favorite finds of 2024

[watermoon]

whatever the fate of this community may be, let's at least try to make it through the year, ne? and with this being the season of spotify wrappeds and such, i think it could be fun to talk about our favorite stuff that we've discovered this year.

over the course of the year i've listened to probably over 800 albums, by virtue of a job where my coworker keeps taking on projects that fall under my jurisdiction, constraining my actual duties little by little to the point where some days i have nothing better to do than to sit around and listen to music. which, hey, there are worse fates to be sure.

so, here are my favorite finds of the year. if i haven't written about it on here already, i've added a blurb taken from my notebook, because i'm not immune to liking the smell of my own shit… at least, when it's in writing.

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Row 1

Sonic Coaster Pop - SUPER MIRACLE CIRCUIT (2004)
“The future? Oh, that happened 20 years ago… don’t you remember?”
(already wrote about it here)

Maybelle - Marsh-Marrigold E.P. (2000)
(already wrote about it here)

Serani Poji - MERRY GO ROUND JAILHOUSE (2010)
i've listened to this album multiple times over the last few days and each time i fall a little more in love…

i fucked up when burning this to disc so now tracks 10 and 11 play after the first, meaning that if i want to listen through the rest of the album after track 9 i need to seek back to near the start to play the final two tracks… at which point track 2 kicks in again. it's a vicious cycle yet it's one that i don't want to get off, at least for now.

Usagi-Chang Records - Usagi-Chang Superstar!! Vol.0001 (2002)
(already wrote about it here)

Yusaku Arai - Chikaku (2020)
(already wrote about it here)

Row 2

Maybelle - Kinpouge no Hibi (2000)
i realized that if i killed myself without knowing the lyrics to kinpouge no hibi first then i don't know if i could find peace… so i guess i will need to buy this eventually.

i've been treating [maybelle's] albums as a form of self-harm, though i can't say why or how they work for that. that song just weighs in my heart, heavy, immobilizing. it constantly tempts me to listen to it again.

Kidorikko - C'est L'Elegance na Iyashimi (1986)
(january:) i'm onto the second track now and why do these backing compositions sound so super famicom? like these are some absolute pocky and rocky jams (derogatory).

(february:) this has a really cursed aura. this is like some bootleg aura shit. this is something you order from the back of kowloon kurosawa's zine and luck out when he accidentally sends you "only a" snuff film instead.

(march:) just let me off this ride already!!
…though there's still four or five releases i never got to?
…and just like that i found two more in the sidebar…
but i need to realize that i make the ride never end.

(april:) fuck. i think i might be hooked.
…
ok, you win. i'm a fan now.

Doji Morita - Nocturne 夜想曲 (1982)
(already wrote about it here)

Tsukasa Itoh - Sayonara Con-nichiwa (1982)
(already wrote about it here)

Sentaro - Wanderers OST (PC-98)
file under: soundtracks to listen to on loop if my brain ever broke itself and i could only engage in self-soothing behavior.

Row 3

antihoney - As We Kill the Night (2007)
why does her voice affect me so much? is it because i heard about her story before this? is it because i'm really listening to a ghost?
but i can't help but see a parallel… with how fragile her voice is, and how it took her many years before she was able to heal again…

Sonic Coaster Pop - Future Electro Star (2001)
and just like that – 15 minutes later – we're left breathless and all that's left is to sit through the remixes.

Misswonda - Wonderful Tangent (2005)
i want to spend my days in candy constellation.

YMCK - Family Innovation (2022)
this pop is so slick! i want to make pop like this onegai, but maybe the only thing stopping me is my sleep schedule

paraoka - Acme Iku Choukyou Nikki (2008)
i'm starting to think that this one was a "risky click…" still, the search for fascinating music stepsoldiers on…

Row 4

roly poly rag bear - Ryan's Favorite (2003)
even if perfect pop is a finite resource, i will keep digging until all the earth's supplies are exhausted.
j-twee ga j-suki

DJ Melodie - Melody of Voices (2002)
i think i'm soul-bound to trance music. after all, it was the first love i chose! so, when i found this motherlode of obscure dj mixes by the equally-obscure dj melodie, preserved in era-appropriate 128k, i couldn't in good faith deny my attraction.
are these mixes good? i'm not sure. but they feel like home to me.

Thursday Decibel - the adversary (2024)
(written june 6) what the hell she has six albums out this year already?! what is with ambient artists?!

Comrade Chinx - Ngorimba (1988)
this is adroit! like, this arrangement!

Apila - The moment could have been beautiful (2004)
i would love you, apila-chan. even if i get bpd vibes from these lyrics, apparently that's my type.

Row 5

Spaghetti Vabune! - GUITAR POP GRAND PRIX (2006)
(this one made the list literally because of tiger, which is a jewel of perfect guitar pop)

Shizuka - Shizuka III (Unknown)
cryptid music time

CECIL - cheek (2001)
i feel so modern! stuff me in a playstation 2 and close the tray!

Somali - Magnolia (1999)
so, somali is chiaki ishikawa (石川智晶), and she later made her way into the anime world too and worked on a lot of series. like .hack, and oh my god she did uninstall!! no wonder her voice sounded so familiar!
this makes me feel better. or, i find it more reassuring when painfully unknown albums are made by people who gained some recognition later on, like how i feel with maybelle.
still, and nevertheless, what the hell.

Sizima - 1971i no Shishi-Coaster (1999)
omg slide is like a concentrated bouillon cube of what the 90s sounded like. now i just need a capri-sun to replicate what the 90s tasted like, and a skinned knee on the sidewalk to replicate what the 90s felt like.

[sinku]

over the course of the year i've listened to probably over 800 albums, by virtue of a job where my coworker keeps taking on projects that fall under my jurisdiction, constraining my actual duties little by little to the point where some days i have nothing better to do than to sit around and listen to music. which, hey, there are worse fates to be sure.

so, here are my favorite finds of the year. if i haven't written about it on here already, i've added a blurb taken from my notebook, because i'm not immune to liking the smell of my own shit… at least, when it's in writing.

800 albums!! That's so many records, watermoon! esp listening to some over and over. My listening habits are far more relaxed, maybe reserved, and I spend more time searching for, and researching music, than chancing a listen. I normally only have one encounter with a record unless it is really, really grabbing me. Maybe this is something to try and turn around in the new year, for a less stagnant musical diet.

These little notebook blurbs make stuff that seem way out of my wheelhouse quite enticing.

whatever the fate of this community may be, let's at least try to make it through the year, ne? and with this being the season of spotify wrappeds and such, i think it could be fun to talk about our favorite stuff that we've discovered this year.

Yeah! and this should be fun. I believe I listened to far less this year than I have previously, and maybe there are emotional reasons behind that, and maybe that will come out through some of these picks. But I also get the sense and have been told that my taste is developing and becoming more refined and specific. On top of that, I heard a lot of really good or weird records. When I think about favorites, its either something very weird, almost funny, or something very good. Both affect me in similar ways, both I'll go to bat for too, even though the former type I may not rate very high.

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My favorites

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I've grouped a couple of these for no particular reason. Some I have a lot to say about, some I don't have anything to add besides I liked them.


Matt Carlson - Bowling Alone
When I first heard one of Carlson's previous records, called Gecko Dream Levels, it shifted the way I was thinking about sound design. This record did the same thing again, but even more! he cant keep getting away with it. The development across his discog seems to be this arc of refining processes of creating little sound worlds, which I value a lot as the weird kind of composer I am. I have no idea how I ever even found him, but I can trace a lot of my latest obsessions with old gear and sound design techniques specifically to this, because of how dry it is and the techniques he laid out. I was so infatuated with the qualities of sounds he pulled out without any effects. It pushed me forward, and is an intriguing listen.

Minimal Man- Sex Teacher, Robert Turman - Way Down, Tuxedomoon - Half-Mute
Three records on my chart represent my look into The Industrial Music Landscape of the United States circa 1980 i wrote a little bit about it here. Way Down, its title track specifically, is a banger. The whole record feels lightyears ahead despite being from 1987. I wrote in more detail about how I relate to it, but really, it's so evocative. I think if you know any vaporwave or hypnagogic anything, to you it will sound like it was fished out of a river a decade ago.

Sex teacher was the first album by Minimal Man I listened to, and it set a tone. It doesn't exactly sound like The Shroud before it, or Safari from the same year. Safari, which I also heard, is this strange swerve in style toward synth post-punk that feels so out of character I barely remember it. But I remember this, because it's just musical enough to be sticky and feels more important to have heard than The Shroud, even though I'd recommend listening to that instead. I guess I'd never heard something that felt this intimate with such pained wailing in this kind of context before.

Tuxedomoon is here, even though it shouldn't be. But Seeding The Clouds hard-carries this record maybe this band, and keeps them on my mind. I hum the melodies from this song a lot. It's an awesome closer and is one of those records where they pretty much kept hammering on that last little piece from this record going forward. It's like a teaser, but also a full-course meal. I am particular about vocalists and the delivery here just hits right, where it doesn't sound goofy like some later songs on their next few records to.

Pie - Strictly Seance, Shudder to Think - Get Your Goat
These two are together in my mind because they're only three years apart, and both have these experimental and sour streaks with these really really beautiful songwriting chops to match, rather than just all sweet and friendly or all nasty and trying to push your buttons. Get your Goat is definitely way more challenging, there are such sour chords and weird melodic lines, and it has a horrifying ending. Strictly Seance feels like it's screwing with you, dangling a carrot and not letting you bite it, then feeding you chocolate. It's more compartments and feels like it has a very solid structure. GYG is notably one of the last refuges before a totally crazy release, Pony Express Record. Strictly Seance is, as far as I can tell, the only Pie full-length. They dumped a huge amount of creativity in one shot and then .. poof. I dunno, to me, they fit together and would make a good double feature.

Cleaners from Venus - Living with Victoria Grey
i wrote about Under Wartime Conditions here. when I first started listening to the cleaners I thought UWC was my favorite, but victoria grey won out. I've listened to it more. The band feels familiar, because martin newell lives shockingly close to where I live. he's on the same coast, sees the same shit I see day to day. I could easily drive to see him and ask what the deal with the skits on this thing is. the skits are plain weird and a feature of this and UWC. but this one wins in spite of mr shmootie patootie being more annoying. victoria grey is a great song with a great reprise, and follow the plough rips, and armistice day has such a sticky refrain, and something about the production across it just hits better, and im sure if i ran it one more time id find even more things to say about it.

Protman - Siktoe Navajoe
wrote about it here

Ilkae - Light Industry
Very good IDM record that has a whole lot of noisy textures and beautiful melancholic moments where the track unfolds or the drone hits just right. The remaster is just as good as the original. I can rarely ever say that. Consistent throughout, I don't think it ever dips or that it's frontloaded or backloaded.

Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me, Sebadoh - Bakesale
You're living all over me is a classic, but I only just got around to it this year, and damn it's really really good. Almost every track rips and there are some great, sad pathetic lyrics and riffs. Bakesale is cohesive, and carried by Shit Soup to me. There's other tracks from it that stick in my head, like magnet's coil or license to confuse. Both notably from the front half...

British Sea Power - The Decline Of
Listen to this, and stick with it front to back. I was shocked by how it developed over the runtime! Great record. Very particular vocal delivery. Never played disco elysium so ymmv if you already know these guys.

Candidate - Simple Harmonic Motion
A very obscure emo record with exactly 100 ratings on rym, performed by two brothers and their friend. I found this while I was looking for more emo that would tickle me as much as Moss Icon did. I churned through a lot of records to try and find anything like them. The thing that hit me so hard about Lyburnum Wits End Liberation Fly was the production. Absolutely stellar, singular production, the guy who did the work only did a handful of other shit then nothing else. It's so focused on the rhythm section and bringing the bass out, almost like a goth record but less wet, more gutsy. Simple harmonic motion has some crazy muddy moments but the right feeling is there, so it hit for me when I first heard it. The Sting and Tacoma Narrows are awesome songs. Maybe you'll find the vocals sort of embarassing. But the thickness of the guitar, bass and drums together is so awesome.

Grenadine - Goya
I'm sure @maru will have more to say about this than me if it makes her list. I suggested it to her, along with Flin Flon! For me this is here because it's a mark exploring a side of indie and a sound I'm not that into. Opening up, even if its a little ironic. But this record isn't wholly a bit, it is very genuine and good. The cover of "i only have eyes for you" stuck in my head for a while after listening.

Emeralds - Queens of BurbankVol 2.
I churned through a bunch of Emeralds records for some reason, and I barely remember any of them except for this and Allegory of Allergies. The latter didn't make it because I'd really have to relisten to it in full, rather than the abridged version. This though, has such a weird cover, a weird name. I swear I've listened to it more than once. Drones like this have the same effect on me as a noise record, its like getting cleaned out. Maybe the bandcamp blurb with a shot at lamonte young made it stick.

Songs: Ohia - Didn't It Rain
The 'end' of songs: ohia before they morphed into The Magnolia Electric Co. I love that record. this record is really great. Very sad, and personal, and slow. But not as crushed as anything before it, there's something here thats being nurtured and I suppose came to fruition on the next release, and the next band really.

[maru]

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It felt like this was the year I listened to the most new music -- it's certainly the first year since 2019 that I listened to as much music as I have. And I certainly felt open to new music! I spun the odd record here and there in the wee hours and at night... I swear I did.

But when I look at my stats, and my listening history, it circled around not that many albums. I think what happened is that I got into a few artists -- I listened to literally all of Slowdive's discography this year, for example. And I didn't want to include the same artist twice on here, so you don't get Aja (I also only really got into Steely Dan this year).

Second, part of that was just that I like to go through my entire music library. I wiped my computers a few times this year as a strange anxious habit. Each time, play counts reverted to zero. I would, yet again, make a smart playlist of 'songs where the play count is 0' and clear it out. I'm not done. I still have 50gb left (meaning I've only listened to 30gb of my own collection since ... June?)

I remember earlier in the year, when I was first reintegrating my music taste from my childhood after leaving streaming services, I listened to a lot, lot, lot of Lemon Demon and They Might Be Giants. And those albums I definitely didn't discover this year! So, let's just go through these.

Hats - Blue Nile

Nothing compares to this record. It's not that long, each track is integral to it, it's all so mournful but contagious. It's an answer to Kaputt, another record I spun constantly, but damn, I guess like a decade ago.

Pygmalion - Slowdive

I feel like I went through Souvlaki more in life, but by the numbers Pygmalion got more plays. And the thing is ... I definitely listened to it front to back more times, too. It's a really bizarre record -- like it takes place in its own dimension, most of it without a strong structure, most of it measuring out the timbre of a lost duration... Like another lifetime happened in quiet depravity, and another lifetime happened in the highest of joys, and they overlap, they overdub, they coalesce.

Lightbulb Sun - Porcupine Tree

At times it feels so British that I kinda reflexively cringe. Still, it's like an answer to James' Laid, an album I spun a gazillion times in my university days; instead of mournful and maudlin, it's cynical and to the point.

The Nightfly - Donald Fagen

I just like the concept of this record. I think it's low key depressing -- it compels me to live my life strongly, deeply, to go after the moment. It opens with optimism and takes swing after swing of regret. It always looks back. Playing the hits.

Goya - Grenadine

I admit to this one growing on me a little. I didn't get it at first -- what's with the aesthetic? Is this some strange gimmick record? Then track 2 hits and no, this is actually a (vaguely atonal -- is everyone tuned a half-step down?) feelings record pretending that it's a 30s radio commercial. There's no bass guitar on this, just a 10-string, a 6-string, and some shockingly clean drum takes. It feels intimate. It feels like I'm looking at a relationship in the implications of the songs. The kids look so nice.

Imperial Full Frequency Range Record - Unrest

This is arguably a stronger (and poppier) record than the Grenadine one by the same guitarist+vocalist. I really love 'Imperial' -- though not all of the long instrumentals work for me. A bunch of kids on rym call this record post-rock. I feel like you really need to squint. It's indie pop. That's okay!

There Must Be Something Here - acloudyskye

I remember seeing this one on rym's front page and listening to it and wanting to get it. This is how I end up liking a lot of records. It got compared to one of Porter Robinson's records -- who, honestly I've never heard -- and I was willing to embrace its aesthetics. It sort of ended up this melancholic, uptempo indie rock record with heavily compressed electro production, and I feel like opening up the space would've gone a long way for it.

LC - The Durutti Column

I got into a bunch of his work this year. This is the one I'm picking. Mostly I just remember waiting for trains in Japan to some of these tracks...

Muzik for Insomniaks, Vol. 1 - Mark Mothersbaugh

Reminds me of Deporitaz records. Chunky instrumentals and this Eno parody cover. I feel like it's an acquired taste. I think this too is a matter of set and setting: it was 6am, the week after my Japan trip, I was sipping on Wanda coffees and just sitting alone with this record in a dreamy haze.

Hotel Ambient - Moby

Moby is a fantastic ambient artist in denial, and this might be his finest. I think sometimes he has The Look.

How I Loved You - Angels of Light

I came off psilocybin like "time to listen to Swans!" and sat with this record a few times. I think it hits the right balance of abrasiveness and release. Something is being purged here. Something is coming to reconciliation. Something is being understood. It feels like a downright healing record. I'm not used to that from this man.

Boo-Boo - Flin Flon

Another Robinson record, but all the way down here? I did listen to this one in JP a few times. I find it hard to tell the tracks apart when I look at the sheet. I get that it's cold Gang of Four stuff, extremely dry dancepunk loops. But the dry vocals make him sound like Neil Cicierega sometimes. And he never did on the other ones. There is nothing wrong with sounding like Neil. I just was surprised I could muster the ability to detect "Lemon Demon-esque vocal takes".

Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet

I'm late to this party.

Colour Yes - Matthew Halsall

50s ECM, tender trumpeteering, but released in the last few years. Not many jazz records pulling out the harp.

Queen of Neptune - 歳納さん

Listened because it was #1 on the nightcore charts. It's not now. It's a fun and balanced record. It's got an Enya track on there.

Ambient Collection - Art of Noise

It sounds like a writeoff -- I found it for $2 at a Goodwill -- but it's actually a good front to back listen. More downtempo than ambient if I remember right. I cook to it sometimes.