14/01/2015
Best Music Albums 2014
1. Onuka
“Onuka” - modern laconic electronic music with live sopilka and bandura. Ethnic motifs inserted so intelligently that sometimes it seems as the music of fantasy. Nata Zhizhchenko (ex-Tomato Jaws), Evgeny Filatov (The Maneken) and we have Ukrainian music to be proud of. It is a rare case of fashionable patriotic songs. With no doubt, it is the album of the year.
2. Ivan Dorn
“Randorn“sweeps away the boundaries between pop music and underground. In many ways this album is a non-conformist satire. Ivan Dorn makes fun of dark side of the society. An intelligent sense of humor at lyrics and unusual rhythms surely make “Randorn” a progressive album.
3. Jamala
Mini-album “Thank you” (Дякую). Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar jazz-singer made quite diverse music - from melancholic electronics ‘Get lost’ to the light “Thank You”. This mini-album shimmers good songs and sincere sentiments.
4. O.Torvald
“You are” (Ти є) - the best Ukrainian rock album of the year. Thoughtful lyrics and really serious sound. Lead singer of Boombox Andrew Khlyvnyuk helped with producing, polishing lyrics and even vocals, Milos Jelic of Okean Elzy played keyboard in one of the songs. And one of the most powerful moments was the extraordinary cover of “Lapis Troubetzkoy”.
5. Lyapis Trubetskoy
The band from Belarus, which was always popular in Ukraine, in 2014 became one of the Euromaidan headliners. Its song “Warriors of Light” (Воины света) was an anthem of rally. It so truly described the fight for freedom in Ukraine that it’s hard to believe it was written before. Lyapis Trubetskoy concert in Kyiv in August was so impressive that one of the channels repeated it on New Year’s Eve.
6. Okean Elzy
The importance of the most popular Ukrainian band is hard to overestimate. Though in 2014 Okean Elzy didn’t show any new music, the stadium tour confirmed the highest quality of its live sound.