2024 was an overwhelming year in almost every sense, but the subject here at Dusted is music, and music was a phenomenon that was overwhelming in a good way. I fell in love with brand new albums I will listen to for the rest of my life, discovered decades old albums that were like missing pieces of myself, and I didn’t get to albums I might fall in love with ten years from now. My band released eight of our own albums to varying degrees of notice. I did a brief tour, something I had not done for over a decade, and we played more shows than we ever have in a year.
I mention my own musical activities because when you are engaged in DIY music, it's all about connecting with people, and most of them are other musicians with beautiful music to share. Every time we play a show, we are treated to performances by two or three other bands, who almost never disappoint. I had sublime nights around Portland this year. I swooned to jangly pop downers Rosy Boa. I zoned out to mesmerizing finger picking and jazz improvisation from guitar magicians like Will DeLee and Mike Gamble. I lost my mind to the free explorations of the Joel Nelson Group and Water Shrews. We played with French artists Tamagawa and Oldine and connected across the Atlantic with their atmospheric sounds. When I was on tour, I got to meet an online friend and collaborator, John Swanke, and watch him weave his tapestries of New Age guitar. I met drone-folk revivalists Friends of the Road, who put out one of my favorite albums of the year, and I got my face melted by the thrash-metal Grouper vibes of Power Strip. All of this was life affirming - in times that feel haunted by deadly forces that are bereft of creativity or joy, all of this felt like, aside from my family, my main reason for being alive.
There is an additional vitality that can be added to this practice, because music can be used to materially address the complex issues we face. Many artists, including myself, leverage their fanbase to raise money for good causes, but in the wake of Hurricane Helene, a massive, heavy hitter filled benefit compilation called Cardinals at the Window raised over $300,000 to support those impacted. more recently, the Gold Bolus Recordings label has put out an excellent compilation to benefit Palestinians, called Mandatory Liberation Volume One, featuring artists such as Powers/Rolin Duo and Ashcan Orchestra.
2024 was a great year to be a fan of music too—as fragmented as the digital universe, is, has the effect of multiplying the amount and variety of music released, permutations of genres spiraling like fractals of style. I think every deep music head's dilemma is knowing that we'll miss more records than we ever catch, but it's a wonderful problem to have. Below I have included a list of my 30 favorite albums of the year — I tried to go under-the-radar as much as was honest — but this is stuff I listened to a lot.
Spiral Pier — Cash Payment (EP)
JPW/Dadweed — Two Against Nurture (EP)
Future — WE DON’T TRUST YOU
Rosali — Bite Down
Daniel Wyche and Patrick Shiroishi — Hopeful Intervals
Jeremy Kizina — Remnants In Repose
Seawind of Battery — East Coast Cosmic Dreamscaper
Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee
Penn Bryce — Feel Free
Taylor K Conrad — Mountain Stars
Cassini — The Cassini Project
Friends of the Road — Sunseekin’ Blues
Water Shrews — Red Eared Slider
Myriam Gendron — Mayday
Shane Parish — Repertoire
Rob Dobson — Be Easy
Beth Gibbons — Lives Outgrown
Bill MacKay — Locust Land
Blue Angels — s/t
Quintelium — Dream and Reality
Will DeLee — Improvisations for Guitar and Charango
