As we enter 2025, this is the first instalment of a two-part article highlighting the album releases, chart successes, and remarkable music that kept Townsend Music busy throughout 2024.
JANUARY:
Townsend Music's 2024 kicked off as it meant to go on when York indie legends Shed Seven arrived at #1 on the Official Album Charts with their sixth studio album A Matter Of Time, released on January 12th via Cooking Vinyl. The album was marketed via a pre-order campaign offering a stunning Dolphin Coloured Vinyl edition, complete with signed art print, alongside various limited edition formats and Bonus CDs with all bundle orders.
The band's Official Store contributed 34% of the chart position's total album sales. TM bolstered the band and label's efforts via promotions including an Interview & Signed Test Pressing Giveaway on the blog, and Collaborative Reels between TM and the band on Instagram, showing off the signed formats in all their glory. More on the Sheds later this year!
"It’s almost like we were trying to recapture those times when we were 14/15 years old, writing songs but as 50-year-old men" - Rick Witter on #1 Album A Matter Of Time
Also in January, alongside new campaigns for Alkaline Trio, UB40 and The Mighty Wah, the prolific and ever-positive James launched the pre-order for their 18th studio album Yummy, set for release in April, including limited edition colour vinyl and Deluxe 2CD formats.
FEBRUARY:
February 2024 began with another Top 10 hit, this time for Yorkshire indie-rock firebrands The Reytons, for their latest album Ballad Of A Bystander, released on their REYTONS label imprint in conjunction with Townsend Music D2C+. In the lead-up to the album, the band announced a two-date homecoming gig in July 2024 at the Clifton Park venue of their hometown Rotherham, with a capacity of 20,000 people; the biggest outdoor event in Rotherham since T.Rex performed over 50 years.!
"THANK YOU TO EVERYONE who has gone above and beyond to help us achieve the impossible!" - The Reytons
Kula Shaker's Natural Magick arrived on February 2, also released in partnership with TM D2C+, featuring the original four band members delivering new music with renewed energy. The release generated some of the band's best reviews of their career; with XNoise hitting the nail firmly on the head: “Natural Magick is more than a nostalgic reunion; it’s a genuine fusion of unified energy”.
February saw the launch of several notable campaigns, including Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes' with Going Home (Theme From Local Hero), showcasing a remarkable gathering of some of the world's finest guitarists and musicians. Additionally, Rick Astley announced that his book Never: The Autobiography and Bananarama returned with Glorious - The Ultimate Collection, chronicling the band’s 40-year musical journey. At the month's end, we had the pleasure of The Wandering Hearts visit to Townsend Music HQ, signing copies of their album Mother.
MARCH:
Following a brief pre-order campaign, a very special release dropped in March when guitar legend Mark Knopfler unveiled the remarkable re-recording of his iconic 'Going Home (Theme From Local Hero)' to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust and its American counterpart, Teen Cancer America.
Mark and producer Guy Fletcher brought together Mark Knopfler's Guitar Heroes to perform the track. Dubbed "The Greatest Supergroup in History", the ensemble features legends including David Gilmour, Ronnie Wood, Slash, Eric Clapton, Sting, Joan Armatrading, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Nile Rodgers, Joan Jett, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Joe Walsh, Sam Fender, and many other jaw-dropping names.
With artwork designed by Sir Peter Blake (The Beatles, The Who, Band Aid, Paul Weller etc), this release is a landmark in rock music history.
D2C+ success continued when the Kaiser Chiefs, boasting nearly twenty years in the music scene and a vast array of stadium anthems and chart-topping achievements, released their new studio album Kaiser Chiefs' Easy Eighth Album on March 1. Described as "an eclectic, energetic return..." by Clash Magazine, the album propelled the band back into the Top 10 of the Official Albums Chart.
Cheshire's post-Britpop icons, Starsailor, made a comeback on March 22 with Where The Wild Things Grow, their first album in six years, produced by Rick McNamara from Embrace. The album received an impressive ★★★★½ rating from XS Noise, which hailed it as “a sonically cohesive masterpiece, highlighting their growth as musicians and storytellers.”
In March, campaign launches included Twin Atlantic with their new D2C+-partnered album Meltdown, beloved Scottish indie-rockers Travis with their album L.A. Times, and global guitar icon Slash with a blues-covers project titled Orgy Of The Damned. Meanwhile, on the Official Album Charts, heavy metal renaissance man Bruce Dickinson secured the #3 spot with his seventh studio album and comic tie-in concept album The Mandrake Project.
APRIL:
April 2024 saw not just one, but two Official Album Charts #1 releases for artists on the Townsend Music platform. On April 5, London garage-rock vanguard The Libertines released their fourth studio album All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade which arrived at the top spot of the album chart, fueled by a 39% market share from their Official Store. The following week, Manchester rock legends James enjoyed their second #1 album with Yummy, described by CLASH Magazine as “An impressive and thought-provoking body of work that can easily be ranked as one of their best”, with 53% of sales tracked through their Official Store.
Townsend Music's D2C+ service announced an exciting new partnership with Bradford Britrockers Terrorvision's album We Are Not Robots. The band began their campaign with an exclusive interview on the Townsend Music Blog and offered an instant grat track to download with all pre-orders: the explosive opening track 'Electrocuted'.
On April 5, Welsh rock band Feeder unveiled their twelfth studio album, Black/Red, through their own label Big Teeth Music and Townsend Music D2C+, and Absolute Label Services. This double album concludes a trilogy that started with its predecessor, 2022's Torpedo, reaching #8 on the Official Album Charts. The band personally signed physical copies across a range of formats available on their Official Store.
Feeder vocalist Grant Nicholas has said that the decision to release Black/Red as a double album was made with the listener in mind, describing it as "almost like a musical production with an interval."
On Saturday, April 20, 2024, the 17th edition of Record Store Day took place, celebrating independent record stores worldwide. More than 250 stores, including our sister brick-and-mortar shop, Townsend Records, participated by offering RSD's range of limited edition vinyl releases.
Highlighting the excitement, our most popular blog post of 2024 was Record Store Day 2024 Staff Picks, featuring recommendations from Laufey, Roger Waters, Kaiser Chiefs, Billy Bragg, UB40, and Shed Seven.
MAY:
The Townsend Music Newsletter and Townsend Music Blog regularly offer vinyl giveaways, including coloured, signed, and test-pressing editions of our artists' latest and greatest. Two of our biggest giveaways took place in May, featuring signed vinyl giveaways from international rock icons.
Slash provided a signed copy of his Orgy Of The Damned Double Vinyl, while Lenny Kravitz offered a signed Blue Electric Light Double Colored Vinyl. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter and blog feed to keep up with more exclusive giveaways in the future.
Campaigns launched in May included records from Shed Seven, Bronski Beat, Hard-Fi and Irish rock group The Script, with their seventh studio album Satellites. On our social media platforms, we had our most viewed post of the year with a popular Oasis-related #ThrowbackThursday, celebrating the release of the band's 'Lyla' single with an Instagram Reel featuring their 2005 performance on CD:UK.
Special thanks for the dedicated efforts and Collaborations from Oasis Fan Accounts @oasisfansclub, @oasis_upinthesite and @let_there_be_oasis.
JUNE:
In June, one of the year's most notable album campaigns kicked off with Blossoms' Gary, their fifth studio album, produced by the band’s frequent collaborator James Skelly of The Coral, along with Jungle’s Josh-Lloyd Watson.
The album was named after Gary, an eight-foot fibreglass Gorilla stolen from Reynard Nurseries, a Lanarkshire garden centre, in 2023, sparking a year-long search. Upon hearing about the theft on the radio, lead singer Tom Ogden wrote a track, and the name stuck to the album project: "After considering different album titles, we kept returning to Gary; in the end, it could only be Gary," Tom admits.
"To Blossoms, Gary has now become muse and mascot, spirit animal and unofficial sixth member of the band" - BBC
June's campaign launches featured Key by Alison Moyet, an album that revisits sixteen songs from her extensive solo collection. Joining our D2C+ lineup, Van Morrison released New Arrangements and Duets, which includes big band tracks from 2014 and recent duets with Willie Nelson, Joss Stone, and Kurt Elling.
Additionally, on D2C+, Terrorvision made quite the impact with 'The Night That Lemmy Died', the first single from their upcoming album We Are Not Robots, marking a return to the hard-rocking style of the Bradford lads's early ouvre.
Look out for Townsend Music 2024 Year In Review - Part 2 coming Friday, January 17.
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