Best Of 2014 - Albums & Mixtapes

Pom Pom - Ariel Pink
Heavenly West Coast pop hits, delirious goth, over wrought glam, funk, glitter scuzz rock and demented bubblegum psych (sometimes all within the same song). I can't possibly write another word on the subject.

Black Portland - Young Thug & Bloody Jay
Atlanta's stellar nutcase duo make mental rap classic. Demented euphoria.

You Might Also Like - eMMplekz
More funny shit and mental absurdity ranted by Baron Mordant over some of Nick's most accomplished trax to date.

Unfidelity/Four Track Mind - Ekoplekz

Two classic double LPs in one year! Maybe Four Track Mind just pips Unfidelity at the post but these albums are inseparable as they came from the same recording sessions, I think. Nick Edwards reigns in his wayward machines like never before to achieve stunning results.

Oxymoron - Schoolboy Q
The title says it all. Killah state of the art sex, drugs and rap 2014 stylee. Oxymoron not only refers to Oxycontin addiction but to the dichotomy of Schoolboy Q's being ie. trying to be a good dad but being a bad ass gangsta.

Reconsider Lounge/Session Man - Rangers
I thought they'd vanished but praise the lord here they are again twice! This time in snippet and snapshot mode on Reconsider Lounge, a bit like they were on 2010's classic Suburban Tours. Session Man is almost like stoner jamz but in a Rangers universe. OMG these are guitar albums! Remember them? It's all about past pasts, past presents, past futures and the present present and future past, present and future. Memoredelia! The talented Joe Knight is a star. Why aren't Rangers as big as Coldplay?

By Any Means - Kevin Gates
King Kev's got the best voice in the game and his flow's incredible. An intimate insight into Kev's life. From being dirt poor with no electrical, being incarcerated, having children and being signed to major record label Atlantic. His life's a movie. Louisiana trap at it's finest.

Gangsta Stripper Music 2 - Beatking
He is the Beat King and he's had a sterling year. This was the Club God doing his Houston ratchet thang which is the best mix of 10s rap and 90s rave these ears have ever heard. Crank this sucker up to 11!

$hmopcity - Kool John
The most underrated mixtape of the year. Bay Area ratchet from the HBK Gang that was all killah no filler. Kool John makes the best HBK Gang recording to date. It's party time, are you putting on 10 Summers or $hmopcity? It's a no brainer.

Underground Tape Cassette Music - Gangsta Boo & Beatking
Fucking great collaboration from 666 Mafia's legendary Gangsta Boo and Club Godzilla Beatking. 80s electro & fucked up 90s rave flavas clash with 2014 Texan Ratchet and 90s creepin Memphis shyt. Rewind!

Life After Death Row - Boosie Bad Azz
Lil Boosie gets out of prison and makes a hell of a poignant mixtape about the experience. True Detective had nothing on this Louisiana rapper's gritty reality.

Tony - King Louie
Gangsta tales from Chicago set to mini cinematic synth symphonies. Louie's a King, a God, a Don and they call him Tony after Tony Soprano. Futuristic sex, drugs, violence and megalomania!

Under The Skin OST - Mica Levi
Best soundtrack since _________. Intensely sinister, harrowing and still. A bit like Bernard Hermann if he'd had a stroke and was wasted on painkillaz. Who'd have ever thought I'd enjoy something by Mica Levi? The world is a strange place.

Beautiful Pimp II - Rome Fortune
Atlanta's one of a kind suave space age rapper makes a sequel better than the original. Cito is on the beat throughout the entire mixtape which was a great move.

Heat Vol. 1 & 2 - YP Spoelstra
Two volumes of choice 2014 ratchet from California's HBK Gang. YP's giving Mustard a run for his money and he's just put out a 3rd Volume, bloody hell!

Leporine Pleasure Gardens - Moon Wiring Club LP 
Hallucinatory, phantasmal and lysergical. This is Moon Wiring Club severed from their beats and it's probably the closest sonic equivalent to dropping acid I've ever heard. Flashbacks man!

Torridon Gate - Howlround
Who'd have thunk a 24 minute recording of a garden gate would be this enjoyable?

R.O.C. - IX Tab
A trip into creepy electronic zones where funny things happen.

A Que Fresco - Que & Mike Fresh
Like Speedy Gonzales, the subject in one of their songs, these guys don't mess about. This is 2014 rap at it's most buoyant and audacious. A pop triumph.

Butterfly Effect - Shinishi Ataobe 
Some of the most enjoyably serene ambient dub tech I've ever heard. There's also some slightly noisier dub tech trax in a Basic Channel stylee (Ataobe once released an EP on the Chain Reaction label). Hypnotic and beautiful.

From Out Here - The Advisory Circle
Perhaps their most fully realised LP to date. A musical interzone somewhere between idyllic and peculiar. An album that plays tricks with your memory.

ALSO REALLY LIKED
My Krazy Life - YG
Monster - Future
Fearful Wiggings - Dave Graney
The Power And The Glory - Perc
Bullet - Zuse
The Mobb Tape - Zmoney
Wet 2 - Skipper
Tha Tour Part 1 - Rich Gang
Leporine Pleasure Gardens cd - Moon Wiring Club
Audio Rehab Vol.1 - Various
Definition Audio Presents Vol.1 - Various
Oculus OST - The Newton Brothers
Pavilion - Panabrite
Influkz - Ekoplekz
We Invented The Bop 2 - Various
8 of The Moon Ballades Series - Motion Sickness Of Time Travel

CATEGORY OF IT'S OWN
Benji - Sun Kil Moon
20 years since I've listened to anything by Mark Kozelek but I couldn't ignore this album's cult groundswell on the interweb. Holy shit things have changed since Red House Painters Ocean Beach (well mostly, he is still singing about his mum) ie. Mark's way more hokey now, getting back to his Ohio roots. There are no Johnny Marr-esque guitar licks or 4AD flourishes of sound here. This is bare bones recording wise. Less is more, keep it simple and let the words paint the pictures. Who would have thought he could get more morose? Well he has! This is a stunning work of a master songwriter. The words just pour out of him unfiltered and somehow it works. Benji is an insight into a tragedy strewn life and a morbid mind like no other. Although he finally makes a joke on the last track. One does also wonder how much of this is possibly black humour like when he's asking you to think of mass murderers when you're feeling happy. I've always thought he was pretty funny I must admit.

WHAT HAPPENED???
Rustie - Green Language
Peaking Lights - Cosmic Logic
Young Thug - 1017 Thug 2
Skrillex - Recess
DJ Mustard - 10 Summers 

ON THE FENCE
Mr Mitch - Parallel Memories
Apparently this is connected to grime. I have no emotional investment in grime so it doesn't bother me. Like last year's album from Logos I didn't even know it was somehow comin from grime. I just liked the tunes. When I first heard Parallel Memories I thought it was like an electronica LP from 1994. Hey 94 was a great year for electronica and it's pretty good....
Vessel - Punish, Honey
Daft Industrial throwback of the worst kind or kinda cool weird noise? I dunno.

TOO LATE
Kevin Gates - Luca Brasi 2 (Only got it yesterday)
Starlito - Black Sheep Don't Grin (As above)
YP Spoelstra - Heat Vol. 3 (As above above)

TOTALLY MISSED IT
Ian Crause - The Vertical Axis. I noticed this in Simon's list. I assume it is he of the great Disco Inferno. I totally did not realise he'd released an album this year as I don't read music magazines anymore and only skim the online one (you can probably guess what that may be). I think I bought one issue of The Wire this year. I've gone from being a chap in the 90s who wouldn't miss an issue of The Wire to someone now who can barely give a toss. Sure things change in 20 + years but who'd have thought so many bad writers would be employed there. Sure the music scene's not the same either but there is still great music being made. The evidence is right here in my list but I wonder how many of the above recordings even got coverage in The Wire? The thing is I probably wouldn't want to read it anyway unless it was written by Mark Fisher. Anyway back to The Vertical Axis, fuck I'm looking forward to hearing that. Mark Fisher probably reviewed it. This is actually from 2013.

TELEVISION
True Detective
Girls
Happy Valley
Orange Is The New Black

BOOKS
Ghosts Of My Life - Mark Fisher
Yeah Yeah Yeah: The Story Of Modern Pop - Bob Stanley (sure I got this for xmas 2013 but fuck it took me 4 months of 2014 to read it ie. many pages)

STUPID
Ripping off Young Thug is dumb. It's like ripping off Mark E Smith ie. he's so idiosyncratic if you're copying him it's so obviously not you. It makes you an instant joke.

LIFE'S TOO SHORT
To bang on about artists that are dull, overrated or just plain shite like blanco husalah kokane, salva, fka twigs, beyonce, ben frost, 1001 Young Thug wannabes, popcaan and whoever else innit?

There's only one Young Thug (he's on the left).

*OTHER YEARS
2011
2012
2013

I am my own radio station now!



Have I missed out on something here?

 I was just deleting some stuff from my computer today and deleted some music. Some of it listened to, some of it not and some of it half listened to. How many chances does an LP, MP3, CD or Tape get nowadays? Not many. Gone after a few listens Prince Rama, White Poppy,  Nite Jewel's latest, Zomby, Dick Diver, Twerps, Real Estate, Cruise Family, Raw Thrills and John Maus. Others in the last few years I got rid of  very quickly include Demdike Stare, TheNecks, Mordant Music's Symptoms, Gonjasufi, Flying Lotus, Hype Williams, Forest Swords, Micachu & The Shapes and Black Moth Super Rainbow's Dandelion Gum, maybe some of these deserved a 3rd or 10th chance. In this day and age of information overload, being ruthless seems the way to go. Time and space are of the essence in my home and on my computer. I also don't waste time listening to the radio for hours on end or really at all anymore. I am my own radio station now! With hundreds of records, cds, tapes, digital music, Youtube and Soundcloud  I am in no need of anyone to make me listen to anything. Sure I read reviews in archaic paper media and on websites and blogs but with many pinches of salt because the sound of what's being reviewed is an instant click away. But maybe my hasty decisions have led me to miss some great stuff by not letting things grow on me. It took me many attempts over about 12 years to get into Exile on Main St by The Stones and probably at least 15 listens to start not hating Love's Forever Changes. These are now 2 of my fave records of all time. More recently Peaking Lights 936 and Rangers Suburban Tours had to grow on me before I thought of them as modern day classics. Something drew me back to them though even though I didn't think much of either record on first listen as previosly mentioned elsewhere on this blog. Wasting Time(it may not be though) V Missing Out (you might not though).

A classic of the 2010s after many listens and letting
it grow on me.

*This piece was inspired by a bbq conversation in Sydney in January where Sydneysiders started saying 'Melbourne radio is so good. You must love it blah blah...'and I just said  "I am my own radio now! I don't listen to real radio. Why would I?"

...more on 2011...

*When I first heard Peaking Lights' 936 I thought what is this shite? It sounds like lo-fi z-grade trip hop, who'd wanna listen to this?  Dunno what kept me comin' back but now I love 936's hazy vibes.

*I must admit when i first heard Rangers I thought this just sounds so generic or like Ducktails.  Anyhow something made me keep goin' back to their brilliant Suburban Tours many times last year......whatever happened to Ducktails anyway?

*Replica to me was disappointing.  Rifts and Returnal were big faves of mine.  On Replica I just kept thinking 'Why make this beautiful music less so, by making it more difficult?'.  I thought maybe Oneohtrix had been reading his own critics, who wanted less kosmiche and more noise.  Anyway if it was anyone else I'd probably be praising it to the hilt. It's still growing on me.

*Now a bit about the telly.

Breaking Bad is still my favourite drama even though the last couple of episodes of season 3 seamed a bit directionless  Is there a season 4? 

The Trip- I saw it at the cinema and thought it was great, barring the heavy handedness of the director's contrast of the two characters. Then I caught episode 4 of the telly version and was shocked by some bits that weren't in the film.  These really changed the context of Rob Brydon's character.  In the theatrical version they left out the ultra sleazy Delilah scene.  One of the most awkward 'OMG please don't be coming onto her!' scenes in the history of TV.  Making him much more respectable in the film. Why did they even edit the series into a film?  After watching all 6 telly episodes the film seamed pointless.  Get the telly version on DVD it's longer, better and more funny.  An instant classic.

30 Rock- 5th season was good but were they getting tired or something?
100th episode though was pure gold.

A Bit Late, Whatevs....

2011

11 Records of 2011

936-Peaking Lights
Most played album of 2011. Some vague-hypno-lovers-dub. As good as Melbourne's very own Fabulous Diamonds. Get off yer head and dig on the grooves man.

Night Dolls With Hairspray-James Ferraro
Sounds like The Residents grand kids demented account of American High School life.  Killer nerds, perverted teachers and TV watching roaches. Better than a John Waters film.

Pan Am Stories-Rangers
The most underrated group in the world. Did they end up in any end of year lists. Their 5th classic in a row. Epic.

Ancient Romans-Sun Araw
More trippy grooves for another wasted generation. Big hit round here.

Far Side Virtual-James Ferraro
Apart from sounding like an 80s Italian synth library LP this sounded like the music to the bits in an 80’s teen flick where they start to get their shit together and have a glimmer of hope, not all the future/technology bullshit theory every critic espoused. Up cheese.

Cabaret Cixous-Maria Minerva
Top woozy tunes from the Estonian songstress. If it was the 80’s it would have been on 4AD.

The English Riviera-Metronomy
How the fuck did they do this? Deceptive and unique pop. Familiar and alien at the same time. Name an influence, it won’t stick.

Glass Swords-Rustie
Originally this was to be in a category of its own, Best/Worst record I’ve ever heard.  Due to closer inspection I now believe it to contain much awesomeness. It makes me wanna wear something shite, score some Es, put on $1 sun glasses and get some glow sticks.

As The Crow Flies-The Advisory Circle
I thought Hauntology was over but hold your horses. This is a cracker of melancholy electronic music. The sound of brown.

Nordsee/Contemplating The Observatory-Panabrite
A little bit new age, a little bit kosmiche and a tiny bit John Carpenter. This is the biz at 3am when you can’t sleep or don’t want to.

Luminaries & Synastry-Motion Sickness of Time Travel
All the Vs: Vaporous, vague, vacuous and very ..... 

Other Bewdies

Tallinn At Dawn-Maria Minerva

A Young Person’s Guide To-Mark McGuire

KWJAZ cassette-KWJAZ

Urban Gothic-Xander Harris

Underneath The Pine-Toro Y Moi

Midnite Crimes-Sand Circles
Memowrekz-Ekoplekz
Tapeswap-Ekoclef

Clutch It Like A Gonk-Moon Wiring Club

Replica-Oneohtrix Point Never

Music for Thomas Carnacki-Jon Brooks (er...forgot about this one. Should have been in the top 5 really.  Spooky sounds for weird scientists and satanic magicians.)

Who cares?

John Maus (he is Chapterhouse to Ariel Pink’s MBV)

England blah blah-pj Harvey (not listened don’t care)

Tom Waits (see above)

Amerifuckn’cana! (when will it end?)

Australians doing Amerifuckn’cana! (worse than above)*

Good Tunes

This would be usually full of top 40 tunes but Video Hits went away. However I do spend time in my wife’s car.

The Look - Metronomy

Ruff Trade – Maria Minerva

Zeke’s Dream – Rangers

Fanta – Psychic Reality

Someone Like You – Adele (sorry/up yours hipsters)

Guilty – Kasey Chambers (just up yours hipsters)**

Reissues/Archives/Compilations

Those Shocking Shaking Days: Indonesian Hard, Psychedelic, Progressive Rock & Funk 1970-78 - Various.

Thai Dai: The Heavier Side Of Luk Thung Underground - Various.

Flipper Psych Out: Original Italian Library Music From The Vaults Of Flipper - Various.

Mellow Mellow: Original Smooth Grooves & Chilled Beats - Various.

Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga!: Seminal Aesthetic Expressions Of Psychedelic Funk Music In India 1970 - 1983 - Various.