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Each year, DiS celebrates Listmas by presenting our staff’s favourite songs, our albums of the year and various other lists. We also love to get musicians involved, and in our annual audit of artists we’ve once again found that some of the artists we love the most are listening to some things we adore too.
In part one, we heard from members of Chvrches, Hookworms, The Twilight Sad, Pulled Apart by Horses, and lots more about what they adored in 2014. Now it's the turn of Frightened Rabbit, Kaiser Chiefs, Errors, Ben Frost, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Perfect Pussy, I Break Horses (pictured, above), My Vitriol, Feeder, Thumpers, Eagulls, and more...
Scott Hutchison, FRIGHTENED RABBIT
What was your favourite album of 2014?
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There.
Simply some of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and all delivered seemingly effortlessly. There's so much breathing space on this album, yet with each listen something new reveals itself. I have yet to tire of it, even after many listens.
Which non-2014 release did you spend a lot of time with?
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Pack Up The Plantation
An amazing sounding live album, even though the brass section isn't strictly necessary. I was lucky enough to see TP perform this summer and it was pretty much flawless. Artists like this make me realise how much I have yet to do.
What was your favourite song of 2014?
Clapshot by The Phantom Band.
The playing in this song is brilliantly relentless. I often fear that the whole thing will collapse at any second,. An exhilarating piece of mentally-ill pop.
Any honourable mentions?
Second to the Sharon van Etten album is From Scotland With Love by King Creosote. An essential item for anyone who has recently emigrated from the motherland. sob
Jóhann Jóhannsson
What was your album of the year?
Mica Levi - Under the Skin
It’s hard to pick just one album, but one of the albums I’ve listened to the most this year is Mica Levi’s score for Under the Skin. Hers is a new and very exciting voice in film music. I also liked Otto A. Totland’s Pino on Sonic Pieces, a very delicate and subtly textural solo piano album beautifully recorded by Nils Frahm.
Something older?
I listened to a lot of early and baroque vocal music this year, perhaps because I’ve been writing a lot for voices - William Byrd, Charpentier, Gesualdo, Purcell. Also more contemporary stuff like Meredith Monk and David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion which is still one of my favourite works of the last few years.
Song of the year?
I’m slightly biased because they’re good friends, but I really loved Atomos VI from A Winged Victory for the Sullen’s new album. It’s this beautifully hypnotic piece with amazingly evocative piano chords and a choppy guitar-synth rhythm which just draws you in.
Hourable mentions: BJ NIlsen, Stilluppsteypa and Anla Courtis - Golden Circle Afternoon; Pharmakon - Bestial Burden, Richard Reed Parry - Music for Heart and Breath and Fennezs' Becs. I also very much enjoyed composing and recording the score to James Marsh's movie 'The Theory OF Everything' (listen above) at Abbey Road Studios.
Douglas Dare
Album of 2014?
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Grooving the whole way through with those rock solid beats and grumbling bass, I can't keep still. I love the vulnerability in Annie's voice, the precious quality as if it could easily break with a single push. Lyrically imaginative this record keeps be guessing and discovering on every listen.
...and something older?
Portishead - Dummy
Rediscovering this record this year has been inspiring. For me it's all about how Beth plays with the key in her melodies and her delivery. It's so hard to believe it was released 20 years ago! I think many of us are harping back at this sound now. Truly timeless.
...song of the year?
Monument by Royksopp & Robyn
A beautifully dark pop song, with such a simple yet creative melody. The restrain throughout had me playing this on repeat. And what a music video!
Honourable mention: Perhaps I'm biased sharing a home with this beauty but Farao's self-titled EP released at the beginning of the year is stunning. I get that 'I wish I wrote that' feeling for this song.
Meredith Graves from PERFECT PUSSY
What was your album of the year?
Run The Jewels- RTJ2
I’ve listened to this record more since its late-year release than probably every other record this year combined. I’ve also managed to write about it everywhere from Noisey to Rookie. RTJ2 surprises me every time I listen to it. There are so many reasons to love it - the erratic, borderline-undanceable beats, the bottomless melange of penis jokes, the political ideology put forth by Killer Mike both on and off the record - but when it comes down to it, I can’t really put my finger on WHY I like this album. I just know that I really do, in the same way that when I don’t like something I know immediately and turn it off after one song. This record, though, I can listen to every day.
What was your song of the year?
Seasons (Waiting On You) by Future Islands
OK, hear me out, I know that according to everyone this is the only song that’s come out this year, but it has a special importance to me. Future Islands has always been good, especially “Where I Found You”, which was on repeat a few years back after a breakup with the former love of my life. Said ex is the one who, this year, texted me a link to the Letterman performance. Yet another Future Islands breakup song, sent by ex = 10,000 plays while crying on the train. It’s burned into my brain forever.
What non-2014 release were you loving?
Savages - Silence Yourself
I never find out about anything cool until at least two years after everyone else is over it. The first time I heard Savages, I was convinced it was Geddy Lee singing. If you listen to this album while you’re getting ready to go out at night, you will inevitably feel strangely “inspired” and your makeup will end up looking really weird.
Mary Timony, EX HEX
What was your album of the year?
King Tuff - Black Moon Spell
I would say that the record we listened a lot to in the Van was King Tuff Black Moon Spell. Great production and great sounds, great songs...It's got it all.
At home I was rocking out to Party Jail by Ed Schrader's Music Beat, since I've only got that on vinyl. That record rules. I've also been really digging Cold Beat out of San Francisco... It Hannah from Grass Widow's new project. She's a great songwriter, and the songs are killer!!
Which album not-released-in-2014 have you loved this year?
Its hard to just choose one record, I mean, I guess if you forced me to pick one, I'd probably have to go with something that's prog, it just seems to be where my heart really resides, deep in the dark recesses of the prog cave! Ha ha... I dunno like King Crimson's In the Court of the Crimson King or something.
As far as what we've been listening to in the van I would definitely have to say Def Leppard's Hysteria has been on probably more than any other record. The production is so fascinating.
I'm always down to listen to Blank Generation by Richard Hell and the Voidiods. The Cars First record is pretty much as perfect as you can get, if you are looking for good records. I mean, it's a masterpiece, like Mozart or something. I've been listening to that Cars record a lot this year actually.
...song of the year?
Cold Beat "Worms"
This is a great song, and a cool video. love it.
Simon Rix from KAISER CHIEFS
What was your album of the year?
Beck - Morning Phase
I only really listened to this record because it was coming out on our label, Caroline. A new Beck record doesn't have the same level of expectation as it used to. Well, not in my house. But straight away I loved it. In a world where every album is "beautiful", the pace and feel of the record is melancholy but also feel good. Perfect to fall asleep to on our tour bus around America in spring. Perfect to wake up to during a summer of hot european festivals. My record of the year from very early on.
What about a non-2014 release?
Tom Petty - Damn the Torpedoes
I hadn't really listened to any Tom Petty until this year. I'd heard Free Fallin' obviously but that was about that. One day Whitey played Refugee in the dressing room and I thought maybe there was something there for me..... With everyone going crazy over Bruce nowadays, i feel like Tom Petty gets overlooked by more folks than just me. The album is pretty short but with some classic songs. It hooked me in anyway.
Honourable mentions?
On My Darling Don't Cry - Run The Jewels
Mark Lanegan Band - Phantom Radio
Pulled Apart by Horses - Blood
Hookworms - The Hum
Teleman - Breakfast
Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright in the End
Iggy Azalea - The New Classic
First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
Simon from ERRORS
What was your album of the year?
Happy Meals - Apero
I've probably listened to this more than any other record this last couple of months. Every synthesiser on this sounds like it's been lovingly warped through time. The vocals remind me of French band Deux. This isn't lo-fi pop as some people might have you believe, it's pop of the very highest quality.
What about your favourite non-2014 release?
Haruomi Hosono - Philharmony
This is a difficult album to sum up in just a few words since many of the tracks vary so wildly in style. From strange sampled choir arpeggios to straight ahead electro pop. My introduction was made through the track 'Sportsman', an immediate euro-sounding pop hit and an obvious highlight of the record.
Song of the year?
Jesse Rae - Inside Out
This isn't a song from 2014. Jesse originally wrote Inside Out for Odyssey but I wasn't really familiar with him or his version until this earlier this year. We had him play recently at a club night we do in Glasgow, he arrived in his land rover wearing full Scottish regalia, helmet and claymore included. A Scottish-funk legend.
Honourable mentions:
Andras Fox - Overworld
Claude Speed - My Skeleton
Arca - Xen
Dorian Concept - Joined Ends
George Mitchell from EAGULLS
Album of the year?
Lust For Youth - International
This album showed a huge progression in their songwriting craftsmanship compared to LFY's previous cold lofi sound. They changed it up for the better with more optimistic compositions and touching melodies. I'm an avid fan of 80's synth work and this album is a beautifully worked reincarnation of those wonderful sounds our elders we're graced with.
What about something not from 2014?
Rowland S Howard - Pop Crimes
Whether it was being the backbone of The Birthday Party or collaborating with Lydia lunch it seemed anything Rowland graced with his touch turned to gold. Fat possum reissued this album this year and hopefully it will have graced many new ears.
Favourite song this year?
Lust for Youth - After Touch
It's a nice sounding slow lullaby like song about making mistakes. I particularly like the way the samples flow fluid like amongst the beats and strings. I good dosing off song when you've hit the calpol hard.
Hounrable mentions: People should listen to a new Sheffield band by the name of SIEVEHEAD.
I BREAK HORSES
What was your album of the year?
Caribou - Our Love
A subtle, simple, beautiful triumph of an album.
...what non-2014 release did you listen to a lot this year?
The Bug - London Zoo
A record I keep coming back to again and again. I find Kevin Martin's production so inspiring.
...song of the year?
Nils Frahm - Says
A powerfully beautiful track that transports me to another place every time I listen to it.
Honourable mentions?
Tobacco - Ultima II Massage
Lawrence English - Wilderness of Mirrors
Kate Tempest - Marshall Law
BEN FROST
What was your favourite album of the year?
Apologies but I don't deal well in absolutes.
Grouper- Ruins
and
Lawrence English - Wilderness of Mirrors
Favourite song of 2014?
Joe is tight and deserves your ears.
Charles Watson - SLOW CLUB
What was your album of 2014?
Cate Le Bon - Mug Museum
I have always been a fan of Cate Le Bon but this particular record is the perfect combination of people in a room playing the perfect songs. Instantly I was drawn to how simple it is. There is something bloody powerful about two guitars, bass and a drum kit. The one thing major part of this record that sets it apart from others is how strong it is lyrically. I love being drawn into a writer's world and not really knowing what's going on or what's really being said. I think that's the bit of magic we don't have enough of anymore. (Please note: this record came out in 2013)
...and a non-2014 release?
Bob Dylan - Nashville Skyline
This album has pretty much taken over my life over the past two years. I'd say I listen to it two or three times a week. I don't know why. I actually hated this record for a long time. I think I've been possessed. Maybe it's voodoo. I've met a few people this year who also have an unusually strong connection with this album. If there's more of you our there please get in touch.
...song of the year?
Borrowed Time by Parquet Courts
Ok so this tune came out in 2012 but I only heard it this year. I went to see Parquet Courts play in Manchester last year and maybe it was cos I was at the back and I got a parking ticket I didn't really enjoy the night, but I put my hands up. I was wrong. This band are pretty amazing.
Danny Blandy from SPECTOR
LP of 2014?
Ariel Pink - Pom Pom
If Pele made music......
...an older LP?
Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
If Carlsberg made music.....
...song of 2014?
Pinata by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib
That sweet sweet music
Honourable mentions:
Mac DeMarco - Salad Days, Todd Terje - It's Album Time! and more. Albums from the past:
Capone-N-Noreaga - The War Report
Ghostface Killah - Supreme Clientele
Marvin Gaye - I Want You
Burt Bacharach - Reach Out
Walter Gieseking - Debussy Piano Works
Yusef Lateef - Eastern Sounds
Prodigy - H.N.I.C.
Fairewell - Poor, Poor Grendel
Clean George IV - God Save The Clean
Chris Brown ft. Lil Wayne & French Montana - Loyal
PLUS here is a playlist made up of:
- 1 song which is maybe the best of all time which I listened to all day every day for 1 hellish month (Thomas Dolby - Budapest By Blimp)
- 1 Simply Red/Hall & Oates song I got obsessed with
- 2 tracks by some Sheffield rappers
- 6 songs I listened to this year by friends of mine.
Tracklist:
Thomas Dolby - Budapest By Blimp
Fairewell - Real Roads
Simply Red - Sunrise
Tez Kidd - Get Down
Deep Green - Hometown
Pale - Silence
CGIV - Autumn
Fairewell - Born Under A Bad Sign
Rowan Martin - Party Gurl
Spring King - Better Man
And also I was happy that Scott Storch returned to music recently he is one of my favourite hip hop producers - this is a great video:
Airick Woodhead from DOLDRUMS
What was your favorite album of 2014?
Rat King - So It Goes
We played with these guys in NYC a few years ago and they blew me away. It's exactly the kind of return to rawness and freeness that I crave from Hip hop right now - it has a very live sound. It's the perfect soundtrack to solo walk around the city.
Favorite album not released in 2014?
The Cure - Disintegration
I feel like I've been looking for this melancholic monolithic puddle of a record my whole life and now that I've found it I'm just gonna lie in it forever while the world collapses around me.
Favorite song of 2014?
Bermuda Waterfall by Sean Nicholas Savage
Such a lovely dream to step into. Such a passionate guide to take you through it. There are other tracks on this album I could have put but this one has an emergency remedy quality to it.
John Hamson Jr. / THUMPERS
Album of 2014?
St Vincent - St Vincent
This is everything I want from alt. pop.. Real darkness and dirt juxtaposed with melody and wit. Loved Annie Clark for years and so its great to see her finally crystallize everything that made St Vincent great, and to get proper recognition across the board for it is a real inspiration.
...and a non-2014 record that you loved?
Scott Walker - Scott 3
I'm un-methodically going through the back catalog of Scott Walker and can't really remember what lead me to Scott 3.. It has moments of perfect melancholy which go so well to soundtrack endless late night drives or small bouts of homesickness on tour. Some of the string arrangements on this record are quite out there and discordant which is pretty thrilling.
Song of the year?
Sun in the Morning by Future Islands
This whole record was one of my favourites this year (it's an album you can fall in love to), but this track in particular resonated with me. I'm also a big fan of when lyrical content totally matches up with the sound and feel of the song, which oddly seems to happen way less than it should.
Honourable mention: Death from Above 1979 - The Physical World - In a year where "rockmusicisback!" it seems absurd that this record was so overlooked as it seems to have been, especially as their sound was so blatantly borrowed by a new British rock duo. Thrilling, sexy, authentic and melodic, it's the first time in a while that the Brixton Academy pit beckons.
THUMPERS / marcus pepperell
(We've left these answers all in lower case in case there was some artistic reason for it....) (yeah, we're being lazy!)
Album of the year?
sharon van etten, are we there. i can’t remember being so laid bare by an album as when i first started listening to this. the lyrics are so acutely realised by the music they make you feel ashamed of yourself for things you haven’t even done, ha. that’s the level of empathy it demands. the songwriting is so focused too, every part here has a purpose. it’s crazy good.
Something older?
minnie riperton, come to my garden. i bought this album straight after amina, our live trumpet player & singer, put on “les fleurs” in the van during a late-night journey home and it blew me away. it’s such a beautifully orchestrated album throughout, really lush and with these exaggerated dynamic shifts which just cut straight through you. it takes a certain kind of artist to make these kind of over-the-top arrangements feel genuinely rooted in emotion but minnie’s voice is sooo unreal throughout you’d follow her anywhere. and when she sings these incredible high parts without words it’s like nothing else.
Song of the year?
wye oak, before. we drove through a biblical thunderstorm in wisconsin that lasted for at least an hour and half and just when we thought it had passed this song played and the lightning lit up the underside of this cloud so vividly and intricately, it was like looking at the bones in a bird’s wing. haha, i mean there was definitely some sleep-deprivation in there - we’d been driving for 4 hours after playing in chicago that night - but that sight was a really affecting one and this song was just perfect for that weird feeling of detached beauty.
Honourable mentions? there’ve been some amazing videos. wish i kept better lists but here are some..
gwilym gold, muscle
marion cotillard x dior x joseph mount
angel olsen, hi-five
songhoy blues, al hassidi terei
Paul Thomas Saunders
What was your album of the year?
Hookworms - The Hum
Hookworms have it. They know something we don't understand yet. I think they're the future of alternative music, not in a dogmatic way, in the sense that bands will idolise and emulate their approach for years to come. They circumnavigate all the mindlessly boring pseudo-arty PR smoke grenades and just make beautifully ballsy music. The Hum is an album for real people, it's not coated in an instagram sheen that makes the world look sepia. It's visceral, it's uncompromising and awesomely, awesomely northern.
Which non-2014 release were you loving?
The Velvet Underground - 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe
This re-issue is dreamy. It's like a behind the scenes to perhaps the most enigmatic album ever made. It's everything that you want in a re-issue, its got the super nerdy remastered-reedited-mono-promo-remixed versions we all dream of owning but also some cool rarities to keep the dream alive. The craziest thing about this is that the album is 45 years old. The mind boggles.
What was your song of the year?
'Grand Canyon' by Timber Timbre
Why all songs don't end with demonically ascending theremin, I will never know. I became a little obsessed with this album, an obsession which culminated in a 3 month recording session being scrapped because I just ripped him off, plain and simple, I plagiarised.
I had to get that off my chest. Thats how good this track is, it literally drove me to a life of crime.
Honourable mentions: This is definitely a contender for my favourite website this year. 24 hour bad 80s television..
Dan Mangan
What was your favourite album released this year?
Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams
I’m not very good at keeping up. I liked a bunch of albums this year, but it’s hard to nail down a favourite when I doubt I even listened to many of them more than a few times. I like Timber Timbre’s Hot Dreams. Mac Demarco’s Salad Days. High Ends’ Super Class, Cousins’ The Halls Of Wickwire, Bry Webb’s Free Will, Clinton St John’s The Minor Arkhana, Kevin Drew’s Darlings, Sun Kil Moon’s Benji, Absolutely Free’s Absolutely Free, Junip’s Junip. Recently, I looked at some “best of 2014” lists online and I could not believe how many bands were listed that I had never heard of. I have an excuse, in that I have my own music to focus on and a busy home life, but I started to wonder how anybody keeps up. I’m bewildered at music publications for managing the task of covering the dozens/hundreds of new albums that hit the blogosphere every week, if not simultaneously leery of how much lazy journalism and trend-wagoning may or may not go on. Hard to understand how any band rises above the noise these days… It’s insane. But you don’t want to hear my blagging… Let’s go with Timber Timbre. I saw them play at The Commodore and they put on one hell of a show. And their album is great. And they’re pals, so that feels good.
Which album not-released-in-2014 have you loved this year?
Bill Withers - Just As I Am.
I think the album I listened to the most this year was Bill Withers’ Just As I Am. Every song is a total classic. It’s good for the morning, or good for the evening. His voice is unreal. There’s just such a quality to good records recorded in the early 70’s. When we had people over at our home, I found myself also putting on Phosphorescent’s Muchacho quite often. It works well in a warm home with good people.
What was your favourite song of the year?
After All Is Said And Done by Junip
Whenever I plug my phone into my car, it automatically loads the first alphabetical song on my phone, which just happens to be “After All Is Said And Done” by Junip. It’s very moody and repetitive and droney and I almost never switch it because it just kind of sets me in a pleasant headspace. There were a bunch of other songs this year, I’m sure, that I’m forgetting, but this one just came to mind. I love it.
MY VITRIOL
What was your favourite Album of 2014?
Tim Wheeler - Lost Domain
Aside from being our good friend & former label mate / tour buddy... this was far from a nepotistic choice. We visited his studio last year in NY to hear some tracks. And how wonderful it is hear everything come to fruition. Beautiful melodic hooks & elegant string arrangements cascade over emotional lyrical themes written when Tim was tragically losing his father to Alzheimers. An honest & beautiful record. Check out: "Medicine". Read this.
What about something not from 2014?
Lana Del Rey
There are so many to list here... But I think the Lana dey Rey records have had a lot of play with all of us. The first record - in our eyes is undeniably a modern classic. Following our hiatus in 2002, we watched from the sidelines as the mainstream became mostly concerned with 'entertainment' and 'amusement' in its various forms. (Perhaps as an antidote to the overly serious 90s...) Then the tracks from "Born to Die" emerged... reminding the mainstream that music could really move you once again.
WHat was your favourite tune of 2014?
'A simple beautiful truth' by Wild Beasts
As soon as I heard it I knew I'd be playing over and over. Love the production too - especially the 80's influences without being too anachronistic.
Honourable mentions: Ravi got us all into this one: Yellawolf 'Till it's gone'. Wasn't huge on Eminem, but we love this. Killer chorus.
These missed as they were before 2014, but we still love them:
Sky Ferreira - Everything is Embarrassing
AME - Play the game, boy
Nine in Nails - Hesitation Marks (album)
Grant Nicholas from FEEDER
Album of the year?
Beck - Morning Phase
I really like the new Beck album Morning Phase. It's a real throw-back to the 70's in places and a return to some great songwriting . I really like the production of this record and he has a great live band at present to back it up. I like the way Beck can reinvent himself but still be himself. Beautiful .
...and something pre-2014?
EELS - Beautiful Freak
I have been listening to Beautiful Freak by the Eels a lot recently . I loved this album when it first came out at it still sounds great . It hasn't dated and the songs are so good. E is such a talent and one of my favorite writers around... Also Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty .
What was your favourite song of 2014?
'Happy' by Pharrell Williams
A great pop song and very catchy. My kids would sing it every morning or in the car constantly so I guess it should be in the list.
Honourable mentions: Also really liked Out of the Black by Royal Blood.. Very old old school but rocks..They are great live. One of my favorite songs was also Gimme Something Good by Ryan Adams. I really like Ryan's writing and this song has a slight classic rock feel to it. He manages to keep it on just on the right side of cool. Check out Warpaint, First Aid Kit, Jenny Lewis, Asgeir and Tenter hook. Also the new Neil young and Ryan Adams albums.
FVC
Aka Florence Van Camerijk and Oscar's backing vocalist.
Favourite album of 2014?
Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
I don't skip any of the songs when I listen to it, that means it's a great album. Singing along to this drunk on the way home from a gig/the pub/da club is the best. She's amazing live too. This is my favourite album of hers so far as it sounds more like she's found her own sound (and isn't yodeling so much).
...and something older?
The Go-Gos - Vacation
My love for 80s pop/new wave bands has always been BIG, this year I've spend more time listening to the Go-Go's than any other one of my favourites. "Vacation" their second (and less rated) LP has been on repeat at least one evening every week this year. 'We Don't Get Along' is probably my favourite track.
Favourite song of 2014?
Metronomy - Reservoir
Melancholic and uplifting at the same time, perfect pop.
