January 11, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #741)

9:00 AM The Softies • Sigh Sigh Sigh • The Bed I Made • Father/Daughter

9:02 AM Pernice Brothers • Ordinary Goldmine • Who Will You Believe • New West/Ashmont

9:05 AM Drasii • The Voyager • Spirito Celeste • FPE

9:13 AM English Teacher • You Blister My Paint • This Could Be Texas • Island

January 4, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #740)

9:00 AM Madi Diaz • Everything Almost • Weird Faith • ANTI-

9:03 AM BONZIE • Isn't it Funny • When I Found the Trap Door • Beevine

9:09 AM Glad Rags • Not Like the Movies • single • Sinkhole Sounds

9:14 AM MICHELLE • Noah • Songs About You Specifically • Atlantic

December 21, 2024 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #739)

8:59 AM John Wesley Harding • Talking Christmas Goodwill Blues • God Made Me Do It • Sire/Reprise

9:02 AM The Persuasions • Merry Christmas, Baby • You're All I Want for Christmas • Bullseye Blues

9:07 AM Drasii • The Voyager • Spirito Celeste • FPE

9:14 AM Madi Diaz • Kid on Christmas • single • Anti-

My favorite albums of 2024

I love making lists, I spend to much time working on this list, and in saying that, don't be put off by the list -- it's just a list. I listened to over 200 albums in full this year, and enjoyed just about all of them. This list ranks them, because I like that sense of order, but I want to be clear about something: the further down you get in the rankings, the more indistinct they become. Once you get down into the upper 20s, the rankings are a bit more vibes-based, and the difference between number 29 and number 41 and number 65 isn't much at all, and if I made the list a month later, they'd swap places. The thing is, I enjoyed all of these releases a lot (and others that didn't make the list). Of course, I don't have enough time to listen to everything, and with only a handful of exceptions, if I can't get a physical copy, I'm not going to spend the time to listen to it (hence, for example, I never spent time with the Cindy Lee album). If nothing else, this is a list of 80 really swell albums.

1. Charli XCX - Brat (Atlantic): This is the album that Charli XCX has been building towards her entire career. Musically, it’s an affirmation of her mastery of contemporary pop. Club music, hyperpop, whatever you want to call it, the beats and hooks and melodies are there on track after track. That alone makes this a fantastic album, but what really elevates it are Charli’s lyrics. For music that, on the surface, screams “PARTY!!!”, there’s a lot of self-reflection, like when she visits a friend with a newborn and wonders whether she should have a baby. Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn noted in a column for The New Statesman that this album encapsulates being a woman at age 32, between youth (and being nostalgic for it) and the rigors of middle age, and that beneath the confident exterior, there’s a lot of doubt here. So compelling.

December 14, 2024 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #738)

9:00 AM The Roches • Holidays • can we go home now • Rykodisc

9:03 AM Curtis Mayfield • Love to Keep You in Mind • Roots • Curtom

9:07 AM hemlock • How To Go On Loving (When The Living Breaks Your Heart) • 444 • self-released

9:15 AM El Perro del Mar • Ox and Lamb • single • City Slang

December 7, 2024 CHIRP Radio show playlist (Show #737)

9:01 AM Bob Seger • Brand New Morning • Brand New Morning • Capitol

9:04 AM Allison Russell • Poison Arrow • Outside Child • Fantasy/Concord

9:08 AM Fievel Is Glauque • Transparent • Rong Weicknes • Fat Possum

9:15 AM Tim Finn • Melancholy Girl of the Hour • Long Live Music • Periscope Live Ltd./ORIGIN

November 30, 2024 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #736)

8:59 AM Solomon Burke • Diamond in Your Mind • Don't Give Up on Me • Fat Possum/Anti-

9:04 AM Plains • I Walked with You a Ways • I Walked With You A Ways • ANTI-

9:07 AM Kate Fagan • 2 Good 2 B True • single • self-released

9:12 AM Julia Holter • The Laugh Is in the Eyes • single • Domino