The Top 10 Electronic Albums of 2024

The Electronic albums list covers music that is less organic than what is on other lists, without being pop music. There is a little more button-pushing this year but balanced out by songwriting rather than just cool sounds thrown together. Also, we have a little mix of synth wave, TRIP-HOP, and new wave projects leaning albums. These are not the coolest electronic albums, but the best, fuck what other blogs say. 

  After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2024. The very fact these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album, there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list; and have included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 Electronic albums of 2024.

10-Master Boot Record- "HARDWAREZ" 

 11 full-lengths into this project, things are getting bigger and more polished. How could they not? The mastermind behind this project is producer Victor Love, who after playing with a live band on tour decided to use actual live guitars in the studio, rather than just over-driven synths. Sonically this album works off the themes that fans are familiar with, some of the songwriting feels more mature 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/09/master-boot-record-hardwarez.html

9-EIVØR : "ENN" 

There is a difference between exploiting and embracing your culture. This Nordic siren might sing in her native tongue of Faroese, but she is not pulling out folk instruments to play Viking. She owes more to the ethereal darkwave acts of the 80s than any neo-folk. Ironically she is on tour with Heilung who are marketing geniuses despite their primitive shtick. The ambiance is thick, though she is not just about capturing a sound, she is capable of writing songs. It's closer to the dance floor than Enya, but there is a slight new-age meditative quality, even to the more sultry moments

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/eivr-enn.html

 

8-Haunted Plasma- "I"

This Finnish band features members of a guest Oranssi Pazuzu and Grave Pleasures, which was enough to lure me in for a listen, Their sound broods in the realm of darker synth music but has enough melody in its drone to appeal to me. Not the kind of music you are quick to associate with Finland, but the album works to capture the  intended mood 

 https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/haunted-plasma-i.html

 

          

7-JUSTICE- "Hyperdrama" 

This slick button-pushing take on disco is almost too happy for me. But respect what these guys do as songwriters and it made me willing to give the album a chance. Maybe this is what gay clubs are playing these days. If not it should be. Not only was this better than expected it is also one of the better electronic albums I've heard this year.  

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/12/justice-hyperdrama.html

 

6-Kite- "VII" 

This grandiose synth duo from Sweden has released a lot of singles but has yet to produce a full-length album despite having been an ongoing project for the past 16 years, They have assembled their singles and compiled them here into this album. They are highly skilled at grooves and big sprawling atmospheres, so those skills are showcased here. The vocals are oddly androgynous but work well on the anthemic  jams. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/gothtober-kite-vii.html

5-Ulver- "Liminal Animals" 

Rygg is back on the tip of the smooth groove, making music that comes close to the 80s homage synth-wave bands are making these days. But with a dusky winter haze cast as he coasts down the beachside highway of life, these songs are cruising. Lyrically things are getting darker and more dystopian. He has been watching the news. Took time to grow on me but sunk in. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/ulver-red-light.html

 

4-Amiture - "Mother Engine" 

It's an odd blend of 90s styles that in some ways reminds me of the  Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, as electronic beats are set against more organic melodies.  The vocals have a great deal of emotion to their croon, and the atmosphere draped around the song is thick. I like all the sounds that are in play here. This album feels dark, but not in a goth sense, it is possessed by the loneliness of a solitary road trip. If Luscious Jackson had been a depressed man who wandered the open highways of upstate New York a similar feeling would have been invoked. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/amiture-mother-engine.html

 

3-Underworld - "Strawberry Hotel" 

The 11th album from the British electronica icons feels like everything you expect from them. The familiar way they build their songs but then find them incorporating new sounds and dynamics into that formula, which is really all you can ever ask for from an artist like this.I appreciate their willingness to try new things even this late in their career. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/11/underworld-strawberry-hotel.html

 

2-Chelsea Wolfe -" She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She"

Wolfe's 8th album, yes we are counting "Mistake in Parting" finds her diving into more of a trip-hop feel. That is a trip-hop that is thicker on the trip than the hop. It is propelled by slinky electronic beats and it captures a great mood, though I did prefer the songs on this album when she presented them in her stripped-down ep "Unbound" 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/chelsea-wolfe-she-reaches-out-to-she.html

1-Snow Strippers -"Night Killaz 2" 

producer Graham Perez, and singer Tatiana Schwaninger. have totally killed it here, sonically it's almost like a cross between Charli XCX and Grimes, but on old-school techno drugs. This glitched-out more experimental take on electronica finds the emphasis is on the beats and soundscapes being woven here. Tatiana is not the greatest singer, but the secret to this album lies in how her voice is presented. She has her own charisma in her persona. An infectious listen that got as much playtime as faves like the Cure and Taylor Swift. 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/04/snow-strippers-night-killaz-vol-2.html

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Gothtober - Amelia Arsenic : "Deathless"

 Former Angelspit vocalist is releasing this solo project . This came out back in Febuary , She has a couple of these eps under her belt. I would not call this industrial. It is goth influenced pop. Pop is not a bad word here as it means she has hooks and grooves that you want to listen to more than once. The first song "To Love is To Destroy" has a robotic pulse. There is industrial influence in the robot cadance she uses. "Wormwood' begins to run of the smae cold cyborg rap, until the chorus where she actually sings. I like how the vocals are layered there and the lyrics are all pretty great considing the vapid imagery this Stepford Barbie feel summons. There is a darker side to that is like the dark side of the robots on "Westworld" . Imagine them having a rave and that is what this sounds like. 

"Purity" works of a different feel though the dead pan cyborg vocals approach the verses in a very similar manner. I do not think this song has the depth of the first two. Lyrically perhaps but I do not feel the music is really upholding them as well. The chorus where she sings redeems it some. It just has a more plastic feel. I would like to hear more than four song from her ,but when studio time costs money and there is no touring to support such an endevor I get why we are getting what we are getting and can see where that is going to continue to be a common place trend in the industry. 

The title track is pretty much techno that is driven by her chanted vocal. They are bringing up almost "Rave Til Dawn" sounds.  Lords of Acid would be a fair comparison. I would like to hear more dynamics from her vocally as she is capable of singing and I think the sing song thing is more effective when given a proper contrast . For that reason I am rounding this down to an 8.5 , it is hard for me to say which one I like better this or the new Angel Spit album that she is not on? I think this album might have the edge when it comes to production as it sounds in some ways less 90s yet on the last song perhaps more. If you like the more techno side of what her former band did then this is going to be up your alley.

Gothtober - Stoneburner :"the Agony Box"

One half of Ego Likeness, who has also graced Dragon con with this project, though I failed to catch him this year. I think he has been on their State of the Goth scene panel , so that alone means he qualifies for this column. On the first song samples stand in the place of where vocals would normal be the focus is more on the beats and mood than Ego Likeness. This works well enough to keep my attention and vocals are normally what I listen for. This album is a tribute to Frank Herbert's Dune book series which is not horror , though dark for sci-fi. He keeps the spice flowing with the grooves and sometimes chanted vocals. I really like the middle eastern vibe that drives "Tales of the Great Cryptogram". The exotic nature of add a darker tone, like a techno version of Dead Can Dance.

Its time to report to the dance floor on the more techno tempo of "Shishaklis Hooks". It hits that fist pumping dance drone before breaking down into something more ambient. The glitched out vocals going into "Test of Possession" are pretty awesome. The beat that comes in compliments it enough to make the whole thing work.So I am impressed by the first minute , but can it hold my attention for the next three is a better question to ask of it. The answer is it starts to become a blur until the ambiance of the next song breaks things up again. "the Diamond Tattoo" has a odd angular beat that feels like some Oghr would do. This album finds it self at the peak of it's powers when blending the ambiance with a darker more exotic current. 

The groove sweeps you away and eventually leads you down a path to the dance floor. In so doing it relegates it's self for being background music. It ends with a more cinematic tone, which is cool, but the album third act is more background music that the kind of groove that demand to be on my iPod. I will give this one an 8.5 as it is strong enough on the front end to make it a solid listen as even the songs that are more soundtrack like are not bad just to draw me in or interest me as much.  However if electronica is your thing then you might be more into this. 

The Agony Box by Stoneburner />