2024 Number 9: Willow

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 9
Willow - Empathogen

It was quite surprising to see Willow Smith’s music gain so much momentum at the beginning of the year. It’s easy to be skeptical of the success of a showbiz kid, especially when their father is one of the most famous actors in the world. Surely she owes her buzz to her family name rather than her talent? But her music was discussed favourably by many muso YouTubers and I, too, have to deal with the fact that the person who once made a rather awful single called “Whip My Hair” is, in fact, a legitimate musician.

This is a fairly ambitious neo-jazz-fusion album that occasionally rocks, and at this point, what's the functional difference between that and prog rock? The songs are short and pointy, befitting of her generation, but always have lots going on.

It must be said that the singles, "Symptom of Life" and "Big Feelings", are the standout moments. In my world, that's always the sign of a slightly lightweight album. That doesn't lessen the impact of a surprisingly intriguing artist. She's got a great voice, and she knows her way around a tricky arrangement. Worth checking out.

2024 Number 10: Viima

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 10
Viima - Väistyy Mielen Yö

The winner of this year's Retro Prog in a Foreign Language Sweepstakes is: Viima. I've been told, and not just by Finns, that Finnish is a real language that real people really speak. I'm not entirely convinced. It sounds like something Tolkien has come up with.

Viima do their best to keep the Tolkien spirit up with soothing, folky, melancholy, atmospheric, retro stylings. Flutes and acoustic guitars and proggy full band workouts and not a lot of sleek production tricks. And lots of mellotrons and Hammond organs! Honest, workmanlike prog. It's very warm.

Bugger if I know what the lyrics are about, but they feel like tragic fantasy stories, maybe about ghosts. They sound great anyway. The songwritership is quality and diverse. The album feels coherent, but every song has its own character.

Like I said, my list this year skews conservative, and this is exhibit A. This is not an album that's going to blow your mind, but it is an album that's going to keep you warm in dark days such as these. Pour yourself some hot chocolate or salmiakki and let it wash over you.

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Preamble and Honourable Mentions

It's December 21, so... welcome back to Prog-Rama! I’ve used this platform in the past to write my dicography review of The Flower Kings. These days, I use it mostly as my platform to publish my year-end top ten list. Let's face it: this is the only year-end tradition that really counts (I’ve been given to understand that something called “Christmas” happens sometime during my top ten, but I've never heard of it). This year is no different. But some things are…

Hello. My name is Gemma. I like writing about music, science and art. I’m a singer in a band called Tower of Kalla. I volunteer at a zoo. I have a podcast about dinosaurs in popular culture. I listen to progressive rock a lot.

2024 has been a year of transition, in more ways than one. At the start of the year, I came out as transgender. This has allowed me to live in a more authentic way, more in tune with myself. I have been blessed that my environment has been overwhelmingly (though not unanimously) accepting of this. I’ve mostly tried to get on with life as usual, facing the world as my true self. Nevertheless, it’s been a time of changes, highs and lows, great adventures, and a great deal of looking inward.

This is reflected in my year-end list, which provides a bit of counterbalance to the wildness of the year. My music of choice in 2024 has been, overall, fairly conservative. I’ve not sought out the most eclectic outer limits of my musical tastes, instead looking for things close to home, finding music that was comforting like a warm bath. 2024 was a good year for that. The prog releases this year were fairly uniformly of high quality, with no major outliers both on the upper and lower end. Of course, there have been some exceptions...

This meant that putting my ten favourites in order was not especially easy. The list could be in any number of orders, and any album in the top five would make a worthy number one. The differences have been small. Nevertheless, I’ve come up with an order to post these in.

A top ten means stuff will need to get left out, so here are some honourable mentions. These are nine albums that I enjoyed this year. Give it up for Pure Reason Revolution, Frost, David Gilmour, Opeth, Emerald City Council, Weather Systems, Dirt Poor Robins, K’mono and Trojka.

I could imagine each of these albums in the top ten, but the amount of quality albums has been high. I’m sure there’s been any amount of great albums this year I haven’t heard, and I always feel slightly bad for the hardworking musicians whose work I’ve missed. But that’s what life is. How many books do you have on your self that go unread? There’s always more to discover, and that can be a comforting thought, too. Who knows? Maybe I’ve got something on my list that you’ve missed.

So join me as we count down to the new year with our annual top ten advent calendar. Tomorrow, we’re getting started with number ten. At New Year’s Eve, I will reveal my number one. 

2023 Number 1: Peter Gabriel

NIELS' TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023: Number 1
Peter Gabriel - i/o

Being a fan of Marillion or IQ, who take five or six years to write an album, can be frustrating. Then, there’s Moon Safari and Unitopia, back after a decade of absence. But Peter’s 21 years between UP and i/o makes them all look like King Gizzard by comparison. An album over two decades in the making better be fucking worth it. Well, here we are. The reviews are all glowing, and they are correct. This is really something special. What a privilege to be there for the release of a new Peter Gabriel album. 

There isn't a song on this record that isn't magnificent. The interesting thing about i/o, apart from all those different versions and the monthly release cycle and all that folderol, is that it’s a pure pop album, his most accessible since SO. I mean that in a positive way. It’s a big tent. Whereas US and UP, as wel as his orchestral works, often retreated into hermetic darkness (i.e. plodding), here is an album explicitly made for everyone to enjoy and celebrate. There’s a lot of nods to his previous work while still sounding fresh. It’s full of hope and joy whilst also bringing that mature sense of intimate melancholy that runs through Peter’s later work. What really makes this one is the immaculate songwriting, the incredible, layered Gabriel/Eno production and his voice, still as warm, rich and powerful as ever. I’m particularly partial to the lyrics, an ode to life, love and nature. Apparently the songs are even better live, but that’s Peter Gabriel for you.

An entire generation has been born and come of age between Peter Gabriel’s previous album and this one. It’s hard to imagine the 73-year-old having many more albums left in him – this is only his eighth! But if this turns out to be it for him, what a note to go out on. Play it often.

 

 

2023 Number 2: Moon Safari

NIELS' TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023: Number 2
Moon Safari – Himlabacken vol. 2

Back again to Sweden. It’s the land of Opeth, and the land of ABBA, both the moodiest and happiest music always comes from Sweden. I’ve always got a lot of moody stuff on my list, but ultimately the upbeat stuff wins out. I don’t think there’s a single more profoundly likable band in the progosphere than Moon Safari. You’d need to be a pretty big cynic to not be swept up in this bouncy, cheerful, high energy sugar rush rock music full of massive vocal harmonies – they are not just a band, they are also a choir! Even if you’re not a prog person I think it’s impossible not to like Moon Safari on some level. It’s just so pure. But it’s not an empty confection, there’s plenty of musical depth to it, too.

This is the third album of theirs I’ve heard and by far my favourite, it really feels like they’ve taken it to the next level. In addition to the classic prog influences there’s a bit of Queen in there, some Beach Boys and Beatles, some ELO, some Van Halen, yes, some ABBA. Just endlessly enjoyable bouncy music, only this bounces in odd time signatures. If there’s one album on my list that I’d recommend to anyone no matter who you are, easily this one. Listening to volume 1 is not necessary, though it certainly wouldn’t do you any harm (oddly, I never got into that one). Even that twenty minute apocalypse song will bring a smile to your face. The most addictive album of the year. 

(Many apologies if your name is Emma)

2023 Number 3: Unitopia

NIELS' TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023: Number 3
Unitopia – Seven Chambers

Unitopia are back after a long absence. I’ve always liked this Australian band, especially their classic song “Tesla”, the song with the best chorus in prog history. But I never fully loved them, until now. An album that starts with the literal beat from Genesis’ Duchess knows the way into my heart, especially when they have an actual Genesis alumnus, Chester Thompson, on board. And reunite him with his old buddy from Weather Report, Alphonso Johnson. To have that legendary rhythm section working together again in music like this is a great thing in itself.

The Big G is obviously a big influence on this one, but Unitopia keep things contemporary. They are more of the Big Big Train school of modern pastoral prog, although this album is harder and more mischievous than BBT. They throw everything but the kitchen sink at this one. Mellotron, metal riffs, violin, hip hop, flutes and synthesizers, with the occasional left-field musical twist and a fistful of satisfying epics. Expansive anything-goes prog, do anything, go anywhere, but you still get a fully whole and coherent album out of the deal. Everything just goes right on this one.

Like last time, the lyrics are more or less the weakest link here, with the words - about the effects of ageing and illness - heartfelt but the poetry on display often basic and on the nose. Let it not rain on your parade; this is a winner. Your finest kitchen-sink prog from the Land Down Under.

2023 Number 4: Monika Roscher Bigband

NIELS'  TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2023: Number 4
Monika Roscher Bigband – Witchy Activities and the Maple Death

I’m quite happy with this find: the German Big Band with the charismatic leader. Jazz prog fusion at its most exciting, and singer-guitarist Monika Roscher is one of the few people on my list who I’d describe as a proper rock star. A mercurial, intriguing presence. Her voice has been described as Bjork-like, but the comparison isn’t really fair to either.

To me, this album hits that sweet spot between left-field and weird but still song-based and juuust accessible enough. It’s extremely driven and high energy, often very dissonant but there’s moments of great beauty, too. It’s also allowed me to explore my latent love for large brass sections. Hooray. Big Big Train was a gateway drug. I’ve gone back and listened to some older Roscher work and in comparison this latest one is more focused, warmer, more melodic and, whisper it, less jazzy, more proggy. Jazz musicians make the best prog, it’s just how it works, ask Thank You Scientist. The real hardazz jazz is alienating to me, this feels more musical. But it’s still a riot.

In fact, I had this album pinned as my no. 1 for a while, but no fewer than three late arrivals in the year, all of them big comeback albums, meant that Monika will have to content herself with fourth place.