Thursday, 2 January 2025

2024, the best albums 10 - 1

So here we are, with my ten personal favourite albums of this year. As I wrote yesterday, 2024 was a year with very good to a few exceptional albums. The coming years will tell how they or if they grow on me even more.

 

 



10. Kiss Your Friends. No Ninja Am I

Sander van Munster's solo project No Ninja Am I released a new album in 2024 and it may prove to be his best to date. Sixty years of pop music come together and blend into songs that strive to perfection. Mission accomplished as far as I'm concerned.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/11/kiss-your-friends-no-ninja-am-i.html





9. Always Hungry. Soft Boy

An album that came to me by way of a independent label, Fons Records, from Belgium, by a band I had never heard of. Always Hungry was played a lot this year and deserves this spot fully. Pop and rock and some of that prickly moments Belgians bands are so good at for decades can be heard on Always Hungry.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/03/almost-hungry-soft-boy.html




8. Romance. Fontaines DC

The big turnaround album of now Londoners, former Dubliners, Fontaines D.C. Gone is the postpunk, enter doomy and mysterious music. I do not exclude that Romance may turn into a masterpiece, far exceeding the previous three albums. There's just no way I can tell yet. The fact that I mention it is telling.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/romance-fontaines-dc.html





7. Niemandsland. De Kift

Zo ingetogen en toch zo De Kift. Ook dit is een plaat waarvan de tijd gaat zeggen hoe goed hij echt is. Duidelijk is aan het begin van 2025, dat Niemandsland indrukwekkend is. De plaat maakt een diepe en droevige indruk. Van oude mensen en de dingen die voorbij gaan. De Kift en fans worden ouder en zien de wereld om ons heen met lede ogen aan. Gelukkig hebben we live 'Bal' nog.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/11/niemandsland-de-kift.html




6. Everyone Smiles. The Maureens

The Maureens' fourth album is, once again, a great pop album. Yet, I'm of the opinion that the songs are this much sharper, even more focused and better. As if everything came together for the band, making writing and playing perfect pop songs a natural habitat. This band should be so much better known than it is today. A household name!, is what I say.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/01/everyone-smiles-maureens.html




5. The First Exit. Tramhaus

The First Exit is a debut album that feels like it isn't. As if the band released several albums already, instead of a few singles and an EP. With which it already toured the world. Rotterdam's best Tramhaus has released the perfect postpunk album, in which the inner tensions and the alternative meets pop all come together in a perfect storm. If this band manages to set a next step, it may become one of the biggest postpunk acts in the world.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/the-first-exit-tramhaus.html




4. Cartoon Darkness. Amyl and The Sniffers

Snotty, is the right word here. Amy Taylor is more Johnny Rotten than John Lydon could be in 2024. The songs on Cartoon Darkness are addictive. There's no other word for it. Straight forward punk, some great guitar solos and a ballad or two that work as well. This album is a perfect blend but foremost punk as it's supposed to be.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/cartoon-darkness-amyl-and-sniffers.html




3. Wild God. Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

Speaking of being totally blown of my socks. That is what happened to me while listening to Wild God for the first time. Nick Cave reached for new heights and climbed there with so much ease. His career has soared accordingly, filling arenas with ease as well. Spiritual, gospel, religion, rock ballads, on Wild God it all comes together in a fantastic way.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/wild-god-nick-cave-and-bad-seeds.html




2. Not God. Finom

From a Wild God to Not God is but a small step in this list. The duo Ohmme returned as Finom in 2024 with an even better album. The kind that just bounces through my room and makes me bounce along with it. Not God is played out within a very tight jacket but done so superbly that the relative lack of variation is overlooked/heared, because this is the way it should be.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/05/not-god-finom.html





1. Letter To Self. SPRINTS

The album of the year was released on the first Friday of 2024. Nothing went over it and righteously so. SPRINTS catapulted itself onto the international stage with debut album Letter To Self. For me things started with the single 'Literary Mind'. A song that's totally addictive. I can listen to it all day long. Add 'Up And Comer' and I do not want to listen to anything else. Letter To Self matched the two songs and I was hooked. SPRINTS delivered my album of the year.

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/01/letter-to-self-sprints.html

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Wednesday, 1 January 2025

2024, the best albums 30 to 11

2024 is over, so it is time to look back on the past year. Perhaps there were no truly spectacular new records that really put things upside down. This is brought to you with a caveat as I can't judge records of rappers, Chappell Roan of Charlie XCX. 2024 did bring a host of records I judge as extremely good. Records that I expect still to like a lot in the years to come. In fact, it was a tough job to cut down to thirty as there are several albums that deserved a spot in this list as well. Life is about making choices and that is what I did.

This list was down to thirty before I found I had forgotten one album. For this reason you find a number 31 with two records on it. In the final days while preparing for a five days international conference in the week before Christmas, I discovered two albums through contributions by Erwin Zijleman that I think I might come to find very good, but ran out of time judging them. So, here they are to put some attention on them any way. Both have not been reviewed by me.


31. Watch Me Drive Them Gods Wild. Merce Lemon

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/watch-me-drive-them-dogs-wild-merce.html

      The Clearwater Swimmers. The Clearwater Swimmers

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-clearwater-swimmers-clearwater.html

 

30. Guided Tour. High Vis

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/punk-garage-and-alternative-rock-high.html


29. Crime, Hysteria And Useless Information. Hood Rats

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/05/crime-hysteria-and-useless-information.html


28. How To Make Friends by Telephone. Librarians With Hickeys

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/11/how-to-make-friends-by-telephone.html


27. Lonely Mission. Jake Nicoll

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/05/lonely-mission-jake-nicoll.html


26. Uit Gewoonte En Bijgeloof. Boeije

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/11/uit-gewoonte-en-bijgeloof-boeije.html


25. Lonely Playground. Shooless

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/lonely-playgrounds-shooless.html


24. Sober Maal. De Mannenbroeders

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/sober-maal-de-mannen-broeders.html


23. Fat Brando. Fat Brando

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/fat-brando-fat-brando.html


22. Great Haunting. Earth Tongue

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/06/great-haunting-earth-tongue.html


21. Wake The Dead. Chuck Prophet feat ¿Qiensave?

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/12/wake-dead-chuck-prophet-feat-qiensave.html


20. Wall of Eyes / Cutouts. The Smile

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/02/wall-of-eyes-smile.html

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/cutouts-smile.html


19. News Of The Universe. La Luz

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/05/news-of-universe-la-luz.html


18. Still Willing. Personal Trainer

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/09/still-waiting-personal-trainer.html


17. Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me. Porridge Radio

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/10/clouds-in-sky-they-will-always-be-there.html


16. Reservoir. Brown Horse

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/02/reservoir-brown-horse.html


15. Bright Black Night. Mystery Waitress

 https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/08/bright-black-night-mystery-waitress.html

 

14.As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again. The Decemberists

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/06/as-it-ever-was-so-it-will-be-again.html


13. Small Changes. Michael Kiwanuka

Not reviewed (yet).


12. Audio Vertigo. Elbow

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/04/a-few-new-albums-catching-up-day-black.html


11. Big Swimmer. King Hannah

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/06/big-swimmer-king-hannah.html


Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Happy New Year !


On behalf of the WoNo Magazine team I wish you all a happy, prosperous but above all healthy 2025!


Wout de Natris - van der Borght

Tuesday, 31 December 2024

Deeper Well. Kacey Musgraves

Ieder jaar rond deze tijd maakt Erwin Zijleman zijn plaat van het jaar bekend. Zo ook in 2024. Dit jaar heeft de plaat in kwestie al een plekje gehad op dit blog. Daarom hieronder een link naar de originele post voor hen die toch benieuwd zijn. (In 2018 behaalde Musgraves deze positie ook met het album 'Golden Hour'.) Nieuwjaarsdag volgt de lijst van Wout.

De redactie

 

 

https://wonomagazine.blogspot.com/2024/07/deeper-well-kacey-musgraves.html

Monday, 30 December 2024

The best albums 2000 - 2024, 1 of 10

And here we are, the final ten albums of the past 25 years spanning 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2024. There's one thing I would like to add and that is pointing to the great albums Bob Dylan released in his 'Bootleg Series'. Although some are in my year end lists, I've decided not to add them here, just like I have not added the superb re-releases of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Not even all the new songs that were added to especially 'Goat's Head Soup' and 'Tattoo You'. Both albums really expanded my Stones collection with fantastic "new" songs. What also has to be mentioned is that the Dutch tribute band (and so much more) The Analogues brought me back to my first favourite band ever, The Beatles. I'm a big fan once again all over. It is that band that delivered the biggest surprise of this quarter of a century, their final new song, 'Now And Then'. It is so tremendously good, that it may be the best song of the past 25 years. It sums up all The Beatles were and the modern production it received, gives an impression of what the band could have sounded like, had they been able to record songs as a foursome today. Together with 'Sweet Sounds Of Heaven', as that was the other huge surprise in the fall of 2023. Without further ado, let's delve into that final ten.


10. Våre Demoner. Kaizers Orchestra (2009)

I understand that Våre Demoner is an album filled with leftovers, but when a band has leftovers of this quality, it tells you something about how good it was at the time and how fruitful the sessions were that it could afford not to put these songs on one of the records. The album filled up some years of inactivity, before the band started its work on the final push of the three 'Violeta Violeta' albums (see on 26). The fun starts with the title song that is simply one of Kaizers Orchestra's best. Everything the band is good at, comes together in this song. The Dick Dale twang of the guitars, a great melody allowing me to sing along to in a language I do not understand, the weird tempi, the staccato rhythms that includes the way the organ is played, but above all the fun 'Våre Demoner' shares with its listeners. And then the rest of the album still has to come. A killer of an album, but not the band's best.



9. Franz Ferdinand. Franz Ferdinand (2004)

With 'Take Me Out' Franz Ferdinand, named after the tragically assassinated crown prince of the Austrian-Hungarian Habsburg empire, came into my life and most likely in that of a lot of people with a huge bang. I remember buying the album, in the same record store as the first Kaizers Orchestra album two years before, and decided that I had heard enough in the first seconds of 'Jacqueline'. When a band starts an album like that while I know that it will be so much different, things can't go wrong. And it didn't. Franz Ferdinand was my new band for the whole of two years. (See above.) The collection of songs on this album is simply so good and a tremendous lot of fun. FraFer manages to make the difficult sound easy. It may be that a band like Gang of Four was the main inspiration for the band's music, it is the melodic prowess of a band like The Beatles that wins out. Gang of Four and others from the first postpunk era never came close to anything I'm hearing on 'Franz Ferdinand'. This is the best album of all these bands ever and was my album of 2004.

As a historian I have to add, that while visiting the spot in 2023 where the crown prince and his wife Sophia was killed, I could only wonder how the driver could accidentally drive into this dead end street, without being part of the conspiracy. Had it not been for the fact that Gavrilo Princip was not supposed to be at that exact location. He ran there. It remains a mystifying mistake as they were still so far off from the station. A mistake with very grave consequences, even 25 and more years later.



8. Hackney Diamonds. The Rolling Stones (2023)

The album that no one believed would ever come again, despite all the rumours going over 15 years. Yes, the blues album was good, but not for this list. And then 'Angry' came out and really nailed it. The sound was so strong and that riff so cool and good. And then came the biggest surprise, 'Sweet Sounds Of Heaven', a song with Lady Gaga of all people. The song floored me, although it took two listening sessions for it to do so. 'Sweet Sounds Of Heaven' is one the band's best songs ever. I had the pleasure to be able to travel to Japan in October 2023 for first work and then vacation. Hackney Diamonds was released while I was there and I bought it in Tokyo in a huge record store, Tower Records. It was sold out everywhere I tried before. Once home I was able to play the album and knew that The Rolling Stones delivered one more time, although rumour has it that there are more songs from the recording sessions to come. The biggest surprise is Paul McCartney's huge, fuzzed bass solo on 'Bite My Head Off'. A guest role for a Beatle on Stones album! Producer Andrew Watt really got the best out of the three remaining pensioners. Charlie Watts had recorded two of the songs before he died and even Bill Wyman plays bass on one of the songs. Hackney Diamonds shows that artists are never to old to deliver a masterpiece. If the album is not, it comes pretty damn close and was my album of 2023.



7. Black Star . David Bowie (2016)

The swan song on this list. Bowie released a new album on his birthday and I bought it more because of his name than because I thought it would be any good. The reviews gave me the impression this would not be for me. Was I wrong. Black Star is a beautiful album, that goes so deep. All the jazzy sounds that make the album so special. Bowie knew he was dying and wanted to leave behind something the world would remember him by, and succeeded in a great way. From the long and oh so mysterious opening track to the final notes this album takes the listener on a musical trip, showing all the different elements that mark Bowie's musicianship. Assisted by a score of jazz musicians from the New York scene and long time friend and producer Tony Visconti, something truly special was created, Music that is not for me but turned out to be exactly for me. That was the biggest surprise. And two days later there was an even bigger surprise. While listening to the morning radio show with Giel Beelen who was talking to Triggerfinger's singer, we all learned that Bowie was dead. He had managed to keep his fatal illness a secret for nearly everybody. The musical 'Lazarus' was already playing and then the museums opened with all the artifacts from his career. Bowie kept surprising his fans for a while longer. Black Star was my album of 2016.



6. The Plan. The Plan (2002)

Two, three weeks ago my son was visiting and I asked him what album would you like to hear. First 'The Wall' and then 'The Plan'. I had not played the album for some time and was surprised how good it is. I knew it's good but it was even better than I remembered. The Plan was a band from Sweden and may have recorded an additional album. If so, it never found me. This is the one. The only chance I had to see The Plan live proved impossible for me on that date. 'The Plan' kicks off with 'Mon Amour', a totally deranged shot of energy. I just love that song so much. Upbeat, up tempo, with a slightly odd rhythm and singing that verges on off key and beyond. And yet, it all works a miracle. The horns add to the party 'Mon Amour' already is. It never gets that good again on 'The Plan', yet as a whole the record is tremendously good. The weirdness is translated into good songs. The singing that is just as weird, the exuberance the musicians put into their playing, all together makes for a great record. If 'The Plan' wasn't my record of the year 2002, it's obvious in 2024 that it should have been.



5. Maestro. Kaizers Orchestra (2005)

One more and final Kaizers Orchestra record in the list. Maestro, the band's third, is the best one of all. The records on which everything really came together. The songs are better, the extraordinary rhythms involving a car wheel, a crow bar, work gloves, oil drums and traditional percussion, all meshed into a rhythm that is impossible to play for any lay man. Wiping the sweat off their brows the band members are when these songs are played live. The songs about the war, decadence, Dieter Meier's Institution, and whatever else the album is about, as my Norwegian is non-existent, let alone the Bergen dialect, are totally impressive. I was already a fan of Kaizers Orchestra. From here on the relationship was rock solid as the band's presence in this list shows. Maestro was not my album of the year 2005. It hindsight it should have been.



4. AM. Arctic Monkeys (2013)

My record of the year 2013 was not by by Arctic Monkeys, but by TMGS. Time corrected this. AM is the album where the transition was set even more into motion. Where the punk feathers were ruffled and totally shed. I had not thought that the band from here onwards would develop the way it did. All songs on AM were strong but still easy to follow. Alex Turner did not yet have the ambition to become a latter day Frank Sinatra. With a bunch of strong singles leading the way, AM found its way to the masses easily with the songs who clearly have a lasting impact. 'Do I Wanna Know?', 'R U Mine', 'One For The Road', "Why Do You Only Call Me When You're High', are all songs that drive the point home. Where at the time I thought this album to be to Arctic Monkeys what 'Revolver' was to The Beatles, it sort of became the end of road instead of the last step towards utter brilliance. Who knows what's still to come though?



3. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not. Arctic Monkeys (2006)

My album from 2006 is up next. The album that came out with a bang. My introduction came through single '(I Bet You Look Good On The) Dancefloor'. One of the very, very best songs of this century so far. The energy it has, the wild intro and that super, super strong chorus. It's an explosion, just like Alex Turner sings. And most of that energy comes through from the whole album. This band was not afraid to musically do things totally different, while showing everything it has to their fans and fans to be. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is one of the best debut albums ever made and unlike many of those albums, not the band's best. (Patience, patience, dear listener.) Look how the album opens (and that video accompanying it). I have seldom heard a more powerful opening song to a career. One of the other singles, 'Fake Tales Of San Francisco' has this change to it that is beyond imagination for most artists. The world only is turned upside down from one minute 40 seconds. The drumming is incredibly powerful, the bass runs utterly fantastic, the power of the band everything that comes with youthful self-confidence. When Arctic Monkeys came on the scene there was no saving Franz Ferdinand. As I wrote earlier, Franz Ferdinand is to Arctic Monkeys what John the Baptist was to Jesus of Nazareth. Musically I can best compare it like this: the tongue in cheek, well thought through witticism versus unleashed primordial power. Arctic Monkeys win with ease.



 2. Wet Leg. Wet Leg (2022)

My album of 2022 is still holding out with ease. I just keep returning to the album and think it's still just as good as when it was finally released after all the strong singles. Wet Leg mixes the light and the shade, the fun with the seriousness and quality with more quality. Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers started playing together in 2019 and three years later were ready to conquer the world, which they did together with recruited band members. I can only hope that in 2024 they still enjoy being musicians and are able to produce another even better album in 2025. Somehow I have my doubts if they still have fun. Time will tell. In the meantime I keep enjoying 'Wet Leg'. I came on board with 'Chaise Longue' and from single to single, the one even better than the other, with 'Wet Dream' as my absolute favourite, kept following the band. Another highlight is Rhian Teasdale announcing she's going to scream, counts down and starts screaming. Wet Leg weaves some nice musical jokes into its music, music that totally resonated with me.

 


 

1. Favourite Worst Nightmare. Arctic Monkeys (2007)

The best album of this quarter century and as a result the best album of Arctic Monkeys. The energy is still fully there, just like that youthful exuberance. The wildness was traded in for a more controlled way of playing. The band put constraints on the music and became better and more in control, making the songs sound better and more stylised. Overall the songs are of a higher level than on 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not'. What mystified me at the time was the final song '505'. It proved to be the bellwether of things to come and not the odd one out. Arctic Monkeys would never be this good again as they were on Favourite Worst Nightmare. The band really got it all together and all influences from the best postpunk bands to The Police can be found on Favourite Worst Nightmare; the album of the period 2000 - 2024.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght