Pet Door Show Best of 2024

Hannah Werdmuller
4 min readDec 30, 2024

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Pet Door Show Best of 2024 (left to right and top to bottom): Popsicool, London Afrobeat Collective, Sade Fox, Ana Egge, William Alexander, Zamma & Enow, Dorée, Gwevedzi, British Birds, BLOOD $MOKE BODY, Florence Adooni, Fire & Smoke, OLUMA, Nana Benz du Togo, Pijama Piyama, Morphia Slow, Sahra Halgan, The Accident Group, Irmão Victor, Mindfully Blind, Kai Warrior, Kerrin Connolly, Bowl, Dana Masters, Willow Waters, Yutai Communications, Rasheed Jamal, Ditch Lily, Large Brush Collection, The Klittens, Creekbed Carter Hogan.

Every Thursday 2–4pm Pacific / 5–7pm Eastern on the Pet Door Show on Shady Pines Radio, I take the opportunity to share my favorite new tracks released in the past year by independent and underplayed artists from around the world, in all genres but all with under 5,000 instagram followers. I am constantly inspired and impressed by the incredible work that gets released by up-and-coming bands, with artists themselves often doing all of the producing, recording, marketing, album art, distribution, and whatever else is needed to get their art into the world.

The result is a radio show unlike any other, with every week featuring 2 music-heavy hours of really stellar new tracks that most listeners have never heard before. And there’s a lot of great independent music to choose from! In fact, the hardest thing about preparing the Pet Door Show is deciding what not to play.

So you can imagine what a challenge it is to whittle all of those tracks down to my absolute favorites of the entire year: the cream of the crop, the truly outstanding songs that wormed their way into my brain and my soul, that I want to listen to over and over again, the Pet Door Show Best of 2024.

I’ve already been playing this playlist on repeat, and I hope you’ll enjoy it, too. I’m also including for your perusing convenience a Spotify playlist, but I encourage you to purchase works on Bandcamp or other platforms, because Spotify’s payout policy is massively exploitative of independent artists (most get literally nothing). Purchase and social links are provided below.

Enjoy! Let me know what your favorites are!

The KlittensReading Material
From the EP Butter, released March 8, 2024.
Amsterdam / The Hague, Netherlands. Indie.

PopsicoolStaffroom
Single released June 14, 2024.
Anemki Wequedong, Canada. Indie pop.

Mindfully BlindDotted Line
Single released July 12, 2024.
Bloomington, IN. Indie pop.

British BirdsMy Bar
From the EP Sucking Funny, released August 30, 2024.
Chorley, England. Indie pop.

Irmão VictorCaso de Policia
From the Micro-Usina, released May 9, 2024.
Passo Fundo, Brazil. Indie psych pop.

Sade FoxSugar
From the album Thinking Backwards, released November 6, 2024.
Brooklyn, NY. Indie folk.

Ditch LilyBucket Full of Moon
From the album My Favorite Miniature Drum, released December 17, 2024.
Grand Rapids, MI. Bedroom pop.

Kerrin ConnollyWith My Hands (Bonus Track)
From the album Transitions, released October 18, 2024.
Boston, MA. Indie pop.

Large Brush CollectionArm’s Length
From the album Off Center, released January 26, 2024.
Austin, TX. Indie folk.

Willow Waters & The Earth Tones — Whisper in the Afternoon
From the album I RISE, I FALL, released July 25, 2024.
Minneapolis, MN. Indie folk.

Morphia SlowMurder Ballad #25
From the album Early Morning Sun and Moving On, released April 19, 2024.
Phoenix, AZ. Indie folk.

Kai WarriorI Don’t Know
From the album Everything I Know, released February 3, 2024.
Albuquerque, NM. Folk.

Ana EggeSorry You’re Sick
From the album Sharing in the Spirit, released May 17, 2024.
Brooklyn, NY. Indie americana.

Creekbed Carter HoganThe Relic Song
From the album Creekbed Carter, released March 22, 2024.
St Paul, MN. Country folk.

William AlexanderBlackwood Town
From the album The Singing Stockman, released March 22, 2024.
New South Wales, Australia. Old-timey country.

Fire & SmokeQu’allons-nous faire
From the EP Constance, released March 22, 2024.
Win-nipi / Tio’Tia:ke, Canada. Folk.

DoréeSometimes
From the album Are You Feeling Big Yet?, released February 3, 2024.
New York City, NY. Folk.

GwevedziYerudo
From the album One, released March 20, 2024.
Harare, Zimbabwe. Folk afropop.

Pijama PiyamaChampetaman Finds Love
From the EP EXCLUSIVO, released December 15, 2024.
Phoenix, AZ. Cumbia psicodélica.

London Afrobeat CollectiveDe Kinshasa à Sona Bata
From the EP Esengo, released February 14, 2024, on Canopy.
London, England. Afrobeat.

OLUMAHasty Train
From the album Cooking Time, released April 5, 2024.
Leipzig, Germany. Jazz funk.

Florence AdooniUh-Ah Song
From the upcoming album A​.​O​.​E​.​I​.​U. (An Ordinary Exercise In Unity), due to be released February 28, 2025.
Zuarungu, Ghana. Afropop.

Nana Benz du TogoElesandja
From the 2-track To Be Free, released May 17, 2024.
Lomé, Togo. Afrosynthpop.

ZAMMA & ENOWApaixonados Pelo Zaza
Single released May 24, 2024.
São Paulo, Brazil. Hip hop.

BLOOD $MOKE BODYAK.47
Single released March 6, 2024.
Minneapolis, MN. Hip hop.

Rasheed JamalWe Gone Live (ft. Charlie 3rown, Peter Knudsen, Dominique Xavier)
From the album The Mandala Effect, released June 14, 2024.
Portland, OR. Hip hop.

Yutai CommunicationsBeat My Spring(春を斃して!!)
Single releaed May 8, 2024.
Tokyo, Japan. Electronica.

Dana MastersRising
From the album Real Good Mood, released May 3, 2024.
Belfast, Northern Ireland. Soul.

The Accident GroupGo Away (Please Come Back)
Single released April 25, 2024.
Manchester, England. Post punk pop.

BowlBig Burden Agency
From the EP Side A: The Rude Interruption of Fear, released Aug 30, 2024.
Utrecht, Netherlands. Post punk.

Sahra HalganSharaf
From the album Hiddo Dhawr, released March 29, 2024.
Hargeisa, Somaliland. Desert rock.

That’s it! If you enjoyed this list, also check out the Pet Door Show Best of 2023, and tune in to the Pet Door Show every Thursday, 2–4pm Pacific / 5–7pm Eastern on Shady Pines Radio for your weekly sampler of the world’s best new independent and underplayed music. If you’d like to buy me a coffee, it’d be much appreciated!

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Hannah Werdmuller
Hannah Werdmuller

Written by Hannah Werdmuller

Hannah Werdmuller:: frontperson of Django Moves to Portland / singer in Chonk! / Hosts the Pet Door Show on Shady Pines Radio, Thursdays 2-4pm (PST) / they/them

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