Inside No. 9, Season 3, Episode #37: Reflections 2024
I don’t think I have the strength to sum up 2024, but with new personal positive horizons almost in reach, come 2025, I will focus on the positives and share my favourite 9 records, books and films I have consumed this year.
Before I kick off with the music selection I have to mention Bill Orcutt’s ‘How to Rescue Things’ LP, which would have made and probably topped this mix had it not landed as I was wrapping things up. The second thing to mention is that my book selection is not based on 2024 releases, but my favourite reads this year. It’s been a bumper reading year for me having devoured over 50 books, but unlike films and music, I tend to avoid the cult of the new. I’ve also had a slow year work-wise so I had the time!
The music is the main focus here and it’s been another great year. I’ve tried to keep this list shorter for a number of reasons. First, this is IN9 so I really should do a top 9 and second, I have been unable to buy as much music as I’d like as physical media is becoming prohibitively expensive. However, I am embracing the digital world and CDs have played a bigger part in my collection.
The 9 records I selected have been listened to a lot, and more than any I’ve picked up this year. They have soundtracked walks, paintings, reading, and relaxation. This year I have been moved by instrumental music over lyrical and I’m sure this will change as musicians take on the troublesome themes that are decorating the demise of humanity as we move further into a dark age of ignorance and violence.
It has been a rare year for cinema. I have seen some of the greatest movies ever made grace our screens. It was so hard to pick only nine, as I could have listed triple that. I’m yet to see Sean Baker’s Anora and Joshua Oppenheimer’s The End, but I’m sure they will make the list in hindsight. I implore you to check out the films on this list and see them if you haven’t.
I have made leaps and bounds with my anxiety this year and have carved out time to read again. This has been my greatest win for the year, as I have felt detached for so long. I’d like to thank Fitzcarraldo Editions for releasing so many wonderful books; they make up a bulk of my recommended reads. I’d also like to encourage anyone who hasn’t yet read Ulysses to do so – it will blow your mind.
If I were forced to pick my top three artistic works from each medium it would be the following:
Music: KMRU – Natur
Book: Bolt from the Blue – Jeremy Cooper
Film: Perfect Days – Wim Wenders
I have found a lot of hope in the records I’ve selected, which explore the wonders of nature, sexuality, antiquity and minimalism. I’d like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I look forward to sharing more with you in 2025.
Music
Stella Maris
Allan Gilbert Balon
The Magnesia Suite
LP on Recital
les saturnes noires – suprématiste – le centre
Unglee Izi
MUSIQUE de L’A.S.M.A._CHRONOS de TELEHOR et SPACE MODULATOR_Plan I, II, III, IV
CD on Nashazphone
Natur
KMRU
Natur
CD on Touch
paraphilia
jhane p.
the stains of angels
Tape on Himukalt
Usher
Organ of Corti
Usher/Trauma
7” on Dead Mind Records
Asparagus (European Version)
Richard Teitelbaum
Asparagus
LP on Black Truffle
Treil
Secret Boyfriend
Listener’s Guide
LP on enmossed
III
von spar, eiko ishibashi, joe talia, tatsuhisa yamamoto
Album I
LP on Bureau B
Trio For A Ground
Sarah Davachi
The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir
CD on Late Music
Label of the Year
IC is more than a label: it’s a movement. A place for sonic art, showcasing and distributing incredible music while supporting the local community and artists beyond its own needs. Steve Kirby is doing great work in Middlesbrough, showcasing the North East but reaching beyond to embrace a world of great artists. It’s a selfless act of free expression with an emphasis on responsibility, pride in place, performance and peaceful acts of rebellion. Go check ‘em out.
Books
Nicotine
Gregor Hens
King Kong Theory
Virginie Despentes
The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story
Olga Tokarczuk
The Hireling
J.P. Hartley
Ulysses
James Joyce
The Use of Photography
Annie Erneaux
Traditionalism: The Radical Project for Restoring Sacred Order
Mark Sedgwick
The Heart of Winter
Kevin Barry
Bolt from the Blue
Jeremy Cooper
Films
About Dry Grasses
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Perfect Days
Wim Wenders
Green Border
Agnieszka Holland
Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry
Elene Naveriani
The Substance
Coralie Fargeat
The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazier
Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World
Radu Jude
Evil Does Not Exist
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
Kneecap
Rich Peppiatt
Inside No. 9 is an attempt to share unique narratives through the mixing of 9 songs. Every episode will showcase a new theme, opening up new tributaries of discovery. Inside No. 9 is presented by Peter Taylor, a former features writer for Foxy Digitalis from back in the late 2000s. Peter is a visual artist and musician and has been creating music as MAbH since 2008.
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