The Line of Best Fit's 50 Best Records of 2014

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Jocie Adams is a classically trained composer and multi-instrumentalist who did time with the Americana indie band Low Anthem before packing up her love of classical, cabaret, ‘70s folk, and even big-band music and trekking off in search of a decidedly different project. She took up with a new crew of friends to play with an expanded assortment of musical toys, including cello, trumpets, banjo, trombone, and plenty of keyboards and percussion. *Arc Iris* is the stunningly wide-ranged debut with Adams directing the parade: it’s a festival of marching horns, bluesy piano, sighing pedal steel, and playful cello parts that sometimes bellow like a didgeridoo. Adams’ voice is like a more subdued, Malibu-inflected Björk, and her way with stylistic shifts and melody is informed, confident, and restrained. The muted booming percussion, twinkling acoustic guitar, and banjo over a warm backwash of cello and trumpet on “Whiskey Man” is enchanting, and the frisky banjos and piano on “Money Gnomes” has a sweet, carnivalesque feel. *Arc Iris* touches a crazy number of musical markers, but overall it can be tagged as a smart, extremely musical, and adventurous outing that’s full of surprises.

The legend is already growing. It’s said that one in 10 Icelanders owns a copy of *In the Silence*, making Asgeir Trausti the fastest-selling artist in Iceland, ahead of Sigur Ros and Björk. His bright \"folktronica\" is dominated by surprising, pretty melodies and light, airy beats. “Summer Guest” flows with an indelible hook, and “King and Cross” positively *bounces* with joy in its step. Singer/songwriter John Grant translated the lyrics into English for the U.S. version of the album—and if they sound particularly experienced, consider that Asgeir’s 72-year-old father, Einar Georg Einarsson, was among the team of writers for the 20-year-old sensation. “Head in the Snow” displays a bit of *The Shining* in its stir-crazy winter assessment that “biting cold takes its toll on the body.” Sure, the vocal and orchestral beauty of “Torrent” fulfills the Bon Iver comparisons that are obviously deserved, but they aren\'t the entire picture by any means. Asgeir’s melancholy is his own, after all, and songs like “Was There Nothing?” and “Going Home” pulse with a personal, unique sense. The album closer—the gorgeous “Sooth This Pain”—is an iTunes bonus exclusive.

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.

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.

Eric Berglund charmed us as half of the Swedish indie pop duo The Tough Alliance. On his own as ceo, he makes an about-face, producing sounds drenched in mystery and ephemeral beauty. Even on ceo’s 2010 debut, *White Magic*, his artful strokes of orchestral grandeur were cloaked in an ambience of, well, magic and impermeability. On *Wonderland*, Berglund goes further and a bit darker. The poppiest numbers here—“Whorehouse” and “Wonderland”—are only poppy in that they feel effervescent and uplifting, whether due to cottony choruses or bright, neon flickers of keyboards and perky percussion. On the former, Berglund warns: “No one can protect me from my game,” while a breezy raft of synth notes float and bounce. The title track glistens with effervescence, but helium-processed vocals ooze in the background, while a feral, barking snippet drives the tune. The instrumentals “Juju\" and “Bubble on a Stream” further juxtapose unsettling vocal textures with ambient loveliness. Countless moments on *Wonderland* just don’t make sense in an “inside the box” way, and therein lies its beauty.

London-based singer-songwriter Douglas Dare releases his debut album Whelm on Erased Tapes. With the piano at the core, Dare vocalises his short prose and poems to a backdrop of drums, electronics and brass. With the comfort of familiar songs from his live set, such as Clockwork, Caroline and London’s Rose, the session was equally driven by the excitement of creating brand new tracks like Nile, Swim and Unrest in a new environment. Dare has always enjoyed the use of plain language that is simple and very human. Most of his songs begin with words, as it’s the stories that inspire the music.

Brighton, U.K.’s Fear of Men began as so many British groups have in the past. Singer/guitarist Jessica Weiss was working on her art degree when she bumped into guitarist Daniel Falvey, and the two decided her film soundtrack music could be the basis of something new. Their first cassettes and 7” singles were compiled as *Early Fragments*, leaving the slate clean when starting work on their first album, *Loom*. However, the band chose to rerecord “Green Sea,” which lets fans hear the differences a new studio, a higher budget, and experience can bring. The rough enthusiasm is smoothed over, but the shoegaze elements are put to better use. A similar experience opens the album, as “Alta” starts as a low-key but pretty poem set to a few minimal chords before “Waterfall” breaks into full stereo color as one of the album’s best pop songs. “Descent” is another. Vocals start on impact and continue while a second set of vocals create a seductive weave. The six-minute “Inside” starts as a simple guitar-led indie-pop tune before the vocal colors and dynamics take over.

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.

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.

Vocalist/songwriter Katy B culled through more than 40 songs for the follow-up to her Mercury Prize–nominated 2011 debut, *On a Mission*, and the result is a vibrant collection of dance-oriented pop with remarkable emotional depth. Produced primarily by frequent collaborator Geeneus, *Little Red* is filled with peak-hour sounds—offering everything from the bristling house of the aptly named “5 AM” to the techno-influenced throb of “I Like You”. But there’s more to Katy B than dance floor domination: “Crying for No Reason” is a soaring ballad that nods to classic Madonna, the duet with Jessie Ware (“Aaliyah”) offers a jealousy-fueled clubland psychodrama while the seductive melody of “Everything” is a subtly crafted, deliriously catchy highlight.

Kindness, a.k.a. Adam Bainbridge, may look sullen on the cover of his sophomore album, but he has no reason to be. Along with peers Dev Hynes and Kelela, he\'s remaking pop music in his own experimental image. *Otherness* is a surreal conflation of funk, quiet storm, and wayward electronics, with vocals from Bainbridge and an array of guests. The stuttering, filtered groove of \"Who Do You Love?” features dance-pop diva Robyn, while \"I\'ll Be Back\" is mournful smooth jazz with sprightly pianos and a house beat. Horns, fingersnaps, slap bass, Spanish guitar: everything\'s fair game in Bainbridge\'s sci-fi supper club vision.

Despite his reputation as something of a hard-partying rock prankster (not many musicians play a guitar customized with an old beer bottle cap), Mac DeMarco, on record at least, has always been a hopeless romantic. And here, on his second album, the Canadian singer/songwriter effectively leans into loverman mode (just see “Let My Baby Stay”). But “Passing Out Pieces” is a particular marvel: Cast in cloudy synths and dark humor, it’s the sound of slacker rock’s clown prince getting serious.

“As I’m getting older, chip up on my shoulder…” is the opening line from Mac DeMarco’s second full-length LP ‘Salad Days,’ the follow up to 2012’s lauded ‘Mac DeMarco 2.’ Amongst that familiar croon and lilting guitar, that initial line from the title track sets the tone for an LP of a maturing singer/songwriter/producer. Someone strangely self-aware of the positives and negatives of their current situation at the ripe old age of 23. Written and recorded around a relentless tour schedule (which picked up all over again as soon as the LP was done), ‘Salad Days’ gives the listener a very personal insight into what it’s all about to be Mac amidst the craziness of a rising career in a very public format. The lead single, “Passing Out Pieces,” set to huge overdriven organ chords, contains lines like “…never been reluctant to share, passing out pieces of me…” Clearly, Salad Days isn’t the same record that breezily gave us “Dreamin,” and “Ode to Viceroy,” but the result of what comes from their success. “Chamber of Reflection,” a track featuring icy synth stabs and soulful crooning, wouldn’t be out of place on a fantasy Shuggie Otis and Prince collaboration. Standout tracks like these show Mac’s widening sound, whether insights into future directions or even just welcome one-off forays into new territory. Still, this is musically, lyrically and melodically good old Mac DeMarco, through and through. The same crisp John Lennon / Phil Spector era homegrown lush production that could have walked out of Geoff Emerick’s mixing board in 1972, but with that peculiar Mac touch that’s completely of right now. “Brother,” a complete future classic, is Mac at his most soulful and easygoing but with that distinct weirdness and bite that can only come from Mr. DeMarco.“Treat Her Better” is rife with “Mac-isms,” heavily chorused slinky lead guitar, swooning vocal melodies, effortless chords that come along only after years of effort, and the other elements seriously lacking in independent music: sentiment and heartfelt sincerity. We’re only at Part 2 and 1/2 (one EP and two LP’s in) into Mac’s career.

England’s Adult Jazz recall Boston’s Gem Club: the music is thoughtful, spare, experimental, both serene and unsettling, and at times heartbreakingly beautiful. Where Gem Club are a duo (with cello, piano, and voice), Adult Jazz are four musicians, and their electronic washes and drones get equal play with percussion (both lumbering and spidery), keyboards of varying kinds, horns, and vocals that morph from quiet to jazzily swinging, depending on a tune’s direction at any given moment. They have a playful core, which sparkles with a wry and childlike wit on “Am Gone” and a degree of melancholia on “Springful,” with its springy bed of guitar notes and clattering bones. Harry Burgess’ falsetto is utterly beguiling; the stunning seven minutes of “Hum” showcases Burgess’ limber delivery and remarkable grace, and on the more lighthearted “Donne Tongue,” acerbic lashes surprise and lend the tune another facet. The nine-minute “Spook” is a mini-epic of horns, drums, guitars, and vocal ups and downs that are wrought as a floating, buoyant, cabaret tune.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

It speaks volumes for Snowbird singer Stephanie Dosen that her collaborator here, former Cocteau Twins member Simon Raymonde, was inspired to return to writing and making music for the first time since the Twins’ 1997 breakup while working on her 2007 album *A Lily for the Spectre*. Yet it took time. Raymonde isn\'t a musician who rushes things or involves himself without feeling it 100 percent. Here, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and Phil Selway and Midlake’s McKenzie Smith add their touches to Raymonde’s piano-based tunes, and the results are what fans of these musicians would hope for. Dosen isn’t Elizabeth Fraser and doesn’t bother trying to imitate anyone. The Wisconsin native captures her own mix of folk and ethereal sounds in her no-nonsense soprano, and songs such as “I Heard the Owl Call My Name,” “Charming Birds from Trees,\" and “Porcelain” are enhanced by the simple rule that all musicians only contribute when they’re helping a song grow into its own. The companion album also features the songs remixed by Michigan-based electronic artist Rx Gibbs for some radical and some more sedate interpretations of this grand union.

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.

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

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.

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

Taylor Swift\'s \'80s-inspired fifth studio effort is her first \"official pop album,\" with heavyweights like Max Martin, Shellback, Ryan Tedder, and Jack Antonoff helping construct a sleeker, glitzier sound. \"Shake It Off\" mimics \"Hey Ya,\" OutKast\'s own pledge of allegiance to populism, and echoes of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and Belinda Carlisle can be heard throughout. *1989* is a juggernaut, as brash and brilliant as the lights of Times Square.

"It's after the end of the world, don't you know that yet..." With recent reports from various think tanks predicting we have somewhere in the range of 15 years left before the collapse of society begins, it would seem like Kevin Martin's sonic predictions of dystopian London that were set out on 2008's London Zoo were pretty accurate. And if we are in fact declining rapidly to chaos, there's no better time then the present to take the focus of that sonic assault from earthly domains and blast it to the netherworlds above and below. The aforementioned London Zoo is where Kevin Martin, found his true voice. Pulling the fringes into a collective, unilaterally hateful assault. A psychological warfare driven by bass that on one hand captured a moment of London, yet also encapsulated a global message influenced by years of timeless and classic out-music. The latest offering from the The Bug, Angels & Devils, escapes the London cage, drawing on it for influence yet blowing it up into a world-view now seen from Kevin Martin's new Berlin home. A record that simultaneously draws on London Zoo, completes a triptych cycle which started with his Bug debut Pressure, and fills the spaces between and inserts what was missing previously. Both a year zero re-set and a continuation of what has been. Like the Bowie/Eno classic Low, or Can's Tago Mago, the album is split into two distinct themes and explorations of light & dark. Bringing the angel & devil voices together under a single common banner. Antagonist at times, but not solely for the sake of being antagonistic, there's a beauty and lush sparseness to be found within, even when at its most chaotic. Truly only The Bug could find the common ground between Liz Harris (of Grouper) & Death Grips and make it seamless. Angels & Devils stretches the polarity of its predecessor in both directions simultaneously and is even more extreme for its new found seductiveness and added intensity. Deep space is explored, and physical assault is administered. In these days of YouTube quick fixes, and single tune memory spans, its a joy to witness Martin actually charting a cohesive narrative that rejoices in celebrating life through sonic sex and violence, beauty and ugliness. This is an audio thriller that delights in pursuing its own singular path/vision. With the Angel side(s) up first, things kick off with Liz Harris (of Grouper) in the submerged lushness that is "Void". Followed by contributions from ex Hype Wiliams half copeland ('Fall'), the blissed out patois of touring partner Miss Red (Mi Lost), two truly zoned Bug instrumentals, and rounded out by Gonjasufi on "Save Me". It's a collection of heady, dubbed out cinematic blissfulness with a lurking darkness before giving way to devils... Devils leads off with the return of long time collaborator Flowdan on the mic and the guitar of Justin Broadrick (Godflesh / Jesu) bringing a complete about face to the proceedings and setting the tone with "The One". Roll Deep's Manga steps up next with the instant Bug classic "Function", which is being currently smashed on dubplate, by Mala, Kahn and Logan Sama. Death Grips raise the antagonistic bar with Fuck A Bitch. Flowdan & Justin Broadrick come back for the cinematic death crawl of Fat Mac. Warrior Queen steps in for hands down the nastiest vocal she's ever delivered (which is saying a lot) for "Fuck You", and finally Flowdan steps up again to round it all off with a Devils battle cry of sorts "dirty, fuck that murky...". The concept is completed by the artistic expression it's packaged in, courtesy of Simon Fowler (Cataract). Known for his work for Sunn O))), Earth, and others, Simon has delivered a stunning hand drawn illustration, that sort that would make Bosch proud, showing the duality of the proceedings. Not one to ease anybody into the proceedings, first out the gate for first listen will be a California combo, misanthropes Death Grips with their first ever outside collaboration "Fuck A Bitch", and and the Warp Records mystic Gonjasufi with the heavy nod-out of "Save Me" Utopian/dystopian, black/white, complexity/singularity, negative/positive... Angels/Devils.

The British duo of John Hamson Jr. and Marcus Pepperell knew their lifelong friendship (since age 11) demanded they work together. The telepathic understanding between two friends isn’t often fair to outsiders, and together they speedily put together the dramatic, dense pop of *Galore*, an 11-track album that sounds like a much larger band celebrating the shimmering—and fleeting—promise of youth. “Now We Are Sixteen,” featuring guest vocals from Summer Camp, starts quietly, with a somber, nostalgic melody line that’s surrounded by so many memories, with music that threatens to detonate at any minute. That it teases us for so long is one of its greatest strengths and the kind of musical foreplay that forces us to pay attention through the album. Guitars, synths, bass, drums, and random horns supply these heavily reverbed fever dreams with an overabundance of musical details. But once you\'re acclimated to the sounds, “Dancing’s Done,” “Sound of Screams,\" and “Together Now” reveal gorgeous tunes that deserve attention. 

*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.

Nile, Prefab Sprout, Talk Talk, and The xx. In the case of Woman’s Hour, everything centers on vocalist Fiona Burgess, who brings human tenderness to subtle but stunning songs such as the title track, “To the End,” “Two Sides of You,” and “Devotion.” Even when the rhythms bounce upward, surprisingly on “Darkest Place” (earning comparisons to Beach House) and more expectedly on “Her Ghost” and “The Day That Needs Defending,” Burgess brings a vulnerability that adds further dimensions to everything she touches. William Burgess’ guitar work never veers from its context, working as much behind the scenes as weaving additional layers of texture with keyboardist Josh Hunnisett for sister Fiona to exploit. “In Stillness We Remain” swirls with a touch of old-school Cocteau Twins. Bassist Nicolas Graves provides a sober pulse while all else is an intoxicating shimmer. As a debut album, *Conversations* sounds unusually assured and experienced, as if the band *must* be hiding something on their shelves.