2024 roundup

Let the annual self-indulgence commence! Following on from last year's rumoured rip-roaring success (unfortunately, I don't have analytics set up on this website, so I can neither confirm nor deny), I’m attacking the keys again for my 2024 round-up of my year in music, films, podcasts, and books (etc., etc.).

2024 was a year of big life events: I lived in a different country for three months (admittedly the next country up from England), got on the property ladder with my girlfriend (Catford/Honor Oak represent), and saddled ourselves with perpetual debt. We also welcomed a four-legged friend called Glenn. Yet the year doesn’t seem too seismic—I guess the peaks and troughs of life are quite hard to grasp when one is living in a renovation that currently has a toilet half-opened in its living room. Anyways, let me know if you’ve got some suggestions. Bring on 2025! 💪

Music:

I'm happy to say I’ve listened to a lot of music in 2024 (36,937 minutes). Admittedly about 50% of this was going through Bob Dylan's arduous back catalogue to ensure I secure the top 0.5% of listeners again in 2024 but I persist for Bob. The Podcast continues to be staple in my day-to-day but I’ve given up on audio books, they just don’t register and I can never find the spot I actually stopped listening and started day dreaming - I'm sure a well trodden path.

Spotify playlists: January / February / March / April / May / June / July / August / September / October / November / December / Music for dancing: Disco | House | Afro 🪩 / - If you have any dance floor belters lmk.

Standout tracks/bands/albums are:

• Mary Wallopers - The Holy Ground. An Irish folk band who are best live act I’ve seen. I went and saw them in Manchester for my birthday and it was a lively gathering. A real celebration of unity brought to a crescendo with the first 3 chords of Eileen Og. Go on, check it out!

• Kanye West - never Ye, always Kanye. I always see Kanye in three parts. 1. A complicated human going through a lot without an effective support mechanism around him. 2. A reasonable rapper. 3. An incredible producer. But after a long conversation with a friend, during which they argued he's the artist of our generation, I returned and on reflection he's right, he's got to be up there.

• MF DOOM - My love for DOOM deepened this year leading to me purchasing my first bit of DOOM merch - a cereal bowl and a figurine which were quite possibly my favourite acquisitions. From last years round up, any Dooms fans who haven’t read Ta-Nehisi Coates article spending a few days with Doom need to check it out here. ALL CAPS.

• Fontaines D.C - hard to not listen to them this year. They have been everywhere. I haven't dived in too deep, so far and just centred attention on Favourite. I'm excited to get into older catalogue.

• Whitney - Forever Turned Around.

• Aretha Franklin - What A Fool Believes.

• Nina Simone - I Shall Be Released.

• Tarren - Hardwood.

• Tom Yorke - Dawn Chorus (this song has got me back into making electronic music. More to come in 2025)

Restaurants/5:

• Timberyard: 4.7/5
• Kudu Grill: 2.5/5
• The Devonshire: 3/5
• Saka Maka: 4.5/5

Podcasts:

• The Go to Food Podcast - Great foodie gossip and restaurant recommendations from London's best chefs. A good place to start is Phil Howard's ep - the chef who worked under Marco Pierre White and opened The Square which went onto garner 2 Michelin Stars and now runs Elystan Street.

• This Past Weekend w/Theo Von - Anyone who wishes to understand how Trump won just listen.

• The Rest is History - Yes it’s the best podcast from Goalhanger mafia.

• Prof G Markets - Scott Galloway explains the stock market like a grumpy uncle who is very aware of his boomer luck. Expect life advice, occasional rants about billionaires, and enough economic jargon to make you pretend you understood it all.

• The 404 Media Podcast - If you find tech scary then don't listen. It makes it all scarier. 4 ex vice investigative journalists bring to light stories on cyber security, AI, consumer rights and surveillance. An audio Black Mirror but it's reality.

• Bad Friends - Bobby Lee's and Andrew Santino's dysfunctional comedy podcast which is what I imagine a large family Christmas dinner is like - lots of people talking over each other with no real agreement on conversation theme but good times all round.

• The Screen Rot Podcast - last years romance continues. Up the rotters!

Top TV:

• The Traitors - The betrayal, the deception, the herd mentality and the flawed logic it's all gold with Claudia holding it down as the driving force throughout.

• One Day - I watched this in Edinburgh (where it is based/filmed). An odd experience to be walking the streets you watched on the box the same day. That said, the series did David Nicholls' novel justice and Ambika Mod's performance was breathtaking.

• The Responder - A British police drama created by a former Merseyside Police officer. The series offers a gritty portrayal of the challenges faced by front-line police officers in Liverpool.

• The Outlaws - BBC’s best comedy in years. It really does make you realise that Stephen Merchant was instrumental in the success of The Office - essentially tapering down Gervais to bring out the humanity.

• Clarkson’s Farm - How Jeremy Clarkson has managed to pivot from Top Gear and his problematic Times column to the nations figure head on agriculture is nothing short of PR genius/terrifying.

Top Movies:

• The Zone of Interest
• The Anatomy of a Fall
• Howls Moving Castle
• The Outfit
• Killers of the Flower Moon
• Poor Things
• The Wolfpack
• The lost daughter
• Chef

Books:

• Nuclear War: A scenario - Anne Jacobsen. If there's one thing you take from reading this guff, please be it finding out about this book. It's incredible! In summary, it's a minute-by-minute hypothetical scenario of a nuclear conflict initiated by a surprise attack from North Korea on the United States, leading to a catastrophic global nuclear war. My generation has never really had to grapple with "Einstein's Monsters" and the cyclical and self-perpetuating logic inherent in nuclear deterrence strategies. However, this book really brings it home and it's worth spending some time with.

• Exponential: Order and Chaos in an Age of Accelerating Technology - Azeem Azhar

• Politics on the Edge: A memoir from within - Rory Stewart

• How Britain Really works: Understanding the Ideas and Institutions - Stig Abell

• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly - Anthony Bourdain

Comedy/Gigs:

• The Mary Wallopers
• Bloc Party
• Nils Frahm
• Ahir Shah
• MC Hammersmith
• Glenn Moore
• Tim Key
• Paul Foot

Board games:

• Codenames
• Listography
• Linky

Places

Here are a few of the places that bought joy to my year:

• Edinburgh - 3 months living up in Scotland was a dream start to the year.
• Blythe Hill Festival - A community event in the park at the end of our road. Thatcher's hell.
• Lords Cricket - Eng vs Sri Lanka. Root becoming England's all time top run scorer.
• La Cadiere d’azur, France - A week away with Natalia and Gregoire (ello mate!) was bliss.
• Prague & Dresden - A weekend get away to celebrate Claire's bday and see Nils Fram
• Manchester - A night out on canal street with Marc.
• Copenhagen - A Ryan family adventure to support Karis complete her Hyrox event which she absolutely nailed!

Youtubers

• 20VC with Harry Stebbings
• Daaaaanj
• Big Has
• Fin Taylor