2014 - Favorite Unheralded Album(s)

Hopefully this doesn't align with any other 2014 ILM threads. Basically, I'm looking for the album you've been playing nonstop, and loving, but not seeing much love from critical circles/ILM threads. It can be anything that you feel has fallen threw the cracks, attention-wise.

I have two albums, one about a month old, and one from June.

1.) Geoffrey O'Connor - Fan Fiction
2.) Strand of Oaks - Heal

Geoffrey O'Connor's album reminds me of a mix of Duran Duran, Ford & Lopatin, other 80's-based synthpop music.
Strand of Oaks' latest album is a mixture of classic rock, grunge and oughts indie.

Iamsu! -- Sincerely Yours

if the rest of Remember Me was as ill as "College Drop" I'd say that too. P Lo > DJ Grey Poupon (more like FOR ME TO POOP ON hah remember that)

Archipelago - Archipelago Matters

Sort of a nerdy, bouncy interpretation of the eighties with one foot in the present.

Geoffrey O'Connor! Used to see that guy manning the box office at the Nova Cinema on the reg. His first solo thing was decent (always liked him better fronting Crayon Fields). Will give the new one a listen.

William Ryan Fritch's Leave Me Like You Found Me - gorgeous clattering dustblown chamber-y stuff

pretties for you 'we have our reasons'

bomastic swedish new wavey type thing, way too good to be as ignored as it is

(holding my tongue on my opinion of the new geoff o'c)

Good thread

There is a (v brief) thread about them but I really love the protomartyr album

Also like... Alex g?

Leon vynehall do ppl care about him? He made like my fav electronic album of yr

I dunno Alex g is like if u were in my life in 1999 I would have been like omg

It's like fall of 2000 when i was rising jimmy corrigan and listening to tara Jane o neil

Rising = reading

Thousands - Dream Isle

This, by a guy I know: https://soundcloud.com/bamnan/sets/problems

Track 3 is one of the most astonishing things I've heard from a 'hey I also make music sometimes' messageboard poster, it's pure Hammill-meets-Steve-Mason

I can't stop playing Histrionic by Maria Minerva. Every week I've got a different hook from it stuck in my head.

I thought (and really hoped) it was going to be huge for her but outside of a decent review in Wire no one seemed to care :(

Comet Gain--Paperback Ghosts

odawas 'reflections of a pink laser'
sonido gallo negro 'sendero mistico'

stars in battle dress 'in droplet form'

Oh fuck SIB released an album!!! Will be on that asap

The Durutti Column and Roddy Frame albums are probably my favorite releases of the year, but have received next to no discussion that I've seen.

childbirth's early 2014 disc, it's a girl!. also already going to say girlpool's soon-to-be-reissued disc, featuring jane. i guess the album didn't get much traction when it was first self-released early in 2014. both great; hysterical lyrics, hook-y, full of attitude.

There was a Durutti Column record this year??

The three records I've been playing constantly are all different types of psychedelic rock, which never seems to get much notice from critics or ILM outside the rolling thread.

Black Bombaim - Far Out. Two long jams from Portugal's answer to Earthless, with a different guest on each track.
Comet Control - Comet Control. The creative forces behind Toronto's lamented Quest For Fire, Comet Control melds psych and pop and Pink Floyd and all sorts of thing into a catchy concoction.
Kikigaku Moyo - Forest of Lost Children. The latest record from this young Japanese psych band who blew me away at Austin Psych Fest. Dreamy and odd with 60s-style psychedlic roots. Really good electric sitar player.

Thanks for heads up on Comet Gain album. Had no idea it existed.

The Comet Gain record is my favorite of theirs in a long time.

https://bleep.com/release/51314-esteban-adame-day-labor

esteban adame - day labor

tasteful unfussy light touch techno / deep house

ed sheeran

Jennifer Castle's Pink City album deserves much more love.

Comet Control - Comet Control. The creative forces behind Toronto's lamented Quest For Fire, Comet Control melds psych and pop and Pink Floyd and all sorts of thing into a catchy concoction.

Uhh...yes, please. Loved QFF, going to check CC out rn. Thx, EZ!

yeah, that kikigaku moyo album is real nice

alpine static, I hope you like it.

Between the new Kikagaku Moyo and the two North American reissues of their prior work they're owning 2014.

i love the leon vynehall album, the "butterflies" single is brilliant as well. warm summertime house vibes yessss

i feel like most of my favourite albums this year are critically and commercially unheralded

cher lloyd - sorry i'm late

a volte-face from the sugary bratpop of her debut: depressive emo powerballadry about weakness, vulnerability, despair, loss, the brokenness of being human. interspersed with a few token upbeat songs telling boys to fuck off. sold about three copies i think

khia shamone - lovelocs

khia of "my neck, my back" fame is back in her r&b guise. ludicrous, ludicrously inventive. nine-minute harp-led slow jams, vulgar hooks everywhere, a ragtime gender-flipped reprise of "my neck, my back". she's completely in her own lane these days

gangsta boo & la chat - witch

old girls killing it in rap this year (see also shawnna, remy ma), harder than your favourite hardest rapper. love the way they switch between horror and mean girls imagery and sound elephantine on both

francis harris - minutes of sleep

gorgeous, immersive electronic stuff (got into this through a dj sprinkles tip; would recommend to fans of voices from the lake)

mirel wagner - when the cellar children see the light of day

she's got her own thread that about 5 people post on; creepy as fuck, uncomfortably enunciated dark finnish folk

katie pearl - make it official

not strictly new but davinche uploaded the unreleased r&g album he did with her back in '05ish. ilm back then would've lapped it up

cher lloyds record is non-stop great fun
personal fav track is the finale 'alone with me' but truth be told any of the tracks could come on a shuffle list and i'd be happy

Agreeing with the love for the Kikagaku Moyo. Very nice.

Yeah "Alone With Me" is great, almost like Rachel Stevens in a more plaintive mode. That bit in "Sirens" though where she's like "I am tired, I'm growing older / I'm getting weaker everyday" is so unexpectedly sobering.

yeah her delivery on that! also "go on, put the knife in" on "sweet despair" (which i think was co-written by beth ditto)

I should stay off this thread because I rarely play any LP more than about three times let alone nonstop. BUT since you ask:

- the Kali Mutsa album Souvenance is very odd but well worth seeking out; you can stream all of it on Soundcloud. Chilean gypsy pop princess meets avant garde electronica. Half in your face, half Gilles Peterson presents..., with one-of-a-kind vocals.

- there's a new Gemma Ray album out, Milk For Your Motors. Apart from two or three nods from Doran, I'm still the only person who mentions this pop-noir songwriter on ILM. I've only listened to this once and the two tracks from her 'death disc' 7" from earlier this year leapt out as highlights and are still in my head now. But hoping that means the rest will grow on me too. She's returned to the outlaw country style of the early days of her career on this record (lots of guitar string bending) though Fiona Brice's orchestral arrangments add a further dimension.

Cher Lloyd CD is on order.

truly overlooked:

<a href="https://fishtankfriends.bandcamp.com/album/7day-4cast";>Little Weather, 7DAY 4CAST</a>

super young producer i met playing some shows in the northwest, impeccably put together 808s & sunshine.

much less overlooked but still:

mirel wagner
sd laika
poolboy92
jim-e stack
open mike eagle

oops

http://olewnick.blogspot.com/search?q=marc+baron

Hidden Tapes by Marc Baron

Haven't seen any mention on this site.. Album almost feels tailored to appeal to those interested in Graham Lambkin and Jason Lescalleet.

A record I haven't been playing enough (at least based on putting it on today and loving it from start to finish) is The Cult of Dom Keller's The Second Bardo. Another psych rock record, this time of the English post-Loop variety.

Alvvays - Alvaays
Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy

very indie choices (if not twee) so i figure they'll get ignored by large swaths of ILM, but I really really enjoy both of these.

Also Whoop Dee Doo by the Muffs, same narrative.

I finally got round to that Kikigaku Moyo album, it's very derivative but joyously wonderful as well.

just from a quick listen I like the mirel wagner album as well.

Going to give another shout for that brilliant Jennifer Castle album' Pink City and mention it's ILX significance in that Owen P did the beautiful string arrangements on it.

Nathan Roche Magnetic Memories

Maybe this will be heralded, dunno, but Pure Reality, the debut from Dark Blue, comes out in a couple weeks on the Jade Tree label; it's streaming in full here:

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/228746/premiere-dark-blue-stream-debut-album-pure-reality-in-full/

Dark Blue is made up of Philly indie rock veterans John Sharkey III (Clockcleaner, Puerto Rico Flowers) Andrew Mackie Nelson (Ceremony, Paint it Black, Puerto Rico Flowers) and Michael Sneeringer (Strand of Oaks, formerly from Purling Hiss, Puerto Rico Flowers).

The debut "Pure Reality" could be the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie provided that Ian Curtis wrote it. It and it reminds me of when I was a teenager in the '80s and I would turn to a then-nascent WHFS. The album is more catchy than twitchy which is fine, and I especially love the darkness that permeates the proceedings, punctuated with slashing guitars and stately baritone vocals.

Self-released and so far, unheralded: Caroline Peyton's Homeseeker's Paradise, cut w/ Lambchop's producer and pianist, and w/ William Tyler, who recently played a show in Nashville with her to mark album release. Some trax here.

House of Cosy Cushions, _Spell_: Irish act with a few albums under his belt, latest is ambient/dark-autumnal stuff that I like quite a bit

Wizkid- Ayo

Nigerian afrobeats(dance-oriented with programmed beats and r'n'b influenced vocals).

"Revolution in the Elbow of Ragnar Agnarsson Furniture Painter" - Soundtrack to musical

Bowie+Iceland+Queen, not particularly campy or goofy. The soundtrack was actually pretty heralded by the musical crowd, but aside from The Big Takeover very little discussed in rock circles.

http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr3014-various-artists-killed-by-deathrock-vol-1

aero tipped me off to this compilation and if you have any type of fondness for gothy post-punk rock, the whole thing is FANTASTIC. "Casa Domani" by The Move is a particular favorite.

Well now I know DJP doesn't read my reviews. ;-)

Some Kind of Leader - Dog Club

Reminds me a bit of great bands like The Beta Band and Teenage Fanclub (at their best). It's not perfect, but it's a promising debut. Their album just came out the other day. It's on Spotify, of course:

https://play.spotify.com/album/1nvuwfcBv4iBEx8HkJwLOe?play=true&utm_source=open.spotify.com&utm_medium=open

Well now I know DJP doesn't read my reviews. ;-)

You described my favorite song on the whole thing as "poor Bauhaus-meets-Joy Division sounds" ;_;

true! And I stand by that description.

stand a little closer so that I can be sure to wing you as I drive over that description

woosh! felt the air move as you drove my.

Still pounding the table for Ninos du Brasil, Ibibio Sound Machine and Darius's EP.

Another recommendation from me. Dr Cosmo's Tape Lab - Ever Evolving Lounge. Great little psychedelic pop gems from a guy that used drum for the BMX Bandits:

http://drcosmostapelab.bandcamp.com/album/ever-evolving-lounge

Neil Cowley Trio, Touch and Flee – sober but lovely Brit jazz

Le Butcherettes - Cry Is for the Flies

Zebrina - Hamidbar Medaber

Angus and Julia Stone's s/t album. For a fan of duet singing, the interplay between this brother and sister is fantastic. Loved "Broken Brights" off Angus' recent solo disc, and this album has an even more consistent quality. RIYL: Kings of Leon, Paul Kelly, Mazzy Star, Nancy & Lee,... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV50lmpVk1E

Maybe this will be heralded, dunno, but Pure Reality, the debut from Dark Blue, comes out in a couple weeks on the Jade Tree label; it's streaming in full here:

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/228746/premiere-dark-blue-stream-debut-album-pure-reality-in-full/

Dark Blue is made up of Philly indie rock veterans John Sharkey III (Clockcleaner, Puerto Rico Flowers) Andrew Mackie Nelson (Ceremony, Paint it Black, Puerto Rico Flowers) and Michael Sneeringer (Strand of Oaks, formerly from Purling Hiss, Puerto Rico Flowers).

The debut "Pure Reality" could be the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie provided that Ian Curtis wrote it. It and it reminds me of when I was a teenager in the '80s and I would turn to a then-nascent WHFS. The album is more catchy than twitchy which is fine, and I especially love the darkness that permeates the proceedings, punctuated with slashing guitars and stately baritone vocals.

― Loud guitars shit all over "Bette Davis Eyes" (NYCNative), Tuesday, September 30, 2014 3:38 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this album is completely great and yeah I have yet to see any signs that ppl are going to give a shit about it

1.) Geoffrey O'Connor - Fan Fiction

Been listening to this loads the last couple of weeks after seeing it on a recent Moonboots Juno chart. Lovely 80s vibe to it.

The Delicate Features album is pretty great too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhxTM2LSNZw

WILD BEASTS

http://www.nashvillescene.com/binary/bee7/1387398982-artworks-000062070854-1tytbj-t500x500.jpg

stone jack jones -- ancestor

http://f1.bcbits.com/img/a0927752743_2.jpg

Nipomo by Czech duo DVA hasn't been mentioned on ILM. Its some sort of sampler friendly freak folk in imaginary language that could be an alternative soundtrack to Svankmajer shorts, or to the Voynich manuscript. The official videos offer a sense of the cheerful oddity: Mulatu, Vespering, Nunki, No Survi, Surfi

Posting to revive this excellent thread - more unheralded albums please!

https://drcosmostapelab.bandcamp.com/album/ever-evolving-lounge

One of my favorite albums of the year. The drummer was in BMX Bandits and I think the other guy is in some kind of Beatles cover band.

https://soundcloud.com/strangetown-records/sets/the-pale-blue-dots-lots-of

I'm a massive Super Furry Animals fanboy, so there's no doubt I was going to love this. Bunf, their guitarist, and Richard Chester (a film/TV composer) came together and recorded some songs. They're really good. They're kind of glammy and a bit off-kilter like SFA. I think Bunf did a better job approximating the SFA sound than Gruff has on his solo albums. The album is short, so just consider it an EP. The Soundcloud is missing the lead-in track. The whole album is on Spotify.

NehruvianDOOM

I was late to it, but Jesse Boykins III's Love Apparatus is quite wonderful.

Also liking Twin Peaks' Wild Onion, despite the horrible choice of band name. It's mid0fi garagey power pop—somthing which seems to be in endless supply—but better than average hooks.

http://cdn2.thelineofbestfit.com/images/made/images/remote/http_cdn2.thelineofbestfit.com/media/2014/Samaris_-_Silkidrangar_535_535_c1.jpg

Samaris - Silkidrangar

Icelandic clarinetronica, with a vocalist in the Dreijer-Guðmundsdóttir continuum. Occassionally more sturdy tech house peers above the ramparts, but its mostly Copenhagen-sound ambient dub.

http://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3791345580_10.jpg

love this short ep, called nothing, by fake-blood. contrast the quiet vocals/folk-y arrangements and the violence implied in the lyrics (try the :50 opening song, as an example).

Is Kassem Mosse's "Workshop 19" album considered heralded?

enjoying this samaris record thanks!

Black Bombaim - Far Out. Two long jams from Portugal's answer to Earthless, with a different guest on each track.

thanks, ez, i liked their album of… ulp… 2010?… but lost track of them

http://cdn.albumoftheyear.org/album/2014/16625-magnetica.jpg
Quantic - Magnetica

British born, Bogotá resident Will Holland takes a break from authenticity and vinyl rummaging compilations, and combines his interest in cumbia and other tropical styles with his past electronic productions. There's no ironic distance here (as in, say, Señor Coconut), just a dusting off with modern sonics.

Some videos: Duvidó, Muévelo Negro, La Plata

Gallery 47: All Will Be Well.
http://gallery47.bandcamp.com/album/all-will-be-well

Interview & performances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mOqPxsXEHo

http://noveller.bandcamp.com/album/reveries

Really nice guitar drone

The new Marianne Faithfull record is really good. If it were a 5 track EP it'd be among the years best. I actually think the songs Nick Cave wrote are better than anything he's recorded with the Bad Seeds for a long time.

Howgoodisgood? by Baro is some throwback boom-bap from an Australian teenager. V. good if you're into that style (which I am).

https://b-aro.bandcamp.com/album/howgoodisgood

Stephen Steinbrink's "Arranged Waves" ... gentle, insidiously melodic, mid-fi guitar-pop that feels of another time to me. I dunno, I have a hard time describing it, perhaps someone else will.

http://stephensteinbrink.bandcamp.com/album/arranged-waves

Need to spend more time w/ the Stephen Steinbrink album, but spent enough of a brief listen to've been pretty impressed w/ it--nice to see it mentioned on here.

vertical scratchers "daughter of everything"

xpost I just happened to click a passing mention on Twitter a month or two ago ... haven't played much else since then. Had never heard of the guy before.

Luciano Cilio - Dell' Universo Assente

this is my fave unheralded reissue of the year, it certainly isn't for everyone but I would strongly advise trying it.

The first half of the recording is beautiful, the second a bit more challenging.

So much great sounding stuff on this thread I not only have never heard but have never even heard of, and will likely never get to hear. That's why I long ago wrote off year-end round-up lists. There's just no way someone could listen to all of this, try as they might, and the inevitable mishmash of stuff both hyper obscure and really obvious gives even the broadest, most ambitious lists a weird arbitrary vibe. So much good music out there, only so many hours in the day, days in the year ...

Ha! this isn't the fucking bored old bastard, projection thread pal!

^next ILM board description pls

Riohv - 'Moondance'
(from Ottawa, but released by a Vancouver label sounding v. much in line w/ current Van City [well, Mood Hut] dusted dance zeitgeist, although what do I know from way over here in Toronto anyway)
http://1080pcollection.bandcamp.com/album/moondance

My two fave albums of the year that no one else is talking about are both Canadian female singer/songwriter-y things:

Amelia Curran - They Promised You Mercy (closer to the "folk" end of the axis)
Emm Gryner - Torrential (closer to the "pop" end)

Carol Keogh, _Mongrel City_: I'm biased because she's perhaps my favorite artist of all time, who's released (IMO) the best album of all time; this is more a solo acoustic debut, but I like it a lot and I'm glad it finally came out (it's been years).

pretties for you 'we have our reasons'
bomastic swedish new wavey type thing, way too good to be as ignored as it is

Just getting into this now!

maybe i am just a damn fool but i do still try. i don't know what it is. i'm driven. if it's great, i want to hear it. i don't care that i don't have time, i'm not giving it the deep listening treatment, but i do try. because if i stop listening to new music i might as well be dead.

Elisa Ambrogio - The Immoralist
Jerry David DeCicca - Understanding Land
Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings
Tashi Dorji - s/t
Village of Spaces - Welcome In
Charlie Parr - Hollandale
Chris Schlarb - Making The Saint

I know some of these were discussed here, but I still feel these were relatively overlooked based on forum lurking and part time record store hours.

oooh need to hear that new Amelia Curran, her last one was lovely

i don't care that i don't have time, i'm not giving it the deep listening treatment,

Yeah, this sounds crazy but I basically don't give anything the benefit of the doubt on first listen these days. There's enough stuff out there that entrances me on first listen, that's what gets repeat plays. I know this is a pretty insular way of appreciating music, but I don't care

sub "entrances" for "doesn't irritate" or "intrigues"

that Schlarb album (xxxpost) is wonderful ... pulsing guitar drifts and drones, perfect for downshifting and disengaging ... and streaming here if anyone is interested:

http://schlarb.bandcamp.com/album/making-the-saint

knifeworld - the unravelling

Sanpaku, I am digging your posts on here...
That DVA is fantastic!
Doesn't sound folky to me at all, but definitely freaky.... Mulatu has an almost afrobeat thang to it, with some top quality skronk at the end there... and great videos too.... Vespering is beeyootiful...

Samaris and Quantic also damn groovy.......

A sunny day in Glasgow - sea when absent

Melodic major key synth layered indie rock with a real rhythm section. Inspired, dense, rewards patience and multiple listens.

I am in the process of listening to this album for the first time, but I think it's already secured a place in my top 10. It's THAT good. Tami Neilson has such a crazy great voice that it would probably be criminal for her not to make a record like this. Hot shit country/rockabilly has been done a gazillion times, but rarely this well.

https://tamineilson.bandcamp.com/album/dynamite

I'll second some love for the Doug Paisley and Sunny Day in Glasgow records, surprised I haven't been hearing more about either of those.

Is the Function & Vatican Shadow album unheralded? It is very beautiful, great night music.

Asphalt Orchestra - Plays Pixies: Surfer Rosa

i don't actually know if these are "unheralded" b/c i don't read much (barely any) music crit, but i haven't heard much about the following:

norberto lobo, fornalha
janek schaefer, lay-by lullaby
meridian bros, salvadoran robot
sasac, hyperion
battle trance, palace of wind
dragging an ox through water, panic sentry
khun narin's electric phin band
matthew hopkins, nocturnes
angkanang kunchai, isan lam plearn
lori goldston, creekside
riverside (doxas/doxas/douglas/swallow)

haven't caught up w/ my jazz listening this year

that's just new stuff, tons of reissues came out this yr of course

Is the Function & Vatican Shadow album unheralded? It is very beautiful, great night music.

― kraudive, Monday, November 24, 2014 4:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i really really like this, after two listens

Khun Narin is an ILX fave, apart from that I've only heard the Meridian Bros album off amateurist's list.

did the khun narin love expand beyond that one thread? if so, good!

some more stuff from 2014 i don''t hear about much:

jason lescalleet, much to my demise
leo welch, sabougla voices
mark turner quartet, lathe of heaven
noura mint seymali, tzenni
per norgard, symphonies 1 & 8 (vienna philh./sakari oramo)
toumani diabate & sidiki diabate

Thanks for the heads up on Dark Blue NYCNative! An example of how one thing can suck me into a rabbit hole of year-end binge listening, I looked it up on RYM, and found this list: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Skillets/2014__and_the_inevitable_onslaught_of_adulthood/. Certain key albums intersect with my favorites, and I try to catch up on the 40 albums I haven't heard.

Most of what I'd mention are covered here: Rolling Stoner/Psych/Freak/Doom/Sludge/Retro/Drone/Space Thread 2014: These Start at 11

Beyond those genres, my top entry right now is this: The Sea Kings – Woke In The Devil’s Arms (Iffy Folk)

Glasgow band masters both pretty jangle referencing The Smiths and Go Betweens with darker lyrics, and more broody sounds via Triffids and Nick Cave.

Also, I thought Wovenhand was being ...heralded due to great reviews, but now it seems to be conspicuously missing from most lists.

Clearly the way to get people hooked on largely unheralded albums is just to post a list of them with no description or context.

Is Kassem Mosse's "Workshop 19" album considered heralded?

In techno/house terms yeah, it got some love.

damn! that Leo Welch one is so good, unbelievably an awesome debut from an 82 yr old gospel/blues singer.

thanks for the heads up on a new Mark Turner album, i'll have to check that out. Dharma Days is a favorite and i didn't realize that he hasn't released anything as a leader since then.

Clearly the way to get people hooked on largely unheralded albums is just to post a list of them with no description or context.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, November 25, 2014 8:10 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry i guess i don't have the energy for detailed descriptions! maybe later.

there are some posters on ILM from whom i'll take a recommendation even w/o context, but i shouldn't assume anyone feels that way about me.

Oh wow, didn't know about that Norgard/Vienna Phil! Listening now.

i guess the isan lam plearn is a reissue. i didn't actually think about that.

anyway you can here fragments of it here: http://www.juno.co.uk/products/angkanang-kunchai-ubon-isan-lam-plearn-remastered/532555-01/

basically almost anything on the EM Label (out of japan) is worth exploring

if you've heard those sublime frequencies molam comps you'll get the general idea

re mark turner's lathe of heaven

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar_g4lmRFkw

and leo welch

(sorry if these youtubes irritate anyway, i just find that sharing a little of the music is better than whatever i could write about it)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKAft2H_R3o

i posted about norberto lobo, a portuguese guitarist, on the post-takoma thread but here's a tune. it's really really good. brand new btw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkVe80XzSnU

Great thread. Speaking of A Sunny Day In Glasgow, I really enjoy Jen Goma's guesting on the (I guess under-heralded?) Deluxe Edition of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart's Days of Abandon (they've also got Kelly Pratt of Beirut in there, but think Goma sings most if not all of the guest leads). Anyway, the bonus tracks' vocals really help to sell me on the whole thing (the dude vocals seem better when you've got more alternatives), and the rhythm section is pretty toned for "dream-pop" or whatever you call this stuff.

Clearly the way to get people hooked on largely unheralded albums is just to post a list of them with no description or context.
― Matt DC,

Second that. If someone is passionate about a particular album, the least they could do is give a one sentence description.

It is quite rare I like any new Gospel/Blues albums but I love that Leo Welch one.

been obsessively playing ambrose akinmusire's the imagined savior is far easier to paint since hearing a track from it on a spotify blue note sampler, it's amazing. Don't know how heralded it is but it's hardly been mentioned on here. inevitably linked in my mind with recent events (there's a devastating track called "rollcall for those absent" that features a kid reading out the names of young black men killed by cops), there's a lot else going on here but the sadness & anger seems to stand out especially now

I should add Ensemble Economique's "Melt Into Nothing". I've not heard this guy's music for a couple of years when he was doing kinda horror / hauntology influenced soundtrack music. This is a fair bit different, darker in a different way - more 80's guitar goth. One of the tracks sounds remarkably like something off the first Slowdive EP. It's great.

wow. toumani diabate has a new album out? i've only heard mande variations, but it was really good. is it different from that?

@amatuerist

that ambrose akinmusire album is another good call, not seen it reviewed anywhere and it is incredible.

I'm not the biggest indie fuX0r but I really liked this album, which hasn't got much press afaict:

http://psiloveyouband.bandcamp.com/album/for-those-who-stay-lp

They're a bit like a rockier version of old Arcade Fire (+ some old Radiohead) but they're totally better because they have long guitar solos with lots of effects. (Guitarist made Spin's all-time greatest list!) Some anthemic choruses.

psiloveyouband

Yeah, not the greatest band name.

couldn't let it pass unremarked!

Speaking of Ambrose Akinmusire, he plays on Cold Specks' Neuroplasticity; I especially like his intro to the last track,"A Season of Doubt." The singing and songwriting will have to grow on me, but already like several arrangements pretty well.

I guess it's not the PS I Love You who did the great "Where On Earth Is Kevin Shields?"
http://www.discogs.com/PS-I-Love-You-Where-On-Earth-Is-Kevin-Shields/release/2012309

it is not

(i discovered the hard way)

The 2014 reissue of City: Works of Fiction (1990) by Jon Hassell is notable, particularly due to being a great bargain (3 discs, 202 minutes) for those without a legit copy of the original. The 1989 live at Wintergarden The Living City disk, mixed live by Eno, is worth the admission, possibly the best Hassell between Aka/Darbari and his sporadic later work with Maarifa St. The Psychogeography disk of alternate takes and remixes (808 State et al) is a hodgepodge, but should appeal to anyone that digs his protege Nils Petter Molvær.

https://iancrause.bandcamp.com/album/the-song-of-phaethon

Jorge Drexler: Bailar en la Cueva

Uruguayan singer/songwriter goes pop

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/23/334490703/finding-the-anthropology-in-latin-dance-music

surprised to see little in the way of mentions for the Electric Youth - Innerworld album, which is adorable synthpop

Irish artist Rebecca Collins, whose _Chameleon Blues_ I loved a few years back but who seemed to disappear off the radar (which never happens, I should have known) has two new albums this year. _Solar_ is my favorite; it reminds me of early (Happiness-era) Lisa Germano at times, Kristin Hersh other times, nothing like her debut at all.

The 2014 reissue of City: Works of Fiction (1990) by Jon Hassell is notable, particularly due to being a great bargain (3 discs, 202 minutes) for those without a legit copy of the original. The 1989 live at Wintergarden The Living City disk, mixed live by Eno, is worth the admission, possibly the best Hassell between Aka/Darbari and his sporadic later work with Maarifa St. The Psychogeography disk of alternate takes and remixes (808 State et al) is a hodgepodge, but should appeal to anyone that digs his protege Nils Petter Molvær.

― TTAGGGTTAGGG (Sanpaku), Thursday, November 27, 2014 12:01 PM (8 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i 2nd this recommendation.

proud peasant - flight

2014 stuff I have been listening to that probably nobody else cares about:

United Bible Studies - Doineann - stupidly limited but gorgeous drone-folk CD from this Dublin collective

Legendary Pink Dots - 10⁹ Volume 1 - LP only but it's on their Bandcamp page I think, nice to have them slow down their release schedule this year and focus a bit more, it really made a difference

Sir Richard Bishop - Road To Siam 10" - more stupidly limited vinyl but this is very nice, his best in a while

Ou - Pisces Crisis - awesome RIO/Recommended records influenced band from Sardinia, produced by Amy Denio

Amy Denio - Prodigal Light - superb new polymath solo album from one of the most underrated musicians in America, see Ou description above

Armand Schaubroeck Steals - God Made The Blues To Kill Me! 10" - demented rock/blues insanity, this guy must be at least 70 now!

I thought Armand had retired from music making

nope! it's his 1st release since the 70's iirc

ah right,

I used to have his "Live at the Holiday Inn" album, bonkers man. Never managed to play a track all the way through.

Armand Schaubroeck's still running a musical instrument store in upstate New York, House of Guitars, and iirc he has lots of stories about the Warhol scene (a friend of mine struck up a conversation after bringing in a copy of Ratfucker for him to sign). I had no idea he'd come back to recording, though!

the 10" came with a House Of Guitars guitar pick!

This Chris Staples record on Barsuk is amazing. I liked that Alvvays record as well.
http://www.chrisstaplesmusic.com/

i thought i posted it here already, but i fucking love this album, dreamy homemade electronic music w/broken club beats:
https://droppinggems.bandcamp.com/album/djao

I heard a DJ play Armand Schaubroeck Steals - God Made The Blues To Kill Me! 10" a few weeks ago and I enjoyed it so much she put the b side on for me as well. Really great stuff. Thanks for reminding me that I need to buy it.

David Shea - Rituals

i have come to the conclusion that this is a fucking masterpiece. fans of drone and electro-acoustic music, get up on this thing

Jo Johnson: 'Weaving' (Further Records)
Really nice ambient record. Available on Bandcamp: http://furtherrecords.org/album/weaving

Bunch of albums I loved that haven't seen much/any play on ILM afaik. The music is a lot better than my hastily-written blurbs.

Mega Bog - Gone Banana (art-AOR with added sax; reminds me a bit of the Christina Rosenvinge record with SY people)
Tom Kovacevic - Universe Thin as Skin (psych folk with Takoma x Arabic arrangents)
Quiltland - Quiltland (rolling off to the beach to party with Air France 2014)
Alice Boman - EP II (sad, lush, Scandanavian folk - probably coming soon to a rainswept "separated lovers" scene on a show near you but gorgeous nonetheless)
Ai Aso - Lone (fragile, sparse, Japanese folk - no less gorgeous)
After Hours - Lowlife (more NNF-wave)
Caoimhin O Raghallaigh - Music For an Elliptical Orbit (solo fiddle record that's as close as I've heard an Irish traditional musician come to free jazz)
Tape - Casino (these guys never make a bad album)
Benedek - Peoples Potential Unlimited (boogie/freestyle revivalism)
Le Revelateur - Extreme Events (my fave synth album of 2014)
St. Lenox - Ten Songs About Memory and Hope (confessional lyrics and 1990s nostalgia to a bedroom electronica soundtrack - most of ILX will hate this immediately)
Valentin Stip - Sigh (Jaar-endorsed ambient/electronic bliss)
Habibi - Habibi (surf-/garage-rock-influenced indie, lots of fun)
Kemialliset Ystävät - Alas Rattoisaa Virtaa (electronics/squelch/kitchen-sink/fun; relatively laid-back for a KY album)
Magic Eye - Babylon (solid NNF-wave excursion, riyl that one Paavoharju song that sounds like a Bollywood singer lost in a radio dream)
Death Blues - Ensemble (check it out if you ever liked even the idea of GYBE)
AJ Davila - Terror Amor (supercatchy supergrotty Puerto Rican garage punk)
Malayeen - Malayeen (Lebanese psych rock)
Various - Science Fiction Park Bundesrepublik (comp of 1980s German electronica home recordings, as good as it sounds)
Happy Meals - Apero (Peaking Lights-esque, made the better album this year imo)
Maurice Louca - Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (psychedelic rock/Sun City Girls/Electro Chaabi, all in one place!)
Neel - Phobos (ambient techno from space)
Ricardo Donoso - A Song For Echo (more ambient techno from space!)
Jorge Drexler - Bailar en la Cueva (at least one person on ILM has heralded this, lovely South American folk-pop)
Gala Drop - II (rolling off to the rainforest 2014)
Clap! Clap! - Tayi Bebba (Fourth World vibes with almost-footwork beats)
King Gong - Gongs (longform compositions made up of gong music samples)

Ujubasajuba by Kairon; IRSE! has skyrocketed up the RYM 2014 chart lately - as well it should. Nate Mendel wishes he could quit Foos to join what is basically a Finnish Jeremy Enigk chewing up the best bits of post rock/emo/shoegaze into a fun record.

xp - I posted on EOY thread but more appropriate here:

There's usually a couple African albums in many lists, but never Brazilian, which is kind of odd. People are missing out on some great music. First Nação Zumbi in seven years, Tom Zé, Moreno Veloso, etc. People here may dig this with some squanky guitars:

Juçara Marçal - Encarnado
http://dedicatedearsfreealbumlist.blogspot.com/2014/03/jucara-marcal-encarnado-free-dl.html (Free DL)

Posse - Soft Opening

I've hyped the Juçara Marçal album in a few threads on ILM. Highly recommended for fans of either Brazilian urban folk music or no-wave skronk.

Horsebeach - Horsebeach

^balaeric C86

Will def check Nação Zumbi, Juçara Marçal. Thanks also for Tom Ze news, just listened on Spotify and tweeted this:
Tom Ze, Vira Lata na Via Lactea: Tropicalia sorcerer & friends in fine vox, tight & tuneful, unfazed by maze (gtrs snares etc customize it)

tack>>head : for the love of money

still spin this on a regular basis ..

a brilliant combination of the harder edged material they started out with, and the more funk based grooves that came later.

Still pounding the table for Ninos du Brasil, Ibibio Sound Machine and Darius's EP.

― Felt up by Adam Smith's invisible hand (Sanpaku), Tuesday, September 30, 2014 3:50 PM (2 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Surely that Ninos du Brasil record can't still be unheralded? I mean, people have heard this thing, right?

Maybe it was in September when I first heard it and there were only a couple mentions in the English language online media.

Have not heard it but am curious. The Brazilian carnival aspects sound intriguing to me, but I wonder what I will think of the more techno tendencies?

xpost

I mostly bumped your post because I didn't catch it the first time and wanted to reiterate how awesome this record is.

thanks for the Ninos do Brasil evangelism. Wonderful record, would be at home in a mid-00's Optimo set.

klaus lang - SAIS.

“SAIS. is a piece about cows. Cows are a topic quite familiar for a composer who lives in an Austrian mauntain village at 1000 metres hight. He finds them right in front if his door. The cows that are grazing on a juicy green under a bright blue sky – so we might imagine – are one side of the trio. Within the 100 page long score we meet them in the shape of a line of overtones. Just as natural as the life of a cow on an alpine meadow is the musical material that builds SAIS. as a scale of overtones above a low G sharp. But there is the other side, too, the cultural if you will, where humans interfere nature. In SAIS. this aspect manifests itself as an additional tempered scale, and, using the the metophor, as the cow as livestock and useful object.”

Definitely feeling Ninos du Brasil. I might have a couple of late entries into my AoY list thanks to this thread.

Mentioned once by NickB, and deserving of more attention.

Emma Ruth Rundle - Some Heavy Ocean
https://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3964655753_2.jpg

Twangy-gazey dream pop in the Mazzy Star/Mojave 3/Trespasser's William/Widowspeak vein, so of course I'm smitten. Image links to bandcamp, but it's also streamable from YouTube.

Halfway through this Emma Ruth Rundle album and so far it's really good! It is very Mazzy Star and the American side of 90s 4AD, but the vocals remind me of Sugarcubes-era Bjork.

i love that record! guitar player from red sparrowes but its about the soaring vocals as much as anything else

very much appreciating this thread, feeling a little overwhelmed by all the lists and recommendations between here and the EOY list thread, but that's a good thing

now playing: Novos Misterios

that was great

wasn't too into the first few tracks on Killed By Deathrock but it is picking up now (Move track)

hey do people know that Half Japanese released a new album this year? if only they got 5% of the press that Syro did, it's a solid record worth hearing if you like them (it's called Overjoyed).

there was also a new Mecca Normal album but I find it pretty uneven

Yeah, I wanted to like that new Mecca Normal but I gave up on that happening about three listens in.

Cold Beat's Over Me. Got some press, not enough.

now that I listened to it straight through, I am not so sure the Half Japanese record belongs here, it gets pretty cringingly stereotypical in the middle and never lets up

i really dig that cold beat album, particularly the 3rd wire album vibes it occasionally puts forth

Tonstartssbandht - Overseas

2014 - Favorite Unheralded Album(s) Doom & Gloom Edition:

Hydra's Dream - The Little Match Girl (strange, dark and dreamy electronic music from Anna von Hauswolff & friend)
HTRK - Psychic 9-5 Club (dubby and narcotic electrogoth, so dimly lit you almost have to feel for its flesh with your hands as much as hear it with your ears)
Esben & The Witch - A New Nature (Albini production gives this a more sinewy, animal feel tah previous albums and makes it sound like early PJ Harvey-meets-Slint; tails off a bit in the second half, but 'No Dog' in particular is as good and visceral as rock music got this year)
Cut Hands - Festival of the Dead (a bit like the more rhythmic parts of Demdike Stare with all the hauntological fannydangle taken out; enjoyed this a lot more than Bennett's previous records under this name)
David Shea - Rituals (a long, enthralling trip from a slowly developing Necks-like piano piece through drones, throat-singing, gongs, insect noises and temple chimes into more abrasive noise textures)
Erik K Skodvin - Flame (one half of the great Deaf Center with another beautifully recorded album of crepuscular unease)
Shivers - s/t (a great doomy fog where the ghosts of Ornetter Coleman and John Carpenter wander amid giant slabs of fizzing electronics)
Itasca - Unmoored by the Wind (imagine Mimi from Low putting out an album of plaintive folksong that sounds like it's been lost in the woods for half a decade)

I wanted to like the Cut Hands more. Something about it (shorter sample loops?) gave it a more mechanical feel than Afro Noise I, the only other thing I've heard. This kinda thing (from Congotronics to Crash Worship) benefits from a more loose, improvisational, ritual feel.

Juçara Marçal - Encarnado
http://dedicatedearsfreealbumlist.blogspot.com/2014/03/jucara-marcal-encarnado-free-dl.html
(Free DL)

― Fastnbulbous, Tuesday, December 9, 2014 12:42 PM (4 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Amazing! Female voice, I think (though the Google translation keeps saying "he": trans? Some themes of spiritual and physical death and resurrection as rendered in somewhat brain-twisting English) No hint of goth/anything portentous/pretentious in the sung melodies, which are countered and commented on by two guitarists, each with his own approach; sax and violin occasionally drop in, very deftly. Guess I'll mention "post-Tropicalia," which the press kit does too; it's also right about the bits of skronk, avant-garage etc in the guitar styles (yo Arto, Ribot). Ditto around the edges of the sax, I say.

Speaking of Arto, that double-disc studio/live anthology was out this year, wasn't it? Loved the live, but the studio set could've have been better chosen: most of the tracks they or he picked were way too overcooked or something.

So much music to check out! Really liked the Dark Blue and Stephen Steinbrink albums.

There's a very short EP released this year that's been played constantly in my household - Beach Slang's Who would ever want anything so broken. I'm willing to bet that you'll know whether you'll like this EP within the first minute of listening to the first song, "Filthy Luck."

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/mfWdCwLgMW8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Jeez, youtube fail.

Is there a lot of ILM love for Torn Hawk? I LOVE his 2014 release, Let's Cry and do Pushups at the Same Time. It's an instrumental album, full of synthesized goodness. If you enjoy music that can largely be relegated to the background, while simultaneously, but only intermittently, bring about nostalgic-panged goose-bumps, I'd say check it out. What I mean with the nostalgic part is my association with this album with some of my favorite 4AD artists from the 80's.

Yes, Seandalai is right about this one:

Jorge Drexler - Bailar en la Cueva (at least one person on ILM has heralded this, lovely South American folk-pop)

He's a former ear, nose, throat doctor (and grandson of refugees from the Holocaust) who sorta broke in to the US market in 2004, after a song he wrote for the movie The Motorcycle Diaries became the first Spanish-language work to win an Oscar for Best Original Song.

But its pop in a modern way that can appeal to those who might not be interested in anything described as "folk"

Is there a lot of ILM love for Torn Hawk?

Torn Hawk is a favourite over on the time travel thread iirc. He made at least two albums this year - the one I got into was Through Force of Will on NNF.

did a bunch of random listening yesterday, really enjoyed:

Juçara Marçal
Golden Retriever
Panabrite
Ninos Du Brasil
David Shea
Alessandro Cortini

and the new Chrome record!

Le Cassette - Left To Our Own Devices

Blonde - Young Heart

*Blondefire, I mean.

Single - Rea

http://i.imgur.com/d1AsJ9B.jpg

dreamy Spanish reggae/synthpop from former members of the band Le Mans

this Pop Group archival release is amazing, especially the BBC tracks:

http://open.spotify.com/album/2QnIUsGY8sOgz0KHVbvHEs

only one previously released track, plus 2 alternate mixes, 4 live tracks, 2 BBC

I don't think any of it is on the insanely expensive quasi-legal Vinyl Japan 2CD

oh, looks like the last track is, but w/e

Sanpaku: I don't know why I hadn't found it before but there's some live-in-the-studio Emma Ruth Rundle stuff on Youtube that's well worth watching. Love this so much ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3_WpBfsuFY

oh shit, sorry for imbed

Noura Mint Seymali's Tzenni is maybe even more amazing than xpost Jucara Marcal's Encarnado, because while the latter fits the highwire soul post-tradition of post-Tropicalia, almost post-avant (Arto/Ribot) melody x mutation---in other words, new configurations of known elements and urges---Seymali's sound expands my ears and vocabulary. Although, while reading the bio after listening, I did have a few associations reinforced by mention of colleagues Tinariwen and especially Bassakou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba, 'cause I sometimes had fleeting flashbacks toJama Ko while spinning in Seymali's wake. Even tried to say it on Twitter:

Noura Mint Seymali, Tzenni: Her voice ripples soars dips pivots around sinewy subtle elec 4tet griot Arabclassic psychfunkoid Sahel system

People let me tell you, Jane Weaver's album The Silver Globe is a doozy.

Yeah Tzenni has been steadily growing on me. I checked it out when the Quietus list came out a couple weeks back.

Re Arto Lindsay, those look like fine song selections, but I'm a big fan of his albums. Can't believe it's been a decade since Salt. I hope he gets back into it.

People let me tell you, Jane Weaver's album The Silver Globe is a doozy.

Just got plugged into this one. It's great!

Here's a couple of 2014 ambient albums I haven't seen people discuss on ILM:

Move D - Silent Orbiter

http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2014-02/1391594408_front.jpg

A single-tune piece of old school drone ambient. According to his liner notes, Move D had it lying around for a few years and meant to release it via FAX, but then Pete Namlook died, and he realized it would serve as a requiem for him. Fitting to that description, it starts quite dark and industrial, but ends with a glimmer of hope and transcendence.

Oliver Lieb - Inside Voices

http://25.media.tumblr.com/9426d386c7b553dc1aace176d97767dd/tumblr_n35uwaD5Dh1rvg6x8o1_r4_400.jpg

This another dark ambient album, but it has shorter tracks with melodies and arpeggios and stuff, no beats though. If you like Lieb's 90s cosmic ambient material, this is like a creepier update of it, could be a soundtrack to some understated sci-fi horror movie.

Iotronica - Of Moons and Stars

Pretty impressive debut album of Vangelis-style, floaty space synth music, I started a thread of its own for this one:

Iotronica - Of Moons and Stars, the cosmic ambient / new age space music album of the year?

Hitherto unmentioned:
http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000075826158-u4jmmc-crop.jpg

Eaux - Plastics

Sci-fi distopia soundtrack synth trio with cooing/obscure vocals on ATP Recordings, with jam-evolved motorik songs self-described as "never finished, just abandoned." Musical neighbors might include uptempo Seefeel and Factory Floor, but the tracks shuffle seamlessly in my end-year relistening to Andy Stott, Gazelle Twin, HTRK etc. Streams/samples: Spotify album stream, Head (Soundcloud), The Light Falls Through Itself (Soundcloud), Head (official video), The Light Falls Through Itself (Live at ATP video)

In a year with many good Pop albums, my personal favorite is Little Daylight's Hello Memory...

I also like the Emm Gryner and Strand of Oaks albums mentioned earlier. And if you miss late-80s a-ha-style New Wave, Garbo STHLM are making it again!

some of these are probably heralded but here goes

The Budos Band - "Burnt Offering" (instrumental soul meets afrobeat combo. some powerful horns on this one, generally dont dig Daptone but this is great)

Posse - "Soft Opening" (minimal spindly indie stuff with some great lyrics about relationship headfuckery...if u like Pod-era Breeders, youd like this i think)

Isiah Rashad - "Cilvia Demo" (best rap album i heard all year, admirably neurotic, questioning and bullshit free..."heavenly father" will make you cry)

co-sign Isaiah Rashad, Cilvia Demo really consumed a lot of my summer listening & his performance was a highlight at Pitchfork

Just found out that John Zorn released the seventh (and apparently final) album by his Moonchild group (Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn and Joey Baron, plus guests, in this case John Medeski) in November. Ordered a copy immediately; Moonchild is the best thing he's done since Painkiller fell apart in the early 90s.

I've had the promo of this all year and yet haven't made/found the time to write a review. Great album, and I wish you could hear the whole thing below. These guys are the business.

http://sontagshogun.bandcamp.com/album/tale

Last year an old college roommate discovered The Budos Band. He was in the military for 25 years and did not keep current with music, but that band inspired him to go out and see them live with Electric Citizen opening! So they seem to be making some impact!

Lola Colt – Away From The Water (Fuzz Club) - This hits multiple pleasure buttons for me, psychedelic garage noir with a touch of post-punk.
http://shop.lolacolt.com/album/away-from-the-water

Kyle Bruckmann's Wrack – …Awaits Silent Tristero’s Empire (Singlespeed) - I used to see him in noise rockers Lozenge in the 90s. Now based in the Bay Area, highly regarded in the avant jazz/improv and modern classical world, which these days is kind of small community. Inspired by the novels of Thomas Pynchon, certain parts remind me of Charles Mingus' The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady in both instrumentation and spirit.
https://kylebruckmann.bandcamp.com/album/wrack-awaits-silent-tristeros-empire

Surely "Albam" by Love Is All needs to be on this list. Easily the most memorable release of 2014.

the new Biota record is amazing swirly alien goodness, unfortunately not available via streaming

probably gonna be my #1 for the year

I wanted to like the Cut Hands more. Something about it (shorter sample loops?) gave it a more mechanical feel than Afro Noise I, the only other thing I've heard. This kinda thing (from Congotronics to Crash Worship) benefits from a more loose, improvisational, ritual feel.

agreed, i was talking about n/a with this recently. everything is a one-shot sample and it feels super stiff. i like the Clap! Clap! record for a looser approach to Afro-Caribbean sample jacking (much less dark though).

haven't seen Thelightshines album mentioned anywhere, lovely lightly-psychedelic pop like a Shack album of mostly John Head's tracks

Surely "Albam" by Love Is All needs to be on this list. Easily the most memorable release of 2014.

Just sampled this on spotify. Not the same Love Is All as the band from the mid-00s, is it? If so, jeezus christ what a derailment.

definitely not the same band

I thank god every day that the Japanese Love Is All chose that name and that Spotify can't sort artists properly, or I never would have found the brilliance that is "albam."

Alice Gerrard - Follow the Music

http://i.imgur.com/SLBk95h.jpg

a survey of Appalachian roots music from her extensive repertoire — Roy Acuff style honky-tonk, upbeat fiddle tunes, spooky banjo-based country blues à la Dock Boggs, a hymn/lament backed by a droning fiddle line, an 8-minute a cappella ballad likening infant mortality to a vulture, and some singer-songwritery stuff. it harkens back to all those '60s-'70s Folkways and Rounder albums with extended track-by-track pedigrees in their liner notes, e.g. "I learned this song from Hobart Smith at the 1978 Newport Folk Festival, and he learned it from a woman named Ada Larkspur, who..." and it's similar in style and spirit to Alice's collaborations with Hazel Dickens. it's been getting a lot more press than I'd expect (including a Pitchfork review), probably because it's a Tompkins Square release.

Andrea Schroeder - Where the Wild Oceans End

http://i.imgur.com/2X5qVda.jpg

classicist depressive Americana from a German singer-songwriter, riyl The Walkabouts, Marianne Faithfull, Nico, Mark Lanegan

Ichiko Aoba - 0%

http://imgur.com/8sPNV6J

live performance of solo classical guitar and vocals. 'intimate' and 'soothing' as fuck. I started a thread about her but it's not very good.

cover art: http://i.imgur.com/8sPNV6J.jpg

Co-sign the Isaiah Rashad love and I'm gonna mention that Wild Beasts album for the fourth time in this thread

xpost Alice Gerrard's album: she successfully personalizes most of it. My P&J comment:
Alice Gerrard, Follow The Music:
Strong subtle vox, smokey mountain ballads. Most brush by, eerie & beguiling, others hover; all are waiting 4 train. Trad & originals, 0 twang or trills needed. Fiddle, a cappella, dobro, ragtonk, just whatever's right.Hiss Golden Messenger produces it good.

I don't know much about her, but her sound gets to me much more than expected.

Ashrae Fax - Never Really Been Into It

http://i.imgur.com/Wdiov8K.jpg

dreampop/darkwave with lots of synths and primitive drum machines. it's not as visceral as their recently-unearthed first album Static Crash, but it satisfies my craving for stuff that sounds like Head Over Heels-era Cocteau Twins or early Lycia.

^fuckin adore ashrae fax

apparently the songs themselves predate the first album but weren't recorded properly til now

xpost Alice Gerrard's album: she successfully personalizes most of it. My P&J comment:
Alice Gerrard, Follow The Music:
Strong subtle vox, smokey mountain ballads. Most brush by, eerie & beguiling, others hover; all are waiting 4 train. Trad & originals, 0 twang or trills needed. Fiddle, a cappella, dobro, ragtonk, just whatever's right.Hiss Golden Messenger produces it good.

nice writeup. she definitely has an academic interest in the material (she published a journal on old-time music and produced a couple of documentaries with Mike Seeger), but she doesn't try very hard to emulate that old-time vocal style — her double identity of folk musicologist and modern singer-songwriter is part of what makes her style so distinctive. in the '70s she sounded more like a subdued Linda Ronstadt than a trad folk singer.

are Hiss Golden Messenger any good, btw?

I'm a fan. Poor Moon is his best album imo, a bit less smoothed-out than his more recent releases.

Does he have anything as dry as Bad Debt? I love that one to death but everything else I've heard from him has left me unimpressed (heard From Country Hai East Cotton, Haw and the latest one).

Lord I Love The Rain is my favorite by HGM.

Originally released as a digital-only EP, Hiss Golden Messenger’s "Lord I Love the Rain" has been reconstituted as a fully realized long playing album that juxtaposes grainy kitchen table gospel and dusted imaginary sci-fi soundtrack pieces alongside dead-of-night renditions of Michael Hurley’s “The Revenant” and Ronnie Lane’s “Tell Everyone.” "Lord I Love the Rain" is the sound of Hiss Golden Messenger after hours.

His proper LPs have been getting increasingly slicker, much to their detriment.

Alright, I'm sold.

^Nathan, is that you?

ah, thanks for the recommendations. their early stuff sounds interesting

(in case Raymond's question was directed at me: no)

Oh, ok. Just curious.

No problem. There is something very Nathan-esque indeed about the phrase "Alright, I'm sold".

An album I've been listening to the past few weeks nonstop comes from one of the worst named-bands ever - Mike Adams at His Honest Weight. The album, Best of Boiler Room Classics is pretty fantastic from start to finish. It's a bit of power pop with some psychedelic elements thrown in.

This will be one of my top ten ILM albums of 2014.

Check out

"Be Free, Live Well"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZSTR7HgAc8

"I'm Worried"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUn8sl0uZLk

"Count On It"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rakkYIkbAb8

Eaux - Plastics

I'm kind of surprised there isn't more talk about this, actually! It's pretty good, and the vocals remind me of an earthier (or more earthbound) Liz Fraser.

I thought the Heliocentrics/Melvin Van Peebles collab, The Last Transmission, would have gotten a lot more traction than it has.

I thought the Heliocentrics/Melvin Van Peebles collab, The Last Transmission, would have gotten a lot more traction than it has.

yeah that and their collaboration with orlando julius were definite highlights of the year for me.

that said, i do listen to the instrumental version of 'the last transmission' more than the proper album.

Eaux - Plastics

I'm kind of surprised there isn't more talk about this, actually! It's pretty good, and the vocals remind me of an earthier (or more earthbound) Liz Fraser.

Fans of this should check out Eaux's previous incarnation as the Sian Alice Group.

Listening to the Panabrite album. Really nice new age-y, synth-heavy ambient thingy stuff.