Monday, 16 December 2024

My Top 24 of 2024 (#18 - 16)


More records that I played a lot during the past 12 months...

18. Grandaddy - Blu Wav


Another of those bands who are guaranteed to take my money just by virtue of putting out a new record, Jason Lytle's Grandaddy returned with what is rumoured to be their last album. We'll see. If that does turn out to be the case, then this will be a fitting finale, since despite the pre-release rumours of a change of direction (the title hints at a combination of bluegrass and new wave), this is the most Grandaddy-sounding record in 20 odd years, certainly the one that's most reminiscent of their 2000 classic The Sophtware Slump.

Wave to me on your way to the watercooler
Just don't wait for me 'cause we won't work
Please wave to me on your way to the watercooler
Cross the break room just the way you always do

And you cry in the bathroom stall
'Cause I won't call although I know you hurt
And you cry in the bathroom stall
'Cause I don't call, it's not what you deserve

17. Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets Society


In a which a middle-aged man feels the need to incessantly apologise for appreciating the work of the world's biggest pop star (2024) and explain that he's not just including her album in this list to sound hip or as though his finger is still on the pulse of the zeitgeist.  

Apparently, being a "Swiftie Dad" demonstrates "the power of positive masculinity". So there. And Ms. Swift is a fan of a top notch Scottish band many of you will have in your record collections...

Drowning in the Blue Nile
He sent me 'Downtown Lights'
I hadn't heard it in a while

16. Tim Heidecker - Slipping Away


The work of stand-up comic and serious songwriter Tim Heidecker has become something of an obsession for me this past year, with two of his previous albums - High School and Fear of Death - being constant companions. His newest record only came out a few weeks back, and as I usually find his discs to be slow-burners, it hasn't imprinted itself on my subconscious in quite the same way... yet. But the lead single, Dad of the Year, speaks to me more than just about anything else I've heard in 2024...

When I was a child, I wanted to be special
Thought that I could be a big, big star
Then I got older and saw how the world works
Someone like me can only go so far

I'm not gonna be on the cover of a magazine
I got bills to pay
I gotta keep working every day
I'm not gonna go down in history
Only my family will remember me


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