Swiftly on to the top albums of the year! First the bridesmaids...
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories. The first dozen or so plays through
this album were such a joy! Just misses out on my top 10 due to the
fact that it's not as edgy or eccentric as moments on Homework or
Discovery.
Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus. No let up from this duo. Textures a-plenty. Again not quite in the top 10 as it didn't move me as much as Tarot Sport (and other albums in my top 10).
Julia Holter - Loud City Song. If 'Ekstasis' was a wonderful eccentricity, part Laurel Halo part Joni Mitchell. Then 'Loud City Song' is part Fiona Apple part PJ Harvey. Beautifully fragmented but set to the heartbeat of the world outside. Love it.
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels. El-P and Killer Mike released pretty awesome LPs back in 2012. Their collaborative nous came through on both of those albums, however 'Run The Jewels' wears the crown. Limitless energy and fantastically interesting flows makes this one of the hip hop records of the year.
Forest Swords - Engravings/ The Haxan Cloak - Excavation. I've put these together because it's difficult to leave either out. Indulgence. I came across Excavation several months before I actually lisetened to it, managing to pick up a German copy eventually. It was a great decision (pat on back). A very intimate dubstep/electronic listen and mememorable in it's audacity. If I had listened to it a few more times definitely a top 10 shoe in. With 'Engravings' I recall picking it up and being lost in this one man world. Then 'Loud City Song' and Janelle Monae' 'Electric Lady' were released and my attention was diverted. Coming back to it over the last few weeks reminds me what an electronic delight it is. Forest Swords and The Haxan Cloak released opposing electronic pieces but together they form a reminder of how much depth this genre continues to show.
Days off, rarer than fool's gold. A delay a mosey on the beak of a songbird etc etc.
Let's hit the road!
20. Sigur Ros - Isjaki
It's been something of a comeback year for the Ros, which is a strange thing to say considering the volume of their output hasn't exactly waned. The issue i've had with the last few LPs is that many of the band's songs have been a sole idea stretched out to some hollow end point. While there have been positives, momentum has often been curtailed due to a certain insouciant meandering. So a return to form. Check out the transition from Chorus 1 to 2 for evidence. Reminds me of the 'Gong' days.
19. Kanye West - Blood On The Leaves
This shouldn't work. A relationship tale on a political backdrop? It's bracingly honest which helps no end but that it fits between the lyrically smash-mouth 'I'm In It' and half-sister 'Guilt Trip' allows 'BOTL' to rise to the podium as the emotive fulcrum of 'Yeezus'. No mean feat for such an abrasive, confrontational merry-go-round.
18. Youth Lagoon - Mute
There's an almost agnostic sparkle to this ambitious tune by Youth Lagoon. It's an interesting turn of musical trends that the best songs on the search for some sort of spiritual synchronization have avoided the altruistic sermons of yesteryear and now aim for a middle ground, the no man's land we dwell in for joyless swathes of time. Not many of us are able to portray such a reverential juxtaposition.
17. M.I.A - Bring The Noise
M.I.A (Mark III) has covered a lot of bases in her relatively short spanned career (LP wise). Since Galang, I've always found her most enjoyable when she brings a pop sensibility to her songwriting toolbox. She brings it here, just as with last year's bumper single 'Bad Girls'. Fab video to boot.
16. Arcade Fire - Afterlife
The African shuffle is undeniable after a few listens here. Really the patented Arcade Fire trick now. Take an upbeat build up ahead of steam rhythm section layer with synths/syncopated percussive elements and then layer with Win/Regine narratives on something heartbreaking. A triumph.
15. Haim - Falling
Can't wait to see this threesome live in March. Those Fleetwood Mac/ Stevie Nicks comparisons were a little distracting when 'Don't Save Me' was released. But the energy and vivality of everything these girls do is undeniable, and this is just one of many pop pearls on their debut album 'Days Are Gone'. I'll take Este's bass face over 100's of listless NME indie types any day of the week.
14. My Bloody Valentine - wonder 2
The best song of the year with '2' on the end of it. (editor note: stop with the tongue in cheek comments). It's seems we've had this new album 'mbv' for years and thats a testament to its quality. When it came out though, fresh download and all, 'wonder 2' was the polemic track which went against the comfort of what came before it. Part cacophony, part 21st century shoegaze. It's the song that still jolts as much as any else released this year.
13. James Blake - Retrograde
I wouldn't say I was indifferent to the new James Blake album but this was so clearly the highest of highs, all other tracks seem subservient to this small wonder. It's not as mysterious or offsetting as anything on 'James Blake' but it rivals 'Limit to Your Love' in that it holds its soul sensibility very much on its sleeve as wild flowers bloom amongst and beyond its hymnal motifs.
12. Daft Punk - Giorgio by Moroder
9 minutes and 5 seconds of showing off, pyrotechnics, autiobiography and uncontrollable release. Dance!
11. Janelle Monae - Primetime
Absolutely love Janelle. She's one of those narratively speaking innovative artists out there hand in hand with Erykah Badu who rather neatly appears on Monae's new LP in the jammin' 'Q.U.E.E.N.'. This is my favourite of her singles though. One of the ballads of the year and my pick simply because while before she had the songs and the words she now has the emotion also. Hopefully B.I.G. sales will follow soon enough.
