Igloo Magazine :: Best of 2024

Highlighting hundreds of releases in 2024 (and allowing December to set in), we’ve compiled a list of our favorites along with links to their corresponding Igloo reviews and release pages. Since the lists are arranged alphabetically by artist—and a snapshot of tracks are featured in our Soundcloud playlist along with selected Bandcamp tracks and random artwork selections—there are, as usual, no winners or runners-up.

In touch with 2024 at large

What is a “Best of” summary for the last year in experimental electronic music? There are not one, but many types of music in this significantly-sized basket. For Igloo Magazine, 2024 meant several hundred releases reviewed with enthusiasm. A year with many re-releases—and revisiting classic works in modular electronic, industrial, glitch, electro-acoustic, and other genres—less-known but remarkable works were introduced and presented for our readers to discover and rediscover again. Familiar names continued to produce exciting new sonic shapes, helping to sustain their fan bases and attract new listeners.

Certain prominent themes appeared throughout the year such as cybernetics (aka how people and machines interact), what it means to be human in today’s world, the current state of nature on Earth, and other very topical subjects. To look back on 2024 in Igloo Magazine, and to survey our favorite titles, is to put ourselves in touch with the finest and most relevant experimental electronic music that we’re lucky to write about. And with all of the unique techniques applied during the creative process, we reflect on the power behind them. It is, in a way, to put oneself in touch with 2024 at large. ~Thomas Park

Long Players :: Extended Players :: Compilations :: Reissues :: Soundcloud :: Artwork

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Kudos to Grid Pattern for their “concept-driven design” and graphics for our Best of 2024 article! We’re thrilled to collaborate with this multidisciplinary visual artist and showcasing their artwork again. Additionally, we’d like to thank Labile Records for their Best of 2024 graphics sponsorship and ongoing support. Thank you to Adrien d’Elzius and the Ground State crew for their surprise Wave Function compilation in support of Igloo Magazine going 24 years strong!

We’re also appreciative of our dedicated Igloo Magazine contributors who not only wrote about their favorite releases (and artists) in 2024, but also carved out some extra time to list them here including: Alan Lockett, Alessandro Miglietta, Benci, Philippe Blache, Pietro Da Sacco, Robbie Geoghegan, Robin James, and Thomas Park. A special thank you, as always, to Francesca Da Sacco for her unwavering support and behind the scenes action!

Our dedicated wordsmiths continue to share their time to cover the wonderfully abstract world of electronic music and its many interlocking sculptures of sound. While we realize that there are likely many more top releases from 2024 not cataloged here, we certainly hope to discover them in 2025—and they may also be added in the weeks ahead. So, without further ado—here’s our Best of 2024.

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“I have a photographic memory and photographs help me connect to how I felt at a time or connect to past times. Like music does.” ~RIP Árni Grétar

:: LONG PLAYERS ::

 

4T Thieves :: I Can Dream Of Bubbles (Mahorka)
4T Thieves :: Unseeing Eyes (Rednetic)
Abul Mogard & Rafael Anton Irisarri :: Impossibly Distant, Impossibly Close (Black Knoll Editions)
Aidan Baker & Dead Neanderthals :: Cast Down And Hunted (Moving Furniture)
Alessandro Cortini :: Nati Infiniti (Mute)
Alessandro Ragazzo :: La deviazione del profilo (Stochastic Resonance)
Alva Noto :: Xerrox Vol. 5 (Noton)
Analytica :: Strategy of Tension (Ice Machine)
Andrey Kiritchenko :: Maria (Touched Music)
Anthené :: Stray Light (Floralia)
Ard Bit :: Field Recordings – 05 Bohemia (Self Released)
Aroma Nice :: Old Haunts (YUKU)
Austin Williamson :: Woven (Dragon’s Eye)
Belong :: Realistic IX (Kranky)
Ben Lukas Boysen :: Alta Ripa (Erased Tapes)
Bibio :: Phantom Brickworks (LP II) (Warp)
Black Lung :: The Brutal Gardener (Ant-Zen)
Black Swan :: Ghost (Past Inside The Present)
Bolis Popul :: Letter To Yu (DEEWEE)
BUNKR :: Antenne (VLSI)
bvdub | Brock Van Wey :: In Iron Houses (EC Underground)
C. Diab :: Imerro (Tonal Union)
Chad Mossholder :: Haptic Clouds (Schematic)
clocolan :: Monday Kid (Redpan)
Container :: Yacker (A L T E R)
Craig Padilla & Zero Ohms :: To Sleep On Stellar Winds (Spotted Peccary Music)
CRC X VC-118A :: Flow Zone (Touched Music)
Cyparissus :: Two Shakes of a Lamb​’​s Tail (Dragon’s Eye)
Dark Sky Alliance :: Interdwell (Spotted Peccary Music)
David Helpling & Jon Jenkins :: A Treasured World (Spotted Peccary)
Death By Drone :: Complex (Labile)
Deborah Martin & Erik Wøllo :: Kinishba (Spotted Peccary Music)
DELI KUVVETI :: Micro Dramas (Evel)
Derrick Stembridge :: Past Present Future: Archive III (Labile)
D-Fried :: Images Sur La Mer (Phonocake)
Dissolved :: The Misleading Echo (Dissolvedamberrooms)
Dragon :: In The Year Of… (Ryu)
Dronny Darko :: Godless Land (Cryo Chamber)
Ecovillage :: Crescendo (Lo Recordings)
Enabl.ed :: ErrorBalm Vol.1 (Clean Error)
Everyday Dust :: Overtones (Dustopian Frequencies)
f5point6 :: A Random Sequence of Events (See Blue Audio)
Fallen :: Fragments (Móatún 7)
FaltyDL :: In The Wake of Wolves (Central Processing Unit)
Field Lines Cartographer :: Portable Reality Generator (DiN)
Flathan :: Archive (Aduaine)
Flint Glass & Ah Cama-Sotz :: Wakan Tanka (Ant-Zen)
Fluffy Inside :: Unreliable Narrator (Neo Ouija)
Francis Morning :: Subtle Bodies (Lo Recordings)
Frank Riggio :: Dri (Hymen)
Frank Riggio :: qu4 (Hymen)
Frank Riggio :: Qu4drilogy (Versions / Outtakes) (Hymen)
From Overseas, James Bernard & zakè :: Flint (Past Inside The Present)
Ghost Dubs :: Damaged (Pressure)
Grandbruit :: Récital (Self Released)
Hammock :: From the Void (Hammock Music)
HAPTIC :: Sensitive Dependence on Initial Conditions (LINE)
Henrik Meierkord :: MÖRK (Audiobulb)
Heogen :: Heogen (Touched Music)
HERZEL :: See² (Evel)
Hexalyne :: Scillocsenports (Evel)
Hollan Holmes :: Sacred Places (Spotted Peccary Music)
Hollie Kenniff :: For Forever (Nettwerk / Imaginary North)
Ian Boddy :: Modal Operandi (quiet details)
iNFO :: Parallel Realities (Touched Music)
Inhmost :: Future Research Journal Entries (Part I) (Past Inside The Present)
Inkipak :: Phokusd (Inkitrax)
ILUITEQ + Lorenzo Montanà :: Katà Métron (n5MD)
James Murray :: Weeds (quiet details)
Jamie xx :: In Waves (Young)
Jvox :: Man Is A Machine (Component)
Kee Avil :: Spine (CST)
Keef Baker :: K (Self Released)
Keiss :: Oblique Minimalista (Pulse State)
Kenneth Kirschner :: Three Cellos (greyfade)
korrē :: Oizys (Perimeter Junk)
Lasse Marhaug :: Provoke (Smalltown Supersound)
Late Bloøm (Simon Spiess) :: FELD (Sonic Dialogue)
Laurel Halo :: Octavia (Portraits GRM)
Lia Bosch :: Polar Code (Glacial Movements)
LIGHTENING! :: Voltæ (Chthulucene) (NAHAL)
Mabe Fratti :: Sentir Que no Sabes (TAR / MM / UOH)
Macrogramma :: Magnetic Series (Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series)
Madeleine Cocolas :: Bodies (Room40)
Maes Y Circles :: Maes Y Circles (GOTO)
Mantle of Gets :: Repr.pn Store (10-17) (Uchelfa)
Maps and Diagrams :: if all will be lost (quiet details)
Maps and Diagrams :: Islands (Handstitched*)
Marcus Fjellström :: The Last Sunset Of The Year (Miasmah)
Marie Naffah :: Mother of Pearl (Frictionless Music)
Michael Valentine West :: Von Bock Strasse 18 (redux) (uvg212)
Mike Storm :: The Pale Blue Dot (Voyager)
Mitoma :: Fragments Vol. II (Section 27)
Monolake :: Studio (Imbalance Computer Music)
Morakh :: Helix (Mestnost)
Murcof :: Twin Color (Vol. I) (InFiné)
Myoptik :: Gofunga! (Mighty Force)
µ-Ziq :: Grush (Planet Mu)

Nacht Plank & Futuregrapher :: Music for Kettle (Birthday party) (Móatún 7)
Nebulo :: Gobelin Stitches (Evel)
Neutrino Effect :: Vapored Angels (Labile)
Neuro… No Neuro :: Mental Cassette (Audiobulb)
Nuron :: DAT Tapes Vol 02 (De:tuned)
NYORAI :: Shinkirō (蜃気楼) (Mahorka)
Ocoeur :: Breath (n5MD)
Onepointwo :: Voyages Extraordinaires (Human Geography)
Özcan Saraç :: TON (Evel)
Parallel Worlds :: Fragmented (DiN)
Particules :: Escape Path (Mahorka)
Pentagrams Of Discordia :: Teleportation to Gliese12b (Sounds Of Discordia)
Pink B :: A Close Connection With Your Soul (Wireframe Clouds)
Poborsk :: Headset and Settings (Point Source Electronic Arts)
Poborsk :: Theta Cadence (Kaer’Uiks)
Rafael Anton Irisarri :: FAÇADISMS (Black Knoll)
Rafael Toral :: Spectral Evolution (Moikai / Drag City)
RamonPang :: Life Cycle Waves (Tabula Rasa)
Reverb Delay :: The Storm Has Passed (Mighty Force)
Richard Chartier :: On Leaving (Touch)
Richard Skelton :: The old thrawing crux (Aeolian Éditions)
Rhombus Index :: hycean (See Blue Audio)
Roel Funcken :: Data Curation 2 (EC Underground)
Rontronik :: Zero Eight (Tygr Rawwk Rcrds)
Rudy Adrian :: Reflections On A Moonlit Lake (Spotted Peccary Music)
Sam Gendel & Sam Wilkes :: The Doober (Leaving)
Scanner :: The Phenol Tapes (Alltagsmuzik)
Second Seasons :: Immense Heaven (Schematic)
Second Seasons :: Density of Traction (Schematic)
Sedatic :: Rhea (People Can Listen)
Seefeel :: Everything Squared (Warp)
Seefeel :: Squared Roots (Warp)
Sega Bodega :: Dennis (ambient tweets)
Seph :: S​é​ptimo Sentido (Lapsus)
shimura :: Room Two (Polygon Network)
shn shn :: everything from before lives here. (Imaginary North)
SineRider :: Perennial (Sound In Silence)
Skee Mask :: Resort (Ilian Tape)
Skeith :: Momentary (Tabula Rasa)
Soma :: The Winged Measurer (Ant-Zen)
Squarepusher :: Dostrotime (Warp)
Stasis + Paul W. Teebrooke :: Time Sensitive: Unreleased Sounds From The Otherworld Archives (De:tuned)
Stefan Vincent :: Post Melancholy (Musar)
Stone Leaf :: SEISMOS (Detroit Underground)
Stormy Acres :: Phantom Detractor (Not Yet Remembered)
Sverre Knut Johansen :: Still Time (Spotted Peccary Music)
subtractiveLAD :: Unspoken (Self Released)
Sunroof (Daniel Miller & Gareth Jones) :: Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 3 (Mute)
Suumhow :: 5ilth (n5MD)
Tapes and Topographies :: Plumage (Lᴏɴᴛᴀɴᴏ Series)
Tapes and Topographies :: Rudiments (early works) (Simulacra)
Taylor Deupree :: Sti​.​ll (Nettwerk / 12k / greyfade)
Teahouse radio & Skeldos :: Night Moss (Hypnagoga Press)
Tescon Pol :: The Longer Morrow (Concrete Collage)
The Future Sound Of London :: Presents Pulse Five (De:tuned)
Thurston Moore :: Flow Critical Lucidity (Daydream Library Series / Radieux Radio)
Time Being :: Hidden Structures (Spotted Peccary Music)
Tonik Ensemble :: Music Is Mass (Touched Music)
Tsodor :: Diffused Nocturne (Woodland Creatures)
Uf0 :: Uf0 (Fourier Transform)
Ümlaut :: An Auxiliary View (Audiobulb)
VAAG :: Perfect Imperfection (Point Source Electronic Arts)
VAAG :: Twenty Two (Point Source Electronic Arts)
±vMcÇ :: err051-v-mcc (Clean Error)
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan :: Your Community Hub (Castles In Space)
Xylitol :: Anemones (Planet Mu)
Yimino :: Twmpa (Touched Music)
Zachary Gray :: Trippin’ / In Arrears (A Person Disguised as People)
zakè :: B⁴+3 (Zakè Drone)
zakè & Benoît Pioulard :: eve (Past Inside The Present)
Zságer Balázs :: Aqua Obscura (Free Sequence)

“We don’t see our process as having a fixed definition, but rather a constant exploration where the lines between audio and visual are blurred.” ~Suumhow

:: EXTENDED PLAYERS / REMIXES / SINGLES ::

 

Adrien d’Elzius :: Straight from the void (Pt.2) (Self Released)
Alpharisc :: Remain Seated (Mutual Rytm)
ArcSec :: My battery is low and it’s getting dark (Glitchpulse)
AZ-Rotator :: Magnetic Neutron Sudoku (Detroit Underground)
b0t23 + inoperative system :: Sin Ciclo (Patterned Media)
b0t23 + inoperative system :: Reticle (Patterned Media)
Burial :: Dreamfear​/​Boy Sent From Above (XL)
Caramel Chameleon :: Compact Demons (Nottetempo)
Celine Arnauld & End of Cycle :: Bouncing Dance (Clean Error)
Dalham :: Alive In Wonderland (Golden Ape)
David Morley :: Fashion (De:tuned)
DoorHead :: 0pen22 (Not Yet Remembered)
Durance :: Crisis Design (Cat Secam Works)
Earl Grey :: Water Damage (YUKU)
Exan :: Offset One (Errorgrid)
Featherstone :: Pivot (Ernest’s Way)
Fireground :: Love Letter (Tresor)
Fortresses :: Are (Dragon’s Eye)
Guy Wachtel :: Nulla Anima (Glitchpulse)
Heiki :: Valley Beyond (Suction)
J Frank :: Shifting Baseline Cycle (Pyramid Transmissions)
Karsten Pflum :: Liars (Central Processing Unit)
Larionov :: Space Threat (Central Processing Unit)
Language Field :: Reworks (Precariat)
lifeisfeedback :: sado-mechanism (GOTO)
Mastrapa :: Fluidity Formations (Schematic)
Meat Beat Manifesto / Scanone :: YM023 (Yellow Machines)
Minimum Sentence :: Russia (Burial)
Monotone :: Call Your Friends (Mindwaves Music / G.DUBS)
mōshonsensu :: Lamented (Móatún 7)
Neosintetico :: Altered Electrical Transmission (Self Released)
Ne Tvoy Drug :: Veter (Mestnost)
Ninechecker :: A Very English Wind (brokntoys)
Nuron :: Blanchimont (De:tuned)
Oberman Knocks :: Khaptop Arc Phore (Errorgrid)
Orlando Voorn :: Hunting Season (Bass Agenda)
Panopticum :: Multisensory Metaphors (Polygon Network)
Pentagrams Of Discordia :: The Hippopotomons – trosesquippedaliophobia (Pulse State)
Pera Sta Ori :: Hix Hax (To Pikap)
Poladroïd :: Poems (Roulette Rekordz)
Recue :: Paramnesia (Analogical Force)
Relativity Lounge :: zero-sum (Satellite Trax)
Roel Funcken & Cor Bolten :: Stark (Self Released)
Rolando Simmons :: Terrestrial Ultra​-​Doula (Analogical Force)
Ruby My Dear :: Smooth Working (Analogical Force)
Serge Geyzel :: It’s Cancelled (Adepta Editions)
Scarper :: Noctis (Plexus)
Six Missing :: Gentle Breath (Nettwerk)
Skytree :: Tribute To Boards Of Canada (Timewheel)
Soul Data Transfer :: Soul Data Transfer (EC Underground)
Sun Rain :: Mea Culpa (Imaginary North)
Taylor Deupree :: Ash (Nettwerk)
The Album Leaf :: Blast (feat. Aaron D4VD) (Nettwerk)
TOKEE :: Альбатрос Remixes (Mahorka)
Ton Mise :: Moon Behind The Eyelids (Satellite Era)
vssp :: Over the sun (Kalamine)
Willows8ng :: Ambient Island (Imaginary North)
Yaporigami :: AE–10 (Adepta Editions)
Zachary Gray :: Suburbia (A Person Disguised as People)

“Ambient music in its purest forms, can take you away from your everyday existence—and if you listen in to its sound worlds, it can open up new experiences. Not everyone is willing or able to do this but if you put in that effort, the rewards are beautiful.” ~Ian Boddy

:: COMPILATIONS ::

 

25 Years of DiN (DiN)
ÁST – We Care Because You Do (ÁST Project)
BLE-EP3 (Yellow Machines)
Clear Memory 012 (Clear Memory)
Coming Up Like A Flower: A Dragon​’​s Eye Recordings Mixtape (Dragon’s Eye)
Distant Arrays Volume 07 (Satellite Era)
Electronics Memoriae II (Giano Electronics)
Full Spectrum (Touched Music)
Futur (Funkscapes)
Future Transmissions: Meat Beat Manifesto — Remix Series (eMERGENCY heARTS)
Genome 4 (Point Source Electronic Arts)
Heiladans ༡༢ (Móatún 7)
Imaginary North Transmission 009 (Imaginary North)
I Only Like Difficult Art (and music) (DAAM)
Into The Luminous Future: Cottage Industries 12 (Neo Ouija)
Quality Time Volume 4 (Bonding Tapes)
Quantized Realities – Technology (Errorgrid)
Past/Present 2024 Compilation (Past Inside The Present)
PT 25 Free Sampler (Pyramid Transmissions)
Remember the Future Part Two (To Pikap)
Seventeenth Listen (People Can Listen)
Sampler IV (Facade Electronics)
Sun Series AE/SS-01 (Adepta Editions)
The Hidden Beauty Of Dutch House ’94-’98 (Anacalypto)
A Decade Of Handmade Music Packaging (Time Released Sound)
VINT (Lapsus)
Wave Function (Ground State)
XVIII (Acroplane)

“Integrity and social responsibility are core to my work. To ensure my contribution is positive, I listen to the material before committing to any project. If I don’t like the music, I won’t touch it.” ~Rafael Anton Irisarri

:: REISSUES / REMASTERS ::

 

Aphex Twin :: Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition) (Warp)
Deborah Martin & Cheryl Gallagher :: TIBET (20th Anniversary Remaster) (Spotted Peccary Music)
Fennesz :: Venice 20 – 20th Anniversary Edition (Touch)
Gas :: Gas (Kompakt)
Gridlock :: The Synthetic Form (Remaster/Reissue) (Viasonde)
Ken Ishii :: Reference To Difference (Remastered 30th Anniversary Edition) (Sublime)
Kettel & Secede :: When Can (Deluxe Edition) (Lapsus, Perennial Series)
Kirk Degiorgio presents As One :: Reflections (30th Anniversary) (Lapsus)
Matthew Florianz a.k.a. Liquid Morphine :: niemandsland (Remastered) (Self Released)
Plastikman :: Musik (30th Anniversary Edition) (NovaMute)
shuttle358 :: optimal.lp [reissue] (Keplar)
Squarepusher :: Ultravisitor (20th Anniversary Deluxe Expanded Edition) (Warp)
Speedy J :: Ginger (Remaster/Reissue) (Warp)
Susumu Yokota :: Acid Mt. Fuji (Remastered 30th Anniversary Edition) (Sublime)
The Fires Of Ork :: The Fires Of Ork (2024 Remaster) (Silent State)
Windy & Carl :: Consciousness (Kranky)

“Through sounds, textures, and atmospheres, I try to create a sonic landscape that transports the listener to unknown worlds and future scenarios where the concept story can be traced.” ~Mike Storm

:: BEST OF 2024 SOUNDCLOUD SELECTIONS ::

 

“The world is a mad and often ugly place and the beauty you create with your music and engagement with it is more important now than ever.” ~Andy Barton

:: RANDOM 2024 COVER ART SELECTIONS ::

To broaden our horizons and maintain momentum, we are continuously looking for fresh viewpoints. Please email us if you would like to contribute to Igloo Magazine.

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