2024 in Review // Top 10 by Tat Songs

I play guitar, electronic, and noise. Chicago/Western Mass

Ten albums of choice from 2024, compiled for us by guitarist Tat Songs! Listen to Sadie 1942, his contribution to our recent digital sampler – and then check Bushcraft, his latest LP.

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1. Thomas Strønen – Relations (ECM Records)

Musical messages from Oslo, New York, Basel and Lugano – recorded between 2018 and 2022 – are juxtaposed and recombined on an absorbing recording that features Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen solo and in a series of duets . With such partners as Craig Taborn, Chris Potter, Sinikka Langeland and Jorge Rossy, the musical frame of reference is very broad. Elements from Langeland’s’s archaic-sounding folk to Potter’s post-Coltrane saxophone and Taborn’s whirlwind modernist piano each find their place in a project that implies new threads of connectivity, new creative relationships.

Further Reading: Big Takeover / Jazz Weekly

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2. Arooj Aftab – Night Reign (Verve Records)

The title of Arooj Aftab’s latest album might suggest we’re about to plunge down the tenebrous spiral staircase of the soul. But there’s also a lightness of touch that infuses Night Reign, even lifting us up at times. These are deep, emotional, sometimes bruising songs, though the insinuation of total darkness belies the exquisiteness of its spiritually rigorous forty-eight minutes. – Quietus

Further Reading: Music Talkers / Beats Per Minute

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3. Sunburned Hand of the Man – Nimbus (Three Lobed Recordings)

As the record begins, atop a delicate bedding of Shannon Ketch’s sequenced synthesizer pulses, Sarah Gibbons’ meandering Mellotron, and the twinkle of bells, the poet Peter Gizzi intones the word “Nimbus.” He’s naming the poem he’s about to read, the record you’re about to hear, describing the music Sunburned makes. “It’s so random becoming a self,” he reflects, the words confessional and ghostly, the voice urgent and tender. Gizzi’s a newer member of the Sunburned orbit, but has been a serious presence at recent live shows.

Further Reading: Freq / The Vinyl District

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4. Ava Mendoza – The Circular Train (Palilalia Records)

Ava Mendoza has never made an album quite as personal as her third solo full-length, The Circular Train. Through her decades of collaborations with Nels Cline, Carla Bozulich, William Parker, Fred Frith, Matana Roberts, and Mick Barr — plus years leading her power trio Unnatural Ways and playing in Bill Orcutt’s quartet — the guitarist’s name has become synonymous with virtuoso technique, raw passion, and visceral resonance, a player pushing the edges of the guitar’s possibilities.

Further Reading: KLOF

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5. Six Organs of Admittance – Time is Glass (Drag City)

Once again, Six Organs of Admittance showcases the intricate tangle of fingers on the fretboard and flash of lens flare slicing the air, as the future arcs 360 degrees around to become a part of the past as well. Oscillations in this glass bowl ripple outward eternally, but are rooted on the ground where all the creatures are moving and communing; humans too. An intimate cosmic expression, file under: rural-industrial psych, ecosystem goth.

Further Reading: Dusted / Treble

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6. Amelia Courthouse – broken things (Spinster)

It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since “ruby glass”, the 2019 release from Amelia Courthouse (aka Leah Toth). But then, hearing the expansion in sound fields and tones from the previous record, it seems like time well spent. – J.M. Hart

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7. Myriam Gendron – Mayday (Feeding Tube / Thrill Jockey)

Gendron’s last record was a warm and tender collection that cushioned the blow of everyday life. Mayday leaps back into that mode, with “Long Way Home” bringing its cottony comforts to the speakers. The song exudes a sense of relief, the kind that can only come from finally returning to a place of safety after a long stint away. The album follows her first single’s beacon, lighting the traveler’s path with a soft glow and a breeze buffeted by ennui. It was great to see her get picked up by Thrill Jockey this year, giving a larger loudspeaker to her quiet works. Come fall this one is going to be indispensable on the headphones and it looks to be holding strong for the year end list too. Wrap up in this one. – RSTB

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8. Bill MacKay – Locust Land (Drag City)

Rolling and tumbling in his own sweet way, guitarist Bill MacKay discovers a territory all his own: Locust Land. New vistas abound: Bill adds a measure of keyboard playing to his picking mastery, sings a few more, and, a devout and ceaseless collaborator, features a few other players (Sam Wagster, Mikel Patrick Avery and Janet Beveridge Bean). Whether played solo or with companions, Bill’s music projects the strength of the universal collective.

See also: Scarlet Sun Catchers // Guest Mix by Bill MacKay

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9. Nathan Bowles Trio – Are Possible (Drag City)

Are Possible is a spark-throwing, undulating fusion of styles played (mainly) on banjo, upright bass and drums, made possible by the individual perspectives of Nathan, double-bassist Casey Toll (Jake Xerxes Fussell, Mt. Moriah) and drummer Rex McMurry (CAVE) work together in an easy-rolling manner, but one that contains an expansive, ass-shaking confabulation of ideas.

See also: Review // Bill MacKay / Nathan Bowles – Keys

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10. Still House Plants – If I don’t make it, I love u (Bison)

‘If I don’t make it, I love u’ is Still House Plants’ third LP and the fullest embodiment of their sound to date. Where ‘Fast Edit’ formed with quick attachment and jump cuts, ‘If I don’t make it’ is shaped by persistence – a commitment to the songs that makes the music solid, warmer and accepted.