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ctrl-alt-vibeshift · 1 month ago

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Owen and Jonah's favorite music released in 2024

Excited and honored to bring on my bestie/DJ partner/roommate/fellow music industry colleague Jonah to help compile a list of our favorite music releases from 2024. Everything is subjective or whatever, so we didn’t rate or rank them, they’re presented in chronological order. Individual contributions are signed with our names, but because our divine taste overlaps a lot, there’s a few where we each had something to say. Enjoy reading and listening!

Allina - Smerz - February 1

Extremely fab, in the truest sense. Smerz wastes no time crafting the glam persona, Allina, an embodied rise of the 2000s sultry diva lifestyle. This album is minimal electro pop at its best, but cut with something more self-aware–a satirical edge. - Jonah

Thief - Threshold - February 8

Thief is on the brink of something catastrophic, but it never quite gets there. The overwhelming sense of loss and confusion that carries this release, is built with lucid piano melodies and droning static synths. It provides a haunting voice to all the places, people, and feelings you never realized you’d left behind. - Jonah

“Coma” - Caroline Polachek - February 14

While Caroline Polachek’s crown may have slipped a bit when Charli xcx dethroned her from the top of my most played artists this year, she cemented her status as one of my favorite artists of all time with “Coma” from the “Everasking Edition” of Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, her sophomore album released last year. The track starts rather meekly with a heart rate monitor beep over some gentle piano progressions before a pang (no pun intended) resuscitates the song to life with some bongos backing up a skittering symphony of Danny L Harle’s genius at work. “Coma” has everything I love about Caroline Polachek: songwriting that takes you on a journey; ethereal, synthy vocal sections bookended by strong, rich instrumentals; lyricism that rivals the greatest of poets; extended moments of pure vocalizing to show off her effortless voice contortion; and of course a life-monitoring electronic beep sample. “If this is a dream, I don’t wanna wake up / It feels so good to me, like I can’t get enough” are my thoughts exactly on this song. - Owen

“D.Y.D (Miru Shinoda, Kento Yamada Remix)” - ExWHYZ - March 20

I love when new music comes to me in the most unexpected places. I discovered this J-pop girl group while riding the train during my 4 months of study abroad in Tokyo last year. Some 30-something otaku guy sitting across from me was clutching one of their albums and the graphic design caught my eye, so I immediately searched their name on Apple Music and uncovered a hidden gem of a discography that seamlessly blends impressive electronic dance production with the typical girly-pop vocals of the J-pop world. This track, from their “variety album” Dress to Kill (essentially a collection of remixes of their discography so far repackaged with a few new singles), strips back “D.Y.D,” from their debut 2022 album xYZ, into a wistful electronic ballad with yearning vocals over a soothing jungle beat complete with vocal chops and a killer acid DNB breakdown during the last 41 seconds that make me want to listen to it on loop. - Owen

“Sugar Bomb” - ME:I - April 17

“Sugar Bomb” is the B-side of the 2-track debut EP “MIRAI” from J-pop girl group “ME:I,” which was formed via the Japanese edition of notorious K-pop survival show “Produce 101.” The track continues the UK dance music resurgence in Asian pop brought about by Pinkpantheress and popularized by NewJeans with a sugary 2-step garage beat (I think? don’t clock me for using the wrong genre nomenclature this shit confusing) mixed with what has to have been rejected MarioKart soundtrack loops because the similarity is uncanny, albeit a large part of the reason why this song gives me such a serotonin rush. The bass also reminds me of “Cool With You” by NewJeans, but I’m not even going to try to place whatever genre it pulls from. Great use of “Slay, it so lit” in the lyrics which for some reason transcribe “lit” as “L.I.T.”? This song is so “Bomb” that it was my 2nd most played of the year, behind only “Rewind” by Kelela. - Owen

Your Day Will Come - Chanel Beads - April 19

A huge win for nostalgia and the hypnagogic pop revival. Shane Lavers’ voice is somehow reminiscent of my middle school inner monologue, but more confident and vengeful with curiosity. It’s dramatic and innocent and entirely strange. - Jonah

This album is what traipsing through a mid-forest meadow with a thunderstorm on the horizon feels like. You can see it coming and know you should head back soon but something you can’t quite put your finger on is pulling you along and at least you’re dry for now. The plucky, mournful “Urn” is my fav, the kind of song you play to drown out your tears while laying flowers on a friend’s grave. - Owen

Basspunk - Bassvictim - April 22

What an incredible debut. No other album this year has felt so alive and viscerally playful (headbangers to the front). EDM is back, baby and I can’t help but want to jump around. This album drives full speed through some of the most mind boggling drops of all time and it does so with such ease. Basspunk’s melodies are indescribable–I’m still trying to parse through all of the complexities, but who cares anyway? Bassvictim doesn’t give a fuck and neither should you. - Jonah

I was a victim of the bass. 2 and a half times this year to be exact - twice live and once via a DJ set. This album is what we need in electronic music right now. Finally something that isn’t trying to recreate but is reusing and remixing and smashing everything together and just having fucking fun! “As Long As” is def my fav, the cunty Polish lyrics over this fatttt beat make me wanna blast it while riding dirty with the windows down. “I Like It” perfectly sonifies what it feels like being pulled and pushed along with the ebb and flow of a mosh pit. Other standouts are the catchy “L-On-D-On,” an ode to the city the duo is based, and the honky-tonk “Canary Wharf drift” remix. - Owen

Kill Everyone Now - Pharmacist - April 26

This is definitely a deeper cut, but if you are at all a fan of witch house you need to pay attention. The sophomore album of Chicago-based artist, Pharmacist (not to be confused with the drift phonk king), was released by the experimental label Yearning. In line with the short tradition of witch house, Kill Everyone Now finds its voice through the distortion of pop culture reference—in this case, the project seeds from John Water’s iconic film, Pink Flamingo, starring the legendary Divine. This album is full of all your classic elements: rotting synths, glitchy drums, chopped up vocals, and the occasional shriek, but Kill Everyone Now is more thoughtful than its predecessors. It takes on a new life in spite of its desolation–bringing out a softer side to filth. - Jonah

40 - Jawnino - May 3

Who is Jawnino? The faceless, UK rapper holds us close to him while he sheds light on love and pain in his debut release, 40. This album has such an interesting range: airy piano ballads, true grime, shimmering melodies, all strung together by fat ass basslines. I highly recommend listening to this through your headphones, preferably near the water, on a long walk away from all your haters. - Jonah

“Lucifer” - A.G. Cook - May 10

A.G. Cook. Charli xcx. Addison Rae. Need I say more? The Holy Trinity of the new electronic pop avant garde. I could write essays about each of them–Charli I already have–but wow do I need an entire album from the three of them. This is magic. So chill, so self-assured, so understated, so effervescent. “All these people think they know the things they don’t” oh Charli don’t end us like that… Neeeed to eat ice cream and watch TV with Addison, she’s already living in my head rent free. Dare I say this is the best song Charli & Addison touched this year. - Owen

“How Sweet” - NewJeans - May 24

No one has had more of an insane year than NewJeans has. I won’t even get into it now–I’ll probably write a blog post about both their and LOONA’s respective legal battles and how it speaks to the tension between creatives and business executives within the music industry at some point–but for now #FREENEWJEANS!!! Anyway, NewJeans continue to raise the bar for us all with “How Sweet,” the title track from their double Korean single, 1 of only 4 songs they put out this year :( This song kinda sounds like if “Ditto” and “Super Shy” had a baby. It’s been described as “Miami bass electroclash,” and in my words it’s one of their best songs to date. Like ouuuu I wish I had an ex that I could sing “Wow, don’t you know how sweet it tastes / Now that I’m without you” to with this much nonchalant swagger. Also “Done scrolling thousand times” is a strong contender for my favorite lyric of the year. NewJeans, I don’t know what you’ll be called next year, but please keep feeding us these bops. - Owen

Rockstars - Spresso - May 27

I usually get overwhelmingly bored by repetitive guitar loops, but for some reason Mica Levi and Alpha Maid have me hypnotized. This EP is really quite short, but what it lacks in time, it makes up for with an immense amount of coolness. I honestly have no idea what this EP is trying to say, but I’m begging for more. - Jonah

This but More - Priori - May 30

I unfortunately didn’t discover this one until a few weeks ago, but it was so good that I was googling if I could buy a vinyl of it before I was even done with my first listen. This atmospheric album is a rich collection of ambient and electronic sounds constructed into surprising arrangements, at times evoking an epic sci-fi movie soundtrack, lost transmissions from another dimension, and what you’d wanna hear dancing deep within the forest fog as the sun rises. I want to dissolve completely into it, becoming one with the sounds as I hear them, abandoning any boundaries between my body and their vibrations. My fav tracks are “Thick Air,” which sounds like techno but acoustic, and “Wake (feat. James K),” which is the most (relatively) “normal” song but is elevated by the breathtaking vocals of James K, another standout new artist I found this year, whose voice fades in and out of the ambient, blanketing DNB instrumental. But honestly, this is one of those albums where you need to listen to it in full from front to back in order to best experience it. - Owen

Rocky Top Ballads - Fine - June 7

OK this is my actual favorite album of the year. Fine came swinging out of nowhere with drums like molasses and dreamy acoustic guitar riffs. Rocky Top Ballads feels like the older sister to a long lost Mazzy Star album: delicately vague, ghostly, and so deeply romantic. She has the voice of an angel and she knows it, carrying us through her narrative veil of winding love. Fine’s lyrics are brimming with a cool tone of infatuation, insecurity, and hesitation, all bound in personal mythology. It’s at times folky, grungy, cinematically rich, and still somehow stripped back. Although technically Danish, Fine dishes out an instant American classic. - Jonah

Boy - 2hollis - June 7

Now THIS is an ALBUM!!! I loveee cohesive bodies of work with structure and flow and seamless track transitions that are still diverse in sound and style. This is giving me hope for the next generation of musicians, maybe the art of the album is not all lost. 2hollis is the best figure to emerge from the ashes of the slow, drawn-out and heavily debated death of whatever the fuck “hyperpop” rap was. This is like if Drain Gang were to make an “indie sleaze” album. But also it’s not like that because it is so refreshing and original and meandering that it’s hard for me to place it within a genre and those are always my favorite bodies of work. 2hollis cooked up a tracklist full of insane electronic bangers, that seamlessly blend elements of EDM, garage, hyperpop, dubstep, rage rap, and more. My favs are the ecstatic “light,” which for some reason reminds me of how i’m feeling now era Charli xcx; the bouncy, 8-bit bop “two bad”; the chompy trap-donk of “lie”; and the purely instrumental “3,” which goes bat shit crazy and deserves to be blasted on blown out speakers in a Chinatown basement. - Owen

Furever - fakemink - June 10

SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG SWAG. fakemink is my favorite British rapper and he should be yours too. Furever is an EP full of soothing drum loops and dreamy synths, over which fakemink bares his simple truths. He's above it all. He’s smoking real gas (that he paid for) and he’s weeding through the bullshit. It’s the spontaneity of his lyricism I think I find most attractive, but also I’m just madly in love with him. - Jonah

Brat and it’s the same but there’s three more songs so it’s not - Charli xcx - June 10

I’m not even gonna hype up the cultural impact of this album because that’s been talked about enough. While this isn’t my fav or her best album (Pop 2 still going strong), the deluxe version of Brat is the best of its 3 versions, mainly due to “Spring Breakers” which has the best piano section and sample in any song I’ve heard this year. “Guess” without Billie Eilish in your ear is actually good! And justice for “Hello Goodbye,” Charli is so damn good at making unrequited love sad bops for those of us who are too shy to make the first move #representation… Oh and of course, my OG Brat tracklist favs are the orchestrally bombastic “Everything is romantic,” the irresistibly swathy “B2b” (I really don’t get the hate train around this one), the Imogen Heap-esque “I think about it all the time” and the balls to the wall banger “365.” - Owen

“CRAZY” - LE SSERAFIM - August 30

Oh LE SSERAFIM. Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally finding a group identity, getting better creative direction, and latching onto the success of last year’s Jersey Club anthem “Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s wife” that outsold the title track from that era. “CRAZY,” the title track from their EP of the same name, is honestly my favorite K-pop song released this year. It’s a crazy blend of drift phonk and cunty gay club/ballroom music that even the girls themselves vogue the boots house down to or whatever. Sakura duck walking while proclaiming “I’m an otaku bestie”... GAG! All the girls were truly girling this year. - Owen

Toxe2 - Toxe - August 30

What a truly unique release from the label gods over at Year0001. This album is so jubilant and bursting with lush pop melodies. It really is buzzing and fluttering and all the words you might use to describe a small swarm of flying insects. Epic drums echo under the crispiest vocal mantras (I don’t speak Swedish so the lyrical themes could be way off, but I sort of like my lack of understanding). I don’t know if I should be welcoming Toxe with open arms or running in the opposite direction. Either way, this album was really surprising and I’ve found myself returning again and again for sonic inspiration. - Jonah

“EQetamine” - EQ, Estratosfera, Qiri, MAJA & OKTE - September 11

(CTFU I did not realize they released this on 9/11. This is my 9/11, in the sense that releases this year will now be measured in BEQ and AEQ.) EQ, a new Buenos Aires based super duo comprised of artists Estratosfera and Qiri, caught my eye when their Koss-Porta-Pro-ified stock image photoshoot for debut single “Boytoy” went viral earlier this year, and they proved they could keep the hype going with this banger of a track. While this song relies heavily on the much played out “indie sleaze” electroclash frayed synths–which I like to call “electric arc” but more on that soon maybe–EQ somehow manages to make them sound as fresh and as hard as ever, mashing it up with some wubbing bassline and IDGAF lyric delivery. No literally, one of the lyrics is “I-D-G-A-F, I don’t give a fuck,” like yes please more songs using internet acronyms, come on Bella Thorne “TTYLXOX”! On the edge of my seat for a full length project from these two, gonna be my ones to watch for 2025. - Owen

“Eusexua” - FKA twigs - September 13

This one holds a special place in my heart (IYKYK) but all bias aside, this is genuinely one of the best songs I have ever heard. Such a beautiful, emotional, atmospheric, ethereal, awe-inspiring epic journey of a song. I can’t even begin to describe how this makes me feel, but maybe I don’t have to because twigs already put the perfect word to it: Eusexua! “Do you feel alone? / You’re not alone” and “People always told me that I take my love too far / Then refuse to help me” bring a tear to my eye every time. Eartheater’s backing vocals send a chill down my spine. The buildup makes me feel like I’m ascending to an alternate dimension. This is the perfect song for crying in the club. Also, the MV for this track is def my fav of the year, and includes another album track “Drums of Death,” which I went back and forth on whether I should highlight that one or “Eusexua” in this list about a million times because that’s how good they each are in their own right. I already have a strong feeling EUSEXUA the album will be at the top of my list of fav albums next year ;) - Owen

my anti-aircraft friend - julie - September 13

Another one close to my heart, the three-piece band julie serves up a beautifully raw collection of rock tracks as explosive as the guitar drawing on the cover. This sound isn’t my forte, so I won’t even try to describe it, and I know they hate genre labels anyway. But what I can describe is the strange comfort I find in letting the loud walls of sound they build up and break down at the flip of a coin wash over me while listening to this masterpiece. My favs are the disinterested “catalogue,” that makes not feeling sexy into the sexiest song ever; the not at all muted, calm, or malaise “very little effort”; the at first stripped back “knob” which hits you full force with a flooring beat drop (can you say that in rock?); the clangy, defiling “feminine adornments”; and “stuck in a car with angels” which became one of my favs after experiencing it live, as this whole album should be! - Owen

Café Life - Starcleaner Reunion - September 20

So yes this does sound extremely similar to Stereolab, but is anyone actually complaining? Starcleaner Reunion’s Café Life is bouncy and hopeful underneath all its blasé attitude. It’s a light dip into a glowing green pool–a perfect thing to enjoy with breakfast. - Jonah

Pretty Little Problem - iKeda - October 16

I almost missed this one, but thank fuck I didn’t cause WOW. Who knew bassline could be so fun and girly! But seriously I wanna dance with iKeda. She looks amazing and this production is diabolical (Tailtiu is an actual genius). - Jonah

Now thisss is actually Y2K. Not that I would know since I was -1 when that era began, but nothing is so trash luxe as this is. “Rapunzel” lowkey outdid Pinkpantheress at her own game. The glittery club jam “Luv drunk” is my fav, the kind of song you want to jump around the dance floor to like no one else is watching. Thank god SoundCloud legend Tailtiu got in the studio and was given a proper release, she carries this production. And maybe Babymorocco should take the back seat more often, because this songwriting kinda tops anything he’s put out on his own. - Owen

Perfectly Blue - RIP Swirl - October 17

This one is for the moody music listeners. Berlin based artist, RIP Swirl, gives us a hazier, more shoegaze / trip hop / downtempo inclined project than his first album, Blurry. Perfectly Blue is full of atmosphere and haunting choruses, not to mention some of the best vocal features this year. It’s altogether gloomy and mellow, while still maintaining an easy-going, poppy, electronic flow. - Jonah

“Aquamarine” - Addison Rae - October 25

Try Not To Say Mother Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE EDITION). Addison, I knew from the second that you liked my tweet about your music taste while I was standing in my hometown Target with the bestie that you were destined for artistic greatness. From the moment she dropped that mysterious teaser of this track’s instrumental over a video of her walking effortlessly underwater, I knew it was going to be a hit. Honorable mention for “Diet Pepsi” which she released first after that teaser, but certainly kept us well fed during the wait. This is like Azealia Banks meets Madonna meets A.G. Cook. Give me moooorrreeooooreeeooooreeeooooreeeoorrrreee ASAP pleek! - Owen

Going Nowhere - Quiet Light - October 25

I have a real soft spot for this one. Quiet Light is the project of Riya Mahesh, a Texas-born, Boston-based, medical student, who is a self-described “normal girl.” Her newest album is centered around young love, loneliness, and vulnerability. It’s full of intimate ambient moments, orchestrated into grandiosity. Soulfully layered vocals and operatic string synths take turns, effortlessly flowing in and out of the spotlight. Going Nowhere is tender and brutally honest, and Riya’s songwriting harkens back to my earliest feelings of budding crushes and the unfortunate shattering of expectation. She sings from her heart, reaching deep into my own and tugging so calmly, like a small child–tiny, mighty, and tear-jerking. - Jonah

LL - The Hellp - October 25

Another really great cohesive body of work that proves The Hellp transcend the “indie sleaze” label they’re always boxed in to and will be here long after it dies (if it hasn’t already). I think this has my fav opening song of the year, “U,” boy am I a sucker for piano used in electronic songs. This album is more hyperpoppy (not to use another tired label) than their previous grungier releases, but this is a shift I’m fully here for. The new sound is best embodied by the immaculate track “Stunn,” which I would’ve listed on here solo as one of my fav songs if the whole album wasn’t also as good. It starts with a wash of sugary synths cut up by a pitched up sample before a SOPHIE-esque metallic clang joins the mix overtop of Noah Dillon’s eager vocals. All that before completely switching gears halfway through and beautifully dissolving into a soft, swirling ambient fade out with more piano (!!!). My other fav is “Halo,” another track that expertly builds up and evolves throughout, accentuated by an ingenious sample of a default iPhone ringtone. P.S. they should’ve named “9_21” 9_20 because that’s my birthday… - Owen

Big Smile, Black Mire - urika’s bedroom - November 1

Yearning is the best way to describe Tchad Cousins’ absolutely majestic voice. Big Smile, Black Mire is his breakout project (aside from producing all the incredible untitled(halo) songs we all know and love). The release rests on a bed of glitching melodies, crunchy sparks, and eerie samples that give apocalypse aura. I can’t help but think of Panchiko’s D>E>A>T>H>M>E>T>A>L everytime I turn this on, but thankfully urika’s bedroom is free from all the insufferable incel co-opting (I’m looking at all you Rate Your Music users). Big Smile, Black Mire feels uncanny and dystopian, but still largely familiar. It’s grunge rock through a broken channel, the residue from a rusty copper wire. - Jonah

“Viola” - Yves - November 14

In case you live under a rock and somehow still haven’t heard the phrase “stan LOONA,” Yves is one of 12 original LOONA members that all dissolved and regrouped into 2 groups of 5 and 2 soloists (the other being legend CHUU) after a historic, successful legal battle to end their contracts with BlockBerry Creative, their notorious K-pop company. And thank GOD she is free, because wow this is some of the best music coming out of Korea right now. I don’t even wanna call it K-pop because this is so much more than that. I didn’t think she could top “LOOP,” her debut solo title track released in May, but she proved me wrong with “Viola,” a punchy electronic song with some insane layering going on in the production, I don’t even know how to describe these sounds but I love them so much. They sound like what I think taking a blowtorch to your computer screen and melting pixels would sound like if that was possible (?). Also shoutout to the MV, which is my fav Korean MV this year, soooo Polachekian. And Yves, if you’re reading this, I know you “just need some space” but PLEASE come to Bushwick we neeeed to ki down mama. You would love it here… - Owen

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