- Top Tens
The votes are in and counted for another year resulting in a landslide victory for The War On Drugs – 'Lost in the Dream' as the Rock Club UK Album of the year for 2014.
Happy New year all!
1 The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
=2 Elbow - The Take-off and landing of Everything
=2 Royal Blood – Royal Blood
3 Sharon van Etten – Are We There
4 Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
5 The Rails – Fair Warning
6 Temples – Sun Structures
=7 Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
=7 Mogwai – Rave Tapes
=7 St Vincent – St Vincent
=7 Wild Beasts – Present Tense
8 First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
=9 Beck – Morning Phase
=9 Esben and the Witch – A New Nature
=10 East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
=10 The Horrors - Luminous
All the votes are HERE
- Top Tens
Only just heard St Vincent's album from beginning to end - sounds fantastic, but too soon to say if it's a top tenner. Not played Lykke Li's album in full yet, although what I've heard sounds great.
For me, there's a considerable gap between number one and the rest. For once, that part was easy. My problem was (like Lou) listening to a lot of 2013 records during 2014. Number one would've been Bill Callahan's Dream River, released in 2013. Here are my favourites:
Albums
1. The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
2. Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness
3. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
4. Wild Beasts - Present Tense
5. Neil Young - A Letter Home
6. TV on the Radio - Seeds
7. Ariel Pink – Pom Pom
8. Beck - Morning Phase
9. Mogwai – Rave Tapes
10. Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
Gigs
1. Atomic Bomb (William Onyeabor by Damon Albarn, Hot Chip and Co) at the Barbican
2. Bill Callahan at the Royal Festival Hall
3. Keaton Henson at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
4. TV on the Radio at Oslo
5. Mogwai at the Royal Festival Hall
6. Neutral Milk Hotel at the Roundhouse
7. Slint at Electric Brixton
8. Gruff Rhys at Soho Theatre
9. Sinkane at Oslo
10. Bonnie Prince Billy at St John at Hackney
Nigel
- Top Tens
A Rockin' year it seems ....
1. Royal Blood - Royal Blood
2. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
3. The Horrors - Luminous
4. Slash - World on Fire
5. Foo Fighters- Sonic Highways
6. St Vincent - St Vincent
7. Beck - Morning Phase
8. Billy Idol - Kings and Queens of the Underground
9. Jack White - Lazaretto
10. Pink Floyd - Endless River
Carla
@QuaglinoMngmnt
- Top Tens
The music I have most enjoyed during 2014 some of which I saw at Green Man and End of the Road Festivals are;
1. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
2. The Rails – Fair Warning
3. Lily & Madeleine – Fumes
4. Simon Felice – Strangers
5. Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
6. Elbow – The Takeoff & Landing of Everything
7. Smoke Fairies – Smoke Fairies
8. Tori Amos – Unrepentant Geraldines
9. The Hayden Triplets – The Hayden Triplets
10. Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
- Top Tens
Albums
- Mogwai Rave Tapes
- The War on Drugs Lost in the Dream
- The Barr Brothers Sleeping Operator
- The Twilight Sad Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave
- The Felice Brothers Favorite Waitress
- The Rails Fair Warning
- King Creosote From Scotland With Love
- The Phantom Band Strange Friend
- Wild Beasts Present Tense
- East India Youth Total Strife Forever
Gigs
- Mogwai Royal Festival Hall 24.1.14
- Suede Royal Albert Hall 30.3.14
- Kan St Pancras Old Church 22.5.14
- Matt Berry Garage 9.4.14
- Handsome Family 100 Club 13.5.14
- RM Hubbert Lexington 30.11.14
- Shearwater XOYO 30.4.14
- Marijuana Deathsquads Black Heart 11.2.14
- Dead Rat Orchestra London Canal Museum 28.7.14
- Chris Wood Kings Place 7.2.14
Festival Performances
- Loudon Wainwright III Cambridge Folk Festival
- Jason Isbell Cambridge Folk Festival
- Lau End of the Road Festival
- Richard Thompson End of the Road Festival
- McGoldrick, McCusker, Doyle Cambridge Folk Festival
- The Rails Cambridge Folk Festival
- Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham Cambridge Folk Festival
- Barr Brothers End of the Road Festival
- Fisherman's Friends Cambridge Folk Festival
- Danny & the Champs Leigh Folk Festival
Track of the Year
The War on Drugs An Ocean in Between the Waves
Book of the Year
Joshua Ferris To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
Film of the Year
The Imitation Game
TV Show of the Year
The Detectorists
Best Musical Experience of the Year
Taking my dad to his first ever Cambridge Folk Festival
Most Disappointing Musical Experience of the Year
Herman Dune deciding to play a tedious covers set in belated tribute to Lou Reed at their gig at the Lexington back in January
Matt @mjcartledge
- Top Tens
Albums
1 The War On Drugs - Lost In A Dream
2 Caribou - Our Love
3 Royal Blood – Royal Blood
4 Mogwai - Rave Tapes
5 Pink Floyd - Endless River
6 Leonard Cohen - Popular Songs
7 Slow Club - Complete Surrender
8 Temples - Sun Structures
9 King Creosote - With Love From Scotland
10 Wye Oak - Shriek
Gigs
1 Mogwai – Southbank Centre London
2 The Boxer Rebellion – Scala London
3 Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Electric Ballroom London
4 Toy – Thekla Bristol
5 Sinkane – Oslo London
6 Slowdive – The Forum London
7 Kenny Anderson (AKA King Creosote) – Impromptu performance at Dreel Tavern Anstruther
8 The Leisure Society – Southbank Centre London
9 Slow Club – Portland Arms Cambridge
10 Wye Oak – Islington Assembly Hall London
Festivals
1 Arcade Fire - Glastonbury
2 Flaming Lips – End Of The Road
3 Mogwai – Glastonbury
4 Massive Attack – Glastonbury
5 John Grant – Glastonbury
6 R M Hubbert – Howlin Fling Isle Of Eigg
7 Rodrigo Y Gabriella – Glastonbury
8 Neil Young - BST Hyde Park
9 Blondie – Glastonbury
10 White Denim – End Of The Road
Ken
- Top Tens
Another year another set of Top Tens. My Top Tens for this year are as follows:
Albums
1 Cherry Ghost – Herd Runners
2 Bellowhead – Revival
3 The Rails – Fair Warning
4 First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
5 Jimi Goodwin - Odludek
6 Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
7 Slow Club – Complete Surrender
8 Richard Thompson – Acoustic Classics
9 Esther Swift – The Mairches
10 Seth Lakeman – Word of Mouth
Gigs
1 Bellowhead – Shepherds Bush Empire
2 Cherry Ghost – Islington Assembly Hall
3 The Staves – Crypt on the Green
4 Madness – O2, Stratford
5 Kan – St Pancras Church
6 Beth Orton – Barbican Centre
7 Dead Rat Orchestra - London Canal Museum
8 Jimi Goodwin – Islington Assembly Hall
9 Matt Berry – The Garage
10 Jack Cheshire – Kings Place
Festival Appearances (all from Cambridge Folk Festival 2014)
1 Fisherman's Friends
2 Loudon Wainwright III
3 Richard Thompson
4 Aly Bain, Phil Cunningham, Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker & John Doyle
5 Johnny Flynn and The Sussex Wit
6 The Rails
7 Seth Lakeman
8 Martin & Eliza Carthy
9 Skinny Lister
10 Jason Isbell
Best Song
Cherry Ghost – Drinking for Two
Musical Moment
Loudon Wainwright reading his father's poem. It really tugged on the old heartstrings.
Graham
- Top Tens
Top Ten Albums
1. Alvvays -Alvvays
2. Breakfast - Teleman
3. Lost In The Dream - The War On Drugs
4. The Take Off And Landing Of Everything - Elbow
5. Alias - The Magic Numbers
6. Eagulls - Eagulls
7. American Interior - Gruff Rhys
8. Total Strife Forever - East India Youth
9. So Long, See You Tomorrow - Bombay Bicycle Club
10. Little Italy (EP) - Little Comets
Top Ten Gigs
1. John Grant, Bournemouth Old Fire Station
2. Catfish And The Bottlemen, Southampton Joiners
3. The Magic Numbers, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
4. Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Kentish Town Forum (last ever GCWCF show)
5. Jonathan Wilson, London, Village Underground
6. British Sea Power, Brownsea Island
7. The Libertines, Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam
8. Eagulls, Southampton Lennons
9. The Antlers, Hackney Empire
10. Girl Band, Shacklewell Arms, Dalston
Best Song
The Blur, The Line And The Thickest Of Onions - Little Comets
Top Ten Festival performances
Barbarossa, Dot To Dot, Bristol
White Lung - Dot to Dot, Bristol
East India Youth - Latitude
Mogwai, Latitude
Damian Jurado, Latitude
Slow Club, Victorious Festival
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - EOTR
White Denim - EOTR
Emperor Yes - Southsea Festival
Tim Burgess, The Whisky Sessions, Manchester
Best Wishes, Si
- Top Tens
Top Ten Albums
1 The Elizabethan Session – various
2 Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
3 Manic Street Preachers - 'Futurology
4 Avi Buffalo - At Best Cuckold
5 Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
6 St.Vincent - St Vincent
7 Lucinda Williams - Down Where The Spirit Meets the Bone
8 Conor Oberst -Upside Down Mountain
9 Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World
10 Jack White - Lazaretto
Song of the Year
Nancy Kerr 'Never Ever Lay Them Down'
Favourite Gigs
The Flaming Lips – Rock City, Nottingham
(they squeezed the stadium size production into Rock City, the audience became part of the light show)
Riding The Low – The Vic Inn, Derby
Laurence Jones- The Flowerpot, Derby
Courtney Love - Rock City, Nottingham
The New Pornographers- Gorilla, Manchester
Favourite Festival Performances
St Vincent @ End of the Road. (somebody who realises that a live show should be more just recreating the record)
Kasabian @ Victoria Park, Leicester
White Denim @ End of the Road
Lucy Ward @ Derby Folk Festival
Alisdair Whyte
- Top Tens
Albums
1. Sharon Van Etten- Are We There
2. Ryan Adams- Ryan Adams
3. Temples- Sun Structures
4. Wild Beasts- Present Tense
5. Elbow- Take Off And Landing Of Everything
6. Damien Rice- My Favourite Faded Fantasy
7. Royal Blood- Royal Blood
8. Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long, See You Tomorrow
9. War On Drugs- Lost In The Dream
10. George Ezra- Wanted On Voyage
Gigs
1. The War On Drugs- KOKO
2. Foo Fighters- Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
3. The National- The O2 Arena
4. Ryan Adams- Shepherds Bush Empire
5. Damien Rice- London Palladium
6. Franz Ferdinand- Somerset House
7. Interpol- Rock City
8. Luke Sital Singh- Scala
9. Slowdive- Village Underground
10. Josh Pyke- Oslo Hackney
Festivals
1. Royal Blood- Glastonbury
2. The National- BST Hyde Park
3. Arcade Fire- Glastonbury
4. The War On Drugs- Latitude
5. Kasabian- Glastonbury
6. Toy- Green Man
7. Vancouver Sleep Clinic- Green Man
8. George Ezra- Latitude
9. Sharon Van Etten- Green Man
10. Fatboy Slim- WeAreFSTVL
Best Song
Red Eyes- The War On Drugs -
Followed ever so closely by Unforgettable by The Harpoons.
Joe @thejoeeley
- Top Tens
Top Ten albums:
1. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
2. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
3. Young Fathers - Dead
4. The Acid - Liminal
5. Caribou - Our Love
6. Paul White - Shaker Notes
7. Flying Lotus -You're Dead
8. Run The Jewel - Run The Jewels 2
9. The Notwist - Close To The Glass
10. East India Youth - Total Strife Forever
Link to my full top 20 HERE
Gigs:
1. Marijuana Deathsquads - Black Heart, Camden
2. Flying Lotus - Roundhouse, Camden
3. Scott & Charlene's Wedding - The Lexington, Islington
4. Sinkane - Oslo, Hackney
5. Clint Mansell - The Barbican, London
6. Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Hyde Park, London
7. James Holdne - Purcell Room, Southbank
8. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly! - the farewell gig, The Forum, Kentish Town
9. Johnny Marr - Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
10. UNKLE - Royal Festival Hall, London
Festival Appearances:
1. Jagwar Ma - William's Green, Glastonbury Festival
2. Young Fathers - Visions festival
3. St. Vincent - The Park, Glastonbury festival
4. Songhoy Blues - Visions festival
5. Damon Albarn - BBC 6 Music Festival
6. John Grant - The Park, Glastonbury Festival
7. Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip - Victorious Festival
8. De La Soul - Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival
9. Dirty Beaches - Visions Festival
10. Elbow - Pyramin Stage, Glastonbury Festival
Best Track:
Caribou - Can't Do Without You (Extended Mix)
Link to my top 10 tracks HERE
Cheers,
Russell
- Top Tens
Top 10 Albums 2014
1. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
2. Future Islands - Singles
3. Kasabian - 48:13
4. Jack White - Lazaretto
5. The Horrors - Luminous
6. Black Keys - Turn Blue
7. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Hypnotic Eye
8. Bombay Bicycle Club - So Long See You Tomorrow
9. The New Basement Tapes - Lost on the River
10. Turrentine Jones - Our Days