Warm Visions’ Top 50 Albums of 2024

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Hello dear reader of Warm Visions dot net, and welcome to my favorite time of the year: Best of 2024 season. This season has fully passed for nearly every other music site on the planet, but I am but just one little man, trying his hardest to put together something that will enrich you as a music listener and a reader of this blog. Either that or I’ve just been incredibly lazy and procrastinating putting the final touches on this thing, along with listening to more albums with thoughts of “ooh should this be in my list instead of so and so?” It never ends.

Music in 2024 felt good overall, albeit I was decently checked out for a good portion of it. Plus the tension in the world is at an all-time high. I feel like this comes through in some of my choices later on in my list, but for the most part the records you’ll find below are in line with my Warm Visions taste. Familiar faces abound, along with some inspiring newcomers and juicy surprises (what the surprises are… I’m not quite sure yet). You’ll find the album art, “Warm Visions Description”, a little music writer-esque blurb, and a streaming link. You can also click the album art to be taken to that artist’s Bandcamp page, if they have one.

OK let’s go! Happy 2024! Let it end please!

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Recommended Albums: November 2024

Winding down 2024’s Recommended Albums (usually I don’t have the effort / material to dive into December’s albums, but we’ll see!), we shove the year off into the mist with some mighty solid records. I’d be remiss not to shout out The Cure first, returning after almost two decades and making one of their best albums in a while. We’ve also got two Various Artists projects, some wistful pop and folk, a little experimental ambient and modern classical… a good slate of records in November. A solid November month too – nothing TOO too big, but a cushion of goodness to sit upon as we ponder the best of the year.

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Recommended Albums: October 2024

Not as late this time! And hey – Recommended Albums of October 2024 had a good reason for being delayed. Unless I miscounted (very likely), I’m featuring 17 albums below. That’s a good amount! And there were still more records from last month that I’ve been meaning to listen to, and would probably find their way on this list if I had! But this has been delayed enough as is! 17 is good enough for you, you voracious animals!

Some really incredible records below, though. At least four on here I’ve absolutely rinsed on walks around the city: Caribou, Confidence Man, Kelly Lee Owens & Two Shell. The classic electronic record to blast to inject some pep into step. Also just some shocking beauty, some much-needed follow-ups, and a key various artists compilation from Music From Memory, a label that has been rising QUICKLY in labels I just love anything and everything from. Elite.

Best of 2024 season is quickly approaching! Hoping to get all that stuff to you in a timely manner. Thanks for reading!

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Recommended Albums: September 2024

Another late Recommended Albums post, but this one has a pretty good excuse. September 2024 was absolutely loaded with fantastic records. 15 LPs are listed below, and there were even more that I liked enough to consider for more spots. This was a blast to put together, with some heavy-hitters that are very likely going to feature in primo spots on my Best Albums of 2024 list. Take a listen to samples of 15 records below, and hope you love them!

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Recommended Albums: August 2024

Earlier this year I had commented on how the Recommended Albums of June 2024 was the latest post in Warm Visions history. I had to outdo myself in terms of lateness and get the August post out in deep October, when we’re all thinking about August. Looking back, August feels like a black hole in my memory. A void where activities assuredly took place, yet I have little to no memory. Concerts were at a minimum too, but did include highlights like Winged Wheel, Tirzah and Charlotte Adigery & Bolis Pupul.

Getting into the music of August, there were some heavy hitters like the Fontaines D.C. + SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE records. The Belong album was also a nice return, among other quality records filling in the crowd below. I’ve had a description written for the Belong record for months now but the rest of them have been sitting empty. Might as well get this post out since it’s clear these other descriptions aren’t getting written. Alas. Enjoy this ancient music.

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Playlist: Old-Growth, New Sprouts – Finding Your Way

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On somewhat of a tear with playlists, inspired by a roadtrip taken this past week up to Maine. Gotta have some new meat on the speakers for eight hours in the car. This time around I wanted to return to the palette of folky, country, charming, groovy tunes I had built playlists like I Dreamt Of Reeds Again, which I made for another roadtrip (that one in Arizona). 

I’d like to think of this playlist as grounding, wistful, comfortably nostalgic, optimistic and attempting to dig out of a slouch of grief. Lots of heavy hitters like Carole King, Arthur Russell, Nico, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, Weyes Blood, and more. “There Was A Moon” was my favorite discovery while making the playlist, since it’s been too long since we’ve heard Molly Sarlé’s voice on a track. Really beautiful. Hope you enjoy, especially as we get deeper into fall.

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Playlist: Camcorder Diary – Artifacted Memories

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Scattered sd cards, fragmented memories. Artifacted ephemeral portraits of a lost self. The lens zooms upon the visage. Soft, voyeuristic yearning beamed in from the future.


It’s been a while since I’ve made a new playlist, and what better time to whip one up than the fertile creativity breeding ground that is the fall? Some would think that making summer playlists is the more attractive avenue, but there’s something so juicy, so wonderfully conceptual about making a fall-time playlist. I’ve made a few so far! “Camcorder Diary” is another entry into that series.

You can find my other fall-themed playlists below, in order of their creation:
Mauve Malaise – shoegaze, slowcore, dream pop. Made for right before sunset.
– Ochre Overture – redux of Mauve Malaise, but less despondent, more wistful, daytime.
Winter Jacket Love Letter – for your carpeted seat ’95 sedan, blasting down the highway.
Ennui Potpourri – the vertigo of a young romance clashing with suburban decay.

I’m not sure if there was one specific song that inspired its creation, but I had been noticing a trend of recent dream pop that reached back to y2k-era electronica, otherwise employing a drum machine beat with swirling shoegaze-adjacent guitar and bass, with a little light trip hop thrown in for good measure.

My “vision” for this playlist is found footage of friends hanging out together on roadtrips or outside at dusk; miniature slices of life frozen and preserved on these sd cards, albeit with some digital distortion and audio errors. Gazing back at a place in time where the proliferation of media and ephemera ballooned thanks to the advent of digital cameras and camcorders. The songs placed together here are supposed to paint that picture. I hope you enjoy and lose yourself in the HD memories.

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Recommended Albums: July 2024

I’m still listening to new music! In fact, Recommended Albums of July 2024 is an unexpectedly packed grip of tunes. At first I was having a little trouble filling it out, but after listening to a few records that were either recommended widely or from friends, slowly this list eclipsed the prerequisite 10 records and moved to 13. Not too shabby! Summer is usually a super dead period, in my experience anyways. August is somewhat shaping up to be that way as well, but you never know. Sometimes you just have to keep digging and you’ll find something extraordinary.

What you’ll find below are some stellar new albums for this year, my favorites overwhelmingly being from Brijean and Cassandra Jenkins, two all-stars on this blog to begin with (and 2021 favorites, to boot!). Nice to have a few self-released projects on the list as well, along with stars from big to small. I’ve got it all this month – take a gander and stay a while.

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Recommended Albums: June 2024

Is this the latest post in Warm Visions history? Who cares – I’ve got it out. June 2024 was a solid month, with some of these records making it into my Favorite Music of 2024 So Far list: Mabe Fratti, Charli XCX, Skee Mask, Marina Allen and Angélica Garcia. Good little crop there!

Apologies for getting this out so late – I’m still listening to new music. I just need to post it.

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Warm Visions’ Favorite Albums + Songs of 2024 So Far

We’re already halfway through 2024. Think of this post as a checkpoint. A place where you can refill all your potions, your mana, sharpen your weapons, or catch up on any of the sidequests you hadn’t finished. This is a place of respite amongst the unending deluge of physical and spiritual shit that rains down on us constantly. This safe haven is a list of 25 records, arranged by my preference, along with 40 unranked songs and a larger playlist beyond that. The music of 2024 has been great so far, so I really hope you’ll either find something new you like, or you’ll find comfort in knowing that another person you kinda know from the internet agrees with your niche opinion. Go forth, traveler.

Also if you’re unfamiliar with my blog, basically I forgo the structure of professional music criticism in favor of tapping into pure vibes. I put forth a “vision”, if you will, that the music conjures up in my brain. Look, this stuff is good, it’s on my list, OK? Open your mind and let it roam.

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