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My top 10 albums of 2024
It’s so hard to narrow down all the music I loved in 2024 to just ten albums, but I tried my best just for you. ❤️
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Greg Foat, Damu the Fudgemunk, and more of my favorite albums from November 2024
(featured image illustration by Ben Passmore) “I know it sounds unlikely. But it really happened. Once upon a time, I played banjo in a duo with Chick Corea.” “He found the good in everything. I’m just so glad to be a part of this — glad I could be with him, and glad there’s more…
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Nicolay, Dave Guy, and more of my favorite albums from October 2024
As a performer, [Dave Guy] can stand among the most vital trumpet players of our time as he seamlessly blends tradition, with contemporary, with a stunning performance that oozes passion. Ultimately, what makes Guy’s work most impressive is his ability to craft an album that you can easily hear your favourite MC spit over, while…
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Tristan De Liège, LL Cool J, and more of my favorite albums from September 2024
LL is a reader — “It’s good for my mind. It’s like sharpening the ax” — with a big wood-paneled bookcase at home. “Everything from Iceberg Slim to the history of the Peloponnesian War,” he said. “Authors are my friends.” LL Cool J Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop. by Melena Ryzik (gift link) Wooooo! There was…
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Heems, Jack White, and more of my favorite albums from August 2024
“Ratatouille” exemplifies this shift toward unmitigated optimism. Vashi speeds up a 1980s Bollywood-esque melody—think lovers dancing in a field in springtime—till it warps into something darker. Midway through the song, Heems rhymes “Ay yo I’m on antidepressants” with “I’m feeling good man, I’m eating lettuce.” A few bars later, he raps, “Life is beautiful, I’m…
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Johnny Blue Skies, Common & Pete Rock, and more of my favorite albums from Junely (June and July) 2024
“[Johnny Blue Skies album Passage Du Desir is], all at once, a stroke of outlaw country genius and a massive, psychedelic vacuum of singer-songwriter reckonings and pensive, concerto swells. I wouldn’t call Passage du Desir a comeback. No, this is a recalibration firing on all cylinders—its only imperfection being that it ends.” – Paste Man, so much…
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Mdou Moctar, BADBADNOTGOOD, and more of my favorite albums from May 2024
“Our hope is that the listener will use our renditions to research the originals and how amazing the world of [Earth Wind and Fire] actually is. We are true believers in the fact that, if everyone started their day with at least one EWF song, the world would indeed be a better place,” From Listen:…
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Liam Bailey, Baby Rose, and more of my favorite albums from spring 2024
“I’ve never worked with someone who writes like Liam,” Michels says. “He’ll freestyle some stream-of-consciousness lyrics that sound like gibberish, but then when we listen back and change a word here or a word there, they become these incredibly thoughtful and personal songs about things in his life, or a story he’s trying to tell.”…






