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[underbootsociety]

Favorite Music of 2024

You've been beaten over the head with every music reviewer's best of 2024 lists, so I'm not going to make this super long or robust. My top ten list, though it may have some surprises, will not be that shocking. But, I do hope that somewhere in this post you discover something new. There's a lot of music out there, be open minded and try new stuff.

That all said, here's my top ten releases of 2024:

10 - She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She by Chelsea Wolfe

When I first heard this back in February I was pretty disappointed. I'm a huge fan of Wolfe, her album Apokalypsis is tied for my favorite album of all time, but as she's gotten away from the sound of that album, I've become less and less interested in her work. The more she gets into doom metal and adjacent genres, the more I feel like her work isn't as original or as interesting as when she was a nobody ethereal wave goth rock musician. Her team up with Converge for Bloodmoon I did sort of refute this though, showing that Wolfe is definitely great in these intense metal genres.

When I first heard She Reaches Out I was surprised it didn't channel the sludge metal of Bloodmoon or the doom concepts of Hiss Spun. I didn't feel as captivated as I had with her previous works. But, as time went on, I would find myself coming back to She Reaches Out, and with each new listen I found myself noticing little things I hadn't before. Ultimately, this was an album I had rejected for not being what I wanted it to be, instead of actually listening to what it has to offer. Frankly, this is probably one of Wolfe's best albums. If you've never listened to her work, this is probably a very good place to start, it's easy to listen to and at 42 minutes it doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Favorite Songs: Dusk, House of Self-Undoing & The Liminal

09 - TANGK by Idles

Much like the previous album, Tangk took some time for me to appreciate - and seeing Idles perform the majority of it live helped tremendously. Idles being this 'leftist punk band that's also not a punk band and makes songs I have a hard time describing to people' have put out so many intense, intelligent, silly, complex albums that coming into Tangk it feels almost like a slowdown. Compared to Joy As An Act of Resistance or Crawler, this album feels slow, or quieter. And described by members as songs about love, it just feels like there's less going on.

But, as I listened to it more and more you find there's such pretty instrumentation on this album. The piano, the synthesizers, the word play, there's so much here to love. It's not the most hard hitting punk album ever, but it's a fantastic listen. And considering it's my most listened to album of 2024, it has to be included on this list. Idles has succeeded at not being pigeonholed as a "punk band," and it's fantastic.

Favorite Songs: Dancer, Grace & Hall and Oats

08 - I Lay Down My Life For You by JPEGMAFIA

Ok, legit, if you took Jpeg off these tracks and made an instrumental version of the album, it'd be so fucking awesome. I'd listen to it just as much. I adore the music and samples on this album. This album might have the best beats of any hip hop album this year. It's such a good fucking album.

And thankfully, Jpeg is great on top of that music. I'm not the rap expert here, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, but I truly believe that Jpeg is one of the best in rap right now, top 5. Possibly top 3. I don't have much more to say, this album is great beginning to end.

Favorite Songs: Sin miedo, Exmilitary & JPEGUltra!

07 - Chromakopia by Tyler, The Creator

Tyler is easily in the top 3. Yeah, Kendrick's number one, that's fine. But Tyler is absolutely one of the best there is right now. Whether you're getting his insightful deconstruction of himself and others like in his song Take Your Mask Off or you're getting his silly lyrics like in Sticky, Tyler is creating some of the best music and best bars in the industry. Beginning to end Chromakopia is an impressive piece of art. No one else is making music that sounds like Tyler, go listen to him.

Favorite Songs: Take Your Mask Off, Like Him & Thought I Was Dead

06 - Soul Kiss by Frost Children and Haru Nemuri

Haru Nemuri? The Japanese noise pop artist I adore? Collaborating with Frost Children, the indie trans hyperpop duo? What?!

Two totally different artists from two different worlds came together and made an EP that absolutely blew my tits off. Soul Kiss is only 19 minutes long and it's one of the best releases of the year. Please just listen to it.

Favorite Songs: Burn, Bad Thing & Daijoubu Desu

05 - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To by Knocked Loose

I've heard so god damn much metalcore in my life, and despite a soft spot in for heart for the genre, it's very rare that a band can do something different or new within it. I also would never think to compliment a straight edge album, people in that group tend to have a weird sense of superiority, a holier-than-thou attitude towards everyone else. Yet, sometimes people come out of it being incredibly great people (or at least entertaining).

You Won't Go etc. is an anti-Church album. At times I questioned if Knocked Loose was a Christian band (boooo) but after actually looking at lyrics I realized that I can't actually discern that. The lyrics are definitely anti-Christian Church though. If they are are bunch of Jesus freaks, then they're really digging through their identities of such on this album and questioning what shape their faith takes (or perhaps losing it). It's honestly a nice theme that's thoroughly embedded in the album. It doesn't feel preachy or annoying, but angry and introspective.

And, of course, all this information is just toppings for the beauty of the music. This goes hard, full of interesting riffs, great vocals (none of them clean, by the way), and it sounds magnificent. It's actually really short too, so easy to digest.

Favorite Songs: Suffocate (featuring Poppy), Sit and Mourn & Don't Reach for Me

04 - “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

It's no surprise that GY!BE would make one of the best albums of the year, they're post rock legends by this point. The surprise is that they're great people who want to bring attention to the genocide in Palestine.

For many decades the people of Palestine have been under a brutal assault by the Israeli government. At the time of the new GY!BE the death toll was 28,340 - mostly children; a year later and the death toll is a staggering 45,936 - mostly children, mostly civilians. You can not call yourself an anarchist or a communist or a "leftist" or "anti-war" and support Israel's actions. Even now with a ceasefire, Israel continues to kill the innocent.

Help out if you can, plenty of people need help. Maybe check out the aforementioned album if you're a fan of post rock.

Favorite Songs: Raindrops Cast in Lead, Pale Spectator Takes Photographs & Babies in a Thundercloud

03 - Laughingfish by Black Dresses

Anyone that knows me or has paid attention to any of my 'best of the year' lists would have seen this coming. Black Dresses is one of my all-time favorite groups and I love all their work. And since this is supposedly their final hurrah, the girls apparently breaking up and ending the project (for the second or third time so who knows I guess), this album feels especially raw, aggressive, sad, and melancholic.

If you've never listened to Black Dresses before, please go do it. Whether this album or another. They were a trans woman duo that made some of the best electro-industrial music ever and if that genre interests you then you'll adore their whole discography.

Favorite Songs: It's Probably Fine, Zero Fantasy & Wounded Animal

02 - GNX by Kendrick Lamar

You knew it was on this list somewhere.

2024 was definitely the year of Kendrick Lamar. GNX doesn't hit the incredible heights of To Pimp a Butterfly, but it's catchy and entertaining. There's nothing I can say about this album that hasn't been said by a million music reviewers, so I'm just gonna be shallow. It sounds good. Squabble Up and TV Off are fun and Luther is phenomenal. I love the way SZA and Lamar duet on Luther, it sounds beautiful. The only real negative I can think of is that the music to the titular GNX is dogshit. Like, he had to know it's dogshit, so I'm sure it's a decision he made on purpose for some reason, but the art of it is lost on me. Honestly, my hate for that beat is the only thing putting this at number two. GNX is probably the spiritual album of the year. Probably.

Favorite Songs: Squabble Up, Luther & TV Off

01 - Monarch of Monsters by Vylet Pony

OK WAIT BEFORE YOU JUST SCROLL PAST ROLLING YOUR EYES

Yes, Vylet is the trans lesbian MLP edm and synthpop musician. Yes, she makes brony music (pegasister music?). But this album is so much more than that. Abandoning her usual style of edm or synthpop, she instead has created a marvelous alternative rock album (I've seen it both described as noise rock and progressive rock, both are true) with the lyrical equivalent of an existential crisis.

If you're unfamiliar with Vylet's work (that's fair), she often writes up these albums with intense lore and characters, there's an entire fan wiki just to keep track of all her works and their characters and lore. But, all of that pales in comparison to Monarch of Monsters, it literally comes with a novella when you buy it on bandcamp. There's no easy way to explain this album, it's topic matter spans from trauma, to suicide, to love, the zoomed out look at it being that the traumatized can themselves become the abuser, or at the least grow into something they hate to see in the mirror. All this over music that seems inspired by Swans, Black Country New Road, and The Mars Volta. From power pop songs that you can dance to, to the 22 minute Sludge that feels so depressing, overwhelming, dark, suffocating you with it's sorrow (a good thing, somehow) - the song equivalent of an inescapable dread.

This album is outstanding, and it feels nice to put such an underrated artist on this pedestal so more people might listen to her. There was no other album like Monarch of Monsters this past year, hell there has been no album like this in the 2020s so far. Please give it a try. Brony music can be good sometimes (I am now tarred and feathered).

Favorite Songs: The Heretic (Woe is Me), Sludge, & Pest

For my full top 50 list, click the read more.

Monarch of Monsters by Vylet Pony

GNX by Kendrick Lamar

Laughingfish by Black Dresses

"No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To by Knocked Loose

Soul Kiss by Frost Children & Haru Nemuri

Chromakopia by Tyler, The Creator

I Lay Down My Life For You by Jpegmafia

Tangk by IDLES

She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out by Chelsea Wolfe

Songs of a Lost World by The Cure

The New Sound by Geordie Greep

No Name by Jack White

Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker

A Lonely Sinner by Samlrc

Where Do the Butterflies Go by Dude Central

Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation

SMILE! :D by Porter Robinson

Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay

13" Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto With Bison Horn Grips by Xiu Xiu

I Saw the TV Glow OST

This Ain't the Way You Go Out by Lucy Rose

Sky Hundred by Parannoul

Brat by Charli XCX

Night Palace by Mount Eerie

Everything is Longing by Sonagi

No Hands by Joey Valence & Brae

Assembling Symbols Into My Own Poetry by Alice Longyu Gao

Hotel la Rut by Joanna Wang

For the Rest of Your Life by twikipedia

Scattersun by Fax Gang & Parannoul

Shinbangumi by Ginger Root

Bando Stone and the New World by Childish Gambino

Girl With No Face by Allie X

Digital Nightmare by TWRP

未成線上 by Ai Higuchi

Negative Spaces by Poppy

シューティング スター (Shooting Star) by Various Artists (Hello!Project tribute)

Praegustator by Kid Dakota

放生会 by Sheena Ringo

Unbound by Chelsea Wolfe

The Great American Bar Scene by Zach Bryan

Fission by Dead Poet Society

Moonbow by The Fever Haze

Concrete Jungle (The OST) by Bad Omens

Slash-&-Burn by Daoko

Bucchigiri Tokyo by Hanabie.

Lost Corner by Kenshi Yonezu

High School Musical by Crystal Tea

Hole In My Head by Laura Jane Grace

[underbootsociety]

“sorry i can’t come out, i have plans”

the plans:

[underbootsociety]

they should make socialization easier for scared girls

[underbootsociety]

they should make socialization easier for scared girls

[underbootsociety]

why is this one question for my assignment written like this

[underbootsociety]

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

[underbootsociety]

is there a single mangaka that draws trans manga and actually knows about hrt?

all the manga ive read with transgender themes are always either magical genderswap or basically just crossdressing even if the character is explicitly said to be a girl

not that we know off the top of our head, but we've far from read every manga; any followers know any?

[underbootsociety]

"Get the stars out of your eyes, Tandy Bowen." -Dr. Strange every single time I play. Fun fact, out of 64 hours of playing Marvel Rivals, I've spent 56 of them as Cloak and Dagger. Art by me.

[underbootsociety]

Kow Yokoyama

[underbootsociety]

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

⚔️ If you want to read some queer retelling of arturian legends have a look at my webtoon

[underbootsociety]

A little princess

[underbootsociety]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume’s Book of Friends Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Morinaga Souko/Natsume Reiko, Morinaga Souko & Natsume Reiko, Natsume Takashi & Taki Tooru & Tanuma Kaname, Natsume Reiko & Natsume Takashi, Morinaga Souko & Natsume Takashi, Morinaga Souko/Original Character Characters: Natsume Reiko, (posthumously), Morinaga Souko, Natsume Takashi, Tanuma Kaname, Taki Tooru, Original Characters, Madara “Nyanko-sensei” Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Lost Love, brief allusions to homophobia (microagressions), Natsume Takashi Protection Squad, elderly lesbians i love you, Talking to Natsume Takashi and instantly wanting to treasure and protect him

Summary:

Souko Morinaga returns to the town she spent her childhood in for a vacation with her wife, daughter, and granddaughter. But she finds she can’t quite get over her lingering guilt over how she never reconciled with Natsume Reiko all those years ago. She takes a walk through Hitoyoshi, the town Reiko once lived in, only to run into a strange boy who looks just like Reiko. He somehow knows her name, and he has something to tell her…

“The boy looked up at her and Souko felt like she’d been hit by a truck.

Golden eyes with curious cat-like pupils. Soft, fine hair framing delicate features. A perfect, carefully practiced smile. An ugly bruise on the forehead, and she could almost hear Reiko’s voice saying “Don’t worry about it.”

The phantom of her first love had appeared, gleaming in the sunlight, looking just as she had the day she met her.”

—

Since Tumblr refuses to do otherwise, here’s the link to my fic on ao3 the old fashioned way. An older Souko runs into Natsume and gets some revelations.

[underbootsociety]

Jack be nimble Jack be quick Jack jump over the candlestick

Just a little horror poem i wrote recently . Been trying to imagine people in dangerous situations lately but its hard cuase i get scared. Almost cried writing this. Please reblog

[underbootsociety]

constantly in awe of the indomitable spirit of homestuck. it's been eternally, publicly branded as dogshit, the most any layman knows about it in 2025 is sharpie bath mythology, there truly is no hope for its public image, and yet. to this day you will never find an internet comment section without a nepeta profile picture. the mentally ill tweenagers of the world are still using typing quirks. tamsyn muir is putting out New York Times Bestsellers with her partner's pesterchum tag written in the dedication along with "<>" . you can't fight it

[underbootsociety]

There's one critique I've seen going around a lot about Brave New World: That Sam himself does not have a character arc in the movie and instead ends up being a supporting character in his own film.

I've had my own qualms about the movie's handling of Ross in particular and gone back and forth on it. But this one? This, I feel I need to defend.

If we can step back for a moment, let's talk about Steve Rogers. What was his trajectory in the Captain America films?

First Avenger: At the start of the movie, Steve is characterized as a man who would sacrifice himself in a heartbeat to protect other people. The film ends with Steve sacrificing himself to protect other people.

Winter Soldier: At the start of the movie, Steve's skeptical of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s shady methods and has faith in his friend Bucky. At the end of the movie, Steve dismantles S.H.I.E.L.D. and their way of doing things, and he redeems Bucky.

Civil War: At the start of the movie, Steve refuses to go along with the Sokovia Accords and believes full-heartedly that Bucky is innocent. At the end of the movie, Steve refuses to go along with the Sokovia Accords and proves Bucky's innocence.

Generally, when we think of a character arc, we think of a dynamic character who begins in a position of being wrong about something. Tony Stark thinks war profiteering is neato and then has to learn the error of his ways. He changes, evolving his way of thinking and who he is as a person. He grows over the course of the plot into the man he needs to become. That is your typical character arc.

The character starts with what is academically referred to as the Lie the Character Believes, and then unlearns the Lie through their experiences.

But, historically, this has not been how Captain America movies shape up. Steve has no Lie. He is the moral paragon. He's exactly who he needs to be from the moment he steps out onscreen.

All three Captain America films see Steve undergo what is called the Flat Character Arc. The way this works is that the protagonist is not a dynamic character who changes and grows. The protagonist is the catalyst. He doesn't believe a Lie; He shines the Truth on the Lies that other characters believe. They change and grow and become better by their exposure to him.

In First Avenger, Steve locks horns with COL Philips and through his unyielding strength of personality, forces Philips to relent to his way of thinking.

In Winter Soldier, he locks horns with Nick Fury, Black Widow, and even the Winter Soldier. Again, breaking through their defenses with his force of personality until they concede to his way of thinking.

In Civil War, his side gradually strips away Tony Stark's supporters until even Stark himself relents to Steve's way of thinking, albeit with a big punch-up over Tony's parents getting in the way of it.

This is the kind of the protagonist that Captain America is. He is the Lightbringer who begins the story from a position of moral certainty and reveals the Lies in the hearts of everyone else around him, until ultimately and sometimes climactically they accept his Truths for themselves. He doesn't change; He changes people through leadership and strength of character.

That's not to say you can't write a story where Captain America has to grow or change. There are plenty of those too. Steve has a dynamic character arc in Avengers 1, where he starts out blindly trusting of S.H.I.E.L.D. and has to learn the hard way that they're more underhanded than he realized.

Sam in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has a dynamic character arc. He has to find faith in himself and come around to the idea that he is worth to be Steve's successor. An idea that Steve was right about from the start! Steve's gone and still shining the light of Truth on other people's Lies. That is how dedicated he was to the flat character arc!

So.

Like.

It is true that Sam doesn't change or grow over the course of Brave New World. That he starts the film at a position of moral certainty and serves as the catalyst for stripping away the Lies that the dynamic character Ross believes.

But that's not Sam being relegated to supporting character.

That's Sam being Captain America.