Well Hi, its been a minute hasn't it? This will be my first post in about 4 years. I will say mainly because I have not had a home computer in most of that time but you know other things get in the way too. I'm sure the world has been missing my take on the music scene. Anyway 2024 I have been listening to a LOT of music, according to Last.fm, I have had my prolific listening year.. well, ever! so this one should be based on some good listening. And so onto the list;

10. Bright Eyes - Five Dice, all Threes

It was touch and go whether this album was going to make my list as there was another which ran it very close. Five Dice, all Threes is the 10th album from Bright Eyes if you exclude their Christmas release and whilst not there best it is a solid listen. All being well I would have seen Bright Eyes live this year but they cancelled the UK part of the tour due to front man Conor Oberst losing his voice. Best tracks on the album include; Bells & Whistles, Rainbow Overpass and El Capitan.

9. Sum 41 - Heaven :x: Hell 

This is a lot lower than I had foreseen putting this album. Unlike Bright Eyes I did manage to see Sum 41 this year on their farewell tour. It was great fun seeing the pop-punkers bringing out all of their former glories such as "In Too Deep" and "Fat Lip" but actually I really enjoyed some of the tracks from this new album too. The singles "Landmines" was one of my top tracks of last year and "Rise Up was another great single coming from this release but my personal favourite was "Future Primitive", a song that sounds like it has been taken straight from an early Tony Hawk's video game. The downside to this album is that in being a double album its just too long, ironically for the band its not All Killer and has plenty of filler including a fairly poor Rolling Stones cover of Paint it Black.

8. Kendrick Lamar - GNX

A very late entry onto the list and one that had it come out a bit sooner may have been a few places up the list. K-dot was named rapper of the year and that was before this album even dropped, heavily based on the "beef" between himself and Drake which Kendrick resoundingly came out on top of with the release of the non album track "Not Like Us". As for the album, I not only enjoy the tracks but have found myself researching the lore behind them which has helped to build them out and make them more enjoyable. Some of my favourites from the project include; "Squabble Up", "Hey Now" and "Reincarnated" 

7. Fontaines D.C. - Romance

Romance is the 4th studio album by Irish Post-Punk band Fontaines D.C.. This was the first time I had really given the band any time of day and it was only after I heard the single "Starburster" which was one of my absolute highlights of the year with its odd rap like verses and chorus with its gasping noises, I can't put my finger on exactly what it is but I couldn't stop listening. Some of the other songs on the album took me a little longer to get into but over the course of the year it has been an album that I keep finding myself coming back to. Favourites include "starburster", "In the modern world" and "favourite".

6. Soft Play - Heavy Jelly

5. JPEGMAFIA - I Lay Down My Life For You

4. Yard Act - Where's my Utopia?

3. Jack White - No Name

2. The Last Dinner Party - Prelude to Ecstasy 

1. The Libertines - All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

Well this has been a pretty uneventful year.. No, no that is not true. In a lot of ways I have been very lucky, myself and my family have remained healthy, I have been able to work throughout, the birth of my second child went as well as it could have and to round it off I've even had the vaccine but still a bit of a crap one. Musically it has been pretty interesting, I was doing well until March listening to a lot of new music, then I mostly was listening to REM - Its the end of the world as we know it and drowning my sorrows in beer. No matter though I have managed to pull together a list with the same rules as ever, 25 songs released as single or on an album this year and no two songs from the same artist;

25. BABYMETAL - BxMxC

24. Panic Shack - Jiu Jits You

23. MF Tomlinson - Strange Time

22. Do Nothing - Lebron James

21. Bright Eyes - Mariana Trench

20. Declan McKenna - Beautiful Faces

19. Waxahatchee - Can't Do Much

18. Little Man Tate - Boy in the Anorak

17. Powfu - death bed (coffee for your head)(ft. Beebadobee)

16. boy pablo - hey girl

15. The Strokes - Bad Decisions

14. Megan Thee Stallion - Savage Remix (Ft. Beyonce)

13. Slaves - One More Day Won't Hurt (Ft. Bob Vylan)

12. SHY FX - Roll The Dice (Ft. Stamina MC and Lily Allen)

11. JME - Pricks

10. Grouplove - Wildflowers

9. Trampolene - Uncle Brian's Abatoir (Ft. Peter Doherty)

8. The Reytons - Headache

7. Everything Everything - In Birdsong

6. Mura Masa - Deal Wiv It (Ft. Slowthai)

5. Laura Marling - For You

4. Bombay Bicycle Club - Everything Else Has Gone Wrong

3. Billy Nomates - Hippy Elite

2. Sports Team - Here's The Thing

1. Gorillaz - Momentary Bliss (Ft. Slaves and Slowthai)

So a couple of things to address, yes Slaves and Slowthai appear twice each but I have taken the decision to go with the named artist meaning I go with it as they are featured artists not the main artist (plus its my list). The next thing is the sheer amount of collaborations in this list on a year when we weren't allowed to meet up is very ironic. I think this list is probably one of the more eclectic I've ever had, of course plenty of indie but within there you have some elements of jazz, grime, hip hop, heavy metal and whatever you would classify the SHY FX song as?! 

But anyway good one for Gorillaz, Momentary Bliss was out very early in the year and I have loved it throughout and am nowhere near sick of it. If you want to listen to the playlist you can find it here. 

Best Albums list to come and maybe even a Beers of the Year list, we will see. Much Love

END

I said I would do it and I have done so, this was far more complicated than I had hoped for and in truth I am not really that happy with this list as a finite best of the decade, more so this is 50 songs that I really like from the past 10 years. I did originally plan to go to 100 but by the time you get that far you start thinking do I really like this more than that and it loses its fun.

50. Bombino - Amidinine 

49. Akala - Yours and My Children

48. Johnny Flynn - Raising the Daed

47. Bipolar Sunshine - Rivers

46. FFS - Johnny Delusional

45. Perfume Genius - Mr Peterson

44. Azealia Banks - 212

43. Alice Merton - No Roots

42. Nova Twins - Bassline Bitch

41. Xylaroo - Sunshine

40. We Are Scientists - Buckle

39. Sunless '97 - Whenever I can

38. RATBOY - Move

37. Peace - California Daze

36. M.I.A. - Come Walk With Me

35. Oberhofer - Away Frm U

34. Stormzy - Big for your boots

33. Jamie T - Zombie

32. Vampire Weekend - Unbelievers

31. Lost Under Heaven - I&I

30. AJ Tracey - Ladbroke Grove

29. Blaenavon - Orthadox Man

28. Citadels - The Chemical Song

27. GIRLI - Friday Night Big Screen

26. Art Brut - Hospital!

25. David Bowie - Where Are We Now?

24. Bloc Party - The Love Within

23. Declan McKenna - Why Do Yo Feel So Down?

22. Everything Everything - Regret

21. Blossoms - Charlemagne

20. The Big Moon - Formidable

19. Peter Doherty - Flags of the Old Regime

18. Kele - Everything You Wanted

17. Tinashe - Zambezi

16. Skinny Lister - Plough & Orion

15. Bellowhead - New York Girls

14. King Charles - Love Lust

13. The Skints - Rat-A-Tat-Tat

12. Frank Turner - Get Better

11. Jerry Williams - Grab Life

10. Cocknbullkid - Cocknbullkid

9. Many Thiings - Dear One

8. Two Door Cinema Club - Come Back Home

7. Palma Violets - Best of Friends

6. Crystal Castles - Not In Love (ft. Robert Smith)

5. Drenge - Bloodsports

4. Childcare - Kimberley

3. Grouplove - Colours

2. The Libertines - Heart of the Matter

1. Egyptian Hip Hop - Rad Pitt

There we have, 10 years in just short of 3 hours, I feel there is probably a bit of a nostalgia bias towards the songs from the beginning of the decade and give it another few years this list might be a bit different. If you want to have a listen you can here, minus track 4 which is not on Spotify.

END