eCoustics Music Awards: Editors’ Choice 2024

Narrowing down musical choices for “best of the best” of the year is a hard call to make on numerous levels, especially as we can’t claim to have heard “every” release that was issued.  As we approached this task and reconsidering the many titles reviewed and enjoyed this year, we had to stop to think about key factors beyond simply sound quality and packaging, such as whether the release breaks new ground. In the case or reissues and remixes, is an improvement over prior releases? Is it a definitive ultimate edition? We recognize its hard for any one release to be all of those things but here are our favorites this year.

Best Dolby Atmos Remix on Blu-ray

Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Warner Records)

I chose The Flaming Lips’ Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Blu-ray release for several reasons. You can read my review from November to learn why I liked the mix (click here) but in short I think this is one of the more innovative and interesting Dolby Atmos mixes I’ve heard to date. 

The new Dolby Atmos mix is a marked advance from the prior 5.1 experience while retaining much of the joy which made that version special. The Blu-ray includes upgrades of many of the key videos which were included on the original DVD Audio Disc (2003) and retains the original 5.1 and stereo mixes for easy reference. Perhaps most important to many consumers, the release is very fairly priced at under $25 as a standalone release.

This latter point is something I’ve learned is very important to many Blu-ray and surround music enthusiasts who often feel cheated having to “shell out big bucks” for a big multi-disc boxed set just to get the one surround music disc they really wish to hear and own.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots on Blu-ray might have been more perfect still if it included all the bonus tracks from the original DVD Audio Disc, but then that might have made the package more complicated and, ultimately, expensive. I won’t be surprised if those tracks show up elsewhere in the future (perhaps a Record Store Day vinyl edition). — Mark Smotroff

Best New Pop/Soul Album on Vinyl

Lady Blackbird: Slang Spirituals (BMG)

Two of my favorite new releases of 2024 were by up-and-coming artists. But if I have to narrow it down to one choice, I have to give the crown to Lady Blackbird for her Slang Spirituals. This is a great sophomore album from the artist who created my favorite album of 2021, Black Acid Soul. Here she retains that stellar impassioned, soulful, jazz-rich and rock-ready vibe within the context of an otherworldly persona.

All the while she shows significant musical growth bolstered by even bolder production courtesy of her musical partner, producer and co-songwriter Chris Sieffried.

Slang Spirituals is a grand showcase for Lady Blackbird’s outstanding voice and expanding musicality including one track backed by a choir as well as several dance-floor-ready groovers. No doubt a modern production, Slang Spirituals sounds great and is a start to finish joy. — Mark Smotroff

Runners up: 

Thee Sinseers’ Sinseerly Yours (Colemine Records). A great, indie-released home-brewed debut of modern new lowrider-inspired tunes from LA’s “souldies” kings. — Mark Smotroff

The Coward Brothers’ The Coward Brothers (New West Records) – An unexpected and joyous late year release from two of modern music’s most important forces, Elvis Costello and T-Bone Burnett. — Mark Smotroff

Best New Jazz Album on Vinyl

Vijay Iyer: Compassion (ECM Records)

A beautiful modern jazz journey performed by tremendously talented musicians, crafted by an outstanding composer and arranger, Vijay Iyer. His arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” is an eye opener. Richly produced, natural sounding and at times ambient-flavored, Compassion is an outstanding demo-disc-worthy production, fitting perfectly into the 50-plus year legacy-trajectory that is ECM Records. — Mark Smotroff

Best Rock Vinyl Reissue

Television: Marquee Moon (Rhino Records High Fidelity series)

Narrowing down a single rock reissue each year has increasingly become a challenge because there have been so many great albums being restored which are very good.  My choice of the underground progressive rock legends who emerged out of New York’s influential mid-1970’s punk / new wave downtown CBGB’s scene — Television — however is an obvious no brainer (if you will) this year in many ways. 

While Marquee Moon was always a stunning collection of music, the sound quality typically never rose to the heights you intrinsically dreamed it could and the many reissues over the years have left much to be desired. 

Originally a very bright and radio-ready compressed recording, the new Rhino Hi-Fi edition delivers a far richer sense of what was actually recorded in the studio. The instruments sound more real, you can feel the guitar amplifier tones coming through and the overall sense of a band performing in the legendary A&R Studios comes through.  

Rhino gives all releases in this series the “kid glove” handle-with-care spa treatment, so the album lacquers were cut in a pure analog process direct from the original stereo master tapes by Kevin Gray of Cohearant Audio.

The 180-gram vinyl was made at Germany’s esteemed Optimal pressing facilities. Unfortunately the limited edition, mail-order-only run of 5,000 is now sold out but you can find the album selling for several times the original $40 price tag on places like discogs.com.

Keep an eye on Rhino’s site (click here) however as I would not be surprised if this album gets another pressing sometime in the future. In short, the Rhino Hi-Fi series reissue of Television’s Marquee Moon is easily the best sounding version of this rock classic I have heard to date. — Mark Smotroff

Best Jazz Vinyl Reissue

Donald Byrd: Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill (Transition Records/Blue Note/Tone Poet/Universal Music)

Legendary jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd issued two albums in 1956 and 1957 on producer Tom Wilson’s (Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, etc.) short lived Transition Records label which have been generally super elusive to find (and highly collectible). This year these were the focus of two fine Tone Poet reissues released which I enjoyed immensely (click here for my review).

If I had to select one, I definitely connected more immediately with Byrd Blows on Beacon Hill over Byrd’s Eye View. Accessible and straight ahead mid-50s hard bop styles, melody and rhythm swing hand in hand here. The remasters sound great, reputedly much better than the originals — I’ve been told by some collector/dealers they were pressed on styrene plastic — which could sound thin and noisy. Much love and care that went into these recreations including the mega-rare booklets which came with the originals. Given what these rare as hens teeth originals sell for on the collector’s market, finding the reissue available for under $30 is a total steal! — Mark Smotroff

John Wright: South Side Soul (Craft Recordings Original Jazz Classics, Jun. 2024)

Pianist John Wright was a Chicago native (born in Kentucky but raised there from the age of two). Wright began playing piano at the age of 7 at the evangelical church run by his preacher-mother, and was active in the Chicago jazz scene from the mid 1950s after several years stationed in Germany with the army.

He recorded five records (four trio sessions and one quartet with saxophone) for Prestige Records between 1960 and 1962. South Side Soul, his debut recorded in August 1960 at Van Gelder Studio, has become something of a cult classic over the years.

It features seven tracks (two penned by Wright) named for and after south side Chicago locations. The record is full of swing and soul, undoubtedly influenced by the church atmosphere and sounds that were a big part of his upbringing, and the boogie woogie and blues imported to South Side by migrants from the southern US cotton fields in the 2010s.

For this reissue (long awaited and the first since 1990), mastering was done from the original tape by Kevin Gray of Cohearent Audio, and pressing at RTI. This is one of many 2024 home runs from Craft. — Eric Pye

Best Live Jazz Album

Emily Remler: Cookin’ at the Queens (Resonance Records, Nov. 2024)

Until receiving a promo copy of this RSD Black Friday release, I had never heard of guitarist Emily Remler. Thanks to this 3-record set, I now count myself a fan. Remler was an active performer from the late 1970s until her untimely death at age 32 in 1990.

She was known for her swing, groove and soul, and for channeling the sound of Wes Montgomery (quoted in a 1982 interview as saying, “I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavy-set black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery.”).

This live collection is pulled from two live performances in Las Vegas, with 4 quartet sides in 1984 and 2 trio sides in 1988. The playing is incredible, with repertoire featuring tunes penned by Wes (of course), Bobby Timmons, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis and others.

Mastering was done by Bernie Grundman from the original tape reels, and sound quality is excellent. Said co-producer Zev Feldman, “As time goes by, some artists’ legacies get even more interesting and become more important, and I think Emily Remler is such a significant artist. She needs to be talked about and discussed more. She was a trailblazer, and I hope these recordings are going to contribute to and validate her story and her importance.”

Emily Remler, consider your story and legacy validated. — Eric Pye

Best Blues Rock Album

Walter Trout: Broken (Provogue, PRD-77232, CD)

It was a strong year for blues rock fans with new releases from old favorites like Beth Hart: Your Still Got Me and the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band: Dirt on My Diamonds, Part 2, both of which are well worth a listen but the two albums that arrived at the top for me were Slash’s Orgy of the Damned and Walter Trout’s Broken.

Both are similar in that the title artist is the guitarist and the songs are defined by the guest vocalist as much as they are by the guitar, but with Walter having written most of Broken it is considerably more consistent from track to track.

Ultimately, I had to give the nod to Broken because of that stronger central theme. Trout has a history of writing positive lyrics, but from the start it is apparent that even he is struggling to find the good at times.

The album starts out fairly slow with “Broken” done as a duet between Walter and Beth Hart but picks up speed toward the middle with “Bleed” featuring Will Wilde’s harmonica which harkens back to Charlie Musselwhite and Sonny Boy Williamson, and “I’ve had Enough” with Dee Snider of Twisted Sister delivering his normal blistering vocals.

The message of hope is still there, but it’s hidden a little further under the surface making the album a poignant reflection of today’s world without being overtly political. –– W. Jennings

Best Audiophile Production

Anthony Wilson Hackensack West (Cohearent Records, Vinyl, CR-AV-2301)

My personal choice for new vinyl album release of the year is from Kevin Gray’s Cohearent Records. Tough to find any guitar lead jazz album that is smoother than that capture. No one song is necessarily my favorite “jazz guitar” song, but being this is Kevin’s second release as a label, it showed that his “all-valve from mic to lacquer” technique is the new benchmark of sound quality for “modern jazz” recordings.

His process is so good that it is my hope that there will be copycat style labels and recordings from all sorts of different genres. IMO all music lovers are lucky to have access to albums recorded this way in the digital bedroom production era. It’s what sonic inspiration sounds like. — Mitch Anderson

Related Reading: See all Editors’ Choice Award categories here