A quick rundown of my favorite Finnish EPs. Same story as before. Numbers, but pretty arbitrary. Very subjective. Playlist on Tidal and Spotify. Oh and big praise to the Finnish EP of the year aka Kaikki on hattaraa by Huonosti puetut lapset. Absolutely loved it. One of my favorite Finnish releases of the year altogether. Considered it for the album category too, because it’s six songs and 26 minutes. It would have been in the top 10 among the albums too. I think it’s that good. A lot of other good ones here too. STINAKO had a gorgeous trilogy of EPs that share one spot here.
Next up my favorite Finnish albums of 2024. I already had the 30 albums picked, but then Emilia Sisco threw a last minute curveball and released a great album. So I expanded this to a weird amount of 35 favorites, because I didn’t have the heart to remove any that I already had there. Almost went with 50 though, because even with 35 I had to leave out so many good ones. There’s more on the playlist, if it doesn’t feel like enough.
Again there’s numbers, but they are mostly arbitrary. So don’t take them too seriously. Music is love, not a competition. The first two were pretty clear, but after that I could have switched them endlessly. And the order of the first two is a bit difficult too, because I listened Hattara the most but on the other hand, half of that Leija Lautamaja album hit me harder than anything else I heard this year. Sinun takiasi, Ylpeästi sun, Jos jos and Ilman sua tää ei ois elämää is such a tremendous song quartet that in the end it felt like Sydän tuli piilosta had to be the Finnish album of the year.
As usual, this is entirely subjective. I don’t try make an objective best of or try to figure what will stand the test of time. It’s a snapshot of what I loved in December 2024. Even my own list might look somewhat different in a few months.
I didn’t write any blurbs, because I’m lazy and don’t have the time. And most would probably just check out what’s on the list anyway. There’s a Spotify and Tidal playlist if you are into such things. They actually have a lot more than 35 albums, because that was my draft for this. But I left them there as a giant bubbling under section. Maybe not wise because I know there’s stuff missing too. I didn’t add many Bandcamp / YouTube embeds, because if there’s a lot of them the site will either crash or take forever to load. At least on mobile devices. It would make it easy to check out the records, but not worth it due to those issues.
Samae’s album was a tricky one, because I love that he made it and I wished that it would have aged really poorly. Unfortunately we just saw that it’s still very relevant. So extra bonus points for that important album, even though it’s not on this list.
It’s the time of the season. The year end routine starts with the albums of the year. A good year of music again and even though the list is absurdly long, I still would have loved to be able to squeeze in another 50 or so. If a record is missing from this, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like it. I covered well over 600 albums on the new music weekly posts, so there’s a lot of really good music out there.
I did put the numbers there, but it’s totally arbitrary. Music is love, not a competition. Maybe first 10-20 at the top were somewhat obvious and my biggest favorites this year. After that it could have been alphabetical order just as well. I could move these albums up or down 20 spots and be just as happy with it. So the numbers are only there to give you a vague idea of what I loved the most, because everyone isn’t a music addict and willing to listen all 100 albums (actually 101, because I couldn’t decide which Rambling Nicholas Heron to include and therefore those share one spot on the list).
As usual, the list is totally subjective. I never try to make an objective list of the best albums or try to figure out what will stand the test of time. It’s just a snapshot of my taste in December 2024. Even my own list might look a lot different in two months. For example right now as I compile this, I’m maybe little less into country than earlier in the year. So I might easily look back this later pondering why the hell I didn’t include more country albums. I’m also just one man and there’s tons of stuff I haven’t listened enough or at all. Not to mention the hundreds of records that I didn’t even knew existed before reading other people’s aoty lists.
I didn’t write any blurbs, because I’m lazy and don’t have the time. And most would probably just check out what’s on the list anyway. There’s a Spotify and Tidal playlist if you are into such things. They actually have a lot more than 100 albums, because that was my draft for this. But I left them there as a giant bubbling under section. Maybe not wise because I know there’s stuff missing too. I didn’t add many Bandcamp / YouTube embeds, because if there’s a hundred of them the site will either crash or take forever to load. At least on mobile devices. It would make it easy to check out the records, but not worth it due to those issues. You’ll easily find them on Bandcamp, if you so wish.
This is the last new music weekly of 2024. I need a little break and this is the best time to do it. This will continue in January. Most likely on week 2. Meanwhile there will be a lot of year-end lists.
New Advance Base is the album of the week. Also thrilled that there’s new EP from John Calvin Abney. Other new albums came from Field Medic, Lucinda Williams (The Beatles covers), Dolour, CIAO MALZ (EP), Rachel Baiman, The Psych Fi’s, Will Stewart (EP of Morphine covers), Effie Zilch, Ramona and the Holy Smokes (few weeks old EP) and Looze Koozies. I also included Little Kid album all the way from February. I missed it at the time, but Advance Base somehow led me into it and I fell for it badly this week.
From the Finnish side of things we have a couple of important album releases from Emilia Sisco and Sir Liselot. Plus an EP from Oudot ajat and singles gold from Saara Heikkilä, The Moontwins, The Bullets, Topi Saha and 1980 AD.
International singles part of this is really strong. I loved the new ones from Clara Mann, Sunny War, Thomas Dollbaum, Lou Hazel and Flora Hibberd. Some other early faves came from Matthew McNeal, R&D, Bonnie Prince Billy, Brigid Mae Power… again just to name a few.
That’s all for now. Like, share, follow and all the usual promotional nonsense. It all matters. Thanks for following this new music adventure during 2024. I know there’s plenty of bigger and better publications, so I really appreciate if you follow my take on the new music of the year. Of course good to follow many, because there’s so much new music that nobody can cover all of it and different people will highlight different things. This AOTY season is again a good reminder that even though I spent 5-10 hours making this thing every weekend and this year have featured well over 600 international albums and close to 100 Finnish ones, I’ve still barely scratched the surface. Most AOTY lists have at least 80% of stuff that I’ve never heard at all. Anyway, my version of those silly but fun eoty lists will appear fairly soon and this new music weekly will continue in January. Until then love love love.
1. John Calvin Abney – Shortwaving (Shortwaving EP, Ton Canyon Records) 2. Advance Base – The Tooth Fairy (Horrible Occurrences, Run for Cover Records) 3. Little Kid – Bad Energy (A Million Easy Payments, Gold Day / Orindal Records) 4. Rachel Baiman feat Sam Burchfield – Late to the Fire (A Sides / B Sides, Signature Sounds Recordings) 5. Lucinda Williams – I’ve Got a Feeling (Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road, Highway 20 Records / Thirty Tigers) 6. Will Stewart and Company – Cure for Pain (90 Acre Farm EP) 7. CIAO MALZ – Gold Rush (Safe Then Sorry EP, Audio Antihero) 8. The Psych Fi’s – Odds & Evens (Can Con, Bobo Integral) 9. Dolour – Running Forever (New Old Friends xx) 10. Field Medic – dandelion dream (boundless & true) 11. Loose Koozies – Haworthia (Passing Through You, Tall Texan Records) 12. Ramona and the Holy Smokes – Til It’s Over (Til It’s Over EP) 13. Effie Zilch – Taking Me Over (Multitudes, Redtone Records) 14. Matthew McNeal – Dropped the Ball (single, Matte Black Sound Company) 15. Sunny War feat Tre Burt – Scornful Heart (single, New West Records) 16. Thomas Dollbaum feat Kate Teague – Do Me a Kindness (single, 17. Jacksonport – Raincheck (single, Ay Caramba Records) 18. Lou Hazel – Bulldog (single) 19. Flora Hibberd – Baby (single, 22Twenty) 20. Clara Mann – Remember Me (Train Song) (single, The State51 Conspiracy) 21. Emilia Sisco and Cold Diamond & Mink – Don’t Let Nobody (Introducing Emilia Sisco, Timmion Records) 22. The Moontwins – All I Want Is You (Tell Me That It’s True) (single, Playground) 23. The Bullets – Seven Days (single, Nature Sucks Anyway Records) 24. Saara Heikkilä – Ota Viivi viski (single) 25. 1980 AD – Hyvinkää (kaikki väsyneet hevoset) (single, Alakulttuuritalo) 26. Oudot ajat – Pimeä huone (Ensimmäinen lähetys EP, Panama-levyt) 27. Sir Liselot – Palmupuut (Nämä kädet ei paljon suojaa, Minna Records) 28. Topi Saha – Purppurakuu (single, Soit Se Silti) 29. R&D – I’ll Speak Into the Bloom (single, Ruination Recording Co) 30. Chris Eckman – Genevieve (single, Glitterhouse Records) 31. I Am Oak – The Way I See It (single, Snowstar Records) 32. Brigid Mae Power – You Don’t Know Me (single, BMP) 33. Bonnie Prince Billy – London May (single, Domino Recording Co) 34. Jacob Miller – Cherry Blossoms (single, Only One On The Mountain) 35. David Ramirez – The Music Man (single, Blue Corn Music) 36. Jason Joshua – Prisoner of My Mind (single, Sheridan Music) 37. Kelly Finnigan – It Hurts Me So Much (single, Colemine Records) 38. The War and Treaty – Carried Away (single, Mercury Nashville) 39. Marc Anthony Samuel feat Triptides – Flow (single, Skyforest Sound) 40. Andy Jenkins – Leaving Before (single, Psychic Hotline) 41. Digits feat Edith Frost – Wild at Heart (single) 42. Specific Thing – Partial to Pop (single, Internal Organ Records) 43. Icarus Phoenix – When Cooper Briscoe Did Karate (single) 44. Dropkick – Primary Colours (single, Bobo Integral) 45. The Gentle Spring – Severed Hearts (single, Skep Wax Records) 46. Carriers – Sometimes (single, Brassland) 47. Gold Baby – Henry (single, Dogbone Records) 48. Emma Munger – Change (single) 49. Humbird – Person (single, Nettwerk) 50. R.O. Shapiro – Worthy (single) 51. Todd Day Wait – Lie to Me (single, Cloverdale Records) 52. JD Clayton – Arkansas Kid (single, Mulberry Records / Rounder Records) 53. Rambling Nicholas Heron – Late September (Manuel’s Dream: Gunmental Clouds, Suitcase Studio & Shop) 54. The Innocence Mission – The Camera Divides the Coast of Maine (Midwinter Swimmers, Bella Union) 55. Joni Ekman Group – Tulevaisuus (Joni Ekman Group, Näkki-levyt)
Oh and do buy the vinyl/cd/download. Spotify and other streaming services are perfect for these introductory purposes, but try to buy at least the music that matter the most to you
I’ll make the playlist on Spotify and then transfer it to other platforms. This means a few tracks might be missing from the from the other platforms, if they are not available there. Oh and there’s a bunch of older episodes on my Spotify profile, if you miss an episode or want to revisit.
If you are looking this after a week has gone, the embedded Spotify will show the latest playlist. I’ll just update the same playlist because if someone wants to follow it, they can just follow that one list and will get a new set of songs each weekend.
