In 2024, musicians such as Charli xcx improbably topped worldwide charts with a cheeky remix album, and U.K. upstart Fred again.. sold nearly 78,000 tickets for a stadium show in Los Angeles. Even Billie Eilish hit the club with an extended version of the jam “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” from her new album, while Tale of Us co-founder Anyma became the first EDM act to stage a residency at Las Vegas’ sensory overload Sphere. Pop that molly at your own risk, y’all.
The more left-of-center delights took a little sleuthing to uncover. Yes, Four Tet can hold his own when selling out arenas in tandem with Skrillex and Fred again.., but his music remained as thoughtful and emotive as ever on the outstanding Three, which he celebrated in May with a two-day mini-festival under (where else?) a highway bridge in industrial Brooklyn. If his “Skater” and fellow U.K. electronic legends Underworld’s “Black Poppies” can’t melt your freezer-burned heart, we don’t know what to tell you.
Honorable mentions go to Floating Points’ first proper dance album in five years, the blippity/bloopity delight Cascade; Justice’s Hyperdrama, highlighted by two monster Tame Impala collabs; and Kaytranada’s TIMELESS, which hit almost all the right notes despite the presence of a few too many mainstream guest vocalists.
When it comes to dance music discovery, no platform is as elite as NTS Radio, which continues to champion outstanding creators operating criminally below the radar. Our favs? Wallace, whose classic house- and techno-inspired tracks throb, vibrate, duck, weave and radiate the elemental pleasures of getting sweaty with the fam of your choice; DJ Moxie, whose love of breakbeats equals her passion for hipping listeners to their next favorite track; the Red Laser Records crew, whose rare Italo disco vinyl, acid heat and boogie bombs will stump your Shazam every time; and underground tech-house maven Boulderhead, whose I Need Space To Dance EP will force those hips to move like they haven’t been exercised in ages. See you in the gaff.
READ THE REST OF THE YEAR IN MUSIC!
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Please go home (we’ve had enough of these people)
The Fyre Award: crappiest festival of the year
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