Anteater's 30 (ish) Favorite Albums Of 2014

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!

01-08-2015, 08:42 PM	#4 (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