With our favourite albums and EPs of the year done and dusted, we round off our end of year lists with our top tracks of 2014. Each of us has picked the one song that hit us hardest during the year.
Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting on You)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5Ae-LhMIG0]
“It’s heartening to know that a band who have been toiling away at their craft for years can go from relative obscurity to flavour of the month with one astounding T.V performance. It’s also heartening to know that within the loose circles of pop music, there’s still an appetite for the surprising and the unusual. When I first saw Samuel T. Herring’s chest beating, lateral chicken dancing and unexpected bellowing during Future Island’s performance of Seasons on Letterman, I was bowled over—it violated every expectation I might have had of a synth pop band within the first thirty seconds and left me wondering what the hell I’d just watched by the end. It’s catchy, it’s refreshingly different, and Herring’s performance absolutely demands your attention in a way that few other songs have this year.” Dave
Field Report – Pale Rider
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh_O0P16TPY]
“Every year I seem to fall for an album that demands to be played front to back (see: Hospice, Spectral Dusk, White Lighter) and 2014 was no different. It’s difficult to settle on a single song from Marigolden but I’ve plumped for ‘Pale Rider’, a track which exemplifies what Field Report are all about. The song deals with the pressure of meaning so much to another person, a blend of sadness and regret illuminated with sparks of intense emotion and a fierce hope. I’ll leave you with my favourite lyrics of the year: ‘now you’re cantering crooked and screaming at the wind / and shooting off flare guns in memory of the kid / his birthday was yesterday; he would have been six / oh my god, I am so sorry.’” Jon
Strand of Oaks – JM [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC_i07u_TUY]
JM is Tim Showalter’s tribute to the late Jason Molina, and more generally to the consoling and healing power of music. The lyrics are comprised of a (presumably autobiographical) list of struggles and difficult times – “And I hated all my friends, I wouldn’t let them in”, “I was sitting in the bath, cleaning off the ash” – followed repeatedly by the caveat “but I had your sweet tunes to play”. Describing how Showalter (and every single one of us) finds solace in songs, the track smoulders in a flickering twilight before igniting in a storm of wailing guitars and thundering drums, ending with: “I won’t let these dark times win, we got your sweet tunes to play”. It’s big and triumphant and sincere and it’s my favourite song released this year. Thanks for the sweet tunes, Tim.“ Liam
Photay – Reconstruct (Feat. Seafloor)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNXzZYitkWM]
I have a theory that Photay must have stumbled on the formulae for the perfect song. Reconstruct has absolutely everything. After battering in your ears with a raw as hell bass riff, it journeys successively through a dreamily singalong chorus, a ponderous breakdown and a jazzy jam-ending. I haven’t stopped listening to it for months.” Matt
Flying Lotus – Never Catch Me (Feat. Kendrick Lamar)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXD0vv-ds8]
“Never Catch Me sees two of the finest bring out the best in each other. FlyLo’s rhythm and grooves are matched every inch of the way by Kendrick Lamar’s flawless delivery. As songs about death go, it’s as upbeat as possible. Lines like “Looking down on my soul now, tell me I’m in control now, Tell me I can live long and I can live wrong and I can live right,
And I can sing songs and I can unite with you that I love, you that I like,
Look at my life and tell me I fight,” focus on our desire to affirm our time as worthwhile, the fear of wasting it and eventually being forgotten. Matched with a charming video, it’s been on regular rotation for a fair few months now.“ Will