Desperate Journalist – My (life in) music lists

Best albums of 2024: Greetings & honourable mentions

Well, hello and happy hump day!

It’s been a while. Three months since my last post, to be exact.

I didn’t intend to be away so long and definitely wasn’t expecting the piece on Beck to be my last post. However, life… well… it happened.

Without getting into all the gory details, let’s just say I had some unexpected health issues, some of them quite scary, involving an extended gig in the hospital. I have had to make a number of lifestyle changes, including slowing things down quite a bit. And though not all yet resolved, things have been improving and I am slowly on the mend, hopefully on track to a full recovery. I am grateful for the love of my life and partner in all things, close friends, and professional support, all of which have kept me going.

Of late, I’ve been slowly trying to get back to doing some of the things I used to enjoy and, of course, one of the first things that helped bring some solace was listening to music. Limited reading followed, and I’m just now returning to some writing, intending to slowly get back to this regular blogging fun.

While in the hospital, I had lots of time to think about the greats of 2024. So let’s begin with a sampling of great albums from last year worthy of honourable mention, followed by my next post, the first handful of those ten favourite albums for the year. Enjoy.

Camera Obscura “Look to the east, look to the west”: The Scottish indie pop band’s sixth studio album and first since the death of keyboardist, Carey Lander in 2015, shows the group in fine form and chock full of that twee magic.
Check out: “Big love”

The Decemberists “As it ever was, so it will be again”: The Portland-based quintet keeps on doing things in their own particular way – esoteric subject matter dressed up in indie folk, informed by a myriad of world musical styles – on their 9th studio album and we continue to love them for it.
Check out: “Burial ground”

Desperate Journalist “No hero”: To my ears, these post punk revivalists from London, England have firmly grasped the torch let drop by Canada’s The Organ when that band split after only one great album back in the early 2000s.
Check out: “Unsympathetic parts 1 & 2”

Elephant Stone “Back into the dream”: The sixth album by the Montreal-based psych-rock quartet fronted by bass and sitar player Rishi Dhir, is more Beatlesque, jangle pop that is as equally relevant on a Saturday night, as it is on a Sunday morning.
Check out: “Going underground”

James “Yummy”: One of my favourite all-time bands celebrated their 40th anniversary year in 2023 with a compilation of orchestral reworkings of many of their much-loved classics and followed it up in 2024 with their 18th (!) studio album – future classics that feature the Manchester group’s signature “big”
sound and frontman Tim Booth’s inimitable lyric work and vocal style.
Check out: “Is this love”

Linn Koch-Emmery “Borderline iconic”: Unlike her 2021 debut, “Borderline iconic“, the Sweden born and bred singer-songwriter didn’t quite crack my top ten with her sophomore effort… but it was darned close – just over 30 more minutes of spiky and catchy, power pop attitude.
Check out: “Ebay armour”

The Vaccines “Pick-up full of pink carnations”: London, England’s The Vaccines are sadly one of those bands that I tend to forget about* – until of course, they release a new album, like this, their 6th LP offering, and I am immediately caught back up in the wave of their angular, fun, and anthemic indie-pop.
Check out: “Heartbreak kid”

*Not because they deserve to be forgotten- they just fall victim to my too much music, too little time” syndrome.

I’ll be back very soon with albums #10 through #6 for my Best albums of 2024 list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Playlist: New tunes from 2021, part three

Things have been quieter around these parts over the last couple of months. I went from posting to these pages two or three times a week back in August to averaging just a couple of posts each for the months of September and October. It’s been a rough year all around and my wife and I took a look around mid-August and realized that the summer was almost over. We decided to spend as much time outside as we could and tried to do things that would make things feel like normalcy was returning. All that being said, we’ve had a good couple of months and now, I feel like I’m ready to start picking up the proverbial pen with more regularity again, though nothing like the pace at which I had going prior to my unexpected mini hiatus.

I should point out now that just because I’ve been quiet here, that this doesn’t mean I haven’t been listening to music. Far from it. I’ve continued to spin records whenever I get the chance and I am often streaming new music on the Spotify while doing chores or while working away at the computer. And yeah, there’s been lots of new music released over the last few months, more than I expected to find in coffers when I sat down to try to put together this third part of my New tunes of 2021 series of playlists.

“Third part?”, you might be asking.

Why, yes. This is part three. In fact, this is my third year running, doing these multi-part playlists. Typically, each part collects twenty-five or so songs, representing the musical output for a three month segment of the year. You can go back and have a peek at the songs that made my world turn for the first six months of 2021 here and here if you’d like.

Otherwise, I’ll stop my blathering and lead you off towards some of my songs of summer. Highlights include:

- Drug Store Romeos have more than a great name, “Frame of reference” off the group’s debut shows off some peppy synth dreams worth mooning over
- I’m not all that familiar with Australian indie rockers, Gang of Youths, and I only checked out their new EP to listen to a certain Elbow cover but instead, fell hard for “The angel of 8th Ave.”
- It was “Scratching at the lid”, this dreamy but rocking first track that I heard in advance of Piroshka’s second album that had me looking hard and finally succumbing to that album pre-order button
- Angel Olsen has some fun with an EP of reinterpreted 80s classics but this slowed down robotic take on Men Without Hats’ “Safety dance” takes the cake for me
- Toronto artist Josh Korody aka Breeze has put together an album that sounds so much like the music me and my friends grew up on, we almost jokingly convinced my friend Tim that “Come around” was a lost 90s nugget
- “Heart land”, an ear worm the likes of which I haven’t heard from The Vaccines since their blistering debut
- And closing things off is Kurt Vile’s rip-roaring rendition of “Run run run”, just one of a number of great covers on the new Velvet Underground* & Nico tribute album, “I’ll be your mirror”

For those who don’t use Spotify or if the embedded playlist below doesn’t work for you, here is the entire playlist as I’ve created it, complete with links to YouTube videos:

1. “Personality girlfriend” Desperate Journalist (from the album Maximum sorrow!)

2. “Who’s your money on? (Plastic house)” Inhaler (from the album It won’t always be like this)

3. “Frame of reference” Drug Store Romeos (from the album The world within our bedrooms)

4. “End of the night” A Place to Bury Strangers (from the EP Hologram)

5. “The angel of 8th ave.” Gang of Youths (from the EP Total serene)

6. “Scratching at the lid” Piroshka (from the album Love drips and gathers)

7. “Romantic images” Molly Burch (from the album Romantic images)

8. “Animal” Lump (from the album Animal)

9. “Don’t go puttin wishes in my head” Torres (from the album Thirstier)

10. “Lonely” The Umbrellas (from the album The Umbrellas)

11. “Time walk” Bnny (from the album Everything)

12. “Anyway” Swim School (from the EP Making sense of it all)

13. “Safety dance” Angel Olsen (from the EP Aisles)

14. “Midnight wine” Shannon & the Clams (from the album Year of the spider)

15. “How not to drown (feat. Robert Smith)” Chvrches (from the album Screen violence)

16. “Come around (feat. Cadence Weapon)” Breeze (from the album Only up)

17. “Real pain” Indigo De Souza (from the album Any shape you take)

18. “Magnolia” Big Red Machine (from the album How long do you think it’s gonna last)

19. “Heart land” The Vaccines (from the album Back in love city)

20. “An acre lost” Sleigh Bells (from the album Texis)

21. “Days like these” Low (from the album Hey what)

22. “Is it light where you are” Art School Girlfriend (from the album Is it light where you are)

23. “Don’t hold your breath for too long” We Were Promised Jetpacks (from the album Enjoy the view)

24. “Head on” José González (from the album Local valley)

25. “Run run run” Kurt Vile (from the album I’ll be your mirror: A tribute to The Velvet Underground & Nico)

As always, wherever you are in the world, I hope you are safe, continue to be well, and well, enjoy the tunes.

*If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend checking out Todd Haynes’ Velvet Underground documentary. It is excellent.

If you’re interested in checking out any of the other playlists I’ve created and shared on these pages, you can peruse them here.