I’ve spent way too long mulling this over and procrastinating it because I can’t figure out which records I would cut to get my list down to 10. But 10 as a limit is, obviously, completely arbitrary and is therefore rejected as an unnecessary obstacle. Also, I don’t pretend to write reviews; I prefer the reflections approach.
- YAWN – 'Mylene', from Love Chills
- Morgan Delt – 'Obstacle eyes', from Morgan Delt
- Beck – 'Heart is a drum', from Morning Phase
- Woodsman – 'Rune', from Woodsman
- Sun Araw – 'Huff', from Belomancie
- The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger – 'Moth to a flame', from Midnight Sun
- Woods – 'With light and with love', from With Light and With Love
- Leisure Birds – 'Miner of light', from Tetrahedron
- Goat – 'Goatslaves', from Commune
- Wildest Dreams – 'Rollerskates', from Wildest Dreams
- MV & EE – 'Return from the stars', from Alpha Lyrae
- Steve Gunn – 'Way out weather', from Way Out Weather
- Panda Bear – 'Untying the knot', from Mr Noah
- Pink Floyd – 'It's what we do', from Endless River
- Gala Drop – 'Sun gun', from II
- King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – 'I'm in your mind / I'm not in your mind / Cellophane / I'm in your mind fuzz', from I'm in Your Mind Fuzz
2014 Releases
Yawn’s Love Chills is easily my favorite album this year. It’s nowhere near as dark as that cover art suggests. Instead, it’s an exuberant collection of psychedelic melodies that cut my creative, wild streak wide open whether I’m making art out of snapshots, sitting in the JCW’s drive-thru, or walking from my office to the courthouse.
Morgan Delt – Morgan Delt. I almost didn’t include this because I regard it as more of a 2012 release, but there are five or six new songs on this and it’s too good to leave off my favorites list.
Beck – Morning Phase. A mellow record full of beauty tinged with a bit of melancholy, optimism tinged with experience. Oh, and great sounds!
Woodsman – Woodsman. Some of the purest psychedelic music made these days.
Sun Araw – Belomancie. Stark winter minimalism in form, but still tropical in flavor. I love old, dense Sun Araw and was pleasantly surprised at how they can retain the same essence while still cutting so much out.
The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger – Midnight Sun. It’s a great record anyway with the added benefit of arriving during my annual Beatles kick.
Woods -– With Light and With Love. Perfect for springtime, which is when this filled my ears. Walking from the courthouse under a canopy of cherry and pear blossoms.
Leisure Birds – Tetrahedron. Ancient worship of geometry, plus a posthumous homage to Rick Wright, plus sunlight-dappled Rocky Mountain camp grounds.
Goat – Commune. This record soundtracked the mountain excursions I made this summer, getting into wilderness and cutting loose for a while.
Wildest Dreams – Wildest Dreams. Groovy, in every positive sense of the word.
MV & EE – Alpha Lyrae. Summer cycling, sweat running down my forehead and off the tip of my nose, my mind rippling through the air.
Steve Gunn – Way Out Weather. Caulking the cracks in my patio cement, and then driving across western Spain to Salamanca.
Panda Bear – Mr Noah. This is Portugal! Made in Lisbon (presumably). Released while I was in Coimbra and running through my head as I explored the Minho.
Pink Floyd - Endless River. This record reaches back to the 1970s sounds I love so much, with an ambient wash that transports me.
Gala Drop – II. I saw them live in Lisbon in October and enjoyed this record as a refresher when it was released a few weeks after I got home.
King Gizzard and The Wizard Lizard – I’m In Your Mind Fuzz. I love the whole record, but the four-song suite at the beginning is a classic driving fast psychedelic freak-out!
Heavy Rotation in 2014
These are more of my year’s favorite records that were new to me but not new this year.
Salvia Plath – The Bardo Story (2013). I passed this up last year but decided to try it out when it appeared on several trusted blogs’ year-end lists. ‘Further outro’ alone transformed a morning commute I’ve done hundreds of times into a new and interesting experience. I can still see, in my mind’s eye, that January morning’s sunlight glinting over the NuSkin building on Center Street.
Gushing Cloud – Beat Wings in Vain (2013). I can’t remember how I stumbled across this in the soggy, late winter months. I can’t believe I haven’t heard anyone else in the blogosphere talking about this record; it’s really, really interesting.
Ali Farka Touré & Toumani Diabaté – In the Heart of the Moon (2005). Touré’s guitar has been closely linked to the hope springtime brings me every year since I first heard him and Ry Cooder on the Talking Timbuktu CD while working in BYU’s Lee Library in 1997. This year I added Diabaté’s sparkling West African harp to the mix.
Sinkane – Mars (2012). Spreading turkey manure and mulch on the flower beds on Pioneer Day. And grooving.
Relatively Clean Rivers – Relatively Clean Rivers (1976). The late summer sun in green and yellow leaves.
Noura Mint Seymali – Azawan II (2013). It’s tempting to try to learn what in the world they’re doing on that guitar, but that would destroy the beautiful mystery of it. This music alone almost got me to add a ferry-ride from Gibraltar to Morocco to my plans for Portugal and Spain.
Herbcraft – Astral Body Electric (2013). Herbcraft, up until now, has been one of those bands I should like but just didn’t (like Phish). But apparently they turned a corner last year, or maybe I did. This record is the soundtrack to landing my white Fiat 500 on the E-80 from the airspace over Ciudad Rodrigo in Spain.
Kollektiv – Live 1973 (1973). I downloaded this a long time ago but only really listened to it late one night in December working on my family’s 2015 calendar. It was a transformative experience achieved simply by sitting at the same computer desk I sit at nearly every night and listening.
Probably mind-blowing
…but I just haven’t listened enough yet. This is my catch-all category. Based on only one or two plays each, I’m forecasting that once I’ve given these 2014 records their due, I’ll probably want them on my favorites list:
- Bitchin’ Bajas – Bitchin’ Bajas
- Jonas Reinhardt – Ganymede
- Tuluum Shimmering – Dark Star
- M. Geddes Gengras – Ishi
I hope you find something new that resonates!
