Favorite Music :: 2024
Some singles, some EPs and some full-length albums.
These have been 50 of my favorite releases of 2024. Selections are in alphabetical order because you can’t rank music.
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts.
2024 Favorite Music (So Far)
Here are my favorite 20 releases of 2024 so far.
Ghosted II by Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin
Live in Paris 1973 by Can
Lives Outgrown by Beth Gibbons
the Collective by Kim Gordon
Blu Wav by Grandaddy
the Handover by the Handover
Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker
Drop 7 by Little Simz
Two Improvisations by Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock
Locust Land by Bill MacKay
Funeral For Justice by Mdou Moctar
the Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis by The Messthetics
David Nance & Mowed Sound by David Nance
Bite Down by Rosali
Water Still Flows by Rich Ruth
Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace by Shabaka
Exotic Birds of Prey by Shabazz Palaces
Time Is Glass by Six Organs of Admittance
Africa Yontii by Tidiane Thiam
Tiger’s Blood by Waxahatchee
2020 Year-End Music Round-Up Wrap-Up Extravaganza
No one could have predicted a year like 2020. The live music industry is on life support. Bandcamp came through just about better than anyone else to support music. And there was a ton of great music released this year.
Per the norm, I do not rank albums. Music is not a competition and my taste is not your taste. So, after lots of thought and list-shuffling and winnowing, these are the 75 albums that really stood out for me. My original list was quite a bit longer (and you can always keep up in real-time by following the Yearly Bookkeeping page), so I can tell you that this list provides a great overview of my music listening for this crazy year.
Here are my favorite 75 albums of 2020.
The Visual List:
The Alphabet List:
Live at Tubby's by 75 Dollar Bill Little Big Band
Shaman! by Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids
Time is A Gift Which We Share All The Time by Afriquoi
Rejoice by Tony Allen and Hugh Masekela
Live by Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood
Fu Chronicles by Antibalas
Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
Roy Ayers JID002 by Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad
Ex-Voto by Jamie Barnes
Please Advise by Beauty Pill
Crash Test Kid by Sammy Brue
Long In The Tooth by the Budos Band
Regresa by Buscabulla
Shadow Talk by Café Racer
Echo Mine by Califone
Gold Record by Bill Callahan
Have We Met by Destroyer
I Just Wasn't Made For These Set Times by Dire Wolves (Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band)
Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan
Afternoon Tea at Six by Eishan Ensemble
Acoustic Storm Sessions by Elkhorn
Kahil El’Zabar’s Spirit Groove by Kahil El'Zabar & David Murray
Wake Up! by Hazel English
Shore by Fleet Foxes
A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
Peoples Motel Band by Chris Forsyth and Garcia Peoples
SOURCE by Nubya Garcia
Nightcap at Wits' End by Garcia Peoples
Big Dark Bright Futures by Growing Concerns Poetry Collective
Women In Music Pt. III by Haim
Infinity Of Now by the Heliocentrics
National Freedom by Lonnie Holley
Muerto, Carcel o Rocanroll by Huntingtons
Beginners by Christian Lee Hutson
Reuinions by Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
Babani Koné by Babani Koné
Mutation by Les Freres Smith
2020 by Magik Markers
Eno Axis by H.C. McEntire
Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock by Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock
Microphones in 2020 by the Microphones
Circles by Mac Miller
Dimensional Stardust by Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra
Annual by Modern Nature
Getting Into Knives by the Mountain Goats
Staunch Honey by David Nance
Three by the Necks
Rob Noyes & Sam Moss by Rob Noyes & Sam Moss
We No Be Machine by Onipa
Jams From The Sun by Oregon Space Trail of Jazz
High Upon The Mountain by Pacific Range
Suite For Max Brown by Jeff Parker
Summerlong by Rose City Band
RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
Landwerk demos by Nathan Salsburg
Acoustic by Oumou Sangaré
Untitled (Black Is) by Sault
We Are Sent Here By History by Shabaka and the Ancestors
The Don of Diamond Dreams by Shabazz Palaces
Ocean Bridges by Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk
Companion Rises by Six Organs of Admittance
Shall We Go On Sinning So That Grace May Increase? by The Soft Pink Truth
Optimisme by Songhoy Blues
Swirling by Sun Ra Arkestra
Oh Yeah? by Sunwatchers
Wooden Flower by Tambourinen
Folklore by Taylor Swift
Nomad by Tengger
Sun Racket by Throwing Muses
Siftorde by Tidiane Thiam
New Vanitas by William Tyler
The Great Mountain by Waterless Hills
Eau’d To A Fake Bookie Volume 3 by Wet Tuna
Strange to Explain by Woods
Homegrown by Neil Young
Half-Year Half-List? 20 Fantastic Albums of 2020
20 isn’t half of 2020, but here are 20 fantastic albums of 2020:
In Alphabetical Order:
Rejoice by Tony Allen + Hugh Masekela
Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan
Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock by Joshua Massad & Dylan Aycock
Circles by Mac Miller
Annual by Modern Nature
Snapshot Of A Beginner by Nap Eyes
Three by The Necks
Jams From The Sun by Oregon Space Trail of Jazz
Suite For Max Brown by Jeff Parker
Summerlong by Rose City Band
RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
Acoustic by Oumou Sangaré
We Are Sent Here By History by Shabaka & The Ancestors
Ocean Bridges by Archie Shepp, Raw Poetic & Damu the Fudgemunk
Companion Rises by Six Organs Of Admittance
Oh Yeah? by Sunwatchers
Tamotait by Tamikrest
The Great Mountain by Waterless Hills
Strange To Explain by Woods
What am I missing?
What’s been some of your favorite music of the year?
Shabaka and the Ancestors (Cosmic Soul Jazz For The End Of Days)
Bandleader Shabaka Hutchings has made a name for himself as an adventurous player in the adventurous London jazz scene. Perhaps most well known for his role in Sons of Kemet, or The Comet Is Coming, Hutchings recently released his sophomore release with Shabaka and the Ancestors, We Are Sent Here By History.
While Hutchings is the constant between the three projects, each has its own unique personality. Shabaka and the Ancestors finds Hutchings collaborating with a group of South African artists. The album’s page at Impulse Records says:
“We Are Sent Here by History’ is a meditation on the fact of our coming extinction as a species. It is a reflection from the ruins, from the burning. a questioning of the steps to be taken in preparation for our transition individually and societally if the end is to be seen as anything but a tragic defeat. For those lives lost and cultures dismantled by centuries of western expansionism, capitalist thought and white supremist structural hegemony the end days have long been heralded as present with this world experienced as an embodiment of a living purgatory.”
The album is out now on Impulse! Records.
Watch the band live at North Sea Jazz 2017: