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2014 Albums of the Year: Part One - 10 through 6

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Following on from my list of the of 2014 best songs, which starts with Part One here, here is the first of two parts covering the best albums of the year. It has to be said, 2014 felt like a better year for songs than for albums - lots of interesting emerging artists released EPs, but there were less breakthrough albums that really lived up to the hype. In comparison to an individual track or an EP, creating a compelling album is incredibly hard. In my view, these were the best.

You can check out the concluding part, which includes my album of the year, here.

 

10. Liminal - The Acid

Liminal - The Acid

The debut album from Adam Freeland's new band was something of a surprise... Down-tempo, soulful and full of angst. There are hints of inspiration - take the vulnerable mumbling of Thom Yorke, the sub-bass from Burial - but the whole thing feels distinct. An organic, distinctly human snapshot that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify

 

9. I Never Learn - Lykke Li

I Never Learn - Lykke Li

Lykke Li's boldest album yet, I Never Learn turned up on your doorstep with tears in its eyes and hair that has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Such intensely personal music would be difficult to listen to if it wasn't for such compelling song-writing. Even when it is belting out power ballads, as on Never Gonna Love Again, I Never Learn was always uniquely Lykke Li's.

Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify

 

8. You’re Dead! - Flying Lotus

You're Dead! - Flying Lotus

It almost always feels too easy for Flying Lotus these days, his experiments boldly carving out new approaches to sound like they were always the most obvious thing in the world. You're Dead! is FlyLo's most overtly jazz influenced album yet, and it is impossible to shake the sense that if some of the experimental jazz pioneers of the 50s and 60s were warped to today, this might be exactly what they would sound like... And that's a massive achievement.

Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify

 

7. LP1 - FKA Twigs

LP1 - FKA Twigs

2014 was FKA Twig's year more than any other musicians. The most impressive thing about LP1 is that prior to 2014 very few had even heard of her - by now she is undoubtedly one of the most revered stars in R&B. LP1 has moments of confused, electrified brilliance, but I can't help but feel like the best is yet to come.

Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify

 

6. Reality Testing - Lone

Reality Testing - Lone

Full of moments of experimental brilliance, Lone made one of the most interesting albums of beats I've heard in years. Reality Testing combined every genre Lone could get his hands on, but rather than the candy cane explosion of someone like Rustie this felt like a pleasant trip through the mind of a friend with an enormous record collection.

Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify

2014 Songs of the Year: Part Four - 30 through 21

Just got here? Get up to speed with Part One, Two and Three. Click the Prev post button at the bottom of this post to get to Part Five once it is out.

 

30. I Ain’t Gonna Tell You - The Dedication

Dedication "I Ain't Gonna Tell You" A. Original B. DJ Kaos Highland Park Power Mix http://store.dfarecords.com/products/dfa2410 http://aboveboarddist.co.uk/dfa/DFA2410

As I posted back in May there is something a little bit inspirational about this record. Proper disco, but made for now. So much energy, passion and drive that it is hard not to feel ashamed if you didn’t bounce out of bed this morning with a grin on your face. Get on it!

 

29. Hey Mami - Sylvan Esso

Sylvan Esso available on iTunes: smarturl.it/SylvanEsso.iTunes http://sylvanesso.com www.twitter.com/SylvanEsso www.facebook.com/SylvanEsso @sylvanesso

Sylvan Esso make folky influenced pop with garage and bass influences and from the moment I heard this opener to their self-titled debut album I knew I’d never forget it… Hey Mami is basically ridiculous - more bass and pop sass than you can possibly know what to do with.

 

28. 2 Is 8 - Lone

Taken from the album 'Reality Testing' iTunes - http://georiot.co/34OP R&S (CD and LP) - http://bit.ly/QXssTi R&S (Transparent Yellow vinyl) - http://bit.ly/1gDzW2r https://www.facebook.com/magicwirelone https://soundcloud.com/lone-1 https://twitter.com/lone https://www.facebook.com/randsrecords

Lone’s album has been a sleeper classic for me this year - one I keep going back to. 2 is 8 is one of it’s most immediate and infectious moments.

 

27. Real - Years & Years

'Take Shelter' -- Available on iTunes: http://po.st/yytsYTD 'Real 'out now via Kitsuné.

Years & Years caught my attention supporting Say Lou Lou earlier in the year, and it was hard not to come away thinking the headliners had been upstaged. As we near the release of their debut album their recent tracks have felt a little less urgent and essential, but Real was them at their best… Olly Alexander’s vocals pitched and desperate and the electronics raw and insistent.


26. ILYSB - LANY

www.thisislany.com

I know nothing about LANY, nor this song, but it found it’s way to me towards the end of the year and I’m utterly in love with the way it captures the intensity of loving like nothing else matters. The killer line: “And you need to know that nobody could take your place … And you need to know that I’m hella obsessed with your face”. Nothing else this year made me feel so much like an infatuated teenager.

 

25. I Don’t Need Another Lover - Billie Black

EP 000100 out now. http://smarturl.it/BB000100 www.billie-black.com | www.facebook.com/thisbillieblack | www.twitter.com/thisbillieblack | www.soundcloud.com/billie-black Directed by Alex Brown

The first track I heard from Billie Black remains her best so far - her vocals are steadfast and determined and the electronics bounce and skitter along full of all the modern soul the song can muster. Definitely one to watch in 2015.

 

24. Sweet Spot - Wild Beasts

Wild Beasts - Sweet Spot Buy Sweet Spot at iTunes - http://po.st/SweetSpotiTunes Pre-Order Present Tense at: Domino - http://po.st/PresentTenseDM iTunes - http://po.st/PresentTense UK / EU / US 'Present Tense' Tour Dates - Buy Tickets Here : http://po.st/WBSITE

Wild Beasts hit 2014 like their lives depended on it - Present Tense is easily their best album yet, more taught, focused and ultimately theirs. Sweet Spot was one of the finest songs on that album, full of all the refined minimalism that defined much of its best moments.

 

23. Return - Eno + Hyde

Brian Eno and Karl Hyde delivered several surprises this year… Following on just weeks after their conflicted first collaboration Someday World was High Life, and it was at times a revelation. This epic opener combined elements of the African style that inspired the album’s name with some of Eno’s signature production styles, whilst simultaneously reminding us that the best thing about U2 is actually an Eno trick… Just feel those guitars.

 

22. Rootwork - Trees

Ann Arbor's Trees drops this wicked ep, six slices of lush, each on their own planet but part of the same galaxy, where techno, hip-hop and house rub up against jazz, Kraut-rock and African percussion. There's a saying in Ann Arbor that goes “I spent half my life waiting for Charles”. Charles Trees, because that's who people are referring to when uttering those words, is the local music scene's best kept secret. In a city literally brimming with talent (MC5, Iggy, George Clinton, Mitch Ryder, Recloose, Mayer Hawthorne, Shigeto, Dabrye, anyone?), Charles is one of the absolute heroes, a gem among gems, yet relatively few people outside the city limits have heard of him. Why? Well, probably because our man doesn't really care too much about fame, hipster blogs, online social networking or other forms of shameless self promotion. He just makes his music, and remixes, and spins his tunes around town, and sometimes even releases some of them, like his EPs on Moodgadget, Ghostly International, or Paris imprint Musique Large. Which is how we heard about Charles. He made us a brilliant remix for Pajaro Sunrise' “Old Goodbyes”, and after that we had the pleasure of meeting him in person. A deal was struck for an EP. It was the summer of 2012, and we were about to find out what the “half my life waiting for Charles” was all about. Fast forward to 2014, and lo and behold, habemus EP. And not just any EP. A HUGE EP. Six slices of lush, each on their own planet but part of the same galaxy, where techno, hip-hop and house rub up against jazz, Kraut-rock and African percussion. Sounds like a cliché, right? Uh huh, yeah. The title track starts out like a Sun Ra jam, with the brilliant Dan Bennett on sax. After the fist bass stab, the beat kicks in and we're taken on a jubilant ride towards the acidic finish. “Exodus” continues on a hypnotic house tip while the level of funk keeps rising. The slamming beat finishes things off quite nicely. On “Get Advanced”, Detroit rapper, poet and Egyptologist Intricate Dialect spits his rhymes over hypnotic and minimal percussion and some nasty 303-stabs. Dan Bennett returns on “What's Left”, a slow burning piece of space boogie. Madrid-based DJ F does a good job of remixing”Rootwork”, adding some eeriness by changing the beat and replacing Bennett's sax with trippy keyboards. And finally, the mighty Shigeto stretches “What's Left” to almost nine minutes, with a four-minute intro leading up to a more uptempo but equally hypnotic version of the original. https://soundcloud.com/charlestrees http://lovemonk.bandcamp.com/album/rootwork

Crazy, epic, confused and utterly beautiful. Trees was unknown to me before this year, but there is no forgetting him once you have heard Rootwork - it’s simply fantastic, inspired and genius.

 

21. Alena - Yumi Zouma

Buy Alena on iTunes: http://bit.ly/1naY1rj Yumi Zouma return with new single, Alena, a song infused with their trademark quiet intimacy, now buoyed on a pad of lush electronics and building slowing to a muted euphoric refrain. Sliding in and out of dream states, capturing the safety of nostalgia and the grasping for good times out of reach, Alena's power stems from its evocative ability to unlock chambers in our memory banks. This fall Yumi Zouma circumnavigates the globe in support of Lorde (New Zealand shows) and later, play Iceland Airwaves, along with dates in the UK and US. Yumi Zouma on tour: www.yumizouma.com Yumi Zouma FB: http://tinyurl.com/nz7lecr Cascine FB: http://tinyurl.com/py2dncx

Bloggers’ darlings in 2014 following their self-titled EP and breakthrough track The Brae, but it was the warm shot of Balearia that was Alena that really showed what they Yumi Zouma are capable of.