Ethan’s Top 10 Tunes of ’24

10. Knock Yourself Out XD – Porter Robinson

“Knock Yourself Out XD,” is a fun, catchy, electro-pop banger about celebrity culture made with tongue planted firmly in cheek. Porter Robinson got his start in EDM, and that sound palate translates perfectly into the wave of dance-inspired pop music that has been so popular this year.

9. Don’t Rely on Other Men – JPEGMAFFIA

“Don’t Rely on Other Men” is angry. With blown out drums and a layer of distortion over everything, “JPEGMAFFIA” calls out all the white rappers who perform blackness without any actual connection to the culture with in-your-face beats, distorted guitars and thumping vocal samples over a pounding sub-bass.

8. Girl, so confusing, featuring Lorde – Charli XCX

Charli’s music has always had emotionally vulnerable lyrics wrapped in hyper-pop production. However, the “Girl, so confusing” remix is the only time the source of her insecurities has given their perspective on the situation. The back-and-forth verses gave me a little more faith in humanity and inspired quite a few of my friends to text someone “Let's work it out on the remix” for better or for worse.

7. She’s Leaving You – MJ Lenderman

“She’s Leaving You” was the first single from Lenderman’s album this year and is a breath of fresh air in a country landscape dominated by “Morgan Wallen”. The lyrics are emotionally evocative and paint vivid pictures of the quiet moments of a person's life spent only with themselves. Combining influences from indie rock, noise rock and Americana, Lenderman crafts one of the most sonically interesting and well written country songs of the last few years.

6. Texas Blue – Quadeca

“Texas Blue” is the final track on his mixtape from this year (“Scrapyard”) and is a lush, masterfully orchestrated composition that really shows off Quadeca’s growth both in songwriting and production. It is a beautiful song about a relationship told through vignettes of the quiet moments between partners set to breathtaking string, piano, flute and vocal arrangements where you can hear him smiling through the microphone.

5. Euphoria – Kendrick Lamar

The beef between Kendrick Lamar and Drake will most likely go down as not only one of the biggest moments in pop culture for the year, but also the decade. “Euphoria” is essentially six minutes of Lamar flexing his penmanship and pure ability as a rapper over three different beats and 20 flows. There isn’t anything I can say about this song that hasn't already been said, but seeing the text “Kendrick responded” from a friend, had me feeling like a kid on Christmas morning.

4. Death & Romance – Magdalena Bay

“Death & Romance” is the most densely layered and well-produced pop song of the year. With the combination of sounds, both synthetic and natural, “Magdalena Bay” crafts one of the most engaging, hard-hitting dance tracks of the year. The punchy drum groove is infectious, and the chorus will be stuck in your head for days after hearing it. This song is unabashedly fun and has me consistently singing at the top of my lungs whenever it comes on in my car.

3. Holy, Holy – Geordie Greep

“Holy, Holy” is a song that punches you in the face several times with a barrage of drums and distorted guitars before immediately exploding into a disgustingly infectious Latin jazz-inspired groove. The storytelling from Greep is some of the best of the year when the stereotypical story of “man meets woman at bar” is turned on its head, showing the pathetic desperation behind the over exaggerated masculinity so many men exhibit.

2. GREY RUBBLE / GREEN SHOOTS – Godspeed You! Black Emperor

“Grey Rubble / Green Shoots” is built on an ominous violin melody that grows as more and more instruments join the lament. Booming drums and distorted guitars kick the march into full force as the song builds before falling into a somber reflection on the destruction the whole album has depicted. This is a masterfully composed and executed portrayal of the horrors that have taken place in the Gaza Strip and is one of the most emotionally evocative depictions of genocide I've ever experienced.

1. Doves – Armand hammer

“Doves” is an ode to grief, to the cold isolation that comes with the loss of a loved one and the permanent shift in world view that accompanies it. The song’s minimal instrumental forces attention onto the fragile singing of Benjamin Booker and off-kilter rapping of Billy Woods. “Doves” is a strange song that sacrifices all logic and structure for atmosphere; something that won’t work for everyone. However, if you can turn off the part of your brain that thinks, “What the hell am I listening to?” and let the cold in, you will be rewarded with one of the most emotionally resonant songs of the year.

The Wayne Stater

The Wayne Stater

The Wayne Stater