Welcome to the final newsletter of the year. No links or mixtape this week. If you haven’t already done so, I encourage you to check out last week’s newsletter regarding my favorite songs and albums from 2024.
Here are my seven favorite things from my own 2024, in no particular order. I say “my own 2024” because some of my favorite things didn’t come out in 2024. The book I enjoyed the most came out in 1966. My favorite film experience was watching a 1967 French film on a tiny screen on a regional plane while running on a few hours of sleep. Three of my “things” are not literal things. Life is weird sometimes.
I say this every year, but it’s worth saying again: My favorite things each year are the times I spend with family, friends, and loved ones. These are the works of art, pop culture artifacts, or general life events I enjoyed the most throughout 2024 and are more fun to write about. Ask me tomorrow, and this list might change.
Life is weird. A good life is still a life. Life is amazing. Here we go.
Metaphor ReFantazio
The best non-Final Fantasy RPG I’ve ever played. Ironic, since my previous choice was Persona 5 Royal, also made by Atlus. The best cast of characters and world-building of high-fantasy since Game of Thrones.
Los Angeles
This month marks the end of my first full calendar year of living in Los Angeles. Lots of highs. Lots of lows. Most importantly, all the middles are still lovely, and manageable. I’ve met a lot of wonderful people. I wish it weren’t so expensive, but who doesn’t? Still happy to be here.
Le Samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville’s quasi-French New Wave classic has been on my to-watch list for years. Finally watched it. Yes. It’s as good as they say.
Tubi
The dad rock of streaming services. Tubi!
Finally finding and (mostly) maintaining a (mostly) healthy diet
Instead of avoiding bad foods and treating food like a sin to disavow, I now actively seek good foods. I mostly stick to lean proteins, fruits, and veggies that my great-grandma would know to be food; she was probably not up to speed on Flamin Hot Cheetos or Mountain Dew. The rare times I drink, I trade dark alcohol for light alcohol, red wine excluded. I don’t treat the occasional bad meal like the end of the world, or even an excuse to make my next meal “bad.” As someone who hates dieting, it is possible to make and maintain the change.
Finishing my latest book proposal
This was my big writing project for 2024. Very happy to finish it. Shout out to James, Bob, and Eric for the wonderful early feedback. I’ve already started on my big writing project for 2025 … stay tuned.
Bobby Fisher Teaches Chess
One of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s never too late to learn, or get better at, something new.
Happy 2024, y’all.
See you in January.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
This essay was edited from its original version, first published through my OPE!newsletter. Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. Animations made using FlipaClip and EZGIF. My views don’t reflect my clients or the publications and brands I work with. All typos are intentional.
Programming note: Next week is the last OPE! of 2024, and I’ll be bringing back my tradition of the seven favorite “things” list. This is my excuse to talk about all the non-music things that I loved throughout 2024. I’ll aim to send the first OPE! of 2025 on January 8th.
Also, a delayed plug related to today: For Pitchfork, I wrote about Nia Archives for their list of the 100 best songs of 2024. I wrote about “Silence is Loud,” which is #54. I’ll talk more about Nia later in this newsletter.
And now, it’s time to (sort of) say goodbye to music in 2024.
My usual links are still below, but instead of this week’s mixtape (for paid subscribers), I present my list of the songs and albums I loved the most throughout this year.
My usual rules apply. I don’t spotlight any specific songs if they appear on my top albums list; I’m allowed to break this rule once. These songs and albums are in order, but my love for my ninth favorite song and my fourth favorite song is minimal. Everything here is worth your time. Ask me tomorrow, and this list will probably change. And yes: I do listen to rap, jazz, R&B, and electronic music. This is just a list of my comfort foods, which happens to be full of guitar rock.
Let’s begin.
SONGS
10: Julianna Riolino w/ Adrian Underhill – “Against the Grain”
Folks, Julianna is still criminally underrated. When I reviewed her last album for Pitchfork a few years ago, I described her sound as Dolly Parton hanging out in Laurel Canyon in 1972. “Against the Grain” still hits that mark and more.
9: Liquid Mike – “American Caveman”
No amount of $14 Los Angeles gluten-free mushroom sweet tea lattes can ever take the Midwest bro out of me. I wish Wayne and Garth were around for this excellent harmonica breakdown.
8: Maggie Rogers – “So Sick of Dreaming”
I was disappointed with Maggie’s latest album, but I’m still rooting for her. She’s the only notable pop artist channeling Fleetwood Mac and getting away with it. Put “So Sick of Dreaming” on her eventual greatest hits and move on.
7: Green Day – “1981”
This is my nostalgia pick. I also interviewed Billie Joe Armstrong earlier this year, which was fun. Still, “1981” is a fun blast of silly, pop-punk that could have been on American Idiot.
6: Johnny Blue Skies – “Right Kind of Dream”
This is the most I’ve enjoyed Sturgill Simpson in years. Who knew country artist pivoting to Arcade Fire’s debut album was a smart career move?
5: Nia Archives – “Silence is Loud”
Britpop is no longer a dirty word! Expanding upon my Pitchfork blurb for “Silence is Loud,” I think this track is a kick in the head in the best way possible. I talk about Nia more in the Oasis and Britpop feature I wrote for The Ringer earlier this year, which might be my favorite thing I published this year. I wish the rest of Nia’s album was memorable, but I’m walking away from 2024 feeling the most excited to hear what she does next.
4: Waxahatchee – “Right Back to It (ft. MJ Lenderman)”
I’m in the minority of not liking Waxahatchee’s latest album—it sounds like she wrote and recorded most of it in her sleep—but “Right Back to It” is everything I want in an indie folk-rock ballad. That banjo sounds glorious.
3: Eddie Vedder – “Save It For Later”
Vedder’s cover of The English Beat’s new wave anthem, which he recorded for the third season of The Bear, is probably the song I listened to the most this year. This is the best he’s sounded in years. The guitars and piano remind me of the best memories of a city I used to live in. Good lord.
2: Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!”
It’s rare when one of the biggest hits of the year also happens to be a song I genuinely love. Poptimism continues to eat its own, but at least Roan had time to sneak in a new classic.
1: Daryl Johns – “I’m So Serious”
This is my rule breaker. Daryl Johns’s debut LP is my MVP of the year, and “I’m So Serious” is my favorite song of the year, by a mile. “I’m So Serious” is everything I want in a guitar-pop song. It’s perfect. Its melodies are perfect. Its harmonies are perfect. Its “slowed” YouTube remix (also linked below) is perfect. It’s the best Replacements song not written by Paul Westerberg. More importantly, “I’m So Serious” makes me feel happy to be alive. What more do you want?
ALBUMS
10: mk.gee – Two Star & the Dream Police
This album would probably be higher on my list if I spent more time with it, but I’m glad we now have a legitimate heir to Bon Iver’s throne.
9: A.G. Cook – Britpop
If you’re burned out on Brat but still crave an album with similar style and energy, may I introduce you to Charli’s go-to producer’s latest album that … I bet will be considered a classic in a few years.
8: Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
An album I respect more than I like. Still, I’m pretty blown away by how many folks have checked out Cindy Lee’s album and taken the time to enjoy its chaotic two hours in one setting. It’s easy to be all doomsday about the value of music in 2024 and how music journalism has been reduced to, “Crazy how [inset lame ‘70s or ‘80s or ‘90s or ‘00 or ‘10 song] is blowing up on TikTok,” but Diamond Jubilee’s success is a counterpoint that most people still crave excellent works of singular art. The album ain’t dead yet, folks.
7: Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future
You know an album is strong when someone like me, who remains allergic to Big Thief, recommends it. What a lovely, gentle album. It sounds even better in these holiday-filled days of winter.
6: Daryl Johns – Daryl Johns
I already gushed enough about “I’m So Serious,” which is the best song off Daryl’s debut LP. The rest is still interesting, from opening with two instrumental tracks (bold move!) to a cutesy cover of Mac DeMarco’s “Let Her Go.” This album deserves 10 million more streams.
5: Paul McCartney & Wings – One Hand Clapping
What a gift, though this counts as a technicality. One Hand Clapping was a long-lost Wings live bootleg recorded in 1974 which finally got an official release this year. Not only is this Wings’ best album, it’s my favorite solo McCartney release. The 2024 remix sounds phenomenal and kicked off a big Paul year for me, which was delightful. If you’ve ever been curious about Wings, this is the place to start.
4: Charli XCX – Brat
Brat is an A- album with A+ presentation. Writing about this album post-election, Brat now feels like the pinnacle and last gasp of the first half of 2020s leftwing Internet cool before we enter uncharted territories under Trump 2.0 which is already populated by the Internet’s new main characters, not unlike how David Bowie’s Blackstar, and his passing in early 2016, now feels like a warning shot of how our understanding of pop culture and fandom was about to change forever. I just wrote a very bratty (ha), pretentious sentence, and I may be giving my corner of music critic Twitter (now Bluesky—I’m on both) too much credit. But still. Brat is easily the most 2024 album of 2024, the time capsule that evokes pretty much the entire year in pop culture, for better or worse. It’s mostly for the better. Many relistens later, Brat is still a great album that sounds strong removed from its self-sustaining mythology.
3: Wishy – Triple Seven
Wishy are rare repeaters in my end-of-year lists! Triple Seven took everything wonderful about last year’s EP, which I still love, and blew them up to IMax proportions on their debut LP. Every time I listen, I have a new favorite song. All the guitars throughout are stunning. It’s the shoegaze-lite gift that kept on giving in a year full of shit shoegaze.
2: MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks
In a non-Daryl Johns year, “She’s Leaving You” is my number-one song of the year. “Vegas is beautiful at night / And it’s not about the money / You just like the lights“ is my lyric of 2024. It’s Lenderman’s delivery of such a curious set of words that won me over after a few years of not enjoying his previous albums. The rest of Manning Fireworks is stunning too, even with some of its eye-rolling lyrical ironies that drove my fellow critics crazy; in 2024, Lenderman bros were just as insufferable as Brat bros or Rogan bros. Still. This is the album I’ve listened to and thought about the most this year. It will sound just as good in 2025.
1: Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us
I love Only God Was Above Us so, so much. I love how wonderfully out-of-time it feels, with its nostalgic misremembering of the city most associated with them, made by musicians who have not lived in that city for a long time, which, as a fellow former New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles, I can relate to. I love every song individually and how they come together like technicolor puzzle pieces, like trying to put together the old home videos of your youth. I love that I keep discovering new sounds and feelings with each relisten. I love that, as a longtime Vampire Weekend fan, I’ve gotten to grow up and grow old alongside a band that, with each album, continues to act their age. I love that Ezra Koenig now embraces distortion pedals. I love that the songwriting feels out of step with the rest of popular or even hip music in 2024 and is instead patient and willing to go down some windy roads. I am probably the most stereotypical Vampire Weekend fan, and I accept it. I love Only God Was Above Us.
Happy 2024, y’all.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
This essay was edited from its original version, first published through my OPE!newsletter. Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. Animations made using FlipaClip and EZGIF. My views don’t reflect my clients or the publications and brands I work with. All typos are intentional.
I’m a writer on the autism spectrum, though I rarely write about it in this newsletter or for any of my freelance publications. I have my own reasons for not writing about it much in public. I made an exception a few years ago when for New York Magazine, I wrote about being a culture critic on the spectrum and watching pop culture’s promising yet slow evolution of more nuanced depictions of autism, specifically for adults on the spectrum, and the thorny push-and-pull between the quiet power of popular works of art that helps us gain empathy (aka the ideal kind of representation that adds much to everyone and doesn’t take away anything from anybody) versus the dangers and lingering effects of misguided, or just straight-up lazy or mean-spirited, depictions of historically not-well-treated folks (aka fuck Rain Man, even though I understand why it was made and why it felt groundbreaking at the time). I won’t rehash all those points here; here’s my feature link if you’d like to read all my thoughts on these topics.
I’m bringing all this up because Trump recently-ish announced his nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Health and Human Services. It’s freaking me out in a way I was not expecting. And I felt stuck. I didn’t know how to write about it. Until now, I think.
In general, I don’t talk about politics too much in this music-focused newsletter. I think most of you can guess where I land on Trump—essentially, I’m not anti-conservative, but I roll my eyes at MAGA. Yet there’s a difference between “I’m apolitical” vs “I pick and choose the hills I die on.” I subscribe to the latter. Autism and disabilities are some of those hills. And I bring up ASAN (the Autistic Self Advocacy Network) because their official statement from last week summed up everything I wanted to say about RFKJ’s potential impact and the complicated, mostly thorny baggage that comes from a man whom I would describe as a villain of folks in my world (a comparison that makes more sense after reading the ASAN link).
It’s a doom and gloom feeling that I’ve had for many years and which have really crystalized in the past few weeks. It’s something I still struggle to talk about with other people, especially my friends and family who might mean well yet don’t seem as interested in my corner of the autism world that doesn’t directly affect them. (It’s the same problem of indifference that gets in the way of most progress: If it’s not my problem, it’s not a problem.) Ever since the outcome of this most recent election, I was getting nervous, because I felt stuck not knowing how to talk, or even write about, this election and how much I’ve been freaking out over a very hyper-specific reason, and in a way I think would feel most effective and processed. Now, I’m thankful to ASAN for creating a handy link that is easy to share. (ASAN usually does good work; I highly recommend their newsletter if you’re curious to learn about the biggest news and updates related to this world.) It feels like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And now the best thing I can do right now is to pass along the right message that doesn’t need more words from me.
I do plan on writing more about autism in the future. For now, if you care at all about what I’m about, and I’m assuming you at least are curious about my thoughts—though I also like the idea of someone hate-subscribing to OPE!—I highly encourage you to check out the statement and keep these thoughts in mind as we see if this nomination goes through. I have no illusion that sharing these words will stop the nomination, and I have no interest in changing your mind if you’re not open to reconsidering any preconceived notions. However, I do ask for your time and attention; I take your time and attention seriously, so I hope you return the favor.
Thank you again for reading, and again, happy Thanksgiving.
With love and all the other good things,
-b
This essay was edited from its original version, first published through my OPE!newsletter. Original OPE! logo by Claire Kuang. Words and cartoons by yours truly. Animations made using FlipaClip and EZGIF. My views don’t reflect my clients or the publications and brands I work with. All typos are intentional.
