FKA Twigs
When it comes to originality, creativity, ambition, and maturity, no artist who released a debut album in 2014 even comes close to what 26-year-old Tahliah Barnett has pulled off this year. Having facetiously given herself the “formerly known as” acronym after another artist named Twigs threatened litigation, FKA Twigs follows the young auteur example of Grimes, but in a far less flighty way. Instead, she opts for something darker and a lot more mature, meshing sultry, dusky pop hooks with intensely erotic lyrics. Best of all, she uses arrangements that strip the music away all the flash and flesh, leaving a bare-bones accompaniment of electronic beats and throbs that pulsate with the emotional power of the words and music. It’s a situation where, as soon as the album ends, you can’t wait to hear what she does next. – Adrien Begrand
LATEST MUSIC
Hundred Waters
Hypnotic, ethereal, detached, expressive: these are just a few descriptors that apply to Hundred Waters‘ sophomore LP, The Moon Rang Like a Bell. Try nailing down Nicole Miglis’ eerie soprano, and you’ll find that it slips untrustingly from your grasp, evading your ears and slinking back into the darkness where it came from. The album is gripped by an unseen fear and a full-moon mysticism, and it’s not out of the question to suggest that much of Moon dances around the concept of feminine mystique and its impact on a male-dominated indie crowd.
The first words you’ll hear on the album opener “Show Me Love” are, “Don’t let me show cruelty, though I may make mistakes / don’t let me show ugliness, though I know I can hate.” A lone vocal track that acts as a prelude to the odd and eerie electronic staccato of “Cavity” and “XTalk”. Is there a hint of new age mysticism and Eastern chord progressions dropped loosely into syncopated rhythms? Yes, that and the simplest of notions: “take my hand when I’m walking”.
Moon doesn’t attach itself instantly. Instead, Hundred Waters have created a delicate grower of an album, one that peels back layers and cadences until you’re not certain if the music is still being made by humans or ghosts. It would be more plausible if spirits made it, given its spirituality and subdued sexuality. All of that is to say, Hundred Waters keep you wondering where their inspiration comes from and where they’ll take you next. An astral plane? Your parent’s bedroom? Basement parties? Wherever they go, be sure to follow. – Scott Elingburg
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Jungle
There was no consensus on “Song of the Summer” this year. (Yes, Iggy Azalea was everywhere, but so were allergens.) Nothing captured the popular imagination like “Get Lucky” did in 2013, reminding us that songs don’t do that kind of thing as much as they used to. The upside was that we could choose our summer jams without feeling like we were missing out on something. For me, that choice tended to be Jungle’s debut album.
Leading up to its release, the British duo got the hype machine going in pitch-perfect fashion, keeping the member’s identities secret and releasing several feel-good clickbait videos featuring all sorts of killer dance moves. These moves set us all up to be surprised by the actual tone of Jungle, which is soft and languorous, a bedroom R&B production full of floating synths and falsettos. It sounds like something a day-drunk Philip Michael Thomas would’ve put on his Hi-Fi in 1986. It makes me want to put on sunglasses even though I know I look stupid in sunglasses. It makes me feel like it’s not actually going to snow tonight. – Joe Sweeney
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Lucius
Although Lucius released their debut Wildewoman in North America last year, it received a wider release in 2014, with increased promotion through TV and radio appearances. It has recently been re-released in a digital deluxe version, including eight new tracks. Lucius can be distinguished by the sound of two female voices (Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig) singing as one, blending a girl-group sound with a new wave style to make smart and engaging pop music. “Turn It Around”, “Tempest”, and “Don’t Just Sit There” are the easiest routes of entry, with fantastic catchy harmony vocals and clever instrumentation. The skilled band tackle Americana on “Go Home Hey”, with much of the remainder of the album made up of modernist experiments such as “Hey, Doreen” and “Nothing Ordinary”. Indeed there is little ordinary about Lucius, perhaps one of the reasons why Tweedy chose them to add backing vocals for the excellent Sukirae. – Charles Pitter
LATEST MUSIC
Milo
Milo is part of the indomitable Hellfyre Club, and his take on KOOL A.D.’s brand of near-dada storytelling and free-associative rhyming, deconstructing rap tropes in pursuit of the deeper truths beneath them, made for a wildly exciting debut. He’d released a couple of mixtapes and had some features in years previous, but the much-lauded A Toothpaste Suburb was his first significant showcase and was one of 2014’s better rap albums. The first track alone, with its wandering plot, eye for detail, deadpan delivery, and intricate wordplay, cemented Milo’s place as a storyteller par excellence who comes off much bigger than rap, taking the best left-field tendencies of label mate Open Mike Eagle and adding a dash of meta-narrative and a pinch of consciousness to prove why he’s one of the most vital new artists working in hip-hop today. – Adam Finley
Mr. Little Jeans
Named after a minor character in Wes Anderson’s quirky 1998 film Rushmore, Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Monica Birkenes (aka Mr Little Jeans) captured the attention of over two million YouTube viewers with her cover of Arcade Fire’s “The Suburbs”. A testament to the immense power of social media, her darkly delectable interpretation of their track thrust an unknown Norwegian musician into the international spotlight and ignited a career. Luckily for Birkenes, her own material and songwriting chops are equally as arresting.
While the prolonged gestation period between EPs and her major label effort might have given critics and admiring fans reason to pause, it appears they had nothing to fret about. The 12 intoxicating songs of Pocketknife herald the arrival of an artist whose immense talent contains both indie credibility and undeniable mainstream potential. From the widescreen 1980s pop sheen of “Runaway” and the brilliant, lo-fi dance track “Good Mistake”, to the children’s chorale featured on the chorus of the charmingly unconventional “Oh Sailor”, few records brush up against perfection as effortlessly as Mr. Little Jeans’s debut. – Ryan Lathan