When I look at my most listened to albums of 2014, it seems pretty easy to identify what I was up to consistently through the year, and also what were my exploratory moments of trying out new things.
Music to connect with spirit. music to be happy alone in my house to. music for making love. music for exploring the artistic self. music for getting code written. music that touches, but eases the pain. music to carry me outside the bounds of this standard reality. music that just plain rocks.
Here's my list of amazing albums that have shaped me, almost all of them released in 2013 or 2014. I've linked to ways to listen on grooveshark where I'd recommend checking it out, and only then if you really dig it maybe buy the album, or find it on your spotify or google music or whatever the heck you use.
Tinariwen - Emmaar listen to it
After being exposed earlier in the year to Tinariwen, but without knowing the name, I found myself drawn to the memory of the music later in the year, and had to ask a friend what the artist had been. It took me and him both working at it for at least a week, me trying to describe it, for him to come back up with the name Tinariwen. I was drawn back to the rhythmic drumming, the deep enchanting voices speaking foreign tongues, and the soulful use of distortion that brings an odd sense of modernity to what feels intuitively like ancient rhythms.
Listen to Tinariwen when you're wanting to create a peaceful place in the world, that drives you deeper into whatever experience you're already having. Writing, having tea, doing art. Settle in for an eternal, peaceful journey.
Little Dragon - Ritual Union listen to it
Ritual Union is good for driving in the dark. I've got that feeling that my body has turned to jello and that my shifting pulsing movements are just what the universe wants. I'm just on the edge of lost. I've got that feeling that "things are going to be good". Ritual Union builds up a quiet excitement in me. Let it move me. Get into the weirdness of it. Let it bring out the weird in me. Bask in the offbeats, her echoing sulking voice, and the metallic sounds and synths.
Listening is further improved if you've got a Californian from the future on hand to get you ridiculously into it.
Tennis - Ritual in Repeat listen to it
You won't like this album as much as I do. No one seems to. I'm not even kidding, I love this album, but the chances of you loving it seem slim.
For me, it's simple, the voice of lead singer Alaina Moore kills me. Throw in the perfectly distorted electric guitar emitting catchy riffs, and the doo-wop background vocals and life becomes simple. Life is simple, and I'm happy. In October, two weeks before my birthday I found out that Tennis had a new album released this year, but I found something else too. They were coming to Toronto one week from that Sunday. My only friend who really digs Tennis was in South Korea at the time, so it was up to me. I did the trip on my own and blissed out in slight disbelief as I watched the actual sounds of the vocals come out of Alaina Moores radiant face. You won't hear me listen to too many albums that are reminiscent of 80's tunes, but Ritual in Repeat undeniably has that aspect to it.
If you see me down ever, please, will you track down a Tennis album and put it on for me?
Album Cover Special Feature: The Cat Empire
Caribou - Our Love listen to it
Our Love is a trance-y (as in be-in-a-trance, not trance music), slow dance-y (moving slowly, not like high school "slow dance") kind of album. Put it on in the background while you're doing focused work, or maybe taking a bath that you want to really sink into. You can disappear into Our Love.
Stornoway - Tales From Terra Firma listen to it
Ever since I first heard the song Zorbing by Stornoway I felt a pretty strong resonance with these guys. So again, I was pretty excited by the release of a new album by them this year, and I wasn't disappointed. The most recent time I listened to Tales From Terra Firma it was on an evening walk through the city, with a light snow coming down, and the activities suited one another well. It has a high energy, but still seems to lull you into a semi-reflective space. Be ready for an emphatic singing style, that escalates essentially to shouting sometimes. You only want to listen to this album if you can move with its' highs and its lows. For me personally, there's something about his voice, and knowing that these songs hail from England, that I find comforting, having family heritage there.
Frazey Ford - Obadiah listen to it (not full album)
Frazey Ford is another one of those stunning voices. All that's required with her albums is to drop a little bit of banjo and a soft drum beat, maybe some light bass, and let her voice shine. Something in her voice says "hey, I've been through it, and I can tell you what, I came out the other side." Yes. Life goes on, just relax a little bit, she seems to sing. For me, I need this reminder. I remember a whole day that I spent taking the bus around Kitchener-Waterloo, one place to the next, and Obadiah was my soundtrack. I can't remember a more peaceful day. It was like the music, and relaxing to it was my real activity, and my meetings and errands were just the filler, instead of the other way around. Another time to listen to Frazey Ford, speaking from experience, is at the end of an intense experience with someone(s) else and you just want to relax into one another's presence in the afterglow. For us, it was a ceremony, but it could be after making love, whatever! Then again, she can lean on the side of being a bit morose so keep that in mind.
The Strokes - Comedown Machine listen to it
Comedown Machine is a high energy rock album. I never know whether rock is the right word to use any more because it's not like AC/DC rock or something, a more modern style. Anyways Wikipedia seems to say they're a rock band. And definitely electric guitar is something you're going to get. I've always liked the Strokes. This new album seems to carry a lot of their best elements for me. Julian Casablancas super flexible voice, intense songs, thoughtful songs, and just really good song composition. Call me domestic, but an album like Comedown Machine is what I'd want to put on while I'm alone in the house vacuuming or cleaning, which incidentally is something I gradually got pretty into this year. For those moments when you're just wanting to have a good time, turn the music up loud and try hopelessly to sing along.
Album Cover Special Feature: Empire of the Sun
Weather Station - All of it Was Mine listen to it
For me, this album speaks to spending a gentle evening with a lover. You've got nothing to be ready for later on. Nothing presses you. With the beautiful, calming voice of Tamara Hope lulling in the background, you can get lost in the presence of someone else. A stand out song on the album is Came So Easy, listen to that one and see if you like it, because the rest of the album's not far off.
Spoon - They Want My Soul listen to it
Spoon rocks. They just rock. They Want My Soul is a gritty, mind-blowing mix. It's another good one for the car, for sure. I had a few weeks this year where I borrowed a car and I maxed out my musical car time on They Want My Soul. Good for like, someone's climbing into the car with you and you're thinking... I want these folks to know that I like to have a good time in life. Not in a pop music kind of way. In the kind of way where life is like a gourmet sandwich to sink your teeth into. Get in there. Get into the good stuff. Fuck, isn't it good?
I also put it on to rock (bliss) out when the house is empty.
This one likely takes it in terms of my number 1 favorite, and my number 1 most listened to this year.
Beck - Morning Phase listen to it
Oh. It only takes one bar in to Morning Phase to know where this music came in to my life this year. The first time I heard it was in Toronto while staying at a friend of a friends, a couple with a baby girl. They put it on and I melted right into it. Beck has gone uber soft in this album, although sometimes it borders on sinister, or overly intense. I'm working on not being embarrassed to share that this became my sit at home in my room and feel kind of down album. In some ways, this was much earlier in the year, I was on somewhat of an emotional low. I felt that there were things that I'd lost, that I might never get back, mistakes that I had made. When you listen to this album, you realize it certainly isn't rushing you anywhere.
ODESZA - In Return listen to it
If you were on a train going somewhere, passing serene countryside, and you wanted to feel like there were good things in store for you, good things behind, you could listen to In Return.
It has that underlying rhythm that whispers "life is an epic journey". Although you'll feel like getting up and dancing like a wildling, it's enough to know that this album exists for you to listen to, and tapping your feet is an understated, but sufficient, display of the glory inside.
For me, it wasn't on a train, but I was alone in a car, driving through the country side. I had been extremely stationary for months, with an injured knee, now I was free. It was fall, winter was coming, and the sun shone it's ecstatic rays on the simple fields. I had that shiver go through my body, not a cold shiver, but one of ecstatic life being breathed through my body.
These songs are like liquid gold. Be transported by beautiful voices, stellar synths, and stabilizing beats. Let them help you find freedom.
Alt-J - This Is All Yours listen to it
The whole nature of Alt-J is to touch me, and the others who listen to it, deeply. It strikes me that this album is not for the faint of heart. When I was prepared to set all things aside, and dive into nothing but the music, and my own experience, I didn't know what I would find. Don't listen to this album in full light, or in full darkness, but something in between. The twilight zone. As usual for Alt-J, and reminding me of Bon Iver in this sense, you can rarely tell specifically what words are being spoken, or what they elude to, but damned if they aren't the truest thing you ever heard!
Speaking from experience, don't try and put it on as background music for a party. It will freak out the guests.
I had one particularly powerful night spend with This Is All Yours, where I had the house to myself and felt myself being pulled into a somewhat dark, but mostly just heightened state of emotions, and I wanted to give myself time with those feelings, sink into them. Putting the album on our big set of speakers I let myself move around and be moved in the spaces of my house, just letting myself follow the character of the music, and by nature of the far flung places that it goes, it took me there as well.
If you haven't listened to Alt-J before, don't start with a random song and think you don't like it, but try one like Every Other Freckle to begin with.
Andrew Bird - I Want To See Pulaski At Night listen to it
At times in my past I have said, "art is good, and art is beautiful to enjoy and look at, but I do not have time for making art."
A time came this year when I said to myself... "to heck with that." (in harsher words)
At times in the past I have looked at some of the beautiful creations I've seen and I've thought "but my, that took so little work!" But I knew deep down that wasn't true, and this year when I sat myself down, time after time, to create something that I felt was truly beautiful, I was staggered by how much I had underestimated the amount of work that can require. Simplicity I strove for, and yet I added too much. It seems that a good piece of art, of any kind, strikes the right balance between simplicity and complexity. What's not there and what is.
What this has to do with Andrew Bird?
I had come to a point where I realized that what had been stopping me from spending dedicated time in creativity (besides coding) was that I felt it would take up too much time, because to actually *arrive* in a creative state required time in itself. You can't just, flip, turn it on. I found that entering a creative state for me, requires going 'timeless', my new word for getting so immersed in what you're doing (and actively avoiding clocks) that you lose track of the literal time. So I started setting aside the occasional 2 hour period to go 'timeless', and tried to accelerate my getting into a creative state. Shutting off timekeeping and communication devices, I wondered what creative work I could produce in these periods. What better way to create something beautiful than while listening to one? What better way to be an artist than to feel like one? So I put on Andrew Bird to find my creative place, and it hit the spot. I Want To See Pulaski At Night is a mostly lyric-less 7 piece album springing with simple complex violin sounds that pull you into another time, in another place. Maybe Paris, maybe London, it seems to speak the language of old Europe.
This is the last album that I'll cover from this year. Instead of picking and choosing I pretty much just decided to go with all of my favorites.
And finally...
I have a special surprise for you who has read to the end. A playlist with songs that (for the most part) don't appear on any of the above albums, but that I found particularly compelling or that had a big impact or relation to my experience in the last year. I won't tell a story for each of them, though I'm sure I have one, but overall my reflection on the playlist is that it is for... getting high (naturally or with outside help) and entering expanded states, making love, and dancing with soul. Enjoy... it's called 'Paradise Awaits: Featured Songs of 2014'
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