My 10 Favourite Albums of 2014:

I love lists, I really do. If only because it is just so easy to miss an album or artist with so much excellent music being created. Then, reading all these lists of people’s favorite albums, maybe it points you to an artist you missed at first, or which you discarded a bit too hastily after you listened to it once on the day that your cat died. Sometimes it can also be awesome to just see that people agree with you on their love for an album, or maybe it tells you why some people do like a certain album that you just didn’t fancy at all. So hopefully this list will do one of these things (or has some other use or purpose), as these are my ten favourite albums of what I thought to be a pretty splendid year in music.

1. In A Dream - The Juan MacLean

I love The Juan MacLean because they bring house into the realm of the alienated city dweller. And I love both of those vibes. I love the house vibe because it epitomizes losing control, love, broken hearts, sex, and all other lustings and things we so desperately need in life. I love that Robert Longo Men in the Cities vibe as well, because it shows how we are captured in conventions and life itself. The two are seemingly opposite sides of the coin, as in the dancing (or falling) we are free from the latter. To incorporate both sides simultaniously, now that’s a feat in itself, and Whang and MacLean pull it off. It starts space disco, it ends with this slow burner of a track, and about everything in between hits the spot just exactly right. The duality is perhaps perfectly encapsulated in their catchiest track ‘A Simple Design’, where Whang sings that What you’re hoping to find/ it is not a simple design / but a headache / and everything you’ve built comes falling down. But then again, if you open your mind and heart for the slips in the design, then Everything you need falls to you. Can’t wait for them to start doing the live shows again over here in Europe.

2. Power - Fryars

I loved Fryars the first go around, and I’m definitely still doing that on his return. The man has made this year’s walking-the-city-at-midnight album for me, and that is a vibe I’m always looking for. It’s dark, it’s smart, and it hits both the need for contact (all I want is an IRL) or lust, the alienation (I like to think that I’m the solitary type / with less conviction when the loneliness bites), and all the sordid affairs that come with both of them, even if it is just in our minds (though the mixtape probably has the cuts that were too dark to put on a selling record). I also love the creativity, not only in the songs and lyrics, but also in the whole concept, with the short film, the mixtape, the spoken word bits, and everything. Having worked with Mika and Lily Allen this guy knows how to make something that’s “pop”, but thankfully on his own work he mixes that with the quirks and smarts needed to give it this depth and this lovely slant that makes this album stand out. No, I can’t stop loving this, indeed.

3. Moodymann - Moodymann

Moodymann can create house music, that we already know. And soulful house music at that. What he adds on this album though is a great concept, loads of variety, and plenty of heart. And it all culminates to an ode of the rise and fall of Detroit, with plenty to dance to, but also with loads of things that perfectly work to glue this thing together into a cohesive unit, instead of this being “just”  a dance album. It’s almost a pastiche, with the pastiche being the mixing of different elements of the city’s history that we both recognize as being of a time prior to our current one, but which still works as the thing it references to. So you get some almost old school swing soul, you get some spoken word (including some Richard Pryor), and you get some cheeky lyrics in the songs which seem to be taken straight out of those B-flicks about guys and their girls doing their drugs. But whilst that all is going on, the house music also just works as house music, and that maybe is the most imrportant thing.

4. Singles - Future Islands

If anyone is wondering whether or not “doing a tv show” is still effective in this day and age, one might want to have a word with the lads from Future Islands. Their Letterman appearance went viral, which admittedly had a lot to do with the all-out performance of the band’s frontman. That is nothing (no, no, no nothing) if the song isn’t up to scratch, and ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’ is that as well. The whole package that the band has to offer was put on full display there, with catchy synths, emotional lyrics,  mixed with laddish raw power but also more “effeminate” dancing and theatrics. Almost all the songs on this album stick out one way or another, and the band gets away with some lyrics that border on the corny. And if you’re able to write those trite truisms and make them not sound like that, then you know you’re on the winning team.

5. They Want My Soul - Spoon

Here’s an admission that will probably make people throw stones at me, but often times I have trouble liking an entire Spoon album. On every album I have my favorites that I love to listen to, but usually I don’t listen to their albums as a whole. Enter They Want My Soul, which I not only listen to, but I listen to it all, and I listen to it all the time. I love the snarling vocals, but I also love the fact that they seemingly go from guitar led indie rock to bass led songs with a groove. From the ballad ‘Inside Out’ to the more rock-ish ‘Rent I Pay’ to the catchy ‘New York Kiss’; this album has it all. And then there’s my favorite, ‘Outlier’, with those dagger lines “Ahh I remember you walked out of Garden State / You had taste, you had taste, you had no time to waste. / Awww, what happened to you kid?”. That cuts right through to the heart, that.

6. The Feast Of The Broken Hearted - Hercules And Love Affair

I’ve got a soft spot for the boys and girls of Hercules and Love Affair, I’m not going to lie. This album is their most straight up house album that they’ve ever done, having plenty of that catchy stuff to dance to for sure. And everything either with an emotional story, with attitude and pizzazz, or with some other quirk that makes it stand apart from the generic. How about John Grant’s moving tale of HIV Aids in ‘I Try To Talk To You’, singing “Is this what you deserve? You are a man, you’re a human being”. But there’s also the attitude laden track ‘My Offence’, where they take and redefine the word “cunt” and run away with it. “My essence is my offence”, they sing, as apparently who they are is what causes the offence. But, who cares, just let yourself be as cunt as you can get. This album just has the heart of house, and the music to make all the boys and girls in the club work it.

7. Nikki Nack - Tune-Yards

Probably this is the album in her oeuvre that’s easiest to get into, with plenty of catchy songs and percussion bits. For me personally, some of her earlier output, though always intriguing and interesting, wasn’t always easy to listen to on repeat but this album takes that obstacle away for me. Which leaves an intriguing, interesting album that musically is put together with excellent vision and all kinds of sounds that show where she gets her inspiration from. Her voice sounds so powerful as she screams, sings, or speaks lines that are funny, but that also put the finger on the sore spot. “I come from the land of slaves / Let’s go Redskins! Let’s go Braves!” is one, though I always have to chuckle at the lovely aside in “he gave me a dollar, a blood-soaked dollar / but that’s okay it still works at the store”. The little short story in there is funny, biting, and with a nice bit of punch to it as well, and the live show is strong, self-assured, and as hilarious as it has ever been.

8. Hylas - Thomas Azier

Dutch fella Thomas Azier went to Berlin to work on his album, and years later he can finally present the fruits of his labour. The album has a lot of Berlin in it too, with stories about alienation in the big city, through which Azier powers with loads of synths and drumpads. He definitely isn’t afraid to pull out the big guns and shoot for the sky, as was evident when he appeared on Dutch television with a church choir to help him out during his performance. There’s plenty of variety in pace, though, with some “power” ballads, some “pop” songs, but the last song (one of my personal favority) really is the ideal end to his live set. ‘Sirens of the Citylight’ has got almost a dance element to it, and Azier certainly puts a pack of emotion in there. Have seen this guy live two times this year, and each time he gave his all, and that is actually also a characteristic you can hear back in his recorded output as well. Gotta show a bit of love for the “locals” here.

9. The Way - Macy Gray

There’s something about this woman that I just really like and that only she can get away with. The inimitable Macy Gray hasn’t really been at the top of her game for a while (at least, it’s been quite some time since I’ve really paid attention to and enjoyed that what she was putting out), but this takes her right back to the land of quality again. With her heart on her sleeve she runs through admissions like the fact that she doesn’t care about her relationship having ended, but boy does she miss the sex. She goes from a fragile narrative about her really experiencing true love on ‘First Time’, to the elaborately orchestrated tale of her being the “Queen of the Big Hurt” with a fabulously strong chorus, and she does all this in her characteristically raspy voice. Though probably that is what puts it apart from the herd, all the songs are also put together as you would expect a proper soul album to be put together, as all those boys and girls in the orchestra really have her back. I’ve always fancied Gray since ‘I Try’, and finally she’s got me excited again with this one.

10. Seeds - TV On The Radio

There’s something about TV On The Radio that makes me just love them. It’s the fuzzy production with the guitars, the double vocals, the catchy-yet-still-decidedly-rock feel; it’s just the complete package really. I loved Dear Science, and after that I haven’t really been feeling what they’ve been putting out. Luckily, Seeds is something which I’ve been listening to ad nauseam again. ‘Happy Idiot’ has definitely grown on me to the point I’m really anticipating its turn in the batting order, and they freely go from slow ballads to fast-paced rockers to wall-o-sound fuzzness, though the latter maybe less than on earlier work (though you could argue there’s nothing quite as pop as ‘Golden Age’ on here either). Maybe the lyrics aren’t as overtly political or critiquing anymore as on some of their earlier output, with the band putting up more general lines in there that everyone can interpret however, but they are just one of those bands that will always have me intrigued about what they come up with next, and I’m happy that, after their last album, they’ve brought me back on board again with this one.

This list is Stef Siepel’s, writer of, amongst others, The Weekly Froth! column that goes live every Friday. It does in no way reflect the collective Musos' Guide opinion.

The Weekly Froth! A weekly take on six tracks, most of which have recently popped up somewhere in the blogosphere. Bit of a mixed bag with a slight leaning towards house, disco, and remixes, but generally just anything that for some reason tickled the writer’s fancy.

Track of the week:  ‘Changing Of The Guard’ by Holy Ghost! (Andre Bratten remix)

If you know the original (off of that awesome sophomore album by the lads from Holy Ghost!), then you know it certainly wasn’t a deep house slow grind. Which, obviously, this one very much is. You have the deep bass beat going on, there are even some of those industrial sounds haunting around in there, and at 1:07 Andre Bratten ups the pace just a tiny tad before adding a bit more of those original synths. I like the change up at 1:40, where he brings in a melancholic piano (which I assume is from the original, but it’s used so out of context here I can’t quite remember if that’s actually the case). I mean, as far as a remix doing something different goes, this one ticks all the boxes for sure. The original basically has to fight its way through all the deep house layers, which gives it this interesting interplay between an original and that what it then becomes. So for that alone I’d recommend people to actually listen to both tracks. As a stand alone, this is a nice deep house track that especially gets its kicks from the fact that you’ve got those lighter elements that now and again try and rear their heads. The build-up after the break is a nice addition as well.

‘One Night Only’ by Krystal Klear feat. Yasmin

This one starts out with some percussion, but when Yasmin and the synths come in you get the full feel that this track wants to convey. It’s got this kind of R&B vibe, also thanks to that vocals style, with the backing vocals topping that off. You’ve got this bassy, deeper synth dictating the rhythm, with the percussion underneath also helping out in that R&B department. It’s got this catchy pop vibe going on, with that sensual club vibe which gets an extra oomph as Yasmin pleads “give me love”. That interlude at 2:30 followed by the backing vocals is also very genre I think, and Krystal Klear really managed to get this smooth track out there that ticks all those boxes. Yasmin’s vocals fit that atmosphere really well, and it’s lovely easy on the ear. For all those players out there!

‘In Command’ by LeSale feat. Mavin (Jacques Renault remix)

Oh man, just love the percussion groove this one starts with, are you kidding me? Immediately makes you want to take a stab at it on the dancefloor. After about thirty seconds in you get a nifty little bass line as, in the mean time, you can also hear some of those sultry, talky vocals as well. Jacques Renault is definitely riding that bass, adding some percussion to get the rhythm nice and tight, and at the 1:20 mark he adds the synth to inject the track with some extra atmosphere. After that you get multiple synth lines in there, all with a different function and purpose, but also all adding to the track because of that. And because he keeps on adding one line after another it does give you this feel of momentum building, which gets capped off by the vocals coming in just before the three minute mark. And as they whisper in your ear that you’re In command, Renault moves it back to the more beat and percussion heavy side, taking away those synths. The atmospherics are now being added by first the vocals, than the piano. It’s just a delicious track this one, with all those different elements being added and subtracted at exactly the same time. And with those vocals he’s got this little ace up his sleeve which he uses just enough to satisfy us without going for the overkill. Another doozy from Renault.

‘A Simple Design’ by The Juan MacLean (Magic Touch remix)

‘A Simple Design’, in it’s original form, is a behemoth of a track, the dancey, catchy single on the new (and quite fantastic) album of The Juan MacLean. Here, Magic Touch dials it down a notch or two in terms of pace. He seems focus on some of the more organic elements and moves them a bit to the front, which is especially notable at the start. Still, there’s plenty of room for the original, with those sounds still at the core and with Nancy Whang still in a prominent role. But if you take the change-up at about 1:40 for instance, that’s where you see the difference, and in the stretch thereafter you have this combination of the original track and a layer underneath which has been added. The original is still very much recognizable, but tweaks like that give it a different kind of twang. The major change is set in at about 2:50, where you get this bass synth sound that runs away with it at first, and after that some tingly piano that reins it in a tad. So Magic Touch kind of keeps the core of the track intact, but with the pace slightly dialled down and with these new elements smoothly being mixed in he does offer a different perspective on that awesome original dancefloor extravaganza.

‘Do It Do It Disco’  by Myron & E (Tom Noble remix)

Welcome says that funky little bass sound that dictates the rhythm at the start. I like that, especially when those higher and lighter piano sounds come over the top of it. Combine this with those funky vocals and you have this old school boogie track to get some of that thing going on on that dancefloor. It’s one for the dancing together, with the pace being on the lower side, and the vocals do add to that, definitely indicating some kind of Getting it on. It’s a lovely boogie of a track, with plenty of those old school vibes. That ohh-hoo-ahhhh vocal line for example, as well as the backing vocals singing “dance the night away” in that silky smooth kind of manner, with the boogie bass coming in just after them so the ladies can indeed strut their stuff and showcase what it’s all about. Keep on dancing indeed.

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‘Love In C Minor’ by Cerrone (Dimitri From Paris remix)

How about some of that woodwork percussion to get things going, eh? Leave that to Dimitri From Paris, who knows how to get the disco and the funk into things. Add to the rhythm a bit of moaning and other sounds and whispers that have a certain sexual connotation, and you know we’ve got some of that naughty disco going on here. But, also, some of that deliciously catchy bass after about a minute or so. The good man even adds some strings for the full effect, after which the horns soon make their entree as well. So it’s got all those genre sounds that you know, and it definitely has that sexy dancefloor vibe as well. There’s a lovely stop-and-go moment at about 2:35, just to make sure you’re not coasting out there on the dancefloor, though that only lasts for a second or two after which he turns it all on again. At about 3:20 you get some piano in there, after which a lot of horns come in. This all over a parade of sexual innuendo with the lady on vocals saying things like “Don’t stop” and “Go on”, though when she starts singing it kind of sounds like the theme of Love Boat as she simply sings “Loooovve innnn...”. Sure, it may be a fairly bit of kitsch at times, but personally I like that on the dancefloor, it adds to the fun for me. As long as, obviously, it keeps you dancing, and that’s something Dimitri from Paris never has a problem with achieving.