Free Press reviewers pick their albums of the year

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2024 (282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There was a lot of music released in 2024 in every genre imaginable.

The Free Press music reviewers listened to hundreds of albums and somehow whittled their lists down to their favourite 10.

POP/ROCK/FOLK

1. Waxahatchee — Tigers Blood
Katie Crutchfield and guitarist/vocalist/co-conspirator MJ Lenderman (who released a fab album of his own later in the year) lean heavily into a gentle, Southern-tinged rock groove on this record. Listen to Evil Spawn, Right Back to It and Burns Out at Midnight and you’ll realize they’ve created something momentous.

2. Hurray for the Riff Raff — The Past is Still Alive
Alynda Segarra’s stories and lyrics are full of richly detailed, image-laden reminiscences. Their music is a blend of buzzing roots rock and contemplative, acoustic-based folk, and its ultimate message is that a wanderer’s life is never simply rootless. We are always anchored in and informed by our journeys.

3. Madeleine Roger — Nerve
On her second full-length solo record, Winnipeg singer-songwriter Madeleine Roger mines the specifics of her life to reveal and untangle complex emotional webs — and she does so with disarming grace and eloquence, creating a deceptively rich folk album that should be revisited again and again.

4. St. Vincent — All Born Screaming
5. Arooj Aftab — Night Reign
6. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers — Revelations
7. Boy Golden — For Eden
8. Mannequin Pussy — I Got Heaven
9. Fontaines DC — Romance
10. The Last Dinner Party — Prelude to Ecstasy

— John Kendle

JAZZ

1. Patricia Brennan — Breaking Stretch
 A totally captivating album of challenging, exuberant and wonderful rhythms and compositions. Exciting and uplifting at the same time.

2. D.D. Jackson — Poetry Project
A wonderful and ambitious blending of terrific jazz and fine Canadian poetry compiled by pianist/composer D.D. Jackson with amazing attention to mood and message. A true Canadian classic.

3. Joe Fonda — Eyes on the Horizon
Bass player Fonda pays tribute to mentor trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, who is part of this band. This is powerful, haunting, intense and emotional music that simply represents the best of contemporary jazz.

4. Chick Corea & Bela Fleck — Remembrance
5. Wayne Shorter — Celebration Volume 1
6. Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop — A Canadian Songbook
7. Dan Weiss — Even Odds
8. James Brandon Lewis — Transfiguration
9. Modney — Ascending Primes
10. Trio San — Hibiki

— Keith Black

 

CLASSICAL

1. Olivier /Toronto Symphony Orchestra — Turangalîla-Symphonie
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra led by Gustavo Gimeno marks its 100th anniversary with Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie. Canadian superstar pianist Marc-André Hamelin brings his impeccable artistry to the composer’s sole symphony, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky as a monumental hymn to love for his late wife. Also don’t miss Nathalie Forget on the spooky, rarely heard ondes Martenot creating otherworldly swoops of sound à la Theremin.

2. James Ehnes & Andrew Armstrong — Play Brahms & Schumann
Any new release by Brandon’s pride, world-renowned violinist James Ehnes, and American pianist Andrew Armstrong always feels cause for celebration. In this case, the versatile soloist trades in his priceless Stradivarius violin for the darker toned, 1696 “Achinto” Stradivari viola on this album featuring intimate chamber works by Brahms and Schumann, including the latter’s fantastical Märchenbilder Op. 113 (Fairytale Pictures).

3. Dmitri Shostakovich — Complete String Quartets, Vol. 1 (Nos. 1-5)
Cuarteto Casals launches its complete Shostakovich cycle with this two-CD release featuring the composer’s first five string quartets penned in the wake of Stalinism between 1938-52. The Spanish group comprised of violinists Vera Martinez Mehner and Abel Tomas; Jonathan Brown, viola; and Arnau Tomas Realp, cello. hold nothing back as they traverse the more classically-inclined String Quartet No. 1 in C major, Op. 49, through to the larger-scaled String Quartet No. 5 in B flat major, Op. 92, bristling with the Soviet composer’s idiosyncratic, acerbic musical lexicon.

4. Dani Howard: Orchestral Works, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Peter Moore, Michael Seal and Pablo Urbina
5. Marc-André Hamelin — Beethoven: Hammerklavier
6. Cello Dreams: Berceuses pour violoncelle et piano Lullabies for cello and piano Emmanuelle Bertrand, cello Pascal Amoyel, piano
7. Samuel Hasselhorn, Poznań Philharmonic, Łukasz Borowicz Urlicht: Songs of Death and Resurrection
8. Liebe Amalia… Jean Brégnac, Chantal Santon Jeffery, Nicolas Bouils, Marie Rouquié, Jennifer Hardy, Yoann Moulin, Daria Fadeeva, Carl Philipp Emanuel & Wilhelm Friedemann Bach:
9. Anton Bruckner — Symphony No. 4 “Romantic” Second version (1878-1880), Anima Eterna Brugge, Pablo Heras-Casado, conducting
10. Rias Kammerchor Berlin, Uwe Gronostay, Hans-Christoph Rademann

— Holly Harris