Regular readers will be well clued up on my weekly round-up that I, somewhat unimaginatively, call five things we liked this week. I didn’t want to make out like no music has happened while I’ve been away, so I thought what better way than to pick out not five, but fifty-five things I liked this year!

Now covering 55 tracks individually would be great, but a bit of a slog to read and write, so perhaps consider this something of a state of the music industry quarterly report, or a rapid-fire review of the best stuff 2024 has had to offer so far.

While I generally have a focus on new and undiscovered music, I’ve never been opposed to a big-name act making really good music, and there have been some winning returns this year, with Elbow showing they’re still as creative and intriguing as ever 10 albums in, Nadine Shah justifying the piles of hype coming her way and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds were getting back in touch with their unhinged arena rock legends side on the brilliant Wild God. Lower profile, but no less welcome, returns came from some long-term blog favourites, with Hurray For The Riff Raff sharing the fantastic The Past Is Still Alive and Dana Gavanski reminding the world of her beautiful voice and gently skewed worldview on LATE SLAP. Quite possibly my favourite record of the year so far came from long-time musician, and relatively new solo star, Vera Sola. Vera’s second album, Peacemaker, is both a sonic explosion and a lyrical journey into humanity’s harshest instincts, exploring the personal and collective darkness and sending it roaring out as a beacon of fiery hope.

While many bands have embraced the dark side lately, 2024 has also delivered a rather wonderful blast of escapist indie-pop gems for us to sink our teeth into. There were welcome returns for Emma Kupa’s three-pronged clatterers Mammoth Penguins and Leeds’ Crumbs with their brilliant single You’re Just Jealous, which showed they’re as fun and bouncy as ever, while Glasgow’s Dancer made the move from brilliant EPs to a brilliant debut LP without losing any of their scratchy charms. On the other side of the pond Slumberland Records remains the go-to label for all things jangly, as showcased by new material from The Umbrellas, The Reds, Pinks & Purples and Lightheaded, while Sad Club signed New Yorkers, Trinket added a glorious spoken-word section and a cascade of shimmering guitars to the party, and Strawberry Generation’s take on bitter-sweet romance was as devastating as ever on new single, Iris (Eyelids). Our friends out in Europe also showed they know a thing or two about indie-pop, courtesy of Denmark’s Kindsight who continue to do a fine line in dreamy indie that The Sundays would be proud of, while Berlin’s Meagre Martin, somewhat surprisingly, dug into the psyche of Malcolm In The Middle on the excellent Malcolm.

After a relatively quiet 2023, by their own incredibly high standards, Texan hit factory, Keeled Scales have wasted no time in making their mark in 2024, with the return of the blue-collar rock brilliance of the possibly the world’s unluckiest band, Good Looks, as well as their latest signing Sinai Vessel, who described their track How as, “a wrestling match with a tunnel vision”, that to me brought to mind the likes of Andy Shauf and Lionlimb. On a different label, but sharing a certain musical DNA, Toronto’s Little Kid teamed up with Orindal Records for their expansive and brilliant new album, A Million Easy Payments, and Rose Hotel returned with the clatter and strut of Drown. The seemingly never-ending supply of fabulous lo-fi songwriters coming out of North America continued apace, courtesy of the likes of Hemlock, h.pruz, TJ Douglas and strong contenders for worst/best band name of the year, The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick.

Back in the UK, the DIY scene continues to deliver an eclectic bunch of new sounds, with Fika Recordings sharing the new record from the Scottish Father John Misty, as I’m not sure anyone has ever called him, Adam Ross, and wiaiwya sharing the lovely instrumental stylings of Todmorden’s Mark S. Williamson, aka Spaceship. Tapir! continued their artsy take on pop music with the release of their ambitiously excellent debut album, The Pilgrim, Their God and The King of My Decrepit Mountain, while Milkweed’s weirdo-folk experimentation reached new heights on My Father’s Sheep is Dead. Blog regulars, and all-round good eggs Tugboat Captain shared the intriguingly groovy “noir-detective musical caper” Bosch, and Benedict Benjamin wasted no time getting back to the grindstone with the excellent single Bully, and its particularly wonderful swirling organs.

I’ll sign off with a special mention for Magana’s brilliant new album Teeth, self-described as, “witchy rock”, it finds Jeni Magana stretching her songwriting out in a host of thrilling new directions from acid folk to krautrock as its creator found herself questioning everything she thought she knew about the world in the most thrilling way imaginable. Now go forth and explore good reader, because as any music blogger’s inbox will attest 2024 has stormed out of the blocks and shows no sign of tiring anytime soon.

Header photo is Vera Sola by Ebru Yildiz.