Francesco Amoroso per TRISTE©

In this long (and frankly, somewhat pointless) list of the 100 albums that shaped my musical 2024, you’ll find albums that I truly appreciated, albums I think are important, albums I loved, and those that moved me to tears.
I don’t believe this list holds any critical value, and I’m sure there are many more albums that could have made the cut (I listened to nearly a thousand records in 2024).
While I remain convinced that rankings are ultimately a waste of time in the realm of art, I still present mine every year, hoping that someone might discover (or rediscover, or re-evaluate) an album through it.
I apologize to all English speakers for my broken English, but as for the content of these writings, it comes straight from the heart (even if I fear this isn’t quite justification enough on its own).

1. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” (Constellation Records)

This is my album of the year, simply because it’s the only one that makes complete sense in a year like this. The only appropriate response to the gravity of the situation is to remain completely silent. Any words would be too much.
My friend Francesco Giordani said, ‘It is the most sensible thing I’ve heard about the actual state of affairs: a noisy, at times deafening silence’ and I couldn’t agree more.
We could discuss the musical content of the record (which, in my opinion, is the best thing GY!BE has made in years), but I think we’d risk focusing on the finger instead of the moon.

2. The Cure – Songs Of a Lost World (Fiction Records)

The Cure, I’ve to admit, are not just one of the many bands I’ve fallen in love with, but the one that has changed my way of listening to music and, inevitably, my way of relating to life. I am certain, therefore, that even if their new album, awaited for over sixteen years, had turned out to be only slightly better than the two heinous acts released in 2004 and 2008 respectively, it would have ended up very high in my appreciation ranks. I didn’t expect much from their return (and I didn’t want to expect much). But Robert Smith and his band have always been there, and you can’t pretend nothing happened, you can’t go back. A song of theirs will never be just any song. Unperturbed, however, The Cure have done much more than a clever (or sly) album that simply recalls nostalgia for the past. Songs Of A Lost World (already from the title) -even if it is somehow connected to the Cure’s past, to their being the soundtrack of the senseless desperation of adolescence, of the brutal sincerity and tender naivety with which one faced life at that age- is a work that speaks of loss, of growing old, of coming to terms with oneself and with others. It is an album that is absolutely ancient in its sounds (but there are dozens of bands of kids that refer to those sounds today…) but absolutely current. Robert addresses HIS listeners and knows well that, like him, they too have grown up, have overcome (so to speak) adolescence and find themselves facing different dilemmas and dramas. Every time I listen to the album I am moved and, evidently, my “judgement” is completely fallacious. It makes no sense to analyze a Cure album with a cool head, without considering all the experience that their music brings with it. As I was saying after listening to Alone alone (pardon…), what remains with me – and what really matters – after listening to Songs Of A Lost World is that it moves me, it brings me to tears. Once again, long past fifty. I repeat, it is, as always, a matter of honesty.

3. Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future (4AD)

Both with Big Thief and her solo work, Adrianne Lenker documents, without miserabilism, the daily traumas of childhood and their repercussions in adulthood. In Real House, the track that opens her new album, she returns to events and episodes – partly retracing the plot of Big Thief’s magnificent Mythological Beauty – that contributed to forming her current relationship with her mother. All of Bright Future moves along these lyrical coordinates and Lenker manages, with her typical mastery, to make universal her personal feelings. Working for the first time in a real studio, together with pianist Nick Hakim, multi-instrumentalist Mat Davidson and violinist and percussionist Josefin Runsteen, the singer-songwriter from Indiana creates sad and engaging ballads that, in their melodic development, while remaining profoundly traditional, sound absolutely unique and personal. Arranged in a minimal but highly detailed way and recorded without unnecessary frills, often in a single session, the songs on the new album are fragile, vulnerable and disarming but convey, in an extremely vivid way, the extraordinary strength and talent of Lenker, whose voice soars, pure and concrete, making Bright Future a further magnificent piece in a radiant artistic journey. Sadness is truly a gift sometimes.

4. epic45 – You’ll Only See Us When The Light Has Gone (Wayside & Woodland Recordings)

In You’ll Only See Us When The Light Has Gone, epic45 take what they had already undertaken with their previous Cropping The Aftermathto the extreme consequences: if that work was a sort of love letter to the sounds of the ’80s and ’90s and retraced the sounds that contributed to forming the sound of epic45, this work is even more courageous and personal. Strongly focused as it is on the song format and on the singing, it abandons all hesitation and restriction and succeeds in the difficult attempt to unite the melody with a now unique sound, made of Eighties sounds, post rock and “suburban” folk à la Hood. Having remained fiercely independent for twenty-five years, following their uncompromising path, with You’ll Only See Us When The Light Has Gone, epic45 have reached the pinnacle of their artistic production and if the incredible Finality (“Waiting For answers/ Too much time has gone/ Waiting for Morning light/ To Save Me“) were to really be their swan song, we shouldn’t be sorry, but we couldn’t do anything other than say goodbye to them with emotion and be grateful for having revealed to us so much beauty that, otherwise, would have been denied to us.

5. TRUST FUND – Has It Been A While? (tapete records)

Six years after what should have been his last album as Trust Fund, Ellis Jones released a new record, the fifth, Has It Been a While?. On Has It Been A While? Jones strips his songs down to classical guitar and vocals, supported by string quartet arrangements. Jones’ delicate signature voice is there and the melodies are magnificent, but this time his songs are closer to Nick Drake than they ever has been. His songwriting is sweet and thoughtful, and the approach almost philosophical at times. Try to imagine early Belle and Sebastian writing songs with Drake (Nick, of course) and Sarah Record’s Blueboy: you’ll come close to the utter beauty of these songs (The Mirror is probably my favourite song of the year). With Jones’ voice caressing and playing duets with the celestial voice of Celia MacDougall, intricate guitar frameworks, sublime string arrangements (and a trumpet) Trust Fund tells stories of regret and sadness, small joy and recollections. I thought I could only dream of an album like this.

6. Nino Gvilia – Nicole / Overwhelmed by the Unexplained (Hive Mind Records)

Whether you consider them creations of the Italian multi-instrumentalist and essayer Giulia Deval or examine them as works of her alter ego, a young wandering musician from Georgia, Nicole and Overwhelmed by The Unexplained – the EPs that mark Nino Gvilia’s recording debut – are two short, highly inspired, conceptual and dense works in which Nino/Giulia, with musicians Zevi Bordovach and Pietro Caramelli, and with the contribution of the strings of Giulia Pecora (violin) and Clarissa Marino (cello), manipulating and reworking the stylistic features of folk(lore), reels off ten compositions full of grace and ingenuity that reflect on the role of the singer-songwriter and the song in a complex world and in a time of crisis. The field recordings – used with great moderation – immerse the songs in uncontaminated nature and give them the innocence of children, while the choirs and vocal interweavings make them mysterious, placing them out of time. Thus, songs with a seemingly simple ethereal or austere structure reveal themselves to be poetic, profound and disturbing. Whether you consider it the work of Gvilia or Deval, the charm of this work lies in its ability to evoke an elsewhere in which words and sounds still manage to be significant, urgent, necessary.

7. Alex Pester – I Won’t Give Up On You / Boy (Stripey Jumper Records)

With his fourth album, Better Days, Alex Pester seemed to be on on the threshold of greater notoriety, but fame has never been his priority. That’s why he chose to release, in 2024, not one, but two lo-fi, low budget records: I Won’t Give Up On You, in June and Boy in September. The first record is made of introverted songs based on the acoustic guitar, in which strings and Pester’s voice give give shape to a sort of lo-fi and dreamy Baroque-Pop. From short, sweet ballads to psychedelic chamber folk journeys, wherever Alex Pester chooses to wander, he finds a melody. The second record is definitely more refined, with its heavenly melodies and fantastic arrangements. Psychedelia and skewed folk-pop characterise a record where Pester’s songwriting skills are at their peak and his inspiration is left free to roam. With two sublime records like these (and a new -magnificent- record already released in 2025), all that can be said about Alex Pester is that he is the most gifted songwrtier of his generation.

8. Big Special – Postindustrial Hometown Blues (SO Recordings)

Big Special’s debut album was a highly anticipated one and it did not betray the expectations. The duo composed of Joe Hicklin and Callum Moloney writes angry, poetic and direct songs dealing with post-industrial working class, grey and hostile suburbs, depressing humdrum and daily struggle in a decadent society. In this spirit, Big Special have forged a sound that defies categorisation, blending the pace of blues, the energy of punk, the rawness of rap with the realism of folk, with unexpected melodic breaks and the powerful yet sensitive voice of Hicklin is able to deliver. The result is an album that is compelling and not easy to forget.

9. Remnant Three – A Gentle Collapsing (Words On Music)

Recorded over three decades ago by a trio of unnamed musicians, but unreleased until now, A Gentle Collapsing is the work of the post-punk trio Remnant Three. The album distinctly reflects the darker side of the post-punk sound of the late 70s and early 80s.
If these tracks had been recorded in our days, we could speak of a sort of derivative masterpiece, a miracle of mimesis, but here we are dealing with recordings from that time, in which the Remant Three managed to insert all the characteristics that, in those very days, were defining an era. Sporadic industrial noises, drumming recalling Joy Division’s Stephen Morris, the angular bass of The Cure, backwards vocal tape echo, everything you can find in these songs is now considered a must for post-punk bands. The music and the songs are indeed beautiful, haunting remnants of a scene collectively captured by young musicians decades ago. An incredible period document by musicians who seem to have the gift of divination.

10. Laura Marling – Patterns in Repeat (Partisan Records)

Laura Marling’s new album opens with the muffled sound of distant footsteps, hushed voices and a newborn’s giggle, before acoustic guitar introduces Child of Mine, a harrowingly beautiful sketch about the tumultuous relationship between parents and children. Patterns in Repeat is a frank and heartfelt account of the emotions that come with motherhood, from the euphoria of the first moments to the gradual realization that you’re facing an irreversible life change. Made (except for the exquisite string arrangements) in her East London home studio, with her newborn daughter constantly present, the English artist’s eighth album, four years on from the magnificent Song for Our Daughter, is extraordinarily refined and mature, yet stark and brutally honest. Maybe it’s her recent master’s degree in psychoanalysis, or the incredible sensitivity and talent that she’s always shown, but Marling ability to explore the nuances of friendship, family, love and loss, and then distill complex and overwhelming feelings into poetic lyrics is more evident than ever. Laura Marling’s only fault is that she was born in the wrong era: today we look more at the packaging than the content, but, had it come out in the Sixties, Patterns in Repeat would have been considered an epochal masterpiece.

11. Clinic Stars – Only Hinting (Kranky)

There is a strange coincidence that links Grangemouth, Scotland, with the Boynton neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan: in both cases, the urban landscape is characterized by enormous oil refinery towers that loom menacingly and if Grangemouth was the birthplace of Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie, Boynton is home to the home/recording studio of Giovanna Lenski and Christian Molik, Clinic Stars. So it must be true then: beauty can be born from squalor. Only Hinting, the Detroit duo’s debut album is a fascinating record whose ethereal and engaging sound mixes post-rock, shoegaze and dream pop, opening up enchanted worlds to the listener and evoking naturalistic images and vast landscapes, while exploring themes of introspection and escape from the daily frenzy. The songs of Clinic Stars hark back to the British sounds of the 80s, to historic bands such as Cocteau Twins and Slowdive. Only time will tell if Giovanna and Christian will be the new Liz and Robin from overseas, but Only Hinting is, for sure, their (and our) Treasure.

12. Cabane – Brûlée (Self released)

Four years after the magnificent Grande est la Maison, without haste, Thomas Jean Henri has created Brûlée, composed of songs of unimaginable beauty, sung by the enchanting voices of Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) and Sam Genders (Diagrams and Tunng) and, once again, with the string arrangements created by that (overlooked) genius of Sean O’Hagan of High Llamas. Brûlée continues a musical discourse, already undertaken at the time of Soy Un Caballo (Henri’s previous artistic incarnation) and carried forward admirably with Grande est la Maison, which places feelings at the center of the Belgian artist’s compositions, in the name of fragility and vulnerability. The songs are subtly constructed, often flanking a timid acoustic guitar with strings and a not very invasive piano, and hinge on the very delicate (yet full of strength) voices of Stables and Genders who support each other, help each other and end up soaring ethereal and caressing. With its heartbreaking purity and a fragility that at times dismays, Brûlée, perhaps not even entirely consciously, ends up revealing to us a glaring, if terrible, truth: the laid bare soul of the humans is the only great beauty that remains to us in this century of ugliness and obscenity.

13. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Loophole (Modern Sky)

Loophole is a stunning record, tender, touching and elegant. It’s exactly what we could expect from Michael Head.
Of course, this amazing result was achieved thanks to Head’s infinite talent and songwriting skills, but Bill Ryder-Jones’ sublime production, without a doubt, contributed as well. Mick is one of the finest storytellers in pop and the songs on Loophole, heartbreaking in their beauty, show, once again, his genius in telling stories about negligible characters with warmth and empathy. Melancholic and nostalgic as usual, Loophole is not a sad record: the Liverpudlian has struggled with both life and fate, yet he always ended up releasing wonderful records, where sorrow and despair were were balanced by love and some hope. Loophole is another overlooked masterpiece from our beloved Mick.

14. Isobel Campbell – Bow To Love (Cooking Vinyl)

Four years after There Is No Other, Isobel Campbell returns with her sixth solo album, Bow To Love, a refined and intense collection of subtly psychedelic folk and elegant chamber pop, which alternates the analysis of universal themes -from the political and social situation to the execration of toxic masculinity- to a deep introspection. Campbell takes refuge once again, with always remarkable results, in her comfort zone of the sixties and writes some of the simplest and most effective songs of her solo career. The ripples on the surface may seem minimal, yet the message of the album is strong, starting from the title that echoes Martin Luther King’s proclamation of universal love. Finding balance, being more compassionate and accepting, breathing in love and breathing out fear, are the suggestions that Isobel Campbell gives, first of all to herself, to overcome the chaos that surrounds us. An album that tries to reconcile us with the world and to face the uncertainties of the future with a more positive spirit. Thanks, once again, Isobel.

15. Slipper – A Tiny Rose Made Out Of Clay (Rehberge Records)

Using guitar, bass, drums, and vocal harmonies, Slipper -Sean Armstrong, Rachel Taylor and Jakub Tyro-Niezgoda- conjure a sound of their own that is simple and true. A Tiny Rose Made Out Of Clay is their third album and it’s built on sounds that remind me of the gentle psychedelia of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi, as well as sixties psychedelic folk coming out of Laurel Canyon. An amazing songwriting and two beautiful singing voices make Slipper’s fragile songs into true pearls of absolute beauty. Even with its sparse and unafraid instrumentation the album sound is warm and cozy. The title of its first song is Sensitive People Fall In Love. How can you not love those kind of titles? How can you not love them? Will it remain a hidden psych-folk gem?

16. The Reds, Pinks & Purples – Unwishing Well (Slumberland Records / Tough Love Records)

With seven albums (and countless other albums and EPs shared on bandcamp, and then sadly deleted: The World Doesn’t Need Another Band, one of his 2024 finest is sadly gone) in just over five years, Glenn Donaldson manages, every time, to strike right to the heart of indiepop fans, without upsetting the sound coordinates in the slightest, indeed continuing industriously to cultivate his own little garden made of jangly guitars, C86 sounds and English indiepop, gloomy and romantic. Unwishing Well, calm and thoughtful, manages the miracle of sounding even more deliciously melancholic and disconsolate than its predecessors. Donaldson’s heartfelt and sentimental singing, set against the inevitable guitars that sometimes caress, sometimes scratch, tells of the daily struggles of lovers lost in the fog of Richmond and the Bay Area, but also includes songs with a universal inspiration and juicy anecdotes about the musician’s pains as he deals with the ups and downs of his artistic career. A record that confirms Glenn Donaldson as the modern-day most prolific and talented interpreter of international spleen.

17. Arab Strap – I’m totally fine with it 👍don’t give a fuck anymore 👍(Rock Action Records)

Listening to the new Arab Strap album, I would say that the gaze of the two Scottish fifty-year-old blokes has become even more penetrating and caustic. In this new work, whose title is taken from a message sent by the duo’s live drummer – emojis included – Aidan Moffat, with his usual brutal and candid honesty, talks about oversized members, sordid carnal obsessions, degrading online porn and devastating hangovers, while Middleton composes, for these stories of ordinary decadence, ever eclectic and pressing soundtracks. I’m Totally Fine With It… is a complex and angry work: toxic masculinity, the horror of online discourse and the general tone is always rather bitter. Elsewhere, however, there is room for more thoughtful, but no less incisive, songs which tell stories from the pandemic and the lockdown with sublime poetic flashes, moments of absolute tenderness and the inevitable humor, always very dark. Behind bile and anger, Arab Strap still believe in love.

18. Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch (City Slang)

As she did for the previous Quiet Signs, for Here in The Pitch, the West Coast musician used a proper studio, worked with a producer and even expanded her team of collaborators. Yet rather than overpowering her signature sound, the refined instrumentation -winds, strings, mellotron, Ryley Walker’s guitar- and the spare arrangements make this record more complex and profound, while maintaining its apparent minimalism. Between references to bossa nova and ’60s orchestral pop, it is melancholy and sweetness that emerge from the darkness. Here In The Pitch is an intimate and bewitching work in which Pratt’s voice, somewhere between harsh and sweet, between naive and perverse, often becomes deeper and more tired, at times almost dark, singing of crepuscular, defeated and distrustful characters. Here In The Pitch doesn’t even last half an hour, yet it seems to transport the listener out of time for a long time. Jessica Pratt distils magic in small doses.

19. Tapir! – The Pilgrim, Their God and the King of My Decrepit Mountain (Heavenly)

The young South London sextet, for their debut full-length, have seen fit to elaborate a sort of concept album in three acts that revolves around the story of a solitary traveler, a red creature known as The Pilgrim. A sort of fantastic, unusual and rather surreal fairy tale. Characterized by the fresh and sincere voice of Ike Gray, the twelve tracks, skillfully produced by Honeyglaze drummer Yuri Shibuichi, move gracefully between crystalline folk melodies and refined acoustic research, between delicate motifs that constantly resurface and electronic drums, spoken passages and field recordings, enhancing the creativity of the band, while maintaining an elegant simplicity and a genuine transport. Beyond its conceptual structure, in fact, The Pilgrim… – certainly a composite and varied, stimulating and original work – is a first work that, without getting lost in sterile and abstruse experimentations, manages to admirably combine folk and pop.

20. Fontaines D.C. – Romance (XL Recordings)

The sonic cornerstone of Fontaines D.C. new album -which the band try, often with remarkable results, to distance from their unmistakable guitar and organic sound by fusing it with synthetic materials- is In The Modern World, in which Chatten declaims: “In the modern world, I feel nothing… And I don’t feel bad”. It is a key passage, a sort of summary in little more than ten words of the album’s content. Sonically, Romance is balanced, perhaps dangerously, between past and present. However, it can only be hailed as a stimulating and vital album: Chatten’s voice is more malleable and personal, the lyrics are more immediate and universal, the arrangements make the songs more varied and recognisable. The future is full of possibilities for the Irish band and Romance seems to be an affirmation of creativity and renewal that is absolutely not a given.

21. Bill Ryder-Jones – Iechyd Da (Domino)

The songs of the beautiful lechyd Da allow us to glimpse, just beyond the line of their misty northern British horizon – wonderfully evoked by the painting by Dale Bissland that depicts the cover -, a hinterland of painful experiences, an autobiography punctuated by damp rooms and English interiors on which the mold of loneliness, illness and alcoholic tribulation have cast their grim shadow. And yet, the songs of lechyd Da still have the strength to throw open a window onto the light and the pungent air of the northern seas, a salty air that cleans and sweeps everything away, awakening the conscience, opening the gaze to the possibility of new destinations.This is already very evident in the magnificent single This Can’t Go On, which I would define as epic and intimate at the same time, a sort of whispered scream, if you’ll pardon the oxymoron, which is well suited to describing the work as a whole.

22. The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus – The Dream We Carry (Nine x Nine Records)

The Dream We Carry, the latest RAIJ record is very ambitious, poetic and compelling. Every time a new RAIJ comes out I found myself speechless, without any word to explain that work of art, that beauty, that spell. Someone suggest that the only way to approach to the music of RAIJ is surrender to it and probably it’s also the only way to talk about it. What with this record and with every other of their records, The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus does is to create something that will break your heart and will heal it. Since 1985 (and with twenty years hiatus), The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus is delivering a unique experimental, intense and mesmerizing music, with ethereal vocals, ambient compositions, chants, acoustic instrumentation and field recordings. We’re all weak in the presence of beauty.

23. The Declining Winter – Last April (Second Language Music)

After releasing his most refined and articulated album, Richard Adams comes back with Last April, a record stripped back to to just his plaintive voice and acoustic guitar, alongside the beautiful and melancholic string arrangements of Sarah Kemp (Brave Timbers). Last April is record “that exists simply because it has to”, dedicated to the late mother of the author and dealing with raw emotions. Hence the choice of making no attempt to tone down any rough edges and to give the notes enough space to breathe. A touching record full of sorrow which can help avoiding being ovewrwhelmed by sorrow.

24. Naima Bock – Below a Massive Dark Land (Sub Pop Records)

After her solo debut album Giant Palm, which came out when she left her role as bassist in London post-punk band Goat Girl, Naima Bock decided to simplify her sound, making it more sober and measured. In Below A Massive Dark Land, composed with guitar and violin alone in her grandmother’s shed, elegant and essential arrangements and the use of organic instrumentation allowed Bock’s compositions to breathe and highlight their bright melodies and deep and emotional sounds. Despite the lyrics characterized by a certain darkness, the graceful arrangements of clarinet, flute and saxophone, the warm tangle of harmonium and harp – and an eight-piece choir – enhance the ten songs that make up the album. The pure and sweet voice of Naima Bock, that rises and falls on the notes, and her delicate and very personal singing, characterize an album which results intimate and grandiose, dark but full of grace. An original and deeply engaging album.

25. Father John Misty – Mahashmashana (Sub Pop Records)

Mahashmashana, that could be Josh Tillman’s last album as Father John Misty, is, for sure, his sixth as FJM. Seventies-style soft rock, songs that talks about triumphs and despair, guitar and saxophone, a substantial string section, some funky rhythm, flutes and a celestial choir, jazzy piano and double bass. There is all of this and more on this record. And there are gorgeous melodies and poignant, yet edged, lyrics. And there is Josh -Father John Misty -Tillman with his cumbersome, but larger than life, personality. “The best songwriter in the business”, once again.

26. Jackie West – Close To The Mystery (Ruination Record Co.)

Late last year (in 2023, actually) I was blown away, by her song Tiny Flowers II. Then, in early February, I received a lovely and unexpected email from Ruination Record Co., in which I was invited to listen to Close To The Mystery, the debut album by singer-songwriter (but don’t let the definition fool you: there’s much more to her music than voice and guitar) Jackie West. And I was blown away once again. Twelve absolutely gorgeous songs that shape perfect record, something you don’t expect from a debut album. Twelve instant classics, with their own proper style, where folk, pop, jazz, and soul make up an unique sound. Stunning.

27. Liana Flores – Flower Of The Soul (Verve)

Brazilian-British singer-songwriter Liana Flores debut album, Flower Of The Soul, simply combine acoustic folk and bossa nova, nothing more. Its soft melodies and Flores’ soulful, delicate voice, however, work wonders. In the footsteps of Vashti Bunyan and Nick Drake, Liana Flores moves with grace between folk and jazz, between British folk and Brazilian music. Enchanting and touching with superb melodies and a sweet delivery can soften even the most hardened heart. It’s just a beautiful work, but how beautiful it is!

28. The Innocence Mission – Midwinter Swimmers (Bella Union)

Midwinter Swimmers is The Innocence Mission’s 13th album, and one of their most beautiful and moving. As always Karen Peris is deeply attentive to the poetry of the little things of everyday life, and in her songs we can find confort and warmth. Her fragile voice is sincere, her words are simple and the song of Midwinter Swimmers speak the simplest of truths: life is full of sorrows, grief and loss, but also of hope and expectation. You can share your sadness with these songs, which are essential and touching, and and, thus, find relief. Midwinter Swimmers is another intimate gem.

29. Tindersticks – Soft Tissue (City Slang)

Soft Tissue is the fourteenth proper album by the Nottingham band and, avoiding the risk of sounding tired or lacking in ideas, it is, instead, particularly inspired, with the band memebers that never forget to elaborate, experiment and explore new sound solutions. Fundamental are, as always, the arrangements that make the songs of Soft Tissue urgent and almost claustrophobic, with the massive use of brass, Dave Boulter’s keyboards making the atmosphere smokier and the soulful and sentimental voice of Gina Foster to act as a counterpoint to the dark and smoky one of Staples. The songs on Soft Tissue move between beauty and discomfort. Still, after more than thirty years, Tindersticks prove, once again, to be capable of writing the perfect soundtrack to our lives, putting the pieces back together and giving a sweeter sound even to defeats. Immense.

30. Flowertown – Tourist Language (Paisley Shirt Records)

In their new album, Tourist Language, … Gill’s voice is the fulcrum around which all the songs revolve. Yet it is never in the foreground, it is not a stentorian or particularly melodious voice. It is only the voice of the fog, the voice of memories – often faded, confused – the voice of indefinite feelings, of intense yet fleeting sensations, the voice of that persistent and melancholic nostalgia that we would like to free ourselves from and that, however, is so dear to us. … Mike Ramos’ contribution is equally important, with his guitars and an androgynous voice that seems to fit perfectly with that of his colleague.

31. Euros Childs – Beehive Beach (National Elf)

Beehive Beach is the 20th record by Euros Childs, post-Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. The album, unlike its predecessors, was recorded live in studio with a full band, and it’s easy to see the different approach in these wonderful songs. Piano, keyboards, guitars and the soft and unmistakable voice of Euros Childs make Beehive Beach a contemplative, melancholic and nostalgic record. Dreamlike and surreal stories about the fanciful freedoms of childhood, with a bit of black humour, are the trademark of Euros Childs and you can find plenty of them in Beehive Beach, his best record to date. And that’s no small thing, considering his brilliant career.

32. Rocky Lorelei – Bury My Face In A Flower (Rehberge Records)

Rocky Lorelei represents the solo lo fi musical work of Rachel Taylor (also member of Slipper). Began as just bedroom recordings in Toronto, when Rachel moved to Glasgow in 2016 -encouraged by Sean Armstrong (Spinning Coin, The Yawns, Slipper)- she also moved the project onto the stage. Released on her own label Rehberge Records, Bury My Face In A Flower is a collection of ten soft and gentle songs with guitar, synthesizer, piano and field recordings. With its lo-fi production and the haunting and affectionate voice of Rachel, the album is an intimate journey in its author’s mind and a balm for the listener’s soul.

33. Camera Obscura – Look to the East, Look to the West (4AD)

After the premature death of Carey Lander, the Glasgow band wondered whether to resume their activity. Then a concert with Belle And Sebastian, in 2019, sparked things again and Camera Obscura finally returned to writing. Look To The East, Look To The West picks up where Desire Lines, eleven years ago, left off: Tracyanne Campbell still writes delicate and nostalgic songs and sings them with a voice that could move mountains, while the band still paints arrangements that, despite the refined understatement, hark back to country music and the girl groups of the sixties. The album is pervaded by a leaden melancholy, which shines through in tender ballads that are difficult to listen to with dry eyes. Welcome back!

34. Raoul Vignal – Shadow Bands (Talitres)

Raoul Vignal’s fourth record, Shadow Bands, is a magnificent return to form for the French singer-songwriter. The hazy, dreamlike quality of his music match Raoul’s voice and his fingerpicked acoustic guitar. This time, while his “luminous melancholy” and his songwriting talent are still there, the songs on the new album show broader influences than anglophone folk music, with shades of tropicalia, and exotic rhythms. A record that quietly finds its way into my heart.

35. English Teacher – This Could Be Texas (Nice Swan Records)

Before it came out, I thought This Could be Texas, the debut album from English Teacher, would become one of my favourite album of the year. All the songs I’ve already heard were fantastic and all of them were going to be in the album. That’s why, most likely, I felt a bit underwhelmed when the album finally came out. Apart from the songs I already knew and loved, it took a while to unveil the wonder of the new ones. But, even if no one compares to Nearly Daffodils, I have to admit that there is no filler. And the album itself is just fantastic. Lily Fontaine is a skilled and clever singer, songwriter and frontwoman and the lyrics are witty and articulate. This is, indeed, one of the best albums of 2024.

36. Marina Allen – Eight Pointed Star (Fire Records)

Eight Pointed Star, Marina Allen’s third album, was expected as the one of the consecration for the singer-songwriter from Los Angeles and the production of Chris Cohen was, in this sense, a real guarantee. The nine songs that compose it do not betray the considerable expectations at all, reaffirming Allen’s class and her compositional and interpretative talent and managing, indeed, to broaden her sound palette and make her musical proposal even more enjoyable and immediate. These are sublimely arranged songs that refer more directly to contemporaneity than previous works, without, however, forgetting the teachings of the great songwriters of the past (just listen to the vocal performance of Bad Eye Opal, to be amazed). Between piano chimes, baroque flutes, delicate percussions and resonant guitars, the world of Eight Pointed Star sounds welcoming and more optimistic. Allen’s voice is pure and crystalline and makes everything she sings shine. Much more than a confirmation.

37. Humdrum – Every Heaven (Slumberland Records)

One of my most loved records back in 2017 was Lost World, the debut (and only) album from Star Tropic. The band split up during the pandemic, and now Loren Vanderbilt, from Chicago, has a new project, Humdrum and his debut album Every Heaven is a jangle-pop masterpiece. Chiming guitars reminescent of Sarah Records and C86 bands (name one, you will find it in these sounds) for jangly and exuberant indie-pop songs. Crystalline riffs reminiscent of Felt or The Cure, while jangle-pop melodies rival the ones of Chime School and The Reds, Pinks and Purples. Vanderbilt must be recognized as one of the most gifted indie pop songwrtiers of his generation.

38. Iron & Wine – Light Verse (Sub Pop Records)

Just when we were starting to think he had given his best, Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, returns with his most sunny, melodic and relaxed album. Light Verse, recorded with a twenty-four-piece orchestra, is above all an album of great songs. Songs with immediate and delicious melodies and arrangements full of brightness and hope that show the most melodic and carefree side of Beam, once again kissed by the god of maximum inspiration. Lyrically, Beam focuses on a series of both imaginary and personal insights, filled with desperate and optimistic characters, but this time it offers much more hope than despair. An album of dazzling and sober beauty.

39. Yea-Ming and The Rumours – I Can’t Have It All (Dandy Boy Records)

Yea-Ming Chen, San Francisco-based singer-songwriter, has, on her second record with The Rumours, written an indie-pop masterpiece. Melancholic, but with gloriously catchy hooks and heavily influenced by groups like Yo La Tengo, Camera Obscura and other early 90’s underground indie bands, I Can’t Have It All is a tremendous record with often sad but upbeat and wonderfully melodic songs that convey the personal journey of accepting loss and making changes of its author. A record that shows how “is completely possible to experience total sadness and extreme happiness simultaneously within the same body.” A very pleasant surprise.

40. Loren Kramar – Glovemaker (Secretly Canadian)

Loren Kramar’s debut album, Glovemaker, is so good that it’s a mystery why there hasn’t been much talk about it. Kramar has an incredible voice that vibrates and resonate inside the listener, his songwriting is mature and impressive and the arrangements are majestic. Glovemaker is a timeless record, soulful and hearfelt that deals with love, dreams, tragedy, lust and loss. Grandeur, melancholy, drama, in eleven theatrical and over the top, beautiful and delicate songs.

41. Dancer – 10 Songs I Hate About You (Meritorio Records)

Based out of Glasgow, Dancer is the latest project from musicians who perform in other local bands. After their two great mini-albums, released via GoldMold Records in 2023, their debut album 10 Songs I Hate About You is even better: fun, harsh, absurd melodic and absolutely eccentric and genuine.
While singer Gemma Fleet’s voice is melodic (and it’s great how she announces the song title at the beginning of each track), the rest of the band plays post-punk and slacker rock anthems, with intricate guitar playing, deep bass lines and danceable rhythms. Ten delightfully melodic, sometime euphoric, songs to love.

42. Black Tail – Wide Awake On Beds of Golden Dreams (MiaCameretta Records / Shore Dive Records)

Cristiano Pizzuti, Black Tail’s singer, is not only a fantastic musician and songwriter, but also a great music lover. You can hear it in each of his amazing songs and Wide Awake on Beds of Golden Dreams, Black Tail’s fourth album, is an indie-rock record with a long and noble lineage: Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Jayhawks, Wilco, Sparklehorse, Teenage Fanclub, Yo La Tengo, Elliott Smith influences, all mixed up and developed with great originality and personality. From wide-open and sunny to moody, passionate but shaded ballads, the album is a personal and introspective narration that brings the pontine suburbs closer to the Midwest of the United States. A truly fantastic work.

43. Chime School – The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel (Slumberland Records)

Chime School’s sophomore LP, The Boy Who Ran the Paisley Hotel, has a moodier tone compared to his debut. Slowed, but still immersed in jangling guitars, the album shows a great evolution in Andy Pastalianec’s songwriting, production and arrangement. There is no need to look beyond its title to understand that in its eleven songs you can find thirty-plus years of UK indie pop’s finest sounds, from East Village to Teenage Fanclub, from Creation to Sarah Records, even if each of them is deeply rooted in the Bay Area pop scene of 2024. Indie-pop fan’s heaven.

44. Dakota Suite & Quentin Sirjacq – Forever Breathes The Lonely Word (Navigators Yard)

Chris Hooson -as Dakota Suite- returns to collaborate with French pianist Quentin Sirjacq and nobody expected from them a sunny and funny record. The album, whose title is the same of an old Felt masterpiece, is a tribute to the late Nick Hawley, one of Chris Hooson’s oldest friends. Largely instrumental, there are two vocal covers where Hooson’s whispering voice it’s so poignant that it’s easy to find yourself on the verge of tears. The whole album is a somber hymn to sorrow and quiet despair, that sometimes gets colse to ambient territory, sometimes to a soundtrack. Sadness prevails, but with immeasurable beauty.

45. Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Destroyer (Dead Oceans)

It seemed almost impossible to follow up such an emotional and poignant -practically perfect- work as An Overview On Phenomenal Nature, yet the third album by the New York artist manages to recreate the magic of its predecessor. This time Jenkins writes a more concrete album – material, almost – with songs that recall the most classic folk rock but that do not forget to experiment on sounds. Her writing is intuitive but very refined, ranging between the personal and the political to create something profoundly original, both in the sound twists and in the fragile unfolding of the tracks, and in the alternation between songs and simple sound intuitions. Jenkins observes the stars and the planets and gives us back the beauty of what surrounds us with an enrapturing work.

46. Beth Gibbons – Lives Outgrown (Domino Recording Company)

Beth Gibbons’ debut solo album has been a while in the making: only eleven years since it was first announced, but it was worth the wait. It’s not an easy record, and its world is unique and haunting. Mournful -and sometime discordant- strings and her unparalleled and unmistakable voice singing about growing old and loss give the record a sort of gloomy atmosphere, although sometimes illuminated by a glimmer of light. Lives Outgrown may sound a challenging record, maybe also depressing, but its beauty is undeniable.

47. John Canning Yates – The Quiet Portraits (Violette Records)

Former Ella Guru (just one fantastic album in 2024) singer and songwriter John Canning Yates’ debut solo album is aptly titled The Quiet Portraits. His songs are almost whispered, minimal yet beautifully arranged and orchestrated. It is a melancholic album, but you can find consolation in its gentle sound. The Quiet Portraits doesn’t reveal its beauty at first sight, but rewards with repeated listens, calmly and slowly. A true gift, in times of noise pollution and rush.

48. The The – Ensoulment (earMUSIC)

For his first studio album in twenty-five years, Matt Johnson reunites with Warne Livesey, the producer of his masterpieces Infected and Mind Bomb. Ensoulment is nourishment for the soul, food for those who have been starving for intelligent music, and proof that pop music can still speak to both the heart and the mind. A song like Where Do We Go When We Die? again addresses the theme of loss (of the father, in this case) in a wonderful way, while Kissing the Ring of POTUS is timely and poignant, the perfect white soul song for the post-truth era. Ensoulment shines with dark beauty and clear statements. Matt Johnson is (still) a necessary artist.

49. Vera Sola – Peacemaker (City Slang)

Vera Sola’s second album, recorded in Nashville in 2019 and released with great delay, is already a classic. Although her stage name may, at least in Italy, sound unattractive, Danielle Ackroyd manages, with Peacemaker, to update the sound of her fabulous debut Shades, wrapping her deep, smoky and timeless voice around tense and engaging ballads, between country noir, jazz, hints of Tom Waits and a pinch of Broadway. Often accompanied by a string section and wind instruments, her poignant and melancholic songs evoke the past, but are deeply anchored in the present. The magnificent Desire Path places her among the best contemporary authors.

50. Keeley Forsyth – The Hollow (FatCat Records)

It is the twilight landscape of North Yorkshire, where the artist resides, that acts as a spark, a sounding board for the deep emotions from which words and sounds spring.
The atmospheres are dark as they had never been, the theme of death present in a cumbersome way due to the recent loss of the beloved grandmother who had raised her…Scott Walker is still the most immediate reference… At the center of everything remains her theatrical and vibrant voice, also declined in the form of spoken word bringing us back to Forsyth’s acting skills and capable of revealing itself particularly delicate, in closing when it moves in unison with measured piano drops.

51. Emma Gatrill – Come Swim (Willkommen Collective)

Emma Elizabeth Gatrill’s new album, Come Swim, arrived almost seve years after her previous record and was preceded by many singles. This time her harp is no more at the centre stage, but she uses it with violins, clarinets, synths and percussions and makes everything sound pefrect. Contributions from Rachael Dadd, Rozi Plain and Kate Stables of This Is The Kit are a welcome addiction to her elegant and delicate songwriting. Come Swim seems to create a world apart, reinvent her music “inside and outside the tradition”. Unique and brave, Gatrill deserves more recognition.

52. The Pearlfishers – Making Tapes for Girls (Marina Records)

After a five years hiatus the Glasgow-based project of the singer and songwriter David Scott, The Pearlfishers returned with Making Tapes For Girls (its title alone, it’s worth the waiting), produced with Johnny Smillie (Thrum). Thanks to David Scott’s fantastic songwriting and elegant arrangements, Making Tapes For Girls is a chest of pop gems, full of moving melodies and colourful lyrics about the power of pop music and the healing force of nostaglia. “I didn’t know how to say the right thing / So I let it to Joni and Paul…”. Making Tapes forever.

53. Zenxith – Talk About Prolific/ Cooling Tower/ From The Corners Of My Cold Room/ Thursday (Self Released)

Four albums in one year and no one less than amazing (From The Corners Of My Cold Room is my favourite, though). Daniel McGee is a 22 year old independent D.I.Y. lofi indie pop musician/songwriter coming from Newcastle Upon Tyne and he’s “quite” prolific. As Zenxith he makes gentle lofi indie pop with jangle melodies without any band. No studio, all recorded in the bedroom on a phone, Zenxith cites C86, Creation and Sarah Records band, music that arrived a quarter of century before he was born and yet he sound genuine and passionate. If indie-pop has a future, its name is Zexith.

54. Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia? (Island Records)

For their second album, Yard Act were at a crossroads: make bold choices and head towards experimental shores or embrace their audience (and try to expand it) by indulging in their more pop and light-hearted side. With Where Is My Utopia? the English band decides not to decide. Instead of making a choice Yard Act have just created an intelligent record, full of musical good ideas, melodies and sense of fun. Avoiding to go too experimental or to give themselves away to mainstream pop, they’ve express themselves with honesty and warmth while reaching out to a broader audience. Sitting on a fence? Proudly.

55. Gruff Rhys – Sadness Sets Me Free (Rough Trade Records)

With his twenty-fifth album – if we count all the works he has been involved in, including Super Furry Animals, collaborations and solo albums – Rhys, once again, manages to amaze. This time his songs are immersed in baroque pop, as sweet and soft as the celestial cotton candy that gives the title to the first single. Built around acoustic instrumentation and crescendo strings, Sadness Sets Me Free brings with it sweet melodies and songs with an essential and very effective harmonic development that often remain anchored to the ground only for the lovely melancholy that pervades them. Rhys, in search of the perfect melody, gives us a handful of fragile and delicate, yet impeccable songs, which do nothing but confirm his extraordinary talent and enrich a repertoire incredibly rich in pop gems.

56. The Jesus And Mary Chain – Glasgow Eyes (Fuzz Club)

With their eighth album, the first since 2017, William and Jim remain faithful to artists who in some way anticipated punk: Suicide (never so present thanks to arrangements heavily imbued with electronics and synths), the Beatles, the Stones and, of course, the Velvet Underground. In an age of retromania and revivalism at all costs, the Reid brothers, between old-time electronics and rock and roll, remain, provocatively, more than ever out of time. If some songs refer directly to the tense, abrasive and darkly romantic sounds of the past, there are songs that deviate from the path in an interesting way but, overall, Glasgow Eyes is unmistakably a Jesus And Mary Chain album. And this can only be good news.

57. Brigitte Calls Me Baby – The Future Is Our Way Out (ATO Records)

The quintet’s full-length debut changes neither pace nor register, integrating into the setlist the five magnificent songs from This House Is Made of Corners as well as the three promotional singles dropped in increasing order of beauty in recent weeks… The music of Brigitte Calls Me Baby continues to reveal itself as pulsating, angry, romantic, shamelessly cinematic, an arrow shot at the perfect center of rock’n’roll, new wave and indie-rock, (a part of Elvis and derivatives, a part of the Cure, Blondie and Psychedelic Furs, plus a final one of the Strokes and the Killers), elegantly retro and refined in every little compositional stratagem, without for this reason falling into calligraphy or pure and simple decoration.

58. Penny Arcade – Backwater Collage (tapete records)

With Backwater Collage, the former Ultimate Painting, The Proper Ornaments and Veronica Falls member manages to bewitch the listener once again… the eleven tracks of his debut under the Penny Arcade moniker seem to narrate ancient legends transported into a modern, dark era in which we feel increasingly alone, but clinging to certainties such as the Velvet Underground’s third self-titled album, the White Album, Neil Young in the seventies, and Syd Barrett as a soloist. These are the coordinates that make Backwater Collage one of the essential releases of the year.

59. Chantal Acda & The Atlantic Drifters – Silently Held (Challenge Records)

Chantal Acda’s new album, Silently Held, came to life with the collaboration of incredible musicians as Bill Frisell, Eric Thielemans, Jozef Dumoulin, Thomas Morgan and Shahzad Ismaily. Their golden touches contribute to the album’s rich texture and Colin Stetson, renowned for his avant-garde saxophone work, contributes too. Silently Held’s songs are carefully crafted and played with soul. Chantal, once again, with her mesmerizing and warm voice, unveils a raw and authentic portrayal of vulnerability and, song afer song, the album becomes like a church, inviting listeners to join. An intimate communion with the audience.

60. Julia Holter – Something in the Room She Moves

Something in the Room She Moves, Julia Holter sixth album, finds the American musician proceeding in her quest for crafting the perfect avant-pop record. With her magnificent voice and sumptuous synths, bass, woodwinds and horns Holter delivers a sort of postmodern chamber music, which is indebted in equal parts to pop, jazz, folk, and classical music. Her music does not exist to be judged, just to be admired. It is art in its purest form.

61. The Umbrellas – Fairweather Friend (Slumberland Records)

Fairweather Friend is much more than a superfine and agile treatise on melody: it is a blow straight to the heart of every indiepop fan.
Indeed: it is the clearest definition of indiepop that can be provided these days.
( https://tristesunset.com/2024/02/05/the-umbrellas-fairweather-friend/ )

62. PINHDAR – A Sparkle On The Dark Water (Fruits de Mer Records)

Above all, it’s the balance of the electro-synthetic interweaving shaped by Tarenzi and the changing and perfectly mastered vocal expressiveness of Cecilia Cecilianmd Miradoli to be admired, defining a highly emotional journey in search of a spark on the dark waters of contemporaneity that ends with a caressing homage to a lost friend, yet another gem of a precious album.

63. A Minor Place – Songs Are Lying (Self Released)

Could a band that depicts itself as “woke up in a freezing cold bedroom in Glasgow with a 45 by The Pastels on the turntable spinning incessantly” not be an all time favourite of yours? It certainly is among mine. A Minor Place confirm themselves with Songs Are Lying as the best (and most underrated?) Italian indiepop band. Their new album is enchanting, exciting and moving, with his witty, fragile and tender -but never corny- songs. Another small miracle.

64. Kim Deal (Kim Deal Music) – Nobody Loves You More (Sub Pop Records)

“I don’t know where I am/And I don’t care!” are the opening lines of Nobody Loves You More, Kim Deal’s first solo album. And yet, listening to its eleven tracks, it seems that the American indie scene veteran has very clear ideas: dreamy and intimate songs that are also extroverted and direct, eclectic and decidedly immediate, imbued with Hawaiian and mariachi influences. Nothing is ever banal when it comes to Kim Deal. With some of the songs co-produced by the late maestro Steve Albini, Nobody Loves You More is a work that finally highlights her immense talent. Living icon.

65. King Hannah – Big Swimmer (City Slang)

Big Swimmer, the second album by Liverpool’s duo King Hannah, composed of Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, builds on their debut and try to outdo it, with songs that are deeply affected by them touring the United States for the first time. Their narrative switched from the everyday life to something bigger and more suitable for metaphors and. This different perspective seeps into the album’s lyrics and music, allowing Merrick and Whittle a wider -even if less intimate and personal- range of musical solutions.
A physical and emotional journey.

66. Loma – How Will I Live Without a Body? (Sub Pop Records)

The third album by Texas-born trio made of Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski and Jonathan Meiburg, How Will I Live Without a Body? is their best to date: understated and reserved, as usual, with field recordings, synths, guitar, percussion and clarinet that give the eleven tracks a sort of distant flare, a peaceful -and sometime menacing- vibe, revisiting and improving their mix of ambient, free jazz and alternative folk, often indebted to avant garde musicians as Brian Eno and Laurie Anderson, with Cross’s voice that can come from a dream as well as from a nightmare. Haunting

67. The BV’s – Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures (Shelflife Records – Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten)

Taking Pictures of Taking Pictures is the third album for the German band, their first as a full band. As usual, their captivating jangle-pop comes with introspective and melancholic passages, well aware of post-punk. More lively and rich in sounds, the album conveys more reflective and poignant tracks and flirts, at times, with krautrock. It’s a record that The Cure would have done if they were on Sarah Records (and came from Germany…). An essential listening.

68. The Muldoons – We Saw The View (Last Night From Glasgow)

The Muldoons formed in Paisley back in the early ’90s, without releasing any record, but in 2017, they came back and recorded a fantastic debut in 2020, Made For Each Other. The second album deals with themes of time and the issues of growing older. Think about a more C86 influenced Belle And Sebastian, with irresistible pop songs, delicate guitar work, steady rhythms and a subtle and great use of trumpet. Sincere and heartwarming.

69. Katy Pinke – Katy Pinke (Glamour Gowns)

Katy Pinke is a Manhattan-based singer-songwriter, painter and actor and the songs on her self-titled debut album possess a direct and inviting quality. She recorded her vocals and minimal guitar accompaniments live with drummer Jeremy Gustin in front of an audience of a few friends. You can call them experimental folk, but there isn’t any snobbery in her compositions, inspired by artists like Bill Callahan and Aldous Harding. Devastating but fun, bittersweet and life affirming.

70. Babehoven – Water’s Here In You (Double Double Whammy)

With Water’s Here in You, the New York duo of Maya Bon and Ryan Albert have managed to widen their sound, betraying their gorgeous indie-folk roots. Bon writes songs with poetic lyrics both personal and universal, while the music goes beyond guitar based folk, adding synths that create a dense atmosphere conveying sad emotions, with a new breath of fresh air and brightness and, sometimes, a sense of relief and peace. Hopeful and stunning.

71. Phantom Handshakes – Sirens at Golden Hour (Start-track.com)

Phantom Handshakes (Matt Sklar and Federica Tassano) are one of the best dream pop act around and Sirens At Golden Hour, their third LP, proves it once again. Their latest effort takes their default simple and ethereal pop songcraft to a new level. The gorgeous melodies and Tassano’s evocative voice are melancholic and bright, beautiful, yet more obscure than in the past. Their lo-fi approach stays but there are wonderful minimal arrangements that elevate each song. Resounding and emotional.

72. Dead Bandit – Memory Thirteen (Quindi Records)

Post Rock duo made up of Chicagoan songwriter Ellis Swan and Canadian multi-instrumentalist James Schimpl delivers, through the phenomenal Italian label Quindi Records, an impressive second album that builds from the desolate beauty of their debut, adding Southern gothic and a sort of a sentimental mood to their post-rock and noise instrumentals. After listening to this record no one would dare to say that post-rock isn’t alive and well.

73. William Doyle – Springs Eternal (Tough Love Records)

Another record co-produced by the brilliant Mike Lindsay, Springs Eternal, Willam Doyle’s third album since the Mercury Prize-nominated English musician abandoned his stage name East India Youth, is his most ambitious and complex work. Touching with irony but passion on topics ranging from environmental disaster to heartache, from addiction to mental illness, Doyle, with his unmistakable and very personal falsetto and his layered and melodic art pop, skillfully manages to combine his dreamiest and most melancholic soul with the synthetic pop inspiration that had characterized his beginnings. A source of eternal wonder.

74. Wut – Mingling with the Thorns (Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records)

Vancouver BC’s jangle-pop meets riot-twee trio WUT’s Mingling with the Thorns, their sophomore album, was born during long periods of isolation (due to covid), which allowed the band to experiment with different arrangements and ideas. The result is a fantastic collection of carefully crafted pop songs that reflect the bands mutual love for c86 jangle pop and early Flying Nun Records bands. But even if Mingling with the Thorns’s melodies are fun and carefree, the album’s lyrical content draws up themes that grapple with patriarchy and capitalism, specifically the struggle to find personal autonomy within these social systems. Intriguing and engaging.

75. Villagers – That Golden Time (Domino Recording Company)

Conor O’Brien has grown as a composer since his early days and his sixth album, That Golden Time, that explores romanticism versus realism, is a fine and sophisticated work with gorgeous songs. Ten gems perfectly arranged and sometimes stripped back to their bones. Another fantastic delivery from Paddy McAloon’s true heir.

76. Dana Gavanski – Late Slap (Full Time Hobby)

Dana Gavanski’s third album, Late Slap was recorded with gifted producer Mike Lindsay and its songs are strengthened by magnificent arrangements that live up to her arresting voice. The album is playful, joyous, whimsy and beautiful. Enthralling melodies built upon synths, layers of voice, guitar jangles and strings. Artistry and talent on full display.

77. Myriam Gendron – Mayday (Thrill Jockey Records)

The new album by French-Canadian musician Myriam Gendron is based mostly on original compositions and is a powerful reflection on loss and pain. Mayday is a personal and heartfelt work, intimate and sad in which Gendron continues to blend French and English, electric guitar and acoustic guitar, very sweet ballads and more scratchy passages. Gendron’s incredible ability to convey his emotions without putting up protective barriers, without neglecting the musical aspects. A work which will be difficult to forget.

78. Marika Hackman – Big Sigh (Chrysalis)

Even if both the disruptive, almost punk, force of I’m Not Your Man as well as the sexual boldness and funky rhythms of Any Human Friend seem to be absent, Big Sigh reveals itself as another step forward for a musician who always manages to question and reinvent herself. The album sounds like a sort of vulnerable soundtrack of a transitional era, between romanticism and loss, carnality and abstraction. It is reflection that distinguishes the songs on Big Sigh, as if Hackman’s desire was to return to his singer-songwriter roots. A frank and courageous work.

79. Bell Monks – Watching The Snow Fall (Wayside & Woodland Recordings)

Bell Monks (Jeff Herriott and Eric Sheffield, both music professors) create slow, dreamy and haunting music (they call it sleepy rock), blending lush sonic textures with slower, mostly traditional song structures. Listening to their aptly named debut album, you can find yourself surrounded by a quiet natural environment. With the gentle sound of the synths, their music invites you to slow down and take a well deserved break. Restful and blissful.

80. Josienne Clarke – Parenthesis, I (Corduroy Punk Records)

The fifth album by Clarke, since she went solo again, is complex and emotional, her most mature work to date. Josienne Clarke’s voice is absolutely fantastic, as usual, the focus of the record, but the songwriting feels stronger and the arrangements give the songs depth and elegance. Melodic and yet challenging, Parenthesis I is a labour of love, for herself and for the listeners.

81. DEADLETTER – Hysterical Strength (SO Recordings)

British art-punk collective DEADLETTER first album has twelve songs that (apparently) reflect the energy of their live shows, with motorik rhythms, angular guitars, saxophone, and sprechgesang dark and humorous lyrics. But, most of all, they have tunes! If this is post-punk, we can affirm that this ill-treated genre is alive and well. Threatening and accomplished.

82. The Lemon Twigs – A Dream Is All We Know (Captured Tracks)

The D’Addario Brothers released, with a Dream Is All We Know, their masterpiece, combining elements of English sixties sound, Beach Boy harmonies and, of course, bubblegum pop. They created magnificent pop nuggets, which could have been written in any era. In a perfect world this would be the sound of pop bursting out of any radio. Pop perfect.

83. Mount Eerie – Night Palace (P.W. Elverum & Sun)

As usual with Phil Elverum, the big opus Night Palace, 81 minutes of music on two albums, offers a huge variety of genres, emotions and stories: from post-rock to ballads, from electro-pop to noise, from folk to lo-fi and psych-pop. Slowcore at its… core, Night Palace is more than simply a music record. It’s a journey deep into the soul and mind of its maker. And, once again, an hazardous and rewarding one. A work of art.

84. Mike Lindsay – Supershapes Volume 1 ( Moshi Moshi Records)

The first solo album by Mike Lindsay (Tunng, Lump) was conceived as an instrumental record about the hsitory, emotions and soul we can find in everyday objects, with contribution from multi instrumentalist Ross Blake, saxophonist Robert Stillman and Anna B Savage (whose album in|FLUX he produced). Call it indietronica, but there’s much more to it. Jazz-infused, melodic, playful and adventurous, it’s an outstanding debut.

85. Charlie Kaplan – Eternal Repeater (Glamour Gowns)

Charlie Kaplan’s third solo record, Eternal Repeater, is simply a great folk rock work. Produced by Nico Hedley, centers around mankind’s inclination to cruelty and fear but with a gentle touch. Musically it recalls the northern English psych folk from the sixties, but it’s always surprising, varied and eclectic. Fresh, complex and mesmerizing.

86. Claire Rousay – Sentiment (Thrill Jockey Records)

Claire Rousay surprisingly made a pop album made of songs, of course imbued with experimentation and ambient nuances. Sentiment is melancholic and introspective with a distant guitar and the voice filtered by autotune. Almost a slowcore record, where lo-fi, carefully crafted electronics, found sounds and field recordings coexist beautifully. Will Sentiment be a one-off or a new direction for her? Anyway it’s a bliss.

87. Snowgoose – Descendant (Violette Records)

Recorded live, Descendant is the third album from Snowgoose, the duo of Jim McCulloch and Anna Sheard. It moves among eighties/nineties Scottish indie-pop, seventies Laurel Canyon folk-rock and sixties British jazz-folk. Psych-folk is also in the equation, and Descendant reminds everybody that Jim Mcculloch knows how to write a tune. An excellent album.

88. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God (PIAS)
Listening to the eighteenth Nick Cave album is like going to a church to worship him and his Bad Seeds. If you’re a fan (or, better, a devotee) you can’t help but enjoying it. More earthly than its predecessor Wild God is one of Cave’s most positive records. Uplifting (as a Cave record can be).

89. Whitelands – Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day (Sonic Cathedral)

The long-awaited debut album from London based Whitelands arrived after a series of magnificent singles. With an album title is taken from The Prophet, the book by Kahlil Gibran, this debut is full of dreamy melodies and celestial guitars. A sonic experience for every shoegaze lover with meaningful and deep lyrics. Gazing one’s own shoes is still a fascinating activity.

90. Gibson & Toutant – On The Green (Sleepy Cat)

Josephine McRobbie and Joseph O’Connell (Elephant Micah), as Gibson & Toutant, made a record that moves between lonesome cowboy-folk and post-punk. Think about Young Marble Giants flirting with Yo La Tengo and… Elephant Micah. On The Green is DIY roots music with catchy melodies that will have you dancing along. Irresistible.

91. Sad Eyed Beatniks – Ten Brocades (Meritorio Records)

Kevin Linn records his music as Sad Eyed Beatniks, Present Electric, and Tam Lin and also runs the incredible Paisley Shirt Records (Flowertown, Hits, Tony Jay, Cindy, April Magazine, Whitney’s Playland, R.E. Seraphin). His new album, Ten Brocades, with a little help from Mike Ramos and Karina Gill (Tony Jay, Cindy, Flowertown), is full of skewed dreamy indie-pop, drones, some acid rock and lo-fi melancholia. Get lost in it.

lightheaded – Combustible Gems (Slumberland Records)

New Jersey’s Lightheaded are, simply, a great pop group. Their songs are full of melody and harmony, are bittersweet and memorable, familiar yet original. They write pop songs in the classic sense. After the magnificent Good Good Great! EP, out in 2023, the band’s debut album, Combustible Gems, confirms their skill and genius for sixties oriented melodies. Timeless pop charm.

93. Office Culture – Enough (Ruination Record Co.)

On their fourth album, Enough, the Brooklyn band, consisting in singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Winston Cook-Wilson, bassist Charlie Kaplan, and guitarist Ryan El-Solh (Scree) is joined by fellow Ruination artists Alena Spanger, The Bird Calls (Sam Sodomsky), Jackie West and Dan Knishkowy (Adeline Hotel). Cook-Wilson treats his songs with synthetic grooves, swanky percussion and cites artists of all sorts: from Trent Reznor to Everything But the Girl and The Sea and Cake. AM-radio-style soft rock that has hints of jazz and pop. Challenging and rewarding.

94. Erlend Øye & La Comitiva – La Comitiva (Bubbles Records)
From Syracuse, Erlend, half of Kings Of Convenience, conceived and developed this new project with a small group of local friends. The album contains delicious ballads between bossa nova and folk, sung in English or in Italian by Erlend’s funny and tender voice, and a series of delicate instrumentals that perfectly convey the relaxed and convivial atmosphere in which they were conceived. A balm.

95. Wojtek The Bear – Shaking Hands With The NME (Last Night From Glasgow)
Producer by Stephen Street (The Smiths, Blur, New Order!!!), the third album by glaswegians Wojtek The Bear is full of wonderful melodies and magnificent trumpet passages. 10 tracks filled with jangly guitars, wonderful strings, heavenly horns and fabulous tunes and worplays. Scottish delight.

96. Ben Seretan – Allora (Tiny Engines)
Self-described as his “insane Italy record”, made on tape in Montebelluna across three July days in 2019, Ben Seretan’s latest album is a guitar record full of drones, rock ‘n’ roll and, as usual for our beloved Ben, emotions and tenderness. Overwhelming.

97. Sunlit – Sunlit (Elefant Records)
Joe Moore (The Yearning, The Perfect Kiss) is back with a dream-pop, shoegazing, folk-pop album, where melodic elegance, the most profound relaxation, and romanticism are all back in full force. With this new project Joe sings the songs himself and swims through seas of dream pop.

98. Capitol – Sounds Like a Place (Meritorio Records)
Hamilton, Ontario quintet’s sophomore album, Sounds Like a Place, is a perfectly balanced mix of shoegaze, post punk and dream-pop inspired by alternative indie artists of the 90s/00s and tinged with a dash of 80s New Wave. Compelling.

99. Shopfires – Shopfires/ Holding On To Let Go (Subjangle)
Leicester, UK based Neil Hill describes his music as ‘DIY pop recorded directly into a cheap laptop’ but in his two records as Shopfires, both out in 2024 on Subjangle in February and June, there’s more: he moves within the various ambits of beautiful jangly guitar pop in the vein of Brighter, Field Mice, Heavenly or Television Personalities.

100. The Proctors – Snowdrops And Hot Balloons (Sunday Records)
Full of delicious guitar melodies, an album for jangle-pop lovers and eternal Sarah Records orphans.