PoOPlist

December 2024 Dear POOPster: It is time for the 38th Annual POOPlist. Yes, our numbers have shrunk some but if you’re willing, I’m willing. So . . .you POOPin’? POOP, as you know, is entirely digitial, with Mark Zip pecking away at the keyboard to create the marvelous pooplist.net. Like last year, lists will be posted soon after Zip receives them, leaving my sole functions to be the herding cats and compiling the results (and, of course, sending out bothersome deadline reminders). Many of them. The deadline this year will be January23rd. Please email your list to both Marks (Zip’s…

Since 2011, I’ve been running an international music review site called A Closer Listen, specializing in instrumental and experimental music. In 2023, we received an average of a dozen submissions a day (4380/year) in those categories alone, so I’ve been listening almost exclusively to new music. By simply doubling that figure, I estimate that at the very least, an instrumental or experimental album is released every hour. In the digital era, there has never been so much to choose from ~ and so much that goes unheard. On the brighter side, although there’s much more to sift through, there seems to be an equal amount of great music. These were my favorite releases of 2023!