It’s difficult to balance it all out when quantifying music, trying to stack up ‘depth’ or ‘artistic integrity’ against things that are just plain catchy. The tagline on this blog says, ‘Fair, Balanced and Informative Music Reviews and Opinions’, but an opinion is never going to be fair or balanced, just check out the word’s definition. So, here’s my opinion, with all of its bias and pretension, on what have been the best ten albums released this year.
10. alt-J – This is All Yours
alt-J’s debut, An Awesome Wave, was one of the most popular independent albums of 2012; they broke the mould for the musically and thematically left of field, and quickly busted out of obscurity to become a household name. I mean, even my mum liked An Awesome Wave. How many albums can you think of with tracks that narrate prostitutes being sexually assaulted with broomsticks that your mum would ask you to put on while cooking dinner? It was quite a feat and, consequently, expectations were high for this year’s follow up, This is All Yours. This is All Yours certainly wasn’t as immediate as it’s predecessor, and the grander tracks were interspersed with far subtler ones which bordered on being withholding. But exploring more light and shade on this album was the perfect move for alt-J after being so well established by their bold debut. Album number two gave a more diverse listening experience, and the exploration of broader moods and dynamics allowed the band to breathe and grow, and to take you in new, unexpected directions. Not to mention that killer line, ‘turn you inside out a lick you like a crisp packet‘. Lovely…
Highlights: Nara (below), Intro, The Gospel of John Hurt
9. BADBADNOTGOOD – III
What happens when a bunch of young jazz musicians decide they like doing hip hop better? Well that’s when we get Canada’s BADBADNOTGOOD. BBNG took more time over their third album because, this time instead of a series of hip hop/jazz fusion covers, III was comprised entirely of originals. While the familiarity of the covers on their first two albums made them comfortable and accessible, an album of originals is exactly what BBNG needed in order to prove that they really could be the best new thing happening in hip hop instrumentals. On III, they delivered. The album grabs you from it’s first moments, as it opens with suspense and gritty drive, and it goes on to explore several different styles. There are hypnotic, head-bopping numbers, classic, tight knit hip hop and soul grooves, and there’s even an unexpected lounge jazz track. The most intriguing of all the album’s ventures, however, is into trap, and BBNG do the genre a service by putting it into a live band setting. Through all of this, the most gripping aspect of III remains the sheer virtuosity of the three musicians and the way they work in flawless cohesion.
They’re climbing the ladder, be on the look out for their collaboration with Ghostface Killah, Sour Soul, in February of next year.
Highlights: CS60 (below), Triangle, Can’t Leave the Night
8. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels 2
The lead up to RTJ2 was played out well, there was global graffiti mural campaign, ‘Tag the Jewels‘, a charity fundraiser for a cat sound only remix of the album, ‘Meow the Jewels’, and then, right before the album’s official released date El-P and Killer Mike both tweeted a link for the download (take that, guy who leaked it). The album is full of great one-liner quips, and a great deal of gunslinging and pussy slaying, but RTJ2 is also incredibly socially conscious and fiercely political. It’s the perfect medium for conveying valuable messages to a younger generation; distasteful, loud and insulting. While you may not even realise it, awareness and progressive ideals are being pumped into you, and with the power in the production on each of the songs, it could easily become the soundtrack to revolution. An overstatement? Perhaps, but the beats on the album are incredible; dark and seething, they perfectly underscore the aggressive verses that the rappers drop and the vitriol in their delivery. RTJ2‘s very opening moment is the line, “I’m gonna bang this bitch the fuck out!”, and bang that bitch the fuck out is exactly what Killer Mike and El-P did.
Highlights: Blockbuster Night Part 1 (below), Jeopardy, Oh My Darling (Don’t Cry)
7. Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
Todd Terje’s retro dance tunes have received some labels that compare them to manufactured environmental music, ‘Muzak‘, but Terje has openly accepted these labels and said,”It sounds like elevator music. Good, danceable elevator music.”. This may be pretty accurate as a generalisation, but the songs on his debut, It’s Album Time, really are so much more. With a beautiful cycle of different flavours, from latin rumbas to ethereal space-age jams and chugging, 80s driving music, the album’s cheesy analog synth charm is infectious. It’s Album Time definitely doesn’t take itself seriously, from the cover and name to the song titles, most of which are named after fictional norse characters like Svensk Sås or Delorean Dynamite, but don’t let the album’s sense of humour and novelty fool you into thinking it’s not incredibly sophisticated. The production is crisp and the percussion is complex, there’s dense polyphony, intricate interplay between counter-melodies, and countless harmonic modulations. After 10 years in the scene, Todd Terje has clearly taken the time to master his craft and develop a distinct artistic voice, and, after deciding 2014 really was album time, he did not disappoint.
Highlights: Inspector Norse (below), Strandbar, Alfonso Muskedunder
6. The Antlers – Familiars
Familiars is a slow burner, there’s no way around that. The Antlers have never shied away from lengthy compositions, but on their 2014 release even the shortest track is five minutes long; a bold move, and perhaps a bit self-indulgent, it goes to show just how self-assured The Antlers have become. This confidence was splashed all over Familiars, from the lyrical content and vocal delivery, to the instrumentation and song structure. No longer is frontman Peter Silberman playing the perpetual victim, recounting tales of heartbreak in his angelic falsetto, instead he now looks at his own monsters and self-acceptance through a lens tinted by the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and does so belting with throaty power that has scarcely been seen in The Antlers’ music before. Meanwhile, rather than just laying down emotional verse/chorus blocks, the tracks on Familiars all grow and blossom to a sonic supernova, exploding with shimmering ambience. With their greater confidence and more emotionally constructive new direction, Familiars is The Antler’s best work since their breakout, Hospice.
Highlights: Refuge (below), Parade, Director
5. Iska Dhaaf – Even the Sun Will Burn
Seattleite newcomers, Iska Dhaaf threw something unexpected into the mix in March with their debut Even the Sun Will Burn. Their two man format of vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and vocalist/drummer/keyboardist really gets you scratching your head, puzzling over how a duo make such a full sound, and how they’re able to multi-task like they do. It’s post-punk with a sufi twist, and has a good balance between the moshable, quick tempo jams and the more introspective, downbeat numbers, all exploring dependency and purity, self-identity and loyalty, apathy and fulfilment. A first listen will see these themes go largely unnoticed though; the delivery is so punchy and the album is so jam packed with awesome, angular, brooding melodies that your focus is stolen away from the lyrical content. This just encourages you to give the album more of your time, with further listens to completely unpack each song. Their name, Iska Dhaaf is Somali term, and translates to mean ‘let it go’, and this is exactly how Even the Sun Will Burn comes across, it’s a zealous purging of the soul.
Highlights: Everybody Knows (below), Rumi, Moonless Night
4. Caribou – Our Love
It’s been four years since Dan Snaith made the conscious decision to change the direction of Caribou from cluttered, experimental psych-rock to electronica, and in October he returned with his fourth album, Our Love. Possibly his most easily digestible album to date, Our Love appeals to classic pop sensibilities, but does so with a signature flair that sets it in it’s own class of electro-pop. From the title it’s pretty clear that it’s an album about love, and this theme continues into each of the songs. While love’s presence is overt, it’s never tacky or overblown, instead it’s frequently nuanced and down to earth, and not just all sunshine and flowery meadows, as the lead single suggests. There’s an unnerving realism in hearing a guy in his mid 30s with a wife and children seething, crawling and regretting in romance, when the ideal is for everything to be peachy once you’ve made it to the family stage (although Snaith does insist those songs aren’t autobiographical, but about those around him). Our Love saw Caribou push further in towards the mainstream to drop an album that everyone can love, but it’s preserved his charm to give us what is still unmistakably a Caribou album.
Highlights: Can’t Do Without You (below), All I Ever Need, Your Love Will Set You Free
3. Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Mac DeMarco’s 2012 album, 2, was a jangly jaunt, packed with quirky lighthearted songs that suggested he had about as many cares as he had dollars to his name (very few), but this year’s Salad Days showed a different side of Mac DeMarco, a man with worries. The album is littered with evidences of the toll that underground stardom is taking on him; there are chips on shoulders, existential crises, girlfriends at risk of deportation and cloudy patches of regret. DeMarco’s new world-weariness isn’t anywhere near as charming, but it’s incredibly humanising, and on Salad Days DeMarco establishes himself as more than just a kitsch novelty or a loveable sovereign of slackers. The change in mood is carried by new explorations in instrumentation and pace; the clever ‘jizz-jazz’ chord progressions are slowed down and take a heavy hit from the chorus pedal, the ear-worm melodies are dreamier, and the synth even takes the lead on a couple of tracks. With Salad Days, he’s matured and proven he’s more than a gimmick, but it’s still clear that Mac DeMarco hasn’t lost his bizarre and captivating sense of humour or developed any sense of shame; just check out an interview or music video, or take a peek at his instagram. #tinypenis
Highlights: Salad Days (below), Goodbye Weekend, Chamber of Reflection
2. Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Ought’s debut full length, More Than Any Other Day, is hard to stick a genre label on, sitting somewhere in a venn diagram made up of art punk, math rock and DIY. It hails to a wide array of influences, but the easiest sonic analogy to make is like a collaboration between the Velvet Underground and Slint. The whole album sounds as if it’s been recorded live, and it’s intricate pandemonium. For the most part you’re faced with a puzzle of jarring guitar riffs, melodic bass lines, stabbing keyboards and complex drum beats that your brain has to make sense of, but don’t worry, all of the pieces are there and they do fit. There are sparser moments on here as well, and Ought use space just as well as they use clutter. Tim Beeler’s vocals border on manic and he ‘sings’ in drones, shouts and mumbles, with the delivery perfectly reflecting the lyrics which come across like the diary of somebody in the throes of a nervous breakdown. They may not always be easy to decipher, but there are always news line to latch onto and form your own world of meaning around. More Than Any Other Day is rough and raw, but that’s it’s beauty, and if it weren’t it wouldn’t be nearly such a memorable album.
Highlights: Gemini (below), Habit, Today More Than Any Other Day
1. Wild Beasts – Present Tense
It’s easy to forget about the albums which came out early in the year, but back in February, Wild Beasts’ fourth was one of the year’s first big releases. Present Tense saw yet another step in the band’s gradual sound transition from scrappy, youthful hooting and howling, to sleek and mature cooing and wooing. That said, don’t confuse them for giving any fucks. This time there are fewer guitars and more synths, but the sound it still distinctive of the UK four piece, with the subtle, trebly riffage and drums playing out inventive, buoyant beats, peppered with popping bongos and heavy with syncopation, all held under the interplay between the Hayden Thorpe’s choirboy tenor and Tom Flemming’s throaty baritone. As always the lyrical content is surreal and somewhat obscure, either passionate and longing, or dark and visceral, and the topics range from dying pets getting lipsticked and ribboned, to crafty wrestler men stealing your missus, to some classic, sexy sex. Whether or not you’re able to decipher their elaborate metaphors or subtle allusions doesn’t matter, the artistic depth of Present Tense makes it impossible to avoid being sucked into Wild Beasts’ ethereal world.
Highlights: Wanderlust (below), Nature Boy, Palace
That’s sure a lot of opinion. Feel free to let me know what yours is in the comments section.
Phillip Leason
AudioSprawl 