Each day of December this year, I’m highlighting one of my favourite albums of 2024. Counting down the list, we start with #31 on December 1st and go all the way down until we’ve reached #1 on December 31st. Today, #29 on my Album of the Year list: Real Farmer – ‘Compare What’s There’.

Tramhaus, Pip Blom, Lewsberg, Personal Trainer, Rats On Rafts. All bands inextricably connected to the Dutch indie scene going abroad. Especially the UK seems to be interested in the cream of the crop of the Dutch ‘underground’. Another new breakthrough act seems on the horizon, with Groningen outfit Real Farmer releasing their debut on Pete Doherty’s Strap Originals label.

Like most post-punk bands over the last few years, Real Farmer caught some waves in The Netherlands. Growing up in the lowlands, you learn to live with the constant come and go of hyped indie and alternative acts. People love to be on top of it, preferably before the first ever single has been released, causing a big pile of ‘meh’ bands all being labelled ‘up and coming’. Now, I don’t think Real Farmer is a ‘meh’ band necessarily. However, ‘Compare What’s There’ doesn’t really feel like the Northerners are worth the hype, either.

Sure, it’s a decent album with some fine tunes on it. ‘Perry Boys’ is drenched in a Joy Division sauce and ‘The Straightest Line’ even got picked up by renowned online music critic Anthony Fantano AKA The Needle Drop but overall, it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. I’m the first one to step up and say that’s not a problem and as long as it sounds good it’s fine blah blah blah, but to really hype up another one of these bands seems a bit unnecessary to me. For the love of God. Surely there are new bands out there that sound a bit more exciting than this one, right? Real Farmer debuts with a well constructed post-punk album and that’s that. I’m sure that’s enough to secure them a spot at every Dutch music festival under the sun.