Tag: florist

In a time where everyone shares their year-in-music as a Spotify Wrapped screenshot on Instagram Stories, only to be glanced through because nobody is really interested, I’ve written this blog post. Besides, I’m not active on Spotify or Instagram.

I’m going to presume you are more interested in discovering album recommendations and that will be the focus here. This is my most-listened to albums of 2024 according to Last.fm, with maybe a few extra thrown in for good measure. Let’s crack on:

Considering I was into a lot of emo music ‘back in the day’ I didn’t get on board with Paramore until quite late on. Manchester band Dutch Uncles went on tour as support to Paramore when they came to Oslo. One of the band members from Dutch Uncles put me on the guest list and it was only then, after seeing Paramore live, that I figured I should give them a chance. I really like Paramore now and there’s a whole back catalogue to catch up on.

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Keen readers of the blog will already know that I am a fan of Little Simz and it always makes me happy to get a notification from Last.fm saying that she made it into my Top Artists for the month.

NO THANK YOU was an album that dropped just before I saw Little Simz play live last year and it’s been a favourite of mine since. If I am ever scrolling through my music library and see this artwork, I’m ready to hit play.

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When I was an indie-kid bopping around in the music scene in Manchester, Arctic Monkeys were on the scene as a bunch of Sheffield bands broke through. I have always liked Arctic Monkeys. This album is a strong one in the band’s catalogue.

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This album I bought in 2002 after hearing the debut single ‘Get Over It‘ on the radio and I really loved the album – but the band fell off my radar a little and I didn’t really listen to anything OK Go produced until they became popular for the viral treadmill thing.

They are a good band with a few good albums, but this will always be my favourite. Clearly. Over 20 years later and it’s still appearing in my Top Albums of the Year.

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Arlo Parks is great. The music is pretty chill and always a good one to go to when you want some downbeat vibes. The songs are sad, but also happy at the same time.

I think when I first got this album I played it on repeat a lot and it was my most-listened to album of 2022, dropping to 9th place in 2023 and now bumping back up to 6th in 2024.

Do I need to say more than that? It charted in my Top 10 every year since it was released.

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The song that really sold me on Stars was ‘Your Ex-Lover Is Dead‘ which has all the beauty and whimsy and magic of a romantic story told with all the pomp of ‘Fairytale of New York‘. And weirdly, I bought the single on vinyl when it came out and never listened to it until years later.

Stars have many albums with many great songs and a good way to get into them is to listen to LaGuardia, which is a ‘Best of…’ release.

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Do you have an artist that feels like your “go-to” when you just want to listen to something chill and relaxing as you lounge and potter around the house? For me, this is Florist.

I saw Florist live in Seattle a few years back and it didn’t disappoint. They came to Norway recently, but played in Bergen – a whole 8+ hour train journey away from Oslo.

If asked I probably wouldn’t say this is my favourite album from the artist, so a bit surprised that of all the Florist releases that I own, it turned up before the others in my top albums this year.

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Even though it’s not the most quiet and calming album, Cast of Thousands by Elbow is my go-to album when I can’t sleep and I am lay in bed desperately trying to fall asleep.

By no means does this mean it is a boring album; quite the opposite. It’s very intricate and if you listen closely there are many layers of sounds that you might not consider on a first listen.

If this album is appearing in my Top 3, then it means I have had a lot of sleepless nights this past year – but Elbow calms my mind, helps me focus, and takes me to a place where I am able to drift off. And sometimes that is just what you need.

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Marian and I met through Tumblr many moons ago. We first followed each other, then started chatting and became online friends, and then I flew to her home town in France to visit her and her family. This was before she made techno music and now she’s a really good DJ working the techno scene in France and has her own record label.

If you are into techno, you should listen to this and everything that Calling Marian released on her Soundcloud and Bandcamp for CVNT Records.

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Well. No surprise here for me. Los Campesinos! are possibly my favourite band of all and so if they release new music it’s bound to be something special.

If you haven’t really heard the Welsh indie-emo band Los Campesinos! then this release is a good place to start.

It’s new, it’s fresh, it’s All Hell.

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So, that’s the list! You made it! Thanks for scrolling all the way down from ten-to-one and checking out my most listened to albums of the past year.

I hope you found something above that you have not heard of before and I hope for a “most played of 2024” list that you weren’t too disappointed that the list contained a grand total of one (1) album released 2024.

If you were looking for albums released in 2024 then here’s two bonus ones for you that didn’t get as much airtime as the ones listed above, but that I did purchase:

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Bye!