Another year is in the books. They are just speeding by these days, which I suspect is a combination of me getting older and some kind of temporal distortion caused by COVID that seemed to change how time is experienced. Regardless, it was a good year in the Life In The Vinyl Lane household with lots of travel – Italy, Iceland, Faroe Islands… plus some US trips to Portland and Minneapolis. And everywhere there was music, or at the very least music shopping. Hoping for more of the same in 2025.
So without further ado…
Top 5 New Releases In 2024
1. Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area – Dame Area (Spain)
2. SAD :'( – Cyber (Iceland)
3. Journey To Raven Isle – Travellers Rest (US – Portland, OR)
4. Manipulator – Revenge of Calculon (UK)
5. Idiot Flower – Slummi (Iceland)
I did not have a clear-cut top album pick until… four days ago. Which is when Dame Area first came into my orbit. And since then I’ve been playing Toda La Verdad Sobre Dame Area non-stop. I’ve seen them described lots of different ways – industrial, tribal, experimental, EBM. Their organic drumming creates sonic foundations that have a certain fluidity, a very loose structure that allows for all kinds of different approaches to vocals. I’m starting to dip into the back catalog as well – it’s going to be fun getting to know them better.
Cyber‘s SAD:'( was the soundtrack of my trip to Iceland Airwaves. I caught the duo live the day before the festival officially started and became addicted to their style of pop-hip-hop. I wanted to catch them the prior two years but the schedule conspired against me, and now having seen them…. they’ll definitely be on my must-see list if they perform at Airwaves in 2025. Plus “Porn Star” is my pick for the hottest track of 2024.
Travellers Rest put out three albums in 2024, and my favorite was the sophomore effort, Journey To Raven Isle. Here’s what I wrote about it earlier this year: “The instrumentation is more varied, simple strings and dulcimers taking on more prominence and providing more of a Medieval flavor. The chords maintain a simple elegance – nothing is overly fancy or complex, making it ideal for relaxing.” it’s super chill and a great intro into the world of dungeon synth.
I’ve been waiting for Manipulator to drop for quite some time, and our friends from Revenge of Calculon didn’t disappoint with their first full-length record. It includes some Certified Calculon ClassicsTM like “Atari Safari” and the epic rap “Electric Soup”, as well as some new filthy jams such as “Fear of the Blue Demon” and “Brainwash Burrito”. As an added bonus I got to see them live not once, but twice, and as usually they brought it. Funky, fuzzy, and fabulous, it’s a 12″ white vinyl party.
Slummi‘s Idiot Flower is a sweet collection of tweaked techno tracks. Great beats and unexpected twists abound, and every track is a banger.
Top 5 “New To Me” Bands/Performers
1. Inspector Spacetime (Iceland)
2. Kham Meslien (France)
3. Danielle Morbid (Italy)
4. Travellers Rest (US – Portland, OR)
5. Malfet (US – Atascadero, CA)
It may seem weird that Dame Area isn’t on this list, since I only just discovered them a few days ago. But that also means I haven’t had time to fully explore their catalog and I haven’t seen them live, so they’re almost “too new” compared to the five artists who made the list.
Inspector Spacetime is here primarily on the strength of their insanely great performance at Iceland Airwaves (more on that in “Top 5 Live Shows” below). I don’t think their self-titled album and EXTRAVAGANZA EP captures the live experience, but I do think this – when we go to Airwaves again in 2025 Inspector Spacetime will be atop my list of “must see” bands. And if that’s not what it’s all about, I don’t know what is. Kham Meslien is also here in large part due to his live show at Reykjavik’s Lucky Records (right), and I’ve also really been enjoying his brilliant 2023 album Fantômes… Futurs. The idea that a solo double bassist could captivate an entire room would have never occurred to me until experiencing Meslien in November, and like Inspector Spacetime he too is on my “Top 5 Live Shows” list below.
The next three artists all perform dungeon synth. If I’d come across Danielle Morbid‘s Two Sad Ravens Vol. 1 in 2023 when it was released digitally, I suspect it may have landed on my “Top 5 New Releases” list that year – it’s that great. Unfortunately her output is limited to only two cassettes to date – hopefully she’ll bring us more in 2025, because her dark dungeon synth is lovely. Travellers Rest has been quite prolific in 2024, releasing three albums, all of which are delightful. He also takes care to put out cassettes with all kinds of fun extras included, and I for one appreciate that kind of intentionality. As for Malfet, I got to meet him at a multi-artist dungeon synth show in Seattle and he was just one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I picked up four of his CDs, all beautifully pastoral and relaxing, chill vibes to sooth the modern mind.
Top 5 Purchases/Acquisitions
1. Kuldaboli / Kosmodod – Sovétríkin / Infotrix 10″
2. Chaucerian Myth – The Book of Margery Kempe Box Set
3. Algebra Suicide – The Secret Like Crazy
4. Depressive Silence – Vinyl Discography Box Set
5. russian.girls – Old Stories Test Pressing
I’m a huge fan of Kuldaboli‘s music and have made an effort to track down every one of his physical releases. And I have been successful… almost. Because one eluded me, a split 10″ from 2017 on the Icelandic label Sweaty Records. I’m not even sure how many copies of this were pressed (or more likely lathe cut…), but I suspect it’s no more than 30. I’d resigned myself to either never getting this or, if I did finally find a copy, having to pay through the nose for it. That is until I got an alert from Discogs that an item on my Wantlist showed up for sale. And there it was. From an American seller. For… $7. Seven. Seven US dollars. And now it’s mine. Which just goes to show, sometimes you get lucky. It’s definitely the thrill of the chase (as Deep Purple famously said on “Knocking At Your Back Door”… though I suspect they were chasing something other than a record…)
The dungeon synth genre loves its exotic packaging and a number of unique things came my way this year. The two best were the Depressive Silence box set, which features all their release on picture discs plus a nice booklet and some patches, and the Chaucerian Myth The Book of Mergery Kempe box set. I missed getting one of these when they were released because they sold out immediately, but fortunately for me I saw a post on Facebook by the label owner that he had an extra copy, and since I was the first to DM it made its way across the Atlantic to me (below). Just look at all that amazingness!
Algebra Suicide is a favorite of mine, so finding a pristine copy of their sophomore album at a local shop (thanks Silver Platters) was a very pleasant surprise. As for the russian.girls (now known as ex.girls) test press, I saw this at a shop in Reykjavik at Airwaves 2023 and… passed on it. And then I obsessed about it for a while before finally deciding to purchase it mail order. Normally a test press isn’t terribly exciting to me. But this is a bit unique in that it was for their 2015 album Old Stories, which was only released on cassette in an edition of 50 copies by Lady Boy Records. My understanding is that some test pressings were made with the intention of putting it out on vinyl, but it never happened – so the handful of test pressings are the only examples of Old Stories on vinyl, which is pretty cool.
Top 5 Live Shows
1. Inspector Spacetime – Iceland Airwaves Center, Reykjavik
2. Kham Meslien – Lucky Records, Reykjavik
3. Úlfur Úlfur – Iceland Airwaves Center, Reykjavik
4. Kiasmos – The Crocodile, Seattle
5. Sombre Arcane – El Corazon, Seattle
If you’d asked me in February, I’d have bet the house that The Kills show I’d just seen would be on this list. Well… they were… 8th (in addition to the fire artists listed above, Mandy, Indiana, and my friends Revenge of Calculon were also ahead of them). Because there were some very unexpected sonic treats this year – in fact three of the Top 5 are artists I’d never even heard of before seeing them live. Inspector Spacetime (above) crushed it at Airwaves with a high-energy dance-off, a party to which everyone was invited and it didn’t matter if you knew the words, because I sure didn’t. They blasted off like a Red-Bull-fueled rocket and never slowed down, staking their claim as Iceland’s new best party band. The Úlfur Úlfur experience was actually quite similar, the veteran hip hop duo bringing the energy and fun to an appreciative crowd, especially when they jumped into their back catalog for the second half of the set. The other Airwaves show on my list couldn’t have been a more different experience. French double bassist Kham Meslien played a quiet, subtle, thoughtful set at Lucky Records. It was one of those shows that touched you emotionally, a rare experience these days.
Kiasmos brought a slightly more up-tempo version of their music to The Crocodile, giving the sold-out crowd dance-friendly takes on their tracks. The guys seemed to be enjoying themselves, too, which always makes the show just a bit more fun. Rounding out the list is Sombre Arcane. I knew I had to pick someone from the dungeon synth night at El Corazon, because everyone I saw that evening was excellent. Sombre Arcane stood out because not only did the pair play quite a few instruments, beyond just the normal MIDI and keyboards, but they also were high energy and engaged the crowd. As an added bonus I met one of the guys at the merch table and he was very cool.
Top 5 Artists On Spotify
So, all of my Top 5 Spotify artists are on a techno list I often play while I work as sort of background noise. I literally did not recognize anyone by name, though I was familiar with the songs after playing them. Since there was zero intentionality about me choosing to play those specific artists, I decided to forego this category in 2024. We’ll see what 2025 brings.
Top 5 Places To Buy Records
1. Lucky Records – Reykjavik, Iceland
2. Welcome To The Jungle – Rome, Italy
3. Space Odyssey – Reykjavik, Iceland
4. Agharta Records – Saint Paul, Minnesota
5. Tutl – Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Mrs. Life In The Vinyl Lane and I were fortunate enough to travel to three countries this year, as well as make some trips in the US to Minneapolis (to see The Kills) and Portland, and I of course went record shopping in all these places. At some point I’ll retire Lucky Records from this list because it’s at the top almost every year – I was in Iceland twice, and both times I came home with a full box of records from Lucky, plus I did some mail order with them over the course of the year. One of my favorite moments of our September trip was showing up at the shop unannounced to surprise the gang, who have become true friends to us over the years. I also enjoyed spending time at Space Odyssey‘s new location in Reykjavik, and I made sure to stock up on cassettes from their wonderful live series (over 60 releases and counting). I caught live performances at both places as well.
We visited a number of shops on our trip to Italy, but Welcome To The Jungle stood out. The upstairs rooms are full of gems if you’re willing to spend a bit of time and I scored some “unofficial” releases from Led Zeppelin and Gun N’ Roses to scratch that rock itch. Back in the US, I normally hit the same couple of shops when I go to Minneapolis, but this time we ventured a bit further out and discovered the lovely Agharta Records, where I found both a book about and a record by Moondog, some 80s avantgarde, and, biggest surprise of all, five Sir Mix-A-Lot 12″s that I didn’t have. Score! Last but not least was one of the two record stores in the lovely Faroe Islands, Tutl Records, which is both a shop and a label. There I made a point of grabbing titles by local artists – it’s impressive that such a small country has so much good music.
Top 5 Music Books Read
1. Rebel Girl – My Life As A Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna (2024)
2. Rebel Musix, Scribe On A Vibe by Vivien Goldman (2024)
3. Moondog: The Viking Of 6th Avenue by Robert Scotto (2007)
4. Stay Fanatic!!! Vol. 4 by Henry Rollins (2024)
5. 101 Dungeon Synth Albums You Must Hear… Before You Rot in a Dungeon (2024)
The one thing unusual about this year’s list is the number of new titles. Also, I think only one of them came from Amazon… and I three of these weren’t even available there. Long live small and independent publishers! Rebel Musix was a great collection of mostly 1970s and 80s articles by Vivien Goldman, and her writing on punk and reggae was insightful and often very informative. This year we also got the fourth installment of Henry Rollins’ almost-daily musings on records as part of the Stay Fanatic!!! series, which is a must for the true record nerds out there. Every book in the series has turned me on to at least a half dozen new-to-me artists, plus we get hundreds of pics from Henry’s collection. And then there is, of course, 101 Dungeon Synth Albums You Must Hear… A number of books on the DS genre came out over the last year, so picking a favorite is tough. But author S. has been chronicling the scene for a while now via his Dungeon Synth Zine (RIP to the GOAT of DS zines), securing interviews with all the most interesting performers well before anyone was paying attention, so his list of album recommendations is a must for anyone looking to explore dungeon synth.
And… there you have it kids. And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust. Let’s make the most of 2025.