It’s the start of a new year which means it’s time for my annual reflection on the music in my life.
Today marks 18 years since I joined last.fm, a truly sizeable chunk of time. It’s really true what they say – time moves faster as you get older. The year went by in a blur and unfortunately a lot of what I listened to became similarly blurred. I always enjoy the graphs and data that last.fm collects, it’s helpful and interesting, especially when I need a reminder of what I was really listening to.
I knew before checking the graphs that I did not listen to a lot of music in the last year, but I did find a lot to enjoy; here is a look at some of my favourite music from 2023.
A L B U M S
I’ve been struggling for a while to get properly back into music. A whole bunch of factors have contributed to it, but it still makes me sad that I’m just not listening to as much music now as I A. historically have and B. would like to.
Traditionally, January is a big listening month for me as I go through the internet’s best-of lists and check out all the albums I missed the year before. It usually gets me all invigorated and excited to keep listening throughout the year…sadly it can also be hard for me to maintain the momentum. That’s what happened in ’23 – my listening data forms a valley over the course of the year, steadily declining and only picking up as year-end panic started to set in.
It’s interesting to me that my top albums all came from the later months of the year.
Coming in first is Romance by Fontaines D.C. I loved Skinty Fia back in 2022 and think as a cohesive album I actually like Romance more. From the first ominous tones of the opening/title track all the way to the glittery pop singalong closer Favourite it was highly repeatable and my top pick of the year.
Putting aside the whole cultural and meme movement surrounding it, Charli XCX‘s Brat was a solid pop album. I enjoyed it as a whole but it was the standout tracks that really pushed it onto the top 3 for me.
And in third place a super late addition as I only started listening to it in December: Arab Strap‘s I’m Totally Fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore 👍. Much like with As days get dark I really love the band’s current sound and had this album on repeat all of December.
Favourite albums:
- Fontaines D.C. – Romance
- Charli xcx – BRAT
- Arab Strap – I’m totally fine with it 👍 don’t give a fuck anymore👍
Others I enjoyed, in no particular order:
- Brimheim – RATKING
- Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – A Human Home
- Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Dark Rainbow
- Internet Girl – Role Model
- Billie Eilish – Hit me hard and soft
- St. Vincent – All Born Screaming
- Blue Vow – Death of a big black dog
Albums I missed/overlooked in the past and really enjoyed last year:
- Death Machine – Cocoon (2017)
- Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023)
- Carina Round – Tigermending (2012)
T R A C K S
Favourite track:
Others I enjoyed, in no particular order:
- Charli XCX – Von Dutch
- Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys – Open Road
- Sabrina Carpenter – Taste
- Arab Stap – Bliss
- Puscifer – The Algorithm
- Internet Girl – Figure it out
- Billie Eilish – LUNCH
- Brimheim – Brand New Woman (feat. eee gee)
- The Yagas – The Crying Room
- Willow – symptom of life
- Baby Lasagna – Rim Tim Tagi Dim
- Blue Vow – The Weather had its way
- Sharon Van Etten – Afterlife
- Chat Pile – Masc
- Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Self love
- Amyl and the Sniffers – U should not be doing that
Tracks I missed in previous years and really enjoyed last year:
- Godly the ruler feat. Internet Girl – the world is big
- Strand of Oaks – Sunbathers // Somewhere in Chicago
- Carina Round – Pick up the phone // This is the last time
- Peter Sommer – Elskede At Drømme, Drømmer Om At Elske
- Amyl and the Sniffers – Guided by angels
- Milky Chance – Living in a Haze
- The Kills – Wasterpiece
L I V E
While I’m now officially 2 years behind in my gig photo posting I was lucky to attend and shoot some great shows in 2024. Some standouts included Kirstenbosch concerts from Xavier Rudd and Fokofpolisiekar; Kraanium and Defeated Sanity‘s headlining shows at the Armchair, the inaugural Calabash festival at the CT Stadium; OMD and Milky Chance‘s shows at the A-Trak and Black Lung’s album launch at Texas.
Kraanium at the Armchair – 1 February ’24
Texx and the City’s Band or Bust contest at House of Machines retuned for another exciting run, as did the After Dark series at the aquarium. This year also saw the launch of a new series, On The Record at the Homecoming Centre.
On The Record: Steven McKellar – 3 October ’24
And as usual there were loads of great shows at District throughout the year.
M Y W O R K : M U S I C V I D E O S
I just did one video last year and it was this animated lyric video for my dad’s band McCully Workshop and their track All the Gingerbread men:
E U R O V I S I O N
Eurovision was rather overshadowed this year by backstage drama and the shocking removal of the Netherland’s Joost Klein. Still there were some worthwhile acts/songs including Ireland’s Bambie Thug, Estonia’s 5MIINUST x Puuluup, and of course Switzerland’s winning performance by Nemo:
While Nemo was incredible and deserved the win, I’m far from the only one who was heartbroken for Baby Lasagna and Croatia. His whole story and journey from bedroom artist to the Eurovision stage was really touching and Rim Tim Tagi Dim was a banger. It felt like a bit of a repeat of last year with Käärijä.
A special place in my heart goes to Finland and Windows95man*. Everything about this is perfection and I truly hope Eurovision never loses joyous acts like these:
*Hilariously, it was initially the broadcaster that blurred the Windows logo on the shirt. They subsequently leaned into it and printed the blurred logo on the shirt. The blurred video appended the song name with ‘rules applied version‘. Genius.
– – –
Truthfully the process of compiling this was getting me down a bit, but rewatching No Rules has unironically put me into a good, and even optimistic mood. I love music so much, and look forward to what 2025 has to bring.
Happy new year and happy listening!
