Getintothis guestlist selections part two Liverpool industry figures on 2014

Liverpool music’s movers and shakers offer their thoughts on 2014, giving their top albums, tracks, gigs and tips for the new year.

As another momentous year draws to a close, Getintothis took the time to catch up with all those who work hard off-stage to discover what has caught their eyes and ears during the year.  Many of those below have been responsible for organising and curating some of the magical events that have so characterised Liverpool music in 2014.

From the continuing success of Sound City through to the spectacular return of Liverpool Music Week, it is fair to say that these guys know their onions. Get stuck in to the below and relive all the memories of a special year – as well as chancing on that hidden gem of an album or song that you might have missed along the way.

Mike Deane: Director, Liverpool Music Week

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Pharmakon: Bestial Burden
2. Liars: Mess
3. Swans: To Be Kind
4. Amen Dunes: Love
5. The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. SOPHIE: Lemonade
2. Perfume Genius: Queen
3. Future Brown: Wanna Party ft. TINK & 3D Na’Tee

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Kate Bush at Hammersmith Apollo, London
2. Forest Swords at Sonar by Day, Barcelona
3. Evian Christ new Live show debut at Unsound, Hotel Forum, Krakow
4. Pharmakon, supporting Swans at Berghain, Berlin
5. Caribou at Liverpool Music Week Opening Show, Camp and Furnace (Getintothis review)
6. Evian Christ Trance Party II at Oval Space, London (Getintothis review)

Event of the Year:

Mike says: “Has to be Liverpool Music Week 10th Edition, though Liverpool Psych Fest has come on in a huge way this year.”

Music Tip for 2015:

Mike says: “It all points to being the year of the Lapsley“

Steve ‘Revo’ Miller: Evol

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Sleaford Mods: Divide & Exit
2. Liars: Mess
3. Thee Oh Sees: Drop
4. Ariel Pink: Pom Pom
5. Interpol: El Pintor

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Caribou: Can’t Do Without You (extended mix)
2. The Flaming Lips: Peace Sword
3. The Brian Jonestown Massacre: Goodbye (Butterfly)

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. The Brian Jonestown Massacre at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
2. White Denim at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
3. The Polyphonic Spree at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
4. Caribou at Camp and Furnace, Liverpool Music Week opening party (Getintothis review)
5. Action Bronson at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)

Event of 2014:

Liverpool Psych Fest

Music Tip for 2015:

Steve says: “New albums from All We Are, Stealing Sheep & Outfit…”

Harvest Sun Promotions

Top 5 Albums of the Year: (in no particular order)

*  The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dream
*  Gala Drop: II
*  Stephen Steinbrink: Arranged Waves
*  Todd Terje: It’s Album Time
*  Amen Dunes: Love

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Andras Fox: Ankle Snapper
2. Woods: With Light and Love
3. Gala Drop: You and I

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Brian Jonestown Massacre at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
2. Tamikrest at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
3. Future Islands at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
4. Fat White Family/Growlers/The Wytches at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
5. By the Sea @ The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool  (Getintothis review)

Event of the Year:

Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia

Music Tip for 2015:

Harvest Sun Promotions says: “Really looking forward to hearing the Natalie Prass album. On a local front would be good to see Strange Collective shake of the shackles and take it to a wider audience. Cracking live band.”

Chris Torpey: Editor, Bido Lito

Albums of the Year:

Chris says: “First up, this is not a list! Just some thoughts about what I’ve listened to and liked this year”

*  Amazing Snakeheads: Amphetamine Ballads (Chris says: “Visceral, dark, seedy, dangerous – and that’s just a night out in Glasgow. The Snakeheads capture the dinginess of the city’s shadowy underbelly, and make it glisten with a post-punk snarl.”)
*  Jane Weaver: The Silver Globe (“A late find in the year, Weaver takes to the stars on this hidden gem, which loops Hawkwind and dances with sci-fi imagery. This Cheshire lass has cast off her folky mantle to reach for St Vincent’s prog-pop tiara.“)
*  Dean Blunt: Black Metal (“Where do you start with a record as varied and surprising as this? I’ll start with the sleeve – a sleek, leatherette cover round a plain sleeve that contains no words on front, back, inside or on the middle. All in black too, naturally. This sleekness extends to the record itself, skimming through soul, hip hop and droney interludes to monstrous effect.“)
*  Klaus Johann Grobe: Im Sinne Der Zeit (“The Swiss aren’t all boring bank clerks you know, as Sevi and Daniel show here with impeccable groove. Let’s face it, electro-krautrock with a Farfisa organ shouldn’t really work, but stick this on and see who doesn’t dance along. They’re from Basel too – what’s not to like?”)
*  We Are Catchers: We Are Catchers (“Pete Jackson’s magnum opus has been a long time coming, but when this debut album of piano ballads landed in April this year it was met with pleasure from all in the Bido office. We Are Catchers’ introspective, delicate, wholesome and heart-warming collection of tracks are among the best you’ll hear on an LP anywhere this year, or probably even next year too.”)

Tracks of the Year:

*  Lucern Raze: Sunshine Blues (Chris says: “Just. Fucking. Brilliant. Loose, carefree and likely to fall apart at any minute, the first track from PNKSLM boss Luke Reilly encapsulates the label’s rollicking party spirit perfectly.”)
*  Sharon Van Etten: Every Time The Sun Comes Up (“The most downbeat and lump-in-your-throat moment from SVE’s fourth full-length record is a gorgeous slice of the New Jersey/New Yorker’s trademark charm. And she manages to get away with the lyric “I washed your dishes but I shit in your bathroom” too – clever woman.”)
*  Bonnacons of Joy: Vidnyaapanam parts 01. to 04. (“This 18-minute odyssey of oriental drone takes up the whole of side A of the PZYK0003 12” released for this year’s Liverpool Psych Fest, and the only disappointment is that it doesn’t last longer. Chief Bonnacon Rob Strachan pilots all four movements of the piece which sees the experimental troupe assume their third identity this year (Bonnacons Of Doom, Joy or Light, depending on the situation).“)

Gigs of the Year:

*  Parquet Courts at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (Chris says: “Parquet Courts/Parkay Quartz: whatever you want to call them, they were in fine form this night, Ducking And Dodging through some slick proto-punk garage rock.”)
*  Bobby Womack at The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“You can be a legend if you’ve got as many hits as this, and you can unite The Phil in one giant teary-eyed mass. You can be a legend if you perform even while being propped up on stage. You can be a legend when you don’t stop singing even when you’ve been escorted back to your dressing room. You can be a legend when you’re Bobby Womack.“)
*  Mogwai and Forest Swords at Camp and Furnace, Liverpool Music Week (Getintothis review) (“The Rave Tapes roadshow landed like a spaceship and delivered a monolithic set, but it was perhaps Forest Swords who was the most impressive act on this night. The primal swells of bass and beats seemed at one with the cavernous Furnace – but then again it was Mogwai who nearly threatened to take the roof off the place.“)
*  Fat White Family/The Growlers at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“Ha ha ha, what a fucking debauched party this was! Brooks Nielsen led The Growlers’ garage surf riot, with every woman (and most men) in the room eating out of his hand. And then it got nuts. The Fat Whites nutterthon was only bettered by watching a plastered punter in a Scroobius Pip top trying to gain the attention of the band for a high-five from in front of the speaker stack, before he resorted to blowing kisses at the band. What, they were playing music too?“)
*  Eindhoven Psych Lab at De Effenaar (“OK, bit of a cheat this one as we were involved in it, but it was still one amazing show. Nisennenmondai, Lay Llamas, Suuns and Terakaft were amazing (from what I can remember), but the best part was standing with Paul Sullivan, Bernie Connor, Sam Wiehl and Venya as Mugstar tore up the main stage. Eindhoven and Liverpool in perfect sync.“)

Event Of The Year:

Africa Oye, Sefton Park

Chris says: “Simply amazing atmosphere this year, utterly infectious. If anyone ever questioned the people’s love for the festival before this year they will never ask it again after 2014.”

Music Tip for 2015:

Blue Saint

Chris says: “Daniel Sebuyange, as he’s known to his mum, has got all the talent in the world. If he can realise the ideas in his head for the concepts surrounding his next swathe of music, he’ll be huge.“

Andrew Ellis: Samizdat

Albums of the Year: (in no order)

*  Grouper: Ruins
*  Andy Stott:  Faith in Strangers
*  Ben Frost: Aurora
*  Pharmakon: Bestial Burden
*  Richard Dawson: Nothing Important
*  Vessel: Punish, Honey
*  The Body: I Shall Die Here

Gigs of the Year: (in no order)

*  Ex Easter Island Head – Large Electric Ensemble w/ Richard Dawson at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
*  Vessel & Immix Ensemble at Leggate Theatre, Liverpool Music Week (w/Syndrome & Open Circuit Festival)
*  Nguzunguzu at 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool Music Week
*  Slowdive, Haxan Cloak, Pharmakon, Forest Swords at ATP Iceland
*  Ben Frost at Zagreb

Event of 2014:

Andrew says: “A tie between Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia and Liverpool Music Week.“

Music Tip for 2015:

Andrew says: “If you’re at a party and you see an acoustic guitar, don’t even think about picking it up, nobody has time for that.”

Chris Carney: Threshold Festival

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

Chris says: “It’s been a great year for vinyl in Liverpool with Dig expanding, more great regular places to shop such as Capstan’s and Hobo Bazaar and Stylus at the Arts Club getting more popular every week. Here’s 5 old albums I bought on vinyl this year, because I’m just that fucking cool, yeah? (I’m also crap at buying new albums)”

*  Nancy Sinatra: Woman
*  INXS: Kick
*  Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On?
*  Radio 4: Stealing of A Nation
*  Blancmange: Mange Tout

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Etches: The Charm Offensive (Chris says: “Beautiful lyrics, moody layers of guitar, electronic, with shades of Willy Mason. What more do you need?”)
2. Rosh: Keep Me Down feat. Kerr & Dominic Dunn (“Brilliant local talent, I’ve got so much respect for this track from all involved, a mature piece of Liverpool Hip Hop.“)
3. Science Of The Lamps: SuperHero Me (“My wife’s band’s ultimate ear worm of a tune which I was also really proud to be in the video for.“)

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Silent Cities at Snokrystall, The Nordic Church, Liverpool (Mellowtone & Rebel Soul) (Chris says: “Taking on Luke Moore as his cellist was a fine move, Simon is going from strength to strength.”)
2. Ex-Easter Island Head at Nation, Liverpool Sound City (“Hadn’t seen them play in ages, and they are still such a treat, captivating as ever.“)
3. VYNCE at Liverpool International Music Festival (“Big surprise for me while I was Production Manager on the Academy. They deserve big things.“)
4. Simonah Abdallah at Liverpool Arab Arts Festival (“Blown away by this amazing drummer. After working with them for two years, LAAF now has a big place in my heart.“)
5. Broken Men at Threshold Festival (“You have to see Broken Men live to truly understand how great they are. As they grew in numbers they became like a wild gang, a force in Liverpool, UK, Russia, where to next?“)

Event of 2014:

Above The Beaten Track, Bluecoat

Chris says: “So good to see these guys back again in August, smiling faces everywhere. Long live ATBT!”

Music Tip for 2015:

Chris says: “I’m really digging ‘Blue Saint‘, he’s kind of new and has been working really hard on a hip hop concept EP with accompanied short story. I’m interested to see what next year brings for him. A real creative soul.”

Samuel Garlick: everisland

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Jungle: Jungle
2. FKA Twigs: LP1
3. Owen Pallet: In Conflict
4. Breton: War Room Stories
5. Dark Sky: Imagin

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Tokimonsta: Steal My Attention
2. Sohn: Artifice
3. Chet Faker: 1998

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Hot 8 Brass Band at Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
2. Victor Wooten at The Kazimier, Liverpool
3. Jungle at Kino Šiška, Ljubljana
4. everisland: AQUARIA at Williamson Tunnels, Liverpool
5. Hot Border Special at Passing Clouds, London

Event of 2014:

Liverpool Music Week

Music Tip for 2015:

Samuel says: “Fiesta Bombarda! With our biggest and most ambitious ever event on February 21st, plans for a mini Liverpool festival, a UK tour and plenty, plenty more in the pipeline, it’s going to be a monolithic year ahead for me and the Bombarda team!”

Victoria Smith: Arts Club

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Damien Rice: My Favourite Faded Fantasy (Victoria says: “After 7 long years waiting for him to get over breaking up with Lisa Hannigan he’s finally back! Praise be!”)
2. Taylor Swift: 1989 (“Yep I said it, and I’m proud! If Ian McNabb can love Britney Spears, it’s totally acceptable for me to love the Swift!“)
3. Catfish and the Bottlemen: Balcony (“Yes! Just Yes! It’s hard when you love a band so early on and your expectations are so high for an album, but it totally lived up to every one of them.“)
4. Augustine’s: Augustine’s (“Rise Ye Sunken Ships was my favourite album of 2011, and I’ve had a total love of this band for years, but this second album was definitely as good. It’s criminal they’re not bigger than they are.“)
5. George Ezra: Wanted on Voyage (“This has lived in my car CD player for 6 months. Its guaranteed to cheer me up even after an 18 hour day leaving work at 8am, I don’t know whether I’ll ever replace its spot in there!“)

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. James Bay: Hold Back the River (Victoria says: “Every girl probably has a total love affair with James Bay at the minute, and I’m no exception! A song that’s an instant love, and that never gets old.”)
2. Damien Rice: The Box (“My favourite song off his new album, and reminiscent of his earlier stuff on O, to which I’d weep endlessly on my bed over some boy or another. Oh to be young again…“)
3. Taylor Swift: Shake it Off (“You’ll definitely find the girls of the venue dancing around to this in the office or setting up the bars before we open doors. Then we turn it off, have a word with ourselves and get some self respect back!“)

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Damien Rice at The Palladium, London (Victoria says: “This was probably the best gig of my life, never mind 2014!”)
2. Foals at O2 Academy Oxford (“A hometown 400 capacity show for a festival headline band is always going to be special, but they literally turned the venue into the biggest, sweatiest, off the rails party I’ve ever seen.“)
3. Neon Waltz, Black Rivers and Bill Ryder-Jones at The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“One of my favourite bands yet to hit the big time, one of my favourite bands side projects, and one of my new favourite locals since moving to Liverpool. It was always going to be a good night!“)
4. Paul Weller at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“Such an intimate, unbelievable gig this was. If you were lucky enough to get tickets, it’s definitely a gig that’ll never be forgotten. What a true gent too.“)
5. Circus – TenWalls at Arts Club, Liverpool (“Okay, so not quite a gig, but I’m breaking the rules for this one. My favourite club night of the year. A huge LED video wall, sold out crowd, and an amazing line up, Circus really does put Liverpool on the clubbing map.“)

Event of 2014:

Liverpool International Music Festival

Victoria says: “Being brought up in a city whose council does absolutely nothing to promote music in the city, it’s great to see so many initiatives here that open up music to everyone. LIMF was one of my first experiences of these big Liverpool events, and something the city should be proud of.”

Music Tip for 2015:

Victoria says: “Fryars. Bloody love this boy. I first picked up on him during my love affair with Rae Morris, but he’s amazing in his own right.”

Chris Tyler: The Kazimier

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Run The Jewels: Run The Jewels II
2. Andy Stott: Faith In Strangers
3. War On Drugs: Lost In The Dream
4. Taylor Swift: 1989
5. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Piñata

Track of the Year:

Taylor Swift: Shake it Off (Chris says: Hands down my favourite track of the year, so much so that I can’t think of any other 2 that stand out.)

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Prince at Manchester Academy, Manchester 
2. Peanut Butter Wolf at The Kazimier, Liverpool
3. Andrew WK at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
4. Jonwayne at The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
5. Young Fathers at Arts Club, Liverpool (Getintothis review)

Event of 2014:

Liverpool Music Week

James Hammond: Liverpool Guild of Students

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Aphex Twin: Syro
2. Swans: To Be Kind
3. Run the Jewels: Run the Jewels 2
4. The Hotelier: Home Like No Place There is
5. The War on Drugs: Lost in the Dreams

Top 3 Tracks:

1. How to Dress Well: Face Again
2. Run the Jewels: Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)
3. Flying Lotus: Never Catch Me [with Kendrick Lamar]

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Caribou at Camp & Furnace, Liverpool Music Week (Getintothis review)
2. Jamie T at Mountford Hall, Liverpool (James says: “not a big fan personally but amazing to see the Mountford Hall packed again after being closed for 2 years”) (Getintothis review)
3. Lady GaGa at MGM Grand, Las Vegas (“boozy random gig visit on my honeymoon“)
4. Mastodon at Manchester Academy, Manchester
5. John Grant at The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (Getintothis review)

Event of 2014:

Liverpool Music Week

Music Tip for 2015:

Lapsley

Dave McTague: Mellowtone

Top Gigs of the Year:

Dave says: “So, I did a top 7, hope that is OK. I really couldn’t whittle it down…in no particular order…”

*  Paddy Steer & the Part Time Heliocentric Cosmo Drama After School Club, at 24 Kitchen Street, Threshold Festival (“I was meant to be meeting people at The Kazimier that night but couldn’t draw myself away from the twelve or thirteen piece Sun Ra madness that was going on.”)
*  John Grant at The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (“In the space of a couple of years the man moved from the leftfield of Static Gallery to selling out the Phil.  And what a performance!“)
*  Mogwai at Camp & Furnace, Liverpool Music Week, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“I am not a Mogwai obsessive, but this show was great… so immersive with the textured layered sounds and a fantastic light show.  Welcome back LMW.“)
*  Tamikrest at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Harvest Sun & Africa Oye) (Getintothis review) (“Hypnotic, trance inducing … spaced out desert blues. I couldn’t stop thinking about the show for ages!“)
*  Snorkystall at The Scandinavian Church, Liverpool (Mellowtone & Rebel Soul) (“Ok so it’s a Mellowtone show (with Rebel Soul) but this was the perfect setting for both Ragz Nordset and Silent Cities – crystalline vocals and the reverb set on “church”.“)
*  All We Are / Bird at Liverpool Cathedral, Sound City (“Two of Liverpool’s finest, in one of Liverpool’s finest buildings.  The sets, the sound and the setting were a perfect match … a heavenly combination.  Sorry.“)
*  Mellowtone Birthday Party at Leaf Tea Shop, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“OK, I know it’s another of ours, but unsurprisingly, our “Ten Years” birthday bash was a real highlight of 2014 for me.“)

Event of 2014:

Albums of the Year:

1. King Singh: Beating off With King Singh
2. Ben Howard: I Forget Where We Were

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Favela: Easy Yoke
2. Esco Williams: Oh Jordan
3. King Singh: Wood or Wire

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Lizzo at Liverpool Music Week
2. Jazz Hands at the Black-E, Liverpool Sound City 
3. Andrew Laval at Bold Street Coffee, Liverpool Sound City
4. Districts at Arts Club, Liverpool Sound City
5. One Bit at Brooklyn Mixer, Liverpool Sound City

Music Tip for 2015:

Charlie Lashmar, Jack Tinner, Etches, LIVES, Favela, Mic Lowry

Mike Bennett: Milk:Presents

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Goat:  Commune
2. St Vincent: St Vincent
3. tUnE-yArDs: Nikki Nack
4. Sinkane : Mean Love
5. Swans: To Be Kind

Top 3 Tracks of the Year:

1. Goat: Talk to God
2. St Vincent: Birth in Reverse
3. Sinkane: How We Be

Top 5 Gigs of the Year:

1. Note to Self
2. Need to
3. Get Out
4. More In
5. 2015

Event of the Year:

Liverpool Music Week 2014

Music Tip for 2015:

Broken Men

Andrew Hill: Abandon Silence

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Fatima: Yellow Memories
2. Actress: Ghettoville
3. Caribou: My Love
4. Moodymann: Moodymann
5. Leon Vynehall: Music For The Uninitiated

Top 3 Tracks of The Year:

1. Floorplan: Never Grow Old
2. Caribou: Can’t Do Without You
3. Dan Croll: From Nowhere (Ame remix)

Top 5 gigs of the Year:

1. Caribou, Evian Christ, Jessy Lanza at Liverpool Music Week Opening Show, Camp and Furnace (Andrew says: “The perfect evening, amazingly curated line up from start to the very late afterparty finish, great production and a triumphant headline performance.”)
2. Fatima at 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool
3. Abandon Silence with Motor City Drum Ensemble at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review) (“Apologies but I think this was the best Abandon Silence ever so someone has to put this in.“)
4. Baltic Block Party at various venues, Baltic Triangle, Liverpool
5. FestEVOL at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)

Event of 2014:

Liverpool Music Week

Andrew says: “The world’s best music from all areas carefully condensed into seven days with a sublime music policy featuring some of the world’s biggest playing alongside handpicked new artists with a bonus selection of free shows on top. Something to be proud of in Liverpool.”

Music Tip for 2015:

Andrew says: “SG Lewis – Reading born but Liverpool educated, he has just been signed to PMR Records – home of Disclosure, Jessie Ware, Bashmore – and I think he is set for a huge 2015.”

Paddy Quinn: No Fakin’

Top 5 Albums of the Year:

1. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib: Piñata
2. Run The Jewels: Run The Jewels 2
3. Fatima: Yellow Memories
4. Statik Selektah: What Goes Around
5. DJ Premier & Royce da 5’9″: PHryme

Top 3 Tracks of The Year:

1. Fatima: Do Better
2. Blu & Med ft Mibbs of Pac Div: Peroxide (Sirplus remix)
3. Steve Cobby: Settling Days

Top 5 gigs of the Year:

1. MOP at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
2. Fatima at 24 Kitchen Street, Liverpool
3. Jonwayne at The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
4. Peanut Butter Wolf at The Kazimier, Liverpool (Getintothis review)
5. DJ Spinna at The Shipping Forecast, Liverpool

Event of the Year

Africa Oye at Sefton Park

Music Tip for 2015

Burgundy Blood

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