Album Rankings for 2014

Whilst a lot of you will look at 2014 as a miserable year, mine was pretty damn special.

A Few Words on... Christopher Owens - A New Testament

Last year; Christopher Owens proved he could survive beyond Girls' break-up with his debut album/faux soundtrack Lysandre, even if the album was a relative step down from Girls' previous near-faultless releases.

A Few Words on... Royal Blood - Royal Blood

Matt Helder T-shirt! Rapid rise to fame! Two people! Only bass and drums! 

Words and soundbytes you've undoubtedly heard if you've heard anything regarding the relatively newish Brighton rockers Royal Blood. After releasing several singles (and an EP for you lucky yanks), the duo have recently released their self-titled debut and, much like the record's running time, this short review can only re-enforce what you've already read and heard.

A Few Words on... Owl John - Owl John

As I sit here, in the office, dosed up to the eyes on painkillers and caffeine and hearing the british summer come to it's inevitable end in August through blinds, I'm faced with yet another debut solo album from another well established rock frontman. More stripped back songs to match the lack of other band members, more confusion as to why I can love the group's output but find the leading man's solo debut so boring.

A Few Words on... Grant Nicholas - Yorktown Heights

Another week, another well established frontman goes solo with an stripped back, acoustic folk debut, this time being Feeder's Grant Nicholas, with an album that I was half tempted to copypasta my review of Charlie Simpson's album and see if anyone noticed.

A Few Words on... Charlie Simpson - Long Road Home

Guilty pleasures. A pesky subject I briefly covered in my Linkin Park review from a couple years ago. Yes, the point still stands that guilty pleasures are redundant as music is a subjective form of art and entertainment, but the looks I get when I tell people that I like Fightstar can easily fit this category.

Retcon Nation's Top Ten Games of E3 2014

E3 2014 showcase was, in short, vastly improved from recent years showings. Sure, EA’s outing was disappointing with nothing more than sports rehashes and microscopic showings of the next Mass Effect and Star Wars Battlegrounds games.

Sure; Nintendo didn’t really have a presentation and yeah, after being burned by the Watch-Dogs fiasco, gamers are bit more cautious regarding pre-release visuals and scripted sequences.

But E3 2014 was excellent. It was far, far more difficult to pick just ten this year and Nintendo finally makes an entry on the list after last year’s absence (and no, I just don’t care enough about Super Smash Bros., sue me).

Morrissey - World Peace Is None of Your Business Review

The past two years have not been kind to Morrissey. Cancelled tours due to illness, plagued by seemingly never ending battles of illness, band mates and former colleagues arguing over who spread what illness on tour.

The man is, dare I say, Still Ill leading up to what should have been a triumph return preceding his first new album in five years.

A Few Words on... Kasabian - 48:13

Credit where it's due; every cloud has a silver lining. Back in 2011, I finished writing a ridiculously long review of Velociraptor! which covered every track, took ages to write, longer to read and was as much a chore to get through as the record.

A Few Words on... Jack White - Lazaretto

Jack White's debut album Blunderbuss was on my radar back in 2012 as one of the albums I would have liked to have reviewed. 

Worst to Best Morrissey Albums (...Including Bona Drag)

Despite eating meat, my hatred for PETA, my generally cheery demeanour; I am a massive fan of The Smiths and a massive fan of Morrissey's solo career.

Coldplay - Ghost Stories Review

Whilst Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin's pretentiously titled "Conscious Uncoupling" (or looming divorce) has filled the tabloid media with numerous tidbits to gorge on, the impact it would undoubtably have on Coldplay's sixth album would either spark a creative revolution/make them more stereotypically miserable than before/basically the same but more emphasis on lyrics.

A Few Words on... Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn finally goes solo despite being the driving force behind Blur's final album and the entirety of Gorillaz's discography. An album that, surprising has very little to do with his previous outputs but fans are bound to find something to like.

Pixies - Indie Cindy Review

Hipster's have treated the Kim Deal-less Pixies as blasphemy; the musical equivalent of a family break-up, with clear cut villains and a helpless damsel who had done no wrong, only to be kicked to the kerb for daring to do something, somewhere to someone.

Hilarity ensues when the new incarnation of Pixies begin releasing new music for the first time in nine years and eventually; compile said new releases in their first album in over two decades. I'd already covered EP-1 last year and had planned to do the same for EP-2 and EP-3 before a lack of Internet access at home put a halt to that.