English Teacher released their terrific debut album, This Could Be Texas, this year which won the prestigious Mercury Prize and has been showing up on Best of 2024 lists, including NME‘s and MOJO‘s. If you haven’t checked that out yet, please do so and watch their new video for album highlight “Not Everybody Gets to Go to Space,” below.
We’ve been asking artists for their own year-end lists and here’s one from English Teacher guitarist Lewis Whiting with his Top 10 Songs of 2024. Those include tracks from IDLES (with whom they toured this year), Fontaines D.C. (who they’re opening for in Manchester next year), Kim Gordon, MJ Lenderman, Westside Cowboy, Lifeguard, and more. Check out his list and commentary below.
ENGLISH TEACHER’S LEWIS WHITING – TOP 10 SONGS OF 2024
1. “Dig” – Orlando Weeks ft Rhian Teasdale
This track has been on almost every day this year, It’s addictive. It has this beautiful piano line that repeats throughout the track, it’s so satisfying and I love how you almost can’t hear it. It’s tucked beneath all the guitar layers and just pokes out every so often. It scratches a part of my brain like no other on this list. I love how he’s almost whispering into the microphone, it reminds me of Sonic Youth’s cover of Superstar. The back-and-forth between the two of them is perfect. It’s noisy and delicate and I always have it on repeat. Wish I’d written it.
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2. “Super Breath” – Karen O & Danger Mouse
I’ve had this on daily since it came out. The top line is so catchy I can’t get it out of my head and Karen O’s vocal delivery is so cool. Each section hits exactly where you want it to and when the piano hits at the start of each chorus it gets me every time.
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3. “Bug” – Fontaines D.C.
I heard this song first when I was stranded in Brussels after I lost my passport, I walked around listening to this album on repeat the whole time. This is one of my favourite songs they’ve ever written. It kinda encapsulates a lot of the things I admire about them, at its core it’s a pretty simple pop song but it’s in the lyrics and the way it’s arranged. It’s sincere, dead cool and comes across really unpretentious.
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4. “BYE BYE” – Kim Gordon
I am a huge Sonic Youth fan, I got to finally see her at Glastonbury this year and it kinda blew my mind. She’s still killing it and her solo work is 100x more interesting than anything the others have ever been up to.
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5. “Wristwatch” – MJ Lenderman
I listened to this album for the first time whilst driving through North Carolina on tour in the US, living out my American road trip fantasy. I think that’s what made me understand all the hype around him. He has a lot of humour in his lyrics, something I always enjoy and the chorus hook is great.
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6. “Brother” – Slow Fiction
Totally unbiased addition to this list. I have seen this song live a hundred times and it still hits. Go and listen to this band!
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7. “Sadness As A Gift” – Adrianne Lenker
This song is absolutely heartbreaking, beautiful and somehow feels like it’s existed forever. One of my favourite songwriters. I’ve had this album on all year.
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8. “IDEA 01” – IDLES
We went on tour with these in the US over the summer and they opened the set with this and had it in my head since. There’s this chord change in the middle of the track, it comes at the perfect point and I enjoy it a lot.
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9. “Telepathic Love” – Lifeguard
This song is like some lost ’70s punk band, I’ve found myself always putting this on when I need to get myself out of bed and moving.
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10. “I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)” – Westside Cowboy
These guys are incredible, shameless plug as I produced this track but this track has been in my head all the summer, check them out.
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Check out more Best of 2024 lists here.
In addition to that very big Manchester show with Fontaines D.C., English Teacher have a few 2025 shows lined up, which all seem to be festivals. Those are listed below.
ENGLISH TEACHER – 2024/2025 TOUR DATES
21/12/2024 Bedford Esquires – Music Venue Bedford, GB
20/01/2025 Ｓｈｉｂｕｙａ ＷＷＷ Ｘ 渋谷区, 東京都
03/05/2025 Heartbreakers Southampton, GB
17/05/2025 Various Sheffield Venues Sheffield, GB
23/05/2025 Wide Awake Festival 2025 London, GB
10/07/2025 Parque Kobetamendi / Kobetamendi Parkea Bilbao, ES
13/07/2025 Exhibition Park Newcastle Upon Tyne, GB
31/07/2025 All Together Now 2025 Portlaw, IE
15/08/2025 Wythenshawe Park Manchester, GB