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Aaron Pinto, Be Like Pablo, Brent Seavers, Bull, Cast, Chris Milam, Cliff Hillis, Crowded House, David Woodard, Day Dreems, Dennis Schocket, Ducks Ltd., Fastball, JD McPherson, John Larson and the Silver Fields, Lo Fi Ho Hum, Nick Frater, Nick Low and Los Straitjackets, Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men, Owen Adamcik, Phil Thornalley, Real Estate, Rich Arithmetic, Scoopski, Sergio Ceccanti, Shake Some Action!, Star Trip, Steve Robinson, Sunken Planes, Super 8, Tamar Berk, Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team, The Armoires, The Decemberists, The Genuine Fakes, The Half-Cubes, The High Elves, The Martial Arts, The Rebutles, The Trafalgars, Top albums 2024, Top LPs 2024, Wesley Fuller
Another year, another load of really good albums. Creativity was off the charts in 2024, in both senses unfortunately. But banish despair, here at Poprock Record we make up our own charts, shining light on a deserving collection of should-be stars. Here’s our list of 25 must-have albums from the past year and, trust me, you’ll find plenty of variety within our self-imposed parameters of poppy rock. You’ve got jangle (Ducks Ltd.), gender (Day Dreams) and heartbreak (Tamar Berk). There’s retro (Terry Anderson), metro (Super 8) and fun (Scoopski). We’ve got artists singing in Spanish (Star Trip) and wide variety of accents from the British Isles (the list would be too long). And so much more.
The envelope please, here are Poprock Record’s 25 must have LPs from 2024:
1. Day Dreems Day Dreems
2. Tamar Berk Good Times For a Change
3. Brent Seavers Exhibit B
4. Wesley Fuller All Fuller, No Filler
5. Ducks Ltd. Harm’s Way
6. Aaron Pinto Aaron Pinto
7. Chris Milam Orchid South
8. The Martial Arts In There Like Swimwear
9. The Armoires Octoberland
10. Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team Got To Be Strong
11. Star Trip Velocidad
12. Bull Engines of Honey
13. Real Estate Daniel
14. Phil Thornalley Holly Would
15. The Trafalgars About Time
16. Super 8 Retro Metro
17. Be Like Pablo A World Apart
18. Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men Up and Out of It
19. Rich Arithmetic Pushbutton Romance
20. Owen Adamcik Owen Adamcik’s Power Pop Paradise
21. Steve Robinson Window Seat
22. Sergio Ceccanti Mysterious Journey
23. John Larson and the Silver Fields Constellation Prize
24. Scoopski Time is a Thief
25. David Woodard Get It Good
Day Ricardo’s Day Dreems project was groundbreaking in so many ways, lyrically touching on gender, the body, ADHD, oppressive nostalgia and more, while musically mashing up hints of Squeeze, Crowded House and the Beatles into their own distinctive voice. It’s a most worthy choice to sit at #1. But close behind Tamar Berk wowed us with yet another winning collection of introspective yet downright hooky numbers. Brent Seavers, now there’s a guy who knows how to pack an LP full of highly listenable tunes. I mean, he does it again and again. I could go on … and do in the original posts hyperlinked above.
The EP format continues to offer artists a creative outlet that falls somewhere between the noble single and a more herculean long-playing effort. True for some it may amount to little more than a glorified single with additional alternative versions, demos and live cuts (not that I’m complaining). But for others it’s a carefully curated musical statement in its own right. I think our cast of 6 must-have EPs from 2024 lean more in the latter direction:
1. Lo Fi Ho Hum Garage Pop
2. Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket Pop, Girls, Etc.
3. Sunken Planes Intersections
4. Shake Some Action! Trip to Yesterday / Chase the Light
5. The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 1
6. The High Elves Early Works
I deliberately leave legacy artists – i.e. those that gained conventional chart success and still benefit from that or have a major label sponsor – off my yearly lists. They don’t really need any push from me. But I do love a lot of those acts and it is great to see them still putting out solid creative works. So here’s a legacy artist shout out to some notable releases in 2024:
1. JD McPherson Nite Owls
2. The Decemberists As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
3. Fastball Sonic Ranch
4. Cast Love is the Call
5. Crowded House Gravity Stairs
6. Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets Indoor Safari
I’m a non-recovering Beatlemaniac, it’s true. I’m always on the lookout for some fun and creative riffs on the Fabs. This year Nick Frater blew away the competition with the further development of his Rutles project, a riff on a riff on the Beatles. So meta! Thus our best riff on the Beatles this year is:
Nick Frater Nick Frater presents The Rebutles 1967-70
Last year I singled out The Flashcubes for their amazing Pop Masters album. It was one where they covered a host of new wave era classics with members of the original bands. This year their spin-off band The Half Cubes produced their own version of that project with equally impressive results. You see where this is going. This year’s special award of awesome poprock merit goes to:
The Half-Cubes Pop Treasures
As I wrote in the original review, “Pop Treasures is a monster of a collection” that is ‘lovingly relentless’ in its coverage of 1970s and 1980s hit-makers and indie darlings. It’s a hits package worthy of K-Tel, and that is high praise coming from someone who lived through the seventies. So many great songs here, including our #1 most inventive cover for 2024 “Make You Cry.” Treat yourself, this is a guaranteed good time.
Album fans, the form is in safe hands if the releases from this past year are anything to go by. Sure the kids may not be into them the way their 1960s through 1990s peers were but they’ll have something to dip into when they get older.
Photo of John Baldessari’s art piece ‘Record Collector’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
Interesting how so many great bands featured two strong songwriters. Lennon/McCartney obviously come to mind, but one could add Difford and Tilbrook from Squeeze or Partridge and Moulding from XTC, among many others. Some of the pairs wrote together, others never did – Lennon and McCartney did both. Two greats that should be added to the list are the Finn brothers, Tim and Neil, late of Split Enz and Crowded House as well as their distinguished solo careers. Both have penned their share of amazing songs in a broadly similar poprock vein, though in recognizably distinct registers. While liking them both, do fans ultimately have a preference for Neil or Tim? There’s too much material to weigh up each Finn in detail. Here’s just a smattering of songs from each that deserve more attention.
Tim Finn’s work easily conjours up descriptors like quirky, iconoclastic, and even eccentric. His songs don’t meet conventional expectations. His voice is a bit other-worldly. Of course, that is part of his charm. Finn the elder channels key 1970s art and glam rock influences yet his work is eminently hummable. His creativity, expressiveness and originality put him in the same category as David Bowie and the Talking Heads for me. An early favourite of mine is “My Mistake” from the second Split Enz album, 1977’s Dizrythmia, with its bouncing rhythm. Tim would write the bulk of the next three Split Enz albums, though the hits were mostly the few songs written by Neil. Still, “Shark Attack,” and “I Hope I Never” from True Colours and “Hard Act to Follow” from Waiata have great hooks. 1982’s Time and Tide was arguably Split Enz’ high point and though Tim scaled back his number of contributions the songs that remain are some of his best work: “Six Months in a Leaky Boat,” “Small World,” “Never Ceases To Amaze Me,” and “Haul Away.” Tim’s first solo album, Escapade, has some of my favourites, particularly “Through the Years” with its dare-I-say Neil Finn-ish melodic concision. Since then Tim has released eight solo albums and each one has contained stand out material.
The 1980s saw Tim releasing two more solo albums while early 1990s saw him collaborating with Neil on Crowded House’s third album, Woodface. From the solo work, I love “Don’t Bury My Heart” from 1986’s Big Canoe and “Not Even Close” from 1989’s Neil Finn. Woodface was a marvelous accomplishment, with Tim’s impact obvious in both the songwriting and sonic quality of the record. But it is his new millennium work that really merits closer scrutiny. For instance, 2000’s Say It Is So is bursting with strong material like “Good Together” and “Death of a Popular Song.” Two years later Feeding the Gods cranked up the guitars and gothic back ground vocals to good effect on tracks like “I’ll Never Know.” In 2006 Imaginary Kingdom lightened the mood with pop whimsy like “Couldn’t Be Done” and the amazing should-be hit single, “Still the Song.” 2008’s The Conversation was more subdued, acoustic, contemplative, but still hooky with a bit of swing on tracks like the wonderful, winsome “Forever Thursday.” His most recent solo offerings include 2012’s The View is Worth the Climb (featuring the very poprock “Can’t Be Found”) and his 2018 collaboration with Dorothy Porter on The Fiery Maze.Don’t Bury My HeartGood TogetherI’ll Never KnowStill The SongForever Thursday
If Tim Finn is a bit of an acquired taste, then Neil Finn is the mainstream. As Split Enz became more commercially successful with the release of True Colours in 1980, radio almost invariably played more Neil than Tim. “I Got You,” “One Step Ahead,” “History Never Repeats,” “Message To My Girl” – these were the international hits, all Neil songs. Then Neil went on to form Crowded House and the hits just kept on coming. I love them all but here’s just a few that stand out for particular reasons. Like the crunchy new wave poprock of “Take a Walk” from Split Enz’s Time and Tide or the hooky drive of “I Walk Away From You” from the last Split Enz album and Crowded House’s self-titled debut. Some songs were hits in just some places, like “Distant Sun,” which made the top ten in Canada. Solo, Neil’s singles toned down the ‘power’ in power pop but not at the expense of hooks. Both “She Will Have Her Way” from 1998’s Try Whistling This and “Driving Me Mad” from 2002’s One Nil have a subtle ear worm effect. After a ten year break, Neil reformed Crowded House in 2006 and it was like they’d never stopped playing. Here I’d single out “She Called Up” from 2007’s Time On Earth and “Amsterdam” from 2010’s Intriguer. Neil latest album is a collaboration with his son Liam, 2018’s Lightsleeper.Take A WalkShe Will Have Her WayDriving Me MadShe Called UpAmsterdam
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