Best Albums of 2014: 8. Endgame - Ital (Planet Mu)

No knob-twiddler in the world consistently fascinates like this Brooklyn-based producer and this year Ital produced his most consistently thrilling work.  If Endgame places an emphasis on audience discomfort, it's of the kind that can only do you good as repeated listenings lead to the discovery of a strange sensory department where pain and pleasure meld into one and then simply become redundant terms.  Techno meets psychedelia and, if you think that particular avenue has been explored enough, cock an ear to this and think again.

Best Albums of 2014: 9. Ultima II Massage - Tobacco (Ghostly International)

Sacrilege to some, I know, but this third solo release by the Black Moth Super Rainbow front man trumps anything his band have done and anything he's released previously on his own.  It's the album you (or at least I) always wanted him to make, uninhibited and gloriously free of any artistic restraints.  We finally saw Tobacco unleashed on the world in all his naked (in a manner of speaking) glory.  More of this, please.

Top Albums of 2014: 10. Rag Face - Hag Face

Dunno whether seven songs clocking in at less than twenty minutes is a bit short to make this an album, but my end of year list would have felt naked without it.  A caustic, howling monster of a release from this all-female band from Calgary in Canada who make many of the original riot grrrl bands sound like the Singing Nun.  Don't press your face too close to whatever you play it on: it'll have your eye out.

More than worth two dollars of anyone's money from https://hagface.bandcamp.com/album/rag-face 

Clockwork Orchestra - A Fish For A Heart (Soft Bodies)

An album that began life in the evidently busy mind of Dublin's Paul Mangan (who is, to all intents and purposes, Clockwork Orchestra), A Fish For a Heart operates on the same kind of frantic propulsion that once fed The Cardiacs, yet manages to be very much its own beast.

And a mad beast it is.  While there's a melodically irresistable structure that holds this album together, what happens within it is an excitable mix of twisted instrumental lines and manically yapped vocals.  Compelling yet difficult to fathom tales weave around guitars and strange keyboard sounds, darkening the mood at times ('Thoughtful Thieves', for example) but raising it often enough to ensure the tempo is something akin to a ride on a merryground ride overseen by an operator who's imbibed something his boss doesn't know about and then messed with the controls.

The result is you frequently go into 'extra spin' as on tracks like album opener 'The Generator Girls', whose infectious melody you'll hear opening my Dandelion Radio show this month.

Soft Bodies have had, as usual, the solid good sense to put this out and it's available now on download and CD.  Find out more here. 

Top Forty Albums of 2014: 15-11

Another dollop of my favourite music of the year:

15. The Chronicles of Cheeze, Volume V - Lee Negin (Passing Phase)

A regular visitor to these end of year lists.  This is his best yet - an extravaganza of subtly weird electronica.

14. Departure - The Vacant Lots (Sonic Cathedral)

There was so much really good psychedelic rock around in 2014, but few releases matched this: thrills from start to finish.


13.  These Songs Hate You - The Crytearions (Self-released)

Brilliantly savage bandcamp release from an Irish band who I discovered by chance.  Extraordinary noise.

12.  March of the Gremlins - Naram (Jahtari)

Another one from early in the year that's been on regular rotation ever since.  Glorious.

11.  New Codes of the Unfun - Nnevteiga (Self-released)

With this and their 2013 album, Nnevteiga can justifiably claim one of the finest two-album punches of recent years. Twisted noise with just a touch more melody than their previous release.

Top Forty Albums of 2014: 20-16

Our list of the best albums of the year moves into the top twenty:

20.  Chausse Trappe - Chausse Trappe (Kythibong)

The consistently brilliant French label added to its reputation when it brought us this explosive nerve-shredder of a release.  Noise manipulation at its very best.

19. Rack Attack 2.0 - Molokai (Self-released)

The finest surf guitar album of modern times came from Macedonia, courtesy of a band who had unfortunately already called it a day.  Hate it when that happens.

18.  Mirrors Fold - Gum Takes Tooth (Tigertrap)

Brilliantly evocative psychedelic meanderings from a band to treasure and a label to cherish.

17.  Mirrorism - Mirrorism (Self-released)

Still can't recall how I got hold of this or where it came from.  There's no mirror theme developing here, incidentally, just two damn fine albums that happen to have the word in their titles.

16.  Burn Fire For No Witness - Angel Olsen (Jagjaguwar)

Full marks to Jagjaguwar for pulling their heads out of their arses long enough to release this, from one of those rare magnificent artists who seem keen to use their relative popularity to ensure the world hears more great music.  Saw her at the Green Man Festival this year and that just made me play the album even more.

Top fifteen coming soon.

Top Forty Albums of 2014: 25-21

Continuing my annual countdown:

25. Vatta - DerTANZ (Self-released)

DerTANZ stand out even in the vibrant Hungarian music scene.  This brooding monster offers perhaps the finest example yet of a sound that sees them stand apart from the noisy clarion calls of so many of their excellent compatriots.  DerTANZ are different - embrace them.

24. Flying Ant Day - Tyrannosaurus Dead (Odd Box)

Indie pop with a frenetically caustic edge.  If Odd Box are one of the foremost labels in a fresh and vibrant scene, TD are their standard bearers.

23. The Infinity Dub Sessions - Deadbeat & Paul St Hilaire (BLKRTZ)

Deadbeat and St Hilaire's styles clash magnificently in this pulsing, throbbing musical extravaganza.  

22.  Investigates Strange Weather Patterns & the UFO Cults of Cold War Nevada - The Fucked Up Beat (Self-released)

Erstwhile Daddy Tank sound-twisters strut their stuff independently and produce music that manages somehow to destroy brain cells and expand minds at the same time.

21. Rave Tapes - Mogwai (Rock Action)

They just get better.  Released in January of this year: next instalment in one of music's most engrossing series due in Jan. 2015.

More soon.