Music Banter - View Single Post - Anteater's 30 (ish) Favorite Albums Of 2014

Anteater · 01-04-2015, 11:52 PM

1. Dream The Electric Sleep - Heretics

Put On A Playlist With: Jeff Buckley, Ride, Mew

Have you ever wondered what sort of music Buckley might have made if he hadn't died in '97? None of us are prophets, but when I heard this amazing album I think I had a glimpse of what might have been. Hailing from the humble city of Lexington, KY, Dream The Electric Sleep (or DTES for short) are a four piece group who combine the best elements of rock's various stylistic divergences (alternative, indie/math rock, progressive, grunge and even shoegaze and sludge) into a hybridized whole that could move the hearts of many...if the various audiences of the world would only turn a moment to hear.

From the opening gallop of the title track to the soaring, triumphant finish of 'Ashes Fall', a vibrant dynamis glimmers and beats unrelentingly at the heart of Heretics that subtly but surely propelled it to the top of my pile as the year went on. It was a gradual climb: there were times when other albums and artists loomed over these guys by miles, and yet still this album would find its way onto my stereo, my outings, and sometimes even by accident. Little things about it: the eerie Jeff Buckley-esque vocal acrobatics of Matt Page, that killer bassline on 'How Long We Wait', observations on cultural change from the highest of scale in history all the way down to the individual....this is music that gradually sinks into you over time without the aid of an easy hook. It's there at the forefront of your collection before you've even thought about it.

Sometimes the best LP of the year isn't the weirdest, the catchiest or the most publicly lauded: sometimes its simply the album that draws you back like a mystery time and time again when everyone else has already shown their cards. There's a nuance, details beneath the energy that reach just a bit deeper than other things you might have heard that year. In regards to 2014...I guess that was Heretics for this ant-eating putz.