2024 has been another busy year for Townsend Music, so we're happy to have had some incredible music to keep us inspired and entertained throughout. Here's our choice of favourite records from another great year of music; we've compiled our favourite tracks into our Albums Of The Year Spotify Playlist, streaming at the end of this article.
Lucas Barr: Head Of Operations
Mannequin Pussy – I Got Heaven (Buy Here)Â
Mannequin Pussy’s I Got Heaven has been a constant companion this year—raw, honest, and full of moments that just hit home. It’s the kind of album that feels unfiltered and real, capturing a mix of emotions that I found myself turning to again and again. Whether it’s the intensity of the guitars or the vulnerability in the lyrics, there’s something about it that just resonates.
What stood out most is how versatile the album feels; it’s an album that feels like it’s there with you, meeting you wherever you are. For me, it’s been one of those records that quietly embeds itself into your life without you even realising it.
Kendrick Lamar – GNX (Buy Here)Â
Kendrick Lamar’s GNX is pure fun from start to finish, riding the unstoppable wave of 'Not Like Us', the song of the year. You can tell Kendrick is in his bag, playing with beats that twist and turn like a rollercoaster. It’s Kendrick at his most vibrant and playful, balancing razor-sharp bars with beats that practically beg you to hit repeat.
The album feels like a natural extension of the energy of 'Not Like Us", blending big, bold hooks with Kendrick’s knack for storytelling and it’s impossible not to get caught up in it. GNX is more than just an album; it’s Kendrick throwing a party, and everyone’s invited.
Callum Blanchfield: Account Manager
Songs of a Lost World - The Cure (Buy Here)
Songs of a Lost World by The Cure is a haunting exploration of loss, longing, and nostalgia. Robert Smith’s evocative vocals remain as powerful as ever, moving effortlessly between fragile whispers and anguished crescendos, perfectly conveying the album’s introspective themes.
While some tracks delve into the darker, sombre corners of their catalog, others shine with unexpected warmth and beauty, offering glimpses of hope amidst the melancholy.
Public Service Broadcasting - The Last Flight (Buy Here)
The Last Flight is a captivating blend of electronic music and historical storytelling. As with much of their work, Public Service Broadcasting combines archival audio with atmospheric, synth-driven soundscapes - this time about Amelia Earhart's final, ill-fated journey in 1937. The tracks are cinematic in their scope and the album is a fitting tribute to the ambitions and losses of early aviation, with PSB's signature style emanating throughout.
Alex Needham: Account Manager
Fontaines D.C. - Romance (Buy Here)
An album I had my eye on from the first single, Romance is the fourth release from Fontaines D.C. and one that I think has stepped them into new territory as a band. The statement track ‘Starburster’ was my first taste of what was to come and is a refreshing shift from the more familiar post-punk sound I’ve come to expect from them. While there are still moments that echo their earlier work, this album feels more expanded, blending influences like neo-grunge, trip-hop and Britpop.
The album comes with high-energy, tracks like ‘Here’s The Thing’ and ‘Death Kink’ deliver the more punk side of the band. However, it’s the more nostalgic moments that I liked from the album, produced by James Ford, tracks like ‘Bug’ and ‘Favourite’ give a feel of The Smiths whilst ‘Desire’ and ‘In The Modern World’ showcase Grian Chatten’s lyrics against a backdrop of soundtrack-worthy strings. It’s an album that will divide opinions from their previous releases but an evolution that's kept me hooked with what Fontaines D.C. are doing and where it will go next.
Deadletter – Hysterical Strength (Buy Here)Â
Deadletter’s debut album, Hysterical Strength, is a wild, sax-driven post-punk album that’s equal parts dark, funny, and full of energy. Yorkshire-born but now London-based, the band combines sharp guitars, stomping rhythms and Zac Lawrence’s dark-witted lyrics.
Having seen them live, I was eager to dive into the full album, and it doesn’t disappoint. Poppy Richler’s saxophone takes centre stage, adding chaos and atmosphere to tracks like ‘Relieved’ and the fiery ‘More Heat!’. For me, the standout is ‘Mother,’ which offers a breather from the post-punk intensity while remaining cohesive. The opener ‘Credit To Treason’ is a great introduction for the album with the fast pace outlying what the album has in abundance, whilst the closer, ‘Auntie Christ’, is a bold choice to finish with, the stomping rhythm gradually slowing out leading Hysterical Strength to a satisfying finish.
P Barney Barnes: Head Of Digital Marketing & Content D2C+
High Vis - Guided Tour
Leaning into the same hardcore punk eclecticism that has seen the thriving scene embrace shoegaze and hardcore rap acts in recent years, London's High Vis come of age—and put their stamp on a genre all of their own—with their third full-length Guided Tour. The band members' pedigree in the grassroots of their scene has permitted their devoted followers to embrace a sound hitherto only whispered about in hardcore circles; chiming guitar arpeggios and turn-of-the-90s indie swagger that sound more like a coming-of-age Stone Roses or Flowered Up at their most feral than they do the likes of Gallows or Basement.
Amongst the baggy beats and funky basslines, the connective tissue to punk rock comes by way of Merseyside-born vocalist and lyricist Graham Sayle. The production is raw and live enough to satisfy a mosh pit, but it's the delivery and lyrics of the frontman that are the real secret sauce. Delivering kitchen-sink couplets like a hungover Sean Ryder by way of Jello Biafra, it's his sardonic worldview and righteous anger that hold the whole mix together. One wouldn't be at all surprised to find a new generation of hardcore kids inspired to dig out their dad's '90s CDs in High Vis's wake.
COLLINS - VHS
For my second record of the year, I'm going to go with a late contender from London-based Spun Out Of Control, who are one of a small handful of cool Bandcamp-based labels, including uSuper! and Library Of The Occult, that release synth-based electronica to imaginary (and some actual!) cinema soundtracks on cassette, vinyl, and digital. COLLINS' VHS has not left my Bandcamp player since its November release and promises "an Italo/horror disco flavoured homage to the one-time joys of renting forbidden ‘video nasties’ on cassette". On cassette format, appropriately enough.
Lurid titles like ‘Flesh Cult’ include their supposed year of release and are accompanied by a track apiece, often including snatches of dialogue from the offending articles—1985's 'Stripper' is particularly sordid. The sinister sense of fun aside, what I love most about this release is that—unlike many other producers in this scene—rather than attempting to make slavishly authentic facsimiles of analogue synth soundtracks of the 80s, COLLINS fortifies the production by picking liberally from a buffet of electronica from the last 50 years. With shades of Kraftwerk, Daft Punk, Hi-NRG, and even dubstep, these tracks pay homage to sounds of the 80s while not being limited to them—'Caustic Sunrise' channels John Carpenter by way of Skream. And whether the thumping acid house of 'Deathstalker' was possible using the sampling technology of 1987 or not, you somehow leave feeling that if Giorgio Moroder could have done this back then, he would have.