2024 Music Enjoyer Part 1
Friends, Let Us Enjoy Some Musics
2024. Oof. Without getting into all the things that were objectively horrible about this year (a list whose numbering would approach infinity), I’d like to call out some of the good stuff that happened. Music, specifically. Lots and lots (and lots!) of really good music.
I’ve got a list of a little over 100 releases that I’ve enjoyed this year, and I’ll be posting the whole magilla sometime in December (just to give the inevitable avalanche of late-year wonders a chance to play). The Rules of the Game I have set for myself here: it has to have actually been originally released between Jan 1 - Dec 31 of the year 2024. No reissues, remasters, genre compilations / etc. [I may cover this extremely diverse & rich area in its own list later.]
In general, everything on this list is something that I’ve bought, usually direct from the artist or label via Bandcamp. Unabridged, the running playlist of all my favorite releases of 2024 clocks in around ~ 1,500 individual tracks and 122 hours, just under a week of human time on this Earth.
So before I put that hundred-layer burrito of sounds down, here’s the first batch of things I’ve been really into this year. I’ll be posting more sets of releases between now and the end of the year. For now I’ll stick with 5 albums at a time to avoid overloading anyone’s brain.
This music isn’t coming from anywhere in particular–it’s all over our planet. Tallinn. Shanghai. Melbourne. Los Angeles. Copenhagen. Austin. Berlin. Philadelphia. Cumbria. That guy standing right behind you (don’t turn around, just be cool).
File Under: Fifth-World Wonders. High(er) Planes Drifters. Wild-Eyed Psychogeographers. Terminally Checked-Out Library Music. Group Therapy for Recovering Jazz Wizards.
Burnt Pink - Perfectionist
First up, this dreamy little slice of dubby, low-slung psych-adjacent instrumentals from Philadelphia ensemble Burnt Pink. I may be wrong, but as best I can tell this one’s self-released. I also really enjoyed their last album (Afterlife Dub) which just got reissued on vinyl this year.
Contours - Elevations
I am constantly in awe of Music From Memory; for me, they’re easily one of the best record labels in the world, and this new album from Contours is no exception. Transcendental instrumental music for inhaling colors and hearing shapes. Also THEM ZITHERSSSSSS <3.
Ezra Feinberg - Soft Power
This one’s a real gem amongst gems; put it on with your morning coffee or tea and feel a much-needed moment’s peace. Light and airy, but never trite; this is a wondrous gift of an album, and some of the most sensitive flute-playing I’ve ever heard.
Fabiano Do Nascimento & Sam Gendel
Sam Gendel has been on my radar for a few years now and basically everything he does is worth checking out, full stop. This new collaboration with guitarist Fabiano Do Nascimento is a marvelously intricate set of songs that manage to balance a kind of clockwork technical perfection with an incredibly deft emotional touch.
Frunk29 - Sequentia
Not Not Fun is one of my all-time favorite record labels, and they continue to get better every year. 2024 has seen them release *two* excellent albums from Russian artist Frunk29, and they’re both fantastic. Breezy bits of beach-sand brushing your heart with beat-up guitar strings.