I’ve recently been looking at a lot of those “Best songs/albums/movies/books/twerks of 2014” lists, and it’s interesting to see when the same names keep cropping up on them.
It’s been particularly intriguing when it comes to bands and LPs from the last 12 months too, and I’ve been fascinated to see what the great and the good of the music press think about the year’s offerings. I mean, you’ve got your places like the Quietus which list a huge number of obscure, odd-sounding musical acts while your mainstream mags like Q and NME tend to include the more well-known offerings (i.e., your Foo Fighters, U2s, alt-Js, Coldplays etc…)
But one name that’s been appearing everywhere has been Philadelphia indie rockers (and Kurt Vile’s old band) The War on Drugs, whose album Lost in the Dream has been universally loved by all. So I had a wee listen last week and, bugger me, what an LP.
It’s an Americana road-trip journey from start to finish, all atmospheric and sonically uplifting, and the sort of thing that makes you want to tear up route 66 in a second-hand Impala. I’d recommend putting it on and just listening to the whole thing in one go to get the full experience – but in the interests of this project I have to pick one tune, so here it is.
This is An Ocean In Between The Waves and it’s a stunning 7-minute long track full of big-road echoes and nostalgia. Think Don Henley’s Boys of Summer mixed with a little bit of Dire Straits, Dylan and Fleetwood Mac – albeit with a modern edge and some lovely introspective lyrics teased by frontman Adam Granduciel.
It’s bloody glorious.
365 New Music Project 