE HOLOGRAMS, STUDS, and MAINFRAME.
Top ten, no order:
SEXPILL – In Dust We Trust LP (Beach Impediment)
This LP straight-up sounds like a fucking nuke exploding—totally unhinged hardcore punk devastation to get you in the mood for the end of the world. It reminds me of a more drugged-out KURO. 10/10 LP for the freaks!
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
I’m sure this Richmond band is gonna make a few lists this year, as it’s one of the year’s more impressive hardcore offerings: fast, no-bullshit pounding drums, and vocals that sound like the dude ain’t gonna be able to talk for a couple days. Evil and turbo-charged from start to finish, with great artwork to match. Buy this fucking record and crank it up loud! This is the shit!
MURO – Nuevo Dogma LP (Fuerza Ingobernable)
My favorite release of the year! It’s an amazing physical package with killer artwork across three posters and a screen-printed jacket, made all the more incredible by purposely keeping the release off the internet for its first couple months. There must be something in Colombia’s water that causes the punks there to create some of the most blood-pumping hardcore punk. The whole Bogota scene has been on fire the last few years, releasing the most impressive shit and leaving the rest of the international punk underground in awe. This record is such an animal—holy, shit where do you even begin!? Straight out the gate, the record starts like a rabid dog goin’ for the throat. The drums are a raw display of power (Rafael has gotta be the best contemporary drummer in the genre—jump on YouTube, crack a beer, and suss some live clips), and I love that some of the riffs on the B-side almost enter the metal zone. No beatdown, TikTok, McHardcore bullshit here! Just a sonic assault of perfectly executed hardcore punk. An instant classic!
SUBDUED – Abattoir LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
This was a real “get stoned and sit motionless on a stool in the dark, poring over the lyrics” kinda record for me. It’s an approach that always makes me feel like an old innkeeper or a complete weirdo, but it’s the most effective way to absorb a record with lyrics and artwork this amazing. Hard-edged anarcho-punk with intelligent songwriting and interesting composition, done as well as the greats (EXIT STANCE, AMEBIX, etc.). Another great release from the band!
ARGH – Se Pudrio Todo... Adios LP (Discos Enfermos)
This band out of Temuco, Chile will get you movin’! Biiig rude rev-up of a record! What an album cover! Fluro pink ghoul with a Flying V on a Harley ripping through a skull-filled, bombed-out city? Pretty much ticking every box for me! I can’t stand the trend of hardcore covers looking like hip-hop or drill records—it’s cringe and needs to stop. Stick to skulls ‘n’ rude shit, please! The vocalist sounds like Oscar the Grouch (in the best way possible). Obnoxious two-fingers-in-the-air hardcore—this shit is sick!
MIRAGE – Legato Alla Rovina LP (Roachleg)
Another great year of releases from the roachleg camp! MIRAGE is an NYC-based act that does a modern take on ‘80s Italian hardcore, referencing the greats (CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS, WRETCHED, etc.) while keeping things sonically rooted in the contemporary NYC punk underground. It ticks a lot of boxes for me—great artwork by Matt Morgatini, killer riffs, great vocal delivery. An instant classic, get around it!
ALAMBRADA – Rios De Sangre LP (Autsajder Produckcija / Fuerza Ingobernable / Unlawful Assembly)
Relentless hardcore punk assault—riffs on fire, played at bone-shattering speed. Again, Bogota is releasing some of the best hardcore punk in the world! Rafael (also in MURO, UNIDAD IDEOLOGICA, ATAQUE ZERO) behind the kick for the second time in this list—bloke’s drumming is next-fuckin’-level! Lethal injection of ferocious hardcore punk! The punks outta Rat Trap have done it again!
EJACULATORS – Wank Generation EP (General Speech)
Love this! Sounds like GG ALLIN with a synth, or something straight off a KBD comp. Nice to hear punk with a synth in 2024 that isn’t of the “egg” variety (thank fuck)! Spawn’s vocals kill, the synth lines are obnoxious, the opening track is titled “Fuck Off”—this is a fun record. If you’re too cool for this, fuck off, this is punk!
GLOOMY REFLECTIONS – Oath of the Paladins LP (Crypt of the Wizard)
I heard a few songs from this record about a year ago and have been bursting at the seams since! Follow-up to 2022’s instrumental A New Dawn of Primeval Wisdom LP, GLOOMY REFLECTIONS’ newest offering—now featuring vocals—is a washing machine of classic hard rock/heavy metal sounds to prick up the ears of the fanatic. Synth-soaked blackened hard rock tied together by some real powerful vocals. Shit sounds fuckin’ epic! Guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Makes me wanna take acid and get the fire going!
DESINTEGRACIÓN VIOLENTA – La Bestia EP (Roachleg / Static Age / Unlawful Assembly)
Maaaaan, this band! That first tape ripped my penis right off! The artwork, the riffs, the vocals—fuck. It would be pretty hard to top that first tape, but fuck me, they did it! Riffs goin’ wild, larynx-ripping vocals, evil sick-puppy artwork—top-tier! I dunno how somebody so nice can have vocals that sound that nasty. Killer metal-tinged hardcore punk outta Berlin. Grab the record, play it loud, go insane. 10/10 evil evil evil :)
Others worth a mention while I’m here:
TOTAL CON – Kill Someone You Hate cassette (Unlawful Assembly)
YOUTH IN ASIA – Nuclear Waste Abomination cassette (Unlawful Assembly)
SUFFOCATING MADNESS – Unrelenting Forced Psychosis LP (Toxic State)
KRIEGSHOG – Love & Revenge LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
SAVAGE PLEASURE – Savage Pleasure LP (Toxic State)
VAMPIRE – What Seems Forever Can Be Broken LP (Televised Suicide)
D. Gregory
Gregory has been a reviewer for Maximum Rocknroll since 2024. He has been culturally irrelevant since 1987. He regularly proves said irrelevance by hosting his Strange Obsessions night around Milwaukee, where he spins glam, power pop, and bubblegum 45s, messing up transitions as he tries to check the Bucks score at the same time. He’ll simply never learn.
My Twitter account got hacked and stolen earlier this year, so I escaped the blackhole that is reading dumb things by people I’ll never meet, and instead filled my time with old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. So I probably got smarter this year as a result. That said, here’s a bunch of opinions for people I’ll never meet. Go watch an episode of Wacky Races when you’re done.
Presented alphabetically:
1-800 MIKEY – Digital Pet LP (Erste Theke Tonträger / Under The Gun)
Speaking of Hanna-Barbera, Digital Pet is the sonic equivalent of your favorite Saturday morning cartoon. It’s bubblegum music in 2024; ridiculously catchy and seemingly juvenile, but you couldn’t replicate it if you tried. 1-800 MIKEY knew that there was nothing broken with their first record so they didn’t fix anything for the second. The result is a follow-up that is everything I loved about the debut, but a new episode on a new Saturday morning.
ALVILDA – C’est Déjå L’heure LP (Static Shock)
ALVILDA’s debut EP was my absolute favorite release of 2022, so this first full-length LP was for sure my most anticipated. Unsurprisingly, they delivered a brilliant platter of airy French power pop that just feels effortless. These songs feel like the soundtrack to a perfect day in a perfect place, even if you don’t speak a lick of the language.
ANTENNA – Antenna cassette (Urge)
Shogun (ROYAL HEADACHE, SHOGUN & THE SHEETS) is back again with a new crew and the same unrivaled, soul-inspired vocals. “Lost” was an early standout track this year; I liked it so much that I kind of overlooked the rest of this EP for a while. Revisiting the whole thing recently helped me really appreciate the rest as well, especially “Antenna State.”
FOOD FIGHT – Zeitgeist Impressions LP (Juvenile Delinquent / POCH / Roaring Blood)
Probably my favorite new discovery this year, this album was an immediate gut punch. If the CLASH donned Baracuta jackets and hopped onto some scooters, I’d imagine this to be the musical byproduct. This album is the perfect amount of polish, of pop, of power. Still dreaming about that bass sound.
NEUTRALS – New Town Dream LP (Slumberland / Static Shock)
I am an absolute sucker for anything “slice of life,” so NEUTRALS releasing an entire album of songs that accomplish just that is a no-brainer for me. These bouncy pop tunes fill your ears with seemingly mundane tales of the denizens of a proverbial New Town, and in less than three minutes you’ll feel like you really got to know their stories.
PEACE DE RÉSISTANCE – Lullaby for the Debris LP (La Vida Es Un Mus / Peace de)
My favorite LP of the year, with a bullet. Even after literally writing the MRR review for this record, I find myself at a loss for words when reaching for ways to describe it. My current best summation is that listening to this feels like I’m taking in a grimy 1970s New York exploitation film entirely through the ears. No one else is doing what Moses is doing with this project, so I can only hope we get even more down the line. If not, I’ll just keep coming back to this record and be perfectly satisfied.
ROTARY CLUB – Sphere of Service LP (Iron Lung)
ROTARY CLUB casually dropped this absolute ripper of a debut LP with just two weeks left in the year. Their first single “America Tower” blew me away with what seemed like a reinterpretation of DETENTION’s classic “Dead Rock ‘N Rollers,” so I was eagerly awaiting this album and certainly was not disappointed. There’s some early WHITE LUNG sound, some NIGHT BIRDS, some B-52’S, and it’s all coated in some paranoia, some dystopia. Every track feels like a highlight here, but “Pop-Corn” is officially the last standout track of the calendar year.
SO WHAT – Hit the Bricks / Fog City Prowlers 7” (Just Add Water)
If every song I heard this year sounded like “Hit the Bricks,” I’d still be begging for more songs that sound like “Hit the Bricks.” This is tough-guy rock done to the highest pedigree. Makes me want to get a leather jacket, or a mullet, or a rose tattoo, or a ROSE TATTOO tattoo. The good news is that there is at least one more song this year that captures the energy of “Hit the Bricks,” and you just have to flip the record over to find it because “Fog City Prowlers” is another ripper.
TUXEDO CATS – Fake Punk EP (New York Punk)
These four tracks have not escaped my brain since the first time I spun this EP. Punky power pop pontifications on real highbrow shit, like French kissin’, pocket knives, and Rambo. Coated in a sleazy, glammy sheen, I couldn’t ask for anything more.
WYLDLIFE – Fast Dreams / You Don’t Know How It Feels 7” (Wicked Cool)
Absolute favorite song of the year, plus a fun TOM PETTY cover on the flip. “Fast Dreams” is power pop perfection. This song can peel even the staunchest of wallflowers from their emotional support sheetrock out onto the dancefloor. Why the “repeat” button was created.
Honorable Mention
DIE VERLIERER – Notausgang LP (Mangel)
I’m typically not one for an honorable mention, I would be remiss not to shout out this post-punk stunner. The variety found in these fourteen tracks is really impressive, especially because, despite the variety, they still manage to maintain an awesome cohesion throughout. “Fickt Diese Stadt” is an absolute highlight that would surely make a “Best Tracks” list if I had one. Brilliance outta Berlin.
Daniel Lupton
Daniel Lupton runs Sorry State Records and plays bass in SCARECROW.
PURA MANÍA – Extraños Casos de la Vida Real EP (Roachleg)
Vancouver’s PURA MANIA released some of my favorite records of the mid-2010s, and this year they unexpectedly returned from a seven-year absence with this new EP. The post-punk-y guitars and street punk-y vocals carry over from the earlier material, but there’s a dash of DAMNED/T.S.O.L.-style grandiosity that makes this even better than their old stuff.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
PUBLIC ACID has been my favorite band in the world for several years running, and their latest record is the most devastating listen of 2024. The foundation of PUBLIC ACID’s sound is ferocious hardcore punk, but it’s tinged with death metal and harsh noise and served up raw as hell. “Slow Bleed” is my hardcore punk track of the year.
INVERTEBRATES – Sick to Survive LP (Beach Impediment)
I’d bet most lists that include PUBLIC ACID also include the INVERTEBRATES LP since the bands share three members, but the two bands sound very different. INVERTEBRATES are more stripped down, with the same manic drum engine as PUBLIC ACID powering songs that are as hooky as they are raging. Sick to Survive sounds like all the best bands from the No Way Records catalog thrown into a blender and I love it.
MARCEL WAVE – Something Looming LP (Feel It / Upset! the Rhythm)
The music on this debut from London’s MARCEL WAVE lies somewhere between ’80s UK indie pop and the FALL, but the lyrics are the star of the show, with Maike Hale-Jones crafting some of the most vivid and enigmatic songs I heard this year. Hale-Jones is equally adept with character studies like “Peg” or “Elsie” and social commentary like “Great British High Street,” and pairing these cut-above lyrics with similarly rich and compelling music makes them hit even harder.
SUBDUED – Abattoir LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
There were several excellent records this year that looked to the churning, apocalyptic sounds of AMEBIX for inspiration, but I think SUBDUED did it best. SUBDUED has an uncanny knack for balancing directness and delicacy. I hear this both in their music, in which they lace lumbering rhythms with subtle melody, and in their lyrics, which are as stark and confrontational as DISCHARGE, but thoughtful and earnest in a way that keeps them well clear of cliche. Along with the new STRAW MAN ARMY album, Abattoir proves punk in 2024 can still help enrich our understanding and experience of the wider world.
THE CARP – Knock Your Block Off LP (Total Punk)
I’m at a loss for how to describe the CARP’s music… profoundly acid-damaged yet politically aware street punk steeped in DEVO’s rhythmic quirkiness? It really sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard, other than related bands like KNOWSO, PERVERTS AGAIN, and CRUELSTER. As with so many of my picks this year, the lyrics put Knock Your Block Off over the top. If your brain works anything like mine, you’ll be stewing on cracked incantations like “Servitude! You feed on it like breast milk” for a long time to come. If you want to hear a punk band who really did their own thing in 2024, give this a listen.
TOZCOS – Infernal LP (Quality Control HQ / Toxic State)
This LP from Orange County’s TOZCOS arrived too late in 2023 to make it onto last year’s list, but I’m still jamming it regularly so it deserves a spot here. I’d argue most underground punk and hardcore bands these days lean too heavily on a small set of influences, but TOZCOS sounds like they’ve fully digested a half-century of punk history, arriving at an album that sounds brilliant and timeless. Infernal is passionate, intense, hooky, and everything else I want punk to be.
TIIKERI – Tee Se Itse EP (self-released)
The debut LP from Finland’s TIIKERI was on my 2023 list, and the four-song EP they released this year is even better. Rather than writing punk songs about love as so many bands have done, TIIKERI writes love songs about punk and how much it rules, and they’re fucking great at it. Moments on Tee Se Itse even recall the power pop mastery of the EXPLODING HEARTS. Everything about Tee Se Itse, from the songs to the distinctive packaging, exudes energy and enthusiasm, and the record felt like a balm during dark times.
ALVILDA – C’est Déjà L’heure LP (Static Shock)
Paris’s ALVILDA made the best straight-up pop record of 2024, cramming their debut full-length with chiming toe-tappers that recall the best moments of DOLLY MIXTURE and CHIN-CHIN. The song “Alvilda” was unsurpassed this year for pure pop transcendence, but there isn’t a weak moment on C’est Déjà L’heure.
STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
The third LP from New York’s STRAW MAN ARMY arrived mere weeks ago so I’m still chewing on it, but boy, is there a lot to chew on! While Earthworks is less aggressive than their previous two albums, STRAW MAN ARMY still reminds me of my favorite pop-infused anarcho-punk from the ’80s—stuff like ZOUNDS, CRISIS, and HAGAR THE WOMB. There’s something restless about STRAW MAN ARMY, like they’re on a mission to push their music as far as it can go (there are moments of rhythmic intensity here that remind me of THIS HEAT or even later FUGAZI) and to achieve a more profound understanding of the world we inhabit. Their wisdom feels invaluable as humanity continues to confound and disappoint.
EHIMA AND KAI
Ehima and Kai are two Londoners from different sides of the Thames. Ehima plays in ELECTRIC FIRE and KISS CRAZY NIGHTS, and Kai plays in NEKRA and CHILD’S POSE. They do a radio show together for Maximum Rocknroll. Big up to our friend Ola.
[Editor’s note: To support Ola and other actionists, please donate to the Palestine Action Legal Defense Fund.]
IKHRAS – Jahanam Btistana cassette (Quality Control HQ)
Yeah, I like it a lot. Me and Kai went to see them in London at New River Studios. I danced a lot. But I had just eaten a whole pizza, so I didn’t want to throw up all over everyone. Everyone was having fun and enjoying themselves when they played. We were happy.
W.M.D.’S – Front Toward Enemy demo cassette (Quality Control HQ)
I don’t know why they are so angry. Maybe he needs to have a bubble bath and relax? But the songs are amazing. This is the one I listen to all the time on my iPad. I don’t know what he is singing about, but it’s good.
TRÄUME – Wrzask LP (Quality Control HQ)
Truly incredible music, and perfect torch-carriers of the history from which they have been created. “Kraina Snów” is my favourite from this one. It really feels like they made this music to satisfy my exact taste.
IMPOSTER – Oblivion Opens LP (Quality Control HQ)
Always good to add a new depressing hardcore band to the mix when you have overplayed NEGLECT. I don’t know why it took me so long to listen to this record, but I’m glad I finally got around to it. Joe is one of the best stick wielders out there right now, and he flexes his chops particularly hard in this band.
BIB – Biblical EP (Quality Control HQ)
It’s fast and cool! It’s like when you move your head really fast and you feel dizzy. I love it, man.
DIRECT THREAT – Endless Siege EP (Iron Lung / Quality Control HQ)
I like the artwork a lot because he looks so angry. I don’t know why he is so angry. Maybe he forgot his keys at home like you do, you silly billy. It’s really good music. When I listened to it I thought “Yeah, I like this one”.
BLOOD SERMON / 3ND7R – Unstable Elements split 12” (Daze / Quality Control HQ)
For the most part, I still need my metal to be coated in hardcore to enjoy it. Like someone who can only swallow medicine when drinking a fizzy drink. That’s my truth, and this one hits the spot for me and is a super fun concept.
DESORDEN – Afilado Terror LP (Quality Control HQ)
Move over Claudia/Bicho! There’s another legend from Madrid in town and it’s DESORDEN. Congrats on making straightedge sound a bit cool in 2024!
PEST CONTROL – Year of the Pest 12” (Quality Control HQ / Triple B)
P.M.C…what the hell? Proper music.
MYSTIQUE – Face Your Fate LP (Quality Control HQ)
I like the voice. She sounds cool. It sounds like rock, so I like it. I’ve never been to Singapore, but I would love to go. We can go together to see this band and eat some good food.
Gonza Perez
Gonza Perez has been a reviewer for Maximum Rocknroll since 2022. He is a punk guitarist from Zarate, Argentina, and his current bands are SENTIMIENTO FATAL and FOGUEO, He is part of the DIY label DISCOS CORROSIVOS, likes editing and making zines like FUTURODIFICIL, and he is also a shitworker.
I’m ending 2024 with my country being ruled by the extreme right-wing, fascist politics of liberal-libertarian roots, bringing back the most putrid hatred and dictatorial old ghosts all around us. I think globally speaking, each year ahead is gonna be tougher. Embracing and nourishing punk as an act of resistance is what we should aim for—it’s one of our weapons against the shithole we are all in and against any other form of fascism. Things are screwed, I’ll take refuge in punk just like I did through this year. Here you have my selection (not in any order, released this year or reviewed in MRR in 2024). RIP Gerardo Dekadencia y El Flaco…Punk No Muere.
CEMENTO ARMADO – Cemento Armado cassette (Corona RX / Rock SVB)
Chaotic, insanity-driven, lo-fi hardcore. Grieving, raw punk with nods to classic hardcore and even some rudimentary chain punk, with maniacal, reverbed, trance-like asylum psycho vocals. The feeling of being in a humid alley space, waiting for a vicious gig to start.
FENTANYL – Fentanyl LP (Convulse)
The debut LP from San Francisco’s FENTANYL. Rabid hardcore punk with stabbing razor-sharp guitar sounds mixed with pseudo-reverbed vocals–hits the spot to cause hearing damage. Distinct and interesting Bay chaos.
TOTAL HELL – Killed by Evil LP (Total Punk)
Debut LP that seems like a relic of n ’80s demonic metal raw punk. Brutally crusty aggression with a cursed, draggy vibe, excellent string section, and riff selection. Putrid minds beware, this is gonna like you.
S.H.I.T. – For a Better World 12” (Iron Lung / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Violent and precise telescope to the shit system nowadays, delivering chainsaw mayhem guitars with tasty whips of riffage and solid, faster-cadence drums, which along with the vocal mix creates ball-of-fiery-sound hardcore punk that’s politically oriented.
BOOTLICKER – 1000 Yard Stare LP (Neon Taste / Static Shock)
“Violent music for a vile world.” Politically motivated and versing on themes like war, corruption, police, the elites, and human technological detachment. UK82 attitude in this hardcore fit, with some D-beat merging over classic USHC cadences. Crazy energetic.
INVERTEBRATES – Sick to Survive LP (Beach Impediment)
Speedy hardcore punk in the ’80s USHC vein, featuring members of PUBLIC ACID. Ferocious and as rusty as forgotten nails. Ever-ranting and histrionic songs with clean-cut razorblade rhythms on each track.
PLANET ON A CHAIN – Culture of Death LP (Revelation)
Oakland/Austin acid-to-the-veins hardcore punk. Fast-paced, urgent, and cathartic vibes in a racket of harsh, nails-and-glass tracks that come like punch after punch. Breakdowns are punishing, and specifically flawless in taking speedy cadences and momentum. Solid fire record.
BLOODSTAINS – Bloodstains 12” (Drunken Sailor)
Orange County punk rockers with exultant SoCal influence all over them. Such an embedded sound can’t deny ADOLESCENTS, AGENT ORANGE, and the whole spectrum contained in between, with reverbed sounds and steady cadences, fierce palm-mutes, and ever-ranting vocals, plus strident guitar sections that evoke pool skating sessions from the early ’80s and beyond. Greatly recorded.
CUTRE – Yendo a lo Oscuro cassette (Inerme)
Gloomy, frantically pissed and maddening, distorted and blistering classic raw hardcore punk with a raging twist that I personally enjoy very much. Mayhem-filled hardcore punk. Blasting sounds assure chaos.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
PUBLIC ACID’s chaotic and heavy debut LP. Hardcore punk with tight dense climatic riffage, and a blasting ball of sounds in their belly. Heavily distorted chaos strictly executed in all its intensity. Sick record.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
CHECKPOINT – Drift LP (Erste Theke Tonträger)
ATAQUE ZERO – Ciudades 12″ (Static Shock)
DISTANTE – Cada Acción Cuenta EP (Cruzade)
ABYECTA – EPs Collection LP (Symphony of Destruction)
THE DARK – Sinking Into Madness LP (Toxic State)
MESS – Under Attack LP (Pirates Press)
PHYSIQUE – Overcome by Pain EP (Iron Lung)
INNUENDO – Peace & Love 12” (Roachleg / Unlawful Assembly)
LYSOL – Down the Street EP (Feel It)
ARMOR – Afraid of What’s to Come 12” (11 PM)
Greg Benedetto
Greg Benedetto plays guitar in S.H.I.T. and has been making shows and tours happen for years.
ALVILDA – C’est Déjà L’heure LP (Static Shock)
An album that delivered on the outsized expectation of their 2021 single. Some locked-in, punk-inflected power pop, catchy as all get out. The guitars shimmer and shine, brought to life by the mastermind at Chateau Vergogne, doing what he does best. Could be a classic on Slumberland or from the C86 era; it’s entirely out of time. The kind of record you’d hear and think it was already a classic if they weren’t just getting started.
STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Another entry from perhaps the most lauded punk act of the post-COVID era. Apparently, this is the final chapter in their trilogy of records. From the moment I had this, it has effectively been on repeat, supplanting the KRIEGSHÖG LP. Angular in a way that is indebted to the likes of the WIPERS and ALTERNATIVE at the same time, and perhaps the most thoughtful of this year’s pack of records. Inspired, yet feeling entirely original and unto itself. Rest assured, if it emanates from the D4MT world, the contents are the product of scholarship and consideration. A record that truly considers the context into which it escapes. And God, do they know how to arrange a song. Utterly wild shit. This is the bar.
YELLOWCAKE – A Fragmented Truth EP (Not For The Weak / Total Peace)
No metal. No funk. No death. Just evil, plain DISCHARGE-style hardcore the way it was meant to be played. Truly. Every couple of years, there’s a band that figures out a new way to “sound like DISCHARGE,” and this year, it’s YELLOWCAKE. A fantastic ripper of a 7” and a massive leap from their demo. Expectations are high if they go LP style. File next to your PHYSIQUE and DESTRUCT records.
KRIEGSHÖG – Love & Revenge LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
Scariest record I heard this year. Not because it’s frightening—although, you’d be lying if the opener “虚空” didn’t chill you to the bone—but because it’s so wildly accomplished. I could never forget seeing KRIEGSHÖG play Chaos in Tejas in 2011, their Hardcore Hell EP and Kriegshög LP being such monumental releases at the time. We’re thirteen years on, when Love & Revenge drops and somehow…they’ve gotten…better? Few bands can do that ever, if at all. Hail the kings. Dare I say, the present lineup is the best one. The only other hardcore punk band to evolve this well over this many years is probably POISON IDEA. Sit with that for a second.
INDUSTRY – A Self Portrait at the Stage of Totalitarian Domination of All Aspects of Human Life LP (Static Age)
A record steeped in the lineage of Corpus Christi/Mortarhate. If CRASS wasn’t angry enough back then, how much angrier must we be in 2024? Bleak as hell, plodding, repetitive, and raging. Everything it should be. The music is a simple backdrop for the message, in the true anarcho style. The message itself, updated for our age. Overthink it, but don’t over-play it.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
“Unrelenting” is the only suitable descriptor for this record. I wanna say they’ve gotta be at their peak, but that’s what I thought when I heard Condemnation. Yet somehow? It’s a crime that other people get to wave the hardcore flag in America at this moment in time, without acknowledging the power and proficiency on display here. If you want to start a hardcore band, you should have to have this Clockwork Orange’d into your ears for like three months straight before you can try.
URANIUM CLUB – Infants Under the Bulb LP (Anti-Fade / Static Shock)
What the fuck is this band? Like, what’s their deal? How do they do it??? Certainly still carrying on their sonic indebtedness to the Midwest, but it’s so wildly well-composed. And so fucking absurd. I’m genuinely interested in bands that build their own world, but listening to this record feels like watching a film. Incredibly creative and absolutely singular.
DEEF – 脳 (Nou) LP (General Speech)
DEEF – Real Control LP (General Speech)
That you get to live in a world now, where these recordings can be purchased on vinyl is an underappreciated gift. Among the origin stories of Japanese hardcore punk, the kind of shit you could maybe get on a dubbed cassette if you knew the right guy fifteen years ago. It’s just out there for the taking now. Legendary recordings—vile and spiteful.
LIFELESS DARK – Forces of Nature’s Transformation LP (Side Two)
Sneaking in at the last minute. Feels silly to throw something on a year-end list that is about a week old, but hey, I’ve been anticipating this one for years. It’s here because it delivered on that expectation. In an era where sounding like SACRILEGE is in vogue, the band that basically started the trend finally gets their due. By my measure, writing a simple riff that is memorable is about the most challenging thing you can do with a guitar. Matching it with drums that propel it further, even harder. You have to have a feel and most players don’t. LIFELESS DARK, on the other hand, is a total unit. The kind of record that could break the containment unit of hardcore punk and appeal to all “extreme music” fans.
THE GREEN CHILD – Look Familiar LP (Hobbies Galore / Upset the Rhythm)
Perhaps I’m being nostalgic for TOTAL CONTROL and EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING here. Mikey Young, synth-led post-punk—it’s checking the boxes. This one, though, is perhaps less drive, more in the pocket. Melodic interplay and rhythmic explorations abound, nothing pushing more in one way than the other, but still propulsive and, at its absolute best, mesmerizing. Lines snaking across each other, out of nowhere, only to disappear into something larger. A record that feels intentional.
Jason Harding
Jason Harding is a NY/PA-based writer and artist.
MORDECAI – Seeds From the Furthest Vine LP (Petty Bunco)
This latest entry from unparalleled lo-fi wizards MORDECAI painted my brain all types of fucked-up colors. Few groups have remained this interesting six albums in. Striking originality and fragile beauty all the way through.
REAL LOSERS – Good Clean Fun! LP (Total Punk)
A fantastic throwback treat for the budget rock-initiated, this “lost” album from Leeds’ REAL LOSERS was a revelation brought to proper form a thick twenty years after the tracks were recorded! Inadvertently “saved for later,” this collection of groovy low-rent garage tunes turned up as an awesome surprise.
THE VAMPS – Used to Be Cool LP (Midnight Cruiser)
Collecting all four 7”s from underrated proto-punkers the VAMPS, this record valiantly provided some overdue justice for this stellar ’70s group. Essential listening for fans of the NEW YORK DOLLS and Kill City-era IGGY.
LIFE / DESTRUCT – To Stop the Conflict split LP (Desolate)
With 30 years in the game, Japan’s LiFE are masters of crunchy and ragged, diabolical crust, and they just never miss. But when that first DESTRUCT song kicks in on this smashing split—hoooooooo, boy! They’ve never sounded better, and this thing just rules top to bottom. Intense D-beat mastery.
TOTAL SHAM – Total Sham LP (Under the Gun)
This fresh pack of fuzzy rippers from Kansas City’s hottest hardcore act exceeded any expectations I had for the band’s vinyl debut. It’s a procession of straight bangers, laced with cartoonish and chainsaw-esque guitar work and capped off by a surprisingly rockin’ closing track. I’d say “chef’s kiss,” but this scuzzy sounding platter would never get approval from any board of health.
BOSTON BABIES – Boston Babies LP (Slovenly)
With a cheap and sexy ’70s style, this Spanish group has a gift for delivering intoxicating nostalgic rock’n’roll. Sounds like these boys may have gotten into the T-REX and maybe a little ROSE TATTOO. This debut album is strong as hell, perfect for fans of proto-punk in the “sweaty denim” vein.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
Continuing the murder spree they started way back in 2018 with the amazing Easy Weapons LP, this latest long-player from North Carolina’s PUBLIC ACID serves up more inventive and punishing hardcore. Crisp production lets you hear every violent detail on this one, and they’re just monsters at this point.
YAKUZA 極道 – Yakuza 極道 LP (Extreme Earslaughter)
A powerful D-beat crusher outta Athens, Greece, this album from YAKUZA 極道 makes its menacing parade of chaos sound like so much fun. Nothing had my head bobbing in 2024 harder than this. Recommended for fans of the catchiest crusty stomping and PARANOID’s classic Satyagraha LP.
CASTILLO – Signs of a Different Time / My World 7” (Mendeku Diskak)
This maddeningly anthemic tune from modern day Oi! champions CASTILLO might be the band’s best song yet. The B-side is a cover of the CRACK that rivals the original, and I got more kicks out of this little 7” than most full albums I encountered this year. Top-shelf.
OC RIPPERS – Is There a Gun in This House? EP (Thirsty Mutant)
There’s almost too much swagger in this smoky, ’90s-style rock’n’roll punk out of New Jersey. I was so thoroughly transfixed by the first couple of tracks that I never saw that eerie, slow-burning closer coming. This group is out here writing killer songs, it’s sure to please fans of the more sophisticated side of the budget rock movement.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
SUCK – Heavier Than Heaven digital (self-released)
Brooklyn four-piece SUCK dropped maybe the most insidiously tasty album of the year, and to my knowledge it has not been released in a physical format as of yet, though it’s certainly deserving of it. Something about these poetic, damaged, and saxophone-strewn songs just kept calling me back. It’s a profound, no wave-inspired gem that reminds me of early PIL, NO TREND, and the DANCE ASTHMATICS, demonstrating a dramatic evolution from the sparser sound of the group’s Story Of The “I” cassette released earlier this year (which is also pretty great.) Rumor has it a new full-length is on the horizon for 2025—keep an eye out.
YAMBAG – Mindfuck Ultra LP (11PM / Convulse)
Ten minutes of face-melting blastbeat chicanery from the esteemed gentlemen in YAMBAG.
EJACULATORS – Wank Generation EP (General Speech)
GG ALLIN meets the PIRANHAS energy on these five bawdy bangers.
TOTAL – Maketa + Concierto cassette (Flexidiscos)
Fantastic tape from this Spanish supergroup. Dark and loaded with emotion.
GLUEMAN – II cassette (VOD)
Real-ass, first-rate punk rocking in the spirit of BUCK BILOXI. Somebody put this on a record, already.
HOMEMADE SPEED – Faster is Better EP (Not For The Weak)
Ignoring decades of evolution, this VA outfit plays menacing hardcore punk as if it were the dawn of the Reagan era.
CRUCIFORM – Cruciform cassette (Toxic State)
First they go fast, and then they go fast! This new NYC group rips mercilessly.
Jason Ryan
Jason Ryan has been a contributor for MRR since 2010. He is a graphic designer and illustrator originally from New York, spent some years in New Haven, CT in the late ‘90s, and now lives in San Francisco.
I have taken a long break from reviews and I am honored to have been invited to contribute to the Year-End Top Ten list. I feel a bit rusty, but I have always enjoyed the music I have had the fortune of being introduced to through MRR. I hope to get back into it once I find full-time employment. I have always been an open book when it comes to writing for MRR, why stop now, so personally I know the best experiences and memories I’ve made in 2024 were meeting someone special and spending time together. This has been far more valuable to me than working. I can’t believe we are a quarter-century into the millennium. That’s a lot of angry records. Wishing everyone peace and prosperity next year, and creatively enriching projects.
NIGHTFEEDER – Disgustör EP (New Dark Age)
From January. Brooding hardcore punk with horrific crust vitriol from Seattle. I really don’t think this band needs an introduction at this point, but these three new tracks from NIGHTFEEDER exemplify their unmistakable, gruesome riff progressions, and percussion that plods and erupts into a fury. Favorite track: “Disgustör,” making up Side A in its entirety, which is a perfect example of their long-accomplished songwriting structures.
VALTATYHJIÖ – Kuristusleikki EP (Sorry State)
From March. A best bud of mine in New York sent me a streaming recording of this and wrote: “I’ll buy one record this year, I hardly ever get anything new, and this is it.” Or something like that. Well, he was so right. Finnish hardcore at its finest, with unique rhythms and diminutive chords. Pulverizing drums and old school high-end riffs with some dark ‘80s Scandi-style soloing, and insanely anguished vocals. I played this for a week when I got it, and I’m doing that again to write this up. This one has stayed out ever since it arrived and it isn’t going anywhere. My favorite of the four riotous tracks is the moody, almost folk-anthemic outro “Riite.” Both tracks on Side B are mixed into each other, and it’s a perfect combo in pace and epic climax.
KRIEGSHÖG – Love & Revenge LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
From April. Their top-notch LP after a long hiatus, recalling what I liked about ZONE after their EPs. Sort of bizarre and irreverent, with hypnotic and landscaping measures, yet equally classic hardcore metal tones tying it into to intense timeless Japanese punk.
FAUCHEUSE – Rêve Électrique LP (Symphony of Destruction)
From May. Beautiful fluid and catchy D-beat pogo punk from Bordeaux, France. A vibe of LA FRACTION, POST REGIMENT, IMPERIAL LEATHER with members of BOMBARDEMENT. That combo there makes for a powerful and originally melodic hardcore record.
SUBDUED – Abattoir LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
From July. SUBDUED returns, refreshing a “neo-sound” out of the ’80s UK anarcho-punk era, drenched in metallic disdain and cosmic escapism. Parts post-punk, crust punk, peace punk…all poetic material, and clearly emphasized subversive prose. ICONS OF FILTH, ANTISECT, EXIT-STANCE, AMEBIX, STONE THE CROWZ, AOA, DIRGE—SUBDUED embraces those messages and delivers their own contorted form of dim hope and strobing hopelessness.
SVAVELDIOXID – Främmande Samtid Strämmande Framtid 10” (Phobia)
From August. True cult Swedish hardcore kängpunk in the classic style, and this is probably their darkest and most grim offering with some subtle Scandinavian death metal leanings. In the ’90s, many Swedish D-beat bands had connections with death metal counterparts, such as DISFEAR, VISIONS, CENTINEX, and SVART PARAD. SVAVELDIOXID is of that scene, and it shows time and time again as they just get tighter and more fierce. Think ANTI-CIMEX, BOMBANFALL, BASTARD PRIEST on this go around.
GOLPE – Subisci. Conformati. Rassegnati. EP (Sorry State)
From September. Milano punks GOLPE have been a boot to the face since I got their debut LP. That goes for seeing them live, as well. This collection of demo recordings as a 7” is crucial, buoyant, and echoing Italian hardcore. Featuring WRETCHED covers and that signature stomp mixed with jangly D-beat from GOLPE. Do you want to live Deliciously in Anarchy? Grab all you can from these kind yet earnestly raging [c(h)aos] artists.
YELLOWCAKE – A Fragmented Truth EP (Not For The Weak / Total Peace)
From September. One of the heaviest D-deat crust punk EPs of the year, if not the heaviest. Scorching vocals and incredibly intense and raw distorted delivery packed into a lengthy six-track EP. An essential follow-up to their two preceding demos. I really hope this band comes around the West Coast live. If I missed it, well, I’m just not as brutal and tuned in as this recording.
TOUT DEBORD – Burning Love demo cassette (Detriti)
From October. For fans of SISTERS OF MERCY, the CURE, rainy days, and ghost stories. Melancholy and macabre goth rock/synth punk with a danceable beat. Utter ennui, and a perfect length before you fall into too much of an emo coma, which equally has you longing for more.
DEADFORM – Entrenched in Hell LP (Tank Crimes)
From October. Metallic crushing riffs and an echoing hardcore snare pop. This record is very bleak and nasty. Discordant and unique in its approach from brutal crust punk to atmospheric cavernous psych-death. A ’90s squat sound you don’t often get as sincerely as this. I can’t take this stylistic direction for granted. From the mängel-ed minds that brought you DYSTOPIA, STORMCROW, and LAUDANUM. Favorite track: “As Above So Below.” Just abysmal.
Honorable mentions:
DEEF – 脳 (Nou) LP (General Speech)
DEEF – Real Control LP (General Speech)
Formed in 1979; here we have some STALIN, GAI, CONFUSE, GISM-esque raw noize made by jazz musicians who were inspired by the anti-political punk rock movement of the early ’80s. If you like that, you need to know this.
John Toohill
SCIENCE MAN and @SwimmingFaith in Buffalo, NY.
Presented in alphabetical order:
CICADA – Wicked Dream EP (Unlawful Assembly)
Ugly, innovative, and demented hardcore punk that gives you an LP’s worth of creativity jam-packed into a 7”. Breakneck shifts and countless inspired riffs. It’s just a brilliant blend of all things hardcore I like, with that lightning-in-a-bottle energy. I just keep flipping it over again and again.
GIZON BERRIA – Lurran Arnasa EP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
I got turned on to this mysterious gremlin because of the video for “Lurran Arnasa.” Do yourself a favor and go watch it right now—I knew instantly this was for me. A one-man home recording project of the strangest and creepiest punk. Gurgling, primitive, and charged with dark powers that leave you in fear of what you may have just conjured by listening to it.
INVERTEBRATES – Sick to Survive LP (Beach Impediment)
Drop the brick on the gas pedal and jump in the backseat. Don’t overthink it. Thirteen-and-a-half minutes of perfectly executed hardcore punk. Catchy riffs and superbly well-written song structures with just the right amount of little tricks to keep you hooked through dozens of spins. Sure it’s angry, but also fun as hell with that splash of rock’n’roll party energy that bubbles up through the tasty guitar licks.
NERVOUS TICK AND THE ZIPPER LIPS – The Monochromatic Mind of… LP (Big Neck)
Dirty fingernails, feverishly mashing away at a slightly detuned, possibly broken synth as some ghoulish lurch howls through the mud over pounding garage punk without an egg in sight. Does the fact I get to occasionally play guitar in the live band version sway my vote here? No. It simply makes me a well educated observer of how good these jams are, and believe me, this band needs all the brain cells it can get. There is also a 7” out this year on Morbidly Hip with an opening track that is maybe my favorite jam yet.
PAPRIKA – Let’s Kill Punk LP (Iron Lung)
I have been a fan since their first tape, and playing with them last year really sealed the deal. Picture a big, blunt instrument of pounding hardcore being swung by a faceless, tortured voice that’s crawling out from the abyss to stomp yer ass into the ground. They also released a killer 7” this year, too.
PEACE DE RÉSISTANCE – Lullaby for the Debris LP (La Vida Es Un Mus / Peace de)
Nocturnal glam, junked-up rock’n’roll sleaze, and ’70s NYC bled into Berlin and back again to be reborn with fresh, punk urgency. Everything I loved about the first record, with a little more of that IGGY POP’s The Idiot and BRIAN ENO’s Here Come the Warm Jets influence showing, all while never once feeling like a throwback genre exercise. Creative, original, and inspiring. I love it.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
An absolute wrecking machine dropping their masterwork. I’m glad this came out in February, so I could listen to it so much this year. Raw and relentlessly pummeling with maze-like riffs that fuse together every type of ugly, underground music while remaining unmistakably hardcore punk. Damn, I’m getting sweaty just thinking about it.
S.H.I.T. – For a Better World 12” (Iron Lung / La Vida Es Un Mus)
I think I first saw S.H.I.T. at Damaged City Fest in 2016, and they were the immediate standout. Just ruthless riffs that hammer you into submission over unyielding drums. No tough breakdowns or mosh dance parts or gang vocals. Just blackened fury and anguished howling that bulldozes everything. This record is their signature brand of mayhem at its most powerful and maybe their best yet.
SPEED PLANS – D.U.I. LP (Convulse)
I’ve been a fan of these fools since the jump, so I’m allowed to listen to this album for the first time today, four times in a row, and then immediately throw it on my best-of list. Intellectually negligent and unbelievably raging. This is the razor’s edge, and it’s being wielded by a group of total blasters at the height of their powers.
TOTAL SHAM – Total Sham LP (Under the Gun)
Sonic equivalent to the wildest, drunkest, most unhinged basement gig you’ve ever been to. When I kick, just throw my ashes onto the shitty beer-and-sweat-soaked floor of this totally moronic, deranged, party pit and make them play till someone dies of electrocution. It shouldn’t take long. “Murder on My Mind” is a bonafide classic, and this album is pure feral hardcore mania. Thank you.
Mateo Cartagena
Mateo Cartagena lives in NYC and has played in WARTHOG, SALVAJE PUNK, FACTORY CITY CHILDREN, POBREZA MENTAL, DAWN OF HUMANS, and a bunch more
Too broke this year to buy many records, which is a problem for this list since I mainly tend to listen to new punk when I’ve got it physically. That means I kinda missed plenty of releases that should’ve been on here (MURO, the DARK, SAVAGE PLEASURE, PUBLIC ACID, STRAW MAN ARMY, LIFELESS DARK, INVERTEBRATES, SUFFOCATING MADNESS, etc.). So here’s two that I connected with (one I wrote about for this list was not eligible, unfortunately!) and some live sets.
ALVILDA – C’est Déjà L’heure LP (Static Shock)
This magnificent French power pop record has had me in its grip since it dropped. Twenty-seven minutes of pop perfection reminiscent of classic ’60s girl groups and newer ones like DOLLY MIXTURE or TIGER TRAP, with jangly guitar work that occasionally reminds me of FELT and a coating of slick, sugary Oi! over the whole thing. I don’t have much more to add except that it fucking rocks.
EXO – Demo cassette (Roachleg)
Occupying a similar unique, irreverent, almost iconoclastic night-space as the MURDERER LP, this demo sounds like an evocative, psychedelic answer to KALASHNIKOV, or like witnessing CHIN CHIN materialize from fog in a moonlit glade to inform you of a perilous journey you must endure. Clunky, spectral keys punctuate fast pogo punk and mid-tempo stompers. All three members sing, but the styling is all over the place, at times a deadpan intonation, other times girl group harmonized, chanting, teasing, flatly menacing or breathlessly witchy. There’s a darkness that undercuts where this could get too twee, a ghostly, otherworldly feeling permeating these tracks—EXO plucks dewdrops like diamonds from the spiderwebs of their shadowy dream gardens to adorn their version of punk.
PIÑÉN @ New River Studios, London
PIÑÉN is one of the greatest bands in the world, absolute raw punk perfection and pure anarchist rage. I’ve been lucky enough to see them a good handful of times, starting in Barcelona in 2015 when we had a telepathic connection—they covered an ATAQUE FRONTAL song that had been stuck in my head for a week! Everytime I see them their intensity gives me goosebumps, and in London they bludgeoned the crowd into a blurry pogoing rage.
DOLLHOUSE @ Williamsburg Bridge
In the post-lockdown years, there has been a welcome effort—especially by a dedicated core of younger punks—to counter the lack of DIY spaces in this rotten city by reclaiming public and derelict spaces for punk shows. Having a show on the Williamsburg Bridge was like a dream come true. DOLLHOUSE—with whose members I’ve spent countless hours being a delinquent on that bridge—absolutely smoked. A gig where the possibilities of DIY seem truly limitless.
CRAZY SPIRIT @ Trash Bridge
CRAZY SPIRIT’s first reunion gig was a Palestine benefit next to a footbridge over the train tracks in an industrial part of Brooklyn near infamous punk space (and my old house) 538 Johnson (RIP), an area now known more for hip bars and huge EDM venues. They’re one of the bands I’ve seen the most since their inception. To me, beyond my emotional connection to their music, their importance to NYC and global DIY punk cannot be overstated. This show delivered a top ten CRAZY SPIRIT set, and that’s saying a lot. The energy was on-point, they were on fire, and the crowd was a swelling and contracting mass of psychos, some who were around from back in the day and plenty of newcomers, everyone going crazy. “Cool Death” will never cease to make me try to annihilate everyone and everything around me and the years haven’t diluted it a bit.
INYECCIÓN @ TV Eye
INYECCIÓN has to me always stood out from much of today’s snotty raw punk with their own inventive take: plenty of sick riffs, weird catchy drum beats, and rhythmic shifts that have me jumping around my house in a gleeful rage. I’m not alone in this—at Latino Punk Fest they had me and hundreds of other maniacs going apeshit. The energy was electric, and the place practically exploded when they hit the first note. Unrelenting chaotic perfection and one of the most fun sets of the year.
GUERRA FINAL @ Bootleg Bar
GUERRA FINAL is one of the best bands in the country. This was an aftershow at the tail-end of Latino Punk Fest at a tiny dive bar that was hosting shows for a while, and it was the last punk show there after the bar unceremoniously dumped a bunch of their punk employees. Naturally, it was fucking insane. Broken glass, broken sanity.
HARAM @ Freedom Tunnel
Great to see HARAM again. This show in the train tunnels of uptown Manhattan was truly lawless, filthy, and incredible.
DISPUTA @ María Hernández Park
DISPUTA was a band that unfortunately only lasted a handful of shows and put out a great demo. But they were so killer, just raw shambolic hardcore punk with the spirit of true inept D-beat shining brightly, in the vein of FIRMEZA 10 and DESTRUCCIÓN (who they covered). Their singer Ferny became possessed when they played and at this daytime gig at a public park, even the little kids got to dancing.
FRENZY & BOG PEOPLE @ Frost Factory
This show was fun as fuck. FRENZY is one of the sickest, grooviest HC punk bands around and BOG PEOPLE brought the pogo back out from the swamps. A gig where everyone was grinning ear to ear and going wild.
ROCKY & THE SWEDEN @ The Broadway
The guitarist had his girlfriend come on stage then proposed to her. She said yes and stagedove. He stagedove while still playing, strutted down the venue stairs, went out the side door onto the street, all while still plugged in and playing, headbanged and soloed on the street for awhile, went back into the downstairs bar—still playing—then made it back upstairs and, triumphant, returned to the stage. Unbelievable.
Ronni What
Ronni is a self-taught “musician” from “Louisiana.” They skronk in SPLLIT, FAKE LAST NAME, and run a micro DIY print service with goals of accessibility.
ADDED DIMENSIONS – Time Suck / Hellbent EP (Domestic Departure)
ADDED DIMENSIONS’ Time Suck / Hellbent is an incredible ride that releases its grip at no point. From the entrance on “Impulsive,” there is no time wasted. I saw this mentioned as a “Kim Deal-fronted URINALS,” to which I say “Yes, please!” Get ready to bang your head and shake your hips to unfussy tunes that transport. I can’t wait to see what ADDED DIMENSIONS has in store for us in the future! Think SHARK TOYS’ Out of Time.
ALIEN NOSEJOB – Turns the Color of Bad Shit LP (Total Punk)
Horror stories for 2024, starting off with “Bird Strike.” This album is right here and it is right now. An example of many things existing simultaneously, showing the strength of Jake Robertson’s prolific punk ethos full of satire, passion, and self awareness. This album carries with it tight rhythms, screeching guitar, heavy synths, saxophone and a whole lot of nerve. For fans of ELTON MOTELLO, the REZILLOS, X-RAY SPEX, and the ADVERTS.
BENZIN – Treibjagd LP (Static Age)
I used to blast BENZIN’s demo (Billo) damn near every day driving home from teaching eighth grade in 2020. This full-length follows through with perfectly wacky, agitated, and pinpointed hardcore that brings to mind treasures: SPREAD JOY and JUDY AND THE JERKS. They fit together like an incredible constellation. BENZIN drives us madly through this universe with their strength and stride.
GOBLIN DAYCARE – Agitprop Hotline!! LP (Dedstrange)
These weirdos keep it fresh! I remember first catching their music video on Tremendo Garaje and being stoked. This is a group o’ folks who burst out fast and frantic, never letting up. The anxiety and malaise of our generation on full-view. For fans of LASSIE! MARK CONE! Fun and disturbing all together to help with my freaking ceaseless astral migraine.
GUIDING LIGHT – Guiding Light cassette (Down South)
What a beauty. GUIDING LIGHT does not miss the mark for a second. Living up to the name, the omnichord entrance had me swooning. There is assurance that you will hear these econo songs in their glory. If you wanna translate those lyrics I guess you just gotta buy the tape, huh? Vigor wrapped up in a delicious soup of BENZIN, CHRONOPHAGE, KLEENEX, and ya, a lil Flying Nun jangle. Muah.
THE INTIMA – Peril & Panic LP reissue (Post Present Medium)
A re-release that I personally needed from a band that existed from 1999–2004. During a time such as 2024, I am personally itching for anarcho-punk like this: “I saw the future through the fumes,” well, we are here now. “Break the law before they break you.” This is music that feeds me with tender hands that are shaking with the intensity of today. Think of some constellation of NEW BLOODS, the EX, POZI, the RONDOS.
PURPUR SPYTT – Scavenges, Time-travels, and Scrapbooks LP (Mini Distro Label)
My love for PURPUR SPYTT began with Nitpick back in 2018. I think Mermoud’s odd melodies burrow holes into my skull. Pick this up if you’re searching for intricate songs that ebb and flow with confidence, exploration, deviance and precision. Always fascinating and surprising. Also, I love that the record came in a recycled jacket turned inside out and the record was cut onto a 12” LaserDisc, synchronizing with the HUGGY BEAR re-release that also came in a recycled jacket this year.
QLOWSKI – The Wound LP (Maple Death / Feel It)
Ow, my heart. The poetics here shine and shimmer beneath the murky fields of a harshly real sonic environment. “From the bits / From the scars / There is no beauty without the wound.” This album feels urgent, harsh, yet soft and tender. I see landscapes of all of the broken things, persistence, possibilities for growth, for harm, for reducing harm—a full picture. Nothing is missing. Dream punk with determination for the possibility of another world within this one.
SHREDDY – Beginners Luck cassette (Like A Star)
SHREDDY! A killer solo tape from a member of Leipzig’s LASSIE and HOT CHICKS. Devolved rock lobsters and Queens of the Night who know how to have a good time amongst western wreckage. Johann, who not only writes incredible punk that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but is also an incredible artist (go check out their comics). Throw that tape into your tape player, and blast off to punk that makes you move.
STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Over the past few years, STRAW MAN ARMY has really put out some critical albums that I know I will listen to for years to come. I’m just glad that KALEIDOSCOPE led me here. Incredibly urgent music for today. Anarcho-punk of now. Peers doing us real right. It brings me back to my delight when first listening to FASHION PIMPS AND THE GLAMAZONS, or other Clevo bands like the CARP. Something about the way that this band hits the nail right on the head. Incredibly refreshing!
Honorable mentions:
COSEY MUELLER – Softcore LP (Static Age)
DRILL – Permanent LP (Abandon Everything)
EASY GOAT – Zehr Goat cassette (Chrüsimüsi / Editions Petite Nature)
ELMOS – Elmos cassette (Earth Girl)
EXO – EXO demo cassette (RoachLeg)
GIULIO ERASMUS – Second Attempt LP (Mangel)
GRAZIA – In Poor Taste EP (Feel It)
HAMMER AND THE TOOLS – Hamma cassette (Psychic Hand)
ISMATIC GURU – IV cassette (Swimming Faith)
PORK BELLY – I’m Okay, You’re Okay, Everything Is Okay 12” (Popular Affliction)
Tyler Roberts
Tyler has lived in Atlanta, Georgia for almost ten years now. He’s been in the bands MUTUAL JERK, BLAMMO, LOVERMAN, and RIBOFLAVIN. He also likes to make zines, bake bread, talk about movies, and collect records.
I’ve gone into 2024 with high expectations. Even-numbered years are traditionally the best music years. Specifically, the fourth year of every decade is the most important. The fourth and the eighth. But every decade’s fourth is the year that the tides turn in music and culture. The most important records come out.
BATO – Human Cancer LP (Not For The Weak)
I want this record to beat me up. “Echo Chamber” and “Milk” turn my spine. This is the hardcore that I exist for. This record is great for running and maybe falling off the side of a mountain.
STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
Everyone’s going to write about this one. The official soundtrack to the end of the world. Dystopia has arrived. What are we gonna do? Don’t listen to it in traffic going south on 85 in ATL. Gets really sad.
SUN COUSTO – Imaginary Girls LP (Chrüsimüsi)
Sometimes I get scared that AI is generating records for me to love. They have collected all my data and know everything I want music to be, and I’m too stupid to know it’s not a real band. I get skeptical of records too strict to style and genre for this reason. That’s why I need a record like this to encapsulate everything I love and want and still slap me with real surprises. I dance in front of the mirror singing “Hey you! I like yr style. Maybe you wanna play in my band.”
RIDER/HORSE – Matted LP (Ever/Never)
Within the last ten years, there have been countless imitators. All have been too weak to stand up to the actual thing. All missed the point. When the real thing is in front of you, it’s unmistakable. “What even in the hell is y’all doing?” The power of electric guitars and drums are being harnessed here to take you from primitive states to expansive places in your brain. Driving down a country road you see a lot in the middle of nowhere. Your brain looks at itself. I remember the first time I ever heard Sister or Atomizer and how I felt.
SPLIT SYSTEM – Vol. 2 LP (Drunken Sailor / Goner / Legless)
I’m gay. I want another man to grab me with all his strength, and in that, I want to feel tenderness. When I was like 21, I had the most fleeting homoromantic experience of my life with a stranger hardcore bro at a show where we grabbed each other and sang a song at each other with full commitment to every word and what it may have respectively meant to our separate bodies and lives. I have searched for that experience with music like it was a drug. SPLIT SYSTEM put on one of those shows where I couldn’t stop smiling the whole time. Me and my friends walked out of the show wanting to start a band.
3 THE HARDWAY – Hwuah cassette (self-released)
And then the “Louie Louie” cover came on and I screamed “fuuuuck yes.” Everything about this band is pure and true and good. There was some shit I downloaded off MySpace in 2005 that I burned to a CD and never labeled, and will never know what it was. This band sounds like that band and like no other band ever. I’m just smitten—I feel loved by this music. Everything about it. The font. The fact that they’re from Detroit. The atonal, the melodic.
CLASS – A Healthy Alternative LP (Feel It)
“Scared To Care” does what any first song should do: kick the door in. The hook grabs you by the shirt and that riff shakes you by the shoulders. The rest of the album maintains that perfection. Songs that sound like they’ve always existed. The lead guitar hangs out and trashes yr house. Very denim vest, very cheap sunglasses. The vocals are more sensitive and smart and friendly. “Move So Fast” brings me to a couch to have an important chat with my pal. When I saw SPLIT SYSTEM, the singer was wearing a CLASS t-shirt.
THINE RETAIL SIMPS – Strike Gold, Strike Back, Strike Out LP (Total Punk)
At first glance, it’s mocking, bashing stupidity, and at closer inspection, it’s the kind of perfection that comes with true discipline to not overthink. Then when we arrive at the song “Bug Life March 26th” we are actually corrected again. We hear the author’s language, and everything clicks. There’s so much brain going on here. I had no idea—I had been too busy dancing/doing body stuff. But we end up at “Duckland” and see the $IMPS bury their genius in gags again. FFO: ringer tees, partying, and secretly intellectual songwriting.
BENZIN – Treibjagd LP (Static Age Musik)
I remember a friend referring to HANS-A-PLAST as sounding like the definition of punk. I feel the same. This band brings the same. In the search for what I truly want. Where I feel like I usually have to say to myself “close enough,” I’m given the rare treat of my needs being met. Sounds like it could come straight off of No Fun Records. Amazingly, it doesn’t sound like pretending either. Pure and true. Sounds effortless.
INVERTEBRATES – Sick to Survive LP (Beach Impediment)
I feel myself standing on my toes. I’m holding my breath. It’s like a rollercoaster. Genuine North American hardcore in its most distilled form. No mystery, no chains—perhaps a flannel, maybe sweatpants. Richmond has the magic right now, apparently.
Viktor Vargyai
Viktor Vargyai is a reviewer and former columnist for MRR from Budapest, Hungary. He plays in NORMS, BALTA, and ÇAYÎR, books local gigs, randomly makes zines, and does a bi-weekly show about punk for local community radio.
Feelings over facts suggested to me this was a weaker year with respect to releases compared to the last, but then I checked my entry from ’23 and now I have more albums to enlist. Some highly anticipated records were truly disappointing, and the ever-growing quantity of new releases could numb my excitement with their indistinguishability. Still, I would support everyone to start a band, a label, a zine, and create a scene. But please, dare to fuck shit up.
First, some personal triumphs:
This year was pretty prolific for me in regards to releases. All the bands I currently play in had records coming out on different formats from different labels in different countries. I am not only happy for the records, but also cooperating with such people behind those labels. The receptions hinted that these records might only be enjoyable for a subdivision of our underground subculture, which is fine, but it is great to leave a mark and have people carry my shit to places and to people who I would only reach maybe in decades. Maybe before I die, I will rather cherish these achievements than remember the above records. As well, thanks to everyone who booked my bands, and sorry to those who tried but somehow it failed. Try again, we will fail better (nah, we will play).
The below are not reviews, but reasons why I loved the records.
PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
Brutal record. Riffs within riffs within riffs. The powerful flow of the record is irresistible, with crasher crust energies but the music is rather raging hardcore that summons the essential angst of all the great bands. Super-tight record that still sounds really dirty.
SEXPILL – In Dust We Trust LP (Beach Impediment)
This is my favorite type of music. SEXPILL plays brilliantly primitive and catchy riffs drowned in a swirling noise pulp, constantly balancing between falling apart or ripping the world apart. It’s like putting four KURO records on a blast with delay while being on ‘shrooms and letting it melt my mind.
CUNTROACHES – Cuntroaches LP (Skin Graft)
Unintentional dirt and noise elevated many good records to become great. CUNTROACHES intentionally create such chaos, reminding me of the unprofessional cacophony of radical musik. Maybe some file them as experimental, but the music is so overwhelming it does not differ from the dumbest, most naive and fun hardcore. Future music, but the future is primitive.
SIHIR – Ular Akan Patuk LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
Love the guitars on this record, they recall the best, rawest hardcore bands who only had a demo and broke up while all the members were still in high school. Somehow they could flawlessly sneak in a bit of psychedelia, too—not meaning the world music influences, but the repetition and tasteful play with tempos. It took a while to really get into them, but it still gets better with each listen even after being fully convinced.
SUBDUED – Abattoir LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
Anarcho-punk had a great year, and among the strong contenders, the new SUBDUED won me over. It sounds huge, atmospheric, and with the lovely didactic “let me tell you a bit about class struggle, my dear friend” spoken-singing. Where it differs for me is the hidden hardcore guitars and its raging energy. Those guitars and speed rush tempos are making them shine.
ALAMBRADA – Rios de Sangre LP (Autsajder Produckcija / Fuerza Ingobernable / Unlawful Assembly)
Was excited to learn ALAMBRADA would tour Europe and have this new LP come out. Both seeing them live and hearing this record were top moments of 2024. I love super-fast and chaotic hardcore, and here when they try to be a bit more exciting than just sheer thrashing, that still happens within the limited but awesome frames of punk. They never lose the focus of creating an amazing hardcore record.
STATE MANUFACTURED TERROR – The US Government is a Kleptocratic Doomsday Cult EP (Autsajder Produkcija)
Super-chaotic crushing…probably crust music? It’s dirty, political, unhinged—a huge buzzing frustration. Sometimes it sounds as all the members playing different songs, but against the same thing, which adds a creative complexity to music that reminisces the sound of beating trash cans. I never huffed glue, and that experience is probably the exact opposite of what I feel when listening to this record, but the disgusting confusion which probably comes with such activity is here and sounds great.
And now… data!
Yes, your eyes may be bleeding from reading all these Top Tens, but you can’t stop now! You’ve yet to find out who topped all of our Top Tens collectively. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered, and we can convey this information to you via the punkest of mediums: graphs!
Once again, we had a ton of folks submiting Top Tens this year—46 to be exact! And I, Alex, the sicko who coordinates these lists, decided to log every selection (including honorable mentions) from every contributor in a spreadsheet. So, let’s see what shakes out. Here’s 2024’s Top Tens by the numbers.
We had about 560 selections, representing around 350 artists and 230 labels. 64% of selections were LPs/12”s, 16% were EPs/7”s, 17% were cassettes, and 3% were everything else (books, 10”s, CDs, show attendances, etc.)—last year’s splits were 60% / 19% / 18% / 3%.
Top Ten Releases from 2024’s Top Tens
Releases mentioned as one of the contributors’ main selections received a full point, while honorable mentions received a half point.
- STRAW MAN ARMY – Earthworks LP (D4MT Labs / La Vida Es Un Mus)
- PUBLIC ACID – Deadly Struggle LP (Beach Impediment)
- ALVILDA – C’est Deja L’heure LP (Static Shock)
- NEUTRALS – New Town Dream LP (Slumberland / Static Shock)
- KRIEGSHOG – Love & Revenge LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
- MARCEL WAVE – Something Looming LP (Feel It / Upset! the Rhythm)
- INVERTEBRATES – Sick to Survive LP (Beach Impediment)
- ALAMBRADA – Rios de Sangre LP (Autsajder Produkcija / Fuerza Ingobernable / Unlawful Assembly)
- SUBDUED – Abattoir LP (La Vida Es Un Mus)
- ARTIFICIAL GO – Hopscotch Fever LP (Feel It)
Top Ten Labels Featured in 2024’s Top Tens
A few things to note about how I counted things for labels: 1) For the y axis in the visualization below, as was the case above, labels mentioned as part of the contributor’s main selections got a full point, while honorable mentions got a half point (the x axis ignores this distinction); 2) for releases split between multiple labels, each label received the counts separately; 3) the size of the button represents the number of the label’s unique releases mentioned.
Also of note, there was a giant pile-up in the bottom left of this graph, so I moved things around a bit so you could see all the pins for the labels. I’ve included the actual data below the visualization if you’re interested.
