As the countdown to the end of 2014 quickly approaches we take a personal look back on familiar names, features and musicians’ best releases of the past 12 months. Circuit Sweet will be featuring the featured artists of the site with their personal top 5 releases of the year.
In our end of year special we let our favorites take over the site to tell us the records that have made their end of year lists, their favorite events/gigs and what we can look forward to from them next year.
Continuing with our rad releases is the Manchester based turbo prog 2 piece, Cleft. Consisting of Dan on guitar and John on drums. Together they create an intense explosion of filthy instrumental rock. The band released an incredible album earlier this year, their compositions more thunderous and more impressive than the last. This hard hitting duo are creating something phenomenal and are a must see live. We hand over to the duo to find out what their most loved records of the year are and why….
TOP 5 RELEASES:
1) Alpha Male Tea Party – Droids
We tour with these idiots quite a lot, and these tunes have been forced into our brains by constant repetition. GET THEM OUT. Seriously though, this is a great set of tunes and well worth your attention.
2) Axes – Glory
Just the most fun instrumental music, and this album is a huge step up for Axes. The production is awesome and their melodies are really lovely, as are all of their faces.
3) Tune Yards – Nikki Nack
Dead catchy but still super weird and interesting. Saw her live in Leeds at the now defunct Cockpit – Merrill and her band were sodding brilliant.
4) St Vincent – St Vincent
Been into St Vincent for a while, and this album really shows how much David Byrne has influenced her. We wish all pop music was this intelligent.
5) Body Hound – Rhombus Now
Played with these guys a few times now, and they are one of the most intense and brilliant live bands around with their bizarre blend of dissonance and serious grooves. This EP only showcases a little bit of what Body Hound are about – go and see them live.
BEST SHOW:
Amazing being an overused word, ArcTanGent festival 2014, without a doubt was actually amazing. We were amazed and rendered slightly speechless by it. An absolute highlight on the festival circuit for the slightly odd bands, and we had the best time playing our tunes to a really up-for-it audience. There’s a video if you want to check out why we thought it was so great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIL-bSKkwpM
BEST GIG ATTENDED:
Antemasque & Le Butcherettes at The Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. It was an intense show, due to the fact that Ikey Owens (keys from The Mars Volta) had passed away that day and we weren’t even sure if it was going to go ahead, but they played a storming set and it seemed a very fitting tribute.
HIGHLIGHTS OF YOUR YEAR:
Releasing our first album “BOSH!” and pretty much everything that happened since then. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind of a year, what with the amount of gigs we’ve done, three releases and meeting some special new friends. We’re really privileged to have ended up in this position due to everyone that’s supported us.
ARTIST/BAND TO WATCH FOR 2015:
Chiyoda Ku from Bristol. We played with them at The Stag & Hounds in Bristol this year, and they blew us away with their abilities for a band that are so young. Definitely ones to watch for 2015 – go and check them out live if you can.
PLANS FOR THE NEW YEAR:
We’re off to Barcelona in March to play AMFest, and we’ve also got a bunch of really exciting gigs coming up in 2015, including one in Shetland plus two city festivals in Manchester in February where we are playing all of our tunes in two completely different sets (Not a Summer Festival & RiffFest Manchester). We are also trying our hardest to bust out some new tunes when we get the chance, so hopefully we’ll get a new album together by the end of the year. Usual band stuff, including sharing intimate personal floors, eating terrible service station food and breaking wind regularly.
We seriously love these two and we can’t wait to see them live again, we urge you to check them perform when you can. Thank you Cleft.
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