2014

This year has been a bit of a disaster when it comes to geo-political news. 2014 has seen ISIS going nasty, North Korea sticking to their ways and Vladimir Putin being a pain in general. And that's not even looking at the madness in Ferguson. And to top it all off, Ebola is having a comeback and it is nasty. The only thing this year that hasn't really gone to pot is music. To try and make an end of year list is a massive nightmare, I've been having sleepless nights. But here we go...

Best Newcomer- Kate Tempest

2014 has been the year of the debut, not only were we inundated with a new artist every week dominating the charts but the Mercury nominations we splitting at the seams of new talent. One of the most invigorating and newsworthy artists was a white female rapper with a big mouth and strong accent, no not Iggy Azalea. Kate Tempest's album Everybody Down showed that  a spoken word poet can write the best rap album of the year. Kate's believable tales in her lyrics give her a razor-sharp edge and a fresh look at the music scene. A hard choice but well deserved.

Best Comeback- Jamie T

An unsupring but deserving win for the Wimbledon artist. After five years of radio silence, Jamie T raised himself from the dead. After lead single 'Don't You Find' Jamie sold out dates across the country, played the prestigious secret set at Reading and Leeds and released a stunning third album Carry On The Grudge. The record has moments of rage such as 'Peter' and beauty in 'Mary Lee' and of course the shouty lad chorus of 'Zombie'. It wasn't exactly a Kate Bush sized comeback, but it was brilliant all the same.

Best Song- NEW YORK.NEW DORP

The SBTRKT and Ezra Koenig pairing created undoubtedly the best song of the year. A fantastic piece of production tallied with even better lyrics, a club track without the cheese or repetitiveness. A 10/10 win for SBTRKT.

Worst Year- Robin Thicke

Not necessarily the worst year in music (cough Bono, cough Liam Gallagher) but pretty dire in comparison to 2013. Last year Thicke performed at the VMAs, worked with Pharrel and sold millions of  copies of 'Blurred Lines'. The backlash at the misogyny of 'Blurred Lines' hit home when Thicke's wife left him and no-one gave him a shoulder to cry on. Forlorn Robin then made an album dedicated to his missus, selling a whopping 530 copies in it's first week. You can all still buy the album Paula,I know you want it. 

Worst Album-Royal Blood

In fairness, Royal Blood never set themselves the task of changing rock n roll. A genre which has arguably been waning since it's very conception. So when a pair of leather wearing dudes from Brighton started making a tonne of noise from a rhythm section, people began to throw themselves at them. Their album, 10 or so songs of boring and loud rock music. Does it push boundaries? Is it meaningful? No. It is just souless and mindnumbing. Pants.

Best Album-Salad Days

This is the hardest decision I have had to make this year. Personally, I have loved the crop of albums to choose from this year. FKAS Twigs, Kate Tempest, Superfood, SBTRKT, Ben Howard, Jungle, Young Fathers, Temples, the list goes on. But I had to go for the album that means the most to me. Mac DeMarco is a personal favourite of mine, and finally this year my friends caught on to his genius. Salad Days is a mismatch of emotions and sounds, all encompassing in a bit of a mess. However the Canadian ultimately made a cracking piece of art through the anarchy, and that is why it is my album of 2014. His iconic red vans are currently being auctioned off at 20 grand, which is the cherry on his bizarre but brilliant life


I don't really know what is going to happen in 2015. But I just want to thank anyone who has ever read my blog, it means a lot. Big love, get wrecked this NYE and catch you on the flip side.