This new Geese album is inspired. I don’t know, sometimes it’s that simple, right?

“Long Island City Here I Come” - Geese

Not that my faith in music videos was wavering, but this would’ve restored it if it was.

I got algorithmed into Mice Parade sometime last year. Would’ve been nice to have them for the entire time they’ve existed (estd. 1999!), but I’ll take it.

“Do Your Eyes See Sparks” - Mice Parade

I love the songwriting on the lead single from PUP’s new record. It’s a very simple concept for a song (I’m newly alone, woe is me, I’ll never recover), but the complexities in the rhythms and phrasing suggest something with a little more mystery behind it.

I can’t stop thinking about:

1. The change in vibe from “collapsed on the living room floor” to “collapsed on the floor” mid-chorus
2. The double subversion of expectations, “when one door closes…” you’re expecting “a window opens” or something like that, but no, first: “it might never open,” (ok, that’s a very different grammatical expectation), and second: “there might be no other doors,” (there is truly no hope here, cliches be damned).

Am I overanalyzing a fun pop punk song? Probably!

(More details on the songwriting process from the Stefan himself.)

“Hallways” - PUP

Radiohead could probably make several dozen “Hail to the Thief” live albums that would all be phenomenal. I don’t know how they go about picking specific recordings. Regardless, there’s such an overwhelming urgency in these recordings… I wonder if I’m going to listen to the studio album anymore.

“There, There (Live)” - Radiohead

Of course I reblogged NPR music in 2011 when this James Blake and Bon Iver collab dropped (a 2011 sentence if I’ve ever heard one). It’s been a treat for 14 years, and with hindsight there’s a crystal clear through line from this to 22, a million five years later.

And while we’re hanging out back here in 2011, fitting as this was released a few weeks after I moved to Berkeley the first time, let’s appreciate Wikipedia’s “Bon Iver singles chronology,” where Fall Creek Boys Choir sits right between Monster and Holocene. Pretty good.

“Fall Creek Boys Choir” - James Blake and Bon Iver

Moved back to California, so naturally listening to midwest emo (shrug). Here’s an absolute jam that closes out the deluxe edition of American Football’s ST deluxe edition. slow exhale

“The 7’s [Live at the Blind Pig, Champaign, IL, 1997]” - American Football

In 2019 when I saw a Lucy/Phoebe/Julien/boygenius show, I wasn’t familiar with Lucy’s solo material but I was blown away by her set and knew I’d be a lifelong fan.

On Saturday, I went to a Lucy show, and the first opener jasmine.4.t left me feeling the same kind of way.

Circles, circles.

“Elephant” - jasmine.4.t

Woke up today to the delightful surprise of a new Japanese Breakfast album (not that it was a secret, just that I wasn’t paying attention). Semi-related PSA: read Crying at H-Mart.

“Honey Water” - Japanese Breakfast

I’m going to have to try really hard not to pre-dub SABLE, fABLE my AOTY before it even comes out.

“If Only I Could Wait” - Bon Iver feat. Danielle Haim

How do I feel about the new Bartees album? Well, on my fourth (!) listen in the first 24 hours, every time a new song comes on, I think no, that’s the one I should post on my blog. So… … … yeah, pretty good, I’d say!

Given that my first introduction to Bartees was via his The National covers EP, it’s really cool how distinct a vibe and sound he has in my indie rock collection now.

“Wants Needs” - Bartees Strange

Bon Iver x John Wilson, the collab we all needed.

“Everything Is Peaceful Love” - Bon Iver

A PUP kind of day.

“DVP” - Pup

Fear not, Internet. I was released from the admittedly delightful clutches of Swiftomania by none other than… her releasing a new album that I was very not into.

So, yes, it was a “normal music year,” rather than one where I was caught up in an obsession. I’m not sure which I prefer. The latter certainly makes it easier to decide what to listen to at any given moment. I do wish that I loved The Tortured Poets Department, or even merely liked it.

Last year’s list is still looking pretty solid. I might be getting better at deciding what I actually like versus what I performatively like for list-making purposes.

There was only one pre-2024 album that should’ve made my list: Chappell Roan’s “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” May her unbelievable music festival crowds endure!

Runners up:

• Kendrick Lamar - “GNX” (it’s a fun listen, but I’m having a hard time getting into rap these days)
• Jamie xx - “In Waves” (I’ll delight in having this in my music collection for years to come, but it doesn’t hit the highs of “In Colour” or his earlier singles)
• Nilufer Yanya - “My Method Actor” (an excellent album; there are only 10 spots to fill)

And, the list:

10. Beyonce – Cowboy Carter

Dropping “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold Em” at the same time was one of the most “I AM BEYONCE, WHO ARE YOU?” statements of her career, and was probably sufficient to grab a spot on my list (see #4, my standards for duration are at rock bottom). The whole album being a lot of fun didn’t hurt.

9. The War On Drugs – Live Drugs Again

Stephen Hyden’s book on Pearl Jam got me excited about bootlegs and live albums. The problem is that, despite a bunch of book-adjacent listening, I just don’t like Pearl Jam all that much. Lucky for me, The War On Drugs released another live album this year. I’m pretty sure I prefer it to their studio albums now; the liveness add the pinch of salt that some of these songs need to be truly exceptional.

8. Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

I am here for as many albums in the Katie Crutchfield Americana saga as she wants to provide (more Plains, too!). “Right Back to It” is a perfect song.

7. Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk

6. Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee

I’m lumping these two albums together not because they’re sonically related but because they both feel thesis statements about “The Future Of Indie Rock” that I’ll be looking back on in years to come. “Imaginal Disk” is pushing out into the distance where it meets “Diamond Jubilee” which is music stuck on the event horizon of a black hole. What am I even talking about?

5. Tyler, the Creator – Chromakopia

I don’t need to talk about how Tyler is the only rapper that I still feel drawn to; I’ve done that to death. I would not have pegged him as being one of my most personally inspirational musicians when I first saw the Yonkers video in 2011, but I love how deep he gets in his craft and that he’s not afraid to share that with us.

4. Bon Iver – SABLE

It’s only twelve minutes, but it’s the most cathartic twelve minutes of the year. Here’s hoping this is some sign that a new record (and tour) is coming soon.

3. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us

If I’m being honest with myself, any new Vampire Weekend would make this list. I am a fanboy. But I’m not fanboy just because of nostalgia or the earworms or the VW-ese affectations that litter their tracks, I’m also a fanboy because of how seriously they seem to take each new album. Ezra has talked about not wanting to make albums too quickly because he wants each of them to feel significant; he doesn’t want to rush out new ideas. OGWAU is the biggest sonic shift yet in Vampire Weekend’s discography, but it fits in so well. I used to want them to release albums more often, but I’m happy with the twice-per-decade (or whatever) pace if it means that (1) the quality is this good, and (2) the band can live life and figure out what album needs to be made in the first place.

(And, side note, the band taking requests and covering random songs during their encores is also one of the most surprisingly fun concert-going experiences I had this year.)

2. Charli XCX – brat

The first time I listened to brat I was deeply into it, but I didn’t think that it was going to be a mega-smash. It felt like a logical succession of what Charli and the other hyperpopstars have been doing for a decade, but those albums weren’t mega-smashes. Charli and A. G. Cook’s production does the heavy lifting here and makes this an overwhelming-in-a-good-way initial listen, sorta like a hyperpop Yeezus. But even setting the production aside, there are some unforgettable lyrics and hooks here (“Everything Is Romantic” being my favorite example; there aren’t many lyrics, but those that are here are doing so much to evoke time, place, and feeling).

I’m glad I was wrong about the mega-smash-ness, because the world needed a brat summer. It reminds me of Pokemon Go summer in 2016 right before… you know.

1. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

What percentage of my top albums of the year are also the most transportive? After all these years of putting together these lists, I guess that’s what I’ve learned. A lyric, melody, or rhythm might pass, but a feeling never fades.

Ranking things might be fundamentally antithetical to Art, but I keep doing this because I tell myself that this is for me, not for the world. Being able to look back years from now and pinpoint the thirty to sixty minutes I found most affecting in a given year is form of self-documentation that I’m otherwise lacking. I don’t have an active social media presence and I don’t keep a journal. This is it.

So, on that note: Bright Future wrecked me like none other this year. Adrianne Lenker continues to stupefy me with her songwriting.

Someone should probably tell you that you’re going to memorize every word of every album you listen to in your tweens and teens and then very few for the rest of your life. (Would I have done anything with this information? No, definitely not.)

“Read My Mind” - The Killers