My 2024 in Music

But do I really feel the way I feel?

10 Favorite New Albums

• The Collective, Kim Gordon

• Two Star & the Dream Police, Mk.gee

• Here in the Pitch, Jessica Pratt

• sentiment, claire rousay

• Brat, Charli XCX

• The Past Is Still Alive, Hurray for the Riff Raff

• pink balloons, Ekko Astral

• Sentir Que No Sabes, Mabe Fratti

• Endlessness, Nala Sinephro

• Short n' Sweet, Sabrina Carpenter

5 Favorite Live Shows

• Eris Drew & Octo Octa @ Good Room

• Charli XCX & Troye Sivan @ Wells Fargo Center

• Bikini Kill @ Brooklyn Paramount

• Slowdive @ Brooklyn Paramount

• Jessica Pratt @ Bowery Ballroom

5 Favorite New (to me) Artists

• Kassie Krut

• Mk.gee

• MOP

• Ekko Astral

• Tarta Relena

10 New Favorite (Old) Albums

• Why Couldn't Things Just Stay The Same, The Autocollants (1999)

• Afrodisiac, The Veldt (1994)

• Songs '94-'98, The Cat's Miaow (2022, compilation)

• Love 15, Majesty Crush (1993)

• Jessica Bailiff, Jessica Bailiff (2002)

• Waillee, Waillee, Dorothy Carter (2023, reissue)

• The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, Chappell Roan (2023)

• Suntub, ML Buch (2023)

• Untouched, Secret Shine (1993)

• Ultraphonic Hiss, Morella's Forest (1996)

Honorable mentions: Nilüfer Yanya, This Is Lorelei, Kali Malone, Hildegard, Gorgeous Gorgeous, Kim Deal playing "Gigantic" live, the ending of Oh, Mary, "Is it Bon Iver or Bon Eye-ver, I don't care," Ellie the Elephant's Missy Elliott half-time medley, TV on the Radio playing "Wolf Like Me," Lia Kohl, Astrid Sonne, salute, Doechii, Lambrini Girls making a limbo stick out of their mic cord, "This boy doesn't even know / the difference between 'there,' 'their' and 'they are,'" Shygirl playing the Challengers score during her DJ set, the way Kim Gordon sings "Eckhaus Latta," Wednesday Tiny Desk.

Good luck, babe! 💖

My 2022 in Music

Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the hi-hat.

10 Favorite New Albums

• God Save the Animals, Alex G

• Classic Objects, Jenny Hval

• RENAISSANCE, Beyonce

• PAINLESS, Nilüfer Yanya

• Heaven Coming Crashing, Rachika Nayar

• Endure, Special Interest

• MUNA, MUNA

• Plonk, Huerco S.

• Spirit Exit, Caterina Barbieri

• Big Time, Angel Olsen

5 Favorite Live Shows

• Lyra Pramuk @ Knockdown Center

• PinkPantheress @ Le Poisson Rouge

• beabadoobee @ Brooklyn Steel

• Sofia Kourtesis @ Public Records

• Alex G @ Brooklyn Steel

5 Favorite New (to me) Artists

• Two Shell

• bar italia

• Dora Jar

• Marina Herlop

• Mabe Fratti

10 New Favorite (Old) Albums

• Butter 08, Butter 08

• Ambient 3: Day Of Radiance, Laaraji, Brian Eno

• Essence/Universe, Laraaji

• Celestial Music 1978 - 2011, Laraaji

• Wave Your Moonlight Hat For The Snowfall Train, You’ll Never Get to Heaven

• World Is so Beautiful, Masakatsu Takagi

• Aesthete, John Beltran

• First Blue Sky, Placid Angles

• Is It Real, Dinamarca, La Favi

• Pink Cloud, Launder

Favorite 2022 music moments that weren’t releases: Lyra Pramuk describing her live show as a “pagan ritual,” Tár, Rachel’s wedding, Rosalia chewing gum, Sofia Kourtesis’ glass of white wine precariously placed on her synths for her whole set, the White Lotus theme song (again), going to Teo’s house for k-pop school and getting TWICE-pilled, the way Grian Chatten sings “foony point of view” in “Jackie Down the Line,” Angel Olsen’s whole “I wrote this song last night, I’m going to play it right now” live schtick, “Losing You” with Clover at karaoke, Jasmine Kennedy x Jorgeous’ Etta James lip-sync on Drag Race, Wet Leg “not knowing” what the Grammys are, Alex G “Blessing” dance, experiencing PinkPantheress live through a sea of phones, Circuit des Yeux in the rain in the cemetery, Suzanne Ciani directing applause toward her Buchla, Horsegirl inverting Gang of Four’s “Damaged Goods” lyric on “World of Pots and Pans" into “sometimes I’m thinking that I lust you / but I know it’s only love” which was so silly and small but actually moved me, this Cher tweet:

My 2021 in Music

(Originally published on NPR)

Top 10 Albums of 2021

• Illuminati Hotties, Let Me Do One More

• Indigo De Souza, Any Shape You Take

• L'Rain, Fatigue

• Eris Drew, Quivering in Time

• PinkPantheress, to hell with it

• Pauline Anna Strom, Angel Tears in Sunlight

• SPELLLING, The Turning Wheel

• Yu Su, Yellow River Blue

• Circuit des Yeux, -io

• WILLOW, lately I feel EVERYTHING

Top 10 Songs of 2021

• Indigo De Souza, "Way Out"

• Illuminati Hotties, "Pool Hopping"

• Sofia Kourtesis, "La Perla"

• PinkPantheress, "Just for me"

• Caribou, "You Can Do It"

• Cassandra Jenkins, "Hard Drive"

• L'Rain, "Two Face"

• Faye Webster, "Both All the Time"

• WILLOW feat. Avril Lavigne, "G R O W"

• Circuit des Yeux, "Dogma"

My 2020 in Music

This is me trying.

10 Favorite New Albums

• For You, India Jordan

• Fluids of Emotion, Eris Drew

• Silver Ladders, Mary Lattimore

• Punisher, Phoebe Bridgers

• how I’m feeling now, Charli XCX

• WHAT WE DREW, Yaeji

• Room For The Moon, Kate NV

• Suddenly, Caribou

• Because of a Flower, Ana Roxanne

• Hill, Flower, Fog, Emily Sprague

The Movie Soundtrack That Made Me Feel Slightly More Sane At the Beginning of the Pandemic: The Last Days of Disco

The New Album That Made Me Feel Slightly More Sane After I Had Exhausted The Last Days of Disco Soundtrack and Needed To Listen to Disco Actually Made in 2020: Jessie Ware’s What’s Your Pleasure?

Five Favorite New (to Me) Artists

• Beatrice Dillon

• Lucy Gooch

• Ulla

• Flo Milli

• Nailah Hunter

Favorite 2020 music moments that weren’t releases: listening to “WAP” on repeat under a tarp in a rainstorm on Rachel’s deck because we couldn’t hang out indoors, Arabella dancing to “Firestarter” in I May Destroy You, seeing Caroline Polachek live in January and the audience singing “girl, you’re getting skinny” in perfect unison, Bandcamp Fridays, Noname scorching J. Cole, Natalie Maines’s boat, the “I Know Alone” video, Fiona Apple’s dogs, Grimes eating Raisin Bran in her “Diary of a Song” video, TikTok zoomers making “Promiscuous Girl” chart, “I feel like men think that they own sex, and I feel like it scares them when women own sex.”

#1 Song That Actually Came Close to Articulating the Restless Privilege of Isolation:

#1 Song That Should Have Been Bigger: Georgia’s “About Work The Dancefloor”

#1 Time I Felt Genuinely Charmed By Matthew Healy:

10 New Old Favorites

• New Young City, For Tracy Hyde (2019)

• Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes 1965-1969, Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard (2018)

• On The Way To The Peak of Normal, Holger Czukay (1981)

• Movie, Holger Czukay (1979)

• Solvent City, Solvent (2001)

• Symbol, Susumu Yokota (2005)

• Grinning Cat, Susumu Yokota (2001)

• The Sacrificial Code, Kali Malone (2019)

• For You and I, Loraine James (2019)

• Movies For Ears, Ela Orleans (2019)

Honorable mentions: Waxahatchee, Taylor Swift, Katie Dey, Margo Price, Eartheater, Bully, Park Hye Jin, Lily Konigsberg, beabadoobee, Shygirl, OMMA, Kelly Lee Owens, Shopping

✌️Peace out

My 2019 in Music

10 Favorite New Albums

1. MAGDALENE, FKA twigs

2. Norman Fucking Rockwell!, Lana Del Rey

3. PROTO, Holly Herndon

4. Resonant Body, Octo Octa

5. HOMECOMING, Beyoncé

6. Pang, Caroline Polachek

7. Charli, Charli XCX

8. Quiet Signs, Jessica Pratt

9. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, Billie Eilish

10. Careful, Boy Harsher

10 New Favorite Old Albums

1. Midnight Cleaners, Cleaners from Venus (1982)

2. Camino Del Sol, Antena (1982)

3. Come Away With ESG, ESG (1983)

4. I'm Not Dancing, Tirzah (2013)

5. A Trip to Marineville, Swell Maps (1979)

6. Unseen Worlds, Laurie Spiegel (1991)

7. The Deep End, Saloli (2018)

8. Boy Soprano, Miharu Koshi (1985)

9. Flowers of Evil, Suzanne Ciani (1969)

10. Songs For the 10 Voices of the 2 Prophets, Terry Riley (1983)

5 New Favorites

• Isabella Lovestory

• Duke

• Maruwa

• Otha

• Esther Rose

5 Best Live Shows

1. Joanna Newsom @ El Museo de Barrio

2. Robyn @ Madison Square Garden

3. Bikini Kill @ Kings Theater

4. Charli XCX @ Terminal 5

5. Bill Callahan @ Murmurr

Honorable mentions: Priests, Jenny Hval, Carla dal Forno, Kedr Livanskiy, Bella Boo, Peppa Pig, the video of Young Thug finding out dogs have periods, Lana Del Rey confirming she's a basic bitch, "are my friends really friends now, or are they far gone," Sky Ferreira tweeting about relating to Vox Lux, the line in 100 gecs' "ringtone" where Laura Les sings "I got a little crush or somethin," Billie Eilish's Invisalign, the exact moment when "Hold Up" turns into "Countdown" on HOMECOMING, the Perfume Genius "this mouse from now on" tweet

My 2018 in Music

The Most Underrated Song of the Year

5 New Favs

• Tierra Whack

• Hatchie

• Channel Tres

• City Girls

• boygenius

The K-Pop Song I Wish Was Bigger In the U.S. Than BTS’ “Idol”

5 Best Live Shows I Saw

• Cat Power @ the Kitchen

• SOPHIE @ Elsewhere

• boygenius @ Brooklyn Steel

• Grouper @ Murmurr Theatre

• Kelela @ Pitchfork Fest

10 Favorite Old Albums That I Got Into This Year

• Utakata No Hibi, Mariah (1983)

• Structures from Silence, Steve Roach (1984)

• Eadem Mutata Resurgo compilation, Medio Mutante (2015)

• 討好自己, Faye Wong (1994)

• 胡思亂想, Faye Wong (1994)

• Afternooners, Patrick Crowley’s porn soundtrack reissue compilation (2017)

• Shiver, Virna Lindt (1983)

• Vision Songs, Vol.1 reissue, Laaraji (1984)

• Bach: Works for Organ, E. Power Biggs (1961)

• Does It Look Like I’m Here?, Emeralds (2010)

10 Favorite New Albums

• Be the Cowboy, Mitski

• Chris, Christine and the Queens

• Sweetener, Ariana Grande

• Honey, Robyn

• Working Class Woman, Marie Davidson

• Invasion of Privacy, Cardi B

• Golden Hour, Kacey Musgraves

• Boygenius, boygenius

• Dirty Computer, Janelle Monáe

• All Melody, Nils Frahm

My 2017 in Music

The Eternally Relevant Theme Song for 2017

5 New Favs

• Smerz

• Stef Chura

• Sigrid

• Yaeji

• Sacred Paws

My Favorite Song of 2017 That Actually Came Out In Late 2016

My Actual Favorite Song of 2017 That Came Out in 2017

5 Best Live Shows I Saw

• Olga Bell, Lincoln Center

• Circuit des Yeux, Rough Trade

• Slowdive, Brooklyn Steel

• Dawn Richard, Pitchfork Fest

• Girlpool, Warsaw

10 Favorite Old Albums That I Got Into This Year or Revisited Often With New Ears

• Seven Waves, Suzanne Ciani (1982)

• First Floor, Theo Parrish (1998)

• No.1 In Heaven, Sparks (1979)

• Interstellar, Frankie Rose (2012)

• Four Organs / Phase Patterns, Steve Reich (1970)

• And Their Refinement of the Decline, Stars of the Lid (2007)

• Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill, Grouper (2008)

• Speak Now, Taylor Swift (2010)

• The Power Out, Electrelane (2004)

• X, Kylie Minogue (2007) (s/o to Teo Bugbee who for the first months of 2017 had everyone at MTV News on a steady diet of Kylie)

10 Favorite New Albums

• Kelly Lee Owens, Kelly Lee Owens

• Melodrama, Lorde

• Nothing Feels Natural, Priests

• Yaeji, Yaeji

• Hug of Thunder, Broken Social Scene

• UKG, TQD

• DAMN., Kendrick Lamar

• Exile In The Outer Ring, EMA

• Ctrl, SZA

• Slowdive, Slowdive

Honorable mentions: Kehlani, Allison Crutchfield, Vince Staples, Land of Talk, Karen Gwyer, Makthaverskan, Bully, Lil Uzi Vert