2014 - Favorite Unheralded Album(s)

http://f1.bcbits.com/img/a3791345580_10.jpg

love this short ep, called nothing, by fake-blood. contrast the quiet vocals/folk-y arrangements and the violence implied in the lyrics (try the :50 opening song, as an example).

Is Kassem Mosse's "Workshop 19" album considered heralded?

enjoying this samaris record thanks!

Black Bombaim - Far Out. Two long jams from Portugal's answer to Earthless, with a different guest on each track.

thanks, ez, i liked their album of… ulp… 2010?… but lost track of them

http://cdn.albumoftheyear.org/album/2014/16625-magnetica.jpg
Quantic - Magnetica

British born, Bogotá resident Will Holland takes a break from authenticity and vinyl rummaging compilations, and combines his interest in cumbia and other tropical styles with his past electronic productions. There's no ironic distance here (as in, say, Señor Coconut), just a dusting off with modern sonics.

Some videos: Duvidó, Muévelo Negro, La Plata

Gallery 47: All Will Be Well.
http://gallery47.bandcamp.com/album/all-will-be-well

Interview & performances:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mOqPxsXEHo

http://noveller.bandcamp.com/album/reveries

Really nice guitar drone

The new Marianne Faithfull record is really good. If it were a 5 track EP it'd be among the years best. I actually think the songs Nick Cave wrote are better than anything he's recorded with the Bad Seeds for a long time.

Howgoodisgood? by Baro is some throwback boom-bap from an Australian teenager. V. good if you're into that style (which I am).

https://b-aro.bandcamp.com/album/howgoodisgood

Stephen Steinbrink's "Arranged Waves" ... gentle, insidiously melodic, mid-fi guitar-pop that feels of another time to me. I dunno, I have a hard time describing it, perhaps someone else will.

http://stephensteinbrink.bandcamp.com/album/arranged-waves

Need to spend more time w/ the Stephen Steinbrink album, but spent enough of a brief listen to've been pretty impressed w/ it--nice to see it mentioned on here.

vertical scratchers "daughter of everything"

xpost I just happened to click a passing mention on Twitter a month or two ago ... haven't played much else since then. Had never heard of the guy before.

Luciano Cilio - Dell' Universo Assente

this is my fave unheralded reissue of the year, it certainly isn't for everyone but I would strongly advise trying it.

The first half of the recording is beautiful, the second a bit more challenging.

So much great sounding stuff on this thread I not only have never heard but have never even heard of, and will likely never get to hear. That's why I long ago wrote off year-end round-up lists. There's just no way someone could listen to all of this, try as they might, and the inevitable mishmash of stuff both hyper obscure and really obvious gives even the broadest, most ambitious lists a weird arbitrary vibe. So much good music out there, only so many hours in the day, days in the year ...

Ha! this isn't the fucking bored old bastard, projection thread pal!

^next ILM board description pls

Riohv - 'Moondance'
(from Ottawa, but released by a Vancouver label sounding v. much in line w/ current Van City [well, Mood Hut] dusted dance zeitgeist, although what do I know from way over here in Toronto anyway)
http://1080pcollection.bandcamp.com/album/moondance

My two fave albums of the year that no one else is talking about are both Canadian female singer/songwriter-y things:

Amelia Curran - They Promised You Mercy (closer to the "folk" end of the axis)
Emm Gryner - Torrential (closer to the "pop" end)

Carol Keogh, _Mongrel City_: I'm biased because she's perhaps my favorite artist of all time, who's released (IMO) the best album of all time; this is more a solo acoustic debut, but I like it a lot and I'm glad it finally came out (it's been years).

pretties for you 'we have our reasons'
bomastic swedish new wavey type thing, way too good to be as ignored as it is

Just getting into this now!

maybe i am just a damn fool but i do still try. i don't know what it is. i'm driven. if it's great, i want to hear it. i don't care that i don't have time, i'm not giving it the deep listening treatment, but i do try. because if i stop listening to new music i might as well be dead.

Elisa Ambrogio - The Immoralist
Jerry David DeCicca - Understanding Land
Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings
Tashi Dorji - s/t
Village of Spaces - Welcome In
Charlie Parr - Hollandale
Chris Schlarb - Making The Saint

I know some of these were discussed here, but I still feel these were relatively overlooked based on forum lurking and part time record store hours.

oooh need to hear that new Amelia Curran, her last one was lovely

i don't care that i don't have time, i'm not giving it the deep listening treatment,

Yeah, this sounds crazy but I basically don't give anything the benefit of the doubt on first listen these days. There's enough stuff out there that entrances me on first listen, that's what gets repeat plays. I know this is a pretty insular way of appreciating music, but I don't care

sub "entrances" for "doesn't irritate" or "intrigues"

that Schlarb album (xxxpost) is wonderful ... pulsing guitar drifts and drones, perfect for downshifting and disengaging ... and streaming here if anyone is interested:

http://schlarb.bandcamp.com/album/making-the-saint

knifeworld - the unravelling

Sanpaku, I am digging your posts on here...
That DVA is fantastic!
Doesn't sound folky to me at all, but definitely freaky.... Mulatu has an almost afrobeat thang to it, with some top quality skronk at the end there... and great videos too.... Vespering is beeyootiful...

Samaris and Quantic also damn groovy.......

A sunny day in Glasgow - sea when absent

Melodic major key synth layered indie rock with a real rhythm section. Inspired, dense, rewards patience and multiple listens.

I am in the process of listening to this album for the first time, but I think it's already secured a place in my top 10. It's THAT good. Tami Neilson has such a crazy great voice that it would probably be criminal for her not to make a record like this. Hot shit country/rockabilly has been done a gazillion times, but rarely this well.

https://tamineilson.bandcamp.com/album/dynamite

I'll second some love for the Doug Paisley and Sunny Day in Glasgow records, surprised I haven't been hearing more about either of those.

Is the Function & Vatican Shadow album unheralded? It is very beautiful, great night music.

Asphalt Orchestra - Plays Pixies: Surfer Rosa

i don't actually know if these are "unheralded" b/c i don't read much (barely any) music crit, but i haven't heard much about the following:

norberto lobo, fornalha
janek schaefer, lay-by lullaby
meridian bros, salvadoran robot
sasac, hyperion
battle trance, palace of wind
dragging an ox through water, panic sentry
khun narin's electric phin band
matthew hopkins, nocturnes
angkanang kunchai, isan lam plearn
lori goldston, creekside
riverside (doxas/doxas/douglas/swallow)

haven't caught up w/ my jazz listening this year

that's just new stuff, tons of reissues came out this yr of course

Is the Function & Vatican Shadow album unheralded? It is very beautiful, great night music.

― kraudive, Monday, November 24, 2014 4:21 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i really really like this, after two listens

Khun Narin is an ILX fave, apart from that I've only heard the Meridian Bros album off amateurist's list.

did the khun narin love expand beyond that one thread? if so, good!

some more stuff from 2014 i don''t hear about much:

jason lescalleet, much to my demise
leo welch, sabougla voices
mark turner quartet, lathe of heaven
noura mint seymali, tzenni
per norgard, symphonies 1 & 8 (vienna philh./sakari oramo)
toumani diabate & sidiki diabate

Thanks for the heads up on Dark Blue NYCNative! An example of how one thing can suck me into a rabbit hole of year-end binge listening, I looked it up on RYM, and found this list: https://rateyourmusic.com/list/Skillets/2014__and_the_inevitable_onslaught_of_adulthood/. Certain key albums intersect with my favorites, and I try to catch up on the 40 albums I haven't heard.

Most of what I'd mention are covered here: Rolling Stoner/Psych/Freak/Doom/Sludge/Retro/Drone/Space Thread 2014: These Start at 11

Beyond those genres, my top entry right now is this: The Sea Kings – Woke In The Devil’s Arms (Iffy Folk)

Glasgow band masters both pretty jangle referencing The Smiths and Go Betweens with darker lyrics, and more broody sounds via Triffids and Nick Cave.

Also, I thought Wovenhand was being ...heralded due to great reviews, but now it seems to be conspicuously missing from most lists.

Clearly the way to get people hooked on largely unheralded albums is just to post a list of them with no description or context.

Is Kassem Mosse's "Workshop 19" album considered heralded?

In techno/house terms yeah, it got some love.

damn! that Leo Welch one is so good, unbelievably an awesome debut from an 82 yr old gospel/blues singer.

thanks for the heads up on a new Mark Turner album, i'll have to check that out. Dharma Days is a favorite and i didn't realize that he hasn't released anything as a leader since then.

Clearly the way to get people hooked on largely unheralded albums is just to post a list of them with no description or context.

― Matt DC, Tuesday, November 25, 2014 8:10 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

sorry i guess i don't have the energy for detailed descriptions! maybe later.

there are some posters on ILM from whom i'll take a recommendation even w/o context, but i shouldn't assume anyone feels that way about me.

Oh wow, didn't know about that Norgard/Vienna Phil! Listening now.

i guess the isan lam plearn is a reissue. i didn't actually think about that.

anyway you can here fragments of it here: http://www.juno.co.uk/products/angkanang-kunchai-ubon-isan-lam-plearn-remastered/532555-01/

basically almost anything on the EM Label (out of japan) is worth exploring