Saturday, December 28, 2024
Complex published a list of the 100 hottest rappers of 2024, and I wrote the blurbs about Future, GloRilla, BigXThaPlug, BossMan Dlow, and Flo Milli.
The Best Of Me, 2024
Friday, December 27, 2024 
2024 was a long, exhausting year for me. I spent most of this year working on a big cool project that will be out in 2025, but I couldn't afford to step away from any paying work to focus on that, so I've just been a bit overwhelmed all year until, I don't know, a couple days ago. Fortunately, I'm proud of a lot the stuff I did publish this year. Narrowcast actually turned 20 years old in October, and Government Names also turned 20 in May, and I didn't even observe those anniversaries at all, so... I'll mention it now, I guess.
- For the first issue of the new zine Rantipole, I wrote a lengthy profile of Susan Alcorn, and I highly recommend purchasing the issue, it's full of great stuff.
- For Vulture, I wrote a playful piece ranking every Coachella lineup.
- For Billboard, I worked with Andrew Unterberger for many months on a big piece on music licensing for television, and I also ranked the tracks on The Cure's Songs of a Lost World.
- For Complex, I wrote about disrespectful diss tracks and Meek Mill's tweets.
- For Stereogum, I did some really fun, illuminating interviews with Raphael Saadiq, Logic and The Offspring for their We've Got A File On You series.
- For the Baltimore Banner, I wrote a piece I've wanted to do for many years, interviewing members of Little Feat about the time they spent recording in Maryland in the '70s during which my own father met the band. I also wrote about pieces about Brittney Spencer, Combat, D. King, the SubScape festival, Kix, J. Robbins, Super City, and Cris Jacobs, and columns about the closing of Rams Head Live and the death of Twofer Tuesday.
- For Spin, I interviewed EarthGang and Maggie Rose, and analyzed the Grammys ceremony and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2024, I wrote pieces memorializing Steve Albini and Wayne Kramer of the MC5. I ranked the catalogs of a lot artists, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Kinks, Madonna, Tom Petty, Queen, Mary J. Blige, Bon Jovi, Tracy Chapman, X, and Wilco. I also did year-end lists of the best EPs and the best hip-hop albums by women of 2024.
- I talked about Taylor Swift on Times Radio, appeared on the Shoving Wilco podcast.
- Here on Narrowcast, I made lists of the best R&B singles of the 1980s and the best alternative singles of the 1980s. I made deep album cuts playlists for Scarface, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Charli XCX, Black Sabbath, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Sinead O'Connor, Kool & The Gang, Common, Sabrina Carpenter, Beastie Boys, Norah Jones, Cher, and Sleater-Kinney. as well as some artists who passed away in 2024: Maze's Frankie Beverly, Toby Keith, Rich Homie Quan, Greg Kihn, World Party's Karl Wallinger, and Melanie. And I just did year-end lists of my favorite albums, singles, remixes, and TV shows of 2024.
- As far as making music, this year I produced and played drums on my newest band Lithobrake's self-titled debut album, and I think what we did on that record is really something special. I also released a couple of songs from my solo project Western Blot called "Wrong Again (Hit Em)" and "End of the Bargain."
Thursday, December 26, 2024
My latest stuff for Spin: I ranked every Bob Dylan album, did a list of the best EPs of 2024, and wrote a piece about independent artists you my have missed this year.
My Top 50 Albums of 2024
Tuesday, December 24, 2024 
Here's the Spotify playlist with a track from each album:
1. Lucky Daye - Algorithm
Dernst "D'Mile" Emile II has produced a lot of my favorite R&B records of the last few years, but Algorithm really might be his and Lucky Daye's creative pinnacle, even if it didn't perform as well commercially as Lucky Daye's last album, the also pretty great Candydrip. "Hericane," "Pin," "Breakin' The Bank," fantastic songs. They should release the song featuring Teddy Swims as a single and try to breathe some life into this album since it got a couple Grammy nominations.
2. Mary Timony - Untame The Tiger
Learning that Mary Timony wrote her latest solo album over a period in which both her parents passed away has made the lyrics on Untame The Tiger resonate for me a little more, I lost my dad 7 years ago but it still feels like yesterday. Mostly, though, this is just a great guitar record, she really got on her Tom Verlaine shit on this album. And she just released a non-album single, "Curious Tides," that's right up to the same standard as Untame The Tiger, I don't know if it's an outtake or a one-off, but she's still reaching new heights over 30 years after Autoclave and Helium.
3. Kendrick Lamar - GNX
I feel like there's a good chance that Kendrick Lamar wouldn't have released an album if his back-and-forth with Drake hadn't become one of pop culture's main events of 2024, but I'm glad that something knocked him out of his cycle of taking years and years to deliver a very long, highly conceptual tentpole album. Even as a relatively 'no frills' Kendrick album, GNX is still pretty dense, thematically and musically, which almost makes it better, that we got to see him deliver something pretty nuanced and layered even while making a 44-minute album that's heavy on bangers and collaborations with regional street rap dudes.
4. Lainey Wilson - Whirlwind
In country music, everyone loves Dolly Parton and is influenced by her, but nobody actually sings like her, or at least nobody really reminded me of her until Lainey Wilson. And Wilson is now three albums into a pretty remarkable career, getting better with each album, experimenting more and more with her sound with producer Jay Joyce, one of the few women really thriving in a mainstream country climate that seems to tilt more in favor of male artists every year.
5. Sabrina Carpenter - Short n' Sweet
Sabrina Carpenter laughs on a conspicuous number of her songs, in addition to ridiculous puns and fourth wall-breaking ad libs ("that was cool" after a backing vocal enters on "Good Graces" or "a little fadeout?" at the end of "Bed Chem"). A lot of the songs on Short n' Sweet talk about relationships and heartbreak with real insight and emotional depth, but she's one of the few people in pop who sounds like she's having an absolute blast making records, singing, and coming up with words to sing. She pulled a Shelby Lynne this year (getting nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys for her 6th album),
6. LL Cool J - The Force
LL Cool J made one of the best hip hop albums of 1985 and one of the best hip hop albums of 2024. Nobody's ever had longevity like that, it'll be years before anybody else can even attempt to match it. Even as someone who believed LL still had something like this in him, I'm still astonished he actually did it, and the album is even more audacious than I could've anticipated -- I mean, he raps the opening song from the perspective of Christopher Dorner. The fact that some major music sites didn't even review this album really pissed me off.
7. Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
I already wrote about this a bit when it topped my Spin list of 2024's best hip hop albums by women. But I just love the way Doechii took that little bit of limelight she got from "What It Is (Block Boy)" and then totally changed the conversation and focused it back on her bars and her originality, this tape goes crazy.
8. Willow - Empathogen
Willow Smith has built a very interesting and unpredictable career since she walked away from a shot at pop stardom after releasing "Whip My Hair," but the jazz chords and intricate time signatures on Empathogen are so totally sick, I'm blown away by the sophistication and musicianship of these songs.
9. BigXthaPlug - Take Care
When you talk about "soul samples" in hip hop, most people generally think of Kanye or Ghostface, things like that. But soul and funk were such a big part of southern rap in the pre-crunk/trap era of UGK, Three 6, Outkast, 8Ball & MJG, etc. And I hear a lot of that lineage in Dallas rapper BigXthaPlug's first top 10 album, he sampled the Whispers, Gwen McRae, War, Willie Hutch, the Isley Brothers, Rick James and T.L. Barrett on this album. Given that Drake's Take Care is one of the biggest rap albums of the last 15 years, I raised an eyebrow at BigXthaPlug using that title, but it's sort of explained on the opening title track (there's a voicemail from an unidentified family member that concludes with "stay strong, keep your head up, I love you, take care").
10. GloRilla - Glorious
As many hits as GloRilla had this year, this album could potentially keep her on the radio through 2025, "Whatchu Kno About Me" is already getting a lot of spins but I think "Hollon" and "I Luv Her" and "Let Her Cook" and "How I Look" all deserve heavy rotation.
11. Vince Staples - Dark Times
This year "The Vince Staples Show" debuted on Netflix and was renewed for a second season. For a lot of people, Vince's autobiographical sitcom vindicated a common opinion that he's a more charismatic screen presence than a great MC, but for me it confirmed the opposite view. The show is okay, could improve in the future, but I think Staples is one of the best rappers we have these days ("ridin' witih the stick like witchcraft" is one of my favorite lines on this one), and his last couple projects have been some of his best. I spent a lot of 2024 feeling stupidly optimistic that Trump couldn't possibly win again and we were entering more hopeful times, but now I'm like, yeah, Dark Times, okay, you're right, Vince.
12. Chase Rice - Go Down Singin'
Last year, Chase Rice released I Hate Cowboys & All Dogs Go To Hell, an earthy and personal album that I thought was an unexpected masterpiece from a "bro country" B-lister who'd co-written Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise." And I'm happy that Rice returned with a follow-up in the same rich vein, proving that it wasn't a fluke.
13. Future & Metro Boomin - We Don't Trust You
This year Future continued to build on one of the best discographies in hip hop with three albums, including two with Metro Boomin, who brought back the crow from "Jumpman" on "Seen It All." A lot of people focus on Future's "toxic" lyrics about women, but I think it's underrated how much he's a funny rich asshole he says things like "Had to buy another mansion, I'm gettin' claustrophobic."
14. Future Islands - People Who Aren't There Anymore
20 years after they started playing together and 10 years after their big Letterman-assisted breakthrough, Future Islands are an incredibly consistent band. And I think they've gotten even better since adding Lake Trout's Mike Lowry, one of my favorite drummers ever, as an official fourth member, he's so good on "Iris" and "Give Me The Ghost Back." The additional non-album single "Glimpse" they released in September is really good too.
15. Morgan Wade - Obsessed
All of Morgan Wade's albums are excellent, but I think her third is her best so far, it's a little slower with more pedal steel, and there's just not a single misstep as she builds a mood over the course of Obsessed. The only feature on the album is "Walked On Water" featuring Kesha, which I think is one of the best things Kesha's ever done.
16. X - Smoke & Fiction
When a great band sets out to release its final album, I root for them to go out on a high note, and I think X released one of their best albums ever. I can put on Smoke & Fiction and forget it's not one of the band's '80s classics, although there's an occasional lyric that sort of situates it back in the present day.
17. Dwight Yoakam - Brighter Days
Dwight Yoakam has been mixing rock and country, but coming from the other side of things, almost as long as X, and I'm glad he recently came back with his first collection of new songs in 9 years. I'm sad that Yoakam and longtime producer Pete Anderson split acrimoniously, but Yoakam's self-produced later albums sound great, it always sounds like he just plugging in and playing and singing loud.
18. Ben Seretan - Allora
I think I could always be better about checking out new artists, part of the problem is that there are so many that it's hard to know where to begin when people I already like are always putting out new records. But sometimes I just randomly read a review and check out a record and am blown away, as I was by Ben Seretan's latest album, which he spontaneously recorded in Italy in a few days when a few European tourdates fell through. This guy might be my new indie rock guitar hero, the way these songs unfurl and explode is so cool.
19. J Mascis - What Do We Do Now
Speaking of which, the ultimate indie rock guitar hero also dropped a good one this year. As much as I love the prolonged reunion run of Dinosaur Jr.'s original lineup, both musically and symbolically, I'm glad that Mascis still periodically release solo albums. The main musical difference from Dinosaur is that solo Mascis usually has acoustic rhythm guitars and electric lead guitars (instead of all electric), and Mascis is an absolutely sick drummer, I love listening to him play.
20. ScHoolboy Q - Blue Lips
For a while, Top Dawg Entertainment felt like it was defined by inactivity, by how many of its acts were going years and years between albums. Then everything clicked and we got one of ScHoolboy Q's best albums as well as excellent new music from SiR, Ab-Soul, and SZA (to say nothing of Kendrick Lamar's first post-TDE album). This is isn't my favorite album called Blue Lips but it's awesome, so many weird and exciting production choices.
21. Kassi Ashton - Made From The Dirt
My favorite debut country album of 2024, Missouri singer-songwriter Kassi Ashton has a gorgeous voice and is better at writing sad slow songs than I would've expected from her singles.
22. Tierra Whack - World Wide Whack
A lot of the people who were excited about Tierra Whack when she released her 15-minute tour de force Whack World in 2018 seemed to have completely moved on by the time she released a proper full-length album this year. And that's a shame, because nobody's doing it like her, what an utterly unique talent,
23. Brittney Spencer - My Stupid Life
Brittney Spencer learned to sing in a Baltimore church before hearing the (fka Dixie) Chicks opened her eyes to the possibility of singing country music. And I love the playful, self-deprecating lyrical tone she developed on My Stupid Life, which is occasionally undercut by some disarmingly beautiful and earnestly sentimental moments.
24. Rachel Chinouriri - What A Devastating Turn of Events
There's a lot of heart and humor and pathos in the lyrics of London singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri's debut album. But the textures and guitar tones and arrangements, and the unusual way her voice fits into the mix, are really what made the album a delight to me, it's a really inventively assembled record.
25. Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard And Soft
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell opens her third album whispering "I feel in love for the first time" in a fragile ballad, and then on the second track she's joyfully singing about eating that girl for lunch. The duality of man! I'm a little alone in thinking that the sprawling, all-over-the-place Happier Than Ever is Eilish's best album, but the 10 songs on Hit Me Hard And Soft hang together really well too.
26. Rapsody - Please Don't Cry
I want Rapsody to release a whole album in the vein of "Back in My Bag" and really hit people over the head with how good she is, but I'm happy to get at least one song like that within a pretty personal album that otherwise goes pretty heavy on lush neo soul aesthetics.
27. Common and Pete Rock - The Auditorium Vol. 1
Lyrically, I don't think this is one of Common's better albums -- he's namedropping more than The Game these days -- but Pete Rock really rose to the occasion, I'm glad they're doing another album together and I hope a lot more people out there get Pete Rock beats now.
28. KMack Knokville and Jay Funk - UNK
KMack has been one of Baltimore's best rappers for almost 30 years at this point. You could say he has a raspy voice similar to Jadakiss, but he's been making records longer than The LOX, so you could also say that Jadakiss sounds like him. People who loved the Common/Pete Rock album should check this one out, Baltimore doesn't get enough credit for how many people are doing classic boom bap hip hop here, and Jay Funk is one of the best.
29. various artists - Thank You, Dream Girl
Over the summer, Matmos's Drew Daniel accidentally created a new genre when he tweeted about a dream he had of "hit em," a style of 212BPM tracks in 5/4 and many producers (including me) decided to give it a try. As someone who has lamented that even the most out-there electronic music is usually in standard 4/4 time, I love hearing so many people experiment with 5/4 on the first hit em compilation, and Eprom, RamonPang, and Thorne made some of my favorite tracks on Thank You, Dream Girl. Both Matmos and The Soft Pink Truth make appearances, so we get a couple glimpses of hit em from the perspective of the mind that created the genre, which is pretty cool
30. Kiana Lede - Cut Ties
I think Kiana Lede is the most underrated artist in R&B right now, she's 3 for 3 with her albums as far as I'm concerned. Cut Ties is pretty much all slow jams, mostly sex songs with a few breakup songs, playing right to her strengths.
31. Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Most artists from outside country music who dabble in the genre, especially in 2024, tend to make really superficial country albums with the most obvious imagery and the most mainstream Nashville guests. Beyonce, on the other hand, approached Cowboy Carter almost like an academic dissertation, digging into the history and exploring the genre and her relationship with it from so many angles. It's a less consistently enjoyable album than her disco dissertation Renaissance, but it's more ambitious and further outside her comfort zone, and I love how she attacked the challenge.
32. Madi Diaz - Weird Faith
I slept on Madi Diaz's previous albums, but Weird Faith grabbed me with its barebones voice-and-guitar arrangements that foregrounded Diaz's intensely thoughtful and thought-provoking lyrics.
33. Combat - Stay Golden
I interviewed Combat this year, and some of the members of this band are literally half my age. Maybe that should make me self conscious, but it makes me just feel like Baltimore punk rock is in good hands when bands this good are still being formed.
34. Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers
Daniel Tashian and Ian Fitchuk best known for producing the Kacey Musgraves album Golden Hour, and this year they were incredibly busy doing excellent work on albums by Sarah Jarosz, Leon Bridges, Brittney Spencer (just Tashian in her cause), and Musgraves. Jarosz's voice is so intoxicating and charming, and the two songs she added to the deluxe edition of the album make it even better.
35. Megan Thee Stallion - Megan: Act II
One of the big trends in the music industry that I observed is the supersizing of deluxe albums. Taylor Swift, SZA, Victoria Monet, and Megan Thee Stallion all released deluxe editions that had an entire 2nd album's worth of new songs. In the latter case, it feels like we got album Megan and mixtape Megan in the same year, and I love how that being packaged together feels like a more complete picture of the talent of one of the best, most consistent rappers of the last 5 years.
36. Illiterate Light - Arches
I got into the Virginia duo Illiterate Light about two years ago, just before they went on a prolific streak, releasing two albums and two EPs in the last 24 months. Arches is a little brighter and more uptempo than Sunburned, and the epic "Montauk" may be their best song to date.
37. Pearl Jam - Dark Matter
Andrew Watt's industry rep as the cool young millennial guy who could help old rockers like the Rolling Stones and Ozzy Osbourne stay relevant didn't really mean much to me. But as a lifelong Pearl Jam fan, he really knew how to get them to write together as a band again, and how to get some of those old school fireworks out of Mike McCready and Matt Cameron.
38. The Cure - Songs of a Lost World
I'm not a diehard Cure fan like I am a diehard Pearl Jam fan, so it didn't mean as much to me when Robert Smith came back with an excellent album. And I wish there was a little more sonic variety, every song on here has pretty much the same palette, but that approach does have a certain hypnotic effect, and I'll probably always associate this album with listening to it in the middle of the night the week it was released.
39. 21 Savage - American Dream
After a prolonged tour of duty giving Drake false street cred, 21 Savage returned with probably his best solo album. The promotional rollout was too clever by half, making people think it was a soundtrack to a janky-looking biopic rather than an album with a satirical movie trailer music video, but he still had a pretty good year.
40. Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene
Zach Bryan was U.S. Spotify's third most streamed artist in 2024, right behind Taylor Swift and Drake. And even in a year that Morgan Wallen didn't release an album, it's pretty amazing that Bryan pulled ahead of him, considering that he's not really very visible on a pop culture level, aside from a weird beef with Barstool Sports this year. Bryan releases so much music that it all threatens to blur together, but The Great American Bar Scene holds up as having some of his best songs to date, and it feels like stardom hasn't really changed the thoughtful, understated feel of his songwriting.
41. Halsey - The Great Impersonator
Halsey followed up my favorite album of the last 5 years with a record that in some ways got a little overshadowed by unimpressed reviews and a really creative social media rollout. But The Great Impersonator is a pretty cool record that flaunts its wide range of inspirations while really revealing how much Halsey has developed her own unique voice.
42. Latto - Sugar Honey Iced Tea
I kind of rolled my eyes when Latto (accurately boasted) of being the biggest female rapper from Atlanta of all time while making terrible Dr. Luke crossover records like "Big Energy" and "Lottery," but she got back to playing to her strengths on her third album,
43. Charli XCX - Brat
I don't really think the most acclaimed of 2024 is even close to the artist's best album, and sometimes I'm amazed that Brat attained an aura of cutting edge cool while fixating on all these poorly dated artifacts of coolness from 5-15 years ago (Julia Fox, Red Scare, Von Dutch). There were enough great songs on Brat that I kept coming back to it, though, and don't resent its success.
44. Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs A Hero
I'd never heard of Irish singer-songwriter before one of my favorite local radio stations, WTMD, started heavily playing "Little Chaos" and "Late To The Party," and I just instantly became a fan, I love her voice and her guitar tone.
45. Willie Nelson - The Border
Willie Nelson has written over 300 songs in the last 70 years and I've listened to just about every version of all of them, and I'm still figuring out some way to catalog and write about that work. But I love that every year he releases one or two new albums and adds a handful of songs to that immense pile, and that he's retained his wit and humanity in all of that work.
46. MC Lyte - 1 of 1
I work with celebrities semi-regularly at my day job, and when I come face to face with them for a minute or two, it's usually just pleasantries and small talk and I don't wanna gush or pretend like I'm in a situation where I can really interview and pick their brain. But MC Lyte was one of the coolest people I met this year, I wish I had a minute to just tell her she's one of the greatest of all time, I'm sure she knows it, but she's a legend, and her new album really didn't get enough love, it's got some really dope shit on it.
47. BossMan Dlow - Mr Beat The Road
This year's funniest rap rookie, I love the way he just seems to work these repeating themes in his brags and boasts but makes them weirder and more specific every time he revisits them.
48. Joe P - Garden State Vampire
I'm still annoyed that the single "Don't Wanna Love U" didn't make it onto this album, but New Jersey singer-songwriter Joe P does great fuzzed-out bedroom pop on a major label level. And his choruses are naggingly catchy enough that I understand why Atlantic Records has let him just go off and self-produce these records, I think they know he could make a massive hit eventually.
49. GloRilla - Ehhthang Ehhthang
Glorious is a more complete 'album,' but I don't want her mixtape to get lost in the shuffle of GloRilla's big year, Ehhthang Ehhthang has some of her best songs of 2024, including "Yeah Glo!" and "Wanna Be" and "Opp Shit" and "All Dere."
50. The Lemon Twigs - A Dream Is All We Know
The D'Addario brothers make music that almost exclusively draws on the influence of records made decades before they were born, and their 5th album and Captured Tracks debut is their most Beach Boys/Beatles-y record to date. And you can't just do Brian Wilson type songs without some serious talent, so it almost feels like they worked their way up to making an album this pretty and even more rich in harmonies than 2023's Everything Harmony.
My Top 100 TV Shows of 2024
Saturday, December 21, 2024 
1. "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (Amazon Prime)
I think the 2005 film Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring two generational sex symbols who began a tabloid-ready relationship on set, broke some people's brains, because the most common complaint about Donald Glover's "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" was that Glover and co-star Maya Erskine are not as sexy as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, as if that's what they were even going for. In fact it's not really the same premise, instead of two married spies, it's two spies who pose as a married couple while on assignment. In any event, it hangs with the best seasons of "Atlanta" and "Community" among Glover's greatest work (I understand he also makes music but I'm pretending I've never heard it), every episode takes a dramatically different approach to the premise and the performances and storytelling are always clever and nuanced.
2. "Evil" (Paramount+)
Every year it feels like there are multiple movies about exorcisms that mimic 1973's The Exorcist as closely as possible, whether or not they're officially connected to the franchise. It's an extremely narrow genre with a single origin point. So "Evil" had a very wide open lane to do something else, and they did just about everything they could in 50 episodes over 5 years about a Catholic priest and a forensic psychologist investigating all manner of possessions, miracles and unexplained phenomena. To call "Evil" a Catholic "X-Files" would actually undersell how relentlessly funny, creepy, and entertaining this show was.
3. "The Franchise" (HBO)
One of my favorite things a television show can do is tell a story from the perspective of someone who isn't typically considered the most important person in their workplace. It's a brilliant idea to make the first assistant director on a tentpole film the main character of "The Franchise," to make Hamish Patel the guy who has to run around soothing the egos of the pretentious director, the deeply insecure lead actor, and the overqualified actor playing the villain. The show also allows for hilarious but sometimes very empathetic depictions of all sorts of below-the-line people on the set, from the sleep-deprived visual effects guy to the extras. My favorite cast of 2024, including Richard E. Grant, Aya Cash, Billy Magnussen, and Darren Goldstein from "The Affair" revealing himself as a comedic genius.
4. "Presumed Innocent" (Apple TV+)
Apple TV+ does a lot of dark, intense courtroom dramas and murder mysteries, and "Presumed Innocent" is by far the most gripping of them. I hadn't read the novel or seen the previous film adaptation with Harrison Ford (both of which apparently have different endings), but I was just on the edge of my seat the entire time and genuinely surprised by the final episode. Career best performances by Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga, the best thing from David E. Kelley 2.0's prestige TV run since "Big Little Lies."
5. "Girls5Eva" (Netflix)
Every network and streamer cancels more shows than it renews, but Netflix wound up with a reputation as the bad guy that cancels everything, partly earned but partly because they simply make more shows than everyone else by several orders of magnitude. So I will give Netflix some credit for picking up "Girls5Eva" for a third season after Peacock failed to renew it, giving me another season of Renee Elise Goldsberry and Paula Pell being two of the funniest women on television. Yes, "Girls5Eva" just got canceled for the second time, by Netflix this time, but they didn't have to pick it up in the first place, and getting 3 seasons instead of 2 is really the point where I usually start to feel like a show got a fair shot, so I'm not gonna hold this one against Netflix.
6. "We Are Lady Parts" (Peacock)
"We Are Lady Parts" is a slightly more empathetic look at a more DIY kind of girl group than "Girls5Eva," but it's often hilarious in its own right, quite likely the first good sitcom about a punk band. Sarah Kameela Impey is the standout that I'll be looking out for in other projects in the years ahead, in 2024 she was also the only good thing about an episode of the otherwise mediocre "Dinner with the Parents."
7. "Expats" (Amazon Prime)
In 2017, Nicole Kidman pledged to do a project with a woman director every 18 months, and she's more than exceeded that goal with 15 films or series since then. My favorite of those projects is "Expats" from The Farewell director Lulu Wang, an exquisitely lensed and emotionally complex tale of American families living in Hong Kong. Kidman's character isn't even really the most important role or most impressive performance in the series, which I would say is Ji-young Yoo, but my hat's off to Kidman for helping this get made.
8. "What We Do In The Shadows" (Hulu)
In this fragile streaming era, a show as good and as ridiculous as "What We Do In The Shadows" getting six seasons is a miracle, especially because the quality never dipped. This year they ended their absurd vampire story with an even more absurd arc with a Frankenstein storyline and a ghost. I can't wait to see what Matt Berry, Kayvan Novak and Natasia Demetriou do next.
9. "Manhunt" (Apple TV+)
Steven Spielberg didn't depict the president's assassination in Lincoln, figuring, probably correctly, that it would've overwhelmed the rest of the story. That left a lane open for a great miniseries about the assassination and aftermath, and "Manhunt" did a fantastic job with it. I've spent probably a couple hundred hours in Ford's Theatre, often right under the place Lincoln was killed, and I've left the building out the same alley where John Wilkes Booth escaped, so it was fascinating seeing the whole tragedy recreated on location, but obviously there's a lot more to the show, which centers on the 12 days Booth was on the run.
10. "Abbott Elementary" (ABC)
"Abbott Elementary" being consistently excellent is no longer news. But I'm glad they're still going and showing us how it's done, gradually expanding the cast of recurring players, subtly evolving the main characters and their relationships, and maybe relying on celebrity cameos a little less than they did after that initial burst of awards and acclaim.
11. "So Help Me Todd" (CBS)
I try to advocate for the old Big Four broadcast networks and show them praise when they get things right instead of just ignoring them entirely outside of "Abbott" like many do. They don't make it easy on me, though, canceling a great show like "So Help Me Todd" starring Marcia Gay Harden and Skylar Astin after only two seasons. It even ended with a cliffhanger, goddammit!
12. "Bodkin" (Netflix)
The true crime podcast industrial complex is one of my least favorite aspects of popular culture these days. So I'm glad it's become a punching bag for TV comedy, between "Only Murders in the Building," "Based On a True Story," and this show starring Will Forte as the fish-out-of-water American podcaster visiting an Irish town full of secrets.
13. "Interior Chinatown" (Hulu)
"Interior Chinatown" sends up an older and more firmly entrenched genre, the crime procedural, with Jimmy O. Yang basically playing a day player from a cold open of a "Law & Order"-type show who gets involved in the story and becomes the star of his own show. Great concept, great execution.
14. "Lady in the Lake" (Apple TV+)
It's been a while since Barry Levinson made a period piece about the Baltimore of his youth. So I enjoyed seeing director Almar Har-el's vision of '60s Baltimore, complete with Natalie Portman as a reporter for a fictionalized Baltimore Sun (the 'Baltimore Star'), she has a good eye for filming Baltimore for an out-of-towner. It even brought Wood "Avon Barksdale" Harris back to the city!
15. "I'm A Virgo" (Amazon Prime)
Boots Riley has really made a remarkable pivot from music to film and television. For my money this is an even more accomplished step into poignantly absurdist storytelling than Sorry to Bother You, I hope he keeps getting opportunities to get behind a camera.
16. "Hacks" (Max)
I've seen people criticize the jokes that the characters on "Hacks" write, as if the show isn't called "Hacks." The character-driven and conflict-driven laughs on the show hit the hardest anyway, but I'm a sucker for some of those hackier punchlines anyway, it's probably the best show about how the comedy sausage is made since "30 Rock," even if it approaches it in a very different way.
17. "Time Bandits" (Apple TV+)
Lisa Kudrow has consistently done the most good work of any member of the "Friends" cast, and this year she ran up the score with starring roles in both the Netflix dark comedy "No Good Deed" and the Apple TV+ adaptation of the 1981 film Time Bandits. I was probably too young the first time I saw the original Time Bandits and it left a huge footprint on my brain, and I enjoyed what the "What We Do In The Shadows" creative team did with the reboot. Kal-El Tuck is so incredibly funny and on point as a child actor, that kid's going places.
18. "Fallout" (Amazon Prime)
Ella Purnell probably edges out Kudrow with the most impressive pair of lead performances in two different shows in 2024, "Fallout" and "Sweetpea." I've never played the Fallout video game, but I really enjoyed how they transferred that world to a story populated with a ghoulish Walton Goggins and Matt Berry-voiced robots.
19. "The Decameron" (Netflix)
The cancellation of the last few years that I'm most bitter about is Kathleen Jordan's "Teenage Bounty Hunters," which only lasted one season. So at least Jordan's latest Netflix project was designed as a miniseries from the get-to so I never got my hopes up. And I loved how she turned 14th century Italian literature into a madcap ensemble sitcom with Tony Hale and Zosia Mamet.
20. "Hot Ones" (YouTube)
About a week ago, Buzzfeed sold the company that produces "Hot Ones" for $82.5 million to a consortium of investors that includes the show's host Sean Evans. To some, this was a funny or depressing story about the value of silly chicken wing-themed YouTube content, but I thought it was a rare feelgood story in this hellish media landscape. Evans is one of the best interviewers on television of any kind these days, and he totally deserves to own a piece of the silly phenomenon he built into what is frequently the most entertaining and even most intellectually stimulating stop on a celebrity's promotional junket.
21. "Conan O'Brien Must Go" (Max)
Conan O'Brien has been a comedy genius for decades, and this year people finally treated him like one after the debut of his hilarious travel series and his even funnier "Hot Ones" appearance. And now he's going to host the fucking Oscars in March! I'm so excited for that. The Conanaissance is here.
22. "The Diplomat" (Netflix)
Nostalgia for "The West Wing" took another fatal hit this year when Aaron Sorkin published a moronic op-ed suggesting that the Democratic party run Mitt Romney as its presidential nominee. But a "West Wing" writer and producer, Debora Cahn, created the kind of smart, snappy political drama that Sorkin lost the ability to make a long time ago, and they even added Allison Janney for the second season!
23. "Feud: Capote Vs The Swans" (FX)
I can't tell if Ryan Murphy was interrogating his own catty fascination with the controversies of the rich and glamorous in the harsh way he depicts Truman Capote in the second season of "Feud" or if he only accidentally made a show about himself. In either event, it's one of the only worthwhile things he's made in years, with some great meta casting of several generations of Hollywood it girls including Demi Moore, Molly Ringwald, Chloe Sevigny, and the unexpected standout, Calista Flockhart.
24. "English Teacher" (FX)
Enrico Colantoni is so good as the beleaguered principal on "English Teacher," his best role since "Veronica Mars." Sean Patton is hilarious too, I'd never seen him in anything before. A really fucked up story about other stars of this show was just published a few days ago, so that's all I'm gonna say right now. Yikes!
25. "Agatha All Along" (Disney+)
"WandaVision" set up a Kathryn Hahn spinoff series so brilliantly in early 2021 that my main criticism is that they didn't have one in the works right from the bat, it would've hit better if it didn't take three and a half years to show up. Jac Schaeffer is definitely one of the only people working in the MCU right now who has a real vision, though. Keep her busy, please.
26. "Three Women" (Showtime)
27. "Shrinking" (Apple TV+)
28. "La Maquina" (Hulu)
29. "Sweetpea" (Starz)
30. "A Man On The Inside" (Netflix)
31. "Only Murders In The Building" (Hulu)
32. "Bob's Burgers" (Fox)
33. "Shoresy" (Hulu)
34. "Bad Sisters" (Apple TV+)
35. "Say Nothing" (Hulu)
36. "Fantasmas" (HBO)
37. "Shogun" (FX)
38. "Bad Monkey" (Apple TV+)
39. "Somebody Somewhere" (HBO)
40. "No Good Deed" (Netflix)
41. "The Sex Lives of College Girls" (Max)
42. "St. Denis Medical" (NBC)
43. "The Old Man" (FX)
44. "Based On A True Story" (Peacock)
45. "The Acolyte" (Disney+)
46. "Last Week Tonight" (HBO)
47. "The Bear" (Hulu)
48. "Mary & George" (Starz)
49. "How To Die Alone" (Hulu)
50. "The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal" (Amazon Prime)
51. "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" (Netflix)
52. "Death And Other Details" (Hulu)
53. "One Day" (Netflix)
54. "For All Mankind" (Apple TV+)
55. "Animal Control" (Fox)
56. "The Brothers Sun" (Netflix)
57. "The Sympathizer" (HBO)
58. "UnPrisoned" (Hulu)
59. "A Man In Full" (Netflix)
60. "Renegade Nell" (Disney+)
61. "My Lady Jane" (Amazon Prime)
62. "Bridgerton" (Netflix)
63. "The Veil" (Hulu)
64. "Disclaimer" (Apple TV+)
65. "The Madness" (Netflix)
66. "Joan" (The CW)
67. "Nobody Wants This" (Netflix)
68. "The Boys" (Amazon Prime)
69. "Saturday Night Live" (NBC)
70. "Before" (Apple TV+)
71. "Silo" (Apple TV+)
72. "Dune: Prophecy" (HBO)
73. "The Legend of Vox Machina" (Amazon Prime)
74. "Palm Royale" (Apple TV+)
75. "The Regime" (HBO)
76. "Not Dead Yet" (ABC)
77. "The Girls On The Bus" (Max)
78. "Invincible" (Amazon Prime)
79. "The Big Door Prize" (Apple TV+)
80. "Under The Bridge" (Hulu)
81. "Sunny" (Apple TV+)
82. "STAX: Soulsville U.S.A." (HBO)
83. "Futurama" (Hulu)
84. "Geek Girl" (Netflix)
85. "Dark Matter" (Apple TV+)
86. "Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show" (HBO)
87. "Trying" (Apple TV+)
88. "Life & Beth" (Hulu)
89. "Poppa's House" (CBS)
90. "Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist" (Peacock)
91. "The New Look" (Apple TV+)
92. "Mr. Throwback" (Peacock)
93. "The Penguin" (HBO)
94. "The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin" (Apple TV+)
95. "The Vince Staples Show" (Netflix)
96. "Loot" (Apple TV+)
97. "Will Trent" (ABC)
98. "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
99. "Monsieur Spade" (AMC)
100. "Reacher" (Amazon Prime)
My Top 100 Singles of 2024
Monday, December 16, 2024
I already posted the lists of my favorite rap, country, R&B, rock/alternative, and pop singles of 2024, so here's where I just pour them all together into one 5-hour playlist.
The artist or producers or songwriters who appear on this list three times each are GloRilla, Daniel Nigro, Sabrina Carpenter, Julian Bunetta, Amy Allen, Usher, and Jay Joyce. The people who appear twice are Chappell Roan, Kendrick Lamar, Mustard, Billie Eilish, Finneas, John Ryan, Bruno Mars, D'Mile, Beyonce, Go Grizzly, Bankroll Got It, Lucky Daye, Muni Long, Jeff Gitelman, Megan Thee Stallion, Andrew Watt, Driver Williams, Jessie Jo Dillon, Ryan Tedder, Luke Laird, LunchMoney Lewis, and Kevin Theodore.
1. GloRilla - "Yeah Glo!"
2. Chappell Roan - "Good Luck, Babe!"
3. Kendrick Lamar - "Not Like Us"
4. Billie Eilish - "Birds Of A Feather"
5. Sabrina Carpenter - "Taste"
6. Hozier - "Too Sweet"
7. BossMan Dlow - "Get In With Me"
8. Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars - "Die With A Smile"
9. Ella Langley f/ Riley Green - "You Look Like You Love Me"
10. Charli XCX - "Apple"
11. Doechii - "Nissan Altima"
12. Chayce Beckham - "23"
13. SZA - "Saturn"
14. Beyonce - "Texas Hold 'Em"
15. The Last Dinner Party - "Nothing Matters"
16. BigXthaPlug - "MMHMM"
17. Ariana Grande - "The Boy Is Mine"
18. Flo Milli - "Never Lose Me"
19. Chappell Roan - "Hot To Go!"
20. Badflower - "Detroit"
21. 21 Savage - "Redrum"
22. Sum 41 - "Landmines"
23. Latto - "Sunday Service"
24. Maeta f/ Free Nationals - "Through The Night"
25. Sabrina Carpenter - "Espresso"
26. The Marias - "Run Your Mouth"
27. Billie Eilish - "Lunch"
28. Post Malone f/ Morgan Wallen - "I Had Some Help"
29. Ashley Cooke - "Your Place"
30. Toosii f/ Muni Long - "I Do"
31. Coco Jones - "Here We Go (Uh Oh)"
32. Future & Metro Boomin f/ Kendrick Lamar - "Like That"
33. Parker McCollum - "Burn It Down"
34. GloRilla f/ Megan Thee Stallion - "Wanna Be"
35. Pearl Jam - "Dark Matter"
36. Jackson Dean - "Heavens To Betsy"
37. Tems - "Love Me JeJe"
38. LL Cool J f/ Saweetie - "Proclivities"
39. Beyonce f/ Miley Cyrus - "II Most Wanted"
40. Green Day - "Dilemma"
41. Halsey - "Ego"
42. Lucky Daye - "That's You"
43. Taylor Swift - "I Can Do It With A Broken Heart"
44. PsiRyn - "Sober"
45. Cash Cobain f/ Bay Swag - "Fisherr"
46. Dexter and the Moonrocks - "Sad In Carolina"
47. Olivia Rodrigo - "Obsessed"
48. Beabadoobee - "Beaches"
49. Lainey Wilson - "Hang Tight Honey"
50. Maxwell - "Simply Beautiful"
51. Dasha - "Austin"
52. The Cure - "A Fragile Thing"
53. Tinashe - "Nasty"
54. Djo - "End of Beginning"
55. Gracie Abrams - "Risk"
56. Jordan Adetunji - "Kehlani"
57. Isabel LaRosa - "Favorite"
58. Jack White - "That's How I'm Feeling"
59. Shaboozey - "A Bar Song (Tipsy)"
60. Gunna - "One of Wun"
61. Benson Boone - "Beautiful Things"
62. Kassi Ashton - "Called Crazy"
63. Real Boston Richey - "Help Me"
64. Jordan Davis - "Tuscon Too Late"
65. Camila Cabello f/ Lil Nas X - "He Knows"
66. Megan Thee Stallion - "Hiss"
67. Usher - "Kissing Strangers"
68. Kehlani - "After Hours"
69. Beartooth - "I Was Alive"
70. Mustard f/ Travis Scott - "Parking Lot"
71. Lay Bankz - "Tell Ur Girlfriend"
72. Myles Smith - "Stargazing"
73. GloRilla - "TGIF"
74. Blink-182 - "All In My Head"
75. Nicki Minaj f/ Lil Uzi Vert - "Everybody"
76. Future Islands - "The Tower"
77. Usher f/ Pheelz - "Ruin"
78. The Black Crowes - "Wanting And Waiting"
79. Muni Long - "Ruined Me"
80. Bryan Martin - "We Ride"
81. Jelly Roll - "Halfway To Hell"
82. Sabrina Carpenter - "Feather"
83. Honey Bxby - "Touchin'"
84. Key Glock - "Let's Go"
85. Luther Vandross - "Michelle"
86. Renee Rapp f/ Megan Thee Stallion - "Not My Fault"
87. Good Neighbours - "Home"
88. Rob49 f/ Cardi B - "On Dat Money"
89. Teddy Swims - "Lose Control"
90. Linkin Park - "The Emptiness Machine"
91. Eric Church - "Darkest Hour (Helene Edit)"
92. Megan Moroney - "Am I Okay?"
93. Jeremih f/ Bryson Tiller and Chris Brown - "Wait On It"
94. Dierks Bentley - "American Girl"
95. Tommy Richman - "Million Dollar Baby"
96. Justin Moore - "This Is My Dirt"
97. 4batz f/ Drake - "Act II: Date @ 8 (Remix)"
98. Marshmello & Kane Brown - "Miles On It"
99. The Weeknd f/ Playboi Carti - "Timeless"
100. Luke Combs - "Ain't No Love In Oklahoma"
The 2024 Remix Report Card: Final Grades
Saturday, December 14, 2024
I've been doing the Remix Report Card since 2007, reviewing somewhere around a thousand remixes, mostly here, but on Noisey from 2014 to 2018 (I'd be happy to publish it elsewhere if anyone ever wants to pay me to do it again). 2023 was the first time I reviewed over 100 remixes in one year, and once again in 2024 I reviewed over 100 remixes of 80-something songs (some songs had two or more remixes). We are, at least from a quantity standpoint, arguably at peak remix, although a greater majority of them are bare minimum effort remixes with one new verse, no change to the production, no video, no DJ spins, just padding out the promo rollout with empty calorie features. Let's restore the feeling! More remixes that actually matter!
NLE Choppa guested on 6 remixes and Flo Milli guested on 5 (really they're tied, because Flo Milli is also on the remix of "Embrace It" by Ndotz that just came out last week, which I won't cover in this column until the first 2025 edition). Trina was on 3 remixes, and I think those are the only artists that guested on more than 2 remixes this year.
Here's the Spotify playlist of every remix I reviewed in 2024, and the columns from this year where I wrote about all of these tracks: Vol. 1, 2, 3, and 4. Let's work it out on the remix, as they say.
The 20 Best Remixes of 2024:
1. "Sunday Service (Remix)" by Latto featuring Megan Thee Stallion and Flo Milli
2. "Girl, So Confusing (Remix)" by Charli XCX featuring Lorde
3. "M.N.E.I.G. (Remix)" by idontknowjeffery featuring GloRilla, NLE Choppa, Juicy J and Marcus.901
4. "Texas Hold 'Em (Pony Up Remix)" by Beyonce
5. "Okay (Remix)" by JT featuring Jeezy
6. "Fisherr (Remix)" by Cash Cobain featuring Ice Spice and Bay Swag
7. "Put That On Everythang (Legends Remix)" by Pookie F'n Rude featuring Suga Free, Warren G, E-40 and Hash Hearted
8. "Your Friends (Remix)" by Hunxho featuring Summer Walker
9. "The Boy Is Mine (Remix)" by Ariana Grande featuring Brandy and Monica
10. "Kehlani (Remix)" by Jordan Adetunju featuring Kehlani
11. "Never Lose Me (Remix)" by Flo Milli featuring SZA and Cardi B
12. "Bad Bitty (Remix)" by J.P. featuring NLE Choppa
13. "Act II: Date @ 8 (Remix)" by 4Batz featuring Drake
14. "Wanna Be (Remix)" by GloRilla featuring Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion
15. "Mmhmm (Remix)" by BigXthaPlug featuring Finesse2tymes
16. "Team Tomodachi (Bun B IITIGHT Remix)" by Yuki Chiba featuring Bun B
17. "Ghetto & Ratchet (Remix)" by Connie Diiamond featuring Remy Ma
18. "Don Who Leo (Anejo Remix)" by Monaleo featuring Rob49
19. "Can't Get Enough (Dutty Remix)" by Jennifer Lopez featuring Sean Paul
20. "Slut Me Out 2 (Country Me Out)" by NLE Choppa featuring J.P.
The 10 Worst Remixes of 2024:
1. "Like That (Remix)" by Future & Metro Boomin featuring Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign
2. "Bow Bow Bow (F My Baby Mama)" by Sexyy Red featuring Chief Keef
3. "Never Lose Me (Remix)" by Flo Milli featuring Lil Yachty
4. "Barbie (Remix)" by JaidynAlexis featuring Blueface
5. "Problem (Remix)" by Laila! featuring Cash Cobain, Fabolous, Kenzo B, Big Sean, Lay Bankz, Luh Tyler, Anycia, Chow Lee, Kaliii, 6lack, Flo Milli, YN Jay, Flee, Don Q and Rob49
6. "Nasty XXX Remix" by Tinashe featuring Tyga
7. "Act III: On God? (Remix)" by 4batz featuring Kanye West
8. "Drift (Remix)" by Teejay featuring French Montana
9. "Ghetto & Ratchet (Remix)" by Connie Diiamond featuring Jenn Carter
10. "FTCU (Sleezemix)" by Nicki Minaj featuring Travis Scott, Chris Brown and Sexyy Red