Hot Dreams: the Best of 2014 so far

So we’re halfway (and a bit) through 2014, and it’s been really quite marvellous. Musically-speaking, at least. Perhaps a little low on Big culture-bothering statements (Daft Punk, Yeezus) or surprise releases (Bowie, My Bloody Valentine) compared to last year, but still more than enough weird, wonderful and walloping sounds to get the ears around and the teeth into.

Indeed, cruelly, there aren't enough hours in a year and pounds in my wallet to listen to and buy all of the terrific records which have emerged between January and July.

Below is a playlist of things that I have heard, bought and enjoyed: singles, teaser tracks, stand-out album cuts. It should work well as an introduction to my tastes and to the kind of delights I intend to feature and explore in future posts.

There’s a healthy dose of transporting psychedelia of which I'm very partial, by turns exploratory (Morgan Delt), heavy (Woodsman, Bo Ningen), lilting (Thievery Corporation) and cosmic (Damien Jurado). Modern takes on the soulful (Lee Fields, Fatima) and funky (Kelis, Ibibio Sound Machine) feature, as well as thrilling rock’n’roll in all its cocky, punk-y and drone-y forms (The Men, Eagulls, Pink Mountaintops).

Classic rock songwriting is represented by established artists including Beck, Gruff Rhys, Greg Ashley and Sharon Van Etten, as well as relative newcomers like Angel Olsen and Blueprint Blue. Pop pops up: wonky dance-pop (Metronomy, Little Dragon), parping prog-pop (St. Vincent, tUne-yArDs), the simple beautiful truthful pop that all-too-rarely disturbs the Top 40 (Wild Beasts, Future Islands, Pure X). On top of this, there are San Franciscan oddballs (Thee Oh Sees, Dylan Shearer), Pitchfork-approved electronic acts (Todd Terje, East India Youth), and a whole lot more.

One record arrived earlier this year so fully formed, perfectly paced and punch-the-air fantastic as to unite virtually my whole group of friends and threaten to cast a shadow over everything else...

Lost In The Dream by War On Drugs.

I ADORE Lost In The Dream. So much so that even though it was only released in March, I already consider it one of my all-time favourite LPs. So much so that I've named this blog after one of its finest moments: “An Ocean In Between The Waves”. And so much so that it made me ever-so-briefly reconsider my negative feelings towards Bruce Springsteen.

Lost In The Dream is gonna take some beating as my Album of 2014 then, but there are five months of new releases ahead (expectations are high for Caribou, Avi Buffalo, Colorama, Naomi Shelton, The Wytches, Ty Segall’s double LP, and – yes – even the Morrissey album) and a countless number already out there, just waiting to be discovered.

Dive in!