Music 2014

Saucer.cc music selections for 2014

November

Parquet Courts / Content Nausea (What’s Your Rupture?, 28 November 2014)
20141128
Artist_Name album cover
Rock • US (New York)
info
listen
buy files
 
Ariel Pink / Pom Pom (4AD, 17 November 2014)
20141117
Ariel Pink album cover
Art pop • US (California)
info
listen
buy files
 
TCF (Lars Holdus) / 415C47197F78E811FEEB7862288306EC4137FD4EC3DED8B (Liberation Technologies, 17 November 2014)
20141117
TCF album cover
Electronic • Norway
review on The Quietus
artist site
label site
listen/buy files
 

October

Excepter / Familiar (Blast First Petite, 14 October 2014)
20141014
Excepter album cover
Experimental rock • US (New York)
info
listen
buy files
 
Li Xi / Meet Me Somewhere (Sundowning, 15 October 2014)
20141015
Li Xi album cover
Psychedelic/Pop • US (California)
info
listen/buy files
Debut album by this San Francisco four-piece who reference neo-prog à la Fiery Furnaces and the psychedelic soundscapes of Broadcast.

September

Boothroyd / Idle Hours (Tri Angle Records, 30 September 2014)
20140930
Boothroyd album cover
Electronic/Psychedelic • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
 

July

La Morte Young / La Morte Young (Ba Da Bing!, 8 July 2014; released 1 December 2013 in France on Dysmusie)
20140708
La Morte Young album cover
Experimental jazz • France
info
listen
buy files
 

June

Hildur Guðnadóttir / Saman (Touch, 30 June 2014)
20140630
Hildur Gudnadottir album cover
Drone/Classical • Iceland
info
listen
buy files
 
Fucked Up / Glass Boys (Label, 3 June 2014)
20140603
Fucked Up album cover
Rock • Canada (Ontario)
info
listen
buy files
 
Parquet Courts / Sunbathing Animal (What’s Your Rupture?, 3 June 2014)
20140603
Artist_Name album cover
Rock • US (New York)
info
listen
buy files
 

May

John Linger / Inversion (self released, 31 May 2014)
20140531
John Linger album cover
Art rock • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
 

April

Sleaford Mods / Divide And Exit (Label, 28 April 2014)
20140204
Sleaford Mods album cover
Punk/Hip-Hop • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
 
Fucked Up / Year of the Dragon EP (Label, 15 April 2014)
20140204
Fucked Up album cover
Rock • Canada (Ontario)
info
listen
buy files
 
Klara Lewis / Ett (Label, 14 April 2014)
20140414
Klara Lewis album cover
Electronic • Austria
info
listen
buy files
Dream inducing flows of electronics and field recordings. Lewis is the daughter of Edvard Graham Lewis of the seminal art punk band Wire.
HSY / Cyberbully/Phantasm Blast single (Buzz Records, 10 April 2014)
20140410
HSY album cover
Garage • Canada (Ontario)
info
listen
buy files
 

March

Lee Paradise (Dan Lee) / Water Palace Kingdom (Pleasence Records + Not Unlike Records, 25 March 2014)
20140325
Lee Paradise album cover
Art Rock • Canada (Ontario)
info at Pleasence
info at Not Unlike
listen/buy files
Dan Lee of Hooded Fang and Phèdre triangulates Cate Le Bon (retropsychedelia), Suicide (synth drone), and Ariel Pink (art pop) on this solo debut.
Cyclobe / Sulphur-Tarot-Garden (Phantomcode, 24 March 2014)
20140324
Cyclobe album cover
Electronic • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
Vertigotronica dronescapes. These short-film soundtracks saw limited CDR release in 2012.
Kandle / In Flames (Dare To Care Records, 4 March 2014)
20140304
Artist_Name album cover
Blues rock • Canada (Québec via B.C.)
artist site
video
listen/buy files
Scintillating, pitch black blues rock evoking Led Zeppelin as well as Gemma Ray. Insidious, ineluctable.
Gallon Drunk / The Soul Of The Hour (Clouds Hill, 7 March 2014)
20140207
Gallon Drunk album cover
Blues rock • UK (England)
listen
info/buy files
On the knife edge… fervid, audacious, thrilling addition to the Gallon Drunk canon, worthy of its extraordinary stature.
When Nalda Became Punk / Indiepop Or Whatever (Shelflife Records, 4 March 2014)
20140304
When Nalda Became Punk album cover
Pop • Spain
info
listen/buy files
Pure pop at the critical nexus of naïveté and wisdom… Elena Sestelo & her band deliver brilliant songcraft on this four-track follow-up to last year’s A Farewell To Youth.
Future Punx / 999 b/w Livin’ In A Movie single (Dull Tools, 11 March 2014 with original release in alternate form October 2013)
20140311
Future Punx album cover
Neue Deutsche Welle • US (New York)
info
listen/free files
Future Punx channel The Feelies, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, and X-Mal Deutschland, fabricating fresh synth/dance rock.

February

Young Fathers / Dead (Big Dada, 3 February 2014)
20140204
Young Fathers album cover
Psychedelic/Hip-hop • UK (Scotland)
info
listen
buy files
Scottish psychedelic hip-hop out of Africa, warping your neural connections with lyrical, melodic, and harmonic juxtapositions revealing keen sociopolitical insight.
Nicolas Bernier / Frequencies A/Fragments (Line, 24 February 2014)
20140224
Nicolas Bernier album cover
Experimental • Canada (Québec)
info
buy files
A mostly overcast morning on Ganymede as a distant sun fails to move the mercury, skyships drift by, and robotic miners do their doings.
Vox Populi! & Pacific 231 / Cut Chemist Presents: Funk Off (Now Again Records, 24 February 2014 with original limited release 29 October 2013)
20140224
Vox Populi! album cover
Industrial/Goth • France
info on Fleamarket Funk
buy files
Darkness disco in this retrospective collection of underground ’80s tracks. See also Joy Division, Bauhaus, Skinny Puppy, Throbbing Gristle.
Kate Tempest / Lonely Daze single (Big Dada, 24 February 2014)
20140224
Kate Tempest Lonely Daze album cover
Hip-hop • UK (England)
info
artist site
listen
video interview
buy file
Ageless poetry, ageless beats. First single from Tempest’s solo debut album slated for late May. She was previously in Sound Of Rum.
Beth Israel / Dental Denial (Dull Tools, 26 February 2014)
20140226
Beth Israel album cover
Dada Pop • US (Texas)
info
listen/buy files
Trippy, wispy, Dadaist pop, so delicately structured and yet in beautifully… flawed… perfection, more corporeal than music with ten times as many notes. Don’t miss 2013’s self-titled debut.
Various / Inner City Beat: Detective Themes, Spy Music And Imaginary Thrillers 1967-1977 (Soul Jazz Records, 24 February 2014)
20140224
Various (Detective Themes) album cover
Soundtrack • Worldwide
info
listen
buy files
Instrumental music written for spy movies and cold war television, expertly curated for your auditory pleasure. Utterly brilliant.
Koenraad Ecker / Ill Fares The Land (Digitalis Recordings, 17 February 2014)
20140217
Koenraad Ecker album cover
Acoustic/Electronic • Belgium
brief bio
info/listen/buy files
Cellos, acoustic percussion, and computers contribute to this dark, abstract masterpiece. Belgian renaissance musician Ecker plays in/as Stray Dogs, Eject The No, muteBoy, Lumisokea, Nieuw Ensemble, Bansuri Collectif, Nagg, and Audio Damage.
Karen Gwyer / New Roof (No Pain In Pop, 17 February 2014)
20140217
Karen Gwyer album cover
Electronic • US (Michigan)
info
listen
buy files
Filmic, layered electronica… sometimes beats, sometimes flows, sometimes the two together. 3-track EP follow-up to Gwyer’s Saucer.cc 2013 best-of winner, Kiki The Wormhole.
Kevin Drumm / Shut In (Editions Mego, 17 February 2014)
20140217
Kevin Drumm album cover
Drone • US (Illinois)
info
listen
buy files
Beauty in minimalism. Fathoms of fascination in harmonic manipulation and difference-frequency beating. Mind stopping.
Younghusband / Left Of The Rocks single (Sonic Cathedral, 14 February 2014)
20140214
Younghusband album cover
Rock • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
Lush psychedelic rock. New studio track "Gun" plus a fantastic live version of the title track. Side A was on 2013 debut Dromes.
Sleaford Mods / Chubbed Up. The Singles Collection. (self released, 14 February 2014)
20140214
Sleaford Mods album cover
Punk/Hip-Hop • UK (England)
info
interview
listen/buy files (NSFW)
Harsh street punk poetry rants over high-energy, minimalist beats. Compelling. See also: Ian Dury, John Cooper Clarke, Arab Strap, The Fall.
Stefan Jaworzyn / Drained Of Connotation (Blackest Ever Black, 3 February 2014)
20140203
Stefan Jaworzyn album cover
Noise/Industrial • UK (England)
info
interview
listen/buy files
Meditative, primitive intensity. Freshly surfaced first release of 1982 treasure from a member of Whitehouse and Skullflower.
Orphan Fairytale / My Favorite Fairytale (Aguirre, 1 February 2014)
20140201
Orphan Fairytale album cover
Drone/Psychedelic • Belgium
info
listen/buy files
Lo-fi, nursery rhyme dreamscapes or impossible glimpses through the cosmic membrane. OF is Belgian solo artist Eva Van Deuren who plays homemade & toy instruments.
Current 93 / I Am The Last Of All The Field That Fell (The Spheres, 11 February 2014)
20140211
Current 93 album cover
Prog/Folk • Ireland via UK (England)
info
Current 93 discography on Brainwashed.com
listen/buy files
An epic, timeless folk-prog opera featuring David Michael Tibet's impassioned words and voice with an all-star cast (James Blackshaw, Nick Cave, Andrew Liles, John Zorn, many more).
D/P/I  /  08.DD.15 (Leaving Records, 10 February 2014)
20140210
D/P/I album cover
Glitch/Psychedelic • US (California)
info
listen/buy files
Unrelenting, soft explosion of convulsive start-stops, thrillingly musical over its manic 32 minutes. Solo project of Alex Gray (in Sun Araw, Deep Magic, DJ Purple Image, Heat Wave, and Dreamcolour).
ππ (PyPy) / Pagan Day (Slovenly Recordings, 11 February 2014)
20140211
PyPy album cover
Garage • Canada (Québec)
info/listen/buy files
Brightly-lit psychedelic garage from Montréal in this project from members of CPC Gangbangs, Red Mass, and Duchess Says.
Shoes This High / Straight To Hell (Siltbreeze, 4 February 2014)
20140204
Shoes This High album cover
Postpunk • New Zealand
info
listen
buy files
Archival, live New Zealand postpunk, curated and released 34 years on in this wonderful collection. Performed at Billy The Club in Wellington, 22 June 1980.
Henry Blacker / Hungry Dogs Will Eat Dirty Pudding (Riot Season, 3 February 2014)
20140203
Henry Blacker album cover
Rock • UK (England)
info
listen/buy files
Dirty ass rock'n'roll (as John Cale used to say) inspired by Steve Albini’s (late ’80s band) Rapeman and Felix Pappalardi’s (early ’70s band) Mountain. Sludgy crunch.
Magic Eye / Babylon (Not Not Fun, 4 February 2014)
20140204
Janek Schaeffer album cover
Shoegaze/Lo-fi • UK (Scotland)
info
listen
buy files
Trip-hop ballads and ethereal choirs played through thick neon fog in a phosphorescent glass world… and it comes out of the oven as a sort of lo-fi postmodern shoegaze.
Gábor Lázár / ILS (Presto!?, 4 February 2014)
20140204
Gábor Lázár album cover
Electronic • Hungary
info
review at Awkward Movements
listen/buy files
Algorithmic, arhythmic, atonal experiments introspecting one single note over the course of 11 tracks and 40 minutes.
Janek Schaeffer / Lay-By Lullaby (12K, 4 February 2014)
20140204
Janek Schaeffer album cover
Ambient • UK (England)
info
listen
buy files
Soothing and vertigo inducing juxtaposition of freeway noise, spidery electronic scintillations, and the loveliest of ethereal, Kosmische drone.

January

Trick Mammoth / Floristry (Fishrider Records, 31 January 2014)
20140131
Trick Mammoth album cover
Jangle Pop • New Zealand
info
listen
buy files
Ø (Mika Vainio) / Konstellaatio (Sähkö Recordings, 13 January 2014)
20140113
Mika Vainio album cover
Electronic • Finland/Germany
info
artist site
listen
buy files
Spectacular space/impressionistic music that fucks with the capabilities of hearing (and challenges any tech between the sound files and your brain). Hypnotic, trippy, alien, sometimes ominous.
Ex-Easter Island Head / Large Electric Ensemble (Low Point, 20 January 2014)
20140120
Ex-Easter Island Head album cover
Drone • UK (England)
info
listen/buy files
A chorus of chords and percussion in arcs of energy and emotion that extend across the four lovely tracks of this remarkable EP.
Grand Mal X / Life EP (Beläten, 31 January 2014)
20140131
Grand Mal X album cover
Electronic • Sweden
info
listen/buy files
Minimalist/goth industrial pieces for dead dolls with discerning taste. Disarmingly anachronistic.
Bohren & Der Club of Gore / Piano Nights (PIAS, 24 January 2014)
20140124
Piano Nights album cover
Ambient/Jazz • Germany
info (in German)
artist bio
listen
buy files
Enormous, glacial, black light landscapes in this hour-long follow-up to 2008’s Delores. Echoes of Popol Vuh.
Cherry Glazerr / Haxel Princess (Burger Records, 14 January 2014)
20140114
Haxel Princess album cover
Garage • US (California)
Kickstarter campaign (funded)
listen/buy files
Pure rock composed with teenage skin and bone, persuasively arguing for guitars over computers. (2013’s Papa Cremp album has different versions of half of these songs.)
Indian / From All Purity (Relapse Records, 21 January 2014)
20140121
From All Purity album cover
Metal/Noise • US (Illinois)
info
video (nsfw, horror imagery)
listen/buy files
Crushing, cathartic metal brutality with forays into power noise. The video is difficult as it contains some abhorrent misogyny scenes. As a palate cleanser, here's last year’s winners of the International Women Of Courage Awards.
N.M.O. / Dominant Akkord (anòmia, January 2014)
201401
Dominant Akkord album cover
Martial/Experimental • Norway
info
artist website
listen
buy files
Percussive, pattern-based musical structures in conversation with atonal imaginings. (Limited edition cassette version was released in December 2013.)
Elitechnique / Intrusion (II) (Clone Loft Supreme Series, 27 January 2014)
20140127
Intrusion (II) album cover
Electronic/Disco • The Netherlands
info
listen
buy files
Stylistic nods to early NYC disco, ’80s synthwave, Krautrock, the French duo Air, and Philip Glass… yet all of a piece. Follow-up to the band’s 2012 Intrusion EP.
The Hidden Cameras / Age (Evil Evil, 27 January 2014)
20140127
Age album cover
Pop • Germany via Canada (Ontario)
info
listen
video
interview
buy CD (unavailable as high-res files)
A subtly subversive, glorious, wet gift for this dull world. Utterly danceable. First album in five years from the sometimes-Berlin-based Joel Gibb & Co.
Helm / The Hollow Organ (PAN, 17 January 2014)
20140117
The Hollow Organ album cover
Electronic/Abstract/Ambient • UK (England)
artist info
label info
listen
buy files
Layered and nightmarish cum intricately minimalist and mysterious. Solo project of Luke Younger from the drone duo Birds Of Delay, and owner of the Alter record label.
Negra Branca / NB (Tesla Tapes, 2 January 2014)
20140102
Negra Branca album cover
Electronic/Psychedelic • UK (England)
info/listen/buy files
Dreamy, hypnagogic, gentle. Expanded, 2014 edition (of the similarly-named March, 2013 release) from Gnod's Marlene Ribeiro.



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Published continually throughout 2014. Selections are the Saucer.cc candidates for best of the year. Still curious? Look at the Saucer.cc WTF page.

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