Hey City Zen or my Favorite Music in 2024
2024 revealed how crappy and hypocritical our western governments are. War crimes of the worst kind made it hard to engage with anything else. Despite that sorrow, it was a good year for work, full of fun travel for work and with friends and family. I also continued to DJ #happymusic at Roterdão Clube in Lisbon’s Pink Street. Every year is a great year for music, with such amazing tracks, even if perhaps fewer great albums. I am sure I missed really excellent stuff, but here is the best City Zen of the year that made my radar. Top 40 Albums (plus a few collections), Top 100 Tracks, Top 20 Remixes/Edits (from E-Trash’s DJ sets). The top tracks and remixes are assembled in a Spotify List as well.
Top 40 Albums of 2024
Grouped alphabetically in 4 groups below.
Diamond Cut
There were 5 albums that stood above the rest. 3 are homages to dance music: 80s disco (PDM), the 90s rave scene (JXX), and current scene (FA). But there is also pop-funk (Chromeo) and indie-folk-pop (LG). All are amazing and creative from start to finish.
Chromeo — Adult Contemporary
Fred Again… — USB
Jamie XX — In Waves
London Grammar — The Greatest Love
Purple Disco Machine — Paradise
Platinum Set
These 10 albums, coming from very distinct genres, are almost flawless and I could not get enough of them:
Artemas — yustyna
Aura Safari & Jimi Tenor — Sensory Blending
Beyoncé — COWBOY CARTER
Caribou — Honey
Billie Eilish — HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
Kendrik Lamar — GNX
Cindy Lee — Diamond Jubilee
Dua Lipa — Radical Optimism
Pet Shop Boys — Nonetheless
The The — Ensoulment
Gold Circle
Amyl and the Sniffers — Cartoon Darkness
Laurie Anderson — Amelia
Bakermat — High Above
Donny Benét — Infinite Desires
The Blessed Madonna — Godspeed
David Bruno — Paradise Village
Sabrina Carpenter — Short n’ Sweet
The Cure — Songs of a Lost World
Crazy P — Any Signs of Love
Julien Doré — IMPOSTEUR
Peggy Gou — Back to One
Michael Kiwanuka — Small Changes
Ryuichi Sakamoto — Opus
Yard Act — Where’s My Utopia?
Silver Line
Johnny Cash — Songwriter
The Last Dinner Party — Prelude to Ecstasy
Lucky Daye — Algorithm
Fountaines D.C. — Romance
Gossip — Real Power
Mimicat — Peito
Tyla — Tyla
Underworld — Strawberry
St. Vicent — All Born Screaming
Kamasi Washington — Fearless Movement
Jack White — No Name
Best Live Album of 2024
Rita Lee — Uma Noite no LUNA PARK ao vivo em Buenos Aires
Best Box Set of 2024
Bryan Ferry — Retrospective: Selected recordings 1973–2023
Best Remaster of 2024
The Ink Spots — If I Didn’t Care
Best EPs of 2024
Two EPs were on rotation a lot, with more good tracks than many albums:
Tom Misch — Six Songs
DJ Meme — Clássicos Reboot Vol. 2 — Lado A
Top 100 Tracks of 2024
The best way to display this is via a Spotify list which also includes the remixes below at the end. I created the list to be listened to in the order shown, but can also be listened to at random of course:
Top 20 Remixes and Edits of 2024
So many great remixes and edits this year. There were definitely 5 above the rest, which took the original into another place of excellence. All remixes, edits and mashups below elevate the originals either into a whole different place, a distilled essence, or simply make it work so well on the dance floor. It is great when a track has two great lives, which is a remix at its best:
Bronski Beat — Why? feat. Neil Tennant (Superchumbo Mix)
Jamiroquai — Canned Heat (Dimitri From Paris Remix)
London Grammar — You And I (Patrick Topping Remix)
Bob Marley & The Wailers — Jamming (FISHER Rework)
Megatronic feat. Stavros — The World (Kiko Navarro Remix)
The remaining awesome remixes alphabetically:
79.5 — Our Hearts Didn’t Go That Way (JKriv Remix)
Aluna & MK — Kiss it Better (SONIKKU Remix)
Bronski Beat — Smalltown Boy feat. Perfume Genius (The Knocks Remix)
Gal Costa — Azul (llusionize & Linkage Remix)
Disclosure — She’s Gone, Dance On (Carlita Remix)
Dua Lipa — Illusion (Honey Dijon Remix)
Fever Ray — Kandy (Tiga Remix)
Frejat & Cassia Eller — Malandragem (DJ Meme Spacedisco Mix)
Joe Goddard with Fiorious — New World (Flow) (Roman Flügel Dance Remix)
Gossip — Give it up for Love (Tripolism Remix)
Jennifer Lopez — Waiting For Tonight (FISHER Rework)
Pet Shop Boys — Being Boring (New Pet Shop Boys Version)
Purple Disco Machine — W.T.P feat. Metronomy (Purple Disco Machine Club Dub)
St Germain — So Flute (Blackchild 2024 Remix)
Teddy Swims — The Door (CYRIL Remix)
