Warm Visions’ Favorite EPs of 2014

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Very Warm

besteps2014I know some people would put EPs on a Top 50 Albums list, which I’m fine with, but I’m pretty okay with making another list entirely since I like making lists. Also because I think it’s unfair to judge full-length albums against a tiny project that may be incomplete, what have you. Here we go:

10. Diarrhea Planet – Aliens In The Outfield
9. Doss – S/T
8. Julianna Barwick – Rosabi
7. Institute – Salt
6. Speedy Ortiz – Real Hair
5. Girlpool – S/T
4. Movement – S/T
3. Allison Crutchfield – Lean Into It
2. Crying – Second Wind
1. Viet Cong – Cassette

Assorted Thoughts:

Viet Cong rules. I loved Women (RIP Chris Reimer) and this group really continues the tradition of their sound but varies it up enough to make them unique. The song “Structureless Design” is so fucking badass. The moment where the song just breaks and there’s a flurry of messy guitars and march-like bass… CHILLS EVERY TIME.

Crying actually reissued their Get Olde EP and released Second Wind with it. I considered it to be a double EP and I chose the new stuff to be in there. Fantastic chiptune. WOOO.

Still kicking myself I didn’t get to see Girlpool at CMJ. Especially after I’ve listened to their EP so many times. Watch for them to take over 2015.

The Julianna Barwick EP is actually something she made in conjunction with a Dogfish Head beer of the same name, which was brewed with rose and wasabi, thus giving it the name “Rosabi.” I’m an absolute sucker for Julianna Barwick AND Dogfish Head, so the addition was easy.

Very rock heavy on this list, with Diarrhea Planet, Institute, Speedy Ortiz, Girlpool & Viet Cong all being primarily guitar-based bands. Electronic got a good showing from Doss & Movement – two very different projects but both fall into the very large realm of “electronic.” Crying and Allison Crutchfield fall into the indie rock/pop punk/super small budget band category, if you can even make that a category. Then Julianna Barwick is alone again, but you can’t put her in a box so take that.

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Warm Visions’ Honorable Mentions of 2014

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Very Warm

honorablementions2014Here are some albums that were at one point in my Top 50 list or came out late in the year and didn’t get to crack into it. Here we go:

  • Alvvays – Alvvays
  • Beck – Morning Phase
  • Cymbals Eat Guitars – Lose
  • Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness of Dancers
  • Jessica Lea Mayfield – Make My Head Sing…
  • King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – I’m In Your Head Fuzz
  • Ratking – So It Goes
  • Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
  • Sun Kil Moon – Benji
  • Tacocat – NVM
  • Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
  • Tony Molina – Dissed & Dismissed
  • Two Inch Astronaut – Foulbrood
  • Vashti Bunyan – Heartleap
  • The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

The most recent addition to that bunch is the Two Inch Astronaut, which came out last week. It’s on Exploding In Sound, which instantly gains points in my book, plus it has them riffs. It was an NPR First Listen for a reason.

The album that I thought I would hate and I turned out really liking was the Sturgill Simpson Metamodern Sounds In Country Music. At surface level, it’s just another country record, which would make some people I know cringe in their pants, but it’s actually a fuckin’ badass record with great, interesting guitar work and vocals similar to Future Islands at some points. I definitely almost passed it up, but decided to take a listen once again when I saw him perform on Conan. Definitely not a mistake there.

Sun Kil Moon & The War On Drugs are on the same list. Ranked the same. I know a bunch of people swear by both of those acts, but both of them got pushed out of the Top 50. They were meant to be together, I guess ;).

Beck was able to stick around in my list circuit by holding onto an honorable mention spot. He’s debatably my all-time favorite musician, but was never able to even crack my Top 5 when it was out in the beginning of the year. It has some great tracks on it for sure, but was never able to hold me throughout the entire year. Seeing him live this year was one of the best experiences of my life, though.

Alvvays is probably my #51, but don’t tell anyone.

Ratking only hip hop album on the honorable mentions list, I hope more show up on the Top 50!

High population of folk/country/singer songwriter dudes on here: Beck, Hiss Golden Messenger, Sun Kil Moon, Sturgill Simpson Timber Timbre & Vashti Bunyan. I’m slowly gaining some more appreciation for stuff like this, I guess.

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The Gaslamp Killer – “Flange Face ft. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson”

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Very Warm

One of my favorites from a great record of 2012. Played this on my radio show tonight. Love the urgency on this track, along with the dope strings laid down by Mr. Atwood-Ferguson. Sort of matches the urgency right now in the place of the same name as Miguel: Ferguson, MO.

RIP Michael Brown. Let there be justice for his family, friends and the rest of the community.

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Arca – “Sad Bitch”

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Very Warm

A track off of Arca’s new album Xen that might be looked at as an interlude that should really be looked at as one of the better tracks on the record. The track feels like it has a purpose, unlike many of the other songs on the record. This is the kind of stuff that makes me feel intoxicated by just listening to it. The wooziness of the some textures paired with the shrillness of others really has a dizzying effect, engaging the listener and then bringing them into its world. Truly fantastic off of a flawed, but stellar album.

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Crystal Castles – “I Am Made Of Chalk”

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Very Warm

For some reason I never bothered to get to the end of Crystal Castles’ 2010 album II, which is a shame because it had this gem at the end of it. A perfect album closer.

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Ariel Pink – “Black Ballerina”

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Very Warm

Even though I don’t really dig a lot of what this troll says on the internet and in the media, I dig this song a lot, along with the rest of the album. The chorus is just killer and has a familiar but alien groove to it. Classic Ariel Pink stuff right here. My introduction to him, like many people, was Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti Before Today. This album is like 17 songs of “Butt House Blondies,” which is a damn good song.

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Hungry Cloud Darkening – “Hold This Moment”

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Very Warm

This record is gonna go under the radar for a lot of people this year and that’s a shame. These dudes come from the Phil Elverum camp of Anacortes, WA and have served as his touring band in the past. Their sound reflects the calmness of the Pacific Northwest, with their songs never getting loud per se, but they have emotional weight. The songs are slow and silky, like fog wafting over trees in the mountains.

Check it out!

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Ricky Eat Acid – “In My Dreams We’re Almost Touching”

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Very Warm

My only wish is that I never tire of this song.

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Quirke – “Break A Mirrored Leg”

Posted on November 19, 2014 by Very Warm

There was a huge burst of activity around this dude when this song first came out in the middle of the year, but then everything died down. I still think this is one of the best songs of the year so far. Whenever a song makes my calf muscles pulsate with the beat and my neck shake to-and-fro, that’s when I know I have a good song on my hands. Here’s a reminder for all the electronic fans out there.

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Mitski – “I Don’t Smoke”

Posted on November 7, 2014 by Very Warm

The next big thing, AKA Mitski, is primed to take over the world with her upcoming full-length, Bury Me At Makeout Creek, coming out on Double Double Whammy very soon. The whole record is an emotional tour-de-force, ripe with late-college//post-college feelings brined in songs of familial and relational love. These songs are put forth by a mixture of vicious and delicate guitars, along with a mixture of vocal timbres. Mitski is able to switch from a faintly specter of a voice to that of a valkyrie swooping into war.

YO, pick up this record. This is the business.

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