As 2024 winds down, and you look over the numerous Top 10 lists that have emerged over the past couple of months, it’s understandable if you’re still craving more new music.
Arguably, most of the year-end lists are made up of songs and albums that you pretty much expected to be there, so if you’re looking for something fresh, you’re unlikely to find much. Let’s try to fix that!
Below, you’ll find a selection of songs from this year that you probably haven’t heard, but definitely should!
TruththeBull – “Hype Me Up”
I don’t know how to describe TruththeBull in a way that sufficiently captures the brilliance and whimsy of his art. It’s Sesame Street meets 2 Chainz and/or Pee Wee’s Playhouse meets Lil Uzi Vert. You just have to experience it for yourself. Shit is FIRE.
Joel Cossette – “Best I’ve Been”
Self-described “Van-Isle Acoustic Driven Anthem Emo” hailing from Canada, Joel Cossette is doing one-man emo better than anyone has in years, and his 2024 single, “Best I’ve Been,” is the clearest evidence.
Grace Power – “Water Worship Pray”
This track is actually damn near a year old now, after being originally released in January 2024, but it’s so beautiful and emotionally charged, it shouldn’t be missed.
Buffalo Kin – “Ol’ La Posa Plains”
Buffalo Kin are Seth Brewster and Kate Eisenhooth, a couple of northwestern Pennsylvania transplants who wound up in rural Oregon after seeking a change of scenery. Without evening really meaning to, they’ve been creating music that pays homage to their chosen home. A slow, banjo-driven tune, “Ol’ La Posa Plains” is a haunting and lovely gothic-folk ballad.
PeelingFlesh – “Shoot 2 Kill”
In a year where a number of rising death/gore/slam bands (see Sanguisugabog, 200 Stab Wounds, Bodybox) made big strides, Oklahoma’s PeelingFlesh is an obvious standout. Check out “Shoot 2 Kill,” an absolutely filthy track from their 2024 album, The G Code.
liza – “The Arsonist & The Supermodel”
We love a good guitar-driven pop song, don’t we folks? It just nurtures the soul. If you didn’t have liza’s “The Arsonist & The Supermodel” on your Spring/Summer 2024 playlists make sure you add it for 2025.
Slay Squad – “Fye Fye Fye“
You simply will not find another band dropping Mean Girls references in some of the heaviest Ghetto Metal you’ve ever heard.
Benjamin Tod – “One Last Time” Feat. Sierra Ferrell
In 2024, Lost Dog Street Band founder Benjamin Tod released his fourth solo album, Shooting Star, and, frankly, it deserves to be an AOTY contender. The album’s final track, “One Last Time,” is a real standout among an album of very well-crafted bluegrass.
Witch Club Satan – “Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy”
There’s nothing to say about Witch Club Satan that I didn’t already say here. They fuckin’ rule and “Fresh Blood, Fresh Pussy” is the best black metal song of the year. Hands down.
Thelma Brooks – “Southern Wife”
Thelma Brooks is part Miranda Lambert and part Wheeler Walker Jr. I can’t figure out the exact ratios on that combination, but I’d chance to guess it’s fairly close to even. In her 2024 ode to having wild sex with a “Southern Wife,” Brooks sings of “titties bouncing all night” and reminisces of how the “coochie melts in my mouth.” If this isn’t the energy you’re trying to take into the new year, you clearly need to get your priorities in order.
BEAN. – “Good Things”
Real talk: I don’t know much about the band BEAN., but I do know that they dropped one of the best genre-blending tunes of the year in “Good Things,” mixing R&B, jazz, pop, and rock. It’s super chill and groovy as hell.
KnuckleSandwich – “Kill Me, I Want To Die”
I chose this song for the list for a couple of different reasons. One being that I just really dig KnuckleSandwich’s no-bullshit approach to hardcore, and another is for a very specific callout near the end that genuinely cracks me up and I’m not gonna tell you what it is because you just have to hear it to understand.
Scarlet House – “Slowing Down”
Shoegaze had a moment over the past decade and just as it seemed to dwindle, here comes Scarlet House, a one-man band from Charlotte, North Carolina, making some of the most captivating grungegaze on either side of the Mississippi.
Scarlxrd – “Rustin Cxhle”
I once heard Scarlxrd’s place in hip-hop/rap described as “king of the screamers” and that could not be more accurate. This tune July’s NXW XR NEVER : 2 EP, “Rustin Cxhle,” starts off as almost industrial hip-hop and then morphs into full-on nu-metal by the end.
Zetra – “Holy Malice (Annabel)”
Last but certainly not least: Zetra with the epic goth-pop track “Holy Malice (Annabel).” You could say that this British duo are spiritual successors to bands like Cocteau Twins and London After Midnight and you’d still only be scratching the surface of their sound.
The post New to You: 15 Less Popular Songs From 2024 to Add to Your Playlist appeared first on VICE.
