DEAD THREAD? fear not - I will bring it back to life.
My favourite album of the year is, without doubt, the new Nothing (Guilty of Everything). Mmm, that noise, those waves, that distortion, the hooks, the intros, the closes - it's the closest I've got to a flawless new, non-clone shoegaze album.
Obviously, this will drop to second place once Flies on You is out.
Everyone else's album of the year is Real Estate's Atlas. It took me a few weeks to see why because I'm STILL mesmerised by the Nothing record, and not much else is registering.
I don't know if it was because I had to write about it or what but the Notwist's Close to the Glass was not really my cup of chai.
New Pure X (Angel) sounds great, great, great, though I'm still fonder of Heavy Air.
My beloved mainstream shoegazers Ringo Deathstarr came out with their third album - God's Dream - this year. It's good, though I have to say they lost something when they took up the more pop/twee Imagine Hearts sound and abandoned the darker Sparkler vibes.
Alcest's 'Shelter' was super disappointing on account of the fact that they're getting soft and losing the black metal influence that made them worth listening to.
Balthazar, who I don't really listen to, have a great song called 'Leipzig' that you might like if you're into old-fashioned harmonies. It's also a lovely song on its own, but the harmonies are hyper old-school.
Off the top of my head, that's my List of Notable Listens of 2014. Well, there are more, but I can't be bothered listing them.