2024, to where did you disappear so fast?!  For me it was mostly spent in the studio making The Overview and mixing other artist’s work. Next year is likely to be in stark contrast with the new album and tour coming up, but in the meantime to wrap up this one, here’s a few fun photo memories and lists:

“Hello 2024…”, just after midnight, New Year’s Day in Sri Lanka

Taking Bowie and Lennie on a walk while wifey Rotem is giving a parent coaching presentation inside the grand building in the background.

Myself and Tim took things up a notch by starting to film our hugely popular (so I’m told!) podcast The Album Years. We also managed to do two live TAY events in London and Harleem in The Netherlands. Lots more nerdy bickering and Tim’s fantastic showbiz anecdotes next year…

My only live performance of the year was as Bass Communion at Cafe Oto with the help of my good friend Frans De Waard of Modelbau. This was to celebrate the release of the first all new BC album in 12 years The Itself of Itself (sold out on CD but just reissued in a limited quantity on double vinyl.) Photo by Michel Faber.

I had tremendous fun presenting Atmos seminars over 3 days at the Munich High End fair in this incredible space put together especially for the event by my friends from PMC speakers. Final checks just prior to the first session. Photo by Simon Lowery.

New band line up.

Interacting with the performance art of the often underrated Yoko Ono at the Tate Modern in August. Underrated for reasons which of course have nothing to do with her artwork. This haunting piece is “Hole”, a plate of glass pierced by a single bullet hole.

Photoshoot in September with the great Kevin Westenberg. Photo by Edwin Ingram (@edwiningram)

Holiday in Mykonos.

I was honoured once again to have mixed or remixed the work of many great artists this year, including New Order, Chic, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Gary Kemp, XTC, Loma, The Who, Randy McStine, Yes, Manic Street Preachers, Tears For Fears, King Crimson, Ultravox, and many others that I can’t even tell you about yet, but that will hopefully be released next year. Here’s me with Stephen Morris of New Order at the launch event for their catalogue in Atmos, and with Gary in my studio having just finished listening back to the Atmos mix of his fantastic forthcoming album This Destination. Note seminal Wombles album propped up on mellotron in background.

The legend that is David Gilmour at the Royal Albert Hall in October (no I haven’t remixed any of his solo albums, much as I would like to).

Amsterdam in the Autumn, one of our favourite cities.

Happy Birthday to me! With vegan chocolate cake (mostly eaten by the girls).

Producer/mixer summit in London in November, hosted by Bob and Betty Clearmountain, but also in attendance Giles Martin, Andy Bradfield, Avril Macintosh, Warren Huart, and my good friend Logic Pro product designer Manfred Knauff.

It’s always an exciting day when something I’ve created gets its first official playback. In this case The Overview was premiered in surround sound for the media and a few fans at the incredible L-acoustics room in Highgate. It received just the kind of reaction I hoped it would.

And now some favourites of the year, but always with the caveat that this is based only on the few things I’ve actually heard and seen in 2024, in fact I feel embarrassed looking at other end of year lists to realise I’ve barely scratched the surface. So please let me know your own recommendations!

Listening (new):
Nala Sinephro – Endlessness
Loma – How Will I Live Without a Body?
Mk Gee – Two Star and the Dream Police
Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja
Opeth – The Last Will and Testament
Mount Eerie – Night Palace
The Smile – Wall of Eyes
Squarepusher – Dostrotime

Listening (reissues):
Delia Derbyshire – Inventions for Radio
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II
His Name is Alive – How Ghosts Affect Relationships
Joe Harriott – Movement
Byard Lancaster – The Palm Recordings
Hawkwind – Doremi Fasol Latido
Sean Rowley’s Guilty Pleasures
Pallas – Eyes in the Night 1981-1986

Films: (first 2 strictly speaking from 2023, but released in the UK in early 2024)

The Zone of Interest
All of Us Strangers
Longlegs
Heretic
Emilia Perez
Conclave
The Substance

TV shows with 2 word titles where one word is an animal, plus one more:

One Day
Slow Horses
Black Doves
Baby Reindeer