Hey, here are my 154 favourite albums of 2014. As usual, I haven't aimed for a fixed number; just listed everything, in a loose order, that I've enjoyed these past 12 months.
While the latest issue of Uncut was turning up in the UK last week, I was a long way from “Basement Tapes” frenzy, on holiday in Athens. I saw all the classical sites, accidentally walked into both a Tino Sehgal performance piece and a NATO delegation, and also, true to form, found time to do a little record shopping.
Dan Michaelson is not a particularly prolific Tweeter, but between musing about IKEA hotdogs and the time he DJed in Topshop (playing John Tavener, Laurie Anderson and ESG back-to-back) he found time to re-Tweet a backhanded compliment from a thoughtful soul called @recordshopbloke. “I do like Dan Michaelson's records,” said the bloke, “but sometimes it’s a bit like a mate on the phone going on endlessly about his tragic life.”
Yesterday, after I posted this list of my favourite albums of 2014, I received a few messages complaining that there were too many Youtube and Soundcloud clips embedded here, preventing the page from loading properly. Forgive the repetition, then, but I thought it worth reposting the list as three separate blogs; hopefully it’ll work better this time…
Always a bit of a gamble doing this, to be honest but, since it’s June, I’ve tried to put together a list of my favourite albums of 2014 thus far. Many caveats forthcoming, not least that my slightly ad hoc way of trying to remember what I’ve liked means I’ve almost certainly missed a few things.
Mercury Rev will perform Deserter's Songs in full during their headline set at this year's Green Man Festival.
The band will perform their 1998 album in full on August 16 at the festival, which takes place on Glanusk Estate, Black Mountains in the Welsh Brecon Beacons.
Recently lso added to the bill are acts including Joanna Gruesome, The Field, Augustines, Ben UFO, Ought, The Pooh Sticks, Vancouver Sleep Clinic and H Hawkline, as well as DJ sets from Huw Stephens, Heavenly DJs and Simian Mobile Disco.
