Thoughts on 2024
Figure this as a piece that's me reflecting on various aspects…
In the music world I felt once again spoiled of the riches we got – Blood Incantation evolving how the worlds of krautrock, prog, psych and metal combine, seeing Godspeed You! Black Emperor just blow my mind again, Alcest making me get all the emotions and feels while Dragged Into Sunlight put on THE best festival set I'd seen since Cult of Luna and Julie Christmas doing Mariner.
If DIS doing Hatred For Mankind is at a festival near you – go and see it.
Now my albums of 2024 playlists are here: ALBUMS OF 2024 PLAYLISTS! - The Harvest Network’s Substack and what I didn't say at the time was one album had been omitted from it.
This was the year that hyperpop finally came of age as it were – while PC Music had ended in 2023 this became the year that one album just took over our lives at one point that it even got to be a prefix for Summer.
Brat is the one that got the most accolades and is the final evolution of Charli XCX – but we all know that all began with one EP.
The Vroom Vroom EP.
This year reminded us that Charli may have made hyperpop mainstream but SOPHIE got us to pay attention to it in the first place and the posthumous mix album that's self titled and came together with the help of people like Hannah Diamond, SOPHIE's brother Benny Long, BC Kingdom and Kim Petras proved it as the listener is taken through a night of partying that ends up as a reflection of what made SOPHIE special.
If you asked me what albums defined 2024 – I'd say these:
Brat (especially the remix album)
Absolute Elsewhere
No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 dead
and
SOPHIE.
The key links in those 4 (and a few others on my playlist) is the feelings of escapism and realism we have all come to witness this year – we embraced Brat Summer to take our minds off however briefly a world that had decided to regress.
Elections both here and abroad had the same problem in trying to pander to people that absolutely hated them – in the UK the centre left Labour squeaked in but since then has continued to pander and alienate various marginalised groups – LGBTQ+, disabled, elderly to name a few and has left Keir getting the lowest approval ratings seen in a long time and other MPs such as Streeting shown with full masks off.
The USA as we now know fared much worse as they along with the rest of the world not only have to see the second term of a guy that idolises dictators but an oligarchy created by a new puppet master that continues what Stephen Miller, Roger Stone and Steve Bannon started in 2016 – Elon Musk.
Musk in fact is a global danger that must be fought off over the next 5 years – 5 less to save the West than what failed PM and Trump lackey in waiting Liz Truss thought – as he funds or raises the profiles of far right/fringe parties in Europe.
Now when it comes for 2025 here – you can expect more curation with the weekly music playlists, the long form series talking about Vince McMahon (and how WWE/UFC/TKO is essentially state approved entertainment by the upcoming administration), more wrestling coverage and maybe a podcast or two if time allows!
I wish everyone a very merry and happy time to close out 2024 and hope that 2025 is better in many ways for us all.