Best Tunes Of 2014

Forever Bloody - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Low - Juicy J feat. Young Thug, N Minaj...
Lifestyle - Young Thug, Rich Homie & Birdman
2 On - Tinashe feat. Schoolboy Q
Studio - Schoolboy Q feat. BJ The Chicago Kid
I'm Comin Home - Lil Boosie
Hunter - Total Control
Florida Water - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Turn Down For What - DJ Snake & Lil Jon
Club Goin Up On A Tuesday (+DJ Snake remix & Drake version) - I Love Makonnen
Area 51 - Theo Nasa 
One Spliff - Hodgson
Gladiator - RS4
Kuang EP - Lee Gamble
Shake It Off - Taylor Swift
Flesh War - Total Control
Everything Was Legendary With Robert - Dave Graney
Amnesia - Kevin Gates
No Tears - Jeezy feat. Future
'til we pass out - Raven Felix
Danny Glover Remix - Young Thug feat. N Minaj
No Type - Rae Sremmurd
No Love - August Alsina feat. N Minaj
CoCo - O.T. Genasis
Don't Know - Kevin Gates
Pole Sex EP - Beatking
Fuckin Wit Me - Tinashe (Mustard On The Beat)

* I tried to make sure these were singles, songs with videos, virtual singles or promo singles in some form or another otherwise I would have had like 17 Ariel Pink tunes and like 40 from Beatking & HBK Gang. Those songs are on the albums in the upcoming best of 2014 albums and mixtapes list. Then again I guess anything on i-tunes or Beatport is technically a single, whatever!

*No Type by Rae Sremmurd gets a nod for the incredible vibe created by producer Mike Will Made It (of Pour It Up fame and the above No Tears) and the singing from one of the duo but the other guy is such a Young Thug wannabe he ruins it just a tiny bit for me, but it's soo good.....I can let it slide.

Lee Gamble - Girl Drop

This could be my favourite track of the year too. This is from Lee Gamble's Kuang EP. It feels like a ghostly cavernous space where the rave action used to be, now there is just reverberation and lost time. I can also sense some hope perhaps, sunlight creeping though the cracks of a past time. Anyway it is beautiful and brilliant. It's up there with anything from his Diversions 94-96 record which made my end of 2012 list. It's probably the best thing he's done so far, stunning!

What's On The Hi-Fi Lately.

Having had a lot of time off I've had a chance to listen to heaps of music and even do some reading too. Some of which I've already mentioned Swans, Scott Walker, Pye Corner Audio and that great mix by Ix Tab. Ix Tabs mix had me going back to old Coil records. Coil always seem to turn up on these mixes which is indicitive of their continuing influence on the underground of the 21st century.   I've also gotten around to some less new things like a Dolphins Into the Future tape from 2008 Plays Themes From Voyage which is from the golden era of that kinda gear so I'm loving it along with their 2 fine releases from this year.

Just had a couple of listens to Lee Gamble's Diversions 94-96. which is hitting all the right notes apparently he has another one just out too. Minimal, spacious electronics that are kind of empty but evocative of the mentioned era without being retro. I also caught up with Kemper Norton's Collision/Detection v6 from earlier this year and that's a rip snorter of an ep that put me in mind vocally of the recently discussed Disco Inferno. Hard to describe Norton, kinda folky, pastoral post industrial. A rustic farmer kind of vibe but quite creepy and wintry. Sounds like a bloody press release. Right enough cliches.















I finally got a copy of Moon Wiring Club's Somewhere A Fox Is Getting Married only on digital though (thanks bookmat). I think it was like a royal wedding commemorative album. I don't think it got in any best of 2011 lists, an overlooked classic perhaps. I reckon it might be the best one since their debut An Audience Of Art Deco Eyes. I like it more than the other record they did last year Clutch It Like A Gonk. That Bleep43 mix is also killer! Possibly my favourite of their mixtapes but as I've said before they're all gold. I totally recommend both of those way over 12 months since everybody else probably raved about them. Whatever. Still looking forward to the new CD & LP.

Was it really only last year that Will & Kate got married?
That can't be right can it?
I feel like Pippa's arse has been with us longer than that!