And now that we have actually made it to the actual end of 2024, now that we are just about ready to come up screaming into 2025, we can finally put our music heads on and look back at the albums of what is now last year. Here then are the pick of the albums, the best things we covered or heard or played or fell over during a very very busy 2024. And of course we didn’t check out everything, how could anyone? I think we can claim we did check out hundreds and hundreds of albums and bands and bites of music and here, we ca nprobably claim we checked out more than most people and without anymore messing about, here are the top 43 (or maybe a few more than 43 this time, it was impossible) albums of Organ’s 2024…

1: The Flying Luttenbachers – Losing The War Inside Our Heads (ugEXPLODE) – There was no real argument, the opening piece of music on what just might be the best Luttenbachers album yet will te lyou why. Apparently Losing The War Inside Our Heads is the 17th official album from The Flying Luttenbachers, I’ve kind of lost count what with all the bits that fly at us from all sides of the ever rewarding Luttenbachers spectrum, it feels like there’s been several albums this year already, but none were the actual new album we were all waiting for, this is the actual proper new album and here’s the review – Unpacking the thrilling new album from The Flying Luttenbachers – the charge, the bolt, the buzz, that Messiaen piece, the defiant hints of Cardiacs, the extremes of it all, the high art…

And really, if you’re not blown away by the audacious power of that opening track or that that Messiaen flavoured piece you need to check if you’re still alive, that first track on Losing The War Inside Our Heads is outrageously good! There wasn’t much debate about this year’s album of the year. There were other Flying Luttenbachers releases this year, The War was the main event though….

2: Extra Life – The Sacred Vowel (Last Things) – The Sacred Vowel is the fifth album from New York avant rock band Extra Life, composer/guitarist Charlie Looker’s main vehicle, this time with a line-up including members of Kayo Dot, Secret Chiefs 3 and Time of Orchids, “this record sees Extra Life venturing deeper into cinematic string orchestration and electronic sound design. Long time Extra Life fans will be delighted, and newcomers will find a great place to start” – well that’s what… ORGAN THING: Not an inch of excess, every second, every note vital, this is economic music. Have Extra Life released the album of the year already?

3: Earth Ball – It’s Yours (Upset The Rhythm) – Where were we? Improv? Improvising a review of some kind? What can be said about something like this? This being exceptionally intense challengingly rewarding improvisational avant-psychedelic noise from the Pacific Northwest featuring members involved in tours and collaborations with Wolf Eyes, Deerhoof, Pulitzer prize winning composer Raven Chacon and more – Earth Ball’s new album, what can be said about something like this? This being exceptionally intense challengingly rewarding improvisational avant-psychedelic noise from…

And those Earth Ball shows in 2024, wow! Be it at Cafe Oto or what’s this? Really, Earth Ball? Avant jazz-flavoured no-wave improv noise experiments in the bandstand at East London’s Arnold Circus late on a Friday afternoon? Is this really going to happen?

4: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum –Of the Last Human Being (Avant Nigh) – It hops (or even hopes) like a dog, it barks like a frog and it likes to be touched so we’re told. We must know more, oh that’s a good bit! There are hundreds of oh-that’s-a-good-bit bits.  You could get punch drunk with all the good bits, they are punches that Sleepytime are dealing out, almost like going fifteen rounds with it all. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum are back – Sleepytime Gorilla Museum’s new album reviewed. This gift is not like other gifts, this is a glorious return, more coherent maybe, a complex revivification indeed…

5: Gazelle Twin – Shadow Dogs (Invada) – The much awaited album of “ghost” or “shadow” versions of tracks from Gazelle Twin’s fourth studio album Black Dog featuring reinterpretations by a host of artists: Keeley Forsyth, Gary Numan, Mark Jenkin, Marta Salogni, Penelope Trappes, Sealionwoman and more could very easily have been the album of the year, Black Dog was last year and this the much awaited album of “ghost” or “shadow” versions of tracks from Gazelle Twin’s album Black Dog of course is essential…

6: English Teacher – This Could be Texas (Island) – Now this, before anything else is an absolutely gorgeous album, this is an album so full of uplifting emotion, so full of positive sound and colour and yet it comes from a place full of so many things, it comes from a time and place that is so right here right now, it is just so nail hit-right-on-the-head yet it feel so good, it could very wasily be our album of the year, it is Britain right now, here’s the review – Albums, catching up with things, with Dancer, with Abandoned Buildings, with English Teacher and….

7: Slift – Ilion (Sub Pop) – Make no mistake, this is powerful, everything the French band did in 2024 was big, the pieces of music, the gigs, this album, the proper progressiveness of t all – This is massive, everything about Slift is massive, this is a towering album, exhilarating, more than that though, these songs are big. ‘Ilion’, the French Prog band’s Sub pop debut, isn’t just about…

8: Uniform – American Standard (Sacred Bones Records) – Give it a couple of minutes to slowly unfold, to slowly pick you up and take you with it, that opening twenty one minute track is a serious piece of intense art… – Uniform’s American Standard and companion piece Nightmare City, two giant pieces of art…

9: Nick Cave – Wild God (Play It Again Sam) –  And all the king’s horses, oh never mind, where do we go now? What do we do now? Oh never mind,  it really doesn’t matter what we say, we’ll say it anyway, as Nick Cave says himself, “I hope the album has the effect on listeners that it’s had on me. It bursts out of the speaker, and I get swept up with it. It’s a complicated record, but it’s also deeply and joyously infectious.” He’s right… – the new Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album came out today…

Did we say we might have more than 43? No way can we keep it down to 43 this year, so much good music, and so much of it not really being covered anywhere else, how has that Luttenbachers album not been mentioned in anyone else’s end of year list, or that glorious new Extra Life album. Tenth spot on our list is share by two rather beautiful Canterbury flavoured mellow prog rock delights, although from this point on the order of this list is pretty fluid and semi neaningless, this is jsut the best 43 or so albums we envountered in 2024…

10: Actionfredag – Lys fremtid i m​ø​rke (áMARXE) – Actionfredag released their second rather fine album back in November, Lys fremtid i mørke has been played rather a lot on the Other Rock Show already – Actionfredag’s impressively progressive Canterbury flavours…

10: Needlepoint – Remnants Of Light (BJK Music) – Oh now, this one is rather magnificent as well, this is a delight, Needlepoint are from Oslo and today (or whatever day it was) they say they saw a moment that looked like a smile. They could, once again, be from Canterbury, and it is a smile we have kind of known for a while, this is magnificently uplifting and music growing into the sky, enchanting, tearful eyes, like lakes, lashes electric, everything bright, here’s the page with the album review, here’s Needlepoint’s glorious Remnants Of Light…

11: Michael – Nite Salad (Crackedankles) – Michael brood, they have a menace, an uneasy tension, Heavy Life is where it comes to the fore, it is a mean mean (mean) song, the kind of song you wouldn’t want following you home on a dark evening. So tell me about the size of crime? Nothing to see here? Michael have been seriously on it, they are one of the best bands in land both live and in a recorded state – Michael have a menace….

11: Yang – Rejoice (Cuneiform Records) – And this album, Rejoice, does embrace so much, it is more subtle than last time, it feels more fluid, easier listening maybe? It is once again an album that takes time to properly reveal itself, it is a rock album, a prog rock album, a proper one… Albums, more albums – Yang’s glorious Rejoicing, Actionfredag’s impressively progressive Canterbury flavours, Anta’s powerful prog adventure, Volapük’s reissued Where Is Tamashii?

11: Shellac – To All Trains (Touch And Go) – Something something something some, of course the way we’re going to listen to this album was different after Shellac frontman Steve Albini’s sad sad passing, I’d like to think we’d be featuring this high up on the list anyway – the Shellac album album review…

12: The Naked Grace Missionaries – The Ceremony of the Keys (Self Release) – Chasing what? Darkness, Love, talking in whispers, speaking in what, tongues, fire singling, damning and weeping or was it turning? Holding on tightly, they had us won over the moment they started doing their seductive thing in the dark red of Helgi’s back at the start of Spring and here we are just past Mid Summer and the debut album has just landed – Chasing what? Darkness, love, talking in whispers, those Naked Grace Missionaries have a delicious debut album..

13: High Vis – Guided Tour (Dias) – Yeah okay, people will tell you there’s some kind of Britpop-meets-hardcore thing going on but don’t let that put you off – and yeah, I know there was nothing good about Brit Pop, not a single thing, we were there, stuck in the middle of it, on the front line, in Camden, fending it off – this new album Guided Tour is the street-wise London punks’ best yet by far, this is a very fine album indeed and for many many reasons other than just the obvious ones – That new High Vis album? Where were we? Drop Me Out comes bursting in as a second track, no messing, no time for politeness, no time for passengers, just right there and on it…

And the idea that we can keep this down to just 43 this year is just silly. As for which album The Smile put out this year was the better one, well, we can’t answer that question, purely as two collections of music they are impossible to split (although we might want to question some of the various band member’s thoughts on the Middle East, six babies died from the cold in Gaza as we came up to New Ye…)

=14: The Smile – Cutouts (XL Recordings) – The threesome that are The Smile back again with their second album of 2024, we’re we expecting that? I wasn’t fully tuned in, seems they are. Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood combined with the exceptional drummer (and producer) that is Tom Skinner, back with more already. Do kind of like this whole Smile thing, kind of like it more than Radiohead, it all seems a little less stiff, a little more relaxed, a touch less formal – The Smile’s Cutouts and…

=14: The Smile – Wall Of Eyes (XL Recordings) – Isn’t everything, but everything,  just awesome these days? If by ‘everything’ we mean books, movies, gastropubs, but most of all, music.  We swim in a cultural rip tide of astoundings and unmissables, every poster spattered with four or five stars, every advert smeared with gushing quotes. What spectacular times we must live in, what envy from future historians – The Smile’s Walls Of Eyes…

And then there was the delicious new Kee Avil album…

15: Kee Avil – Spine (Constellation) – Beyond the creases now, a second full length album from the mind of Montréal singer-guitarist-producer Vicky Mettler. This is good, a little more raw in terms of the sentiment this time maybe, kind of on a tightrope and you do feel she might not get to the end every time you listen even though you know she did last time – a first taste of the experimental art rock flavoured (rather excellent) new Kee Avil album…

16: Ottone Pesante – Scrolls of War (Aural Music) – Ottone Pesante are an instrumental, experimental trio featuring trombone, trumpet and drums. An album alive with ferocious dissonance, it sounds like a gathering of epic film soundtracks, actually is does sound like scrolls of war, epic really is the word, this sounds massive, way beyond widescreen and boiling vats of tar ready to be poured of the side of the walls, if it is brassmetal, then we’re talking extreme brassmetal – Ottone Pesante’s epic seven battle brassmetal driven Scrolls of War…

16: Melvins – Tarantula Heart (Ipecac) – Oh, that’s a mean riff, that’s dark, that’s sinister, that’s beautiful, six and bit minutes into the nineteen minute album opener that is Pain Equals Funny. Those Melvins are cooking, of course they are, we’d expect nothing less. Tarantula Heart is the new album from the band who’ve been challenging themselves for more than forty years now – ORGAN: Three albums – Melvins have a new one – Oh, that’s a mean riff, that’s dark, that’s sinister, that’s beautiful. Taylor Swift has a new album as well, is it any good? And what of Taylor Deupree and that Sti.ll reworking? We care a lot….

And three more French things, well one is French Canadian but hey…

17: Saint Sadrill – Frater Crater (Dur Et Doux) – These are beautifully quiet exquisitely detailed pieces of gentle musical art. Deliciously warmhearted songs full of all kinds of colour, laced with undercurrents of something progressively rewarding and all brought to you by a tight tight band. Glorious songs underpinned by wonderful musical details – the delicious details of Saint Sadrill’s Frater Crater, Violence Gratuite and well…

18: Corridor – Mimi (Sub pop) – There’s something rather delightful about the new Corridor album, the FrCanadian band aren’t doing anything that demanding, there’s no great big noise, no great artistic statement, no off with their music heads and vive la révolution, nothing like that, they’ve just quietly made a really gorgeous album – Corridor have just quietly made a really gorgeous album alive with lushness, with gentle motorik undercurrents, with a knowing set of smiles… And they played a couple of really fine East London show during the year as well, they’re a lie band not to be missed… Corridor at the Shacklewell Arms, London, were such a joy last night, such a bright glowing smiling pleasure of a band…

19: Basil’s Kite – Chewing Bread (self release) – Says here that for their second record, Basil’s Kite have written “an anti-mindfulness manifesto. This album contains eight different ways your brain can explode while the world explodes around you. It’s not only unavoidable, but disastrous to avoid difficult realities in favour of comfy platitudes. Chewing Bread was written entirely using custom made one of a kind microtonal instruments”. Now this is a whole bag of forthright intensity and it came out after most publications had already gone with thier end of year lists, why do they go so early? – We’re not done with the year yet, the new Basil’s Kite album just came out. Chewing Bread is incredibly clever on several levels, mathy, complex, hardcore, almost alien or maybe like some of those strange animals they got down there…

20: Hyper Gal – – After Image (Skingraft Records) – That opening track almost feels like they’re playing with you, seducing you, pulling you in, toying with you, letting you get comfortable before they start turning the screw, you know it must be coming, this is the calm before the storm and a harmless The Luncheon on the Grass before the Rush starts to build – Art of noise duo Hyper Gal are over from Japan this month, their new album really does go off and things! You have been warned…

20: Party Dozen – Crime In Australia (Temporary Residence Ltd) – Well the two of them certainly aren’t slowing down, this new album has been skronking and parping and biting in here for a good few weeks now, we were waiting for this one, they haven’t let us down and it certainly has more than lived up to lots (and lots) of repeated plays. The forceful Sydney-based duo, made up of saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet… – ORGAN THING: Hey look, just fire it up, do it once and you’ll want to ride it again and again, Party Dozen have easily followed their 2022 breakthrough, this new album is an excellent set of crimes…

21: Greg Saunier – We Sang, Therefore We Were (Joyful Noise) – Well you really don’t need to double check, you immediately know even if you don’t know his name, you know that Greg Saunier is yer man from Deerhoof. The whole album sounds like Deerhoof without ever sounding like Deerhoof, actually some of it sounds very (very) much like Deerhoof and around these parts we’re more than fine with that – The beauty of Deerhoof’s Greg Saunier…

22: Buñuel – Mansuetude (SkinGraft/Overdrive) – I mean don’t be asking us about the cheese, whatever kind of flavour yer man Eugene S. Robinson was on about just then, Cheddar? Some kind of cheese, cheese unlike baked beans comes in all kinds of ways, and this? Well this just might just be blue baked beans. This rocks, of course it does ORGAN: Albums, more albums – Oranssi Pazuzu’s shapeshifting, Buñuel’s Eugene S. Robinson fuelled extreme but articulate metal, a taste of Beasts and that time at The Marquee with the orange baked beans and…

23: Toby Driver – Raven, I Know That You Can Give Me Anything – Toby Driver does somehow after all this time and all his KayoDot albums as well as the many other rewarding musical projects he pilots with such accomplished ambition, he somehow always manages, without ever not being Toby Driver, he manages to go to new places. We were expecting something rather beautiful, something quietly dramatically… – Kayo Dot’s Toby Driver with another rather beautiful solo album…

24: Botanist – Paleobotany (Prophecy Productions) – Now this is what we wanted from Botanist, they haven’t totally abandoned their roots or their stems, they still have those cookie monster vocals in there but now they’re not the only thing, there are different voices, melodic vocals, lyrics you can actually hear alongside those epic slices of progressive experimental metal – Botanist’s Paleobotany and some progressive experimental avant metal…

25: Twelfth Night – Live Fact and Let Fiction Live – Really wasn’t sure if this would work, you surely can’t cut up Live and Let Live, one of the finest live albums ever, an album that really did define so so much back there, surely this is folly? Leave it alone! Well no, it works, from the opening moments of the classically enhanced The Celling Speaks to the last breath of Love Song, this really does work. Geoff Mann celebrated so well… – Twelfth Night’s Live Fact and Let Fiction Live, a re-imagining that really shouldn’t work yet really really does…

How are we doing with the cutting it all down to just 43 albums? here comes the 25th…

25: The Andretti – The Silent Goodbye – Hang on, what the bleep is this? Some kind of big screen (concept?) album? Here’s a list; David Bowie, Danny Elfman, James Bond, David Bowie again, Tom Jones, John Barry, Black Midi, Frank Sinatra, Frank’s big orchestra, some more Black Midi and then throw in The Residents and… The Andretti’s Silent Goodbye is, well, hang on, what the bleep is this? Some kind of big screen (concept?) album?

26: Yoo Doo Right – From the Heights of Our Pastureland (Mothland) – We’ve been featuring You Doo Right and these pages as well as on our playlists quite a bit since late Summer, their latest album is more of that rewarding expansive Kraut flavoured experimental rock thing that… – Right now Ponder’s End is galloping away with us and that title track at the end is just magnificent. You Doo Right’s epic expansive experimental new album is well worth an ear…

27: Stuffed Foxes – Standardized (Stolen Body Records) – alt.noise feel while adding extra layers of slightly abrassive drama, actually Stuffed Foxes would have really stood out from the crowd back there in the busy 90s, they stand out right here right now, they’ve got bits that taste of Gang of Four or Fugazi on here – Stuffed Foxes are from Tours, that’s in France, they’ve just released a rather refined psych flavoured noise album…

27: Hawkwind – Stories From Time And Space (Cherry Red)- That first note and that first line kind of set the tone – Time it waits for no one – that is a strong start from Brock, reflective, defiant and as we fade into the future our lives won’t last forever – that is a raw almost fragile voice a rather reflective (slightly defiant) Dave Brock and that is a rather melancholic way to start things off, powerful, emotional, strong – A first listen to what is another strong Hawkwind album, Stories From Time And Space reviewed…

28: Shooting Daggers – Love & Rage (New Heavy Sounds) – A defiantly angry album, a positive defiance, a healthy anger, a charging demanding forthright debut from the self proclaimed Queercore metallic punk rock three piece – we can’t let the love and rage of Shooting Daggers pass us by…

28: Tusmørke – Dawn of Oberon (Karisma Records) – That bit there, sixteen minutes into the opening seventeen minute prog rock epic does sound like a bit of one of Marillion’s best garden parties, they’ve mostly been sounding like a Canterbury flavoured take on Jethro Tull, what is it with Scandinavia and the Canterbury sound at the moment, Scandibury? ORGAN: Albums, even more albums, Tusmørke….

29: Lewis Taylor – Pleasures Vol. 1 (Slow Reality) – A new Lewis Taylor album that opens with a very breezy sunny version of Summer Breeze released on a cold windy first Friday in December is a rather strange idea, but then Lewis Taylor has always been strangely good and this is a beautifully strange mix of covers to feature together on one album and of course we cut the chase and to the heart of the sunrise for that Yes cover! There’s always been some accomplished about Lewis and his soul, something a little extra – Lewis Taylor’s take on Zeppelin, Purple, Hendrix and especially Yes!

30: Bed Maker – Bed Maker (Dischord) – I never asked for any of this, should have done though, this is rather good. This is kind of wired, wired in the right way, two left feet, urgent post something or other, late afternoon, watching the rainbows all round the room. Amanda MacKaye on very very (very) colourful vocals, singing in that gloriously way of Johnny Rotten – ORGAN: Albums, more music – Bed Maker, Babe Report, Scott Collins, Die Verlierer, Henrik Meierkord, London Underground and…

31: Neighbours Burning Neighbours – Burning Neighbours (Subroutine Records) – Were we here before? Repeat please. That Neil Young song has been delighting us for half a year or more and hey… – Neighbours Burning Neighbours and their safe space for chaos or something like that…

32: Babe Report – Did You Get Better (Exploding in Sound) – Rushing out of Chicago but you probably knew that already, then again you might not? Has word reached this side of the water yet? They’ve been releasing rather urgent singles and EPs over the last couple of years, this is there recently released debut album. Ten righteously raw songs, raw, tough, urgently good Albums, more music – Bed Maker, Babe Report, Scott Collins, Die Verlierer, Henrik Meierkord, London Underground and…

32: Cheer Accident – I Want My Buddha Back (self release) – There are essentially two types of Cheer-Accident albums, there are the “proper” ones, the full on prog rock epics, the masterworks, recent treats of albums like Here Comes The Sunset or the massive thing that was and is Chicago XX and then there’s the more experimental low key albums that they almost sneak out while no one is looking like this one… Cheer-Accident’s I Want My Buddha Back, a properly proper new album from the band who never stop giving…

33: Nick Carlisle – Sailors On The Roiling Sea (The Colour Inverted Records) – There’s too much stuff, too much stuff, too much stuff, this is the stuff, this is good stuff, this is drenched in good stuff. There’s never too much good stuff and this is drenched in subtle vintage keyboard flavours, drenched in delicious Mellotron, this is proper pop music that’s deliciously soaked in (later) 70s flavoured art rock and hints of things that fed off early Roxy – Nick Carlisle’s classic art of pop

34: Violence Gratuite – Baleine à Boss (Hakuna Kulala) – You see, this is why this label appeals so much, to these ears they just offer different things, other things, obviously from another place but there’s something more than that and once again Hakuna Kulala have delivered here. Violence Gratuite, as the artist is known for the purpose of this her debut album, has come up with something rich and rather exotic, something subtle and exciting, something colour is a rather rewarding way… Violence Gratuite and well…

35: Upright Forms – Blurred Wires (SkinGraft Records) – Knocked off the radar? Where were we? Drying out the art and cursing the weather gods, there’s never enough time and if time really is the actor, then who planted this opening track in my head? Heaven Knows really is an earworm, once it gets in there really is no way you’re not going to start singing it at random moments. you might even start punching the air, actually I think we’ve called Upright Forms songs air-punchers before haven’t we? – The hard wired goodness of Upright Forms…

36: Nsasi – Coinage (Hakuna Kulala) – This label, based in Kampala, capital of Uganda, pretty much always comes up with the goods, they’re one of the few labels you real do need to keep and eye on, “club explorations from the East African and Congolese Electronic Underground and beyond” is how they fanfare it and over the last couple of years everything I’ve encountered has been rather thrilliant – the polyrhythmic anarchy of Nsasi…

37: Sealionwoman – Nothing Will Grow in the Soil (The state51 Conspiracy Ltd) – And I did say only the other day, “the rather delicious two headed thing that is Sealionwoman have a new album on the way”, we were telling of “a rather beautiful first taste (our first taste) of that and a rather beautiful thing called Two Sisters, a track from their then forthcoming second album, Nothing Will Grow In The Soil. The new album came out back on Friday 13th September, and we said at that time “it is a rather dark, rather beautiful first taste, a thrilling first taste that really does drag you in…”. – the two headed thing that is Sealionwoman…

38: Trio HLK – Anthropometricks (Ubuntu Music) – Back at the start of the year we said “Let this one unfold, give it time, this is rather fine once you get in to the body of those rhythms. A first taste from something coming out in March of 2024, sounds like a good starting point to us, never heard of them – “Trio HLK is the union of three distinct, forward thinking musical personalities. A belief in the high art of improvisation and intrigue with the infinite art and science of rhythm is what brings… – Trio HLK’s Anthropometricks…

39: Smort – A Grand Stream – A full-scale psychic voyage into the ether and a drone-and-repetition-fuelled series of incantations that… – A delicious eleven minute first taste of the new Smote album

40: Oranssi Pazuzu – Muuntautuja (Nuclear Assault) – Another Oranssi Pazuzu album and the Finnish band are shapeshifting in a rather impressive way once again, the rather adventurous now rather avant band are well beyond black metal now…. – Oranssi Pazuzu’s shapeshifting…

41: Peter Hammill – Incoherence (Esoteric Recordings 2CD/vinyl edition) – Well this is essentually a reworked re-issue, if it had been an actual new album then it might have been way up near the top of the list and the voices in my head certainly all say yes – ORGAN THING: Peter Hammill’s remixed reissued Incoherence explored. It is classic Hammill both lyrically and musically, I want to say typical but has he ever done anything like a ‘typical’ album? Probably not…

42: Blevin Blectum – Multitudes of Venom (Deathbomb Arc) – New bleep and bite from Blevin Blectum, it sounds kind of menacing in a futuristic kind of way, future shock maybe? Tomorrow being the beginning of uncertainly and all that, venom running around your mind and new bleep and bite delight from Blevin Blectum…

43: How are we doing with making a list of just 43?

44: Lucidvox – That​’​s What Remained (Glitterbeat) – Now if Lucidvox’s new album had landed here last year (it came out in mid November) it might well have figured in our end of year lists or the best of ’23 radio show but it didn’t and we, as much as we’d like to be, can’t be everywhere and so here we are at the start of January 2024 and once again better late than never ever and yes, maybe not quite this year and reviewed way bac kat the start of January and who cares about rules… – That different kind of vastness that Lucidvox have…

45: E – Living Waters (Silver Rocket) – We were either putting on a gig or at a gig someone else was putting on more times than not back in the 90’s, every night was a gig, the whole thing has meshed into one big gig now, one big amalgamation of the Falcon, the Marquee, the Astoria, The Monarch, The Powerhaus, The Robey and hundreds of other London places that no longer exist other than in our heads, one big band and one big gig that lasted for most of the decade. Were we at that one? Did we put it on? Did we imagine we saw that band? Come gigs always stuck out though, anything that involved Thalia Zedek did – E are Jason Sanford (Neptune), Thalia Zedek (Come, Live Skull) and new drummer Ernie Kim, they have a new album…

48: Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks – True (Frontiers) – Jon Anderson and Nick Cave have both have new albums out in the last couple of weeks, they are pretty much saying the same things about life, love and the joy of it all, they’ve both made forward looking uplifting albums, some would argue spiritual albums – Jon Anderson’s new one is Yes upon Yes with a bit of extra Yes, Oui! And new albums from Praise Team, Tindersticks, Luce Mawdsley and…

49: Urvanovic – Let’s Not Be Here (Common Grounds Records) – Urvanovic (uhr-van-no-vitch) are a properly proper chamber pop band, so many claim they are,  Urvanovic really are, luscious pop, glorious strings, a subtle (and sometimes glorious) meeting of the two – the chamber pop delight of Urvanovic…

50: Anta – Organesson (Stolen Body Records) – Organesson is a bit of a monster, four epic slices of proper prog metal, four pieces of giant musical adventure from a band who describe themselves as a “Bristolian Sci-Prog quartet”. Sci-Prog? That works, I rather like that, that really does work, and it is really all about the music, the art, the sheer ‘uckoffery of it all, the just standing here playing it all very (very) loudly at the end of what has been a year packed with lots of strong music, a year full of thrilling releases as well as great gigs… Anta’s powerful prog adventure

50: Møster! – – Springs (Action Jazz) – Møster! I guess they come with an exclamation mark, no bad thing, I do like to exclaim. Møster! are an “amalgam of 1960’s/1970’s modal acoustic and electric jazz and 1970’s experimental rock, but also echoing Brazilian music, doom, contemporary music, 1990’s indie rock and metal, and nordic ambient house ORGAN ALBUMS: Three more; Jon Mueller, We Are Winter’s Blue And Radiant Children, Møster!

51: Valerian Swing – Liminal (Pax Aeternum) – Rather think we can call the Italian band’s latest album positively experimental, Valerian Swing are blending rather a lot of things to come up with this rather fluid sound. You might be right to point out that almost expected post rock feel to this their fourth album, post rock yes, delivered with a properly progressive outlook though – Valerian Swing’s properly progressive post-rock…

52: USA Nails – Feel Worse (OLI) – Some of this does sound kind of like they’ve got a sawn off shotgun up there in the bathroom, some of it sounds like a rather urgent washing machine that’s about to escape the moorings and take over the entire kitchen. They are relentless, perpetual, they’re probably not going to be keeping the country that clean – the relentless confrontation that is USA Nails, the garage punk of The Sex Organs, the post hardcore of Rated Eye…

53: C Turtle – Expensive Thrills (Blitzcat Records) – The raw London band do do their raw thing so so well. C.Turtle are urgent, they’re fractured, they matter, they should matter, that’s why this matters – C Turtle’s fuzzyfelt

53: Cringe Fantasy – Welcome to the Big Dumb Show – “Have you lost your lust for life? Is this modern world too much for you to bear? Global warming, misinformation spreading like a cancer, the rejection of science, the fall of democracy, the rise of fascism, working for a pittance as the ever widening gap of the haves and have nots grows and grows. It’s alright, take a breath – Cringe Fantasy are here to help – Cringe Fantasy are some kind of Lovely Little Girls flavoured supergroup…

And that was it, our hand-picked 43 albums from a musically way too busy 2024…

Hang on though, there were these as well, in alphabetical order, the ones that very nearly made the list, the ones you should also check out if you haven’t done so already, if you have the time, surely you have the time? make some time!

A’Bear – Glammy Racket – A’Bear’s electric fizz…

Anja Huwe – Codes – Xmal Deutschland’s inimitable post-punk front-woman

Antler Family – Antler Family – The electricity of Antler Family…

Attrition – The Black Maria – Attrition’s rather delicious new album is full of dark baroque warmth…

Bab L’Bluz – Swaken – Bab L’ Bluz reclaiming the blues for North Africa…

Beak> >>>> – A bag load of album reviews – Beak> and…

Build – Orienting Points – Build’s Orienting Points took us crisply towards 2024…

Chris Corsano – The Key (Became the Important Thing [and Then Just Faded Away​]​) – Chris Corsano’s feverish essay of transcendent drumming…

Chopchop – Bell Well – Chopchop’s blue kites…

Clan Of Xymox – Exodus – Long standing electro dark wave goths Clan Of Xymox with a rather lush album…

Die Verlierer – Notausgang (Mangel Records) – Die Verlierer’s new wace punk rock…

The Gasman – Hiding Place # 3 – Something new from The Gasman…

Gut Model – Spulctures Gut Model’s new wave bounce….

Hatti Vatti – Zeit – Hatti Vatti’s mix of organic electronic music, hints of fine festival bands like

Hawkestrel – Chaos Rocks – A whole load of Hawkwind family and a new Hawkestrel album featuring Nik Turner, Robert Calvert, Simon House and more…

Hello Mary – Emita Ox – the impressive alt.rock of Hello Mary and…

Henrik Meierkord – M​Ö​RK – Henrik Meierkord’s inviting darkness and…

Henrik Meierkord – Visitors to Erinnerungen – Henrik Meierkord keeps us in some kind of gloriously understated sense of suspended animation…

Howie Reeve And Friends – Leaf in Fog – The drawings of Howie Reeve and Friends…

Huge Molasses Tank Explodes – III – Italian psych-kraut band Huge Molasses Tank Explodes, Efterklang…

Idles – Tangk – The almost elegant new album from Idles end…

Jay Tausig – World Of Illusion – Jay Tausig’s World of Illusion and his takes on Peter Hammill and Gentle Giant and Van Der Graaf Generator and…

Jozef Van Wissem – The Night Dwells In The Day (Incunabulum) – JozefVan Wissem’s rather different takes…

Lana Del Rabies – Becoming Everything: Strega Beata Remixed – a tasty Lana Del Rabies remix album and…

Lords Of Form – Hypnotise the World – The blistering psychedelic space rock of Lords of Form…

Magic Fig – Magic Fig – The prog as flip sound of San Francisco’s Magic Fig…

Masaka Masaka – Barely Making Much – A more than welcome first taste of the new Masaka Masaka album…

Maquina – Prata – Maquina’s locked-on motorik Kraut flavoured club-tinged post punk…

My Heart, An Inversted Flame / Apparitions – My Heart, An Inverted Flame /​/​/ Apparitions – That big big My Heart, An Inverted Flame/Apparitions split that Deathbomb Arc just threw at us…

Moral Putrefaction – Moral Putrefaction – Moral Putrefaction portray death metal against the backdrop of India’s political and socio-economic landscape

Moins – You Never End – Moin’s You Never End…

Morgan Garrett – Purity – The genuinely experimental Morgan Garrett…

Net Gala – Galapaggot – Net Gala’s Galapaggot and atwisted web of diverse musical references and puzzling ambiguities…

Nice Buscuit – SOS – Brisbane-based psych-pop band Nice Biscuit…

O – WeirdOs – Does O.’s first live up to all the hype?

PΞB – Iamchainsaw – Berlin’s PΞB have a debut album, they say it’s about terror, horror, shock and trauma, and a remedy for all of the above, they could be wrong, they could be right…

Rated Eye – Rated Eye – The post hardcore of Rated Eye…

Sex Swing – Golden Triangle – The ever challenging Sex Swing have just announced details of their third studio album, Golden Triangle, listen to a first taste here…

Scions – To Cry Out In The Wilderness – Scions, Canada’s innovative experimental ensemble, come up swinging and…

Scions – O – ORGAN ALBUMS: Australia’s Scions, almost a post rock or or even a post metal thing, some of it tastes of epic space rock…

Sleater-Kinney – Little Rope – Sleater-Kinney still ripping up those patriarchal notions of what a rock band should be…

Squid Pisser – Dreams Of Puke – Squid Pisser’s extreme metal glitch…

Tess Parks – Pomegranate – Tess Parks has a new solo album, it feels like something to dip into rather than over eat, one to save for those moments, like you do with ice cream or chocolate cake, you can’t be over doing ice cream…

Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod – Tristwch Y Fenywod’s rather witchy occult flavoured feminist goth emissions, Chris Corsano’s feverish essay of transcendent drumming…

VR Sex – Hard Copy – The wired up new wave acid punk speedings of VR Sex’s Hard Copy…

Warmduscher – Too Cold To Hold – According to the flyposters on the street outside the Organ bunker, there’s a new Warmduscher album out…

We Are Winter’s Blue And Radiant Children – No More Apocalypse Father ORGAN ALBUMS: Three more; Jon Mueller, We Are Winter’s Blue And Radiant Children, Møster!

Previously….

ORGAN: Our best 43 albums of a very musically busy 2023. Who did we rate?

ORGAN THING: List time, our top albums of 2022, who made it? Uto, Cheer Accident, Miraculous Mule, Extra Life, Black Midi? That one eyed horse? Wovenhand? Who?

ORGAN THING: List time, our top albums of 2021, who made it? Gazelle Twin & NYX, Peter Hammill, Michael J Sheehy, Black Country New Road, Robert Calvert, Flying Luttenbachers, Deerhoof, Van Der Graaf, Alex Ward, Charlotte Greve, the Commoners Choir and…

ORGAN: That best albums of 2020 list (at last), Cheer Accident, Michael J Sheehy, Le Grand Sbam, Odessey & Oracle, Penny Rimbaud, Terms, Allegra Krieger, Tairrie B, Deerhoof and…

ORGAN THING: The best albums of 2019? Le Grand Sbam, Poil, Peter Hammill & Isildurs Bane, Helium Horse Fly, Child Abuse, Throwaway, Flying Luttenbachers, John Ghost and…