A Playlist of Albums New in 2024

From Arts Excellence in The Netherlands

I mentioned this the other day, but I want to go farther.

For the second consecutive year, I have found the best-of album list from a Dutch biz, Arts Excellence, to be extraordinary in pointing me toward new artists and albums.

Arts Excellence is an online HiFi shop there. So what, you say? Well, each year, one of their principles publishes a list of what caught his attention in the past year, music-wise. And let’s just say this person listens to a shit-ton of music, because the range covered by his suggestions is impressive.

Far being Dutch- or even Euro-focused, the recommendations span the Earth. Likewise, genres, but that’s the good part. The author’s taste is similar to mine and maybe yours in that the albums he liked are in these general categories.

• Jazz

• Ambient

• Electronic

• Rock/Progressive Rock

The best part? Quite a few of the albums combine genres into new sounds I am not hearing elsewhere. Virtually everything I’ve heard is eminently listenable, much of it perfect for the background.

Let me be clear: I did basically nothing. I simply built a playlist from his 2024 list, so you wouldn’t have to. If you enjoy music, put this on shuffle, and you can pick out albums that merit your further investigation.

FYI I did leave out a couple of his mainstream picks, from Coldplay, Tears for Fears, and Sean Lennon, but you’ll find those on plenty of other lists.

But there are still 41 other albums to check out.

I hope you enjoy it, and thank you, Max Delissen, whoever you are - your taste in albums is certainly Diamond Certified.

No doubt some of these will make it onto KLUF, at which point I’ll take full credit.

Shocker.