2014: Honourable Mentions

Only now, as I revisit all the albums I bought this year, do I realise just how good 2014 has been. True, there have been quite a few albums that didn't live up to my expectations, but many others have met and exceeded those expectations quite wonderfully.

I'll be sharing my Top 10 Albums of 2014 this Friday; in the meantime, I'd like to mention a few marvellous albums that, while not quite good enough to crack my Top 10 list, are still more than worthy of your attention.

I'll start with Mogwai's Rave Tapes, one of the first albums I bought this year and a fine addition to Mogwai's uniformly fine back catalogue. It's not a career best - it's neither as instantly gratifying as Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will nor as rewarding as earlier efforts like Come On Die Young - but songs like Remurdered and Repelish have a dark, brooding sound that's very, very cool. Blues Hour is my personal favourite; Mogwai don't often do lyrics, but when they do, the results are always awesome (see also: Cody, R U Still In 2 It).

In Anticipation of the Shortlist for the 2014 Welsh Music Prize

or, 'Crap! I Might Actually Have Listened to Some of This Year's Nominees!'

As some of you may remember, I followed last year's Welsh Music Prize very closely. Some might say too closely; I dedicated an entire blog post to each nominee, listening to all 12 albums in turn and deciding, over the course of several weeks, which act I was rooting for. You can relive the whole saga here if you're so inclined.

I'd dearly like to do it all again this year, but I've got a bit of a problem. The WMP folks haven't revealed their 2014 shortlist yet - the announcement is slated for next Tuesday - but there are two albums that are almost certain to be included:

Left: American Interior by Gruff Rhys. Right: Futurology by the Manic Street Preachers.

Now, the whole reason I embarked upon my great WMP adventure last year was because I'd only heard one of the twelve album's on the 2013 shortlist (Praxis Makes Perfect by Neon Neon). I felt kind of bad for ignoring all of this (presumably) excellent Welsh music - music made, more or less, on my own doorstep - and so I bought and blogged about each album as an act of penance.

But if Gruff Rhys and the Manics both make this year's shortlist - and they surely will, given the glowing reception that both albums received - I'll have heard more than one of the nominated albums, and the whole thing will be a little less meaningful for it. There could be others, too - it will be a travesty if Quiet Marauder's MEN isn't included on the shortlist, and I'm pretty sure that Andrew Paul Regan's very good Dinas Powys album is eligible, too. If all four of these albums get the nod, I'll already be familiar with a quarter of the shortlist, and while I suppose I can still blog about those records that I already own, it won't be an epic voyage of discovery like last time. Besides, I'm not sure I can muster yet another blog about MEN.

Oh well. All I can do at this point is wait and see - the shortlist will be announced on Tuesday, so I'll make a decision once I know which albums are up for the gong. In the meantime, here's a choice cut from last year's shortlist:

2014 - Halfway Report

2014, take a seat. We need to talk.

You've been here for a solid six months now, and in all honesty, I'm not bowled over by the contribution you've made.

Now, don't get me wrong - there's been some great music released since you showed up back in January. I really enjoyed those albums by Real Estate, Stephen Malkmus, The Afghan Whigs, Stanley Brinks, Mogwai, The Hidden Cameras...but as good as those CDs are, I can't say that I've formed a real emotional connection with any of them.

But there's still time to turn things around. Heck, the previous guy did most of his best work in the autumn/winter period - of the five albums that we earmarked in 2013's halfway report, only two went on to make the end-of-year list - so we're not overly concerned about your performance just yet. I'm just giving you a slightly crummy assessment now in the hopes that it will spur you to do even better in the months to come.

And, I have to admit, you have given us a few genuine gems while you've been here. We did a 'Top 5' list for your predecessor this time last year, and so we decided it would only be fair to do the same for you...

The Best Albums of 2014...So Far!

Benji by Sun Kil Moon

This album of songs about the past is this year's Last of the Country Gentlemen, i.e. a sparse sounding album with considerable emotional clout. Jim Wise remains my favourite song of the year to date...

Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
...closely followed by Every Time the Sun Comes Up, the closing track from Sharon Van Etten's latest album. Even if the rest of the album had been a write-off, it would have been worth sitting through for that song alone. Fortunately, the other stuff is pretty amazing as well.