The 2023 ones that got away:

Honourable mentions to two 2023 albums I didn’t pick up on at the time.  I came across Lankum’s ‘False Lankum’ after it featured in a number of end of year critic picks.  I stuck on the Video for ‘Go Dig My Grave’ at volume and after five seconds the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and by the end of the track I was already booking a ticket for their live show at the Hackney Empire.  Hands down my best gig of the year.  This group is genuinely special, and I impatiently wait their next move.  Over three albums they have gradually moved from traditional Irish folk music to a deconstruction and reinterpretation of those traditions with an almost dronecore angle.  Radie Peat has a phenomenal voice.  The result is dynamite.

‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ by Chappell Roan is another corker, great pop with an edge and some genuinely good storytelling through the small southern US town to big city gay experience. Very excited to see her at Reading Festival next year!

Number 35: Soft Play – Heavy Jelly

‘Punk’s Dead’ came out so far ahead of the album this almost feels like a 2023 pick. However, the Robbie William’s assisted lead single still hits brilliantly. “Jonny Rotten’s turning in his bed, I was gonna say grave but the f****r ain’t dead!” This is a solid collection of abrasive punk tracks with plenty of message. The final track Everything and Nothing perhaps hints at a future direction for the duo, there is a mandolin and violin infusion that suggests a slightly more melodic capability than previously hinted at – though on this occasion still undercut by the harsher vocals.

Number 34: Kendrick Lamar – GMX

I don’t often listen to hip-hop with this level of ‘bitch’ and ‘nigga’ scattered through it these days but you cannot deny the sheer craftmanship of Kendrick Lamar. He has impeccable control of both his lyrical flow and the musical production. There is also a swagger from the knowledge that he is at the pinnacle of his genre. Having crushed Drake in their on-running dispute, he feels so far beyond his peers he instead on this album playfully picks a lyrical argument with God where he plays both Kendrick and God. Somehow across the album he gets away with this level of hubris. MUSTARDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!

Number 33: Father John Misty – Mahashmashana

I already know I am going to regret putting this album this low in a few month’s time, but as it only released on the 22nd of November I still haven’t got my head around the full extent of its brilliance yet. The former ‘Fleet Foxes’ drummer continues to grow as a solo artist. Vocally, it has a level of steady laid-back control that breaks out on the big choruses to something grander. Musically Misty’s core band are augmented by both synths and strings as the songs require. This is an assured, mature performance from an artist at the top of his very substantial game. Ignoring chasing musical trends it very much ploughs its own furrow.

Number 32: Gracie Abrams – The Secret of Us

2024 has been a cracking year for guitar fuelled pop and in particular for female artists confidently asserting control over their own destiny. Whilst there was initially a strong whiff of ‘Nepo Baby’ around Abrams (her father is film and TV director and producer J.J. Abrams) and stylistically there are big nods to other artists, particularly Lorde, Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift, she has emerged with a great set of songs and some killer singles. Aaron Dessner from the National remains a key producer as on her earlier debut album. 4 tracks on the album have passed the 100 million stream mark on Spotify, despite her not yet having the same level of name recognition amongst the general populace that many of her influences enjoy. She could very well dominate 2025 on her current trajectory.

Number 31: The Cure – Songs of a Lost World

The first Cure album in sixteen (SIXTEEN!) years was worth every second of the wait. The Cure have been many things over the years but they always transcended the goth box that people wanted to put them into with their ear for brilliant pop and rock transcendence. This is every bit the masterwork of a talented elder musical statesman, Robert Smith being solely responsible for all the song writing and vocal duties. Opening track ‘Alone’ starts like a slow-moving indie glacier before Smith’s vocals finally kick in halfway through the 6 minute track and gives it a soaring emotionality that Nick Cave or The Arcade Fire would be immensely proud of. The album carries the weight of personal loss (‘A Fragile Thing’, ‘I Can Never Say Goodbye’) but is never pulled into despair. If this is the last thing The Cure put out it is a fitting epitaph to a phenomenal career, however given the strength of the writing here, it would be great to hope another album might follow a little bit more quickly this time.