2024 Music: Songs of the Year: Top Twenty

20) Survive the Night - Shenseea, Chris Rivers, Nas, Cam'ron, Ghostface Killah, RZA & Busta Rhymes (Non-Musical Theatre Hip-Hop)

This is the opening number of Lin Manuel-Miranda and Eisa Davis' musical adaptation of Warriors (which has just been produced as an album rather than a stage production, hence my 'non-musical theatre appellation for this and another song from elsewhere in my top 100). And this is a really killer, dynamic way to kick off a brilliantly kinetic album with a lot of prominent featured rappers setting the scene for the night of violence and tension that we're in for from the whole show.

19) Endsong - The Cure (Gothic Orchestral Rock)

A slowdown for number 19; this song wraps up the Cure's beautiful latest album (which I'll get into more when I do my albums in the next post). What I love most about this song is how patient it is and how firm the instrumental control is throughout. Robert Smith doesn't open his mouth here until about halfway through the song but we're already taken on a journey through the slow build-up of guitar and strings layers and it leaves us with a devastating sense of emptiness and mortality.

18) The Wheel - UGLY (UK) (Post-Pop)

UGLY (stylised on Spotify as UGLY (UK) to distinguish them from whoever the hell has the name UGLY trademarked) were a big discovery for me this year. They combine a sense of choral harmonising with an anything-goes approach to progressive rock and this song is seven minutes of beautifully controlled mayhem that feels like The Manhattan Transfer's mad scientist cousin or something.

17) To Be Of Use - Logan Lynn (Bedroom Pop Cover)

I was really taken by the sad empty feeling of this song (it's another that falls into that 'modern power ballad' vibe) and I was surprised to learn it was actually a cover of a song by Bill Callahan. When I listened to the original for the first time it really confirmed for me that Logan Lynn's echoey production is really the key selling point here and it really intensifies the feeling of sadness and hopelessness the song imbues.

16) Karma Wheel - Night Verses (Post-Metal)

I believe this song is likely my and Jez's combined #2 song of the year, behind another song which I'll get to, as this was even higher on his list. There's a lovely sense of mindless chaos to this instrumental metal track where they have lots of different elements all moving and firing all at once. I wasn't quite as taken by this as Jez was (although obviously I love it) because it does feel a bit like a great, powerful refrain stitched together sparingly by longer quiet passages so it's not the kind of coherent heavy-hitting that could make my top ten but it's still a kickass bit of music.

15) I bhFiacha Linne - KNEECAP (Northern Irisho Hip-Hop)

KNEECAP were another new discovery this year. This song's just a clear distillation of what made their album great (which will come up in my top albums writeup), specifically how unapologetically (Northern) Irish these guys are. They spout harsh truths and foul-mouthed rants in thick accents, flitting in dynamic switches between English and Irish language lyrics and developing a rollicking sense of both carefree fun and also potential mindless violence and anger.

14) Walkins Welcome - BenBen (Gnome Rock)

From the very first week of music listening in 2024 (so actually likely a December 2023 release), this song stuck with me for the whole of the year. BenBen has a soft and quite sweet voice so the song's got a nice catchy quality intrinsically, but where he takes it with his particular 'gnome rock' quirks takes it to another level entirely.

13) Comedy - Infinity Song (Progressive Vocal Pop)

This song was remarkable for me on first listen and I've only appreciated it more on relistening. Infinity Song are a predominantly vocal group of four siblings, but here they take their vocal ranges and clever sense of unity to a weird place with this song about the desire to laugh in the face of sadness and dejection. It goes through many different stages with a lovely sense of unpredictability and idiosyncrasy.

12) Dirrpi Yuin Patjulinya - DOBBY (Filipino-Muruwari Hip-Hop)

This one is likely my and Jez's combined #3 song of the year (possibly on par with "Karma Wheel" from earlier in terms of absolute score) as we both had it in our top 20. DOBBY is an Indigenous 'drapper' (drummer-rapper) and this song combines the best of both his worlds, with a funky beat underpinning a dense and free-flowing bit of hip-hop that evokes Aboriginal legend and that connection with the land in ways that's fascinating and exhilarating.

11) Dud - GUM & Ambrose Kenny-Smith (Psychedelic Rock)

This song was another, like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' "Frogs" that I adored as a lead single only to feel a bit let down by the resultant album. But still, this collaboration between GUM (part of Tame Impala's entourage) and Ambrose Kenny-Smith (of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and also frontman of the Murlocs) remains one of my favourite songs of the year. It's a perfect encapsulation of the grooving psychedelia that is becoming such a force in Australia these days largely thanks to King Giz. It's more groove than psychedelia but it just evokes such a wonderful rarefied atmosphere while it also slaps in the rock sense.

10) I Never Had Control - Another Sky (Indie Rock)

Another Sky have really been Jez's domain in the music listening project (possibly because I found their melting-face cover art a few years ago too off-putting to want to enjoy it) but this song really sends chills down my spine. It's largely driven by Catrin Vincent's amazing voice which she puts to extraordinary use in this track, driving higher and higher to big powerful peaks of drama that leaves me breathless in the right mood.

9) I haven't felt like me - Pronoun (Indie Pop)

I've enjoyed a lot of Pronoun's sweet pop music over the last few years but this song is a real highlight from her. It's a breakup song and a song about how humiliating and even dehumanising a breakup can feel, but when delivered in her waifish style it doesn't feel that sad; more heart-breakingly relatable and affecting, while also being catchy as hell.

8) Panoramic View - AWOLNATION (Indie Pop Rock)

Another one for the 'modern power ballad' style, I really dug AWOLNATION's whole album this year but as a lead single this was by far and away my favourite track. I interpret it as part of Aaron Bruno's dealing with his young twin boys and how it feels to have to keep an eye on everything in panoramic view, and as a result it's both quirkily self-effacing, personal and deeply sweet.

7) Seabird - Libera (Contemporary Choral)

Libera are a boys' choir who can deliver some utterly spine-chilling harmonies, but for the most part they do deliver standard choral songs that feel a bit familiar to me. So when they get an original composition like this they absolutely nail it. This song brings me a rush of joy as well as a profound sense of serenity as it evokes all the beauty and natural rhythms of the world.

6) His Altar of Silence - Kidä (Gothic Desert Pop)

Swinging violently back the other way, this track from Kidä is a dirty, kickass kind of affair. It has an ethereal vocal line with a dirgey guitar and even a filthy sax part at one point. Kidä uses her Egyptian-Arabic heritage to great effect to add a sense of east-meets-west exoticism to this incredibly dynamic tune that also evokes a sense of mystery and menace throughout.

5) Peaches - Shaznay Lewis (Pop RnB)

Shaznay Lewis is a former member and one of the chief songwriters of All Saints, and this solo album was a remarkable revelation of her as a songwriting and vocal force. This was a key highlight song for me, delivering a wonderfully layered sense of vocal harmonising with some stirring instrumental arrangements and a bit of a bridge section that strangely but aptly invokes "Pure Shores". This is definitely one of the powerhouse pure pop songs for me this year.

4) The Burning Handle - Geographer (Art Pop)

This is probably the pinnacle of this year's "modern power ballads" style songs. Geographer uses his powerful falsetto and narrative vocal style to great effect here in a song that moves wonderfully progressively through its stages so it feels like it's always building but at the same time never has a quiet or empty moment. In that sense it's kind of relentless in its drama and I think it's completely apt with the cosmological and spiritual themes embodied in the lyrics.

3) The Spark - Kabin Crew & Lisdoonvarna Crew (Irisho Kids' Rap)

This song is undoubtedly my and Jez's combined #1 song of the year as it made both our top tens (or possibly just outside for Jez). Get a bunch of Irish kids, have them rap over a fairly rudimentary but hard-hitting electronic beat, and you have a surefire hit of course. Mainly because these kids have such a wholesome spirit of joy and the result is the feel-good anthem of 2024 for my mind, reminding me of how good life was before I had to grow up and deal with ISO audits and CTP greenslips and *insert whatever else is bothering me at this specific moment in time*

2) Revelator - Phosphorescent (Indie Folk)

Oh here he comes again. Incidentally at time of writing this I'm going to see this guy live at the Factory Theatre tonight and he'll likely play this, my #2 song of the year. This was also the lead single from his album of the same name, and it's a beautiful piece of simple songwriting that just hits so many of the right notes and feels throughout. It's mostly just a sad song, but Matthew Houck has such a charisma in his singing that it feels like it conjures up the common experience we all have of sadness and facing our own imperfections. Beautiful stuff that was only just beaten by...

1) Shepherd's Carol - UGLY (UK) (Pastoral Progressive Post-Pop)

You'll remember UGLY from earlier in this very post as they've achieved the rare feat of hitting my top twenty twice (a feat also managed by Phosphorescent himself in 2018). But this song was always going to be hard to beat for my song of the year when I first heard it, because it's so utterly singular and bizarrely unique. It starts with this rolling guitar that puts me in mind of Malian luminaries Ali Fakha Touré and Toumani Diabaté, then it cuts straight across that with a power electric chord that evokes 70s The Who. Then when they get into their choral-style vocal harmonies and sardonic humour, it adds a whole heap of different dimensions to it. But the most remarkable thing about this song is despite it being this modern pastoral song (that coincidentally seems to be a piss-take on that anyway) with a clash of electric and traditional folk styles and a whole bunch of unpredictable progressive passages, it holds together as a singular vision. Even though it feels mostly like a weirdly silly song, it's so unlike anything I've heard before that it takes my top spot.

And it'll be a bit more of a task to write up my top 25 albums for another post today, but I'll aim for it nonetheless or at the latest, early next week, with books to follow.