Top Tracks 2014 Part III 89 - 80
89. The Underachievers – Caprice (Cellar Door: Terminus Ut Exordium)
The debut album by the
Underachievers deserves to be respected. Coming up under the recent wave of New
York rappers, Cellar Door is their mission statement and way of creating their
lane. You could have guessed that after their mixtape they would come to rely
on hooks and banging production akin to Herb Shuttles, but on the contrary the
UA focused on content and lyricism. For this, Caprice is the best combination
of both the catchy hook of "knock em, knock em" and a message. The UA
speak against stereotypes and try themselves at being metaphysicists of
rap – rightfully so.
88. AnD – New World Order (Esoteric Systems)
This is the soundtrack for the overwhelming insanity of seeing your loved ones murdered. The deprivation of humanity through sheer force and the creeping loss of self-restraint as you find the murderer red-handed and bloody yourself with the remains of his free will.
87. Ariana Grande – Break Your Heart Right Back feat. Childish Gambino (My Everything)
While Ariana Grande seems to be the new face of mainstream r´n´b, there is something disturbingly generic to her music – well, maybe that´s why she is loved that much. I find it hard to pin-point what makes her music, her music and even her voice sounds not very distinguishable. But Break Your Heart Right Back, for all its typical "my heart is broken" narrative, has a great twist with the same sex relationship and above everything Childish Gambino delivering a quick and poignant verse.
86. SBTRKT – Kyoto (Transitions II)
It´s a shame in one way or another that SBTRKT´s Transitions, which were intended to show his musical ideas and progression leading up to his sophomore album, outshined the main effort. Wonder Where We Land has it´s very bright moments, but doesn´t seem to follow any line of thought and even seems less characteristically "SBTRKT". His production is top-notch and maybe, for album number three he should consider cutting back on the A-List features and stick to his guns; or just Sampha for that matter. Opaque Kyoto had me excited and now serves as the reminder why I fell in love with the masked man in the beginning.
85. Heinali – Swirling Lightly
Heinali is a musical genius. And still he remains in the shadows of Bandcamp releasing track after track, one more distinguished then the previous. Swirling Lightly has him channeling the classic notion that accompanies many of his greatest works. Listing to this track it only seems a matter of time until a gripping indie movie utilizes the emotions in some visual poetry.
84. Joyce Manor – In The Army Now (Never Hungover Again)
For delivering an album clocking under 20 minutes, Joyce manner packed their third iteration full of emotion and drive. In The Army Now moves fast, begs you to scream the lyrics as loud as the guitars churn away.
83. Sia – Chandelier (1000 Forms Of Fear)
This one is a must. For me, more for the blend of visuals / dance performance then the song itself. On its own, Chandeliers lost some of its appeal over continuous listens. Even though it remains the standout of the album, without the video this songs would have just been Sia taking a song that you´d expect from a songstress like Rihanna and keeping her name in front. The narrative is great but doesn´t set the explosive chorus apart from its contemporaries. Still, a must of 2014.
82. The Dream – Wedding Bells (Royalty: The Prequel)
The Dreams songs are at their best when he strikes the romantic note and moves away from the explicitly sexual. Wedding Bells is uplifting, bumping and heartfelt. The production and the small soundbite of actual bells manifests Terius Nash´s positon as a splendid beat genius once again. Maybe Royalty – or whatever his next album will actually be titled as – will be his return to form from last years mixed bag IV Play.
81. Auburn Lull – Hiber (Hiber EP)
While lacking vocals, Auburn Lull have returned! I missed this divergent feeling of their music. Time, Space, all becomes irrelevant and there are only the (sound-)wave and glistening keys of Hiber.
80. Schoolboy Q – Studio feat. BJ The Chicago Kid (Oxymoron)
Revisiting Oxymoron over the course of this year, many songs fell flat and became uninteresting. But Studio, for his old school mellow vibe remains great. Schoolboy changes his flow into a slow spoken-word kind of drool in the first verse, comes in fast on the second one even tries something close to singing on the third. BJ The Chicago Kid delivers a smooth chorus and lends the track the appeal of an (still weird) rap ballad.
88. AnD – New World Order (Esoteric Systems)
This is the soundtrack for the overwhelming insanity of seeing your loved ones murdered. The deprivation of humanity through sheer force and the creeping loss of self-restraint as you find the murderer red-handed and bloody yourself with the remains of his free will.
87. Ariana Grande – Break Your Heart Right Back feat. Childish Gambino (My Everything)
While Ariana Grande seems to be the new face of mainstream r´n´b, there is something disturbingly generic to her music – well, maybe that´s why she is loved that much. I find it hard to pin-point what makes her music, her music and even her voice sounds not very distinguishable. But Break Your Heart Right Back, for all its typical "my heart is broken" narrative, has a great twist with the same sex relationship and above everything Childish Gambino delivering a quick and poignant verse.
86. SBTRKT – Kyoto (Transitions II)
It´s a shame in one way or another that SBTRKT´s Transitions, which were intended to show his musical ideas and progression leading up to his sophomore album, outshined the main effort. Wonder Where We Land has it´s very bright moments, but doesn´t seem to follow any line of thought and even seems less characteristically "SBTRKT". His production is top-notch and maybe, for album number three he should consider cutting back on the A-List features and stick to his guns; or just Sampha for that matter. Opaque Kyoto had me excited and now serves as the reminder why I fell in love with the masked man in the beginning.
85. Heinali – Swirling Lightly
Heinali is a musical genius. And still he remains in the shadows of Bandcamp releasing track after track, one more distinguished then the previous. Swirling Lightly has him channeling the classic notion that accompanies many of his greatest works. Listing to this track it only seems a matter of time until a gripping indie movie utilizes the emotions in some visual poetry.
84. Joyce Manor – In The Army Now (Never Hungover Again)
For delivering an album clocking under 20 minutes, Joyce manner packed their third iteration full of emotion and drive. In The Army Now moves fast, begs you to scream the lyrics as loud as the guitars churn away.
83. Sia – Chandelier (1000 Forms Of Fear)
This one is a must. For me, more for the blend of visuals / dance performance then the song itself. On its own, Chandeliers lost some of its appeal over continuous listens. Even though it remains the standout of the album, without the video this songs would have just been Sia taking a song that you´d expect from a songstress like Rihanna and keeping her name in front. The narrative is great but doesn´t set the explosive chorus apart from its contemporaries. Still, a must of 2014.
82. The Dream – Wedding Bells (Royalty: The Prequel)
The Dreams songs are at their best when he strikes the romantic note and moves away from the explicitly sexual. Wedding Bells is uplifting, bumping and heartfelt. The production and the small soundbite of actual bells manifests Terius Nash´s positon as a splendid beat genius once again. Maybe Royalty – or whatever his next album will actually be titled as – will be his return to form from last years mixed bag IV Play.
81. Auburn Lull – Hiber (Hiber EP)
While lacking vocals, Auburn Lull have returned! I missed this divergent feeling of their music. Time, Space, all becomes irrelevant and there are only the (sound-)wave and glistening keys of Hiber.
80. Schoolboy Q – Studio feat. BJ The Chicago Kid (Oxymoron)
Revisiting Oxymoron over the course of this year, many songs fell flat and became uninteresting. But Studio, for his old school mellow vibe remains great. Schoolboy changes his flow into a slow spoken-word kind of drool in the first verse, comes in fast on the second one even tries something close to singing on the third. BJ The Chicago Kid delivers a smooth chorus and lends the track the appeal of an (still weird) rap ballad.
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