#NewMusicFriday – 27/12/2024 – The best 27 tracks of 2024

Life is indeed relentless, and unfortunately, howevere much we wish it would, Christmas doesn’t change that. All we can do is try to take some time away from worry and politics and global strife, and try to spread a little bit of joy and comfort to as many people as possible. For me, a part of this is to share my favourite tracks of my musical year (which runs from 1st December to 30th November to give me time to compile my annual Not Nul Points CD which I started in Norway in 2002, and which, at some point, will need to be replaced by an annual mp3 stick collection because CD players aren’t exactly current technology).

Those 27 tracks, not a countdown but a curated list, as they say, which tends to go: fast and loud, loud and slightly slower, not quite so loud, and then a storming finish:

Crapsons – Checking In To A&E
CLOBBER – Council Estate State Of Mind
GAYLIPS – smashing your head against a brick wall is a full-time occupation
Thank – Do It Badly
Vanilla Abstract – Honeymoon
Lambrini Girls – Big Dick Energy
The Sewer Cats – Tell Me Something True
Fightmilk – No Souvenirs
Broken Bear – Awfully Civilised
Graham Graham Beck – Some People Think I Look Like Kevin McCloud
Johnny Casson aka Snippet – Sometimes Life Is Really Shit
Lee Switzer-Woolf – Flying Saucer Working Party
The Big Grey Man – Shattered Summits
Jamie xx, The Avalanches – All You Children
KEEP YA NOSE OUT feat Omar Raja – You Don’t Know Me
Richard Pierce – Cost of Living
Jasmine.4.t – Elephant
Svart Ridå – Kall
Slug Boys – For Love
Tidemann og Gud – Verdens Beste Land
The New Nostalgia – A Fridge In Berlin
Taryn Bites – Languish
IRKED – Crippling Empath
Engstelig – Sorgenfri
The Marra – I Can’t Sleep
These Dead Machines – Phantoms
Luvcat – Dinner @ Brasserie Zédel

I played in the region of 1,500 tracks in 2024, which reduced to a long list of about 150 tracks, which I then had to narrow down to how many would fit on an 80-minute CD. In truth, all those 150 (never mind all the 1,500) tracks would deserve to be on the list, because I only play outstanding new music on my shows. PLEASE make sure you listen to as much new music as possible – all artists making new music deserve to have their voices heard.

Wishing for a better 2025 for everyone.