Fopp's Top 50 Albums of 2014

These unusually masked and creepy Swedish psychedelia dealers play a mix of tribal rhythms, guitar riffs dominated by wah-wah pedals, and raw, garage-rock styled productions, over which a number of vocalists sing, chant, and yell from various positions. “Goatchild” perfectly distills the group\'s essence, while tracks like “Talk to God,” “To Travel the Path Unknown,” and “Gathering of Ancient Tribes” explore the numerous paths to high weirdness. There’s a looseness in these jams that sounds all-inclusive, as if the songs were just waiting for you to pick up an instrument and play along. *Commune* clearly succeeds in creating an alternate universe where everyone can party.

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.

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

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. 

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.

The jungle is a wilderness, but London groove collective Jungle, led by Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson, are masters of control. Everything is in its right place on their debut album, from the dance moves to the horn stabs, as they update \'60s soul (plus two-tone and trip-hop) with a crisp, modern touch. Aching falsetto tops off a spine-tingling mix of driving electric bass and swirling organs, while sirens and dub echoes make the noir nightscapes all the more vivid—seductive, but a little bit dangerous, too.

Although her first two studio albums had moments of girl-group sass, Swedish-born singer/songwriter Lykke Li has always been most powerful when the tempos come down. 2010’s *Wounded Rhymes* featured a mascara-stained ‘60s-influenced charmer called “Sadness is a Blessing”; Li’s third album, *I Never Learn*, hones this gift for wallowing with a collection of miserablist dream pop. Stacked with Wall of Sound strings, lean songwriting, and confessional drama, Li’s doleful highlights (“No Rest for the Wicked,” “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone,” “Never Gonna Love Again”) are carefully constructed ballads that float along in a melancholy, reverb-washed haze. When she fades out with the mournful “Sleeping Alone,” *I Never Learn* emerges as a powerful artistic achievement, every bit as lonely as it is lovely.

The first time that Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher played in a room together as Royal Blood, the noise they created was so ferocious that it made frontman Kerr burst out laughing in astonishment. “How can we be this loud with just bass and drums?” they wondered. “From the first note, it was just like this energy exploded in the room,” Kerr tells Apple Music. “I was just like, ‘Oh my god, this sounds so good.’” It was a sentiment shared across the globe over the next year and a half as the pair’s blend of heavy riffs, bluesy licks, pummeling drums, and anthemic choruses earned their 2014 debut a Mercury nomination and made it one of the biggest British rock albums of the decade. It was a surreal period for Kerr and Thatcher, who knew their music was connecting on a huge scale—not just because of lofty chart positions and a rapidly growing diehard fanbase, but also because of the rock icons watching on from the crowd. Jimmy Page, Muse, and Metallica were among those who turned up to witness Royal Blood’s blistering live show in those early days, performances that prompted Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello to tweet, “I’ve seen the future of riff rock and its name is #RoyalBlood.” “It made us realize how small the rock community had become, because it meant that we were flying a flag for something that wasn’t really being represented either very well or by anyone that has actually had success,” says Kerr. The torch had been passed. Royal Blood’s debut heralded the arrival of a brilliant rock talent. Kerr and Thatcher guide us through it, track by track. **Out of the Black** Mike Kerr: “It seemed like the ultimate entrance. I was thinking of ‘Killing in the Name’—if that’s your opening statement, it’s just so bold. We were actually in the middle of writing ‘Loose Change’ when we wrote it. The beat was an alternate beat to ‘Loose Change.’ There was a moment where I was tuning, or doing something, and Ben was rehearsing it on his own. And I just copied what he was doing. Because of the way we were writing in the room together, it just felt very immediate. It was so heavy. And so simple and dumb. It’s the simplest riff we have. I think it’s really important to have a song on your first record that says, ‘This is who we are.’” Ben Thatcher: “It’s in your face. As soon as the first beat hits, you know it’s Royal Blood.” **Come On Over** MK: “This was a song I’d always done at open mic nights, which is really how I started singing. I would get really, really drunk so I had the confidence to get out and do it. I would try and impress a girl that was there, and probably fail. ‘Come On Over’ was a sort of bluesy song that I had, and when we were making the record, we put it into the way we were playing songs and it fit perfectly. It was very bluesy, but it had a metal thing to it as well. Everyone who’d seen me play it at open mic night would say they really didn’t like the version that I did in Royal Blood. They said, ‘Oh, you should keep it acoustic. It sounded really cool. And now you’ve ruined it.’” **Figure It Out** MK: “Again, this was a tune that was always in my back pocket. It was sort of written, or at least finished, live. It was always in pieces and the music was the bit that was always established. I never really knew what I was going to do on the vocals, so I would always ad-lib. I would just put so much delay on my vocals that you couldn’t hear what I was saying because I never had lyrics. I would just mumble. That wasn’t a rarity. We’d sometimes go out and play festivals with songs that weren’t finished. The song gives up on itself after the second chorus, and just sort of goes off into this other thing. I realize now it’s something we do a lot. It’s almost like a signature move.” **You Can Be So Cruel** MK: “I think this started off acoustically. It’s very inspired by Goldfrapp, who I love. We were thinking about what kind of rhythms and feel we didn’t have on the album. We were like, ‘We should have one that does that swung thing, that glam thing.’” BT: “The ending is the same thing as ‘Figure It Out’ and you can tell it’s come from a batch of songs written around the same time, because...” MK: “We get to the second chorus and just do another riff...” BT: “Exactly.” **Blood Hands** MK: “I actually started this when I was picking up weed, when you have to linger around a stranger’s house. I’d get way too stoned, and I’d listen to this guy playing his songs and they were really, really bad. While he was rolling this massive joint, I started playing this. It’s why it’s so stoned, that intro, it’s just like one note. For the lyrics, I was just really inspired by Jeff Buckley. I really didn’t know how to express myself honestly then. I was a lot younger and I hadn’t written that many songs. I wouldn’t say there’s a common lyrical theme that runs through the record, but I was born very religious and I was leaving that behind—that reveals itself time and time again. I’d gone through a breakup as well.” **Little Monster** MK: “This was born out of jamming together. I was listening to a lot of Them Crooked Vultures, and also we were really into that kind of ‘Foxy Lady’ real swung riff thing. I think Foo Fighters had just released *Wasting Light* and there’s a song on that called ‘Rope.’ I think I subconsciously had the chorus of ‘Rope’ in my mind. It’s not a rip-off, but it’s the same feeling in the chorus.” **Loose Change** MK: “When we first started playing together in this band, I very much had my rock brain on. But Ben comes from a much more varied background and has a lot more of a hip-hop influence. This was a cool moment where it was Ben bringing music he loves, and grooves that I wouldn’t have thought of, into the band. We were really into Jack White as well. It felt like a hip-hop take on a Jack White tune.” BT: “It was quite a hard song to write. We were always searching for the chorus and one never really came. It has this break moment which I guess we would call the chorus now.” **Careless** BT: “Musically, this was the first one where Mike had some ideas for the sound of his guitars.” MK: “I put two guitar strings on the bass and tuned them up to whatever they could take. And it’s quite an unusual riff. You try and play that on a standard guitar, it’s like jazz. Because I tuned the strings in such a way, I was playing very simple shapes, but it created that melody. This song was like really born out of playing live and bouncing off each other.” **Ten Tonne Skeleton** MK: “We’d finished what we thought was the album and then our label and manager were like, ‘I think you need to come up with more songs,’ doing the intelligent thing of just pushing us further. But we were already on the road and were really busy. There was a lot of writing in hotel rooms and seeing if there was any scraps left over, things we could use to get songs going. This and ‘Better Strangers’ were the two songs we wrote and finished in the same session, just before Glastonbury 2014. I think we got to the point where we were so immersed in the world we’d created, and you know exactly what it is you’re chasing. Right at the end in the process you’re so well-versed in what you’re doing.” **Better Strangers** MK: “It felt like a natural end. I think we also liked the idea of the album being slightly chronological as well. There’s a natural progression.” BT: “We’d got more used to being in the studio by this time—knowing what protocol was, and what you do, and how to get those sounds. We just were a bit more experienced. Having been through gigging, and touring, we were a bit more confident in ourselves, so when it came to these last two, they just sounded a bit different.”

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.

A Winged Victory For The Sullen finally reveal their second full-length album entitled Atomos, which besides familiar piano, string and drone sounds also sees the duo introduce flurries of electronics, harp and modular synthesisers. In 2011 A Winged Victory For The Sullen introduced themselves to the world with a self-titled album, showcasing their unique collaboration of ambient guitar drone from Stars Of The Lid member Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and sparse piano tunes by contemporary classical composer Dustin O’Halloran, winning them fans around the world. Wayne McGregor, founder of Random Dance Company and resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet, was one of these fans and chose to play the album repeatedly during practices with his core group of dancers. After noticing the group's reaction with the music, he contacted Adam and Dustin to see if they could write the score for his new oeuvre. The duo were given complete artistic freedom and they treated the score with the same care and attention as their debut album. They recorded more than sixty minutes of music over a four-month period during the summer of 2013 across studios in Brussels, Berlin and Reykjavik, with the help of their long time collaborative sound engineer Francesco Donadello. During the recording process they realised, that this would become their official second studio album. McGregor provided them with the inspiration to expand their sound palette into more electronic territory, whilst keeping their signature chamber sound, resulting in a very unique record.

SOHN initially made waves with his ultra-hip electro-soul remixes, but the producer/songwriter’s debut album showcases the breadth of his talent beyond the mixing board. Merging neo-soul melodies, crackling electronics and elements of dubstep and house, *Tremors* is a tour of elegant sonic minimalism and exquisite songwriting. The album’s soaring single, “Artifice”, displays these virtues in a tidy package, while downtempo tracks like “Lights”, “Bloodflows” and “Paralysed” are strung together in a mesmerising nocturnal soundtrack. While the title track delivers a clapping beat, a thick fog of analogue synths and an aching melody, *Tremors* closes with a mournful, masterful statement from an artist of seemingly unlimited potential.

*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.

Though they hail from the UK, Glass Animals thrive in hot, humid environs. The Oxford outfit’s 2014 debut feels like a late-night rainforest cruise into uncharted territory, powered by tropical grooves and ayahuasca-induced weirdness. Even as he guides you through the drum-circle ceremony of “Walla Walla” and jungle rumble of “Pools,” singer David Bayley remains a smooth tour operator, countering the percussive propulsion with a cool, melodic sensibility that’s equal parts James Blake and Thom Yorke.

By the \'90s, the ‘60s pop star Scott Walker had evolved into an avant-garde master. In 2014, it’s little surprise that he’s written *Soused* as a collaboration with underground drone-metallists Sunn O))). Anyone familiar with previous Walker albums such as *Tilt*, *The Drift*, or *Bish Bosch* will recognize the barking, musical theater–like baritone vocals and the postapocalyptic, scorched-earth instrumentation. And for *Soused*, Walker is joined by Sunn O))), including their third guitarist Tos Nieuwenhuizen. “Bull,” in particular, takes on the dark, grinding distortion, while other epics sound like a circus on fire. Singularly brilliant.

Alvvays are two women, three men, a crate of cassettes and a love of jingle-jangle. Molly Rankin and Kerri MacLellan grew up as next-door neighbours in Cape Breton, lifting fiddles and folk-songs. Heartbreaks of different shades soon entered their lives, as did the music of Teenage Fanclub and Belle & Sebastian. Similar noisy melancholy drifted over to Prince Edward Island, finding Alec O'Hanley, Brian Murphy and Philip MacIsaac. Convening in Toronto, the group have been making music since dusk or maybe dawn, when stars were appearing or fading off. As a result, their debut self-titled album is both sun-splashed and twilit -- nine songs concealing drunkenness, defeat and death in tungsten-tinted pop that glitters like sea glass. With needlepoint melody and verse, Rankin and O'Hanley's songs were recorded at Chad VanGaalen's Yoko Eno studio and mixed by Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) and John Agnello (Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Kurt Vile). The resultant album is loud and clear and sure. Flood your ears.

Nearing two decades of musical exploration, Scotland’s Mogwai could remix their catalog and create new albums that would blow away any competition. But they\'re musicians foremost; writing, jamming, crafting, and modifying their music is what they do. *Rave Tapes* is a gorgeous, if surprisingly sedate, look at what time in their Castle of Doom recording studios yielded in 2013, at a time when they’d completed their delicious score for the French TV show *Les Revenants* and were performing their music for *Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait*. This emphasis on incidental music led their own album into cathartic yet sweetly mild tracks such as “Deesh” and “Remurdered,” where the sense of danger is matched with a symmetry and harmony that keeps the music beautiful from end to end. “Repelish” humorously dovetails modest power chords with some square narration regarding the once-perceived “satanism” of Led Zeppelin’s music. On “Master Card,” Mogwai raise the tempo and the guitar riffs for a track unlike much else on *Rave Tapes*.

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. 

The magic of Robert Plant’s tenth solo album, *lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar*, is its ability to combine a pastiche of disparate musical fragments with effortless fluency. Coming to life with a richly orchestrated version of “Little Maggie”—a traditional bluegrass tune popularized by The Stanley Brothers—Plant interweaves a scrawl of modal strings, grinding electric guitars, and laser-beam synths. And yet, the vocalist and his Sensational Space Shifters (a group that includes versatile guitarist Justin Adams and West African percussionist Juldeh Camara), make the genre-defying collision of musical ideas—old and new, familiar and exotic—seem comfortable and uncomplicated. “Rainbow” opens with a ringing hand drum and buzzing guitar, rising to an etherial chorus of cooing “ooh”s. Turn It Up” combines a righteously distorted riff and jaunting, syncopated percussion. Even the most straightforward songs, like the reverberant ballad “Somebody There,” are sumptuously ornate. The result makes *lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar* a profound musical endeavor, as brilliant, mystical, and difficult to classify as the artist himself.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Having won the heavy hearts and minds of indie rock\'s cognoscenti with their 2009 debut, *The Fool*, the L.A. quartet Warpaint set their sites higher on this self-titled follow-up. Here, they enlist veteran producer Flood (U2, PJ Harvey) to help them beef up their sensual and spooky postpunk. The band decamped to Joshua Tree to write the album, and the eerie desolation of the California desert haunts the tracks accordingly. The serpentine \"Keep It Healthy\" features fidgety guitar riffs atop the group\'s lockstep rhythm section of bassist Jenny Lee Lindberg and drummer Stella Mozgawa, while \"Teese\" layers Emily Kokal\'s hushed vocals over a creeping beat and atmospheric synths. The single \"Love Is to Die\" is a gauzy midtempo song with a persistent beat, over which Kokal incants a subtly catchy hook: \"Love is to die/Love is to not die/Love is to dance.\"

The Canadian poet and singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen teamed up with producer Patrick Leonard, a man who’s previously handled the more limber rhythms of Madonna. Together, they made a soothing yet adventurous album: Cohen’s 13th studio release, *Popular Problems*. “Nevermind” coasts on a pulsing synth-led beat while the expected female vocal choir unexpectedly turns to an Arabic chant for peace (“salaam”). “My Oh My” adds a touch of horns. But while this expands the musical portion of Cohen’s efforts, the focus here is still on his rumbling voice (which sounds like he’s met Moses) and his lyrics (which never settle for passable when transcendent is still within reach). Cohen claims “Born in Chains” took 40 years to get right. On the opening track, Cohen turns the joke on himself. “Slow,” he admits, is how he likes most things, as if his fans hadn’t noticed. Getting it right is more important than rushing to keep pace. “A Street” turns its attention to 9/11 with a poignancy that resonates 13 years after that horrible day, with a lingering ache guiding Cohen’s continued eloquence and honesty. 

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.

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.

Composed of 11 stunning and emotive tracks, From Scotland With Love was released alongside a motion picture of the same name which explores the themes of love and loss, war, resistance, emigration, work and play; all themes that appear in the album itself.

After a prolific first decade as a recording artist—between the band Rilo Kiley, her solo efforts, and side collaborations, she released eight full-length albums—Jenny Lewis took her time working on *The Voyager*, her third solo album. The six years that followed her sophomore release (2008\'s *Acid Tongue*) let Lewis refine and polish these 10 buoyant tracks. Working with two producers who are worthy of her wickedly intelligent songwriting—Ryan Adams and Beck—she devised her most mature and confident album to date. Lewis has rarely sounded in greater command of her versatile vocal gifts, from the sharp, vaulting chorus of the beat-driven opener, “Head Underwater”—which chronicles her emergence from a dark period (“I put my head underwater, baby/I held my breath until it passed”)—to the classic soul melody of “She’s Not Me” and the pleading western noir “You Can’t Outrun ‘Em.” The effervescent, summery production contrasts thoughtfully with Lewis’ piercing lyrics, which find her surveying life with restlessness and resignation in equal measure.

Though Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are considered a raw, no-nonsense rock ’n’ roll band, they’ve also always understood the value of smart production. They love to rock—make no mistake—but they also love to make records. 2014’s *Hypnotic Eye* makes that obvious with the timely “American Dream Plan B,” where the band’s textures alter from verse to chorus with ease. It\'s the result of Petty, his right-hand man Mike Campbell (a multi-instrumentalist), and coproducer Ryan Ulyate knowing intuitively how to make basic rock sound multidimensional in the studio—and hopefully on the radio. “Full Grown Boy” provides a light, swinging touch from Benmont Tench’s jazzy piano hands, making the return of Campbell’s electric guitar riffs on “All You Can Carry” a powerful left hook. The sound is often aggressive, as if the guys were hammering things out in the garage out back (“Red River,” “Power Drunk,” “Forgotten Man”). Yet three years in the making suggests that great care and thought went into the emotional immediacy of another powerful and heartfelt Heartbreakers album.

Upon learning he had 10 months to live in 2013, Dr. Feelgood’s lead guitarist, Wilko Johnson, went out on a final tour and survived it. Old pal Roger Daltrey invited him into the studio, and for a week Johnson and the Who singer bashed out whatever Johnson had in mind. Dr. Feelgood songs get new treatments here, while Johnson also had a few new originals and a desire to cover Bob Dylan’s “Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window.” The sound is focused, with Johnson’s guitar cutting a nasty figure and Daltrey fully aware of his limits but getting the job done nonetheless. Together, they cut through the songs with youthful energy and a veteran’s know-how to get the most from the performances. The Dylan cover rolls past with an ease that finds plenty of space for the drums to pound, the harmonica to scream, and the guitars to blare. It’s a major moment that’s met with moments of equal and even stronger power with “Ice on the Motorway” and “I Keep It to Myself.” The ballad “Turned 21” is haunting, but there aren’t many reflective moments. It’s mostly hard rock played as if they had all the time in the world.

Every time Ryan Adams thinks he’s out, he pulls himself back in. It turns out the follow-up to 2011’s *Ashes & Fire* isn\'t the completed album he made with Glyn Johns but a self-produced collection of songs recorded at Adams’ recording studio, PAX AM. (Some tunes were coproduced with Mike Viola.) The mercurial singer/songwriter who broke up his band (The Cardinals), flirted with retirement, and formed a punk group sounds plenty much like the Ryan Adams we’ve come to expect. The alt-country sounds are scrubbed down for an electric guitar–based heartland rock that gets a touch of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, thanks to the involvement of longtime Petty organist Benmont Tench. “Shadows” is the loudest cry in the dark, with Adams’ guitars ringing and clashing over Tal Wilkenfeld’s stalking bassline. “Feels Like Fire” follows up the existential ache, with Johnny Depp playing guitar and adding a backing vocal. “I Just Might” pulses with a hint of Bruce Springsteen’s “State Trooper.”

With 17 songs and over an hour of music, *Pom Pom* reminds us of the daring experiments from Ariel Pink\'s formative DIY releases. But the eclectic songwriting, turn-on-a-dime influences and lush production demonstrate just how much the California musician has evolved. Sure, the album is all over the place—we’re warmed by the ‘60s-influenced pop sunshine of “Plastic Raincoats in the Pig Parade” one moment and tangled in the knotty guitars of \"White Freckles” the next. But the everything-at-once aesthetic is held together by an undercurrent of electro melancholy that’s most evident on icy, synth-based tracks like \"Picture Me Gone” and the ultra-poised “Lipstick\". As the mosaic ends with the bittersweet shimmer of “Dayzed Inn Daydreams”, *Pom Pom*’s kaleidoscopic beauty leaves our head spinning.

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From the spacey opener \"Weight of Love,\" which pulls out a grandiose Pink Floyd-style guitar solo before the vocal even starts, it\'s clear that The Black Keys are thinking big. The album\'s \'70s classic rock vibe gives the Keys a bigger, more cosmic sound, while studio wizard Danger Mouse wraps electronic swirls around Dan Auerbach\'s mountain of guitars. And just when we\'re into the psychedelic groove, the soulful strut of \"Gotta Get Away\" proves the duo\'s roadhouse R&B roots are still right there.

*This Is All Yours* is replete with a mesmeric, album-opening “Intro” of revolving vocal snippets and the disarming, pre-halftime instrumental interlude “Garden of England.” It includes the mischievous guitar groove of “Left Hand Free,” the spectral, Bon Iver-like beauty of “Warm Foothills” and the Miley Cyrus-sampling hypnotics of “Hunger of the Pine.” 

Future Island’s fourth album and debut for 4AD deserves the title *Singles* since it does play out like an album of individual tracks with great commercial potential all joined as one. The Baltimore trio’s powerful sound is based in synths and electric basslines, from J. Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion, respectively. Together, they layer and push forward an orchestrated groove that’s both modern and steeped in the tradition of Philly soul, glam rock, and postpunk. Singer Samuel T. Herring—a stage hound who captures the audience’s imagination with the movements of a boxer—provides a soulful croon on record that can turn into a virile growl. It’s Joy Division as ballet for “Back in the Tall Grass” and Blue Nile/Talk Talk/Roxy Music for the inescapable hooks of “Seasons (Waiting on You),” “Spirit,\" and “Doves.” Producer Chris Coady (known for his work with Beach House and Grizzly Bear) works with Welmers’ synth loops and smartly composed parts until everything meshes together beautifully for a perfect musicality.