Wednesday 24 December 2014

The Best Of 2014 (and Merry Christmas)

01 PIXIES - Indie Cindy

02 MARLENE KUNTZ - Pansonica

03 KARNE MURTA - Swingin' Taboo

04 Egle Sommacal - Il Cielo Si Sta Oscurando

05 Anemine - MeeresWeiten

06 Il Mercato Nero - Società Drastica

07 Aandra - Meraki

08 Elizabeth Rose - Elizabeth Rose

09 Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here

10 Various Artists - Exit From The Cage

11 Michael E - Morning Sun
12 Various Artists — Latin Hits 2014 Summer Edition
13 Johnny Marr - Playland
14 The Hamsters - Bloody Hell!
15 Various Artists - The Organisation of Pop - Thirty Years of Zang Tuum Tumb
16 Cagna Schiumante - Cagna Schiumante
17 Motionfield - Optical Flow
18 Giancarlo Onorato & Cristiano Godano - Ex (Live)
19 Pharrell Williams - G I R L
20 Il Sogno del Marinaio - Canto Secondo



21 Cesare Malfatti - Una Mia Distrazione
22 Fabi Silvestri Gazzè - Il Padrone della Festa
23 Various Artists - Space Station Vol. 1
24 Ruggine - Iceberg
25 Jes - Unleash The Beat
26 PNFA - Sylmar
27 Dan Solo - Avrei
28 Miguel Migs - Dim Division
29 Svenj - Dreams
30 Aiemo - Forgotten Sun

31 Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club - Galernaya Live Sessions, Vol. 1
32 Peter Pearson - Where Dreamers Go
33 Riccardo Sinigallia - Per Tutti
34 Citrus Sun - People Of Tomorrow
35 The Aston Shuffle - Photographs
36 Vessel - Le Difese
37 Various Artists - My Summer Mixtape 2014
38 Seahawks - Paradise Freaks
39 Simon Le Grec - Best Of
40 Various Artists - Late Night Tales Presents Automatic Soul

41 Perturbazione - Musica X
42 Tiromancino - Indagine Su Un Sentimento
43 Monodeluxe - Best Of
44 Mo'jardo - La Cultura
45 Thamza - On That Tip
46 Ray Lugo & The Boogaloo Destroyers - Que Chevere
47 Ficture - Roads To Everywhere
48 T.A. - Feel Me
49 Velvet - Storie
50 Jana Soleil - Lounge Nights

Another amazing year in music, we had not only fantastic comebacks like in 2013, but also some excellent debuts which proved making innovative music is still possible, and it was about time. A pretty eclectic year too, even by my standards, enjoying many different genres.
Pixies released more EPs and collected all their new songs in the Indie Cindy album. While we can dislike the way these songs have been basically released twice in a year, or we can think they don't sound as good as 25 years ago, the truth is most of these songs are as good as Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde mixed together, as the epic Silver Snail proves. Marlene Kuntz's early demos of unreleased songs have been the bootleg treasure for two decades to their fans, this year they rerecorded them (quite true to the originals) and they still sound amazing, it's unbelievable a rock'n'roll monster like Capello Lungo had remained officially unreleaed for so long. Karne Murta cut the "Las" off their name and came back with another wonderful album where they alternate between punk and the modern swing of the title track.
Egle Sommacal from Massimo Volume released his third solo album going back to the graceful acoustic sound of his first album. Debut of the year is the virtually unknown Anemine, a true hidden gem, their L'Orizzonte Rosso is simply the most beautiful track by anyone this year. Italian debut of the year comes from Il Mercato Nero, two former Ulan Bator members collaborating with Egle Sommacal.
This has been the year of chillout music for me, I've even started a blog dedicated to the genre, ChillOut Map. It's true Anemine have been released by LemongrassMusic, but I find their contemporary music to go a lot further than chillout, so the best true chillout album must be Aandra's.
If Anemine aren't innovative enough for you here are the two most amazing talents emerging this year: the first is Elizabeth Rose, a girl sounding like Bjork, Britney Spears and Janet Jackson squeezed together in what should become an international diva if there's any justice. Her single Sensitivity is possibly the most beautiful pop song this year, it has the tune, the rhythm, the sound to be emotional and sheer perfect pop. The other is Snarky Puppy, a band which has basically reinvented fusion, just watch the live video of Sleeper and you'll understand what I mean, a jaw dropping performance which is intricate without sounding pretentious, being emotional and sophisticated in fact.
Exit From The Cage is the compilation of the year, a tribute to the genius of John Cage featuring Egle Sommacal and Rickyjam (AKA Riccardo Nanni) doing a touching version of In A Landscape. On the YouTube playlist you find Cage's original, while on the Spotify playlist there's Rickyjam's version.  Michael E is another great composer of chillout bordering on contemporary music, while calling him a new Morricone would be exaggerated, this music would be perfect for soundtracks.
Another genre I'm hearing a lot, but more in clubs than at home, is Latin, the excellent Planet Records released Latin Hits Summer Edition 2014, a compilation packed with hits by the likes of Fly Project, Gente De Zona, Omega, Manolito Simonet, Maykel Blanco and Los Teke Teke. One of the best is Sammy's remix of Dile by La Nueva Escuela, a great innovative dembow collective, unusually mixing their genre with bachata in this song.
Johnny Marr carried the torch of British indie and we finally had a compilation of The Hamsters, a truly underrated original punk legend from Manchester. ZTT celebrated the thirty years of the label and at the end of the compilation The Organisation Of Pop, which features the usual suspects like Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, 808 State and Art Of Noise, there's this wonderful track by underrated genius Andrew Poppy.
Stefano Pilia from Massimo Volume worked in two excellent avant garde supergroups: Cagna Schiumante with Xabier Iriondo from Afterhours and Roberto Bertacchini from Starfuckers and Il Sogno Del Marinaio with Mike Watt (former leader of Minutemen and Firehose) and Andrea Belfi. Motionfield released a masterpiece of dreamy ambient chillout. Cristiano Godano from Marlene Kuntz toured also with Giancarlo Onorato (former leader of Underground Life), one of the videos is a beautiful cover of Velvet Underground's classic. The best mainstream album is certainly Pharrell Williams', a genuine talent which is basically updating funk for the 21st century as in his masterpiece, Gust Of Wind. Other great records came from former La Crus Cesare Malfatti, the super trio Fabi Silvestri Gazzè, former Marlene Kuntz Dan Solo, Riccardo Sinigallia, Citrus Sun (a side project of Bluey from Incognito), and Vessel (a side project of Corrado Nuccini and Emanuele Reverberi from Giardini di Mirò). Ruggine are still a great underrated rock band. More great chillout from PNFA, Peter Pearson, Aiemo, Seahawks, Simon Le Grec and two great compilations: Space Station from LemongrassMusic and My Summer Mixtape from Melodica Recordings. Some great electro and deep house from JesMiguel Migs, Svenji, Saint Petersburg Disco Spin Club and The Aston Shuffle. Groove Armada's Tom Findlay released Automatic Soul, a good compilation of vintage electro soul featuring Change and 52nd Street.
Slightly disappointing, but still alright albums came from Perturbazione, Tiromancino and Velvet. Ray Lugo made us rediscover the boogaloo. More nice instrumental stuff from Monodeluxe, Mo'jardo, Ficture, T.A. and Jana Soleil.
Merry Christmas and happy 2015, a year which should bring us a brand new album from New Order since they've just signed to Mute Records!

Live And Bobbins by Gabrielles Wish back for Christmas!

From http://www.gabrielleswish.net/2014/12/live-and-bobbins-back-from-christmas.html

Here's a true Christmas miracle:
Live And Bobbins, the legendary live tape released in 1997 and deleted from the official discography, is back for a very limited time as a free download! Recorded live at the Manchester Hacienda and Roadhouse, it was mixed by former Joy Division sound engineer Chris Nagle (Martin Hannett's closest collaborator) at New Order's manager Andy Robinson's studio with deliberately fake handclaps.
It includes gems which will remain unreleased like Blackpool, ESP and Deaf Disco which you can hear streaming below.

Download from MediaFire