Music Chart - June 2014

A quiet month but some big hitters return with new albums. Jack White backs up a couple of great preview songs with the mixed Lazaretto which is far too adventurous and unnecessarily ambitious for its own good. Granted, White is a wonderful showman and songwriter, with ideas brimming and overflowing but sometimes keeping things simple is the best policy. Kasabian, on the other hand, have a more straightforward album with 48:13; ignoring the grungy disco of lead single 'eez-eh', there are moments of brilliance here as the recent Glastonbury headliners provide their unique blend of scuzzy electro-rock. And to complete this month's important trilogy, Bob Mould is back with Beauty & Ruin, not as polished as the wonderful Silver Age but guaranteed to please fans of the legendary songwriter. Elsewhere, X-Factor loser Janet Devlin proves there is life after reality TV: Running With Scissors is a gorgeous album of wide-eyed musings, lost loves and storytelling (also it includes a rather nice cover of The Cure's Friday I'm In Love). The Pains of Being Pure At Heart continue the delicious jangly guitar-pop on Days Of Abandon and Lana Del Rey flirts with controversy with Ultraviolence. The mighty Corrosion Of Conformity bring the noise to IX and finally the overrated Sharon Van Etten asks the non-question Are We There.

...but as yet, nothing to knock The War On Drugs from the number one...

1. Lost In The Dream by The War On Drugs
2. Augustines by Augustines
3. Rave Tapes by Mogwai
4. Morning Phase by Beck 
5. Gach Sgeul (Every Story) by Julie Fowlis 
6. The Gloaming by The Gloaming
7. Beauty & Ruin by Bob Mould
8. Smoke Fairies by Smoke Fairies
9. Tales From The Realm Of The Queen Of Pentacles by Suzanne Vega
10. You Chose These Woes by Model Village
11. Beautiful Desolation by Paul Thomas Saunders
12. 48:13 by Kasabian
13. Indie Cindy by The Pixies 
14. Running With Scissors by Janet Devlin
15. The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett by Eels
16. Upside Down Mountain by Conor Oberst 
17. Teeth Dreams by The Hold Steady
18. Burn Your Fire For No Witness by Angel Olsen
19. The Take Off And Landing of Everything by Elbow
20. Lazaretto by Jack White
21. Word Of Mouth by Seth Lakeman 
22. So Long, See You Tomorrow by Bombay Bicycle Club 
23. IX by Corrosion Of Conformity
24. Into The Lime by New Mendicants 
25. 9 Dead Alive by Rodrigo y Gabriela
26. A Letter Home By Neil Young
27. In The Silence by Asgeir
28. Held In Splendor by Quilt 
29. Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey
30. Salad Days by Mac Demarco
31. Blood Red Shoes by Blood Red Shoes 
32. Supernova by Ray LaMontagne
33. Echoes by Emily Smith 
34. Everyday Robots by Damon Albarn
35. Atlas by Real Estate
36. Croz by David Crosby
37. Benji by Sun Kil Moon 
38. St. Vincent by St. Vincent
39. Cursing The Sea by September Girls
40. Wildewoman by Lucius
41. Luminous by The Horrors
42. High Hopes by Bruce Springsteen
43. Songs About This And That by Karin Krog & John Surman
44. Waking Lines by Patterns
45. Unrepentant Geraldines by Tori Amos 
46. The Future's Void by EMA
47. Here And Nowhere Else by Cloud Nothings
48. Wig Out At Jagbags by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
49. Total Strife Forever by East India Youth
50. Too Much Information by Maximo Park
51. Warpaint by Warpaint
52. Are We There by Sharon Van Etten
53. To Be Kind by Swans
54. Eagulls by Eagulls 
55. Education, Education, Education & War by Kaiser Chiefs
56. The Crystal Method by The Crystal Method
57. Kid Face by Samantha Crain
58. None The Wiser by The Rifles
59. Oh My Sexy Lord by Marijuana Deathsquads