best music of 2024
12/17 '25
- BALTHVS, Harvest / Khruangbin, A LA SALA: these are very similar; loungey, funky, chill, mostly instrumental rock, two dudes on guitar and drums, and a gal on bass and vocals.
- Andrew Bird & Madison Cunningham, Cunningham Bird: a complete cover of the legendary (and unpublished since its 1973 release) Buckingham Nicks, which put them on Mick Fleetwood's radar, whose band they would then join and the rest is history. Buckingham and Nicks had made sporadic noises over the years about reissuing it, and it does not seem coincidence that they finally did so a year after this stellar cover, which in many ways improves upon the original.
- Andrew Bird Trio, Sunday Morning Put-On: Bird puts together a trio to cover some of his favorite jazz standards (coincidentally including "Django", which was on Buckingham Nicks and thus on Cunningham Bird).
- Nelson Echandia, Tu Creación: the bassist for the progressive joropo (my label) group Compasses puts out his first solo album.
- Garbage, Lie to Me (EP): three good new songs plus a remix from their worst album Bleed Like Me. Add the album they released this year and it seems that every fourth album of theirs is a stinker.
- David Gilmour, Luck and Strange: definite case of old man voice, but he collaborates with his youngest daughter on a couple of tracks to good effect, and his guitar is still amazing.
- Tony Levin, Bringing It Down to the Bass: the master of the bass guitar shows some range in this solo effort.
- Loreena McKennitt, The Road Back Home: a live album where she plays some of her favorite Celtic classics from her busking days.
- Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice: more socially conscious desert rock, Moctar agitates for his people and culture.
- Christian McBride & Edgar Meyer, But Who's Gonna Play the Melody?: two double bassists trade leads and share compositions.
- Mogwai, The Bad Fire: the Scottish post-rockers are back; saw them live this year and THEY ARE VERY LOUD.
- My Brightest Diamond, Fight the Real Terror: the title (and title track) are an homage to Sinéad O'Connor. More of a solo affair, the instrumentation is a bit sparse, but the songs are good.
- St. Vincent, All Born Screaming: a return to form after the self-indulgent Daddy's Home, although it is probably her second-worst album. She also made an extremely ill-advised companion album with the lyrics translated to Spanish that is best avoided.
- Tragic Lovers, VALENTINE (EP): post-punk from Portland, their compositions are really starting to gel.
- veg., DETONATION (EP): San José's own instrumental metal band. The songs show more dynamics and breadth from their debut EP.
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Thank you. I’ve been listening to so much Cloudchord lately that I’m almost sick of it.
