What I listened to in 2024
Most aspects of the ongoing culture war don't strike me as important or real, but I will pick this one side: Spotify is a morally repugnant institution, and Wrapped serves only to reinforce their stranglehold on the industry. The hyper-analytical breakdown of listening habits misses the point of music by a mile. I'm not here to consume; I'm here to feel something, to partake & celebrate in the ritual of creation. If you vibe with this adage - and if you can enjoy loud, energetic flavors of electronic music - then you might find this retrospective to be worth exploring.
Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic. But posting a Wrapped recap to social media is mind-numbingly easy, and writing this blog post was hard (though gratifying). I just hope I managed to say more about the music than about myself.
Sections below are sorted in the order I heard them (earliest first):
Albums & EPs
Eliminate - Get Off The Internet
Much like Eliminate's YouTube channel, chaos and whimsy shine through in his take on modern bass music like none else. The term “inimitable” gets thrown around by music blogs a lot, but, I truly do think a convincing pastiche of Eliminate's style is out of reach for even the most highly-accoladed dubstep producers.
Highlights: thinkaboutit, SMSOU, Playing With Fire
Jeremy Blake - Determinism
On the surface, Determinism is an electro-pop project from Red Means Recording that leans into evolving synth lines and melancholy lyrics. What I hear underneath is a fellow creature who's run out of matches to light the rage in their heart for the dismal state of the world. Those are the terms on which this album resonates with me. It's nice to be reassured that someone else feels the weight of the world¹ in the ebb and flow of daily life.
Highlights: Watch It Burn, Determinism, Poison Lullaby
¹ Pun with another album on this list not intended.acloudyskye - There Must Be Something Here
My friend / housemate noted a trend among acloudyskye and other big names on SoundCloud pivoting from EDM to rock. I haven't been paying enough attention to know whether that's a fair characterization of this album, but I hope it's broadly true. The resulting blend in instrumentation & mixing style warms my heart like a campfire. I need to hear more music cut from this cloth.
Highlights: Surface, Flares, Quicksand
Dyatic - The Third Kind
Dyatic's debut album doesn't pull any punches; its hour-ish runtime is covered edge-to-edge with flawlessly produced heavy bass and vocal chops. As a StepMania / ITG stepartist, I'll probably be idly tapping to the syncopated rhythms strewn throughout this album for the next year.
Highlights: Redshift, Enemy, Afterimage
Mr. Bill - Mechanomorphic
Just because Monstercat fell off over the last decade doesn't mean they stopped putting out bangers once in awhile; Mr. Bill's latest album is proof of that. Bill's maximalist sound design could easily overstay its welcome, but the sounds are arranged & chopped with a level of care that inspires emulation. The experience of listening to this album intentfully feels like watching a Hibachi chef do their routine on the grill, 18 times in a row, never missing a beat.
Highlights: ICASM, Absence, Impeccable
Petriform - Familial Verses
If you're familiar with Petriform's work, the tagline “Virtual Boy ×︎ Game Boy” should be enough to pull you in. If you're not already acquainted: prepare for this concept to be taken all the way to the bank, featuring Petriform's signature melodies & hard-hitting drops. As far as I'm concerned, chiptune fusion has peaked with this album.
Highlights: Twin, dread matter, stay (connected)
Maddie Lim - intersections
A delightful sequence of digi-fu tunes from Maddie Lim, who I know as a former compo doer and one of the composers for OK K.O.!, in that order. For me personally, this was a welcome break from the preceding deluge of maximalist albums; it's nice to listen to music that wants you to relax for once.
Highlights: let's be friends, distant star, heading home
Tanger - Prefer not to say
For a name I had never heard before this album, Tanger's musical range - largely centered on the modern rhythm game zeitgeist, at least to my ears - is hard to comprehend. Her 7th album spans the full gamut of EDM, yet still has space for diversions into hip-hop, indie rock, and otogecore over its 26(!) track length. I've lost count of my full listen-throughs and I still haven't gotten bored; I suppose when that finally happens, there will be 6 more albums waiting for me.
Highlights: Womp Womp, BAD NUMBER!, Cereal Killer, weka sina, running on a rope
Marcix - Digital Reassurance EP
I will never get tired of the “2010s EDM revival, but with a modern twist” trope. It worked on me when Virtual Riot dropped Throwback EP 7 years ago and it still works today. The “twist” Marcix brings to the table is his signature production style - the best I can describe it is impossibly loud, yet perfectly coherent.
Highlights: Hyperactive, Digital Reassurance, Gump Town
Syzy - The weight of the world
I say this without a hint of exaggeration: this might be the best dubstep album of the decade. Emotional chords & voices dance around aggressive synths atop a flow that's both familiar and distinctly human, using the standard riddim template as a starting point for some of the most original & heartfully-executed bangers I've ever heard. This unison of dazzlingly upbeat melodies & harmonies & vocal samples with meticulously-crafted bass music elements paints a picture in my mind of a tortured soul finding beauty in the world, despite everything. It's exactly what I needed to hear at the end of this godforsaken year. Thank you, Syzy.
Highlights: In your face!, HEART123, Take my energy!, Caught up (in circles), Experience (HIGHER)
Singles
Porter Robinson - Cheerleader
As someone who regrets missing the heyday of pop punk in their early teenage years: I am 100% down for a revival. Can all the producers who based their identity around Worlds please try to imitate this instead?
Crystal Skies - Event Horizon
An absolute earworm of a tearout dubstep tune, found on Crystal Skies' Stardust album. I came away from the album with mixed feelings, but they knocked this one out of the park, even with the departure from their usual style.
Fox Stevenson - Lemonade
The Fall Out Boy of DnB² does it again. I didn't know I needed this vibrato sub bass to make a comeback, but I absolutely did.
² Some redditor said he called himself this name and I really hope that's true.Pre-2024 releases that I heard this year
- Au5 - Bridges Between (2023)
- Last Heroes - All I See, You See Me (2023)
- RL Grime - PLAY (2023)
- zeroth - grip limit / minus1 (2023)
- kuatari - Kairoclerosis (2023)
- False Noise - Floral Strobe (2020)
Still listening in 2024
- G Jones - Paths (2023)
- Fox Stevenson - Enemy Brain Entertainment Suite (2023)
- garlagan - If It Will (2022)
- Pendulum - Immersion (2010)