DECANTED 2024 - THE SONG SOMMELIER TOP ALBUM PICKS
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DECANTED 2024 - THE SONG SOMMELIER TOP ALBUM PICKS 〰️
Well, ‘tis list season again. I can’t decide whether these end of year ‘best of’ lists are more important than ever, or no longer of any meaning at all. They might be of more importance than ever because we live in a content flood. And helping us navigate that flood is that trusted friend, the algorithm. Yeah right! So we really do need these human curated lists. On the other hand, there are just sooooo many of them now, it seems, that it almost defeats the point i.e. scarcity, a filter. Even prioritising your lists (I’m down to a few: Pitchfork, Bandcamp, The Quietus, Limited Addition Records and Daily Records), that would mean you effectively have a list of lists.
Of course, there is Spotify Wrapped, now so big a ‘sub-brand’ in itself, that Spotifiers work around the clock on it during the month of November. Although despite that, Wrapped appears to be partly A.I. powered this time around, which has caused some blowback. But then here is ‘Decanted’, the Song Sommelier album picks of 2024. And what a year! I’m just one person but I think I have about 25 favourites this year (see Instagram for the day-by-day Stories). And The Quietus list reminds me just how many I’ve missed.
The album was once under threat. Napster and iTunes unbundled it. Spotify shuffled it. But in the end, the album endured. The album won. The album reassembled. And the album is getting stronger. Vinyl is back. 8-12 tracks are back. Sleeve notes are back. Cover art is back. The classic album is back! This is good for music, good for business, good for artists and good for fans.
Each year, I pick out 12 (although there may be an extra one in the box this year) favourites like a case of fine wine, or a crate of finely crafted beer. Selected one & all by hand and ears. I’ve done this since 2022 but I’ve done it in my head since 1992 (that was the year Alice in Chains Dirt was top of the list). These 12 are the ones I’ve played the most, with some of them added to my vinyl collection (why can’t Wrapped measure these listens then, a?).
Some of these albums are classics. They are true examplars of the format - great songwriting, production, track sequencing, and perhaps also held together by a strong concept or theme. I’ll enjoy many of these records as much as I do my list of all-time classics. I hope you will too.
Happy musical 2025!
ANOTHER SKY: BEACH DAY
The album that restored my faith in rock music. Best wishes and good luck to them.
Discovery credit: Spotify!
fontaines d.c.: romance
When a band of potential hits their stride. More melodic out of choice, just getting better because they can. On the verge of greatness. Don’t blow it now lads.
Discovery credit: Fontaines D.C.
Joan As Policewoman: Lemons, Limes and Orchids
Soooo cool and sophisticated and it sounds luxurious. On the vinyl sleeve notes, Joan thanks her players for making the music smoulder. And it does. On heavy rotation in my cocktail bar. Full Time Heist is my song of the year and a theme tune for life (though for the record I am NOT a thief).
Discovery credit: JAPW
Nada Surf, Moon Mirror
Lyrically poignant, musically a power-pop grower. An indie masterclass and an unstated gem. So, discover it for yourself! Or miss out. Your call. Contains genuine epic songs such as The One You Want, New Propeller, Losing. And more!
Discovery credit: Nada Surf
Tindersticks: Soft Tissue
A return to form, their best since The Waiting Room. Stuart Staples and his band are unique in the best possible way. The soundtrack to a walk in the park in recovery from…something.
Discovery credit: Tindersticks
MICHAEL KIWANUKA: SMALL CHANGES
His second classic album, and yet he’s still only 37. It’s so great to see someone who was hyped by the industry and then stepped away, to subsequently make a return and do it his way.
A gentle masterpiece really.
Discovery credit: Michael Kiwanuka
The Smile: Cutouts
You don’t wait ages for The Smile to make records like you do for Radiohead to make records. They make two albums the same year, for example. But then, this is as good as a Radiohead record. So what’s not to love?
Discovery credit: BBC 6 Music
elbow: audio vertigo
Finally, Elbow stop being try-hards and rediscover how good they are. And, how fun they are. And how groovy they are.
Discovery credit: Elbow
newdad: madra
What a debut! And what a great year for Shoegaze, Dreampop and those scenes, coming back around with creative strength. See also GIFT Illuminator. but I had to give the slot to an Irish band, I hope you understand.
Discovery credit: BBC 6 Music
Los Campesinos: all hell
Great songs, great sequencing, grows on you and has interludes. The least likely band to make a classic album went and done just that.
Discovery credit: Pitchfork’s 8.5 review (then, why not on the best of 2024?)
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING: Mountainhead
Well this is too clever. And too melodic. Too damn good. EE are on a hot streak, so why are they not the biggest band in Britain. Are we not entertained! Played it to death.
Discovery credit: EE
giant walker: silhouettes
Rock is a Cinderella genre but this lot WILL go to the ball! Even if I have to buy them a ticket myself! So there! If Paramore went back to being heavier. And moved to Newcastle Upon Tyne.
Discovery credit: The British Council’s Selector Radio
jessica pratt: here in the pitch
Rob, of Limited Addition: “Jessica Pratt's sound is still rooted in the 60s and that's fine by us, we've loved her warm folk and still smash those first three albums but on her fourth, she is more Hollywood soft pop starlet, it's got a floaty bossa nova style, a golden age of cinema musical ballad style, full of emotion without the overblown style of musicals to follow”.
Couldn’t say it better meself!
Discovery credit: Limited Addition Records