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Friday, January 2, 2015

14 for 14: 2014's Best Albums Round Up

14 for 14 

2014 Albums I have Loved

Lust for Youth: International 

-like the broke down, lo fi and heart sick younger brother of Howard Jones, fading Duracell's in his Casio but melodic tricks up his synth--wizard sleeves, dusty beats and ghostly traces of Robert Smith style dream-guitar

Electric Wizard: Time to Die

-heavy, scrungey and half-speed yes but also dense and psycheadelic and almost shoegazer-like at times. Put it on in a darkened room and turn up those headphones and unleash the Satanic Panic!

FKA Twigs: LP1

-this girl is channeling the Goddess, just watch her dance in her video's. Like floating in audio honey laced with absinthe

Broadcast: Tender Buttons

-this one came out a while back but I had sort of a re-alignment with the Broadcast this year. All of a sudden I just can't get enough of this album. I love the Kraftwerk style primitive drum machines and the minimalism and all of Trish's vocals and lyrics overall

Peaking Lights: Cosmic Logic

-this is like the perfect summer soundtrack; naive mystic vocals, playful synths, amazing bouncing bass lines and multiple layers of rhythms. 

Black Bananas: Electric Brick Wall

-if Peaking Lights is like Sesame Street then Black Bananas is the Electric Company. Slightly weirder and more likely to have someone stoned involved behind the scenes. Sort of hit or miss but when it hits it is amazingly almost sickeningly fun and catchy. Plus, Jennifer's vocals and lyrics are always fun to me

Heat: Hunter Complex

-there's a real melancholy feeling to the synths on this album, like California at the end of summer

Kim Deal: Solo Tracks (Walking with a Killer, Are You Mine, The Root, Range on Castle)

-finally fulfilled a life-long dream this year of seeing the Breeders in concert. Kim played her new song Walking with a Killer and I was moved ladies and gentlemen, Kim is the Real Deal...

The Knife: Shaking the Habitual (2013)

-this one was actually 2013 but I have to admit it is a difficult one to get into. The way the album is sequenced is very demanding on your time and attention. If you are in the right mood though it can be very transporting

Paul McCartney: McCartney II (re-issue)

-reissue of an album from 1980, Paul McCartney got himself a whole mess of bud and some drum machines and synths and made this album at his farm in Scotland. It's amazing! So ahead of it's time. It's like you think you have discovered a new sound and lo and behold The Beatles were already there before you...

Pye Corner Audio: The Black Mist e.p./ Singles

-soundtrack to the dystopian film noire London to Los Angeles, that David Cronenberg algorythm. The darker more urban and less pastoral side of the Ghost Box sound

Sinoia Caves: Beyond the Black Rainbow

-amazing movie that touches on themes from Lovecraft, Crowley, Kubrick. A strange sci fi/horror fever dream. The soundtrack is amazing. It has nods to John Carpenter style score work but it also has plenty of melodic and rhythmic invention. It definitely works as it's own statement as opposed to being just a soundtrack

I am the Center: New Age Collection

-This is independent ambient style music from the 70's, 80's. For when Brian Eno just doesn't do it anymore...

Bardo Pond: Looking for Another Place/ Peace on Venus

-Bardo Pond are doing something pretty unique right now. It's like lo fi shoegaze meets new age music, or like acid-fried dream pop. Guitars that burn like lava through sheets of echoing flute, you can't even call these jam's, they are more like Apocalypse's....

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mystery saint

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