Luke Nuttall (Editor / Writer)
5. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – Skinwalker
Clearly not content with assimilating into the miasma of classic pop pastiches (y’know, like any normal group of individuals), Skinwalker saw the side of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard they should’ve been parading all along. Here’s an album that feels just at home among nightmarish tidbits of folklore as grand enormo-stages, a stripe of garage-rock that knows how to be heaving and ominous, and balance them out immaculately. There’s such a tight melodic component too, where you’ll find the treading, creeping build of Night Of The Skinwalker burying deep on impact and only becoming more ingrained nearly a year later. As far as reinventions go, this one is, fittingly, a monster.
4. Gen And The Degenerates – Anti-Fun Propaganda
Quite why Gen And The Degenerates haven’t caught fire like many a Britrock grinder remains a mystery. They’re just as sharp and charismatic as you’d want them to be, and capable of spreading it across a full album, clearly. The joy of Anti-Fun Propaganda comes from how key to their makeup it is, brimming with Gen Glynn-Reeves’ snark and barbs of many a modern-day non-male punk, and rounded out by a spirit that sends them hurtling forward at any cost. It can be ridiculous amounts of fun, and for a band not too deep in the weeds of sub-genres or pedantic musical taxonomy, pretty vibrant in its execution. Hopefully it catches on more before long, because it really needs to.
3. Bears In Trees – How To Build An Ocean: Instructions
In another universe, Bears In Trees are one of the biggest bands in the world. The fact it isn’t this universe isn’t spoken about enough. Sure, they’ve got a fanbase that’s wild for them, but is there any reason that pop-rock with this much charm, and this much candour, and this much of a predilection for superglue hooks shouldn’t be utterly unstoppable? Not really, no. Here’s just another example of how Bears In Trees continue to run circles around most of the pop-rock crowd, and making it seem so effortless. They’re bold and colourful as you like, while flaunting a distinct intelligence and introspection that rockets their stock right up. Please, if you’re any way inclined towards this side of indie-pop, just listen to Bears In Trees. You’ll like them; promise.
2. Slope – Freak Dreams
In another year flooded with stellar hardcore, it screams out like no one’s business that Slope are the breakouts to stick the firmest. Granted, it’s not too surprising when they’re coming from the Turnstile school of thought, but it’s also the closest that anyone has come to replicating that band’s specific electrical jolt. A brand of hardcore loaded with spring-like groove and doused in the textures of the ‘90s is an easy sell, and one that Freak Dreams isn’t hesitant at all to make its own. This is hardcore with its fun factor cranked all the way up and the knob ripped off, adrenalised through a lean runtime without a bit of fat on it. Get Slope on a bill with Turnstile—or any of the other likeminded hardcore livewires—and watch them soar. A State Champs collaboration isn’t going to do all the work, y’know!
1. Cherym – Take It Or Leave It
Cherym feel like a band destined for greatness. They always have, but now, on their debut full-length, it’s not up for debate. Now sliding more towards pop-punk (though with their indie-rock rambunctiousness still intact), they’ve collated a bunch of songs that could go toe-to-toe with any of their sphere’s heavyweights, any day of the week. Not just that, but there’s an earnestness that bleeds through at every turn, and only does more for the album as a whole. For a band craving pop-punk’s high-school halcyon days, throwing in a slug of real human depth and emotion speaks for itself. It’s effectively every good part about 2000s pop-punk and 2010s DIY rolled into one, with the kinks ironed out and the pitch-perfect effervescence at a max. There’s literally not a single reason this shouldn’t be resonating on the broadest, widest level, compromise not needed. A-list spots forever, please.
Georgia Jackson (Deputy Editor / Writer)
5. Maggie Rogers – Don’t Forget Me
Maggie Rogers truly found her lane on Don’t Forget Me this year, but only got some of the many flowers she deserved. A heartland rock and country sound is the perfect fit for her powerful but still tender voice, reckoning with one’s own life path compared to friends who are engaged or giving up parts of themselves for love with a confidence plenty of listeners would love to taken on themselves. This record is sure to nestle Rogers into US country circles, but she deserves a wider audience than that.
4. Pale Waves – Smitten
Any UK rock fan worth their salt is more than familiar with Pale Waves already, but it felt like there was hardly any fanfare about this year’s Smitten, easily their best album to date. Balancing their Avril Lavigne pastiche with their indie-pop of old made for some of the year’s loveliest rock bangers, and the record itself doesn’t even have a bit of filler as a strike against it. Get these songs out to the biggest crowds possible like they deserve, stat.
3. NewDad – Madra
One of the best debuts of the year was NewDad’s Madra, which struck a perfect balance of pop sweetness and echoing gloominess against the dreamiest of shoegaze backdrops. It’s a record that really sits with its feelings and lets them ruminate, the pared-back moments making the highs hit even more than they would in any other tracklist. This is a rewarding one, and NewDad are sure to hit the heights they deserve once everyone’s in on the secret.
2. Rachel Chinouriri – What A Devastating Turn Of Events
What A Devastating Turn Of Events presented Rachel Chinouriri as an incredibly unique artist and even better narrator this year. Delivering savage takedowns of situationships comes alongside frank discussion of the patriarchy’s causation of both her own self-esteem issues and the tragic story of her cousin’s pregnancy in Zimbabwe. With her huge gig as Sabrina Carpenter’s arena opener coming up, she’ll be off this list by next year, but a debut as rich and accomplished as this deserved more applause.
1. Griff – Vertigo
Griff has long been one of the most underrated pop talents the UK has, her immaculate writing and production skills deserving of the biggest of stages. The success of her debut album Vertigo was let down by its marketing though, drip-fed through three installments and splitting up the push the whole project could’ve gotten. It’s a record that perfectly encapsulates Griff’s whole mission statement as an artist, now she just needs the rest of the world to catch on.
