My Year in Lists, 2024 — Music

Favorite albums, DJ mixes, and every concert I went to this year.

My Spotify Wrapped reflects all the girly pop that I keep returning to, and I do love all that stuff! But I mostly listen to albums and mixes, which doesn’t get captured as well. I’ve become allergic to anything with a whiff of the algorithmic on Spotify (the daylist gimmick got old), so when I just want to “put something on” I turn to NTS Radio, which scratches my itch for eclectic variety.

I have learned the hard way that if you’re hosting a party, you can’t just stream whatever is currently playing on NTS ; your friends may turn on you very quickly.

NTS Radio Mixes I Keep Returning To

• Champeta w/ Edna Martinez - Gen Z Special

  • Curator and DJ Edna Martinez explores the champeta, an underground musical genre and dance that originated in the Caribbean coast of Colombia in the early 1980s. The rhythms and influences are said to have arrived with the sailors from West Africa in the 1960s and 70s

• Chuquimamani-Condori: Find Me

  • Into the expansive sonic universe of Chuquimamani-Condori: timestretched romanticism, chopped ballads, stargazing country and ancestral travelling. [In practice, this is country music, chopped and screwed]

• Demonslayer - Vwave 2: Rare Vietnamese New Wave 1980s-1990s

  • Demonslayer aka Dan Nguyen is a multi-disciplinary artist, creative director, producer and DJ. Listen in as he shares obscure Vietnamese New Wave made in California from the 1980s - 90s, gems unearthed over 12+ years of digging. Vwave 2 is the sophomore effort in the series. Mixed and remastered for today's sound systems.

• LUPINI & KAHN: EVEN VAMPIRES GET THE BLUES (A Halloween Romp)

  • A little bit sweet, a little bit sad, a little bit spooky!

• NTS Guide to: Jazz In Murakami Novels

  • Music, and specifically jazz, has always featured heavily in the literary imagination of Haruki Murakami. In this radio special, NTS lays down two hours of jazz records as featured throughout Murakami's corpus.

• Suncut w/ Matt: 0800-LOVE-ON-UR-MIND

  • Tune in to the sound of SUNCUT, boasting a heartfelt selection of some favourite 45’s through to classic bonafide soulful jams.

• Wait Watch This w/ Jane Remover - remixes vol2.zip

  • Migraine-inducing hyperpop (complimentary).

---

Ten Albums I Really Loved

In no particular order.

• Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us

  • No hot takes here; Vampire Weekend is consistently brilliant.

• Maggie Rogers - Don’t Forget Me

  • The viral “Alaska” singer has shifted into a pop rock sound that suits her well. Basically an album about exiting your twenties.

• Ángeles, Víctor, Gloria & Javier - Tengo tres estrellas y veinte cruces

  • A Spanish quartet of flamenco, jazz, electronic, and pop, wonderfully fused together.

• Charli xcx - Brat & Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat

  • Nearly ten years ago, poptimism was confronted with the flamboyantly kitschy works of SOPHIE, A.G. Cook, and the other musicians associated with PC Music: “the future of pop or 'contemptuous parody'?” worried one thinkpiece. But after brat summer, we have our answer: the future is now.

• The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis - The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis

  • Former Fugazi members put their hardcore punk spin on jazz, joined up with a brilliant saxophonist. I saw them perform twice this year, once in a small rock club in Barcelona, another in an opening slot at the Newport Jazz Fest. The former was the correct setting for this act.

• Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross - Challengers [MIXED] by Boys Noize

  • Best film score of the year presented in a club-ready mix.

• Amaro Freitas - Y’Y

  • Avant-garde jazz and traditional Amazonian music.

• MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

  • Every micro-generation needs their indie rock slacker hero.

• The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

  • Robert Smith hasn’t lost a step.

• Jeremy Denk & Stefan Jackiw - IVES DENK

  • The violin and piano sonatas of modernist composer (and actuary) Charles Ives.

---

Every Concert I Saw This Year

Music festivals are great because you can see a zillion artists in one weekend (if you have the stamina, which apparently I do, for now).

My ten favorite acts are bolded but I had a good time at all of these besides Lana Del Rey!

• Cinema Smootaphilia at Film Noir Cinema

• Olivia Rodrigo at MSG

• PinkPantheress at Brooklyn Paramount

• Eiko Ishibashi at Le Poisson Rouge

• Primavera Sound (Barcelona)

  • Tuesday

    • Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis

  • Wednesday

    • Phoenix

  • Thursday

    • Ángeles, Víctor, Gloria & Javier (second half)

    • Cómo Vivir en el Campo (last two songs)

    • William Basinski - Disintegration Loops Live

    • Bb trickz

    • Supernovas

    • Vampire Weekend

    • Yeule (first half)

    • Warehouse: Aya, ikonika

    • Justice

    • Peggy Gou (partial)

    • Wiedgedood

    • A.G. Cook

  • Friday

    • Charlemagne Palestine

    • Aiko El Grupo

    • Silica Gel

    • Joanna Sternberg (last ten mins)

    • Boiler Room: Armand Hammer DJ Set, They Hate Change

    • Dog Star (last song)

    • Troye Sivan (second half)

    • Lana Del Rey (first half)

    • Jai Paul (mostly second half)

    • The National (second half)

    • Warehouse: Mica Levi DJ set

  • Saturday

    • Nala Sinephro

    • Merina Gris (last ten mins)

    • Slow Pulp

    • Boiler Room: Yozy, Erika de Casier, Icemorph

    • Shabaka

    • Mitski (partial)

    • SZA

    • Charli XCX

• Taylor Swift at Parc Olympique Lyonnais

• Charlotte de Witte at Brooklyn Storehouse

• Arooj Aftab, Sid Sriram, EMEL at Central Park SummerStage

• UNIIQU3 | EASYFUN | EVILSLIME | African-American Sound Recordings at MOMA PS1 (Warm Up)

• Newport Jazz Festival

  • Friday

    • King Adjuah

    • Bill Frisell Four

    • Cory Wong

    • PJ Morton

    • Andre 3000

    • Brittany Howard

  • After Dark:

    • Julius Rodriguez

    • Samara Joy

  • Saturday

    • Lianne La Havas, joined by Julius Rodriguez on organ for three songs

    • Samara Joy

    • Acid Jazz is Dead (vinyl dj set)

    • Elvis Costello

    • Dinner Party (Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington)

  • Sunday

    • Messthetics with James Brandon Lewis (last ten)

    • Julius Rodriguez

    • Newport Jazz at 70 jam (last ten)

    • Cimafunk

    • Amaro Freitas (first half)

    • Laufey (first half)

    • Noname (second half)

    • Makaya Mccraven & Jeff Parker (first half)

    • Christian McBride Jam Jawn (first half)

    • Nile Rodgers & Chic (second half; cut short by thunderstorm)

• Maggie Rogers at MSG

• (Un)Silent Film: Dracula in Concert w/ Orange Road Quartet at The New School

• Thy Slaughter (AG Cook x Easyfun) at Silo