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 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
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
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
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
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 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
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
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.