Actually timely for once, the thirty-strong best of what we heard over the course of this month just ending.
April 29th will mark Sweeping The Nation's twentieth anniversary. We had special things planned to coincide with it. None of them are coming to fruition, or at least not in time for that date. As always, idealism has been ruined by reality and drive.
Adebisi Shank - Start A Band
This is the return of a band called Adebisi Shank. Their first new release in ten years, in fact, with the kind of drive that doesn't suggest they'd been away at all.
Backxwash - Black Lazarus
The most extraordinary album of the year so far, the Montreal-based rapper's fifth album Only Dust Remains absolutely compels you not to turn away with the intensity and complete lack of compromise or veil over the personal or political darkness encompassing.
Black Country, New Road - For The Cold Country
Might be understating things to say the new BC,NR have been divisive, and that woodwind heavy press photo has absolutely not helped (nor has the growing army of those inspired by the Isaac era) but put that baggage aside and hear how this develops from plangency to rococo to percussive soaring.
Bob Mould - Fur Mink Augurs
If you're going to recall the later Husker Du albums, as the Tubs' album does, the man who wrote and sang on them may as well too on Here We Go Crazy.
caroline - Total euphoria
Somehow only 4:30, the post-rock octet skilfully play all their different parts out of time and then gradually coalesce into catharsis.
Dana Gavanski - Bolted Heart
Stately piano-led rumination from EP Again Again.
David Lowery - I Wrote A Song Called Take The Skinheads Bowling
A song about writing Take The Skinheads Bowling, by the man who wrote Take The Skinheads Bowling.
Emma-Jean Thackray - Maybe Nowhere
A slippery groove with thick old bassline housing open thought about the grief that followed her partner's death, from second album Weirdo out on 25th April.
Girl Group - Yay! Saturday
We've had Girlband!, before that we had Girl Band who became Gilla Band, maybe this was the next natural step. Musically understated (self-produced too) for something that itemises the messiest of all nights out and ends in the only way possible. a monologue about piss on a toilet seat.
Kelcey Ayer - Different Planets
The former keyboard player and co-vocalist in Local Natives breaks for a solo career, built on knotty guitar picking and layers forming that recall some of Grizzly Bear's most becalmed moments (speaking of whom, what happened to those reformation dates you said were happening this year, Ed?)
Knitting Circle - Safe Routes
"Safe Routes encourages an end to all arms sales everywhere, and an end to all wars! No borders!" is pretty conclusive, a strident call for human solidarity from the jagged indiepop-post-punk band featuring members of Milky Wimpshake, Crumbs, Red Monkey and No Fit State. 100% of proceeds from Bandcamp sales (after fees) will be donated to Campaign Against Arms Trade
Lawn Chair - Fancy Car, Girlfriend And The Big House
Back into the European post-punk wilds, this time to Cologne where we pick up the kind of synthy pulse that fills floors under a pointed picture of that kind of confident man.
Little Simz - Free
Lotus is out 9th May (on Inflo's label, which is awkward given she's suing him), we find Simbi in contemplative mode that suits her as much as the explosive stuff.
Matt Berninger - Bonnet Of Pins
While Aaron is off producing Gracie Abrams and refusing to apologise for it, world-weary singer boy has made a second solo album, Get Sunk out May 30th, and captures an energy the band haven't always lived up to in very recent years. Even a bit of a New Order influence in there.
Mclusky - people person
I mean, what do you need to know at this stage? Apart from that 'the world is still here and so are we' is out on May 9th.
Mhaol - DM:AM
Is it Mhaol now or still M(h)aol? Sources differ. Anyway, the reconstituted band continue a path between slinky and sinister, deconstructing online harassment and the self-regarding defences thereof on the road to Something Soft, out May 16th.
Neev - He Built Himself
A highlight of the cinematically expansive blown out folk of second album How Things Tie In Knots.
Panic Shack - Gok Wan
ATTN: SHITMUNCHERS. What have they been doing for the two and a half years between releases? Making an album, of course, no details yet but this is its first single. And touring lots, including practically every festival. And drinking, in all likelihood.
pencil - Silent Corners
"Something beautiful turning into something terrifying" according to the band, previewing their Bohemian Clutter EP with something that develops upon flurries of ornate folk-pop.
Perfume Genius - Clean Heart
But you already know how great Glory is.
The Pill - Problem
Five singles of this kind of sticky compressed shoutpop, loads of festivals and HotWax and Panic Shack tour supports ahead, and yet no word of an EP or album. What gives?
Prohibition Prohibition - Columns
Back to the German underground, Munich this time, and anxiety induced build and release post-punk with a vocalist who sounds like Hamish Hawk.
Prolapse - On The Quarter Days
Had they not been teasing it for the last few years and seen them live twice along the way we'd have gone up into orbit at the news that the mid to late 90s' actual finest noise-pop band had reformed. Even with that this is the kind of return that shows they've barely lost a step, noise freakouts, Scottish Mick shouting and all.
Rival Consoles - Catherine
Ambient electronic producer with Jon Hopkins parallels previews ninth album Landscape From Memory by conjuring shards of melody and emotion amid pulsing atmospherics.
Sacred Paws - Winter
The hi-life guitars/busily propulsive drums combination turns up trumps again throughout third album Jump Into Life, this track adding some of Ray Aggs' other speciality, weeping and soaring fiddle.
Snapped Ankles - Smart World
Machine tooled arrythmia from new album Hard Times Furious Dancing
Sugababes - Jungle
Don't know if you know these, they've been around in various Thesean forms for a while now. A weirdly overlooked actual comeback single given how keen people were for new material from the original three before they settled onto the corporate occasion circuit instead, but absolutely bringing their classic era momentum into house-pop modernism.
Sunny Intervals - As Summer Draws In
Late night ruminative/melancholic acoustic indiepop from Andy Hall formerly of Pocketbooks (and Indietracks), from album Swept Away out on 11th April.
Superchunk feat. Rosali - Bruised Lung
Chunky, cripsy power-pop just as they did it back in the day.
Throwing Muses - Drugstore Drastic
Meanwhile the first new Muses album in five years Moonlight Concessions uses acoustic and cello to create the necessary shaded mood, none better than here.
Monday, March 31, 2025
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
STN Select: February 2025
Adwaith - Planed (from Solas)
Anna Hillburg - The Shape's Gonna Shift My Way
Bambara - Letters From Sing Sing
Bob Mould - Neanderthal
Cheekface - Art House (from Middle Spoon)
Dana Gavanski - Hang In For Us Both
Factory Floor - Between You
Florist - Gloom Designs
Fontaines D.C. - It's Amazing To Be Young
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Pyramid Scheme
King Hannah - Leftovers
mclusky - way of the exploding dickhead
Mirrored Daughters - Unreturning Sun (from Mirrored Daughters)
Neev - My Own Back
Panda Bear - Ends Meet (from Sinister Grift)
Patrick Wolf - Dies Irae
Perfume Genius ft. Aldous Harding - No Front Teeth
Project Overload - Silhouettes
Robin Kester ft. Rozi Plain - Departure
Sacred Paws - Turn Me Down
Scrounge - UTG
Sister Wives - Malady
SMILE - Hot Friend
Snapped Ankles - Pay The Rent
Stuart Pearce - Rope
Tugboat Captain - Dog Tale
Twat Union - Singer Of The Band
Yoshika Colwell - Last Night
Youth Lagoon - Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas) (from Rarely Do I Dream)
Monday, February 03, 2025
STN Select: January 2025
Anna B Savage - Mo Cheol Thú
Hymn to love and to new home Ireland from typically intimate in warmth and detail third album You and i are Earth (capitalisation artist's own), which in a move that makes absolute logical sense shares a producer with Lankum.
C Duncan - Think About It
In case you didn't think they made lavish and sweeping piano-led orchestral romance any more, It's Only A Love Song has all the flourishes, expansive tropes and, yes, ba-ba-ba backing vocals you'd want.
Florist - Have Heaven
The ghost of Big Thief lurks in both Emily Sprague's phrasing and the building outwards intimacy with care. Fifth album Jellywish out 4th April.
GOAT feat. MC Yallah - Nimerudi
Propulsive masked Swedish acid-funk psychedelicists team with rapidfire multilingual Kenya-Uganda rapper and highlight of last year's End Of The Road, bring some blaxploitation flute.
jasmine.4.t - Highfield
Airy sparseness around a dark subject, from debut album You Are The Morning, carefully arranged by all three of its producers, namely Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. Never heard of them. Are they good?
Magana - Hold On
The last, Jeni now claims, of a series of seasonally affected EPs, Bad News reflecting the move from winter to spring and sounding appropriately like frost melting.
The Orchestra (For Now) - Skins
Hark, is that the sound of the Brixton Windmill? Don't they have the roof dog any more? The septet's second single hoards nominatively orchestral slow-burn dramatics before bursting out and racing to the skies. EP out on 28th March.
Panda Bear - Ferry Lady
One of those solo Animal Collective projects in that this track also fetures Geologist on "sounds" and Deakin on "synth trumpet". Still sounds as woozy and whacked-out as Panda's best work. From Sinister Grift, out 28th February.
Pigeon Dog - Wet Washing
North London trio stalk the perimeter of knotty alt-rock that might remind some of Throwing Muses or Cay. These are good things.
Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory - Trouble
Yeah, she's got a band now, while still threading the needle between electronics and her signature rolling, self-questioning songwriting. self-titled album out this Friday.
Snapped Ankles - Raoul
And now the other masked psych-art freaks, who follow a post-DFA pulsing, yowling disco-punk groove to the abyss with what seems to be references to Terry Gilliam's Don Quixote disasters. Hard Times Furious Dancing is released on 28th March.
Viagra Boys - Man Made Of Meat
A radio-ready chorus, a ranting on a street corner-ready verse. Look forward to them sending a crowd as nuts as they go in that Research Chemicals Glastonbury experience you've doubtless seen on YouTube. New album is called Viagr Aboys, because why not, and is out April 25th.
Friday, January 03, 2025
20 '25: a score of albums we're looking forward to in the coming twelve months
Those we know about
Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out (10th January)
Sophie Jamieson - I still want to share (17th January)
Anna B Savage - You & i are Earth (24th January)
Sharon Van Etten - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (7th February)
Panda Bear - Sinister Grift (28th February)
The Tubs - Cotton Crown (7th March)
The Horrors - Night Life (21st March)
Those we don't
Beach House: playing a bunch of dates in May and June including Primavera, suspicious behaviour for people who haven't released anything for three years
The Beths: seem to tour Australasia perennially but it's two and a half years since Expert In A Dying Field, which they officially brought to a close in September, and they're promising to play new songs in a couple of dates in March
Big Thief: have, as is their way, been playing loads of new songs live lately (here's one), put out an appeal for a recording space in January/February, Uncut claim they're aiming for autumn
Julien Baker & TORRES: actually all three of Boygenius might be active in the next twelve months, with Lucy Dacus already touring new songs and whoever ever knows about Phoebe, but this shamelessly country collaboration has apparently been in the can even before The Record took Baker to new popularity heights and they've already released Sugar In The Tank
LCD Soundsystem: X-Ray Eyes wasn't great, no, but Primavera accidentally leaked the news with their announcement and it was known they were in the studio in late 2023
Little Simz: Drop 7 early on in the year just as Drop 6 preceded Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by a bit over a year, new track Hello Hi casually dropped on 30th December, a casual "See you in 25" on the Instagram announcement
Mclusky: Falco has been talking about a new album for ages, they signed a US deal in July and he posted updates and photos from the studio to social media in autumn, yet the none too disguised promise when dates were announced for May still seemed to surprise people
Panic Shack: this year's obligatory debut album inclusion, our old Cardiff girl gang punk favourites, for all their touring and festival slots since, haven't actually released anything for gone two years but they appear to have been in the studio over the latter period of 2024 and have a big UK tour announced covering May
Pulp: played at least five new songs live in 2024, announced they'd signed to Rough Trade in December, and that natural source Stella Creasy MP says she tipped off by Jarvis they were in the studio in August
Self Esteem: Big Man was a misstep as far as we were concerned but Rebecca says her third album will be out in spring, describing it on Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw's podcast as musically "not what you think... I made quite a complicated listen. It’s horribly honest."
Tunde Adebimpe: the superb Magnetic was accompanied with news that despite TV On The Radio's reunion carrying on well into the year (they're supporting Khrungabin for some reason at Gunnersbury Park in August, notably on Green Man weekend) he's signed to Sub Pop with an LP to follow
Wet Leg: not only announced for a lot of summer festivals but Joe from Fat Dog so casually dropped into an interview with DIY that nobody seems to have noticed that they followed his band into James Ford's studio
The xx: Romy confirmed to NME almost exactly a year ago that they were back in the studio: "I think Oliver and Jamie and I have all tried new things and learned a lot from different projects and I think that’s quite healthy to be like, ‘What have you learned? What should we do now?’ And I think it’s quite wide open and it’s exciting to be starting again in a way. But we’ve started making some music and I’m really excited about it"
AND ALSO? Adwaith, Alan Sparhawk (the songs he's been playing live, not the odd experimental beats of White Roses, My God), Backxwash, Bambara, C Duncan, Courtney Barnett, Deradoorian, Doves, Double Diamond Club (Helen Love and John Mouse), Dry Cleaning, Emma-Jean Thackray, Ex-Vöid, Hamilton Leithauser, Heartworms, Horsegirl, John Glacier, Julia Jacklin, Keg, Laundromat Chicks, Lorde, Lucy Dacus, Massive Attack, Melin Melyn, My Bloody Valentine (yeah, yeah), Sky Ferreira (ditto), Snail Mail, Sparks, Spoon, These New Puritans, Viagra Boys, Wednesday (though Karly has suggested despite already being recorded this is more likely to be 2026 due to MJ's touring commitments), Young Knives, Youth Lagoon
Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out (10th January)
Sophie Jamieson - I still want to share (17th January)
Anna B Savage - You & i are Earth (24th January)
Sharon Van Etten - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (7th February)
Panda Bear - Sinister Grift (28th February)
The Tubs - Cotton Crown (7th March)
The Horrors - Night Life (21st March)
Those we don't
Beach House: playing a bunch of dates in May and June including Primavera, suspicious behaviour for people who haven't released anything for three years
The Beths: seem to tour Australasia perennially but it's two and a half years since Expert In A Dying Field, which they officially brought to a close in September, and they're promising to play new songs in a couple of dates in March
Big Thief: have, as is their way, been playing loads of new songs live lately (here's one), put out an appeal for a recording space in January/February, Uncut claim they're aiming for autumn
Julien Baker & TORRES: actually all three of Boygenius might be active in the next twelve months, with Lucy Dacus already touring new songs and whoever ever knows about Phoebe, but this shamelessly country collaboration has apparently been in the can even before The Record took Baker to new popularity heights and they've already released Sugar In The Tank
LCD Soundsystem: X-Ray Eyes wasn't great, no, but Primavera accidentally leaked the news with their announcement and it was known they were in the studio in late 2023
Little Simz: Drop 7 early on in the year just as Drop 6 preceded Sometimes I Might Be Introvert by a bit over a year, new track Hello Hi casually dropped on 30th December, a casual "See you in 25" on the Instagram announcement
Mclusky: Falco has been talking about a new album for ages, they signed a US deal in July and he posted updates and photos from the studio to social media in autumn, yet the none too disguised promise when dates were announced for May still seemed to surprise people
Panic Shack: this year's obligatory debut album inclusion, our old Cardiff girl gang punk favourites, for all their touring and festival slots since, haven't actually released anything for gone two years but they appear to have been in the studio over the latter period of 2024 and have a big UK tour announced covering May
Pulp: played at least five new songs live in 2024, announced they'd signed to Rough Trade in December, and that natural source Stella Creasy MP says she tipped off by Jarvis they were in the studio in August
Self Esteem: Big Man was a misstep as far as we were concerned but Rebecca says her third album will be out in spring, describing it on Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw's podcast as musically "not what you think... I made quite a complicated listen. It’s horribly honest."
Tunde Adebimpe: the superb Magnetic was accompanied with news that despite TV On The Radio's reunion carrying on well into the year (they're supporting Khrungabin for some reason at Gunnersbury Park in August, notably on Green Man weekend) he's signed to Sub Pop with an LP to follow
Wet Leg: not only announced for a lot of summer festivals but Joe from Fat Dog so casually dropped into an interview with DIY that nobody seems to have noticed that they followed his band into James Ford's studio
The xx: Romy confirmed to NME almost exactly a year ago that they were back in the studio: "I think Oliver and Jamie and I have all tried new things and learned a lot from different projects and I think that’s quite healthy to be like, ‘What have you learned? What should we do now?’ And I think it’s quite wide open and it’s exciting to be starting again in a way. But we’ve started making some music and I’m really excited about it"
AND ALSO? Adwaith, Alan Sparhawk (the songs he's been playing live, not the odd experimental beats of White Roses, My God), Backxwash, Bambara, C Duncan, Courtney Barnett, Deradoorian, Doves, Double Diamond Club (Helen Love and John Mouse), Dry Cleaning, Emma-Jean Thackray, Ex-Vöid, Hamilton Leithauser, Heartworms, Horsegirl, John Glacier, Julia Jacklin, Keg, Laundromat Chicks, Lorde, Lucy Dacus, Massive Attack, Melin Melyn, My Bloody Valentine (yeah, yeah), Sky Ferreira (ditto), Snail Mail, Sparks, Spoon, These New Puritans, Viagra Boys, Wednesday (though Karly has suggested despite already being recorded this is more likely to be 2026 due to MJ's touring commitments), Young Knives, Youth Lagoon
Monday, December 23, 2024
100 Tracks of 2024
Right then, let's wrap this misbegotten year up in the acceptable fashion. As usual it's one per artist, otherwise it gets silly, and yes, we know a couple of them were released right at the end of 2023 but we either discovered them on a 2024 album or they came too late for that year's reckoning. Sorry for the Ek-toadying, haven't got the wherewithal to do a playlist on any other streaming service (anyone?)
Adrianne Lenker - Fool
Amber Mark - Sink In
Anna B Savage ft. Anna Mieke - Agnes
Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
Arab Strap - Bliss
Arooj Aftab - Aey Nehin
Astraba - Sink The Moon
Beth Gibbons - Floating On A Moment
Bolis Pupul - Spicy Crab
Buck Meek - Beauty Opens Doors
Campfire Social - Swim Swam Swum
Caribou - Come Find Me
Caroline Says - Faded And Golden
Cassandra Jenkins - Delphinium Blue
Charli xcx - Girl, so confusing featuring lorde
Cheekface - Flies
Clarissa Connelly - Give It Back
Cold Specks - How It Feels
Cornelius - MIND TRAIN
Dana Gavanski - Ears Were Growing
Dancer - Didn't Mean To
Deerlady - Bounty
ELUCID - THE WORLD IS DOG
Emma-Jean Thackray ft. Reggie Watts - Black Hole
English Teacher - Albert Road
Fat Dog - Running
Field Music - The Limits Of Language
Fightmilk - No Souvenirs
Fold Paper - Nothing To Report
Fontaines D.C. - Favourite
Gemma Cullingford - Early Hours
Geordie Greep - Holy, Holy
Girl And Girl - Hello
Good News - Orange Juice In The Shower
Gurriers - Des Goblin
Hamish Hawk - Men Like Wire
Hayden Thorpe - He
Heartworms - Jacked
Hello Mary - Three
Holiday Ghosts - Big Congratulations
The Horrors - The Silence That Remains
Isobel Campbell - 4316
Jim Nothing - Raleigh Arena
John Glacier - Found
Johnny Foreigner - Orc Damage
Julia Holter - Spinning
Julia-Sophie - numb
julie - clairbourne practice
Kim Gordon - I'm A Man
King Hannah - Big Swimmer
La Luz - Strange World
La Sécurité - Detour
Laetitia Sadier - Une Autre Attente
Lambrini Girls - Company Culture
Laundromat Chicks - Cameron
Laura Marling - Patterns
Les Savy Fav - World Got Great
Little Simz - Mood Swings
Loose Articles - Are You A Welder?
Los Campesinos! - Holy Smoke (2005)
The Lovely Eggs - Memory Man
Lutalo ft. Claud - Running
Mammoth Penguins - Species
Mannequin Pussy - Loud Bark
Man/Woman/Chainsaw - EZPZ
Maria Uzor - What U Need
Maruja - The Invisible Man
mary in the junkyard - marble arch
ME REX - Canada Water
M(h)aol - Pursuit
Memory Of Speke - Wife Once
Minor Conflict - Glue
MJ Lenderman - She's Leaving You
My Best Unbeaten Brother - Slayer on a Sunny Day
Neutrals - That's Him On The Daft Stuff Again
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God
Nightshift - Phone
Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway)
O. - Green Shirt
The Orchestra (For Now) - Wake Robin
Okay Kaya - The Groke
Overhead, The Albatross - Your Last Breath
The Pill - Bale of Hay
Project Overload - Second Chances
Punchlove - Screwdriver
Sailor Honeymoon - Fxxk Urself
SAM MORTON - Double Dip Neon
Sky Ferreira - Leash
Slow Fiction - Monday
Sophie Jamieson - I don't know what to save
St. Vincent - Broken Man
sunnbrella - have your say
Trust Fund - The Mirror
The Tubs - Freak Mode
Tunde Adebimpe - Magnetic
Ugly - Icy Windy Sky
Vampire Weekend - Classical
The WAEVE - Song For Eliza May
WILLOW ft. Kamasi Washington - wanted
Y Dail - My Baby's In The FBI
Adrianne Lenker - Fool
Amber Mark - Sink In
Anna B Savage ft. Anna Mieke - Agnes
Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
Arab Strap - Bliss
Arooj Aftab - Aey Nehin
Astraba - Sink The Moon
Beth Gibbons - Floating On A Moment
Bolis Pupul - Spicy Crab
Buck Meek - Beauty Opens Doors
Campfire Social - Swim Swam Swum
Caribou - Come Find Me
Caroline Says - Faded And Golden
Cassandra Jenkins - Delphinium Blue
Charli xcx - Girl, so confusing featuring lorde
Cheekface - Flies
Clarissa Connelly - Give It Back
Cold Specks - How It Feels
Cornelius - MIND TRAIN
Dana Gavanski - Ears Were Growing
Dancer - Didn't Mean To
Deerlady - Bounty
ELUCID - THE WORLD IS DOG
Emma-Jean Thackray ft. Reggie Watts - Black Hole
English Teacher - Albert Road
Fat Dog - Running
Field Music - The Limits Of Language
Fightmilk - No Souvenirs
Fold Paper - Nothing To Report
Fontaines D.C. - Favourite
Gemma Cullingford - Early Hours
Geordie Greep - Holy, Holy
Girl And Girl - Hello
Good News - Orange Juice In The Shower
Gurriers - Des Goblin
Hamish Hawk - Men Like Wire
Hayden Thorpe - He
Heartworms - Jacked
Hello Mary - Three
Holiday Ghosts - Big Congratulations
The Horrors - The Silence That Remains
Isobel Campbell - 4316
Jim Nothing - Raleigh Arena
John Glacier - Found
Johnny Foreigner - Orc Damage
Julia Holter - Spinning
Julia-Sophie - numb
julie - clairbourne practice
Kim Gordon - I'm A Man
King Hannah - Big Swimmer
La Luz - Strange World
La Sécurité - Detour
Laetitia Sadier - Une Autre Attente
Lambrini Girls - Company Culture
Laundromat Chicks - Cameron
Laura Marling - Patterns
Les Savy Fav - World Got Great
Little Simz - Mood Swings
Loose Articles - Are You A Welder?
Los Campesinos! - Holy Smoke (2005)
The Lovely Eggs - Memory Man
Lutalo ft. Claud - Running
Mammoth Penguins - Species
Mannequin Pussy - Loud Bark
Man/Woman/Chainsaw - EZPZ
Maria Uzor - What U Need
Maruja - The Invisible Man
mary in the junkyard - marble arch
ME REX - Canada Water
M(h)aol - Pursuit
Memory Of Speke - Wife Once
Minor Conflict - Glue
MJ Lenderman - She's Leaving You
My Best Unbeaten Brother - Slayer on a Sunny Day
Neutrals - That's Him On The Daft Stuff Again
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Wild God
Nightshift - Phone
Nilüfer Yanya - Like I Say (I runaway)
O. - Green Shirt
The Orchestra (For Now) - Wake Robin
Okay Kaya - The Groke
Overhead, The Albatross - Your Last Breath
The Pill - Bale of Hay
Project Overload - Second Chances
Punchlove - Screwdriver
Sailor Honeymoon - Fxxk Urself
SAM MORTON - Double Dip Neon
Sky Ferreira - Leash
Slow Fiction - Monday
Sophie Jamieson - I don't know what to save
St. Vincent - Broken Man
sunnbrella - have your say
Trust Fund - The Mirror
The Tubs - Freak Mode
Tunde Adebimpe - Magnetic
Ugly - Icy Windy Sky
Vampire Weekend - Classical
The WAEVE - Song For Eliza May
WILLOW ft. Kamasi Washington - wanted
Y Dail - My Baby's In The FBI
Friday, December 20, 2024
Top 50 albums of 2024: 10-1
But first, a reminder:
50 Lip Critic - Hex Dealer
49 New Starts - More Break-Up Songs
48 Isobel Campbell - Bow To Love
47 Drahla - angeltape
46 TORRES - What an enormous room
45 Magana - Teeth
44 Hello Mary - Emita Ox
43 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
42 Nightshift - Homosapien
41 mui zyu - nothing or something to die for
40 Clarissa Connelly - World Of Work
39 St Vincent - All Born Screaming
38 Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?
37 Caroline Says - The Lucky One
36 Cheekface - It's Sorted
35 Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
34 Julia Holter - Something In The Room She Moves
33 Keeley Forsyth - The Hollow
32 Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
31 Shellac - To All Trains
30 Neutrals - New Town Dream
29 King Hannah - Big Swimmer
28 Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
27 Deerlady - Greatest Hits
26 Niamh Bury - Yellow Roses
25 Laetitia Sadier - Rooting For Love
24 ELUCID - REVELATOR
23 Geordie Greep - The New Sound
22 Fontaines DC - Romance
21 Mammoth Penguins - Here
20 Dana Gavanski - LATE SLAP
19 Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat
18 Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
17 Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free
16 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Wild God
15 Dancer - 10 Songs I Hate About You
14 The WAEVE - City Lights
13 Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
12 Nadine Shah - Filthy Underneath
11 Arab Strap - I'm totally fine with it 👍 don't give a fuck anymore 👍
10 English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
The definition of an assured debut, taking on the post-punk tag and hammering at its parameters amid shimmering, cracked melodies and meaningfully elusive lyrics
9 Chemtrails - The Joy Of Sects
Psych-garagers go menacing glam-apocalyptic, indelible bubblegum melodies and surf riffs for the end of the world by whatever means
8 Trust Fund - Has It Been A While?
Ellis Jones returns and strips down to autumnal English folk, largely strings and fingerpicking, while considering what memory and ageing does to you
7 Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor
Yanya's confidence continues rising, with this establishing her place as avatar of scratchy anxiety and dynamics used in service to self-reflective peaks and depths
6 Overhead, The Albatross - I Leave You This
Belfast post-rock returnees mine an emotional core based on loss and celebrating life through mostly instrumental electro, sample and beats infused soundscapes
5 Fightmilk - No Souvenirs
Finding their calling as strident power-pop riff monsters and cathartic lyrical cues in social pressures and interpersonal vulnerability. Should be big room ready if things were just
4 Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Nobody else has Lenker's sense of ease with the profound or turning the meditative into something to hang on to even when her transportative guitar playing is stripped back to countrified airs
3 Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Gibbons' solo debut traces a weighty woody path from the Rustin Man albums into a sparse, unsettling sound somewhere around celestial folk, affected by ageing and loss
2 Johnny Foreigner - How To Be Hopeful
Back! Back! Back! And sounding absolutely re-energised hanging on with the usual everything-pop-emo-punk-at-once abrasion to the rollercoaster from chaos to depth to enlightenment that coincides with and then rejects the world's bonfire. There's even love songs!
1 Los Campesinos! - All Hell
Yeah, our number one is a band returning after 7-8 years away who've been an absolute STN favourite for not far off the entire twenty-years-next-April (of which more at the time) of our existence, whose album holds off from the top a band/record we would describe in ABSOLUTELY THE EXACT SAME WAY. But LC! with the whites of their eyes ablaze is a special thing, and we find them on a speed run taking elements of almost every previous album to produce a dynamic whole against which to project pinpoint personal anxieties and world crumbling, often resorting to new angles on the old regular lyrical concerns - yes! Chalk off a Gareth reference to xG! - seems that much more urgent yet also that much more worn down by the ageing/maturing/surely I'm too old and too far gone to still be doing this band? process that's been the underlying driver of their development throughout
Top 100 tracks on Monday!
50 Lip Critic - Hex Dealer
49 New Starts - More Break-Up Songs
48 Isobel Campbell - Bow To Love
47 Drahla - angeltape
46 TORRES - What an enormous room
45 Magana - Teeth
44 Hello Mary - Emita Ox
43 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
42 Nightshift - Homosapien
41 mui zyu - nothing or something to die for
40 Clarissa Connelly - World Of Work
39 St Vincent - All Born Screaming
38 Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?
37 Caroline Says - The Lucky One
36 Cheekface - It's Sorted
35 Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
34 Julia Holter - Something In The Room She Moves
33 Keeley Forsyth - The Hollow
32 Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
31 Shellac - To All Trains
30 Neutrals - New Town Dream
29 King Hannah - Big Swimmer
28 Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
27 Deerlady - Greatest Hits
26 Niamh Bury - Yellow Roses
25 Laetitia Sadier - Rooting For Love
24 ELUCID - REVELATOR
23 Geordie Greep - The New Sound
22 Fontaines DC - Romance
21 Mammoth Penguins - Here
20 Dana Gavanski - LATE SLAP
19 Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat
18 Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
17 Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free
16 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Wild God
15 Dancer - 10 Songs I Hate About You
14 The WAEVE - City Lights
13 Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
12 Nadine Shah - Filthy Underneath
11 Arab Strap - I'm totally fine with it 👍 don't give a fuck anymore 👍
10 English Teacher - This Could Be Texas
The definition of an assured debut, taking on the post-punk tag and hammering at its parameters amid shimmering, cracked melodies and meaningfully elusive lyrics
9 Chemtrails - The Joy Of Sects
Psych-garagers go menacing glam-apocalyptic, indelible bubblegum melodies and surf riffs for the end of the world by whatever means
8 Trust Fund - Has It Been A While?
Ellis Jones returns and strips down to autumnal English folk, largely strings and fingerpicking, while considering what memory and ageing does to you
7 Nilufer Yanya - My Method Actor
Yanya's confidence continues rising, with this establishing her place as avatar of scratchy anxiety and dynamics used in service to self-reflective peaks and depths
6 Overhead, The Albatross - I Leave You This
Belfast post-rock returnees mine an emotional core based on loss and celebrating life through mostly instrumental electro, sample and beats infused soundscapes
5 Fightmilk - No Souvenirs
Finding their calling as strident power-pop riff monsters and cathartic lyrical cues in social pressures and interpersonal vulnerability. Should be big room ready if things were just
4 Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future
Nobody else has Lenker's sense of ease with the profound or turning the meditative into something to hang on to even when her transportative guitar playing is stripped back to countrified airs
3 Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Gibbons' solo debut traces a weighty woody path from the Rustin Man albums into a sparse, unsettling sound somewhere around celestial folk, affected by ageing and loss
2 Johnny Foreigner - How To Be Hopeful
Back! Back! Back! And sounding absolutely re-energised hanging on with the usual everything-pop-emo-punk-at-once abrasion to the rollercoaster from chaos to depth to enlightenment that coincides with and then rejects the world's bonfire. There's even love songs!
1 Los Campesinos! - All Hell
Yeah, our number one is a band returning after 7-8 years away who've been an absolute STN favourite for not far off the entire twenty-years-next-April (of which more at the time) of our existence, whose album holds off from the top a band/record we would describe in ABSOLUTELY THE EXACT SAME WAY. But LC! with the whites of their eyes ablaze is a special thing, and we find them on a speed run taking elements of almost every previous album to produce a dynamic whole against which to project pinpoint personal anxieties and world crumbling, often resorting to new angles on the old regular lyrical concerns - yes! Chalk off a Gareth reference to xG! - seems that much more urgent yet also that much more worn down by the ageing/maturing/surely I'm too old and too far gone to still be doing this band? process that's been the underlying driver of their development throughout
Top 100 tracks on Monday!
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Top 50 albums of 2024: 20-11
20 Dana Gavanski - LATE SLAP
Twisting guitar-pop melodies until they don't quite feel right, capturing the skill of musical optimism and lyrical hollowness
19 Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat
Motherhood suits Marling's meditative side, intimate and homely whilst considering what her new life looks like
18 Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
Bookish, raffish and full of theatrical introspectiveness (yes, it's possible), self-critical as much as it takes others apart
17 Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free
The 25th album Gruff has been involved with launches into his baroque era, widescreen strings decorating lounge-pop on heavy topics
16 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Wild God
After the experimental, grief-laden phase, a return to full band enormity with strings and choirs as if trying to force rapture
15 Dancer - 10 Songs I Hate About You
Jittery, strutting and friction-free, the closest Glasgow gets to the second coming of Life Without Buildings without being slavish imitators
14 The WAEVE - City Lights
Coxon and Dougall's Scary Monsters-meets-motorik-meets-English folk-meets-Broadcast act goes widescreen, now with added Roxy Music sax
13 Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
Nocturnality proves the perfect setting for the depth and delicate breadth of folky-jazzy soundscapes with room for surprises
12 Nadine Shah - Filthy Underneath
Narrating her own breakdown pushes the intimate electro-gothic of Kitchen Sink into new meaningful dimensions, even soulful in places
11 Arab Strap - I'm totally fine with it 👍 don't give a fuck anymore 👍
Their eighth might be their best album; it might also be their darkest as Aidan Moffatt bares his fangs over digital atrophy and hostility
Twisting guitar-pop melodies until they don't quite feel right, capturing the skill of musical optimism and lyrical hollowness
19 Laura Marling - Patterns In Repeat
Motherhood suits Marling's meditative side, intimate and homely whilst considering what her new life looks like
18 Hamish Hawk - A Firmer Hand
Bookish, raffish and full of theatrical introspectiveness (yes, it's possible), self-critical as much as it takes others apart
17 Gruff Rhys - Sadness Sets Me Free
The 25th album Gruff has been involved with launches into his baroque era, widescreen strings decorating lounge-pop on heavy topics
16 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Wild God
After the experimental, grief-laden phase, a return to full band enormity with strings and choirs as if trying to force rapture
15 Dancer - 10 Songs I Hate About You
Jittery, strutting and friction-free, the closest Glasgow gets to the second coming of Life Without Buildings without being slavish imitators
14 The WAEVE - City Lights
Coxon and Dougall's Scary Monsters-meets-motorik-meets-English folk-meets-Broadcast act goes widescreen, now with added Roxy Music sax
13 Arooj Aftab – Night Reign
Nocturnality proves the perfect setting for the depth and delicate breadth of folky-jazzy soundscapes with room for surprises
12 Nadine Shah - Filthy Underneath
Narrating her own breakdown pushes the intimate electro-gothic of Kitchen Sink into new meaningful dimensions, even soulful in places
11 Arab Strap - I'm totally fine with it 👍 don't give a fuck anymore 👍
Their eighth might be their best album; it might also be their darkest as Aidan Moffatt bares his fangs over digital atrophy and hostility
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Top 50 albums of 2024: 30-21
30 Neutrals - New Town Dream
Glaswegian transplanted to California gets to examine the human stories of tenement life from afar in an agit-janglepop setting
29 King Hannah - Big Swimmer
A big step forward for a second album, narrating a diaristic candour as the guitar explodes the languorous meditation states
28 Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
A recalibration based on taking stock of previous ideas and twisting them into new dramatic shapes
27 Deerlady* - Greatest Hits
(* also referred to as Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abrego)
Stately, harmony-laden folk songwriting "about intimacy under colonialism" injected with shoegaze noise to great effect
26 Niamh Bury - Yellow Roses
A dark horse from the Irish scene, Bury's plaintive, poetic folk and pure voice feels fully formed on arrival
25 Laetitia Sadier - Rooting For Love
Sadier's first album since Stereolab reformed refines their various forms of Marxist space-lounge pop while not overlooking the acid
24 ELUCID - REVELATOR
The so far less celebrated half of Armand Hammer goes hard and heavy, challenging a hostile world over pummelling industrial noise
23 Geordie Greep - The New Sound
If Donald Fagen got really into King Crimson, tropicalia and mescaline...
22 Fontaines DC - Romance
And suddenly things go stratospheric at the same time as they go ambiguous, borrowing from electronics, chamber strings and janglepop alike
21 Mammoth Penguins - Here
Melodic power-pop dynamos rawer than ever as Emma Kupa tries to work out where she stands and what being in a band in 2024 actually is
Glaswegian transplanted to California gets to examine the human stories of tenement life from afar in an agit-janglepop setting
29 King Hannah - Big Swimmer
A big step forward for a second album, narrating a diaristic candour as the guitar explodes the languorous meditation states
28 Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us
A recalibration based on taking stock of previous ideas and twisting them into new dramatic shapes
27 Deerlady* - Greatest Hits
(* also referred to as Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abrego)
Stately, harmony-laden folk songwriting "about intimacy under colonialism" injected with shoegaze noise to great effect
26 Niamh Bury - Yellow Roses
A dark horse from the Irish scene, Bury's plaintive, poetic folk and pure voice feels fully formed on arrival
25 Laetitia Sadier - Rooting For Love
Sadier's first album since Stereolab reformed refines their various forms of Marxist space-lounge pop while not overlooking the acid
24 ELUCID - REVELATOR
The so far less celebrated half of Armand Hammer goes hard and heavy, challenging a hostile world over pummelling industrial noise
23 Geordie Greep - The New Sound
If Donald Fagen got really into King Crimson, tropicalia and mescaline...
22 Fontaines DC - Romance
And suddenly things go stratospheric at the same time as they go ambiguous, borrowing from electronics, chamber strings and janglepop alike
21 Mammoth Penguins - Here
Melodic power-pop dynamos rawer than ever as Emma Kupa tries to work out where she stands and what being in a band in 2024 actually is
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Top 50 albums of 2024: 40-31
40 Clarissa Connelly - World Of Work
Copenhagen based producer/composer's rich voice drives brooding piano-led experiments in Celtic-aligned folk hauntology
39 St Vincent - All Born Screaming
Stepping back into a daze, harsh beats rubbing against vulnerable self-consideration amid nods throughout to previous highs (i.e. not Daddy's Home)
38 Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?
A reckoning with James Smith's self in the wake of lockdown fame with the new aid of strutting post-LCD synths
37 Caroline Says - The Lucky One
Intricate, sometimes countrified folk vulnerability and heart-scouring, tackling the nature of lingering and evoked memories
36 Cheekface - It's Sorted
More original compositions from America's local band, idiosyncratic post-TMBG wryness in the remains of late stage capitalism
35 Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
Alynda Segarra returns to Americana roots and imbues them with nostalgic imagery and hope for something
34 Julia Holter - Something In The Room She Moves
The unstable melodies Holter has made her own blossom even as they settle into something ruminative and meditative, and jazzier
33 Keeley Forsyth - The Hollow
*That* voice pierces even further against her most ethereally foreboding backing yet, almost elemental when big strings and brass appear
32 Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
Entertainingly wry Courtney Barnett-ish indiepop vignettes with electronic underlining from Swiss-born Berliner
31 Shellac - To All Trains
Steve Albini's last stand is also his band's best album in quite a while - taut, skronkily noisy and with no longform experiments
Copenhagen based producer/composer's rich voice drives brooding piano-led experiments in Celtic-aligned folk hauntology
39 St Vincent - All Born Screaming
Stepping back into a daze, harsh beats rubbing against vulnerable self-consideration amid nods throughout to previous highs (i.e. not Daddy's Home)
38 Yard Act - Where's My Utopia?
A reckoning with James Smith's self in the wake of lockdown fame with the new aid of strutting post-LCD synths
37 Caroline Says - The Lucky One
Intricate, sometimes countrified folk vulnerability and heart-scouring, tackling the nature of lingering and evoked memories
36 Cheekface - It's Sorted
More original compositions from America's local band, idiosyncratic post-TMBG wryness in the remains of late stage capitalism
35 Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive
Alynda Segarra returns to Americana roots and imbues them with nostalgic imagery and hope for something
34 Julia Holter - Something In The Room She Moves
The unstable melodies Holter has made her own blossom even as they settle into something ruminative and meditative, and jazzier
33 Keeley Forsyth - The Hollow
*That* voice pierces even further against her most ethereally foreboding backing yet, almost elemental when big strings and brass appear
32 Anna Erhard - Botanical Garden
Entertainingly wry Courtney Barnett-ish indiepop vignettes with electronic underlining from Swiss-born Berliner
31 Shellac - To All Trains
Steve Albini's last stand is also his band's best album in quite a while - taut, skronkily noisy and with no longform experiments
Monday, December 16, 2024
Top 50 albums of 2024: 50-41
50 Lip Critic - Hex Dealer
Intense 32 minutes of full-on New York electro-dance-punk, like DFA's circuits overheating
49 New Starts - More Break-Up Songs
Darren Hayman's new band in the long shadow of Hefner, all Velvets chug, power-pop dynamics and map-of-the-heart lyrics
48 Isobel Campbell - Bow To Love
Fleabitten queen of the hushed reckons with the modern world in low-key dream-folk tones
47 Drahla - angeltape
Leeds abstract art-rockers return after five years still embracing the deadpan angular instability
46 TORRES - What an enormous room
And Mackenzie Scott, having settled into herself at last, is going to fill it with chunky alt-rock that veers just left of centre
45 Magana - Teeth
Jeni Magana steps away from backing Mitski live to imbue her "witchy rock" with electronic and orchestral elements and self-reckoning
44 Hello Mary - Emita Ox
Intricate 90s college rock throwbacks dissolving into and evolving through noise and dissonance
43 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Drily literate clssic country-rock character pieces and modernist guitar heroics
42 Nightshift - Homosapien
Shifting Glaswegians embrace swooning, shifting, deliberately awkward slackerdom and the prospect of hope in darkness
41 mui zyu - nothing or something to die for
Eva Liu's second solo album approaches the void from several angles, one moment reflective ambient, the next detuned lo-fi pop
Intense 32 minutes of full-on New York electro-dance-punk, like DFA's circuits overheating
49 New Starts - More Break-Up Songs
Darren Hayman's new band in the long shadow of Hefner, all Velvets chug, power-pop dynamics and map-of-the-heart lyrics
48 Isobel Campbell - Bow To Love
Fleabitten queen of the hushed reckons with the modern world in low-key dream-folk tones
47 Drahla - angeltape
Leeds abstract art-rockers return after five years still embracing the deadpan angular instability
46 TORRES - What an enormous room
And Mackenzie Scott, having settled into herself at last, is going to fill it with chunky alt-rock that veers just left of centre
45 Magana - Teeth
Jeni Magana steps away from backing Mitski live to imbue her "witchy rock" with electronic and orchestral elements and self-reckoning
44 Hello Mary - Emita Ox
Intricate 90s college rock throwbacks dissolving into and evolving through noise and dissonance
43 MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks
Drily literate clssic country-rock character pieces and modernist guitar heroics
42 Nightshift - Homosapien
Shifting Glaswegians embrace swooning, shifting, deliberately awkward slackerdom and the prospect of hope in darkness
41 mui zyu - nothing or something to die for
Eva Liu's second solo album approaches the void from several angles, one moment reflective ambient, the next detuned lo-fi pop
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