Editors Albums of The Year, 2024
Hi folks. Seasons greetings to you.
2024 proved to be a difficult year personally as well as geopolitically. I hope it treated you better. However, whilst my own output was undoubtedly diminished, the year itself provided no shortage of remarkable music. Much of it helped me muddle through.
Perhaps the years most poignant release was Alan Sparhawks, White Roses, My God. After suffering unimaginable loss the hope still shines through on this his first solo album. This will not be 2024’s last record to feature heavy vocal processing.
Some splendid review discoveries were unearthed in the form of The Reds, Pinks & Purples,(lo fi indie) Marta Mist, (ambient) Feral Family (post punk). Speaking of post punk, fans would do well to check out English Teacher, Sprints, Ist Ist, Fontaines DC and even the latest Idles. Theirs is a block that I’ve been around more than once, which may explain my apparent indifference, particularly to the latter but readers here will dig them, no doubt.
What of our famed, championed bands? No Black Swan Lane album this year. I was hoping for compensation in the form of The Black Lamps but if their album isn’t quite ready then 2024’s loss will undoubtedly be 2025’s gain. After two albums last year The National did nothing in this one, the lazy f###ers (fellas) Well, there is a live album, Rome, if you like that sort of thing. i.e. a recording of a show that you didn’t go to. (shrugs) Hammock on the other hand did put something out. Following last years really rather good Love In The Void the Nashville duo found themselves sitting on several outtakes that were deserving of the light of day. The fleshed out From The Void is worth picking up if you’re a Hammock guy like myself. No CD though which is a pity.
They do this stuff in their sleep, and, indeed, in ours!
Shout out too to the Beth Gibbons album, The Smile, Camera Obscura, Snakeskin, DIIV and the latest Cigarettes After Sex which I enjoyed but doesn’t seem to get a mention anywhere else. Looking for a hipster tip? Try Last Dinner Party.
Re-issue of the year
Re-issue of the year can only be Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works Volume II (Expanded Edition) which edges out the Broadcast compilation, Spell Blanket – Collected Demos 2006-2009. Warp speed ahead!
A shout too for Belgiums answer to Keane/Coldplay, Novastar. His collection The Best Is Yet To Come could’ve been a bit longer in my opinion. (Needed to be two discs Joost!) It also kinda proves that ‘the best’ might have already happened, right here on this compilation. Nice starting point, though, for a newcomer.
Mini album of the year
Deary – Aurelia
Yeah yeah, Aurelia is listed as an EP not a mini album. I ought to respect how they themselves classify it. But 6 songs, (plus bonuses on the CD) sorry guys, that’s a mini album. Anyway, I want to put it in, so there! The fabulous Deary continue their celestial rise. It’s shoegaze/dreampop with a nod to post punk (Cocteaus etc) And I’m falling hard for them.
Albums of the year.
10. The The – Ensoulment
Ensoulment is the first album under the moniker of The The since 2000s underrated Naked Self. It can be considered as the product of Matt Johnsons struggles with (and eventual overcoming of) serious creative block. Comeback specials saw the confidence slowly seeping back but this album has surely ticked off and swiped away any lingering doubt. An understated and mature piece of work more in the vein of Dusks deeper cuts than the incendiary Infected era. Older, wiser….he’s still here, thank gawd!
The The are still touring Ensoulment in its entirety followed by a second set of the classics. See them.
Fans of Lennon, Bowie, Cohen, Cave
9. Whitelands – Night-Bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day
Sonic Cathedral are doing some terrific things aren’t they! Whitelands have shared a stage with Slowdive and the aforementioned Deary. One listen to this album tells you they more than belong in such exulted company. White bound eyes can be blind to colour. Ears too. Mine are not. These guys are the business.
Check out the A.R. Kane remixes.
Fans of Weekend, Slowdive, The Veldt, AR Kane
8. Dummy – Free Energy
Bristling nu-gaze/indietronica guaranteed to put a skip in your system as well as your step. I’m calling it – these guys have been listening to Lemon Jelly, Guitar, Ulrich Schnauss, Seefeel…
They call it “bubble acoustics”.
We’ll go with theirs.
Fans of, well, Lemon Jelly, Guitar, Ulrich Schnauss, Seefeel, Boards Of Canada
7. The Declining Winter – Last April (post rock/electronica)
The prolific Richard Adams (Hood) and friends deliver yet again with frosty, melancholic latest album Last April.
Downtempo opener Eyes On Mine is almost Americana with its string lament but the rest is firmly locked in North Englands dales and mores. This guy floors me every time.
Fans of Radiohead, epic45, Hood, Piano Magic, Archive
6. The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
Continuing the theme of old(er) artist exorcizing old person issues with latest material. My love for The Cure can wax and wane as life goes on simply due to the material often being so of its time and me having moved on. At least I think I’ve moved on. A Cure gig will quickly remind me that they were and remain brilliant. And just occasionally a new release matches up to the old. Songs Of A Lost World feels like a natural successor to Bloodflowers which itself was a world-weary yet brilliant record. Dip into this one like a very fine wine or spirit. Kudos Robert.
For fans of The Cure.
5. Mk.gee – Two Star & The Dream Police
This’ll be fairly ubiquitous among listers and with one or two playthroughs you’ll soon get why. With his deconstructed guitar approach Mk.gee doesn’t know if he wants to be Jeff Beck or just….Beck. The result is an album as brief and beguiling as that first xx record albeit leaning far more into soul, r&b and reggae.
I strongly recommend the live versions.
Fans of Prince, Beck, War On Drugs, MGMT
4. Claire Rousay – Sentiment.
With two LPs this year, a remix album and a duet with Jeff Tweedy, you got our attention Claire!
Vocoded songs emerge from, and disappear into, ambient dronescapes. She should be wider known in my humble opinion.
Fans of …..well, you tell me! Grouper?
3. epic45 – You’ll Only See Us When The Light Is Gone
About a year ago I finally got to see epic45 together with the aforementioned The Declining Winter. It was long overdue. They showcased some of the material that would eventually be released as You’ll Only See Us When The Light Is Gone…..in a church.
Though epic45s output has gone through distinct phases, all their albums are worth picking up. If…… you can track them down, that is. (I held a copy of their debut in my hands that very evening, went to borrow some cash and returned to find it sold.) This latest collection feels like a leap, at least lyrically. You’ll Only See Us When The Light Is Gone is probably epic45 at their most explicitly political – some hard hitting muscularity adding a bit of seasoning to their dreamy, lo-fi landscapes.
Fans of Bark Psychosis, Mogwai, M83, Disco Inferno, Talk Talk, Field Mice
2. Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood
Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my Ma and Pa….
…..just…not the way that I do love Katie Crutchfield, aka Waxahatchee.
The Alabama singer-songwriter goes from strength to strength, easing from dreamy folk to country-tinged Americana. A Waxahatchee takeover is imminent.
Fans of Soccer Mommy, Kurt Vile, Big Thief
1. New Dad – MADRA
When MADRA landed back in January it probably didn’t scream AOTY. I thought, better make a note of this for the year end listings. What for? In case you forgot about it Brett? No chance of that. Such a playable record. On paper goth-tinged dreampop doesn’t sound like AOTY material. Most other scribes would look to place something a bit edgier, a bit more contemporary. If it’s just me, then so be it . I see MADRA as breathing much-needed new life into a genre that has been dear to my heart for many years.
A deserved winner.
For fans of Banshees, Cocteaus, Curve, Cranes, Desperate Journalist, Whispering Sons, Just Mustard
Thanks for reading. Have a great Christmas.
Here are some songs from the artists featured.