Unfortunately, I have not really had any first listens this year that stuck since I seem to have prioritized film over music. I listened to 33 new albums and got into three new artists which were communitysaint, UNIITY, and LADRONES. I also started recording the format in which I first heard them. Somehow the current decade won this year. Technically the 2010s and 2020s would be higher, but whenever I listen to a band's entire discography they end up in the "artist" section and not in the "music" section. Here are the stats for 2024:

Let's get into the individual albums that I want to talk about! I think I listened to Carousel From Hell (2024) by LUST$ICKPUPPY the most out of the few mentioned here. It is such a great album with such high energy throughout. If you like loud music then you'll love this album. One unfortunate thing about this is that it's quite short with it being just under twenty minutes, it really leaves you wanting more. Puppy isn't one to go over three minutes anyway. I don't know what else to say… just please listen to it, it's so fucking good. And if LUST$ICKPUPPY is ever performing near you then pleeeaaaase go see them, you will have the time of your life!

Raccoon Nights (2024) was released months after I saw Tall Juan play live and he played a few of these songs at the show so it was interesting to hear them live very early on. I think he played "My Only Friend" and maybe "Dark Hole." I really can not remember that well, but I'm pretty sure there were more that he played. There were a few new songs that he played that did not end up on this album because they were in Spanish and this entire album is in English. I am interested in seeing where those Spanish songs will end up if they ever do end up on any studio release.

This release is a lot different than his previous album Atlantico. I was kind of hoping for more like that album, but I enjoy everything that Juan makes so I'm happy with anything from him. My favorite song on the album is "Fantasy (with Cola Boyy)." I like the juxtaposition between the very upbeat and happy instrumentals with the serious nature of the lyrics about dreaming of equality. I just like all the noises in it, there's a lot going on there.

Two little albums that I want to get into. First one is Fire (2024) by Kittie. I haven't listened to this album that much, but I like Kittie so I thought I should mention it. It's just a pretty solid metal album and it's cool to see them making new music again. I thought this was their shortest album, but it isn't much shorter than the rest of their discography. Everything they have is between thirty five and forty five minutes.

Second little album I want to get into is Jacques Tati Swing (2023). I purchased the Jacques Tati set from Criterion since I had only seen two films from Tati and wanted to watch the rest. I absolutely fell in love with him and adored the music in them especially when I heard them on the menu screens so I ended up purchasing this album. I do listen to it a lot and it's very good practice to whistle along with.

Somehow Speaking in Tongues (1983) is the only Talking Heads album I found in the wild. This year I was listening to a lot of Talking Heads so my opinion of them has shifted slightly. I like them a lot better now and I can hear more of the intricate aspects of the instrumentals that I wasn't really picking up before. I liked the album a lot, of course. Here is what my favorite to least favorite would be now: Naked, Fear of Music, Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, More Songs About Buildings and Food, Little Creatures. I sure hope I can finish off their studio albums in 2025. I feel weird having heard all of those and not 7Talking Heads: 77 yet. I also want to finish off Byrne's studio albums. I didn't find any more of his in the wild unfortunately.

I have also been looking for the B-52s in the wild. I always enjoyed "Love Shack" and Fred Schneider's incredibly gay voice so I always had them in the back of my mind as one band I should totally get into. The new albums of theirs that I bought this year were the Party Mix! (1981) and Mesopotamia (1982) compilation from 1991 and Funplex (2008). What I have so far along with those are The B-52's (1979), Cosmic Thing (1989) which I need to replace because the copy I found is messed up, and The Good Stuff (1992). I need to listen to these more often to get a better opinion of them, but one thing I am sure about is that I like Cosmic Thing the least out of the studio albums. I just don't think it's as good as the rest despite having their most well known song on it. Hopefully I can find the rest of their albums in the wild. It's kinda weird listening to Party Mix! not having heard Wild Planet (1980). I might just have to buy all of these online since I don't really go out to record stores much. Well, we'll see how things go in 2025.

Let's get into the concerts I went to! Whilst making the page for the previous year's review, I had to add links to the Bandcamps of all the bands I was talking about so while looking at Tall Juan's page I saw that he was coming to my state very soon in February! Thankfully I saw it with enough time to spare so I could properly request those days off from work.

So I went with my best friend and my brother who unfortunately was having a lot of abdominal pain so he left before Juan could play and relaxed in the car. The two other bands who played were 1402 and Cassettiquette. Both bands had a very emo feel to them. 1402 played first and was more upbeat and the lead singer had such great energy and the drummer was absolutely killer! Cassettiquette was more mellow and at first I wasn't really feeling them, but I got it. I really liked the keyboard in their songs. I would recommend checking them out if you are into that type of thing.

Now onto Juan. He was so epic! At the beginning of the set he made a joke about how this one concert goer is also really tall so he must be even taller by standing on this box. He played all new songs and for the last two he played "Atlantico" and "Los Chicos" off of his album Atlantico. I tried to sing along, but I do not know Spanish very well so I was mostly humming along. He had such a great presence on stage and I loved all the slightly silly things he did like humming the parts of the other instruments in his songs since it was just him with his acoustic guitar. He is very good at doing lip trills which was something I struggled with a bit in middle school choir when we did those as warm ups. I also really loved the parts where he would drag his guitar against his mic stand. It made a really cool noise.

After the show, I noticed that a lot of people left after the second band played. No commentary here, just an observation. We waited around a bit until we could finally ask for what we wanted at the merch table. Some guys got records and they were doing this trick where you rub the edge against your leg to break up the shrink wrap easier which was something I had never seen before, but should keep in mind next time I want to open something when I don't have a sharp object around to do so. So I went up to Juan to ask for a t-shirt and this man completely forgot to bring in his box of shirts so he had to run out to get it. I then asked him for the two CDs that he had out, but he thought I was asking him what was on them and I said to him that I know what they are and had heard all of his stuff and also told him that years ago I suggested my friend buy a copy of his EP Why Not? at a record store. I really wanted the two 45s that he had, but I did not have enough money for that and I really should not be purchasing more records when my turntable needed to be fixed. So I got my two CDs and had him sign one of them. This is a common occurrence that I see when people write out my name where they somehow get the first half correct, but they end up writing the -mour part as -more. I never see the name spelled like 'Seymore' so I don't know how that's happening (until I got into Taxi and saw that Judd Hirsch's middle name was Seymore). He didn't spell it incorrectly, I had to guide him through it, but people have spelled my name that incorrect way before. After I gave him the money he shook my hand and shook my friend's hand and we left. I should have asked for a picture, but my phone is shit and my friend ran out of space on his phone. He needs all the cat memes that he can find.

It was so cool to see one of my favorite musicians live. I have been listening to Tall Juan since 2016 slightly before Olden Goldies came out so it was amazing to finally see him play. I really hope to see him again soon!

Second show I went to was in June where I went to see LUST$ICKPUPPY with DJ NPC and UNIITY. It was the best show that I have ever been to before in my entire life! I went with my best friend who I usually go to shows with. He is always great to have around. DJ NPC was great, I really dug their vibe. They were wearing a Riddler mask with that t-shirt that says "beat me – bite me – whip me" with whatever else that's on it. I haven't dealt with many Djs before so I haven't much to say. Everyone else in the crowd were really enjoying them.

UNIITY was soooo good. I enjoyed their set so much! They had such a cool look, the instrumentals were great, and the vocal performance from the lead singer was amazing!!! I absolutely loved all of the screaming. I loved every time they would walk out into the crowd and partake in some of the moshing. I never go into the pit, but my best friend will and I love seeing him thrash around, he looks like he is having so much fun. I tend to stay on the outskirts and accidentally get pushed around. I try to make sure people are able to get out when needed.

Now onto LUST$ICKPUPPY which is who we went to see. I have never danced so much at a show before in my life, but I hadn't been to many shows with such energy. I lost my friend during this set. He was still nearby, but wasn't right next to me anymore because of all the moshing. My friend was wearing black lipstick and that shit was GONE by the end of the show. It's usually gone by the end of the day, though. The crowd was so electric and not one person was just standing there, everyone was moving! People were singing along and having so much fun. I desperately need to go to a show like this again. I need to get into more music like this, too.

Pictures were taken by my friend. The picture on the right is actually a screenshot from a video that he took since he mostly took videos. Puppy walked onto stage with these clogs on and I just loved the sound of them hitting the ground, but they quickly removed them. Their look is just so… I don't know how to describe it. They just exhume coolness that I've never seen anyone else do before, although, my friend that has been mentioned all throughout here is the coolest person I personally know. I got a t-shirt afterwards. They only had two designs so I got one design and my friend got the other design. They didn't have any smalls left (they never do when I go to shows) so I had to get a medium. It's too large for me, but I will survive. At least the design fits the over-sized look.

Somewhere during the show, I think during UNIITY, these two people got kicked out because one was under twenty one holding a beer. I don't know if they were drinking out of it, I wasn't really paying attention until that one person came around to kick them out. Beer got spilled and got mopped out afterwards which made that area smell like cleaner for the rest of the night.

Last show I went to was in December which was a little metal show with Dr. Blood's Orgy of Gore, Winter's Gate, and BLAAKHOL. I went to this one with the same friend I have been mentioning throughout the page. It was a few days after his birthday and he wanted to go to this show so I went with him to celebrate his birthday! I went to see BLAAKHOL with him last time so I was already familiar with at least one of the bands.

The first band that played was Dr Blood's Orgy of Gore. I thought they were pretty good. There was one part they did some noise thing which was interesting. There was a man who I assume was a friend of theirs who looked like he just off of work wearing a tucked in white button up with plaid trousers and I think he was wearing dress shoes, but I can't remember. He was quite the hype man and was very into the music especially when the crowd was a bit stationary. I enjoyed his enthusiasm.

The second band was Winter's Gate. They were enjoyable. The singer looked like a taller Adam DeVine, but only when his face was scrunched up which was the entire time he was singing. The singer from BLAAKHOL was featured on one of the songs which was quite fun. I like to see local bands collaborating with each other. I really don't remember what went on during their set besides this one girl in the audience seemed really into them.

Last band was BLAAKHOL which is the only one I had seen before. They're the most theatrical one with their little outfits and planned lighting. The lighting really made me go, "whoa, they got ideas." They had two songs where the singers from the other two bands were featured on. It was very cute. At one point the lead singer was doing the usual shout-outs that a band must do when performing and part of it he pointed to a random person in the audience to shout-out and that person was me :oP.

Unfortunately for each band people only moshed during one song. I don't know what was going on that made everyone bored of the music. It was a rather late show starting at ten pm so everyone must have been quite tired, but I would think they'd be more energetic since this is a metal show after all, get all the wiggles out right before bed. Even when there was a pit it didn't seem pretty full. The metal show I went to the year before was much more lively. Even LUST$ICKPUPPY had a lot more moshing than this show. I thought about getting some CDs after the show, but we just left. I was unable to nap between work and the show so I was super tired.

My goals for 2024 were fix my turntable or get a new one, finish off my Talking Heads and David Byrne collections, go to record stores more often, and get into at least five new artists. I did not do any of those things except for my turntable. In the middle of May I revisited my turntable just to find out that it is working fine. My father tested it out for me before he went to see his mother since his brother-in-law is a huge record collector and may have been able to see what was wrong with it, but nothing was wrong for him so he didn't take the turntable with him. Then I tested it out on my own on two different receivers to see if my father was not lying and the one cable wasn't going out like it was before. I do not know what was going on...It could have just been my receiver, but I would switch the cables between left and right to see if it was just the cable that was messing up and not my receiver which is exactly what was happening. At least I did not have to buy a new turntable then.

Maybe in 2025 I will get into at least five new artists. Perhaps I will prioritize music over film, but it is much easier for me to watch new movies than to listen to new music. Well, in 2024 I did listen to a lot of albums from artists I hadn't heard anything from before, but none of them really stuck. I should revisit them and see if I like them better through more listens. I'll make that my main goal and just hope I finish off Talking Heads, David Byrne, and the B-52s.