stübermania's Best-of-2024 spectacular!
Merry listmas and happy reviewed year!
Welcome to stübermania, where I usually dig into my box of dust-covered interview cassettes from the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s to present bygone conversations with your favourite alterna/indie semi-stars, but over the holidays, I’ll succumb to music-journo peer pressure and feed the Year in Review content beast.
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MY 224 FAVOURITE TRACKS OF 2024
Ranked in approximate order from “played the shit out of it” to “anytime this pops up on shuffle, I think, ‘I really should play this more often’”:
The Spotify preview window above cuts off at 100 tracks; click here to see the full 224-track playlist. And click here for the Apple Music version.
MY TOP 50 ALBUMS OF 2024
In last week’s newsletter, I presented 12 overlooked albums from the past year; here, I give you my complete buffet spread of 2024 favourites, from the unsung to the ubiquitous to the records that received exactly the right amount of attention. Albums are listed in alphabetical order, because I can’t pretend I could rank these albums in any sort of empirical/authoritative/coherent fashion. I’ve come to think of a year-end list less as an Olympics awards podium and more like a photo album—i.e., it’s less about evaluating supreme excellence and more about cataloging moments and memories. I can’t say every single one of these records has remained in constant rotation throughout 2024, but they’re all records I connected with at a particular point over the past 12 months—some only stuck with me for a few weeks, while others will be with me for the rest of my life, but they each played their own special part in getting me through the year.
Adrianne Lenker, Bright Future
Amen Dunes, Death Jokes
Arab Strap, I’m totally fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore 👍
Beak>, >>>> (bonus points for having the best album cover of the year)
BIG|BRAVE, A Chaos of Flowers
Blood, Loving You Backwards
Bodega, Our Brand Could Be Yr Life
The Bug Club, On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System
Caribou, Honey
Christopher Owens, I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair
Church Chords, elvis, he was Schlager
Cindy Lee, Diamond Jubilee
Cola, The Gloss
Corridor, Mimi
Des Demonas, Apocalyptic Boom! Boom!
Ducks Ltd., Harm’s Way
Einstürzende Neubauten, Rampen (apm: alien pop music)
Ekko Astral, Pink Balloons
Father John Misty, Mahashmashana
Fucked Up, Someday
Girl and Girl, Call a Doctor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024, 28,340 DEAD
The Hard Quartet, The Hard Quartet
Helado Negro, PHASOR
J Spaceman & John Coxon, Music for William Eggleston's Stranded in Canton
Jack White, No Name
Jade Hairpins, Get Me the Good Stuff
Jennifer Castle, Camelot
Jessica Pratt, Here in the Pitch
Jon McKiel, Hex
Kali Uchis, ORQUÍDEAS
Kim Deal, Nobody Loves You More
Luna Li, When a Thought Grows Wings
Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven
Meatbodies, Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom
Memorials, Memorial Waterslide
Mercury Rev, Born Horses
Midwife, No Depression in Heaven
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Wild God
Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor
NYSSA, Shake Me Where I’m Foolish
The OBGMs, Sorry, It’s Over
Personal Trainer, Still Willing
Redd Kross, Redd Kross
Sunnsetter, Heaven Hang Over Me
Tucker Zimmerman, Dance of Love
Ty Segall, Three Bells
Tyler the Creator, CHROMAKOPIA
Water Damage, In E
Yard Act, Where’s My Utopia?
This is a free newsletter, but if you really like what you see, please consider a donation via paid subscription, or visit my PWYC tip jar!
Yesssssss. So much gold here.