Our Favorite Albums, 2024: Individual Contributor Lists & Reflections, Part 2
Tone Glow writers reflect on 2024 through albums, songs, and more
Each of our writers was asked to submit a list of their 10 favorite albums from this year. They also had the option to list their 10 favorite songs and to create another list of any 10 things of their choosing. Below, find reflections and individual lists from our contributors, listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Vincent Jenewein
My favorite thing this year (1994) was the Lexicon PCM80 Digital Effects Processor.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
J. Albert - I want to be good so bad (J. Albert Productions)
Ulla & Ultrafog - It Means A Lot (Motion Ward)
Loidis - One Day (Incienso)
Xenia Reaper – Luvaphy (INDEX:Records)
Catherine Christer Hennix - Further Selections From The Electric Harpsichord (Blank Forms)
SnPLO - Lastday Cookie (Pin)
Sunik Kim - Tears of Rage (Rope Editions)
Bernard Parmegiani & François Bayle - Divine Comédie (Recollection GRM)
Hanno Leichtmann – Outerlands (Discrepant)
Skee Mask - ISS010 (Ilian Tape)
Colin Joyce
in 2024, i was reminded how much the world can offer to you if you allow yourself to be open and vulnerable and kill the part of yourself that’s afraid of hurting. everything is so bad as always but im happy to be alive to experience more of it. such small portions or whatever. i feel hopeful and excited and i don’t want to say a lot more. afraid to jinx it.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Mount Eerie - Night Palace (P.W. Elverum & Sun)
Prize Horse - Under Sound (New Morality Zine)
Ulla & Ultrafog - It Means a Lot (Motion Ward)
Spectral Voice - Sparagmos (Dark Descent)
22° Halo - Lily of the Valley (Tiny Library)
Bladee - Cold Visions (Trash Island)
Loidis - One Day (Incienso)
Horse Jumper of Love - Disaster Trick (Run For Cover)
Hayden Pedigo - Live in Amarillo, Texas (Mexican Summer)
meth. - SHAME (Prosthetic)
Songs Not on Those Albums
Nick León & Erika de Casier - “Bikini” (TraTraTrax)
Nettspend - “That One Song” (self-released)
“gen z boss and a mini” / Tao Lin - “Self Cured Autism and a Cat” (self-released)
Wishy - “Love on the Outside” (Winspear)
Sugar World - “At the Center” (self-released)
This is Lorelei - “I’m All Fucked Up” (Double Double Whammy)
Chanel Beads - “Embarrassed Dog” (Jagjaguwar)
Triage - “Daylight Robbery” (self-released)
They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Greg Mendez & Sun Organ - “Krillin” (Julia’s War)
Trundle - “Again” (Window Sill)
Five Notable Energy Drinks I Drank This Year
Celsius Essentials Dragonberry (16 oz, 270mg caffeine, chemical taste in good way)
Monster Zero-Sugar Ultra Vice Guava (16 oz, 150mg caffeine, best new Monster flavor)
Dystopia (13g, 325mg caffeine, should be a controlled substance)
Red Bull Sugar Free Winter Edition (8.4oz, 80g caffeine, hints of chapstick)
Pussy Natural Energy (8oz, ~70g caffeine, bad)
Jinhyung Kim
I didn't listen to much new music (new new or new to me) in 2024, but this has been the happiest year of my adult life so far—let's hope those two facts aren't correlated. At least I read a lot; a few weeks ago, my university's library threatened to fine me for writing in the books I'd borrowed, which meant several hours spent erasing all my annotations—if you've ever done this for any reason, you'll know how my wrist felt after. I've also been working at a local bookstore for the past year and a half, which put me in touch with a lot of artists and writers in my city. It was through working there that I met my current partner, who's added so much joy to my life; we spent our summer by the pool, reading Hegel and Mao together. And in August, I visited South Korea to see family—something I hadn't done in five years. Despite having lived there for a few years as a kid, this was the first time that I felt somewhat culturally adjusted, which felt really good. I even did an interview in Korean during the trip! Forthcoming for Tone Glow…
This newsletter has been a critical anchor of my life for the past four years now—a lot of these writers are my closest online friends. It’s wild to think that it’s been five years since it all started; the world, the world around me, and my own self have all changed so much in that time. I’ve grown as a person and as a writer, and I have to thank Tone Glow for affecting both trajectories in no small measure. Particularly with respect to the latter, I can't imagine any other space that would’ve allowed me to hone my pen descriptively, analytically, and creatively, all at once. I’ve always been dedicated to writing, but Tone Glow put me on a path to really comprehending and enjoying the kind of labor I want it to be. I returned to college after a year’s leave this fall, and writing-wise, it’s been my most successful semester by far; I know I wouldn’t be at the point I'm at right now without Joshua and the gang. As my fifth end-of-year reflection for Tone Glow to date, it’s beginning to feel like writing a Christmas card every year, in the best way possible: a note of gratitude and thanks to the folks who are always there to nerd out together, no matter the weather.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
[Ahmed] - Wood Blues (Astral Spirits)
AraabMuzik - AGGRO DR1FT (Milan)
Conal Blake - Two Speed (Feedback Moves)
Flavor Grabber - Brandon Cornish Trimmings (Music for People)
Germ Lattice - Gipping Through the Ages (Horn of Plenty)
Juice Machine - The Deer (Hymns)
leumas - bloom (Lost Frog Productions)
Prblm - Veire Dawf (Surf Gang)
SahBabii - Saaheem (self-released)
Twinalchemist - Twinalchemist (self-released)
My 5 favorite Soundcloud mixes of 2024
bennni10 - CACAH HILANG TANPA BILANG #CACAH
Chuquimamani-Condori - Find Me 220324 NTS Latest
Sunik Kim - 250624 NTS Latest
LilC4 - Mixmag: The Mix 002
Evan Welsh - Bayonet Records @ The Lot Radio
Top 10 Books I Read in 2024
ed. Sezgin Boynik - Coiled Verbal Spring: Devices of Lenin’s Language (Rab-Rab Press)
Jarl Fossum - The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origins of Gnosticism (Mohr Siebeck Verlag)
Sigmund Freud, tr. Joyce Crick - The Interpretation of Dreams (Oxford University Press)
ed. Emanuele Guidi - Henry Martin: An Active Ear (Spector Books)
Wouter Hanegraaff - Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture (Cambridge University Press)
Christopher Heuer - Into the White: The Renaissance Arctic and the End of the Image (Zone Books)
Kang Man-gil - A History of Contemporary Korea (Global Oriental)
Karl Marx, tr. Ben Fowkes - Capital, Vol. 1 (Penguin Books)
ed. Stanley Schtinter - The Liberated Film Club (Tenement Press)
Stuart Walton - In the Realm of the Senses: A Materialist Theory of Seeing and Feeling (Zer0 Books)
Joshua Minsoo Kim
My year was largely defined by my decision to start programming films in Chicago. This was something I had been trying to do for a couple years, and thanks to the folks at Sweet Void Cinema, I started screening 16mm prints of avant-garde works shortly after my first visit. The largest repercussion of all this, beyond the fact that so much of my free time was now spent thinking about film programming, was that I became friends with a lot of film folks around town. It was nice to suddenly enter a new social sphere, to befriend more people in my 30s, and to actually do something in the real world. As much as I cherish the internet communities I have, it was nice to do collaborative work IRL. All this emboldened me in ways I didn’t think possible, typified by my third bout of programming being a 51-film Brakhage festival (which brought in friends from out of state—what a delight). I also deeply appreciated how these film screenings provided a different content in which I could engage with and appreciate sound. Let’s just hope by this time next year I’ll have finished writing my book.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Caxtrinho - Queda Livre (QTV)
[Ahmed] - Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
Still House Plants - If I don’t make it, I love u (Bison)
Mk.gee - Two Star & the Dream Police (R&R)
Horacio Vaggione - Schall / Rechant (Recollection GRM)
Xavi - Next (Interscope)
Toshiya Tsunoda / Taku Unami - Wovenland 3 (Erstwhile)
Rafael Toral - Spectral Evolution (Moikai)
Tashi Wada - What Is Not Strange? (RVNG Intl)
d.silvestre - d.silvestre (self-released)
Top 10 Sexy Drill Songs of 2024
Baby Osama - “Body” (Tank Girl / Cavity)
Btb Dezz - “More of Yah Love (Mhmm)” (self-released)
Cash Cobain, Ice Spice & Bay Swag - “Fisherrr (Remix)” (Giant Music)
Chow Lee feat. Cash Cobain & Bay Swag - “Act Bad Twin” (TC Music)
Diany Dior - “Favorite Lady” (GoodTalk)
ilham - “uhm…ok?” (FortyOneTen)
Kanii feat. Wolfaceyjoeyy - “Hate Me” (Masked / Warner)
R2R MOE - “MADE4ME” (IIIXL Studio)
Vontee the Singer & Cash Cobain - “Twi$ted, Pt. 2” (Slizzy Ent)
Wolfacejoeyy - “Don’t Be Dishonest” (self-released)
Listen to my entire Sexy Drill playlist here.
10 Things to Remember 2024
Attending 10 different puppet theater shows in January and writing about all of them, which led to me being complimented by the press person and having Tone Glow’s coverage added to the official Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival website
Writing an obituary for Damo Suzuki within a couple days, interviewing more than a couple dozen people in the process
Attending multiple ballets throughout the course of the year, and finding joy in simply engaging with a different medium of art
Too much good food and perfume to name, thank god
Going through a Byzantine, months-long legal situation that made me feel incredibly helpless, and then it all ending anti-climactically
The countless concerts I went to this year, best of which was Toiret Status at DADS
Leading writing workshops with Asian Arts Initiative and having the chance to interview Tatsu Aoki and Asa-Chang in the process
All the interviews I published this year, including each member of [Ahmed], Antoinetta Angelidi, Hikaru Utada, Amina Claudine Myers, Shu Lea Cheang, Jonathan Rosenbaum (likely the only critic I’ll ever interview), and everyone else that I still need to get around to publishing…
Teaching Honors Chemistry for the first time and finding myself challenged in new ways at work
Programming historical Palestinian films at Pilsen Community Books; programming retrospectives of Stan Brakhage, Will Hindle, and James Cagle; programming the world premiere of Tiananmen (1991); programming Dirk de Bruyn’s Homecomings at four microcinemas around the US; buying a 16mm projector and watching films in the comfort of my home; making new friends as a result of programming and realizing that I can actually set up things in the real world after only really doing stuff online
Sunik Kim
I struggled to come up with even five pieces of music released this year that I still feel an attachment to as I write this—and to say that I am genuinely attached to these selections feels dishonest. This has nothing to do with 2024 and its riches or lack thereof, and everything to do with my increasingly erratic listening habits and my growing time spent with literature, film, and painting. To be clear: my obsession with music has reached an intensity this year that I never thought possible. But what I constantly found myself thinking all year was: this sounds too much like music. I am increasingly only moved by music that is, on the one hand, deeply skeptical and suspicious of—if not outright hostile to—music “as such,” its “power over us,” its supposed privilege to some deeper part of our being—and music that is (and this is the infinitely more complex operation) at the same time more deeply committed than ever to that power, a more sober articulation of it, a commitment that threatens to bump up against the mystical from the other side. For all its conceptual and structural maneuvering, its moves towards abjection or deconstruction, its toggling in register and growing self-awareness, even shame, today’s experimental music remains, to its bliss or horror, trapped in music. Even in facing music head-on, transcending it, punishing it for its sins, consciously seeking to free ourselves of it, we simply augment its power and reveal the stubborn persistence of our belief in it, however much it is repressed or denied. In decrying the culinary theater, theater that provides mental and emotional nourishment while leaving the spectator exactly as they were, only sated—in proposing the theater as a site of genuine social and political transformation, is Brecht not actually a deeper believer, to the point of naïveté, in the power or potential of the medium, its gestures, than those purveyors of the culinary? Yes—and this is precisely the point at which we can begin to escape music: by actually believing in it.
Albums I Liked From This Year
ashley moon - It was first observed over an endless sea (self-released)
Samih Madhoun - Oud Music from Gaza (self-released)
Lolina - Unrecognisable (Relaxin)
Nour Mobarak - Dafne Phono (Recital)
Baby Osama - SEXC SUMMER (self-released)
Favorite Films I Watched This Year
Noroît (Jacques Rivette, 1976)
Duelle (Jacques Rivette, 1976)
Céline and Julie Go Boating (Jacques Rivette, 1974)
La Belle Noiseuse (Jacques Rivette, 1991)
Out 1 (Jacques Rivette, 1971)
Gang of Four (Jacques Rivette, 1989)
New Rose Hotel (Abel Ferrara, 1998)
Histoire(s) du Cinema (Jean-Luc Godard, 1998)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1980)
God Told Me To (Larry Cohen, 1976)
Favorite Books I Read This Year
Marcel Proust - Swann’s Way
Marcel Proust - Time Regained
Marcel Proust - Sodom and Gomorrah
Marcel Proust - The Captive / The Fugitive
Marcel Proust - Within a Budding Grove
Marcel Proust - The Guermantes Way
Samuel R. Delany - Tales of Nevèrÿon
Samuel R. Delany - Neveryóna, or: The Tale of Signs and Cities
Samuel R. Delany - Return to Nevèrÿon
Samuel R. Delany - Flight from Nevèrÿon
Matthew LaBarbera
Societies divided by class fought to own the earth, the line of their movement is horizontal. The spiral is the movement of liberated humanity. The spiral is the ideal expression of liberation: with its base set in the earth, it flees from the ground and becomes a symbol of the suspension of all animal, earthly and groveling interests.
—Nikolai Punin, The Monument to the Third International
Like eddies of dust raised by the wind as it passes, the living turn upon themselves, borne up by the great blast of life. They are therefore relatively stable, and counterfeit immobility so well that we treat each of them as a thing rather than as a progress, forgetting that the very permanence of their form is only the outline of a movement.
—Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution
Theorem of the world: neither nothingness nor eternity. Neither straight line nor circle. Neither laminar flow nor stable cycle. Nature, that is to say birth, that is to say death, is the line inclined by the angle that produces a global vortex, which the wear of time brings back to straight. Neither circle nor line, everything is stable and unstable at the same time. [...] Resumptions, revivals, reprovisions, quasi-stability until final death. A physics of fluctuation without eternal return. This is the high point of Hellenic sciences and, perhaps, our own.
—Michel Serres, The Birth of Physics
Is this the launchpad of a fugitive trajectory, a grand heavenward whorl towards the abeyance of all human ills, or just another year of circling the drain? Unless you yourself spun it, it’s difficult to tell in which direction the spiral turns, the charge of its current: winnowing down to purest mathematical point or whirling up into entireness. Perhaps, it is merely a matter of inflection—the spiral as the simultaneous scripting/sculpting of expansion and contraction, implosion explosion. A thing, such as it is, is form and movement, made smooth, masquerading as thing. And where nature is but Heraclitean fire and our lives a nonsense of splinters beseeching spark, are we anything but spirals spiralling?
It is in this questioning spirit, this still sweep of the tongue, that I present my selections for this year. Aside from being a more or less 2024 release, the critical criterion among everything below is that I encountered it, which, to me, is miracle enough. (The final criterion, completing the trinity, is the tautological one: they’re on the list because they’re on the list.) It is so easy to be sick of things, cynical as they “counterfeit immobility,” but as we revolve out of the longest arm of the spiral galaxy, we might miss the comfort of contact; or, as we plunge plutonic through caverns of amphibolite and chambers of magma, into the inner core, we may long for freedom from the durance of density. So we should attend to them with a renewed sense of sense, tempered evenly by forbearance and wantonness. The list is garbage. A year-end list, such as it is, is personal perception and social expectation, made magisterial, masquerading as year-end list. Instead, maybe, we could see the list as it dreams of itself, a Dinggedicht turning ever generously within and without. Here’s hoping that by 2025 we abolish the year-end list, but until then we’ll just have to suffer alongside it.
Ten Albums I Listened to in 2024
Movies of 2024
The Movie Emperor (Ning)
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (Ân)
Menus-Plaisirs Les Troisgros (Wiseman)
La Chimera (Rohrwacher)
The Beast (Bonello)
AGGRO DR1FT (Korine)
The Feeling that the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Arnow)
Hundreds of Beavers (Cheslik)
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Adil & Bilall)
Between the Temples (Silver)
The Beekeeper (Ayer)
Red Rooms (Plante)
Megalopolis (Coppola)
Riddle of Fire (Razooli)
Leah B. Levinson
I didn’t seek out a lot of new music this year. Having spent about 3-4 months total on the road (the most I’ve ever toured), it felt hard to keep up with anything beyond the few things that caught my attention here or there. Mostly I listened to comfort albums, new discoveries of older music, and the heaps of music I’ve been working on. Still, a few new things got through to me.
The first list are albums that made major impressions on me. These are the repeat listens and/or the albums that really astounded me at first listen, maybe made me think about music in a new way. The second list is of artists and albums that inspire me and my own work in so many ways. Some of these are people in my social/creative orbit and others I take inspiration from at a distance. There’s plenty I haven’t heard this year but you do what you can. Neither list is in ranked order. Thanks <3
Ten Albums
Caxtrinho - Queda Livre (QTV Selo)
Rafael Toral - Spectral Evolution (Moikai)
Inchoation - From Nothingness, to the Antecedant Sphere (self-released)
Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor (Ninja Tune)
Sissy Spacek - Bolero Shield (Handmade Birds)
Thou - Umbilical (Sacred Bones)
More Eaze - lacuna and parlor (Mondoj)
New Issue - Diminished & Transmitting (Anything Bagel / self-released)
Joshua Chuquimia Crampton - Estrella Por Estrella (Puro Fantasía)
d.silvestre - d.silvestre (self-released)
Ten More Albums
Sunik Kim - Tears of Rage (Rope Editions)
Knoll - As Spoken (self-released)
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)
Leya - I Forget Everything (NNA Tapes)
Senza - Celestial Body (self-released)
Chat Pile - Cool World (The Flenser)
Dummy - Free Energy (Trouble In Mind)
Krallice - Inorganic Rites (P2)
Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere (Century Media)
[Ahmed] - Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
Alex Mayle
I’m going to keep this short. I have had a rough year especially in the last couple months but I’m going to focus on the positives here, because nobody wants to read another essay about a mentally ill music nerd’s struggles. My sister got married earlier this year and it was beautiful. One of the few shining points of pure happiness this year. I went to a couple art museums at the beginning of the year in Orlando and the Morse Museum was the highlight. I had seen some Tiffany glass before but nothing could prepare me for the sheer scale of works on display and the ecstatic beauty of the Tiffany Chapel.
I have also found some good therapeutic coping mechanisms in the past couple months, starting with Lego. It is way too expensive to be a long term hobby but building the Himeji Castle was wonderful and my house is filled with Lego botanicals now. The other therapeutic hobby for me right now is Sudoku and similar logic puzzles (shoutout logic-masters.de). I am very bad at them right now but that has the effect of making them excellent mental drains for me. I spent an hour this morning working on a puzzle titled Never Break the Chain that utilizes kropki pairs, killer cages, and palindrome lines with 0 given digits.
I hope next year I publish anything I write because I spent a lot of time on a review/essay about The Ortho-Project and have nothing to show for it. Check in to the 2025 Tone Glow reflections where I hopefully say I had a good year and wrote a bunch :)
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Roland Kayn - The Ortho Project (Frozen Reeds)
Pedro de Dios y Antonio Fernandez - Cantes Malditos (Everlasting)
Zoe Efstathiou - Solo Piano - Edge of Chaos (iDEAL)
Sarah Davachi - The Head as Form’d in the Crier’s Choir (Late)
Henrique Iwao & Mário del Nunzio - Without the Beatles (Seminal)
Giuliano d’Angiolini - )))((( (Elsewhere)
Anthony Braxton - 10 Comp (Lorraine) 2022 (New Braxton House)
Lee Noyes & Barry Chabala - The Lightgiver (Ftarri)
[Ahmed] - Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
Luka Aron - XV XXVII III XXI IX: Variations & Coda (Warm Winters)
Non-2024 Albums I Got Obsessed With This Year
John Renbourn - The Hermit
Tyrannosaurus Rex - Unicorn
Ákos Rózmann - MÄSSA
Paco de Lucía - El duende flamenco de Paco de Lucía
Anthony Braxton - 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017
Fairport Convention - Unhalfbricking
Bert Jansch - Bert Jansch
R. Andrew Lee - Dennis Johnson: November
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin III
Roberto Laneri - Harmonic Crystals
Michael McKinney
I drove, one last time, from North Carolina to Minneapolis in early 2023, but it wasn’t until 2024 when I really started to settle in. Looking back, as ever, the things that stand out the most are the intimacies: spending more time with loved ones, doing my best to build stronger relationships; making food and drink for whoever happens to be stopping by for the evening; trying out board games that engulfed entire rooms; turning long evenings short by trekking through the snow. It wasn’t an easy year, to be sure, but it nevertheless held countless tiny joys, and plenty of bigger ones, too. I’m grateful for each of them.
Favorite Albums of 2024
Rufous Nightjar - Songs for Three Voices (self-released)
Crespi Drum Syndicate - Beats (Isla)
Kali Malone - All Life Long (Ideologic Organ)
Loidis - One Day (Incienso)
Sarah Davachi - The Head as Form’d in the Crier’s Choir (Late Music)
Nicolás Jaar - Archivos de Radio Piedras (Other People)
Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance - Jinxed by Being (Drag City)
Nala Sinephro - Endlessness (Warp)
Regal86 - Unearthed Vol. II *100 Trax* (self-released)
Apartment House - Maniera (Another Timbre)
A Few Recipes I Enjoyed Making This Year
“Brown Butter Curried Corn Bread,” Ixta Belfrage
“Pan Bagnat,” Heston Blumenthal
“Touch of Grace Biscuits,” Erika Council
“The Search for Delicious,” Kirk Estopinal
“Unveiled,” Agostino Perrone, Giorgio Bargiani & Maura Milia
“Chef Polzinski’s Peirogi,” Michelle Polzine
“Egg Dough,” Missy Robbins & Talia Baiocchi
“Crisp Gnocchi With Brussels Sprouts and Brown Butter,” Ali Slagle
“Pastis du Quercy,” Amy Thielen
Homemade sparkling & fermented lemonade
Samuel McLemore
I didn’t listen to new music this year, but I did listen to a lot of old Latin music at work. That stuff is great.
Sam, A Year In Review
Carlos Puebla y Sus Tradicionales - La Bodeguita del Medio (1957)
Climaco Sarmiento y Su Orquestra - Bombo Y Maracas (1966)
Pedro Laza y Sus Pelayeros -Rito Esclavo (1961)
Tito Chicoma y Su Orquestra - El Ritmo De Moda (19??)
Anibal Velásquez y Su Conjunto - Mambo Loco (2010)
Ryo Miyauchi
New music has been never short on tap for me with this pile of new singles, 250-plus deep, I’ve got on YouTube that’s practically bottomless because I keep saving more to it as I go through the stash. But while I constantly come across finds that catch my attention, so few admittedly inspire me to give it a second spin. I try to remind myself this is an absolutely normal thing to happen, and yet it still gets me to question my relationship with music. If I found it enjoyable, shouldn’t I want to revisit it again? It just feels more bad when the save-to-replay ratio grows increasingly smaller as I keep on adding more songs to the pile. It feels worse when I feel the want to listen to music during down time, but don’t exactly know what I want to listen to, and none of the ones I saved feel like the one I want to hear in that moment.
There were only a few times this year that I appreciated more than when there was a song I did want to queue on my phone. It’s kind of a cruel joke that the songs that stayed on rotation came from the most random places, often outside of that big stash on YouTube. A late Eiichi Ohtaki single, from 1997, became a car-karaoke staple after hearing it in a silly variety show; I was even moved to finally dig more into the Showa-pop icon’s discography. I spent a week listening to nothing but Mr. Oizo’s “Flat Beat” after someone retweeted a clip of Skepta and JME freestyling over it — like, whoa, is that song kind of proto-grime? And thank you, TikTok, for hooking me to this great Girls’ Generation album cut. I grabbed on to that “play it again!” feeling whenever it came to me, as long as it would take a hold, a bit more desperately this year. They ironically seem to be more rare as I get exposed to more music. Maybe I’m listening too much; maybe I’m just getting older.
Favorite Japanese Albums of 2024
Inu - loop/boy (self-released)
kegon - On the Edge (self-released)
7th Jet Balloon - 7th Jet Balloon (ungulates)
ASP - Terminal disease of ASP (Avex Trax)
Homecomings - see you, frail angel, sea adore you. (IRORI)
kinoue64 - Shiawase Ni Kurasone (self-released)
gaburyu - Maid-san and Witch (self-released)
TEMPLIME - EMPT MILE (self-released)
Ado - Zanmu (Universal Music)
marucoporoporo - Conceive the Sea (FLAU)
Favorite Japanese Songs of 2024
Kenshi Yonezu - “Sayonara, Mata Itsuka!” (Sony)
Sasuke Haraguchi - “Igaku” (self-released)
pinponpanpon - “Bath Bomb” (freedom idols)
lilbesh ramko - “nichijou:loopmania” (self-released)
Tomori Kusunoki - “MAYBLUES” (Sony)
Batten Shojotai - “ureshiino” (BATTEN)
e5 ft. CYBER RUI & KOTONOHOUSE - “PARADIGM” (self-released)
RYUTist - “Kimi No Mune Ni, Gunshot” (Penguin Disc)
RIM & KOKO - “Suteki” (Phenomenon)
Cho Tokimeki Sendenbu - “Saijokyu Ni Kawaiino!” (Avex Trax)
Favorite Japanese TV Dramas of 2024
Tsukuritai Onna To Tabetai Onna 2
Fune Wo Amu: Watashi, Jisho Tsukurimasu
Haru Ni Nattara
Tora Ni Tsubasa
Ayaka-chan Wa Hiroko Senpai Ni Koishiteru
Saionji-san Wa Kaji Wo Shinai
VR Ojisan No Hatsukoi
Percent
Hikaru Kimie
Jude Noel
It’s been a weird, rough one for me, but making it out to what we’d later learn would be the final Pitchfork Festival in Chicago was one of this year’s highlights. I’ll always cherish the memories of seeing Rose Melberg perform “Supreme Nothing” live and headbanging to Alanis Morrissette with Sam and Josh. So much of my participation in the music writing community takes place online out of necessity. Any chance I had to touch grass while discussing or listening to music felt like a win for me.
Shouts out to Vivian, Brandon, Beck Reeves, 42ceo, and the whole Tone Glow crew <3
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Khadija al Hanafi - Slime Patrol 2 (FADA)
Prettifun - FunHouse (self-released)
Skaiwaiter - #gigi (GoodTalk / Capitol)
Charli XCX - Brat (Atlantic)
The Cure - Songs of a Lost World (Fiction / Capitol)
The Reds, Pinks, and Purples - Unwishing Well (Slumberland)
Rroxket - Red Ranger (Santa Anna)
Drahla - Angeltape (Captured Tracks)
Corey Lingo - For What It’s Worth (self-released)
Fievel Is Glauque - Rong Weicknes (Fat Possum)
Top 10 Songs of 2024
Jane Remover - “Flash in the Pan” (deadAir)
DJ Manny - “I Feel Music” (Moveltraxx)
Lucy Bedroque - “Pretty Peach” (Autosarco)
Evanora Unlimited - “Covered Eyes” (self-released)
Wokeups - “Fragged Aht” (self-released)
Osamason - “Rehhab” (Atlantic)
The Cure - “Alone” (Polydor)
KP Skywalka & Peezy - “Sarah” (NEWWRLD)
TWICE - “Rush” (JYP)
Xaviersobased - “Pediatrician” (1c34)
10 Best DJ Ess Mixes
Gil Sansón
Let’s not mince words here: awful year. Or rather, great year for the bad guys everywhere. And yet, here we are, making the best out of the bleakest time I can remember and staying true to a creative vision. Unfortunately, this means I didn’t listen to a lot of music this year, new or old, and this makes me unsuited for lists of the best of 2004. However, Joshua’s brief clears me out to be candid about it. Once again, the irony of having a very productive year during a miserable time is not lost on me, but I take my small wins as they come. Finished my avant folk trilogy for Full Spectrum, made a few strides in the contemporary classical world, spend a good part of my time studying species counterpoint, finished a few pieces, played some piano, acquired a new alto melodica, have material for two or three albums worth of music, so not so bad. Next year I’ll be leaner and meaner. Or not.
Favorite Albums of 2024
Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja (Nuclear Blast)
Nails - Every Bridge Burning (Nuclear Blast)
Francisco Lopez - HIMAVANTA, environmental sound matter from Thailand’s rainforests (self-released)
Favorite Song of 2024
Nails - “Give Me The Painkiller” (Nuclear Blast)
Favorite People of 2024
The online music community. I posted one cry for help with a Cornelius Cardew documentary that wasn’t available for streaming and within minutes I had not one but two download links (thanks to Sarah Hennies and Lutz Eitel). There’s a reason so many of us stick to our guns through thick and thin and the ongoing support from the community is the main factor, in my experience.
Shy Clara Thompson
I finally perfected my Thai tea brewing technique this year. If you’re ever in the Pacific Northwest, come over and I’ll make one for you. :->
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Able Noise - High Tide (World of Echo)
[Ahmed] - Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
gaburyu - Maid-san and Witch (self-released)
Lil Hyvää - Word Plant (self-released)
lilbesh ramko - 徘徊collection (self-released)
Madobe Rika - Infinite Window (Virgin Babylon)
TEMPLIME - EMPT MILE (self-released)
Toshiya Tsunoda / Taku Unami - Wovenland 3 (Erstwhile)
uku kasai - Lula (self-released)
Various Artists - Uso no Tsukikata (KARENT)
Top 10 Songs of 2024
[Ahmed] - “African Bossa Nova” (Fönstret)
Asake - “Whine” (YBNL Nation)
aryy - “emotion+” (self-released)
Hoshimiya Toto & SOZEN OTSUBO - “Shade” (self-released)
lilniina - “e-m@il”(self-released)
lil soft tennis & SALU - “Forever” (self-released)
Nourished by Time - “Hell of a Ride” (XL Recordings)
omu - “RBF Syndrome” (self-released)
Sasuke Haraguchi - “UTAUbot” (self-released)
TEMPLIME - “Hear Something” (self-released)
Tea5 Assam Milk Tea Flavors, Ranked
Melon
Strawberry
Taro
Milk
Coffee
Black tea
Chocolate
Evan Welsh
Next year in some place better.
Untitled (2024)
Countless stood
waiting on the rain
to help quell the fire.
And all of us, dehydrated, stumbling through pines,
scoured to find any remnants of
the love we cut into the bark.
The smoke and quiet
hung in the air for as long
as eternity meant to us.
And after,
we took the ash home
to add to the marks
we put upon our doorways
to keep ourselves safe.
Blood and soot and polyurethane
and prayers tucked away
in ceramic and steel.
A ritual from dust.
Anything we can muster
that might grant
at least
some of tomorrow.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)
[Ahmed] - Giant Beauty (Fönstret)
Mount Eerie - Night Palace (P.W. Elverum & Sun)
gabby fluke-mogul and Lily Finnegan - Throw It In The Sink (Sonic Transmissions)
Naima Bock - Below a Massive Dark Land (Sub Pop)
Mabe Fratti - Sentir Que No Sabes (Unheard of Hope)
Caxtrinho - Queda Livre (QTV)
Still House Plants - If I don’t make it, I love u (Bison)
Armbruster - Can I Sit Here (Dear Life)
Joshua Chuquimia Crampton - Estrella Por Estrella (Puro Fantasía)
Top 10 Songs of 2024
Cindy Lee - “Kingdom Come” (Realistik Studios)
Agriculture - “Living Is Easy” (The Flenser)
Lily Talmers - “The Big Idea” (self-released)
Naima Bock - “Feed My Release” (Sub Pop)
El Cousteu feat. Earl Sweatshirt - “Words2LiveBy” (self-released)
Alan Licht - “Frank Sinatra Drive” (Black Editions)
Christopher Owens - “Do You Need A Friend” (True Panther)
This Is Lorelei - “Dancing in the Club” (Double Double Whammy)
Still House Plants - “M M M” (Bison)
musclecars - “I Don’t Remember The Last Time I Saw Starst” (BBE Music)
Maxie Younger
eating drinking kissing sweating calling whining crying watching bracing molting folding falling crawling walking running balding
can’t complain—it’s going—hanging in there—one day at a time—could be worse—same old, same old—the usual—not too shabby.
Top 10 Albums of 2024
Astrid Sonne – Great Doubt (Escho)
Eva-Maria Houben & John Hudak – Paloma Wind (LINE)
Eirik Suhrke – UFO 50 (self-released)
Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)
Joshua Chuquimia Crampton – Estrella Por Estrella (Puro Fantasía)
Archie – here, this is happening (soundtrack) (ohhu)
Eloquent Vulgar – Blender Collection (Topos Press)
Fine – Rocky Top Ballads (Escho)
Syclops – Black Eye (BubbleTease Communications)
d.silvestre – d.Silvestre (self-released)
Top 10 Songs of 2024
Viola Klein – “Snooze” (meakusma)
Yung Wun ft. DMX, Lil’ Flip, David Banner – “Tear It Up (sephabeats remix)” (unreleased)
Twofold – “Unbounded” (self-released)
Lucy Bedroque – “How to Pretend” (AUTOSARCO MUSIQUE)
Shinichi Atobe – “Rain 6” (Early Reflection)
Buttered Cat – “Why the long face, green-eyed monster” (self-released)
Syzy – “Take my energy!” (Create Music Group)
Guerrinha – “Edificio Argentina” (2 Headed Deer)
wokeups – “fragged aht” (self-released)
Boundary – “Las Aves Ya Saben Donde Ir” (Exotic Robotics)
I’m Doing It OK
137 hours of Balatro.
Various Nancy Drew point-and-click mysteries: The Final Scene. Last Train to Blue Moon Canyon. Curse of Blackmoor Manor. (This one is too hard for children, and for me.) Sea of Darkness. The Silent Spy. Legend of the Crystal Skull. Danger on Deception Island. Treasure in the Royal Tower. I also played Myst for the first time. Tap into this elevator ranking.
UFO 50: Golfaria, Waldorf’s Journey, Party House, Night Manor, Mooncat.
43 hours of plane flights to and from and around Australia, in the name of seeing relatives and roaming through the bones of a life I could have taken part in, in some other world. Didn’t care for my grandmother’s rhubarb crumble. Used my uncle’s Aeropress. Plastic wrap baked onto chicken casserole. Many soggy Weetabix, vanilla slices, and SOLO lemonades. My first lamington. Losing my shit in Coles in a very public, embarrassing way.
The worst August of my life. Work is piss!
Two-hotdog dinners.
A lot of Northernlion.
The Long, Red Ride of Ben O’Connor in the Vuelta a España.
Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on multiple occasions in my fantasy cycling league. Thank you to Pablo Castrillo, Giulio Pellizzarri, and Andrea Vendrame for making me look like a moneyball genius a couple of times.
Spar boxes and disappointments.
Finally kicked the Destiny 2 habit.
My very own Jersey flip.
Ribitol clinical trials changed my LGMD partner’s life. We can walk up stairs and hills and mountains together now. Everything else seems unimportant by comparison.