The Shining Lights of 2024
Some Best-of lists before the ball drops
To prepare for this look back at 2024, I read what I wrote at the end of 2023. Much of what I was feeling then, I am feeling now: the new normal of chaos and darkness, with eternal glimmers of inspiration that peak through regularly, like a taste of dessert before the main course is served. Just a taste, but one you can expect; it is like lighting a menorah every night after sundown (happy 7th night, by the way!).
I was talking to a producer at a New York party this past year who was working with a director on a documentary that sounded both incredible, insightful and yet very very bleak. How does one wrestle with such darkness day in, day out, in order to complete the film? The answer: giving up hope. The director gave up hoping that good would conquer evil, that there was a possibility for positive resolution. And that was said to me with a slight but weary smile.
The idea of giving up hope: to hoist a freedom from thinking things could be better, to unchain oneself from worrying about healing, saving, lifting up and striving for a better world. My mind took it in different directions: to not vote for President, to not care about the consequences of personal, communal or global actions. I see the temptation. It certainly allows for a person to look catastrophe in the eyes and attempt to know it without fear. We are all bound to our mortality anyway, death is coming.
But I had sunny experiences this year with friends that awakened me to a bigger communal feeling, the power of collective energy moving towards a bolder, more promising reality; maybe there is a deeper, more beautiful connection between all of us that is so beyond ourselves and the coil. We need to hold on to hope…celebrating it together…demands to be at the core of who we are as humans.
For me, that hope comes from two streams. The first, friends and family. Close relationships that establish and reestablish bonds of trust and the eternal gift of love. The second, from artists: the ones who have walked the earth before us, and the ones who are here now. Artists have the ability to translate the times and offer new ways of thinking; they have the power to change the world in the most profound and powerful ways. Art. Culture. Media. Journalism. Music. Imagination. Poetry. These are the lights through the darkness, that peak through the cracks of the shattered, sharp world that we are spinning along with.
I am so inspired by the storytellers/artists/thinkers that I get to work with through my record labels and other deep-diving random projects, through my work at Reboot and Reboot Studios where we are telling powerful stories that are having an impact. There are so many incredible and courageous artists doing some of the most difficult jobs in the world: laying themselves bare so we can appreciate their unique questions, thoughts and perspectives on our world. It is a tough tightrope they walk between genius and insanity, what we are willing to accept and what seems crazy. They walk that tightrope daily for the rest of us.
The Signal at its core was created to celebrate the great great artists and storytellers and world changers who help us see the light through the darkness. Thank you all for reading it, and subscribing, and reaching out to keep the conversation going for it has become a passion project that keeps me uplifted. Deep thanks to my wife, my kids, my Mom, who support this extra craziness during already busy times.
I wish you all a year of health and hope. There will never be another time like this one.
Here are some of the artistic visions that got me through this past year….
Top 15 New Music Releases: I have been listening to a ton of film scores as of late, triggered by the The Soundtracks of Our Lives edition of the newsletter. As far as new releases, while the following list is made up exclusively of long-players, I loved (loved) Beyoncé’s Texas Hold ‘Em as well as the very recent Dean & Britta & Sonic Boom holiday song Snow Is Falling In Manhattan. The following list does not include the great records I had a part in this past year, including my debut record as a musician along with my friend Luther Dickinson: Crow’s Nest Meditations, our debut as Gravel Springs, which came out on Single Lock Records back in October. This year also saw the mighty release of Infinite River’s Tabula Rasa on my label Birdman. With that, here are the records I loved this year…
The Moon Is In The Wrong Place by Shannon and the Clams (Easy Eye Sound)
Only The Void Stands Between Us by Julie Beth Napolin (Silver Current)
Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee (Realistik Studios)
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure (Capital)
Ancient//Future (and 192.43) by Mourning [A] BLKstar (self)
Spirit Party by Brother JT & Vibrolux (self)
SIHR by Frédéric D. Oberland / Grégory Dargent / Tony Elieh / Wassim Halal (Sub Rosa)
Redd Kross by Redd Kross (In The Redd)
Beings: There Is A Garden (No Quarter)
Time is Glass by Six Organs of Admittance (Drag City)
Engelchen by Alison Cotton (Feeding Tube Records)
Here In The Pitch by Jessica Pratt (Mexican Summer)
The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed by Various Artists (Light In The Attic)
Opus by Ryuichi Sakamoto (Commmons)
Lost at Sea: Rarities, Outtakes and Other Tales From the Deep by The Howlin Rain’ (Silver Current)
Top 10-ish Reissues/Archival Releases: While I produced no reissues this year, the first time that has happened in decades, I have been setting up 2025 to be one of the most productive. It really looks like The Specialty boxset will be released in the upcoming year (after 15+ years of work), celebrating the 80th anniversary of the label. I am working on some releases, both physical and digital, around the Bengt Olsson collection of blues recordings that I own. And there should be big news in Q1 about a new reissue label I am a part of. There have been some tremendous reissues in 2024…
(I’m) Stranded (‘73-’78) by The Saints (In The Red): This is the reissue of the year, from In The Red Records. The Saints were one of the best bands of the punk rock era, coming out of Australia, with their debut record (I’m) Stranded on Sire being so iconic. This box set celebrates the release with 4 LPs, including a remastered version of the original, the original “demo mix” of the LP, and a bunch of live recordings and singles tracks. Brilliant. Every second.
Centennial by King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band / Various Artists (Archeophone): The good folks at Archeophone have painstakingly remastered all of the recordings done by King Oliver in 1923. They have never sounded better and are both so exciting and so important to any fan of jazz, or music history for that matter. The box set also comes with dozens of curated songs that were recorded leading up to 1923 that set the stage for this big bang of music.
Snow Beneath the Belly of a White Swan : The Lost Live Recordings by Robbie Basho (Tompkins Square): Legend has it that while Basho’s records are powerful, his performances are so much better in front of a audience. This game changing 5CD boxset proves the point. Beautifully mastered by the late, great Gary Hobish, with a gorgeous cover and package by (my wife) Barbara Bersche, this release is a revelation.
Words and Music by Margo Guryan (Numero Group): Once in a while someone takes the time to create a reissue that encapsulates a career, that brings attention to an incredible artist in a complete and thoughtful manor. Words and Music does this for Margo Guryan, a songwriter, a chartreuse. Click the title to go to Will Hermes’ deep discussion on the box.
The Sheffield Tape Archive Series by The Fall (Sheffield Tape Archive): I dug into these releases in my mid-year recap. Since then, there has been an also worthy Fall archival release of BBC 1 radio sessions that are also incredible. I hope they keep mining the archives!
Frustration by The Mystic Tide (Numero Group): See my mid-year recap for my write up.
At The Showcase: Live In Chicago, 1976-1977 by Sun Ra (Jazz Detective/Elemental Music): Is there ever enough Sun Ra?
The Carnegie Hall Concert by Alice Coltrane (Impulse!): Never before released soaring spiritual jazz from Alice Coltrane from 1971 featuring Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp.
Souvenirs by Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru (Mississippi): See my mid-year recap for my write up.
Pied Piper Of New Orleans by Babe Stovall (Dust-to-Digital): Woo-weee, great until-now-unreleased country blues from the David Evans archives.
Disco Legado: Antología De Las Grabaciones by Various Artists (Institute of Culture, Puerto Rico): A deep dive into the Puerto Rican archives of music, showcasing many of its diverse rivulets, none of it I have ever heard before. Beautiful big band recordings, dance numbers, incredible players. It is a little like the Buena Vista Social Club for Puerto Rico, except that the recordings are not new.
Top ∞ Ambient/Drone Releases
The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir by Sarah Davachi
Sleepwalkers by Ekin Fil (Helen Scarsdale Agency)
September 23rd by William Basinski (a reissue)
MMM By FUJI||||||||||TA
All Life Long by Kali Malone
Fluorescent Standard by Anthony Vine & Gareth Davis
Evil Does Not Exist (soundtrack) by Eiko Ishibashi
***With a special mention to Robin Mackay and his experimental sci-fi theater project By The North Sea
Newsletters
LANDLINE by Jay Babcock (check out the most recent post…Jay has digitized over half of Arthur Magazine’s issues.)
Bentley’s Bandstand by Bill Bentley
Tusk by Seth Masket
Jagged Time Lapse by Dan Epstein
New Music + Old Music by Will Hermes
Stars After Stars After Stars by James Barber
Memphis Music Confidential by Andria Lisle
Of American Origin by John Lomax III
The Comeback of the Horror Film: I have been pretty put off by mediocre horror over the past decade. Yes, there are the exceptions, but in general we have been living in a time of the cheap scare and the overly used premise. THAT BEING SAID, I have been more than excited about a batch from the last 12 months…
Television Shows
What We Do In The Shadows
Fargo
Slow Horses
3 Body Problem
Shōgun
***I loved the episodes of Reservation Dogs and Palm Royale I watched, and plan to finish watching both shows in 2025.
Books: It is hard to offer a healthy list of books that came out this year that I loved, because what I read does not follow what has been published in the past year, and instead takes from the history of publishing. One of the best novels I read this past year was Toilers of the Sea published by Victor Hugo in 1866. While it is a lesser work compared to Les Miserables an He Who Laughs (or The Laughing Man), there are some passages which showcase the best of Hugo’s writing as well as plot lines that are epicly exciting and memorable. My favorite book I read this year was by Paul Lynch and his 2023 Booker prize winning book The Prophet Song…one of the best books I have read in a decade, and a book I cannot recommend more now, given it is about a dystopian Ireland falling into the grips of Totalitarianism. I also loved rereading The Call of the Wild with my son. It is my sixth go around with the book, and it gets better with every read. I am almost finished with a beautiful meditation of a book from 2016 called The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen and my next book will be this years’ James by Percival Everett. I could easily create a “Top Ten Books I Want To Read From 2024” list but instead, here are my favorite books released this year that I HAVE loved (some art books here as well):
Drums and Demons by Joel Selvin
Every Living Thing by Jason Roberts
And They Arose Early To Do Sexual Violence by Ethan Daniel Davidson
In Praise of Mystery by Ada Limón, illustrated by Peter Sís
Down On The Corner by Cary Baker
Grievous Angels, Trout Masks, and American Beauties: 1970s Rock & Roll Photography by Ginny Winn
MC5: An Oral Biography of Rock’s Most Revolutionary Band by Brad Tolinski, Jaan Uhelszki, Ben Edmond
Other Incredible Experiences
William Basinski at Grace Cathedral, with a light show combined with his drones that simulated the bending of the ancient, gothic walls around us.
Jerry Miller playing guitar during the Moby Grape encore at the Skip Spence tribute night. It was his triumphant return to the city; he would pass away less than a month later.
The Sabbath Queen premier at the Tribeca Film Festival
Touring The Chambers Project in Grass Valley: a psychedelic art non-profit that features some of the worlds greatest pioneers in mind-expansive painting (and sculpture)
Walking on the alien Silver Lake Sand Dunes in northern Michigan
Spring Training with my son, as my dad went with me.
My daughter Kaya lighting up the stage in Guys and Dolls
The joyful noise at Tashlique, on the beach at Crissy Field with the Church of John Coltrane, The Jazz Mafia, bagpipers and shofar blowers.
We Are The One: The San Francisco punk rock exhibit at the Haight Street Art Center
The Dalí: Disruption and Devotion exhibit at the MFA in Boston
Swimming off the shores of Martha’s Vineyard
Dengue Fever playing in front of thousands of Cambodians at the inaugural Cambodian Day in Union Square, SF.
Selling Records at the SFMOMA Record Swap as part of the Art Of Noise Exhibit (thank you Jason!)
David, it will take me most of 2025 to investigate all the leads and notable achievements you have laid out from 2024 and thanks so much for including my blog! I'llkeep reading s this is such a great round up of our world's artistic contributionsk