Drum roll please… Or at least drum machine roll. Here are Cream Magazine’s 28 favourite albums of 2014. Sure, a lot of them give nods to a musical past but, heck, it’s the 21st Century, folks. Find something truly original and turn it into something great in this day and age, and then complain about artists ‘pilfering’ this sound and that…
Compiled by Antonino Tati, Andrea Manno & Michael Mastess
SWANS
To Be Kind
From the very opening strains of Swans’ ‘To Be Kind’ you know you’re in for an utter aural treat. The guitar strings are strum by hands that might well have been crafted from the gods of music themselves. Percussion then sneaks in ever so subtly. And then there are them magic vocals – soft and delivering the simplest list of words in ‘Screen Shot’ to begin with, then moving into full-tilt postmod lyricism in subsequent tracks on the record. As a whole, this album reminds us of those old concept LPs of the late ’70s favoured by the likes of Pink Floyd, Cream and Led Zeppelin. And we bet players still alive from those bands are listening to this album today and thinking, ‘Fuck, we wish we could have made that!’
THE WAR ON DRUGS
Lost In The Dream
Lush acoustic textures kick off an album reminiscent of some of the Eighties’ finest ‘concept’ acts. Rarely have synthesisers and guitars gotten along so well in modern music, but The War On Drugs prove they can have a massive party together. Laced throughout New-Romantic-meets-goth strains, frontman Adam Granduciel’s vocals sound at once familiar and odd. Sometimes he comes across crooning like that dude from Dire Straits; other times he’s like Simon Garfunkel; and occasionally he’s like the lead singer of that obscure band from 1984 who had just the one hit single… You know the one… Whatchamacallit? With the hair…
CHET FAKER
Built On Glass
Deservedly doing well at this year’s ARIAs, Chet Faker went way beyond expectations of your typical electronic artist on this here LP, delivering excellent emulations of jazz’s finest. His name might seem like its taking the piss out of the genre (read: Faker, not Baker) but the sincerity is in this guy’s vocals – all smooth and seductive – like the best of them snazzy swingers, has helped this record sell. In full, its best played during two key moments – when you’re getting ready to go out and impress, splashing on the cologne after one last look in the mirror, giving a knowing nod to your good hipster self, or when you’re coming down the morning after the night before, perhaps because you didn’t pick up expected trade after all. Ah, them blissful blues…
TEMPLES
Sun Structures
Imagine you were thrown back in time: to the late Sixties when music had structure – albeit clean, simple, utterly catchy, with just a tinge of trippy FX to really blow the listener away. That’s where Temples’ ‘Sun Structures’ will take you. This album is so ardent in its psychedelic pop delivery, it practically makes previous pop-meets-psychedelic offerings from the likes of the Monkees, the Byrds, the Turtles (and any other ’60s band with an animal name) pale in comparison. Except for the Beatles. But then…
THE FLAMING LIPS
With A Little Help From My Fwends
They’ve done it before – taken a classic rock album and turned it into something blissfully bizarre. That time was turning Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ on its head with the help of the disparate likes of Henry Rollins and Miss Kittin. This year, the Flaming Lips pick up that classic of classics, the Beatles’ ‘Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band’ and truly turn it into something else. The ‘fwends’ who give them that ‘little help’ include My Morning Jacket, Stardeath and White Dwarfs (who previously helped out on ‘Dark Side’), Moby and – goodness gracious – Miley Cyrus even appearing on two of the tracks. A track-by-track tribute, this really is great, innovative, postmodern stuff – for a classic LP that really has seen and heard it all. Yes, it does tread on sacred territory, but boy does it pass the test with flying colours!
KASABIAN
48:13
With its title simply taken from the total time of the album, and its fluorescent artwork and minimalist digits on the front (length of time per song), it’s obvious Kasabian have gone for a ‘concept album’ thing here. Though not quite the Beatles’ ‘White Album’, this hot pink offering is epic an LP all the same. Starting off with the mellow instrumental ‘Shiva’, going gangbusters into next track, the Led Zep-like rocker ‘Bumblebee’, then traversing across all manner of musical genre from syncopated symphony (‘Stevie’) through ska-inflected pop (‘Doomsday’) to psyche-electronica (‘Treat’), there’s something for everyone on this liquorice all-sorts of a record.
PHARRELL WILLIAMS
Girl
Often, urban producers get it all right when they team up to make records with other artists – Timbaland and Pharrell Williams being two prime examples. Then, when they go to record an album of their own, they somehow get it all wrong. This time, on ‘Girl’, Pharrell got it all right. Including healthy doses of commercial crossover stuff (‘Happy’, ‘Happy’, ‘Happy’, nuff said) and cutting-edge groove, ‘Girl’ proved Williams doesn’t always need some pretty thang fronting his production to score a hit. He can do it himself, thanks. Well, with the help of some pretty models on the sleeve artwork…
FOO FIGHTERS
Sonic Highways
Best described as a balls-to-the-wall version of the band’s trademark sound, ‘Sonic Highways’ is a result of Dave Grohl and Co “trying to make things more direct, more powerful, or more beautiful, more delicate, or simply louder” this time around. The keyword here, kids, is “more”. Although a near-deaf mute could identify a Foo Fighters riff on a dodgy polyphonic ringtone, this isn’t to say the guys haven’t evolved as a band. What started off as a fun experiment has turned into an outlet for emotional constipation, and we can’t get enough of the shit.
JACK WHITE
Lazaretto
Looking a bit like Trent Reznor in an Elvis suit, ex-White Stripes frontman Jack White sounds otherwise himself on this offering. Opening track ‘Three Women’ is at once cliché rock classic (“I got three women, red, blonde and brunette”) and postmod right-here-right-now (“It took a digital photograph to pick which one I like”). The title track is a rumbling rock groove that flirts with Spanish diction but is definitely more Tex than Mex. And elsewhere on the LP, White gets folky (‘Temporary Ground’), bluesy (‘Entitlement’), snazzy (‘Alone In My Home’), and of course hippy (‘I Think I Found The Culprit’). All up, but, it’s brilliant.
THE OCEAN PARTY
Soft Focus
This band sound like something left off centre from the mid-Eighties. A kind of Talk Talk meets Echo & The Bunnymen meets The Smiths – all going against the grain of popular culture and yet way too cool to ignore. It’s like emo before we gave it a name. The lyrics are of a longing sort, but the music always attention-grabbing; each and every song confident enough to stand out on its own. It’s a wonder ‘Soft Focus’ is the band’s fourth LP. We keep asking ourselves, what with the internet at their fingertips in this day and age, why on earth have they been hiding such aural delight?
SPOON
They Want My Soul
Right from the first hits of the drum in opener ‘Rent I Pay’, you know you’re in for a rollercoaster ride of fun pop/rock from this Austin-born nu-wave outfit. Indeed, often they delve so far into pop territory, it’s hard to believe they’re actually Texan. Highlights on this LP include the vibrant, string-saturated ‘Inside Out’, acoustic-meets-electric ‘Knock Knock Knock’, and very psychedelic ‘Let Me Be Mine’ that might even have sat nicely on the Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ album had it been written way back when.
ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Meteorites
From the original meisters of emo comes a surprisingly bright album. Lead single ‘Lovers On The Run’ is inflected with those exotic (read: Middle Eastern-inspired) strings that guitarist Will Sergeant gave us previously on ‘The Killing Moon’. ‘Holy Moses’ sounds like Coldplay gone goth (and why not since even Chris Martin himself admitted he’d been influenced by Echo singer Ian McCulloch). ‘Is This A Breakdown?’ is pop rhetoric at its cleverest. ‘Grapes On The Vine’ is so bluesy laidback it’s like getting drunk-by-audio… All up, this is one of the best comeback records of the year – if we could be so bold to call it a comeback.
BLONDIE
Ghosts Of Download
A ‘bonus’ CD packaged with yet another of Blondie’s ‘greatest hits’ sets, this collection of tunes really ought to have been despatched on its own it – its quality is that high. Indeed, we’ve been spinning it in the office more than the best-of collection. Featured are brilliant underground grooves and rare rock tracks with ‘Rip Her To Shreds’-type titles like ‘Rave’ and ‘I Want To Drag You Around’. Then there’s that cover version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s ‘Relax’, which at first sounds all butter-wouldn’t-melt coming from Debbie’s mouth a capella, then cuts to a killer club track that’ll have you hooked on the blonde queen of punk/rock/dance like she’d never gone away.
FOXES
Glorious
Singer Louisa Rose Allen, aka: Foxes, says she really likes “songs that make you feel like everything’s shit at the beginning, and then great by the end”. And this double-edged dichotomy is what makes up many of the brilliant tunes on her debut album ‘Glorious’. An apt a debut album title it is, since this girl could easily have opted for a fulltime modelling career – she’s that stunning. But then it would have seen a lot of her artistic talent go to waste. Foxes delivered a style of music here reminiscent of Kate Bush, Björk and Portishead’s Beth Gibbons all rolled into one. And yet, it’s all utterly, uniquely she.
PALOMA FAITH
A Perfect Contradiction
Sure, the single ‘Only Love Can Hurt Like This’ stole most of the limelight but it oughtn’t have overshadowed the brilliance of Faith’s third album proper. Leave it to the Brits to keep dishing out musical talent with an uncanny knack for emulating great singers of the past, with Faith’s heart and soul seemingly devoted to tributing the likes of Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday and Etta James. The album featured a roster of impressive contributors including Pharrell Williams, Diane Warren, Plan B and John Legend, most of whom got in touch with Paloma themselves, just begging to be a part of that great big retro-like package.
NENEH CHERRY
Blank Project
Cherry’s first solo album since 1996 is an impressive slice of work, even if it does avoid post-production trickery. This is Neneh at her rawest. Rawer than sushi, if you will. There’s a definitive simplicity in the production that makes you instead really want to tune in to what she’s singing/saying/rapping. It’s a kind of “low-key verite”, as one magazine called it, which occasionally breaks into infectious electronica. And boy, are we looking forward to catching this gal live at the Perth International Arts Festival in February, where things are sure to be even rawer on stage.
TRICKY
Adrian Thaws
A whole new batch of eerie, gritty, even queer grooves from the original trip-hopster who really sounds like he ought to be producing soundtracks to slasher movies. Self-titled (it’s his real name) and self-crafted (no record company interruption whatsoever), ‘Adrian Thaws’ is raw and ready to rip the nay-sayers’ words to shreds. Again, it features a host of guest vocalists, most of whom we’ve never heard of… After all, “Some people meet new people and they might go for a beer or to a club or for food,” Tricky told this magazine, insisting: “I just go straight into the studio. I eat ’cause I have to. I drink to get drunk. I socialise in the studio.”
JOHN BUTLER TRIO
Flesh + Blood
The Perth-based trio returned to fine form with a batch of tunes infectious enough to wake the dead. From commentary on politics and environmental issues, to songs about the idiosyncracies of the everyday man, to even an ode to zombies in ‘Only One’ (accompanied by a video of dead men pashing their apparent loved ones), JBT never fail to deliver on the quirks, resounding rhythms, and unequivocal lyrics on this here LP. Five stars, and even happy faces, all ’round.
PINK FLOYD
The Endless River
A wave of excitement came over us when we learnt Pink Floyd would be releasing a brand-spanking new album in 2014. Best described as having its starting point from 1993’s ‘Division Bell’ sessions, the record proved to be one trippy affair. Indeed, most of the ‘four-sided’ LP was instrumental with one song only boasting lyrics, namely the not-so-ironically titled ‘Louder Than Words’. Said singer David Gilmour, “I think we’ve generally harnessed studio technology to make a very 21st century Pink Floyd album.” Indeedy, they had.
THE MADDEN BROTHERS
Greetings From California
Something must have happened to Joel and Benji Madden since venturing into talent-show mentoring territory. It’s like they’d taken leaves out of their own books; finally adopting all the necessary elements for a big crossover record – clean-structured verses, catchy-as choruses, melodic vocals, and arty packaging – all evident on this here LP. What we loved most were the retro tinges to a lot of the songs, with ‘Brixton’ having a late ’50s doo-wop vibe about it, then getting all jangly psychedelic, and single ‘We Are Done’ sounding like it time-travelled its way straight out of 1969. Keep doing this, boys, and you’ll prove your worth as valid mentors on any talent show.
KELIS
Food
From the queen of unconventional urban sounds comes an album whose song titles might focus on one thing (read: food) but whose sonics chop and change as if there were no such things as ‘genre’ and ‘pigeon-holing’. From the fife and brass of ‘Breakfast’ to the call-and-response rockabilly vibe of ‘Friday Fish Fry’, ‘Food’ sees Kelis cooking up a storm in the postmodern audio stakes. Heck, there’s even a guest appearance by her son, who invites listeners to come on over for some of his mom’s “home cooking”. Whether the gal went all-out on a food theme after contemplating the decade-old success of ‘Milkshake’, we’re not too sure. But when it all sounds this good, who cares?
KYLA LA GRANGE
Cut Your Teeth
This young English singer songwriter might have just slipped under the radar, but her sophomore LP didn’t go unnoticed by yours truly. Minimalist electronica paved the way for perfect pop on songs with sharp titles (read: the title track, and lead single ‘The Knife’) and just-as-sharp sentiment. A kind of Ellie Goulding meets Kylie Minogue meets Bjork-when-she-was-great, we hope to be hearing more of strange La Grange in 2015.
AZEALIA BANKS
Broke With Expensive Taste
‘Fusion’ appears to be the key word here, with Banks mixing up the genres of jazz, deep house and UK garage throughout the better part of this LP. A self-released album, it’s like she works best without record company pressure, evident on such polished tracks (albeit with urgent titles) such as ‘Desperado’ and ‘Chasing Time’. Our pick of the bunch is ‘Gimme A Chance’, sounding like a cross between Kundalini-releasing rhythms and indie Eighties bubblegum pop (think: the Tom Tom Club). Like we said, ‘fusion’ appears to be the key word here…
DAN SULTAN
Blackbird
Created on his own terms more than any of his albums before it, ‘Blackbird’ boasts the best rural rock this country has heard since, well, Midnight Oil. While Dan admits he is opinionated about issues facing Indigenous peoples today, he doesn’t define himself as a political artist per se and it shows on a record where polished music takes precedent if not sits on par with politic. The bluesy-meets-country-meets rock sounds that emanate throughout the album run from upbeat numbers like ‘Under Your Skin’ to more soulful melodies like ‘The Same Man’, the latter boasting some wicked banjo-playing. And no, it doesn’t sound anything like a Mumford & Sons’ banjo, either…
COLDPLAY
Ghost Stories
Some critics described this album as being “too mopey” but, heck, it’s Coldplay. Since when were Chris Martin and Co not melancholic in sound and lyric? That Chris had just broken up with Gwyneth Paltrow (read: “consciously uncoupled”) on the eve of this album’s release, and given the high rumours of an imminent split by the band, is it any wonder it sounds like a ‘break-up’ record? And if setting the saddest of tones was the mission of this album, it passed. When caught at the right moment – ie: when you feel your own bout of sadness coming on – these songs sound perfectly beautiful.
REAL ESTATE
Atlas
Whereas previous Real Estate offerings were perhaps a little too ‘lo-fi’ to win the ears of the mainstream, ‘Atlas’ is a far more polished affair that harks back to the rules and regulations of emo-rock in its primitive days (think: America, Toto, Boston, Fleetwood Mac in the late ’70s). The instrumentation is clean, the lyrics delivered clearly, and the full package one gorgeous sonic affair from a band even we’re surprised to learn hails from bogan-bombarded New Jersey.
BECK
Morning Phase
Beck has always had a passion for everything retro. In fact a lot of his album artwork looked like photos fed through Instagram picture effects way before Instagram was even invented. ‘Morning Phase’ takes the retro thing even further, with songs nodding in all manner of “hey man, that’s real far out” style to the likes of the Beatles, the Byrds, the Beach Boys, even Simon & Garfunkel. Think sun, sea and sand and you’ve got most of the inspiration behind this here record. Oh, and heaps of Hooch McGooch, we’re sure…
COURTNEY BARNETT
The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas
Though not officially Courtney Barnett’s first album, Split Peas is a combination of the indie artist’s two EPs that picked up much interest overseas. Indeed, these songs introduced the world’s serious music press to a troubled troubadour’s soundscapes that are so rich and beautiful, the resulting emotion through listening to is is pure joy. Multi-talented Melbourne-based Barnett plays a variety of instruments and sings, albeit mostly in a deadpan tone, but she always gets her message across, even when it sounds like she’s rambling. Watch. This. Space.