The 100 Best Songs of 2024: 75-51
- Jack Eureka
- Jan 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Jan 31
Deuxième partie!
75 to 51. These are a little better, but not too much better. Like the second film in a trilogy or tetralogy, they do benefit in that the songs are the freest of expectation. No obligation to introduce complex storylines or, even worse so, tie up the intricate and impossible to please webs weaved within. These songs are free. They can be wild. They can be chaos.
Like any middle child, they are largely ignored and left with their own imagination. And, as such, they are probably the most interesting of the lot. Anyway, that was overly extended and probably a massive reach, but here we go...
75.
Sunnan
"My Love For You"
Whistler of the year. Possibly the bass line of the year, as well. Sweltering violin love declaration of the year, too?
74.
Sex Week
"Kid Muscle"
As someone who was greatly affected by I Saw The TV Glow, I seriously have no idea how this didn't make the soundtrack. In montage of Owen and Maddy, a cut scene of The Pink Opaque, or in aftermath of Owen's ultimate scream, it's a hand in glove fit for Jane Schoenbrun's melancholic nostalgia.
73.
Machinedrum, aja monet
"ORACLE"
A crescendo that teases, but never comes. The kicker being, the exclusion is a thematic device within the song itself. For some never find out "how your body moves when you're with yourself". The world supplies this power inherently, but it can also come via other channels of self-help and/or nurture. Yet, still, some never get there. Some never feel or see or hear the crescendo. And this song's for them.
72.
Fat Dog
"All the Same"
Another absolute banger from the South East Londoners.
71.
Bleachers
"Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call"
Largely feels like the Bleachers boys doing their best pastiche of what the best possible version of a Christmas song by The National would sound like. But (a) that's sorta the deal by now, and (b) it's nonetheless challenging to argue with results like this.
70.
Kelly Moran
"Moves in the Field"
Birds dancing. A summer breeze sweeps over wheat spikes. Children careening down a hill on bikes. A waterfall bursting in spring. A baby's glance at their mother.
That's the vibe I'm getting from Kelly, here.
69.
Chappell Roan
"Good Luck, Babe!"
(obligatory)
68.
Luster
"Like I Do"
Un-fucking-believable breakdown in this. When the 'gazey guitars, steady kick drum, and hushed vocals finally break. Commenced by what appears to be a voicemail message and brief breath of air before emotive swell drowns everything within earshot.
67.
Four Tet, Ellie Goulding
"In My Dreams"
Death, taxes, and Kieran Hebden making this list every year. This time accompanied by compatriot superstar Goulding. Mesmerizing drums, Goulding's delicate vocals, and many, many "Oh, ohhh"'s mix for a cocktail of dancefloor brilliance.
66.
Skeleten
"Viagra"
Skeleten honcho Russ Fitzgibbon had this to say about the track:
"Shoutout Viagra for being a useful drug for humans but also it really makes you think how the deepest parts of what makes you human are literally transformed by the forces of capital, mentalized."
I guess the march towards plutocrat endgame sounds pretty damn good, though?
65.
Newmoon
"Eternal Fall"
The musical equivalent to the best form of déjà vu.
64.
Magdalena Bay
"Death & Romance"
While Imaginal Disk didn't quite replicate the heights of Mercurial World, "Death & Romance" found a stairway to altitude. Matthew Lewin's production stays brimming with curveballs and four-on-the-floors. While Mica Tenenbaum's vocals pair about as well to it as anything possibly can. My favorite pop oddities in the biz.
63.
Pendulum, Joey Valence & Brae
"Napalm"
Is this the canary in the coal mine for the oncoming onslaught of Prodigy-adjacent breakbeat hardcore tunes in the year of our lord 2025?! No...? Well, it should be.
62.
Ghostly Kisses
"Crimson"
Lyrically, reinventing wheel here Margaux Sauvé is not. But to deny how perfectly her phantom register fits these background organ pangs and snapped drums would be foolish.
The missing Tim Burton muse is in the club, and the dancefloor is painted red.
61.
BigXthaPlug
"The Largest"
The War sample here would be doing oversized work if not for BigX's abilities. He's a tough man to upstage, and while Bandplay and Tony Coles use the aforementioned sample and whopping bass thumps on the journey to get there, it's near impossible in the middle of the Big man's now multi-year heater. He had a song on last year's list, he (obviously) has one on this year's, so batter up in '25. I can't wait.
60.
Night Tapes
"projections"
Dreamy soundscapes soundtrack getting lost in our own minds. The act of inward to outward filtering, and how the examination of such can yield truly "beautiful" results.
59.
Art School Girlfriend
"Out There (Kloyd Remix)"
At about the midpoint, after Kloyd has reworked and secured the vocals into a hypnotically eerie atmosphere, the producer pulls the rug out. "Swim in the lake of falling in love for a bit" enveloped by steel pipe clangs and a propulsive force towards darkness gives way for something else. Something seen through a crack of light. Something that transforms the vocals back to intention: gorgeous acceptance.
58.
Jamie xx
"It's So Good"
Mr. xx's electronic bird calls bouncing along the sand on a hazy daydream of a beach. You can feel the humidity. You can see the cerulean. You can smell the coconut. And it's—well, you know.
57.
Fred again.., SOAK
"just stand there"
The stuttering piano on "just stand there" could launch a thousand ships. Fred's production never really lacks, and here he leverages the keys as propulsion. As a sharp uplift that could soundtrack a run towards love thought lost (or pushed away). A toe-tapper in body, but an elevator to amor's cloudy and confusing heights in mind.
56.
Edgar Mondragón
"el proceso de suponer"
All the warmth of a painkiller, without an ounce of the negatives that accompany. Results may vary on its addictive properties, though.
55.
Tourist
"Siren"
The man and his lovely 2024 album, Memory Morning, features quite heavily on the list this year. So this is but a digital apéritif: 112 BPM of bouncing happiness.
54.
Lambrini Girls
"God's Country"
"Great Britain
Are you sure"
The girls just getting after it. Fuck yes.
53.
Barry Steel
"Modus Operandi"
In the twilight of this past winter, I became quite obsessed with this jangly guitar and Steel's delivery of the chorus. With the choir swelling behind him, he shouts it out like a cry for help. A desperate clarion call both for and against change.
52.
Nilüfer Yanya
"Like I Say (I runaway)"
The guitar. Simple instrument. Here, both acoustically and electronically, an auditory weapon. Textured, layered, and exploded into a chorus of rapturous splendor. A welcomed return for one of the new queens of indie.
51.
death's dynamic shroud
"Rocking Chair Song"
Such a musical conundrum. Accompanying Honors' withdrawn delivery and a seducing piano are lyrics painted in broad stroke dejection:
"But I'm just a dime-a-dozen angry white man/So who really gives a shit?"
"So I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the nearest blade/And I began to slice it through my own meat"
"But my body just wouldn’t let me die/My body wouldn’t let me die"
The juxtaposition is stark. A pointed edge to serious matters handled in a whisper (until it's not). And, ultimately, it makes a strong case for the most fascinating song of the year.