Yesterday we began this series by wondering if year-end best albums lists still matter? Today, the 2025 Golden Globe nominations were revealed, and the media was already abuzz churning conflict about who got snubbed. Keep in mind — all the nominees, and the snub’ees, are gainfully employed in the coveted film and television industry, so technically, they are ALL winners. As we return our focus to music, the reason why I am giving my best albums list 8 posts to breathe, is to ensure all these amazing albums and artists are not lost in a deluge of content.
Every year, more than a million tracks are uploaded to Spotify, and if you’ve ever let the algorithm take you for a ride based on a single starter song, then you know too well there are tens of thousands of aspiring superstars (and/or AI bots) releasing really really good music. Here are a few of those streams that turned into some of the year’s best album purchases, featuring artists I truly hope have long-term careers ahead of them.
The Heavy Heavy’s ironically titled One of a Kind shouldn’t be confused with fellow UK band The Heavy whose mega hit ‘How You Like Me Now?’ leveraged Dap Kings style horns to sell Kia Sorrentos. These brand new Heavies deftly mine the golden hills of Laurel Canyon, Haight/Ashbury, and London’s Camden town the same way The Black Keys ushered Detroit and Delta blues and soul into the modern era. While it looks like they’re a duo, as Georgie Fuller and William Turner are front and center on the cover, they’re actually a soulful a 5-piece, whose kaleidoscopic sound vibes in a tight playlist with peak Fleetwood Mac, Mamas and the Papas, Fleet Foxes, and Delta Spirit.
I can imagine the record label pitch for Chicago’s Brigette Calls Me Baby, “OK, imagine a band that sounds like The Smiths, without any of the baggage that comes with The Smiths.” What could have been an embarrassing tribute act absolutely sticks the landing, delivering a soulful, elegant, and constantly surprising post post-punk dazzler. Further listening makes me wonder, “perhaps this is what would have happened had 1968’s Elvis time traveled to the early 1980s before landing in 2026.” My spirit soars to the moon every time this album is on, it’s the perfect soundtrack for when you break free from traffic and have the wide open highway to yourself. Both Morrissey and Marr’s solo work have largely abandoned the hyper melodic soundscapes and maudlin lyrical poetry that made The Smiths so special, so some near 40 years after their break up, its high time someone took that sound and moved it dramatically forward to soundtrack the second quarter of the 21st century. While it’s fine on ear buds, this album is must-own on CD or vinyl if you have worthy a sound system.
From what I can recall, Suki Waterhouse is Sub Pop’s first foray into mainstream pop, and what better way to make a big splash than to release a double album as the model, actress, whatever’s sophomore outing. Memoirs of a Sparklemuffin is edgy, alluring, mysterious, and absolutely mesmerizing. All 18 tracks could easily be singles as they slip in and out of a fever dream of glitter pop, indie rock, and moonlight waltz. As we’ll see throughout this series, we’re in a new Imperial Era of women absolutely owning the pop landscape, so if you love the latest Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Arianna Grande, and Charli XCX albums — this double album serves as a colorful coral reef deep dive for you to explore while awaiting whatever is next to break in 2025.
Earlier this year, Popdose had the honor of debuting “Used to It”, the first single from the second EP by NYC’s NOSHOWS, aka Max Satow. That track is steadily creeping on a million Spotify spins, which would be his third track to reach that milestone. In the meantime, Max is building a rabid fanbase around the East Coast, well on the road to worldwide acclaim. I highly recommend he move to the UK, gambling that within a year of playing club shows, he’d be on Jools Holland and Top of the Tops. While NOSHOW’s new EP will steadily roll out one track at a time in the months ahead, taken together, the songs from this EP and the last one add up to make for one of the year’s best albums.
Red Ribbon is another band moniker for a singular artist, in this case Emma Danner. Her self-titled 4th album was produced by Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Cat Power); should it find the mainstream audience it deserves, it will appeal to Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo fans, not to mention those who long for more emotionally visceral, hook laden classics like Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville and Alanis’s Jagged Little Pill. I was turned onto Red Ribbon through a High Fidelity (Beta Band scene) moment while perusing the bins at Seattle’s Silver Platters. The house DJ put it on, I bopped through the track and hit Shazam on my phone to ID the artist and within a week owned her last two CDs. Buy em all on Red Ribbon’s Bandcamp.
Jelly Roll is yet another stage name, this time for Jason Bradley DeFord. He is a superstar in two genres I have little connection with – country and hip-hop, and Beautifully Broken (Pickin’ Up the Pieces Edition) could not have been better timed to usher me through the election, a family tragedy, and other rock bottom setbacks I weathered in 2024. I bought it lossless on Qobuz and it missed the 80 minute max capabilities of a single CDR, so I burned it onto three 9-track CDRs which is a much more hospitable way to take in 28 tracks about addiction and redemption.
And speaking of the broader boundaries of hip hop, brace yourselves for Kneecap.
The Northern Ireland hip-hop 3-piece has been a European sensation for a good six to seven years now, using their art help keep their Celtic native tongue, Gaeilge, from British colonial extinction. Since the genre’s birth on the streets of New York in the 1970’s to the anthemic protests on the West Coast in the 1990s, rap has been instrumental to political activism, social protest, and cultural earthquakes. This century, Red Bull Batalla has taken the Detroit-style rap battles popularized in Eminem’s movie 8 Mile to become the preeminent Spanish-language rap competition between European and Latin American MCs. And now Netflix ushers Kneecap’s madcap international film festival sensation to the masses.
The self-titled film combines elements of Straight Outta Compton, 8 Mile, 24 Hour Party People, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Rocketman, and Trainspotting to create one of the most electrifying music movies ever made. The official trailer gives away many of the film’s twists and turns, so I highly recommend just diving in on Netflix. Every shot of the film is a framable work of art, so I guarantee you’ll be hooked in an instant. Meanwhile, Kneecap’s latest album, Fine Art is available to buy now while an all-star rave scene official film soundtrack lands at the end of February 2025. Most of the lyrics are in Gaeilge, but don’t let that stop you from loving it — the music is absolutely electrifying. Instead of wasting time and energy crowdfunding the Kendrick Lamar/Drake rap beef, dive into some bangers that truly matter.
Coming Tomorrow… 2024’s Umteenth UK Invasion
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