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Eddie writesCHIRP Radio’s Best of 2024: Eddie Sayago
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We are halfway through the 2020s and they are just as roaring, chaotic, and ridiculous as the Roaring Twenties we all half-heartedly read about in those novels they assigned us in school. 2024 was many things, including a leap year for all who observe the Roman calendar and an election year for up to 40% of the world’s population. (Congrats to Mexico on electing their first female president!) As always, music was the true savior of this past year. At least we got lucky with plenty of phenomenal music as the timeline we are stuck in got weirder and weirder. |
#1 brat/brat and is completely different but also still brat by Charli XCX (Atlantic)
In a year in which things just seemed to get worse, the girl from Essex delivered the best album of the year by far. brat is both vulnerable and volatile. And four months later she released one of the best remix albums ever produced. Both albums tie for first place on this list and in my heart. It took awhile but Charli XCX is a global superstar, providing the perfect soundtrack to a world filled with chaos and constant change. Favorite tracks: “B2B”, “Girl So Confusing (feat. Lorde)”, “Von Dutch”, “mean girls (feat. Julian Casablancas)”, “365”, “Sympathy is a knife” (Both the original and Ariana Grande remix) |
#2 In Waves by Jamie xx (Young)
With strong collaborations with Honey Dijon and Robyn, each song is a tour de force. In Waves is his first album in 9 years and he did not seem to have missed a beat. Favorite tracks: “Baddy on the Floor” (feat. Honey Dijon), “Life” (feat. Robyn), “Waited All Night” (feat. Romy and Oliver Sim from The xx), “Breather”, “Falling Together” |
#3 All Born Screaming by St. Vincent (Total Pleasure)
Ten years later, All Born Screaming is unleashed into the world, and the title tells you everything. There is an urgent pathos in each song, especially in “Broken Man” and “Violent Times.” Clark said in an interview that she needed to “go deeper in finding her sonic vocabulary.” When describing the album, Clark said to NME, “We’re all born in some ways against our will. But at the same time, if you’re born screaming, it’s a great sign–it’s a sign you’re alive.” Favorite tracks: “Broken Man”, “Flea”, “Big Time Nothing”, “Violent Times”, “Sweetest Fruit” |
#4 Dark Chisme by Dark Chisme (Self-released)
The opener “Move” is both a command and a mood. I’m bopping my head on the couch as I type this. “Yo Quiero Vivir Sin Ti” (“I Can Live Without You”) is the best song on here, witnessing someone given the boot from whatever romantic entanglements the singer is getting out of in two languages. “You think you see right through me, that I’m blinded and you have control…ya no puedo más” Favorite tracks: “Yo Puedo Vivir Sin Ti”, “Vete de Aqui”, “Move”, “Beautiful Obsession Killer”, “La Musica Oscura” |
#5 Rock Machine by La Femme (Disque Pointe)
With a cold vocal delivery throughout that harkens back to Depeche Mode and Bauhaus, Rock Machine feels at home at a haunted house in the Midwest or in the dark dive bars of Paris. Favorite tracks: “Clover Paradise”, “Venus”, “Love Is Over”, “Sweet Babe” |
#6 Cowboy Carter by Beyoncé (Parkwood/Columbia)
What I love most about this album is that many artists who paved the way for country music are included here, from the big names like Willy and Dolly and chart-topper Shaboozy. My favorite featured artist is Linda Martell, who was the first Black female artist to play the Grand Ole Opry (performing a dozen times there). Martell earned her first Grammy nomination for “Spaghetti”, 62 years after her first recording session at Fire Records in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Favorite tracks: “Blackbird”, “16 Carriages”, “Bodyguard”, “Spaghetti”, “Ya Ya”, “Tyrant” |
#7 Tension II by Kylie Minogue (Darenote)
The fact that this her 17th studio album is astonishing. The sequel to Tension has arrived just in time for Kylie’s first US tour in over 15 years, which is one of the few bright spots of 2025 for myself and many other fans. Favorite tracks: “Edge of Saturday Night” (feat. The Blessed Madonna), “Diamonds”, “Someone For Me”, “Dance to the Music” |
#8 Access All Areas by FLO (Island/Universal)
An entire generation of kids have grown up without a contemporary R&B group. Three Black women from London teamed up by chance (well...school and Instagram) to write and record this superb, confident record that’s both a throwback to the R&B queens of the 1990s and early 2000s yet it gives the genre a fresh update for the digital age. Like Eviro says in her intro, FLO is that bad bitch. Favorite tracks: “AAA”, “Walk Like This”, “Check”, “Caught Up” |
#9 Follower by Beastii (Dark Circles)
Not only was the album played to a packed bar but they played the music video for their lead single “Justine” twice and had several bands perform throughout the night. Follower is a rambunctious fun record from one of Chicago’s most exciting bands. Favorite tracks: “Justine”, “Cosmic Bummer”, “Evil Eye”, “Subliminal” |
#10 HEAT EP by Tove Lo & SG Lewis (Pretty Swede)
The EP was also accompanied by four equally sexy music videos that follow a nightclub goer’s adventures into a maze of seduction. HEAT is also great to listen to while doing a quick cardio workout or out for a jog. Or other sweaty activities that can be done in 15 minutes. Favorite tracks: “HEAT”, “Let Me Go Oh Oh”, “Busy Girl”, “Desire” |
Honorable MentionsSZA, SOS Deluxe: LANA |
Throughout December, 
Charli XCX is brat. CHIRP is brat. You are brat. I am brat. Every album mentioned here is brat in its own special way.
Like Kylie Minogue, Jamie xx released 5 singles throughout the summer, keeping up with the hunger for new dance music from this genius producer and musician. He had a stellar performance at Pitchfork and is embarking on a US tour just in time for the death of democ—I mean the depths of winter.
I like to think that Annie Clark, aka the musician St. Vincent became ST. VINCENT the rock god with the release of her self-titled fourth album released in 2014. A lot more people became familiar with her music and live performances thanks to that album, which was one of the most critically acclaimed records of the year and her best-selling one.
The former Chicagoan Christine Gutiérrez released her self-titled debut album under the name Dark Chisme. Inspired by both Latin and techno music, among other styles, Dark Chisme is an eerily seductive album filled with dark, moody techno dance bops in both English y en español.
The French rock band with a feminine name (The Woman) released their first album in English, Rock Machine, a masculine sounding title that defies categorization.
This album was going to be in the honorable mentions section but then I saw her perform at the Christmas Day halftime show on Netflix (I think football was involved). I relistened to Cowboy Carter and like many others, will give flowers to this homage to the country music Bey grew up with.
It was sorta a surprise that a follow up to Tension would be released only 13 months later. Kylie released several singles throughout the year, all duets or featured musicians as my personal favorite, “Edge of Saturday Night” featuring the Blessed Madonna.
“Planet Earth was in need of bad bitch replenishment,” says Cythina Eviro in the opening track to Access All Areas, the debut album from girl group FLO.
A good friend of mine invited me to a show at Liars Club under the premise of seeing another band perform (hello The Cell Phones) so I didn’t know that Beastii would be there until I arrived at the door. We were in the dive bar for the record listening party for Follower, which is technically available to stream as a playlist (but is available to purchase on Bandcamp in CD and vinyl formats).
HEAT, a four track EP from Tove Lo & SG Lewis, was on constant rotation for me last summer. It was a hot, sexy, and intense quartet of Euro-techno dance that both musicians are famous for.Next entry: CHIRP Radio’s Best of 2024: DJ Panda
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