Idioteque Stalker's Top 20 of 2014

[Idioteque Stalker]

Derek hasn't posted in months. In his absence, somebody has to step up, take one for the team, and call attention to their music taste at year's end. Might as well be me. Here are my favorite albums of 2014.

20. Spoon - They Want My Soul
19. Brian Eno & Karl Hyde - High Life
18. Perfume Genius - Too Bright
17. Aphex Twin - Syro
16. Real Estate - Atlas
15. Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy
14. Mac Demarco - Salad Days
13. Marissa Nadler - July
12. Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
11. Alvvays - Alvvays
10. Death Grips - Niggas On the Moon
9. Grouper - Ruins
8. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
7. Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
6. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata

Honorable mention:
Jens Lekman - WWJD

http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000089836987-5r6hzw-t300x300.jpg?e76cf77

From my post earlier this year: "This new Jens Lekman mixtape takes me right back to the perfect sublimity that was Night Falls Over Kortedala. The lovely instrumentation and peppiness of the whole thing benefits from that omnipresent feeling of "this too shall pass"--in the end just as pessimistic a sentiment as it is optimistic--so that the heart-wrenching theme from Contempt, stuck right in the middle, feels right at home and takes the whole thing up a notch."

https://soundcloud.com/jens-lekman/wwjd-mixtape

[Idioteque Stalker]

20.
Spoon - They Want My Soul

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81QUyArKVUL._SX425_.jpg

How boring is it that Spoon made a good album this year? Even as somewhat of a fan, I almost didn't give it a shot. But "Inside Out"--a synth-pop slow-burner as gorgeous as it is out of character--shocked me into actually giving They Want My Soul a fair shake, and it ended up being my front-to-back favorite Spoon album.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpT5SBg1Mmk

[Idioteque Stalker]

19.
Brian Eno & Karl Hyde - High Life

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XfCNCvoL._SX425_.jpg

Not huge on "Moulded Life," but the rest of this album is solid. Channeling early 80s-era Eno projects like Remain in Light, the live instrumentation makes all the difference between this and Eno/Hyde's prior collaboration. "DBF" grew to be my favorite jam of the year and "Cells & Bells" capitalized on the strange beauty of Justin Bieber 800% Slower (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QspuCt1FM9M). Awesome surprise.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwnxypgED6s

[D_Davis]

The Hyde and Eno albums this year were great.

[Idioteque Stalker]

18.
Perfume Genius - Too Bright

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1aqWtwIGBL._SX425_.jpg

After the overwhelming vulnerability of Put Your Back N 2 It (one of my favorite albums in recent years), the tone of Too Bright took me a while to warm up to. It's lumpier, more aggressive, and harbors moments of unprecedented pop experimentation--but Hadreas' songwriting is as eloquent as ever, and the compassion he exhibits time and time again is probably making the world a better place.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQhhRrW2lEE&index=11&list=PLUEimQQlzDvRUuczVp_jCWbz j7KIX6Tjd

[Idioteque Stalker]

17.
Aphex Twin - Syro

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81fK8yoTKHL._SX425_.jpg

Aphex Twin plays it straight. No crazy album art, no "Milkman," just technically astounding electronic music. "xmas_EVE," "produk" and "PAPAT" appeal to me most, but the whole thing should and will be studied by burgeoning electro-producers for years. It's so impressive that, listening from beginning to end, it gets a little... well... corny. After the fifth ridiculously impressive, yet kind of same-y, cut in a row, one almost begins to wish for some kind of "Logon Rock Witch" or "To Cure a Weakling Child" to inject a little variety. Thankfully he closes the album with one of his most gorgeous compositions, "aisatsana." In a year bereft of impressive electronic releases, Syro stood tall.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUAJ8KLGqis&index=1&list=PLtZw7HIqfx3_erZ8n7ZHKfL_ 3brIjAuPU

[Idioteque Stalker]

16.
Real Estate - Atlas

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/715qCPwWorL._SX425_.jpg

Real Estate is an anomaly in my world. They're completely inoffensive and can be enjoyed by anyone--and for once I mean that in a good way. I can't help but look at their albums with eyes askance: "Not sure if you're as good as you seem..." With jangly guitar pop like this, one almost has to assume that the honeymoon phase will eventually fade away, but time has been nothing but kind to their second album, Days (though admittedly not-so-kind to their self-titled debut). In the end, Atlas' decidedly melancholy tone might make it work better than their others for me, but only years of wear and tear will reveal whether or not a pop album this (bitter)sweet can take a beating and still come out standing. For now, at least, it's the most listenable album of the year.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vk1I5wyPiA

[D_Davis]

That Real Estate album is excellent.

Perfect example of deceptively simple.

[Idioteque Stalker]

That Real Estate album is excellent.

Perfect example of deceptively simple.

Are you historically a fan, or was Atlas the first to really get you? It very well may end up being my favorite.

[Idioteque Stalker]

15.
Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PMJ4wI%2BUL._SX425_.jpg

I hate twee. Imagine my surprise, then, when an album with that cover ended up blowing me away. What may appear to be Juno 2 bait is actually one of the most sharply-observed, cutting albums of recent memory. It's like reading the diary of that shy girl who would rather be caught dead than have her diary read: "I think how repulsive to you it must be when I refuse to do things you want me to." Her cuteness belies the almost frightening disparity between what she understands and what the people in her life give her credit for (evidenced most fully in the heartbreaking "My I Love You"). The album art isn't instagram trash--it's a eulogy: "I just want my dog back. Is it so much to ask?" Real life is seeping through the crack under her fuzzy pink door, and she's fucking pissed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw9PKoe0t2U&index=4&list=PLoi9llEEkyDbJkamu_LIp867 qyA-NWvDv

[Idioteque Stalker]

14.
Mac Demarco - Salad Days

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71u-7GLtT-L._SX425_.jpg

If you like jangly guitar pop, then you like Mac Demarco. His music is straight up jangle porn. As per usual with Demarco's albums, Salad Days is hampered by ill-conceived songs (his album closers are 0-for-3 by my count), but elevated by a few song-of-the-year contenders. The funny thing is Salad Days' two best cuts ("Passing Out Pieces" and "Chamber of Reflection") are all but guitar-less. It makes you wonder: if he could craft an entire album with a wider instrumental palette (and a couple jangle-pop tunes tucked in there for good measure of course) then his burgeoning songwriting talent, instead of his admittedly ear-catching guitar tone, would really get its chance to shine.

I say all this, but rest assured this was my most listened to album of the summer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY8IS0ssnXQ

[Idioteque Stalker]

13.
Marissa Nadler - July

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71u4E%2B4LpSL._SX425_.jpg

"That's some depressing shit you're playing over there," said my co-worker from the twin bed opposite mine at a hotel 2500 miles from home. "Yep," I chuckled, even though I'd been so entranced for months with July's panoramic beauty that I'd almost forgotten its cavernous, languid tone--produced by black metal artist Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth)--was what most differentiated it from Marissa Nadler's past work. "I don't know, it just seems appropriate music for Seattle." I didn't know at the time that it was recorded there.

When one travels with a co-worker instead of a lover, there's simply a lot of empathy to be found in a lyric like, "Changed in a rest stop into my dress, made sure not to touch the floor. I've done that kind of thing before." I don't wear dresses, but I've done that kind of thing before too.

"You fell asleep to that depressing music again last night."

"Yep."


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_KVavjkdTs

[D_Davis]

Are you historically a fan, or was Atlas the first to really get you? It very well may end up being my favorite.

Never heard them before the video you posted.

[D_Davis]

14.
Mac Demarco - Salad Days

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71u-7GLtT-L._SX425_.jpg


Great album.

[Idioteque Stalker]

12.
Flying Lotus - You're Dead!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91kjn1GfaQL._SX425_.jpg

Until now, it didn't matter if "hip-hop," "jazz," or "electronic" was listed first in a description of Flying Lotus' music, but You're Dead! is a jazz record first and foremost--and an unbelievably sick one at that. As a massive fanboy (I would rank each of his last three albums in my top five of their respective years, and Cosmogramma is easily my favorite album of the decade), I was initially perplexed by what I saw as an awkward, transitional, identity-crisis of a record. I realized, however, that it wasn't the fusion-centric cuts that were giving me pause, but in fact that damn Snoop Dogg track, one of the clear remnants of FlyLo's wonky hip-hop style.

While the strength and tone of the Kendrick Lamar-featuring "Never Catch Me" helps it fit within the context of You're Dead!, "Dead Man's Tetris" takes what was a rip-roaring side A and slows it to a halt. Dear FlyLo: Just because Snoop Dogg agrees to be on your album doesn't mean you should find any means necessary to find a spot for him. I took "Dead Man's Tetris" out of my iTunes library and it miraculously righted 90% of what was wrong with the album. Anyway, the opening suite, "Never Catch Me," "Turtles," "Coronus, the Terminator," another gorgeous Thundercat-sung track (they're 3-for-3), "Siren Song"... and You're Dead! has the chops to hang in Flying Lotus' pretty-much-flawless discography.

Plus, Herbie Hancock on the first three seconds of this track :eek: (though really the whole thing):


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMadKqKaF7k

[Idioteque Stalker]

11.
Alvvays - Alvvays

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81o8p3e8lyL._SX425_.jpg

This album is my dark horse of the year. "Nah, I don't like it that much," I kept telling myself. "It's just some relatively solid, Best Coast-ish, reverb-soaked guitar pop. The kind of thing that was already on its way out like five years ago." Well, all that may be true, but dammit I can't help but love this album. Everybody talks about "Archie, Marry Me," and I admit that was what caught my ear initially, but what impresses me most is how a song like "Atop a Cake"--at first threatening major-chorded, indie-pop cheesiness--sneakily slips into a minor-keyed bridge/chorus and pretty much rides it out to the end, or how "Ones Who Love You" subtly builds through two melodies--both strong enough to be a chorus--before hitting you with the real chorus, in which the vocals reach upward in what simply has to be the sweetest-sounding moment of the year. And while most unassuming albums trail off at the end, Alvvays ends with an exclamation point. "Red Planet," the strongest song here, is a gorgeous, heartbreaking synth-pop tune, not unlike something from one of Beach House's first two albums. What may look like "just another indie rock record" ends up transcending that title with classic, yet uncommon, tunefulness.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqV-_7Ms92o

[Idioteque Stalker]

10.
Death Grips - Niggas on the Moon

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/19/Niggas_on_the_Moon.jpg

With this release Death Grips have officially fallen off the deep end. Until now, all of their releases have at least one moment in which they don't seem utterly insane: "Guillotine," "I've Seen Footage," "Black Dice"--hell, even Government Plates landed a spot in an Adidas commercial. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAoyxq3CwBw) There's no such friendliness on Niggas on the Moon. Instead we get original Bjork samples sliced all to hell, lightning-fast syncopation that would make Prefuse 73 look twice, and MC Ride's most impassioned/tortured deliveries to date. These rhythms are so fast that they practically garner the tag "experimental" on their own: songs often sound like a CD being scanned forward, but then a relatively long (say, one second) Bjork sample will shine through and give form to the whole thing.

The release's divisive reception is far from shocking. It's easy to imagine this music coming across as obnoxious to many people, and gratuitous to even more. As someone who has followed Death Grips through their most user-unfriendly stunts, however, I can't help but squeal with glee when, thirty seconds into "Fuck Me Out," they take off the reigns and let that shit go wild. Hell, the final two-and-a-half minutes of "Big Dipper" should be its own exhibition at the MOMA. And for a band which knows well how to begin an album, it's no small feat that "Up My Sleeves" is their best opener yet. Who knows whether Jenny Death, the second part of this double album, will be as good (based on "Inanimate Sensations" it'll be just as insane), but if it is then that'll be quite a final statement from Death Grips, arguably the most vital act of the decade.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWR0-s30WsY&list=RDQWR0-s30WsY#t=0

[dreamdead]

I've had Nadler's Songs III album for years. It's the kind of album that's absolutely solid for its genre, but I don't often return to it. Knowing the production history of her new album, though, has made me interested in this newest one for some time. I remember liking the track you posted, as the echoey tone builds upon her strengths. Need to revisit that one.

The Alvvays album is something I remember Steve Hyden featuring, which led me to more or less your initial reaction. I keep being simlarly afraid that it'll end up being the kind of solid album that I don't replay ever. Looks like I need to listen to more than the first two tracks...

[Idioteque Stalker]

Knowing the production history of her new album, though, has made me interested in this newest one for some time. I remember liking the track you posted, as the echoey tone builds upon her strengths.

I think this is precisely why I like July more than the others, even though her self-titled album has some great songs (including "The Sun Always Reminds Me of You," my absolute favorite by her).


The Alvvays album is something I remember Steve Hyden featuring

On what? I'm not really familiar with him, but now I'm curious.

[D_Davis]

If you like that new Flying Lotus, you'll probably love a lot of the nu-jazz stuff coming out of Norway and other Scandinavian countries, with some Germans mixed in for good measure, the last 10 or so years. Just amazing stuff from people like Nils Petter Molvaer, Eivind Aarset, Jan Bang, Moritz Von Oswald, etc. Some of the most creative music I've heard.

[Idioteque Stalker]

9.
Grouper - Ruins

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81ZSd03HlEL._SX425_.jpg

I don't really have much to say about this album. The way Liz Harris slathers everything she touches (electronic-, guitar-, and now piano-based music, and of course her sublime FACT mix) with such a haunting, emotional tone is one of contemporary music's most wondrous oddities. I describe Ruins in the same way I would describe the perfect partner: humble, patient, candid, loving, and absolutely gorgeous.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i31zFiwBFho

[Idioteque Stalker]

8.
Sun Kil Moon - Benji

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/715qwfEvONL._SX425_.jpg


It seems weird at the end of 2014 to talk about how powerful Benji is; stuff like "War On Drugs: Suck My Cock" has threatened to erase how dumbfounded we were when we first heard songs like "Jim Wise" or "I Can't Live Without My Mother's Love" in February. In the end, however, it all makes a lot of sense. Like Mark Kozelek's public transparency, Benji is a massive, middle-aged, emotional shart of an album: childhood memories, intimacies, routine detachment, vehement disdain, all mixed together in a messy glob that rarely even shares cadence with the music. "And though I love the sound of the roaring Les Paul, what spoke to me most was 'Rain Song' and 'Bron-Yr-Aur.'" Benji doesn't really care that much if you understand the meaning of this lyric. It's not about you. Kozelek just had to put it on a record. If you get it then you're on his wavelength, and if you don't then you might be a fucking hillbilly.

(Because I always ask for so many CDs at Christmas, I've gotten in the habit of quickly describing each album on my wish list so my family can more easily pick which one they want to get me. "Sun Kil Moon - Benji. Singer/songwriter. Notorious butthole of a guy releases weirdly compassionate album. Nearly every song is about death." I'm crossing my fingers.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fm25YRaZP0

[D_Davis]

I do not like Benji at all.

Bloated, dull, and uninteresting. Kozelek at his absolute worst.

And this is coming from someone who saw Red House Painters at least a dozen times. I think that, maybe, Kozelek has just gone in a direction that no longer registers with me. Or maybe I've gone in a different direction. That's a possibility, although one that I have trouble with seeing as how I still love RHP and many of the previously released SKM albums.

[Idioteque Stalker]

All the attention this one got makes it the first Kozelek album I've heard. Listening to a few songs from Among the Leaves makes it sound more similar than I would expect from your post. A very cursory listen, granted. His voice is a bit more pristine, but the guitar sound, mixing, and especially song titles like "I Know It's Pathetic But That Was the Greatest Night of My Life" already seem familiar. Meaning I like it.

[D_Davis]

The first two Sun Kil Moon albums - Ghosts of the Great Highway, and April - are amazing.

Ghosts has my second favorite Kozelek song:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiNzirkNHFk

My first being "Michael," which is also probably a top 5 song of all time for me.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrT0OZsdFfU

[Idioteque Stalker]

(Because I always ask for so many CDs at Christmas, I've gotten in the habit of quickly describing each album on my wish list so my family can more easily pick which one they want to get me. "Sun Kil Moon - Benji. Singer/songwriter. Notorious butthole of a guy releases weirdly compassionate album. Nearly every song is about death." I'm crossing my fingers.)


I got it. :lol:

[Idioteque Stalker]

7.
Ariel Pink - Pom Pom

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71eqFooLxuL._SX425_.jpg

There's obviously something different about Ariel Pink, right? Whatever the case may be, it undoubtedly has a lot to do with why he's such a fascinating artist and "celebrity," and despite the eccentricities (musical and otherwise) he continues to exhibit a natural talent for pop songwriting. As such, any Ariel Pink album lives and dies by the strengths of the songs. Pom Pom's bloated track list may draw suspicion considering Pink's tendency to fill out albums with a gristly (to put it lightly) cut now and again, so its one of 2014's minor miracles that Pom Pom is as consistently brilliant as it is.

While all of Pink's more unique tendencies (vocal caricatures, lo-fi experimentation, uncouth humor, fragmented song structures) are certainly in full force, he's never provided so many solid tracks. "White Freckles" and "Not Enough Violence" are quirky jams that only Ariel Pink could make, while "Lipstick" and "Put Your Number In My Phone" are two of his finest pop songs. In fact, the entire first half of the record is pretty much flawless. The second half is a bit more odd, but it doesn't stop "Sexual Athletics," "Black Ballerina," "Picture Me Gone," and "Dayzed Inn Daydreams" from standing among his best songs. Eyebrow-raisers like "Nude Beach A Go-Go," "Jell-O," and the first half of "Dinosaur Carebears" simply come with the territory--and I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. Pom Pom is not only the best Ariel Pink album, I expect it always will be.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRmtrT6hoPM

[Idioteque Stalker]

6.
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51%2BdfuA3I2L._SX425_.jpg

How often is a rap album in the conversation for straight-up prettiest of the year? "Deeper," "Thuggin'," that impeccable five-song run from "Robes" to "Shame"--with Piñata, Madlib has crafted the most luxurious retro-Motown production since The Pretty Toney Album, with at least two heaping (and welcome) dollops of J Dilla's fractured, emotive vocals. The guest spots are on point, with great usage of Danny Brown and Raekwon, a surprising verse from BJ The Chicago Kid, and a stellar showing from the OF crew-members Domo Genesis and Earl Sweatshirt (I'll be damned if Domo isn't the current dark horse of guest verses).

And then there's Freddie Gibbs. Historically I have to admit I'm not much of a fan, but once the production of Piñata drew me in I realized just how in-command he is. It's his album, sure, but Gibbs is so focused and in-the-pocket with his rhymes that he makes everyone else seem sloppy by comparison (most apparent on the closing title track, in which Freddie is sorely missed). His constant strings of eighth-note syllables on songs like "Harold's" and "Deeper" add their own kind polyrhythms to spacious beats which could've easily suffered from the interpretations of lesser MCs.

It would've been a damn shame for the strength of Madvillainy to overshadow what has been a long, varied, and consistently impressive career for Madlib. But while that now-classic album's comic-book-fever-dream aesthetic may ultimately prove too impressive to overcome, Freddie Gibbs & Madlib have evened the playing field with Piñata, which was easily my hip-hop album of the year and looks suited to only get better with age.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGaRbhat-FA

[Idioteque Stalker]

D, I may need a little more time with the Red House Painters, but that Sun Kil Moon track you posted is phenomenal. I think I can safely say at this point that SKM is one of my favorite new discoveries in 2014, along with Big Star, Mobb Deep, and Three 6 Mafia.

[Idioteque Stalker]

5.
How to Dress Well - What Is This Heart?

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/91DFrkLHDfL._SX425_.jpg

While listening to gigantic releases like Piñata, Benji, and even You're Dead! I can't help but question myself: "Can How to Dress Well really make a better album than this?" Here's a regular-seeming white dude with a stubbly beard who probably-too-often sings and writes music/lyrics beyond his means, and whose album cover is pretty much the male version of the first world problems meme. "I'm going to see How to Dress Well tonight," a friend says. "Let me know if he can actually sing," I reply. Even though I'm a fan, I wasn't interested. I just can't help but be skeptical. I don't know how the general community sees him, but to me Tom Krell is an underdog.

In 2014, however, How to Dress Well did what he's been trying to do for five-plus years: make an R&B record. Until now he's done lo-fi R&B, outsider R&B, experimental R&B, whatever you want to call it, but it's all been more-or-less shrouded in reverb and mystery. What Is This Heart, on the other hand, is at many points unabashedly poppy, nakedly emotional, and (wait for it) well-damn-sung. Krell has often cited 90s R&B stalwarts like 112, Boyz II Men, and Ready for the World as primary influences, but the connection has never come through as strong as it does here--and the hi-fi emotions of those acts work so well in this context that one wonders 1) how people could sing with such emotion about things as uncomplicated as sex and drugs and 2) why no one has really used this genre to sing about the complexities of love, acceptance, and platonic relationships.

I love 90s R&B as much as the next guy who wasn't really too music-conscious during the 90s, but during the fifty-five minutes of What Is This Heart? I can't help but think that so much of the decade's wealth of beautiful, sensitive R&B was semi-wasted emotional potential. When Krell sings "I want you to have my baby," he doesn't mean it as a come-on, but rather as a heartfelt sentiment that has carefully considered all the difficult ramifications that come with it. Here's an album where, without blinking, Beethoven's Emperor Concerto is sampled, the word "boo" is used, and my best friend can dance with his one-year-old daughter to a song titled "Precious Love" without a hint of irony. Krell may get a lot of credit for birthing a "new genre" with past releases, but with What Is This Heart? he has finally crafted something not only unique but also relatable, something that I sang to in the car more than anything else this year, and something that can stand the test of time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl49NIp-uMA&list=PLr4kCusVjrYvbhahjYWelHcI d53AAUpw9

[D_Davis]

Do you like Milosh?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8wCRuBpoEE

[Idioteque Stalker]

4.
Jenny Hval & Susanna - Meshes of Voice

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rQzzHibsL._SX425_.jpg

Meshes of Voice isn't some album you can just put on. It takes preparation, focus, and maybe even a little debriefing. It's the type of dead serious, capital-a Ambitious album that certain listeners crave so voraciously but are satisfied with so rarely. It's gorgeous at times and punishing at others--thoroughly mysterious while primarily consisting of instruments so familiar as voice, piano, and guitar. It tells a story but of course doesn't really make any sense. It's the kind of album you play for your stoner friends to freak them out (but then they kinda get into it).

Although they are both separately successful Norwegian artists, I wasn't really familiar with either Jenny Hval or Susanna Wallumrod before now. On Meshes of Voice, their first collaboration, Susanna plays the crooning deity to Jenny's bleating mortal, and the dichotomy works wonders. On the brooding "Thirst That Resembles Me," their flat-out disparate vocal styles provide so many different tonalities that a mere few vocal tracks sound like an entire ensemble. Many times Susanna's austere voice will introduce a melody before Jenny rips it to shreds, like on the heavenly "O Sun O Medusa"/"A Mirror In My Mouth" one-two punch.

But not all connections are so tidy: most melodic and lyrical themes pop up several times throughout the course of this album, leading me to ask questions like "What is Jenny's relation to the black lake?" or "What is the meaning of Susanna taking this melody?" It's an album one feels compelled to listen to again and again in order to discover its secrets. I may prefer a few 2014 albums to this one, but I'm most thankful for Meshes of Voice. It's such a go-for-broke, obviously slaved-over, wild piece of art that I can imagine it single-handedly waking some jaded music lover from their "dogmatic slumbers"--its other-ness calls attention to the things we take for granted and then makes them suspect.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqWWxFx80WE&index=3&list=PLlNok6wdM37_F7nH6VDiBYob GBf1HdxCQ

[Idioteque Stalker]

Do you like Milosh?

Whoa. That guy's voice sounds almost exactly like Owen Pallett's.

This type of smooth vocal electronica doesn't really do it for me these days. I like Baths pretty well though.

[Melville]

Nice thread. I'll be listening through most of these. What were the top 3?

[Idioteque Stalker]

What were the top 3?

Got busy, but I plan on finishing. Maybe this weekend.

[Idioteque Stalker]

3.
Dean Blunt - Black Metal

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61glH6Q%2B8fL._SX425_.jpg


Here's my biggest surprise of 2014. I'm a brand new fan, but Dean Blunt is such an enigmatic persona that I could already spend hours pontificating on his relation to identity, appropriation, and the uselessness of the high/low culture dichotomy--just to end up right where I started, no doubt. I'll spare you the philosophizing, as the true strength of Black Metal isn't its conceptual slight-of-hand but rather its songs. The titles are rabbit holes themselves, but Black Metal is astounding for nothing else than gathering songs like "50 Cent," "Punk," and "Lush" under the same banner and making them work toward the album's enveloping mood.

As weird as it sounds, Black Metal exudes a certain tonal quality that is somehow comforting in its unapproachability, like that one person you sometimes can't help but gravitate toward simply because you know they'll never ask how your day's going. Take, for instance, "Molly & Aquafina"--a sparse love ballad that just happens to be about Blunt's nine millimeter handgun--or closer "Grade," which wouldn't feel at all out of place on a Knife record. Graciously upbeat (yet tantalizingly brief) moments are littered throughout: "Lush" is the most striking opener of the year, "100" harkens back to the Pixies' effortless lilt, and the devil-may-care bravado of "Hush" implores repeated listens.

It's centerpieces "Forever" and "X" (together totaling almost twenty-two minutes) that really shine: the cumulative effects of the drum machines, horns, synthesizers, and pianos create a futuristic dirge that is both belligerent and melancholy, like Salinger's Zooey screaming at his mother to let him bathe in peace. "You're fucking with a holy man," Blunt says. I'm not sure exactly what he means, but hell if I'm about to ask questions.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQfwPziK-SA