We spoke to six of our 2024 author roster (David Kane, Ben Murphy, Georgina Cook, Justin Patrick Moore, Jem Panufnik and Steven Vass) for our annual debrief on what they’ve been reading, watching and listening to.

DAVID KANE

What have you been reading this year?

We had twins a little over a year ago, and those beautiful blighters combined with two more gremlins (aka children), work, and writing a book hasn’t left as much time as I’d like for reading but I did enjoy Hua Hsu’s memoir Stay True and Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act. The latter has its critics, but I found it helpful to dip in and out for some idiosyncratic inspiration, aka Rubinations.

Any favourite films/TV programmes?

I watched The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky for the first time, and after years spent searching it has to be the most batshit crazy film I have ever seen. A must for anyone looking to blow the cobwebs off.

The new season of Industry was another winner. The writers have expanded the universe to encompass tech bros, turgid toffs, and corrupt politicians alongside the regular cast of emotionally bruised and ruthlessly ambitious city boys and girls—a truly abhorrent collection of characters you cannot stop watching.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

I’ve spent most of the year finishing my book, What Do You Call It? From Grassroots To The Golden Era of UK Rap, which traces over 40 years of music history. As a result, I’ve experienced tunnel listening, but I do try to keep up with new music, and Bashy’s new album, Being Poor Is Expensive, is excellent. The record deals with grown-up themes covering parenthood, legacy, and representation, with a great beat selection that covers everything from dub and classic era garage to grime.

At the time of writing, Kendrick’s new album GNX has been out for less than a week, and one track stands out for its sublime storytelling, even by Kenny’s standards. “Reincarnated” is like the audio equivalent of The Garden of Earthly Delights painting by Hieronymus Bosch where gluttony, ego, and the perils of the music industry are explored through multiple life cycles.

Outside of rap, my favourite new (old) discovery this year has been Don Cherry’s funk-jazz masterpiece Hear & Now. I picked up the reissue from Honest Jon’s a few months back, and it’s been on heavy rotation ever since.

I also had the joy of editing Andy Beta’s brilliant Arthur Russell retrospective for the last issue of Patta Magazine. That piece sent me down a deep rabbit hole of Arthur’s music, eventually landing on World of Echo. Wooh ha—what a singular, unmistakable sound he had.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Sleep and millions of pounds in royalties from Velocity Press 🙂

GEORGINA COOK

What have you been reading this year?

LOTS of books related to birth, child care, midwifery and mothering. I particularly loved Rachel Cusk’s A Life’s Work, and Sophie Heawood’s novel The Hungover Games.

Any favourite films/TV programmes?

I was invited to the premiere of Magick Hastings, a short(ish) film by Michael Smith, Maxy Bianco and Beth King about Hastings’ esoteric underbelly and I absolutely loved it. As a long-time resident, I always knew this town was…different…but the film really brings it home just how absolutely bonkers it really is.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

Yes, I’ve been enjoying the new singles by Ocean All Over, featuring Breezy Lee. They’re a Scottish performance company directed by Alex Rigg who creates dance and movement-based shows from his own poetry and sketches, creating characters and costumes and then choreographing beautiful shows with excellent music. In recent years Ocean All Over have worked a lot with dubstep and artists like Sgt Pokes and this year there have been some really nice releases produced by Richard Luke, with south London singer Breezy Lee on vocals. Love.

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

Bits and bobs from the new season of Isobel Anderson’s Girls Twiddling Knobs, which describes itself as a feminist music tech podcast. I’m not a music producer but I think what Isobel is doing is so important and she also does it so well! I don’t think there’s anything else like it elsewhere.

Heard any standout DJ sets or been to memorable parties or events in 2024?

This summer, I was fortunate (and sad) to be at the closing day of St Leonards on Sea’s fave rave pub, The Marina Fountain however, where Ben Rymer (Fat Truckers) was playing in the garden. He dropped a 12″ Super Extended Mix of Eurythmics Right By Your Side which has since been on heavy rotation in my house. Also been proudly watching and listening to the rise and rise of my new fave DJ, RUSO this year.

Have you found any new sources of inspiration or creativity over the last year?

Becoming a parent has been wildly inspiring this year and led to me producing a new body of mixed media work and a solo exhibition titled Shit Show back in April, about my experience of early motherhood. My child and my relationship with him influences everything I do now. Even listening to music. Last week we were listening to Richie Culver and Quiet Husband (also one of my fave discoveries of the year) during a play session and I found that the music completely affected my experience of both the music and the play.

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out? Has anything surprised you?

I think I’m mostly surprised by how much more I love the design of the Drumz of the South second edition. I loved the first one but now this one is out, I’m even more into it! I’m also very, very happy about the new text reflections in this edition. Emma Warren, DJ Flight, Martin Clark, Charlie Dark and Jason Goz have collectively given the book the update it needed.

Any general reflections on 2024?

It’s been a huge year for me personally as I’ve balanced motherhood with publishing a new book, completed my MA, celebrated 20 years of Drumz Of The South and exhibited in various shows solidly from April – November. I’m super proud of myself.

More generally, it feels like it’s been a tough year for music and everyone involved with music. I feel so sad that music and the arts are not appreciated and cultivated enough by our government and perhaps even more so, by our previous government.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Looking forward to artists (myself included) using more of their creative power to address the very wrong things that are happening in the world and to use their creative energy for good. And looking forward to seeing the different ways artists and DJs will come up with to get around the limitations and pressures we’re all facing. It feels more and more like we have nothing to lose.

JEM PANUFNIK

What have you been reading this year?

Scattershot, the autobiography of Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s almost invisible lyricist. It’s a wonderful viewpoint of someone experiencing the heady highway to fame and success with the benefit of hardly being recognised – unlike his musical partner (who is mentioned surprisingly little in the book). Written with great humour and eloquence as you’d imagine, he comes off as a humble, appreciative and witty chap just trying to find his place in life, amazed at his journey.

Any favourite films/TV programmes?

I saw Getting It Back, the new film about the elusive band Cymande (who I and many have worshipped for decades, unable to find hardly anything about them) which was a revelation that also put a lump in the throat. Deeply emotional and sensitively made, it’s about a very spiritual group who, more than forty years after disbanding completely disheartened, finally learn of their immense cultural presence and significance unbeknown to them all this time.

I was lucky to be at the London premiere where the surviving members of the band and director, Tim Mackenzie Smith, took questions. It still gives me a rush just thinking about it.

The movie Poor Things was also stupendous in every way.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

Delighted to see that as a result of their resurgence Cymande have been back in the studio with a new album due early next year which I have been privy to hearing. Aptly named Renascence it continues the legacy beautifully. I was also very happy to see The The with a new album too, another band that shaped me many moons ago and also stands the test of time.

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

While I’ve been long-distance driving my Kaptain Karnival art show to venues around the country I’ve been catching up on Adam Buxton’s podcasts on Spotify. He has such a wide, unpredictable variety of guests and is such a great interviewer, genuinely interested and knowledgeable with a cheeky and hilarious sense of humour that puts all his subjects at ease and draws out their personalities in a very warm way. Quite rare these days when interviewers tend to either be brash or pretend to be unassuming. I feel like I’m in the room with them having a cup of tea.

Heard any standout DJ sets or been to memorable parties or events in 2024?

Just to sound like the old man I am, we co-hosted a Finger Lickin’ Records party at Ministry of Sound last month, it started at 3.30 in the afternoon and finished at 10pm. I hadn’t stepped inside there for 20 years or more, and I admit I had some trepidation, but it was electric from doors open – and I was in bed by midnight. Middle-age clubbing – winner!

Have you found any new sources of inspiration or creativity over the last year?

I took my 13-year old son to Leak Street recently to see the graffiti and then on to Tate Modern to look at the pop art, something I haven’t done for years. It was inspiring to see everything in his eyes and be reminded how great it is to see things in the flesh and in context. I know that’s obvious – but we live in a great city and I take it all for granted!

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out? Has anything surprised you?

When the idea developed I was intent on being deliberately vague about the narrative, hoping that people might either pick up on mine or create their own interpretation. It has been really fascinating to hear what people have come up with, and it turns out nearly all of it resonates with me on a subconscious level.

The Legend of Kaptain Karnival book and music is very generally about reigniting a spark of mischief in life but I’ve had people tell me they imagine it is about sense of purpose, mental health, flushing out your demons, stop being sensible, going down the rabbit hole, even a statement about institutionalised religion. Which is all true too I guess!

Any general reflections on 2024?

As a long period of Trump and all that entails sinks in, it is hard not to be depressed about the world’s future. But actually I found 2024 had great bursts of positivity as we finally started to find our feet after a really discombobulated post-Covid era. I felt that in spite of election-frenzy Trumpism there were a lot more loud voices calling for peace and unity. And we finally got a new government. Obviously there is a lot of horror to face but I still have faith in humanity.

For me personally, it was a real triumph to have my book published, by such an esteemed publisher no less! I am very proud. And its theme of searching for positivity and light when all seems lost, which first crystallised during a strangely sunny first lockdown then a very bleak and dark period of illness, feels ever more relevant. Onwards and upwards, dear friends!

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Moving on to new creative projects and escaping all admin.

BEN MURPHY

What have you been reading this year?

Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger (instructive about what just happened in the States), Bernadine Evaristo’s Mr Loverman (read it before the TV programme and loved that too). Currently reading Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman.

Any favourite films/TV programmes?

I really enjoyed Shogun, True Detective season four, Sherwood and Fallout. Also finally watched the film Saint Maud, which was amazing.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

Gyrofield – These Heavens EP, Goat – Goat, Jo Johnson – Let Go Your Fear and Xylitol Anemones are a few that come to mind.

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

Podcast wise I’m still addicted to Uncanny, just love supernatural stuff. For radio, it’s been loads of NTS, Ross Allen and Toshiki Ohta shows especially. On 6 Music, SHERELLE and Gilles Peterson.

Heard any standout DJ sets or been to memorable parties or events in 2024?

Slowdive and Goat were both incredible live. On the dance music side, Fasme, Special Request, MOY and Mariner of Danu were awesome.

Have you found any new sources of inspiration or creativity over the last year?

Mainly being in the countryside. Also went to Copenhagen with my wife, really lovely city.

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out? Has anything surprised you?

There’s been a really nice response to Ears to the Ground, I keep hearing that people are reading it or have enjoyed it.

Any general reflections on 2024?

Don’t look at the news!

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

More of my own music as BufoBufo coming out, and seeing John Shuttleworth live in February!

JUSTIN PATRICK MOORE

What have you been reading this year?

Working in the public library, I tend to get distracted by all the new releases I see every day in the catalog department, but some of my favourite reads from this year have been books that have been around for decades.

I’d been meaning to read the American fantasy author John Crowley for some time, and I finally read his books Beasts, Engine Summer and Little, Big. The last is certainly a masterpiece, but I was especially taken by the strange future depicted in Engine Summer, a poignant story told with lyrical beauty.

I just finished W. Somerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge and that is up there too as one of the best books I read all year. The main character’s rejection of a life as a stockbroker and his embrace of a threadbare bohemian existence filled with reading and the search for meaning remains timeless.

Any new favourite films/TV programmes?

One of my guilty pleasures are teen dramas and mysteries. My wife is kind enough to indulge me in this habit. After the supernatural mystery series Riverdale, based on the Archie comics, wrapped up, we watched Veronica Mars starring Kristen Bell who plays a highschool sleuth and daughter of a PI. I like stories that are set in made up fictional towns and this fits that bill too.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

Bvdub is always worth spending some time listening to, and his new record In Iron Houses showcases once again his incredible use of textures and vocals alongside throbbing beats. Thurston Moore has a new one out, and he has already been hitting it out of the park since he moved to London with album after album. Flow Critical Lucidity from him and a great crew of musicians was an instant favourite.

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

Corporate radio in America, which is almost all of it, sucks. Now that Archive.org is back online after their recent kerfuffle, one of my favourite things to do is go there and hunt through all the old radio programs they have in their massive collection. They have a lot of pirate, shortwave, and community programs that fall well below the radar. It’s like crate digging in underground radio’s past. Toynbee Radio is a strange one and I really enjoyed listening back to episodes of shortwave radio show by a guy named B-Movie Bob.

Heard any standout DJ sets or been to memorable parties or events in 2024?

No parties or DJ sets as such, but I was delighted to see Negativland this past summer who played all new material along with a remote, live video accompaniment by Sue-C. Before their set they screened of Ryan Worsley’s wonderful documentary about them, Stand By For Failure. I have family and roots in Lexington, Kentucky where they played and it was a memorable night seeing them in the gorgeous Kentucky Theater which recalled a lost golden era of moviegoing.

The Talk Low Experimental Music Festival held in Cincinnati this past summer was also the bomb. Getting to hear KMRU, Laraaji, and turntablist Maria Chavez, among many other exciting and diverse musicians over a few nights was an absolute blast.

Have you found any new sources of inspiration or creativity over the last year?

I learned about a street art and perhaps even outsider art phenomenon known as the Toynbee Tiles that really fired me up earlier this year. They are basically rubber stamps with a kind of graffiti that are put onto the asphalt and all the cars that drive over them end up embedding the tile into the street.

Some tiles bearing the name House of Hades have appeared in Cincinnati a number of years ago, and I didn’t know a thing about, but an article by photographer Ronny Salerno I stumbled on got me excited about the whole phenomenon and I went digging. The whole story about these Toynbee Tiles is a real rabbit hole. The Toynbee Idea website might be the best place to start.

Beyond that my friend DJ Frederick sent me a copy of really cool magazine called Bill Daniel’s Mostly True: The West’s Most Popular Hobo Graffiti Magazine. This turned me onto the world of freight train monikers and the work of Margaret Kilgallen and her street art namesake Matokie Slaughter.

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out? Has anything surprised you?

It’s been a wild ride so far, and a fun one. One of the best parts has been reconnecting with old friends, and making new friends around the world who share the love of the early days of electronic music making with tube oscillators and mainframe computers, or things like vocoding.

Any general reflections on 2024?

Having a project to focus on has always been my coping mechanism since my misspent youth skateboarding around the city and passing around ‘zines and tapes from my backpack. Being able to turn to writing, music, and radio helped keep me sane when everything else seems chaotic and crazy.

What am I looking forward to in 2025?

Whatever else is going on in the world, spending time with our aging parents, our grown children, and our grandchildren helps keep me grounded. I will be staying busy practicing the three R’s: reading, writing and radio. These things give me something good to focus my imagination on, and hopefully through them I can give someone a moment of pleasure or ideas to contemplate instead of an ever dreary and depressing news cycles.

STEVEN VASS

What have you been reading this year?

Ryan O’Connor – The Voids, Andrew Emery – Write Lines and Fredric Dannen – Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business.

Any favourite films/TV programmes?

Lately I’ve been chewing through the five seasons of Top Boy, maybe the last person on the planet to do so. Also watched: Baby Reindeer, The Gentlemen, Three Body Problem, Netflix’s The Evolution of British Black Music.

Have you been listening to any podcasts, audiobooks or radio shows?

Neil Howe’s The Fourth Turning is Here got me pacing the streets in the summertime. Also Lex Fridman’s podcast and Diary of a CEO with Stephen Bartlett for my sins.

Any new favourite tracks, records or releases from the year?

Still spending way too much time on gems from Let The Music Play, eg Kleeer, Bombers, Peter Jacques Band, Deodato. My attempts to reconnect with the present have got me about as far as the late 80s/early 90s, everything from Todd Terry to the Jungle Brothers to BBD to Gang Starr.

What are your reflections on your book now that it’s out? Has anything surprised you?

Just so pleased I put it together. It’s been great to connect with loads of people who love this music, and to get to talk about it way more than you’d ever normally get away with. Surprises? This can only sound like a brag but I was not expecting to be invited out to Ibiza to do a talk at the lovely Word of Mouth Radio Cafe. Certainly wasn’t the worst few days of my life.

Any general reflections on 2024?

Freaky times all round, isn’t it. Every week I read something else crazy about AI. We’re having a good go at starting a nuclear war with Russia. Then of course there’s T****. If somebody from the future offered me the chance to read the highlights of 2025, I’d be a bit scared to look.

What are you looking forward to in 2025?

Getting through it in one piece would be good for starters. But aside from geopolitics, coming soon is an audiobook version of Let the Music Play. I’m also off to New Zealand and Australia to see family and friends in the spring, which will be a first. And hopefully some other stuff… watch this space.