My New Years Resolution this year was simple; ‘Say YES more.’
- A regular DJ night at The Miller (Second Friday of every month playing SOUL/FUNK/DISCO).
- Having a baby. Finally and most momentously, I became a Father! This has been a game changer.
Pic: © Amy Murrell
The final part
of that diptych is why this review didn’t make it out in time
for Xmas and was written almost entirely left-handed at 4am. No regrets, 2014 was a good year; I knew Grange Hill were talking shit – just say YES! This years list got me
thinking about the difference between artists making their debut and
those returning under the weight of expectation. The debut is the culmination of years of forethought while the second album is
often a more pressurised affair written on the hoof or worse still given far
too much time to ferment. I’m looking at you Stone Roses. That said let’s jump
straight in with some #HaikuReview
Dig the new breed …
East India
Youth were my ‘one to watch’ tip for last year and I have been delighted to see
‘Total Strife Forever’ go on to become a huge success.
East India
Youth!
Five syllables
already?
Mercury Prize
nom.
Ross Tones has
been building up a phenomenal back catalogue over the last couple of years
including the remarkable Snow Ghosts project. 2014 however saw the Throwing Snow album finally drift into view; ‘Mosaic’ is a must hear.
Mosaics in
sound.
Smashed it like a
cracked mirror.
Snowballs
target brain.
A less lauded
electronic gem is the Matom album ‘Love Mistakes’. Forged by dance-floor specialists Matt Edwards (Radioslave) and Thomas Gandey (Cagedbaby) this album
allows them to explore the outer reaches of deep house.
Matt and Tom's album
Jazzy house down the K-hole
Worth finding this gem
That rather rambling preamble has soothed
my conscious slightly in what has been a difficult selection process.
eops Best of 2014
10 Lone – Reality Testing
The reverberations of the underground often
take a long time to filter through to the mainstream, the
most exciting work in any genre happens on a small scale. These embryonic
ideas are so easily lost that we rely heavily on tastemaker labels that
support the scene in the early days. 30 years ago the remarkable
R&S label were helping nurture rave and techno from an anonymous flat in
Belgium. They helped the likes of Aphex Twin, Joey Beltram and CJ Bolland to
bring techno to the masses and R&S have never stopped looking for the next
wave. Recently the label has championed the live sounds of Egyptian Hip Hop and Lone (whilst
still remaining true to their roots with the brutal techno of Blawan). The Lone LP consolidates everything the label has stood for
over three decades. 'Reality testing' pulls together the strands of techno,
ambient, drum & bass and trip hop and weaves a plush cloak of electronica.
9 Caribou – Our Love
Dan Snaith is
one of those ‘newcomers’ with 32 releases already under his belt. It is fair to
say that most people only really became aware of his immense talent after 2010s
breakthrough Caribou LP ‘Swim’. The key to this success lay in a deep
understanding of both song writing and dance music aesthetics, that allowed him
to create a show stopping live set to promote a heart-stopping album. Sensibly
Mr Snaith didn’t succumb to the clamour for ‘more of the same double quick’,
instead he took his time to refresh the batteries and allow for his Caribou
project to rediscover its muse. In the intervening years a number of side
projects (including the remarkable Daphni LP ‘Jiaolong’) bought him the
breathing space required to come back triumphant. ‘Our Love’ is a warm, colourful, chill out room made homely with scatter cushions of soft synth pads and
oddly familiar melodic motifs. I often look for a darker edge to music but in
this case it’s a relief to find an album that makes you feel secure,
comfortable and happy.
8 FKA Twigs – LP1
Young Turks is
another remarkable label that has a habit of breaking the golden rule of
Ghostbusting by constantly crossing the streams. Over the last couple of years they have brought us SBTRKT, Sampha, Koreless and
now FKA Twigs. As I may have mentioned before I am not a bumper or a grinder
but when the legacy of great soul music shines through the baby oil I am happy
to slide inside the overheated crib. FKA Twigs were
marketed with the ‘new face of R&B’ tag but I don’t think that’s really
where this LP is coming from. Tahliah Barnett grew up in Gloucestershire
listening to Siouxsie & the Banshees, she wasn't hot housed in a gospel church
by way of the Mickey Mouse Club with Xtina. This album is a minimal framework
barely supporting the lilting confessionals contained in the lyrics. It’s so
sparse and arty it doesn’t so much bling as shimmer a bit. The entire LP is
sung in a register so high that it would make Janet Kaye blush (sadly for me
this makes a hearty sing a long almost impossible), but it really works. This
is a fresh innovative debut and we should think less about which box to put it
in and let it carve out it's own niche. It is certainly sharp enough.
7 Theo Parrish – American Intelligence
When asked
about the secret of making great jazz records Miles Davis famously said “It’s
not about the notes you play, it’s about the notes you don’t play.” This is as
true for house music as it is for jazz. As America binges on the tasteless junk
food of EDM ('Electronic Dance Music' for those of you who weren't aware of how
'the machine' has finally sold electronic music back to the states), one of the
giants of Detroit house returns with another spacious LP. It's a timely reminder
to these day-glo Johnny-come-lately types of where the music came from and how
vital and soulful it once was. The true spirit of house is about stripping away
the unnecessary rather than adding evermore flamboyant decorations to the Christmas tree of excess. Theo Parrish edits the legacy of black
music so respectfully that this supposedly electronic affair swims with life
and vibrancy. From the initial skittish repetition of 'Footwork' to the
sprawling acid miasma of ‘Helmut Lampshade', American Intelligence lives up to
it's name. This is no cold techno artefact, it's a heartfelt testimony warmed by valves, physical formats and a real live human soul.
6 The Bug – Angels and Devils
With the
exception of the heaviest end of heavy metal, artists that trade on power often
find the graduation from singles to albums a difficult transition. Finding the staying power to 'shock and awe' their audience a second time is often a step
too far. This is especially true in the world of dance music. How
many hardcore techno artists cut a serious album that amounts to more than a
selection of individual tracks? Fewer still managed more than one. The problem
being that the shock of the new has to retain it's ability to shock whilst the
elongated medium of the LP means the listener must remain engaged despite not
being off their box in a sweaty club. You 'listen' to an album, that's why it
still the pinnacle of musical expression - the cracks will show if it's not up
to par. The Bug are neither metal nor techno and despite their dub roots they
don't really fit into the world of offbeat skanking either. Their first LP
London Zoo annihilated all before it kicking the rosey ass of it's dubstep,
grime and bashment contemporaries with a frankly ludicrous show of power. The
question is 'how do you follow that?' Those ravers who felt the brunt of the
bass led assault through tunes like 'Skeng' 'Poison dart' and 'Gun disease'
called for more of the same but simply repeating the same tricks would surely be
doomed to backfire. For Kevin Martin to grow he needed to show depth in his
songwriting whilst still throwing a meaty bone to the hardcore. The answer is
beautifully rendered in 'Angels and Devils', one record steeped in a thick skunk-drenched
fog of reflection and the other directing a deliberate but controlled rage at
the listener. I think the balance to this LP is just about perfect, the audio
vandal has proved he can build and destroy.
5 D’Angelo – Black Messiah
Upping the ante
set by Isaac Hayes with his 'Black Moses' album, D'Angelo has 'rushed out' this (decade in the making) release in response to Ferguson. There's something
powerful going on here, fifty years on from the civil rights movement and very
little seems to have changed. This includes music’s unerring ability to focus
minds and offer solace in the face of adversity. Black Messiah like it's
biblical predecessor aims to empower the listener through music, the title is
intended to implore every listener to bring about their own salvation rather
than flatter the ego of its creator. ‘Black Messiah’ is a poignant and powerful
piece of work. There’s a closeness to the sound and every track weaves together
a close knit atmosphere as claustrophobic as it is liberating. It may
not really lay claim to pushing the boundaries of R&B music further (there
is nothing ‘new’ here) but it can stake a claim to be a future soul
classic. Indeed 'classic' would be the watchword here as D'Angelo channels 'If
I was your girlfriend'/'Dorothy Parker’ era Prince and baboon eating dog era Sly
Stone perfectly. Even the production harks back to look forward; an all analogue
recording committed to hundreds of tape reels that had to be painstakingly
stitched together by hand without the benefit of cut n paste - no shortcuts
were taken in this 12 year labour of love and it shows. If you have been
wondering who stole the soul during the shiny bump & grind era you will be
pleased to know it was D'Angelo and at last, in the face of adversity, he has
decided to put it back.
4 Liars – Mess
Very few
artists have the balls to switch styles with every LP (Bowie being the master,
Radiohead deserving huge props for obfuscating the path to REM like ubiquity by
dropping ‘Kid A’ onto a deeply confused marketplace after ‘OK Computer’), but
Liars have the courage of their convictions. Their discography is willfully
fickle and manages to take numerous left turns without ever doubling back on itself.
Their early work was characterised by searing punk-funk and white-hot mix downs
that could melt your headphones into earwax. As they grew in
stature albums like ‘Sisterworld’ saw them add control and sophistication to
their runaway train of ideas but it seems they couldn't wait to derail
themselves. ‘WIXIW’ saw them ditch the guitars entirely and jump headfirst into
blackest ever black electronica. It was a brave and artistically satisfying
take on indie synth pop. What is marvelous about ‘Mess’ is that it evolves
seamlessly from the pumping euro of ‘Brats’ (which closed out ‘WIXIW’) into a
post Ibiza new-wave LP. Mess is big, brash and dribbling with the cumulative
effects of the designer drugs era.
3 The War on Drugs – Lost in the dream
Despite falling
head over heals in love with former ‘Warren Drugs’ cohort Kurt Vile, I
initially took against this thick slice of Americana. My eventual acceptance is
testament to the type of slow burn song writing that grows like a weed between
the cracks in your prejudice against the legacy of Springsteen, Tom Petty and all
the other ‘America with a capital A’ archetypes. Maybe you are one of the
millions that accept these artists willingly into your life but many people
find the blue-collar rock and rollers too detached from their European
surroundings. I've often found myself claiming Springsteen 'Isn't as bad as you
think, you have to look at his legacy in the round...' etc. In future I won't
bother, I'll just play them The War On Drugs repeatedly for a couple of days
until the legacy seeps through the pores and the cynicism wanes. It's plainly a
great record.
Future Islands – Singles
Fame can be a fickle master; you dream about it, work for it, if you
are both lucky and talented you might actually achieve it and when you do it
might not necessarily feel like the thing you set out for. Future Islands have
dutifully done the rounds honing their sound gig by gig, these ‘newcomers’
actually already have 4 albums behind them. I consider myself lucky to have
(and I don't want to sound all hipster about this) heard them before THAT YouTube clip. The David Letterman appearance had the bizarre effect of
catapulting this fairly odd electro pop band from South Carolina via Baltimore
into 3 million homes overnight. It’s sad then that when people talk about
Future Islands its the awkward but sincere ‘Dad dancing’ that grabs the
attention, there's barely a peep about their excellent and original music. I
hope this fame doesn't lumber them with a terrible dancing albatross because
'Singles', when separated from the furor, is a synth-pop gem. At Field Day this year there was a
tangible buzz of excitement in the air when they performed and the show proved to be hair-raisingly compelling. So please, next time you think of that growling
Marlon Brando look-a-like doing an impression of a speed skater on goofballs
make sure you look past the spectacle and actually take time to listen.
Sleaford Mods – Divide and Exit
Every now and
then a record captures the zeitgeist of what it is to be alive at a certain
point in our culture (and I'm not talking about the vapid coffee table funk of
Daft Punk and Todd Terje). I mean the type of pithy existential translation
brought to us by artists working at (or indeed long term unemployed at), the coalface
of society. The type of star crossed expressionism that allows one human
experience to be accurately conveyed to a multitude of people, clearing the
air and defining the times. It's the sort of condensed humanity that in 1980
allowed John Cooper Clarke to scribe 'Keith Joseph smiles and a baby dies, in a
box on Beasley street'. You can find it
in the work of The Smiths, the darker lyrics of Madness, the multicultural
graffiti of The Specials in 'Ghost town' and even briefly in 'A certain
romance' as captured by Alex Turner before the Arctic Monkeys were sluiced out
of the arse-hole of the music industry by gout inducing success. Sleaford Mods
are the latest 'overnight success' to grow for years unnoticed like a mushroom in the dark
recesses of the UK's sink estates before being plucked from
obscurity because the time was ripe. ‘Divide and Exit’
is probably the least musical of all the albums on this list but for all the
bare boned practicality provided by beat-maker Andrew Fearn it is also the most
urgent, engaging and vital thing I've heard in years. Punk is not dead, it's got
a copy of garage band and a twitter account. Sleaford Mods are easily the least
pretentious band I’ve ever seen. Fearn doesn’t even pretend to do anything
other than hit ‘play’ on his computer and attend to social media. Jason
Williamson the foul-mouthed lyricist is equally down to earth.
Instead of boorishly
bragging to his poverty stricken fans about drinking Crystal in a diamond
studded tracksuit like Jay-Z and his fantasist contemporaries, Williamson
politely tweets thanks to his supporters for helping him to afford some new
patio doors this summer. That's the real hip-hop right there. His vicious social
commentary is thrown over skeletal backbeats that make up for their
unedited simplicity by retaining a sense of inspirational urgency. His acerbic
wit is filthy and laugh out loud funny, but don't confuse the Mods with
the mic-checking comedians of Goldie Looking Chain and their ilk - here the
punch lines are used to pry open subjects before gouging out the
flesh of the matter and swallowing it whole. This is both serious and seriously
funny invective.
There are no
American accents either; this is pure UK spit being flobbed in your face.
Sleaford Mods use their local dialect to raise one jampandy to the sky and salute. Pithy narratives describe the indignity of being a ‘Jobseeker’, the pointlessness of a ‘McFlurry’, or the pent up rage of finding
yourself working for a right cunt. Oh yeah, 'Divide and Exit' swears like a fucking sailor, get used to it you titrifle. That's how people talk. It provides a momentary glimpse at the
life you hope you'll never know, I advise you to stare at it till your eyes
water. In a blink it will be gone but Jason Williamson’s poetry will always
remain true.
*UPDATE*
Great start to the new year as The Sleaford Mods approve!
I was very pleased to see this tweet - I think this means the score is now officially:
NME 0 - eops 1
Single of the year
Just listen to that bassline. I could mooch
about all day to that. I played it on repeat for about a week in the
summer. Also cool girls being cool video.
Re-issue of the year
A lovely and luxurious package backed up
with lost tracks and studio sessions. What a record.
Compilation of the year
Because DISCO.
Gig of the year
It was simply gushing with love. Read my
review. Beware gush.
http://www.the-monitors.com/2014/09/09/sounds-love-kate-bush-hammersmith-apollo/
http://www.the-monitors.com/2014/09/09/sounds-love-kate-bush-hammersmith-apollo/
And some slight returns …
The Horrors returned with a toothless offering ‘Luminous’, after reinventing gothic indie with ‘Primary Colours’ and ‘Skying’ it was a crying shame for them to return to B-Movie status.
Black hearted Horrors?
Gothic rock? Over polished.
Glow in the dark synths.
After the joy that was the first SBTRKT album the follow up seemed thin gruel indeed. My favourite review site The Quietus mauled it seemingly on the grounds that people employed in the creative industries don’t have the right to express their feelings. Bit harsh I thought.
Toothless post dubstep?
Savaged by The Quietus,
Not THAT bad really.
And last of the stragglers is Metronomy who had the unenviable task of following up the pop perfection of ‘The English Riviera’. Many people expressed disappointment with ‘Love Letters’ but I think it suffered by association and would have delighted the first time listener.
What do we want eh?
More of the same or not?
Cake twice then, dig in.
Any other business
YES
