My Top 24 of 2024 (#21 - 19)

Three more records that rotated frequently on the imaginary turntable of my soul during the past twelve months...

21. Mercury Rev - Born Horses

"Spiritually, literally, psycho-geographically: where else does Mercury Rev's ninth album Born Horses spring from? This cascade of gleaming, glistening psych-jazz-folk-baroque-ambient quest that searches its soul but can never truly know the answer? A sound and vision linked to their exalted past whilst quite unlike anything they have created before? The answer is somewhere between the homes of founder members Jonathan Donahue (the hamlet of Mt Tremper) and Grasshopper (the town of Kingston), in their veins and brains of their now-legendary tapping of musical cosmology, and the vital presence of new permanent member Marion Genser (keys), plus long-term ally Jesse Chandler (keys) and guests Jeff Lipstein (drums), Martin Keith (double bass) and Jim Burgess (trumpet)."

Normally, I'd call bullshit on that kind of florid press-release gumphery, but there's actually something in it. 

Three things I can tell you for definite about the latest Mercury Rev record. 

1) If such a thing is possible, it's even more shimmery than anything else they've recorded in the past 35 years. 

2) Jonathan's preferred delivery these days is a low, spoken, stream-of-consciousness blather. He sounds like an older, less camp version of 80s American stand-up comic Emo Phillips. Remember him?

3) It's very nice to listen to when you're stuck in traffic on the M1.

My mood swings and it swings and it swings
Sometimes even without asking me
Suddenly reminding me of deep down things
The way my mother would sing over my father's mood swings
How swiftly she could go from humming
"Just the way, the way you are"
To whistling, "Oh, the people you know"
This immense loneliness flapping in her chest
Like lady day, she knew why the caged bird sings
And now, so do I, it sings and it sings
Because each night it hurts just a little less
Reminding me more and more and more
Of deep down things
And the way my own mood swings

20. Frank Turner - Undefeated

Frank Turner's last album, FTHC, was my second favourite record of 2022, beaten only by the might of Half Man Half Biscuit. Undefeated treads much the same ground as its predecessor... at times, a little too closely. It feels too conscious an effort to capture that same lightning in that same bottle, and ends up being, in places, FT-by numbers. Still full of great songs and lyrics that bring a wry smile of recognition... but no risks are taken in the process.

I'm fully aware that this contradicts everything I said yesterday in my reviews of the Eels and Pixies records... but hey, Frank, you placed above both those guys, so you must still be doing something right.

Fifteen-year-old Francis
We need to have a word
I know because I remember
That you cannot stand The Verve
But Richard Ashcroft had a point
Now I'm old enough to see
There's a million different people
You will be before you're me

I know I'm not
Everything that you had hoped and imagined that I would be
But I did my best
And I have seen things that you don't even know that you've never seen
We need to find some common ground
In the ruins that still stand
Between you and me both of us want peace
Ceasefire

19. Crawlers - The Mess We Seem To Make

The first CD I bought in 2024 was the debut album by Warrington's Crawlers. It seems so long ago now, like it should belong to last year's batch. Fiercely confessional lyrics from lead singer Holly Minto, and a pop-rock sound that's a little more polished than some of their contemporaries. The deluxe CD contains acoustic versions of some of the tracks, and I like those even more than the originals.

2023: New Music From Young Women

I blame it all on Wet Leg. Since they conquered the world from their Chaise Longue in 2021, "indie" girl bands have become much more exciting than "indie" boy bands. To be fair, with a few noteworthy exceptions, the lads have been pretty dull for a decade or so - the "Landfill indie" movement of the early noughties was mostly a masculine affair, so good on the ladies for stepping up to show the lads how it should be done.

Today, it seems like we finally have an equal gender playing field when it comes to making noisy guitar music. Makes you realise what outliers and pioneers the likes of Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde really were. Here are some of my favourite songs made by noisy young women his year...

English Teacher - Nearly Daffodils

Let's start with a band I've already seen crop up on a few other End of Year lists... which almost makes me feel like I have my finger on my pulse. English Teacher initially came to my attention because they'd chosen to name themselves after me. How could I not listen to their records? If you are thinking of starting a band next year, can I suggest calling yourself Failed Writer or Shit Fashion Sense or Miserable Bastard? I'll be there in the front row. 

Even better, Lily Fontaine, who fronts English Teacher, was born in Huddersfield. Putting her right up there with Jodie Whittaker and James Mason in my estimation. 

This is the best thing English Teacher put out this year. I have high hopes for their imminent LP. 

7ebra are Inez and Ella Johannson, 25-year-old twin sisters from Malmö, Sweden. They're the point of the Venn diagram where Wet Leg overlap with First Aid Kit. I Have A Lot To Say is one of the best songs I've heard all year. That the rest of their debut album couldn't quite live up to it isn't really their fault. Sometimes you write a song that's so good, nothing else can come close.

Skipping across to Germany now, where we meet the charming Ms. Anna Erhard...

Anna Erhard - Picnic at the Seaside

From Abba to Nena to Vanessa Paradis, there's definitely something about women who sing with European accents. I think it taps into the mythical "Exchange Student" fantasies that we had as teenagers. Not that I remember ever meeting an exchange student. And if I had, I wouldn't have dared talk to them. 

Anyway, Anna Erhard writes songs about campsites and picnics and guest rooms and idiots - everyday things from an idiosyncratic point of view. She's only released one song this year (the one above is from her 2022 album), but it was enough to make me grin for at least three minutes and fifteen seconds...

The Beaches come from Toronto. They're not exactly a new band as I'm pretty sure I remember listening to their debut LP in 2017. It's taken the six years to release a follow up, but, y'know, the world did rather fall apart during that time.  

The Beaches - Blame Brett

They also win the My Top Ten award for best inspirational slogan of 2023...

Those guys are just the tip of the iceberg though. Lately, every time I switch on the tube of you, I find it's recommending me an exciting new female fronted rock 'n' roll band. Blame the algorithms. (Steve For The Deaf has also been responsible for alerting me to many of these.)

Coach Party - All I Wanna Do Is Hate

VENUS GRRRLS - Liar Liar

Crawlers - Would You Come To My Funeral?

Twat Union - UTI

Worm Girlz - Dirt

Bugeye - Dancing Out In The Dark

However, the female-fronted band I'm most excited about hearing a proper record from in 2024 is probably these guys. 

The Last Dinner Party - Sinner

They're a little bit goth and a little bit Kate Bush but they can also rock it out like the kids used to do before they discovered drum machines. I also think they may be familiar with the work of Jim Steinman.

Over the past few months, The Last Dinner Party have swiftly become darlings of the cognoscenti, to the point where it almost feels like I should be rebelling against them, because it's never cool to like what the cool kids are telling you to like. But as long as they keep delivering singles like this one... I can't help but be swept along with the crowd.  

Title Fight #2: Dead Pets & Big Toe Holders

We're back with more great song titles dredged up from the darkest recesses of my hard drive... and some from yours too. Do any of them live up to their names?

For your consideration today...

1. Alice Cooper - I'm Alive (That Was The Day My Dead Pet Returned To Save My Life) 

Brackets are a wonderful thing in song titles, aren't they? Although I have to admit there's a part of me that always hears the diabolical James Saville reading the title out as he used to do on the wireless, saying "open bracket... close bracket".

Sam and I were listening to an old compilation in the car last week. When Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid! came on, Sam said, "good old Alice!" 

I've also been listening to Mr. Furnier's latest record, Road. It's a lot better than a heavy rock album by a 75 year old man should be. 

This one comes from way back in 1982 though, when he was younger than all of us. Taken from the wince-inducing album Zipper Catches Skin.

2. My Life Story - If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?

Jake Shillingford's My Life Story were firm favourites in my house for at least five minutes in the late 90s. This is from their third album, Joined Up Talking.

Because you can't copyright a song title - even a great one - American rockers Mayday Parade were free to write their own song with the same name, and that's the one you're more likely to come across via your search engine of choice. (Does anybody actually use Bing?) It can't hold a candle to My Life Story, if you ask me.

Mayday Parade - If You Can't Live Without Me Then Why Aren't You Dead Yet?

3. Gary Stewart - She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles)

Charity Chic was keen to remind me that country songwriters are an excellent source of great titles, and he recommended one of his favourites from Gary Stewart. My hard drive is full of country singers drowning their sorrows in booze after getting dumped, but as Gary Stewart was the "king of honky tonk", he appears to have spent more time than most propping up the bar. He was also responsible for She's Got a Drinking Problem, Hey, Bottle of Whiskey and An Empty Glass (That's the Way the Day Ends) among many others. 

Tragically, Gary Stewart took his own life following the death of his wife in 2003.

4. Captain Beefheart - I Wanna Find A Woman That'll Hold My Big Toe Till I Have To Go

Next up, George wants us to consider the late Don Glen Vliet, famed for his wacky song titles... well, wacky everything, I guess, including, presumably, 'bacca. We could be here all day with the likes of...

When I See Mommy I Feel Like A Mummy

A Carrot Is As Close As A Rabbit Gets To A Diamond

Making Love To A Vampire With A Monkey On My Knee

Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat

...but I chose to highlight George's initial suggestion, from the 1970 album, Lick My Decals Off, Baby.

5. Crawlers - Would You Come To My Funeral?

Bang up to date for our final offering today, and Liverpool's Crawlers, who release their debut album, The Mess We Seem To Make, next year. This is the latest offering from a band who have previously released tracks called Feminist Radical Hypocritical Delusional, Hang Me Like Jesus and Fuck Me (I Didn't Know How To Say). 

I hope I don't get an invite to any of their funerals any time soon.

Best title? Best song? Are they the same? You decide...