Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Top Albums of 2014, part 1: 31 - 60

Only a few hours are left on the clock for 2014 and the party is about to begin here at Cool Music Central HQ! The soundtrack, of course, is the countdown of all our favorite albums of the year, starting with White Lung's mini LP "Deep Fantasy" at number 60 and continuing all the way up to the number 1.

As usual, we are keeping the presentation of our Top 30 Albums of the Year for the special first post of the New Year. For the farewell of 2014 we are unveiling today the second half of our list, up to number 31 where you'll find EMA's "The Future's Void".

Fifty more worthwhile albums we've listened to so far this year are also mentioned at the end of the list, bringing the total number to 110! And I'm sure there's quite a few more to be discovered as we go through all the other end-of-the-year lists out there. Not bad at all for 2014 as far as music is concerned.

Time to get this party started: here are the 30 albums that bring our countdown from number 60 to number 31:

Top Albums of 2014: 31 - 60

31. The future's void - EMA
32. Plowing into the field of love - ICEAGE
33. Grassed inn - BLANK REALM
34. The hum - HOOKWORMS
35. Held in splendor - QUILT
36. Worship the sun - ALLAH-LAS
37. Tomorrow's hits - THE MEN
38. Beauty & ruin - BOB MOULD
39. The physical world - DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979
40. IX - ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD
41. Revelation - THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
42. Wig out at Jagbags - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS
43. We come from the same place - ALLO DARLIN'
44. At best cuckold - AVI BUFFALO
45. Lese majesty - SHABAZZ PALACES
46. Pe'ahi - THE RAVEONETTES
47. Wild crush - ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT
48. World peace is none of your business - MORRISSEY
49. Days of abandon - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
50. Hour of the dawn - LA SERA
51. Initiation - HAUNTED HEARTS
52. Alvvays - ALVVAYS
53. Trouble - HOSPITALITY
54. July - MARISSA NADLER
55. Darlings - KEVIN DREW
56. Indie Cindy - PIXIES
57. Diploid love - BRODY DALLE
58. …And star power - FOXYGEN
59. Motivational jumpsuit - GUIDED BY VOICES
60. Deep fantasy - WHITE LUNG

More good stuff we've listened to this year:

Barragan - BLONDE REDHEAD, Love letters - METRONOMY, Taiga - ZOLA JESUS, After the disco - BROKEN BELLS, Turn blue - THE BLACK KEYS, Teeth dreams - THE HOLD STEADY, The voyager - JENNY LEWIS, Upside down mountain - CONOR OBERST, Psychic 9 - 5 club - HTRK, Luminous - THE HORRORS, Cheatahs - CHEATAHS, Cursing the sea - SEPTEMBER GIRLS, Clear Lake Forest - THE BLACK ANGELS, The Other I - 2:54, Distractions - A VICTIM OF SOCIETY, Marginalia - BABY GURU, Native echoes - BEACH DAY, Morning phase - BECK, Underneath the rainbow - BLACK LIPS, Our love - CARIBOU, A new nature - ESBEN AND THE WITCH, Do what you want to, it's what you should do - FLOWERS, You're dead! - FLYING LOTUS, Brothers and sisters of the eternal son - DAMIEN JURADO, Everyday robots - DAMON ALBARN, Artificial sweeteners - FUJIYA & MIYAGI, Honeyblood - HONEYBLOOD, Heartstrings - HOWLING BELLS, Tyranny - JULIAN CASABLANCAS + THE VOIDZ, I never learn - LYKKE LI, Wooden aquarium - MAZES, Secret science - MECHANIMAL, Rave tapes - MOGWAI, My Drunken Haze - MY DRUNKEN HAZE, Cosmic logic - PEAKING LIGHTS, Carnival of souls - PERE UBU, Bestial burden - PHARMAKON, Royal Blood - ROYAL BLOOD, Words to the blind - SAVAGES AND BO NINGEN, Suck my shirt - THE COATHANGERS, Encyclopedia - THE DRUMS, Feel something - THE HISTORY OF APPLE PIE, Close to the glass - THE NOTWIST, Drop - THEE OH SEES, Ultimate Painting - ULTIMATE PAINTING, Present tense - WILD BEASTS, Refractory obdurate - WOVENHAND, Shriek - WYE OAK, Angel guts red classroom - XIU XIU, March - FÜR IMMER

The future may be void but 2015 is just around the corner: pop the champagne and prepare for our 2014 Top 30 list in the next few days...

EMA - So Blonde

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Top 50 Tracks of 2014

Merry Christmas everybody! Just a few days are left in the 2014 calendar which means that it's time to go through our record collection once again and select our favorites from the past 12 months. 

We are starting today with the list of our Top 50 Tracks of the Year and we'll continue with the albums in the next few days. As usual, the rule for our annual track selection is to include only one song per artist or group and also we tend to favor tracks that were released as singles or EPs over album tracks.

Without any further ado, here are Cool Music Central's Top 50 Singles of 2014:

1.  Disco//Very - WARPAINT

2.  Satellites - EMA 


3.  Rimbaud Eyes - DUM DUM GIRLS 


4.  Feel - TY SEGALL 


5.  Do You - SPOON 


6.  Digital Witness - ST. VINCENT 


7.  Water Fountain - TUNE-YARDS


8.  Mesmerise - TEMPLES 


9.  Ben's My Friend - SUN KIL MOON 


10. Lazaretto - JACK WHITE 


11. Taking Chances - SHARON VAN ETTEN 
12. Hi-Five - ANGEL OLSEN 
13. Talking Backwards - REAL ESTATE 
14. All The Rage Back Home - INTERPOL 
15. War On The East Coast - THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS 
16. Bury Our Friends - SLEATER - KINNEY 
17. Oxygen - SWANS 
18. Pro Anti Anti - LIARS 
19. Close Your Eyes (And Count To Fuck) - RUN THE JEWELS 
20. Tied Up In Nottz - SLEAFORD MODS 
21. Detonation - THURSTON MOORE 
22. Drown With The Monster - WHITE LUNG 
23. Hot And Cold - EX HEX 
24. Lariat - STEPHEN MALKMUS & THE JICKS 
25. Algiers - THE AFGHAN WHIGS 
26. Scum, Rise! - PROTOMARTYR 
27. Sunbathing Animal - PARQUET COURTS 
28. I'm Not Part Of Me - CLOUD NOTHINGS 
29. We Are Floating - ARCHIE BRONSON OUTFIT 
30. Under The Pressure - THE WAR ON DRUGS 
31. Was It A Dream - MARISSA NADLER 
32. Romance And Adventure - ALLO DARLIN’ 
33. The Littlest League Possible - GUIDED BY VOICES 
34. Losing To The Dark - LA SERA 
35. Don't Mess With Me - BRODY DALLE 
36. Bagboy - PIXIES 
37. Fever - THE BLACK KEYS 
38. Trainwreck 1979 - DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979 
39. The Lord's Favorite - ICEAGE 
40. How Can You Really - FOXYGEN 
41. Istanbul - MORRISSEY 
42. Strange Weather - ANNA CALVI 
43. Orion - 2:54 
44. Rockets And Jets - HOSPITALITY 
45. Simple And Sure - THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART 
46. American Horror - SPEEDY ORTIZ 
47. Archie, Marry Me - ALVVAYS 
48. 501-415 - ALLAH-LAS 
49. Hundreds Of Ways - CONOR OBERST
50. Happy Idiot - TV ON THE RADIO

You can stream our Top 50 list here.

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Morrissey, live @ Tae Kwon Do (Athens, December 15, 2014)


The grand finale of 2014's live music season in Athens belonged to Morrissey who delivered a great 90-minute set to a packed Tae Kwon Do arena on Monday night. 


The show which opened and closed with two of The Smiths classics, "The Queen Is Dead" and "How Soon Is Now", featured several songs from his latest album "World Peace Is None Of Your Business", including some of its lesser known bonus material, but also revisited his past work for a few older crowd favorites like "Suedehead", "Everyday Is Like Sunday", "Certain People I Know" or the more recent single "I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris" which you can watch below:

Morrissey - I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris, live @ Tae Kwon Do (Athens, Dec. 15, 2014)

Although the show's set list was certainly not "the best of Morrissey", the majority of his fans seemed to enjoy every minute of it and when he threw his shirt to the crowd for his traditional farewell, the loud cheering confirmed the success of the show.




Morrissey and his band played:

The Queen Is Dead, Suedehead, Speedway, Kiss Me a Lot, Staircase at the University, I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris, World Peace Is None of Your Business, Neal Cassady Drops Dead, One of Our Own, The Bullfighter Dies, Scandinavia, Yes, I Am Blind, Everyday Is Like Sunday, Smiler with Knife, Asleep, I'm Not a Man, Certain People I Know, Trouble Loves Me, Meat Is Murder. Encore: How Soon Is Now?

Morrissey, live @ Tae Kwon Do, Athens, Dec. 15, 2014

Sunday, December 14, 2014

New Releases: November - December 2014

We are just a week away from the start of the countdown of our favorite Albums and Tracks of the Year. Meanwhile, let's have a look at some of the latest and most interesting new releases of 2014:

Albums

Seeds
TV ON THE RADIO - Seeds
PARKAY QUARTS - Content Nausea
HOOKWORMS - The Hum
2:54 - The Other I
ARIEL PINK - Pom Pom
DEERHOOF - La Isla Bonita
BO NINGEN AND SAVAGES - Words to the Blind
GIRLPOOL - Girlpool
THE WHARVES - At Bay
VIRGINIA WING - Measures of Joy
CULT OF YOUTH - Final Days
DIRTY BEACHES - Stateless
I LOVE YOU BUT I'VE CHOSEN DARKNESS - Dust
MARIACHI EL BRONX - Mariachi El Bronx 3
FOO FIGHTERS - Sonic Highways
SMASHING PUMPKINS - Monuments to an Elegy
THE SAINTS - King of the Sun / King of the Midnight Sun
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - I'm in Your Mind Fuzz
MAGIC CASTLES - Sky Sounds
SWEARING AT MOTORISTS - While Laughing, The Joker Tells The Truth
THE VOYEURS - Rhubarb Rhubarb
SUPERFOOD - Don't Say That
SMOKE FAIRIES - Wild Winter
THE POPGUNS - Pop Fiction
MY DRUNKEN HAZE - My Drunken Haze
DEAN BLUNT - Black Metal
CLARK - Clark
ARCA - Xen
ROYKSOPP - The Inevitable End
WU-TANG CLAN - A Better Tomorrow

Singles & EPs

Oxygen EP
SWANS - Oxygen EP
50 FOOT WAVE - Night Blooming EP
JACK WHITE - Would You Fight For My Love? / Parallel
SLEATER-KINNEY - Surface Envy
LONELADY - Groove it Out
ST VINCENT - Pieta / Sparrow
THE BLACK ANGELS / SONIC JESUS - Molly Moves My Generation / Lost Reprise
ROYAL BLOOD - Ten Tonne Skeleton
MOGWAI - Music Industry 3 Fitness Industry 1 EP
SEPTEMBER GIRLS - Veneer EP 
SLEAFORD MODS - Tiswas EP
THE BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE - +- EP
THE DECEMBERISTS - Make You Better
SUN KIL MOON - The Possum
BONNIE PRINCE BILLY - Quails and Dumplings
KIM DEAL - Biker Gone
BODY / HEAD - The Show is Over
JOANNA GRUESOME / PERFECT PUSSY - Astonishing Adventures EP
THE COATHANGERS / THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES - Sex Beat / Energy Drink and the Long Walk Home
FUCKED UP - Paper the House
FUCKED UP - Sun Glass
BUZZCOCKS - It's Not You
KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD - Cellophane
KASABIAN - Stevie
THE CHARLATANS - So Oh
NOEL GALLAGHER'S HIGH FLYING BIRDS - In the Heat of the Moment
THE VOYEURS - Stunners
GET WELL SOON - The Lufthansa Heist EP
GET WELL SOON - Henry - The Infinite Desire of Henrich Zeppelin Alfred Von Nullmeyer EP
GET WELL SOON - The Greatest Hits EP
DRACULA LEGS - Sand to the Beach / Death of Age
WOLF GIRL - Mama's Boy
LAWRENCE LINDELL - Baobab

Jack White - Would You Fight For My Love?

Monday, December 08, 2014

Plisskën Festival 2014 - Winter Edition (Athens, December 4, 2014)

The winter edition of Plisskën Festival at Iera Odos celebrated the fourth anniversary of the event with performances by Swans, Simian Mobile Disco, The Bug, Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Son Lux.


The protagonists of the night were Swans with a magnificent two-hour set featuring for the most part new material. It's well known to their fans that the band is using its live shows to gradually shape its new songs, and its headlining appearance at Plisskën was no exception.


Next to their latest impressive noise constructions, we also got to hear two compositions taken from Swans latest album "To Be Kind", the majestic "A Little God in My Hands" (which you can watch by scrawling at the end of this post) and "Just a Little Boy (for Chester Burnett)". Another awe-inspiring performance by the legendary New York band that shows no signs of slowing down ever since making its comeback four years ago, about the same time that this festival took its first steps.


Swans, live @ Winter Plisskën Festival 2014
Before Swans, The Bug with Flowdan mixed electronic noise with hip hop beats, Jamaican dub and reggae legend Lee 'Scratch' Perry played his first ever show in Athens, while Son Lux opened the evening with upbeat electropop. Something for everybody in the winter edition of the festival which hopefully will be back at the start of the summer of 2015 with a full line up.


The Bug featuring Flowdan, live @ Winter Plisskën Festival 2014

Lee "Scratch" Perry, live @ Winter Plisskën Festival 2014

Son Lux, live @ Winter Plisskën Festival 2014
Swans - A Little God In My Hands (live @ Winter Plissken Festival 2014