Happy New Year
Some early January 2025 greetings + final 2024 lists from ME 2 U.
Selected Works is a weekly (usually) newsletter by the Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa (Wellington, New Zealand) based freelance music journalist, broadcaster, copywriter and sometimes DJ Martyn Pepperell, aka Yours Truly. Most weeks, Selected Works consists of a recap of what I’ve been doing lately and some of what I’ve been listening to and reading, paired with film photographs I’ve taken + some bonuses. All of that said, sometimes it takes completely different forms.
Greetings from the South Island port town of Lyttelton, where I’m currently on holiday; mostly. I’m not gonna lie; it’s been awhile since I’ve had a real break from it all - and it’s been absolutely lovely. A mixture of walks, swims, cooking at home, watching movies and TV, and the odd trip out at night to some of Christchurch’s best eateries. Good, good times. However, that’s all coming to an end on Thursday when I clock back into reality for the year ahead. Before things really ramp up, however, I wanted to share a few bits and pieces with you that got lost in the shuffle over the course of the silly season.
Test Pressing: End Of Year Round Up 2024
In 2019, I started contributing to the UK-based balearic music history website, Test Pressing. Five years on, you’ll still find my byline on the site a few times a month via short album reviews, release recaps, or long-form features and interviews. When I first linked up with Paul Byrne, aka Apiento and Piers Harrison from Test Pressing, they lived in London. These days, though, Paul is based in LA.
Every year, Paul puts out the call to some of the characters within his extended musical universe and assembles an end-of-year roundup looking at the songs, albums, rediscovers and television shows they all loved. The 2024 edition is live on the site now. As to be expected, it’s packed with heat. Check it out here.
Bee Hype: Best of 2024
Don’t quote me on it, but I think I’ve been contributing to the Polish global music advocate Mariusz Herma’s Bee Hype website for about five years as well, maybe longer. I tapped in with him at the tail end of a stint I spent writing for a similar New York-based music recommendation website called Soundfriend back in the 2010s.
Every year, Mariusz and Bee Hype puts together a survey of the best albums of the year from around the world. However, rather than going for an international consensus, they ask their contributors to write about the best albums of the year from the country they either A: live in, or B: specialise in musically. Obviously, I get saddled with Aotearoa (New Zealand), which is mostly a pleasure. Anyway, here’s the 2024 list.
Herb Sundays: MMXXIV - A global survey of Herb faves of 2024 + the year in Ghostly, and more
When Sam Valenti IV, the founder of the excellent Ghostly label and the author of the equally excellent Herb Sundays newsletter, asks you to get in the mix with something, you say, “Yes sir, how many words and when?” Actually, I didn’t say that, but I definitely thought it.
Much like Paul at Test Pressing, Sam tapped in with his IRL/URL communities, but rather than asking about the best of the year, he wanted us to consider the music we heard in 2024 that really made us feel something. No timelock, no greater framework, just that.
Contrary to some opinions, I don’t think the algorithm has robbed us; the slipstream of mass culture has always almost been a false flag as to what is best, apart from a few lucky moments here and there. The truth is somewhere else, and that’s ok. The real risk is that our ability to see/hear something and then feel something is at risk. Can you enjoy something without the chatter of others in your mind, without fear of being navel-gazing or basic, that’s the war at stake. - Herb Sundays
I didn’t have to think for long before I landed on my answer. Check the whole list out over here.
General:
As we enter 2025, please remember that as a freelance writer, I’m always available for journalism commissions or copywriting jobs. Last year, I divided my time between writing articles, reviews, liner notes for reissued albums and putting together artist biographies and press kits for music makers releasing music or going on tour. I’m always keen to do more of all of the above.
I’m also available for scriptwriting, broadcasting work, DJing, and event organisation, etc. Man who wears many hats, can do, etc.
FIN.