The Festive Fifteen 2024

By markontour, December 23, 2024

Just in time for Xmas, it’s markontour’s annual Festive Fifteen – my favourite songs released in 2024. Not festive. Not fifteen. All as usual. It seems quite a laidback, reflective playlist, which hardly reflects my year, but if music is therapy.. And it leaves out some of the bands whose albums I have listened to most in the last twelve months (Public Service Broadcasting’s typically epic ‘The Last Flight’; Nick Cave’s cathartic ‘Wild God’; Jamie Webster mixing pop and politics on ‘Ten For The People’) but which I couldn’t identify an individual track that would work in the compilation. And Bruce didn’t release anything new this year. I hope you enjoy (at least some of them).

The full Festive Fifteen 2024 is available on Spotify, Tidal, and YouTube.

1. Black Dog / White Horse by The Big Special
One of the finds of the year as far as markontour is concerned, and I’m not alone judging by the ecstatic crowd response to their blistering set at Latitude. My understated note from that gig just says “Two stocky bearded blokes with passionate lyrics and a tonne of energy”. I don’t pretend to understand why a black dog got atop a white horse, but it’s a memorable line in an ear-worm of a song. But you really need to see them live.

2. Mood Swings by Little Simz
Her set at Glastonbury was electrifying, as is this onomatopoeic track about changing perspectives and dancing to your own rhythm. Little Simz seems to be on an extended period of pure brilliance, which will hopefully involve a new album in 2025.

3. Starburster by Fontaines D.C.
The most upbeat track of the Dublin band’s stunning 4th album. A pumping beat and almost rapped lyrics: “Over harder than a turned up challenger / I wanna keep all of your charm in a cannister / Do you inspire like the same did Salinger / I’m the pig on the Chinese calendar”. Then there’s that lovely, sentimental middle section: “Sloping family, short to tall / One tow three swallow the key / In their footprints I will follow”. Fontaines just keep getting better.

4. Glasgow by Pale Waves
Evoking The Cure in their poppiest vintage, Pale Waves’ fantastic 2024 album, ‘Smitten’, delivers track after track of indie singalong delight. I loved seeing them at Outernet, the relatively new basement venue which replaces the much missed Astoria in central London.

5. Texas Hold ‘Em by Beyonce
I admit to being a late Beyonce convert (despite being an early adopter of Destiny’s Child). But thanks to some country-tinged wizadry, Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter incarnation won me over instantly. “Ooh, one step to the right / We headed to the dive bar we always thought was nice”.

6. Blackpool Illuminations by Yard Act
This is a clever story-song told in the form of a broken conversation. A reflection on childhood and parenthood via a reminisce about the annual family holiday to the windy, rainy northern British seaside resort of Blackpool. Along the way there are moments of sentimentality – “I think that at that age (6) / You fell most in love with your parents / They’re your best friends / And they’re your whole world”; black humour – “Would you say change is your biggest fear? / No, I’d probably say being drowned and buried at the bottom of a lake is my biggest fear”; and, as the singer returns to Blackpool as an adult, great tenderness, “And for the first time I felt truly free / With my beautiful family and my dream job no longer a dream”. Give it the full 7 minutes to listen to properly and you’ll be rewarded.

7. Heavy Rain by Richard Hawley
‘In This City They Call Love’ has been my wind-down album of the year. Hawley’s cigarette scratched baritone is at its best when dealing with love-tinged melancholy, as in this beautiful ballad: “Even at the ending of the world / You know I’m always thinking of you, girl”.

9. (It Goes Like) Nanana by Peggy Gou
Peggy Gou was the undoubted surprise festival hit of 2024 for markontour. I am embarrassed to say that the South Korean DJ was entirely unknown to me until a friend in our Glastonbury group took us all to the Park Stage to see the anthemic headline set of her compatriot. Featuring a guest appearance by Sophi Ellis-Bextor, reprising Murder on the Dancefloor, Peggy Gou made everyone’s feet move then and again every time I listen to her.

10. Big Congratulations by Holiday Ghosts
What is a holiday ghost? I don’t the answer to that or, indeed, much about the band, but ‘Big Congratulations’ is an instant ear-worm, somewhat reminiscent of the jangly, pacy guitars of The Primitives.

11. Bazo Banga by KOKOKO!
KOKOKO! aim to recreate the nocturnal atmosphere of their hometown of Kinshasa with their bass-heavy, energetic and life-affirming songs. If that’s so, it’s a city I need to visit. Their set at Green Man was electrifying and joyous – one of those festival ‘moments’ where everyone present simultaneously realised they were part of something special. Playing homemade instruments constructed from junk, the primary lyric in this song mimics the “They’re afraid!” chant of crowds at rallies for justice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

12. Antarctica by Divorce
This Nottingham guitar band have been becoming an ever bigger signal on my music radar. They describe themselves as “alt-country / grungeish”, produce arty films and have lyrics that include “I was made to love you”, so I was bound to like them. Looking forward to the promised debut album next year.

13. Sadness as a Gift by Adrianne Lenker
The Big Thief singer-songwriter specialises in melancholic musings over a beautiful melody and this is a gem of the genre. The harmony on the chorus adds to the send of a relationship that truly had something, but not enough. “The seasons go too fast / Thinking that this one was going to last / Maybe the question was too much to ask ?”

14. Nomad by Clairo
The opening riff reminds me of a early 1970s Rolling Stones, but I can’t quite place which song. Anyway, it’s a beautiful, somewhat sad, reflective song.

15. Caroline by Laura Marling
One I loved from the moment I heard it BBC Radio 6 Music. Evoking ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, this appears to be a song about a lost love suddenly returning, but without a happy ending. “Caroline you’re like an ember / A rock that burst back into life / A song I only just remember / That goes “Oh, something, something Caroline”.

16.It’s Today Again by Bill Ryder Jones
This is such a happy/sad song. The former Coral man specialises in sounding worn-down by existence, but here rouses himself to declare and repeat, “There’s something great about life”. Although he does add the caveat, “But there’s something not quite right”. His set in the woods at Latitude was one of my live highlights of the year.

17. Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish
Got to credit my nieces for introducing me to Billie Eilish and I have since been impressed by her climate activism. Anyway, this is a gorgeous love song with a slightly macabre starting premise: “I want you to stay / ‘Til I’m in the grave / ‘Til I rot away, dead and buried / ‘Til I’m in the casket you carry”.

Bonus Tracks:

Lazy by Leo Fulcro
I was privileged to enjoy a private performance by Italian rapper and actor, Leo Fulcro, at my friend, his brother’s, birthday party in Sicily. This is a joyous song about being lazy, by someone is who is clearly anything but.

Rio de Janeiro a Janeiro by Roge
The U20 gathering in Rio was the highlight of my work year, an upbeat antidote to regressive election results and struggling multi-lateralism, and Rio is one of my favourite places on earth, so there had to be a Rio track.