Following on from recent debut EP Invisible Lines, Pink Feather's has shared the Eau Claire remix of The Feeling's Gone, which gives it a slightly more electronic feel and is definitely pushing my buttons. Check out the original version below.
Gorgeous track from London duo AZEDIA that combines layered loops to beautiful effect. I love the way the vocals form such a fundamental part of this track, to the point you forget they are even there. Kin is taken from AZEDIA's second album, due for release next month.
Pre-order the album now to receive Kin immediately and the rest of the album on 2 February.
Also check out earlier track Thunder and Lightening, which features some complimentary intricate female vocals. Love.
Following on from yesterday's part one post, here is the concluding part of my albums of the year list. Don't forget to check out my list of the of 2014 best songs, which starts with Part One.
5. What Is This Heart? - How To Dress Well
Listening to Sun Kil Moon's Benji felt less like playing an album and more like sitting next to a bruised old school friend as he pours out his guts over a beer and a guitar. I'm a sucker for honesty, and they didn't get much more honest than this.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
3. Our Love - Caribou
Caribou's most 2014 album was the first to not change the formula - instead it fleshed out the style introduced on Swim. What we have is a little more refined and a whole lot more personal, and nothing else in recent memory has sounded quite as much like what I feel inside.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
2. Built on Glass - Chet Faker
Effortlessly funky and irresistibly sexy, Faker's beardy R&B does something wonderful to me. There is a variety through Built On Glass that betrays the talent that exists here, whether it is on the slinky, clipped beats and wandering sax of Talk Is Cheap, the sharp bumping synths of 1998 or the circular bluesy vocals of Cigarettes & Loneliness.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
1. Lost In The Dream - The War On Drugs
Compared to Slave Ambient, Lost In The Dream felt a little restrained - the mix more balanced, the krautrock influence softened, the electronics turned down. Yet surprisingly all this gloss made it feel all the more real. It's dad rock, but it's fucking dad rock for listening to whilst you ride a rainbow comet through the clouds of the Milky Way.
Lost In The Dream asks for a moment of patience: a listen to hear, one to notice and one more to know. Every time I play Red Eyes or Burning or An Ocean Between Waves I feel like I hear them better, like a fuzzy AM signal that gradually gets polished to an original studio recording. These songs give you back every moment you give them and not a second poured into Lost In The Dream's hour duration feels wasted.
Following on from my list of the of 2014 best songs, which starts with Part One here, here is the first of two parts covering the best albums of the year. It has to be said, 2014 felt like a better year for songs than for albums - lots of interesting emerging artists released EPs, but there were less breakthrough albums that really lived up to the hype. In comparison to an individual track or an EP, creating a compelling album is incredibly hard. In my view, these were the best.
You can check out the concluding part, which includes my album of the year, here.
10. Liminal - The Acid
The debut album from Adam Freeland's new band was something of a surprise... Down-tempo, soulful and full of angst. There are hints of inspiration - take the vulnerable mumbling of Thom Yorke, the sub-bass from Burial - but the whole thing feels distinct. An organic, distinctly human snapshot that seemingly came out of nowhere.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
9. I Never Learn - Lykke Li
Lykke Li's boldest album yet, I Never Learn turned up on your doorstep with tears in its eyes and hair that has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Such intensely personal music would be difficult to listen to if it wasn't for such compelling song-writing. Even when it is belting out power ballads, as on Never Gonna Love Again, I Never Learn was always uniquely Lykke Li's.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
8. You’re Dead! - Flying Lotus
It almost always feels too easy for Flying Lotus these days, his experiments boldly carving out new approaches to sound like they were always the most obvious thing in the world. You're Dead! is FlyLo's most overtly jazz influenced album yet, and it is impossible to shake the sense that if some of the experimental jazz pioneers of the 50s and 60s were warped to today, this might be exactly what they would sound like... And that's a massive achievement.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
7. LP1 - FKA Twigs
2014 was FKA Twig's year more than any other musicians. The most impressive thing about LP1 is that prior to 2014 very few had even heard of her - by now she is undoubtedly one of the most revered stars in R&B. LP1 has moments of confused, electrified brilliance, but I can't help but feel like the best is yet to come.
Amazon [affiliate links]: CD LP MP3 / Spotify
6. Reality Testing - Lone
Full of moments of experimental brilliance, Lone made one of the most interesting albums of beats I've heard in years. Reality Testing combined every genre Lone could get his hands on, but rather than the candy cane explosion of someone like Rustie this felt like a pleasant trip through the mind of a friend with an enormous record collection.
Another new track from Years & Years, who are gearing up for their sold out debut headlining tour, kicking off next month. This makes me more excited for an album in 2015!