Double J's Top 50 Albums of 2014

Singer/songwriter/guitar-shredder Annie Clark\'s fourth studio album as St. Vincent is, simply, her best yet. While her catalog is full of twists and turns, including 2013 David Byrne collaboration *Love This Giant*, this self-titled release is both audacious *and* accessible, a canny balancing of Clark\'s experimental leanings with her pop sensibility. Amid a flurry of sonic textures ranging from the clamoring horn section of \"Digital Witness\" to the subdued balladry of \"Prince Johnny,\" Clark critiques our technology-obsessed culture (\"Huey Newton\"), satirizes suburban ennui (\"Birth in Reverse\"), and shares about her love for her mother (\"I Prefer Your Love\"). Her anxieties laid bare, the songwriter asserts herself via pyrotechnic guitar riffs, rhythmic somersaults, and a wayfaring vocal range, resulting in a vertiginous set that\'s as dizzying as it is captivating.

Following the liquid beats of his 2010 breakout, *Swim*, Caribou’s Dan Snaith has fallen further in love with the dance floor. In his entrancing follow-up, *Our Love*, Snaith blends house, hip-hop, garage, and vintage soul. On “Can’t Do Without You,” Snaith flips a slowed-down soul sample into a vocal mantra that eventually bursts amidst rave-ready synths, while on late highlight “Mars,” he mixes intricate drum patterns, hip-hop samples, and one very nimble flute melody.

You can purchase this album on vinyl or CD at store.spoontheband.com.

Following the dissolution of his groundbreaking collage-pop duo, the Books, Zammuto rebounded with an eponymous debut album submerged in transitional anxiety and audio effects designed to intentionally obscure the very humanistic qualities that marked Nick Zammuto's best work in the Books. It was in many ways the most essential album of his career, in that it established his post-Books path and introduced him to a new group of musicians (most notably renowned percussionist Sean Dixon) who have immeasurably contributed to the creative inspiration and execution of his most compelling work to date, the aptly titled Anchor. An enormous weight has been lifted from Nick Zammuto, and you can hear as much in the opening minutes of Anchor. The arrangements have more space, the songs are more dynamic, and the vocals are delivered with a confident intimacy that is almost alarmingly beautiful (the collaborations with the enchanting Daniela Gesundheit of Canadian indie-pop duo Snowblink are particularly transcendent). Written, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered entirely at home in Zammuto's converted tractor garage recording studio (pictured on the front cover) using an expanding array of vintage analog outboard equipment, Anchor embodies the very DIY lifestyle and self-sufficient approach that has come to define all that is Zammuto. His is a rarified art made on its own terms – far away from the insular feedback loop of trend cycles and commodified expectations. His home is his anchor, and Anchor is his home.

With 2011’s *Slave Ambient*, The War on Drugs offered a collection of emotionally rich, guitar-driven grandeur that earned songwriter/bandleader Adam Granduciel accolades from far beyond his hometown scene in Philadelphia. The War on Drugs’ fourth full-length operates with a bigger, bolder agenda—evident in the clattering electronics and hypnotic production of the nearly nine-minute opener, “Under the Pressure”. From there, *Lost in the Dream* unfolds with warm, melancholic rock that combines Granduciel’s mystical tenor with a blurry haze of vintage synths, chiming guitars, horn accents and reverb-soaked ambience. Uptempo tracks like “Red Eyes” and “An Ocean in Between the Waves” juxtapose pulsing, mechanical backbeats with droning synths. Ballads, like the heartbreaking “Suffering” and the gently paced title track, float along in a beautiful fog. After *Lost in the Dream* closes with a couple of minutes of wordless feedback, the album leaves a hypnotic, lingering impression.

'Lost In The Dream' is the third album by Philadelphia band The War on Drugs, but in many ways, it feels like the first. Around the release of the 2011 breakthrough 'Slave Ambient', Adam Granduciel spent the bulk of two years on the road, touring through progressively larger rock clubs, festival stages and late-night television slots. As these dozen songs shifted and grew beyond what they’d been in the studio, The War on Drugs became a bona fide rock ’n’ roll band. That essence drives 'Lost In The Dream', a 10-song set produced by Granduciel and longtime engineer Jeff Zeigler. In the past, Granduciel built the core of songs largely by himself. But these tunes were played and recorded by the group that had solidified so much on the road: Dave Hartley, (his favorite bassist in the world), who had played a bit on The War on Drugs’ 2008 debut 'Wagonwheel Blues', and pianist Robbie Bennett, a multi-instrumentalist who contributed to 'Slave Ambient'. This unit spent eight months bouncing between a half-dozen different studios that stretched from the mountains of North Carolina to the boroughs of New York City. Only then did Granduciel—the proudly self-professed gearhead, and unrepentant perfectionist—add and subtract, invite guests and retrofit pieces. He sculpted these songs into a musical rescue mission, through and then beyond personal despair and anxiety. 'Lost In The Dream' represents the trials of the trip and the triumphs of its destination.

Kelis offers a soulful collection of horn-accompanied retro R&B that’s conceptually united by her gastronomic passion. At a glance, the conceit might seem a bit tongue-in-cheek (particularly since her breakthrough came with 2003’s ultra-sassy “Milkshake”), but neither the music nor the inspiration for *Food* can be taken lightly: as a sideline to her singing career, the vocalist became a Le Cordon Bleu-trained saucier. When she digs in to smoldering downtempo tracks like “Floyd” or “Runnin’”—delivering coy lines like “I know that I don’t look it but I can cook” in her husky alto—*Food*’s insinuations and double entendres are at once playful and deeply satisfying. The success of the concept is also due in part to TV on the Radio\'s Dave Sitek, who’s production flourishes nod to Stax icons on heavy-hitting tunes like “Hooch” and “Rumble.”

On his first album in 13 years, Richard D. James, the godfather of cerebral electronic music, is in top form. This isn\'t a comeback, nor a departure of any kind: *Syro* sounds like highly concentrated, classic Aphex Twin, a singular aesthetic that dates all the way back to 1982: beat patterns wiggle into the foreground, then disappear; analog synths snap, crackle and pop; moods vacillate between aggressively percussive and smoothly melodic. These tracks – they work together like one long set -- demand to be listened to with excellent headphones, the better to discern their highly intricate sequencing, arguably some of James\' most ambitious. Each tune is teeming with juicy noise, all of it gleefully arranged. What comes through most is joy: it sounds like James is having so much fun. 

“Idyllwild” is an album about following songs wherever they may lead, about trusting the process to allow “what’s next” to reveal itself. Recorded in the winter of 2013 and released in 2014, “Idyllwild” earned Dyson the award “Artist of the Year” from Double J radio at the J awards in Australia and was her first album to chart in the top 100 on the CMJ radio chart in the US. “Idyllwild is a cohesive 11 tracks of authentic, roots-rock brilliance. If 2012′s The Moment was Dyson’s career-defining reinvention, Idyllwild is the proof that she can improve upon that record’s strong foundation."(Featured Album) – Double J

With its lushness and atmospheric beauty, *Morning Phase* is Beck’s most accomplished (and straightforward) musical endeavor since *Sea Change*. Guitarist Smokey Hormel, bassist/multi-instrumentalist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, and ex-Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. give *Morning Phase* its finely detailed instrumental warmth.

Even though many of the songs on *Are We There* muse on the pain of difficult relationships (plainly evident in the titles of tunes like “Your Love Is Killing Me” and “I Love You But I’m Lost”), Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten sounds strikingly confident on the follow-up to her stellar 2012 album, *Tramp*. Whether she’s leading a dusky, after-hours synth-rock dirge (“Break Me”) or mournful piano ballad (the sublime “I Know”), Van Etten is brilliantly self-possessed. Alternating between a chilling whisper and throaty wail, the songwriter\'s forceful yearning—for sleep, for patience, for a romantic silver lining—unifies much of *Are We There*. But in such capable hands, suffering has rarely sounded so good.

Sharon Van Etten writes from a place of free-flowing honesty and vulnerability to create a bond with the listener that few contemporary musicians can match. 'Are We There' is a self-produced album of exceptional intimacy, sublime generosity, and immense breadth.

Jack Ladder is a highly respected Australian singer/songwriter who’s worked overtime to transcend comparisons to fellow countryman Nick Cave. While it’s true that his 2011 album *Hurtsville* felt haunted by Cave’s influence, on *Playmates*, it’s nearly completely absent, with the rambunctious but beautiful “Reputation Amputation” coming closest with its aggressive drama and deliberately distorted palette. Elsewhere, Bryan Ferry’s *Avalon*-era Roxy Music comes to mind for the debonair “The Miracle,” whereas the two tracks featuring New Jersey’s indie star Sharon Van Etten are clear album highlights. Powerful stuff.

Emma Donovan’s 2014 debut album represented a meeting of cultures and musical minds. Having been raised singing gospel music in church and country music with her family band The Donovans, Emma met and forged a relationship with Melbourne funk-soul combo The Putbacks while working in the Indigenous music ensemble The Black Arm Band. Together they started writing a collection of songs that combined their love of US soul with Indigenous protest music. “There wasn’t really much thought of the kind of album that we wanted to make,” she tells Apple Music. “At the time it was just a little snapshot of where we were at.” Critics and fans alike responded to the classic soul and funk of *Dawn*, which was augmented by Emma’s powerful vocals and heartfelt, at times confronting lyrics—to the point where it caught the band off guard. “We were surprised,” says the singer, who’s also worked with Indigenous artists such as Archie Roach and Dan Sultan. “We didn’t have any touring plans, we were just kind of working it out as we went.” Here, Emma reflects on each track on her debut album. **“Black Woman”** “Lyrically it was inspired by some of the tunes I heard in my younger time that I probably didn’t really understand until now. They were songs like Ruby Hunter’s ‘A Change Gonna Come.’ Ruby never had a worry about putting some hard, dark messages out that she thought would inspire the next person. ‘Black Woman’ is about some heavy domestic violence that I experienced years ago. Coming from a community where some of that stuff is not talked about or not brought up, it still happens. So that was me being vocal as an Aboriginal woman and not being silent.” **“My Goodness”** “This was actually a collaboration—most of the guitar parts came from Tommy Martin, who’s a part of The Putbacks. He sent me those really beautiful grooves and the hook. I love singing ‘My Goodness.’ I always put it in the set list because its important message is that when someone or some things in life are taking too much toll or taking too much from you, it’s about leaving some of the good stuff for yourself.” **“Dawn”** “We played ‘Dawn’ \[in 2021\] at a gig and I got a little bit emotional. It was that reflection of a breakup or loss of a relationship, but finding yourself in the sweet dawn. Meaning that there’s always that next day. I love singing it.” **“Mother”** “‘Mother’ is a song about wearing different hats. There’s a part in the song where I sing about just wanting to be the lover or the woman in the relationship, not having to wear so many hats. Not wanting to look after somebody as a mother or a sister. Just gain that respect as a woman.” **“Daddy”** “It’s pretty crazy, a little bit cheeky. I don’t know if I want to talk too much about it, it’s just a cheeky song about feeling free-spirited.” **“Keep Me in Your Reach”** “I love ‘Keep Me in Your Reach.’ It reminds me of a good friend that I have in my life, that I’ve actually been with for a lot of years. Back again to some of these messages I have for my sisters and my sisterhood, the song’s about reaching out and never judging anyone, keeping your door open.” **“Come Back to Me”** “Probably one of the saddest love songs you’ll hear on the album. It was a heartbreaker for me. It was about someone important in my life leaving and walking out the door. And me kind of begging them to come back. I think some of these hard songs are some of the easiest ones to write, they just slip out. I know exactly what I want to say.” **“Voodoo”** “I love the groove of it. It came from The Putbacks; I think it was one of their demos. Sometimes they’ll have solid songs or grooves that they ask if I want to be a part of, and then my thing is to feel that vibe. That song is a cheeky little song about a relationship.” **“Over Under Away”** “I love this song. It’s a song that always feels the same and has the same strong feelings for me when I sing it. It’s about waiting for somebody to come back in their life. The person at the time was detained, so I didn’t know if they were ever going to come back or return home. It’s about waiting. How long am I going to wait for that person?”

Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner believe that anything is possible and that every genre has its place somewhere in their music. That so many others relate to this eclectic, unpredictable mix of sounds proves they’re tapping into a sound that’s greater than themselves. Listeners love to be dazzled by sound and even the sharpest critics are left wondering what’s exactly happening here. Garbus chants into her vocoders and steps out into the spotlight for a guiding lead vocal on “Real Thing” that’s accompanied by a complex mix of odd rhythms, synthetic sounds and swooping bass lines. Producers Malay (Alicia Keys, Frank Ocean) and John Hill (Santigold, MIA, Shakira) keep the minimalism rocking. The synths frequently sound like sketches that have been cut-up beyond recognition while vocals sound like schoolyard taunts and personal moments caught on tape (“Hey Life,” “Stop That Man”). This mix of casual, random and precise captures a relatively conventional tune and pop arrangement in “Wait for a Minute” and a field holler for “Rocking Chair.” Eclecticism is in.

FKA twigs’ first full-length album brims with spartan, icy songs that whisk between distorted R&B and ethereal pop. While twigs’ pristine vocals and sensual lyrics are the cornerstone, *LP1* showcases the kind of confident production and instrumentation that play easily alongside celebrated pop minimalists like James Blake. Album highlight “Pendulum\" sees FKA twigs dabbling in manipulated vocals, as wavering guitars and electric drums stutter-step intoxicatingly, while “Video Girl” finds her melodic falsetto fluttering over churning, wobbling synths and creaking percussion.

On her third album, Angel Olsen rides waves of emotional intensity that take her from the depths of despair to the heights of hope. *Burn Your Fire for No Witness* is a worthy successor to her 2012 breakthrough *Half Way Home*, revisiting many of the earlier album’s themes with greater focus and maturity. Tracks like “Forgiven/Forgotten,” “Lights Out,” and “Enemy” probe the subtle torments of love with an unflinching hand. Olsen’s phenomenal vocal range—shifting from murmurs to howls and yodels with impressive control—brings out the expansive vision of “Iota” and the confrontational power of “High & Wild.” The album\'s pervasive angst gives way to a desperate yearning for healing and peace in the convulsive “Stars” and the tender “Windows.” Olsen’s expressive guitar work is lent sympathetic support by bassist Stewart Bronaugh and drummer Joshua Jaeger, who help her leap from the distorted alt-country of “Hi-Five” to the Leonard Cohen–like folk balladry of “White Fire” and the French chanson feel of “Dance Slow Decades.” Finely crafted and fearlessly sung, *Burn Your Fire* smolders with dark brilliance.

On her newest LP, 'Burn Your Fire for No Witness', Angel Olsen sings with full-throated exultation, admonition, and bold, expressive melody. With the help of producer John Congleton, her music now crackles with a churning, rumbling low end and a brighter energy. Angel Olsen began singing as a young girl in St. Louis. Her self-released debut EP, 'Strange Cacti', belied both that early period of discovery and her Midwestern roots. Olsen then went further on 'Half Way Home', her first full-length album (released on Bathetic Records), which mined essential themes while showcasing a more developed voice. Olsen dared to be more personal. After extensive touring, Olsen eventually settled for a time in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood, where she created "a collection of songs grown in a year of heartbreak, travel, and transformation," that would become 'Burn Your Fire For No Witness'. Many of them remain essentially unchanged from their bare beginnings. In leaving them so intact, a more self-assured Olsen allows us to be in the room with her at the very genesis of these songs. Our reward for entering this room is many a head-turning moment and the powerful, unsettling recognition of ourselves in the weave of her songs.

Parquet Courts’ highly flammable third album clinches their place as one of the best—and smartest—rock bands of the post-grunge era. They\'re capable of mixing psychedelic looseness with the muscle of hardcore (“Sunbathing Animal”), odd post-punk experiments (“Vienna II”) with rambling, romantic ballads (“Instant Disassembly”), blues with Black Flag (“Ducking & Dodging”), and poetic visions with moments of hilarious plain-spokenness (“Whoever she might be going to bed with/You can read about that in her Moleskine,” goes a line on “Dear Ramona”). Students of history without being beholden to it, the band manages to synthesize about 70 years of guitar music into a strange, lopsided groove all their own.

The year and change since the release of Parquet Courts monumental Light Up Gold is reflected in ways expected and not with Sunbathing Animal, its sharper, harder follow up. Light Up Gold caught the ears of everyone paying even a little bit of attention, garnering glowing reviews across the board for its weird colors and raw energy, saturated punk songs that offered crystal clear lyrical snapshots of city life. It was immediately memorable, a vivid portrait of ragged days, listlessness, aimlessness and urgency, broadcast with the intimacy of hearing a stranger's thoughts as you passed them on the street. As it goes with these things, the band went on tour for a short eternity, spending most of 2013 on the road, their sound growing more direct in the process and their observations expanding beyond life at home. Constant touring was broken up by three recording sessions that would make up the new album, and the time spent in transit comes through in repeated lyrical themes of displacement, doubt and situational captivity. To be sure, Sunbathing Animal isn't a record about hopelessness, as any sort of incarceration implies an understanding of freedom and peace of mind. Fleeting moments of bliss are also captured in its grooves, and extended at length as if to preserve them. Pointed articulations of these ideas are heard as schizoid blues rants, shrill guitar leads, purposefully lengthy repetition and controlled explosions, reaching their peak on the blistering title track. A propulsive projection of how people might play the blues 300 years from now, "Sunbathing Animal" is a roller coaster you can't get off, moving far too fast and looping into eternity. Much as Light Up Gold and the subsequent EP Tally All The Things That You Broke offered a uniquely tattered perspective on everyday city life, Sunbathing Animal applies the same layered thoughts and sprawling noise to more cerebral, inward- looking themes. While heightened in its heaviness and mania, the album also represents a huge leap forward in terms of songwriting and vision. Still rooted firmly in the unshackled exploration and bombastic playing of their earlier work,everything here is amplified in its lucidity and intent. The songs wander through threads of blurry brilliance, exhaustion and fury at the hilt of every note. Parquet Courts remain, Austin Brown, A. Savage, Sean Yeaton, and M. Savage.

At two hours in length, *To Be Kind* shows Michael Gira’s Swans are as serious, demanding and extreme in 2014 as they were back in the early ‘80s when their music was either greatly praised or harshly condemned. There is little middle ground for this group and anyone spooked by the 12-1/2 minute Howlin’ Wolf Tribute “Just A Little Boy” should probably not go forward. However, for fans of slow, gothic, death-rattle Swans, the track is just one sign that the band’s sessions with John Congleton at Sonic Ranch, outside El Paso, Texas were an overwhelming success. Much of the material was developed live during the tours of 2012-13 and explains why there is so much to sift through. Special guests such as Little Annie, who duets with Gira on “Some Things We Do,” Cold Specks, whose multi-tracked vocals guide “Bring the Sun” and honorary Swan Bill Rieflin filled out the sessions that were recorded with a solid sextet in place. “A Little God In My Hands” adds a touch of Krautrock to its elliptical groove. The 34-minute “Bring the Sun/ Tousaaint L’Ouverture” is a complex epic worthy of their reputation. 

A NOTE FROM MICHAEL GIRA: Hello There, We (Swans) have recently completed our new album. It is called To Be Kind. The release date is set for May 13, 2014. It will be available as a triple vinyl album, a double CD, and a 2XCD Deluxe Edition that will include a live DVD. It will also be available digitally. The album was produced by me, and it was recorded by the venerable John Congleton at Sonic Ranch, outside El Paso Texas, and further recordings and mixing were accomplished at John’s studio in Dallas, Texas. We commenced rehearsals as Sonic Ranch in early October 2013, began recording soon thereafter, then completed the process of mixing with John in Dallas by mid December 2013. A good portion of the material for this album was developed live during the Swans tours of 2012/13. Much of the music was otherwise conjured in the studio environment. The recordings and entire process of this album were generously and perhaps vaingloriously funded by Swans supporters through our auspices at younggodrecords.com via the release of a special, handmade 2xCD live album entitled Not Here / Not Now. The Swans are: Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Christoph Hahn, Phil Puleo, Thor Harris, Christopher Pravdica. Special Guests for this record include: Little Annie (Annie sang a duet with me on the song Some Things We Do, the strings for which were ecstatically arranged and played by Julia Kent); St. Vincent (Annie Clark sang numerous, multi-tracked vocals throughout the record); Cold Specks (Al contributed numerous multi-tracked vocals to the song “Bring the Sun”); Bill Rieflin (honorary Swan Bill played instruments ranging from additional drums, to synthesizers, to piano, to electric guitar and so on. He has been a frequent contributor to Swans and Angels of Light and is currently playing with King Crimson)... FULL MUSICIAN CREDITS:Swans: Michael Gira - vocals, electric and acoustic guitar; Norman Westberg - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals; Phil Puleo - drums, percussion, dulcimer, piano, keys, vocals; Christoph Hahn - lap steel guitars, electric guitar, vocals; Thor Harris - drums / percussion, vibes and bells, wind instruments, handmade viola, vocals; Christopher Pravdica - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals. Honorary Swan Forever: Bill Rieflin - (on multiple songs throughout the record) drums / percussion, piano, bass, guitar, synths, keyboards. Guest Musicians: Duet with MG on Some Things We Do - Little Annie. Strings and String Arrangement on Some Things We Do - Julia Kent. Background Vocals on Nathalie Neal, Bring the Sun, Screen Shot, Kirsten Supine - St. Vincent (appears courtesy of Loma Vista Recordings). Background vocals on Bring the Sun - Cold Specks (appears courtesy of Mute Artists LTD). Background Vocals on She Loves Us, A Little God in My Hands - Jennifer Church. More Musicians (Dallas): Violin - Daniel Hart; Mandolin - Rex Emerson; Trombone - David Pierce; Trumpet - Evan Weiss; Piano, Harpsichord, Synth - Sean Kirkpatrick; Piano – John Congleton. I love you! Michael Gira

Featuring four college friends from Gainesville, Fla., Hundred Waters are an unlikely signing to Skrillex\'s OWSLA label, home to such EDM big shots as Porter Robinson and Zedd. Instead of dubstep bombast, this four-piece traffic in ethereal post-rock, a mix of soaring ambient textures, melancholic synth melodies, and fidgety rhythms, all anchored by Nicole Miglis\' seraphic vocals. With its celestial strings and deep bass, \"Cavity\" evokes Portishead, while the stuttering beats and airy melodies of \"Xtal\" (plus the title itself) are directly descendent from Aphex Twin. If there\'s one thing the band have in common with their iconoclastic label head, it\'s scale: both acts are enamored of grandly cinematic electronic statements, of which *The Moon Rang Like a Bell* is a stunning example.

The fourth studio album by Sweden’s Little Dragon is exactly what it should be; *Nabuma Rubberband* follows the band’s trajectory from playful electro-jazz hinting at pop to its mirrored opposite. Their intoxicating brand of seductive electronic music tempers any commercial excess, resulting in a more accessible collection that\'s sophisticated and complex. Singer Yukimi Nagano has a jazzy soul feel that delivers a punch when needed (as on the lone hard-edged tune, “Klapp Klapp”), and, according to interviews, she unabashedly pays homage to the sultry side of Janet Jackson (Jackson’s “really slow stuff” makes “you feel like you’re floating,” she told *Rolling Stone*). Indeed, tracks like “Mirror” and “Pretty Girls” ooze with an \'80s R&B velvety-ness that runs on the fumes of chillwave, but a hazy cloud envelopes ”Pink Clouds” and “Only One.” Janet’s brother Michael flavors some of the more pop-oriented songs like “Paris” and the strings- and fingersnap-flavored title track, while the subdued swagger of downtempo club music swirls through “Underbart.” Little Dragon aren’t afraid of the “P” word (pop); they’ve mastered the art of sifting it to save the finer parts.

*Present Tense*—the fourth album by the Cumbrian, U.K., quartet Wild Beasts—took nearly a year away from touring to rightfully conceive. Written in London and recorded at Konk Studios in London and The Distillery in Bath, with coproducers Lexx (Arcade Fire, Madonna) and Brian Eno protegé Leo Abrahams, the album achieves a level of consistency and emotional richness that was often harder to unscramble in Wild Beasts\' angst-ridden early works. But Hayden Thorpe looks to learn more about himself with each album, taking his fans with him. The opener and debut single, “Wanderlust,” features plenty of daring sounds and a confrontational stance: “Don’t confuse me with someone who gives a \*\*\*\*.” But songs like “Pregnant Pause,” “Mecca,” and “Daughters” tread closer to a Scott Walker/Talk Talk vibe, where much goes on under the surface. Second vocalist Tom Fleming provides a steadying counterpoint. The easy accessibility of “A Simple Beautiful Truth” is something that their earlier selves never would have allowed but clearly should have, since every story has a moment of reflection—and you catch more fans with honey.

Following the intensity of *The Cherry Thing* (Neneh Cherry’s collaboration with the Scandinavian free jazz group The Thing), *Blank Project* is a much grittier affair. The album was recorded and mixed over a period of five days, with a goal of completing two tracks a day; it speaks to the heart of Cherry’s warring desires of love and lust, responsibility and freedom. Her artistic side dominates this work with RocketNumberNine and Thomas and Benjamin Page, all of whom are kept in sharp focus by producer Four Tet (Kieran Hebden), who keeps the sounds raw and dry. “Across the Water” opens the album with Cherry’s gentle voice and a slow, methodical beat. The title track expands the sound, slightly. Aggressive synths accompany her beats and poetry, capturing a demanding beatnik atmosphere that confronts matters of desire. As an artist who grew up as friends with Ari Up of The Slits, Cherry believes in leaving blood on the tracks. Even the inclusion of pop-singer friend Robyn for “Out of the Black” doesn’t smooth the rough edges. Nope. Cherry wants you to feel every second of the experience and to savor the sweet moments that come about through the artistic process.

When *Lazaretto* roars to action with the sweltering, Hammond-driven rocker “Three Women,” Jack White is on familiar terrain, unleashing a supercharged, garagey blues riff that’s as archetypal as the theme. But when the “red, blonde, and brunette” ladies in question appear in a “digital photograph,” the anachronism is a striking reminder of White’s gift for recasting classic musical elements in arrestingly modern contexts. There are plenty of such moments on *Lazaretto*, like when the title track’s heavy bass rumble is augmented with a squall of 8-bit Atari noise *and* a vaguely Appalachian fiddle solo. Throughout, White’s brand of heated, high-powered blues-rock dominates, but he mixes things up with breezy, country-inflected charmers (“Temporary Ground”, “Entitlement”) and eerie, would-be spaghetti western themes (“Would You Fight for My Love?” “I Think I Found the Culprit”). The album’s best tracks, like “Alone in My Home” and “Just One Drink,” combine all of the above in a heady, hot-blooded, hook-oriented package.

As delicate as Nick Drake at his quietest, as serene as Joni Mitchell at her bluest, New Zealand singer/songwriter Hollie Fullbrook made ripples across the pond with her bewitching 2011 debut, *Some Were Meant for Sea*. Kudos, awards, and general buzz elevated the solo Tiny Ruins project to impressive heights, and readied the world for her sophomore release, *Brightly Painted One*. Adding a permanent drummer and bass player (upright and electric), the follow-up to *Sea* is as stunning as fans hoped it would be; Fullbrook’s impressionistic songs are now wreathed in soft, muted floor toms, holographic cymbal shimmers, and stealthy, grounding bass notes. Faint whispers of acoustic and electric guitar and supple strings buoy Fullbrook’s melancholy like a ghostly breeze, hardly noticeable at times but critical to the song’s flow and structure. There\'s something magical about Tiny Ruins, and it’s apparent from the first 60 seconds, when “Me at the Museum” finds the listener holding their breath in anticipation of something unnamed. You might exhale only when you realize that not breathing for 40 minutes just won’t do.

The second album by Tiny Ruins, released in May 2014. ★★★★ - MOJO “…impressive, beautifully poised stuff.” ★★★★ - Q Magazine ★★★★ - Rolling Stone Australia ★★★★ - Sydney Morning Herald ★★★★★ - New Zealand Herald Physical releases EUROPE & UK - BELLA UNION 12" Vinyl & CD - - SOLD OUT NZ & USA - ARCH HILL / FLYING NUN CD - SOLD OUT AUSTRALIA - SPUNK CD - SOLD OUT

A sonic collage artist with a great sense of flow, Flying Lotus (real name Steven Ellison) is the king of instrumental hip-hop. *You’re Dead*, a shape-shifting album with a sense of story, is best listened to from beginning to end. Virtuoso electric bassist and vocalist Thundercat cowrote several tracks. Pianist Herbie Hancock, rappers Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg, violinist/arranger Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, singer Angel Deradoorian (who’s worked with The Dirty Projectors), and others also contribute to this expansive effort. Jazz, prog-rock, fusion, funk, and other elements are bent and stretched; the intriguing result dissolves genre borders.

Over the course of two astonishing albums, Perfume Genius, aka Seattle native Mike Hadreas, cemented his place as a singer-songwriter of rare frankness, creating songs that, while achingly emotional, offered empathy and hope, rather than any judgment or handwringing. Sparse, gorgeous and with Hadreas’ quavering vocals often only accompanied by piano, they were uncommonly beautiful tales of a life lived on the dark side – scarred, brutalised, yet ultimately, slowly but surely reclaimed. Too Bright, however, is something else altogether. Less self-conscious, and less concerned with storytelling and easily-digested melodies, it is a brave, bold, unpredictably quixotic exploration of what Hadreas calls “an underlying rage that has slowly been growing since ten and has just begun to bubble up”. Recorded with Adrian Utley of Portishead and featuring John Parish on several tracks, it is a stunning about-face which brings to mind audacious career-shift albums like Kate Bush’s The Dreaming or Scott Walker’s Tilt, records which walk the tightrope between pure songwriting and overt experimentation.

Avant-hip-hoppers Shabazz Palaces finally let it be known that they\'re the master duo of former Digable Planets member Butterfly (now known as Palaceer Lazaro) and instrumentalist Tendai “Baba” Maraire. After the critical success of their debut, *Black Up*, it’s likely the follow-up, *Lese Majesty*, will draw even more critical and commercial interest. The sounds themselves are low-key, letting the various instrumental patches respond to one another or enhance the atmospherics. Maraire excels at minimalism and texture, creating a complete track with the least amount of ingredients and thriving on providing seamless interludes. Lazaro provides a variety of vocals that shift from philosophical quips to word-associated ramblings where seriousness and clever thinking often work together. “Dawn in Luxor,” “Forerunner Foray,” and “They Come in Gold” form an intense opening trilogy, while “Motion Sickness,” “New Black Wave,” and “Sonic MythMap for the Trip Back” close the album with a similar focus.

'Lese Majesty' is the follow up album to 2011's 'Black Up' by Shabazz Palaces.

Certain art forms are deceptively simple: calligraphy, still-life painting, dream pop. In the case of the last, details like the shimmer of a ride cymbal or the exact tone of a clean guitar can make all the difference. To listen to *Atlas*, the exquisitely produced third album from New Jersey\'s Real Estate, is to hear a quartet of master practitioners of the dream pop craft. Casually sanguine yet precisely composed, the album is moody but not mournful, peppy but not cloying. In the grand tradition of bands like Luna, Heavenly, and The Sundays, the songs here rarely feature more than a few chords, a few parts, or a few lyrical ideas (the suburbs, fatherhood)—yet everything fits together perfectly. Matt Mondanile\'s lead guitar is playful but not ostentatious, expertly complementing Martin Courtney\'s plainspoken vocals, his languid phrasings soaring above the gentle din. Snare drums sizzle and pop, basslines pogo gracefully, the mood is wistful and breezy. The cascading guitar riff of \"Talking Backwards\" will have you dreaming of The Smiths, while the cowpunk swing of \"Horizon\" shows off just how many tricks Real Estate have up their sleeve.

This Swedish duo of sisters Johanna and Klara Soderberg play a sleek, pretty version of Americana that can only be achieved by outsiders who learn the music from the outside-in. Their harmonies are fresh and not always what one might expect from the Americana genre. Neither is the production, which is again handled by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis; songs like “Master Pretender” and “Cedar Lane” have gorgeous orchestration. The duo’s Fleet Foxes influence can still be heard, but the sisters veer closer to Handsome Family–styled Southwestern music on the mystical title track and the album opener, “My Silver Lining.” There’s also a Southern-style Bobbie Gentry/Jeannie C. Riley undercurrent; it\'s truly odd and fascinating coming from these young Swedes. “Shattered & Hollow” slows the tempo for the harmonies to shine even further. “The Bell” adds more bucolic instrumentation, which is enhanced by Mogis’ spacious production. “Waitress Song” imagines giving everything up to live in a small town and work in the food industry—as if these young women could ever turn away from the music they clearly love. 

Kishi Bashi’s sophomore album entitled "Lighght" (pronounced "Light") continues and expands the sound of his critically acclaimed debut, "151a". "Lighght" takes its title from the one-word poem by minimalist poet Aram Saroyan. As Kishi Bashi explains, "The poem's blatant assault on literary convention and classical form was attractive to me." It is apparent that such an approach informed the new album, which has both broadened and redefined his classical foundations. "Though I have studied classical composition, I prefer to take an unconventional path when it comes to creating and thinking about music," says Kishi Bashi. Though violin remains his primary instrument and songwriting muse, Kishi Bashi has expanded his palette to include more diverse and nuanced instrumentation. Bright and soaring avant-pop songs are prevalent, as are Eastern-tinged arrangements, gentle ballads, Philip Glass inspired improvisations, and more than a few moments that flirt with 70s prog (in the tradition of ELO or Yes). LIsten and enjoy!

BADBADNOTGOOD is a young supremely talented trio of musicians made up of Matthew Tavares on keys, Chester Hansen on bass, and Alex Sowinski on drums. Since their inception at Humber College’s Music Performance program in 2011, the three have challenged the rule book on improvised instrumental music and taken jazz tradition into the future. With early champions including acclaimed BBC broadcaster Gilles Peterson and Tyler The Creator who helped fuel their discovery with a series of live jams that instantly went viral and dubbed them the “Odd Trio”, the band released their first EP BBNG in June 2011 to wide praise. The marriage of jazz virtuosity and hip hop source material offered a fresh take on the traditional “standard” applied to hip hop classics by taking on choice cuts from the golden era rap cannon and writing inspired arrangements for them instead of one-dimensional covers. The band hit a landmark by introducing original material into their composi- tions with BBNG2 in 2012. New songs like “Rotten Decay”, “Vices” or “UWM” carried on the proud heritage of musical juxtaposition by bringing together jazz, hip hop, punk, and dance music into vigorous balance. Since then, they’ve won praise from the four corners of the globe and collaborated with Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, MF Doom, Pharaoh Monch and RZA among many. Their no- torious live performances have brought fans across the whole musical spectrum together, taking the band around the world from Coachella to Glastonbury. Now, the inseparable friends are prepping to release their biggest project to date III on prodigious young label Innovative Leisure, a highly-anticipated project ushering in the group’s newest explorations which are proving to be limitless.

www.paradiseofbachelors.com/pob-15 Other online purchase options (physical/download/streaming): smarturl.it/PoB15 NARRATIVE In Donald Barthelme’s 1982 story “Lightning,” the narrator, a journalist investigating lightning strike survivors, reflects that “lightning changes things; the soul burns, having been struck by lightning.” He wonders about aesthetic (and supernatural) dimensions—is “lightning an attempt at music on the part of God?” Three decades later, as the catastrophic effects of climate change encroach upon the realms of science fiction, how might our communications and social conventions change, becoming correspondingly weirder and darker? Weather is, after all, both a formulaic conversation starter across cultures and a shared condition that connects us experientially. So what happens when “How about this weather?” becomes a less banal and much more compelling, and dangerous, question? While ecological unease worries at the edges of Steve Gunn’s bold new full-band album Way Out Weather—the breathing sea of the billowing title track, the bad wind and moon over “Wildwood,” the polluted pyramid and blue bins in “Shadow Bros,” the desert heat sickness of “Atmosphere”—the resonance of the title is primarily metaphorical and oblique. Written largely while on tour, the record is an elliptical but seductive travelogue, more engaged with navigating foreign (“way out”) emotional landscapes, and with grasping at universal threads of language and narrative, than with bemoaning rising sea levels. Despite the album-opening lyric to the contrary, “Way Out Weather” is an uncommon song in Steve Gunn’s discography. Sonically and lyrically the album demonstrates a radical evolution, lighting out for lusher, more expansive, and impressionistic territories; it’s his first major work as an artist for whom the studio provides a critical context. A more enigmatic and elevated affair than its predecessor, Way Out Weather completes Gunn’s satisfying transformation into a mature songwriter, singer, and bandleader of subtlety and authority. It ranks as most impressive and inviting record yet, an inscrutable but entirely self-assured masterpiece. The critically acclaimed Time Off (2013), his first full-band album highlighting his vocals, represented the culmination of Steve’s steady fifteen-year migration from the frontier fringes of the guitar avant-garde, where he is regarded as a prodigy, and toward his especial style of more traditionally informed (albeit deconstructed) songcraft. Those songs developed from years of woodshedding and performance, offering a linear, local narrative that mapped the contours of Gunn’s Brooklyn neighborhood and a matrix of musical friendships, earning him a broad new following. Less patently intimate, Way Out Weather angles for something far more cosmic, dynamic, and widescreen in sound and sentiment. In contrast to the interiority of Time Off, these eight decidedly exterior songs aren’t grounded by the specifics of geography, instead inhabiting headier, more rarefied altitudes (see in particular the ethereal “Shadow Bros,” “Fiction,” and “Atmosphere.”) They step beyond home and hover above horizon, unmoored from immediate circumstances and surroundings. Here Gunn’s discursive, mantric guitar style, at once transcendent and methodical—and as influenced by Western guitarists such as Michael Chapman and Sonny Sharrock as by Ghanaian highlife, Gnawa, and Carnatic forms—maintains its signature helical intricacy and mesmeric propulsion, while buoyed by a bigger crew of musicians, a wider instrumental palette, and higher production values than ever before. Belying their ambitious new scale and scope, most of these songs arrived at Westtown, New York’s scene-seminal Black Dirt Studio as skeletal solo demos. An enthusiastic and generous collaborator—recently he has partnered with Kurt Vile, Michael Chapman, Mike Cooper, the Black Twig Pickers, Cian Nugent, et al.—Gunn assembled an accomplished group of comrades to flesh out the full arrangements, trusting the germinal songs to an instinctual process of spontaneous composition, transposition, and improvisation. The WOW studio band comprised longtime musical brothers Jason Meagher (bass, drones, engineering), Justin Tripp (bass, guitar, keys, production), and John Truscinski (drums), in addition to newcomers Nathan Bowles (drums, banjo, keys: Black Twig Pickers, Pelt); James Elkington (guitar, lap steel, dobro: Freakwater, Jeff Tweedy); Mary Lattimore (harp, keys: Thurston Moore, Kurt Vile); and Jimy SeiTang (synths, electronics: Psychic Ills, Rhyton.) This preternaturally intuitive and inventive band allowed Gunn to sculpt the album as a composer and colorist as well as a player. The cascading runs of “Milly’s Garden,” the menacing urgency of “Drifter,” and the alien, galvanic syncopation of album closer “Tommy’s Congo” (the latter unlike anything Gunn has heretofore recorded) display a thrilling mastery of heavier, increasingly kinetic full-band arrangements. His vocals throughout are more present, commanding, and refined, revealing a restrained but highly nuanced baritone capable of remarkable grace. Way Out Weather is Steve’s career-defining statement to date. Lightning changes things; the soul burns. + A radical widescreen evolution, featuring a larger band and lusher arrangements, this is the virtuosic guitarist and songwriter’s career-defining statement to date + Available on 150g virgin vinyl as an LP, with deluxe tip-on jacket and full-color inner sleeve, as well as on gatefold CD and digital formats (later LP editions feature heavy-duty board jacket instead of tip-on) + Vinyl edition includes digital download coupon + Featuring photography by KT Auleta, Dan Murphy, and Constance Mensh www.paradiseofbachelors.com/shop/pob-015 www.paradiseofbachelors.com/steve-gunn

For all the fun they have as the house band for *The Tonight Show*, The Roots get down to business when they enter the studio. Billed as a concept album, *ATYSYC* features rappers Black Thought, Dice Raw, and Greg Porn relating vignettes about income inequality and spiritual bankruptcy within the African-American community. Brooding amid layers of soul breaks and the kind of erudite samples that fans have come to expect from music encyclopedia ?uestlove (\"Black Rock\" borrows funk chestnut \"Yeah Yeah\"), the album is more meditation than celebration. With its mournful piano and slumping beat, \"When the People Cheer\" is a representative sample: \"Everybody asks if God is all that/But I got a feeling he ain\'t never coming back,\" sings a children\'s choir on the hook. Longtime fans will be familiar with this somber side of The Roots, while newcomers used to them as Jimmy Fallon\'s sidekicks will discover a whole different side of this legendary hip-hop troupe.

Redinho’s always been different. Debuting on Numbers in 2010, his Bare Blips EP showcased an artist with no desire to fit into the landscape of the time. Darting between styles and tempos across six tracks that drew from grime, hip­hop, funk and more, the only constant on Bare Blips’ tracks was that they kicked back – or, at least, remained blissfully ignorant – of the 130bpm house that the rest of the UK was gravitating towards. On his first album, Redinho finds the perfect solution to being out of step – creating his own world to fit into. Across 15 tracks, including acclaimed past singles ‘Searching’ and ‘Stay Together’, Redinho conjures up visions of the deep sea, deep space, not­so­deep jacuzzi parties and everything between, binding them together into an aesthetic that's both stylish and starry­eyed. Drum machine­driven ‘80s funk is a key influence here, as it always has been with Redinho and Numbers, but where Redinho excels is how sublimely he combines it with other genres: the 'hey' chants and drum patterns of Atlanta hip­hop on ‘Playing with Fire’, Detroit techno on ‘Shem’, the freeform dreamscapes of ‘Bubbles’, 707­driven Chicago house on ‘Going Nowhere‘ and downtrodden electronica on ‘Say I Want You’. It only takes a few tracks to realise that Redinho’s studied the ‘80s, and the sounds and dynamics that make that style work, but this is far from a throwback album. With a masterful modern sheen and links to contemporary pop and hip­hop, it’s hard to imagine it being released any time but now.

For solo album number two, Nikki Lane teams with producer Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys for a down-and-dirty, country-fried version of rock ’n’ roll, deep in reverb and vintage sounds. “I Don’t Care” bounces with distorted guitars, pedal steel, and a girl group–style vocal that sounds like The Raveonettes gone country. The McCrary Sisters make their vocal presence felt on the pedal steel–heavy “You Can’t Talk to Me Like That.” Surf guitars, more pedal steel, and a sped-up rhythm section guide “Seein’ Double,” where Lane again refuses to be scooted along. Arguably, the album’s highlight is “Love’s on Fire,” an acoustic duet between Lane and Auerbach; you can sense the full band waiting in the shadows of the song’s first minute for their opportunity to turn the tune into a full-blown workout. The title track takes a shot at blue-eyed soul with a Fender Rhodes electric piano driving the tune. It\'s retro-modern, country rock \'n’ western roll.