Top 100 Songs of 2024

in

Hello all! Despite my infrequent communications, rest assured, I have been diligently creating the annual playlists of songs and albums for 2024.

2024 was pretty disappointing from an albums perspective, but it’s pretty difficult to have a year that isn’t jam packed with great tracks from all the ends of the earth. There are a TON of new artists on this year’s list, and I’m excited for you to listen and hopefully find a few new ones.

The #1 song of the year, “Right Back To It,” by Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman was an easy choice. This is a classic song. I will replay it for decades. It is timeless Americana and beautiful in every facet from the lyrics to the vocals to the arrangement to that chorus! Lenderman’s backing vocals on the chorus perfectly blend and make the song what it is.

Kendrick gets #2 for maybe topping Nas’ '“Ether” for greatest diss track. RIP Drake.

So many great other tunes, but a few other notes:

  • Beat of the year: Million Dollar Baby by Tommy Richman

  • Cover of the year: “Linger” by Royel Otis

  • Ballad of the year (TIE!): “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish and “Dispose of Me” by Omar Apollo

  • Craziest song of the year: “Holy, holy” by Geordie Green

  • Best grungy song (TIE!): “Docket” by Blondshell feat Bully and “Loud Bark” by Mannequin Pussy

That’s about all I got, please enjoy!!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 229

in

I’m not sure where Washed Out (aka Ernest Greene) ranks in the pantheon of artists since 2000, but I have him in the Top 50, not as good as MGMT but in the same ballpark.

Washed Out has consistently released good albums for 15 years now, which is REALLY HARD TO DO. I’d give a similar compliment to MGMT although they’ve had more highs and lows. The highest compliment I can pay Washed Out is there is no one else out there who sounds like him because no one can perfect the rhythm and vibe of his chill shoegazey music.

AND GUESS WHAT? Washed Out just released a new album. I’m still digesting it, but I like it a lot, and while his sound generally stays in the same lane, there are enjoyable departures, like “The Hardest Part.”

I had to include my favorite Washed Out song, one of my favorite songs written in the past 15 years (maaaaybe Top 10??).

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 227

in

This week’s mixtape is a banger. Let’s start with my favorite new band of the year: The Belair Lip Bombs.

They hail from Australia and that’s about as far as I’ve gotten on biographical information. All I need is the rock.

“Look the Part” is their best song, and their whole debut album is mesmerizing, easily in my top albums of the year.

They have the tenacity and intensity of Bloc Party, spastic sounds like Talking Heads while also giving some David Byrne-esque vocal deliveries, and nods to Bombay Bicycle Club (who also released a new album, the lead track which is on this mixtape!).

The band also shared this playlist, a MUCH more official way to understand the band’s influences than my biased ear:

Next, we have Claire Rosinkranz, one of my favorite pop artists since BENEE and Olivia Rodrigo. Her debut album is so catchy, and nothing exemplifies this better than “Wes Anderson,” arguably the catchiest chorus I’ve heard all year.

Speaking of catchy choruses, Biig Piig (not arguably, but truly, the worst artist name of the year), who I heard on a track by Kojacque, rules the airwaves with “This Is What I Meant.”

Another great indie rock band I’ve recently discovered is Karen Took The Kids. “Witch Hazel” is their best song, looking forward for more.

If you like Bon Iver, you’re gonna like Ilsey.

That is all for this week’s mixtape, have a good week and godspeed.

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 226

in

I wanted to write a OMG have you heard Olivia Rodrigo’s new album, but I may cover that in a separate post unrelated to the Monday Mixtape.

In the meantime, another OMG: Have you listened to Zach Bryan? This guy is taking the music world by storm with fearless and vulnerable songwriting, bellowing tunes many times with just him and his Gibson. He is inspiring me to write again.

Fear and Fridays (Poem)

I'd say I've seen some beautiful days, I've walked countless coastlines, awoken on mountain tops, I've seen death and birth and kissed good lips…
I have ridden in fear, although, I was afraid every single time.

I've learned that every waken moment is enough and excess never leads to better things, it only piles and piles on top of the things that are already abundantly in front of you like breathing and chasing and slow dancing and love making and fighting and laughing.

I am unhinged, unworthy, and distasteful to mostly everyone I meet, however I am loyal to a fault to anyone I find kindness in…

I do not and will not fear tomorrow because I feel as though today has been enough…

And I think fear and Fridays got an awful lot in common, they are overdone and glorified and always leave you wanting.

Tourniquet

You've been playing your guitar from arenas to the bars

Since you were old enough to rhyme a word

But your face is getting thinner

And you're praying for the winter

And I heard you fucked it up with her

I bandage up your body and your bones and your bad days too

Take care of the blood that your love runs through

I know all the damage that some days in this dark world does

You were laughing last evening at something I dreamed of

A bunch of other great tunes to get your week off to the right start. My guy Kojaque is back with “WOOF,” and I can’t wait for his new album.

If you don’t know Bibio, he’s a gem of a songwriter whose been writing good music for two decades now, and has always been under the radar. He’s worth your time!

Speaking of worth your time, I’m diggin’ these newbies, Great Big Cow, and Dana and Alden are a great jazz duo in the mold badbadnotgood.

Enjoy the week!

Monday Mixtape, Vol. 225

in

225 volumes should be some sort of celebration, a few balloons and whistles to lead in this week’s first track, “CABRA DRIVE”, by Kojaque. Damn, this song is tight, and I’m diggin the lingo. The transition into the bridge (starting around 1:30) is jaw dropping, and the move back out (2:04) is flawless. This dude’s due to blow up.

Kojaque is an Irishman hailing from Dublin, blending storytelling and style spanning soundscapes, resulting in music transcending the boundaries between the bars.

Nas released a new album, and although it’s nothing amazing, it’s still crazy to hear a rapper his age still killin’ it. Two tracks from Nasty this week! Jay Rock and Anderson Paak round out the rappers this week.

Post Malone dropped an album. His lyrics have always been boring and uninspired, but he knows how to sing a hit.

The Beaches, a band of female rockers, got me intrigued. I gotta look back on their previous couple albums and see if there’s any hubbub to intrigue further.

I’ll report back. Over and out.