Stop Holding Back: Jan-Apr '14 Playlist

A couple of weeks ago (i.e. around the end of April), I created a playlist containing my favourite songs of the year so far. I've decided to share it here - not only are the songs really good, I'm also really pleased with how it flows as a playlist.

See, this isn't a bumper-sized free-for-all like my summer playlist. That was one to shuffle and enjoy for an entire afternoon; this is a tight, ten-track affair that was carefully sequenced for the best possible listening experience.

So sit back and feast your ears on the 10 best songs of (the first four months of) 2014. I'll put the songs here without comment for now, and add some more details tomorrow.

(N.B. I would have embedded this as a Spotify playlist but My Name is Ian hasn't put his bloomin' album on Spotify. Thanks for that, Ian - now I have to embed ten things instead of one. Yeesh.)

1) Cult of Love by Dum Dum Girls (from Too True)

Too True isn't a particularly spectacular album, but it does boast the best opening track of the year so far. Cult of Love is a charging krautrock bull of a song, recalling the best parts of goth music among other things.

Context and Wild Beasts

Let me take you back to the 14th of August, 2012. It was my 21st birthday, and as usual, most of my presents came in CD form. One of the CDs I received was Smother by Wild Beasts, an album I'd been meaning to check out for some time; you may remember that it was pretty much everybody's album of 2011*. Finally, I had my chance to see what all the fuss was about.

My first impression was underwhelming, as so many first impressions are. Smother was a lot softer than I expected from a band called 'Wild Beasts', and with the notable exception of closing track End Come Too Soon (which frankly arrives too late to really rescue the album), it never really delivers on its tensions. By and large, these songs failed to scale the heights I wanted them to.