Albums of the Year 2024: Chihei Hatakeyama & Shun Ishiwaka - Magnificent Little Dudes Vol. 1

A gem for me this year has been the collaborative project between the veteran minimalist composer Chihei Hatakeyama and jazz drummer Shun Ishiwaka, Magnificent Little Dudes Vol. 1. It’s an album I stumbled upon, not being familiar with either artist, but which has taken me down many rabbit-holes and soundtracked my year. 

Hatakeyama is a prolific minimalist composer with over 70 albums to his name. His signature sound consists of slow, sustained notes of modular synthesisers, warped guitars and field recordings that shimmer and dissolve. The glacial pace of Hatakeyama’s music evokes the slow processes of nature – deep water currents, the sun's path across the horizon and buds bursting in slow motion. Shun Ishiwaka on the other hand is a frenetic, technically dazzling Jazz drummer whose polyrhythms are intricate and complex. On Ishiwaka’s Youtube channel you can find 20 minute freak-out solos as well as videos of him leading a septet interpreting John Coltrane’s "A Love Supreme" at Tokyo’s NHK Hall. 

Putting these two artists together evokes Brian Eno’s famous description of ambient music as being “as ignorable as it is interesting”, Hatakeyama’s compositions sweep you away while Ishiwaka’s twitchy drumming is grounding and demands attention. Hatakeyama’s warm synths swell on opening number “M0” and it feels like standing on a great plain watching storm clouds take shape on the horizon. When Ishiwaka’s whip-fast snares and bright pingy cymbals appear, they feel like the first raindrops on your face, a reminder that those stormy clouds are not as far away as you might think. This is music that makes the world feel large, what I imagine the two kids on the album cover see when they look out from the top of the slide.

I also want to highlight the music coming out of Copenhagen this year, like Erika De Casier’s excellent third album Still. Her songs about modern love are intelligent, slyly funny, and filled with sticky melodies and tastefully retro 00s production. Astrid Sonne had a breakout year of sorts too. Her music has previously revelled in conceptual soundscapes, merging her classical background with electronic experiments, but on this year’s Great Doubt she revealed herself as a strong songwriter too. Her intimate, sparse electro-acoustic R&B evokes the off-kilter charm of Tirzah and Mica Levi. Another Dane, Fine Glindvad released one of the year's most atmospheric singer-songwriter albums with Rocky Top Ballads, a collection of smoky, Mazzy Star-esque folk. I also found out Fine Glindvad is the singer of my favourite new band of the year, the mysterious The Crying Nudes whose self-titled debut is a cool 15 minutes of slacker indie-rock straight from the extended Dean Blunt universe. 

It was also a joy to hear Christoper Owen’s comeback I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. The former singer of the beloved San Francisco band Girls has had a rough couple years, to say the least. He survived a motorcycle accident but was seriously injured, he also went through a divorce, was robbed of his van and guitar and endured a spell of homelessness – all while grieving the death of his former bandmate Chet "JR" White. That this album exists at all feels like a miracle, and the fact it’s as soulful and heartfelt as the best music he put out in the heyday of Girls is just a plus. 

Two More Essential Albums of 2024

MJ Lenderman – Manning Fireworks

Joshua Chuquimia Crampton – Estrella Por Estrella 

Musical Experience of the Year

Bruce Springsteen’s second night at Wembley Stadium. 

Track of the Year

"Fisherrr (Remix)" – Cash Cobain, Ice Spice, Bay Swag 

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