So here we are! Wrapping up the Top 50 Songs of 2024! Songs must have been released after 1/1/24, and only one entry per artist allowed!
This is Part II! If you missed Part I, you can check it out here.
30. Quiet Company (feat. Max Bemis & Sherri DuPree Bemis) – Cantstanja!
Two years since we thought we had heard the very last of Quiet Company, the Texan outfit returned from the dead this year with their electrifyingly fun new single ‘Cantstanja!’. Between the semi-screamed vocals, brilliantly catchy choruses, and bouncing rhythms, this anti-love song demands repeated listens.
29. Sun Spot – Figure 08
One side of Sun Spot’s ‘Wireframe / Figure 08’ EP, this track saw its release at the very start of 2024, and has remained in listening rotation since. The track sees Sun Spot pushing their creative boundaries and diving into crushing, claustrophobic, and strangely danceable territory, with screamed vocals and breakdowns packing overwhelming walls of synths and percussion.
28. Dead Animals – Detain
Ruby Roadkill is a busy woman. Between her legendary Dead Animals music project and her promotional work as Transmissions, anybody who is anyone on the Merseyside music scene knows of her work. This year, at long last, also saw the release of her debut single, the thumping dark rave beast that is ‘Detain’. The dark side of the psyche is represented magnificently with the claustrophobic, pulsing rhythms and vocals that barely sound human.
27. Thirst – Paycheck
Thirst only released a single track this year, but that was all they needed to do to make an impact. This blistering post-punk styled cut features devilishly witty lyricism, wildly infectious hooks, and the woodwind glory of a saxophone. The government might be pricing you out of living, but at least you can dance whilst the world ends.
26. alright (okay) – Elevator Etiquette
If you hate your job, then alright (okay) have the indie rock rager for you. This acerbic takedown of office culture and capitalism is both fantastically catchy and fantastically fun, with deeply infectious choruses that build towards a brilliant, hurtling climax segment.
25. Bleached Cross – Grief’s Eternal Wound
Arriving on the band’s split EP with True Faith, this gothic banger is buoyed by a ceaseless rhythm and decorated with haunting vocals and dark synth chimes. Not only that, but this track possesses a surprisingly catchy and sincerely beautiful lead melody, particularly during the shimmering, unholy chorus passages.
24. Mud Whale – Little Place
Featuring some of the finest musical performances on this list, ‘Little Place’ is an absolutely gorgeous emo cut delivered with jazzy flair. Subtle bosa nova rhythms play beneath surprisingly silky vocals, whilst the back half of the track features an utterly sublime guitar performance; the final guitar lick is a beautiful, brief moment of pure, talented musicianship.
23. Ugly Jumper – Decade Ago
Rapidly establishing themselves as a cult favourite of the Merseyside circuit, Ugly Jumper have spent 2024 hard at work putting on brilliantly fun live shows, and putting out brilliantly fun music. Their ode to existential dread, ‘Decade Ago’, is the perfect epitome of this, with its playful saxophone hook, infectious melodies, danceable rhythms, and screaming. Not screamed vocals, just screaming; it’s good for the soul, after all.
22. Auraboros (feat. the great nothing) – Contemplating
With the release of their ‘Absent’ EP, and a phenomenal headline performance that marked them as one of Manchester’s must-know heavy acts, it has been an incredible year for Auraboros. Their electrifying track ‘Contemplating’, with its soaring choruses, surprisingly catchy melodies, and powerful lyricism, easily makes this list, and that’s before mentioning the killer guest verse from Leo Craig of the great nothing.
21. Origami Angel – Fruit Wine
Fifth wave emo’s brightest stars returned once again this year with their fantastic third LP, ‘Feeling Not Found’. It is the lead single of this record that finds its way onto this list, with devilishly infectious melodies colliding with an explosive heavy breakdown that sees the band at their most polished yet.
20. Fontaines D.C. – Starburster
In the past, I’ve been a scathing critic of Fontaines D.C.. Now, I’m featuring the band on my favourite songs of the year. The energy the band brought on their fourth record felt undeniable and irresistible, with ‘Starburster’ in particular capturing an effortless coolness with its jagged post-punk instrumentation and rap-flow vocals. Truly, it is the ultimate method of converting any Fontaines D.C. denier into a believer.
19. A Place For Owls – broken open seed
Spoilers: this won’t be the last list of mine you see A Place For Owls appear on this year. With an incredible sophomore album, several tracks could have made this list, but it is ultimately the surprisingly catchy folk-tinged ‘broken open seed’ that serves as their representative song here. There is a tender yet celebratory atmosphere about the track that warms the soul.
18. BloodMagic – Death / Rebirth
The latest musical venture of actor Jamie Campbell Bowers, this band only released a single track this year, but that was all they needed to make a massive impact. This gritty, bluesy number ebbs and flows between moments of country stillness and pure, noise punk fury. Truly an exciting band to experience.
17. Void Of Vision – Gamma Knife
No band split in recent years has felt as painful as that of the upcoming division of Void Of Vision, especially after their incredible fourth album. ‘Gamma Knife’ is the pinnacle of this record, with claustrophobic dance beats layered with a pummelling metalcore punch, truly giving the track a feeling of a sonic panic attack.
16. nightlife – i/o
For three consecutive years now, nightlife have found themselves in the Top 50 here, and that’s for one simple reason: there’s nothing else like them, and ‘i/o’ is the perfect example of that. Pulsing house beats evolve into chunky djent riffs, as this band continue to push alternative and heavy music in inventive and unexpected directions.
15. cartoonhead – Rodney
The mundane little moments of life are made to sound truly beautiful on this gorgeous love song that captures blossoming romance in the most perfect way. Between the waltzing rhythms, jangling guitars, and cinematic yet understated vocals that are wonderfully shiver-inducing, this is cartoonhead at their finest yet.
14. Jools – 97%
Perhaps the most important song on this list, Jools’ first single in four years is a visceral post-punk exploration of sexual violence against women, and how simply being a ‘good’ man is not enough if you’re not actively dismantling the system that kills women. The central ‘What was she wearing?/Looks don’t kill’ hook is one of many incredible lyrics on this track.
13. Benefits (feat. Zera Tønin) – Land of the Tyrants
Whilst the live shows of noise makers Benefits have always flirted with dance and house, it still came as something of a delightful surprise when the band fully delved into this on the grim lead single of their upcoming album, ‘Constant Noise’. Between Kingsley Hall’s personification of the world outside London as a desolate wasteland, and the ethereal backing vocals of Zera Tønin, it almost feels as if you’ve stumbled straight into a George R.R. Martin novel.
12. Lure In – God Saves
There is a real temptation to list the entirety of Lure In’s 18 minute sophomore record for this record; it’s an unmatched surge of oppressive brutality and violent adrenaline that demands you listen to it in its entirety. Forced to pick one however, the position must go to the truly apocalyptic ‘God Saves’, as the band tear apart hypocrisies in modern society and organised religion.
11. Stay Inside – When’s The Last Time?
The entirety of Stay Inside’s sophomore record ‘Ferried Away’ makes for an incredible rumination on the people we keep and the friendships we lose, yet it is perhaps ‘When’s The Last Time?’ that captures the grief and bitterness of lost companions mostly perfectly. The band’s emo sound flirts with post-hardcore and prog rock on this dark retrospective number, with the snaking guitar riffs enveloped with haunting brass and a vicious vocal performance.
Part III (10-1) will be arriving tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that! What did you think of this year? Have you heard any of these tracks, and what would you include in your list? Let me know!
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