Make no bones about it, 2024 can get in the sea. The world has seemingly been turning to shit for several years now, but these last 12 months have been something else entirely. It feels like we’ve hit rock bottom.
It doesn’t seem to matter what corner of the earth you’re from or what side of the fence you sit. No matter where you look there is division, there is hatred, there is cruelty and a blatant disregard for others. The rich have never been richer whilst the cost of living is going through the roof. Billionaires are choosing presidents and governments are turning a blind eye to genocide whilst taking backward steps with our health, animal conservation and pollution. It’s a total shit show.
Closer to home I have never known such heartache and despair. So many people I know seem to have had the most awful year and I feel powerless to help them.
It feels somewhat redundant then to share a list of my favourite records from the past 12 months. But music is a healer. It can bring people together. And during a time where I’ve found it hard to find much good in the world, it’s the music in this list that I have turned to for a little hope and reassurance.
Writing about music is my way of making sense of the world, and by sharing this list with you I’m reminding myself that there is still something beautiful out there.
I hope you’ve found something beautiful too.
Before I get to my choices I feel I should share a bit of pre-waffle, so skip ahead if you’re not arsed.
I need to confess that I haven’t been able to buy as many of these albums as I’d have liked this year. I’m aware that I’ve been far too reliant on my Spotify account, and in a time where we desperately need to champion and support new artists I really should have done better.
I tried to support my local record store as much as I could, and I’ve also started going to a lot more gigs again as well, I just lost the balance between streaming and supporting the little guys. The change in my listening habits hasn’t helped proceedings. I’ve found that I now listen to a lot more music on the go than I do at home. Next year I really need to reclaim my living room and blow the dust off my record player. I definitely need to buy a few more records off this list.
I’ll see how the new year plays out, but for now at least, if you’ll indulge me, my ten favourite albums of the year…
1. Van Houten – The Tallest Room
I’ve picked Van Houten’s The Tallest Room as my album of the year for the simplest reason that it’s the one I’ve enjoyed listening to the most.
I wouldn’t say it’s a particularly groundbreaking or innovative record, I just think that Van Houten are really good at what they do.
Filled to the brim with chiming, melodic guitar lines and dreamy distorted rhythms, The Tallest Room is a dream pop fans delight. It’s also an album I wish I had in my late teens when I was enjoying the likes of Alfie, The Kingsbury Manx and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Panoramic View sounds like Kings of Convenience being backed by Deerhunter, Only Wanna Be With You sounds like a long lost Pavement classic and Coming of Age sounds like a record The War on Drugs would’ve made if they came from Manchester. It really jangles and pulses and soars. I should probably point out that Van Houten actually come from Leeds but you know what I mean. Leeds just doesn’t have the same connotations.
Anyway, I’m gonna pick a favourite track from each of the albums in my top 10 and The Tallest Room has been the hardest one of these to pick a favourite from. I love the whole thing from start to finish. My heart wanted to choose the 8 minute long album closer I Let You but my head wants you to actually go away and listen to this, so I’ve gone with the lead single instead…
Favourite Track: Coming of Age.
Play it loud, it’s a belter.
2. Father John Misty – Mahashmashana
I toyed with putting Father John Misty’s latest opus in first place, but seeing as Mahashmashana is barely a month old it seemed a little dishonest of me to say that it’s been my favourite album of the year.
That isn’t to say that it hasn’t completely blown me away though. From my very first listen I was absolutely smitten with it. It usually takes me a few listens of a new record before I really fall in love with it, but I was hooked with this one from the moment I pressed play. The opening title track set the tone with it’s Phil Spector-esque levels of grandeur, but every song was just as amazing as the first and sounded so different from each song that came before it that by the time I got to the fifth track, Screamland, I was already thinking that Mahashmashana could be the best album of the year.
I’ve lived with it for a bit longer now and it’s still packing the same punches for me. This will probably sound foolish, but when I’m listening to Mahashmashana I feel like I’m listening to a classic 1970’s Hollywood movie or something. The horns, the strings, THAT voice, the whole feel and scope of it. It sounds like cinema.
I should say I’ve only ever flirted with Father John Misty’s back catalogue up to now. I previously thought on albums like Pure Comedy that he was trying a bit too hard and if I’m being honest it used to rub me the wrong way. I realise now the error of my ways and I’m finally beginning to understand what a lot of you have already known for years: Father John Misty is fucking great.
Favourite Track: Screamland
3. Bill Ryder-Jones – Iechyd Da
Bill Ryder-Jones has been a favourite of mine ever since I heard his third album West Kirby County Primary during lockdown. I’ve been championing him ever since and I’m made up for him that Iechyd Da is doing so well. “Iechyd da” is a Welsh expression to say when raising a toast. It means “cheers” or “good health” and it’s an apt title for both Bill and this record alike. This has been Bill’s year and it’s great that he finally seems to be getting the recognition that he deserves.
I remember him saying before the album was released that he thought it was the best record that he’s ever made and it’s hard to disagree with him. His songwriting is stronger than ever and the production is so much larger and more ambitious than anything he’s ever done before. The use of a kids choir on songs like It’s Today Again and We Don’t Need Them is another highlight and shows that he’s not afraid to take creative risks. I recently saw Bill play the album in its entirety at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and the kids choir came out and brought the house down. It was the only night of the tour that they sang with him and it was a really special moment for everyone in that audience to witness.
Iechyd Da is another album that I could just as easily have said was my favourite of the year. I love how Bill can slip in a nod to the likes of Die Hard 2 and American Dad one minute and then break your heart with contemplative observations about life and love the next. It just feels real.
“There’s something great about life…” Bill sings on It’s Today Again, “but there’s something not quite right.” I can’t tell you how hard that line hit me when I first bought the record in January. It’s all the more meaningful to me now after the year we’ve just had. There’s something not quite right indeed.
Favourite Track: It’s Today Again
4. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Wild God
Similarly to my relationship with Father John Misty, I feel like I’m more familiar with the lore of Nick Cave than I am with his actual back catalogue. I like The Boatman’s Call and I think No More Shall We Part is brilliant, I’ve just always been a bit intimidated by the reverence of the man and I’ve never allowed myself to get fully immersed in his work.
I think a big part of that is that I’m not really a lyrics guy. It’s taken me a lifetime to realise this, but the words to a song are always what hit me last. I primarily tend to respond to the feel of a song or the tone of a guitar, or an affecting chord change. To be honest I don’t really mind what you’re singing as long as I find the voice appealing. That might be why I like R.E.M. so much? I guess it’s all in the delivery.
It doesn’t hurt if you add a bloody great gospel choir to the proceedings, mind you. This might be why I’ve found Nick Cave’s Wild God to be so immediate and captivating. Tracks like Song of the Lake and Frogs are propelled along by swirling hooks and rhythms, but the addition of a gospel choir takes these songs to another level, it gives them such a lift! There’s something about gospel music that’s absolutely hair raising isn’t there? It’s just so powerful. I’ve never been sure if I’m an agnostic or an atheist, but album closer As the Waters Cover the Sea is so uplifting that it almost makes me wish I believed.
I understand that Nick Cave has endured a great deal of personal tragedy these past few years and several tracks on Wild God suggest that he’s found strength in a higher being that he previously didn’t believe in. He once sang on the beautiful ballad Into My Arms that he didn’t “believe in an interventionist God”, but on O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is) he seems to have come around to the idea that God indeed “actually exits”. Granted, it’s the sight of his lover not wearing her panties that inspired this moment of enlightenment, but you take your divine inspirations where you find them. Prince wrote The Most Beautiful Girl in the World and Nick Cave wrote this. It’s genius.
When I wrote at the start about turning to music when I was finding it hard to find much good in the world, this is one of the songs I was referring to. I’d like to induct it into my wholesome hall of fame along with Detectorists and Bluey. O wow O wow how wonderful it is.
Favourite Track: O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)
5. Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes
I started to worry for Michael Kiwanuka during the 5 years that passed since he released his self titled masterpiece Kiwanuka in 2019. That album was so ridiculously good that it wasn’t any wonder that he was taking his time making another. I mean how DO you follow a record like THAT?!
In the end he’s kind of played it safe, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. On Small Changes Michael Kiwanuka has once again teamed up with trusted producers and collaborators Dangermouse & Inflo, and together they’ve made yet another gorgeous album full of heart and soul. I guess as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That said, Small Changes isn’t anywhere near as kaleidoscopic as Kiwanuka was. The quality is still there mind you, he just has a knack for making consistently great records.
I find Small Changes to be really comforting. It’s like a hug from an old friend that you haven’t seen for while. A friend you can always rely on.
Favourite Track: One and Only.
So that was albums 1-5 from my Top Ten. I’m only half way through my list and I appreciate I’ve been taking my time. I’ve decided to break things up with a song from album no. 6, Sam Evian’s Rollin’ In, it’s a real beauty. If you’re into this and you like what you’ve been reading so far, then albums 6-10 of my Top 10 records of 2024 are just a click away on Page 2. Cheers.
Sitting Up Straight 