I really shouldn't call it the "Best of". Maybe "My Favorites of 2024" would be better. I've looked at the lists on most of the major music publications, and there's a lot that I haven't heard. I actually got through Charli XCX's Brat, and Beyonce's Cowboy Carter (Beyonce was mildly entertaining). I couldn't make it through Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. Hey, I don't really like music that is manufactured rather than performed, so there's that. I did appreciate a few songs from contemporary popular artists on a stroll through The Best Songs of 2024 from a mainstream publication, but not enough to run out and buy or bookmark anything. So, here's the one's I liked a lot this year:
New York's finest power-poppers come through in spades. Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds, Raspberries, they do it all and make it sound fresh and new.
Fantastic Cat Now That's What I Call Fantastic Cat
An indie rock "super group" of singer songwriter multi-instrumentalists makes a rollicking fun record with a positive attitude. Only slightly more rocking than power-pop, think Rockpile, Cheap Trick and a touch of Americana.
The Weeklings Raspberry Park
This one forms a great power-pop triumvirate with the two previous. Weeklings have made their mark as a Beatles cover band, and a really good one. The originals are all solid pop/rock. Super covers of She's Leaving Home and I've Just Seen A Face, and a mash-up of Satisfaction and Mr. Soul that is brilliant.
Nick Lowe Indoor Safari
Not really a new record, but a collection of singles and EPs from the last ten years or so, all done with Los Straightjackets. It's nice to have it all in one place, and they have really become a great band together. The excellent Trombone and Don't Be Nice To Me are standouts, but it's all solid Nick Lowe after ten years since his last LP. 
Bill Charlap Trio And Then Again
Just one great jazz trio doing standards. But with Charlap and his talented sidemen, it is inventive and spontaneous jazz with what Downbeat magazine calls "seamless interaction and extrasensory communication". Great jazz.
Scheinman has been making interestingly unique jazz for quite a while, and almost all of it is easy to approach and yet challenging in it's own way. Featuring a cast of greats that Scheinmen has worked with before, everything comes out very fine. The sound of a mature artist with ideas to spare.
The Palomar Trio The Song In Our Soul
Hearkening back to the early swing jazz of the 1920s and 1930s, and featuring songs from that era, this record is just a joy. Tap your foot, sway in your chair, and smile, smile smile.
Jazz fusion/pop/funk/ electronic/orchestral music. When have you heard that combination before? Louis Cole teams up with the Metropole Orkest jazz orchestra to produce a great record that is a genre to itself.
Continental Drifters White Noise & Lightening: The Best of Continental Drifters
A "best of" from a band that last recorded in 2001. I really loved everything they did (all four records). One of my favorite neglected bands of all time.
Shelby Lynn Consequences of the Crown
We've been waiting for twenty years for I Am Shelby Lynn #2. This isn't quite that, but it is closer than she's ever come, and one heck of a great record.
Another solid outing from Ms. Clark, with great songs, killer vocals, and scary aggression. What can't this woman do with a guitar? 
Vampire Weekend Only God Was Above Us
The smartest indie rock band around gives us a great one, the best since Contra. If you were a little disappointed with Father of the Bride, they are back in spades.
Willis, Carper, Leigh Wonder Women of Country
A six-song EP that lives up to the title. Everything's good, and there's two new ones from Kelly Willis' pen. Carper and Leigh hold up their end of the bargain just fine.
Lance Cowen So Far, So Good
A respected Nashville publicist makes his first record in his sixties. A little bit like a new Guy Clark album sometimes, and of course that is high praise. He can sound a bit like John Denver, and he can get a little twee, but there are lots of great songs and beautifully recorded acoustic instrumentation.
Wings Band On The Run (Underdubbed Mixes)
Often considered McCartney's best Wings/solo effort, it sounds even better stripped of the orchestration. The live-in-the-studio One Hand Clapping from the same time period is big fun too.
John Leventhal Rumble Strip
After producing a gazillion great records, Leventhal steps out on his own. Gentle, lovely, mostly instrumental acoustic gems with two vocals by wife Rosanne Cash. Relax and listen to some darn good music. 
Mark Knopfler One Deep River
Craftsmanship. Since 1996, Knopfler has made one subtly great record after another. Yes, he's a wonderful guitarist, but he's also an equally gifted songwriter, and his singing has a heartfelt and well-worn comfort to it. You can get just over Dire Straits by now.
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