First off, my apologies this is SOOOOO late. December was once my slowest work month, but over the past few years it seems like more and more personal events are filling what used to be the empty December space in my calendar.

This year in particular, I had a lot of “health issues”. I put that in quotes because I’m fine. I had a minor outpatient surgery in mid-December and am 100% back from that. But ever since my insurance switched me to a new network last May, these new doctors been VERY proactive in checking me out. For example, since I’m a former smoker, they wanted a chest CT scan… which I did last week, and which came back fine. Point is, I’ve been doing A LOT of this kind of stuff the past couple months.

Aaaaaanyway, musically 2024 was much like 2023 for me… I loved tons of individual tracks, but as far as whole albums go… not so much. I do think I like this year’s Top 10 albums more than last years, though: according to Last.fm I listened to many of this year’s albums more than their corresponding album last year!

So let’s get to it: below are my ten favorite albums of 2024. The list comes from my Last.fm stats generally; I almost always tinker with the specific order of the albums. After that are the honorable mentions, followed by the “Band of the Year”, “Song of the Year”, “Live Song of the Year” and the raw data from Last.fm.

My Top Albums of 2024

10) Emilíana Torrini – Miss Flower – I love Emilíana Torrini SO MUCH you guys! Her 1999 album Love in the Time of Science is easily in my all-time, take ’em to the grave Top 10 list! But her output has always been sporadic. This is her first solo album since 2013’s Tookah! There’s a lot to like here! It’s much more in the “electronica” vein than the “acoustic singer\songwriter” genre she always seems to flirt with. Odd thing is, I like the non-single tracks here way more than the singles. There’s nothing wrong with “Black Lion Lane”, but I think the opener, the dark “Black Water” is so much better! I’m just SO GLAD to have this lady back! Now: COME TO ATLANTA! (Charlotte’s a wish too far, huh?)

9) Fabienne Debarre – Welcome to the Age of Broken Minds – Most years I have at least one “mystery guest”, an artist so unknown that Spotify, Last.fm and Wikipedia have no information about them at all. To many, Fabienne Debarre might be just that person this year… except she’s got deets. She’s a long-time collaborator of Baxter Dury (son of Ian Dury, of “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” fame). She’s also a longtime member of the well-regarded French band Evergreen. So yeah… maybe you’ve never heard of her, but this is an all-around solid album of European indie synth(-ish)pop. There’s really not a bad track on this one, and I found myself surprised at how often I’d put on the opening track, “Burning” (see below) and would listen to the rest of the album all the way though.

8) The George Kaplan Conspiracy- Polychromatic – So… French Nu-Disco is a thing. This album slaps. It’s the kind of thing you can throw on at a party and forget about, ‘cos there are no ballads or acoustic bits. This is the kind of music you’d hear in a really hip European coffeehouse or lounge. Or on the soundtrack to some hip TV show like You or Killing Eve. Or in Topshop, or whatever place hipster 20 year-old European girls shop at these days. The point is, they’re fun! Give ’em a try!

7) Oxford Drama – The World Is Louder – Oxford Drama are a duo from Wrocław, Poland. They make some really good indie pop tunes! And this is one of those albums that kind of inexplicably sticks around. Like, I’d see it in my library in Spotify and think “sure, let’s hear this song!” but I’d stick around for the whole album! It’s kind of Corrs\Sixpence None The Richer-like at times, so if you dig those bands, check these guys out! I really like them… but then again I’m a guy who “stops liking bands once you need a comma to count their fans”.

6) Cults – To The Ghosts – Founded by San Franciscans in New York City all the way back in 2010, Cults are a mixture of 60s girl bands and gauzy dream pop. But they’re kind of silly, too. They have the same kind of tongue-in-cheek “Oooooo! We’re SCARY!!” thing that The Cramps had so long ago. And it especially comes through in this album (check out that video!). They’re just a lot of fun, and this album just has this incredible “what if Betty Draper was a serial killer?” vibe that I just adore! I don’t understand why this band generally, and this album specifically, aren’t more popular with the GenX crowd. If you watched 120 Minutes, this band is SO for you! Also, these guys covered The Motels’ first LP, and it’s worth tracking that down!

5) Julia Holter – Something in the Room She Moves – I don’t know how to say this without sounding like a pretentious twat, so here goes: Julia Holter’s music isn’t for everyone. This music exists at the junction of art pop, ambient, avant-garde, experimental and modern classical that’s… difficult to approach in a lot of ways. This isn’t the kind of music you throw on at a party… unless maybe it’s an acid party? But there’s something deep in it, something fundamental, that I really like about it. Holter just resonates with me on a deep level, and this album continues her string of home runs!

4) L’Impératrice – Pulsar – Ever have an album just fall through the cracks? Pulsar is one of those. It came out in July and I listened to it a couple times and liked it, but that was about it. A couple months later I found out they were playing Atlanta, so I thought “well, I really like these [old songs], and they’re one of my French bands who don’t come around on tour that often, so I should go”. The show was on January 14, so in mid December I was like “perhaps you should listen to Pulsar again?”

Holy crap! What was I thinking? This album is AMAZING! But first: L’Impératrice is often classed as “Nu-Disco”…. which is… well, current music that sounds a lot like 1970s disco. But instead of doing everything on a laptop, they have actual musicians. A real bass player! A real drummer! A real guitarist! So look, this album is something that thumps that you put on at a party, or when friends come over. This is an album for fun times, nothing more. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

3) Fazerdaze – Soft Power – One thing you need to know: Wellington, New Zealand’s Amelia Murray – better known under her stage name, Fazerdaze – doesn’t miss. She says this album – Soft Power – is about how music is her own soft power. It’s shimmery, hazy, it’s beautiful. And if women-fronted dream pop is your thing, just about every song on this album kicks. You’ll have a hard time choosing which one is your favorite! “Cherry Pie” is mine:

2) Saint Etienne – “The Night” – This has proven to be quite the divisive album for fans! 2021’s I’ve Been Trying To Tell You was born of COVID necessity. Without the ability to be in the studio together, the band came up with an almost-ambient mix of incredibly slowed down beats with a smattering of 90s pop samples. I thought it was beautiful, but as I didn’t grow up in the UK in the 90s, I missed so much of the symbolism. It would be like me making a track of clever 80s samples… then playing it for teenagers who  appreciate the music on its own merits, but miss all the added context from the samples.

I mention all this because the Saint Etienne fanbase can’t seem to tell if this album – and yes, it’s supposed to include the quotes, so magazines should be writing it as “”The Night”” – is a prequel or sequel of the last album. This album is downright atmospheric, at times reminding me of David Sylvian’s work with Holger Czukay, with Sarah slowly singing over the top.

Look, if you’re a Saint Etienne fan, you’ll probably like this. If you’re a fan of soundtracks, you’ll probably like this. If you’re a fan of falling asleep with slow, dreamy, ambientish music on, you will also like this. If you’re one of those people who just wish Saint Etienne would go back to making regular pop music, fear not: they have completed a new album of just that, and it should be released in a couple months!

1) Juniore – Trois, Deux, Un – If you’ve never heard of this band, Juniore are a band from Paris. Two women, Anna Jean (vocals and guitars) and Swanny Elzingre (drums), seem to be the main members. Several other women have come and gone over the years, and there’s this mysterious guy in a very large hat who never reveals his who performs with the band. I think he’s their producer.

Their obvious influence is yé-yé. This was a musical movement in the Romantic-language countries (but especially France) in the early 1960s as a response to late 50s\early 60s American bubblegum girl bands. Think of early Françoise Hardy and Sylvie Vartan. Now imagine that music filtered through dark psychedelia, like The Doors or Velvet Underground. Now add just a touch of surf rock and you’ve got Juniore.

Imagine them on the soundtrack to a Quentin Tarantino film:

I’ll admit they’re not for everybody, but if these ladies just cook. They are VERY GOOD at what they do. I love every track on the album, and have listened to this over and over again this year. [chef’s kiss] it’s PERFECT!

Honorable Mentions and EPs

Albums I especially like are in BOLD.

Anna Prior – Almost Love
Bathe Alone – I Don’t Do Humidity
Brijean – Macro
Clara Luciani – Mon Sang
deary – Aurelia EP
Evergreen – Sign Out
Four Tet – Three
Hana Vu – Romanticism
Hazel English – Real Life
Hooverphonic – Fake is the New Dope
Hoshi – Coeur papillion
Jean Bonjour – Nouvelle Ère
Jesus and Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes
Kazy Lambist – Moda
Krakow Loves Adana – I Saw You I Saw Myself
Le Femme – Rock Machine
Leathers – Ultraviolet
Magdalena  Bay – Imaginal Disk
Matteux & Videoclub – Mirages
Me the Tiger – Envy
Night Club – Masochist
Pylon Reenactment Society – Magnet Factory
R. Missing – Knife Shook Your Hand
Robin Guthrie – Astoria EP
Savior Adore – Savior Adore
Say Lou Lou – Dust
Suki Waterhouse – Memoir of a Sparklemuffin
The September Project – Phasing
The Veronicas – Gothic Summer
Vitesse X – This Infinite
Washed Out – Notes from a Quiet Life
Xiu Xiu – 13 Frank Beltrame Italian Stiletto with Bison Horn Grips

Band of the Year

2023 was The Year of Yumi Zouma. And 2024 mostly was, too. They’re still my favorite active band. But after touring exhaustively to support 2022’s Present Tense they spent most of 2024 on radio silence.

So just for the sake of variety, I’m gonna give this to Juniore, too. Trois, Deux, Un just won Album of the Year hands-down. Much like yesterday’s Super Bowl, it wasn’t remotely close. Plus, Juniore aren’t afraid to do their own thing. Kinda like Cocteau Twins back in the day, they are their own genre.

Song of the Year

Sometimes the Song of the Year has nothing to do with the Album of the Year. This year, it does: the opening track of Trois, Deux, Un is “Le silence”… and it’s that damn woodblock! Plus, Swanny’s blonde hair flying everywhere! COME TO NYC… OR ATLANTA… OR CHARLOTTE… BUT REALISTICALLY, NYC!

Live Song of the Year

You ever go to a show thinking “these guys are gonna blow the roof off the place”, but it ends up just being… meh? And have you ever gone to a show ‘cos you thought “well, it’ll probably be a ‘just  OK’ show, but I should see them ‘cos you never know when they’ll come back this way”… yet they end up blowing the roof off the place?

Ladytron was the latter. I thought “they probably won’t be very good live, but I’d like to see them”. The chance that they’ll ever come to Charlotte seemed slight, so I drove to Atlanta, to one of my favorite venues – Variety Playhouse – to see them… and holy crap we’re they good!  Ol’ Marnie doesn’t really “do much” on stage – certainly not burning “Madonna in concert” calories. But the music… sheesh! They gave it all the hell in the world!

Last.fm Stuff

All data scraped on 2025-02-08.

Overall albums of the year from 01/01/2024 to 12/31/2024, with release year and annual play count:

1) Yumi Zouma – Yoncalla (2016, 874)
2) Purity Ring –  another eternity (2015, 840)
3) Yumi Zouma – Truth or Consequences (2020, 668)
4) Beach House – Become EP (2023, 595)
5) You Drive – You Drive (2018, 565)
6) Yumi Zouma – EP III (2018, 536)
7) Empathy Test – Monsters (2020, 491)
8) Juniore – Trois, Deux, Un (2024, 356)
9) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down (2022, 351)
10) Wet Leg – Wet Leg (2022, 337)

Adjusted albums of the year, 2024 releases only:

1) Juniore – Trois, Deux, Un (467)
2) Fabienne Debarre – Welcome to the Age of Broken Minds (181)
3) Saint Etienne- “The Night” (156)
4) Cults – To The Ghosts (144)
5) Fazerdaze – Soft Power (122)
6) R. Missing– Knife Shook Your Hand (105)
7) The George Kaplan Conspiracy- Polychromatic (101)
8) Julia Holter – Something in the Room She Moves (85)
9) Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk (84)
10) Mattyeux – Mirages (42)

Total plays per artist, 2024

1) Yumi Zouma (3,178)
2) Purity Ring (1,265)
3) Beach House (1,011)
4) Juniore (695)
5) Empathy Test (678)
6) Minimal Schlager (586)
7) You Drive (585)
8) Nation of Language (581)
9) Alvvays (550)
10) Cocteau Twins (508)

Total plays per artist “All Time” (since June 10, 2010)

1) Mint Julep (10,002)
2) Yumi Zouma  (8,358)
3) Marsheaux (6,551)
4) You Drive (4,741)
5) Saint Etienne (4,589)
6) Purity Ring (4,419)
7) Empathy Test (3,925)
8) Beach House (3,637)
9) Minimal Schlager (2,888)
10) Alvvays (2,698)

Previous “Albums of the Year”

2023: Beach House – Become EP
2022: Yumi Zouma – Present Tense
2021: Mint Julep – In a Deep & Dreamless Sleep
2020: Mint Julep – Stray Fantasies
2019: Chromatics – Closer to Grey
2018: You Drive – You Drive
2017: Saint Etienne – Home Counties
2016: Marsheaux – Ath.Lon
2015: Purity Ring – Another Eternity
2014: La Roux – Trouble in Paradise
2013: Marsheaux – Inhale
2012: Beach House – Bloom
2011: The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave
2010: Katy Perry – Teenage Dream*

* – There was no single choice for “best album” in 2010; the article simply listed my favorite albums that year in no particular order. The choice of Teenage Dream was made ex post facto from that list of albums.