It’s time to look back on my favourite albums of the year along with all the music I’ve been lucky to work with this year,.
After only releasing one full length in 2023, at Farmer & Owl we got back into the swing a lot more this year with albums from Hockey Dad, Richie Weed, Tropical Strength, TOWNS and Moaning Lisa, alongside singles for Totally Unicorn, Tumbleweed and Cool Jumper. A favourite part of these releases has been the instore shows the artists have done around the country to support them, I tagged along for most of the Hockey Dad ones in the middle of the year and got to hang with plenty of like minded store owners. It’s definitely become an interesting and somewhat difficult time to run a label but I’ve felt we’ve made some changes through this year that I’m excited about going into next year. On the publishing side of things with our company FO PAS, Obscura Hail released and incredible album on the Dot Dash label.
Speaking of running a label, this year also saw the launch of Silhouette Label, an artist run initiative by Russ and Jim from Shining Bird that I’ve partnered with them in. It feels like this kind of label really creates a flexible way of how artists and labels can interact and grow with each other in the future. The year saw the release of the fourth Shining Bird and a co-release of the second Tropical Strength album alongside singles from Dropping Honey, Steve Bourk and Russell W. Russ and myself were also part of a music mentor program at our old high school Bulli High which has seen the release of music from one of the students Penelope Church with another release from Alara Livingstone coming in the new year. Silhouette also partnered with our good friend Aaron Curnow from Spunk Records (who finished up this year after an epic run) to present Coalchella at Coledale RSL in October, and it was an epic event!
Now for music outside of what I directly worked on, and it was a really massive year for global pop music with huge albums from Sabrina Carpenter, Beyonce, Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and the 2023 album from Chappell Roan absolutely exploding. Closer to home and it has been a bit more difficult for Australian artists to get traction, largely due to the decline in both Triple J’s influence and the Australian festival circuit. Royel Otis bucked the trend somewhat albeit headed by two cover songs, while a couple of bands existing outside the classic Triple J ecosystem, Amyl & The Sniffers and Speed made huge waves overseas. I’ve followed Amyl & The Sniffers from basically the start and while I don’t think this was their strongest album it has certainly been the biggest!
Personally though, my top twelve albums for the year (outside of the previously mentioned releases I worked on) was a hard choice as it was a strong year for the album. My list is headed by MJ Lenderman’s Manning Fireworks and closely followed by Magdalena Bay and Clairo. My favourite Australian album of the year was from Emily Wurramurra, incredibly well written and produced, with well thought out features and collabs throughout. There were plenty of other Australian artists that made my list including A Swayze & The Ghosts which is sort of clashes early eighties British punk vibe with an early two thousand’s dance punk sound, and Gut Health with their impressive debut album. The Buoys really stepped it up on Lustre as did Full Flower Moon Band on Megaflower.
One of the biggest rock albums of the year came from Dublin’s Fontaines DC with Romance and deservedly so, it makes my top five, and it will be great to see them here in Wollongong next year at Yours & Owls. As I mentioned it was a very strong year for pop, and topping the list for me personally as my favourite album from the many in the genre that were huge this year was Sabrina Carpenter. Another Australian artist to feature in my list is Melbourne's Grace Cummings who released a fantastic album and played a great set up here for Coalchella. The final album on my list is the Australian Music Prize (that I was lucky to be a judge on once again this year) winner Kankawa Nagarra, an incredibly unique release that deserves plenty of listens. I also wanted to shout out two new albums from local Wollongong artists Chimers and Miners who both put out great records that were right on the edge of my list! Here is my top tweleve albums of 2024 (excluding any that I worked directly on).
1. MJ Landerman – Manning Fireworks
2. Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk
3. Clairo – Charm
4. Emily Warramurra – Nara
5. Fontaines DC – Romance
6. Gut Health – Stilletto
7. A Swayze & The Ghosts – Let’s Live Life Better Than This
8. Sabrina Carpenter – Short & Sweet
9. Grace Cummings - Ramona
10. The Buoys - Lustre
11. Full Flower Moon Band - Megaflower
12. Kankawa Nagara - Wirlmarni
Here is my playlist for the year, it includes tracks from releases I worked on, tracks from all of the above-mentioned albums and stand out songs from artists such as Telenova, Beyonce, Sesame Girl, Billie Eilish, Adrianne Lenker, Kitschen Boy, Don West, Wisp, Chappell Roan, Jungle, Speed, Nick Ward, Emma Russack, The Vovos, Miss Kanina, Justice, Armlock and more.
It has been a real fun year spinning records with Sultans Of Spin, thanks to the many venues that have hosted the whole crew over the year and special shout out to my regular Howlin Wolf Bar!
Coledale RSL Block Party with some fellow Sultans crew.
I’ll be behind the shop counter a lot more over the holiday period and I'll also be spinning records around the place at the locations below. Thanks for your support across the year and hope to see plenty of you around over the holiday season!
