Over perhaps one too many mugs of Yorkshire Tea, this year we decided to approach our tracks of the year chart a little differently. Rather than having all of our writers submit individual top tens, we went in for the tricky and harsh task of picking just top twos (with staff picking a few more), reasoning that these submissions would assemble themselves into a neat old top 100. Of course, the oversight on our part was the huge diversity in our writers’ tastes: rather than a number of tracks cropping up again, there was very little overlap. What multiple votes were received, though, did – and we can only assume through the guiding hand of some cosmic alignment – go on to form a handy, and perhaps tQ-appropriate, baker’s dozen of top tracks. The many, many picks that aren’t in that we thought would be best to present as one unranked list in alphabetical order, so what follows is a mammoth collection of individual earworms that the Quietus staff and contributors have enjoyed over the past 12 months.
Within that top 13, there’s Meridian Dan’s rewind-and-play-it-from-the-start out-and-out banger ‘German Whip’, Future Islands’ chest-thump synth-pop calling card ‘Seasons’ and ‘The Vile Stuff’, the wonderfully singular centrepiece to Newcastle musician Richard Dawson’s recent album Nothing Important. There’s a clutch of tracks that have become repeat plays in tQHQ’s Friday afternoon doofy techno sessions: Paula Temple, Furfriend and Ancient Methods having his way with Powell’s ‘Club Music’, capped off by Blacknecks’ interstellar leisure anthem ‘To The Cosmos, Let’s Go!’. Long-term Quietus favourites Karen Gwyer, The Fat White Family and Katie Gately all feature, the latter developing tendonitis in the making of ‘Pivot’; we’d be hesitant to say it was worth it, but the results are little short of magnificent – listen below. Pleasingly, the most voted-for track is Holly Herndon’s ‘Chorus’, which we feel both nods to what’s been an ace year for the San Francisco-based musician and her vocal manipulation, laptop-based output, as well as a recognition of how excited we are to see what she does in 2015. Her set at Incubate festival was one of the most forward-thinking and mind-blowing things we’ve seen recently, and, simply put, we can’t wait to see what’s next. We also doff our caps to the artists and bands who received multiple votes, but for different tracks: Black Bananas, The Charlatans, East India Youth, Grumbling Fur, Swans, Tweedy and Powell, who not only received votes for his tracks ‘So We Went Electric’ and ‘Maniac’, as well as the aforementioned ‘Club Music’, but whose Diagonal imprint put out the ace Bronze Teeth 12" that gets picked out here.
There’s a video or embedded track for almost every choice, so we hope this will offer you some hours of merry listening over the festive period. All that’s left for us to do is to thank all of our writers for contributing and picking such a wide and rewarding array of tracks, and, finally, to bid you all a very happy Christmas. See you in the new year. Laurie Tuffrey
13. Meridian Dan feat. Big H & JME – ‘German Whip’
(PMR Records)
Grime’s been bubbling away in fine shape for the last few years, so 2014’s excellent vintage might not have constituted the ‘genre revival’ hyperbole that inevitably accompanies tracks as weighty as ‘German Whip’. Nonetheless, the ubiquity of Meridian Dan’s slick, chrome-plated cruiser of a single was a joy to behold: commanding BBC radio as much as Rinse FM, it spent months booming from earbuds and passing car windows, framed by lyric posters pasted onto telephone boxes and concrete walls across the capital. Grime’s biggest hit in years, its popularity was a pleasant surprise yet still felt somehow inevitable – the mainstream-lapping crest of a wave that’s been gradually gathering momentum for quite some time. It helps, of course, that the track itself was tremendous. ‘German Whip’ packs many of grime’s most appealing characteristics into a lean, tough few minutes with barely a second wasted: it’s brash yet playful, deceptively smart, eminently quotable and loaded with surreal, subtly self-deprecating humour. Indeed, crucially, nothing of that vibrancy that defines the genre at underground level was lost in translation. It’s interesting to play compare-contrast with the year’s other big MC-led track, Mumdance and Novelist’s wiry, eerie ‘Take Time’ – massive cosmetic differences aside, both are underpinned by very similar impulses and character traits. But Meridian Dan owned 2014’s more cavernous dancefloors, epitomised by the flurry of online excitement following Rinse’s springtime rave at Fabric, when the rewinds on ‘German Whip’ reportedly almost hit double digits. Rory Gibb
12. Future Islands – ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’, from Singles
(4AD)
There’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking going on sonically – it sounds like it could have stepped out of a John Hughes film – and looks-wise, they resemble a middle-aged Killers, but the hook-laden synthy romp sounded somewhat fresh and anthemic in a thin year for the indie. Samuel T Herring’s impassioned performances on various shows, wherein he would suddenly go "WUUUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!" while pacing around like a ketamined-up octopus who’s just had funk explained to it, may have enhanced its appeal too. Ian Wade
11. Nicki Minaj – ‘Lookin Ass’, from Young Money: Rise Of An Empire
(Universal/Island)
Best known for the cartoonish and the colourful, Nicki Minaj’s most enduring image of 2014 was greyscale. Raising assault rifles to the sky on ‘Lookin Ass’, Nicki scored a flawless victory with her direct and deadly deconstruction of the male gaze. Kyle Ellison
10. FKA twigs – ‘Two Weeks’, from LP1
(Young Turks)
Amid the bracing shards of FKA twigs’ odd, wonderful LP1 can be glimpsed myriad aspects of the singer’s personality; a heady union of vulnerability and defiance that glimmers fierce with invention. Nowhere on the record does she sound quite so commanding as she does on ‘Two Weeks’, however. A breathless proposition that asserts her sensuality in no uncertain terms, it remains as bold, addictive and frankly mesmerising as it did back when it emerged in June. James Skinner
9. Paula Temple – ‘Deathvox’, from Deathvox EP
(R&S)
Paula Temple’s three-track EP for R&S has actually seen little play-time on the tQHQ sound system this year, predominantly for the fact that it renders everyone incapable of doing anything but leaping onto our desks and kicking our glowing monitors into oblivion. Its title track, with its relentless rumbling clattering thuds that vibrate up inside ribcages, screeches that rise and fall and submerged vocal growls, is a particular highlight, but mostly for after hours. Sophie Coletta
8. Powell – ‘Club Music’ (Ancient Methods Korpersaure91 remix), from Club Music Remixes EP
(Diagonal)
"In general, when it comes to remixing I like to do it in a traditional way. That means I don’t want to deliver just a new track of mine and call it remix although it has no contextual relation to the original. Therefore I have to get into the mood of the original, to comprehend it on a emotional level – not necessarily in a way that I can adapt or imitate the style but that I get into the spirit. And if I can’t get into the spirit of the original I feel it becomes just another AM track, which is somewhat disappointing for me. This said I wanted to keep the mood – at least the mood that I captured from the tracks – and I believe it was very easy for me to get an emotional access to it." Michael Wollenhaupt, aka Ancient Methods
7. Karen Gwyer – ‘Lay Claim To My Grub’, from New Roof EP
(No Pain In Pop)
There’s very little to ‘Lay Claim To My Grub’ beyond its sinuous synth refrain, mesh of drums and washes of melodic texture, but its emotional impact is substantial. It feels simultaneously comforting and sinister, constricting and propulsive: a rich and disconcerting piece of musical alchemy. Ed Gillett
6. Furfriend – ‘Endless September’, from Endless September EP
(Perc Trax)
"Endless September’ refers to Eternal September, which stands for September 1993, when Usenet was opened to the wide public and the internet started taking off. It’s the first time we wanted to show a bit more what’s behind a lot of our other tracks. There is this monster of information politics in the room and it scares the shit out of everyone. So the track is about us being totally dependent on our social networks, and how we all know it can be used against us, but we still keep on doing it, because there is really no alternative if you want to be part of society." Furfriend
5. Katie Gately – ‘Pivot’, from split EP with Tlaotlon
(FatCat Records)
How to follow Pipes? Gately’s palette is limitless, and she chooses to integrate the found sound detritus and semblances of sampled instrumentation from her eponymous pre-Pipes EP into the feature-length, wandering stream-of-consciousness structure of her opus. ‘Pivot’ endlessly lives up to its name, opening with a ghostly worn whispered choir of Gately’s own layered voice before snaking through gnarled, crunchy campfire sounds and organ-like drones as the dozen or so Katies head out on a heavenward march. A gaping mountainscape then opens up below as percussive claps and stomps underpin Gately’s catchiest tune to date in Pivot‘s second half, eventually disassembling itself into cacophony. Another singular enigma from Gately; as cataclysmic as it is beautiful. Tristan Bath
4. The Fat White Family – ‘I Am Mark E Smith’
(Without Consent)
Junior highlife rock debasers Fat White Family are stranded in America; grotesque and after a Grammy. What really went on before they crossed the pond? All we have is this excerpt of twanging, acidic Residents evil and swollen gland, red right hand, magick band palaver. The junior gold medal holders and young pretenders drink the long draught down and give some appreciation to the governor. But what will his nibs think, given that he usually calls twattery not flattery when it comes to imitation? We at the Quietus, for one, would love to hear a collaboration. Come on lads, make it speedy – can you not just get it together and do some showing off? I Am John V. Doran
3. Richard Dawson – ‘The Vile Stuff’, from Nothing Important
(Weird World)
Precision-clutter fingerstyle, bristly tone, Arabesque sprawl. Dogged, ritual stomp of feet and fists, yielding to rhythmic tics when necessary. Voice of churning guts and peaty history, raucous cheer and quiet terror. Potent, mystical and mundane poetry of resonant minutiae, carved deep via subtitles. Eleven-plus minutes of dimly recalled teenage idiocy and tangential folk-horror. 2014’s most infectious, singular and compelling work of art. Matt Evans
2. Blacknecks – ‘To The Cosmos, Let’s Go!’, from 004 EP
(Blacknecks)
"TO THE COSMOS LET’S GO! MY HEAD IS BECOME LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!" Luke Turner
1. Holly Herndon – ‘Chorus’, from Chorus 12"
(RVNG Intl.)
"Herndon’s music feels like one of defamiliarisation – with the human nature of the voice, with dance music, with the dull matter we surround ourselves with, all transmuted, picked apart or reframed […] Beneath these ideas, though, you’d think the music could be ruined by overthought. This couldn’t be further from the truth: the staccato voices and metallic ping-pong rhythms of ‘Chorus’ hove into earshot. The track’s a frenetic piece of glitchy rhythm and clipped vocal sample, coalescing in moments into luminescent pop, with a fondness for techno bangers lying somewhere in its composition." Laurie Tuffrey, reviewing Holly Herndon’s set at Incubate
…and the rest of our favourite tracks of the year, unranked but undimmed
Ansome – ‘Tin’, from ‘Tin/Cold Harbour’ 12"
(South London Analogue Material)
Picked by Sophie Coletta
Autonervous – ‘Enfant Terrible’ (M.W. Cut), from ‘Rat Life 2’ 12"
(Uncanny Valley)
Picked by Sophie Coletta
Black Bananas – ‘Physical Emotions’, from Electric Brick Wall
(Drag City)
Picked by Kevin Mccaighy
Black Bananas – ‘Physical Emotions’ (Liars remix)
Picked by Nick Hutchings
Black Josh feat. MC Jon – ‘Student Parties’, from #blahblahblackjosh LP
(Blah Records)
Picked by Ringo P Stacey
Bledig – ‘A Bad Day For Lupus’, from Bad Day For Lupus
Picked by Wyndham Wallace
Mary J. Blige – ‘Pick Me Up’, from The London Sessions
(Capitol Records)
Picked by Ryan Alexander Diduck
The Bozzini Quartet – ‘The Indistinguishables’, recorded live at Huddersfield Town Hall, November 25 2014
Picked by Luke Turner
Tim Bowness – ‘Smiler At 50’, from Abandoned Dancehall Dreams
(Inside Out Music)
Picked by Chris Roberts
Stanley Brinks & The Wave Pictures – ‘Orange Juice’
Picked by Hazel Sheffield
Bronze Teeth – ‘Albion Pressure’, from ‘A Waif’s Rent’ 12"
(Diagonal)
Picked by Joe Clay
Ane Brun – ‘Hunting High & Low’
Picked by Wyndham Wallace
The Bug vs Earth – ‘Boa’, from ‘Boa/Cold’ 12"
(Ninja Tune)
Picked by Tristan Bath
BullyBones – ‘I Feel Sorry For You’
Picked by Ged Babey
Tim Burgess – ‘Oh Men’ (Carter Tutti remix), from Oh Man Remixes EP
(O Genesis)
Picked by Laurie Tuffrey
Call Super – ‘Acephale II’, from ‘Depicta/Acephale II’ 12"
(Houndstooth)
Picked by Rory Gibb
Camera – ‘Salamantra’, from Liverpool International Festival Of Psychedelia 12"
(Liverpool Psych Fest)
Picked by Julian Marszalek
Caribou – ‘Can’t Do Without You’, from ‘Can’t Do Without You’ 12"
(Jiaolong)
Picked by Hazel Sheffield
Carter Tutti – ‘October Love Song’ (remix), from Carter Tutti Remix Chris & Cosey
(Conspiracy International)
Picked by Luke Turner
Cavern Of Anti-Matter – ‘Cluster of Rainbow’, from Total Availability And The Private Future 7"
(Peripheral Conserve)
Picked by Colm McAuliffe
Austin Ceasar – ‘Slink’, from There’s A Crack In Everything
(Proibito)
Picked by Ed Gillett
The Charlatans – ‘Talking In Tones’
(The Quietus Phonographic Corporation)
Picked by Lisa Jenkins
Clean Bandit feat. Jess Glynne – ‘Rather Be’, from New Eyes
(Atlantic)
Picked by Charlie Frame
Cleaners From Venus – ‘The Band Plays Delilah’, from Return to Bohemia
(Bandcamp)
Picked by Aug Stone
Cut Hands – ‘The Claw’, from Festival Of The Dead
(Blackest Ever Black)
Picked by Harry Sword
Cyclobe – ‘Son Of Sons Of Light’, from The Visitors
(Phantomcode)
Picked by Russell Cuzner
Desperate Journalist – ‘Control’, from Desperate Journalist
(Fierce Panda)
Picked by John Doran
DJ Taye – ‘Teklife Run It’, from What You Think EP
Picked by Laura Snoad
East India Youth – ‘HEAVEN, HOW LONG’, from TOTAL STRIFE FOREVER
(Stolen Recordings)
Picked by Lisa Jenkins
East India Youth – ‘HINTERLAND’, from ‘HINTERLAND’ 12"
(Stolen Recordings)
Picked by Luke Turner
Electric Wizard – ‘SadioWitch’, from Time To Die
(Spinefarm Records/Witchfinder Records)
Faith No More – ‘Motherfucker’
(Reclamation! Recordings/Ipecac Recordings)
Picked by Matt Evans
Richard Fearless – ‘Higher Electronic States’, from ‘Higher Electronic States’ 12"
(Drone)
Picked by Joe Clay
FKA twigs – ‘Pendulum’, from LP1
(Young Turks)
Picked by Karl Smith
Forteresse – ‘Wendigo’, from Forteresse/Chasse-Galerie/Monarque/Csejthe’s split 7" Légendes
(Sepulchral Productions)
Picked by Mat Colegate
Fufanu – ‘Circus Life’
Picked by Zoë Howe
Gallon Drunk – ‘The Speed of Fear’ (Live in Honfleur)
Picked by Julian Marszalek
Gantz feat. El Mahdy Jr. – ‘Rising’, from ‘Spry Sinister’ 12"
(Deep Medi Musik)
Gazelle Twin – ‘Anti Body’, from Unflesh
(Anti-Ghost Moon Ray Records)
Picked by John Doran
The Ghost Of A Sabre Tooth Tiger – ‘Too Deep’, from Midnight Sun
(Chimera Music)
Picked by Ryan Alexander Diduck
Grouper – Lighthouse’, from Ruins
(Kranky)
Picked by Peter Bebergal
Buy on vinyl or CD from Norman Records
Grumbling Fur – ‘All The Rays’, from Preternaturals
(tQPC)
Picked by John Doran
Grumbling Fur – ‘Lowlands In Astral Furmentation’
Picked by Luke Turner
Gwenno – ‘Patriarcheth’, from Y Dydd Olaf
(Peski)
Picked by Aug Stone
Helena Hauff – ‘Spirals Of Smoke Drifting From Soot Stained Chimneys’, from Return To Disorder EP
Picked by Sophie Coletta
Helm – ‘The Hollow Organ’, from ‘The Hollow Organ’ 12"
(PAN)
Picked by Daniel Barrow
Jon Hopkins – ‘Open Eye Signal (Asleep Version)’, from Asleep Versions EP
(Domino)
Picked by Kiran Acharya
Howlround – ‘Torridon Gate’, from Night/Dawn/Day/Dusk Edition CD-R
(A Year In The Country)
Picked by Colm McAuliffe
Huoratron – ‘The Pioneers Of Nothing’, from Acid Reign EP
(Last Gang Records)
Picked by Jeremy Allen
Kira Isabella – ‘Quarterback’, from Caffeine & Big Dreams
(Sony Music Canada)
Picked by Alex Macpherson
The Juan Maclean – ‘Get Down (With My Love)’, from ‘Get Down (With My Love)’ 12"
(DFA)
Picked by Jack Pudwell
Kassem Mosse – ‘Untitled A2’, from Workshop 19
(Workshop)
Picked by Laurie Tuffrey
Kelis – ‘Rumble’, from Food
(Ninja Tune)
Picked by Amy Pettifer
Kiesza – ‘Hideaway’, from Sound Of A Woman
(Lokal Legend/Island Records/4th & Broadway)
Picked by Ian Wade
Killing Sound – ‘Six Harmonies’, from ‘Killing Sound’ 12"
(Blackest Ever Black)
Picked by Sophie Coletta
Kendrick Lamar – ‘i’
(Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope)
Picked by Paul Smith
Tory Lanez – ‘Henny In Hand’, from Lost Cause mixtape
Picked by Laura Snoad
Cate Le Bon – ‘I Can’t Help You’, single taken from Mug Museum
(Turnstile)
Jenny Lewis – ‘Just One Of The Guys’, from The Voyager LP
(Warner Bros. Records)
Picked by Amy Pettifer
Rob Mazurek and Black Cube SP – ‘Return The Tides’, from Return The Tides: Ascension Suite and Holy Ghost
(Cuneiform Records)
Picked by Paul Tucker
Metro Boomin feat. Future & Young Thug – ‘Chanel Vintage’
(Propane Media/We Global)
Picked by Gary Suarez
Mila J – ‘Smoke, Drink, Break Up’, from M.I.L.A. EP
(Motown Records)
Picked by Alex Macpherson
Hudson Mohawke – ‘Chimes’, from Chimes EP
(Warp Records)
Picked by Ian Crichton
Mumdance feat. Novelist – ‘Take Time’, from ‘Take Time’ 12"
(Rinse)
Picked by Rory Gibb
Nao feat. A.K. Paul – ‘So Good’, from So Good EP
(Little Tokyo Recordings)
Picked by Tom Hughes
Nightingales – ‘Dumb And Drummer’, from For Fuck’s Sake
(self-released)
Picked by Ged Babey
Nurse With Wound – ‘Perfectly Unmingled And Misplaced’, from Bar Maldoror reissue
(United Jnana)
Picked by Russell Cuzner
O.T. Genasis – ‘CoCo’
(Atlantic/The Conglomerate Entertainment)
Picked by Gary Suarez
Tara Jane O’Neil – ‘This Morning Glory’, from Where Shine New Lights
(Kranky)
Picked by Mat Colegate
Conor Oberst – ‘Common Knowledge’, from Upside Down Mountain
(Nonesuch)
Picked by James Skinner
Objekt – ‘Ganzfeld’, from ‘Hypnagogia’ 12"
(Leisure System)
Picked by Sophie Coletta
Okmalumkoolkat – ‘Allblackblackkat’, from Holy Oxygen I EP
(Affine Records)
Picked by Laurie Tuffrey
Pianos Become The Teeth – ‘Lesions’, from Keep You
(Epitaph)
Picked by Karl Smith
Popcaan – ‘System’, from Where We Come From
(Mixpak Records)
Picked by Charlie Frame
Powell – ‘So We Went Electric’, from Club Music EP
(Diagonal)
Picked by Rory Gibb
Powell feat. Russell Haswell – ‘Maniac’, from Club Music EP
(Diagonal)
Picked by David McKenna
Prostitutes – ‘Late To Take It Light’, from Nouveauree EP
(Night School)
Picked by Sophie Coletta
QT – ‘Hey QT’
(XL Recordings)
Picked by Emily Bick
The Radio Dept. – ‘Death to Fascism’
(Labrador Records)
Picked by Ian Crichton
Real Lies – ‘Dab Housing’, from ‘North Circular/Dab Housing’ 12"
(Marathon Artists)
Picked by Tom Hughes
Lana Del Rey – ‘Shades Of Cool’, from Ultraviolence
(Polydor/Interscope Records)
Picked by Chris Roberts
Rich Gang feat. Yung Thugga & Rich Homie Quan – ‘Lifestyle’
(Cash Money Records)
Picked by Kyle Ellison
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars – ‘Uptown Funk’
(Sony Music Entertainment UK )
Picked by Jack Pudwell
Sandman & Riverside feat. Jeremy Ellis – ‘Into Your Story (Kai Alce Distinctive Vocal Mix)’, from ‘Into Your Story (Kai Alce DISTINCTIVE Remix)’ 12"
(Fast Forward)
Picked by Paul Smith
Noura Mint Seymali – ‘Tzenni’, from Tzenni
(Glitterbeat)
Picked by Stewart Smith
Shabazz Palaces – ‘#Cake’, from Lese Majesty
(Sub Pop)
Picked by Peter Bebergal
Skepta & JME – ‘That’s Not Me’
(Boy Better Know)
Picked by Ringo P Stacey
Slum Of Legs – ‘Begin To Dissolve’
(Tuff Enuff)
Picked by John Doran
Smoke Fairies – ‘Eclipse Them All’, from Smoke Fairies
(Full Time Hobby)
Picked by Joe Banks
St Vincent – ‘Digital Witness’, from St Vincent
(Loma Vista/Caroline International Ltd.)
Picked by Jeremy Allen
Andy Stott – ‘Science And Industry’, from Faith In Strangers
(Modern Love)
Picked by Rich Hughes
Swans – ‘A Little God In My Hands’, from To Be Kind
(Mute/Young God Records)
Picked by Chad Parkhill
Swans – ‘Oxygen’, from To Be Kind
(Mute/Young God Records)
Picked by Paul Tucker
Taman Shud – ‘The Ziggurat, A Mirage’, from The Fat White Family split 10"
(Trashmouth Records)
Picked by Joe Banks
Thalia Zedek Band – ‘Fell So Hard’, from Six EP
(Thrill Jockey)
Picked by Nick Hutchings
Tirzah – ‘Style’, from No Romance EP
(Greco-Roman)
Picked by David McKenna
tUnE-yArDs – ‘Water Fountain’, from Nikki Nack
(4AD)
Picked by Chad Parkhill
Tweedy – ‘Love Like A Wire’ (Live at WFUV)
Picked by Laurie Tuffrey
Tweedy – ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be So Understood’, from Sukierae
(dBpm Records/Anti-)
Picked by Rich Hughes
Vessel – ‘Red Sex’, from Punish, Honey
(Tri Angle)
Picked by Luke Turner
Scott Walker & Sunn O))) – ‘Brando’, from Soused
(4AD)
Picked by Harry Sword
Jane Weaver – ‘Don’t Take My Soul’, from The Silver Globe
(Finders Keepers Records/Bird Records)
Picked by John Doran
Zammuto – ‘IO’, from Anchor
(Temporary Residence Limited)
Picked by Nick Reed
