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 our Rad Releases is an incredible duo, the unsigned hard working Leaving Richmond take over the site to tell us their most loved albums of the year. The ambient, electronic and simply impertive sounds of Leaving Richmond are created by the talents of Jordan Pier and Adam Sanborne. Together they create an outfit so compelling, so addictive and one bursting with potential. The pair create the perfect blend of live and electronic instruments making real downtempo compositions. The duo have had another momentous year releasing their 4th EP ‘ An Elusive Glow’ We hand over to Jordan to find out more about his year in music…
This is another amazing collection of chill, electronic music that I just cannot stop vibing to.
SBTRKT: New Dorp. New York (feat. Ezra Koenig)
This is infectious and meticulously produced.
Submotion Orchestra: Alium
It just oozes with coolness and confidence.
My (personal) best release; this one is easy. We released An Elusive Glow in the Summer of 2014 as a follow up to our previous EP, Human Minds Robot Hearts, released in late 2013. So, obviously as it was our only release for the year, it is our favorite by default but it’s special for other reasons too. It signifies a marked evolution in the sound of leaving richmond as it combines so many elements of instrumental music in a seamless and organic manner. There is a much heavier focus on the electronic architecture of the songs. We were able to weave chill and downtempo soundscapes with melodic electronic parts and organic guitar work in a way we hadn’t experimented with before. Needless to say, we’re very proud of the finished sound and very excited for the next EP.
The best gig I have attended this year would have to be Bonobo at Coachella. It was such a chill, all-encompassing feeling. The entire crowd embraced the new tracks he and his band were performing and it stood out to me for the rest of the festival and the year.
We’ve had some real success with licensing and placement of our music this year and the highlight has to be the use of two leaving richmond tracks in two different shows on the MLB (Major League Baseball) Network here in the states. The songs were used in spots that really worked well and to know how many people were hearing our music at that moment was humbling and inspiring.
As I am typing this, the artist to watch in the upcoming year is Submotion Orchestra. This music is beautiful, oozing with coolness and emotional. I can not wait to see them live.
Our plans for the new year include a new EP, some remixes of songs from An Elusive Glow and (hopefully) the first incarnation of leaving richmond live. We’ve been getting so many gig requests and now our catalog is prolific enough to provide a good live experience, that we’re aching to do it. We’ve been getting amazing radio play as of late and we’re looking to increase that reach and we’ll be a part of some compilation releases that we are very excited about. I have a feeling that 2015 is going to be a good year for us.
A huge thank you to Leaving Richmond, a great release this year and we are looking forward to the next EP!!
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