Okay: I've just finished my final(?) additions to my obsessive four-part spreadsheet that begins above. (And I've added links to the other three installments of the spreadsheet to that post.) The Guardian took forever to reveal its top five choices--that's mainly what I was waiting on--and in the meantime Paste and Jazzwise and some other outlets also published entirely new lists, which I've incorporated (selectively, maybe even capriciously) into the master list.
Turns out there are also quite a few critical darlings from 2024--e.g., Adrianne Lenker's Bright Future; Beyonce's Cowboy Carter; Cassandra Jenkins's My Light, My Destroyer; Cindy Lee's Diamond Jubilee; claire rousay's sentiment; David Murray's Francesca; Gillian Welch & David Rawlings's Woodland; Helado Negro's Phasor; Hurray for the Riff Raff's The Past Is Still Alive; Jessica Pratt's Here In the Pitch; Johnny Blue Skies' Passage du Desir; Ka's The Thief Next to Jesus; Kim Deal's Nobody Loves You More; Kim Gordon's The Collective; Mabe Fratti's Sentir que no sabes; Madi Diaz's Weird Faith; Magdalena Bey's Imaginal Disk, Mannequin Pussy's I Got Heaven; Mary Halvorson's Cloudward; MJ Lenderman's Manning Fireworks; Mk.gee's Two Star & The Dream Police; Mount Eerie's Night Palace; Nala Sinephro's Endlessness; Patricia Brennan's Breaking Stretch; Still House Plants' If I don't make it, I love u; This Is Loralei's Box for Buddy, Box for Star; Tyler, the Creator's Chromomakopia; the Vijay Iyer Trio's Compassion; Willi Carlisle's Critterland; and Yasmin Williams's Acadia--that did NOT get Atmos mixes.
But if, like me, you're interested in checking out some new music and you prioritize listening to things with mixes that are least nominally immersive, then maybe you'll find my spreadsheet useful.
