My Year-End Lists Of 2014

Posted on December 29, 2014 |

If 2013 was the year I found the beat, 2014 was back to basic Rock N’ Roll.

I knew The Lees Of Memory‘s debut album would be #1 on my list.

Even from way back in January and definitely when it dropped back in September. There’s not one thing frontman/singer-songwriter John Davis as ever put out that I do not enjoy the hell out of.

The man’s a musical genius.

DFA 1979: the return on record no one expected but damn if they did deliver wall to wall bangers on their sophomore album.

Owen Pallett recorded the prettiest album of the year.

The other Sisyphus in my top 5 with Sufjan Stevens in the lead with rapper Serengeti and beatmaker Son Lux at his side, made my favorite electro/rap/sad bastard album of the year.

Foo Fighers: I’ll never quit you. While not your best album, you still cranked out awesome melodies and Arena Rock fist pumpers that made me listen to your “Sonic Highways” over and over again.

January 1st is when y’all come back to download my massive, gargantuous 2014 songs compilation.

Most if not all the picks you see below will be included so y’all come back now, ya hear?

Top 20 Albums Of 2014

01. The Lees Of Memory Sisyphus Says
02. Death From Above 1979 The Physical World
03. Owen Pallett In Conflict
04. Sisyphus Sisyphus
05. Foo Fighters Sonic Highways

06. Tweens Tweens
07. Self Super Fake Nice [EP]
08. Caddywhompus Feathering A Nest
09. Young Widows Easy Pain
10. Weezer Everything Will Be Alright In The End

11. Sounds Like Sunset We Could Leave Tonight
12. Bob Mould Beauty & Ruin
13. Run The Jewels Run The Jewels 2
14. My Brightest Diamond This Is My Hand
15. Lion Babe Lion Babe [EP]

16. Cloud Nothings Here and Nowhere Else
17. Beck Morning Phase
18. Caribou Our Love
19. Katie The Pest Other Cities, Other Girls
20. Perfect Pussy Say Yes To Love

Honorable Mention:

Alvvays Alvvays
Azealia Banks Broke With Expensive Taste
Braid No Coast
D’Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Elbow The Take Off And Landing Of Everything
Field Mouse Hold Still Life
Honeyblood Honeyblood
Manchester Orchestra Cope
Thurston Moore The Best Day
Popstrangers Fortuna
Saintseneca Dark Arc
September Girls Cursing The Sea
Sunbears! Future Sounds
Timber Timbre Hot Dreams
Thom Yorke Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes

Shoegaze /Dream Pop:

Bleeding Rainbow Interrupt
Cheatahs Cheatahs
Nothing & Whirr Whirr / Nothing [EP]
Paws Youth Culture Forever
Stagnant Pools Geist
Thought Forms / Esben And The Witch Split [EP]

Hip Hop:

Common Nobody’s Smiling
Eman X Vlooper XXL
L’Orange The Orchid Days
PRhyme PRhyme
Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty
Shad & DJ T.LO Boarding Pass [EP]

EPs And Singles:

Failure Come Crashing [Single]
Julianna Barwick Rosabi [EP]

Disappointments / Pure Suckage:

Better Than Ezra All Together Now
I Break Horses Chiaroscuro
Ume Monuments
We Were Promised Jetpacks Unravelling

2013 Releases Discovered This Year And Enjoyed:

Thought Forms Ghost Mountain
Kelela Cut 4 Me [mixtape]
SZA S [EP]

Top 3 Shows Of 2014:

Failure @ Irving Plaza ( May 29th )
Death From Above 1979 @ Metropolis ( December 4th )
Tween @ Baby’s All Right ( October 23rd )

May 29th in New York City may have been my favorite day this year.

Seeing Failure live for the first time, A band who were number #1 on my bucket list to see before the big dirt nap just filled me with utter joy.

Ken Andrews, Greg Edwards and Kellii Scott were just so damn amazing. The sound was crystal clear. I could hear every note, every lyric sung.

The icing on this beautiful cake were the 2 new songs we got in
conjuncture with this reunion tour and the possible new LP that’s
being worked on.

My Fav Films Of 2014:

Boyhood
Birdman (Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)
The Guest
Nightcrawler
Whiplash

Honorable Mention:

Dead Snow: Red Vs. Dead
Enemy
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
John Wick
Obvious Child
Predestination
The Raid 2: Berandal
Top Five
Under The Skin

Documentaries:

Jodorowsky’s Dune
Life After Death From Above 1979
Nas: Time Is Illmatic
Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton

Such an amazing year for movies.

Richard Linklater doing it again with Boyhood and this time,
he may actually be recognised by The Oscars for the truly amazing
director that he is.

Birdman: Michael Keaton. Holy shit bro. Do more of that.

The Guest: Homage to 80’s and early 90’s crazy psycho movies. Think The Terminator meets The Hand That Rocks The Cradle combined with a killer “Drive” like soundtrack with the blonde guy from Downton Abbey. This should have sucked hard but it does not.

Quite the opposite.

Nightcrawler: The Gyllenhaal as never been better. Holy crap is he ever creepy in this. Also serves as a great mirror to the state of our crazy media culture today and it’s thirst for blood.

Whiplash: A Jazz movie about a drummer who wants to be the best and will do anything to get there. The most unlikely psychological thriller I’ve seen in year.

Miles teller is on his way to great things.

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