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Best of 2024 Lists

~~updated 2025 January 19th~~

These lovely KALX crew share their faves of 2024:

Berkestir ··· Brickbats ··· Brooke Helena Kirchner ··· dahlia ··· DJ Aahh ··· DJ Twinkle ··· ((echoplex)) ··· E. Lit ··· Film Close-ups ··· Hate Feeler ··· Imaginary Radio ··· Lance D’Amour ··· Majority Whip ··· Mary Luce ··· Poindexter ··· Sparkle Motion ··· Vic Vocab

Read on to see their list, lists and more lists.

Berkestir

New Stuff

  • Deena Abdelwahed – Jbal Rrsas (Remixes) (InFine)
  • Artificial Go – Hopscotch Fever (Feel It)
  • A Place To Bury Strangers – Synthesizer (Dedstrange)
  • Kee Avil – Spine (Constellation)
  • Mike Beck – Mike Beck (Mike Beck)
  • Belong – Realistic IX (Kranky)
  • The Bevis Frond – Focus On Nature (Fire)
  • Brown Dog – Lucky Star Creek (self-released)
  • Cruel Diagonals – Calcite (Beacon Hill)
  • Death And The Maiden – Uneven Ground (Fishrider)
  • Floating Points – Cascade (Ninja Tune)
  • Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown (Domino)
  • Goat – Goat (Rocket)
  • Gnod + MC Sissi – Inner F****** Peace (Rocket)
  • Gnod – Spotland (Rocket)
  • Hawkwind – Stories From Time And Spaces (Cherry Red)
  • The Harlem Gospel Travelers – Rhapsody (Colemine)
  • Hermanos Gutierrez – Sonido Cosmico (Easy Eye Sound)
  • Robyn Hitchcock – 1967 Vacations In The Past (Tiny Ghost)
  • Jenny Don’t And The Spurs – Broken Hearted Blue (Fluff & Gravy)
  • John Langford & The Bright Shiners – Where It Really Starts (Tiny Global)
  • Kim – Sir Kim (Kim)
  • La Luz – News Of The Universe (Sub Pop)
  • Lucidvox – That’s What Remained (Glitter Beat)
  • Marbled Eye – Read The Air (Summer Shade)
  • Meridian Brothers – The Latinamerica Sufre (Ansonia)
  • N’gola (Sao Tome) – Our Ancestors Swam to Shore (Free Dirt/PM Press)
  • Parlor Green – In Green/We Dream (Colemine)
  • The PO’ Ramblin’ Boys – Wanderers Like Me (Smithsonian)
  • Raudiver – Leave Before Dark (Geodesic)
  • Ride – Interplay (Wichita)
  • Danny Schmidt – Dark Skies (Single) (self-released)
  • Chris Smither – All About the Bones (Signature Sounds)
  • Sylvaine – Eg Er Framand (Season of Mist)
  • Richard Thompson – Ship To Shore (New West)
  • Azu Tiwaline – The Fifth Dream (Remixes) (IOT)
  • Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod (Night School)
  • Veryan – One Universal Breath (Quiet Details)
  • Weary Ramblers – Weary Ramblers (self-released)
  • Jane Weaver – Love In Constant Spectacle (Fire)
  • Gillian Welch & David Rawlings – Woodland Studio (Acony)
  • White Hills – Beyond This Fiction (Heads On Fire)
  • Ni Zheng – fetid things (self-released)

Old Stuff

  • CAN – Live In Aston 1977 (Spoon)
  • CAN – Live In Keele 1977 (Spoon)
  • CAN – Live In Paris 1973 (Spoon)
  • Coil – Moon’s Milk (In Four Phases) (Dais)
  • Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido (Atomhenge)
  • Sylvaine – Silent Chamber (Season of Mist)
  • various artists – Back Up Dos / Mexican Tecno Pop 1980-1989 (Dark Entries)
  • various artists – Brown Acid Eighteenth Trip (RidingEasy)
  • various artists – Brown Acid Nineteenth Trip (RidingEasy)

Brickbats

Brickbats Favorite Releases of 2024

  • Avi C Engel – Strangling Vine
  • Bill Orcutt Quartet – 4 Guitars Live
  • Chihei Hatakeyama – Hachirogata Lake
  • Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
  • Drew McDowell – A Thread Silvered and Trembling
  • Gerycz Powers Rolin – Activator
  • Jennifer Walshe & Tony Conrad – In the Merry Month of May
  • Jlin – Akoma
  • John Davis – Landlines
  • Julia Holter – Something In the Room She Moves
  • Ka Baird – Bearings – Soundtracks for the Bardo
  • Laura Cannell – The Rituals of Hildegard
  • Luxury Skin – It’s All Over
  • Mabe Fratti – Sentir Que No Sabes
  • Mary Halvorson – Cloudward
  • Moe Staiano – Away Towards the Light
  • Moor Mother – The Great Bailout
  • Olivia Block – Mountain Pass
  • Sarah Davachi – The Head As Formed In the Crier’s Choir
  • Skyminds – Echoes On the Shore
  • SML – Small Medium Large
  • Tara Jane O’Neil – The Cool Cloud of Okayness
  • Tashi Wada – What is Not Strange
  • The 180 Gs – Trout Mask Replica Replica
  • Water Damage – In E

Brooke Helena Kirchner

6 notable sound-related moments from 2024

  1. A quote about Beethoven from the book Joseph Raffael by Mark Daniel Cohen: “Beethoven did not write from inspiration or any other motive. He discovered the music in the act of composition itself. This meant he never ran out of ideas, or interest, or motivation, or resources, because ideas ceased to be external things to be expressed in music and became self-renewing interactions that arose through his engagement with the act of composition itself.
  2. Listening to a podcast while riding my bike up a hill, and glancing up to see a sign that read Banh Mi just as the people on the podcast said the words Banh Mi
  3. Hearing Narduar’s voice in the flesh at the Great American Music Hall
  4. Interviewing the guys at the chess club on Telegraph for a Longform news piece. One guy told us that you can trace the history of Berkeley through the club, and I believe it even more now. An awesome group of people and a really nice interviewing experience.
  5. The sound a soda tab makes when you press down on it and let it go
  6. A lyric from the song One For The Catholic Girls by Simon Joyner: “When you try to make the sweetness last.”

dahlia

Favorite Songs Released in 2024 In Alphabetical Order By Artist

  • Addison Rae – “Diet Pepsi” (Columbia)
  • Adrianne Lenker – “Vampire Empire” (4AD)
  • The American Dawn – “Her” (DAWN)
  • april27 – “into a g**” (Music Soup)
  • Beak> – “Denim” (Invada)
  • Billie Eilish – “THE DINER” (Interscope)
  • Boeckner – “Lose” (Sub Pop)
  • Brijean – “Bang Bang Boom” (Ghostly International)
  • cacophony – “Don’t Tell My Papa” (POCLANOS)
  • Camera Obscura – “Only a Dream – Demo” (Merge)
  • Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!” (Island)
  • Charli xcx – “Von Dutch” (Atlantic)
  • Charli xcx, Troye Sivan – “Talk talk featuring troye sivan” (Atlantic)
  • Chloe Slater – “Nothing Shines On This Island” (AWAL)
  • Cigarettes After Sex – “Baby Blue Movie” (Partisan)
  • Clairo – “Echo” (self-released)
  • Cults – “Left My Keys” (IMPERIAL)
  • The Cure – “Alone” (Polydor/Universal)
  • dethcaps – “Little Secret” (self-released)
  • Doechii – “CATFISH” (Top Dawg Entertainment/UMG)
  • Ethel Cain – “Punish” (Daughters of Cain)
  • fantasy of a broken heart – “AFV” (Dots Per Inch)
  • Flower Face – “Cat’s Cradle” (self-released)
  • Gojira, Marina Viotti, Victor Le Masne – “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)” (International Olympic Committee)
  • Halsey – “Arsonist” (Columbia)
  • Haunt Me – “Ven Aquí” (self-released)
  • Healers – “Get Away” (self-released)
  • Hinds, Beck – “Boom Boom Back” (Lucky Number)
  • Hozier – “Too Sweet” (Columbia)
  • Kendrick Lamar – “euphoria” (Interscope)
  • The Last Dinner Party – “Caesar on a TV Screen” (Universal)
  • Lusus – “Exquisite Corpse” (self-released)
  • Megan Thee Stallion – “HISS” (Hot Girl Productions)
  • Molchat Doma – “Ты же не знаешь кто я / Ty Zhe Ne Znaesh Kto Ya” (Sacred Bones)
  • NewDad – “Sickly Sweet” (A Fair Youth)
  • Olivia Rodrigo – “obsessed” (Geffen)
  • Shovels & Rope – “Colorado River” (MNRK)
  • Sister Wife Sex Strike – “Kill the Locals” (Clamshake)
  • St. Vincent – “Broken Man” (Total Pleasure”)
  • Sunken Planes – “Constellation Light” (Poor L’amour)
  • Susannah Joffe – “Omophagia” (Open Management)
  • SZA – “Saturn” (Top Dawg Entertainment/RCA)
  • Taylor Swift – “The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived” (Republic)
  • Total Blue – “The Path” (Music From Memory)
  • Wisp – “Luna” (Interscope)

DJ Aahh

DJ Aahh’s Shortwave Z to A 2024

  1. Prefuse 73 – New Strategies for Modern Crime Vol. 1 & 2 (Lex)
  2. Logic1000 – Mother (Because Music)
  3. Justice – Hyperdrama (Ed Banger)
  4. Fcukers – Baggy$$ EP (Technicolour)
  5. Floating Points – Cascade (Ninja Tune)
  6. Eli & Fur – Dreamscapes (PIAS)
  7. DJ Raff – Encontrar (Nacional)
  8. Crystal Murray – Sad Lovers & Giants (Because Music)
  9. Catpack – Midnight (Tru Thoughts)
  10. Brijean – Macro (Ghostly International)

DJ Twinkle

10 (+23) favorite releases from 2024 (in no particular order)

  • Ana Tijoux – Vida (Victoria)
  • Nabihah Iqbal – DREAMER (Remixes) (Ninja Tune)
  • Love Child – Never Meant to Be: 1988-1993 (12XU)
  • Leyla McCalla – Sun Without the Heat (Anti-)
  • My Black Country – The Songs of Alice Randall (Oh Boy)
  • Brittany Howard – What Now (Island)
  • Zoe Bookbinder – Wildflower (Are & Be)
  • Alice Russell – I Am (TRU Thoughts)
  • Meklit – Ethio Blue (self-released)
  • Emel – MRA (Little Human)
  • La Luz – News of the Universe (Sub Pop)
  • Sahra Halgan – Hiddo dhawr (Danaya)
  • Mei Simones – Kabutomushi (Bayonet)
  • Howie Lee – At the Drolma Wesel-Ling Monastery (Mais Um)
  • Peggy Gou – I Hear You (XL Recordings)
  • Finom – Not God (Joyful Noise)
  • The Staves – All Now (Communion)
  • Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)
  • Ezra Collective – Dance, No One’s Watching (Partisan)
  • Artificial Go – Hopscotch Fever (Feel It)
  • Brijean – Macro (Ghostly International)
  • Sis – Vibhuti (Native Cat)
  • Jake Blount, Mali Obomsawin – symbiont (Smithsonian Folkways)
  • Bizhiki – Unbound (Jagjaguwar)
  • Stix Bones – Olimpik Soul (self-released)
  • Mermaid Chunky – slip slaf slof (DFA)
  • Ruby Ibarra – Bakunawa ( DISTROKID)
  • Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope (Loma Vista)
  • Charming Hostess – Feast (!aNGRr!)
  • Badiâa Bouhrizi – KahruMusiqa (Akuphone)
  • Laiz and The New Love Experience – Ela Partiu (Agogo)
  • Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven (Epitaph)
  • Kaia Kater – Floodlights (Free Dirt)

((echoplex))

2024 Face Melters

  • Ana Lua Caiano – Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado (Glitterbeat)
  • Artificial Go – Hopscotch Fever (Feel It)
  • Beak> – >>>> (Invada)
  • Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown (Domino)
  • Borusiade – THE FALL: A Series of Documented Experiences (Dark Entries)
  • Broadcast – Spell Blanket – Collected Demos 2006-2009 (Warp)
  • The Bug – Machine (Relapse)
  • Champagne Dub – Rainbow (On The Corner)
  • Chris Cohen – Paint A Room (Hardly Art)
  • Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee (Cindy Lee)
  • Coral Morphologic & Nick León – Projections of a Coral City (Balmat)
  • Dame Area – Toda La Verdad Sobre (Mannequin)
  • De Beren Gieren – What Eludes Us (Sdban)
  • DJ Anderson do Paraíso – Queridão (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
  • Don Melody Club – Zonder Pardon (Bongo Joe)
  • Gesloten Cirkel – I Live In The Midwest (Selvamancer)
  • Ghost Dubs – Damaged (Pressure)
  • Helado Negro – Phasor (4AD)
  • Jessica Pratt – Here in the Pitch (Mexican Summer)
  • Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador)
  • L.F.T. – Minecrawler (Osàre! Editions)
  • Laura Cannell – The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined (Brawl)
  • Legowelt – Like A Song From Your Dream (L.I.E.S.)
  • Loving – Any Light (Last Gang)
  • Memorials – Memorial Waterslides (Fire)
  • Milan W. – Leave Another Day (Stroom)
  • naemi – Dust Devil (3XL)
  • Nídia & Valentina – Estradas (Latency)
  • Peace De Résistance – Lullaby for the Debris (La Vida Es Un Mus)
  • Peel Dream Magazine – Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf)
  • Rejoicer – This Is Reasonable (Circus Company)
  • Seefeel – Everything Squared (Warp)
  • SUUNS – The Breaks (Joyful Noise)
  • Violence Gratuite – Baleine à Boss (Hakuna Kulala)
  • Zeroh – Sumlyte (Leaving)

Reissues & Compilations

  • Ahmed Malek – Musique Originale De Films, Volume 2 (Habibi Funk)
  • Alain Goraguer – Rare Soundtracks & Lost Tapes (1973-1984) (Transversales)
  • Dorothy Carter – Waillee Waillee (Palto Flats)
  • various artists – Soft Summer Breezes (Numero Group)
  • various artists – They Move In The Night (Numero Group)

E. Lit

Favorite Albums of 2024. Alphabetized. Three asterisk *** denote albums that are the best of the best

  • andrew – Swan Dive (Swimming Costume)
  • andrew & Height Keech – Can I Write a Requiem for You When You’re Dead? (Swimming Costume)
  • Awol One & Kool Keith – Aponia (Speakerface)
  • B. Dolan – The Wound Is Not the Body (House of Bees)
  • Blu – Los Angeles (Bigger Picture)
  • Blu & Exile – Love (the) Ominous World (Dirty Science)
  • Boldy James & Nicholas Craven – Penalty of Leadership (Near Mint)
  • Brycon – The Shape of Things That Went (Star Bakery)
  • Candy’s .22 – Neon Room at the Davenport (Alpha Pup)
  • Cavalier – Different Type Time (Backwoodz Studioz)***
  • Cavalier & Child Actor – Cine (Backwoodz Studioz)
  • Ceschi – Bring Us the Head of Francisco False Part 1 (Fake Four Inc)
  • Clever 1 & Lord Beatjitzu – Master Sip (Grilchy Party)
  • Dillon & Batsauce – What Have We Done (Full Plate)
  • DJ Muggs & Raz Fresco – The Eternal Now (Soul Assassins)
  • Estee Nack & Futurewave – Stone Temple Pyrex (Wavgodmusic)***
  • Fat Tony, Fatboi Sharif & Steel Tipped Dove – Brain Candy (Fused Arrow)
  • The Fortunate Ones – RESIN (Something Wonderful)
  • Gangrene – Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (ALC)
  • Gel Roc, Paris Zax & D-Styles – Loss Control: Buttons, Fades & Memoirs (Abolano)***
  • Gretzky da Sumo – The Killah Tape (Holy Thursday)
  • Jesse the Tree – Not Fade Away (Chong Wizard)
  • KA – The Thief Next to Jesus (Iron Works)
  • Kay the Aquanaut & Factor Chandelier – New Physics (Side Road)
  • Kit Sebastian – New Internationale (Brainfeeder)
  • k-the-i??? & Kenny Segal – Genuine Dexterity (Backwoodz Studioz)
  • Louis Cole – nothing (Brainfeeder)***
  • MidaZ the Beast & TzarIZM – The Vivid Laser Eye Guy (Midnight Society)***
  • Midnight Sons – Money Has No Owners (Chong Wizard)
  • Milc & Televangel – Extra Phish (Old Soul)
  • Nacho Picasso & Televangel – Jesse’s Revenge (Old Soul)***
  • NAHreally & the Expert – BLIP (Rucksack)
  • Nolan the Ninja – I’d Rather Not (Sport Cast)
  • OKnice – Talking to My Dogs (Swimming Costume)
  • Pastense – Sidewalk Chalk, Parade Day Rain (Uncommon)
  • Paten Locke – Dance On My Grave (Full Plate)
  • Phiik & Lungs – Carrot Season (POW)
  • PremRock & Willie Green – Through Lines (Backwoodz Studioz)
  • R.A.P Ferreira & Fumitake Tamura – The First Fist to Make Contact When We Dap (Ruby Yacht)
  • Real Bad Man & Lukah – Temple Needs Water. Village Needs Peace. (Old Soul)
  • Rich Jones & SINAI. – Sour Dub (Three Dollar Pistol)
  • Sadistik – At Night the Silence Eats Me (Old Soul)
  • Sadistik & Maulskull – Oblivion Theater (Old Soul)***
  • Serengeti – Kenny Dennis IV (OTHAR)
  • Shape – Midnight Geometry (We are the Karma Kids)
  • ShrapKnel – Nobody Planning to Leave (Backwoodz Studioz)***
  • Sleepingdogs – Will We Ever Dance Again? (Three Dollar Pistol)***
  • Stress Eater – Everybody Eats! (Silver Age)
  • Substance810 & Observe Since ’98 – The Lion’s Share 3: Pride of the Lion (Loretta)
  • Teller Bank$ & Ed Glorious – The Pride & Glory (self-released)
  • Vic Spencer – Being the Bigger Person Sucks (Old Fart Luggage)
  • Wave Generators – After the End (Fused Arrow)***
  • Wavy Bagels & DRIVEBY – A Carfull (Break All)
  • Yungmorpheus & Alexander Spit – Waking Up and Choosing Violence (B.A.S.E.M.E.N.T.)

Film Close-ups

Top Films of 2024 (Alphabetical)

  • A Different Man
  • A Quiet Place: Day One
  • All of Us Strangers
  • All We Imagine As Light
  • Anora
  • At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking
  • Black Box Diaries
  • Blitz
  • Challengers
  • Civil War
  • Cuckoo
  • Daughters
  • Didi
  • Dune: Part 2
  • Early Riser
  • Flow
  • Heretic
  • I Saw the TV Glow
  • Juror #2
  • Kinds of Kindness
  • La Chimera
  • Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
  • ME
  • Memoir of a Snail
  • Nosferatu
  • Oddity
  • Perfect Days
  • Planetwalker
  • Queer
  • Sing Sing
  • Sugarcane
  • The Damned
  • The Substance
  • The Taste of Things
  • The Wild Robot
  • Thelma
  • Wild Robot

Hate Feeler

Favorite Releases of 2024

  • Consumer Electronics – surge (Dirter Promotions)
  • Sutcliffe No More – Cute (Zoharum)
  • Dame Area – Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area (Humo Internacional)
  • Jlin – Akoma (Planet Mu)
  • Shizukana – Domestification of Domestic Violence (self-released)
  • Meat Beat Manifesto & Merzbow – Extinct (Cold Spring)
  • Pharmakon – Maggot Mass (Sacred Bones)
  • Melt-Banana – 3+5 (A-Zap)
  • Kleistwahr – Where The Word Is Never (Fourth Dimension)
  • Prurient – Destroyed Electricity (Hospital Productions)
  • Burial – “Dreamfear” (XL)
  • clipping. – “Run It” (Sub Pop)

Favorite Tracks Discovered in 2024 That Sample Blue Velvet (RIP David Lynch)

  • Spit – “Blue Velvet” – You Would If You Loved Me (Nailed To Sound)
  • Powderburns – “Powderburns” – What Kind of Heaven Do You Want? (A Slumberland Compilation) (Slumberland)
  • Manufactura – “Sacred Sin” – Regression (Auricle Media)
  • Cabaret Voltaire – “Here to Go (Live Drum Jacknife Remix by Adrian Sherwood)” – Here to Go (Parlophone)

Imaginary Radio

Top 20 New Releases

  • Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future (4AD)
  • Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham – Cunningham Bird (Loma Vista)
  • BADBADNOTGOOD – Mid Spiral (XL)
  • Bonny Light Horseman – Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free (Jagjaguwar)
  • Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West (Merge)
  • Charley Crockett – $10 Cowboy (Son of Davy)
  • Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee (Realistik Studios)
  • Faye Webster – Underdressed At The Symphony (Secretly Canadian)
  • Geordie Greep – The New Sound (Rough Trade)
  • Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Past Is Still Alive (Nonesuch)
  • Iron & Wine – Light Verse (Sub Pop)
  • Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch (Mexican Summer)
  • Khruangbin – A La Sala (Dead Oceans)
  • Los Bitchos – Talkie Talkie (City Slang)
  • MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks (Anti-/Epitaph)
  • Parlor Greens – In Green We Dream (Colemine)
  • The Hard Quartet – The Hard Quartet (Matador)
  • The Umbrellas – Fairweather Friend (Slumberland)
  • Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood (Anti-)
  • Yasmin Williams – Acadia (Nonesuch)

Top 20 Live Acts

  • Loretta Lynch – Ivy Room, 7 January
  • AJ Lee & Blue Summit – Independent, 2 February
  • Hawktail & Vasen – Freight & Salvage, 2 February
  • Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola – Ivy Room, 28 March
  • Particle Kid – Ivy Room, 30 March
  • George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners – French Quarter Fest, 12 April
  • Luke Allen – French Quarter Fest, 13 April
  • Lost Bayou Ramblers – French Quarter Fest, 13 April
  • New Orleans Klezmer Allstars – French Quarter Fest, 14 April
  • Waxahatchee – Fox, 18 May
  • Iron & Wine – Fox, 25 June
  • Clive Carroll – Back Room, 17 July
  • Khruangbin – Greek, 16 August
  • Jessica Pratt – Hardly Strictly, 4 October
  • Cat Power – Hardly Strictly, 4 October
  • Cunningham Bird – Hardly Strictly, 5 October
  • Big Star Quintet’s “Radio City” 50th – Hardly Strictly, 6 October
  • Bonnie Light Horseman – UC, 9 October
  • Clem Snide – Ivy Room, 22 October
  • Helen Gillet & Scott Amendola – Ivy Room, 20 November

Lance d’Amour

All lists ordered alphabetically

7″

  • Added Dimensions – Time Suck / Hellbent (Domestic Departure)
  • Fake Last Name – Three Persuasion Domains (Yes We Cannibal)
  • The Gabys – The Gabys II (Fruit & Flowers)
  • Grazia – In Poor Taste (Feel It)
  • Pardoner – Paranoid in Hell (Convulse)
  • Ryli – I Think I Need You Around (Dandy Boy)
  • Zenxith – The Girl Who Waved At Trains (Salt Mine)

12″

  • Artificial Go – Hopscotch Fever (Feel It)
  • Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee (Realistik)
  • Clickbait – At Your Leisure (Clickbait)
  • Cuneiform Tabs – Cuneiform Tabs (Sloth Mate)
  • Itchy and the Nits – The Worst Of … (Total Punk)
  • Mordecai – Seeds From The Furthest Vine (Petty Bunco)
  • Soup Activists – Mummy What Are Flowers For? (Inscrutable)

Cassettes

  • Angry – 4 Songs (Deluxe Bias)
  • Anonymous Carpetting – Anonymous Carpetting (Pee Blood)
  • Guiding Light – Guiding Light (Stucco)
  • The Living Rainbow – The Dusty Clock (INFOrmatiON)
  • Nights Templar – Half the Year (Paisley Shirt)

Majority Whip

Favorite Albums of 2024

  • Abadir & Nahash – Marchadair (SVBKVLT)
  • Bed Maker – Bed Maker (Dischord)
  • Body Habitat – Cala Lilly (Lies)
  • Brijean – Macro (Ghostly International)
  • Ana Lua Caiano – Vou Ficar Neste Quadrado (Glitterbeat)
  • Champagne Dub – Rainbow (On the Corner)
  • Dame Area – Toda la mentira sobre Dame Area (Màgia Roja)
  • Kim Deal – Nobody Loves You More (4AD)
  • Nadah El Shazly – The Damned Don’t Cry (Asadun Alay Records)
  • Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly – MESTIZX (International Anthem)
  • Amaro Freitas – Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)
  • Anton Friisgaard – Teratai Åkande (Stroom. Tv)
  • Gafacci & Sam Interface – Public Information (More Time)
  • Dana Gavanski – LATE SLAP (Full Time Hobby)
  • Kim Gordon – The Collective (Matador)
  • G13ck – Le Perdí El Miedo a Los Aviones (Secuencias Temporales)
  • Gustaf – Package Pt. 2 (Royal Mountain)
  • Charlotte Jacobs – Atlas (New Amsterdam)
  • Khôra – Gestures of Perception (Marionette)
  • Kokoko! – Butu (Transgressive)
  • Kendrick Lamar – Gnx (Pglang)
  • Howie Lee – At the Drolma Wesel-Ling Monastery (Mais um)
  • Hanno Leichtmann – Outerlands (Discrepant)
  • Marcel Wave – Something Looming (Upset the Rhythm)
  • Mavi – Shadowbox (Mavi 4 Mayor)
  • Memorials – Memorial Waterslides (Fire)
  • Meridian Brothers – Mi Latinoamérica Sufre (Ansonia Records)
  • MIZU – Forest Scenes (NNA Tapes)
  • Luko M – Night Walking (Specious Arts)
  • Muqata’a – La Lisana Lah (Souk)
  • My Brightest Diamond – Fight the Real Terror (Western Vinyl)
  • Oki – Live at Café Oto (Mais Um)
  • Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique (Bongo Joe)
  • Peel Dream Magazine – Rose Main Reading Room (Topshelf)
  • Polido – Hearing Smoke (Holuzam)
  • PS5 – Echologia (Hyperjazz)
  • QOA – SAUCO (Leaving)
  • Raymond Richards – Sand Paintings (ESP Institute)
  • Peni Candra Rini – Wani (New Amsterdam)
  • Natascha Rogers – Onaida (Nø Førmat!)
  • Kamala Sankaram – Crescent (Neuma)
  • Otis Sandsjö – Y OTIS TRE (We Jazz)
  • Elena Setien – Moonlit Reveries (Thrill Jockey)
  • Bagus Shidqi – Njondhil Njondhal (1000HZ)
  • Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (warp)
  • Sm^sher – Pit of Mine (Scrawl)
  • SML – Small Medium Large (International Anthem)
  • Alex Sopp – The Hem & The Haw (New Amsterdam)
  • Mark Templeton – Inner Light (Enmossed)
  • Violence Gratuite – Baleine à Boss (Hakuna Kalala)

Mary Luce

Sounds that stuck. The “Worth revisiting” List of 2024

  • Geese – 3D Country
  • The Raincoats – The Raincoats
  • Avi C. Engel – Hatching Under the Stars
  • The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa – Susurrate
  • The American Analog Set – Know By Heart
  • Cameron Winter – Heavy Metal
  • Ulver – Perdition City
  • Mostly Other People Do the Killing – Blue
  • various artists – I Saw the TV Glow (Original Soundtrack)
  • Four Tet – Rounds
  • Linda Martell – Color Me Country
  • Cindy Lee – What’s Tonight To Eternity
  • Cindy Lee – Three Love Songs
  • Tapir! – The Pilgrim, Their God and The King of My Decrepit Mountain
  • Massive Attack – Mezzanine
  • Courting – New Last Name
  • Taylor Skye – Kode Fine & Sons
  • Cassandra Jenkins – An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
  • Winter – What Kind of Blue Are you?

Microtone

Albums & EPs from 2024 to Soothe a Grievous Year (chronological by release date except one)

  • Skyminds – Echoes on the Shore (Inner Islands)
  • Akini Jing – Villain (88Rising)
  • Surya Botofasina, Nate Mercereau, Carlos Nino – Subtle Movements (Leaving)
  • Nailah Hunter, Lovegaze (Fat Possum)
  • Sons of Zöku – Ëndlëss (Copper Feast)
  • Ariel Kalma, Jeremiah Chiu, & Marta Sofia Honer – The Closest Thing to Silence (International Anthem)
  • Ghost Lemurs – Wombs and Alien Spirits (Haunter)
  • Canberk Ulaş – Echoes of Becoming (Jazzland)
  • Eric Hilton – Sound Vagabond (Montserrat House)
  • Lair – Ngelar (Guruguru Brain)
  • Laryssa Kim – Contezza (City Tracks)
  • Adhemar – Birth of Mist (Huinali)
  • Bolis Pupul – Letter to Yu (Deewee/Because)
  • HJirok – Hjirok (Altin Village & Mine)
  • Golden Brown – Kindness (Aural Canyon)
  • Li Yilei – NONAGE 垂髫 (Métron)
  • Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be Here Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  • Ka Baird – Bearings: Soundtrack for the Bardos (Rvng Intl.)
  • MIZU – Forest Scenes (NNA Tapes)
  • Wye Oak – Shriek Variations (Merge)
  • Arushi Jain – Delight (Leaving)
  • Shabaka – Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse!)
  • VVD WNDWS – … an interior song (Glowing Dagger)
  • Khôra – Gestures of Perception (Marionette)
  • Ki! – Yong-Gwanglo Part One/Two (Crunchy Frog)
  • Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin – Ghosted II (Drag City)
  • Zoe Boekbinder – Wildflower (Are & Be)
  • Raymond Richards – Sand Paintings (ESP Institute)
  • Huang Yuching 黃雨晴 – The Crystal Hum (Night School)
  • Kyab Yul-Sa – Murmures d’Himalaya (Nangma)
  • Shakali – Rihmastossa (Not Not Fun)
  • Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown (Domino)
  • Cola Ren – Forest Drone (QEONE)
  • Arooj Aftab – Night Reign (Verve)
  • Ezra Feinberg – Soft Power (Tonal Union)
  • Đ.K. – Spiral Shape (Worship)
  • Lara Sarkissian – Born of the Sea (Lower Grand Tapes)
  • Loma – How Will I Live Without a Body? (Sub Pop)
  • SML – Small Medium Large (International Anthem)
  • Saphileaum – Mirage (Intervision)
  • Ritmos Tropicosmos – La Vida Es Pa’ Vivir (Econo Jam)
  • Brijean – Macro (Ghostly)
  • Yetsuby – b_b (All My Thoughts)
  • Chuck Johnson – Sun Glories (Western Vinyl)
  • Jon Hopkins – Ritual (Domino)
  • Meridian Brothers – Mi Latinoamérica Sufre (Ansonia)
  • Orquesta Akokán – Caracoles (Daptone)
  • Sarah Davachi – The Head As Form’d in the Crier’s Choir (Late Music)
  • Hair and Space Museum – Human Presence (Beacon Sound)
  • Channelers – Ringing in An Open Sky (Inner Islands)
  • John Davis – Landlines (Students of Decay)
  • Umi Hsu – Departures / Arrivals 出境 / 入境 (Ting Shuo Hear Say 聽說)
  • Orchestra Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp – Ventre Unique (Les Disques Bongo Joe)
  • Guzz – Botanical Garden of the Soul 灵魂植物园 (self-released)

Poindexter

A dozen albums that brought me the most joy in 2024 list

  • Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
  • Fake Fruit – Mucho Mistrust
  • Jessica Pratt – Here in the Pitch
  • The Umbrellas – Fairweather Friend
  • Lightheaded – Combustible Gems
  • Peel Dream Magazine – Rose Main Reading Room
  • Lunchbox – Pop and Circumstance
  • Wut – Mingling with the Thorns
  • Dummy – Free Energy
  • The Softies – The Bed I Made
  • Marcel Wave – Something Looming
  • La Luz – News of the Universe

Sparkle Motion

Top 25 in Alphabetical Order

  1. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future (4AD)
  2. Andrew Bird Trio – Sunday Morning Put-On (Loma Vista)
  3. Arooj Aftab – Night Reign (Verve)
  4. Beak> – >>>> (Temporary Residence)
  5. Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown (Domino)
  6. Brian Landrus – Plays Ellington & Strayhorn (Palmetto)
  7. Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)
  8. Charles Lloyd – The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow (Blue Note)
  9. Clarissa Connelly – World of Work (Warp)
  10. Einsturende Neubauten – Rampen – APM: Alien Pop Music (Potomak)
  11. Four Tet – Three (Text Records)
  12. Jane Weaver – Love in Constant Spectacle (Fire Records)
  13. Ka Baird – Bearings: Soundtracks for the Bardos (Rvng. Intl.)
  14. Kali Malone – All Life Long (Ideologic Organ)
  15. Laetitia Sadier – Rooting for Love (Drag City)
  16. Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp)
  17. Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthing, Andreas Werliin – Ghosted II (Drag City)
  18. Peter Perrett – The Cleansing (Domino)
  19. Richard Carr w/Caleb Burhans, Clarice Jensen and Carrtoons – August Light (Neuma)
  20. Rosali – Bite Down (Merge)
  21. Sarah Davachi – The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir (Late Music)
  22. Shabaka – Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse!)
  23. The Bevis Frond – Focus on Nature (Fire Records)
  24. Tindersticks – Soft Tissue (City Slang)
  25. Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh & Tyshawn Sorey – Compassion (ECM)

Fave Compilations/Archival

  1. various artists – Cardinals At the Window (136 unreleased songs supporting flood relief efforts in Western North Carolina) (self-released)
  2. various artists – TranSA: Selects 8 Disc set (46 songs by different artists!) (Red Hot Org)
  3. various artists – Ghana Special Volume 2: Electronic Highlife Sounds in the Diaspora 1980-93 (Soundway)
  4. various artists – The Power of the Heart – A Tribute to Lou Reed (Light In The Attic)
  5. various artists – My Black Country: The Songs of Alice Randall (Oh Boy)
  6. various artists – European Primitive Guitar (1974-1987) (NTS)

Best Cover Art

  • Henry Kaiser, Michael Manning and Scott Amendola – Haunted by Eternity (Fractal Music)

Vic Vocab

Favorite Songs of 2024

  • Diane Birch – “Jukebox Johnny” – Flying on Abraham [Legere]
  • Brainstory – “I Will Be” – Sounds Good [Big Crown]
  • Brijean – “Workin’ On It” – Macro [Ghostly International]
  • Finom – “Haircut” – Not God [Joyful Noise]
  • Andrew Gabbard – “Everywhere I Go I Don’t Belong” – Ramble & Rave On [Karma Chief]
  • MJ Lenderman – “Joker Lips” – Manning Fireworks [Anti-]
  • The Lostines – “After Party” – Meet the Lostines [Gar Hole]
  • Marcel Wave – “Something’s Looming” – Something’s Looming [Feel It]
  • Neutrals – “Steven Proctor, Bus Conductor” – New Town Dream [Slumberland]
  • Smokers – “The Strand” – The Rat That Gnawed the Rope [Mouth Magazine]
  • Yeule – “Anthems For a Seventeen Year Old Girl” – I Saw the TV Glow SOUNDTRACK [A24 Music]