The Spins: Back to 2014

Hello, and welcome back to the newsletter. This week, since the new records are not really coming out yet, I’m going to revisit my own files. I had a file cabinet in my house, and I needed the space it was occupying so I cleaned it out. In the process, I found two things. The first was a list of records from 2014, and the other was a notepad of records I listened to from 2018. This week, we are going to deal with the 2014 list.

So, you’ll notice an immediate problem. The first is that this is page 2 of a list. What happened to Page 1? I don’t know, and I won’t find out any time soon because the files outside of the ones that I saved are somewhere in the recycling process here in northern Minnesota.

There is a second problem I realized when I was going through this sheet: not all of this music was released in 2014. For example, you’ll see toward the top of the list a band called Twerps. I wrote about Twerps when I discussed indie pop in the Antipodes. Twerps is an fantastic band. They also did not release an album in 2014. They released an album in 2011. I listened to that album a lot in 2014, but that album was not new. On the other side of this page (which I’m not posting because it has a phone number on it and I’m not doing any photoshopping today), I have The Spits, a Pacific Northwest punk/garage band that crushes, written down. They didn’t release an album in 2014 either. Listened to Kill The Kool a lot that year, but it was from 2010.

On the upside, in going through this list, I fell into a k-hole of listening to Mr. Oizo. If you are not familiar with him, you might know him better by his real name: Quentin Dupieux, director of Rubber, a movie about a tire that kills people. He makes house music filtered through a strange, surrealistic frame that can either be really fun or too clever by half. For research, I listened to 2008’s Lambs Anger, and while it was a touch long, the bangers on it like “Positif” still hit.

But, this dispatch isn’t totally going on about cool stuff I used to listen to. Instead, I decided to focus on albums that I listened to in 2014 and still listen to now.

The first album that comes into this category is D’Angelo and the Black Vanguard’s Black Messiah. This should not be particularly surprising. If you would like to read my thoughts about this album, I suggest you read my consideration of D’Angelo’s music that I wrote at the time of his unfortunate passing.

Ok, with that said, the rest of this will take on a more standard Spins format. Ready? Begin.

Alvvays, Alvvays

In terms of debut albums, this is one of the more successful ones in my book. From the first notes of “Adult Diversion,” you know that you are in for a weird, swirling ride with Molly Rankin at the helm. Furthermore, on this debut album, you have an absolute classic indie pop song: “Archie, Marry Me.” If you have somehow never heard this song before, please watch the video below. This album was great when it came out, and I still listen to it quite a lot now as it is a noisy, dream pop confection. I probably listen to Antisocialites slightly more, but Alvvays is in constant rotation for me.

Shabazz Palaces, Lese Majesty

Ishmael Butler has been rapping for quite a while. First in Digable Planets, whose Blowout Comb is a now-respected classic of 90s rap, and then as Shabazz Palaces. Lese Majesty is the second album from Butler under this name and continues building on the spaced-out hip-hop of the first album, displaying Butler’s calm flow and extremely impressive verbal dexterity. As well, I always cycle back to this album because it features one of my favorite tracks of all-time from the group: “Forerunner Foray.”

Iceage, Plowing Into The Field of Love

Before this album, Iceage was a bunch of punks out of Denmark who played music that was fiery and intense. Plowing Into The Field of Love was a radical shift, and I mean radical. All of that fury was gone, but the tension remained. All of that energy they had is channeled into the music through blues and rock and roll rather than punk, and Elias Bender Rønnefelt leads the band forward more confidently, effectively slurring his way through the poetic lyrics of the songs. This isn’t the easiest of all listens, but it has always stuck with me the most because of that fact. I like the way that it is unsettling; sounds fall in and out and the rhythms move in sometimes awkward manners. I know all of the moves on this album, but every time, they leave me off kilter in some new way, and I deeply enjoy that discomfort. While I don’t love every late-era Iceage album (Seek Shelter is OK; I think it sounds like a Sonic Boom album rather than an Iceage album), this album and Beyondless are excellent examples of a band who isn’t afraid to push itself in new directions.

Parquet Courts, Sunbathing Animal

When you are being heralded as the future of indie rock in New York, you have a lot of pressure on you. Rather than feeling the crush of that, Parquet Courts made an album that continued to build on the strengths of Light Up Gold—A. Savage’s speak-sung lyrics about city life, dynamic guitar interplay, funky basslines—and build them out in different directions. While they definitely rock as hard as they did on their previous album, Parquet Courts was also willing to slow things down like they do on “Instant Disassembly,” a great track on an album full of them. While some of their later stuff doesn’t hold up quite as well (not to say it’s bad because it really isn’t), this album and Light Up Gold remain in regular rotation with me.

Yumi Zouma, EP

Yumi Zouma are on the verge of releasing a new album this year, but this was their first shout into the world. It’s a 14-minute EP with four songs of perfect bedroom pop. It has the dreamy, soft focus that one really wants from this style of pop. More importantly, their music has this deepfelt sincerity. During this point when bedroom pop bands were popping up left and right and sounding like they are playing to get on a Spotify playlist, this is a major thing. This album constantly stays in my mind because of “Sålka Gets Her Hopes Up,” a bouncy, catchy song that just wedges itself in your head. If you like the vibe, the later music keeps the thread, making variations so it’s not the same album over and over again.

Dean Blunt, Black Metal

I have talked about Dean Blunt in the past, but I talked about some different albums. This album was his first major introduction to the world as a solo artist. He had been producing before, both solo and as a part of Hype Williams, but Rough Trade is a big deal. So, Blunt does what Blunt does: mixes musical styles and covers them with his deep voice, recorded in something between a warehouse and a bathroom. This album touches on hip-hop, indie pop, shoegaze, rave music, and acoustic folk. None of it sounds forced. Furthermore, it’s just magnetic. I’m not sure I have a good reason for constantly returning to this album, but I do, and each time I listen to it, I think it’s fantastic. It’s a portrait of an artist at his full power. (Full disclosure: this a fan video, not an official one; there was one, but that has since disappeared off YouTube.)

As I noted at the beginning, these are not all of the good albums that came out in 2014. There were quite a lot of those, but these are the ones that I have constantly returned to. When I return next week, we’re starting the process of building a canon. It should be fun for everyone. I hope some of you are prepared to feel washed. Until then, take care of yourselves and each other. And watch out for your neighbors.