Month: December 2024

Infinite Jest is Long, Too: Living to Listen’s Favorite 180 Albums of 2024

This year, I abandoned my usual practice of scratching out a casual intro and, month by month, building a cumulative list of my favorite new releases. I had begun to feel the itch of guilt (and envy) that fellow music fanatics were really writing about the records, so, in 2024, I tried to do that instead, while (most of the time) confining myself to a single sentence per record (again, like Jim Hart or the band [ahmed], I like to go long). I felt more satisfied–but in the end it made compiling my year-end list a real pain in the patootie pie. I think I’ll go back to gradually compiling a list in 2025, especially since those sentences seldom were anything to brag about.

Anyway, the biggest surprise to me, reflecting on my list, is that an Americana artist topped it–I’ve tired of that genre and maybe it’s related to the state of the nation–another was in my Top 20, and one, an album that regular calmed me, was just outside of that group. I played Corb Lund’s El Viejo more than any new album of the year: witty, specific, lyrically and musically unified, with deluxe-version cuts that fit right in. “Gambles” might be the theme, and not just with cash. Second, Bill Orcutt, an imaginative and frequently coruscating plectrist to whom I’d never given much of an ear, placed two albums in my top 20. Third, I really wanted these selections to be ’24 only, but I could not deny my fellow former southwest Missouri kid Chappell Roan–she dazzled, she was gloriously a lot, and I am sure someone else will open their gate to her, too. She’s earned it.

This was also, in many ways, The Year of Sun Ra–two intriguing tributes, one strong album from his eternal posthumous Arkestra, and a scad of intriguing reissues, one of them a pipe organ fantasia that successfully and inexplicably melded the Phantom of the Opera, Garth Hudson, James Booker, and Ellingtonia. It’s called Excelsior Mill and it’s a true trip. Maybe it was The Year of Sun Ra because many of us are longing for space right now.

Props to Red Hot Org for being on it in 2024.

Rough translation of numerical order to grades, if you like that: 1=A+ (that’s right, MFs); 2-20 =A; 21-50 =A-; 51-150 =B+ (grade inflation alert, but fuck–listen to them!). Excavations: 1-10 =A; 11-30=A- (I do not fuck with B+ or lower excavations.)

And so:

Living to Listen’s Favorite Albums of 2024:

BRAND-SPANKIN’ NEW in ‘24

1. Corb Lund: El Viejo (Deluxe Edition) (New West)

2. Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past is Still Alive (Nonesuch)

3. Chappell Roan: The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (Atlantic) (’23 vintage but ’24 IMPACT)

4. Doechii: Alligator Bites Never Heal (Top Dawg Entertainment / Capitol)

5. Darius Jones: Legend of e’Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye) (AUM Fidelity)

6. Ka: The Thief Next to Jesus (self-released)

7. Mdou Moctar: Funeral for Justice. (Matador)

8. [ahmed]: Giant Beauty (Fönstret)

9. Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet: Four Guitars Live (Palilalia)

10. Jeff Parker: The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)

11. Kendrick Lamar: GNX (pgLang/Interscope)

12. QOW Trio: The Hold Up (Ubuntu)

13. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The World is on Fire (Division 81)

14. Snotty Nose Rez Kids: Red Future (Savage Mob)

15. Swamp Dogg: Blackgrass—From West Virginia to 125th Street (Oh Boy! Records)

16. X: Smoke & Fiction (Fat Possum)

17. Tucker Zimmerman: Dance of Love (4AD)

18. Charli xcx: Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat  (Atlantic)

19. Jlin: Akoma (Planet Mu)

20. Bill Orcutt: How to Rescue Things (Palilalia)

21. Kasey Musgraves: Deeper Well (Interscope / MCA Nashville)

22. Moses Sumney: Sophcore (self-released EP)

23. Red Kross: Red Kross (In the Red)

24. AALY Trio: Sustain (Silkheart)

25. Various Artists: Transa (Red Hot Org)

26. Frank London/The Elders: Spirit Stronger Than Blood (ESP-Disk

27. Beyonce: Cowboy Carter (Parkwood Entertainment)

28. Ingebrigt Haker Flaten & (Exit) Knarr: Breezy (Sonic Transmissions)

29. Brandon Seabrook: Object of Unknown Function (Pyroclastic)

30. Ohad Talmor / Chris Tordini / Eric McPherson: Back to the Land (Intakt)

31. Amyl & The Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness (Rough Trade)

32. PYPY: Sacred Times (Goner)

33. Alan Braufman: Infinite Love Infinite Tears (Valley of Search)

34. LL Cool J: The FORCE (LL Cool J Records)

35. Deerlady, Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abreggo: Greatest Hits (Gotta Groove)

36. Allen Lowe & The Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong’s America (Constant Sorrow)

37. Adeem The Artist: ANNIVERSARY (Thirty Tigers /Four Quarters)

38. MC Lyte: 1 of 1 (My Block Inc.)

39. Heems & Lapgan: Lafandar (Veena Sounds / Mass Appeal India)

40. Tyler, The Creator: CHROMAKOPIA (Columbia)

41. Amaro Freitas: Y’Y (Psychic Hotline)

42. Big Freedia & The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra: Live at the Orpheum Theater (Queen Diva)

43. Al-Quasar: Uncovered (We Want Sounds)

44. Mannequin Pussy: I Got Heaven (Epitaph)

45. Javon Jackson & Nikki Giovanni, Javon & Nikki Go to the Movies (Solid Jackson/Palmetto)

46. Adrienne Lenker: Bright Future (4AD)

47. Church Chords: elvis, he was Schlager (Otherly Love)

48. Kali Uchis: Orquideas (Geffen)

49. Kenny Segal & K-the-I???: Genuine Dexterity (Backwoodz Studios)

50. Ann Savoy: Another Heart (Smithsonian Folkways)

51. R.A.P. Ferreira: Outstanding Understanding (Ruby Yacht)

52. Noah Haidu: Standards II (Sunnyside)

53. David Murray: Francesca (Intakt)

54. Patricia Brennan Septet: Breaking Stretch (Pyroclastic)

55. The Messthetics: The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis (Impulse)

56. Pet Shop Boys: Nonetheless (Parlophone)

57. E L U C I D: Revelator (Fat Possum)

58. Dennis Gonzalez Legacy Band: Live at the Texas Theater (Astral Spirits)

59. Drakeo the Ruler: The Undisputed Truth (Stinc Team)

60. Awon & Phoniks: Golden Era 2 (Don’t Sleep)

61. Taliba Safiya: Black Magic (Deep Water EP)

62. SAULT: Acts of Faith (self-released)

63. Tashi Dorji: We Will Be Wherever The Fires are Lit (Drag City)

64. Fay Victor: Herbie Nichols SUNG: Life Is Funny That Way (Tao Forms)

65. Kelly Lee Owens: Dreamstate (dh2)

66. Paper Jays: Paper Jays (ESP-Disk)

67. Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days (Via/Thirty Tigers)

68. Takkak Takkak: Takkak Takkak (Nyege Nyege Tapes)

69. [ahmed]: Wood Blues (Fönstret)

70. Rapsody: Please Don’t Cry (We Each Other / Jamla Records

71. Neta Raanan: Unforeseen Blossom (Giant Step Arts)

72. Acceleration Due to Gravity: Jonesville (Hot Cup)

73. Friends & Neighbors: Circles (Clean Feed)

74. Satoko Fujii Trio: Jet Black (Libra)

75. Anna Kiviniemi Trio: Eir (We Jazz)

76. Abdullah Ibrahim: 3 (Gearbox)

77. Malcria: Fantasias Histericas (Iron Lung)

78. Burnt Sugar: The Reconstru​-​Ducted Repatriation Road​-​Rage ReMiXeS [of “Angels Over Oakanda’] (self-released)

79. Legendary Singing Stars: Good Old Way (Music Maker Foundation)

80. Molly Lewis: On the Lips (Jagjaguwar)

81. Split System: Volume 2 (Legless)

82. Florian Arbenz: Conversation #11 / #12 (Hammer)

83. Citric Du: Zen and the Arcade of Beating Your Ass (Feel It Records)

84. Jorga Mesfin: The Kindest One (Muzikawa)

85. Joan Diaz Trio (Introducing Silvia Perez): We Sing Bill Evans (Fresh Sound Records)

86. Ethnic Heritage Ensemble: Open Me, A Higher Consciousness of Sound and Spirit (Spiritmuse)

87. Moor Mother: The Great Bail-Out (Deluxe Edition) (Anti-)

88. Ivo Perelman/Chad Fowler/Reggie Workman/Andrew Cyrille: Embracing the Unknown (Mahakala Music)

89. _thesmoothcat & Wino Willy: Ready, Set (Sinking City)

90. That Mexican OT: Texas Technician (Manifest / Good Talk / Good Money Global / Capitol)

91. D. Clinton Thompson: Donnie’s Mood (Borrowed Records)

92. Tierra Whack: World Wide Whack (Interscope)

93. Willis, Carper, Leigh: Wonder Women of Country (Bismeaux EP)

94. Cedric Burnside: Hill Country Love (Mascot / Provogue)

95. James Carter: UN (J.M.I. Recordings)

96. Matt Lavelle and the 12 Houses: The Crop Circles Suite, Part 1 (Mahakala Music)

97. Meshell Ndegeocello (and Friends): Red Hot & Ra – The Magic City (Red Hot Org)

98. Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3 + 3 (Cuneiform)

99. Reyna Tropical: Reyna Tropical (Psychic Hotline)

100. Bob Vylan: Humble as the Sun (Ghost Theater)

101. Les Amazones d’Afrique: Musow Dance (Real World)

102. Flagboy Giz: The Culture (Injun Money)

103. Ibibio Sound Machine: Pull the Rope (Merge)

104. Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, and Tyshawn Sorey: Compassion (ECM)

105. Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble: Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble (Palmetto)

106. Joe McPhee (with Ken Vandermark): Musings of a Bahamanian Son (Catalytic Sound)

107. Arooj Aftab: Night Reign (Verve)

108. Kronos Quartet and Friends: Outer Spaceways Incorporated (Red Hot Org)

109. Willie Nelson: The Border (Sony Music)

110. Nestor: Teenage Rebel (Napalm Records/Handels GmbH)

111. Sexyy Red: In Sexyy We Trust (Rebel/Gamma)

112. Staples Jr. Singers: Searching (Luaka Bop)

113. Tri-County Liquidators: Shining Through (Hitt Records / Big Cartel EP)

114. Fox Green: Light Over Darkness (self-released)

115. Janel Leppin: Ensemble Volcanic Ash—To March is to Love (Cuneiform)

116. Charles McPherson: Reverence (Smoke Sessions)

117. Roberto Ottaviano: Lacy in the Sky with Diamonds (Clean Feed)

118. Rempis / Adasiewicz / Abrams / Damon: Propulsion (Aerophonic Records)

119. EARTHGANG & Spillage Village: Perfect Fantasy (SinceThe80s/Dreamville)

120. claire rousay: The Bloody Lady (Thrill Jockey)

121. Melissa Carper: Borned in Ya (Mae Music / Thirty Tigers)

122. Shelby Lynne: Consequences of the Crown (Monument)

123. Nicole Mitchell and Ballake Sissoko: Bamako * Chicago Sound System (FPE)

124. Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus (Milan)

125. Cecily Wilborn: Kuntry Gurl Playlist (self-released)

126. Kathryn Williams & Withered Hand: Willson Williams (One Little Independent Records)

127. BASIC: This is Basic (No Quarter)

128. Man/Woman/Chainsaw: Eazy Peazy (Fat Possum EP)

129. Kris Davis: Run the Gauntlet (Pyroclastic)

130. Ghost Dubs: Damaged (PRESSURE)

131. Etran de L’Air: 100% Sahara Guitar (Sahel Sounds)

132. Fastbacks: For WHAT Reason? (No Threes)

133. Eels: Being Dead (Bayonet)

134. GALVEZTON: Some Kind of Love (A Tribute to the Velvet Underground) (La Izquierda)

135. Patrick Shiroishi: Glass House (Otherly Love)

136. Flagboy Giz and The Wild Tchoupitoulas: Live from the French Quarter Fest (Injun Money)

137. Joe Fonda: Eyes on the Horizon (Long Song)

138. Day Dream: Duke & Strays (Corner Store Jazz)

139. Mickey Guyton: House on Fire (Capitol Records Nashville)

140. High Vis: Guided Tour (Dais)

141. Judas Priest: Invisible Shield (Deluxe Edition) (Sony)

142. Messiah in Glytch: Geisha in the Machine (FPE EP)

143. more ease & kaho matsui: computer & recording works for girls (Full Spectrum)

144. Mount Eerie: Night Palace (self-released)

145. Walter Smith III: three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not (Blue Note)

146. Jazz Sabbath: The 1968 Tapes (Blacklake)

147. Kenneth Jimenez: Sonnet to Silence (We Jazz)

148. Ava Mendoza: The Circular Train (Palilalia)

149. Oaagaada: Music of Ogaadaa (We Jazz)

150. Sun Ra Arkestra: Lights on a Satellite (IN+OUT)

EXCAVATIONS & REISSUES

1. Sonny Rollins: Freedom Weaver–The 1959 European Tour Recordings (Resonance)

2. Unholy Modal Rounders: Unholier Than Thou 7/7/77 (Don Giovanni)

3. Various Artists: Love Hides All Faults—Deep Gospel Soul Selected by Jumbo (Elusive Vinyl / Pyramid Records)

4. Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill (Sundazed/Modern Harmonic)

5. Phil Haynes: 4 Horns or What?—The Complete American Recordings (Corner Store Jazz)

6. Alice Coltrane: The 1971 Carnegie Hall Concert (Impulse!)

7. Black Artists Group: For Peace & Liberty, in Paris, December 1972 (We Want Sound)

8. McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Henry Grimes, Jack DeJohnette: Forces of Nature–Live at Slugs’ (Blue Note)

9. Christer Bothén (featuring Bolon Bata): Trancedance [40th Anniversary Edition] (1984, Black Truffle) 

10. Franco Luambo Mkaidi: Presents Les Editions Populaires (Planet Ilunga)

11. Rail Band: Rail Band(Mississippi Records)

12. Sun Ra: At the Showcase Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (Elemental Music)

13. Sun Ra and his Arkestra: Lights on a Satellite—Live on the Left Bank (Resonance)

14. Art Tatum: Jewels In the Treasure Box (Resonance)

15. Creation Rebel: High Above Harlesden 1978-2023 (On-U Sound)

16. Various Artists: Congo Funk! Sound Madness From The Shores Of The Mighty Congo River (Analog Africa)

17. Bill Evans: Bill Evans in Norway (Elemental)

18. Mal Waldron & Steve Lacy: The Mighty Warriors Live in Antwerp (Elemental Music)

19. Charles Gayle / Milford Graves / William Parker: WEBO (Black Editions)

20. Raphael Roginski: Plays John Coltrane and Langston Hughes (Unsound)

21. Juma Sultan’s Aboriginal Music Society: Father of Origin (Eremite)

22. Emily Remler: Cookin’ at Queens (Resonance)

23. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Live in France—The 1966 Limoges Concert (Elemental)

24. Various Artists: Super Disco Pirata—De Tepito Para El Mundo 1965-1980 (Analog Africa)

25. Arthur Blythe Quartet: Live! From Rivbea Studios, Volume 2 (No Business)

26. High Rise: Disturbance Trip (La Musica)

27. Various Artists: Even the Forest Hums—Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996 (Light in the Attic)

28. Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison: Tribe 2000 (Org Music)

29. Bessie Jones, John Davis, the Georgia South Sea Island Singers with Mississippi Fred McDowell and Ed Young: The Complete “Friends of Old-Time Music” Concert (Smithsonian)

30. Love Child: Never Meant to Be (12XU)

Annnnd…I made this playlist for my freshman comp students and maybe you won’t mind it! They were allowed to collaborate (as are you!), which accounts for things not on the list:

No!vember ’24: A Spare Commentary on the Best New (and Newly Discovered) Music I Heard

I’ve got a cold Huey Piano Smith could write another song about, my new block-style teaching assignment is intense (but I like it), and I’ve been traveling throughout the month, so I’m scrambling to get this out on the first. You don’t want to hear me yammer anyway, even if I got to witness both Hailu Mergia and Nicole Mitchell live since last time. Thus:

Albums below in bold font strike me as possible Top Tenners in their respective categories.

NEW WORKS I DUG (in alphabetical order)

  1. Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: The World is on Fire (Division 81)—Collier and band are in a serious Trane mode, and the media clips make it sound like the record was made in 2020–but isn’t it really still, and might it possibly eternally stay, 2020?
  2. Jazz Sabbath: The 1968 Tapes (Blacklake)—Yes: early Sabbath jazzed impressively and with a wry sense of humor.
  3. Kenneth Jimenez: Sonnet to Silence (We Jazz)—It’s a musical sonnet to silence, not of silence, and bassist Jimenez’s quartet’s noise is splendid.
  4. Ava Mendoza: The Circular Train (Palilalia)—Is this a Year of the Guitar?
  5. Kendrick Lamar: GNX (pgLang/Interscope)—Sounds great to me, I guess because the music I’m loving most is his cadences and the production is brightly…defiant.
  6. Oaagaada: Music of Ogaadaa (We Jazz)—Finnish free quartet augmented by shruti box and log drum and generating serious energy that’s just contained enough for a dabbler.
  7. Kelly Lee Owens: Dreamstate (dh2)—My friend Kevin suggested this to somebody else when I was in a low mood, I stole the suggestion, and quickly added her to (a bit lesser light, but not by much) Jessie Ware as a mood shifter.
  8. Jeff Parker ETA IVtet: The Way Out of Easy (International Anthem)—Is this a Year of the Guitar?
  9. Paper Jays: Paper Jays (ESP-Disk)—Rhode Island instro-combo combines the spaciness of very early Meat Puppets with the weird, itchy vibe of Penguin Café and a touch of…the Middle East?
  10. Pascal & Baya Rays: Sonic Joy (Ultraani)—Freaky and fun Finnish funk.
  11. claire rousay: The Bloody Lady (Viernulvier)—Ambient master writes a mysterious score for Viktor Kubal’s 1980 film The Bloody Lady doesn’t require you to watch the film to be hypnotized.
  12. Various Artists: TRANSA (Red Hot Org)—Eight “chapters,” 46 songs, a dazzling array of performers (Larraji, Tweedy, Julien Baker, Sumney + ANOHNI, JLin + Moor Mother), consistent quality, surprising musical coherence, and good reason to worry made it easy for me to listen to this beginning to end.
  13. Wussy: Cincinnati Ohio (Shake It)—I really like the lyrics, I’m not too sure about the music, and I can’t hear Lisa well enough.
  14. Charli xcx: Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat (Atlantic)—This irresistibly trashy brat dragged me kicking and screaming and grinning ear to ear through this version.
  15. Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days (Via/Thirty Tigers)—Dude really cannot make a bad album (always reminds me of Tom Petty that way) and this one (despite a very corny and terrible song and thanks to my favorite-ever cover of “Keep On the Sunny Side”) is no exception: sings great, surrounds himself with a crack band, and writes solidly—and, weirdly, often BRIGHTLY.
  16. Tucker Zimmerman: Dance of Love (4AD)—I was telling a friend the other day that, for a reason I can’t pin down that has to do with the way things are, I am tired of Americana even when it’s good…but I have a feeling I’m (and possibly you’re) gonna need this one, knocked out by a resurfaced legend who has his finger on the pulse o’things, Big Thief behind him, and his arms around a few friends.

EXCELLENT EXCAVATIONS

  1. Black Artists Group: For Peace & Liberty, in Paris, December 1972 (We Want Sound)—Too few recordings are available from a St. Louis, Missouri, gang of players who would later help fire up the NYC loft jazz movement, and this has never before been released.
  2. Emily Remler: Cookin’ at Queens (Resonance)—This short-lived, Wes Montgomery-influenced guitarist had already raised the eyebrows of her fellow players and was poised for bigger things when she stepped on a narcotic rainbow; she is flying on these live recordings.
  3. B. B. King: B. B. King in France (Elemental)—The most famous of the several “King”s of the blues is in exceptional form on this unearthed ‘70s set.
  4. Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Live in France—The 1966 Limoges Concert (Elemental)—Her guitar is shorter on beautifully ugly noise than on other available live recordings, but otherwise, 51 and just seven years from passing on, she’s all the way on.
  5. Various Artists: Super Disco Pirata—De Tepito Para El Mundo 1965-1980 (Analog Africa)—Don’t we all need even more cumbia (and related contagious rhythms) in our lives right now?

Check the shit out aurally–though I wish I had a better option than Squatify.