Albums of 2024

[tragabigzanda]

[Higgs]

True dat.

[VinylGuy]

Finally listening to all the vinyls i got this year and couldnt because my turntable was fucked.

The Smile´s Wall Of Eyes is still such a good listen. Cant believe this one came out this year, feels like two years or something.

[psychobain]

what about the new Kim Gordon?

I liked the singles a lot but the record is a very difficult listen to me. I havent come back since it was released but the whole thing was hard to listen to, very abrasive and repetitive.

Agreed. That first single was dope as hell but the entire album is maybe a bit too heavy.

Felt similarly about her first solo record as well. Great single, tough record.

its a dark road

[zeb]

The FJM slander in this thread is appalling and misleading.

[Farmer John]

The FJM slander in this thread is appalling and misleading.

[zeb]

[epilogue]

The FJM slander in this thread is appalling and misleading.

Goddamn right

[tragabigzanda]

[Ello Sailor]

How did I forget about IDLES? Fark me. Unforgivable.

[Jorge]

I haven't put together my list but I think there will be 3 or 4 albums in which we overlap

[tragabigzanda]

[Kevin Davis]

I've got my eye on your list too, trag -- still really need to check out the Floating Points and the Jeff Parker.

[Jorge]

I've got my eye on your list too, trag -- still really need to check out the Floating Points and the Jeff Parker.

I'm still waiting for you to tell me I'm not crazy for hating the new Elvis Costello

[Kevin Davis]

I've got my eye on your list too, trag -- still really need to check out the Floating Points and the Jeff Parker.

I'm still waiting for you to tell me I'm not crazy for hating the new Elvis Costello

Oh man, I didn't even realize it had come out. Will check it out this afternoon.

[VinylGuy]

Trag's list of 2024

Album of the Year:

Spoiler: show

Shellac - To All Trains
Impossible not to connect this with Albini's passing, but I've written about it elsewhere. Taken purely as a Shellac record and not "the posthumous Shellac record," it's simply a blast if you're a fan of the band. On the nose, yes, it's still Shellac. But the songs are all now super short, and their lyrics took a hard right turn from their historic approach of using individual stories to illustrate broad themes about society, towards something super insular, like the whole album is one big inside joke between three buddies and we get to be privy to their sense of humor. Yes, it's still a very topical record, covering ideas about labor organizations, sycophantic careerism, covid lockdowns and more; but now it's all couched in a sort of lighthearted affection for the band's friends and local community; it's a very "place-based record."

Favorite track: "Girl From Outside," which is about going to a bar with your buddies only to find out it's karaoke night:

Runner-Up:

Spoiler: show

Floating Points - Cascades
Samual Shepherd leaves his jazz, classical, and IDM influences at the door and does a straight dance record. But the dedicated genre never becomes a trap; each song is a mini-dance symphony full of dynamic soundscapes, organic textures, and a sense of gradual blending from one passage to the next. Phenomenal stuff, even if you hate dance music.

Favorite track: Afflecks Palace

The Rest of My Top 10:

Spoiler: show

3. Jeff Parker + ETA IVTet - The Way Out of Easy
Key track: "Late Autumn"


4. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - Woodland
Key track: "What We Had"


5. Arooj Aftab - Night Reign
Key track: "Aey Nehin"


6. Idles - Tangk
Key track: "Gift Horse"


7. Sturgill Simpson (as Johnny Blue Skies) - Passage du Desir
Key track: "Right Kind of Dream"


8. Odid Tzur - My Prophet
Key track: "Renata"


9. Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More
Key track: "Big Ben Beat"


10. Bill Frisell - Orchestras
Key track: "Throughout"

Song of the Year:

Spoiler: show

Il Sogno Del Marinaio - "Song For Anima Mundi"
Mike Watt's third album with these two Portuguese dudes leads off with my favorite track of the year; my wife and daughter are probably so sick of this song. I don't care. They take the core compositional premise of Yes's "Heart of the Sunrise" and launch it to outer space, with Watt spewing Walt Whitman over face-melting guitar and drums licks . Mindblowing what these cats are doing at times here. The rest of the album is thoroughly enjoyable, though never quite hits the heights of this song.

Archive Listens:

Spoiler: show

I spent a ton of time with Bob Marley & The Wailers (really just the Island/Tuff Gong years). I was surrounded by these albums in my adolescence but could never divorce them from the trustafarian context of the people who introduced me to this music. But something clicked this year, and I've fallen in love with every single one of these songs. Soul for miles and ear candy for days.

I also spent a lot of time getting back into Primus, mostly that three-record run from Pork Soda - Tales From the Punchbowl - The Brown Album; plus I have a new appreciation for Green Naugahyde. I still can't get into a Antipop, nor much of the more recent stuff. At some point I posted the The Breeders might be the most original American rock band of all time, and I think it was Ello who countered with Primus? Whoever it was, they might be right.

Finally, I've really begun to fall for Ry Cooder after my dad introduced me to Paradise and Lunch; "Jesus on the Mainline" immediately got its hooks in me and I've started exploring from there; have a ways to go still and would welcome any suggestions.

What’s On Deck for 2025:

Spoiler: show

I'm eager to explore Meshell Ndegeocello a bit more after really enjoying that Omnichord-based album from a couple years ago; beyond that and her "If that's your boyfriend" single from the late 90s, I'm not too familiar with her stuff, but everything I hear makes me want to listen more.

Pat Metheny is also on my short-list for a discography dive. I love his work with Steve Reich, and had previously regarded his solo stuff as too vanilla/new age, but I recently heard a bit of 2003's One Quiet Night and found myself really drawn in.

Gastr Del Sol have a new collection of non-album tracks I need to listen to, and I never did listen to the new Jesus Lizard album beyond the first couple singles, both of which slayed. I also really enjoyed the new album by The Cure and feel like I want to get caught up on everything between Disintegration and Songs of a Lost World.

Finally, after grazing a bunch of year-end lists by music sites, there are some electronic albums I'm really excited to listen to more this winter. I really enjoy this sort of music when I'm getting work done:

Merope - V​ė​jula
Nídia & Valentina - Estradas
Skee Mask - ITLP19 - Resort
Total Blue - S/T
upsammy - Strange Meridians

Final Thoughts:

Spoiler: show

Altogether a fantastic year for my music discovery. More than any time I can remember, I felt my music interests were almost completely uninfluenced by external persuasion, or my own preconceived notions of what I might like; I took a very curious approach to my music discovery this year, keeping tabs on a variety of sources and periodically taking time to listen to things that caught my attention based on arbitrary aspects like album cover, review blurb, record label, writer, or message board poster. I wound up with a good mix of new music by artists I've loved for some time, and new music by artists I either hadn't heard before, or had heard but previously written off.

And I guess Pearl Jam released an album too at some point? Pity about the production because there are some good songs on there.

Haha you copied this from Pitchfork!!! Got you!!

[tragabigzanda]

Top 10 maybe?
Hello Morning
Close Captioned
The Kill
Place/Position
Do You Like Me?
Latest Disgrace
Recap Modotti
Nightshop
Break
Life & Limb

I'd maybe bump Life & Limb for Epic Problem

[Kevin Davis]

I've got my eye on your list too, trag -- still really need to check out the Floating Points and the Jeff Parker.

I'm still waiting for you to tell me I'm not crazy for hating the new Elvis Costello

Oh man, I didn't even realize it had come out. Will check it out this afternoon.

I agree, it's a tough listen. I liked the single, but I honestly had a hard time even listening to the rest of it because of the sound -- off-balance, echoey, shambolic, and not in a good way. I think my feelings toward it would be harsher if I'd spent money on it, but as it is I'll conveniently relegate it to the non-canonical pile and proceed to be unbothered by it. I will probably try it again at some point, but it's definitely the type of album that makes me glad streaming services exist.

[zeb]

Nice shout out for Woodland, trag. That thing is gorgeous.

[tragabigzanda]