Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2024” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?
When I usually write out the intros to these Best Ofs, I discuss the guest’s accomplishments in the scene in 2024, and Jared Bowers has created quite the 2024 resume; as a contributor to CincyMusic who has crafted some of the best narratives of the year in live and album reviews; as photographer JWB Imagery; oh, did I mention that in 2024 he created the hugely successful OH/KY festival Midwest Friends Fest. That’s what I’d normally say… but Jared is also one of my favorite people on earth. Fast friends from the moment we first spoke, circa 2003/04 if memory serves, as a phone call between Blockbuster Videos, likely to check if his store had a copy of Shrek 2 on VHS or some other innocuous introduction, we began ignoring customers and shirking responsibilities for hours to discuss indie releases, life and retail annoyances, eventually working together at both Blockbuster and FYE. Over the last 20 years, we’ve cheered and celebrated our successes together, commiserated over late stage capitalism, recommended new artists and formed our own amazing homes and families. In other words… I fucking love this guy and everything he does… which now includes helping out and contributing his own Best of 2024 list.
Hi everyone.
My name is Jared (he/him), and Ed, a good friend of mine for actual decades at this point (I think – Ed, check my math) asked me to come up with a list of my favorite albums released in 2024. There may have been some other instructions but tbh I was gonna ignore them no matter what. Sorry, Ed. And really, the world’s falling the fuck apart anyway so chaos reigns and we’re just going for it.
So what am I doing instead? I mean, yeah, I’ll get to my favorite releases of the year – or, at least the ones that made enough of an impact that they’re showing up in my listening histories on YouTube Music and through my purchases on Bandcamp. Your boy doesn’t fuck with Spotify. I guess I just wanted to use the opportunity to talk about what I’ve been up to where I live, in Cincinnati, Ohio.
I’ve been writing for a regionally consequential music news, review, preview, and photography site called CincyMusic for well over a decade. The last few years I’ve also been shooting concerts around town – recently I’ve photographed Babymetal, Vampire Weekend, KMFDM, and the Ohio edition of the Is For Lovers Festival. It’s been a lot of work, incredibly rewarding, and looking at the stats below, it should be obvious that my favorite thing to do is write and talk about and share and photograph music. 2024 has helped to make that distressingly obvious. So that’s why I’m bringing it up, I guess?
My work at CincyMusic in 2024:
Interviews – 1 (Atom Willard of Alkaline Trio)
General News – 6
Get to the Gig (my recommendations for local shows to check out) – 5
Show Reviews – 22
Listen Up! (my recommendations for new local music to check out) – 14
Album Reviews of local artists – 8
Show Previews for local shows – 17
Bands Photographed – 223 (with a few who got 2 or more sets)
I saw some great bands this year: Mustard Plug, Say Anything, Strung Out (twice, in two states on the opposite sides of the country), Teens In Trouble, Bat Boy, Honeycrush, Caspian, The Ocean (twice, in two different cities), Shy, Low, The Jesus Lizard, Lung (like 4 or 5 times), The Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis, Jeremy Pinnell (3 times), For Your Health, Sleater-Kinney, Jeff Rosenstock, The Iron Roses, Veronica Grim (3 times, I think?), Mall Witch, Manor Gates, Bear The Moon, Tooth Lures A Fang, Mad Anthony (reunion show, baby!), The Shivers, Maura Weaver, The Smoking Popes, Into It. Over It., Dikembe, They’re/Their/There, Page99, Ryan Rockwell, Take The Reins, Vampire Weekend, KMFDM, Less Than Jake, Houseghost, Finom, Moontype, Nnamid and maybe actually hundreds more. It’s been an incredible year and I am a lucky, lucky guy.
Oh, and on top of all that, I helped set up and run a first year music festival with 21 bands, local artists, and community partnerships with social advocacy groups at my favorite venue in the area. I’m already at work on the 2025 iteration and it’s shaping up to be even more intense.
Considering all of the above, maybe it would be interesting to know what I’ve been listening to a bunch, yeah? That’s ostensibly what you’ve come here to find out. So, here you go. In no particular order.
Favorite Albums Released in 2024
(not a comprehensive list by any means, but this shit kept me sane):
Queen of Jeans – All Again
Maxwell Stern – In The Good Light
Bad Moves – Wearing Out The Refrain
Goings – Memory Card
Delta Sleep – Blue Garden
Hot Water Music – VOWS
Hot Water Music/Quicksand – Split EP
Touche Amore – Spiral In A Straight Line
Exit Angles – Iterate
Half Past Two – Talk Is Killing Me
Pedro The Lion – Santa Cruz
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, & Eyeballs
Khruangbin – A La Sala
Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope
Standards – Fruit Galaxy
Gulfer – Third Wind
Circus Trees – This makes me sad, and I miss you
Sweet Pill – Starchild
There’s a ton of new local (and new-ish and local-ish) stuff that I would recommend checking out, as well: Mall Witch, Nowhere Fast, Manor Gates, The 2-22s, Mavis Guitar, LayLow, Ryan Rockwell, Year Twins, Bandages, Bear The Moon, Get Wrecked, and a bunch more. Cincinnati (and SW Ohio – and I’m including Dayton and Columbus and Northern Kentucky here, as well) is absolutely spoiled when it comes to how much great music is happening right now.
Hey. Here’s a bonus section! How fun!
Favorite Albums That Came Out Before 2024 But That I Just Discovered and Feel Real Silly About Missing But I’m Glad I Found Now:
Sparks – Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat – seriously, every one of their albums is weird and wonderful and in some cases, genius, so diving into their catalog has been so much fun
Czarface – Czartificial Intelligence and like every other album of theirs because they’re all great and ended up being my most listened to artist this year
Spanish Love Songs – Brave Faces, Everyone is the album of our times and it’s not even close
Manor Gates – So Much Brooding is an instant mathy emo classic
Worriers – Trust Your Gut is raw and real and really fucking good
The Iron Roses – The Iron Roses – this band blew me away live and the album was on repeat for months after
This is by no means comprehensive but I think it’s a good representation of where I am musically right now. I hope you take some time to check out even just a few of the things I mentioned – there’s a lil’ something for everyone.
My sincere thanks to Ed for letting me go long, and for even asking me to do this in the first place. It’s been awesome watching him find his voice here and getting some rad shots at some great shows with same sick bands – way to fucking go, dude. Your old friend is real damn proud of ya.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
