Fifteen Debut Albums From 2024 That You Need To Hear Before 2025

Playlist included

Since this week was Record Store Day Black Friday and we are heading into the final weeks of the year, nothing really worth writing about or putting a playlist came out this week. Typically on Sunday I put up a curated playlist of music that came out that week and talk about some of them and list them. We will do that again next week, as there are some releases coming out, and if there were a couple stragglers from this week, I will include them also.

Today I am going to list 15 debut albums this year that I feel you should hear before the year has ended. Some of these artists have put out singles and EPs for a handful of years, but this was the year they stepped up and did an actual album. Here is the Omaha Buzz Weekly Playlist, where you can hear a song from each of these artists. This will change next Sunday morning over to the regular weekly playlist. These are also in no order of favorites or anything like that.

Last Dinner Party: Prelude to Ecstasy—there is a good chance you have heard this band. They became pretty big in the UK and are doing well in the states also. 89.7 The River here in our area even spins them. They are a five-person indie rock band with extremely well-crafted, well-produced, and interesting pop songs. They are dramatic, bombastic, and the album just feels big. My gut feels like this will be a one-and-done band; I just do not see how they follow this up. I hope I am wrong, as I would love for them to continue to make albums as good as this.

Sprints-Letter To Self—this album came out on January 5th, and it blew me away. Honestly, I thought I might have found my album of the year five days into the year. It is not my album of the year, but it’s going to rank high. The Irish punk band just pummels with gritty, yet catchy as fuck songs. They are not really raw; this is very well produced, but it still maintains an urgency. If you like Amyl and the Sniffers, you should also probably have this on your shelves.

English Teacher—This Could Be Texas—you will see this Leeds, England, band on many best-of lists coming up in the following weeks. They won the Mercury Prize in England this year, which I think is the most credible award handed out in music. They are really hard to put in a box, which makes them interesting. It’s not that they are odd or trying too hard to be put in a box; it’s all very listenable and hooky—but damn, they cover a lot of ground, sounds, styles, and emotions and yet fold it all together into an album very well. Sometimes sung, sometimes spoken, sometimes both. Post-punk, indie pop, and with a lot to say and a lot for the listener to absorb.

Brigette Calls Me Baby—The Future Is Our Way Out—the Chicago band is part Morrissey and part Roy Orbison. A little bit of Elvis also. I thought this would absolutely blow up this year because young people are super into The Smiths and bands like that now, but when we saw them at Reverb, it was mostly people my age who love the nostalgic sound of this band. I am very curious to see if they break out of this sound a bit; this album has a lot of songs that you can put on repeat, and the lead singer live can hit all of these notes with ease and precision. This will either be a blip, or they could still be the next big thing.

Eliza McClamb-Going Through It-I guess she went viral on TikTok with some song called “Porn Star Tits.” I have never heard it. I have listened to this album a couple dozen times this year. My employees probably hate me for this, as I have never heard any of them express their enjoyment of this, but I play it a lot. I think she is one of the more interesting of the singer-songwriter indie pop types in the last few years. You will listen to this and think that this fits with a lot of the post-Phoebe and boygenius indie pop world, and maybe it does, but every song is good, and the song “Anything You Want” just kills at the end when the underlying screaming comes in. Definitely a top song of 2024.

Abby Sage—The Rot— I don’t know much about this artist, but while her songs will sound like very well-crafted indie pop stuff that is worth listening to on its own, it is her lyrics that set her apart. I am not even sure if I know where she is going with these lyrics or if I am supposed to, but she keeps me on the hook right from the first song, where she sings, “I wanna drink my milk in my own filth, I wanna dress my body in silver and silk.” Another album I have been playing over and over this year. It really holds up to repeated listens.

Julie—My Anti-Aircraft Friend— Julie is a shoegaze and noise rock band that takes the road of very angular indie rock shoegaze and does not dip into the sweet dream pop side of the genre much. Julie will require a bit of effort to let it sink in, but it is worth it.

Gut Health-Stiletto—yet another interesting band out of Australia. Not sure how they do it. This is fun new-wave dance punk, and it’s very live—where a lot of bands that could be called that go pretty synth, and this is not that. Raw, wonky, and a riot. There are some artists on here that I really feel could be one and done, but if this group sticks together, I could see them putting together quite the catalog of interesting stuff.

Britti-Hello, I’m Britti. I was playing this album a lot earlier this year. I loved the country/soul/Americana sound from the New Orleans artist. There is a little bit of the Muscle Shoals thing here also and also a touch of blues. I got to see her perform in New Orleans this past August, and she really drove this home for me. I kind of felt this album might be a little too put together and polished, but seeing her live and listening to her talk about the songs gave me a fresh perspective, and I like this album even more now.

Mediocre-Growth Eater: no-frills delicious indie rock that reminds me of albums the indie rock kids in the 90s would play in the store, interrupting my trip-hop marathons. Fuckers.

Been Stellar-Scream From New York, NY, an indie rock/post-punk band from New York that many of us saw open for Fontaines D.C. This is a genuine rock record that takes influence from Brit-pop and post-punk, but without any pompous or bombastic flourishes. They take this as seriously as one can. It takes a couple of listens, but when it hits, it hits.

The Dare—What’s Wrong With New York? This guy produced Charli XCX’s song “Guess” with Billie Eilish. His album is basically immature lyrics about girls, drugs, clubs, and whatnot, and he sounds pretty much like a carbon copy of LCD Soundsystem—though not as good, of course. Disposable, but damn, it is a ton of fun.

Lynks-Abomination- I do not know much about this person either, except that they wear a lot of very fun masks and outfits that I enjoy. This album is super fun, well-done dance music that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s honestly not too far off from tunes that I used to hear at The Run at 3 AM in 90’s. Well, most of it. Some of it is just kind of quirky.

Kimmi Bitter-Old School- I have seen Kimmi and her band live a couple of times, and the California outfit is full of great musicians who love and have a knowledge of old-school country. There is no hiding behind the fact that Kimmi is just putting out an album that has that sound to it, and she and the band nail it. The comparisons to classic singers such as Patsy Cline are inevitable and I think welcomed.

All Under Heaven—What Lies Ahead of Me— This band plays deep and dense shoegaze. It’s only eight songs and 33 minutes, so put this album on repeat, flip the record a few times, and you will be sold.