2013: My Favourite Music Of The Year, Pt. 1

Hello again…

Having missed the official deadline on accounts of sheer drunkenness and stupidly managing my time over Christmas, I wasn’t even really going to bother putting this out; but hey, my ideals of posterity married with the fact that I really did listen to too much music last year to not post anything (plus that I’m stuck at work with pretty much nothing to do as everywhere else is still closed until next week) have won out, so here goes:

Top 5 Mixtapes Of The Year

5. Government Plates by Death Grips

Not strictly a mixtape, but the guys did release this for free online as per the same label-scolding remit that saw the proliferation of their previous album NO LOVE DEEP WEB in late 2012; and it still trades in the wonderfully-bonkers catharsis that characterizes their previous releases too.

4. The Abstract & The Dragon by Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip

More of a compilation in that Busta and Q-Tip had been in the studio together previously to record one of the most underrated tracks of last year in “Thank You” and then decided to put together a celebratory mixtape of past endeavours spanning a good twenty-years just because they had so much fun.

3. Tree House by LE1F

The second mixtape of the year from queer-dancehall rapper LE1F takes a more sultry cue than his previous work, trading in the psychedelic electronics for something a little more accessibly sexier; it’s not very often homosexual desire gets such sensual treatment in hip hop, you know?

2. Run The Jewels by Run The Jewels

Two MC’s who can’t seem to get enough of each other, El-P and Killer Mike follow through after the former single-handedly produced the latter’s 2012 album R.A.P. Music with a combustible collaborative mixtape that justly saw some of the best reviews of the year.

1. CUT 4 ME by Kelela

A mixtape so good that label-runner and good friend Kingdom saw fit to take it down from the Fade To Mind website and actually make people buy it rather than download it for free; you should have heard “Bank Head” already, and rest assured the remainder of this promising singer’s debut cut is just as prodigious.

Top 5 Compilations Of The Year

5. Think And Change from Nonplus+ Records

A compilation featuring some of the most cutting edge dance music to see release over the past year, collating cuts from the likes of Four Tet, Joy Orbison, dBridge and SCB into an at-times galvanizing package.

4. Saint Heron from Saint Records

As curated by Beyoncé‘s über-hip little sister who has since found herself at the forefront of this new kind of hazy nu-soul/R&B, this collection features swoonsome choices from some of the more head-turning new artists of the trend (Kelela herself appearing twice on the set, alongside the likes of Jhené Aiko and Cassie among others).

3. After Dark 2 from Italians Do It Better

A seventy-nine minute-long calling card of beauteous synth-pop from songwriter/producer Johnny Jewel; for those still panging for a sequel to the Drive soundtrack, this should sate their appetites most welcomingly, featuring work from Jewel’s own Glass Candy project, as well as wares from Chromatics and Appaloosa.

2. Late Night Tales: Röyksopp from Late Night Tales

The prolific Late Night Tales series of after-hour grooves and mixes from established musicians reached a pique in 2013 with this contribution from the Norwegian electro-pop masterminds, a truly intoxicating mix featuring the likes of Vangelis, Thomas Dolby and XTC, as well as a couple of tracks from the guys themselves.

1. School Daze from Dark Entries/Honey Soundsystem

A moving reminder that Giorgio Moroder wasn’t the only electronic music pioneer from the 1970s, as producer Patrick Cowley receives a post-humous tribute dedicated to his instrumental b-side experiments as well as his compositions for various gay porn flicks of the time.

Top 5 EP’s Of The Year

5. Mr Jones by Nina Kraviz

A not-so-short-and-sultry treat from Miss Kraviz after dropping her auspiciously-noticed eponymous debut album last year, featuring more of her celebrated brand of spacey beats, pummeling bass and sexily-disembodied vocal samples.

4. Saa by Saa

Debut release from up-and-coming electronic-R&B duo hailing from both the UK and Norway, this self-titled EP manages to summon up some of the more sonically-enveloping songs you’re likely to have never heard from all of last year.

3. Trust by Gold Panda

Before the long-playing follow-up to 2010’s critically-revered debut album Lucky Shiner dropped in the latter half of 2013, UK producer Derwin Schlecker released this starkly pretty bauble of a collection; Half Of Where You Live really should have sounded better on the back of this.

2. In Your Care by Bright Light Bright Light

The UK’s Best Kept-Secret Of A Popstar returned to the fold late in 2013 with this valuable cache of intelligently-written pop, entirely typical of the man responsible for one of the most criminally-ignored debut albums of last year.

1. Rival Dealer by Burial

The closest thing to perfect that any music release of 2013 came to being, Will Bevan continues to enthrall with his patented brand of industrial soundscapes, dusty beats and tortured vocal samples, this time however offering up something close to redemptive solace and light amidst the gritty darkness.

Top 5 Comeback Albums Of The Year

5. the minutes by Alison Moyet

Tapping wunderkind pop extraordinaire Guy Sigsworth to help birth your first album in six years is one of the better ways of saying you’re getting back to your electro-pop roots something sharpish, and Moyet’s return to the synth-ey mold really was something to get all smiley about on its release last spring.

4. Shaking The Habitual by The Knife

Having not released anything together in seven years, perhaps a bit too much electro-pop goodwill may have ended up riding on Karin and Olof’s fourth album; many were thoroughly discombobulated when it finally arrived (especially when their live show hit further heights of bemusement), but there’s still no denying the album’s powerfully-punky spirit.

3. Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

Many are still reeling from how off-puttingly sincere and reverent helmet-heads Thomas and Guy-Manuel’s LP is as a throwback to the past glories of yesterdecade disco, despite downloading “Get Lucky” in their millions when it first came out; others like myself still find the whole thing rather sweet and moving though.

2. Tomorrow’s Harvest by Boards Of Canada

Tipped off by a genius rabbit-hole campaign that had fans encyclopedically-noting developments until Warp relented with an official release date, Scottish brothers Michael and Marcus’s first album in eight years finally arrived in all its analogue-based, serene-yet-apocalyptic glory.

1. The Next Day by David Bowie

The most high-profile and laudably recognized comeback of the year however belonged to the former Mr. Stardust, who brushed aside rumours of ill-health due to lack of public appearances with the fact that he was actually making his first album of new material in ten years, and it was still full of as much blood, feeling and iconoclastic majesty as we’ve come to expect.

Top 5 Debut Albums Of The Year

5. Drone Logic by Daniel Avery

The first UK dance music producer to find his way on to this list is Mr Avery, who has been giving deep-house techno-heads plenty to rave about over the past few years via numerous remixes and singles, only to launch his debut album in fine style with some of the more luminous notices of the year.

4. Soul Music by Special Request

Otherwise known to his friends as Paul Woolford, his double-disc debut album is one of those grand everything-but-the-kitchen-sink affairs that manages to stick much more of what it throws at the listener than it likely should with regards to its myriad genre influences in grand-yet-laser-focused style.

3. Engravings by Forest Swords

The last UK prodigy to find their way on this list is Matthew Barnes, an electronic producer who deals in soundscapes a lot more bucolic than most (he recorded this LP outside in his garden, apparently) and infused with plenty of English Gothic imagery that nonetheless makes for a head-turning listen at the very least.

2. Woman by Rhye

This half-American/half-Danish singer/songwriter/production duo managed to get tongues wagging enough last year with a couple of their minimalist soul-pop singles last year before dropping their premier LP early last year; so ornate, so sad, so mournful, and still so very beautiful.

1. Echoes by CREEP

However, the best debut album of the year was one that was hardly noticed by anyone, despite featuring enough of a starlit guest roster (Sia, Lou Rhodes, Tricky, Romy Madly Croft from The xx) and some gorgeously-arranged post-trip-hop electro-pop to gain at least some traction. Hopefully it will be discovered to greater effect in 2014; it and the sister-DJ/production duo who created it certainly deserve to.

Phew… And breathe.

Not quite done (hence the Pt. 1 in the title); but give me a while to catch my breath and I’ll get the rest done in a little while.

Thanks… xxxo

November 2013: The Blogmix

Nearly there, everyone… nearly there…

However, unlike Rough Trade and Zane Lowe, I won’t be posting all my End Of Year gubbins just yet; as I do with pretty much every facet of December, I’ll be leaving things until the very last minute, though my customary 50-track playlist is on its billionth draft already and shaping up very nicely, thanks very much! Am currently deciding whether to divide the whole thing into three CD-shaped chunks or just hurl the whole four-hour opus online but will worry about that when I get to it…

In other news though, I’d like to divert the attention away from music for a few sentences on what has been unquestionably been my favourite Podcast series of the year so far. Beginning humbly a couple of years ago, How Did This Get Made? is a comedy-review gab-fest featuring a fixed panel of three US comedians (Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas) ribbing the shit out of various movies that fall in the vein of what-the-fuck audio-visual anarchy. What with being a huge fan of this specific kind of B-movie carnage where all common sense and taste appears to have escaped an entire film crew’s collective consciousness to spew forth something uniquely and insanely absurd (I did honestly recommend Sleepaway Camp on my last blog entry, didn’t I?), hearing this trio grow more and more hysterical as they dissect their chosen subjects really is the kind of off-the-cuff geek manna that the Internet was made for. Previous entries in their series have included lambasts of infamous bombs (Batman & Robin, Gigli, Jaws: The Revenge) and the toe-up failures you’ll have forgotten about (Barb Wire, Street Fighter, pretty much most of Nicolas Cage‘s filmography) as well as the odd well-intentioned curio that will catch you completely off-guard for even existing; I mean, my jaw pretty much fell out of my head when this show alerted the Gary Oldman-as-a-dwarf drama Tiptoes to my attention.

And don’t even get me started on the gymnastics/martial arts spectacle of Gymkata…

(I… Know…)

Needless to say, it is also stuffed with tantalizing tidbits of Hollywood trivia too (the episode on Wild Wild West is worth listening to just for special guest Kevin Smith‘s anecdotes on his experiences with that film’s producer, the prolifically bonkers Jon Peters) and has amassed such a cult following that they’ve dropped the odd live recording in front of a comedy-club audience into their run (the Birdemic episode featuring the one and only “Weird Al” Yankovic), not to mention quite a generous roster of guest contributors (Vanilla Ice himself turns up for an extended “I was there” segment for his misbegotten would-be Purple Rain epic, Cool As Ice). The main component of the series’ success though is certainly the chemistry of its core troika of increasingly bemused critics, who are not shy enough to hold back some sharp jabs at Hollywood royalty but also warm and gracious enough to let each of their special guests feel right at home. In tribute, here’s the first episode I had the pleasure of listening to, featuring Parks And Recreation‘s formidable sass-merchant Retta:

All they need to do now is review Event Horizon, Cool World and The Lady In The Water and I’ll most certainly rate this as the best thing on the Internet ever!

And now, back to the music; courtesy of Mixcloud and Spotify, may I present:

2013 BlogMix#11: November

01) Nahy // Omar Souleyman >> Syria’s most prolific wedding singer releases his international debut album Wenu Wenu after high profile appearances at All Tomorrow’s Parties and Glastonbury, alongside collaborations with Björk and Damon Albarn; produced by London-based electronic wunderkind Four Tet, it is his usual mix of ferociously hypnotic dabke, folk and electronica.

02) Y.A.L.A. // M.I.A. >> Way over a year after lead single Bad Girls whetted everyone’s appetite, Maya Arulpragasam’s fourth full-length album Matangi finally drops and has the rambunctiously-wordy rapper/producer drawing inspiration from the Hindi goddess of her (sort of) namesake; the result is certainly more playful and heady than /\/\/\Y/\, but no less barmily scattershot in its production.

03) Relax // Starchild >> Courtesy of the frontman for indie-soul band Starchild And The New Romantic, this chillwave-funk track is but one of an album’s worth of gorgeous songs as found on Solange‘s recent Saint Heron compilation; acting as a handy compass for this popular vein of nu-soul, it also features valuable contributions from previous blog subjects Cassie, Kelela (whose actually featured twice down to sheer awesomeness) and of course Miss Knowles herself.

04) Wings (Floating Points Remix) // The Invisible >> More dreamily soulful electronics now, courtesy of this remix as featured on another compilation released this month that’s positively primed for swoonsome chill-time, that being English producer Bonobo‘s contribution to the Late Night Tales series, which as a whole fuses vintage jazz, earthy world roots music and percolating electronica to handsome effect.

05) WTH // Jhené Aiko featuring Ab-Soul >> Another contributor to the Heron compilation was this charismatic chanteuse, who had previously enjoyed plenty of near-success throughout the 2000’s before finally turning heads with her debut mixtape a couple of years ago which featured none other than Kanye West himself; now, with her gorgeous debut EP Sail Out, she seems poised to really make some waves (sorry).

06) It Is What It Is // Blood Orange >> Tying up all this Prince-flecked, 80s-style R&B for the time being is none other than the gentleman behind Solange’s Losing You (which arguably kick-started that specific sub-genre’s popularity last year); known to friends as Dev Hynes, this wistfully funky cut from his second album under the moniker of Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe, is indicative of the rest of its parent album’s delights.

07) Lushoto // John Wizards >> Primarily comprising of South African producer John Withers and Rwandan singer/songwriter Emmanuel Nzaramba, Wizards is a project started out of pure serendipity whose results are as plaintive and joyous as you are ever likely to hear this year; their eponymous debut album is a delicate mix of bright indie pop and calming Afrobeat that radiates giddy poignancy throughout its duration.

08) Here Comes The Night Time // Arcade Fire >> After firmly securing their status as modern rock superstars with their epically broad-sweeping third album The Suburbs, could have phoned the follow-up in; whilst it may be hard to swallow at times, the one thing you cannot accuse Reflektor and its progenitors of is being lazy, instead thrashing out a beautifully sleazy and urban counterpart to those fabled suburbs of yesteryear.

09) Atomica // David Bowie >> You may find it a little sad that even someone of such monumental pop importance as Bowie would do something as commercially dubious as release a special edition/mini-album of extra tracks to his album The Next Day; but seeing as that album is still rather glorious, and The Next Day Extra EP contains yet more timeless wonders to be cherished, who are we to argue, eh?

10) Came Back Haunted // Nine Inch Nails >> It would appear it took me all year to get NIN’s comeback album Hesitation Marks on to this blog, not least reignited via many a friend’s excited web-based slaverings over their upcoming live tour; and whilst I still have reservations that Marks isn’t quite as good as it should be, there’s no denying that Reznor still has it in him to create some decent industrial goth-pop when he wants to.

11) Undead // Special Request >> Keeping the dark vibes chugging along is this urban dystopian fancy courtesy of verteran DJ/producer Paul Woolford and his debut album, Soul Music, which ranks alongside efforts from Daniel Avery and Data Romance as one of the better dance music debut LP’s of the year; taking cues from jungle music, drum and bass and post-dubstep rumblings, it really is a dark tour-de-force to savour.

12) Vertigo // CREEP featuring Lou Rhodes >> The electronic debut of the year to truly beat though is the debut from DJ/producer duo CREEP, Echoes, which has taken all of three years to finally see release, enough time for the “rape-gaze” controversy to be forgotten (if remembered at all) and for the “witch-house” would-be craze to settle down; loaded with an esteemed featured guest roster (Rhodes, Romy xx, Tricky), it has the sweeping beauty of a Craig Armstrong album, it’s that gorgeous.

13) Familiar // Nils Frahm >> Drawing all this darkness to a close is a beautiful piece taken from this German prodigy’s sixth album of neo-classical piano pieces, as much indebted to The Field-style hypnotic loops and sequencing as it is to chillingly still and fervant solo pieces; proving throughout that the piano serves just as well as a percussive instrument as it does a melodic instrument, Spaces is a beguiling mix of ornate ingenuity.

Right, time to dust off both of my Black Christmas discs (and yes, I rather like the trashy 2006 remake actually) and I’ll see you on the other side… xxxo

March 2013: The BlogMix

Well howdy-do, my musically-inquisitive chums; provided you haven’t been too distracted by either the unacceptably freezing weather here in the UK or the absolute awesomeness that has been ITV2’s The Big Reunion (or Abz-From-5ive On TV Forever Please, as it should rightfully be called), March has been very kind to us with regards to all kinds of lovely music being thrown our way. So voluminous has the deluge of releases been that I’ve already sailed past the 100+ mark with regards to the sheer amount of albums, EPs and mixtapes that have been lobbed online for our audio-appreciative delectation. So, enough of my prose-based waffle, let my own shoddy sonic complement to the past month guide you through what I felt were the particular highlights.

As ever, courtesy of Mixcloud and Spotify, may I present:

2013 BlogMix#3: March

01) Get Free (Blood Diamonds Remix) // Major Lazer featuring Amber Coffman >> Thomas “Diplo” Pentz’s dancehall side-project releases its second album Free The Universe in April, so to stoke the fire online, they’ve released a mini-trilogy of EP-shaped mixtapes. Best track of the bunch so far is this fabulously pretty re-work of 2012 single Get Free courtesy of Canadian producer Blood Diamonds.

02) Guard // Data Romance >> Yet more prettily-electro dancework from Canada, this time courtesy of a boy-girl duo who do well to incorporate shades of IDM and trip-hop into their swoonsome-yet-propulsive grooves. At their best moments (such as here), they could be the successors to Lamb; yes, their debut album Other is very often that beautiful.

03) Ego Free Sex Free // Autre Ne Veut >> Arthur Ashin’s sophomore album Anxiety has been heralded by many a blogger this year as a forward-thinking mash-up of choppy beats, electro flourishes and melisma-tastic R&B slow-jams; and not only would they be right, but this track in particular happens to use the best choral sample since Dan Black‘s Symphonies.

04) Butterfly // Bilal featuring Robert Glasper >> Though Justin Timberlake gave a pretty marvelous stab at it with his most gorgeous song ever Blue Ocean Floor, this month’s R&B/Nu-Soul Moment Of Beauteous Splendour comes from this New York-based chanteur, as lifted from his album A Love Surreal. Props to Glasper too for returning the favour after Bilal’s work on his previous Grammy-winning effort Black Radio.

05) Trustfalls // Mister Lies >> More shiftily-ambient wunderkind electronics, this time courtesy of Chicago’s Nick Zanca, whose debut album Mowgli is redolent with the kind of after-hours grooves and swoons that provide the kind of spiritual succor needed on those bleary-eyed journeys home into or out of the night.

06) You // Matmos >> IDM electronica’s cutest gay couple return to the fold after five years to create an album based on psychic frequencies cultivated from friends lying on a mattress in their San Francisco home; the results make for easier listening than their previous work, but their innate, adorable geekery and symphonic wit is still on fine display throughout The Marriage Of True Minds.

07) Starman // Sally Shapiro featuring Electric Youth >> It’s namesake’s voice still as light as air and the Euro-loungey arrangements still alive with coquettish reverie, the synthpop/Italo-disco duo make as grand a return as their delightful music can afford with their third album Somewhere Else. The video to this single also happens to feature an adorable, Zach Galifianakis-style leading man, by the way…

08) Song For Zula // Phosphorescent >> This quiet storm of emotional balladry that sounds like the best b-side left out of Bruce Springsteen’s last album is taken from Matthew Houck’s one-man-band’s sixth album Muchacho; for those who like their Americana with a little more of a modern-leaning bent than your typical country/folk-isms, you’d do well to check the rest of it out.

09) Relative Hysteria // Mogwai >> Another month, another avant-pop-nerd tries their hand at musical scoring with beguiling results, this time courtesy of the Scottish post-rockers and their album Les revenants, which doubles as the sonic accompaniment to the French zombie-drama series of the same name. No news on when the show will be broadcast here (though a UK rehash is already in the works), so this album will have to do for now…

10) GMF // John Grant >> A likely contender to triumph on many critics’ Album Of The Year lists come December, Pale Green Ghosts sees its tortured progenitor continue to battle more demons with the kind of heartbreaking candour that would be relentlessly harrowing if he wasn’t able to write a melody so wonderfully and lyrics so bitingly amusing. It’s certainly the alt-pop album to beat this year so far.

11) I Love You // Woodkid >> Music-video-director-turned-epic-pop-balladeer Yoann Lemoine finally releases his debut album The Golden Age to the baited breath of everyone who caught his Grammy-nominated video for single Run Boy Run last year. Truth be told, nothing on the album comes close to that moment of sheer spectacle (WHAT FUCKING COULD!?), but by today’s pop standards, it’s still rather brilliant.

12) The Stars (Are Out Tonight) // David Bowie >> Just because I couldn’t finish up this playlist any other way than with a song off of The Next Day. Welcome back, sir…

But wait, there’s more…

Firstly, a couple of mixes to be found on Soundcloud for your auditory receptors courtesy of up-and-comers Cyril Hahn and Le Youth; both are rather amazing as well as free to pinch, should you like to.

Secondly, one of my friends Alex Eugenio put up a mix himself on Mixcloud; if you like née love your soulful house grooves, please give it a spin!

And thirdly, not to be outdone and mainly due to the fact I can’t fucking wait to see Harmony Korine’s upcoming beach-body odyssey Spring Breakers, here’s my very own Spring Break Forever Mix:

Quite the lot to get through, isn’t it?

Until next time, xxxo…