Devin Townsend’s Top 5 Repeated Listens in 2024
(Editor’s note: Looking back on 2024, there were so many good albums released that we decided to reach out to some of today’s artists and get them to weigh in on their favorites. What follows is Devin Townsend’s favorite pieces of media for 2024.)
The music I do and my squirrely brain tends to make the things I participate in relatively benign (boring to most) in fact: 99% of what I listen to in my spare time can often be mistaken for the sound a cat lying on a keyboard, or a loose muffler… so I’m not sure those of you reading this would have any use for it whatsoever, but regardless:
Ki Oni – Stay Indoors and Swim
I’ve listened to this more than any other record this year I think. I play it quietly on my phone when I’m having conversations with people or need to decompress at night. It’s a pretty neutral watercolour, but definitely has some pink and blue in it.
H. Takahashi – Low Power
another good vibe, more subdued but very effective in bringing the ‘internal temperature’ down a bit. There’s one track I always skip because of a repetitive high note, but other than that, I’ve really appreciated this release
1900-1910 Playlists
I enjoy music from this era for very specific reasons I guess… essentially: because it’s recorded in mono and anyone involved in those recordings are dead now, there’s a sense that it can act as a palate cleanser as Im working. I don’t hear it through a lens of analysis, so it’s calming in some ways.
SVLBRD
much of this artists work is interchangeable and it’s not something I go to all the time because it’s fairly dense, but its tonality is evocative, and I appreciate it. It’s come in handy on a number of occasions
Rapoon – The Kirghiz Light (CD 2)
an old one, but I come back to this quite often still, I have had entire afternoons of putting the final song ‘into light’ on repeat and playing it quietly in whatever room I’m in. It’s a fascinating track to me because I feel there’s an endless amount of layers rhythmically and harmonically that I can hear depending on things like: where in the room the speaker is, or how high the speaker is off the floor.
