Some Contenders for Favorite Album of 2014

2014 is half over.  That's crazy.  You're crazy.  I'm crazy.  Here are 10 albums i've really been digging on so far this year.  God willing, they'll all be on my year-end list.

1. Amen Dunes - "Love"
2. EMA - "The Future's Void"
3. Have A Nice Life - "The Unnatural World"
4. Liars - "Mess"
5. Nothing - "Guilty of Everything"
6. Odonis Odonis - "Hard Boiled Soft Boiled"
7. Perturbator - "Dangerous Days"
8. Power Glove - "Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon"
9. Swans - "To Be Kind"
10. Thou - "Heathen"

I recommend all of these.  You should check them out, or don't, you know, whatever.

Grimes - Go

I'm always so confused as to the state of indie and popular music, and the way the two seem to intertwine and blur lines these days.  We are now living in a world where Miley Cyrus hangs out and performs with The Flaming Lips.  And apparently, Grimes and Blood Diamond wrote a song for Rihanna...which was then rejected by her...and then just recorded by Grimes and Blood Diamond themselves.  "Go" is really poppy.  I mean really poppy.  Like, i could see the tweens of the world just eating it up.  I'm not even sure i like it.  It just seems so odd to me.

I am getting old.

Listen below and download here.

Deafheaven and Pallbearer at Red 7

Last week, my wife had to leave town for a few days for a work thing in Fort Worth, leaving me flying solo with the boy and the dog.  It was a fun week, but pretty exhausting in its own right, so i rewarded myself upon my wife's return with some live metal music from Pallbearer and Deafheaven.  It was a great show and left me, fittingly enough, kind of deaf in my left ear yesterday.  Here's a couple of pics below.

Pallbearer

Pallbearer

Deafheaven

Deafheaven

RIP Bobby Womack

RIP Bobby Womack.  The soul legend passed away yesterday at the age of 70.  He had a late comeback of sorts over the last couple of years, with his most recent album, 2012's "The Bravest Man in the Universe," featuring production from Blur frontman Damon Albarn.  Take a listen to that album's "Dayglo Reflection" featuring Lana Del Rey below.

Guerilla Toss

I happened upon Boston electro-scuzz noise punk band Guerilla Toss during SXSW last March, catching an intense and frenetic set at free day party over at Beerland.  They were a mess.  A hot, sweaty, screaming, writhing mess.  The group has a cassette, "367 Equalizer," coming out on Infinity Cat next month (super limited release), and here's a sampling from the album called "Cookie."  It too is a hot, sweaty, screaming, writhing mess.  Listen below.

Ramona

I recently came across an excellent mixtape of modern Spanish pop music called "Papasquiaro" put together by the fine folks at Club Fonograma.  The mix features an array of different sounds and textures, from electronic beats to hip-hop, psych to folk, to more traditional sounding ballads.  Tijuana band Ramona provide one of those ballads with their wistful and melancholy "Tristes Ojos."  Listen below, and then go and download the whole mix here...for free!

Com Truise remixes Tycho

I am a fan of both the blissed out electronic soundscapes of Tycho and the throwback, inside-the-computer analog vibes of Com Truise, so the two coming together (even in remix form) is kind of a no brainer for me.  Listen to Com Truise's remix of "Awake," from Tycho's latest album of the same name, which you can get from Ghostly International.

Zola Jesus - Dangerous Days

Zola Jesus have a new album, "Taiga," out in October on Mute, and judging by the first taste of "Dangerous Days," they're going full on glorious electro-goth.  It's dark and toe-tapping and you should definitely jam this one today.  Listen below.

J Dilla - Filth

Though he exited this plane of existence years ago, it seems more and more unreleased music from hip-hop producer J Dilla surfaces every other week...hence the upcoming "King of Beats" box set, which you can pre-order here.  Take a listen to short and fun "Filth" below.  There's a real old school vibe to it, and it reminds me of the fourth grade.

Destruction Unit

Adult Swim has kept it pretty dancey thus far on this year's summer singles series, with booty shaking jams from Georgio Moroder and Machinedrum, but all that changes with next week's release of Arizona sun drenched, psych-rock noise-niks Destruction Unit and their single "Dust."  Listen below.

Death and Vanilla

A couple of years ago, Swedish experimental, post-rock, psych-prog band Death and Vanilla did a live score for the 1932 horror film "Vampyr" that was released on cassette via Moon Glyph.  The kind folks over at Kalligrammofon Recordings have seen fit to reissue the album on blood red vinyl...and it's beautiful, both the music and the packaging.  Being an import, it will set you back a few bucks, but it's probably worth it.  Get it here.  Stream the whole thing below.

Many Mansions

Take a listen to "Bambu," from the warbled, warped, hazy, underwater electro-dub from Brooklyn's Many Mansions' latest album "Night Sesh" on MJMJ Records.  Just like getting high with a robot.  Get the cassette here.

Brian Reitzell

LA-based composer Brian Reitzell, best known for his film score work with Sofia Coppola, just released his first solo album, "Auto Music," on Smalltown Supersound.  The album hums and throbs its way through shoegazey, electronic and often droney, motorik krautrock.  In many ways, it's driving music, but not entirely.  Listen to "Last Summer" below, featuring My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields on the organ.

El Mahdy Jr

The marriage of faraway, exotic sounds with western electronics and droney psych beats, while nothing new, always manages to create a trippy vibe that gets under my skin and works its way into all the folds and layers of my brain stuff.  It's losing oneself in an opium den, but coming back to reality when your iphone rings.  El Mahdy Jr is an Algerian beat maker and musician, residing in Istanbul, and his latest, "Gasba Grime" on Danse Noire, is mystic magic.  Bleed with me into the ether won't you?  Listen to "Lost Bridge" below.

And now Warpaint covers Duran Duran

A couple weeks ago, Moby's cover of Duran Duran's "Rio" surfaced, and it was pretty good.  Now, we have LA female four piece Warpaint taking on that band's "The Chauffeur," which is probably my favorite track that Duran Duran ever recorded.  Warpaint's version is a smoky, hazy trip...and will now be stuck in my head for days.  Listen below, and look for "Making Patterns Rhyme: A Tribute to Duran Duran" on Manimal next month.

RIP Tony Gwynn

If anyone embodied what a baseball player is supposed to be, then by accounts, it was Tony Gwynn, a phenomenal hitter, outfielder, and all-around good guy.  He lost his battle with cancer today at the age of 54.  RIP Tony Gwynn.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day everybody!

Dalhous

Droney, experimental outfit Dalhous have a new album in the works, set to be released later this month on Blackest Ever Black.  "Will to Be Well" oozes and seethes, an anxiety-inducing series of clicks, hums, and electronics.  It sounds like a body at work, each piece of a grander machine functioning together...but threatening to collapse or fall apart at any moment.  Listen to "Abyssal Plane" below.

The Bug

UK producer, electronic musician The Bug (Kevin Martin) is readying his first record in 6 years, "Angels & Devils," which features a whole smattering of guest vocalists, ranging from Liz Harris (Grouper) to Justin K. Broadrick (Jesu/Godflesh) to Death Grips.  Listen to "Save Me" featuring Gonjasufi below and get the record from Ninja Tune in August.  I have a feeling it's going to be a monster.

Failure at House of Blues

Last night, i got to do something that 17-year old Tommy thought was only a pipe dream.  I got to see Failure.  The show was impressive, an great mix of jams i never in a million years thought i would get to hear performed live.  And man, they didn't miss a beat.  The trio (Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards, Kelli Scott) opened with "Another Space Song" from 1996's "Fantastic Planet," and then tore into everything i wanted to hear them play.  And they closed with "Daylight."  A little part of me can die in peace now.  Take a look at some pics below.

Until we meet again in November Failure.

Father John Misty covers Cat Stevens

Hal Ashby was a brilliant filmmaker from the 60's and 70's, a huge part of the cinematic counterculture of the time.  Filmmaker Amy Scott has a documentary about the director coming out soon called "Once I Was: The Hal Ashby Story," and one Father John Misty appears on the soundtrack covering Cat Stevens' "Trouble," which was originally used in the 1971 film "Harold and Maude."  It's good stuff.  You should listen below, courtesy of My Old Kentucky Blog.

Sex Scheme

Sex Scheme is a dirty, noisy little band out of Brooklyn who specialize in lo-fi, post-punk, garage no-wave...or something like that.  Get their 7" here and listen to "Feel Me" below.

Death Grips - Niggas on the Moon

If you haven't been paying attention to the controversy courting, penis album cover making, free music releasing, genre defying punk-noise-techno-rap mesh-up machine that is Death Grips for the last few years, then shame on you.  The duo have a new double album called "The Powers that B" coming out later in the year on Harvest/Third Worlds Records, and have opted to release the first have of it, called "Niggas on the Moon" for free download.  Get it here and listen to first track "Up My Sleeves" below.

And Bjork is all over the thing too.  Her vocals, sampled or otherwise, appear on all eight tracks.

Watter

Basically some kind of proggy, post-rock super group, Watter is members of Slint, Grails, King Crimson, and Rachel's, and the debut album "This World" plays out exactly how it's supposed to...trippy, sprawling, and at times gloomy.  Get the album from Temporary Residence and listen to "Rustic Fog" below.

Freddie Gibbs and Madlib

I'm getting to the dance a couple of months late on this one, but after two plus years in the making, i'm going to forgive myself for letting it slip.  Rapper Freddie Gibbs and producer extraordinaire Madlib, after some stellar EP's, finally released a proper full-length on Stones Throw.  And they work with everybody.  Take a listen to "Robes" featuring Odd Future's Earl Sweatshirt and Domo Genesis below.  It kind of makes me want to smoke weed.

OWN BOO

OWN BOO are a psychedelic pop rock band hailing from Brescia, Italy.  Their debut EP is up for pre-order on Mirror Universe Tapes, and there's a real cosmic, Tame Impala-like vibe going on its four tracks.  Listen to "Edie" below.

Giorgio Moroder

It's that time of year again.  Adult Swim starts their annual summer singles release next week, and the first one up is from legendary disco producer Giorgio Moroder.  Listen to "Giorgio's Theme" below, download it here on June 9th, and be on the lookout for a new single every week from the likes of Deafheaven, Tim Hecker, Sleep, and so many more.

Perturbator

I recently got turned on to French synth maestro Perturbator through horror and pop culture site Bloody Disgusting, and then get reminded about how awesome it is by the ever vigilant Shawn Baker.  New album "Dangerous Days" is due later in the month on Blood Music, though it seems to be selling out fast.  Watch the video for "She Is Young, She Is Beautiful, She Is Next" below.

Tomahawk - M.E.A.T.

Mike Patton's excellent Tomahawk project released their fourth album, "Oddfellows," last year, but they have been kind enough to issue a 7" of two tracks that didn't make the record.  Listen to "M.E.A.T." below and get the record from Ipecac.

Leisure Birds

I'm pretty sure i saw Minneapolis psych rock band Leisure Birds a few years ago during SXSW, but i don't remember them sounding anything like they do on new track "Waveform" from new album "Tetrahedron."  Lots of synth effects create an otherworldly atmosphere for the jangly guitar tones to traverse through.  It all sounds like some alternate future.  Listen below and get the album soon from Totally Gross National Product.

Yumi Zouma remixed by Mark McGuire

Airy dreampop artist Yumi Zouma's "Salka Gets Her Hopes Up" gets the remix treatment from analog synthesizer enthusiast and electronic artist Mark McGuire.  Everybody dance!  Listen below.

The Orwells

For some reason or another, i've never gotten around to writing anything about the no-good, snot-nosed kids of Chicago's The Orwells, a sneering, hollering cascade of garage rock as true and pure as teenagers can make.  The group has put out a number of singles and EP's over the last year or two, but now have an excellent full-length, "Disgraceland," coming out later this month on Canvasback.  Let's kick start the summer.  Listen to "Who Needs You" below.