80 Favorite Songs of 2024 - Part 1

Trying something new by sharing a series of mini "radio shows" for your earwormification

Hi Wormheads:

Life has been more than a bit nuts lately.

Of course, there’s the election crap that just happened in the U.S., where I live. And holiday season is perpetually stressful. But a big reason for my sporadic and inconsistent posts/newsletters of late is that my wife Karen and I have been house hunting and are currently in escrow hell after deciding to buy a new home and sell the one we’ve been living in for more than 20 years. The hell part is due to complications around discovering the kitchen flooded and the downstairs ceiling caved in upon final walkthrough. Fun fun!

I don’t do well with big changes. Especially huge, expensive, complicated, bureaucratic ones, where I am told to give all my money to strangers and sign a hundred different documents without reading them because doing so would take a hundred years and possibly make my head explode.

I’ve been asking our realtor, the finance people, and the escrow folks a thousand questions, driving them and my wife crazy. Karen now leaves me out of the email and text threads. She’s smart like that.

This is the first house I’ve ever purchased.

I had been a renter my whole adult life and expected that to be the case until the day I died. When I met my wife 21 years ago, she had just finished escrow on a cute, small house, in a cool Oakland neighborhood I wasn’t familiar with, called The Laurel.

After three months of dating, things were moving fast and getting serious. At the same time, my new landlord, who’d just purchased the building I lived in, was planning to jack up my rent several hundred dollars a month. I’d just finished fighting my previous landlord (along with fellow tenants) against a similar massive increase and won. After they responded by quickly selling the building, I realized I’d won the battle but would eventually lose the war.

I casually tossed out the idea to Karen that we could move into her new house at the same time — that way it would be more us moving in together vs. me moving into her place at a later date. Also, I could pay her rent which would help her pay the mortgage. It would be a win-win!

Karen wasn’t against the idea, but told me in no uncertain terms that after living with a boyfriend for several years where getting married was “in the plans,” she wasn’t going to live with another partner without legal marriage documentation.

So, around a month later, on a weekend getaway in Mendocino, California, I got down on one knee and proposed.

A month after that, we moved into the house that we’ve been sharing for over 20 years. The house that we are now in the process of selling. Hopefully.

I mean, anything could happen between now and then. The city could burn down. The earth could open up and swallow us whole.

Some say I live in the worst-case scenario. I like to describe it as being hyper-prepared.

This is how I work. I’m a catastrophizer. A purveyor in red flags. Legit red flags (kitchens flooding, ceilings collapsing) are waving right now, but I’m told this isn’t uncommon in the home-buying process.

I am trying to trust that everything will work out as it should and soon we will be decorating our new home and have space to actually have guests stay over.

As a way of dealing with my mental hopscotch and OCD lunacy, I’ve been compiling my favorite songs from the past 11 months (I’ll adjust as needed if anything fantastic is released in December).

Not simply compiling them but sorting them into a highly curated playlist in which each song must properly segue into the next. As there are no genres of music that I don’t enjoy, the range of styles in the playlist is far and wide. However, don’t expect Classical, K-pop, or Extreme Polka (I made that up, but I bet it exists).

As a way to make the sharing of my favorite songs more exciting, I’ve decided to break the playlist up into 8 parts and post each as a podcast of sorts. I’ll include YouTube videos as well, for people who prefer that sort of thing, but I’ll also embed an audio file that will contain each segment of 8-10 songs with me interjecting a little ramble — more or less similar to my words below — DJ style. Think of this as a series of radio shows more than a podcast.

Episode 1, below, starts with songs by bands I grew up with in the 1980s, who are still going strong, putting out essential music 40-plus years later. Then we finish the 10-song set with some of my favorite Americana artists.

As always, I would love to hear what you think of these tracks. I’ve also included a Spotify playlist of part 1 at the end of the post.

I promise that parts 2 through 8 won’t be as preambling as this one.

Episode #1: 43:43

1. J Mascis - Can’t Believe We’re Here

J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is, in my eyes, a Rock God (capital R capital G). He’s written some of the most iconic post-punk, jambly, melodic, Neil Young by way of Pavement music of all time. His fourth solo release, What Do We Do Now, is chock-full of Mascis Classics (that should be an official term!). None more so than “Can’t Believe We’re Here,” which, when I first heard it I think back in January, immediately was saved to my “potential best songs of the year” playlist. It has remained there ever since.

2. X- Sweet Till the Bitter End

Growing up in Los Angeles and going to high school in the early to mid-1980s, the impact of X on my young developing self was enormous. When I first heard them, I was into heavy metal and did not know what to do with X’s blend of punk and rockabilly.

As my tastes expanded to punk and new wave, and especially after seeing the documentary about the band, The Unheard Music (1986), I became obsessed with the band. I was convinced there has never been a more perfect and unique match of two vocalists than Exene Cervenka and John Doe. I still mostly feel that way. Billy Zoom’s Eddie Cochran-on-speed guitar riffs and DJ Bonebrake’s furious tribal wailing on the skins made for a perfect melange of bandmates.

Their latest (and supposedly last) album, Smoke & Fiction, summons the wild spirit of their early albums, in a way that their previous releases (from the late ‘80s to 2000, roughly) only hinted at.

“Sweet Till the Bitter End” could be the perfect denouement, the song that sums up the impact X has had on the music world and their dedicated, worldwide fanbase.

3. The Cure - A Fragile Thing

I had been eagerly awaiting the latest album from The Cure for the better part of a decade. Along with millions of other fans as well, I might add. It seems like at least ten years ago when I heard they were working on what would become Songs of a Lost World.

Rumors of its impending release in the music press would get my hopes up and then dashed, to the point where I stopped believing we’d ever get a new album.

That it not only matched my expectations but surpassed them is astounding and shows the dedication Robert Smith has to his craft (and the rest of the band too, of course). The Cure’s music is like fine wine. You don’t rush the grapes.

“Alone” was the first single to be released from the album, but it was the follow-up, “A Fragile Thing,” which might be my favorite. A classic.

4. The Church - Realm of Minor Angels

Most people know The Church from their ‘80s new wave hits, “Under the Milky Way,” and “Reptile.” But the band has been putting out stellar but unheralded albums regularly since their 1981 debut, Of Skins and Heart.

After successfully tackling prog rock with 2023’s concept album The Hypogogue (a top album of the year for me), The Church comes right back with an even more sonically adventurous sequel, Eros Zeta and the Perfumed Guitars.

Don’t ask me what the concept is, even if I understood it, I would never be able to explain it. Just sit back and let the music supply all you need.

Opening track “Realm of Minor Angels” is a highlight and probably the most accessible song of the album.

5. Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More

I had to adjust my top 80 songs list after hearing/watching the video for the brand new Kim Deal (Pixies, Breeders) solo debut, Nobody Loves You More. The self-titled first single is a huge departure for the legendary musician. Lush, with orchestral accompaniment, her tender vocals up front in the mix, Deal expresses such open and unfiltered emotional resonance — I can see middle-aged (and older) folks discovering new love later in life, choosing this as their love song.

The rest of the album is equally fantastic, showing off a wide range of colors and styles. It’s a top album of 2024 for me.

6. Hurray For the Riff Raff - The World is Dangerous

Another essential Americana singer-songwriter, Alynda Segarra, who fronts the stellar band Hurray For the Riff Raff, has released a career-defining record in 2024. Pitchfork gave The Past is Still Alive an 8.3 rating (out of 10) and described the record as “part folk-punk memoir, part spiritual invocation.” Not that I rely on Pitchfork to tell me what’s great — I let my ears (and many of your ears) to the talking.

“The World is Dangerous” features Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) on guest vocals. When his voice comes in on the 3rd verse it imbues the song with added depth. The song is about the importance of friendship and perseverance in a world that can be harsh, cruel, and unforgiving.

All the lyrics are powerful and unflinching. My favorite verse:

Got to keep moving, it's my life, I can't lose it
A war correspondent, a wandering loser
Well, I'll light the candle, and I'll touch the flame
And I won't stop dreaming 'cause this world is dangerous

7. Sarah Shook & The Disarmers - Nightingale

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers’ 2024 album Revelations is a Revelation. I have been aware of Sarah and her band since their debut Sidelong in 2017. They write songs that stick to, and then seep into your bones and stay there. I hesitate to use the label Americana Rock to describe their sound, but it fits many of their tracks.

Some songs are straight-up rockers, some are gut-wrenching ballads — all have a strong point of view and no-bullshit attitude.

My favorite track on Revelations is “Nightingale,” a bluesy waltz-rocker that builds and builds and shows off Shook’s powerful, twangy vocals alongside her killer fretwork. However, I’m unclear if the tasty solo is Sarah (who goes by River Shook now) or Disarmer guitarist Blake Tallent.

I’m not picking favorites amongst my favorites, but if I were forced to, this one would be near the top.

8. Jobi Riccio - Instead

I first heard Jobi Riccio a few months ago on the car radio, playing live at some music festival whose name I never caught. I did get Jobi’s name though, and I haven’t forgotten her gorgeous throwback Patsy Cline-esque vocals.

It seems that “Instead” is an homage to the late, great Cline, what with Riccio’s half-yodel as she sings, “I drank too much, and I was crazy. I was craaazy.”

I love how the song starts with just guitar and vocals, strummed and sung deliberately and gently, and then it stops and the rest of the band joins in and the pace speeds up.

I’ve checked out Riccio’s 2023 debut album Whiplash and it’s got a stronger singer-songwriter and wistful vibe than this more humorous track. I think we’re going to hear a lot more great music from Jobi Riccio in the coming years.

9. Gold Star - Wild Boys

I can’t recall how I discovered Gold Star. L.A.-based singer-songwriter Marlon Rabenreither has a voice that will remind you of Bob Dylan, and songs that summon the great Mr. Zimmerman as well. There’s even a harmonica solo in “Wild Boys,” my favorite tune from his new album, How To Shoot The Moon.

Rabenreither’s songs are like paintings of the West, whether the Wild West or a West that feels more current day. His songs feel lived in, they tell stories that could only be told by someone who’s seen and done a lot and made some less-than-proud choices.

10. Paul Cauthen - Hot Damn

Hot Damn, indeed. Paul Cauthen is a fucking treasure. What he does shouldn’t work. He blends honky-tonk country with disco, funk, and R&B in a way that in lesser hands would be gimmicky. That would call out “one-hit-wonder.”

Many of his songs are hilarious, but they’re not jokey. Cauthen is over-the-top yet is the first to make fun of his exaggerated, debaucherous ways. He does know how to tone it down and get serious, as many songs on his four excellent albums attest.

I first came to discover Cauthen a few years ago when he put out his debut album, My Gospel. His voice exuded (and still exudes) a deep, Elvis-y tonality without sounding copycat, but he didn’t veer too far from his old-school country roots. I loved it, but it was 2019’s Room 41, where I became a true fan. His song “Cocaine County Dancing,” was on constant repeat that year in my headphones. It’s so good I have to add it below:

He’s found a companion classic to join “CCD” with “Hot Damn,” which you have to play right now and appreciate the greatness yourself. He even adds a rap halfway through the tunea. The only problem is the song is only 2:20 and it deserves to be twice as long.

• Did you get a chance to listen to any of these tracks, and if you did, which ones stood out for you?

• Did you listen to the radio show segment, or read the text and play the YouTube videos? I’m just trying to get a sense of people’s preferences.

• I’ll be dipping into the ‘80s and Americana again before the end of the list, but which bands from the ‘80s and/or Americana artists did I overlook?

• Stay tuned for part 2 of my Favorite Songs of 2024 series!

• As always I love hearing from you and hope your holiday season brings you what you wish.