2014 has been a long year, but music has kept me company through productive, creative, stressful and lazy times. So I'll honour music my way.
This is my first ever end-of-the-year celebratory list. Twenty names, a few runners-up, a few absentees: it's a very subjective list, and it mostly reflects the genres I've listened to throughout 2014, so pardon me if there isn't much electronic music represented this year.
I'll also try to spend a few words on why I liked each album. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
1) The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave
Because this album is a journey. Into darkness, gloomy Scottish landscapes and an existential angst that's not that of teenagers, but rather a "tired melancholy," as DiS suggests. It's a concept album, which is why I called it a 'journey', and therefore it should be taken as a whole: "it’s not until you assemble the whole thing, that the jaw-dropping brilliance of the album reveals itself."
2) Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
Because there is a maturity to this album that I hadn't seen in Albarn before, and although it explores and deploys various genres it is in melancholic tracks that his voice and lyricism work best together; You and Me might be my favourite track of 2014.
3) Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else
Because Cloud Nothings know how to reach the perfect balance between noise, misanthropy and catchiness, and because this album sounds incredibly powerful live.
4) Pianos Become the Teeth - Keep You
Because they're exploring a different genre which suits them; more precisely, they're experimenting with a mixture of genres, and the result is a solid piece of work whose punk, emo, post-rock, post-punk, slowcore and shoegaze influences create 43 minutes of pure bliss.
5) Owen Pallett - In Conflict
Because everyone knows I've got a (ridiculously) soft spot for Mr Pallett, but also because experimenting with a band helped him broaden the scope of his music. Owen's music sounds like nothing you've heard before, and this album sounds like nothing Owen Pallett has ever done before.
6) Cymbals Eat Guitars - Lose
Because despite every track being different from the previous and the next one, there is a cohesion to this album that I can't quite explain. Still, this means that they can play (and play with) any genre they want and still demonstrate they're great at it.
7) Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Because can you really expect anything bad coming from a band called Nothing?! And because it's a troubled work that's the product of a troubled past and there was probably no better way to express that than by using noise and shoegaze.
8) Perfume Genius - Too Bright
Because it's a perfect album: it is technically perfect without sounding like he's trying too hard, BUT still manages to sound genuine, sentimental, and catchy.
9) Sun Kil Moon - Benji
Because this record is a novel, and one told by a bright and talented writer.
10) We Were Promised Jetpacks - Unravelling
Because WWPJ are one of those bands it's really hard to label, but easy to sing along to. That, and a very well-produced and cohesive album, full of instrumental crescendos and great imagery in the lyrics.
11) Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In the End
Because they're genuinely going back to the shack, and "rocking out like it's '94." Yet, the albums sounds so new: not because it's new, but because it's so different from the music that's around right now, it almost feels like something you haven't heard before.
12) Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
Because, as suggested by the title, this album is also a journey, a heartbreaking yet cathartic one, and because Van Etten is simply a great songwriter.
13) Royal Blood - Royal Blood
Because I didn't expect something so powerful coming from such a harmless-looking duo (yes, so much noise, but still a two-piece band!). It's a great debut album.
14) East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
Because this is another stunning debut album, with a character and elegance to it that show a maturity we wouldn't expect of a debut album.
15) Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Because Mogwai never disappoint, to be completely honest with you. And it sounds great live!
16) Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again
Because Joyce Manor make quality punk-rock, and because I like pretending I'm 17 inside.
17) The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There
Because it's visceral, painful but never overly dramatic, and because look at that title!
18) Johnny Foreigner - You Can Do Better
Because this albums sounds much more mature and cohesive than the previous ones, and they've been playing with a few more influences. You rock, Birmingham!
19) Young Fathers - Dead!
Because Edinburgh rocks too. To be fair, there's a lot of Scotland in this playlist, even though Young Fathers are the least Scottish of the four. The album is powerful, it has character and it's never boring; it just sounds good from start to finish, and he Mercury Prize was well deserved.
20) Interpol - El Pintor
Because, however disappointing, an Interpol record is still an Interpol record. And to be honest this wasn't even disappointing; it's a good album, and you can tell there's an attempt to go back to their older sound while trying to get something new out of it.
Other albums I liked:
- Swans - To Be Kind
- Real Estate - Atlas
- Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
- Future Islands - Singles
- Kiasmos - Kiasmos
- A Winged Victory for the Sullen - Atomos
- Ronin - Adagio Furioso
- Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
- Keaton Henson - Romantic Works
- Grouper - Ruins
- The Antlers - Familiars
- Fucked Up - Glass Boys
"I don't get what the fuss is all about" albums (I don't necessarily hate them):
- FKA Twigs - LP1
- Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
- Aphex Twin - Syro
- The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream
- Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
- Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
- EMA - Future's Void
- Taylor Swift - 1989 (oh yes I hate this one).
Finally, here's a Spotify playlist with my favourite tracks from 2014:
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