A mildly damning indictment upon my creative written output that only one (somewhat maudlin) post separates this from ‘discovered in 2013’, but anyway, here we go…
Again, the prompt for this list stems from the @LPGrp ‘secret santa’ exercise and doubles as the enclosure for a number of friends’ Christmas cards. The following is a collection of new (and on occasion old) music that I have discovered this year. Some artists; notably Teleman, Mogwai and Ezra Furman, stand out particularly as favourites but I have limited matters to one song per artist for reasons of breadth. Listening notes are as scribbled upon compiling, without editing.
1. ‘Bloomdido’ – John Sinclair…
…managed the MC5, mates with Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk and maybe the coolest speaking voice ever. Seek out the 6music interview w/ Gid Coe.
2. ‘Almost like the blues’ – Leonard Cohen…
…effortlessly cool, could be from any other period in his career (apart from the coked-up Spector shenanigans of ‘…Ladies Man’ : – )
3. ‘Are you with me now?’ – Cate Le Bon…
…the first of a few EOTR (and Marc Riley) discoveries. Evokes the Velvet Underground and is wonderful for it.
4. ‘White rabbit’ – Mayssa Karaa…
…a wonderful cover of a favourite song, from one of my films of the year (American Hustle).
5. ‘Another love song’ – September Girls…
…fuzzy, gazey, charming, dreamy pop reminiscent of Paisley Underground-era Bangles…
6. ‘Madison’ – Joanna Gruesome…
…and continuing in the same vein. Guitar pop roolz forever.
7. ‘Until the sun explodes’ – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart…
…from one of my albums of the summer. Pure sunshine in a song. Very Aztec/Prefab.
8. ‘For one night only’ – King Creosote…
…another courtesy of Marc Riley. and more pop loveliness. builds to soaring keys, and hooray for unashamed accents.
9. ‘Skeleton dance’ – Teleman…
…my other album of the summer. Against type to a degree, but I LOVE this band.
10. ‘Breathing’ – Juan Wauters (feat. Carmelle)…
…can’t honestly say why I like this so much. But I do.
11. ‘100 unread messages’ – Gruff Rhys…
…one of pop’s true geniuses – American Interior is easily the most brilliant and complete work of art from 2014. ppt presentation at EOTR was magnificent.
12. ‘Nobody loves the Hulk’ – Traits…
…this year’s top ‘oldie’ discovery – covered by Sterling Roswell supporting The Chills in Tufnell Park. Wonderful 60s garage pop and top geek content.
13. ‘The weather song’ – Ought…
…a very recent discovery and last minute addition to this tape. Bright, jagged pop. Thanks to Gid Coe (and The Kinks, I reckon : – ) for the discovery…
<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/91444736″>Ought “The Weather Song”</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/cstrecords”>Constellation Records</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>14. ‘Slacker Adria’ – Ezra Furman…
…a very definite highlight from EOTR – from secret Tipi set on Thursday to fresco-bothering Garden Stage appearance – my first impression was “a young man possessed by a 50yo Maggie Simpson, singing Velvet Underground songs with the E-Street Band”. and I stand by it. a quite glorious talent.
(I have since decided that Ezra can have two in my best of the year…because this next one somehow did not make the CD but is definitely my song of the year…)
15. ‘The return of evil Bill – Clinic…
…a slight cheat, as I was given this on a friend’s best of 2013 compilation, but fully confirmed in January 2014 with Clinic supporting Mogwai at RFH.
16. ‘Houdini’ – Cuz…
…relentlessly groovy bassline and hooks underneath (I think) vibraphone and synths with strangely dark stream of consciousness over the top. I also like to think it references Prometheus. but it probably doesn’t.
17. ‘Geraldo’s farm’ – Kiran Leonard…
…I was aware of KL prior to EOTR, thanks to Marc Riley’s entirely justified promotion. I was unaware of the astonishing talent I would witness in a Big Top lunchtime set. Frighteningly good with echoes of Yorke and Buckley.
18. ‘The people’s microphone’ – Shellac…
…another recent addition – not much to add really – just…Shellac.
19. ‘Remurdered’ – Mogwai…
…retains its place as 2014 Mogwai-pick (only just ahead of recently released ‘Teenage Exorcists’) through the awesome noise that was the RFH gig. Thundering and relentless.
20. ‘Couvre-moi’ – petit fantôme…
…gorgeous, big, Stereolabby French noise. x x x
21. ‘Lucy in the sky with diamonds’ – Flaming Lips (feat. Miley Cyrus & Moby)…
…it could have been awful (indeed some think it is) but I love this…the encore to my two favourite shows of the year. Truly epic and I think back to my favourite band.
Lastly, below is a small selection of some of the CD covers I’ve designed for folks this year, having rediscovered drawing/doodling in the last year (part of the reason I have written very little)…
musically speaking... 