OOPS! 50 of 2024 / #50-46: A Smile, A Collective and X Marks the Spot

For those who don’t know, I do a top 50 and then an OOPS! 50 of the year. I make my 50 throughout the year and don’t let other end of year lists influence it. That means that after I am done writing all the top 50 posts I read other people’s lists and find 50 sings that I missed. Some I have never heard of…some are complete surprises from artists I know…and some are songs I was big on, but just missed out on the top 50. Unlike the top 50, there is no real order or anything, so these songs are not ranked. This means that at the end of January or so, you will have 100 great tracks from 2024 to listen to. You can’t listen to everything…and my deepest apologies to the artists I missed, but here is how I make up for it. All I can say is, OOPS!

50. Tiny Habits: Wishes

This is a beautiful folky track about regrets, shame and learning to be comfortable with who you are. A very personal and vulernable track about wishing for a better body, wishing to be a better person and how those wishes can be toxic and erode your sense of self. There are some wonderful harmonies to be found in this emotional and thought provoking track.

49. Ezra Collective ft. Yazim Lacey: God Gave me Feet For Dancing

The Ezra Collective is a jazz collective from the UK and has been on an OOPS! list before…I think this means I need to pay more attention to them. Yazim’s smooth vocal soars over a funky jazz bop with throbbing horns and a tight percussive groove. Ezra Collective’s arrangement combined with Lacey’s vocal gives the track depth, warmth and soul. I really need to follow this band more closely.

48. X: The Way it Is

Founded in 1977, the band X brings this kind of Urge Overkill – esque, Dick Dale surfer guitar punk that is reminiscent of a David Lynch movie or Tarantino soundtrack. With echos of late 50s rockabilly and beach blanket rock, X creates this rock infused magic carpet that you ride over the track. The guitar, drums and vocals are all tight as John Doe and Exene Cervenka sing about how accepting the inevitable can be freeing, but it also can be emotionally destructive.

47. The Smile: Eyes and Mouth

I don’t know what happened Thom. Please forgive me. I was listening to a ton of The Smile, Thom Yorke’s and Johnny Greenwood’s side project away from Radiohead, earlier in the year…and just…forgot about them. Well, let me make amends. Eyes and Mouth is my favourite type of Thom song, which is where he leaves electronics behind and sings against actual instruments. The drums from Tom Skinner are propulsive, which works well against some nitro guitar riffs and jazz keyboard. The entire track has an improv jazz, do it in one take, kind of vibe. I love the energy in this track and how it feels more grounded than the more synth based tracks.

46. Arooj Aftab: Raat Ki Rani

Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab has been on an OOPS! list in the past, so yet another artist I need to follow. Her work is placed within a jazz/folk/world music context; however, I believe her vocal defies genre. On Raat Ki Rani her vocal soars above all the instrumentation in this ethereal way that makes you feel like you are witnessing a miracle in a cathedral. Her vocal is compared to Sade a lot and that really comes through on this track as her vocal is soulful, warm and grounded all simultaneously. This is a vocal you must experience and listen to this track as soon as possible.