I don't feel like I've listened to more music this year than last, but I must have; as trying to come up with this year's 'best' newly heard tracks was much harder, and I seem to have encountered so much more music than I have the last few years.
I'm still going to pick my six favourite tracks that I've heard for the first time this year, like every year, but this time the long-list is going to be longer; and each of the top six is going to be a favourite from a 'genre' that I've been spending time listening to. They're probably not real genres, or even algorithmically created ones, but it's a way of understanding where each pick came from. As usual there's a Spotify Playlist, but also at the end a listing of all tracks for people on other services, and like last year I'm finding more and more music via Mastodon and Bandcamp.
Everything and Nothing - SOFT PLAY
My favourite song in the 'Shouty-British-Vunerable-Masculinity' category is SOFT PLAY's1 Everything and Nothing. They've had a difficult few years, and it shows, and this song is a great expression of that while trying something musically a little different.
IDLES feel right at home in this new niche genre, with their stripped down, but catchy with a disco edge, songs - and this year I think Dancer, a cross over with LCD Soundsystem that makes the dance part even more explicit, while sticking to their shouty emotional punk skills.
More straight up working class punk is High Viz, but with The Bastard Inside it's clear that they're confronting the same problems as the other bands - the enemy is as much in your own head as outside. By being in communication with your own state that can give you strength, even if it means talking - or better yet shouting - about your emotions.
Flamme Jumelle - Alcest
A really magical album, Les Chants de L'Aurore, is French group Alcest's latest record, and from that Flamme Jumelle feels like the stand out song for me. Echoing and twirling guitar, rising into passages of blissful noise, this is my favourite track in my 'Atmospheric-maybe-post-rock' category.
So, a confession, I've never played the game Outer Wilds - I haven't had the time, or system, to do so - but still hope to do it one day. Even without that experience a friend recommended the soundtrack, and it's excellent. If Space Folk where a real genre, this would be it's masterpiece; a fantastic mix of natural sounds mixed with rolling spaced out synths. I don't think you need to have played the game to appreciate the music, and Timber Hearth is my favourite.
The other album that got a lot of listens is Hammock's 2006 Raising Your Voice…Trying to Stop an echo. Many of the songs are ethereal textures, but somehow draw me in and leave me wondering where I was. Something that initially seems like it could be background music, really isn't. I Can Almost See You is the most poignant for me.
Bad Time - Alkaline Trio
Last year I was surprised by Hundred Reasons making an album, and this year I was equally surprised by Alkaline Trio releasing what feels like a classic. With the song Bad Time they created my favourite 'Pop-Garage-Rock-Punk' track of the year. Typically catchy, with the dark and absurd lyrics that are their hallmark it's, well a classic, and I'm there for that.
It is hard to choose between Bad Time and Killer Antz's, Bruce, a breathy distorted garage band track about seeing your own experiences reflected in Bruce Springsteen's songs.
Another nice discovery were Best Bets from New Zealand, recommended by Jake with Heaven from this year's album The Hollow Husk of Feeling being a great garage rock anthem.
Other notables in this mashed together category include My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist) by Iron Chic and Notausgang by Die Verlierer, a band I saw advertised on posters while on my first trip of the year to Berlin, and sounding a little like Joy Division but more, you know, German.
Big Wave - Jenny & Johnny
I don't think anyone really knows that 'Indie' - as a sound - means anymore, and neither do I really, but that's what I'm going to lump the next tracks together as.
Top hit this year is Big Wave by Jenny & Johnny from 2010's I'm Having Fun Now - which I found via Ben Daubney's Album of the Year collection he re-uploaded to his site. Like the rest of the album, it's just a straight up nice catchy pop song with nice melodies and delightfully not trying to be too many things at once.
The other stand out song found via other people's writing was Girl! by Terror Pigeon, as featured in Keenan's third WeblogPoMo2024 post. (All the posts are worth reading, and it's example of my favourite niche genre of writing about songs and their impact on people.)
A band I'd never heard of before, and than landed in my Discover playlist, are Wussy and I was immediately taken with the recent release Inhaler which has a home on this year's list, but if you've not heard of them before perhaps try 2005's album Funeral Dress as a great starting point.
Other notable songs were The Beths' Expert in a Dying Field, a candid end of relationship memoir, and Help I'm Alive from Canadian Indie rockers Metric.
High Noon in Sword City - 10,000 Years
Like 'Indie' above I'm going to lazily lump all these into a 'Heavy Guitar/Metal' category; some of it clearly is metal, and other parts…I'm not so sure, but can't be bothered to figure out exactly what genre it is.
My top track though is clearly metal, doom/stoner metal from Sweden no less, with 10,000 Years' High Noon in Sword City from the All Quiet On The Final Frontier (solid name) album. Just the perfect combination of melody, pace and riffage. The whole album is great, but that track really nails it.
Talking of riffage, that's something the duo Zolle are not missing. I guess it's metal? Whatever it is, is an excellent noise, a strange combination of riffs, rhythmic guitar effects and modulated chants, the whole album reminds me of an impatient version of Torche, or perhaps That F-cking Tank?
For heavy music I seem to have drifted more to Bandcamp this year that other years, both of the above are bands I've heard there, as is Casual Toast, metal band (person?) from Japan. I know nothing about Japanese metal, and bumbled onto this completely by accident; and particularly liked The Boy on Venus, for it's mixing of staby, almost chip tune, keys and guitar.
While from Switzerland, Megaton Sword filled my need for some classic NWOBHM sounds this year, and Wastrels is my favourite track of theirs. Sounding more classic metal in sound, but unbelievably a noise made only by two people is Djunah and the awesome Seven Winds of Sekhmet.
Groups Hollows - Craven Faults
Top in this vague category of 'electronic', e.g. everything I listened to that doesn't revolve heavily around guitars, is Craven Fault's Groups Hollows. It sounds like the kind of music a recluse with a euro-rack synthesizer would make if they lived in a decaying barn somewhere on the Yorkshire Moors, and I'm almost certain that's what Craven Faults is. It's very 'twiddly' shifting music, more soundscapes perhaps than songs, but their beautiful drifting rhythms really do evoke a strong mood and landscape.
If Public Service Broadcasting are 'electronic' is a moot point, but let's assume they are. The Last Flight was released this year, and I think it's a great album with a strong theme and idea. I've listened to it a lot, and my favourite single track is Arabian Flight; even if I feel that it's stronger as an album than any one track. This song is one of the more reflective, and one that lets Amelia Earheart give voice on her desire to keep exploring and trying new things.
Other songs I really enjoyed were Saboten from Susumu Yokota's Acid Mt Fuji (the whole album is a classic ambient techno record). Tourist's album Memory Morning was also excellent, with really lush production values and a number of songs that made me think of Moby's Play, but my favourite track is probably Blink.
Other
The downside to having categories is there are naturally things that don't fit into any of them well; which brings me to the misfits. These were all interesting tracks that I really enjoyed in their own way.
One sub-group might be considered more guitar virtuoso. These are songs I've enjoyed, but often more for their technical skill than evoking strong emotions, but are still great songs. Something like the short delay drenched tracks of Hermanos Guitérrez, Mdou Moctar's electric desert rock or Noé Soche smart and playful Blues.
Last year Hundred Reasons featured heavily in my best of list, and they appear to have been quiet this year, but there long standing friends Hell Is For Heros released a decent post-hardcore single If Your Heart Will Answer which builds to a nice chorus. Drum & Bass is not a genre I listen to much, but CALL MY NAME, or well most things from REAPER's album CHALLENGER are great if you're in the right mood.
Full List
Under the 'genre' heading is the song's name - artist name. Ideally there would be a service like song.link that works with playlists, and not just individual songs or albums. Until then a text list will have to do:
Shouty-British-Vunerable-Masculinity
- Everything and Nothing - SOFT PLAY
- Dancer - IDLES/LCD Sound System
- The Bastard Inside - High Viz
Atmospheric-maybe-post-rock
- Flamme Jumelle - Alcest
- Timber Hearth - Andrew Prahlow
- I Can Almost See You - Hammock
Pop-Garage-Rock-Punk
- Bad Time - Alkaline Trio
- Bruce - Killer Antz
- Heaven - Best Bets
- My Best Friend (Is a Nihilist) - Iron Chic
- Notausgang - Die Verlierer
Indie
- Big Wave - Jenny & Johnny
- Girl! - Terror Pigeon
- Inhaler - Wussy
- Expert in a Dying Field - The Beths
- Help I'm Alive - Metric
Heavy Guitar/Metal
- High Noon in Sword City - 10,000 years
- Fiocce - Zolle
- The Boy on Venus - Casual Toast
- Wastrels - Megaton Sword
- Seven Winds of Sekhmet - Djunah
Electronic
- Craven Faults - Groups Hollows
- Arabian Flight - Public Service Broadcasting
- Saboten - Susumu Yokota
- Blink - Tourist
Other
- Certa De Ti - Hermanos Guitérrez
- Noé's Shuffle - Noé Soche
- Chismiten - Mdou Moctar
- If Your Heart Will Answer - Hell is For Heros
- CALL MY NAME - REAPER