Top 40 Albums of 2024
Here’s our Top 40 Albums of 2024.
40. Shambolics – Dreams, Schemes & Young Teams (full review)
A fine debut from the promising Fife outfit.
39. Richard Thompson - Ship to Shore
The folk icon’s consistency is showing no signs of waining.
38. Lime Garden – One More Thing
Brighton’s wonk-pop debut has left an indelible mark.
37. The Smile - Wall of Eyes
Two-thirds Radiohead and one-third Jazz drummer Tom Skinner returned with another fine offing.
36. The Rifles – Love Your Neighbour (full review)
Walthamstow’s cult heroes returned with their first album in eight years. Great melodies throughout!
35. Richard Hawley – In This City They Call You Love
Enchanting Orbison and Duane Eddy songs from Sheffield’s romantic treasure.
34. Paul Weller - 66
Gritty and majestic soul music featuring the likes of Noel Gallagher, Bobby Gillespie, and Richard Hawley.
33. Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West
Traceyann Campbell’s vocals can still melt hearts from distant galaxies!
32. Jack Jones - Jack Jones
Step aside John Cooper Clarke, Jones is ascending to Albion’s poetic throne.
31. Gruff Rhys - Sadness Set Me Free
Recorded in just three days in Paris, Rhys twists from dark to light with a spellbinding freedom.
30. Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
It beggars belief that a talent such as Gibbons has taken this long to release her debut solo album, but it was worth the wait!
29. Ride - Interplay
Bell, Gardener and co’s run form since reforming has written a joyous technicolour new chapter in their memoirs.
28. Bob Vylan - Humble as the Sun
Their anarchy has come of age on this sonic riot!
27. Junodream – Pools of Colour
Breakout performances on tour with Ride and their debut album have put this band firmly in the hearts of a nation.
26. Fightmilk - No Souvenirs
Blending emo, indie, and pop-punk with life-affirming consequences.
25. Kula Shaker – Natural Magick (full review)
The trippy pop-psyche of the 90s superstars made a surprise and welcomed return.
24. 86TVs – 86TVs
Maccebee’s Hugo and Felix White’s side project brought a fresh take to their familiar indie licks.
23. Desperate Journalist - No Hero
Strip away the album's Gothic, Smiths, and The Cure undertones, leaving you with great pop music. Add them back in, and it’s astonishing pop music!
22. Solar Eyes - Solar Eyes
Serge Pizzorno’s soul oozes through this superb Fierce Panda Records release.
21. The Vaccines – Pick-Up Full of Pink Carnations
Great. Indie. Rock ‘n’ Roll.
20. Confidence Man - 3am (La La La)
Weird and wonderful rave-inspired hedonism.
19. Mick Head & The Red Elastic Band - Loophole
Head’s ever-expanding catalogue of excellence keeps the flame of ‘Forever Changes’ burning bright.
18. The Shop Window – Daysdream
Jingle-jangle heaven from the Maidstone outfit.
17. Wunderhorse - Midas
English rock music has been given it’s credibility back!
16. The K’s – I Wonder if the World Knows (full review)
There's an aching amplitude flickering needles and hearts alike throughout this fine debut album.
15. James - Yummy
The mercurial Mancunians continue their tremendous run of albums with another chameleon performance, restoring your faith in the creative process.
14. Bill Ryder Jones – Iechyd Da
The ex-Coral man’s best work since ‘A Bad Wind Blows in My Heart’.
13. Rob Vincent - Barriers
It's an enriching set of songs. Easy to see why Robert Plant took him on tour.
12. Office For Personal Development – Doing. Is. Thinking (full review)
Re-defining all that pop music can be
11. Cast – Love is the Call (full review)
Incredible return to form. On par with ‘All Change’.
10. Fontaines D.C. - Romance
The sound of a band conquering their destiny.
9. Baggio – The Dreadful Human Triangle
Indie-folk steeped in melancholy and the passing of the time.
8. Shed Seven – A Matter of Time (full review)
It is their first UK number-one album. It is a testament to their friendship as much as it is to their anthem-making.
7. Memorial - Redsetter (full review)
It's a pin-drop moment of an album. An alt-folk triumph from Brighton via Texas.
6. Meryl Streek: Songs For The Deceased
Incendiary brilliance from the Irish punk producer. Huge things await!
5. Kasabian - Happenings (full review)
Pizzorno lays the Meighan ghost to rest on this record. Pizzorno owns the record, and the record owns the night!
4. Jake Bugg - A Modern-Day Distraction
Bugg returns to his roots and his very best. Classic songwriting and endless guitars chime, and chime big!
3. Deadletter – Hysterical Strength
Wayward post-punk and feral psyche unite on this fine second album.
2. The Libertines – All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade (full review)
An ode to friendship and staying alive. From the soul-crushing to the envigorating, the likely lads rediscover form and reinvent all they were and could be.
1. The Dream Machine – Small Time Monsters
Modern Sky UK’s golden goose lay another golden egg on their second album. Magical. Whimsical. Perfection!
The Great Escape Festival 2023 - Preview Part 1
Brighton’s Great Escape festival began in 2006 and has been a beacon of light for new music ever since.
As we approach this year’s festival, we pick out (in alphabetical order) our favourite acts to look out for.
Brighton’s Great Escape festival began in 2006 and has been a beacon of light for new music ever since.
As we approach this year’s festival, we pick out (in alphabetical order) our favourite acts to look out for.
Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard
In 2022 the Cardiff glam-rockers released their criminally underrated debut album ‘Backhand Deals’. Not resting on their laurels, they returned with the harder and darker single ‘Chew’ this last March.
Key Tracks: You / Chew
Deadletter
The Yorkshire outfit relocated to South London to forge a claim as the finest exponents of political polemic of the modern era. With better hooks than Gang of Four and the stylised delivery of Talking Heads, Deadletter will blow Brighton away this year.
Key Tracks: Binge / Madge’s Declaration
DeafDeafDeaf
The Manchester four-piece are destructive gothihc-punks with desolate Joy Division soundscapes to isolate within.
Key Tracks: Nothingness / Bodies
Dirtsharks
Dirtsharks will be on home soil in Brighton. Their throwback outsider rock pulls from the Murder Captial and Fontaines DC fire but always with the hooks of The Amazons loitering.
Key Tracks: Split Tongue / Tides
Dylan John Thomas
The Scottish troubadour is a one-man La’s. Jangling across horizons with Gerry Cinnamon looking on in awe.
Key Tracks: Fever / Nobody Else
Melin Melyn
The effortless jangle of a Real Estate and the mesmerising oddity of a Gorkys Zygotic Mynci. Hailing from London and Cardiff, their 60s baroque pop comes bi-lingually reminiscent of the Gruff Rhys’ fine solo albums.
Key Tracks: Nefoedd yr Adar / Short Haired Lady
Midnight Rodeo
The Nottingham six-piece are a Tarantino soundtrack in the making. Sexy, dangerous, and cool as fuck!
Key Tracks: The Big Melt / Now You’re Gone
Nice Biscuit
Making the long journey from Brisbane are the five-piece Nice Biscuit. They take the psychedelic lunacy of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard for a joyride with Sugar Candy Mountain and Wolf Alice.
Key Tracks: Fem Chem / Round and Round
Pale Blue Eyes
Hailing from Totnes and Sheffield, the modernist psyche-pop outfit are destined for big things. The folksy mod instincts of Erland and The Carnival unite with nodes of The Cure, Cocteau Twins, and Tame Impala.
Key Tracks: Little Gem / Globe
Rosellas
To date, Rosellas have been a band with great promise. Single after single they showcased something fresh and, on ‘Hideaway’ they have pulled it all together. It’s a thunderous piece of rock-psyche that brings the five-piece out of indie’s shadows into the main stage spotlight.
Key Tracks: Hideaway / Slowdance
Click the image below for tickets:
