Favorite albums of 2014

Top 10 Albums of 2014

This is mostly a books blog, but I write often about music, too. I would like to do a Top 10 of books of the year, but I regret to say I haven't read enough 2014 releases to make that kind of list, so we'll have to go with albums.

I listened to a lot of rock albums this year, but I haven't listened to all of the records that were released. Some records I liked might have made it into my top 10 if I had just listened to them a few more times. For instance, I haven't heard the new TV on the Radio all the way through yet. So, with that in mind, here are 10 of my favorite albums from the year, in no particular order. And yes, I know, I don't list any Taylor Swift or hip-hop. There are plenty of people to tout the virtue of that stuff. Me, I'm an indie-punk lifer.

1. Tony Molina, "Dissed and Dismissed." This  came out on an obscure label in 2013, but Oaklan'ds Slumberland Records did its usual good work with a reissue It's 12 songs in 12 minutes, including one Guided By Voices cover and a bunch of songs that sound like they would have topped the charts had they been recorded by Teenage Fanclub in 1992. I keep thinking this album is just what everyone wishes Weezer would sound like. I would like to hear most of these songs go into another verse or two, but it's not such a bad thing to leave a listener wanting more.
Video for "Don't Come Back" here: http://vimeo.com/64242592


2. Ex Hex. "Rips." Mary Timony, from Helium and Wild Flag, joins forces with Betsy Wright and Laura Harris for a power trio of D.C. indie/punk lady veterans. Together, they play a set of rocking, uptempo and fun punk/power pop that calls to mind the Real Kids, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Nikki and the Corvettes and a lot of my favorite music.
Live in-studio video here:

3. Ty Segall, "Manipulator." I sent an email to Sound Opinions in which I picked this as the No. 1 album of the year. Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot called me to ask me about it, but I drank too much coffee beforehand, forgot most of what I was going to say and I'm sure I came off sounding like a crank. Here's what I should have said: This album has all the uptempo, guitar-based riffage I like from garage rock, but Segall takes his time with it. For a guy who releases several albums a year, that's a big step and it pays off. There's a distinct T. Rex-like glam rock element here, with acoustic guitars laying out the basics of the song while fuzz guitars get a chance to explode. My favorite song, "Feel," builds and builds into a big climax with two wild guitar solos and even a drum solo. I love it.
Title track video:

4. King Tuff, "Black Moon Spell." Ty Segall appears on this one, too, and there are some other similarities. For instance, there a lot of severely fuzzy guitars on here, but "Black Moon Spell" is kind of a different beast than "Manipulator." It's humorous and poppy, and you can kind of imagine it being a hit with snickering teenagers and not just old record collector dorks like me. The songwriting is cute on "Beautiful Thing," the way Joey Ramone's songs were cute. And how can you not love "Headbanger," where Tuff sings, "You and I have a special connection / I knew it when I saw your record collection / You had Sabbath and Priest and "Number of the Beast" / It was heavy metal perfection."
Title track video:

5. Real Estate, "Atlas." And now for something completely different. This is a mellow record full of chiming guitars and pleasant vocals. It's basically background music for me, but it rewards closer listening as well.
"Talking Backwards" live on Letterman:

6. Temples, "Sun Structures." I didn't want to like this record as much as I do. I feel like a sucker when these guys rip off "Kashmir" here and early Pink Floyd there, and I feel like someone has reduced my musical taste to an algorithm and thrown together an album that I cannot possibly refuse. Look at pictures of them: They even look like my favorite music! But you know what? It works. Amazon and Netflix's recommender systems never work this well, so this has got to be the result of human beings.
Live version of the title track recorded and filmed for the CTRL series:

7. Courtney Barnett, "The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas." I didn't mean to like this one as much as I do, either. The Current radio station in St. Paul played "Avant Gardner" so much earlier this year that Barnett practically had to record a toss-off song just to give it something new to play. I still think "Avant Gardner" -- a charming song about having an asthma attack while gardening -- is my favorite, but the whole record has a kind of relaxed groove that somehow makes me think of "Bringing it All Back Home," if Dylan was a young, plainspoken Australian woman.
NPR Tiny Desk Concert video:

8. Everyone is Dirty, "Dying is Fun." My old friend Chris Daddio is in this Oakland band with his lady love, Sivan, who sings weird, potty-mouthed lyrics and lets fly with insane guitar solos that turn out upon closer inspection to be played on an electric fiddle. It's arty, it rocks and it's sexy. That's the trifecta!
Here's a link to the video for "Dirtbag Side Effect": http://vimeo.com/85629765
(Hey, I had a song called "Dirtbag" too!)

9. Gold-Bears, "Dalliance." Here's another one from Slumberland Records, and the green-and-white vinyl with the version I got makes it one of the prettiest records on my shelf. It's also amazing to listen to. A Pitchfork review makes a big point of saying how '90s it sounds, but I don't remember a lot of '90s noise-pop bands writing songs as touching as these. The focus here is on Jeremy Underwood's tender lyrics and wounded voice. (On the more frantic-tempo songs like "Yeah, Tonight," he sounds a little like John Darnielle on those early, crazy Mountain Goats records.) Things conclude with "Fathers and Daughters," which just floors me: Not only is it a rock 'n' roll attempt by a young person to see things from a parent's point of view, it's a rock 'n' roll attempt by a young man to see things from a young woman's point of view.
This song just kills me -- "For You" audio link: 
https://soundcloud.com/slumberland-records/gold-bears-for-you

10. Spoon, "They Want My Soul." OK, here's one that could be knocked off my list if I had only spent more time with the new Budos Band or Muffs albums, but I really like it. My friend Josh said that Spoon keeps writing the same three songs. What can I say? I like those three songs! "Transference" sounded to me like Britt Daniel was getting tired of Spoon, and I thought I was done with the band, too. When he started Divine Fits after that, I thought he was being a little unimaginative: The new band sounded just like Spoon, but with a drum machine. (The other vocalist in Divine Fits, Dan Boeckner is great, but his raggedy voice is not all that much of a contrast to Daniel's.) So, I don't know what happened, but here Spoon sounds in top form again and the songs are strong. Even if they are just Spoon's usual melange of classic rock, soul and cosmic-rock influences.
"Rainy Taxi" live on KEXP: