10. Sun Kil Moon – Benji
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Carissa’ (6:55)
The fact Mark Kozelek’s “dispute” with The War on Drugs has overshadowed Benji in press coverage speaks volumes for how fucking stupid it was, but at least it proved Mark doesn’t hold anything back. When he spends an album fearing, thinking about and reflecting on death you know he means it; when he says sorry to the kid he punched in high school you know he means it; when he explains how terrified he is of losing his mother you damn well know he means it.
And that’s what makes Benji so special. In his long-winded, meandering way, Mark has exposed himself to the world without a thought of how the world might react. The album doesn’t lose impact over time because there is nothing to be cynical about: nothing to see through. This is it, and it is sad, but with one line at the end of ‘Michellene’ Mark manages to remind us not to worry, because there is always each other. — Jonny
9. St. Vincent – St. Vincent
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Rattlesnake’ (3:36)
Perhaps the most frequent justification for a record being self-titled is that it signifies a definitive statement; a culmination of all that’s great about an artist and a benchmark against which future efforts will be held. Whether this was Annie Clarke’s intention with St. Vincent isn’t entirely clear, but in being at once her most focused, accomplished and accessible to date it became something of an obligatory end-of-year presence. What’s more, it all came about without a hint of compromise, with even modal three-and-a-half minute pop songs like ‘Rattlesnake,’ ‘Digital Witness’ and ‘I Prefer Your Love’ infused with the off-kilter angles and vibrant sonic innovation which have become such a trademark. Having gone overground, become an alternative icon and peppered her live shows with theatrical choreography, 2014 is bound to be looked back upon as a career milestone, but given the run she’s on you wouldn’t bet against Clarke beating it once she sets about plotting her next move. — Ali
8. Every Time I Die – From Parts Unknown
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘The Great Secret’ (2:37)
It really should come as no surprise that Every Time I Die’s latest release is one of the best of the year, as From Parts Unknown is in every way as frenzied and harsh as any of this band’s past work. Another aspect of this album that should almost come to be expected is the chaotic tone of opening track ‘The Great Secret’. From the opening line telling listeners to “Blow your fucking brains out” until the sudden closing of ‘Idiot’, there is nary a second of rest or reprieve to be found (save the opening piano and clean vocals of album highlight ‘Moor’). And while metalcore as a whole has been steadily on the decline for much of the last few years, with many of the genre’s workhorses either breaking up or taking a new direction, Every Time I Die validates themselves among the top tier, breathing fresh air into a stagnating genre. — Alex T.
7. Casualties Of Cool – Casualties Of Cool
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Ether’ (4:50)
Casualties of Cool is about a traveler who is floating through time and space, and who, upon hearing a woman’s beautiful voice, becomes entranced and is lured down to a hostile planet. The planet, it is revealed, is an actual entity, which feeds on the fear of its inhabitants– it uses an old radio to broadcast the woman’s voice and thereby ensnare its victims. Isolated, the trapped traveler’s only comfort is the voice, and when the radio’s power dies, he feels all is lost. However, he finds an old phonograph hidden on the planet by the actual woman, revealing that to free himself, he must face his fear. Armed with this information, he constructs a bridge using the bones of those who fell before him. He doesn’t finish it, but his strength of will frees both the woman and his soul.
It’s remarkable how well Casualties of Cool captures that concept sonically. Even more interesting is that it does so through a collection of ambient country rock tunes. Not typically the genre one would expect to represent what is ostensibly a science fiction story– hell, it’s not a genre one would expect to see anywhere– but it works. It really, really works. Casualties of Cool is difficult to describe because it sounds unlike any other record I’ve ever heard. No, this is not Ki 2. Devin’s description of the album as resembling “haunted Johnny Cash songs” is about as good a summation as can be. Even conceptually it is remarkably unique: it uses country to tell the story of someone without a country– someone who travels through time and space. Suffice it to say, this a record which you should hear as soon as you possibly can. It further establishes Devin Townsend as one of today’s most accomplished, and ingenious, musicians. — Lambda
6. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Oh My Darling (Don’t Cry)’ (3:24)
While writing this blurb I had a very strong urge to copy/paste dozens of Run The Jewels one liners and even whole verses. I wanted to post so many that this one blurb would have taken up an entire page, but alas I cannot do that. If I could copy/past the beats I would too, because Run The Jewels 2 in many ways speaks for itself. It takes itself seriously, but not too seriously, it’s straight to the point, but still has depth, and ultimately it combines everything wonderful Killer Mike and El-P have to offer. It’s chock full of color, character, charisma, crass, and several other adjectives that start with the letter C. El-P’s beats are hard hitting and fresh, Mike and Jamie’s verses are versatile, vicious, vigorous, and a few other V letter adjectives. Basically what I’m trying to say is that Run The Jewels 2 is really memorable, interesting, ambitious, and a hell of a good time.
“Fuck the law They can eat my dick That’s word to pimp”
(Come on I had to post at least one). — Robert Lowe
5. The Hotelier – Home, Like NoPlace Is There
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘In Framing’ (2:59)
Spring, as a time of rebirth, was the perfect time to see The Hotelier.The trees were budding leaves, green grass finally poked its way through the stained-brown Michigan snow; the streets were flooding from all the runoff. It wasn’t warm, and it was even colder in the basement of the fraternity house where they played, but the air felt like it buzzed with life. Finally, after a winter spent fighting sub-zero temperatures, normalcy was being restored.
Sometimes things just click for me. Not in a way that brings great clarity, but almost destructively; I become overwhelmed by the synchronicity of stimulus and emotion. And on that night, after spending four hours in the basement waiting for them to take the stage, The Hotelier’s opening chords to ‘An Introduction to the Album’ threatened to overwhelm me completely. I stared at the ceiling and tried to match Christian Holden note-for-note but it was hopeless. Nearly every song on Home, Like NoPlace is There is engineered to solicit an empathetic response and this was mine. It was unexpected, but so is nearly everything else about this 35-minute post-emo, if you will, eulogy to someone. Who? The answer is out there, I’m sure, but Holden is far more interested in ‘why,’ and you should be too.
Holden doesn’t raise the dead on this album, he communes with them. He bargains, apologizes, rationalizes, all in seemingly in vain. And yet, when he sings, he melts the proverbial snow and breathes life back into what has been lost. On ‘Your Deep Rest’, Holden opines “tradition of closer nearly felt impossible“, and so we’re left with the decidedly non-traditional Home… as his response. It’s the only fitting tribute. As I tilted my head back and stared at the wooden beams of the ceiling, it all became clear: this is how it feels to be alive, this is ‘why.’ — Nathan
4. The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Under The Pressure’ (8:50)
I lived alone for the first time in May, which meant figuring out how to cook and clean, sure, but also afforded me the personal space I desperately crave and a feeling of unbridled freedom I had never before experienced. Unfortunately, this also meant finding ways to stave off hours of boredom, waking up in the middle of the night to make sure I had locked the door and wondering if something sinister lurked in the shadows of the empty bedrooms of my apartment. For the first time in a decade I was scared of the dark, and I had just started to shake the feeling by the time I moved back in with my parents six weeks later. Lost in the Dream, which is very much about Adam Granduciel’s struggles with paranoia and adapting to a new life, was also one of my ways of passing the long, lonely hours.
In the staff write-up, Hernan Campbell spoke extensively on album centerpiece ‘An Ocean Between the Waves’, with its swirling riffs that can swallow you whole and deposit you on a new emotional shelf by the time its climax closes, but album opener ‘Under the Pressure’ for the exact opposite reason. As its middle section builds, none of the instruments seem to be working together. The hi-hats clap together at their steady pace, two guitars challenge each others’ volume with fuzzy lines and a dazzling piano riff rises above the clamor, distinguishing itself with its simplicity. This discord could be ugly, but the schizophrenic combination is, ultimately, beautiful. Lost in the Dream is a project that finds beauty and freedom in the face of overbearing mental pressure, using Granduciel’s musical comfort zones like Americana and 80s rock as the pillow to rest its head on. I wouldn’t turn to these sources, but from their fibers, Granduciel wove my unlikely security blanket, and for that I’m grateful. — Nathan
3. The Smith Street Band – Throw Me In The River
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Stream: ‘I Don’t Wanna Die Anymore’ (3:58)
Australia Day has never brought particularly worthwhile memories for me. For starters, it’s always bloody hot, and any fun can immediately be stamped out when trying to enjoy a cigarette and can of VB in the sweltering heat. If memory serves correctly, it’s always been a total disaster, a celebration of unfairly robbing indigenous peoples of their country and (on a far less serious note), dignifying the frankly embarrassing Oz music scene with the Triple J Hottest 100. Sat around the radio as we did last year, sweating profusely and rocking ironic AC/DC and Bintang tops, it was with great disdain when, apparently, the best song of 2013 was declared to be Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’. Yeah, that anthem for new age twerps and people with bad dreadlocks. That was the best this country could offer. Apparently, it was the best song that could be mustered in 365 days of hard work. Right there and then, it seemed more than ever like Australia really didn’t have much to contribute to the music scene in 2013.
Then I came across Throw Me in the River, and for a second there it all seemed just that little more hopeful. I’d always known The Smith Street Band, and I’d always enjoyed their records; now, I adore them. Wil Wagner takes on the world from the eyes of a lonely Melbournite, with commanding ‘fucks’ and ‘shits’ taking over foreign subject matter on ‘Surrey Dive’, ‘East London Summer’, and ‘Calgary Girls’, bestowing something different, important and unequivocally Australian with his subject matter. Referencing his displacement to his surroundings, Throw Me in the River takes Wagner’s emotional commentary and puts it into a metaphor for traversing the globe, not only making it undeniably stronger but genuinely easier on the ears. I don’t care if The Smith Street Band can top this- all I care about now is tuning into Triple J on a humid January afternoon to hear Wagner screaming back at me, “so why- don’t you fuck off?“. It’ll make that moist cigarette and warm beer just that much better. — Jordan
2. Swans – To Be Kind
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
Stream: ‘Bring The Sun/Touissaint Louveture’ here.
It’s safe to say that no song released in 2014 completely flattened my senses quite like the 34-minute, steamrolling madness of ‘Bring the Sun/Toussaint L’Ouverture’ (a song that happily devours only a quarter of To Be Kind‘s running time). Cinematic in every sense of the word, ‘Bring the Sun’ pronounces a slight tension that climaxes into unfathomable torture over its 15-minute drive. An apocalypse in every sense of the word, ‘Toussaint L’Ouverture’ trudges through the wastelands brought merrily upon ‘Bring the Sun”s devoured reality. Aggressive declarations of the titular revolutionary become futile; in its own cinematic, fucked up little world, ‘Bring the Sun/Toussaint L’Ouverture’ is a beautifully punishing murder in the best possible way.
Of course, how Swans have accomplished such wide critical acclaim with moments of this ilk remains confusing. Within the realms of mainstream music, To Be Kind doesn’t seem like an album that should succeed like it did. Droning, embittered, violent, frightening; every synonym for something unpleasant fits the bill. Yet Gira treats To Be Kind not as an outright punishment but as an opportunity to enjoy the trappings of sadism. Pummeling away like Thor Harris does, the pronounced level of percussion clashing with Gira’s threatening presence creates an experience that never feels like its 2-hour length. Whether that be the spastic motions of ‘Oxygen’, the throbbing apex of ‘Screen Shot’, or the distinctly blackened flavor of calypso on ‘A Little God in My Hands’, Gira and co. make quick and threatening work of any composition thrown their way.
The arguments over whether or not To Be Kind compliments the apocalyptic soundscapes of The Seer are already without cessation. It’s a testament to the power of a band who are still making classics three decades after their inception; taken as a punishing trudge through The Seer‘s wastelands, To Be Kind proves a masterful follow-up and one of 2014’s classics. — Jordan
1. Trophy Scars – Holy Vacants
Official Site // Spotify // Facebook
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Stream: ‘Everything Disappearing’ (6:27)
Holy Vacants truly is a record worthy of restoring faith in music. And while that statement is obviously dripping with hyperbole and fanboy-ness, it is not necessarily all that far from the truth.
As to be expected from a Trophy Scars record, Jerry Jones’ trademark growl is still ever present, but at many times plays second fiddle to an apparent renaissance of singing, with both approaches often layered throughout. While this vocal approach may admittedly take some getting used to, do not let it deter you from delving deeply into one of the better records to be released in the past few years. There are just too many jaw-droppingly beautiful moments on this record to be overlooked, be it the haunting ending of one of the records best songs ‘Everything Disappearing’, the entirety of the “shot-in-the-arm” track ‘Vertigo’, or the chilling atmosphere and guest vocals (courtesy of Fear Before’s Adam Fisher) of ‘Chicago Typewriter’; every song brings something entirely unique, yet somehow cohesive to the table.
Even when there are musical moments that should quite frankly fail, Trophy Scars somehow manages to make them work. One of the most poignant examples of this would be the last 40 seconds of ‘Crystallophobia’, where listeners are treated with an homage to arena rock and soaring anthems. Yet somehow this ending is personally one of the most memorable moments of the entire record, a moment that will undoubtedly remain in the minds of every listener. Even when lines make you want to cringe, you just don’t as they fit perfectly within the context of the story line of two lovers discovering immorality through the drinking of angel blood. Even when a guitar riff would feel forced with any other band, it just doesn’t with Trophy Scars, a true testament to the song writing capabilities of Jones and lead guitarist John Ferrara.
This record finally feels like the album that Trophy Scars was heading for ever since their drastic change in style in 2009’s Bad Luck, combining every aspect that makes Trophy Scars one of the most unique and refreshing bands currently making music. Although the record at times bends under the weight of the concept, Holy Vacants never strays too far from the path it started on five years ago, cementing Holy Vacants as the best record to be released in 2014. — Alex T.
Contributors: AliW1993 | Arcade | Atrink | Curse. | FromDaHood | Hogan900 | Insurrection | Jacquibim JamieTwort | Judio! | Mongi123 | NocteDominum | StrangerofSorts | TMobotron | Trebor. | VheissuCrisis
Special thanks to: Beachdude | ComeToDaddy | Lambda | Sspedding | Underflow | Wizard
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So glad my personal aoty made the #1 spot. Nice voting, fellas.
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trophy scars at 1
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EAT IT SWANS FANS!
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didnt read the rest
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I think you confused Swans with Trophy Scars
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Naw, jk. List is the tits. Great job guys.
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'list is 110% complete sputnikcore' - yeah, more or less. Not that this is a bad thing... right?
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dunno about that but i think we all knew these 10 albums would be the top 10 on this list
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But anyway, nice list mates
I like it
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Don't like it? Vote for 'better' albums. If you did vote it probably says more about your tastes than the collective user-base, seriously though.
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4.0 excellent
Every Time I Die From Parts Unknown
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As the most field recording-y person *ever*, it's aight. Would have loved to see some Holykindof love and all that but the field recording-y community is only so great because it is so small so not getting any ambient love on an aggregate list is expected and (a little bit) desired. And hey, 10's here so iz alll good (:
@Caribou hype: to be honest I didn't rate the album much at all. There were a couple of cracking tunes but overall it didn't really justify its title as "the cool album" to like this year.
Ben Frost doe - where dat?
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I really found myself revisting the album over and over. Its bangin' side made it easy to get throught the first few listens, which gave the album the time to show that below the deceivingly simple surface, there's a lot more going on. Basically, I came for the beats, stayed for the emotion.
His live set was also tight
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See I didn't really like the beats - emotion stuff was good. Second Chance probably being the best (:
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