Multitude, le film
Stromae just released a registration of his epic Multitude tour. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend his concerts in Amsterdam so it's great to see him in action. And his futuristic decor with robotarms carrying LED screens. It seems to be filmed at multiple locations, edited together seamlessly.
Top 12 albums of 2024
These are the twelve records of 2024 that I enjoyed most!
These are my 12 favorite records of 2024. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify.
12: Charli xcx - Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat
This remix album adds Robyn, Troye Sivan, Billie Eilish and a lot more guest artists to Charli xcx's Brat phenomenon, and makes it a lot more interesting!
11: Jon Hopkins - RITUAL
Jon Hopkins creates another ambient album, great to relax to. It has a great builtup, and it's great to listen in one session while winding down or doing focus work.
10: Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons, the voice of Portishead, goes deep in this beautiful album, with sparse instrumentation.
9: Justice - Hyperdrama
The French duo Justice revive their signature sound on Hyperdrama, with some interesting guest vocalists, like Tame Impala who is on their hit single "Neverender". I also really like their track "The End" which features Thundercat.
8: Caribou - Honey
Caribou started as a chill out electronica band, but on their latest album they move more towards the dancefloor. They use some interesting samples, like some vocals from "Pump up the Volume", a nineties track which works well in their track "Volume".
7: Hermanos Gutiérrez - Sonido Cósmico
I saw the Hermanos live in TivoliVredenburg a couple of months ago, and then they already played some tracks of their album Sonido Cosmico. As the name implies, it feels more cosmic and wide in sound than their other work. It's a relaxing instrumental record. When they played live they just use two guitars and a loop pedal to perform all their tracks. And the concert was great! If you have a chance to see them live, go do that!
6: Michael Kiwanuka - Small Changes
I have a weak spot for producer Danger Mouse, and when I heard that Michael Kiwanuka was working with him for Small Changes, I was immediately interested. They made a beautiful album together, modest but with just enough decorations for Kiwanuka's nice voice.
5: The Smile - Cutouts & The Smile - Wall of Eyes
Thom Yorke and his two friends released two albums in 2024 as The Smile and I couldn't decide which I like best. Both have interesting tracks, I really like their uncommon song structures and weird time measures. It's a jazzy version of Radiohead and I like it.
Spotify (Cutouts) - Spotify (Wall of Eyes)
4: Emilíana Torrini - Miss Flower
When I saw Emilíana Torrini live a couple of months ago, she explained the story behind Miss Flower. She made songs to love letters that the mother in law from her long time collaborator received from various lovers throughout her life. Miss Flower had an interesting love live, to say the least. Interesting back story to a beautiful album.
3: Jamie xx - In Waves
Breakbeats and interesting collaborations (Robyn and his xx friends Romy and Oliver) make this a great record.
2: Underworld - Strawberry Hotel
The guys from Underworld return to their sound from a couple of records ago. Arpeggiated synths and hard kickdrums. You can recognize fragments of older songs like Born Slippy or Rezz, but it's still a fresh take on their formula. I love the use of vocoders in the track "denver luna" and it's great they added an acapella version of that to the record.
1: Joan As Police Woman - Lemons, Limes and Orchids
This record by Joan As Police Woman has been on high rotation ever since it came out. Lovely songs and a relaxed feel make this a great record for lazy Sundays.
I hope you enjoyed this list! You can listen to all albums via this playlist in Spotify.
Best albums of 2024 by pitchfork
Pitchfork published its list of best albums of 2024. A lot that I didn't listen to yet.
Their number 1 album, Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee is not listed on Spotify or Apple music but can be streamed only via YouTube or Bandcamp.
Niche mixes in Spotify
Spotify lanched new "niche" mixes, which combine your favorite music and new tracks into weirdly specific mixes, like "170 bpm", "saturday uplifting" or "funky carioca". You can find them in the "for you" section of the app.
Roel radio on Spotify
New song: Desert Nights
For a Metapop contest I created a song using Hypha, a new synth from Native Instruments. In this song I use 17 (!) instances of that synthesizer. It produces nice organic sounds like organ and bell sounds. Only the drums in this song are made with another instrument. Listen on Spotify:
Or via YouTube:
New song: Major Lazer - Koo Koo Fun (rule remix)
This was a great opportunity: Meta Pop hosted a remix contest for Major Lazer's "Koo Koo Fun" track! The original song has a really relaxed vibe that I tried to keep. The stems (that are the individual instruments and vocals for the track) were a lot of fun to work with!
