James McNew (Yo La Tengo, Dump)
Caley Conway, Partner
Refrigerator, Get Lost
Jeff Parker, The Way Out Of Easy
Mountain Movers, Walking After Dark
The Special Pillow, Meets The Space Monster
Little Hag, Now That’s What I Call Little Hag
Daga Voladora, Los Manantiales
Shady Cove, Part II
Oneida, Expensive Air
Cornelius, Ethereal Essence
Roger Moutenot, Microcosm
Ava Mendoza, The Circular Train
David Nance, David Nance & Mowed Sound
Alan Sparhawk, White Roses My God
Tim Heidecker, Slipping Away
Alan Licht, Havens
Julie Beth Napolin, Only The Void Stands Between Us
Mark Robinson (Teen-Beat Records, Cotton Candy)
Kali Malone, All Life Long (record)
Miranda July, All Fours (book)
Kim Gordon, The Collective (record)
Ruben Pater, Caps Lock (book)
hollAnd, Green Text (record)
Katherine Small Gallery (store)
White Manna, Hackensack, NJ (restaurant)
Henry Smith, Film No.18 (Mahagonny) (film)
Bakar, Halo (record)
Escape-ism Black Gold (record)
Mount Kimbie, The Sunset Violent (record)
Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga, The Courage to Be Disliked (book)
King Krule, Shhhhhhhh! (record)
Papa Slumber’s Top Ten Listens of 2024 (Slumberland Records)
Ability II – Rediscovered (I9M)
Autocamper – Blanche (Safe Suburban Home)
Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes – Janice Long Session 11.11.86 (Precious)
Shabaka Hutchings – Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace (Impulse!)
Rachel Love – Lyra (The Cat Collects)
The Moment of Nightfall & Tony Jay – Winter Dream (Kilikilivilla)
Sharp Pins – Radio DDR (Sharp Pins)
Nala Sinephro – Endlessness (Warp)
The Softies – The Bed I Made (Father/Daughter)
v/a – Lost Paradise: Blissed Out Breakbeat Hardcore 1991-94 (Blank Mind)
John Jervis (WIAIWYA Records)
I’m not going to get any less angry, so here we go:
Fanzines – loads of brilliant photos, pictures and writing, perhaps replacing record sales. Maybe we all need to evolve…
Clairo – get the latest lp if you haven’t already..
now..
really, are you still here?…
go… get the latest Clairo album, come back, read on…
Do not read on without that Clairo lp
YOU GOT IT? Ok, read on
Heavenly – they have returned just when we need them the most – May I be among the first to solemnly declare allegiance to the flag of FUCK YOU NO WAY
Saturday Night Fever – seen for the first time in 2024, after nearly fifty years of being told “it’s not what you think it is” it wasn’t what I thought it was. Led to me listening to a LOT of disco, good and bad, and buying a LOT of paint.
Italian exploitation soundtracks of the 70’s – turns out it’s the best music there is
Despair – we did our best, it was fun while it lasted, but the cunts have been voted in, promoting the far right, buying politicians and media networks – but remember everyone who didn’t vote for it, we stand together, we are here for each other. I don’t know what it means, but if there is anything I can help with I am here – wiaiwya on most media (fuck you billionaires, we will use your networks while we can) – please get in touch – we are here for each other…
The future – it is ours… it has to be.
FUCK YOU NO WAY
Can you say cunt in America? Hope you can’t and you will anyway- because he is one!
Happy literal Christmas!
Theresa Kereakes (photographer, historian, documenter)
Some books from 2024 that I have read/am reading and thoroughly enjoy – not in hierarchical order, but I do love Joni Mitchell more than most things:
• Traveling on the Path of Joni Mitchell by Ann Powers is my fave of the new books I’ve purchased this year because, well, Joni. There is not a wasted syllable in it, and the “traveling” and “path” is an extended metaphor for both Joni and author Ann Powers.
• How Women Made Music includes two photographs by me, but that’s not why I love it. It is an important reference work of NPR dispatches with thorough curation by Alison Fensterstock. I have lost track of how many people who have received this book from me as a gift. If you still haven’t gifted anyone anything yet – I highly suggest How Women Made Music. And sharing good reads isn’t just for Christmas or year-end lists.
• In Under a Rock, Blondie’s co-founder, Chris Stein delivers a delightful valentine to the NYC of his youth. It’s no wonder Blondie was a pioneering musical project. I wish that NYC still existed.
• The surrealist next door, my former neighbor and lifetime icon of pop surrealism, Robyn Hitchcock also paints a picture of his Groover origin story in 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left. He made a companion album to go along with it, which is a fave listen as well.
• The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture. I lived in NYC for 20 years, but I read the Village Voice long before and long after I lived there. What a fantastic biography of a print icon! Bravo Tricia Romano on your widely heralded book!
• Cue the Sun: The Invention of Reality TV by Emily Nussbaum I’ve worked in television, and I grew up in Santa Barbara and witnessed the Loud family open their lives to the PBS series about them – An American Family, which was the first “reality show” in the early 1970s. Emily Nussbaum nailed this on every point; she has been writing about television for a long, long time and deftly connects all the dots. I am a hard one to convince, since this particular example took place in my very hometown at the peak of my snarky teenage phase. Read for yourself, Emily got it right !
• Miss May Does Not Exist: The Life and Work of Elaine May, Hollywood’s Hidden Genius. I have a personal obsession with the films ISHTAR and REDS, which Elaine May wrote, and co-wrote (no on-screen credit for REDS), and so does the author Carrie Courogen who appropriately identifies Elaine May as “Hollywood’s Hidden Genius.” This is a phenomenal effort and it places my head in a space that helps me understand why I am happy when I’m immersed in ironic satire.
Music and Film – Mostly I was underwhelmed this year – too much hype; too little deliverance. That being said, The The in concert was impressive, with the first set being their new album, Ensoulment, and after a brief intermission, a set of hits and fan faves. Way back in January, I saw Elvis Costello & the Imposters put on the best concert (3+ hours!!) I’ve ever seen and heard.
