The previous list of 2024 supporting actors left behind a few more albums deserving of maybe a little more attention than they received, so to celebrate a blessedly diverse year of music, these are ten more that have rewarded my listening.

Brian Gibson, Thrasher (Thrill Jockey)

“Metal Maze”, “Maelstrom”, “Monolith” – this rare album from Lightning Bolt bassist Gibson put the attack of his regular duo alongside the world-building of his computer game projects in perfect harmonic motion. Thrasher was as futuristic, relentless and implacable as the music of The Terminator or Tron, and evokes that sense of constraint and geometry that can make a good computer game into a great one. Via Bandcamp,

Luke Stewart Silt Trio, Unknown Rivers (Pi Recordings)

Another polymath bassist, East Coaster Stewart is part of a dizzying range of projects from Blacks’ Myths to Irreversible Entanglement and brings a sense of freedom and force of thought to them all. Following some wildly imaginative recordings such as electro-acoustic meetings of bass and amplifier, and multi-instrumental meditations using electronics and mixing desks, this trio with saxophonist Brian Settles and drummers Trae Crudup or Chad Taylor presented bone-dry grooves with a loose energy and chaotic spirit. It has feint echoes of Sonny Rollins’s rambunctious and groundbreaking trios from back in the day. Via Bandcamp, also see artist website

Shane Parish, Repertoire (Palilalia)

With a cover that makes me think of Joanna Newsom’s Ys, Repertoire is a brilliant act of historical reclamation wherein the guitarist’s guitarist revisits several contemporary ‘standards‘ from Mingus to Kraftwerk. Like a lot of Parish’s playing, he makes it sound free and easy, even when he’s condensing Eric Dolphy’s “Out To Lunch” into a dense 45 second tranmission of asymmetric notes, and his version of “Europe Endless” is a modern classic. His bandmate in the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, Wendy Eisenberg, provides a great sleevenote, noting “[his] mastery does not overshadow his appreciation of the music that inspired it.”. Via Bandcamp, check also Shane’s own website

Alvear, Bondi & d’incise, variaciones sobre las instrucciones (Meenna)

Releases on the Meenna label (part of the Japanese Ftarri family) are always worth the wait. The combination of space, texture, tone and interplay is somehow unique, like the air is always charged and ready. The label also nurtures valuable links with artists in other parts of the world, including with this resourceful Swiss-Chilean trio. variaciones sobre las instrucciones consists of performances of pieces by Clara de Asís and Santiago Astaburuaga, with languorous vibraphone and guitar sustaining to fill the space. Via Bandcamp

Harry Gorski-Brown, Durt Dronemaker After Dreamboats (GLARC)

This album takes pipes, drones and fiddles out of the pages of folk music history and grasps them in the present moment. With a rough, spontaneous, almost punk recording ethos, Durt Dronemaker After Dreamboats explores eight “songs from a long time ago” and the way Gorski-Brown’s voice strains to match the notes of the drone gives it a gut punch that more polished folk recordings often lack. Via Bandcamp

Marion Cousin & Eloïse Decazes, Com A Lanceta Na Mã​o (A République Des Granges)

More living folk music from friends and multi-instrumentalists Cousin and Decazes, whose pan-European travels and connections are encapsulated in this bewitching collection of lo-fi songs from a sparsely populated area of northeastern Portugal. The pair’s voices blend uncannily together, which leaves the rest of the music to circle around them in sparse constructions that have some echoes of Broadcast or Pram. Via Bandcamp. I loved writing a piece on Marion that you can find in The Wire via Exact Editions.

Xylitol, Anemones (Planet Mu)

The title of this album by Catherine Backhouse alluded to the miraculous morphologies of sea creatures, and the way we can become someone else on the dancefloor, but I like to think that the engagement with microscopic detail and the inner life of things extends to the amazing breakbeat science on display on Anemones. Inspired by the likes of DJ Crystl and other Akai warriors of the jungle era, Backhouse chops, phases, delays, triggers and re-triggers her Amen breaks to reach a plateaux of ecstatic rush. Via Bandcamp. I interviewed DJ Crystl earlier this year

Pieter Kock, Bright Bars From The Stars (Meakusma)

The guy behind the counter at Berlin’s O Tannenbaum bar and club has been on a tear recently, with releases on Meakusma, Moonwalk X, RIO and forthcoming on Macadam Mambo, Like some of the music of Manchester’s YOUTH label, it seems to resonate with both dancefloors and atmospheric bar spaces. “Sting” is a great example, with beats that don’t force you to listen in a particular way, but create multiple points of resonance for the listener and the body. Via Bandcamp

Museum Of No Art, A Serpent Called Emit (Cosima Pitz)

The Cosima Pitz label always delivers surprises, not the least of which is its supposed location in Cape Verde (spoiler alert: their phone number is in Germany). Museum Of No Art is the pseudonym of the artist and musician Mona Steinwidder, and A Serpent Called Emit is apparently the result of a recent engagement in woodwind instruments, a recent obsession for this listener too. Modular synths and effect units provide a backbone for these sketches, but what stays with you is the intimate and optimistic playing and sense of an unfolding personal practice, placing it somewhere near Laura Cannell and the Fourth World playground of Michael Brook. Via Bandcamp

Seefeel, Everything Squared (Warp)

Seefeel returned after over a decade with just over 20 minutes of brand new music. But Everything Squared was condensed, concentrated and economical, every decision and tone worth its weight. The focus was on the melodies, and just the occasional inflection in Sarah Peacock’s voice. For a group that was pretty minimal in the first place, these short, restrained songs somehow found more ways to say a lot with less. Via Bandcamp