2014 - An Inevitable Musical Enumeration

Posted in SHOFT on Friday 2nd January 2015 at 9:07am

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It's been a long while since I could legitimately refer to myself as a Music Blogger. So long in fact, that a good number of the contacts I made back then have largely forgotten who I am and are focused on getting more active and prolific champions to notice their own next big projects. That's how music works, and in some ways I'm surprised it took such a long time to happen. One way I'm not forgotten though, is by the mailing lists of press people. This produces an endless queue of 'for review' items even now - often wildly badly targeted, almost exclusively pretty dreadful too. But once or twice, this historical status has landed a gem of an anticipated release in my lap - and I've felt almost guilty for eagerly downloading it, knowing the chances of me writing anything on it are vanishingly slim. So this post is as much an apology and a nod to those who've sent me good things during the year as it is a personal end-of-the-year list. This is after all, how my blogging began...

So in a pretty lean year when I've had to be very selective about where my money goes, what has been essential? Have I been more conservative - or still struck out into uncharted waters? Well, the content of my list is unashamedly focused on the Scottish music which has dominated my listening over the past decade for sure - but there are a few blasts from the past creeping in here too.

In no particularly sensible order, here is my list...

1. Withered Hand - New Gods
2. Thurston Moore - The Best Day
3. King Creosote - From Scotland With Love
4. Mogwai - Rave Tapes
5. Book Group - Tantrums EP
6. Mecca Normal - Empathy For The Evil
7. Randolph's Leap - Clumsy Knot
8. Paws - Youth Culture Forever
9. Beerjacket - Darling Darkness
10. Ex Hex - Rips
11. Jonnie Common - Trapped In Amber
12. The Twilight Sad - Nobody Wants To Be Here & Nobody Wants To Leave
13. David Kilgour and The Heavy Eights - End Times Undone
14. James Yorkston - The Cellardyke Recording and Wassailing Society
15. John Knox Sex Club - Oh Wow Must Be The Devil
16. The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
17. The Son(s) - The Things I Love Are Not At Home
18. White Heath - Out Of Angles EP
19. Parquet Courts - Content Nausea
20. Remember Remember - Forgetting The Present
21. The Phantom Band - Strange Friend
22. Meursault - The Organ Grinder's Monkey
23. Ought - More Than Any Other Day
24. RM Hubbert - The Ampersand Extras
25. Bastard Mountain - Farewell, Bastard Mountain