Anteater's 30 (ish) Favorite Albums Of 2014

Anteater · 12-24-2014, 09:52 PM

9. Trioscapes - Digital Dream Sequence

Put On A Playlist With: Pharoah Sanders, Between The Buried & Me, Mahavishnu Orchestra

A dynamite cocktail between savage old school jazz-fusion and the crazier side of modern metal that has culminated into an experience so stellar that it would be impossible for me to leave it out of my top ten. The band itself, made up of Between The Buried And Me’s Dan Briggs on bass, tenor saxophonist and flautist Walter Fancourt (Casual Curious, Brand New Life) and drummer Matt Lynch (Eyris), has a chemistry that rivals Rush at their peak in sheer teleplay and enough variety to easily stride ahead of the majority of other jazz albums that have hit the market this year. At the very least, you'll find yourself raising your eyebrows a bit in appreciation for the talent on display here.

What I like most about the record is the range and overall balance of ideas on Digital Dream Sequence: for example, there's a lot of quieter interludes with cool keyboards and jazzy flute on cuts like 'From The Earth To The Moon' or the noir-drenched 'Hysteria", but there's also plenty of blistering bass runs and a lot of energy and awesome sax solos that makes the quieter or more contemporary touches in the electronics and production stand out even more vividly in the mind of the listener.

In short, it takes something exceptional to "wow" me in jazz. Now, its true that I cut lot of contemporary jazz slack because you treat that stuff more like pop music: the hooks work or they don't. In the case of something treading more typical "jazz territory" however, my standards are high. The best jazz isn't experimental to the point of being unsustainable to one's ears or safe to the point of boredom: its a highwire act that strikes just the right vibe to catch you and draw in your imagination...and Trioscapes accomplished that with flying colors in 2014. Bravo with a capital B!

**Exo** · 12-27-2014, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anteater

9. Trioscapes - Digital Dream Sequence

Put On A Playlist With: Pharoah Sanders, Between The Buried & Me, Mahavishnu Orchestra

A dynamite cocktail between savage old school jazz-fusion and the crazier side of modern metal that has culminated into an experience so stellar that it would be impossible for me to leave it out of my top ten. The band itself, made up of Between The Buried And Me’s Dan Briggs on bass, tenor saxophonist and flautist Walter Fancourt (Casual Curious, Brand New Life) and drummer Matt Lynch (Eyris), has a chemistry that rivals Rush at their peak in sheer teleplay and enough variety to easily stride ahead of the majority of other jazz albums that have hit the market this year. At the very least, you'll find yourself raising your eyebrows a bit in appreciation for the talent on display here.

What I like most about the record is the range and overall balance of ideas on Digital Dream Sequence: for example, there's a lot of quieter interludes with cool keyboards and jazzy flute on cuts like 'From The Earth To The Moon' or the noir-drenched 'Hysteria", but there's also plenty of blistering bass runs and a lot of energy and awesome sax solos that makes the quieter or more contemporary touches in the electronics and production stand out even more vividly in the mind of the listener.

In short, it takes something exceptional to "wow" me in jazz. Now, its true that I cut lot of contemporary jazz slack because you treat that stuff more like pop music: the hooks work or they don't. In the case of something treading more typical "jazz territory" however, my standards are high. The best jazz isn't experimental to the point of being unsustainable to one's ears or safe to the point of boredom: its a highwire act that strikes just the right vibe to catch you and draw in your imagination...and Trioscapes accomplished that with flying colors in 2014. Bravo with a capital B!

This is amazing.

Anteater · 12-27-2014, 07:20 PM

Ki: Pale Communion is a pretty subtle record: probably on par with Damnation for me. That being said, I don't think its as strong as Ghost Reveries or their other "best" albums.

Pet_Sounds: Tell me how you like it after you've given it some time.

Exo_: IKR?

7. Jonn Serrie - Day Star

Put On A Playlist With: Brian Eno, Max Corbacho, Harold Budd, planetarium music

Jonn Serrie, former Air Force pilot and the galactic sovereign of all things related to space ambient and cosmic electronica, is in fine fine form with this year's Day Star. He's been exploring the depths of space since the late 80's, and yet somehow he's never run out of steam musically in his quest to evoke interstellar voyages. His best tunes are the auditory equivalent to watching the birth of a galaxy, and at his quietest your a satellite floating without word or sound in the nethersea.

For most people, their ambient music collections stop at Brian Eno and a few Aphex Twin B-sides, but trust me: there's enough amazing atmospheric tuneage out there to fill your collections a dozen lifetimes or more. Amidst all the various artists out there though, few strike that fine balance between pure texture and melody like this guy does. Of craft-quality equivalence with Eno or Steve Roach, Day Star is top stuff for sleeping and studying alike. He's neither obvious like those guys who do film scores nor obscure to the point where the music is indistinguishable from formless noise, and that's harder than you'd think to pull off.

Anteater · 12-28-2014, 10:53 PM

6. Occultation - Silence In The Ancestral House

Put On A Playlist With: The Cure, Death SS, Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate

A rip-roaring ride through the decaying remains of a Martian haunted house, Occultation certainly don't pull any punches on Silence In The Ancestral House. Its a bit of a shapeshifter musically, a mutation springing from the annals of classic doom and heavy metal yet demonstrating a pitch black breed of versatility that has crept forth from the nascent waters of early Goth-metal and alternative music. To put it another way, this is Mercyful Fate by way of Siouxsie And The Banshees, and that's definitely not a bad thing in 2014.

Beyond the ghostly, glistening production job courtesy of Kurt Ballou (Converge), the biggest draw here for me is the mysterious frontwoman V.B. On some of the more rolicking cuts like 'Laughter In The Halls Of Madness', the menacing sonic landscape sounds as though its ready to swallow her up at any moment...and yet still she shines through like a searchlight cutting through thick smog. What can I say: great music and a killer album cover comes together into one of this year's best heavy metal experiences for me from start to finish.

Anteater · 12-29-2014, 10:56 PM

5. Seven Impale - City Of The Sun

Put On A Playlist With: John Coltrane, MuteMath, old school Krautrock, Jaga Jazzist, Motorpsycho

My favorite jazz-related album of the year, and an impressive example of what happens when the right people decide to accommodate old school fusion elements into the context of a contemporary rock band ensemble. To put it another way, they're a jazzy Swedish bunch of classicists locked into a dirty Krautrock groove from the turn of the 70's, and it's goddamn glorious to hear these guys jump back and forth between order and chaos and still manage to hold the whole thing down through sheer discipline and variety.

And when I mean variety, you will be surprised: there's a shadow of '69 King Crimson hovering menacingly around 'Oh, My Gravity!', but then we go into a headon collision between Tool and early Soft Machine in 'Windshears'. Aren't jazz-rock records normally a bit more one-note or random in pacing? If I didn't know better, I'd say these guys actually know how to write songs! Some tasty and very noisy space rock bass runs show up in 'Extraction', along with some xylophone and Hammond organ, but my favorite song also comes with the best title I've seen this year - the 14 minute 'God Left Us For A Black-Dressed Woman', which starts off as a doomy folk dirge before leaping headfirst into more psychedelic territory. Couldn't ask for a better finish really.

The biggest star of the show, however, may in fact be vocalist Stian Økland. His performance throughout these tunes lies somewhere between Steven Wilson and Radiohead's Thom Yorke in tonality and range, but he's a perfect fit for this strange, sun-soaked ode to the cosmic jazz of a bygone time.

Great jazz-rock groups with equally compelling frontmen or women are hard to find in any given era...hopefully Seven Impale will stick around!

Pet_Sounds · 01-08-2015, 08:42 PM

Pop/Art was amazing--right down my alley sound-wise. Probably my AOTY. Thanks, Ant!

**Goofle** · 12-30-2014, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Exo_

This is amazing.

Loved it too. In my Top 10 of the year after checking it out.

Anteater · 12-31-2014, 09:21 AM

4. Tony Patterson & Brendan Eyre - Northlands

Put On A Playlist With: early Pink Floyd, Genesis (1970-71), Camel, The Pineapple Thief

For those looking for an ideal musical companion in 2014 for one of those late night drives where the rain keeps on coming and there's no moon in sight, Northlands was more than up to the task as you follow a nameless protagonist to his deadbeat hometown in northeast England where unfinished business awaits.

As far as the music here went, there's a lot of M's to be had: minimalist, melancholy, mesmerizing. The last of these adjectives refers to ReGenesis frontman Tony Patterson: when you combine his tired yet strangely moving voice with flutes, a few trip-hop flourishes, some jazz horns and the organic groove of a rock band the result is a concept record that really hits you if your in just the right emotional frame of mind.

Taken into the greater context of all the albums I've ever listened to or bought though, I can say with conviction that this is one of the best pure 60 minutes of tuneage I've ever sat through start to finish. The 24-minute opening cut 'Northbound' is gorgeously cinematic and orchestral in places, and the 'I Recall' section that comes right around the midway mark is one of the best three minutes I've had in music, period. Those harmonies! But side two has some very strong numbers too, including the jazzy 'A Rainy Day On Dean Street' and the Floydian penultimate number 'So Long The Day'. There's also a rock solid balance between the instrumental and vocals cuts throughout this recording, a quality that elevates this beyond Floyd's swansong 'The Endless River' and its ilk for me.

I find it a point of irony that an album which sounds so at home with cold weather, rain and the stark beauty of the North ultimately proved to be warmer and more human than a lot of other lauded releases these past twelve months. Highly, highly recommended.

Anteater · 01-01-2015, 04:07 PM

3. Skyharbor - Guiding Lights

Put On A Playlist With: TesseracT, Hum, Karnivool, Deftones

As TesseracT's Altered State from last year demonstrated, so called "djent" metal could be a very very beautiful thing if the right ideas were in place. As good as that album was though, it almost feels like a warm up compared to this sophomore outing from multnational ambient metal act Skyharbor, a group who have such a keen grasp on dynamics that listening through Guiding Lights sometimes feels like someone hooked me up with a tube of adrenaline that never stops delivering.

For starters, guitarist Keshav Dhar is just full of good ideas. Bringing on original TesseracT frontman Dan Tompkins full-time, for instance. Or those killer melodies on 'Allure' and 'Evolution' that would give the best early noughties alternative rock groups a run for their money and then some. Top off the package with one of the best mixing jobs I've heard in ages and you've got yourself the perfect soundtrack for the game room at your next hi-fi frat party.

I know this one probably came a bit under the radar for some of you, but if you have even the slightest ounce of interest in albums like Sound Awake by Karnivool or some of Devin Townsend's groovier razmatazz, this album will be your crack for a couple of weeks guaranteed. It certainly helped end 2014 on a strong note for me.

Anteater · 01-03-2015, 10:18 PM

2. Work Of Art - Framework

Put On A Playlist With: Toto, Journey, Tim Feehan, A-ha

Pure 80's radio-rock perfection, 'nuff said. I've reviewed some of this Swedish melodic rock power trio's previous material in the past, but I couldn't lay enough superlatives on this latest release even if I had a dictionary in front of me. Guitarist Robert Sall has a songwriting and performance sensibility at this point that I'd argue is right on par with Toto's Steve Lukather and other L.A. axe heavyweights like Michael Landau and Dan Huff, all of whom are considered the elite among elite. Guys who have played on hundreds of albums basically. Couple that with the dominating vocals of Lars Safsund and the expert drumming of Hermin Furin...the results are superb.

Smply put, Framework is the ideal AOR album: every song has a kick-in-the-face immediacy in the hooks department, is painstakingly put together and never falls too far back into cheese. Even the obligatory power ballad 'Hold On To Love' has such a tasty arrangement that you can't help but like it just the teensiest bit, and I've got high standards when it comes to my schlock damn it!

The thing that's most interesting about Work Of Art at this point is you can tell these guys are so technically skilled that they could be doing jazz-rock or even progressive rock stuff if they wanted to. Robert Sall's guitar and synth leads are pristine and technically challenging, Safsund has a lot of range and versatility, and any band that can cut as good an AOR opening set as 'Time To Let Go' and the infectious Journey-esque 'How Will I Know' is capable of blowing a few minds if they set out to do longer songs.

All that being said, as much as I'd love to see these guys start moving into a more experimental direction, I can't deny that Framework is one of the best albums in the AOR style since atleast the early 90's. Their last two albums were quite strong too, but these guys have refined their particular brand of melodic science to the point of lethality...and I'm just happy to have been along for the ride.

01-08-2015, 08:42 PM	#6 (permalink)
Pet_Sounds Remember the underscore Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: The other side Posts: 2,488	Pop/Art was amazing--right down my alley sound-wise. Probably my AOTY. Thanks, Ant! __________________ Everybody's dying just to get the disease