2024 Year in Review, part 1

Abstractions that seemed to make sense at the time

Tim Riley

Jan 03, 2025

Rock

SINGLE/COVER OF THE YEAR

“Good Luck, Babe,” Sabrina Carpenter (covering Chappell Roan)

ALBUMS

TIE: Black Keys: Ohio Players [Trophy Edition] (Nonesuch) and Dwight Yoakam: Brighter Days (VIA)

Listening to the new Black Keys album, you forget all about their annus horribilis and crypto benefit rebound (just like we forget how 1990s Grammy darling Toni Braxton went broke with hit records on the charts before she got lupus). Alongside a strong return from Dwight Yoakam (his 23rd), these records feature major players wearing familiar clothes with new flair, as though all previous albums point here. Both sport career-topping energy.

black keys and dwight yoakam album covers — arrivals

Kim Gordon: The Collective (Matador)
Beth Gibbons: Lives Outgrown (Domino)
Charli XCX: Brat (Atlantic)
Maggie Rogers: Don't Forget Me (Capitol)
Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well (MCA Nashville)
Magdalena Bay: Imaginal Disk (Mom + Pop)
Beyoncé: Cowboy Carter (Parkwood/Columbia)
Virginia Rodrigues: Poesia e Nobreza (Tratore)
Ride: Interplay (Wichita)
LL Cool J: The FORCE (Def Jam)
Miranda Lambert: Postcards From Texas (Republic Nashville)
Clairo: Charm (Clairo)
Sierra Ferrell: Trail of Flowers (Rounder)
Sue Foley: One Guitar Woman: A Tribute to the Female Pioneers of Guitar (Stony Plain)
Terre Roche: Inner Adult (self-released)
Margaret Glaspy: The Sun Doesn't Think (ATO, EP)
Lainey Wilson: Whirlwind (BBR)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Fu##in' Up (Reprise)
James Carter: Un (Unaccompanied Baritone Saxophone) (J.M.I.)
Jon Langford & the Bright Shiners: Where It Really Starts (Tiny Global Productions)
Kelsea Ballerini: Patterns (Black River)
Bubba Bellin: Western Soul (Bolo Tie)
Shaboozey: Where I’ve Been, Isn’t Where I’m Going (American Dogwood)

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Reissues

Various: Why Don’t You Smile Now—Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-1965 (Light in the Attic)

A time capsule, yes, but also a peephole into the sonic codes that Reed and rock ultimately tore away from, then smashed.

Unholy Modal Rounders: Unholier Than Thou 7/7/77 (Don Giovanni, 2CD)
Art Tatum: Jewels in the Treasure Box: The 1953 Chicago Blue Note Jazz Club Recordings (Resonance, 3CD)
Sonic Youth: Walls Have Ears (1985, Goofin')
Talking Heads: ‘77 [Super Deluxe Edition] (Sire)
Elvis Costello: King of America (F-Beat/Columbia)

Classical

Schubert Ländler, Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Pentatone)

Charm flirting with wisdom, a bouquet of miniatures that deserve the same repertoire status as Chopin’s Waltzes or Beethoven’s Bagatelles.

Shostakovich, Complete String Quartets Vol 1, Nos 1-4, Cuarteto Casals (Harmonia Mundi)
Bach English Suites, Zhu Xiao-Mei (ECM)
Brahms Piano Quartets Nos 2 & 3, Christian Tetzlaff vn, Barbara Buntrock va, Tanja Tetzlaff vc, Lars Vogt pf (Ondine) [Vogt’s final recording]
Haydn String Quartets, Op 33, Quatuor Mosaïques (Auvidis Astree / Naïve)
Chopin Voyage, Yulianna Avdeeva (Pentatone)
Beethoven, The Middle Quartets, Calidore String Quartet (Signum)
Brahms Symphonies, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet‑Séguin (DG)
Beethoven Piano Trio No 7, “Archduke,” Symphony No 4, Leonidas Kavakos vn, Yo‑Yo Ma vc, Emanuel Ax pf (Sony Classical)
Beethoven String Quartets No. 2, Doric String Quartet (Chandos)
Bach Cello Suites (Arr. for Piano), Thomas Jarry (self-published)
Bach Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (Arr. for String Trio and Arabic Instruments by Trio d'Iroise and SYRIAB), Trio d'Iroise & SYRIAB (Solaire)