Tag Archives: new music

Albums of the Year, Music

40 Albums I Loved in 2024

This year’s list is in a briefer format than year’s past and with fewer bells and whistles. In short, it’s just a list, one that you can engage with as deeply or as passively as the mood strikes you. While unranked, the albums are laid out in relation to when I added them to my working list throughout the year. So where Reyna Tropical kicks off the list, that marks the first album in 2024 that I knew would end up on my best of list and the last line items are the ones that I was feeling towards the end of the year.

As always, this music straddles a range of sound and is globally-minded AF. From hip-hop and pop, to indie rock, various forms of electronica, and of course, some Brazilian music in the mix too. At the bottom, you’ll find my playlist of the best songs from the year that I started adding to at the top of the year (and yes, there are some older tunes in there, cause it be like that sometimes.) This was the music that marked my year. Drop me a line and tell me about yours!

Much love, so long 2024 and a happy 2025 to all of you.

Spinelli 

Reyna Tropical - Malegría
Helado Negro - PHASOR
The Smile - Wall of Eyes
Sprints - Letter To Self
Alice Russell - I Am
Nia Archives - Silence Is Loud
Yaya Bey - Ten Fold
Jessica Pratt - Here In The Pitch
Thee Sinseers - Sinseerely Yours
Porij - Teething
Vince Staples - Dark Times
Fake Fruit - Mucho Mistrust
Cindy Lee - Diamond Jubilee
Elkka - Prism of Pleasure
Charli XCX - BRAT
Shygirl - Club Shy
Nacho Picasso & Televangel - Jesse's Revenge
Khruangbin - A LA SALA
Sturgill Simpson/Johhny Blue Skies - Passage Du Desir
Porridge Radio - Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There...
Global Underground #46: Anna - Lisbon
MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Nala Sinephro - Endlessness
Charlotte Day Wilson - Cyan Blue
Rogê - Curyman II
Marcos Valle - Túnel Acústico
Sour Widows - Revival Of A Friend
Waxahatchee - Tiger's Blood
Kim Deal - Nobody Loves You More
Kendrick Lamar - GNX
Fontaines DC - Romance
Shigeto - Cherry Blossom Baby
Tourist & Gold Panda - Us Two
Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Broadcast - Distant Call (Collected Demos 2000-2006)
Peel Dream Magazine - Rose Main Reading Room 
Nilüfer Yanya
- My Method Actor
Christopher Owens - I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair
Doechii - Alligator Bites Never Heal
Enumclaw - Home In Another Life
Sam Wilkes - iiyo iiyo iiyo
Four Tet - Three
Albums of the Year, Music

40 Albums I Loved In 2023

Now in year 16 of the Everything Ecstatic Albums of the Year list, it’s the first time I’ve ever dropped it after the new year. My hope is that people have more time to discover what they might’ve missed last year when they’re not so inundated by the holidays and the furious year-end push of our professional lives. Like, who really has time to discover new music in earnest in December? I feel that.

That being said, I also contributed to a few other publications’ Best Albums of 2023 lists. There’s my column for the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle featuring six of the year’s best albums (which all appear in this post), the KQED Arts Best Bay Area Albums of 2023 and the incredible endeavor that is Uproxx’s Music Critics Poll.

But onto EE’s Top 40 Albums of 2023 we go. They’re listed alphabetically below, with the album cover art and a single sentence review of each. It’s an easy breezy proposition. Listen to my playlists of my favorite songs of 2023 (“A New Future”) below and of the 40 albums on this year’s list at the very bottom of this post. As always, feel free to re-visit all past Everything Ecstatic albums lists here

Much love, and thanks for reading!

Spinelli

Andre 3000 - New Blue Sun

A stunning, flute-led treatise on the evolution of the creative mind that was unlike anything anyone expected from Andre.

Andy Shauf – Norm

Another solid effort from the prolific and clever Canadian indie singer-songwriter.

Bakar – Halo

If urban pop music is headed in the direction that this young Brit is taking it, we’re in good shape.

Bar Italia – Tracey Denim

The London trio’s breakthrough LP harkens back to the bleak 90s Brit rock that I adore.

Billy Nomates  – CACTI

The Leicester no wave artist has been propelled by her continued collaboration with Portishead’s Geoff Barrow and it’s one of the year’s best under the radar releases.

Black Thought & El Michels – Glorious Game

As he continues to ascend in the legacy rap space, Black Thought linked with soul revivalist Leon Michels for this gift of a record.

El Búho – Strata

An ecologically-minded electrocumbia drop from El Búho, who deserves way more recognition.

Continue reading 40 Albums I Loved In 2023 →
Music

Vision: A New Playlist For 2020

The time is now. I’ve been adding songs to Vision, the 2020 Everything Ecstatic playlist since the start of the year and it’s finally in presentable enough shape to start sharing it with the world while it keeps building. The COVID-19 pandemic is serious business and everyone’s affected. More than ever, we need music to help get us through these days. So here we are.

Today, there are 31 mostly new songs and just over two hours of music on Vision from Burna Boy and Four Tet to U.S. Girls and Seu Jorge. But I’ll be adding tracks to it as the year rolls along, just like I’ve done with my previous yearly continuous playlists (which you can also re-visit):

Vision is below and subscribe on Spotify here to keep vibing with the playlist as it builds into a musical picture of 2020. Be safe, be healthy and we’ll get through this together. Much love.

(Top Photo: Ocean Beach on 1/1/20)