My favorite albums this year sounded messier than in years past: scuffed and bruised yet defiant—which sounds like the future.
Putting a record on loop is still the best way for me to nail my memories to some kind of texture and timeline.
Music felt more necessary than ever this year.
This year I heard a more spiritual bent in my favorite records, something nervy and apocalyptic that craves refuge.
The endless churn of the digital jukebox brings to mind Adorno and Horkheimer’s phrase from 1944: “the freedom to choose what is always the same.”
