The best singles of 2024 – part two
The conclusion to the only countdown you need at the end of the year.
Just last week, I began stumbling my way through every single I’d had the pleasure of reviewing over the last twelve months.
Now, after a good few days of mulling and mustering up the words to articulate my hungover thoughts, I’ve decided to commit them to the written word.
Herein, please find six songs that are a worthy successive collection to those recommended last week. So, without further ado and in no particular order …
Maximillian Tanner – Control
Control, as a captivating synth-pop delight, doesn’t demand your attention. Rather, it wields it without compromise. In that sense, its name is an apt one.
Compared to Tanner’s solo debut offering Ego Death – a comparatively sunny and gleeful song when put alongside upon reflection – Control is foreboding and filled to the brim with a sense of hopelessness. While his beloved BlackWaters may be done, Tanner’s future is equally bright, based on the quality of his solo work to date. Here’s to whatever 2025 has in store for him.
Otala – Everything But the Hate
I seem to run into Otala every 12 months. And every time I do so, the band always leaves an impact. This time round, we were given avant-garde trappings of early Black Country, New Road, paired with the sweet serenity conjured up in a single from Since Torino or The Slow Country.
It’s a gift that’s gratefully received. It works as there’s a lot of emotion packed into the potent lyrics: there’s a burning desire to repair, regain and raze in equal measure, even if the introspective subject matter raises more questions than it answers. Unpack it at your peril and/or pleasure.
Fruit – Finn’s Song
If you’re after some tasting notes for this Fruit track, think something akin to Deadletter, The 113 or Neoplastic – loitering in that ever-expanding realm of post-punk that’s always changing its form.
Finn’s Song is a formidable beast. It’s the kind of track that’s become comfort listening for me: heavy, filled to the brim with ever-evolving tones and topped with prodding poetry. In a nutshell, it’s gruesome, entrancing and utterly irrefutable.
KickBoy – Anxious Party People
Over recent years, KickBoy has done a stand-up job of curating its own unique brand of goofy, bright and chaotic post-punk – perhaps better dubbed as their own milk-punk. That’s blindingly clear in Anxious Party People.
What’s offered up is an undeniably vivid sense of character – driven chiefly through its appropriately worrisome and stumbling lyrics. It’s the core of the track that every other supporting spindle juts out of. It’s a track that, frankly, defies articulation. Do yourself a favour: give yourself three minutes and take in it, chaos and all.
Bible Club – Wiseguy
Serving as a bold statement of intent for their EP – AD – Wiseguy did so with acute prowess in its punchy two-minute runtime. As a create of comfort, I also appreciated how Bible Club struck a balance between the new and familiar. Wiseguy is completely in-line with the band’s previous work, while offering enough fresh exploration to remain new and intriguing.
The complete mood change around 70 seconds in really gives you a lot to dive into. It’s on the whole softer – ethereal backing vocals and surprisingly bright notes paired with those gutsy lead vocals – than you might expect, but still with enough grit to keep pedantic gatekeepers sedated.
Perfect Teeth – You’re Alive, But Not Living
Alright, this is perhaps a diversion from the rules I’ve established. You’re Alive, But Not Living is a cracking EP packed with promise: something gritty, packed to the brim with shoegaze that wears its heart firmly on its sleeve.
Turn the clock back 12 months and – in early January – I stumbled across Perfect Teeth’s gritty EP. It’s a promising precursor of what the band was just starting to tap into. There are plenty of flashes of brilliance within the four tracks that lie within: vocal harmonies, persuasive pitch shifts and a guttural combination of instruments make for a beast of a record.
That is 2024 done. I’ll see you in the new year, but – as always – do send in any tracks you've taken a shine to. Thanks for reading and, hopefully, finding a few new songs to add to your audio arsenals.