Welcome to my 14th annual Music Awards / year in review post. A more truthful statement would be...
Welcome, me in the future, to your diary entry to what music was in your life during 2024.
2024 was a very bad year. Were my listening choices (leaning more to dance and pop) made in a subliminal effort to improve my mood? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
My annual playlist looks more like it was made by a 17-year-old girl and not the 45+-year-old suburban husband that I am. But even if my annual playlist doesn't reflect it, the following are still true:
- My favorite band is Radiohead
- The music I've seen live the most is still Broken Social Scene, My Morning Jacket (including Jim James solo efforts), and Cut Copy
- I would get on a plane to see Explosions in the Sky
Song of the Year: “Baddy On The Floor” by Jamie xx
[runner up: “She's Gone, Dance On” by Disclosure]
I didn't need an evil streaming prison* to tell me what** was the most played song for me this year. It was released early in the year and nothing since came close to besting it. And in a return to tradition, I saw it performed live this year!
*Spotify
**Not to get all "tinfoil hat" on ya, but... Do we really believe what they (see above asterisk) are telling us?
Album of the Year: BRAT by Charli xcx
[runner up: In Waves by Jamie xx]
There are two paths to this award for me. One is the typical "can't stop listening to it" album and the other is "I ended up listening it to a lot because I couldn't decide which one track to add to my Best Of playlist." BRAT wins because of the ladder.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Concert of the Year: Pitchfork Music Festival (Saturday only)
[runner up: this was the only live music I saw in 2024]
For the first time ever, a music fest placed the three acts I wanted to see most on the same day at non-conflicting times. Jessie Ware, an act I've always wanted see but hadn't before. Carly Rae Jepsen, the official center of my wife's and my Venn Diagram of music tastes. And Jamie xx, an artist I've vowed to see every time they are in town. Bonus: I have tickets to see Jamie xx when he returns in January 2025!
Song of the Summer: your fave Chappell Roan track
[runner up: your fave parody of a Chappell Roan track]
For me? It's "HOT TO GO!" Yes, I'm aware that is technically a track released in 2023, but this is the best Music Madlib song since "Call Me Maybe." There are so many seven-letter words I love to sing now (e.g.; C,H,I,C-, A-, G,O!). Shout out to whoever first thought of "H, O, T, D-, O-, G, S! One-dollar-and-fifty-cents!
Song Discovered Thanks to a TV Show / Movie of the Year: “Pump It Up” by Endor (used in The Substance)
I've heard Tidal is the best for artists. I need a 12-step program to get Spotify-sober. Tidal, pun intended, is how I want to leave the island where I've sat since shipwrecked since 2011.
Best Decision I made in 2024: Writing this post
I don't like looking back at this past year. I don't like any "stats" from 2024. But as the title of the second most track I listened to states: She's Gone, Dance On. Finally, to the 5 (not an exaggeration) others that see this, thank you very much for reading (or listening).
