SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS @sealonpsychedelics-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

Final Note

SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS HAS SERVED ITS PURPOSE.

THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING AND READING, WHETHER YOU STARTED DOING IT BACK IN 2011 OR FEW DAYS AGO.

WE ARE NOW IN PERPETUAL HIBERNATION.

R.I.P. AND GOODNIGHT.

#the end

Best of 2010-2014: Albums: 25-11

25 // The Weeknd // House Of Balloons

At this point it would be very easy for us to claim that The Weeknd is a Drake knockoff with a drug habit and a misogynist twist. But what's hard to ignore is House Of Balloons, a saucy mixtape from a new, fresh, cool and most importantly anonymous R&B singer with a new dark edge that's too risque for the mainstream. Remember, this is the record that tipped over the guilty love for R&B that the indie crowd were harbouring since The xx made them realise that sensuality is alright. These days The Weeknd is slightly washed out but pretty much every single cut on here still holds up. He wasn't all hype and mystery after all.

24 // Flying Lotus // Cosmogramma

People like to claim that Flying Lotus has jazz flowing through his veins and the Cosmogramma is the modern fusion classic. Is that really so? Other than having ties with art jazz royalty Alice Coltrane and employing bass virtuoso Thundercat, does his music really have the necessary attributes to claim its home under jazz umbrella. This is not to do disservice to Cosmogramma as it's certainly the hardest album to classify this decade. Going from slabs of afro-future IDM to throwback weed psychedelia, Flying Lotus has the legacy and the vision to create a new kind of post-bop for the club kids raised on Idioteque.

23 // Daft Punk // Random Access Memories

The funniest thing about Random Access Memories is the paradox and a time loop that it creates in respect to disco music. Around the time disco crashed into irrelevancy and new wave was taking over, it was hard to see the likes of Nile Rodgers ever claiming to be cool ever again. Yet, Daft Punk injected much life into the genre and revitalised it with their epic Discovery LP. That was the most famous exponent of the french house sound, the filtered tribute to technicolors and discos of few decades ago. Then, the sound became irrelevant until another album came out. That album is Random Access Memories, once again by Daft Punk. They may not be part of the original wave but these two French robots are the most important disco act of all time.

22 // Shabazz Palaces // Black Up

Black Up is the type of record that's almost experimental for the so called real hip-hop heads. On the other hand, it's a brilliant example and a weapon up their sleeve for the eclectic crowd that wants to show someone that hip-hop can be pretty out there too. Simply said, no one else out there sounds like Shabazz Palaces. The poetic, future conscious lyrics that call out commercial rappers and social issues in a psychedelic setting are backed with equally unsettling instrumentals. Ranging from boom bap kick triplets to vocal screeching slowed down to its breaking point. Move over Death Grips, Shabazz Palaces is the decade's loudest alternative rap voice.

21 // Justin Timberlake // The 20/20 Experience

Radio friendly pop has gotten pretty weird recently. With chaps like Mike Will scoring worldwide smashes less then a year after being an unknown face, radio has truly killed and outlived all video stars out there. JT here was one the last icons of the MTV era. And he got an answer to the new pretenders. The 20/20 Experience has a trick up its sleeve. Most of it songs like two songs being pulled into one by the gravity of pop's finest character. The result is a long experience, with songs averaging at seven minutes per cut. Nevertheless, JT's charisma makes the whole record a breeze and with Timbaland back to his best, the old all star team are still balling hard on the charts with retro fresh.

20 // Burial // Kindred EP

Burial has been a brilliant dance music producer for many years before this release but with Kindred EP he became a very promising artist with a scope that extends itself outside the club. He would go on to be even more left field with Rival Dealer EP but Kindred here remains his most potent mix of dance music and sleepy atmospherics. The lead cut is one of Burial's longest and most fulfilling realisations of his trademark grainy 2-step. The deep cuts pare back the garage rhythms for house propulsion and a very direct, rave inspired use of synth leads. With one big swoop, Burial gathers all of his followers and deliriously confuses them with yet unheard purpose.

19 // Tame Impala // Lonerism

Unlike Deerhunter, Tama Impala use nostalgia for the unremembered pop history past in a very direct and referential manner. Their sound is basically Strawberry Fields Forever remade for 3D meets 4K viewing. But with Lonerism, these nostalgic Aussies made something timeless. That's simply because of the rather ordinary but otherwise life-reaffirming songs that they write. Lonerism is this decade's perfect blunt rolled and smoked while holding a grudge against all that will not love or care for you. The melodies on Elephant and Mind Mischief are immediate classics while the sentiment on Feels Like We Only Go Backwards already turned it into decade's finest solitary torchbearer. Song for song, Lonerism is decade's most human friendly rock record.

18 // Deerhunter // Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter has been a very exciting band to follow throughout the recent years because despite their blog antics stealing some of their shine, it's the continuous growth of their records that's made them very appealing and engaging. Halcyon Digest is as good as their previous two records, even better but in different ways. Exchanging psychedelic wall of haze for disarming, naked clarity of confession, Deerhunter manage to sound like the most human act on this list. Focusing on the past and childhood regrets, Deerhunter show that nostalgia rock can be creative form of outlet rather than a blur of trendy ideas. After all, this is the record that will make you cry and then wipe your tears with a giddy sax solo in a space of a minute.

17 // The Knife // Shaking The Habitual

Clearly, The Knife had a lot on their collective minds when they decided to end a seven year solo record hiatus and release blistering, confrontational Shaking The Habitual. With their brand of Scandi ambient techno making space for EBM and industrial music, The Knife turned political and used the album to dissect that liberal gender issues as well as some ecological ones. If this sounds positively self-indulgent, it's because it is, brilliantly so. Despite their message, The Knife retain their dance credentials on cuts like Full Of Fire and Without You My Life Would Be Boring. At their weirdest, they dedicate ten minutes to Earth moans and twenty minutes to spacious silence. As left wing as they are left field, The Knife represent the decade at its most weird and socially brave.

16 // Chromatics // Kill For Love

Speaking about movies, and you knew we wouldn't have it any other way, possibly the best flick of the decade is a stylish synthwave advert called Drive. Chromatics and their cinematic opus Kill For Love are basically the lord of the film by now. But Kill For Love tells its own story that hasn't aged a single bit since dropping two and a half years ago. What's more impressive than its sense of pacing and restraint is the fact that Kill For Love hasn't aged at all. From the hits of the title track and the patience of Lady to the middle record post-disco ambiance and a dramatic finish, Kill For Love holds up with repeated viewings and rewards attention to details that happen off the camera.

15 // Frank Ocean // Channel Orange

When Frank Ocean dropped Channel Orange majority of the record's hype came from the fact that Ocean just accomplished one of the most touching come outs in LGBT history. With a couple of years of emotional maturity between then and now, Channel Orange still holds up not because of who Ocean is but because how he feels about human to human connection. See, Channel Orange remains topical because despite what it is, it manages to feel as universal as any love confession can, man to girl, man to man or otherwise. In fact, cuts like Thinkin Bout You and Bad Religion remain decade's best example of love at its most disarming and uniting in unrequited misery.

14 // D'Angelo And The Vanguard // Black Messiah

Gee, thanks very much D'Angelo. Not only you made the entirety of our 2014 albums of the year list completely irrelevant by crashing into the top five a day after we thought we had the year wrapped up, you also had the audacity to return with the sort of album that makes last 14 years feel like a time well spent. Black Messiah is D'Angelo's most dense release. The man who was brave enough to bare it all on his previous masterpiece Voodoo has covered himself up with bass heavy, insanely layered production and songs that feel more like soul mantras that have no real start or ending. You know what, D'Angelo wasn't slacking. Each of these songs are crammed with almost too many brilliant ideas, from off kilter oscillating bass on 1000 Deaths to a dreamy, psychedelic three note melody coming in and out of sight during The Charade. Christgau called D'Angelo "R&B Jesus". Well, Jesus has his work cut out. D'Angelo is on his iconic third coming already.

13 // FKA twigs // LP1

It may just be that this is 2014 speaking in all of us but LP1 feels like the sort of album that signifies another new start for wonky as fuck trip hop. There will be a day when contemporary R&B as idiosyncratic and unique as this will age and make us realise that yeah, this could've only came out in 2014. But there is nothing wrong with showing your age. LP1 features the most exciting production of the decade with pan automations flying in all directions. Lyrically and vocally, twigs can hold her own without being defining. But with decade's two most distinct visual and sound artists Jesse Kanda and Arca creating the sound that twigs made her own, LP1 is as now and future as it gets.

12 // Ariel Pink // Pom Pom

Isn't it weird that some of this decade's very best pop songs are also it's most weird and clumsily bizarre? Ariel Pink has spent many years in lo-fi irrelevancy making music too good to not be heard despite his best attempts. While his previous two record allowed him to win on other people's terms, Pom Pom is a return to the lo-fi sound, but with songs that rise far above their lack of immediate clarity. White Freckles, Lipstick, Put Your Number In My Phone and Black Ballerina are all unmistakably Ariel Pink while showing his pop talents in a new light. A mixture of knowing pantomime that doesn't detract from relentless hooks, the entirety of Pom Pom is a character victory. No matter who tries to censor him, Pink stays winning. These days it's as if he's the only pop jester left.

11 // Kendrick Lamar // Good Kid, m.A.A.d City

With the release of his recent single I, Kendrick Lamar made another big step to establish his major label debut as a classic. Just like Illmatic, Good Kid m.A.A.d City is a perfectly realised slice of hood life that will outlive its creator. Just like Nas, Lamar seems to be going towards commercial success following an iconic critical breakout. Surely by now everyone has heard this album? A layered story featuring several different chapters and time periods detailing a good kid trying to get with a girl and getting into gang violence while simultaneously trying to reject what all of us have been hearing about Compton for the last twenty or so years. It helps that Lamar is the most lyrical rapper of his generation, with each chapter being amusing, charming and articulate, ranging from inner mind arguments to sarcastic backseat freestyles. There may be more important records to come out later down the years but we're pretty sure that Lamar's pen on this album is mightier than any sword.

#frank ocean #ariel pink #chromatics #the knife #tame impala #fka twigs #deerhunter #burial #justin timberlake #shabazz palaces #the weeknd #daft punk #kendrick lamar #flying lotus #dangelo

Best of 2010-2014: Albums: 40-26

40 // M.I.A. // /\/\/\Y/\

M.I.A.'s third album has been largely misunderstood when it dropped. Some people didn't like the pop direction, some thought that it wasn't pop enough, with too much internet feedback obscuring the sound of third world democracy that he has built her name upon. But with half of the decade separating us from the release, it's now easy to view it as an elusive piece of pop avant-garde, the sort of record that did all the things right, just a bit too early. The claustrophobic noise hip-hop for clubs would resurface on Yeezus and Death Grips. /\/\/\Y/\ is their godmother.

39 // Sleigh Bells // Treats

In a streak of genius that was virtually impossible to repeat, Sleigh Bells have achieved one of the most immediately recognisable sounds of the decade by producing their music badly. Treats is filled with cheerleader chants performed in a metallic, noise rock style. The pull her is the absolutely noisy sound which sounds as if your speakers have been blown during all the fun you were having listening to this album. That's a good sound in anyone's book.

38 // Death Grips // The Money Store

Even considering the fresh ground that the likes of Kanye, Kendrick and Drake have covered this decade, The Money Store was one hip-hop album that interested people who previously didn't care about hip-hop. Ignorant and proud, they are much like The Money Store which is the sound of fear up close. MC Ride is a voice to be reckoned with even if his words mean nothing. The production is top notch too, crushing found sound into stiff lo-fi rhythms. Fittingly, they already broke up. You can't sustain this.

37 // Iceage // Plowing Into The Field Of Love

Shoutout to any band who ever matured without releasing what people call "the mature album". Danish no-longer-quite punks Iceage joined the ranks with their inspired third record Plowing Into The Field Of Love. One of the few acts during this decade that lived up to the young urchin promise of backwater punk rock, Iceage went from feisty angst to drunken everything-is-allowed creativity in the space of just few years. Somehow, Plowing Into The Field Of Love establishes as the dopest young art rock band going.

36 // Sun Kil Moon // Benji

Sun Kil Moon is not your traditional click bait artist. He's an old and rather grumpy middle aged man with a story to tell and acoustic guitar to play. And yet, he spent this year giving us so much content that his non-stop presence feels as if it should date at least a couple of years back. Benji itself sounds like the sort of life intelligence and experience that has to be earned and mastered before it can be retold. There are many young kids playing acoustic guitars and earning the tag "wise before their years". Sit the fuck down kids, a real old man is putting you and your stories in their place.

35 // Four Tet // There Is Love In You

For the most of his career until that point, Four Tet has been working with electronic music that leaned towards crate digging jazz, laid back electronic backing and arresting drum patterns that required absorbed following. With There Is Love In You he pulled all of his more distinct characteristics to deliver a more straightforward IDM record aimed at genuine clubs. There Is Love In You is this decade's most charming and fragile dance record, with cuts like Angel Echoes working brilliantly in the club and in your head. It takes a master to make sparsity feel so absorbing.

34 // Salem // King Night

Much has been said about Salem's sudden rise and their very quick demise. Remember, in 2010 internet only subgenres of music that weren't discussed in serious music press were still a new thing. Witch house was making waves between kids on obscure forums were discussing all things PBR&B, seapunk, vaporwave and bubblegum bass. More of a synthpop aesthetic rather than a genre built to last, witch house was spooky for about one year. King Night is the sound's defining moment, summing up an idea while hinting towards the future where blurry synths and southern rapping can be a viable career choice.

33 // Grimes // Visions

We jumped on the Grimes bandwagon back in 2011 when she dropped Vanessa, still one of her better tracks. Did we expect Visions to make her the star she is now? Hardly. But luckily, the star quality is clear throughout the record. The echoes of 90s atmospheric dance and big diva R&B vocals meet with a perfectly faded production. Visions opened a door for pop females. Ever since Visions, there has been an influx of pop records with voices filling all the space. People like Ellie Goulding to FKA twigs owe a bit of their sound to the visionary Visions.

32 // Deafheaven // Sunbather

The easy choice here would be to just say that Deafheaven managed to become big using the same old sound that Alcest were pushing for the last decade. But Sunbather is more than U2-tier positivity in its riffs and a delightfully pink album cover. The cuts are much more cohesive and delivered with a purpose that's unheard among usually absent-minded, equally referential USBM acts. The major chords makes a nice change from all the aimless chromaticism in senseless, evil tremolo picking. And you know what, even those euphoric riffs are great. Sunbather is a groundbreaking as a metalhead wearing pink. And that is by far the most avant-garde thing any of us can hope to see in out lives.

31 // Jai Paul // Jai Paul

When Jai, or someone associated with him, or maybe even not, dropped this album, collection of unfinished demos or something else, we thought, FINALLY!. It only took a day for the dream to be ruined and Paul is yet to deliver an actual album. In fact, he's yet to offer an explanation for this. But repeated listens over the last year and a half ask a question. Would Paul release something as good as this? The production, heavy on uberhuman sidechaining and disregard of mastering, is pretty much a Jai Paul sound now. Would we still care if he removed the quality of the half finished demo? Jai Paul, the record, is essential because when the album proper comes along, it'll fade in comparison to the piece of unfiltered genius like this.

30 // Rustie // Glass Swords

Another record created by a chap we haven't heard from before and who crumbled under the expectation of following his immediate classic. Glass Swords by Rustie took the sound of dubstep and UK wonky, locked it in the neon coloured bedroom and forced it to play Ocarina Of Time for three months straight. The result is a stroke of brilliance, half soundtrack half essential club peaks. As we write this, PC Music crew are running the world. Glass Swords is the inspiration behind everything that is senselessly gleeful about bright UK dance music right now.

29 // Joanna Newsom // Have One On Me

Joanna Newsom has claimed that she no longer uses music as a soundtrack to do the chores around the house or go down the road to get a fresh loaf of bread. These days she leaves all her troubles behind closed doors, sits down and listens. This is exactly what she invited, nay forced her listeners to do with her colossal third album Have One On Me. The sprawling, ornate yet sensible free-folk of Ys is expanded into two hours of near unfathomable creativity. Have One On Me offers many great cuts and a stream of inspirations, as long as you have time for it.

28 // Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti // Before Today

Once Before Today dropped, we had our usual share of been there since the early days losers. But with Ariel Pink, the law is that he only got good at the start of this decade. On Before Today something made him clear up his act, collect some of the best unpolished demos he made years ago and revisit them in a style that gives justice to his throwback pop rock songwriting talents. One's that were always there while being forcefully neglected by try hard noise embers. L'estat, Round And Round and Can't Hear My Eyes aren't new. But here they're so much better than anything that came before.

27 // Janelle Monae // The Archandroid

Janelle Monae has released some pretty classic singles at the start of the decade, namely Cold War and Tightrope. Both enormous pieces of afro-futurist throwback neo soul with ambition that could feed the entire R&B scene. But Monae's sprawling ideas are still best represented by her long players. The Archandroid is a cutely naive collection of old school soul music retold through the frames of modern psychedelia, art pop, hip-hop, hell, even medieval chanting. While her stories about android love can be hit or miss, the ideas behind the songs are pure bullseye.

26 // 2NE1 // Crush

It's pretty hard to create a solid album in South Korea. The nation, and especially its idol scene have no interest in the western long player. Even mini albums are usually neglected and work as an extended single rather than something that's supposed to meet you in the middle. Crush by 2NE1 is potentially the best "album" to ever come out of the country. Having much in common with Beyonce's visual album, Crush features many different sounds that unite present trends with their future potential. From trap, acoustic ballads, empowering dance pop, often within the same song, 2NE1 represent the decade's most popular alternative scene at its very best.

#2ne1 #ariel pink #joanna newsom #rustie #jai paul #deafheaven #grimes #four tet #sun kil moon #salem #iceage #mia #death grips #sleigh bells #janelle monae

Best of 2010-2014: Songs: 10-1

10 // Daft Punk // Get Lucky

When Radiohead released Kid A, they completely destabilised rock music and made it reductive. All the major press raised their eyebrow at Kid A's futurism and soon started hyping garage rock acts whose only talent was nostalgia appropriation. The cycle was sent into a whirl and soon we realised that every genre no matter how once considered to be uncool will be revived for hindsight appreciation. Disco, despite being the father of anything that is good about dance music, required one hell of a song to make it all look cool again. Tight rhythm section, memorable vocalist, a classic tie in and iconic look. No against the odds here, who else but Daft Punk?

9 // Arcade Fire // Reflektor

Okay, shout out to Daft Punk here. When the dust settles down they will be the act who had the biggest hit of 2013 and one that will continue to define the resurgence of disco. But it wasn't the best song of the year. In another proof that popularity doesn't equal quality, Arcade Fire use the same late 70s palette for a more accomplished effect. Seven minutes of Reflektor ranges from straightforward pop rock to a disco breakdown from DFA rule book. In the process the band employ tales of future disconnection, self-reflection and David Bowie. All in the key of retro.

8 // Tame Impala // Feels Like We Only Go Backwards

Considering just how much they sound like The Beatles, Tame Impala actually have nothing in common with them when it comes to lyrics. Both of their albums deal with loneliness that has nothing heroic about it, no Yesterday. Feels Like We Only Go Backwards is their very best moment. The sort of depressed trail of immense self-doubt that is usually overlooked because it cuts too close to the bone. The band above are responsible for the best breakup music of the decade. Tame Impala, peaking right here, are the unrequited answer.

7 // Kanye West // Blood On The Leaves

It's kind of hard to talk about the decade without mentioning the name of this guy. Even if he stopped making hits and retreated to grand, cracked masterpieces, West still reaches the singular zenit from time to time. Taken from Yeezus, an album that's too weird to be taken as anything but an album statement, Blood On The Leaves is the highlight bridging the old and the new. A sample of Strange Fruit is cut up in a manner not dissimilar to Jesus Walks days. However, the heavy TNGHT beat during the breakdown put this among West's most punishing moments, emotionally and instrumentally.

6 // Blawan // Getting Me Down

With rock music dying out and being replaced by upbeat dance music, it's becoming harder to make a noise with a four on four kick. UK bass scene is by far the most exciting place to be because the trends here change with every season. Blawan is best known for his hard hitting mixture of techno and UK garage. Getting Me Down isn't a song that defines his personal aesthetic but it's certainly a song that defines the modern British sound. Dark sub bass is backed with a DIY garage rhythm. To keep things intercontinental and because they have the better R&B singers, Blawan picks a Brandy vocal sample and turns out what is easily the most natural sounding past meets future in the present moment of the modern south London club.

5 // James Blake // CMYK

All things considered, James Blake is the one artist that has the most noticeable impact on the modern music that aims to mix indie pop with danceable rhythms and songwriter elements. His laptop piano music gave a new voice to a different breed of bedroom producer. His R&B and gospel tones further popularised the black genre among white indie kids. And his beat developments took something as basic as classic dubstep and turned it inside out, immediately forcing people to tag his music as post-dubstep. CMYK is the best of all. Raw synths with a simple melody. Those cornerstones of soul songwriting are enhanced by left field club trends, including skipping beats, Kelis and Aaliyah samples as well as Blake's own voice. This guy now has his own Radio 1 residency. Good lads can still finish first.

4 // Future // Turn On The Lights

Other than British dance music, he have to give it to Stateside hip-hop. It has been one of the most inspired forms of music so far this decade. Future doesn't belong to the elite, far from it. He's a horrible singer, his raps sound like cries. But he's the perfect muse for a modern hip-hop producer, the sort of kid who considers codeine and Pokemon to go hand in hand. Turn On The Lights is the defining hip-hop song of the decade so far because it predicted the birth of new simplicity while still sounding one step ahead of its peers years later. Trap beat and crystal synth lines, heavy auto-tune and heavier bass. Turn On The Lights is ratchet encrusted gold.

3 // Drake // Hold On We're Going Home

Drake has been on the edge of everything that was exciting about this decade in hip-hop. From pioneering a new form of emotionally mature and personal lyrical style to beats that make cloud rap and codeine pianos seem more than tumblr buzzwords. And yet, his best song isn't a confession or even an attack. Hold On Were Going Home is a simple love song with simple ambitions, to let the girl in question know. Yet, channelling his inner Quincy Jones, Drake uses childhood nostalgia and innocence to become irresistible. Both musically and conceptually, Hold On We're Going Home is this decade's own fairytale.

2 // QT // Hey QT

Hey QT feels like the opposite of everything liberal minds are taught to think about pop music. Is it too far off the irony scale to be considered the most brilliant piece of dance pop this decade has seen? Especially these days when you see people liking Real Estate and Rihanna in equal measures. Have we accepted the face value of mainstream pop as long as we can ignore that more clever than you reinterpretations of it exist and do so with so much aplomb that they make Ke$ha's entire career sound irrelevant in a matter of a second? Will we get to a point where indie and mainstream are not descriptive words to indicate the quality of music, let alone pop? Whatever. Hey QT teaches that it's okay to make the decade's best dance pop cut without having a Pepsi advertising deal. Haters will hate but who are they even hating? The presence of the internet itself?

1 // Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti // Round And Round

In what is surely one of the easiest decision any of us will have to make this decade, Ariel Pink comes out on top. Round And Round is the sound of the planet right now. When it first dropped chillwave was still a Hipster Runoff in joke and nostalgia was still restricted to some super cool blogs that no one gives a shit about. Round And Round is the sound of the decade because it's a monolith of blurry nostalgia that turns a weirdo into a pop culture hero. It also helps that it's an absolutely stunning song that combines everything that's amazing about Pink without little distraction. The pre-chorus is started by an accidental phone ring. During the breakdown the only words Pink is singing is "breakdown, br br br down". The chorus is a mastery in tension and release, filled with romance that's uncharacteristic of Pink's goofy character. In the lyrics he states that "he writes the songs that make you say "I like that"". Look as deep as you will, you won't any controversy in that statement.

#ariel pinks haunted graffiti #qt #future #james blake #blawan #kanye west #arcade fire #daft punk #tame impala #drake

Best of 2010-2014: Songs: 30-11

30 // Jamie xx // All Under One Roof Raving

British dance music has been moving so quickly this decade that we hardly had any time to stop and look back on the ground it has covered. Jamie xx himself has been at the forefront of the new minimalism. From garage to wonky, every self-respecting producer knows his classic jungle records, and All Under One Roof Raving is the tribute to the days where your 12" were your badge of cool, your style statement and your worldview. Touching and beyond the nostalgia.

29 // Frank Ocean // Thinkin Bout You

Always the romantic at his own expense, Frank Ocean is the new master of brushing it off and acting like his feelings on someone who never answered weren't that serious in the first place. Thinkin Bout You opens his brilliant Channel Orange LP (that's if you don't count the sound of a Playstation loading screen as a song) and sums up the record's aesthetic. And despite the male on male perspective, this is emotion absolutely anyone can relate to.

28 // Waka Flocka Flame // Hard In The Paint

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The only thing inexplicable about it in fact is that it made Wake Flocka Flame into a national hero who can save white middle class families as well as seem like a thoroughly positive chap. But back when trap wasn't the thing it is now, Hard In The Paint razed the ground with loud and ignorant beat, cheap brass effects, gunshots immortalised by Waka's delivery. But then you see the drive, the passion and the determination in a young man who has the game figured out and you stop wondering about it all.

27 // The National // Bloodbuzz Ohio

The National are not exactly the most exciting band out there and since their 2010 opus High Violet they became determined on making midlife misery seem marketable for old-beyond-their-years teenagers. Yet, Bloodbuzz Ohio remains their very best song because something that The National lack, ambiguity. Melodically brilliant and optimistic, the song is a perfect example of a band defining their aesthetic while not falling into caricature.

26 // Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti // Only In My Dreams

The man behind a number of the best songs released this decade, Ariel Pink doesn't always make it easy for us to love him. Not because of what he says but because how he often presents his music. Unnecessarily rough and purposefully unpolished is in his CV. And despite Before Today opening up, when Only In My Dreams dropped, it was by far his most open handed statement. Who knows just how much of its beauty would've been lost if it was recorded in a flushed toilet.

25 // Grimes // Genesis

When we first heard Genesis, we thought that the song was so rich in texture that it inspired some pretty vivid, nightly visuals. These days we can't think about it without seeing that classic J-RPG in California video. Nevertheless, Genesis remains Grimes' most inspired composition because the music lives up to the video. As basic yet empowering as personal synthpop got this decade.

24 // Real Estate // Green Aisles

Real Estate have always seemed to be the sort of act who are more interested in selling you a book than a song. And with tracks like Easy and It's Real, the former of the two actually landing at No.51 of this list, they managed to create some novel worthy melodies. But Green Aisles here is a gold winner. A relaxed piece of daydreaming constantly unravelling but always pulling itself back at the last moment, Green Aisles is chiller than the entirety to chillwave.

23 // FKA twigs // Papi Pacify

Armed with some impressive visuals as well as featuring the talents of one of the most promising young producers in the game, FKA twigs' second EP is still a winner that offers the attention to detail that her debut album mostly neglects. Papi Pacify is the best of the bunch because above the production, it shows a star who is ready to bare it all and explore her sexuality against the backdrop of grey and asexual neo trip-hop. She's yet to top this degree of honesty.

22 // Ariana Grande // Break Free

The cool thing about a track like Break Free is that despite being about a break up, it features an immeasurable amount of girl power energy that can serve as a catalyst for any sort of emotional release. Break Free seems one of the most perfect songs of the decade to blast when your mother annoys you because it has a degree of ambiguous appeal. That same appeal makes it the sort of hit you want to shout along to while you're in a limo, celebrating your graduation. Did Grande's assumed ex even had a chance in the first place?

21 // 2NE1 // Gotta Be You

One of the great, mind opening and scope widening things about listening to k-pop, or any music in foreign language for that matter, is the new found appreciation of the delivery. Without the help of lyrics, the melody suddenly turns into a rhythm. Gotta Be You has to one of the most rhythmically daring pop songs of the decade. Who else starts their cut with UK bass vocal riff, launches into trillest of the trill trapaholics real trap shit before summing it all up in joyous europop singalong. Try not to think that this song can define anything that human emotions can comprehend.

20 // Autre Ne Veut // Play By Play

If his voice and lyrics didn't make you realise, take notice. Autre Ne Veut is a master tease. His most recent Anxiety LP made sex and sadness seem like means of sensual seduction. Play By Play is the single best moment of this decade's sensitive song building. Opening with lengthy intro, Autre Ne Veut's vocals then signal the second chapter. No verses or choruses but more urgency with every four bars. All of this builds towards the peak which, once it comes, feels monumental enough to warrant three minutes of ecstatic repetition. What a climax, take note Usher.

19 // M.I.A. // Bad Girls

When you think about where she is coming from and the type of people she represents, you'd expect M.I.A. to make a brilliant living by being the voice of the underdog. She started with third world democracy and ended up here, in the pinnacle of modern female supremacy in the face of adversity. But this isn't whinging at imagined patriarchy. Bad Girls is all about fighting away all the troubles, being the boss of yourself and pulling yourself a man, not vice versa. Bad Girls sounds like something Beyonce would make if she ever left the house without her limo driver and joined the real world.

18 // Justin Timberlake // Suit & Tie

The return of JT has always seemed likely even if he himself tried to neglect his biggest talent by pretending to be an actor. In the end, his return was a big and distinctly JT as it could've been. Suit & Tie opens with broken brass section, codeine soaked, slow paced intro. It then breaks into one of the most flawless pop singles of the decade, rekindling that Timbaland magic with pianos, trumpets and harp arpeggios. Even a shoddy Jay Z verse can't distract from the greatness. And no, a bloated Bruno Mars imitation in Mirrors doesn't hold a candle to this.

17 // Foals // Spanish Sahara

Around the turn of the decade it was still kind of unusual for indie rock acts to ditch the sound that made them successful on their very second record. Taking advice from The Horrors, Foals skipped their twitchy dance punk with math pop overtones indie rock, bought warm coats, and went towards more desolate, abandoned reaches of modern British indie. Spanish Sahara retains Foals' trademark guitar melodies but the dance element is replaced by a disarming lighter ballad with post-rock sensibilities. A continuously swelling piece, Spanish Sahara remains one of the finest identity builders in recent memory.

16 // Chairlift // Amanaemonesia

Most of the time, if you're dealing in indie pop it's because you're not good enough to be mainstream pop. But Chairlift here are an exception to that rule. On their two albums they dropped a number of singles that stand as some of the best pop music on the recent years. Amanaemonesia is the best of the bunch. It's a modern leftfield take on the quintessential pop song. Loads of gibberish during the verses, some cute female vocalisations and quiet-going-loud dynamic during the chorus which creates its own lyrical terms as it goes. They have the video of the decade for Met Before. In their own personal and cute way, Amanaemonesia reaches similar proportions.

15 // Hannah Diamond // Pink And Blue

Pink And Blue is a little song made by a little heart out of little, twinkly sounds. It makes sense then that the appeal of it comes from the little details that can go missing easily. The main attraction here is the coyness of Diamond's personality. It's not "he loves me" but "this guy he likes me too". The daily meetings aren't anything big either, just "I'm okay, how about you". Most importantly this isn't about a life changing relationship, it's simply something that makes the lead characters "look good in pink and blue". Relationship manifesto for the future that will probably land this song near the top of our full decade list in five years time.

14 // Kendrick Lamar // ADHD

Kendrick Lamar is not the most entertaining lyricist out there but his words cut the deepest. It's easy to look at any single track of the majestic Good Kid M.A.A.D. City LP and name it as one of the best but despite the failure of I, Lamar is still magnificent when utterly singular. ADHD is a tale of Reagan era politics and drug use translated into modern scenery for the modern hedonists. Equally as impressive as the message is the instrumental which defines druggy cloud rap while working outside of it. His future statement would be "death to molly". He sums it up here.

13 // Beach House // Zebra

Many indie acts start with a lo-fi sound not because they're poor but because they try to cover their tracks before they figure out how to approach the sound in their heads. Most of them never live that long but with Zebra, the opener from their brilliant third LP Teen Dream, Beach House rose from humble and dusty drones of their early material to ornate heartbreak defined by memorable one note across octaves melodies, song of the most memorable vocals of the decade as well as a continuous theme that can carry a concept without a need of silly interludes. Any song of Teen Dream is a great song. Zebra is simply a modus operandi.

12 // Frank Ocean // Pyramids

When The xx and Dirty Projectors combined indie with R&B in 2009, it still seemed like wishful thinking that this genre would once again go through a period of critical success. However, when Pyramids hit and was declared the best song of 2012, we forgot about the times when contemporary R&B wasn't at the forefront of expressive and experimental. Pyramids is made of two movements documenting the fall of a woman set to the beat of club electro dissolving into blurred psychedelia. Ocean has a obvious gift for lyrics but it's rare that an arrangement and progression would speak as loud as this.

11 // Miguel // Adorn

It often happens that the best songs based on the pure sense of emotional outpour. Like Miguel's Adorn right here, surely one of the best modern love songs, the sort of thing that was made to soundtrack weddings them moment it was released. The reason being a mixture of old and new. The old here is a classic, smooth R&B sound that brings to mind Stevie at his most casual. However, in the style of new school, Adorn doesn't have a predictable structure and, just like feelings it aims to sum up, it grows and grows. Even knocking a bitch out by jumping on her doesn't make Miguel any less of a romantic.

#frank ocean #beach house #daft punk #chairlift #foals #justin timberlake #m.i.a.#autre ne veut #2ne1 #ariana grande #fka twigs #real estate #grimes #ariel pinks haunted graffiti #the national #waka flocka flame #jamie xx #kendrick lamar #miguel

Best of 2010-2014: Songs: 50-31

50 // M.I.A. // Steppin' Up

At the start of the decade, when M.I.A. hinted towards political destruction, her new music skipped third world politics for internet terrorism. Steppin' Up, lifted from the shockingly on point /\/\/\Y/\ not only provides a template for the future party music, it predicts the hip-hop trends of the next few years. With Death Grips and Yeezus seeming like variations of her sound, M.I.A.'s Steppin' Up is the cradle of contemporary edginess.

49 // The Saturdays // All Fired Up

The new rave sound and sparkling house synth stabs have became the de facto sound for the new decade of pop. There's a lot to pick from when it comes to trying to find out the best representation of the decade's biggest money making trend. The Saturdays and their best release All Fired Up is perhaps the best opinion. The group don't try to conjure up personalities or try their hand at lyrics. They're like the modern pop. All fired up and feeling alive.

48 // Salem // Asia

With internet now being the hub of all the cool scenes in the world, no one needs to go out to find like minded people in their neighbourhood. One of the first iconic internet subgenres of the decade came in the form of witch house, sometimes known as drag or even the unfortunate rape gaze. Salem released pretty much all you need to know about this sound, including the shock horror of Asia.

47 // Sleigh Bells // Rill Rill

Back when this first dropped at the start of the decade, the mixture of bubblegum pop and hip-hop seemed like a novel idea. More of an update of a Hollaback Girl aesthetic than the push for the future, Rill Rill was the immediate highlight of duo's debut album Treats. But with each year the sound of Rill Rill becomes more topical. Samples, sass and big punchy beat, no matter what genre.

46 // Deerhunter // Desire Lines

Deerhunter's best tracks come from the school of Sonic Youth where the core of the songs forms the first half of the package while an ethereal coda take the mind off the obvious hooks. Desire Lines is Deerhunter's very best. The core ditches Bradford Cox' nostalgia for simple pop rock of Lockett Pundt. But the highlight is the kaleidoscopic second half, the most mesmerising and hypnotising that rock got this decade.

45 // The Knife // Full Of Fire

There probably was not a day in their life when The Knife didn't hint towards something darker and sinister than their synth tones originally hinted. However, with Full Of Fire this Swedish duo really went in for the macabre. Not even considering the extremely left wing video, Full Of Fire deals with liberalism, sexual politics, gender issues and whatever else. Backed with decade's best industrial pulse.

44 // TNGHT // Higher Ground

With their debut and only release so far, TNGHT have hit a nerve and defined the time for kids who only dance to hip-hop music, trap in particular. Removing the need of swag or thick rhymes, TNGHT assault with footwork inspired approach. Higher Ground has just a tiny vocal snippet that gets repeated to no end. The instrumental, trap beats and horns, breaks it down as hard as any EDM tune did it.

43 // Arcade Fire // Afterlife

There's something about the way Arcade Fire layer the flow of their albums and choose to finish on a high before fading away. This high, the penultimate song on their records, is almost always the highlight. Afterlife is the emotional peak of Reflektor's in search of real love message. While the lyrical message is simple, the flow between yearning and the literal afterlife of the coda is striking.

42 // Gang Gang Dance // Glass Jar

One of the best album openers of the decade, Gang Gang Dance's Glass Jar doesn't hold any punches when it comes to creating a sense of psychedelia. Ten minutes long, the record stretches the band's wild, other world music sound to its very extremes. Split into two halves, Glass Jar grows for five minutes before overflowing with colours. Like Kate Bush if she made her music during the hippie era.

41 // Chromatics // Lady

Two and a half years later, Lady still feels like an inspired moment that overflows with style to the point where substance becomes irrelevant. With synthwave bass and disco guitars reduced to their very minimum, it's no wonder that music like this landed Chromatics in Karl Lagerfeld's good books. Because Lady is much like the modelling. Walk out, amaze with style, leave, don't look back.

40 // Foals // My Number

Foals came out into our consciousness during the last parts of 00s indie boom. So it easy to assume that they will never sound as commercially appealing as during their Antidotes era singles. But we were mistaken. Placed next to uncompromising Inhaler on their third album Holy Fire, My Number is the most direct and most wonderfully attractive indie rock song a UK band has provided this decade. It's also their biggest hit.

39 // The Weeknd // The Morning

The Weeknd has changed the world from the bottom, so it's very likely that by the end of the decade we'll erase our memories and pretend that it's another act that made us think that R&B can be cool, mysterious and dangerous. The Morning doesn't have quite the darkness that his classic House Of Balloons debut possesses but it's a winner playing by contemporary rules. If he still hopes to have a career, it's tracks like The Morning that need to form the hubris.

38 // Drake // Marvin's Room

Up until this point, Drake has been a pop rapper who no one really cared about. It wasn't until the release of Marvin's Room that the softie label really kicked into the effect. It also feels like some of the most personal urban music ever recorded, hip-hop or R&B. Backed with a recording of Drake's ex, the man laments his loss in a candid manner that's virtually unheard of in macho music. The coda featuring another future great Kendrick Lamar showing his potential too.

37 // Disclosure // Latch

Disclosure have released some singles by this point that were pretty brilliant in combining house music with UK garage. But Latch is the sort of icon making hit that can break even America, the place that's a bit too up its own bottom to give a shit about UK bass in the first place. Featuring the young Sam Smith before he exposed himself as Emeli Sande's underwear basket, Latch is the new way to make pop. Two years later, everyone, even Mary J Blige, sound like it.

36 // Beyonce // Drunk In Love

When Beyonce dropped her latest album without much warning, the was always going to be a chance that she'll do something Thom Yorke is good at, releasing poor music and disguising it in interesting release techniques. Never mind, from the first listen Drunk In Love towers over the rest of her discography as the most unlikely of all family anthems. It's a sign that adult life doesn't have to be dull life. Teenagers are crazy in love, but adults can go one step further.

35 // Kanye West & Jay Z // Niggas In Paris

Even though this collaboration happened only a couple of years ago, it would never happen again. At the time Kanye was at the top of the critical game while Jay Z just scored one of his all time best sellers in the latest blueprint. Niggas In Paris the ultimate celebration of hip-hop's biggest and brashest personalities. These days Jigga's irrelevant while Kanye is more interested in collabs with god. No wonder they performed this eight times in a row live. They knew that level of dominance wouldn't last.

34 // Schoolboy Q // Hands On The Wheel

Featuring Schoolboy Q just around the time he rose from Lamar's shadow and A$AP Rocky just before he became known more for his trousers rather than his music, Hands On The Wheel is the work of weed and style icons. The song represents just how out there hip-hop can get these days while still having its soul in the party. Nods to Kid Cudi, MGMT and minor girls making bedroom tier covers, Hands On The Wheel is new era DIY.

33 // Tune Yards // Bizness

The logical question here is, isn't Tune Yards a bit too old to be having this much fun? Bizness is perhaps the best song of the decade so far when it comes to capturing the messy sound of childhood. The instruments used go far enough to represent this period, conjuring up an African rhythm out of wild yelps as well as pots and pans percussion. Few songs this decade knew how to lose themselves with this much aplomb.

32 // Macintosh Plus // リサフランク420 / 現代のコンピュー

Vaporwave has ran its course and anyone who is still releasing chopped and screwed 80s reinterpretations right now needs to find a new hobby. But Macintosh Plus showed that the idea is not as silly as it may seem on paper. Taking one of Diana Ross' more irrelevant tracks, Macintosh Plus cuts it and reworks it as if musique concrete was never a thing. The end result is a manifesto for a movement. Just like all of electronic music, it's not as easy as it seems.

31 // Sophie // Bipp

Based on a beat that comes like a ball bouncing on the floor made out of bubblegum, Bipp is the sound of the future. Like many PC Music affiliated productions, the song looks towards what we'll seek in gender free future while basing itself around novelty europop of the 90s. At the same time, it offers just enough elements to attach itself to the current UK bass vogues, managing to sound much more impressive in the process as a piece of truly out there dance music for the post post-dubstep crowd.

Best of 2014: Albums: 10-1

10 // St. Vincent // St. Vincent

Previously struggling to balance her interest in basic indie pop and eccentric noise rock elements, St. Vincent has finally found a sweet middle on select moments of her fourth, self-titled record. With a distinctly synthetic production, she creates some of her most direct songs that manage to translate that St. Vincent aura within some of the catchiest choruses of the year. Birth In Reverse, Digital Witness and Rattlesnake are among the loudest, most immediate weird pop rock of the year.

9 // Shabazz Palaces // Lese Majesty

In 2011 Shabazz Palaces sounded like the weirdest act in urban music. Following the release of their heavily self-indulgent second album Lese Majesty, they sound like the most left field act in the whole of popular music. The record scatters psychedelic elements like broken shards of reflective glass. The results vary in size but are all completely weird. From little atmospheric interludes dealing with neo afro futurism straight out of Sun Ra mind set to rainbow coloured hippie celebrations of cake, for better or worse, Shabazz Palaces have absolutely 0 peers.

8 // Caribou // Our Love

Caribou is the most unlikely act to release a straightforward, unashamedly emotional dance pop record in the western hemisphere but seriously, Our Love is all feeling no thick skin. Carrying on with the direct dance floor sound explored by his Daphni moniker, Dan Snaith doesn't hide behind psychedelia like before. The result is the sort of record that single oriented dance producers attempt to release when aiming for a lyrical pop crossover. Everyone from Tiga to TEED have pared themselves back and tried to be the centre of the stage on the tricky "dance producer's crossover LP". With Our Love Caribou sets the modern standard.

7 // Gazelle Twin // Unflesh

Picking up where The Knife left off last year and skipping all of her stylish, ambient tendencies, Gazelle Twin is the latest female to ditch sexual identity and channel that via eerie industrial pop. Unflesh sets itself apart by not understanding that shedding of the sexual norms doesn't have to equal the loss of human identity. Unflesh is a personal record with songs about pressure and anxiety delivered in a style of a body horror exploitation. The surrounding visuals are still in touch of the power that fear can hold over one's mind. From industrial synth stabs to ice cold vocals and slightly out of tune pads, Unflesh is a masterful packaging of a singular idea, an A level B movie.

6 // Iceage // Plowing Into The Field Of Love

With their new found interest in Irish pub brawls and slippery art rock, Iceage started sounding as young as they ever were. Previously their sound was the result of kids who knew their post-punk history and claimed the classic records as their ideologies. Plowing Into The Field Of Love is the amazing sound of a promising band no longer content with playing it safe. Dropping the edgy punk pretence, they adopt a rich and varied instrumentation ranging from noise piano rock to post-rock jigs. Ghosts of European drunken folk form new type of art rock. If that ain't punk then punk isn't worth a penny.

5 // Sun Kil Moon // Benji

Many albums on this list based their appeal on lyrics and story telling. Many of them talked about love, some about death and loss. Many of them reminisced about the past and hoped for an easier future. Benji is the sum of every emotion running through the mind of a responsible adult delivered through the prism of someone who doesn't feel like you need metaphors or pretty words to make art. From cousin's death and reconciling with his father to all the girls he ever fucked, Sun Kil Moon's honesty opens up like no other act in recent memory ever did.

4 // 2NE1 // Crush

K-pop is not necessarily known as a album friendly genre. The best releases are to a point all compilations to some degree. When 2NE1 dropped their second album Crush at the start of the year, almost all of its songs were new. And unlike any other k-pop long player released in the nation's history, it featuring a hit after hit after hit. From the future dance floor trap of Come Back Home to broadway strings on If I Were You. From leader CL killing every American fashion rapper on MTBD to the rest of the crew torching pop rock with Happy, Crush compiles everything that is exciting about modern pop music and point a mirror at it so signal the future.

3 // FKA twigs // LP1

Last year's EP2 promised us that FKA twigs may just be the next exciting voice in experimental pop. LP1 corrects that statement. She simply is one of the most exciting voices in pop. LP1 is direct in its delivery. Both Two Weeks and Pendulum recreate the familiar dream pop of Grimes and Bat For Lashes respectively. But the pulling factor here is the most inspired production of the year. Placing Arca and Epworth in close proximity, twigs overpowers everything with her vocals, which change from atmospherics on Closer to sex-free blurs on Hours. It's likely to date badly but at the time, it's as exciting as contemporary R&B gets.

2 // Ariel Pink // Pom Pom

Sadly, every single act this year except the members of this top two created music that was immersed in trends but offered little unique personality that you can't get anywhere else. Pom Pom by Ariel Pink represents a pop history kaleidoscope from someone who is more interested in the shadows of the sleaziest of storytelling. Every single track here is immensely catchy but the lyrics refer to serial murderers, getting white freckles from fake tan, strip clubs even romantic come ons. Pink has no shame when it comes to twisting the songs in his image. So when he refers to himself as a prince frog, the song stops and the next sound is a genuine frog ribbit. Not to mention that one of the highlights is literally the sound of an advert for food. Music doesn't get much weirder than Pom Pom, but Pink is masterful enough to not sacrifice any of pop appeal for the imagery.

1 // Swans // To Be Kind

When Swans released The Seer two years ago, it felt like a magnum opus not because the songs on the record were the best that Gira and company have released up to date but because the result was simply bigger than the matters of life and death. At two hours long, it summed up everything this band as well as the darkest reaches of post-punk, post-rock and experimental noise are all about. To Be Kind is kind of like that, except it's amazing not just on paper but in flesh too. While retaining the extreme length, these songs have much more muscle to them. The opener Screen Shot spends eight minutes just building the suspense. A similar track on The Seer would be more preoccupied with brutal repetition. In general, To Be Kind flows better even at its longest. The half an hour centrepiece knows it's limits and merges two different cuts instead of attempting an overlong suicide. The album only ever wobbles during the interchangeable Kirsten Supine and Nathalie Neal. The other cuts find Swans at their most direct and focused since the previous opus Children Of God. Oxygen is all direct assault on senses while A Little God In My Hands is Swans at their most relaxed, if you can look past the deranged vocals. To Be Kind defines one of the most unforgiving band's in no wave, summing up all of their sides with their best set of songs to date. After all, too long and way too self-indulgent are two of the best things any album that is set to outlive the passing trends can hope for.

#swans #ariel pink #fka twigs #2ne1 #sun kil moon #iceage #caribou #Shabazz Palaces #st vincent #gazelle twin

Best of 2014: Albums: 25-11

25 // A Sunny Day In Glasgow // Sea When Absent

Last decade A Sunny Day In Glasgow established themselves as a rare breed, a dream pop band that manages to sound like Loveless never happened. Sea When Absent continues with the sound first established on Ashes Grammar. The result may not be as strong but the layered, multi-focused approach to songwriting reconfirms that this is still one of the very few dream pop bands that are willing to create their own dreams.

24 // The Antlers // Familiars

The Antlers are familiar for their graphic and emphatic story about doomed patients in a careless institution. Familiars attempts to capture the real sense of empathy. There's no observing or judging to be done on their latest record Familiars. Instead it's an insight straight into the minds that no longer can think straight. The result is a blurred vision into anxiety and calm, all in high drama.

23 // Death From Above 1979 // The Physical World

After establishing their drum and bass sound with the defining dance punk record of the last decade, Death From Above 1979 refused to allow their sound to date by not releasing anything else. Until now that is. And it's quite okay because the duo are now old enough to not care about retaining their youth. The Physical World retains their sound while showing some strains. More human than machine, even if you remain a woman.

22 // Tinashe // Aquarius

Combining the most profitable contemporary R&B trends of the last couple of years is a daunting task. How do you sound like Rihanna, Drake, back up vocalist and star of the stage all at the same time. Tinashe manages to reimagine the aesthetic of Aaliyah by simply being the perfect frame for her producers and assistants. Aquarius is spacious, with sharp snares and watery electric piano keys. It's that pop is these days, without irritating hate it or adore it star distractions.

21 // Wild Beasts // Present Tense

Following a forceful dressing down on their previous record Smother, Wild Beasts slip into something they find more comfortable on Present Tense. A smooth record that shaves away most of their non vocal eccentricities, the album adopts an 80s synth sound to create drama where other bands onto find headlines. While it's their weakest record to date by some margin, it only shows the power this band holds when at their best.

20 // Arca // Xen

Arca has established himself as the next big thing in experimental production not because of his consistent releases but because of his animosity and association with some of the coolest performers in modern pop. With an album with Bjork coming up, it's unlikely for that to change. Xen lacks the star power to tie it all together but it is by some distance the wildest collection of sounds to draw attention this year.

19 // Gridlink // Longhena

At this point in time, it seems that the split of Gridlink has been a fact known for ages. And that's only because their music manages to alter the flow of time. Longhena is their final, finest release. A short burst of energy clawing at every angle without a single second spent trying to catch a breath before another outburst. Despite all that, it's wildly melodic as well. Hardcore for people who find punk too soft.

18 // Todd Terje // It's Album Time

When you think about it, it's kind of weird the the most famous release of the contemporary disco revival came from France rather than Scandinavia, the land of quirky pop and minuscule dance music. Todd Terje sorts this out with one of the finest and definitely most casually fun dance releases of the year. What It's Album Time lacks in variety, it makes up in creativity. Can't say that about all period pieces.

17 // Cloud Nothings // Here And Nowhere Else

While he is a horrible subhuman being, Steve Albini can still draw attention to good acts. Here And Nowhere Else lacks the raw quality of the better Attack On Memory. But it finds leader Dylan Baldi coming into his own while delivering a range of songs that outlive his initial set of 90s punk and power pop influences. While the closer I'm Not Part Of Me is the definitive highlight, the set shows more than one side to the man who is at his best when direct.

16 // La Roux // Trouble In Paradise

Trouble In Paradise is this year's winner when it comes to records that have no business being as good as they are. Now acting as a solo act, La Roux skips much of the 80s lyrical imagery for a modern sex appeal driven stories. The songs are less direct, instead spinning around and utilising their length to drive in instrumental points. La Roux manages to give away pop's most physical qualities, in turn becoming more spiritually elaborate.

15 // Grouper // Ruins

Grouper is just another in the long list of experimental acts who use the sense of experimentation to mask their insecurities. While her A I A records manage to convey a vacuum sense of bass heavy ambiance, the subsequent releases hint towards single songwriting. Ruins features her best set of real, humane songs. Just her voice, piano and all the space in the world. The result is huge, but strangely invading.

14 // Perfume Genius // Too Bright

Perfume Genius is a rare breed of songwriter, one that has built his career out of open hand sentiments and yet, one that guards his real feelings. Too Bright is the first record he released that goes one step further. Peppered among his usual sorrow filled piano sketches are moments of real influence, from industrial name calling to synthwave skin shedding. Everyone has their way to speak their mind. Perfume Genius' way goes one step ahead.

13 // Flying Lotus // You're Dead

He made very cool beats that soon became the new Californian standard, a natural successor sound to Madlib's crate digging relics. But with Cosmogramma, Flo Lo explored his calling as a new vanguard of different jazz fusion. No solos, just different gangsta personalities and weed blazed philosophy. You're Dead is his most busy, intricate record, making great use of vocal collaborations. From biggest names in rap to his own alter egos, You're Dead is a bad trip gone right.

12 // Machine Girl // WLFGRL

WLFGRL is by far the least heard album on this list and yet, despite being a bandcamp footnote, it sounds like one of the most inspired releases of the year, the sort of hardcore rave shit that Zomby can only dream of creating. WLFGRL is half anime, half strobe lights, moving at extreme speeds and setting everything on fire with uberhuman bass and loli vocal hooks, WLFGRL is 2014's twisted fire starter.

11 // Freddie Gibbs & Madlib // Pinata

Madlib has released some seriously amazing instrumentals that do not require anyone to rap on top of them to make an impression. But that in mind, his best material still requires a voice. Freddie Gibbs, up to this point, has lacked distinction, rapping about gangster violence like hardcore hip-hop is still a career to pursuit. Pinata is one of the more exciting albums of the year because it's a completely new chapter for both of its characters. Gibbs gains eloquence while Madlib's retro dust is all classic era street grit.

#machine girl #flying lotus #perfume genius #grouper #la roux #cloud nothings #todd terje #gridlink #arca #wild beasts #tinashe #Death from Above 1979 #the antlers #a sunny day in glasgow #freddie gibbs #madlib

Best of 2014: Albums: 40-26

40 // Chromeo // White Women

Chromeo's long work has paid off with their best album to date. Without changing much while gradually polishing up their sound, the duo can finally say that they are moving within the dance floor, not lingering outside of it with their nostalgia filled post-disco records. But nostalgia is the name of the game here. From the brilliant 80s throwback in Jealous Guy to the love letter to the past in Old 45s, White Women blurs the line between tribute and wishful thinking.

39 // Young Fathers // Dead

When Mercury Prize decide to give a nod to a black act you can be guaranteed that they're out of their comfort zone. And while Young Fathers move with a irrelevancy not dissimilar to the past hip-hop crossovers, their sound feels much more inspired. Dead has very little of their Scottish locale and instead recreates Africa for immigration spoiled Europe. Like The Very Best, just not fucking embarrassing.

38 // Tune Yards // Nikki Nack

A couple of years ago Tune Yards has shown us that you can party like you're twelve even if you're approaching the age that is less kind to colourful hyper pop. Nikki Nack continues her knack for infantile melodies while narrowing the range of toys she has to play with. A much inferior record to Who Kill, Nikki Nack still manages to amuse with a number of tight songs exploring African rhythms as white kid's first sandbox dance pieces.

37 // BadBadNotGood // III

BadBadNotGood may be the only well known jazz act in the hip circles these days simply because they recreate modern hip-hop in a cool old style that no one really remembers anything about apart from Davis, Coltrane and Mingus. Well, III skips the tributes and shows that even though they are not very good at bebop improvisations and proficiency, BadBadNotGood can still create a dark, warm atmosphere. Leave your fedora at the door.

36 // Andy Stott // Faith In Strangers

While his previous record and still a career highlight Luxury Problems found Stott in a defensive mode, Faith In Strangers is a much more direct album. Leaving large portions of the mystery associated with dub outside, Stott's recent experiment is more powerful and empowered. Even the now trademark female vocals wrap songs around themselves. We don't expect him to ever produce pop music but Faith In Strangers at its best takes a big dump on whatever useless indie synthpop you've been pretending to love this year.

35 // Schoolboy Q // Oxymoron

Late last year, after another delay, Schoolboy Q had little to worry about. Rocky released his long delayed record and that was pretty great. Well, Oxymoron has much in common with Long Live A$AP. It's very disjointed, aiming to create a cohesive imagery but ultimately relying on the hits. And Oxymoron has quite a few of them. Studio, Hell Of A Night, Man Of The Year, Collard Greens. Pick any because any given one will set the party back on track.

34 // La Dispute // Rooms Of The House

Following a wildly experimental stream of releases from one of the most lyrical groups in screamo going, La Dispute decided to play it straightforward. Rooms Of The House doesn't have a well flowing concept of Wildlife, but it does present a more cohesive, easy to dissolve stream of songs that do not water the band's core aesthetic. It's quite fine to have a simpler, less exhausting album to open your sound to new people. Rooms Of The House does that will little trouble.

33 // Thee Silver Mt Zion // Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

There were times when Thee Silver Mt Zion and its parent act Godspeed You Black Emperor were completely interchangeable. These days however TSMZ are much less atmospheric. Instead, they deal in some of the most intricate and least on rails rock music of the year. Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is their most direct release to date. Post-punk where post is loaned directly from post-rock.

32 // Eno & Hyde // High Life

By this point it's almost as if Eno and Underworld have been exhausted. Eno is the master of 70s art music while Hyde only had few years at the top as one of new techno's poster boys. On their collaborative album High Life they take Bush Of Ghosts era African ideas and, well, they don't really change them. Instead, they repeat the very best, second long motifs instead of going into a forced exploration. Nothing new but nevertheless different, and with these two it's bound to sound good.

31 // Ben Frost // Aurora

Ben Frost has managed to make chill sound absolutely frightening with his magnum opus By The Throat. Aurora struggles to reach the same heights. It's a freezer that has too much ice around it and is in dire need of defrosting. Aurora reaches its exhilarating climaxes during the moments when Frost holds himself back and introduces some basic synth light which, in his world, can break down the biggest barriers and show ice in a new, wetter and softer state.

30 // Leon Vynehall // Music For The Uninvited

Leon Vynehall, who showed distinct promise with minor releases during few previous years, has dropped the best deep house record of this year. How so? Well, he seems to be one of the few prominent British house producers who do not consider Disclosure to be a new standard. Music For The Uninvited is built on mood, not bass melodies. It's an old school tribute to the genre that didn't need reinventing in the first place. In Vynehall's hands, tradition is refreshing.

29 // Mac Demarco // Salad Days

Known more for being a likeable goofball who goofs about when not making music and then putting it in his goofy lyrics, Mac Demarco finally managed to blur his music with his image. Salad Days is all personality and Demarco's sloppy lifestyle compliments his questionable modern slacker arrangements. The result is a relatively impressive personality driven, casual story telling from a person you never thought had anything to say of note.

28 // Future Islands // Singles

Despite being quite an obvious pop rock record built on past values, Future Islands' best release manages to shine thanks to the sum of its smaller parts. The influences, stretching across 80s most distinct songwriting, are there but delivered from a different angle. And the characters delivering what in younger hands would be mere bedroom pop are strong enough to rise above copying. And that's what rock history is built upon.

27 // The War On Drugs // Lost In A Dream

Heartland rock revivalism was a trend long coming, it's actually strange that only in 2014 we got its first notable release. Built on image rather than songs, Lost In A Dream is another of those American albums that emphasise their identity by flying the stars and stripes. The aesthetic is simply overpowering and while the band struggle to possess control over it, the spirit of the boss pulls them through the long highway.

26 // Owen Pallett // In Conflict

His name change didn't just signify the fact that he is now comfortable being himself, or that he is worried about copyright. Since Canadian violinist Final Fantasy began to use his birth name, Owen Pallett has unveiled a new degree of depth to his storytelling. In Conflict is his most direct and enjoyable record yet, not distracted by pooing clouds or farmers named Lewis. It's wasn't that hard after all.

#the war on drugs #future islands #mac demarco #leon vynehall #ben frost #eno hyde #thee silver mt. zion memorial orchestra #la dispute #schoolboy q #andy stott #badbadnotgood #tune-yards #young fathers #chromeo #owen pallett

Best of 2014: Songs: 30-11

30 // Flying Lotus // Never Catch Me

In a way that was always coming, Kendrick Lamar has managed to follow in Nas' footsteps by dropping off completely following his classic debut. Never Catch Me kind of reminds up what he could do before the Taylor Swift rep and I happened. Flying Lotus is providing jazz fusion made for modern stoners who get high off tightly rhymed death imagery. Life is fragile and a track that couldn't have happened just a few years ago is even more so.

29 // Alt-J // Hunger Of The Pine

Turns out the main point of Alt-J always was that they knew how irritating they were. Their debut An Awesome Wave overshadows the rather normal new effort but Hunger Of The Pine here rises above the stupid voices and lyrics about triangles. Their most restrained composition, it combines baroque pop with gentle art rock, think Wild Beasts and The xx. Somehow, a Miley Cyrus sample becomes one of the most distinct hooks of the year.

28 // Orange Caramel // Catallena

Orange Caramel is one of Korea's most famous sub-units, which is an act that features a select number of members from a bigger group. Unlike the forceful sex appeal of After School, Orange Caramel's trio handle the cutest aspects of different cultures or rather left field concepts. Cattalena, best experienced with its best video of the year, features a retro sound but dashes the retro trends with the most ridiculous playfulness and vocal hooks heard in modern k-pop.

27 // AG Cook // Beautiful

While a whole damn lot of PC Music's output recreates novelty dance music as bedroom pop, few productions retain the drive of their obvious influences. The bubblegum sweetness of Beautiful has more in common with frenzied hits of Darude or Scooter rather than the vocally driven Whigfield or Vengaboys. If seapunk tried to mock the culture and vaporwave tried to change it, Beautiful accepts it with pills in palms.

26 // Andy Stott // Faith In Strangers

Andy Stott is like a bully at school who will pretend to be tough as nails because his dad is a mechanic and his mother won't say a word. But deep in his heart he is a cuddly softie who has a pet rabbit who he cuddles every night because it makes him feel like he is the only one who understands. It's the fear of humanity versus the lust for understanding. Faith In Strangers is Stott's deepest, most sercet wish. Tune too.

25 // Nicki Minaj // Lookin Ass Nigga

While Nicki Minaj is a mixed bag at the best of times, we can't help but look forward to what she releases because A: she's unpredictable and B: she can rap every other bitch off the planet when she wants to. The Pinkprint has a lot going against it. For starters, Lookin Ass Nigga, Minaj's best since Beez In The Trap, isn't even going to be on that record. This ain't pop. It's the sound of, in her own words, the hardest female in the game raping useless niggas off into rehabilitation and irrelevancy.

24 // Grimes // Go

In just another proof that Grimes fans can be thick cunts, her latest not-even-a-real-single Go got slagged off for sounding like Skrillex. Otherwise, it was easy to see that she was going towards this sound since Vanessa, especially given the influences she kept name dropping. Given the backslash and her caving in, we may never hear a song this essentially Grimes ever again. Not her best but possibly her most honest and certainly most carelessly fun.

23 // Tinashe // 2 On

It's so refreshing that this year's biggest R&B club hit with a female vocalist bringing her best doesn't come from the human bin bag Rihanna. Instead, the young upstart Tinashe drops a lead single that makes love to all the trends of right fucking now. Faded, faded and faded? Hints towards sass we haven't heard since Cassie became irrelevant? Sean Paul tributes? Yes please! No pussy on the pinky tho, that's just completely out of our comfort zone.

22 // The War On Drugs // Under The Pressure

Beer commercial lead guitar shit can get you a long way if you know your way around a melody. The War On Drugs had one good idea this year and they stretched it out across a tired LP of Boss pastiches. But taken in little measures, it can be as wide and open ended as a good old American highway. Under The Pressure is all open skies and no other cars on the road. We won't even moan about the overkill on reverb and delay. It's melodies like these that make you wan't to get a cold Bud.

21 // FKA twigs // Two Weeks

The early promise of FKA twigs suggested that she may just end up a slightly different star but her debut LP1 is relatively straightforward. Two Weeks is the most direct, bare all cut on the album that showcases star potential not masked by the usually crazy production. It's also melodically great. Standard sounding but having that something extra that will never land it on the radio. Pop too good to pop off.

20 // Ariana Grande // Problem

A song this simple has no business not being destroyed by the useless Iggy (shoutout to Fancy, one of the worst songs of the year). Establishing young Ms Grande as the brightest new pop star of the year, Problem mixes swing and hip-hop with slick ease. While she never sounds like she was bothered about her ex in the first place, the irresistible sax loop explains the crazy nonsense that is wasted love better than Ariana could. Could it be any better?

19 // 2NE1 // Come Back Home

With western pop stuck in stiff political correctness, it has been far too easy for the best group in South Korea to release the most exciting singles of the year. Come Back Home is the perfect manifesto for a group that manages to radiate excitement by combining the brightest of modern pop trends. All their core sounds are here including reggae, trap percussion, electropop, acoustic arrangements and bigger than life breakdowns. Listen to the baddest females taking charge.

18 // Drake // 0 To 100/The Catch Up

One of the reasons why Drake is one of the defining hip-hop acts these days is because he's a top tier content farm. This year has been defined by bizarre beefs and lint rollers. However, let's not forget the actual goods. Still on that mean grind that saw his take 2013 by the throat on Worst Behaviour, 0 To 100 is a minimal but powerful piece of self-celebration. The Catch Up is a self-assessment in touch with his recent piano driven sound. There's two sides to Drake. Both of them can be found here, along with a dope James Blake cameo.

17 // Jamie xx // Sleep Sound

Young and promising artists these days no longer care about being a great songwriter. Instead, everyone wants to be the best producer. Instead of amusing you with classic songwriting elements, kids are more interested in acquiring that perfect snare sound. In that case, they have a lot of learning to do until they can challenge Jamie xx. With just few nods to the R&B meets UK garage phenomenon, Sleep Sound sounds like it's worth a million pounds.

16 // GFOTY // Bobby

Many of the songs released under the PC Music umbrella this year have been embarrassingly simple. Bobby here, the best song from perhaps the most ordinary sounding member of the crew GFOTY, is essentially a rant about love that was never meant to be. Actually, it's less of a song and more of a sound clip of the type of rants you'd expect posted on Tumblr. Charli XCX will never sound this casually bitchy.

15 // Bobby Shmurda // Hot Nigga

Somewhere out there Soulja Boy is having de javu withdrawals. Bobby Shmurda is the latest in young hip-hop one hit wonders who achieved their fifteen minutes by glamourising ghetto life while reinterpreting it in a dance. Shmoney dance is hilarious and effeminate, quite unlike the song which is much better than it has any right to be. Like an east coast take on Chiraq, Shmurda sound is all guns blazing ignorance with evil childish naivety.

14 // Rustie // Attak

Rustie' second album Green Language stands as one of the biggest disappointments of the year. While he debuted alone on a Zelda like lone wolf campaign, his recent material relies on a cast of fellow adventurers. Attak is the only positive moment on the record, featuring Danny Brown at his most hyped, leveled up. So what if Rustie toned down his synth mayhem? Brown's delivery is worth a dozen of melodies popping off at the same time.

13 // Wild Beasts // Wanderlust

Ever since debuting with one of the more wildly theatrical records of the last decade, Wild Beasts have been on a mission to deliver their core sound at its most simple. Wanderlust is Wild Beasts at their most basic and direct. The instrumental skips verses and choruses for a pulsing on rails progress leading into a fuzzy climax. You don't even need to hear Thorpe's distinct falsetto to realise that this band are as much songwriters as they are playwrights.

12 // Hannah Diamond // Attachment

PC Music's Hannah Diamond is the most perfect pop star to emerge this decade. Her bubblegum lyrics breathe irony while also rejecting it with a honest voice, one uninterrupted by PC Music's usual helium treatment. But in the hands of a virtual songstress, Attachment's longing becomes a new form of post-vaporwave art pop. Like a modern Kate Bush who prefers to reblog gifs instead of reading books when sad.

11 // Ariel Pink // Black Ballerina

Ariel Pink makes it very easy for us to form an opinion on him. In fact, if someone told you at the start of the year that one of the best songs of the following twelve months will be a story about someone's first strip club night backed with sleazy dialogues, you'd know Pink is up to it again. But as always, he backs it up with brilliant songwriting. Black Ballerina's quiet-loud dynamics brings the best out of the famous Pixies technique that keeps on giving.

Best of 2014: Songs: 50-31

You can tell this year has been absolutely shit for music because it made us go offline for like half of it. And in those long and lonely months we haven't missed much at all. However, it's time for the usual end of the year traditions, this year shorter because following this we'll also be doing the best of lists for the first half of the decade. Admittedly, arranging albums and songs in order of personal preference and new media importance is more interesting than whatever is still to come out in the next couple of weeks. Oh and no lists for videos this year. There's no point in doing that when you can just go and watch either any recent k-pop video or practice the dance routine to Chandelier. You're welcome.

50 // Kiesza // Hideaway

Disclosure and their popular brand of garage and house has unlocked the door for a number of chancers ready to cash in and cash out on a loaned sound. Hideaway from Kiesza is as good garage one-hit wonder as we're going to get this year. Plenty of space, some emotion, tight bass and classic beat patters. Watch out for this when the nostalgia for today kicks in a number of years.

49 // After School // Shh

After School, like a number of other poncy k-pop acts too expensive for South Korea's ran down market, keep their best stuff for Japan. Shh here follows last year's brilliant Heaven but updates the 70s sound into its modern incarnation. Overseen by Japan's best French electro emulator in chief Shinichi Osawa, Shh is a rare slice of minimalist club pop that doesn't sound awkwardly out of place in an actual club setting.

48 // Chromeo // Jealous Guy (I Ain't With It)

Masters of nostalgia for the disco era before it was a major thing to do, Chromeo could've been lost as an act that made waves too soon. It helps that they released their best album this year and the lead single Jealous Guy is their best reinterpretation of 80s John Hughes teenage melodrama told with tension but in good spirit. It's like M83 if he stopped fellating reverb knobs on the old synth stack.

47 // Swans // Oxygen

Swans, about who we will talk more in the album setting, are not known for their stand alone hits. And yet, despite releasing their best album to date this year, among two hours of tightly calculated mayhem they also found space for solitary, eye of the storm standouts. Oxygen, clocking in at around 8 minutes, is modern Swans in a nutshell, aggressive, repetitive, larger than life and gruesomely irresistible.

46 // Ben Frost // Nolan

Iceland via Australia producer Ben Frost aims to create beauty out of harsh and cold noise. This year's Aurora LP isn't quite as good as we expected but it features Frost at his best once he lets some light in to melt down his ice castles. Following the rough wind and snow storms that build up the highlight Nolan, the new age synthesisers remind that whatever the genre, tension and release is all there is to it.

45 // Todd Terje // Delorean Dynamite

The long in the making disco revival has finally tipped over with the second best song of last year, Get Lucky. But we're yet to see another single or an album that will have as much of an impact as Daft Punk's work. This year's choice disco cut comes from Scandinavia. Todd Terje mixes the best of the 70s and the 80s, disco and synthwave and into a lengthy and grinding cut flashing with so many colourful strobes that you can't see where it came from.

44 // Perfume Genius // Queen

Mike Hadreas will always have his loose piano ballads that he can cry over about love or lack thereof. But on this year's really good Too Bright LP he showed a different side to his music. Queen here is the highlight of the LP, skipping the piano outpours for a bass heavy, industrial tinged frustration sponge and in turn, opening up a much more human side to his own emotional self.

43 // St Vincent // Digital Witness

St Vincent opened the year with a solid record that hinted at bigger things. Sadly, it's one of those offerings that get duller with each successive listen. Digital Witness is the simplest track on the record and the best one, all because it has nothing to lose. Verses feature that trademark St Vincent noise pop zany arrangements while the chorus is all pop, and with all due respect to Cruel, her best to date.

42 // Julian Casablancas // Human Sadness

You don't have to raise anything to prove that you expected the frontman of The Strokes to come up with something like this because you didn't expect it. Human Sadness, the highlight of uneven but thoroughly amusing Tyranny LP is the closest we got to the tension and frustration of Swans with style instead of deranged madness. Just replace post-rock with 80s Nintendo freeze screen ambiance.

41 // Shabazz Palaces // They Come In Gold

Man, just the simple fact that we can have a song from a new Shabazz Palaces album in this list is something to appreciate in itself. Too much of Lese Majesty ends up in loose sketches. They Come In Gold on the other hand could feature on the focused and superior Black Up. Sparse afro-futurism backed with an agile tongue and left field arrangements mean that sometimes this group still come with gold cuts don't don't rely on complex contexts.

40 // Rick Ross // Sanctified

2014 will always be remembered as a subpar year because Kanye West didn't release an album. Whatever you think about the man, he's as exciting as a major artist is these days. Rick Ross here is secondary and unimportant. Sanctified is owned by Yeezy. Just listen to that verse one more time and appreciate the genius humour, the sly self-mockery and mastery of self-awareness. The final two lines is easily the most inspired thing said by anyone anywhere anytime this year.

39 // Death From Above 1979 // Cheap Talk

With rock music no longer holding any relevance in young kids minds, it's no wonder that the best tracks are all coming from the legacy acts. DFA here have not released anything in ten years but reintroduced themselves earlier with a new, perfectly solid comeback record. No surprises but few thrills, including Cheap Talk, a familiar sounding cut built around bass riffs, sea of hi hats and energy that allows it to brush shoulders with DFA's very best.

38 // Calvin Harris // Summer

Recent production from Calvin Harris has been suspended in time. All his songs sound the same and all his videos look the same. However, this year's Summer knows it's worth. It's fitting that it's Harris himself who crowns it with his vocals, no endless guest features. Summer is all swagger. C'mon, it knew it would become the biggest hit of the Summer before it even came out. Even from a man who keeps shitting out hits in his sleep, that ain't easy.

37// Ilovemakonnen // Tuesday

Drake seems to have a tight grip on the modern rap world. After scoring big indie cred with his The Weeknd connection, he is now behind another new chap called Ilovemakonnen. Tuesday combines the biggest trends of the last few years in a way that's like testing the water for any big hip-hop entrepreneur. Cloud rap meets Future's auto-tuned dreams meets Chiraq lyrical swagger.

36 // Sophie // Lemonade

Last year mysterious Sophie stole everyone's brains with Bipp, a brilliant piece of vulgar, futurist electronica. It wasn't dance per se but we kind of assumed it. So here's the shock of the year. Sophie may not be a 100% dance producer. Lemonade here is a kindergarden chant that swallows its own tape midway through and dissolves into 90s eurodance. It's bizarre but more so, it's inexplicably exciting.

35 // Caribou // Can't Do Without You

While Caribou's sweet indie approach to club pop has long made him the worst kept secret in the club circuit, his recent output proves that the most simple approach can be the best. Can't Do Without You features a very simple sentiment about love. The beat has more to do with his club focused Daphni moniker. But together they form one of the breeziest, freshest pop songs of the year, too loved up to care for the held back image.

34 // Iceage // The Lord's Favourite

Growing up and maturing is never the best thing to hear when it comes it a return from a you-got-to-see-them-live punk band. But Iceage manage to age with distinct intelligence, replacing the faded angst with consistently more interesting arrangements. The Lord's Favourite is the finest example of their new sound. As youthful as middle aged men trying to relive their youth by drinking till they fall over. Beauty in fragile desperation.

33 // Future // Move That Dope

Future is pushing a new form of hip-hop that is surely making the purists sweat their jerseys and backpacks off. But it may not bode well that the best song from his new record Honest has very little to do with space, auto-tune or singing. Move That Dope is the aggressive sound of a cop chase, with kilos of that shit in the trunk and Pusha T in the passenger seat handling the Glock. Pharrell is just an accountant with a stupid hat, don't let him speak.

32 // Freddie Gibbs & Madlib // High

One of the best records of the year from production standpoint, Pinata didn't quite held up in the consistency category. With Madlib delivering his most inspired (see absent minded) collection of ID productions since Madvillainy, Pinata is best absorbed in short bursts. Or even better, just listen to High. Retro dust that is all 2014, Gibbs being hard and a Danny Brown feature that makes your life better in a way that only Brown can do.

31 // Sun Kil Moon // Carissa

While his arrangements might get stale in the long run and his bullying of a poor shit Springsteen knockoff act may be boring, Sun Kil Moon runs circles around every other piece of music released this year when it comes to lyrics. Carissa here is the opener to the pretty damn great Benji LP. It's about the death of his cousin. Sounds basic but he manages to make it feel like the most personal diary entry ever. We can't write in detail because we're not as good with words as Mark Kozelek.

Album Reviews: Week 49, 2014

Wu Tang Clan // A Better Tomorrow // 3

There is little point in Wu Tang still carrying on. For starters, their whole image is built on Shaolin aesthetics, inner peace and focused delivery. The last two is something that the crew have been missing for many years now. While the icons at play here never quite got into inner beefs, there is a certain tension in the air, what with Ghost releasing his new solo album next week. A Better Tomorrow is yet another We Tang album that isn't their debut, which is their only good record in the first place. In fact, it's so good we still tolerate nonsense like this. Uninspired rapping about nothing much at all backed with horrible beats that RZA should've buried with his movie ambitions.

She & Him // Classics // 1¾

Just like any novelty act that has run its course but is yet to fulfil its contractual obligations, She & Him are dropping yet another cover album that no one really wants to hear. The songs on display here have been done by everyone and their dog before. It's not as irritating as their Christmas album but they are really trying. At this point, it's hard to imagine Zooey Deschanel being an actress. She fails to conjure any kind of vocal emotion for these songs. Different songwriters, different topics, the voice remains the same. The arrangements are even worse, with the type of Xmas stocking stuffer jazz that turns people atheist.

Mary J Blige // The London Sessions // 0½

Poor Ms. Blige is in a foreign country without a soul she knows or a place to stay. The London Sessions is the sort of album that every self respecting Londoner will take a shit on. By London, Blige means that she employs a couple of people from Scotland and Surrey. But since it's hard to market England for American's, you can't have an album with a title like Great Brittain Sessions, The Surrey Connection or I Am So Useless And Out Of Ideas I Need To Latch Onto Whatever Sound Is Popular Right Now To Stay Relevant Even If I Have No Clue How To Apply Myself To It. Thinking about it, the last one would be quite fitting.

#mary j blige #she & him #wu tang clan

Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz remixed by Harmonimix, which of course is the one and only James Blake.

#harmonimix #james blake #gorillaz #feel good inc

Album Reviews: Week 48, 2014

September Girls // Veneer EP // 4½

Just to further prove that garage rock is about the attitude rather than any compositional complexity, Ireland's September Girls are another band in the long list of acts that get better and attain their own identity as they go. Their debut album Cursing The Sea repackaged the same old 60s girl group sound hidden under the influence of 90s alternative rock and shoegaze. Heavy on reverb, it struggled to make a noticeable point. Veneer EP finds the band learning how to make music and release some of that animosity in the mean time. It's just as shame that while they may be becoming better musicians and singers who don't need to obscure themselves to be presentable, their music is still insignificant at best.

Rick Ross // Hood Billionaire // 4¼

Around the time he dropped Teflon Don, Rick Ross' pretend rich mob man act could almost be believed. However, these days it's not his outright lies but his poor releases that expose him as a wannabe mess. Rule number one, if you're a boss there is no need to rush your business. Let them wait and drop it when you got the highest quality merchandise. Hood Billionaire is Ross' second album of the year that's not as good as the first one. And the first one is only remembered for a Kanye West verse anyway. Hood Billionaire is a stock collection of predictable and unexciting trap beats topped with Ross' very limited imagery. In fact, whatever skill he has is also exposed by younger kids who could inject some fire into their beats. It has the classic Rick Ross flavour but these days it all feels watered down.

The Veronicas // The Veronicas // 1

This week is appalling for music and yet we don't feel like reviewing only two albums, so bear with us. The Veronicas are a duo of chancers who take the black and pink bubblegum punk attitudes and sell them by packaging into whatever out there is fashionable these days. Their debut album recreated the edgy angst of Avril Lavigne for the down under before reselling it to Avril fans on import. Their second effort appropriated pop punk and electropop. The only notable moment there was Untouched, a so bizarre it's almost good amalgam of overproduced emo pop guitar, stock emotionally huge strings and rapping meets awkwardly stuttering delivery. Their new self-titled album drops all the punk references and instead attempts to get some of that Taylor Swift slash Carly Rae dollar. I mean c'mon.

Pitbull // Globalization // 1

Pitbull here isn't very good at what he does but at the very least he holds a mirror up at the world. What do we like? White people singing and black people rapping? Is there anything in between? Well this guy is a Latin American rapper cum motivational speaker that is as insignificant as things get, and yet his voice is unmistakably familiar to anyone who accidentally listened to music in the last lord knows how many years. Seriously, how many years has it been since Calle Ocho? Well in any case, Globalization is probably Pitbull's most straightforward release, lacking pop crossovers or party starters, see Don't Stop The Party. In his own special way, Pitbull has already globalised the world. Managing The Books would be a more appropriate title.

David Guetta // Listen // 0¾

David Guetta has a god given talent that we never heard or seen in anyone else's music. He can make overly polished, manufactured sounding unit shifter EDM seem too polished and overly manufactured. Bear with us. This is the man that can feature a live-wire Nicki Minaj on one of his cuts and make her sound like whatever no name featured on the last LMFAO single. Fuck me, just remembered that Fergie feature. Listen is kind of appalling because a good part of it is not Guetta's brand of toe-numbing dance music. Instead it's kind of a vocal pop record, with vocal guests that aim not to sound like their voices have more in common with a sawtooth but with a production that's too slippery to even put a finger on it. Oh yeah, the similar approach to stylistic expat bullshit has also been explored by old Mary J. this very week. Really, we can't even tell if Guetta doesn't want to have Sam Smith on his track or he just can't afford it. Shoutout to Sam Smith.

#rick ross #september girls #david guetta #the veronicas #pitbull

The Catchup: Week 47, 2014

Caribou // Our Love // 7¼

The idea between Caribou's image and his premise and his music never quite met in the middle. Here was the guy who was supposed to be making a more instrumentally rich dance music that at times descended into overly rhythm addicted indie pop. 2010's Swim was a heady dive into the right direction, a mixture of psychedelia, chillwave and headphone house. Following his releases with a more dance floor straightforward project Daphni, Caribou allows this energy to seep into his main act. Our Love is more vocal based and spacier than Daphni but moving away from Swim, this is Caribou's most direct house record to date. Some lyrics about heartbreak and love aside, topics that no one has ever cared for, Caribou wraps his emotional excuses in generally brilliant production that's too fragile for modern club but just right for private listens. It's not quite easy to make four to the floor sound this personal but despite some ordinary themes, Caribou wins out yet again.

Flying Lotus // You're Dead // 6¾

Around half a decade ago, leading a bunch on new and exciting hip-hop beat makers who weren't playing hip-hop the old school, oversized Hornets jersey kind of way, Flying Lotus and his Brainfeeder crew were an exciting proposition. Landing around the time bedroom pop and chillwave took off, Los Angeles and stand alone cuts seemed like the logical sequel to the retro-respective but by all rights modern J. Dilla sound. You're Dead leaves those moments long gone in the memory chambers as these days Lotus is a bizarre mix of rap, psychedelia and cluttered jazz fusion. While Cosmogramma and Until The Quiet Comes left spaces in between, the heady psychedelia of You're Dead is unapologetic, Flying Lotus at his most self-indulgent. The results are dope when vocals are featured, reminding of that outre but kinda amazing Captain Murphy record from few years ago. However, when it's just FlyLo and his bass in chief Thundercat, the results become too cluttered. Death is a broad topic but despite sounding articulate, FlyLo tries to tell too much at the same time.

Spoon // They Want My Soul // 6

Spoon have one advantage over the acts making a meal out of the past right now. They were always into it from day one. One of those quintessential record store bands, they went from emulating the obvious US alts like Pixies to discovering 60s guitar pop from UK as well as The Rolling Stones. Admittedly, the most rawk-n-rawl thing they did so far was shortening the work "your" into a much more edgy "yr" but the times are desperate. They're also okay songwriters. They Want My Soul moves in exactly the same soft but slightly edgy retro rock ways but with added texture of the synth. Now they're not emulating the classic rock fallout that came round once the late 70s flushed the past but seemingly, they admit that atmosphere can excuse somewhat dull songwriting. So this time it's less posturing, more mood. Better than Gimme Fiction but not as memorable as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or any of their other early records.

Aphex Twin // Syro // 5½

Just like any other big name of however many years ago, IDM don Aphex Twin has ran out of money. Just like all the others then, the long awaited return of a producer who hasn't released new material in a generation, Aphex Twin cashes in on the cliches that people have attached to his sound over the years. Syro doesn't pick up where the uneven but wildly creative Druqks left off. Instead it works as an amalgam of the bleeps of his debut, some atmosphere of the second as well as the light breaks straight out his third album as well as countless of EPs. The result is reassuring but disappointing, a watered down collection of loose ideas of what is the Aphex Twin sound rather than the Aphex brand of relentless creativity. Just like the others then, an artist who once couldn't glance back is now starting into profitable nostalgia.

Royal Blood // Royal Blood // 5

The serene seaside city Brighton has recently been the hub for highly focused twosomes, rock or electronic. Royal Blood here is this year's biggest success story, another guitar and drums duo who spare no thought for fancy nonsense and simply proceed to rock as hard as they can. However, it's hard to understand who this victory, and their own number one debut album, serve. Royal Blood's sound is the direct result of the last Arctic Monkeys album, which could be seen as a passing of the torch from the last huge UK rock band to a potential newcomer. But then again, this sound has been explored by Americans Queens Of The Stone Age, which turns the entirety of Royal Blood's Sabbath-meets-Nevada gimmick predictable and fairly dull. Even if they do rock, Royal Blood are just another addition to the list of British rock acts that find a very temporary success with American karaoke.

#royal blood #caribou #our love #spoon #they want my soul #flying lotus #youre dead #aphex twin #syro

Album Reviews: Week 47, 2014

Ariel Pink // Pom Pom // 8½

In the times when everyone's watching you, pop stars have become safe and sanitised. God forbid they ever say something that they may actually think. People still refer to Californian bedroom pop overlord Ariel Pink as a weirdo but judging from his last three albums, he is the hero that the world needs but is too afraid to accept. One with a Zappa mind and a controversial, click bait tongue that creates controversy gold with every interview. Pom Pom doesn't have the immediacy of previous two standout singles Round And Round as well as Only In My Dreams. But a focused, double record like this pillages everything that he has learned in the last decade and a half and uses it as a jump off point for free-for-all stream of genius. Pom Pom returns to slightly more lo-fi territory and further explores the AM nostalgia, but here with much more divisive character. White Freckles has comedic urgency, Lipstick combines the sass of new romantic with the tension of post-punk while Black Ballerina is a bobbly synthpop weirdo tale about awkward kid's first time at a strip club, nut sung but rather spoken first hand. While these cuts find Pink in his conventional mode, deep album songs like Nude Beach A Go Go, Jell-O and Dinosaur Carebears are all hyper-personality somehow stuffed into AM pop, jangle pop, surf rock, children morning show cartoon themes and whatever goes else. Pom Pom is consistently brilliant, both from a melodic point of view and the icon establishing one. It is easily this years most charismatic record, a much needed shit taken on everything that is politically correct about contemporary pop.

Andy Stott // Faith In Strangers // 6¾

Manchester's Andy Stott managed to achieve a minor cross over two years ago with his record Luxury Problems. It was a collection of dub techno cuts that allowed a little fragile humanity into its dark, bass heavy rhythms. Faith In Strangers doesn't change things that much but it does stretch them out into opposite directions. The title track further surrounds innocent female vocals with techno tension to create a dangerous sounding synthpop highlight. A good part of the album goes in a completely different direction by giving Stott's atmospheric more percussive power. The result is a varied album, not as deep as its predecessor but one that creatively mixes identity building with immediacy.

Fryars // Power // 6

London's Fryars made some waves five years with a debut that exploited the Patrick Wolf school new art baroque and mixed it with Wilde-esque lyrics you can describe as arrogantly bookish. His long delayed second album Power simplifies things for a more basic pop enjoyment. A synthpop album front to back, it lacks the detailed intricacy of his early singles. Lyrically the album is more preoccupied with love towards girls rather than more sinister tones of singles like The Ides, Olive Eyes or Happy. Nevertheless, the record does feature some career standouts. Prettiest Ones Fly Highest is the best cut on here, an art-pop song moving in waltz rhythms and clearly obsessed with MBDTF production. The record is too ambitious at times but at his most simple, Fryars can still entertain with basic, solid pop cuts.

Shellac // Dude Incredible // 2

Shellac, just like many acts that he produces and features in, have one common draw. That being the indie rock loudmouth Steve Albini, better remembered for his cooking book than any of his recent musical endeavours. Dude Incredible from one of his more famous acts Shellac seems to spend too much time loitering about and being preoccupied by utter nonsense. The record moves in predictable post-hardcore terms, just more slowly, allowing Albini's guitar presence to ring on. The vocals are nonsense gibberish delivered with as much edge and DGAF attitude as possible without much context. His appeal may be in his guitar primitivity, Dude Incredible is basic stupidity.

Girlpool // Girlpool // 1

Girlpool are two friends who are living during the times when you don't need to score a deal to bring attention to your releases. Such is the power of the internet. But there's a drawback to it all. Some bands get exposed before they fully form and, considering we no longer give anyone a chance, can result in a premature end. The thing is, Girlpool can't play instruments. Their debut self-titled release is the sound of the girls in 90s mindset trying to figure out how do you make rock music with bass and an electric guitar. They're not in Shaggs territory because they know what they want to do, but judging from these non-songs, they are years away from any sort of cohesion.

#ariel pink #pom pom #andy stott #faith in strangers #fryars #power #shellac #dude incredible #girlpool

Medication Meditation by Flying Lotus featuring Krayzie Bone, taken from the updated soundtrack to the next gen reissue of GTA V, out now.

#flying lotus #medication meditation #krayzie bone

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS