30. Dr Dre –
Compton
Not classic Dre but there’s some good stuff amongst the crap. Quite a modern sounding production really, a long way away from the funkier stuff on ‘2001’. As with ‘2001’ it’s heavily reliant on guest vocalists, Kendrick Lamar features prominently.
29. The Go! Team –
The Scene Between
Probably more poppier than their previous 2 albums which were minor classics. There’s a couple of good ones on here, the opening song ‘What D’You Say?’ is perfect Go Team, light airy and upbeat but with a real rough fuzzy tones. Doesn’t have the staying power of their earlier work but it’s a reasonable effort nonetheless.
28. Bjork –
Vulnicura
I’m not a Bjork fan by any means but this album has got a lot of praise so I thought i’d check it out. It’s a very impressive emotional juggernaut of an album, all layers of moody strings and sad lyrics. Still struggle to listen all the way through this album as Bjork’s intensive style of singing does get a bit much but it’s an enjoyable piece of work in chunks.
27. DJ Mastercard –
Corrupt Memories EP
A really enjoyable little EP of ravey little breakbeats and Dnb style tunes.
26. Ringo Deathstarr –
Pure Mood
This is their 3rd album and I can definitely say that I’ve enjoyed all 3 of them pretty much equally. They sound fairly similar, nailing that My Bloody Valentine sound bit with a 90’s almost grungey sound mixed in too. This latest album has more vocal offerings from the female bassist Alex in addition to the male singer / guitarist, it’s all the better for it too, offering more of a dynamic. Doubt they’ll ever write a classic but they’re excellent imitators.
25. The Charlatans –
Modern Nature
After being a huge fan of their 90’s based stuff i’d pretty much given up on this band when by 2005 they’d turned into boring MOR shite. This album isn’t a return to their baggy sound or their brit pop style guitar heavy groove. It’s more like a more chilled out mature sounding version of their Wonderland album which was heavily indebted to 70’s funk and soul. It’s just a really pleasant lovely sounding chilled out album of mid tempo slightly funky pop rock it’s definitely got a Charlatans shuffling groove to it though.
24. Toro Y Moi –
What For?
Markedly different to the other 3 Toro Y Moi albums, on ‘What For‘ it’s all guitar based 70’s soft rock more than their more funkier keyboard led sound. It’s not a roaring success by any means but i’ve always liked his songs so even a second rate Toro Y Moi is something I can like.
23. The Cribs –
For All My Sisters
Again like the Toro Y Moi album, this one is a bit second rate compared to their earlier albums. Unlike previous Cribs albums this one opens with a wimper, There’s no Hey Scensters, Our Bovine Public or We Were Aborted to kick it off. It takes until Burnin for No one the 3rd song for them to turn up. It’s a mixed bag but there’s no departure from their sound, it’s definitely classic cribs and Burnin for No One and the closing track Pink Snow are up their with their best stuff.
22. Four Tet –
Morning / Evening
This is a 2 track album, unsurprisingly made up of the tracks Morning and Evening. each track is around 20 minutes in length and both are of a similar ilk. Mega chilled ambient keyboards and soft shuffling beats. Morning has a beautiful Indian voice singing some soft mysterious melody while warming strings hum around it. Evening has a voice too but it’s more singing of ‘aaaahhhs’ than actual words. Evening also is very chilled out but is more about twinkling synths than strings, both songs threaten to turn into something quite big but never really work into anything substantial, you’d think this would leave you unsatisfied but it really doesn’t. A quite lovely release this one.
21. East India Youth –
Culture of Volume
It’s a funny one this one. Half of this album (his follow up to his superb debit album ‘Total Strife Forever‘) is absolutely fantastic, the other half I really don’t care for. The opening song ‘The Juddering’ is reminiscent of the debit album, magnificent layers of shimmering menacing keyboards then straight after this song finishes ‘The End Result‘ starts which is a quite a mainstream sounding piano led pop song, admittedly his voice is fantastic throughout this album but it is a bit self consciously striving for pop perfection and I much prefer him when he’s trying to do something a bit zany. The atmospheric opener, the electro madness of ‘Hearts that never‘, the chemical brothers sounding techno throb of ‘Entirity‘ and the album’s stunningly beautiful vocal centre piece ‘Carousel‘ all hit the spot. Much of the rest is horrible pompous pop music. Still really like him as an artist though as he’s supremely gifted and wildly unpredictable.
20. New Candys –
As Medicine
Really good psych rock this one. There’s a lot of a great psych about at the moment but this stuff really chimes with me, it’s so straight ahead and listenable. The songs on this album are all really short and punchy, which makes for a welcome change to lots of psych rock which can drone away for 10 minutes a song.
19. Julio Bashmore –
Knockin’ Boots
Brilliant bouncey rhythmic house music. It’s a really solid album this one, whilst it doesn’t have an Au Seve or Battle for Middle You moment, its just a really good vibe throughout, laid back party house, nothing too mental at all.
18. Kurt Vile –
b’lieve i’m goin down..
The run of the first 5 songs on this album is phenomenal, Pretty Pimpin is insanely good, I love the Banjo led I’m an Outlaw and Wheelhouse is perfect Kurt Vile, hypnotising sounds and a nocturnal relaxed delivery. After which though the album just drifts off into disappointing nothingness. Some of the songs sound really similar to his earlier albums too. But, fuck, those first 5 tunes, superb.
17. Vince Staples –
Summertime ’06
A pretty cool album of gansta rap with some real nice bass heavy grimey hooks. Vince Staples was always one of my favorite rappers from the odd future collective so was happy to see this album getting good reviews.I love his slow drawling style, it really suits the menacing beats that have been assembled for him on this album. At 59 minutes running time, it could perhaps have been edited down a little but nevertheless it’s an enjoyable listen.
16. The Libertines –
Anthems for Doomed Youth
In the spirit of reunions I wasn’t expecting much from this album but they’ve really done an excellent job on this. Lyrically it’s not trying too hard to go down the route of replicating lyrics from the first 2 albums, thankfully they choose mainly to reflect and observe on the past rather than replicate it. Musically it doesn’t match the earlier stuff but it’s certainly not bad at all. There’s a couple of songs that totally miss the mark but most of them have a real libertines charm to them. I admire them immensely for taking the plunge and trying to stay relevant unlike other reformed bands, endlessly playing the same songs and adding nothing new to their act – The Stone Roses hang your heads in shame.
15. Wavves –
V
I really like this albums punchy angry vibe. The longest song on this album is 3:30 and all of them are pretty similar sounding, punky pop with mega pissed off lyrics. Way Too Much is absolute classic Wavves, I could listen to that song again and again. They just have a fantastic knack of writing hooky choruses. Think i’d like to see them go a bit more out there on their next release.
14. Thee Oh Sees –
Mutilator Defeated At Last
It astonishes me how prolific these guys are, they’ve released a good album every year for like the last 6 years. Every time a newie comes out I keep expecting it to sound tired but it never does. Mutilator Defeated at Last is right up their too. This one still has the same Oh Sees bombastic psyche punk sound but there’s a certain element of polish that makes the songs sound a bit more focused and ‘worked on’. It results in an album that’s as good as any of their classics.
13. Blur –
The Magic Whip
Unlike the Libertines I actually expected a reformed Blur to produce a pretty decent album. Damon Albarn has been making decent music of various varieties pretty consistently and the return of Graham Coxon to the band makes it proper Blur again. The Magic Whip definitely met my expectations. It’s unmistakably a Blur album, a nice mix of classic Blury Coxon riffs, like on the opener ‘Lonesome Street’ and Damon Albarn’s more obscure worldly influences. The production is really excellent on this album too, melding a lot of different sounds together expertly but allowing them too breathe.
12. Mac DeMarco –
Another One
I’m a huge Mac fan and I really enjoyed this release. Just wish that it was a bit longer, it’s only 8 songs and one of which is just a bit of a field recording. Another One doesn’t hugely deviate from his normal, chilled out echoey twang. Although perhaps it’s a little more downbeat lyrically and musically, lots of the songs seem to be about breaking up with his girlfriend.
11. Tame Impala –
Currents
A vast departure from their earlier, washy psychedelic but guitar led sound. This one is all about the synths. A really big, lush sounding album, the synth led sound really suits his soft smooth voice. I absolutely love the gorgeous super fluid synths on Yes I’m Changing where they combine perfectly with a lovely falsetto vocal and some quite beautiful lyrics about a relationship ending and moving on.
10 . The Manhattan Love Suicides –
More Heat! More Panic
Didn’t realise this band had reformed until fairly recently but since I’ve downloaded this album I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. They’re still cooking up from exactly the same recipe, Jesus & The Mary Chain, Raveonettes with a little of the Ramones more bubblegum pop moments thrown in. Superb.
9. Homeshake –
Midnight Snack
Homeshake is the project from Mac DeMarco’s ex live guitarist Peter Sagar. It’s mainly keyboard based compositions, with a detuned stretched out keys backed with a wierd spacey funk vibe and very quiet sort of strained falsetto vocals. It works magnificiently as a combo. To me it sounds like demented freaky sex music. Utterly captivating.
8. Sufjan Stevens –
Carrie & Lowell
Never heard any Surfjan Stevens before this year but this album was so hyped I had to check it out. Not something i’m normally crazy about folk music but this an absolute work of art, deeply personal and quite beautiful. It’s actually quite hard to listen to at times as it’s so immensely sad.
7. Courtney Barnett –
Sometimes I Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
Just can’t get enough of that chilled out Aussie accent of her’s, with her every day lyrics and conversational, stream of consciousness style delivery it’s a great mix. Their are some absolutely fantastic lyrics in this album, self deprecating and witty. The music is decent too, but really it’s all the lyrics and wonderful delivery.
6. Action Bronson –
Mr Wonderful
Bronson’s back. After the horrible Saab Stories and some pretty middling mix tapes, it’s nice to see him hit the studio and do a proper album. Sonically it’s got quite a bit going on this one, some awesome old school soul productions like on The Rising downtempo R & B on Terry to the brilliant psychedelic closing song Easy Rider. The backing music is all over the place and a lot more interesting than on recent releases. Vocally Bronson is pure Bronson, weaving his clever and often hilarious rhymes with absolute ease into the beats. Perhaps his voice has lost a little of the virtuosity that was all over his debut LP Dr Lechter but only a little, he still sounds great.
5. Deerhunter –
Fading Frontiers
I did really like 2013’s excellent and really raw sounding Monomania but on this release they’ve abandoned that raw sound and gone back to a more classic Deerhunter sound, a bit more polished and straight up with keyboards making a bit of a return. Whilst I thought the rawness had some more mileage left in it, it’s hard to argue against the results here. It’s a truly excellent album. I kind of group the 9 songs on this one into 3 groups of 3 songs; the opening 3 are exceptional, the statement of intent opener ‘All The Same’, the 80’s synthy Living My Life’ and the indie pop stonker ‘Breaker’. The album then dips a little for next 3 songs, which are perfectly serviceable but just not as good as the first 3 or the brilliant closing 3 songs; the Blur-esque ‘Snakeskin’, the spacey keyboard led song ‘Ad Astra’ on the lovely heart warming close ‘Carrion‘
4. Bill Ryder-Jones –
West Kirby County Primary
An utterly charming album from ex Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones. I pretty much instantly liked this album. Not sure what I really expected from it, but it was a really surprise to hear that personal, warm slightly brocken scouse(ish) voice shine through. I certainly didn’t expect it to sound so like Pavement, the second song ‘Two To Birckenhead’ is exactly what Pavement would sound like if Stephen Malkmus has been born on Merseyside and it’s quite wonderful. It’s just a warm lovely album that’s utterly listenable.
3 . Floating Points –
Elaenia
Been following this guy (Sam Shepherd) for ages, never really expected him to do anything other than release the odd single here and there, 2009’s ‘Vacum EP’ and 2011’s ‘Shadows EP’ were works of genius, marrying that post dubstep sound with something more mature and slightly jazzy. His debut long player ‘Elaenia‘ fully embraces the jazz element even further, introducing driving live drums and other live instrumentation. It’s a dizzying array of sounds he manages to conjure up here. The 10:42 song ‘Silhouettes‘ is for me the centerpiece of the album, one of the best tracks i’ve heard this year.
2. Kendrick Lamar –
To Pimp A Butterfly
I wasn’t too keen on this at first as I think I just wanted to hear a second version of the debut, more party hip hop cuts. It gradually seaped into my convious throughout the year though and now I can fully appreciate it for the work of art that it is. To Pimp A Butterfly is mainly focused on racism and personal issues suffered by black amercians. Unlike a lot of other rappers Kendrick willfully talks about his personal flaws, ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ feels like you’re reading a pretty intimate diary, it really feels like you’re being led into his world and the production is utterly flawless, the funky arrangements, the use of monologue style readings, the little live snipits of songs and the interview with Tupac stitched together at the end of the album. Absolutely mega.
1. Jamie XX –
In Colour
It was a hard decision between this one and the Kendrick album, Kendrick’s album is undeniably the more impressive piece of work but ‘In Colour’ was just constant enjoyment for me throughout the year. I love everything Jamie XX has ever touched so I was pumped for this release and it completely lived up to everything I wanted. Opener ‘Oh my gosh’ is perfect, clattering drums and snippits of a live MC gradually giving way to increasing bass swells and rising keyboards. To me this album is dance music that’s equally listenable on the dance floor or sat in bed late at night drifting off to sleep, it’s just got a vibe about it and enough of a sonic scape to always find something to grab onto no matter what your mood is. There’s so much variety on here, the 2 songs with the XX’s vocalists are typical XX moodyness, ‘Obvs’ is classic Jamie steel drum vibes, ‘Hold Tight‘ is pure warehouse rave and ‘I Know There’s Gonna Be Good Times‘ is one of the most infectious tunes of the year, a party poppy banger that would be equally at home at a pretentious Shoreditch warehouse space or a 14 year old from Warrington’s birthday party. There’s just not a bad moment on this album.
