Albums that are 10 years old.
At the time I thought 2014 was a great year for music. I’d listened to nearly a thousand albums, and a good hundo were great, and another six hundred were very good to good. It wasn’t until recently, watching certain YouTube channels dismiss essentially the entirety of the 21st century. Not everyone is quite that extreme, but listening to fellow Gen Xers around my age, they seem to confirm the theory that a lot of people stop listening to and enjoying new music at the age of 33. That is a damn shame. And while the excuse of having kids and increasingly demanding jobs are presented as factors, I really don’t understand how they could completely suck your enjoyment of life out of you. Most people don’t stop wanting to try new foods, read new books, watch new TV shows and movies. Albums to me are stories told with music, and in that context, the expectation for music must be reinvented every few years to remain relevant seems increasingly absurd. I suppose it’s an expectation set in the 60s when rock and various other genres were brand new and evolved rapidly.
Anyway, basically what I said for 2004 applies to 2014. So let’s get on with it and revisit some great music, shall we?
1. Syd Arthur – Sound Mirror
Syd Arthur are a psych prog band from Canterbury, England. Given their name, one might assume the band partake in complicated, extended prog jams with inscrutable lyrics along the lines of perhaps Gong and Caravan. Despite what it’s title seems to indicate, even their first album On And On (2012), has an average song length of just over three minutes. Brothers Liam, Joel and Josh Magill and multi-instrumentalist Raven Bush (yes his auntie is THE Kate Bush) came from a background of forest party raves. They are equally comfortable with technology, bucolic elemental mysticism, otherworldly musicianship, jazz inspired improvisation and disciplined songwriting. With their arpeggiated keyboards, guitars and tricksy time signatures, of course they were chosen to open for Yes on a tour leading up to this album’s release. Far from difficult listening, the music drifts easily, not like a sea breeze, but rather the delicate fog of the Westbere Marshes. They were by far my favorite performance at Riot Fest in 2016, but since then, the band has been conspicuously missing from the world other than backing up Jack Hues’ (Wang Chung) jazz fusion excursions. No one else gets close to the particular goosebump-inducing vibe this band induces, therefore they must return.
2. Truckfighters – Universe
Those who have seen them are treated to one of the best, most energetic live shows in rock. Singer/bassist Ozo (Oskar Cedermalm), with his moppety blonde hair, stature and voice, reminded me a bit of Kurt Cobain when Nirvana were touring Bleach with TAD. Back then, it could have been conceivable had Nirvana continued to pursue their Melvins, TAD and Sabbath influences that they could have developed along the lines of Truckfighters. But none of those bands had a Dango. What’s a Dango? Dango (Niklas Källgren) is their secret weapon, an overly caffeinated Captain Caveman armed with a mind-blowing arsenal of fuzzy guitar tones and brilliant riffs. After seeing them the first time, I bought the tour t-shirt that proclaimed them “Probably the best band in the world.” It may be tongue in cheek, but as far as a band that you can still see in a small club, I wear it without irony.
3. Motorpsycho – Behind The Sun
Norway’s venerable psych-prog institution Motorpsycho are just getting better with age, and more prolific than ever. When it’s become common for many bands to take 2-5 years between albums, Motorpsycho has been cranking them out, with 7 albums in the past 9 years, with remarkably consistent quality and ambition. The double The Death Defying Unicorn (2012) was one of their best, and while Still Life With Eggplant (2013) was less cohesive than usual, it still offered many highlights, featuring Reine Fiske of Swedish psych prog legends Dungen as practically a full-time member (check out the riffs on “Hell, Parts 1-3”). Great news for Dungen fans, Fiske’s guitar playing is featured on the majority of the new one too, and it’s a great one, emphasizing all of the band’s recent strengths, from pastoral prog to hard rocking stoner psych. Bent Sæther’s vocals are featured higher in the mix than usual, bringing to mind at times both Mercury Rev and Yes. “Cloudwalker (A Darker Blue),” “Ghost” and “The Promise” are some of the best songs they’ve done, with the rest of the album holding up with such strength many will find their own favorite highlights. A perfect introduction to this band’s huge catalog.
4. Wovenhand – Refractory Obdurate
After the influential Sixteen Horsepower, David Eugene Edwards kept up a prolific pace with Wovenhand, releasing over a half a dozen albums in 12 years, all worth hearing. On the latest and greatest, the basic elements remain, a spooky, gothic mix of Americana, country, folk and gospel, but with a much heavier dose of post-punk. Think Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds/Grinderman, Gun Club, Joy Division and Swans/Angels of Light, but with extra apocalyptic hellfire and brimstone. It’s no wonder this album attracted a strong fanbase among metalheads.
5. Spiders – Shake Electric
Spiders were (are, though it’s been six years since their last album) a Swedish hard rock band made up of one-time members of both Graveyard and Witchcraft, lead by guitarist John Hoyles (who served in both Witchcraft and the great Troubled Horse) and his wife Ann-Sofie Hoyles on vocals. Of their trio of albums, Shake Electric remains their high point, a potent mix of proto-metal/garage/glam energy (KISS, Heart, UFO) and melodicism (Fleetwood Mac). There were a lot of bands named Spiders, but theirs was tribute to the original name of Alice Cooper, which confused my ROON, which includes an old 60s pic of Spiders-era Cooper. They covered “Under My Wheels” as a b-side to “Fraction” in 2011. Still holding out hope that they’ll record and tour again.
6. The Sea Kings – Woke In The Devil’s Arms
I just about lost my mind when I first heard the lead single from Glasgow’s The Sea Kings’ debut album. “Bible John” sounds like a long-lost single from 1984, a supergroup collaboration between The Smiths and Postcard groups like Aztec Camera, The Go Betweens and Josef K. Despite its celebratory ebullience, it’s actually a sinister tale about the 1960s Glasgow Barrowland killer. That’s pretty much the band’s m.o., tales about horrible things. Nick Cave would approve. The title track that kicks off the album is especially indebted to Cave, and also underrated Australian band The Triffids. Dark, heavy and brooding, it’s a magnificent start to the album. “Moonlit Range” is a plodding death waltz that made me wonder when they were going to pick up the tempo again. It turns out nothing else on the album remotely resembles “Bible John.” After adjusting expectations, the album’s brilliance spreads through you like the warm burn of a double Scotch. “The Night Of Broken Glass” takes place in 30s Germany where a young man fatally attempts to defect. “Is Paris Burning” has some particularly evocative imagery as a tragic love note from a jail cell. The band citing writer Alasdair Gray as an influence turns out to be no joke. These are truly literary songs. The album ends with another highlight, “Across The Coals,” a ghostly murder ballad with Ennio Morricone undertones and strings, like The Dirty Three with an excellent lyricist. You’d think the arrival of a colossal talent like this would call for some fanfare, but eh, it was 2014 and everyone had their heads so far up their arses in their own particular micro scenes, no one was going to catch this. Had I not been on the lookout for something like this for a while I might have missed it too, just as I missed their first Some Dark Matters EP (Iffy Folk, 2010). But if one catchy riff is enough to fuel a decade plus career for Interpol (“Say Hello To The Angels”), “Bible John” should have brought similar attention to this well-deserving band. Unfortunately this album was a one and done deal, as nothing else was heard from them other than a b-side “Midnight Mass(acre)” released the next year.
7. Swans – To Be Kind
At the time when Swans came out with back-to-back double albums, The Seer (2012) and To Be Kind, I called them difficult listening for old men. Not to be dismissive, but just that Swans were always a lot to take. First it was the abrasiveness of their noise rock that took the baton from the no wave scene and added a nasty industrial edge, serrated with rust and dripping with gore starting with the self-titled 1982 EP and Filth (1983). They almost sounded civilized by tenth album Soundtracks for the Blind (1996), and on this, their thirteenth, they’re just as experimentally adventurous as ever, so highly regarded it competes with Soundtracks as their peak. But the sheer weight of the music, at over two hours, can be daunting, with track four, “Bring the Sun/Toussaint L’Ouverture” alone clocking in at 34:05. So not something that plays well with others on a singles playlist, and demands a lot of focus for a full quarter of a work day. A decade later, the work paid off and it still holds up.
8. Witch Mountain – Mobile Of Angels
Mobile Of Angels completes a trilogy of albums featuring Uta, who left the band at the completion of their tour with Nik Turner’s Hawkwind. It features some of her best work, with “Psycho Animundi” showing Uta more confident than ever, singing in a forceful lower range that’s arguably her most appropriate performance in the context of doom so far. The whole band is on, showing off how they have reached a new level of tight musicianship through their years on the road. It’s a stunning start to the album, one of their best songs in their catalog. “Can’t Settle” is more similar to the band’s standard lumbering doom fare, but with plenty of flair to also stand out in their catalog. “Your Corrupt Ways (Sour The Hymn)” hits another career highlight, an extended 10:27 centerpiece with Uta’s most soft-spoken, intimate performance so far. Seven minutes in it also features some exceptional guitar solos from Rob Wrong. The title track is a deliciously spooky organ-laden psych gem that takes a page from Jex Thoth’s influential occult atmospherics. It’s an all too brief bridge to the album’s conclusion in “The Shape Truth Takes,” where Uta takes on a higher, ethereal register that floats over the subdued music featuring a beautiful chord progression that ascends into their most beautiful work of their career, and as emotionally powerful as the best the likes of Pallbearer and 40 Watt Sun have to offer.
9. Shellac – Dude Incredible
Hearing most of the songs live a few months before the release (in a venue next door to the space I had first seen them 21 years ago), I got excited real quick. They were exciting, dynamic, tight compositions, some of the best I’ve heard in a long time. No more 8 to 12 minute plod fests like “The End of Radio,” “Genuine Lullabelle” and “Didn’t We Deserve A Look At You…” Dude Incredible kicks off with its title track, with one of their most propulsive, swaggering riffs ever. “Compliant” is a slow, stalking number that recalls The Jesus Lizard at their most menacing. “You Came In Me” is a mostly instrumental rollick with a brief, hilarious spoken sex joke interlude. “Riding Bikes” could totally have been the mental soundtrack of kids with their tricked out rides, getting up to no good with reckless abandon. A few of the songs, all with “surveyor(s)” in the title seem to have a connected theme about the founding fathers mapping out the country. An unabashedly quirky, geeky idea that totally works, reminding me of Thomas Pynchon’s massive book Mason & Dixon (1997), about the partnership between astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon during the birth of the American Republic. If you think 7 years is a long time, Pynchon took 22 years to complete that book.
10. Dark Blue – Pure Reality
Baritone vocals, post-punk sweetened with new wave accessibility and charred by goth romanticism. Many bands have attempted this combo over the decades, and only a lucky few hit the target, seldom more than once. This Philly trio, for instance connected with their debut, and while they released two more albums in 2016 and 2019 that are well regarded, they just don’t do it for me like Pure Reality.
11. Papir – Papir IIII
This Danish instrumental psychedelic project snuck in a fabulous third album III (2013, El Paraiso) that hardly anyone noticed. They’ve quickly followed with a fourth, and sound better than ever. With extended guitar-oriented jams that incorporate jazzy improvisation along with rocked out crescendos inspired by Colour Haze, My Sleeping Karma, Electric Moon and especially labelmates Causa Sui, it’s a must have for fans of this particular approach to stoner/psych. Produced by Causa Sui’s Jonas Munk, it sounds incredible.
12. The New Christs – Incantations
With the lineup remaining stable for eight years, Incantations is the band’s best album since Distemper (1989). While the jagged edges are smoother than that earlier incarnations, the songwriting is glorious, piled high with the best hooks and melodies the band has ever come up with. The first half is a particularly impressive run, with opener “Ghostlike” featuring a psychedelic organ line that embodies the greatness that The Godfathers promised early in their career but failed to achieve when they were far better known in the late 80s than The New Christs. “Waves Form” kicks off with a great “Wipeout” style drum roll and invigorating surf guitar riff. Like a beach party interrupted by the discovery of a dead body, it invokes salty ocean air and spilled blood. Someone needs to make a beach noir movie and feature that song and earn the band their belated fortune. “We Are Lovers” is dark, brooding and sexy in a way that I fear Interpol will never again be able to pull off. That’s okay, these punk geezers show them how it’s done. “It Means Everything” is another killer, featuring a great wah-wah hook that will stick in your head for days. The hooks keep coming, on “It’s Not A Game” it’s in the vocal chorus. The next few tracks are a step down from the previous stunners, but remain well crafted, especially “This Is A Party” and “The Golden Street.” “Precious Little” can be a little draggy, but the Deep Purple organ line and dark psychedelic guitar solos sound cool.
13. Colour Haze – To The Highest Gods We Know
After perfecting their sound on an amazing eight album run, the German stoner psych titans pushed things forward with some adventurous experimentation on their eleventh album. It all works, though it may take some adjustment in expectations from longtime followers, as they expand the instrumentation and even venture into modern classical at one point.
14. Lola Colt – Away From The Water
Produced by the Bad Seeds’ Jim Sclavunos, this UK group concocted a stirring hybrid of psychedelic garage noir with a strong female lead (a Danish singer named Gun) who reminds me of Leslie Woods of post-punkers Au Pairs. There’s so much evocative imagery in these songs, Morricone cowboys tripping on peyote, long drives on black unlit highways, being followed on twisting London streets, all with an underlying threat of violence. The pulp fiction crime paperback to Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats’ B-movies with big breasted murderous vampires, I hoped Lola Colt would make psych noir a THING. Despite an even better follow-up in 2016, that didn’t happen. They released a synthpop EP in 2019 and that’s it.
15. Floor – Oblation
Floor formed in 1992, pioneering a mix of doom, Melvins-inspired sludge and pop. They didn’t get enough credit for their influential style, as their official debut didn’t come out until 2002. Steve Brooks and Juan Montoya formed Torche in 2004, and had even greater success, to the point where Brooks rejoined Anthony Vialon, synchronized their guitars back to the famous E-tune with the one long-suffering, half-broken E-bomb string, for a much anticipated reunion tour. His distinct vocals ties together the sound of the two bands, both with the patented E-bombs and low-end tones, but Floor sticking to a slower, doomier style. Most fans of one shouldn’t live without the other. Torche surprisingly broke up after a world tour in 2022, so here’s hoping Floor will be revived a third time.
16. Spoon – They Want My Soul
My readers might think I’ve given up on indie rock. Not exactly, though I did have a sort of meltdown at Pitchfork half a decade ago when I savagely heckled all the bands phoning in listless performances, and vowed only to see metal bands live thereafter. I more or less stuck to that promise, but still listen to most genres, which just rank a bit lower than they used to 10-15 years ago. I always have time for Spoon, though. They’re one of a handful of indie rock bands who have a spotless record of no bad albums in their entire discography. Formed back in 1993 in Austin, they’ve been through the whole uncomfortable experience with indie labels, and went back to just focusing on writing excellent songs, always evolving while maintaining a recognizable core sound of minimalist guitar pop that they could practically patent at this point. I’ve listened through several times, and mixed randomly with their other albums, and it holds up extremely well. It’s hard to say if it will become anyone’s favorite, it’s a bit early, but it certainly measures up to the next few that comes after your favorite (which could be any number of their albums – for the record mine is Kill The Moonlight). It starts out with two of their singles, which in Spoon’s case are often their most creative efforts, “Rent I Pay” and “Inside Out.” The first is catchy as hell, and the second is a more dreamy, laidback tune with atmospheric keyboards, a bit of a departure even for them, but works well. “Outlier” also tackles electronics, but in an elegantly effortless way that makes The Arcade Fire’s last album seem all the more unwieldy and awkward. There’s not a bum track on this album, and they sound remarkably fresh for a 21 year-old band. Taking their time with four years in between albums at this stage in their career was definitely the right choice. Their peers (if there are any left) can only hope to do so well.
Bubbling Under: Wand, The Socks, Have A Nice Life, Wo Fat, Orango, Messenger, Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band, J Mascis, Pallbearer, Amplifier, The Warp/The Weft, Slough Feg, Interpol, Elephant Stone, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, The Names, Brimstone Coven, The Fast Camels, The Primevals, The Red Plastic Buddha.
2014
- Syd Arthur – Sound Mirror (Harvest) | UK | Bandcamp
- The Sea Kings – Woke In The Devil’s Arms (Iffy Folk) | UK | Bandcamp
- Truckfighters – Universe (Fuzzorama) | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Motorpsycho – Behind The Sun (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Buy
- Wovenhand – Refractory Obdurate (Deathwish) | USA | Bandcamp
- Bent Knee – Shiny Eyed Babies (Cuneiform) | USA | Bandcamp
- Spiders – Shake Electric (Reactor/Spinefarm) | Sweden | Buy
- Swans – To Be Kind (Young God/Mute) | USA | Bandcamp
- Witch Mountain – Mobile Of Angels (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
- Shellac – Dude Incredible (Touch And Go) | USA | Bandcamp
- Dark Blue – Pure Reality (Jade Tree) | USA | Bandcamp
- Papir – Papir IIII (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
- The New Christs – Incantations (Impedance) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Purson – In The Meantime EP (Machine Elf) | UK
- Temples – Sun Structures (Heavenly) | UK
- Colour Haze – To The Highest Gods We Know (Elektrohasch) | Germany | Bandcamp
- D’Angelo and The Vanguards – Black Messiah (RCA) | USA
- Lola Colt – Away From The Water (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
- Floor – Oblation (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Oath – The Oath (Rise Above) | Sweden
- The Peep Tempel – Tales (Wing Sing) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Spoon – They Want My Soul (Merge) | USA
- Bask – American Hollow (This Charming Man) | USA | Bandcamp
- Spidergawd – Spidergawd (Crispin Glover) | Norway
- Mere Women – Your Town (Poison City) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Nothing – Guilty Of Everything (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
- Black Trip – Goin’ Under (Prosthetic) | Sweden
- TV On The Radio – Seeds (Harvest) | USA
- Blues Pills – Blues Pills (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Buy
- Mystic Braves – Desert Island (Lolipop) | USA | Bandcamp
- Purple Hill Witch – Purple Hill Witch (Church Within) | Norway
- Serpent Venom – Of Things Seen And Unseen (Church Within) | UK | Bandcamp
- Electric Wizard – Time To Die (Spinefarm) | UK | Bandcamp
- Protomartyr – Under Cover Of Official Right (Hardly Art) | USA | Bandcamp
- King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (Flightless) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Mode Moderne – Occult Delight (Light Organ) | Canada | Bandcamp
- Morbus Chron – Sweven (Century Media) | Sweden
- Wand – Ganglion Reef (Drag City/God?) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Socks – The Socks (Small Stone) | France | Bandcamp
- Have A Nice Life – The Unnatural World (Enemies List) | USA | Bandcamp
- Wo Fat – The Conjuring (Small Stone) | USA | Bandcamp
- Orango – Battles (Division/Stickman) | Norway | Bandcamp
- Demon Eye – Leave The Light (Soulseller/Megaforce) | USA | Bandcamp
- Messenger – Illusory Blues (Svart) | UK | Bandcamp
- Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band – Intensity Ghost (No Quarter) | USA | Buy
- Ought – More Than Any Other Day (Constellation) | Canada | Bandcamp
- J Mascis – Tied to a Star (Sub Pop) | USA | Bandcamp
- Emma Ruth Rundle – Some Heavy Ocean (Sargent House) | USA | Bandcamp
- Pallbearer – Foundations Of Burden (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
- Amplifier – Mystoria (Superball) | UK | Bandcamp
- The Warp/The Weft – Wind Of Hours Unwinding (Warp/Weft) | USA | Bandcamp
- Gallon Drunk – The Soul Of The Hour (Clouds Hill) | UK
- Slough Feg – Digital Resistance (Metal Blade) | USA | Buy
- Rick Hromadka – Trippin’ Dinosaurs (SodaStar) | USA
- Orange Goblin – Back From The Abyss (Candlelight) | UK | Bandcamp
- Interpol – El Pintor (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
- Elephant Stone – The Three Poisons (Hidden Pony) | Canada | Bandcamp
- The Vintage Caravan – Voyage (Nuclear Blast) | Iceland | Bandcamp
- Rival Sons – Great Western Valkyrie (Earache) | USA
- Noura Mint Seymali – Tzenni (Glitterbeat) | Mauritania | Bandcamp
- …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – IX (Superball) | USA
- Warpaint – Warpaint (Rough Trade) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Names – In Time (Factory Benelux) | Belgium | Buy
- Brimstone Coven – Brimstone Coven (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp
- The Fast Camels – Deadrooms And Butterfly Dreams (Magic Optician) | UK | Bandcamp
- The Primevals – Tales Of Endless Bliss (Closer) | UK | Bandcamp
- Mastodon – Once More ‘Round The Sun (Reprise) | USA
- The Red Plastic Buddha – Songs For Mara (Space Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
- Transit Method – Celebrate Mutations (Brutal Panda) | USA | Bandcamp
- Satyress – Dark Fortunes (Satyress) | USA | Bandcamp
- Jouis – Dodo (Beetroot) | UK | Bandcamp
- Keys – Ring The Changes (See Monkey Do Monkey) | UK
- The Spacious Mind – Greazy Green & the Stoney Lonesomes Volume 1 (Kommun 2) | Sweden
- Hits – Hikikomori (Conquest Of Noise) | Australia | Bandcamp
- Opeth – Pale Communion (Roadrunner) | Sweden
- Doug Tuttle – Doug Tuttle (Trouble In Mind) | USA | Buy
- Knifeworld – The Unravelling (InsideOut) | UK
- Kikagaku Moyo – Forest Of Lost Children (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond) | Japan | Bandcamp
- Thelightshines – Now The Sandman Sings (thelightshines) | UK | Buy
- Quilt – Held In Splendour (Mexican Summer) | USA | Buy
- The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers (Matador) | Canada
- Spectral Haze – I.E.V.: Transmutated Nebula Remains (Soulseller) | Norway | Bandcamp
- The Skull – For Those Which Are Asleep (Tee Pee) | USA
- The Novembers – Rhapsody In Beauty (Merz) | Japan | Bandcamp
- The Galileo 7 – False Memory Lane (State) | UK
- Ed Kuepper – The Return of the Mail-Order Bridegroom (Prince Melon) | Australia
- Earth – Primitive And Deadly (Southern Lord) | USA | Bandcamp
- British Sea Power – Happiness (Golden Chariot) | UK | Bandcamp
- Kairon; IRSE! – Ujubasajuba (Svart) | Finland | Bandcamp
- Lee Fields & The Expressions – Emma Jean (Truth & Soul) | USA
- Tami Neilson – Dynamite! (Neilson) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
- The Gotobeds – Poor People Are Revolting (12XU) | USA | Bandcamp
- Trabants – Freakout (Lifted and Gifted) | USA | Bandcamp
- Goat – Commune (Sub Pop) | Sweden | Bandcamp
- Together Pangea – Badillac (Harvest) | USA
- Jakob Scøtt – Taurus Rising (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
- Les Big Byrd – They Worshipped Cats (Höga Nord/A Recordings) | Sweden
- Apostle Of Solitude – Of Woe And Wounds (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
- Black Flower – Abyssinia Afterlife (Sdban Ultra) | Belgium | Bandcamp
- Sloan – Commonwealth (Yep Roc) | Canada | Bandcamp
April 2, 2026
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1986
February 27, 2026
Fester’s Lucky 13: 1976
