Blimey, is it 2024 already? The past twelve months have flown by in a flurry of deeply troubling international news, endlessly depressing national news and the promise of more of the same for the new year. Thankfully there has been a deep seam of brilliant new music, films, telly, books and art to brighten our mood, focus our anger or give us a moment of escapism.
While some media outlets have been churning out ‘best of’ lists since November, we like to wait until the year’s actually finished before sharing the releases and events that have tickled our collective fancies over the past 12 months. Today, six members of Joyzine’s writing team share their picks, and later this week we’ll have the selections of our editors. (PS – if you fancy becoming part of said writing team, we’d love to hear from you – find out how you can get involved here)
Favourite Album
Theatre of the Absurd Presents C’est La Vie – Madness
It was a close run thing with another music hall, British pop inspired ban, Blur, and their wonderfully mature return with “Ballad of Darren”. Bizarrely both of them, although sounding nothing like one another, owe debts to similar artists, as they are both laced with smatterings of Beatles/Kinks/Bowie. But whereas the Blur album is flavoured by Damon’s broken melancholy, the Madness album shines with an almost religious fervour. It’s like opening a dusty old casket to be faced with shining jewels and dazzling gold, for amongst its strange, odd pop grooves is a real sense of fun. The band are all grown up, but they have lost none of their irreverent zest.
Favourite Song
Nothing Matters – The Last Dinner Party
Only three singles released so far, and this band seemingly have it all. They look great, they sound assured and swaggeringly confident, and their tunes burst forth like a confetti cannon – glam dram is what I’m calling it from now on!
Favourite Gig
Moulettes (acoustic) at More Music, Morecambe just pinches it away from Mars Volta and Squid, because not only were they intimate and highly inventive, they were also delightfully sincere, musically brilliant and such nice people.
Read Andrew’s gig review here
Favourite Festival
Has to be The Unorthodox Paradox, a small gathering of freaks somewhere in Hereford, celebrating the unique and diverse wonders there are to be found, hosted by Neil and Libby Spragg in their inimitable welcoming way. Two stages full to the brim with the weird and wonderful, from performance poetry to techno metal. Highlights included the Yorkshire rapper ExP, the ever-wonderful magic of Crayola Lectern, and some psychedelic intensity from Zoff, not to mention a blasting set from Scaramanga Six. It’s a small-scale affair like festivals of old, and I’m told next year’s event is already sold out.
Favourite New Musical Discovery
The Last Dinner Party look set to take 2024 like a whirlwind when their first album drops in February. Expect a gloriously colourful ride.
Favourite Film
It’s not been a great year for films and I haven’t seen Barbie yet so I’ll have to go for Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom as I’m a big fan of anything Asterix, and this live action movie is a lot of fun, especially from Gilles Lellouche, who gives a great performance as Obelix, and the casting of Vincent Cassell and Marion Cotillard as Julius Caesar and Cleopatra is inspired.
Favourite TV Programme
Alice In Borderland Season Two. There have been quite a few programmes made which owe a debt to the original Battle Royale premise, including Squid Game, which was also brilliant, but Alice In Borderland ups the ante somewhat, providing a gloriously surreal landscape for the hapless victim heroes, and, like Squid Game, there is a real sense of connection between the characters, and you find yourself rooting for your particular favourites like the transgender Hikari Kuina, who wields a sword majestically.
Favourite Book
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer. It makes the grade because it’s the only book I have read this year that even comes close to having been published this year (although strictly speaking it was actually published at the back end of last year!). It is obviously very funny but is also sweet and touching, and a little odd. It’s kind of a detective novel along the same lines as the brilliant books by Bateman, and is about a shy solicitor from Peckham, just like Mortimer himself was before finding fame as Vic Reeves’ funnier sidekick. If you like Bob Mortimer (and who doesn’t, he’s a national treasure) you will love it.
Favourite Album
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – Bauhaus Staircase
Hope, so they say, can come from the most unexpected of places, and OMD’s triumphant comeback album Bauhaus Staircase – potentially their last – is brimming over with it from top to tail, even as they tackle issues of climate change and political corruption head-on. What’s more, their song-writing skills remain as strong as they were 40 years ago.
Throughout this joyous, empowering slab of vintage synth-pop, they cook up immortal hooks which worm your way into your head and stay there, while their lyrics connect art and history with the human impulses that shape both. Yes, all those glowingly retro synth sounds may hit a bullseye on your brain’s nostalgia centres (if the synth lead from classic 80s album track ‘Stanlow’ gives you a warm feeling, you’ll love ‘Where We Started’) but the title track takes lessons from the past to warn of the dangers of staying stagnant and growing reactionary.
The act of remembering times gone by may give us valuable pleasure, they seem to be saying, but it cannot give us a philosophy. In a world ravaged by war and greed, the only acceptable response comes through creation and connection, and Bauhaus Staircase demonstrates both in glorious abundance.
Read Poppy’s full review of the album here
Favourite New Musical Discovery
I’ve long admired the work of the awesome Dawson from a distance, but 2023 was the year that my affection bloomed into a full-on obsession. A deceptively self-effacing Northumbrian troubadour with a voice that could fell a forest, communicating his unique perception of the world with all the raw theatrical intensity of Kevin Coyne in his prime, Dawson is as bracing and imaginative a performer as he is a storyteller. He’s the undisputed king of New Weird Newcastle – imagine a much nicer Eric Bloodaxe reincarnated as an experimental folk singer.
Indeed, last year’s VR-themed album, The Ruby Cord, recalls a Black Mirror rewrite of ‘Briggflatts’ in its masterful fusion of past and future, rewarding the patient listener with lyrical and musical passages of emotionally ruinous beauty. Newcomers may prefer the relatively accessible 2020, which showcases his empathetic powers to stunning effect.
But for a baptism of fire, check out ‘The Vile Stuff’ from 2014’s Nothing Important, a slice-of-life recount of a young Dawson and friends getting smashed off spirits on a school trip, warped by guilt and memory into a gore-spattered Biblical nightmare and set to thumping, dissonant country-blues. You’ve never heard the words ‘MUCH TO THE CHAGRIN OF THE DEPUTY HEADMASTER’ bellowed out like this before. Sheer black magic.
Read Poppy’s review of The Ruby Chord here
Favourite TV programme
‘I love you. I can’t forgive you,’ says perpetually self-destructive Kendall Roy to his tyrannical father Logan at a crucial moment in the last series of Succession. Thanks to showrunner Jesse Armstrong’s unparalleled ability to combine profoundly humane characterisation with pitilessly satirical comic bite, by the time the curtain closes on its finale, devoted viewers may well harbour similar feelings towards the billionaire Roy siblings themselves.
For every guffaw wrung from moments like Cousin Greg trying to deal with an optical wasabi accident or tech entrepreneur Lukas Matsson breaking out in a few bars of a novelty hit, there is a scene which leaves you reeling in pure shock. Even if the last few series haven’t clicked, you may well end up caring more about these horrible people than you ever thought possible.
But despite its Murdoch-inspired premise, there is not a shred of soapy sensationalism in sight, the show’s documentary-style direction and loveably crass dialogue generating intimacy and detachment at the same time. The result is more crushingly dramatic than most dramas, more wickedly hilarious than most comedies, and easily as good as television ever gets. Oh, and did I mention the stellar theme tune?
Favourite Album
Petey – USA – a deeply heartfelt and honest reflection on being “older” and still not quite having it all figured out.
Favourite Song
The 2023 remaster of ‘Bastards of Young’ by The Replacements – evidence that modern technology isn’t all bad because it can take a classic and make it sound even better, pulling all the nuances out and giving you them back in crystal quality.
Favourite Gig
I’ll be honest – it has to be Blink-182 at the O2. 90 minutes of pop punk glory, in a crowd who knew every lyric and every note, with my brother covered in lager. Nostalgia mainlined into the noodle.
Favourite New Musical Discovery
John Francis Flynn – droned out psych takes on Irish folk classics? yes please.
Favourite Film
Somehow my favourite movies of 2023 is Barbie (it’s also the only film I remember seeing).
Favourite TV Programme
If it’s not my third Sopranos rewatch at 2am with tiny child, it’s Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland – a touching look at The Troubles told by normal people who did abnormal things.
Favourite Book
I very much enjoyed What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami and I look forward to reflecting on it come 2024 when I once again fail to take up regular exercise but thoroughly enjoy imagining myself ripped, toned, swole, bolo, cut etc.
Favourite Album
EP by TVAM, ‘Costasol’ is just great!
Favourite Song
‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ by (Mama) Cass Elliot
I had a glorious fortnight or so listening to this song on repeat and exploring the rest of her music, which as a fan of The Mamas and The Papas was a real treat. Lyrically, this is a real empowering song with a key message of having self-belief, doing your own thing and not having others tell you the ‘right’ way. Perfect track to end the old/start the new year with
Favourite Gig
I caught The Irrepressibles supported by Pecq at St Barnabas church in Oxford and both bands blew me away. This was a sublime gig in a stunning location which enhanced the experience. Pecq have always been great and seeing them stripped down it’s clear they are now next level.
Favourite Festival
September Song in Oxford. Linked to the better-known Wood festival and put on by the founders of Truck Festival it had a lovely chilled vibe and was a small and family-friendly festival with a good selection of smaller acts and solo projects from musicians in more well-known bands.
Favourite New Musical Discovery
Hurtling – I enjoyed checking them out at two of Joyzine’s 20th awesome anniversary gigs!
Favourite Film
Quiz Lady – as a fan of Awkwafina this was a hugely entertaining film and I both related to and enjoyed the dynamic between the two sisters and the physical and emotional journeys they take.
Favourite TV Programme
Umbrella Academy- I’ve binge watched this with my kids* over the holidays and it’s refreshing to have a great little superhero series that isn’t just Marvel/DC.
*Note: official rating is 15yrs+
Favourite Book
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde– I’ve always wanted to read this and glad I now have. It’s a classic and I like the dichotomy. It’s also one of the few books I’ve read this year that aren’t autobiographical.
Favourite Album
I Play My Bass Loud by Gina Birch – This was fun, contemporary, experimental and full of Gina’s personality, loved it.
Read Joyzine’s review of the album here
Favourite Song
‘Dream Job’ by Yard Act – The spoken word vs beats works every time and it has this punk ferocity that I love.
Favourite Gig
Gina Birch album launch at Third Man Records, Soho – Gina and two of her band members, all women, gave such a great performance in this intimate blue basement venue, very inspiring, very cool
Favourite New Musical Discovery
London Brew – discovering new jazz talent on the London scene is really exciting, can’t wait to see it live.
Favourite Film
Past Lives, this was poetic, thoughtful, interesting and really stuck with me when I left the cinema.
Favourite TV Programme
Colin from Accounts – this Australian comedy really made me laugh, very witty, silly at times, dark, very amusing and had the style of a cool little Indie film.
Favourite Book
The Book You Want Everyone You Love to Read by Phillipa Perry – wise words from a bloody good therapist, I’ve been going through a divorce and this book has been really helpful in making me think about positive changes in myself, well written and easy to read.
Favourite Art Exhibition
Women in Revolt at Tate Britain – more Gina Birch, unseen and unheard since the 70s – women in feminist art in the UK, work of protest, important work from women getting their voice heard, empowering and relevant still, always relevant, I came away super charged and proud to be a woman.
Read Joyzine’s review here
Favourite Album
Death Knell’s Steel String Thing ‘Set West Raising Hell’. (Full disclosure I produced this record, but the reality is I just love these songs and the playing and performances and I just go back and listen to it so much).
Read Death Knell’s Steel String Thing’s track by track guide to the album here
Favourite Song
Abracadabra – ‘Talk Talk’ – The whole record is great but this song I play out whenever I DJ now.
Favourite Gig – Moldy Peaches at Roundhouse
Favourite Festival – Fierce Panda‘s Pandamonium Festival at Dalston Victoria (with stand out performance from Anna’s Bones)
Favourite New Musical Discovery – Pregoblin
Favourite Film – T.I.M.
Favourite TV Programme – Blue Eye Samurai
Favourite Book – Janette Parris, This Is Not a Memoir, Montez Press
Favourite Art Exhibition – Jeffrey Bligh meets David Thorp once again at Filet Space
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