The Tracks Of My Year

2014 has been a rather good year for music in my opinion which is borne out by the lack of a balance in my bank account and the ever increasing vinyl offending L's eyes in the dining room. Probably the main benefactor from my largesse was Piccadilly Records who's service cannot be faulted and then to a lesser extent Monorail, which unfortunately I tended to visit when I went into the town on the scooter without a back pack big enough to carry vinyl without damaging the covers meaning that I was limited to 7" singles.

The list has taken a while to compile and is far more balanced between dance and indie/rock than it has been for the last couple of years. You will notice that one band have three entries in the top ten, overkill you may think but I really can't stop playing these tracks and I had to limit myself to three tracks from the album, if not I think that all bar one would have been in the chart.. The Burial record was technically from last year but it was released after I compiled my list and it is far too good to be forgotten about. I have not picked specific tracks from the Jon Hopkins Asleep Versions as I find it difficult to differentiate between the tracks and tend to think of it as a single piece of music. Also you need to hear the 21 minute version of This Is What She's Like, recorded live at the Duke Of York's Theatre it is nothing short of epic.

I didn't partake in Record Shop Day this year, as after checking out the list I didn't see anything that warranted getting up at the back of five but I have to admit that both Max and I did miss it, however both of us ended up all right as the following week we went into the town and I picked up most of  the stuff that I had been vaguely interested in and Max got to go to Forbidden Planet anyway.

There has been one worrying development this year, a few of my favourite tracks, three to be specific have had to be purchased as downloads as that is the only format on which they were released.  I am not wholly comfortable with this and nearly excluded them on that basis but all three were really too good not to be included. Oh, and one track was never released at all and I had to do something I vowed I would never do and rip it from Youtube but I really couldn't be arsed with having to be on a computer every time I wanted to hear it. I hope that these occurrences are just anomalies and not a portent of the future!

So below is my list for 2014, I hope you find something there that you have never heard before, investigate and buy.

1. Lisa Stansfield - Carry On (Andy Lewis remix)
2. Slow Club - Not Mine To Love
3. Caribou - I Can't Do Without You (extended mix)
4. Dexys - This Is What She's Like (Live Duke Of York's Theatre)
5. Jon Hopkins - Asleep Versions
6. Jamie xx - All Under One Roof Raving
7. Slow Club - The Queen's Nose
8. Jamie T - Zombie
9. Amazing Snakeheads - Here It Comes Again
10. Slow Club - Suffering You, Suffering Me
11. Burial - Come Down To Us
12. Alexia Coley - Drive Me Wild
13. Stanley Odd - Son I Voted Yes
14. Nick Waterhouse - This Is A Game
15. Lucius - Go Home
16. Lapsley - Station
17. The Cairn String Quartet - Settling
18. Kate Tempest - Circles
19. LNTG - Love2Love
20. Dawd - Saleh
21. Luxembourg Signal - Distant Drive
22. Pharrell Williams - Happy
23. Roddy Frame - White Pony
24. Lizzo - Faded
25. Manic Street Preachers - Europa Geht Durch Mich (Erol Alkan's Mesmerise Eine rework)
26. Dexy's - Tell Me When My Light Turns Green (Live Duke Of York's Theatre)
27. Comet Gain - Sad Love and Other Short Stories
28. Mari - Free (Ray Mang extended mix)
29. Honeyblood - Killer Bangs
30. Pional - It's All Over (Jon Talabot's Stripped Refix)
31. Temples - Shelter Song (Justin Robertson's Deadstock 33s remix)
32. Kendrick Lamar - I
33. Pyramids w/Nadja - Into The Silent Waves (Slow To Speak edit)
34. Dayglo Maradona - Rock Section (Weatherall mix)
35. Jon Hopkins - Abandon Window (Moderat remix)
36. Junior Fairplay - Sugar Puss
37. Deadboy - Return
38. Fold - Detroit Red
39. Allo Darlin' - Bright Eyes
40. The Popguns - Love Junky