Best of 2024
I’ve been compiling my favorite songs at the end of each year since 2005. It’s a lot of work, but the final playlist marks time beautifully. When I hit play, it’s instant nostalgia. No year is all bitter, or all sweet, some are darker and others light, but no matter what’s happening music is always playing across all of my days, soundtracking the chaos and calm of my life.
It’s been a year of transitions, from beginning to end. There was a constant roar underneath everything, a blanket of anxiety, that feeling of unsettle about life and politics and the future of everything. And yet, there was music, always music, to remind me that beauty and hope, meaning and purpose were always one moment away.
I promised an optimistic essay for weeks, months, and the thing is, despite all the warnings about what sits on the other side of the calendar flip, I feel more hopeful for next year than I did a year ago. There will always be darkness, and there will always be light if you let it in.
Maybe that’s what this year taught us: in an age of artificial everything, we need real human connection more than ever. More music, more books, more conversations, more of everything tangible, all the things that make us feel, remind us of our humanity.
“Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness.” — Maya Angelou
Next year will bring new challenges, anxieties, and corporatized attempts to commodify our attention. But as long as artists keep making honest music about this mess we’re in, we’ll have something real to hold onto, something that keeps us moving forward, and, of course, the full range of emotions at our disposal.
Just think of all the things you can do for the next 13 hours while listening to this playlist: run an ultramarathon, drive 1000 miles, play a game of Risk, write a short story, or just close your eyes and dream away the day.
“I feel as if I’m always on the verge of waking up.” ― Fernando Pessoa
I’m not particularly good at stack ranking my favorite things — books, songs, films, memories. This playlist is in no particular order, but I suppose I’ll lead with the ten songs I listened to on repeat all year.
Right Back to It — Waxahatchee, MJ Lenderman
Alone — The Cure
Ghost — Honeyglaze
Sadness As a Gift — Adrianne Lenker
Backyard Lover — Merce Lemon
One Last Dance — Baby Rose, BADBADNOTGOOD
Revelator — Phosphorescent
Like I Say (i runaway) — Nilüfer Yanya
Life the End — James Blake
Riding Around In The Dark — Florist
Football — Youth Lagoon
:) — The Japanese House
20th & Mississippi — Winter Aid
4AM Ascension Day — Låpsley
After Hours — Christian Lee Huston
Afterlife — Sharon Van Etten
Air Drumming Fix You — Wild Pink
Look Me in the Eyes (feat. James Blake) — Rex Orange County, James Blake
Side By Side — Crumb
Another Love — Gemma Hayes, Paul Noonan
April — Local Natives
Babylon — Tamino
Midnight — James Blake, Lil Yachty
Matter — Talos, Atli Örvarsson
Beautiful Boyz — CocoRosie
I Said What I Said — The Softies
words fell out — Goat Girl
Between Waves — The Album Leaf
Bikini — Nick León, Erika de Casier
Devil Swim (OurVinyl Sessions) — Billie Marten, OurVinyl
Bleach — Palace
Feed the Flames — Gemma Hayes
Boyfriend — Teenage Dads
Free Treasure — Adrianne Lenker
My Day Off — Kacy Hill, Nourished By Time
Burial At Sea — Tucker Zimmerman, Big Thief, lji, Twain
Capricorn — Vampire Weekend
Hell of a Ride — Nourished by Time
Cigarettes & Wine (feat. Holly Humberstone) — Del Water Gap, Holly Humberstone
Come Fine Me — Caribou
The Conflict of the Mind — AURORA
Crash Course — Joseph Noah
Crow — Merce Lemon
Crystals (feat. Benjamin Gibbard) — Sea Lemon, Benjamin Gibbard
Cry Without End — Equiknoxx Remix, pt 1 — SAM MORTON, Equiknoxx
Bodies Laughing — The Smile
There’s No Space — Ghostly Kisses
Dear Someone — Haley Hansen
Perfection (feat. Tiny Habits) — Kacey Musgraves, Tiny Habits
Deer Teeth — Sega Bodega
Dollar Slice — Bloomsday
Don’t Get Me Started — The Smile
Girl (feat. KAYTRANADA) — The Internet, KAYTRANADA
Empty And Silent (feat. King Krule) — Mount Kimble, King Krule
End of The World — Searows
Eusexua — FKA twigs
Sorry I Am Late — Evernew, Coloray, Baril
Come out tonight — Tyler Burkhart
Dramamine — Middle Kids
Fatal Attraction — Katie Malco, Laura Stevenson
Flowers in My Hair — Abigail Lapell, Great Lake Swimmers, Miniscule
For Sure — Ethel Cain
Lovers Rock — TV Girl
Raining on Your Pillow — DIIV
Get Careful Darker — R. Missing
Darlin’ — Jean Dawson
luther (with sza) — Kendrick Lamar, SZA
Golden — Wezn
Good Stuff — Bnny
GREY RUBBLE -GREEN SHOOTS — Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Halfway Down — Hayley Richman
The Hardest Part — Washed Out
Hey — The Hard Quartet
Heaven — Toro y Moi, Kevin Abstract, Lev
HIGHJACK — A&AP Rocky, Jessica Pratt
BIRDS OF A FEATHER — Billie Eilish
Hollowed Out — Ducks Ltd.
Home is a Photograph — Barzin
honeymoon — Outpost Drive
I made my baby cry — Becky and the Birds
The Impossible — The Drums
I Promise — Lila Dupont
Taper — Maria BC
Claw Machine — Sloppy Jane, Phoebe Bridgers
Jane Four — R. Missing
Just a Western — Nilüfer Yanya
KISSES MAKE SURE — Strick, James Blake, Young Thug
Let’s Go Back — Jungle
Let’s Walk in The Night — SAM MORTON, Alabaster DePlume
Life Is — Jessica Pratt
Who You Are — Francis of Delirium
Tell Me Who You Are Today — Beth Gibbons
Bioluminescence — Goth Baby
Long as I’m Not the One — Grandaddy
Sleepwalking — Camera Obscura
The lost note — miciah
Love Affair — J.Views, Rhye
Loved — Four Tet
Lucky — Erika de Casier
Lucy Takes a Picture — Youth Lagoon
Lullaby — Britti
M — Soccer Mommy
Maine — hey, nothing
Lightness Out of Darkness — The Boxer Rebellion
Wristwatch — MJ Lenderman
Mars — Audrey Mathilde
Me Before You — Bleachers
If the World Was a House — The Secret Sisters
Mudroom — Tiny Habit
The Museum — Half Waif
Wave by Wave — Harmonia, Vittoria Maccbruni, Michael Rother
My House Is Not A Home — d4vd
Only One — Cassandra Jenkins
my mind (now) — Paris Paloma
Never Again — Thomas Azier
Never Arriving — Allegra Krieger
Never Need Me — Rachel Chinouriri
Next Time — Sydney Ross Mitchell
Dark Sun — h. pruz
Over You — Vacations
Nostalgia — Yot Club
Nothing To Declare — MGMT
Oh, Sweet Honey — Andrea Bejar
Soccer Practice — Lizzy McAlpine
Old Fashioned Parade — Bianca Steck
OMG — Suki Waterhouse
To Love — Suki Waterhouse
Paradise — Henry Morris
Corner of My Eye — Future Islands
I Just Want To Wake Up With You — Helado Negro
I Think I Found a Way — The Amazing
Pink Skies — Zach Bryan
Please Don’t Fall in Love With Me — Khalid
Pleasure delayer — BETWEEN FRIENDS
Point of Disgust — Perfume Genius, Alan Sparhawk
Pollyanna Cowgirl — Jacqueline Hackett
Bubba — Hovvdy
If Our Love Is Dead — Royel Otis
Beautiful Boy — The Last Dinner Party
Set Me Free — PROM
Prove It To You — Brittany Howard
Put Down Your Phone — Mïrändä
Raat Ki Rani — Arooj Aftab
Keep Some Steady Friends Around — Bill Callahan
Fencers — Phosphorescent
The Ride — Afternoon Bike Ride
Sundowner — Fontaines D.C.
Run Your Mouth — The Marias
Only Yesterday — Pedro The Lion
it could be anything — claire rousay
Sexy to Someone — Clairo
She La La — Winnetka Bowling League
Shatterstar — Zachary Cale
House of Self-Undoing — Chelsea Wolfe
Shudder — Jelani Aryeh
Silencio — Patrick Watson, November Ultra
Small Changes — Michael Kiwanuka
Some Kind of Angel — Georgia Gets By
Endsong — The Cure
Low Sun — Hermanos Gutiérrez
S P E Y S I D E — Bon Iver
Standard Tuning — bdrmm
Starling — Sara Kinsley
stay for the night — Rxseboy, Fenne Lily
Style — Field Guide
The Sun Still Rises — Aisha Badru
Artificial Genuine — Jane Penny
take yr time — dad sports
Tennessee (feat. Lil Nas X) — Kevin Abstract, Lil Nas X
Terrible News — Middle Kids
These Days — Ocie Elliott
Mastermind Specialism — English Teacher
This Was A Gift — Florist
Those Eyes (Spend Up)(feat. Zeph) — New West, Zeph
Much Ado About Nothing — Waxahatchee
Time Is Forever — Holly Macve
Do 2 Me — KAYTRANADA, Anderson .Paak, SiR
Time to Walk Home — Alice Boman, Irya Gmeyner
Good Luck, Babe! — Chappell Roan
Too Much — girl in red
Mark My Words — Hundred Waters
Young Lion — Sade
Alesis — Mk.gee
Under the Tree — Victoria Bigelow
I Want It All — Katie Gavin
Where Did You Come From? — The American Analog Set
Love Gone Wrong — Lula Wiles
When We Die (Can We Still Get High?) — YUNGBLUD, Lil Yachty
Where We’ve Been — Friko
Infinite Health — Vocal Edit — Tycho, Cautious Clay
Widows of Normandy — Rye LaChance
Oh My Aching Heart — Heartless Bastards
Wishes — Tiny Habits
Farfisa Song — Angela Olsen
What We Had — Gillian Welch, David Rawlings
Workin On Me — Russ, 6LACK
Baby Blue Movie — Cigarettes After Sex
You (feat: Hermanos Gutiérrez) — RY X, Hermanos Gutiérrez
You Don’t Know Me — Third Brother
Your Worst Song is Your Greatest Hit — The Reds, Pinks and Purples
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