Music to the ear

Mermaidens, (from left) Lily Paris West, Abe Hollingsworth and Gussie Larkin, provided two dreamy, reverby, and cerulean EPs in 2014. Photo by Tamara Jones.

Tiny Ruins.

Fazerdaze.

In the final Suitable Alternative for 2014, music columnist Sam Valentine recounts his 24 most listened-to New Zealand releases of the past 12 months.

It's been an incredible year for New Zealand music, and this week I look back on my 24 favourite releases, be it albums, EPs, or even singles.

This list was a bit more difficult than the internationals that filled last week's page.

There's such a wealth of art and artists deserving of space and discussion in this country, and I feel privileged to be afforded the room to discuss them in these pages every week.

Each one of these below is a gem.

Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you again year.

1. MERMAIDENS
Bones (EP) and O (EP)

While yes, this is technically two EPs, it's the easiest way to tie up the cumulative impact Mermaidens had on me this year.

Dreamy, reverby, and cerulean, these EPs have been constantly washing over my brain all year.

Each one has it's own personality, Bones a little more based in blues, and O a bit more twinkly and delicate, but they also sound great listened to back-to-back.

Washed-out riffs from guitarists Gussie Larkin and Lily Paris West swirl, dive, and collide to form each song's distinct tide, while Abe Hollingsworth's fluid and rumbling percussion fills are dark and moody.

Haunting and very, very pretty.

2. TRUST PUNKS
Discipline

There's a consciousness of conviction and of intent on this album, and surrounding Auckland five-piece Trust Punks themselves.

Discipline is a record about the process of becoming a self-aware human being, realising that there are certain power relations embedded within our society, and that we are necessarily complicit in those power structures to varying degrees.

It's thinking critically, and invites the listener to do the same.

A deeply engaging and compelling punk album.

3. POPSTRANGERS
Fortuna

More pop and less strange than their debut, Popstrangers traded in grunge for '60s psych-pop, when they swapped Auckland for London last year.

Fortuna could be accused of being a little bit formulaic if the songwriting wasn't so impeccably on point.

A great off-kilter verse always leads to an even better arm swaying, swooping chorus, the hooks crystalline and front and centre.

Country Kills might be the song of the year.

4. TINY RUINS
Brightly Painted One

Brightly Painted One is like an old dream captured to tape.

But it's not an album that needs to take you anywhere - it's already been, gone, and just wants to talk about it.

The folk songs here are vulnerable and shaking, yet still somehow, fearless.

Wary of what she's called ''dangerous singer-songwriter tropes'' on the 10 songs herein, vocalist and songwriter Hollie Fullbrook keeps her emotions coded and storied, projecting the miniature into a bigger playing field.

On every vivid line Fullbrook's voice is just exquisite, her delivery stirring the soul, and leading the whole album.

Cosy, minimal, and poignant.

5. DAVID KILGOUR & THE HEAVY EIGHTS
End Times Undone

The second track on End Times Undone, the latest album from veteran David Kilgour, is a jangly, floating piece of psychedelia called Lose Myself In Sound.

I think its title sums up the feel of the record perfectly.

It's how I feel when I'm listening to the richly detailed and languorous songs, and it's how I imagine Kilgour felt when putting them to tape, casually and confidently just following the muse wherever it took him.

Just losing himself to sound ...

6. FAZED ON A PONY
Alone (single)

Alone is the kind of ambitious, epic ballad the best guitar bands of the '90s were comfortable writing.

It's a grand feeling, big emotion song, but it never feels like it's overreaching itself, it's content and comfortable to just tick over inwardly, listless and indolent.

It's only the second single for Dunedin songwriter Peter McCall, but something about it already feels definitive.

7. RANDA
Rangers (EP)

The Rangers EP occupied a nice wee space in my music listening this year.

I'd reach for it when I wanted something that banged, but still seemed chill.

Something that made me laugh with throwaway one liners, but still felt kind of deep.

There are as many moods covered, as there are references to '90s popular culture.

The production is so on point too, with bold and playful beats from Josh Fountain.

8. FAT CHILDREN
Dog's Breakfast

Dog's Breakfast is a record that feels punk to me, in attitude and execution, if not strictly style per se.

There's weirdness to the personality here, and it takes over the record, in a positive sense.

Whether it's the oblique, rough ditties or the more lead guitar-heavy tracks, it's a varied and at times severe send-off to the now defunct Dunedin four-piece, Fat Children.

The performances from the band and the occasional brilliant flourish from guest violinist Alex Vaatstra hold together perfectly, the energy still managing to feel both slack, in a Pavement kind of way, and vital.

9. I.E CRAZY
Live at Camp A Low Hum (live recording)

I was lucky enough to be present at the final instalment of independent music festival Camp A Low Hum, in February, and this live bootleg recording available courtesy of Papaiti Records captures all of the transcendent beauty and magic of one of my festival highlights, from Claire Duncan's I.E Crazy.

Formerly releasing music under the moniker of Dear Times Waste, as I.E Crazy, things have become rawer, the focus more on dark P.J. Harvey-ish guitar and drum machine as the platform for her powerful and cathartic voice.

Taped in the pouring incessant rain that dogged the entire weekend, on the day, Duncan compared the experience to ''taking a bath together''.

It does indeed feel like coming clean, but it's more spiritual than that.

It's a cleanse for both audience and performer.

10. FAZERDAZE
Fazerdaze (EP)

Mixing the transcendent textures and pastel-tone Instagram filter imagery of dream pop, with more propulsive surf-rock riffs comes the debut EP from Auckland bedroom musician Fazerdaze.

The songs on her debut self-titled EP come together under a laidback, self-recorded DIY haze, which makes them feel pure and intimate.

The feeling extends through to the physical copy, a white CDR inside a handmade and machine-sewn brown paper package.

More gems

• 11. Die! Die! Die! - SWIM

• 12. Beach Pigs - Grom Warfare

• 13. Shocking Pinks - Guilt Mirrors

• 14. Open - Chasing Returns

• 15. Doprah - Doprah (EP)

• 16. The Violet Ohs - Demos (EP)

• 17. Emily Edrosa - Emily Edrosa (EP)

• 18. Totems - the dream is over (EP)

• 19. Piece War - Apathy