2014 Music Recommendations? What ya got spinning?

[Slosh]

I'm trying to post but this site is broken. Testing...

[ForeverAutumn]

I feel like I just time travelled. Davey, Snowie, Swish and Slosh? Am I in 2005?

Snowie, why are you surprised that I bought the new Spoon? I've bought everything since Gimme Fiction. I even went to see them this summer.

My musical tastes runs through many genres.

[Snowbunny]

Just yanking your chain, FA.

You are the most open-minded listener I know, but you do have a softness for prog, and sometimes fans of that genre can be a little resistant when exposed to alternative styles of music.

Snowie

[ForeverAutumn]

Just yanking your chain, FA.

You are the most open-minded listener I know, but you do have a softness for prog, and sometimes fans of that genre can be a little resistant when exposed to alternative styles of music.

Snowie

You're being very diplomatic. I would not have phrased that so politely. I spend a lot of time over at Progressive Ears and there are some folks there with serious tunnel-vision. If it's not 22 minutes long with at least 7 signature changes it must suck.

Too bad for them. They lose out on some killer tunes.

BTW, you don't have to click on a thread to see the most recent post on a forum. If you click on the Forums button on the black bar at the top of the page, you can see when the last post in RR was and just click on it. If there's nothing new, you don't need to click.

I'm going to go check out that other site now.

[Davey]

I feel like I just time travelled. Davey, Snowie, Swish and Slosh? Am I in 2005?

A few months ago I noticed a post on the SH site from someone with name cc--, which peaked my interest because one of our old buddies here used to go by the name cc. And it was in a Stones thread, and we used to talk about the Stones and Bowie and a lot of new stuff too since he had recently been in a band and had played at shows with a lot of the indie bands we used to talk about all the time. But we lost track over the years, and I couldn't really tell if it was him, and suspected not so didn't say anything. And there were some times we were in the same threads, and I liked his post and he liked mine (likes are used a lot over there). But then he added a soundcloud link to his recent music and band, and I listened and knew it was him since I have one of his old CDs and knew his voice, so responded to one of his posts as though it was still like 2005 and we had been talking all the time. And it was funny because at first he wasn't very responsive, and I thought maybe he was done with those old days and people at Rave Recs. But then he sent me a nice PM, at first he didn't recognize me as Davey since I was mostly dbi back then, but then it clicked and we exchanged some more PMs.

Anyway, fun to connect with old friends, or somehow stay in touch. This site is so limited nowadays, and I kinda gave up on it late last year, but really nice to see some new words from some of my old friends.

I've been listening some to Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses Maelstrom, and pretty amazing! I'm not familiar with his past work, apparently it can be quite experimental, but this seems pretty special right now. It does have some moments reminiscent of Radiohead's Kid A explorations, and Stian's voice can be a bit like Yorke's (and I guess the guy from Coldplay too), but this is more in the post-rock world... think maybe a mix of The Swans and Sigur Ros as popular touchstones. But you might have to add some King Crimson to the mix because Stian is quite an interesting guitar stylist and the music does have a proggish flair, though not overtly so. Anyway, highly recommended listen at this point. Love it so far. Nice review at Quietus, which is how I connected ... The Quietus | Reviews | Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses ... the digital download sounds pretty good for modern stuff, with DR9 overall, but mostly up around DR11 and definitely crankable. And I have read that the vinyl sounds nice too, and includes the CD, but I guess it's all sold out now, too bad.

[noddin0ff]

I've been sampling a lot of stuff this year, but haven't been putting in the ear time to really nail down which are hits and misses. Here's my best guesses.

Hits so far:
Ought - More than any other day (kind of album that makes me want to take an adventure, brings that paranoia/beauty/optimism combo that the Talking Heads captured so well)
The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (power alt-pop, first album for me from them)
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence (Noir candy, a little silly, but seductive anyway)
Spoon - They Want My Soul (Solid Spoon)
Cold Ward Kids - Hold My Home (Maybe a move to the more conventional, but I like it)
Real Estate - Atlas (a gem of an album)

More of the same, but good:
Sun Kil Moon - Benji (very good)
The Antlers - Familiars
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

More of the same but fell short for me:
Beck - Morning Phase (wonderful production though)
Andrew Bird - Thinks are really great here, sort of (maybe I’ve just had enough)
Jack White - Lazaretto (probably be a great album by anyone else. Anyone who didn’t already have some ground breaking albums behind them. Probably should give it another listen)
Camper Van Beethoven - El Camino Real (called it in)

[Davey]

I've been sampling a lot of stuff this year, but haven't been putting in the ear time to really nail down which are hits and misses. Here's my best guesses.

Hits so far:
Ought - More than any other day (kind of album that makes me want to take an adventure, brings that paranoia/beauty/optimism combo that the Talking Heads captured so well)
The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (power alt-pop, first album for me from them)
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence (Noir candy, a little silly, but seductive anyway)
Spoon - They Want My Soul (Solid Spoon)
Cold Ward Kids - Hold My Home (Maybe a move to the more conventional, but I like it)
Real Estate - Atlas (a gem of an album)

More of the same, but good:
Sun Kil Moon - Benji (very good)
The Antlers - Familiars
The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

More of the same but fell short for me:
Beck - Morning Phase (wonderful production though)
Andrew Bird - Thinks are really great here, sort of (maybe I’ve just had enough)
Jack White - Lazaretto (probably be a great album by anyone else. Anyone who didn’t already have some ground breaking albums behind them. Probably should give it another listen)
Camper Van Beethoven - El Camino Real (called it in)

The two I like best on your lists are The Antlers and The War On Drugs, both pretty great. No idea what my top three may be at the end of the year, I do seem to change my mind a lot, and the ones near the top of my list are usually kind of fuzzy-rated, not a real ranking. But right now it would probably look like this based on number of listens and how likely I am to listen a lot more ...

Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
I have a lot of admiration for what she is doing on this latest record, and it just keeps getting better and better, more powerful with each listen. I can't remember a recent album from the last few years that has taken me by such surprise, she's amazing. Caught her performance on a couple recent shows too, including a really nice solo spot on Jools Holland doing "I Know", that has done nothing but boost her stature in my mind, very enchanting, just Sharon and a piano. Said on her facebook page how honored she was to play Jools' piano, but the truth is she really stole the show for many of us. The recording isn't so great, but I'm over that now and listen to it over and over.

Brian Jonestown Massacre - Revelation
This came as another complete surprise, hadn't even followed the last few BJM records, but still love those mid-90s gems and listen all the time, and this one takes me back there through much of it. Shame it hasn't gotten more attention, but guess not really, some of us just love what Anton does and maybe aren't as critical as the rest, there's a strong connection even when it doesn't all come together just right, but this one does come together pretty much just right. Typical BJM recording, they were even loud back in the mid-90s.

Hundred Waters - The Moon Rang Like a Bell
I've really been liking this one, not completely electronic, lots of processed piano, and it does have very nice female vocals making it somewhat reminiscent of Portishead, pretty enchanting overall. Tends to get stuck on repeat, just feels too good to stop. Second record, no slump at all. Electro-organic-folkiness with a bit of indie pop, really nice feel, understated female vocals, sometimes laid bare and not much more than a coo, other times layered and more majestic, and still other times sounding a bit like Laurie Anderson with a touch of Kate Bush, both music and vocals.

Hard not to mention The Delines and their great Colfax, excellent sounding too. Combining the great words and music of Willy Vlautin, with soulful female vocals by Amy Boone, the whole band is fantastic. And the great new one from MC Taylor and his Hiss Golden Messenger, Lateness of Dancers. And Jolie Holland Wine Dark Sea. The new Caribou Our Love just came out, but is already a big favorite. Maybe a bit light in substance, but fun. And many more, including that Stian Westerhus & Pale Horses I mentioned above, some amazing music on there. And the new one from Jenny Hval and Susanna has some very adventurous (and likeable) music too. The latest from Pere Ubu is great, I mean really great, and rocks from the gate too. And weird as anything, classic Ubu. New one from Steve Gunn, I do seem to love everything that touches him lately, including that amazing Golden Gunn record from last year collaborating with Hiss Golden Messenger, and the Black Dirt Oak record from early this year, and now his new solo record Way Out Weather, definitely check it out. Frazey Ford, Warpaint, Cibo Matto, quite a few other really nice records this year.

[jonnyhambone]

I do need to pick up the new Steve Gunn, I've only heard good things of it.
My tastes have been a bit more loud and heavy lately but I'm really struck by the new Grouper album, Ruins. She (Grouper is just Liz Harris) has typically created very ambient atmospheres thru layers of reverbed guitar and her beautiful voice acting as an instrument more than vocalist. This new one is mostly piano with the lyrics much clearer but just as darkly atmospheric and emotive as anything she's done. It also makes great use of the spaces she recorded in - a small house in South America - with frogs and cicadas filling in the empty spaces and the occasional rumble of thunder and rain.
Still streaming at NPR First Listen --> First Listen: Grouper, 'Ruins' : NPR

Also, not music from 2014, but I just splurged on the new Sleater-Kinney boxset. All their albums remastered from analogue tapes, pressed at RTI, each on different color vinyl even. Gorgeous set and fun to revisit some really stellar music.

[Davey]

My tastes have been a bit more loud and heavy lately but I'm really struck by the new Grouper album, Ruins. She (Grouper is just Liz Harris) has typically created very ambient atmospheres thru layers of reverbed guitar and her beautiful voice acting as an instrument more than vocalist. This new one is mostly piano with the lyrics much clearer but just as darkly atmospheric and emotive as anything she's done. It also makes great use of the spaces she recorded in - a small house in South America - with frogs and cicadas filling in the empty spaces and the occasional rumble of thunder and rain.

That is a nice record, I do really like the sound, very lofi recording with the piano pretty closely miked, as you say it has a great ambience. I can't really understand anything she's singing, though from reading some about it, the words match the somber sound. Not sure how much I really like it, getting some great reviews but I'd be reluctant to recommend it to anyone. I've only listened a couple times, and not all at once, which it probably needs.

[ForeverAutumn]

I'm trying to post but this site is broken. Testing...

The site is fucked and there's no one to fix it. You'll get an error message, but your post will take.

[Snowbunny]

I'm trying to post but this site is broken. Testing...

Hey Sloshie,

This kind of glitch is why we're checking the vacancy rate in other neighbourhoods.

You've probably figured out by now that after you hit Submit Reply you get a white page even though your post was posted.

And the only way to know if there's replies to a thread is to open it up.

Looks like a good list there. Thanks for reminding me that Andrew Bird has a new album, although I am taking a break from buying music.

I don't have my music on my phone and I am frustrated by the battery life of both it and my ipod.

I miss the days when I could listen to a new CD on repeat while out on a long walk and carry a couple of AA's in case of emergency.

I guess I'm probably just in a slump. But that new Spoon might get me out of it. And it looks like St. Vincent might just get me excited again.

Good to see you. If you decide to try on a different persona on another site, give us a wink and a nod so I know it's you.