Albums
of the year
2014
Last year my goal was to shorten the reviews in my annual top albums post, but I failed miserably. This year, however, time was more limited – in a good way luckily (maybe because I interviewed two of my favorite bands: Lush, and Slowdive!) – and I’ve finally reached my goal. That’s even with 20 albums reviewed, up four from last year. I think I’ll keep this introductory shorter as well. As you can see, to the left is a playlist of a song from each of the albums that I think represents what makes each album great. Oh, and it’s Spotify, so you may need to have an account or something, not entirely sure how that works. Figure it out, or check out the song titles to find them somewhere else. Lastly, note these are in no particular order. They’re all great in their own individual ways, and thus albums at the bottom are JUST as important as those at the top. Enjoy, and feel free to comment if you want – and thanks for reading! Or not.
9
Further Reductions
Woodwork


This would be a mini-LP I guess? 30 minutes, six songs? Right, yeah? Sure. Length doesn’t matter – leave ’em wanting more. The first rule for a perfect album is that you hit repeat without second thought because you can’t get enough. That’s this album, on the off-shoot imprint of Brooklyn’s 80’s electronic archival label, Minimal Wave. Music that combines darkness with a bright optimism in its feel always clicks with me, and this is one of the best examples of it. Just listen to lead track ‘High End Basics’. It’s a dark tone, but with a tribal, sort of Blue Man Group thing going on. It’s goth, but somehow so happy and you just wanna dance your way back in time to the set of Blade Runner. HA! This LP is otherworldly magical, intense and downright excellent.


