Top Ten Albums of 2024

 I reserve the right to change my mind about these in perpetuity.  (Some of my previous years are nuts.  Bonobo's Migration as the third-best album of 2017?!  That was the best album of the decade!)

10. Band-Maid - Epic Narratives

 9. Rachel Chinouriri - What a Devastating Turn of Events

8. Nilüfer Yanya - My Method Actor

 

7. The Linda Lindas - No Obligation

 

6. Beabadoobee - This is How Tomorrow Moves

 
 5. Angus & Julia Stone - Cape Forestier

 

4. Charly Bliss - Forever

 

3. Alkaline Trio - Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs

2. Public Service Broadcasting - The Last Flight

 

1. Hot Water Music - Vows

 

("Menace" is also my song of the year, neatly.)

Bonus video!  Best anime opening of the year why not.  The vocalist's diction and breath control on the really fast parts completely baffle me.

Tone and melody

 So Sincere Engineer's new album's out later this week, Blink-182 have just announced a new album for next month to stand alongside new albums from Metric, the Menzingers and a reformed Gaslight Anthem, and I've just discovered that Public Service Broadcasting's new album came out like two weeks ago.

Albums!

Good news, everyone

 This week's episode of Futurama has, I feel, a strong shout at being the best one ever.

They're just showing off at this point, aren't they?  "Oh, cancelled again, is it?  We'll just come back in ten years and somehow be even better."

The eternal regret

 I didn't go to see Eternals in the cinema because a) it didn't get great reviews and b) it didn't look especially good from the trailer.  I just watched it on Disney+ and loved it!  What the hell, past me?  That would've been great to see on a big screen.

The televisual arts

 The last two episodes in a row of Attack on Titan have caused me to involuntarily yelp "what the fuck" at certain points.

What a show that is.

The cinematic arts

 I think this year so far has been the best I've ever had for cinema trips.  Since 2022 started, I've ventured to the pictures five times (The Matrix Resurrections, Licorice Pizza, Nightmare Alley, The Tragedy of Macbeth and Belle) and the quality has ranged exclusively from "very good" to "absolutely excellent".  For the record, Macbeth is the current leader of the pack, but Nightmare Alley isn't far behind.

Next two trips are Spielberg's West Side Story and The Green Knight, so hopefully they'll keep the side up.  Reviews certainly seem to suggest that's the case.

It's also nice to see that Belle has broken Mamoru Hosoda's pattern of "excellent film followed by one that's just decent".  (Sorry, Summer Wars and The Boy and the Beast, but ya just don't got it, kids.)  Also also, Belle's soundtrack is so good I bought it on iTunes the second I got home (and am listening to it right now).  Can't remember the last time I did that.  Baby Driver maybe?

My top ten films of 2021

 It should be noted that like three days into 2022 I went to see The Matrix Resurrections and loved it, so that should be in here somewhere, probably around position 5 or 6.  However, I'd already written half of this, so shrug emoji.