Top 20 albums of 2014

1. Aan - Amor ad Nauseum

So my favorite album this year consists of 9 very great songs of total 9 tracks. The band's own description of their music is this: “AAN is a fearless experimental pop band from Portland, Oregon mixing heavily textured guitars with rich vocal harmonies.” I think that suits them well.

Favorite track: “Bubble bath Bop”.

2. Rivulets – I Remember Everything

With only 5 or 6 good songs of a total of 10 tracks, Rivulets' melancholic album really got into my heart.

Favorite track: “Ride On, Molina”

3.Secret Colours - Positive Distractions
With so many good songs it was easy to rank this psychedelic pop/rock album as number three.
Favorite track: “Get to the Sun”. 

4. The Wytches – Annabel Dream Reader

Annabel Dream Reader is a hell of a tough album. It is garage/surf rock with psychedelia of the greatest sort.

Favorite track: “Summer Again”.

5. Thurston Moore – The Best Day

This album reminds me of my favorite Sonic Youth album, “Murray Street”.

My favorite track: “Speak to the Wild”.

6. I Was a King – Isles of Yours
The greatest Norwegian band this year.

Favorite track: “Oslo Share”.

7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre – Revelation

BJM's 14th album proves they are still capable to produce a lot of great songs. Their concert at John Dee was one of my favorite shows this year.

My favorite track: “Vad Hände Med Dem?”

8. The Horrors – Luminous

I heard this band for my first time at some bar in Oslo this year, and the bartender urged me to check out The Horrors' latest album. I got hooked.

Favorite track: “So Now You Know”.

9. The Vickers – Ghosts
Finally a great Italian psychedelic rock band! A lot of good pearls on this album.

Favorite track: “All I Need”.

10. Creepoid – S/T
Creepoid's second album is a bit darker, heavier and better than the first one.

Favorite track: “Sunday”.

11. Mark Lanegan Band – Phantom Radio

Not as good as “Funeral Blues”, but it has a lot of quality songs.

Favorite track: “The Killing Season”. 

12. Dark Horses – Hail Lucid State

British stunning psych-rock with a pinch of electronica. A new band for me, makes me want to check out their previous two albums.

Favorite track: “Live on Hunger”.

13. Ultimate Painting – S/T

The Guardian gave this album full score, and that is quite reasonable. The cheerful rock is easy to enjoy, it reminds me of The Clean, Liam Finn and even Mazes and Veronica Falls, the bands the two members are from.

Favorite track: “Ten Street”. 

14. Die Nerven – Fun

The German punk/noise/garage rock band is grand. The music is raw and some of songs make my head bang without noticing.

Favorite track: “Rückfall”. 

15. Total Control – Typical System
When I first listened to “Flesh War” I thought this Australian band would give me an album ranked in my top five. That track is superb, post-punk influenced, makes me think of Joy Division. The rest of the songs are unfortunately not in the same quality, but there are still some other highlights.

Favorite track: “Flesh War”.

16. Parquet Courts - Content Nausea

This American garage/rock band gave out two full length albums this year. They should waited, collected the material and given out one instead, in my opinion. The thing is, Content Nausea has maybe four or five really great songs, the rest of the album consists of short “in-between songs” and noisy annoying tracks. The music is a bit similar to Pavement and The Clean.

Favorite track: “Uncast Shadow Of A Southern Myth”. 

17. Tweedy – Sukierae

Jeff Tweedy, foreman of Wilco, has delivered a long nice album consisting of twenty (!) nice songs of different calibers. I think about seven of them are noticeable good, the rest is a bit monotonous.

Favorite track: “Slow Love”. 

18. Yuko – Long Sleeves Cause Accidents
This exciting Belgian band reminds me of Radiohead and Blonde Redhead. A great album.

Favorite track: “Justine Part 1”.

19. Gulp – Season Sun
Welsh indie pop quartet that reminds me a bit of Electrelane and the Low Frequency in Stereo.
Favorite track: “Seasoned Sun”.

20. Spoon – They Want My Soul
There are about three really cool tracks on this album, and that is that.
Favorite track: “Inside Out”.

Albums from 2013 that I liked a lot:
Courtney Barnett - The Double ep
The Wave Pictures - City Forgiveness
Tripwires - Spacehopper
Kevin Morby - Harlem River
Dead rabbits - the Ticket That Exploded
Toy - Join the Dots
The Underground Youth - the Perfect Enemy for God
Grim Tower - Anarchic Breezes
Kiev - Falling Bough Wisdom Teeth
Flyying Colours - s/t

The Babadook (2014) – 7,5/10

Guardians of The Galaxy (2014) – 8/10

Before I Disappear (2014) – 9/10

Groundhog Day (1993) – 7/10

I Origins (2014) – 9/10

The Equalizer (2014) – 8/10

Gone Girl (2014) – 9/10, better than the book

Gave up:

• The Newsroom Season 1 (after episode 7)
• What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

Tore Tanzt

Tore Tanzt/Nothing Bad Can Happen (2013) – 9/10

This German drama was hard to swallow. It reminded me a bit about Breaking the Waves; very sad and provoking. Beautiful shot, great acting.

“The young Tore seeks in Hamburg a new life among the religious group called The Jesus Freaks. When he by accident meets a family and helps them to repair their car, he believes that a heavenly wonder has helped him. He starts a friendship with the father of the family, Benno. Soon he moves in with them at their garden plot, not knowing what cruelty is there to come. True to his religious belief he stays with them although the increasing violence by Benno is torturing him. Tore is fighting the torment with his own weapons. So a dangerous struggle between libidinous actions and altruism begins. Inspired by true events” (imdb)

Cold In July (2014) – 9/10

Great, thrilling, brutal crime noir with Michael C. Hall in the main character. It is one kind of movie that sucks you right into the story.

Trailer Park Boys Season 8 (2014) – 6,5/10

Pacific Rim (2013) – 4/10

X-Men – Days of Future Past (2014) – 9/10

Boyhood (2014) – 9/10

Two Days, One Night (2014) – 7/10

Svart Snø (2014) - 5/10

Gave up:

• The One I Love (2014)
• Housebound (2014)
• Wish I was Here (2014)

Trailer Park Boys: Don't Legalize it (2014) – 7/10

Free Fall/Freier Fall (2013) – 7/10

Blind (2014) – 8/10

Silicon Valley (2014 Tvseries) – 8,5/10

Starred Up (2013) – 7/10

Frank (2014) – 7,5/10

 

The Rover (2014) – 9/10. New Australian movie from the director of Animal Kingdom (2010) and Hesher (writer, 2010). It is a very slow dark apocalypse road movie with Guy Pearce in the main role. It is a brutal story, with nice cinematography and suiting soundtrack.

The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014) – 6,5/10

The Double (2013) – 7/10

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) – 8,5/10

Gave up:

Neighbors (2014)

Coherence (2013)

Palo Alto (2013)

Oblivion (2013)

Chef (2014)

Music Recommendation August

She Makes War – Disarm (2010)

It may be four years late for me to write about this album, but I didn't discover it before last month.

She Makes War consists of multi-instrumentalist Laura Kidd, and the music can be compared to Cat Power and Kristin Hersh. The whole album is good. 

 

Dead Rabbits – The Ticket That Exploded (2013)

This psychedelic rock band sounds like The Black Angels, The Warlocks and similar bands, but with a hint of shoogaze. Nice.

Total Control – Typical System (2014)

This Australian band should be one of my favorites of 2014. It sounds a bit if it was from the 80s with the synth and post-punk influenced music.

Kevin Morby – Harlem River (2013)

This guy plays in Oslo at my birthday this September. The beautiful music reminds me of Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand", Spain, Kurt Vile. 

 

Tripwires – Spacehopper (2013)

It took me some time to enjoy this album, but that should be a good sign of a great piece of music.

Spacehopper sounds like it could be from the 90's and sounds a bit like Radiohead, Muse and maybe even Smashing Pumpkins. 

Grim Tower - Anarchic Breezes (2013)

Grim Tower is a collaboration between Imaas Wasif and Stephen McBean (Black Mountain) and the result is a powerful, beautiful, dark album. I think it sounds like True Widow and Creepoid sometimes, and that is not bad.

Hammerhead – Into The Vortex (1994)

It may be twenty years too late for me to write about Hammerhead. I haven't heard about it before now, and the music hits me right in the face. It sounds a bit like Offspring. 

 

Die Nerven – Fun (2014)

This German punk/garage rock should also be one of my favorites this year. The music makes me want to jump up and down with my fist in the air. Sort of. 

 

Calvary (2014) – 8,5/10. New movie from John Michael McDonagh, director of hilarious The Guard from 2011. Calvary is about a priest (Brendan Gleeson) who gets threatened; a man (we only hear his voice) who is doing a confession in the church tells the priest he is going to kill him the next Sunday. This movie is much darker and less comedic than The Guard. It has a strong, beautiful soundtrack, it is very nice shot, with great acting and some funny dialogs. It is exciting to the very end.

Black Mirror (Tvseries, 2011-2013):

Season 1: 9/10

Season 2: 8/10

Återtrëffen (2013) – 7,5/10

Mannen som elsket Yngve (2008) – 7,5/10

The Way He Looks (2014) – 8/10

Locke (2013) – 7,5/10
Sling Blade (1996) - 8/10

Gave up:

• Metalhead (2013)
• The Leftovers (TV, 2014)
• Under the Skin (2013)

Enemy (2013) – 9/10. Beautiful shot, great acting, dark.

Blue Ruin (2013) – 9/10. Maybe a simple plot, but different, strange, unpredictable, gory and great.

Godzilla (2014) – 8,5/10. Very entertaining.

The Sacrament (2013) – 7,5/10

The Lego Movie (2014) – 7/10

Fargo (Tv-series) (2014) – 9/10

The Raid 2 (2014) – 8,5/10. Great martial arts, cool fighting scenes.

Gave up:

• Her (2013) – Interesting, nice shot, but too long and boring.
• Out of the Furnace (2013)
• The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman (2013)

Some new psychedelic rock recommendation

From Wood's new album "With Light & With Love" (2014)



From "The Perfect Enemy For God" (2013).



From "Join the Dots" (2013)



Italian band. From "Ghosts"(2014)



From "Positive Distractions" (2014)

Cheap Thrills (2013) – 7,5/10

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) – 8/10

Pioneer (2013) – 6,5/10

The Major (2013) – 7/10

Snowpiercer (2013) – 5/10

Kill Buljo 2 (2013) – 5,5/10

Joe (2013) – 7,5/10

Assault on Wall Street (2013) – Uwe Boll. A bit boring, not very bad. 6,5/10

12 Years a Slave (2013) – 8/10

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) – 8,5/10

American Hustle (2013) – 8/10

Wolf of Wall Street (2013) – 7,5/10 – too long. DiCaprio is great though.

True Detective (2014 Tv series) – 8,5/10

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – 7,5/10

Wolf (2013) – 8,0/10

Gave up:

• Saving Mr. Banks (2013)
• Matterhorn (2013)

Nebraska (2013) – 9/10 - Alexander Payne's (The Descendants, Sideways) last movie is a cozy black/white film with a lot of warmth, humor and funny dialogs.

Gravity (2013) – 8,5/10

Generation War (2013 mini-series) – 8.5/10

Borgman (2013) – 7,5/10

Harry Brown (2009) – 7,5/10

The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) – 7,5/10

Mystery Road (2013) – 8,5/10

Gave up:

Big Bad Wolves (2013)

On the Job (2013)

Pinapple Express (2008) – 8/10

This is the End (2013) – 7/10 – Funny, but exhausting

Don Jon (2013) – 8/10

Fruitvale Station (2013) – 7,5/10

The Spectacular Now (2013) – 7,5/10

8-Ball (2013) – 7,5/10

Hot Rod (2007) – 9/10 – So damn funny.

Rush (2013) – 8/10

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013) – 7/10

Lone Survivor (2013) – 7,5/10

Captain Phillips (2013) – 8,5/10

You're Next (2011) – 6,5/10

Short Term 12 (2013) – 8,5/10

Favorite movies 2013

1. Starlet (2013) - 9,5/10

2. Seven Psychopaths (2012) - 9/10

3. Sightseers (2012) - 9/10

4. Prisoners (2013) - 9/10

5. Argo (2012) - 8,50/10

6. Jagten/The Hunt (2012) - 8,5/10

7. Zero Dark Thirty (2012) - 8,5/10

8. Silver Linings Playbook (2012) - 8,5/10

9. Gnade/Mercy (2012) - 8,5/10

10. Polisse (2011) - 8,5/10

11. The Kings of Summer (2013) - 8,5/10

12. The Battery (2012) - 8,5/10

13. Eventyrland (2013) - 8,5/10

14. Broken (2012) – 8,5/10

Best albums of 2013

1. Grandfather – In Human Form

It was easy to put Grandfather's second album on top of the list this year. The music is raw, dark and beautiful, and sounds a bit like a mixture of Tool and Deftones.

My favorite track: Wishes

2. His Clancyness – Vicious

The Italian Jonathan Clancy with his band members delivers some really great, playful indie rock.

My favorite track: Progress

3. The Low Frequency in Stereo – Pop Ubskura 

I think this is my favorite album from this band. Their concert at Blå in November was the best show I attended in 2013. My favorite track: Colette (subie subie).

4.La Maison Tellier – Beaute Pour Tous

French folk-rock with beautiful melodies and vocal. Favorite track: La Maison de nos peres

5. Wolf People – Faint

Nice prog-rock with a clear great vocal. The music reminds me a bit of Arbouretum. Their concert at Oslo Psych Fest in December was outstanding. Favorite track: Thief

6.Kurt Vile – Walking on a Pretty Daze

If it hadn't been for the first popular track “Walkin on a pretty day”, this album wouldn't be on this list. The song is superb, and the rest of the tracks are not bad, but some are too monotonic.

7. Division of Laura Lee – Tree

I was surprised I didn't knew about this Swedish interesting band. After listening to Tree, I began to go through their previous releases and I discovered a lot of great songs. The music reminds me of Sonic Youth and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Favorite track: Great Machinery

8. Team Ghost – Rituals

French synth rock/electronic shoegaze. I dig it. Favorite track: Somebody's Watching.

9. Izakaya Heartbeat – Enter – Rainbow Lake

I have listened to this album a lot. This Norwegian band delivers great noisy, psychedelic rock and I don't have any band to compare them with. That is great sign. Favorite track: Crystal Eyes.

10. Jacco Gardner – Cabinet of Curiosities

This Dutch guy delivers a nice mixture of psychedelia and pop. Favorite track: the title track.

11. Hooded Fang – Gravez 

Favorite track: Bye Bye Land.

12.Black Hearted Brother – Stars Are Our Home

 

This group reminds me of The Earlies, The Flaming Lips and Dosh.

13.Grooms – Infinity Caller

It took me some time to like this album. That is maybe because the best songs appear to be in the middle of it. Grooms reminds me of Spoon, Stephen Malkmus and Built to Spill. Favorite track: Completely.

14. Scout Niblett – It's Up To Emma

This is the 6th album from this cute girl. The three first tracks are very good, but unfortunately the rest of the album does not give me much. Favorite track: Can't Feel Me Now.

15. Feeding People – Island Universe

This band's music hit you right in the face with its powerful, energetic, raw psych/noise-rock. Some songs are more slow going, and with those it is easier to enjoy the nice female vocal. Favorite track: Insane

16. Strangers Family Band – s/t

 

This is nice psychedelic music influenced by the 60's. Favorite track: Yaer Time.

17. Luder – Adelphophagia

This is the second album from Luder. The band plays a mix of metal, psychedelia, and alternative rock and it is very relaxing to listen to. Favorite track: Astrolabe.

18. Deerhunter – Monomania

Deerhunter's 6th album is a bit more noisy and more garage-rockish than their earlier works. Monomania has a lot of great songs, and my favorite is T.H.M.

19. The Moondoggies – Adios I'm A Ghost

Favorite track: A Lot To Give.

20. Madensuy- Stabat Mater

Madensuy's third album is far as god as the last one, “D Is Done” (2008) and was a small disappointment for me. I've listen through the album 9-10 times by now and I have not grown tired of the songs, but I miss some spark. Favorite track: Give.

2013 disappointments:

• True Widow – Circumambulation
• BRMC – Specter at the Feast
• Junip – s/t

2013 best discorery:

- Ravens & Chimes.