A Best of 2014 on the Moon Part 1


After A Best of 2013 on the Moon ended up with 49 artists and I did think that if the number of albums/new artists I got into continued to grow then it would be a good idea to split this year into two halves. So here we have A Best of 2014 part 1 on Deezer here and Spotify below.


Made up of 36 artists and as with A Best of 13 etc it is newish stuff I have got into recently so quite a few tracks are from last year and one song dates back to at least 1611. As a sign of the times just about everything I wanted to listen to was on both Deezer and Spotify with the possible exception of the Black Keys album. Although there is one oddity in that The Last Battle album is not on Spotify and so therefore it includes the gorgeous single from last year rather than the more poptastic album track on the Deezer version. Below the playlists is a little info and guff on each song/artist. Thanks must go to God Is In The TV, 6 Music, Rocksucker, A Finest Kiss, The AV Club and The VPME.

Moon Alert! - For a groovetastic Xmas and New Year check out the full 82 track A Best of 2014 on the Moon




1 Lindi Ortega - This is not Surreal

As promised in a Best of 13 a track from her Tin Star album released in December last year. Not quite as brilliant as her 2012 album but still very very good. Opener Hard as This is lyrical genius and this track is just gorgeous. She does skirt with naffness quite a bit but does pull is off most of the time such as with Voodoo Man and I Want You. On just one track Gypsy Child it does go a bit too honky tonk though Lived and Died Alone is hilarious. All but Gypsy Child has now been added to Lindi Ortega on the Moon.

2 Mutado Pintado -The Tick

Last years Fat White Family album sounded like Julian Cope and Graham Coxon making an album together but trying to be a bit too cool for school whereas this band sound like Julian Cope and Damon Albarn making music together and not trying to be cool at all  - which is of course brilliant. No album yet but hopefully one will appear after in the year and it will be as good as the singles.

3 Deltron 3030 - Do You Remember?

Back to 2013 - rather like Gorillaz but that bloke from Blur only sings on one track...but it is only one of many great tracks from a great LP and this one features none other than Jamie Cullum.

4 Courtney Barnett - History Eraser

The first of a few great rock n' roll tracks from Australia. A great chorus and one of many highlights from her 2013 EPs which you can check out on the Moon. Also check her out performing the whole if Kick by INXS live on Ubend

5 Hare and the Moon- Three Ravens

Spook Folk from 2009 with a song that was first published back in 1611. One of only two tracks on Deezer and Spotify but this playlist has to have a spook folk representative even if this is The Hare and the Moon at their most uspooky -  with a song about Ravens hoping to eat a dead knight.  More recent but just as ancient material can be found on The Hare and the Moon on the Moon.

6 Temples - A Question isn't Answered

Back to 2014 though they released some cracking singles and B sides in 2013 as featured on A Best of 13. When the album came it was a bit of an anti climax. Though it was encouraging that they did not think they needed to include the magnificent Ankh on the album but not a lot of the new tracks matched it or the likes of Mesmerise. This one is not far off though and if you do include the B sides not on the album it is all together very impressive stuff. I just hope the follow up is a bit more diverse and they let it all hang out a bit more whilst also producing some more great potential A sides like Mesmerise and Shelter Song.

7 Rotifer - From Now on There is Only Love

A great track form an album full of them, one of the albums of the year and most definitely the lyrics of the year. Check it out on the Moon.

8 Angel Olsen -Hi-Five

Kind of a combination of the country tinged indie rock 'n' roll of Courtney Barnett and the country tinged cinematic folk of Marissa Nadler but not quite as great either. It is very good though and she does have a great voice that can go wonderfully Roy Orbison like. Probably the best album I have heard from this year that did not get its very own Moon post - there is also a great non album single from last year.

9 Withered Hand - Heart Heart

One of a few highlights from a fine new album. This track was a single a while back but it does give this playlist a kick up the bum. The rest of the album is much more reflective.

10 Real Estate - Talking Backwards

This a classic which came out as a single last year. The rest of the album does not quite match it but the likes of Crime come close. An essential album for any Teenage Fanclub fan and a band recommended not only by A Finest Kiss but also God Is In The TV and Rocksucker.

11 Flyying Colours - Wavy Gravy

From an EP recommended by God Is In The TV and A Finest Kiss. A great title and a track that reminds me of the Boo Radleys from around 1992. The rest of the the 5 track EP they released is more like Ride which is no bad thing but I hops the album is more varied and has more Bootastic moments.

12 Ezra Furman - My Zero

A cracking track from a cracking album check it out on the Moon and I really ought to get round to checking out his earlier records with his band.

13 Marissa Nadler - Holiday In

This track is more May Jailer than Lana Del Rey and more like her previous albums but it is a wonderful song from an utterly gorgeous album on which her sound has developed to become more dark and cinematic and so be compared with Lana Del Rey. Check it out on the Moon.

14 Sisyphus - Alcohol

The last track and a stand out from a very interesting but very good album that is generally more laid back than this track - check it out on the Moon.

15 The Wreaths - Coke Straw

A great opener to a great rock n' roll record. Like with Flyying Colours it is very much the sound of 92/93 but at a very high standard. Check out the album on the Moon.

16 EMA - When She Comes

A song that would not be out of place on Nivarna unplugged but from a very diverse and interesting album. It kicks off with So Blonde which is like Courtney Love at her poptastic best and then comes 3Jane which would not be out of place on a Lana Del Rey record but then it goes all bit unfortunately Muse like on Cthulu and then Neomancer sound like PJ Harvey and her most grungy.... So pretty un-categorizable which is always welcomed on the Moon.

17 Black Realm - Falling Down the Stairs

The first of three more great rock n' roll tracks from Australia. The rest of the album is pretty similar and this is one of quite a few highlights.

18 Quilt - Arctic Shark

The opener from a great album from 2013. I saved either the God Is In The TV track of the day post or the Finest Kiss live review but despite the double recommendation I did not get round to listening to till early this year. If I had got into the album earlier it may well have had its own Moon post. On most of the rest of the album a chap takes lead vocals and it is rather similar to:

19 King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Sleepwalker

My discovery of the year though this is one of only a few great tracks from their album from this year. Thankfully late last year they released a brilliant mini album which contains the amazing Head On/Pill but at 16 minutes it would be a bit much for this playlist and so instead check it out on a brilliant playlist of the best of both on the Moon.

20 Damon Albarn - The Selfish Giant

A great track from a great album but also one of the few that he has not done a better live version of with his brilliant band. I do hope a live album is being considered that could include some of the great versions of tunes from Mr Albarn's previous incarnations.

21 Gruff Rhys - American Interior

Another 90's song writer still doing stuff as great as back in the day. If you compare what he and the likes of Mr Albarn are doing now with what various 60's legends were doing in the 80's there is no comparison but maybe it was just the 80's.... Also I rather like the Super Furries not being together - what with Cian Ciaran's excellent album from last year, this album and the forthcoming one from Guto Pryce's new band called Gulp.

22 We Are Catchers - Richer Man

From album full of great songs but this one probably has the best lyric. Check out the album on the Moon

23 Kelis - Rumble

The single but one of many great tracks from a great album which is represents well and also fits well into this playlist. Check out the album on the Moon

24 Joan As Policewoman

The second most epic track on a very fine record and with brilliant brass and some great keyboard action. Check out the album on the Moon.

25 My Autumn Empire - Summer Sound

The most Boo Radley like track on the album and therefore brilliant but is it is an understated little masterpiece of an album - check it out on the Moon

26 Emma Ruth Rundle - Arms I Know So Well

A highlight from an album that has a few but is also pretty short though it is a compelling listen - check it out on the Moon.

27 Horse Party - Back to Mono

Also a highlight from a short debut album that shows a lot of promise. Generally sounds like a rawer version of KT Tunstall apart from the last track which could fit well into Ms Tunstall's last LP and the second to last track where a chap takes lead vocals and it sounds very Elvis Costello like.

28 Stanley Brinks and the Wave Pictures - Parking Lots

Hot on the heals of their brilliant album from last year the Wave Pictures team up for a second time with Stanley Brinks  who has a back catalogue as productive and extensive. Not quite as great as the last two Wave Pictures albums but it is very good with lots of great guitar and freaky sax.

29 The Wind-Up Birds - Two Ambulance Day

One of many fine tracks from their last album and one of my favourite discoveries of the year so far, thanks as ever to God Is In The TV. Check out this unrelentingly brilliant playlist of my favourite tunes of theirs on Spotify.

30 The Last Battle - You & Me or The Art of Saying Nothing

Great tracks from an almost great album. Track 3 and 4 just sound a bit demoish and not as strong song wise as the other 7. For once I would like a bit more production - I could imagine them being more Lanterns in the Lake like in sound and if so they could do something very special indeed. The Art of Saying Nothing is the single from last year which is on the album but is the only song from it available on the Spotify. You & Me is not any better, just the most catchy song on the album, and fits a bit better into the playlist.

31 First Aid Kit - Ceder Lane

I am a bit disappointed with this album as some of the charm of their last one has been produced out of them though it is quite ambitious and this track is the high point of that ambition and it is pretty Gram Parson like. The rest of the songs are all very fine as well and still very impressive for ones so young.

32 Jake Bugg- The Odds

And another scarily talented young artist and a B side from the Messed Up Kids EP which had 3 new tracks and is something that should be encouraged, especially when they are this good. A great lyric that brings to mind of Woody Guthrie and the track would fit well as a Wilco contribution to the Mermaid Avenue series. He was, once he got going, a highlight of what I saw on the telly from Glastonbury and it was pretty strange that a 20 year old was playing a mix of rock n' roll, folk and country that late middle aged chaps generally like whilst over on the main stage some late middle age men were banging out music that is generally the choice of a certain type of teenage boy...

33 James - All in My Mind

30 years in and they come out with a bold new upbeat album all about death. It is not all great as they are trying a bit too hard to be up with the kids, though their attempt to sound rather like Avicii is better than Coldplay produced by Avicii....But there are quite a few gems especially later on though I do wish that now they are back to the 7 strong line up they could just become the best folk band the world has ever known - as they are on Live Acoustic on the Moon.

34 Sharon Van Etten - Every Time the Sun Comes Up

One of the albums of the year so far. Check in out on the Moon. Every track is brilliant but this is the one that is most instantly getable.

35 Coves -Beatings

An instantly classic track from a great debut album - check it out on the Moon

36 Lana Del Rey - Brooklyn Baby

A pretty funny track on a generally more serious album and one of quite a few really great tracks such as West Coast and Cruel World, a great studio version of Black Beauty from the deluxe version and Flipside from Spotify and iTunes versions. It is just annoying that there is so many different versions of the album and the track order could be a lot better and so for the best version of ULTRAVIOLENCE check out the Moon Mix

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