At Gigslutz we strive to bring you reviews of the best albums each week, but we’re only human (debatable at times) and occasionally we miss a few. Well, that or the record label/PR agency neglect to send us a copy of their latest masterpiece. Anyway, here are nine brilliant records we didn’t review in 2014 until now…
Bird – My Fear and Me
I first saw Bird in 2011, supporting Hannah Peel in a church in Liverpool. I raved about them at the time, no-one listened. I remain a voice crying in the wilderness.
Three years, one broken relationship, and one flat move later, Bird play BBC 6Music Live, and are championed by Tom Ravenscroft and, er, Nick Griffin. The former is the son of Peel; the other is just a racist in a Primarni suit. My Fear And Me was released this Spring to the odd nod of approval from Southern softies, whereas in their native Liverpool they can pack out cathedrals.
So why should you listen to this album? It’s dark, scary, sexy and genuinely haunting music. There is also a massive literary, artistic feel to their music. It’s as if The Shelleys, Byron and Pollidori met up for a jam session, rather than to write the best gothic horror story.
If you follow the trail of their lyrics, dark things happen in the woods. An early poster for the band is a werewolf walking away from a dead girl. It’s always raining, which as Freud and any screenwriter will tell you, signifies sex and death.
This is not to patronise Adele, Sian, Lex and Christian (I have an abiding disdain for students reading Blake in the park at night). But they can take a concept and see it through with intelligence, grace and sensuality. Bird are tagged as ‘ethereal wave’ on Facebook. I’d tag them as underrated, original, and unique.
Kev McCready
East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
With a release date as early as January 13 2014, it’s becoming easier for this 2014 Mercury Music Prize nominated underdog to slip your mind, and for East India Youth to become something uncommon and foreign to roll on your tongue. However, with its breath-taking transitions and important wicked synth lines, this un-sung debut is simply one of the paramount releases of 2014.
Total Strife Forever’s euphoric opener ‘Glitter Recession’ slides effortlessly into the first edition of the title track (later bettered by three eccentric instalments), then bounces straight into the passion-doused ‘Dripping Down’.
The perfectly crafted, honeyed vocal of East India Youth is showcased in full-frontal brilliance on both the heart-melting ‘Heaven, How Long’ and the extremely infectious ‘Looking For Someone’; it’s definitely time for the world to re-awaken to the sensational beauty of Total Strife Forever.
If this album managed to temporarily erase itself from your memory, then ask yourself how you’ve been coping so long without the sweet, electronic sounds rattling around your brain.
Ella Scott
Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
You’ve probably heard people complain that Parquet Courts have “lost their touch” or some other mindless journalistic moaning, when in fact, Sunbathing Animal is simply the band heading back to their punk roots to put out one of the grittiest, yet slickest albums of this year. Opening track ‘Bodies Made Of’ brings back ideas and memories of their last album, Light Up Gold, with its chilled snare and cymbal combos and standout imagery (“Bodies made of, slugs and guts”). ‘Ducking and Dodging’ is an energetic mover of a track, with a catchy as melody and fast paced lyrics similar to songs like ‘Donuts Only’ and ‘Careers in Combat’.
However, tracks like ‘She’s Rolling’ and ‘Instant Disassembly’ show a more gentle and refined side to the punk rockers. As the two longest tracks on the album, Parquet Courts seem to take a step back, relax and just steadily show what they can do in over 6 minutes of scuzzy yet laidback tunes. It’s this dank and heavy vibe along with Andrew Savage’s deep, unique and ultimately comfortable singing style that gives Parquet Courts their unique appeal. Sunbathing Animal may be a little rough around the edges, but that’s what makes it. It’s all you can expect from Parquet Courts and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Elli Brazzill
Rise Against – The Black Market
When a band has released a stream of consistently amazing albums, you’d be forgiven for thinking that their next one will be shit. And so often that’s exactly what happens (mentioning no names). In the case of Rise Against, however, this is false. Their past four albums have been brilliant, and The Black Market is no exception. On paper it seems a little too similar to their previous albums, but listening to it reveals something else entirely.
Though to some it may seem impossible for a band whose previous album depicted the approaching collapse of society and the damage mankind has done to the world to get even more serious, this album is darker still, specifically acoustic track ‘People Live Here’, which references the Sandy Hook shootings of 2012 among other things.
Rise Against have an inimitable talent of making the most serious of subjects into the catchiest of songs, and it helps that interspersed between all this misery are some of the warmest songs they’ve written yet, particularly ‘Sudden Life’ and ‘Zero Visibility’. Powerful and beautiful, The Black Market hasn’t ended their streak of great albums, and at this point, I doubt they’ll ever produce another bad one.
Emily Burke
St. Vincent – St. Vincent
It’s practically a crime that a five star review of St. Vincent’s eponymous fourth studio album isn’t nestled comfortably in the February 2014 archives on Gigslutz. I pre-ordered St. Vincent on iTunes earlier this year, something I rarely do; I was that convinced it was a worthy investment, despite only having heard a few 30 second bursts. How right I was… Opener ‘Rattlesnake’ is an explosion of noise that sounds like it was recorded in a studio on Mars.
There’s an abstract, foreign and dark tone to this album, drawing on a side of Annie Clark’s character that was only hinted at in previous records. The pace of ‘Prince Johnny’ paired with the choir backing vocals sounds very much like an extra-terrestrial coronation ceremony.
St Vincent’s narration throughout this record makes use of a wide vocal range, demonstrating her phenomenal talent. It sounds like Lianne La Havas has decided to shave off all her hair, bought a leather jacket and started smoking. Single ‘Birth In Reverse’ demonstrates Clark’s aptitude with a guitar, while ‘Regret’ is a kick in the face to the listener; this is a rock song with a delicious feminine twist.
‘Bring Me Your Loves’ is a trippy track that goes from a turbulent take-off to floating through space in 30 seconds flat. It nearly leaves the listener behind – full of pace and frantic breakdowns that are engaging from start to finish. As Clark sings “I took you off your leash / But I can’t make you heel”, the listener is panting as they try and keep up with her. Closer ‘Seven Crossed Fingers’ sounds like a shooting star and sees St. Vincent drop the listener safely back on earth, in a bittersweet departure.
Beth Kirkbride
Sleaford Mods – Divide and Exit
“The smell of piss is so strong it smells like decent bacon.” If there’s a more amusing and evocative first line of a song than the opening lyric to ‘Tied Up in Nottz this year, I’ve yet to hear it. Sleaford Mods have been described as “Shane Meadows meets the Sex Pistols” and “John Cooper Clarke meets the Wu-Tang Clan”. That’s just lazy journalism. They sound unique.
No band since the Happy Mondays has articulated working class frustration with as much attitude and wit as Sleaford Mods. At times, Jason Williamson’s words are pure poetry:
“Sat around the bloke’s house / He liked me ‘cos I made some informed comment about the early history of his fucking country / Big mirror, lumps of drugs, his own private lift, shit pieces of art, matter of fact statements about how he’s picking his kids up in two hours/ Twat: as if” (‘You’re Brave’).
They also have tunes by the dozen. Andrew Fearn’s minimal bass and drums are the perfect musical foil for these songs of disaffection. And anyone who compares David Cameron to a blood-sucking vampire must be doing something right: “Like three months of rain, no one likes a Tory reign / The Prime Minister’s face hanging in the clouds like Gary Oldman’s Dracula” (‘Liveable Shit’).
An old punk once said, “Anger is an energy” – as mantras go, it’s one perfectly suited to describing Sleaford Mods. There’s a video below. Have a listen.
Paul Sng
Slow Club – Complete Surrender
It has always been clear that Slow Club are keen on mixing things up; packing the talent of a much bigger band, Rebecca Taylor and Charles Watson switch instruments and lead vocals at will for a fluid and versatile style that feeds on great chemistry. Still, their third album will have come as a surprise to many, as Complete Surrender sees the Sheffield pair homing right in on the vintage soulful pop influences that they have previously touched on, unveiling an expansive sound soaked in 60s soul, doo-wop and the odd dash of disco.
‘Tears Of Joy’, ‘The Pieces’, ‘Complete Surrender’ and ‘Suffering You, Suffering Me’ demonstrate their talent for impeccably catchy singles, while ‘Not Mine To Love’ could be a lost Dusty Springfield ballad. The biggest revelation is the vocal range from Taylor; while definitely no slouch before, on this album she sounds as if she has unlocked a bonus level, with purity, power and character combining in equal measure.
The lovely, Watson-voiced, ‘Paraguay And Panama’ and Taylor’s raw break-up song ‘Dependable People And Things That I’m Sure Of’, hark back to more stripped-back times. While the wry, heart-on-sleeve charm that endeared them to the world is still very much in evidence, Slow Club have made a brave, instinctive move and it sounds like they are having fun with it.
Rosie James
Tom Hickox – War, Peace and Diplomacy
Baritone singer-songwriter Tom Hickox has been compared to Nick Cave, Scott Walker and Leonard Cohen. Listening to his debut album, it’s easy to see why he’s held in such high regard. His songs have a similar tendency to get under the listener’s skin from the off, yet contain enough layers to reveal something new each time they’re revisited.
War, Peace and Diplomacy is an ambitious and accomplished record, on which Hickox pours out his soul in a series of revealing song stories. ‘Angel of the North’, the tender ballad that opens the album, eases the listener in with its hypnotic drone of organ and strings, before ‘The Pretty Pride of Russia’ tells the heart-breaking tale of a young woman headed for London who ends up working as a prostitute. ‘Out of the War Zone’ features a guest appearance on slide guitar from fellow crooner Richard Hawley (whose band provide backing to Hickox on the record).
The highlight of the album is ‘The Lisbon Maru’, which reveals the story of an old man whose claim to have survived the sinking of the titular vessel – a floating Japanese P.O.W. ship during World War II – was dismissed for years by pub locals as the ramblings of a drunk, until he was tracked down by a broadsheet journalist and finally vindicated. If you’ve yet to discover Tom Hickox, don’t waste another second: a rare and brilliant songwriter awaits you.
Paul Sng
The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
I was a latecomer to The War On Drugs, but the Philadelphia band’s third album was impossible to ignore. A few seconds into opener ‘Under The Pressure’, the creeping, stuttering intro unleashes a guitar melody like a firework into the sky, and the spark swirls and burns, dipping and rising but never drifting away, across 10 tracks.
Recorded in the aftermath of a heavy touring period (when frontman Adam Granduciel struggled to reacclimatise to normal life), the songs here have come from the depths of a soul in turmoil. From those dark thoughts, Granduciel has hewn a work of great beauty. Dylan and Springsteen, among other great American songwriters, may be prominent influences, but there is no disputing that his own personality is king here, his own take on Americana emerging strong.
While the addictive rush of ‘Red Eyes’ makes it one of the tracks of the year, much of the joy of this record is in being reeled in unawares and rooted to the spot by the slyly hypnotic arrangements on the likes of ‘An Ocean In Between The Waves’, ‘Eyes To The Wind’ or ‘Burning’. Lost In The Dream is the sort of album that turns your car into a cocoon, the sort of album that impels you, on arriving home, to drive past your own front door and on around the block another couple of times to avoid prematurely puncturing the mood.
Rosie James
Paul Sng
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