In each volume, I played on the subtle balance between popular releases and lesser-known cuts. I wanted you to hear the craftsmanship of the selection, to feel the human hand rather than the algorithmic one. Occasionally, I admit I sought nerdiness to an excessive degree, excluding excellent but already trendy tracks in favour of left-field pieces, but overall I’d say I achieved my goal. Another side of the same coin was the precise choice to include the most prolific artists with nauseating regularity. The presence of Juche’s releases, for instance, soon became a recurring inside joke, but fit perfectly into my search for realism. Artists like him, or MRJay have been, in some ways, undisputed protagonists of 2024, so why not represent this trend? Ignoring, at the end of the year, all this effort in favour of a more classic ranking seemed unfair, even if it meant to exclude high-profile releases.

Before jumping into the list, I’ll indulge in some general reflections on the macro trends that have marked (in good or bad ways) the wave movement. I’m going to start with a response to all the people who complained about the lack of ‘og wave releases’ on Reddit, X, and Discord. Look harder. Get out of your bubbles and learn to scour the web better. The songs you’re looking for are there. They’re just waiting to be found. Besides, if you miss the early days of the genre, I don’t think you lack material to listen to. If your culture only gravitates around wavemob’s compilations and little else, that’s on you.

Moving on, we’ve witnessed the definitive lofi-zation of wavephonk (yes, I vouch for this term). Despite being the majority current, in terms of volume of releases, the creative offering of the combo of rap vocals and wave instrumentals has proved sterile, relying mainly on stereotyped formulas and copycat solutions. As in the case of lofi, it has mainly become muzak, perfect for passive listening while doing something else, like playing or driving, or a stylistic choice that artists fall back on for promotional or economic purposes.

Speaking of driving, it can be said that ‘Nightdrive’ has officially become a sub-subculture of wavephonk. skeler is clearly the undisputed father figure of this niche, which however remains, to a large extent, a pale imitation of the Australian artist’s style. With his NightDrive 4 mix he has further demonstrated that he’s in a league of his own and at this point, the car-based imagery might be the only contact point between him and most of the other actors in this space. It’s not all doom and gloom, of course. Everything goes in cycles, and although wavephonk is at a standstill, I’m sure it’s creating the hummus for the new sounds of tomorrow.

At another point in the wave universe, Hardwave 2 became a thing. A real thing. Yes, the name may sound cocky or, on the contrary, overly formulaic, but it represents the group of producers I have enjoyed following the most this year. If the Hardwave has always been the noisy twin of the wave, the Hardwave 2 is its punk cousin who snorts lines of coke at family dinners. Over the years the definition of hardwave had already expanded (watered down some would say) to embrace tracks that flirted significantly with riddim, colour bass, and other bass sub-genres. Hardwave 2, however, bypasses simple flirtation and shamelessly jumps into sonic orgies where the Y2K trance component reigns supreme. Hardwave 2 is loud, massive, irreverent, fun, and, last but not least, emotional. It’s exactly what I’d expect to hear if Armin Van Buuren played Lost Lands. Artists like crowit, Altered Soul, Exodynamix, CNQR+, KENOK, and Teneki are responsible for the most daring and unpredictable releases I heard in the wave space in 2024. Hearing trancey arpeggios side by side with dubstep snares or amen breaks blows my mind every time. All that glitters is not gold though. Many Hardwave 2 tracks are still experiments from a technical or writing point of view but this is the kind of creativity I’m looking for. The kind that can stop me from scrolling and make me say “something is happening here.”

To cap it all, let’s take a quick look at the list. Again, these are the best songs picked from the eleven editions of WAVE Monthly I compiled through 2024 and they are placed in no particular order. In addition, some tracks that met the criteria were still excluded because they’ve been already included in our Top Songs Of The Year list. Most of the wave scene’s pantheon is present though. skeler, barnacle boi, Juche, Sibewest, enjoii, Klasey Jones, Pholo, vowl. have continued to develop their respective styles, further consolidating their leading position in the international scene. Some of these songs, in my opinion, must be considered among the best of the genre ever.

In the spectrum ranging from og wave to neo-grime, you find the future-garage-esque collab by calicry & FIVESUN ‘hamadryad’, Planet V and LOSTMANE’s ‘Immersion’, EVERYST and BACKWHEN with their beautiful ballad ‘Lovespell’, Gladkill’s ‘Future Unknown’, ‘Water’ by EONE and forget, MYSTXRIVL and Soko’s collab ‘Pixel’, SHXPE with ‘SOUL’ (the only 4/4 entry in the list), ‘Redemption’ by ovmegacvrse and heimanu’s bootleg of  ‘Red Stars’ by The Birthday Massacre. Among the best bangers of the year are Affectwave’s ‘CODE:NIGHT’, ‘Decrypt’ by crowit. and Exodynamix, the dreamteam REMNANT.exe and Noah B with ‘TRANSMIT’, MRJay’s ‘Break Away’, Teneki and CNQR+’s ‘Mirage’, ‘Broken Dreams’ by MitroWave and KENØK’s ‘LOVE AI’.

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Let’s start in the US, where Sidewalks & Skeletons and Brothel have been touring throughout all of October, bringing their bewitching show along a series of exciting openers such as Kota Kira and tomkillsjerry. ‘Phase 1’ of this tour features a few more dates in the States later this month before moving to Europe. If you’re in Los Angeles, Seattle, or Portland, check here for more info and tickets.

Talking about Europe, ADE 2024 was a quiet year for wave, with no dedicated events. It fell to skeler to represent the whole movement with a set at the insane VISION x Kompass Music Group boat party and, from what I’ve heard, he didn’t disappoint. “It was really surprising to see skeler on an almost exclusively Drum & Bass lineup” was the first thing that crowit., who attended the event, told me, adding that “this is also what made the set feel really special. Coming from high tempos and gnarly basses into a melody-driven Wave, Phonk & Hardwave set was like a needed breath of fresh air in the middle of the night.” crowit. also reported that “skeler’s set was a good mixture of his signature hardwave sound, his newer wave/phonk tunes” and, as expected from him, “a couple edits I haven’t heard before”.  “My highlight of the set was definitely the ending, where he played Tel Aviv and right afterwards an edit of it, with a mindblowing four-on-the-floor section”. 

After finishing writing the previous paragraph I realized how fantastic it is that the news I report in this monthly column is increasingly related to tours, festivals, and shows. We’re in a new era for the wave scene. We’ve been in for a while, to be honest, but sometimes is important just to say it out loud. Almost ten years in and the movement is going strong, eyes on the future. Plastician himself recently tweeted his call for a 10-year celebration event next year. Nothing is settled at the moment, but keep an eye on his and our social accounts to see how this plan will unfold. 

Moving on from live to recorded music, October’s playlist is, not surprisingly, a little bit spookier than the previous ones. I know Halloween is behind us at this point, but come on, true waveheads are into spookier vibes all year round.  For the first time in 2024, you won’t find a Juche song featured. Feels weird? I agree, but we actually got no releases from him this past month. MRJay didn’t break his streak instead, unveiling a new collaboration with the one and only Kareful. The good people at Harmony Heaven published an horror-themed compilation, excerpts of which you will find in the playlist, alongside tracks from Nick Neutronz, Heimanu, Altare, HAIKU, Tokyo Tears, almogfx, MYSTYK, nibiru’, and many more.  

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In terms of releases, the spotlight goes to cali.xo’s brand new EP ‘luv‘. This new concept project from the American singer and producer taps into wave, but goes beyond drifting to more instrumental and ambient soundscapes that highly remind me of one of my all-time favourite wave-esque albums. With ‘luv‘ cali.xo shows once again her strong artistic personality and her unmatched ability to create intimate and vulnerable atmospheres. The playlist features many other slow-burning pieces from Gladkill, Klimeks, søul., Cirrus Minør, Blut Own, and many others. Juche included.

August sees the long-awaited second edition of Arcadia festival. The first show is happening this very weekend in Moscow, while at the end of the month, it will be St. Petersburg’s turn. The lineup is simply immense and you can probably understand how much it pains me that I’ll not be able to attend either of them because I’m on holiday in the weeks between the two dates. Last, but clearly not least, Night Drive IV is coming next week. Should I add something? I don’t think so. If this playlist (and the previous ones) aren’t enough to get you through till the 7th, you can watch some spoilers to fight the FOMO.

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