So came 2015, and another year for RECORD TURNOVER. This will be the year of completing my Masters course in Design, hopefully moving and buying lots more records. Truth be told, I bought few new records last year, and wrote about very few as well. Apologies to everyone I have promised reviews, but I hope you will be happy to at least appear on the blog’s Best of 2014 list, which you can find below. Since it’s already January, I’ve had some time to catch up on other peoples’ lists (most importantly The Styrofoam Drone, Shake Appeal and The Active Listener) and check some of the boxes I’ve missed. Like Dinos Boys, which is about the best thing that’s happened to punk since Cheap Time.
The See See have turned in their strongest LP so far by yard-lenghts, but if I had to pick ONE records it might just have to be Straight Arrows’ longawaited second album. Rising really shows Straight Arrows as the rock-solid center (and originators) of the Australian garage-punk scene of the 2010’s, with it’s base around Melbourne. Angie and Owen have played in and recorded or produced so many bands since releasing the first Straight Arrows LP in 2010. While a lot of other GREAT bands have appeared in Australia since then, most notably King Gizzard, Straight Arrows even finish ahead of their TWO albums of 2014. Ty Segall, Thee Oh Sees, White Fence, Woods and the usual suspects all released albums, none of which managed to impress me enough to make this list, brilliant as they were. Since Fuzz didn’t release an album it seems almost unavoidable that Chad Ubovich’s own new outfit Meatbodies makes the cut. Equally impressive was the debut from Wand, from whom we can expect another LP in just a few months time, on In the Red. Some of my other favourite new bands, still without releases (but not for long!) are Mexico’s Viv & the Sect and Sweden’s own The Alloy Six.
TOP TEN ALBUMS of 2014
Straight Arrows – Rising HoZac
Doug Tuttle – s/t Trouble In Mind
Cool Ghouls – A Swirling Fire Burning Through the Rye Empty Cellar
The Neumans – s/t Screaming Apple
The See See – Once, Forever And Again The Great Pop Supplement
The Ar-Kaics – s/t Windian
The Shivas – You Know What to Do K
The Young Sinclairs – This Is… Ample Play
Wand – Ganglion Reef God?
Meatbodies – s/t In the Red
RUNNERS UP
Miriam – Nobody’s Baby (A-Bones, Norton Records first lady)
Dinos Boys – Last Ones (powerpop outta Brooklyn)
Bad Indians – Keep Losin’
The Flight Reaction – s/t (best Swedish album)
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – I’m Your Mind Fuzz
Zig Zags – s/t (best punk album of the year!)
Matthew Melton – Outside of Paradise (better than his LP with Warm Soda)
East Link – s/t (finally their In the Red debut came out)
The Paperhead – Africa Avenue
Endless Bummer – Vol. 1 (ex-Spits, produced by Segall)
LONGLIST of records deserving a mention/checking out
White Fence – For the Recently Found Innocent
Ty Segall – Manipulator
Martyr Privates – s/t
Total Control – Typical System
Morgan Delt – s/t
Energy Gown – Evening Molasses
Uselesss Eaters – Bleeding Moon
Cellphone – Excellent Condition
Gulp – Seasonal Sun
Golden Pelicans – s/t
Sick Thoughts – Fat Kid With a 10-Inch
Gino and the Goons – Shake It!
Buck Biloxi & the Fucks – Culture Demanufacturer
Tomorrow’s Tulips – When
Heaters – Solstice
The Frowning Clouds – Legalize Everything
The Ausmuteants – Freedom of Information
Warm Soda – Young Reckless Hearts
The Youth – Nothing But…
#1s – The Number Ones
Quilt – Held In Splendor
The Murlocs – Loopholes
Allah-Las – Worship the Sun
Vacation Club – Heaven Is Too High
Chain & the Gang – Minimum Rock’n’Roll
Woods – With Light and With Love
Dirt Naps – II
The People’s Temple – Musical Garden
The People’s Temple – Weekends Time
The Teamsters – s/t
Ruined Fortune – s/t
Laetitia Sadier – Something Shines
Comet Gain – Paperback Ghosts
Slushy – Nuggish
The Satelliters – More of…
La Sera – Hour of the Dawn
Vashti Bunyan – Heartleap
Cocktails – Adult Life
Elephant Stone – Three Poisons
David Kilgour & the Heavy Eights – End Times Undone
Mesa Cosa – YaYa Brouhaha
AJ Davila – Beibi
AJ Davila – Terror Amor
Needles//Pins – Shamebirds
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Oddments
Thee Oh Sees – The Drop
Average Times – s/t
Verma – Sunrunner
Scruggz Manor – Fire Retarded
Octupus Syng – Reverberating Garden No. 7
Burnt Ones – Gift
Los Tones – Psychotropic
V/A – Brazilian Nuggets Vol. 3
V/A – Back From the Grave Vol. 9-10
