Albums of the Year- 2024
If you’re anything like me, then you’re not even reading this. You saw the headline or whatever janky way I’ve combined 11 front covers into one image this year, and are now scrolling past this paragraph to skip to the list below. And, listen (or not, I guess), that’s fine. It’s ok. I do the exact same thing. Sometimes if a list isn’t presented on one webpage or is too-often interrupted by adverts, I abandon the scroll altogether. I’m not proud of it. Not at all. That’s just where my brain is in 2024- cratered patience and digital amnesia and distraction forever. I think it’s maybe everyone’s brains actually. And, sour news, I don’t think it’s going to get better. In fact I think it will only get much much… wait, where were we?
Oh yeah, the list. A list that (as I am compelled to say every year) doesn’t compile the best albums of the year- no one can tell you that- but it is my favourite albums. It’s the ones that stood out, or made me stay in, or, y’know helped with all that brain stuff.
As always, ahead of any new list, I mention at least one album from last year that I discovered too late. One that would’ve made the last list if it had made it into my ears in time. This year that’s Spiritual Cramp’s self-titled effort– genre-hopping punk rock made with wit and charm and so many wicked riffs. And, as always, I also note my favourite EP. Huge shout-out to Godspel’s mysterious ‘You Were Wonderful’ single but this year the EP is Pile’s ‘Hot Air Balloon’– more melancholy perfection from The Most Underrated Band Ever.
I’d love to know if the list features your favourites too, or if the very same records disappointed you, or if there’s anything I’ve missed that would obviously be up my tree. But I know you won’t tell me, I know you’re not even reading this, remember.
It’s ok. I just hope you find something to love.
That’s all that really matters.
11 because Spinal Tap.
11. GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR- ‘No Title as of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead’
At this point, Godspeed are as close as anyone can get to a post-rock legacy band and I always get a little bit of what I’m expecting with every new album they release. Only a little though. Because it still doesn’t feel like they release albums, not like anyone else on this list, but rather extract them from the ether, summon them from some special place. So ‘No Title…’ features familiar swelling strings and slow-burning doom, yes, but also (relatively) accessible, unexpected epicness, strange alien signals, and songs that seem to be only made of rock and dust and pain. I didn’t expect half of it.
10. NIGHT VERSES- ‘Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night (Part Two)’
I’ve absolutely fallen into Night Verses trap here. In 2023 they released what seemed to be their fourth album, titled ‘Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley Of Night (Part One)’- 33 minutes of mind-melting music that pretty much made my 2023 Albums of the Year list on the opening 30 seconds alone. But there was to be no ‘…(Part Two)’. When the album was concluded this Spring, seven new tracks were added under the main title only, and now don’t I look silly. Patience was never my strong suit. But stubbornness might be, and I’m going to stick my guns here. The second part (SECOND PART!) of ‘Every Sound…’ is not as strong as the first, featuring more guest vocals and less cast iron quality, but still sounds inventive, exciting, and absolutely like no one else.
9. PISSED JEANS- ‘Half Divorced’
I loved this album when it came out. I was convinced then it was going to be my Album of the Year now. But every day since then the album has pushed me further away, never once drawn me in. It’s mean and sad and acidic, and, at times, a genuinely confrontational, difficult listen. I love it, but I can’t help feeling it hates me. Something I reckon the band would be happy to hear, actually.
8. IDLES- ‘Tangk’
Idles have been great for a while now. They’ve just been great for other people. For me, they always sounded like they were in a hurry, or clenching their fists too tight, or beating their chests, or all of the above. I thought (or said out loud, to anyone that would listen) that they could be truly brilliant if they would just realise there can as much power in a whisper, in silence even, as there is in a scream. ‘Tangk’, it turns out, whispers so loud. The Bristol band’s fifth album is fine-tuned punk rock that never feels like it’s missing anything for exploring sounds, inventing new ones, and operating at the edges of the genre. The (quiet) closing track is up there with my favourite songs of the year.
7. DOG UNIT- ‘At Home’
There’s a spellbinding permanence to Dog Unit’s debut- a record that almost sounds like it could have come out at any point in the last 60 years. There’s a few genres- math-rock, post-rock, krautrock… other kinds of rock- you could file it under, but in the end I’ve settled for “brilliant”.
6. BLEACHED CROSS/TRUE FAITH- ‘Columns Of Impenetrable Light’
Bleached Cross make ice cold, dark black post-punk. True Faith make white hot, bright white post-punk. Together they produce ‘Columns of Impenetrable Light’. In their own words, this is “music for contemplating the void between the earthly realm and the infinite blackness that awaits us after our last breath.” In my words, it’s a perfect soundtrack to whatever you call times like these.
5. CHINA BEARS- ‘Participation Trophy’
China Bears essentially play indie rock, but around every corner of the London-based band’s debut album is some unique structure, some heartbreaking bit of poetry, something that will make you sit up and listen. Probably this year’s album with the biggest difference between the reception it got and the reception it deserved.
4. OUTLANDER- ‘Acts of Harm’
Outlander’s sound- alternative shoegazing post-rock- might feel very “now” but the Birmingham band have been doing this a long time and have left latest trends and genre convention far behind. Here they compose layered, lush doom, sometimes cinematic and sometimes grey and gritty gloom, and songs that sound like winter is coming.
3. KEATON HENSON- ‘Somnambulant Cycles’
I was (mostly) joking when I posted this comment on Keaton Henson’s Last.fm page last year.
But it is true that the famously downbeat artist’s more upbeat works of the last few years weren’t as compelling as what came before. The entirely instrumental ‘Somnambulant Cycles’ is the sad salve to all that. Ok, so there isn’t really fear or dread here- this is no ‘Six Lethargies’– but there is eerie quiet, neo-classical hum, and deep contemplation. An album tailor made for driving late at night or sitting perfectly still or thinking way too much about things. Bonus points for my favourite cover art of the year.
2. SOUR WIDOWS- ‘Revival of a Friend’
Sour Widows take their time. They take regular rock music and pull it apart, bend it and reshape it, and let brand new songs, full of mystery and melancholy, unfold over… well, over however damn long they please. A tender, graceful, beautiful, slow-burning yet constantly surprising album that feels like the antithesis of modern rock and whatever evil lurks behind social media algorithms.
1. LOLA YOUNG- ‘This Wasn’t Meant For You Anyway’
I am not Lola Young’s target market. This almost certainly was not meant for me. But I love it as much as I’ve loved any album for the last few years. It’s brash, it’s bratty, it’s all over the place in the most concentrated way. It’s a weird, intense, absolutely magnetic record made in a raw, old-fashioned way by a polished, future pop star. All of which means it’s probably the most punk rock record on this list. ‘Good Books’ is a beautiful, bristling opener, ‘You Noticed’ routinely breaks my heart, and the warm, rubbery ‘Wish You Were Dead’ is my most listened-to song of the year by some distance. And there’s so much irresistible, now viral, memorable, no, unforgettable quality besides. My favourite album of this year and most likely the biggest album of next year.
