Happy Christmas Eve! Here’s my favorite albums & songs in 2024, which was, for my money, one of the best years for music in recent memory. Click the links to listen to my full Best Songs playlist (100 tracks) via Spotifyor Apple Music. Enjoy!
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2024
Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
Charli XCX - BRAT
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Cindy Lee - Kingdom Come
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood
Friko - Where we’ve been, Where we go from here
Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Destroyer
Wild Pink - Dulling the Horns
The Cure - Songs Of A Lost World —-
Magdalena Bay - Imaginal Disk
Los Campesinos! - All Hell
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Being Dead - EELS
Hurray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor
Fontaines D.C. - Romance
St. Vincent - All Born Screaming
Porter Robinson - SMILE! :D
Erika de Casier - Still —
Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven
Jamie xx - In Waves
Tyler, the Creator - CHROMAKOPIA
Good Looks - Lived Here For a While
Jack White - No Name
MGMT - Loss Of Life
Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well
The Smile - Wall of Eyes
Hovvdy - s/t
Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes
FAVORITE SONGS OF 2024
MJ Lenderman - She’s Leaving You
Vampire Weekend - Mary Boone
Charli xcx - 360
Waxahatchee - Right Back to It
Cindy Lee - Kingdom Come
Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe!
Adrianne Lenker - Sadness As a Gift
Magdalena Bay - Death & Romance
Friko - Where We’ve Been
The Cure - Alone —
Father John Misty - Mahashmashana
Cassandra Jenkins - Omakase
Good Looks - If It’s Gone
Hurray for the Riff Raff - Alibi
Being Dead - Blanket of my Bone
Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway)
St. Vincent - Big Time Nothing
Erika de Casier - Lucky
Los Campesinos! – Feast of Tongues
The Smile – Bending Hectic —
Youth Lagoon - Lucy Takes a Picture
Wild Pink - Sprinter Brain
Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Fontaines D.C. - Favourite
Kendrick Lamar - reincarnated
Mannequin Pussy - Loud Bark
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Porter Robinson - Russian Roulette
Nourished by Time - Hell of a Ride
Clairo - Sexy to Someone —
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross - Yeah x10
Zach Bryan - Pink Skies
Beyoncé - Ya Ya
Geordie Greep - Holy, Holy
Jamie xx - Baddy On the Floor
Laura Marling - Patterns
Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso (Working Later Remix)
Autumn has certainly been leisurely in its arrival this year, at least in my central TX backdrop, but this week brought some slightly cooler temperatures and it’s starting to feel like like Fall is finally here. As usual, to go along with the colorful foliage, warm fashions and seasonal beverages, I have a new Autumn mixtape to help evoke the wistful, carefree feelings of the season. Click here to listen to this mix in its entirety via Spotify or Apple Music. Enjoy!
01. Vampire Weekend - Mary Boone 02. DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ - Honey 03. Sea Lemon - Vaporized 04. Carly Rae Jepsen - Psychedelic Switch 05. Middle Kids - Dramamine 06. Sabrina Carpenter - Espresso (Working Late Remix) 07. Maribou State - Blackoak 08. Joe Goddard & Barrie - Moments Die 09. Teliz - Type of Girl 10. Charly Bliss - Nineteen 11. NewJeans - Bubble Gum 12. Purple Disco Machine & Benjamin Ingrosso - Honey Boy 13. Erika de Casier - Lucky 14. R. Missing - Maryhead 15. Jamie xx - Baddy On the Floor (feat. Honey Dijon) 16. Charli XCX - The 360 remix with robyn and yung lean 17. Magdalena Bay - Death & Romance 18. Good Looks - If It’s Gone 19. Clairo - Sexy to Someone 20. Empress Of - What’s Love (feat. MUNA) 21. Camera Obscura - Big Love 22. Hannah Diamond - Affirmations 23. Dayglow - Every Little Thing I Say I Do 24. The Japanese House - Touching Yourself 25. Everything Everything - Cold Reactor 26. Dagny - Strawberry Dream 27. George Clanton - I Been Young 28. Sheer Mag - Playing Favorites 29. Chromeo - Personal Effects 30. Romy - Always Forever
Happy new year! Here’s my favorite albums & songs in of 2023. Click here to listen to my full Best Songs playlist* (100+ tracks) via Spotify or Apple Music.
FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2023
Sufjan Stevens - Javelin
The National - First Two Pages of Frankenstein / Laugh Track
Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
boygenius - The Record
Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World
JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown - Scaring the Hoes
Caroline Rose - The Art of Forgetting
Blur - The Ballad of Darren
Ratboys - The Window
Blondshell - s/t
Youth Lagoon - Heaven is a Junkyard
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
The Mountain Goats - Jenny From Thebes
Jeff Rosenstock - Hellmode
Wilco - Cousin
Jessie Ware - That! Feels Good!
Slowdive - everything is alive
Indigo De Souza - All of this will end
Wednesday - Rat Saw God
Romy - Mid Air
DJ Sabrina the Teenage DJ - Destiny
Billy Woods & Kenny Sagan - Maps
The Japanese House - In the end it always does
Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord who chews but which does not consume
With temperatures dropping, colorful foliage and seasonal beverages coming back into season, it’s the perfect time for a mixtape of wistful, melancholy acoustic guitar-heavy sounds. So with no further ado, here’s the 13th edition of the Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) mixtape. Click here to listen to this mix in its entirety via Spotify /Apple Music. Enjoy!
01. Sufjan Stevens - A Running Start 02. Sun June - Get Enough 03. Yo La Tengo - Aselestine 04. Mutual Benefit - Untying a Knot 05. Slaughter Beach, Dog - Engine 06. S. Carey - Steadfast (ft. Gordi) 07. boygenius - Cool About It 08. Andy Shauf - Halloween Store 09. Jess Williamson - Hunter 10. The National - Coat on a Hook 11. Allison Ponthier - Hardcore (Acoustic) 12. Great Lake Swimmers - Peacemaker 13. Courtney Barnett - Different Now (ft. Chastity Belt) 14. The Tallest Man On Earth - Slowly Rivers Turn 15. Blue Lake - Fur 16. Katy Kirby - Cubic Zirconia 17. The Clientele - Lady Grey 18. Kara Jackson - pawnshop 19. Youth Lagoon - Idaho Alien 20. Maybel - Long Road Ahead 21. Hiss Golden Messenger- My Old Friends 22. Madison Cunningham - Anywhere 23. Beirut- So Many Plans 24. Luz - not going anywhere 25. Wilco - A Bowl and A Pudding 26. Boundary Run - Stranger 27. Shannon Lay - From the Morning 28. Nick Mulvey - A Prayer of My Own 29. BEAR DOWN BEAR - Saturnalia 30. Lana Del Rey - Let The Light In (ft. Father John Misty)
Blame El Niño delivering some much-needed wetter, cooler weather this year for the playlist’s late arrival, but now that summer is sweltering, I’m here with my 14th annual mixtape full of effervescent, sunny new indie jams to blast loud while your making all your summer memories. Click here to listen to this mix in its entirety via Spotify or Apple Music. Enjoy!
Summer (Or What It Sounds Like) Vol. 14
01. Small Black - Bad Lover (DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ Remix) 02. Marci - KITY 03. Girl Ray - Hold Tight 04. Blondshell - Joiner 05. Phoenix - After Midnight (ft. Clairo) 06. Overmono - Good Lies 07. Röyksopp - Let’s Get It Right (feat. Astrid S) 08. Caroline Polachek - Smoke 09. Shalom - Happenstance 10. White Reaper - Pages 11. Grace Ives - Lullaby 12. boygenius - Not Strong Enough 13. Hudson Mohawke & Nikki Nair - Set The Roof 14. Beach Fossils - Run To the Moon 15. Romy & Fred again.. - Strong 16. Georgia - It’s Euphoric 17. Superviolet - Overrater 18. yunè pinku - Night Light 19. Shygirl - Firefly 20. Tennis - Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight 21. Chromeo - Words With You 22. Girl Scout - Run Me Over 23. Flume - One Step Closer 1.4 [ft. Panda Bear] 24. Jenny Lewis - Psychos 25. Ela Minus & DJ Python - Pájaros En Verano 26. Róisín Murphy - The Universe 27. Coco & Clair Clair - Pop Star 28. The Beths - Watching the Credits 29. Sofia Kourtesis - Madres 30. The 1975 - Happiness
With temperatures dropping and colorful foliage and seasonal beverages returning, it’s the perfect time to switch from exuberant synthy jams to wistful guitars and angsty vibes. Here’s the 12th edition of the Autumn (Or What It Feels Like To Fall) mixtape to help evoke the winsome melancholy of the season. Click here to listen to this mix in its entirety via Spotify / Apple Music. Enjoy!
01. Cass McCombs - New Earth 02. Plains - Abilene 03. Shannen Moser - Oh My God 04. Bonny Light Horseman - California 05. Maya Hawke - Luna Moth 06. San Fermin - Someone You Call Baby 07. Father John Misty - Goodby Mr. Blue 08. girl in red - October Passed Me By 09. Kurt Vile - Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone) 10. Florist - Two Ways 11. Warpaint - Champion 12. Andrew Bird - I Felt A Funeral, In My Brain (ft. Phoebe Bridgers) 13. First Aid Kit - Turning Onto You 14. Kevin Morby - A Random Act of Kindness 15. Skullcrusher - It’s Like a Secret 16. Laura Veirs - Autumn Song (feat. Kate Stables) 17. Wilco - Country Song Upside-down 18. Indigo Sparke - Hysteria 19. Horsegirl - World of Pots and Pans 20. Old Sea Brigade - If You’re Falling Asleep 21. Angel Olsen - Right Now 22. Drugdealer - Pictures of You (feat. Kate Bollinger) 23. Weyes Blood - Grapevine 24. S.G. Goodman - Teeth Marks 25. Sharon Van Etten - Never Gonna Change 26. Alex G - Miracles 27. Katie Toupin - Adam’s Song 28. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You 29. Jacob Humber - Quiet Conversation 30. Wild Pink - The Grass Widow In The Glass Window
01. Jamie xx - LET’S DO IT AGAIN 02. Sea Lemon - Turn Away 03. illuminati hotties & Bartees Strange - Pool Hopping (Strange Pool Remix) 04. TOPS - Party Again 05. Purple Disco Machine - Hypnotized (ft. Sophie and the Giants) 06. Beach Bunny - Oxygen 07. Hatchie - This Enchanted 08. Gang of Youths - in the wake of your leave 09. Braxe & Falcon - Step by Step (ft. Panda Bear) 10. PUP - Matilda 11. Barrie - Jersey 12. Magdalena Bay - Hysterical Us 13. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Tidal River 14. Charli XCX - Lightning 15. Spoon - Wild 16. Joesef - It’s Been a Little Heavy Lately 17. Soccer Mommy - Shotgun 18. Ducks Ltd. - 18 Cigarettes 19. Empress Of - Save Me 20. Wet Leg - Angelina 21. Mitski - Love You More 22. Khruangbin & Leon Bridges - B-side 23. Foals - 2am 24. Channel Tres - Acid in My Blood 25. Dehd - Bad Love 26. MUNA - Anything But Me 27. Wallows - I Don’t Want to Talk 28. Sleigh Bells - Locust Laced 29. Yumi Zouma - Give It Hell 30. Arcade Fire - Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)
Sickening wordplay, phenomenal visuals, the newest drop from Houston rapper Tobe Nwigwe “Round Here Part One” incorporates killer musical elements from his Nigerian and Texan background.
Florence & The Machine is Florence Mary Leontine Welch, and a backing band that seems to vary from show to show (currently Dev Hynes of Lightspeed Champion).
This track typifies Florence’s sound: a haunting, captivating voice and a bluesy sensibility that draws comparison with the likes of Kristin Hersh and Amy Winehouse, topped off with a whole load of attitude. It was released as a single on Moshi Moshi Records in the UK and IAMSOUND Records in the US, a week ago. Also worth checking out is her cover of Cold War Kids’ “Hospital Beds”, which can be streamed on her MySpace, that she frequently opens her sets with.
She’s currently working on her debut album with Kid Harpoon. You’ll also find her at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, and various other venues throughout the UK (all listed on her MySpace) after that.
Remember in 2008 when we covered Florence before her first album?
ALT