“Who dream the world is nothing but a dream…” Robert Smith, The Cure, ‘Alone’, Songs Of A Lost World 2024.
The irony of this being a “best of” or “top” list for many different categories in music for the year 2024, when this year personally seemed to be near the top for my most challenging is a double-edged sword of sorts. The year hosted some of the most breathtaking live shows and featured some of the best new music this writer has witnessed in 18 years of music and arts journalism. Even though I have featured 25 best releases for the year (we are asked to do 10), I know I have missed numerous that I will punish myself about; planet Earth was immeasurably lucky in what it witnessed in the music universe in 2024.
This is the first time in my life that I have had to balance three separate jobs (in very different fields), undertaking essentially a constant seven-day-working-week and at the age of 40 (a birthday achievement I thought I would never see) and to do this, but yet still struggle to make ends meet, causes myself to feel like a constant failure. I do have a mortgage and that is the most difficult element of it all in this global economic crisis; however, it doesn’t feel like there is hope for a drastic change in all of this – we can DREAM though.
I was so thankful The Cure finally released what is probably their last LP and it is a beautiful post-rock new wave pop journey of emotionally driven poetic brilliance. Robert Smith has been a prestigious story-teller and song-writer for decades and his divine distinction is boundless. The quoted line above resonates so well in my life currently; I am constantly defeated, yet I dream to overcome this situation, I’m not just dreaming “the world”, because I want to be beyond that. Lyrics are always open to interpretation and I see this as representing that there are dreams of a world, although there are dreams eclipsing that idea, so follow them.
I am more thankful for my loving girlfriend Sarah (Fredeena Saradical) and her endless support and her beautiful family also. These boundless thanks extend to my own family, my friends and my band SwordfishTrombone; we may have had a quieter year, but things are happening and we will continue to perform fast sharp blasts of metallic punk and I will climb everything.
So don’t dream “the world”, dream further and follow that path.
Final note: Better Lovers you better tour Australia in 2025!
TOP 25 RELEASES OF 2024?
25 – SeeYouSpaceCowboy – Coup de Grâce
24 – The Orphan – Oh The Humanity
23 – Boundaries – Death Is Little More
22 – Eihwar – Viking War Trance
21 – Alcest – Les Chants de l’Aurore
20 – Void Of Vision – What I’ll Leave Behind
19 – Eivør – ENN
18 – Blind Girls – An Exit Exists
17 – The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
16 – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God
15 – Touche Amore – Spiral In A Straight Line
14 – SPEED – Only One Mode
13 – RUN – True Heaviness Is Time
12 – Reliqa – Secrets Of The Future
11 – Four Year Strong – Analysis Paralysis
10 – Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
9 – House Of Protection – Galore EP
8 – IDLES – Tangk
7 – Darkestrah – Nomad
6 – Envy – Eunoia
5 – Zeal & Ardor – GREIF
4 – The Barbarians Of California – And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth
3 – Chelsea Wolfe – She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
2 – Better Lovers – Highly Irresponsible
1 – Hot Water Music – VOWS
TOP 10 SONGS OF 2024?
10 – Thursday – ‘Application For Release From The Dream’
9 – SwordfishTrombone – ‘E(nd)TERNAL’
8 – Mirrors – ‘Vestige’
7 – Cult Of Luna – ‘Tannhäuser / Derive’
6 – Gojira – ‘Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça ira!)
5 – Frank Turner – ‘Ceasefire’
4 – FEVER 333 – ‘New West Order’
3 – Chelsea Wolfe – ‘Cellar Door’
2 – Spiritbox – ‘Soft Spine’
1 – Totally Unicorn – ‘Parrot’
BEST MUSIC VIDEOS OF 2024?
Thursday – ‘White Bikes’
Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster – ‘Thrush’
The Black Dahlia Murder – ‘Panic Hysteric’
ZETRA – ‘Starfall’
Better Lovers – ‘A White Horse Covered In Blood’
TOP 3 GIGS OF THE YEAR?
- Botch with Conjurer at The Gov May 19th 2024 ( Review & Gallery here)
- Heilung with Eivør at AEC, November 2nd 2024 (Review & Gallery here)
- KoЯn with Loathe at AEC, December 4th 2024 (Review & Gallery here)
BIGGEST CAREER ACHIEVEMENT IN 2024?
SwordfishTrombone supporting our two favourite and most influential acts in Cancer Bats at Jive and Totally Unicorn at Crown & Anchor were monumental achievements for us.
NEXT BIG AUSSIE ACT TO WATCH IN 2025?
Volatile Ways
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2025?
It was a quieter year for SwordfishTrombone, so we are hoping to push forwards with a lot more vigour in 2025. Wardruna’s new album and hopefully seeing them live (no Adelaide show), Blind Girls, Millencolin (new LP please?) and Pennywise live, a new Thrice record, new music from Deafheaven, Better Lovers tour (with SwordfishTrombone as support), Dark Mofo, more tunes from Totally Unicorn, Thursday and Maylene & The Sons Of Disaster please do new EPs or full-lengths post-haste, new Spiritbox, an Alexisonfire sideshow, surely Parkway Drive are due for record number eight. There is a lot more, but I have now entered full Willidiot mode.
Of course, looking forward to more work in the journalism field with Wall Of Sound (always) and the other publications; I also promised myself to surf more and see more films in 2025.
Written by Will Oakeshott. Insta: @teenwolfwill
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