Best of 2001

Until researching this post, I didn't even know this performance occurred or that video existed. I love it!

The early part of the 2000's was fun for me, because a bunch of bands that I loved--originally that no one had ever heard of--began getting heard. Two bands specifically that I had been loving in the 90's got HUGE in 2001: Jimmy Eat World and P.O.D.

For a couple years in the late 90's/early 00's I made mix CD's for my friends called Buy This Music. What I was doing was technically illegal, I guess, because I was burning a bunch of CD's and giving them away. But, my intentions were good, as I was promoting indie bands by making compilations that included one song each from 20-25 bands I loved (plus, I called the CD's "Buy This Music"!). I did this for 2 or 3 years, and gave the CD's to a couple dozen friends.

On the late 2000/early 2001 "Buy This Music" CD I included a short demo song from Jimmy Eat World. The Bleed American demos were circulating on the internet (Napster?), and I had a full album worth. I picked this song for the CD because of its length (the shorter the song, the more songs I could put on the CD!). Who knew it would go on to be one of the most popular songs in the world in 2002, and then performed by Taylor Swift a decade later?! I speak of "The Middle", of course.

Friends gave me a ton of credit for predicting the rise of these bands, but that was silly, because I listened to hundreds of indie bands, and it was inevitable that some would break into the mainstream. (And if someone had asked me to predict who would make it, I am sure I would have always guessed wrong.)

My number one album of 2001 was far from popular then, and far from popular now; not a single song among 26 tracks could or should ever be played on the radio. But it is a landmark album for me, and I previously ranked it as my #4 album of the decade. Back in 2001 I only ranked it #7 from that year, but it was obviously a grower and I didn't know how influential it would be both on my personal tastes and the independent music scene as a whole.

Top 20 albums of 2001:

1. Appleseed Cast- Low Level Owl Volumes 1 + 2

L to R: LLOv1 CD cover, LLOv2 CD cover, LLOv1+2 double vinyl cover

OK, first of all, this album is on Bandcamp for NAME YOUR OWN PRICE. If you don't own it, get it! Now!

When this album was first released (volumes 1 and 2 were originally released a few months apart), I am not sure I even knew the term "post-rock", much less listened to any bands in that genre. My brother had made me aware of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the late 90's, but I didn't yet listen to them. I am now a huge Mogwai fan, and also love Explosions in the Sky. But for me, Low Level Owl is post-rock at its best.

Appleseed Cast blew me away with their album from the previous year, Mare Vitalis, which is celebrating its 15th Anniversary right now with an exclusive vinyl release. But everything about LLO is a huge step up, from the creativity, to the vocals, to the production. The rawness was lost, but I didn't mind. Appleseed Cast should be given a ton of credit for their experimentation, and how radically they have often shifted from album to album.

2. Tess Wiley- Rainy Day Assembly

By the time Tess Wiley's debut album dropped in 2001, I had already been a fan of her for six years. That is obviously atypical, as most of the time myself or anyone discovers musicians through their debut album. But Tess released half a dozen EPs and demos from 1995 on that contain original versions of nine of the ten songs found on this full length. The only song that was a surprise--that had not been released previously in any form--is "Nice and Warm."

This is by far Tess' slickest album, and benefitted from a huge budget, diverse instrumentation, and outstanding production. If I fault it in any way, it is too "big" and often the great songs get lost amongst the layers. But I love it, and was thrilled at the time that Tess' music was finally able to be heard by the masses.

3. Jimmy Eat World- Bleed American
As mentioned previously, I had demos of all of these songs months and months before the album actually released. That was a first, and has rarely happened since. Number one, obviously demos don't usually circulate like those did, and two, now I'd just rather wait and hear the finished product. What makes this different than the Tess album prior to this one on the list, is that her demos were released officially over years, and these Jimmy Eat World demos were leaked through file-sharing, which was still fairly new at the time. (The demo of "A Praise Chorus" is the one I remember the most clearly, as it had a completely different bridge that did not have the part sung by Davey von Bohlen.)

I bought the album on its release date, July 18, at a Best Buy. Exactly a week later on July 25 I saw Jimmy Eat World play a live studio X-session for 99X in Atlanta. I somehow won tickets (email list?) and my friend Micah and I got to see them play "The Middle", "Lucky Denver Mint", "Bleed American", "No Sensitivity", and "Sweetness".

4. Death Cab for Cutie- The Photo Album
I have written this story before, but time to write it again, because it is hilarious and shows what a shallow and terrible guy I was at times: In 2001 (maybe February) myself and a roommate of a girl I was dating drove from Birmingham to Atlanta to see Death Cab for Cutie. They were still touring We Have the Facts..., but were playing a ton of songs from the upcoming Photo Album. Here is a setlist from a show in Orlando that may have been the same week as the Atlanta one.

On the way back from the show, driving very late at night on I-20, I put Clarity in the CD player. I thought the pretty girl in my passenger seat was asleep, but when the first line of “Table for Glasses” began, she started singing along with her eyes closed. When "Lucky Denver Mint" began, she opened her eyes, sat up, and we both sang loudly to the rest of the album. Needless to say over the next hour I developed a huge crush on this girl and forgot about her roommate who I was dating.

5. Pinback- Blue Screen Life
Right before I moved to Zambia in 2002, I bought a portable CD player that played MP3 cds. While I knew all about MP3s that I downloaded from the internet, the concept of "ripping" CDs that I owned to make MP3s was new to me. But I knew I couldn't take all my CDs to Zambia with me, so I ripped them all to MP3 and made new CDs (the iPod was still a couple years away). Instead of 10-20 songs on a CD, with MP3s, I could get 100-200. (And yes, most of the time I was ripping at very low bit rates because I didn't know any better.)

I bring all this up, because while I was in Zambia, I had people mail me MP3s CDs. And someone, maybe my brother, sent me an MP3 CD that had this album on it. I fell in love with Pinback, and bought this album on vinyl when I returned to the States in 2004.

Another crazy memory about MP3 CDs is that they had them on sale in Pakistan when I visited there in 1999! I remember seeing a bootleg CD for sale that had ALL of R.E.M.'s albums on it. I didn't understand, didn't think that was possible to have that many songs on a CD, and thought it was a gimmick. Another crazy piracy memory from Pakistan in 1999 is that we rented The Matrix on VHS (maybe DVD?) while it was still in the theaters in the US. There were Russian subtitles and you could see silhouettes of people's heads at the bottom of the screen, but who cares, right?

6. The Spirit That Guides Us- The Sand, the Barrier
I am almost positive I heard the song "Real Life Motion Picture" back in 2001 or 2002, but I have no idea how or where. It was in 2003 when I went to the Netherlands that I really discovered this great Dutch, melodic, sometimes-hardcore band and bought this CD. They didn't play at Flevo Fest in 2003, but I bought TSTGU shirt there, that became my favorite shirt for years.

I wrote at length about The Spirit That Guides Us back in 2011 when a member of the band sent me their entire discography. This isn't their best album, but it is probably their most accessible.

7. Rosie Thomas- When We Were Small
"Wedding Day" could be my favorite song of the year. I am not sure when I first heard it, or first heard Rosie. I do know that I heard a few songs by her before I saw her in concert, because when I did see her perform, I think at either Cornerstone 2001 or 2002, I was shocked.

If you don't know, Rosie's singing voice and speaking voice are VERY different. Not only that, Rosie does a stand-up comedy routine mid-set as an alter ego, which is hilarious and very, very weird. When Rosie sings, it is a radical shift and as if an angel has entered her body.

Many of Rosie's albums suffer from over-production that distracts from her amazing, angelic voice. But this album, along with 2007's These Friends of Mine, have perfect, minimalistic production that keeps it simple and the focus on the vocals.

8. Starflyer 59- Leave Here a Stranger
By this point in Starflyer's career, Jason Martin was almost four years post-feedback. However, I still had hope he would revert back to his initial sound. For years and years I hoped that when I popped that SF59 CD in I would hear a wall of heavy guitars. When that experiment failed with Leave Here a Stranger, surprisingly, for the first time, I was OK with it.

Looking back, I love both The Fashion Focus and Everybody Makes Mistakes just as they are. But when they were released myself and most of the fan base were pissed because they weren't heavy shoegaze as the first three SF59 albums had been (most were also pissed that the album covers weren't solid fields of color). With Leave Here a Stranger, Martin had established a new sound with lush, orchestrated instrumentation. As the photo from the album cover implies, this album sounds like a soundtrack for a film.

9. Further Seems Forever- The Moon is Down
My interest and liking of this album has waxed and waned over the years. I initially loved it, then I lost all desire to listen to it; and back and forth that went for a decade. I finally decided for good that I do really like it a few years ago.

Why the changing opinion? Chris Carrabba. I have always found his departure from the band during the recording of this album to be selfish and ridiculous. Obviously I don't know him personally, and it was great to see him reunite with the band a few years ago and I am glad all the guys are on good terms now (despite the fact that their reunion album, Penny Black, is average at best).

But he apparently tried to leave the band before recording the vocals because of his pursuit of his solo project, Dashboard Confessional. And man, I HATE Dashboard Confessional. I understand how he got popular with the project, but whiney songs about his failed relationships with girls? Terrible. And let me make it clear I have no problem with anyone quitting a band for personal reasons, but during a recording session?

You can get a lot of insight on this album and how the problems with it changed the way record label contracts were written from Billy Power's Urban Achiever podcast. In an early episode Power talked about when he worked for Tooth & Nail and about The Moon is Down specifically, and one of the most recent episodes is with Chad Neptune of Strongarm and FSF. I haven't even listened to that yet, but I would assume this album is discussed.

10. P.O.D.- Satellite
Most of my memories around the release of this album are related to MTV and Carson Daly's love for it and the band. I found that fascinating at the time, and still do. For Christians to not only be accepted by MTV, but promoted, was radical. And they deserved it. This album was very slick, and far more melodic than anything the band had done up until this point. And in 2001 P.O.D. had been a band for almost a decade and I am willing to bet some of their original fans were put off by them getting "softer".

As I usually do, when writing this, I Googled the band. And I had no idea P.O.D. released an acoustic album in 2014, called SoCal Sessions. Time to go to listen to it...

11. Over the Rhine- Films for Radio
I am sad to say I have lost interest in Over the Rhine in the last decade. For the longest time they were one of my favorite bands, and when you combine my tastes with my wife's, they were our mutual top artist. I saw them live probably close to 10 times from 1997-2002, and then my wife and I saw them together three times in 2004 and 2005. We also worked their merch table at two Atlanta shows in that time frame, at the Variety Playhouse and Smith's Olde Bar thanks to a connection with Jake Bradley, who played bass with the at the time.

But then in 2007 they released The Trumpet Child. My wife and I did not connect to it, and I personally hated the more jazzy sound. (The Trumpet Child is by far my least favorite OTR album). Looking back, there is a certain era of Over the Rhine I really have an affinity for, 1997-2005. The albums prior to 1997 I mainly just wasn't aware of, and the albums since I struggle to appreciate. (The only exception would be 2011's The Long Surrender, which almost recaptured the magic.) Karin's voice continues to become more slurred over the years, and honestly a lot of time it sounds like she is singing drunk. And Linford is singing more and more, which is really the last thing I want to hear. His "singing" was funny on "Jack's Valentine" 15 years ago, but it is just plain bad on the new OTR stuff.

Films For Radio is right in the middle of that 8-year obsession. It is hard to believe it was released 5 years after Good Dog Bad Dog, my #1 OTR album, released in 1996 (Which I heard performed live, practically in full, twice at Cornerstone 1997). And what a radical shift in 5 years from a simple, acoustic album to a heavily produced almost-rock album. Films for Radio I would rank #3, behind the incredible double album Ohio at #2.

12. Rilo Kiley- Take Offs and Landings
I heard this album for the first time less than one year ago. Sad, I know, but it, along with 2002's Execution of All Things have had quite an impact on me. This one isn't as good as that next one, but it is still terrific.

Despite Rilo Kiley having much in common with a ton of the bands I listened to in 2001 and 2002, I didn't hear them for the first time until post-Zambia (mid-2004). When my wife and I were first married, we drove around in a loaned Madza Miata that only had a radio (no CD player and no tape deck). We lived in Nashville at the time, and rarely changed the channel from Lightning 100 (the wussy version of its defunct sister station Thunder 94).

One of the highlights of those months of Lightning 100 were the Rilo Kiley songs that were played from 2004's More Adventurous. I ended up getting that album on eMusic, and while enjoying it, it wasn't enough for me to explore the back catalog. Then my wife and I loved Jenny Lewis' first solo album Rabbit Fur Coat in 2005 (also thanks to eMusic), but for the most part I then forgot about Lewis and Rilo Kiley for almost a decade. Upon the release of The Voyager last year I finally went back and got the first two Rilo Kiley albums.

13. Thursday- Full Collapse
My memories surrounding this album are two terrific Thursday concerts, and listening to the CD in my car driving back and forth from my apartment to a laundromat in Birmingham. It's weird how the mind works, but I can remember vividly singing along to "Paris in Flames" as I drove my wet clothes (I owned a washer, not a dryer) to the laundromat on Green Springs Highway.

As far as the shows go, I saw Thursday play in a small, coffee-shop like place in Montevallo, Alabama around the release of this album. It was so small I really can't imagine more than 30 people were there, and I was within arms length of everyone in the band.

I saw them again a few months later at The Nick, a much larger club, but still very small. I have amazing photographs from both these shows, but on film, and the prints are in a box in storage. Would love to scan them, but that will have to wait a few years.

14. Common Children- The Inbetween Time
I never imagined at the time that this would be Marc Byrd's last album with vocals, well at least his vocals. Byrd of course has gone on to be one half of the critically acclaimed instrumental post-rock band Hammock. When Hammock began, I really missed Common Children, as Hammock was very experimental and atmospheric with very little song structure. However, as time has gone on, Hammock has become more rock in the vein of Mogwai, and their 2012 double album Departure Songs is fantastic and finally surpassed anything Common Children ever did.

15. Built to Spill- Ancient Melodies of the Future
I have very little memories regarding this album, but I think it may have been the first Built to Spill album I listened to in its entirety. I heard single songs in the late 90's, but it wasn't until the early 00's that I finally "got" Built to Spill. My favorite album from the band is easily Keep it Like a Secret, and then all the rest just blend together for me. I like them all, but have trouble ordering them in any way (which is rare for me). With a quick search many rank this as one of the "worst" Built to Spill albums, which says a lot about how good this band is.

16. Tool- Lateralus
On May, 15, 2001 I went to a CD store on midnight for the release of the new R.E.M. album Reveal. (Sadly, I can't remember the name of the store, and it closed down years and years ago.) That same night, two other significant albums were released: Lateralus by Tool and Weezer's Green album. I only bought Reveal at the time, but it wouldn't be long before I got Lateralus (never liked the Weezer).

It took me a long time to get in to Tool; not because they weren't good, but because they were so freaking offensive. In 1993 a friend on my swim team had the "wrench" shirt, and had me listen to their music. I loved their sound, but couldn't tolerate their lyrics and at age 16 I felt dirty even looking at his shirt. 1996's Ænema was equally if not more offensive than 1993's Undertow, so up until 2001 I rarely listened to the band.

Lateralus is Tool's "clean" album. I hate to even classify any music as clean or offensive, but the lyrics on Tool's first two albums are sickening, disgusting, and make the music mostly unlistenable to me. But not only are the lyrics on Lateralus not offensive, I find them inspiring and full of faith, especially on my favorite song on the album "Parabola."

17. R.E.M.- Reveal
In the massive R.E.M. discography, the only album that gets less listens from me than this one is the awful, terrible Around the Sun (which is actually the only R.E.M. album I don't like). Reveal is infinitely better, I just don't find myself ever listening to it. Stereogum ranks all 16 R.E.M. LPs, and puts Around the Sun at #16, Reveal at #15, and Up at #14. However, Up is my favorite, #1 R.E.M. album. I did think Reveal was pretty good at the time, and still do, but it is not as memorable as most R.E.M.

18. Frodus- And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea
I have only had this album for about six months, because that is when I discovered Frodus was giving it away for free on their Bandcamp page. I feel like an idiot for waiting so long, as it is terrific. I was aware of Frodus in the 90's, as I was with any and every band signed to Tooth & Nail Records. But for some stupid reason I never bought any of their music (Roadside Monument was the same; man I really missed out!).

Frodus' entire discography is either for free or cheap, depending on the album, on their Bandcamp site, and if you don't download it now, you can only blame yourself. Frodus is exceptional. Thrice covered "The Earth Isn't Humming" from this album in 2008, and that wasn't even enough for me to pursue it (strangely). Thankfully now I have seen the light.

19. Penfold- Our First Taste of Escape
I don't know much of anything about Penfold. I have no other music from them, never saw them in concert, never discussed them on a message board, and never even had a face-to-face conversation about them (someone want to have coffee and tell me all about them?).

But man, this album is great. I have the CD, but no clue where I got it. I do think I got it in 2001 though, or maybe 2002. I just did a Google search and discovered someone did a terrific vinyl reissue on the album's 10th anniversary, and it is still for sale. I also just watched my first-ever Penfold concert video footage, from a 2012 reunion show in Japan.

EDIT: OK, so watched a few YouTube videos and got intrigued. So turns out this is Penfold's second album, and I had a song from their first album in my iTunes database all this time ("M", it was mislabeled). 1998's Amateurs and Professionals was also reissued on vinyl in 2011, and is streaming on Bandcamp (currently listening).

20. Aaron Sprinkle- Bareface

Top 5 EPs of 2001:

1. Kerith Ravine- Lined Up in Pairs We Wait for What Comes Next
This three-song EP was Kerith Ravine's swansong, with the exception of the ridiculously amazing single track the band released in 2007. Despite only three songs, the EP is almost 20 minutes long (so almost as long as Weezer's Green album!). The three songs are so, so good, but unfortunately Michael Shepard and Adam Ladd would then end this band and start a new one--Lovedrug. I have written at length over and over on this blog and message boards on how superior I feel Kerith Ravine is to Lovedrug (despite loving Lovedrug's first two albums).

This EP concludes with "Trails to the Underworld", Kerith Ravine's longest song (of the 22 they released), and one of the best--the last 45 seconds of the 9 minutes are unreal. You can stream all of 22 of Kerith Ravine's out-of-print songs on their Bandcamp page, but most of it is not available to download.

2. Beloved- The Running
I was fortunate enough to see Beloved at Cornerstone Festival (in either 2001 or 2002, can't remember), and they were spectacular. I picked up this EP there. There are at least two, possibly more, versions of this EP. The image here is from the 2004 Solid State reissue, but the CD copy I actually have is what Vindicated Records put out in 2001. Here is a great YouTube video of the band playing at Cornerstone (while not the show I was at).

3. Cush- Brown
Another EP picked up at Cornerstone, this one definitely at the 2001 fest. A pretty radical departure from Cush's debut album, because of the loss of the vocalist. Mike Knott sang lead on all the songs on the 2000 LP, but when he left the band, they then recorded an entire EP about him (this). Lots of different vocalists appear here, and the style is radically different then the debut. This is very raw with short punk-ish songs.

4. The Anniversary & Superdrag- Split
On October 24, 2001 these two bands played at 40 Watt in Athens, Georgia. According to some websites, Mates of State also opened. If so, that is really sad, because I didn't see them (probably got there late), and didn't discover Mates of State until 2002. What is also crazy about this show is that I didn't like Superdrag. Not that I am a Superdrag fan now, but they are really good (I prefer John Davis' new band The Lees of Memory). I am surprised I have no memories of their performance. The Anniversary was awesome, and once again I have some great photos from this show that are in storage. I bought this EP at that show.

5. The Juliana Theory- Music From Another Room
I was a huge Juliana Theory fan when this EP released, as I had been completely obsessed with their first two albums. Unfortunately this was the beginning of the end for this band in my eyes; this EP bridges the gap between the Juliana Theory that I loved and the Juliana Theory that I despised.

Other 2001 releases I own and enjoy in alphabetical order:

Aaron Sprinkle- Really Something EP
Absinthe Blind- The Everyday Separation
All Things Bright And Beautiful- Untitled
Amon Krist- Humble B. EP
The Autumns- Le Carillon EP
Cool Hand Luke- I Fought Against Myself... 
Crash Rickshaw- Crash Rickshaw 
Curve- Gift
Embodyment- Hold Your Breath
Explosions in the Sky- Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live...
The Frames- For The Birds
Hem- Rabbit Songs
Hundred Hands- Little Eyes EP
The Innocence Mission- Small Planes
Jennifer Knapp- The Way I Am
Jump, Little Children- Vertigo
Low- Things We Lost In The Fire
Sky's the Limit (Demos that would become the band Mae)
The Melody Unit- Choose Your Own Adventure
Mogwai- Rock Action
Neko Case- Canadian Amp
Radiohead- Amnesiac
Rainer Maria- A Better Version of Me
Sandra McCracken- Gypsy Flat Road
Sixpence None the Richer- Original Divine Discontent (Unofficial; final album with different tracklist released 2002)
Spoon- Girls Can Tell
Stairwell- The Sounds Of Change
Stretch Arm Strong- A Revolution Transmission
Thrice- Identity Crisis (Amazing that an album from Thrice couldn't make a top 20 list of mine, but they were still developing their sound and skill at this point.)
Travis- The Invisible Band
Unwed Sailor- The Faithful Anchor
Vigilantes of Love- Summershine
Wes Dando- The Tired Hours
The 77's- A Golden Field Of Radioactive Crows

2001 albums I don't own but wish I did:

Björk- Vespertine
Fugazi- The Argument
Gillian Welch- Time (The Revelator)
New Order- Get Ready

Bully; and more awesome women in rock

I briefly mentioned the band Bully in February as a part of a post about all the great female musicians I discovered in 2015. I read an interesting article about Bully this morning, and as their debut album approaches on June 23, here is a video about their band:



My February blog post got me thinking, and I eventually created three mixes, all with women as the primary musicians: the 90's, the 00's, and the 10's. It resulted in 65 total songs.

I listened to all three mixes in one day as I drove from Kandern to Frankfurt and back. I made some fascinating discoveries, and I apologize in advance if these are over-generalizations (some definitely are). 

Number one, there was an aggression found with women in the early 90's that was lost (at least for me) for almost 15 years. It wasn't until the past couple years that aggression and intensity returned, and Bully is a perfect example. Other recent examples are Speedy Ortiz and Cayetana.

Another discovery is that 90's bands so often were a bunch of guys with a single female in the band. There are exceptions of course (Veruca Salt, That Dog), but SO many of those 90's bands (Sixpence None the Richer, Dakoda Motor Co.) the girls simply sang. I have no problem with that, because I love their music no matter what the roles of the band members are. I recently wrote this article about two rock bands that had a huge impact on me in the 90's:

Fleming & John’s ‘Delusions of Grandeur’ and Hoi Polloi’s ‘Happy Ever After’

In the 00's women seemingly began leading bands more often--meaning not only did they sing--they wrote the songs, played guitar, etc. (Tegan & Sara, Eisley, Rilo Kiley). But as I mentioned, these bands were "clean" and "slick." Once again, I don't have a problem with that, as I love their music and the "prettiness" is undeniable and awesome. And a lot of this was just the style of the decade.

But now in the 10's we have both the aggression, intensity, and female leadership. Alicia Bognanno (Bully), Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), and Augusta Koch (Cayetana) write the songs, play the guitar, sing lead vocals, and sometimes produce and record the music itself- and it is INTENSE:



Finally, using my iTunes as a database, I created a playlist of 70 women in rock that I love, and that I am forming my opinions with. So when I talk about loving female musicians, this is my point of reference. There is at least one album from every year from 1991 to the present, and no artist is listed more than once. (Sorry about the formatting; struggling to find the best way of getting the data out of iTunes into a post.)

My Bloody Valentine Loveless Blown A Wish 1991
Curve Doppelgänger Wish You Dead 1992
The Cranberries Everybody Else Is Doing It So Why Can't We? Dreams 1993
Dakoda Motor Co. Welcome Race Fans Alive 1994
Letters To Cleo Aurora Gory Alice Here & Now 1994
Veruca Salt American Thighs Seether 1994
Fleming & John Delusions Of Grandeur I'm Not Afraid 1995
Hoi Polloi Happy Ever After Tiptoe 1995
The Innocence Mission Glow Speak Our Minds 1995
No Doubt Tragic Kingdom Sunday Morning 1995
Raspberry Jam Oceanic Can I 1995
Sixpence None the Richer This Beautiful Mess Love, Salvation, The Fear Of Death 1995
Tess Wiley Splendora- Bootleg Pre-Release Version Skinny Little Line 1995
Aleixa Honey Lake Whirling Within 1996
Morella's Forest Ultraphonic Hiss Silver Syrup 1996
Jejune Junk Radical Firepower 1997
Jill Sobule Happy Town Bitter 1997
That Dog Retreat From The Sun (GBG Deluxe Edition) Never Say Never 1997
Velour 100 Of Color Bright Clouds 1997
The Cardigans Gran Turismo Hanging Around 1998
Hole Celebrity Skin Awful 1998
K's Choice Cocoon Crash Believe 1998
Plumb Candycoatedwaterdrops Damaged 1999
Ashen No Other Comfort Autopilot 2000
Over the Rhine Films For Radio Give Me Strength 2001
The Anniversary Your Majesty Devil On My Side 2002
Halo Friendlies Get Real Milwaukee 2002
Mates of State Our Constant Concern 10 Years Later 2002
The Reputation The Reputation The Stars Of Amateur Hour 2002
Rilo Kiley The Execution Of All Things Spectacular Views 2002
Rocking Horse Winner Horizon Orange Blossom 2002
Brown Feather Sparrow Wide Awakens Everything A Box Of Spring 2003
Cat Power You Are Free Free 2003
Evanescence Fallen Imaginary 2003
The New Pornographers Electric Version All For Swinging You Around 2003
Pretty Girls Make Graves The New Romance Something Bigger, Something Brighter 2003
Tegan & Sara So Jealous Speak Slow 2004
Cruiserweight Sweet Weaponry Goodbye Daily Sadness 2005
Sarah Hepburn Stars and Haze Hey…OK! 2005
Sleater-Kinney The Woods Entertain 2005
Headlights Kill Them With Kindness Put Us Back Together Right 2006
Rainer Maria Catastrophe Keeps Us Together Life of Leisure 2006
Great Northern Trading Twilight for Daylight Our Bleeding Hearts 2007
Via Audio Say Something Say Something Say Something We Can Be Good 2007
The Bridges Limits of the sky Pieces 2008
Juliana Hatfield How to Walk Away The Fact Remains 2008
Thao We Brave Bee Stings and All Swimming Pools 2008
Camera Obscura My Maudlin Career French Navy 2009
Best Coast Crazy For You Boyfriend 2010
Eisley The Valley Watch It Die 2011
Gemma Hayes Let It Break There's Only Love 2012
Hospitality Hospitality Friends Of Friends 2012
Lana Del Rey Born To Die Off To The Races 2012
Metric Synthetica Youth Without Youth 2012
Sarah Jaffe The Body Wins Glorified High 2012
Sleigh Bells Reign of Terror Crush 2012
CHVRCHES The Bones Of What You Believe Gun 2013
Echosmith Talking Dreams Come With Me 2013
Haim Days Are Gone If I Could Change Your Mind 2013
Alvvays Alvvays Archie, Marry Me 2014
The Casket Girls True Love Kills the Fairy Tale Ashes & Embers 2014
Cayetana Nervous Like Me Serious Things Are Stupid 2014
Haley Bonar Last War Bad Reputation 2014
Stars No One Is Lost Are You OK? 2014
Stranger Kings Stranger Kings All Of Everything 2014
Vekora Vekora Back For Lapse 2014
Bandit Of Life Losing In A Sense 2015
Bully Feels Like I Remember 2015
Football, etc. Disappear 7" Sunday 2015
Speedy Ortiz Foil Deer Puffer 2015

Best Albums of 2014: "Trophies" and crowd-sourced music

Since Kickstarter and comparable sites began, I have been an avid supporter of artists through crowd-funding. Even in the case of smaller artists I may not have even been familiar with, I just love doing it. I find it exhilarating and satisfying to give an artist money that allows them the resources to create. And in 2014 the opportunities to contribute were widespread, and the money I pledged/donated led to a lot of terrific music.

Kickstarter began April 28, 2009, and my first pledge was on July 1, 2010. My first pledge was really just a pre-order, as it enabled someone to issue Brandtson's Send Us a Signal on vinyl for the first time. They had a small goal of $2,500 and only needed 81 pledgers to surpass the goal by a few dollars.

My second pledge on Oct. 6, 2010 was toward the Steve Taylor and Donald Miller Blue Like Jazz movie. Its plea was more desperate: they had written the screenplay, began pre-production, but then couldn't find a motion picture company to fund it. So they turned to the fans in attempt to raise what was thought to be a ridiculous $125,000 goal. I was one of nearly 4,500 backers that helped raise a whopping $345,000. For years, that was Kickstarter's biggest success story.

Fast-forward four years, and I have now supported nearly 20 projects on Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and PledgeMusic. In 2014 alone, I backed projects from the following musicians: Luxury (new album released in November to backers only, public release date in 2015), Gemma Hayes (new album released in October to backers, in November to the public), Vekora (debut album released in October featuring drummer Jesse Sprinkle), Burlap to Cashmere (new album releases 2015), NYVES (electronic project of Ryan Clark of Demon Hunter and Randy Torres of Project 86; album releases 2015), Waterdeep (double album, released last month), Michael Knott (live album and new EP/7", releases in 2015), Steve Taylor (first album in 20 years, released in November).

I would estimate about half of these projects could have been completed with out crowd-funding. However, the others would have never gotten off the ground, including my #1 album of 2014. I can honestly say that my favorite album of this year would not exist if not for myself and 250 people like me. That is crazy!

In early 2013, I wrote a blog post outlining my personal history with one of my top-10 all-time favorite bands, Luxury. It has now been about 20 years since I first heard them. Without recapping, I will just say that Luxury has not been an active band in about a decade. But in 2013, they launched a Kickstarter campaign that they hoped would help them write and record a 5th LP.

(If you watch this video, make sure you listen to the final album version of the song they are practicing and writing here: "Parallel Love", which is embedded below in the album review.)

With a goal of $13,000, even I had doubts if they could reach it. I didn't question the amount, I just wondered if they would be able to connect to a dormant fan-base. I pledged more than double what I had ever given to a crowded-sourced project. I didn't pledge all that money necessarily for all the fun items I will get, I just wanted to make sure the music had the chance to be written and recorded. Thankfully, with 251 backers, they raised $13, 906 by the time the campaign ended in October 2013.

One year later Luxury released an album that far surpassed anyone's expectations, and even blew me away...

Top 20 Albums of 2014:

1. Luxury- Trophies
There are many cases of artists I like with short careers in the 1990's who reunited years later to put out new music. In almost all cases, the new music they release is fine, but doesn't hold a candle to the music they wrote and recorded when they were active, or "in their prime." Luxury is the exception. Over a decade since they last played a live show, and 9 years since they released any music, they have put out what is hands-down their best work. This is shocking and stunning, and it has me grinning from ear-to-ear.

Another thing about the band's history: you don't have to know it. Meaning that this album is also so good and so impressive that the fact that it was Kickstarted and that Luxury has an extensive, fascinating past is irrelevant. If you have followed Luxury their whole career, great! If not, great! It doesn't matter. If you have never heard the band before, there has not been a better time. (This also makes Luxury's resurrection vastly different than the other example mentioned here, and dozens of other bands that could be mentioned.)

Somehow Luxury, with Trophies, has recorded their tightest, most cohesive, most aggressive, and BEST album; all about 15 years after I (or anyone) thought possible. What makes this even more ridiculous is that in the 90's, Luxury was my favorite live band. I saw Luxury in concert about a dozen times from 1995 to 2002, and their energy and fun on stage was unmatched. So somehow without touring or playing live shows, the 5 members of Luxury were able to write, record, and release their best album (and while living in different cities).

Luxury is known for their balance between short, high-energy rock songs, and long, dramatic crescendos. Previously Luxury best pulled-off this off on their debut 1995 album, Amazing and Thank You. Luxury's 2nd and 3rd albums followed the same mold, and all came in relatively quick succession (1997 and 1999). (Here is a simple yet perfect review of Luxury's debut).

Their 4th album, Health and Sport, is more sprawling and experimental and at times loses its focus. I find this partially due to its length; at 52 minutes it is the longest Luxury album. It also took years to put together, as Luxury began performing songs from it in 2001 and three of the songs appeared on a split EP in 2002. The full LP with 10 songs didn't see the light of day until 2005. The shorter, high-energy rock songs were missing, but the band did create unique musical landscapes that were new to their catalog.

With Trophies, Luxury combines the best elements from all of their previous work, from the raw aggression of 1995's "Flaming Youth Flames On" to the diverse textures of 2005's "Strange Flowers". There is laser-focus here, and every second of the album's 42 minutes is perfectly planned and executed. Ten days after the December 3 download of the 10-song LP, the band sent higher-tier backers 2 bonus tracks. These two songs are also outstanding, but clearly did not belong on Trophies (similar to how Amazing and Thank You also had two additional "hidden tracks" on the first pressing of the CD.)



Musically, Luxury is still guitar-based, but with new tones not found previously in the band's catalog. As mentioned previously, it is very aggressive, and the band is harder at times ("Courage, Courage") than at any moment of their past. However, Luxury is primarily melodic, and piano and strings ("Words of Mouth") also play an important part in increasing the dynamics. And surprisingly the band's original Brit-pop influence (most notably The Smith's) is stronger than ever, all-the-while sounding completely natural.

Lyrically Lee Bozeman continues to sing words that require much examination and pondering. From the opening lines of "Ginsberg reading 'Howl'", the listener is challenged and provoked. (In this case specifically, it led me to read 'Howl' for the first time, a controversial poem written in 1955.) The album ends with its longest song, and also possibly its strongest and most meaningful, "The Gates of Paradise (Give Praise Where Praise is Due)". The album concludes with Lee repeatedly singing over a simple piano line: "For a while everything was okay".

Is this the second coming of a 90's band? Yes, in a way. But it is also a great band who it "only" took 20 years to produce their greatest work. It is easily my number one album of 2014, and possibly my favorite album since 2010. In Luxury's Kickstarter video, Jamey Bozeman comments about the band's previous recordings, "We all walk away at least a little disgruntled with what we did." Hopefully this time even the members of the band are satisfied; they should be.

Note: Unfortunately Trophies is not available to purchase or listen to at this time (unless you were a Kickstarter supporter of the LP in 2014 or the Documentary in 2015). It will be at some point in 2015, and for the most current Luxury news I encourage you to join their Facebook page or follow them on Twitter.

2. Gemma Hayes- Bones + Longing 
Gemma Hayes is an Irish singer-songwriter, but that description probably leads to inaccurate thoughts of a woman singing simple folk songs with an acoustic guitar. But when Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine contributed to her work in 2008, Hayes began a string of terrific albums which combined her complex song-writing with intricate guitar landscapes. Now on her 5th LP, Hayes is in a groove. I recently blogged about one of her best songs, that has been released in three different versions.

From The Arts Desk: "There are whispering vocals, acres of reverb and scratchy guitars that evoke feelings of distant youth. And even where you can't quite make out the words, songs like "Iona" feel satisfyingly nostalgic and bittersweet. The counterpoint to this raw, almost garage sound is the quiet meditation of other, more instrumentally sparse, tracks. ”Dark Moon” and “Caught” with their folk-rock colourings are cinematic and ambient. The title track goes further - the delicate organ and ghostly guitar motifs sound as if culled from a superior film score."

3. Taylor Swift- 1989
Until this year, I would have considered Taylor Swift my guilty pleasure. Clearly she and this album seem out of place in this list of primarily indie/underground music. I enjoyed her pop songs occasionally (sometimes in secret!) over the last 5 years as a way to connect to the students I teach (and preferred her over other top-40 music primarily because she writes her own songs, and is an actual musician). Now I am more than a casual listener; I am a true fan. This album is excellent. While I am very much hoping Taylor eventually records a folk album in the vein of "Safe and Sound" from the Hunger Games soundtrack, this all-out pop album seems much more fitting for her than any of her previous pseudo-country releases.

From the New York Times: "Full of expertly constructed, slightly neutered songs about heartbreak, “1989,” which is to be released on Monday, doesn’t announce itself as oppositional. But there is an implicit enemy on this breezily effective album: the rest of mainstream pop, which “1989” has almost nothing in common with. Modern pop stars — white pop stars, that is — mainly get there by emulating black music. Think of Miley Cyrus, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber. In the current ecosystem, Katy Perry is probably the pop star least reliant on hip-hop and R&B to make her sound, but her biggest recent hit featured the rapper Juicy J; she’s not immune. Ms. Swift, though, is having none of that; what she doesn’t do on this album is as important as what she does. There is no production by Diplo or Mike Will Made-It here, no guest verse by Drake or Pitbull. Her idea of pop music harks back to a period — the mid-1980s — when pop was less overtly hybrid. That choice allows her to stake out popular turf without having to keep up with the latest microtrends, and without being accused of cultural appropriation."


4. The New Pornographers- Brill Bruisers
Most reviews you will read about this album will call it a "return to form" or something along those lines. I for one have loved all of the New Pornographers releases, from the mellower Challengers to the cello-driven Together. But of course I do appreciate this collection of 13 upbeat pop songs and it continues the band's excellence.

From NPR (listen to the Fresh Air segment): "Brill Bruisers is a collection of lushly arranged and harmonized pop. While Neko Case, Dan Bejar and A.C. Newman make moody music individually, there's a brightness when they come together... The chief songwriter for the Canadian-based rock band The New Pornographers, AC Newman, calls the band's new album, "Brill Bruisers," a celebration record. He's quoted as saying, "after periods of difficulty, I'm at a place where nothing in my life is dragging me down." And the music reflects that."

5. Manchester Orchestra- Cope/Hope
I actually created the album cover you see here. Manchester Orchestra released two albums this year: First Cope, an all-out, in-your-face rock album. Then a few months later Hope, an album with all the same songs but recorded quietly and acoustically. Individually, neither album works very well. But together, they are excellent. Manchester Orchestra's previous best albums, 2006' I'm Like a Virgin Losing a Child, and 2011's Simple Math, both featured diverse instrumentation and dynamics. Cope lost all that. It is just one guitar-driven rock song after another, and by the end, it all blends together (and personally, I get bored). With Hope, the band shows they are capable of more, with the acoustic sounds of piano, strings, and other instruments in addition to guitar. If I had to listen to one of the two straight-through, I would choose Hope. But I have created my own version of the album, combining the stronger versions of each track. The result is what I feel would have been in the band's best interest to release originally:
Manchester Orchestra- C/Hope
1. Top Notch (C)
2. Choose You (C)
3. Girl Harbor (H)
4. The Mansion (C)
5. The Ocean (H)
6. Every Stone (C)
7. Trees (H)
8. Indentions (C)
9. See It Again (H)
10. Cope (H)
11. Never Really Been Another Way Out (C)
12. After the Scripture (C)

From Sputnik Music: "In blunt terms, Cope was a mess. Manchester Orchestra's determination to play so-called "brutal" rock on that album started getting to the point of blind stubbornness when every song started following the exact same formula without deviation or respite. Nowhere was there to be found the clever lyrical confessions and vocal intimacy of Andy Hull that characterised the first two albums, nor the sonic diversity and space which allowed the following two albums to soar. Cope was, pure and simple, a disappointment, and the ever self-aware Georgian boys appear to have acknowledged and furthermore righted their wrongs with the surprise release of Hope. In essence, the re-imaginings on Hope are entirely different beasts than their Cope counterparts. This is undeniably for the better as the listener is allowed to focus on the truly exceptional part of Manchester Orchestra's sound: the stunning catharsis that Andy Hull delivers time after time, song after song. The emotional power of the songwriting is truly magnified on Hope as the majority of songs are given their due with a liberal dose of delicate instruments." 

6. Stranger Kings- Stranger Kings
For years, Northern Records, the label run by Andy Prickett and Eric Campuzano, lay dormant. Both dropped off the musical landscape for awhile, at least with their own projects. Then last year they made a resounding comeback with a new Cush EP, and now Campuzano returns with a band fronted by Holly Nelson. The results are outstanding, and the best Northern Release in perhaps a decade.

From Rogue Octopus: "With each member pulling from their own soul-imprinted 80’s, they found a point of mutual inspiration in the idea of “John Hughes movies,” which always featured great soundtracks of current bands, and Molly Ringwalds loving Jake Ryans. So you hear it here; bass like The Cure and New Order, clean, singing guitars and washes of Cocteau chords, synths and drums from Modern English and Simple Minds. Songwriting elements hail from Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, and The Psychedelic Furs, with the romantic angst in Nelson’s lyrical storylines balancing their sincere but measured delivery. Not a single note is sung or played in cool irony, or retro-tribute, but rather as if it were their first band in 1991, and not a moment has passed since."

7. The Lees of Memory- Sisyphus Says
Historically I have only been a minimal John Davis fan, as I unfortunately missed Superdrag when they were tearing up the indie scene in the 90's. However, there is no better time to a be a fan of his, as his new band, the Lees of Memory, just released their debut LP, and Davis is almost monthly releasing new tracks and old demos. His Bandcamp pages have become an incredible database of his music, most of which had never been released until recently. I personally think this album is the best thing he has ever done.

From Exploding in Sound: "The songs unwrap themselves with a tender and reserved stride, rarely clocking in under 5 minutes. The trio has a remarkably effortless command over their sound, peeling back claustrophobic layers of effects in favor of clean pop-songs and rich vocals. Comparisons to My Bloody Valentine are well-founded: “We Are Siamese” is carried on a chord-change identical to “Come In Alone,” followed shortly by with “Reenactor,” which starts off with the same clattering drum bit on “Soon"... the last 15 minutes are downright anthemic, moving in the direction of The Lassie Foundation with soaring vocal harmonies and woozy guitars."

8. Jenny Lewis- The Voyager
Once again late to the party, 2014 will be the year I finally "got" Jenny Lewis. I bought Rilo Kiley's More Adventurous when it was released in 2004, and I got her first "solo" album, Rabbit Fur Coat, a year later. But despite a large catalog of other Rilo Kiley and solo releases, I never explored anything else beyond those two albums. Until now. I love The Voyager, but I spent most of my Jenny Lewis listening time this year focused on the spectacular 2002 Rilo Kiley album, The Execution of All Things. I missed it at the time, but it will now rank as one of my favorite albums of that year (which reminds me to get to work on my year-end lists for 2000, 2001, and 2002, which are the only ones that don't appear on this blog, except my initial mention of them.)

The New York Times published a terrific article in July about Jenny Lewis, and I highly recommend reading all of it. Here is the final paragraph: "But it was also a kind of emblem of where Lewis has been and of where she is now. She has overcome all kinds of obstacles to get here, often with great style, but it hasn’t always been pretty. Whatever demons stole her sleep for these last few years, they’ve surely been with her forever, in one form or another. But they are also what gives such depth and soul to what she does. “I’m not looking for a cure,” Lewis sang, and as she stood in the spotlight at the 9:30 Club, nobody there would have thought she needed one."

9. Conor Oberst- Upside Down Mountain
It took me a very long time to appreciate Conor Oberst's music. Bright Eyes songs started appearing on mix tapes made for me in the late 90's, but it wasn't until the 8th and "final" Bright Eyes album, 2011's The People's Key, that I ever loved Oberst's work. I enjoy this album almost as much, but  stylistically it is very different from that final Bright Eyes album, or any Bright Eyes album for that matter.

From Rolling Stone: "'I'm blessed with a heart that doesn't stop,' Conor Oberst declares in a still-boyish voice in the aptly titled "Zigzagging Toward the Light." At 34, the former indie-rock prodigy still writes and sings about the high times and bad choices of adolescence, on the way to matured love and responsibility, like the sharpest kid in the room: a florid Midwest Morrissey with Jeff Tweedy's twisted-pop savvy. "What a time to live among the ashen remnants of a love/That came before," Oberst sings in "Hundreds of Ways," against a sambalike sway, country guitar and brass. "I'm still looking for that now," he adds eagerly. Oberst faces west and backward, brilliantly, on Upside Down Mountain. A sumptuous immersion in Seventies California folk pop, it is the most immediately charming album he has ever made."

10. Stars- No One is Lost
In my attempt to find an appropriate review to quote for this album, I was largely unable. I will include a clip below from The Muse, but what I have discovered is that my favorite Stars albums are apparently the least favorite of the masses (or are "the masses" just Pitchfork?). I have always found Stars to be a band that writes great songs, but lacks any consistency, and most of their albums are full of bland, if not just plain bad, songs. The first Stars album I loved as a whole was The Five Ghosts, and The Muse has this to say about it: "The band’s fifth album, The Five Ghosts, was nearly universally panned, mostly for a failure to interest listeners due to moroseness generally atypical of the band’s sound." Obviously I disagree, I find the darkness or seriousness of that album to be its biggest strength. Back to the new album, No One is Lost, it is far from morose, it is the most consistently upbeat, danceable album the band has released.

More From The Muse: "The album definitely has its fair share of interesting experiments peppered throughout, from a return to the use of crackling samples like the famous opening quip on Set Yourself on Fire, a saxophone interlude on “Trap Door,” a drum focus not often heard from the band on “Are You OK?” and French language and electro dabbling on the title track that would make Arcade Fire proud. These creative decisions serve for exciting and memorable tracks that will stick with the listener."

11. Nickel Creek- A Dotted Line
Nickel Creek's three members all have successful solo careers, but arguably they are at their best when collaborating. It was nine years since the last Nickel Creek release, and they benefitted from going their own routes for awhile. "Hayloft" has a higher play count than any other song in my iTunes/iPod this year, as my wife and three kids all love it. (Thankfully my kids are too young to know what the song is about!)

From the A.V. Club: "Nickel Creek’s sixth album, A Dotted Line, serves as both a summary document of the group of thirtysomethings’ incongruously long history together, and an indication of how they’ve grown individually in their years apart. At just 10 songs and 38 minutes, A Dotted Line is a concise jaunt through some of the signifiers of the group’s past discography: bluegrass-influenced instrumentation (mandolin, fiddle, guitar, occasional bass) applied to personal, modern-sounding lyrics, plus a couple of more traditional-sounding instrumentals and a pair of covers. But there’s no regression apparent in the execution, which boasts the effects of both the band members’ artistic maturation and their lived-in chemistry together. A Dotted Line’s songwriting is a step above Nickel Creek’s previous album..."

12. Spoon- They Want My Soul
Despite being a Spoon fan for a decade, I didn't get this August release until December. It may have had more of an immediate impact than anything in their discography, and that is saying something. I rarely agree with a Pitchfork review, but they hit the nail on the head with this one: "It's not exactly classic rock, not quite post-punk. It's not the soul of indie idealists blindly conflating modesty and virtue. Instead, this band is about capturing the unknown—those "finer feelings," as Daniel once put it—and simply letting it float. Many of their songs are meticulously crafted, but they also breathe and break with crackling spontaneity. Theirs is an in-between soul happily seeking limbo as its own destination. It's manly in an old-fashioned way, but still scuffed-up and vulnerable. It's allergic to empty sentiment. It's smart but not eggheaded, tough but not dumb. It's Costello, Lennon, Can, and the Cure. It's all-knowing and hopelessly fallible, mysterious with a purpose. It's going to be crushed by life and love, and it's going to endure."

13. Braid- No Coast
Embarrassingly, I never consciously listened to a Braid song until this year. They were primarily active from 1993-1999, and shared the same scene with many of my favorite bands from that time period. But somehow they just slipped by my music radar. But then Soundsupply released an artist legacy drop for Braid, which was all six of their LPs for $10 (98 songs!). While it may be too late for me with their older stuff, No Coast is fantastic.

From NPR: "Let's get one thing out of the way: Braid in 2014 is not Braid in 1999. As an album title, No Coast is either a clever turn on geographic identification or a challenge to reunited '90s bands not to rest on their laurels. As Braid returns with its first full-length album in 16 years, it's probably a little bit of both... No Coast, on the other hand, is a measured and often gorgeous album that still ought to remind fans why they fell in love with Braid in the first place. "Bang" and "Damages!" are anthemic indie-rock songs that recall Guided by Voices. Sweeping up and down the fretboard, "East End Hollows" is about the danciest power-pop tune Braid's ever written. The scratchy vinyl sample at the beginning of the somber "Light Crisis" comes from a 45 RPM record written by Nanna's grandfather from the birth family he'd only discovered a few years ago. And don't worry, a few tracks still could have come out of Age of Octeen, like 'Put Some Wings on That Kid' and 'Climber New Entry.'"

14. Coldplay- Ghost Stories
Coldplay has been one of my favorite mainstream bands for over a decade now, despite most of my peers criticizing them. They are not groundbreaking, but they write great songs that are appropriate to listen to with almost anyone, anywhere. I welcomed the change to the quieter tracks found here from their last couple of releases.

From Paste (one of my favorite reviews of the year): "If you’ve always hated Coldplay, Ghost Stories may make you hate them a little less. If you just didn’t like the direction they went after Rush of Blood, you’re going to be very satisfied with this new release. If you’ve never had a problem with Coldplay, if you are one of those who openly admits they love Coldplay to the chagrin of their musically savvy friends (like this reviewer), then Ghost Stories is as worthy of canonization as any of their other much-beloved records. Coldplay is never going to be cool. Don’t let that get in the way of realizing that Coldplay is always going to be warm, nostalgic, melancholy, pleasant, innocent and good. They’re as much a warm word and an arm around the shoulder now as they were when they first showed up."

15. Steve Taylor and The Perfect Foil- Goliath
I still haven't given this album the time it needs, but Steve Taylor is very much on top of his game, despite an almost 2-decade musical hiatus. From Pop Dose: "It was almost like a countdown. Four years ago on his Facebook page, former rock singer/present movie maker Steve Taylor posted a picture of himself doing that awful, downcast stare that has graced nearly every Stanley Kubrick movie. The look projects a sinister quality using the brow like a visor. It turns an ordinary glare into something quite menacing, and all one has to do is lower their head a bit. Three years ago, Taylor posted (paraphrased) “New music in the new year — promise.” He hadn’t released an album as the frontman since the early ’90s, but had been a primary force behind The Newsboys, Sixpence None The Richer, and Chevelle. No new music came, but there was talk of the Taylor/Peter Furler project, so it seemed as if some action was happening. Last year in the fourth quarter, the Kickstarter campaign began for Steve Taylor and the Perfect Foil, a new band featuring Furler on drums, Vector guitarist Jimmy Abegg, and everything else by John Mark Painter of Fleming & John fame, as well as the go-to orchestrator for most of Ben Folds Five’s albums. This year, Goliath arrived."

And Wondering Sound makes me feel guilty for how little time I have spent listening to Goliath and examining Taylor's lyrics: "I won’t offer any theories as to what “Comedian,” the final song on Goliath and my favorite song of 2014, is about. In my review of Goliath, I wrongly interpreted the title track as some sort of “Christians vs. Everyone” battle cry when, as it turns out, it was inspired by a Malcolm Gladwell book. I will say, however, that I’ve listened to it more than any other song this year, for several reasons. One is that, somehow, Taylor is becoming an even better lyricist as he ages, and his mastery of the English language is on full display (the line “The Amen Coroner’s marching orders got nailed to my front door” is one example of perfect syntactic construction that I marvel at every time). The second is that, even in its deliberately opaque lyrics, it managed to encapsulate a host of things I felt over the course of 2014. The finale, about which I was initially ambivalent, has now turned into a hurricane of pure catharsis. The line “Didn’t I take up all your crosses that were made of balsa wood” — i.e., the lightest kind of wood there is — gets me in the gut. But the lyric that means the most to me is the also most oblique, and thankfully so: “The king and I began a feud time will not erase until he wipes that omniscient smile off his face.” The song, I think, is about a lot of things (Taylor referred to it as “a lyrical dialectic with God”), but that feud, that push/pull between humanity and the Divine or fate or the future — call it whatever you want — is the thing I keep coming back to. And when I try to write about why that is, the meaning dissolves in my hands. So I’ll just wrap this up with an expression of gratitude that this song exists, and that it arrived right when I needed it."

16. Haley Bonar- Last War
I randomly discovered Haley Bonar when I was living in Zambia in 2003 and downloaded a couple of MP3s. For years and years I completely lost track of her and/or forgot she existed. But, thanks to Graveface records, she reappeared on my radar because they released her 2011 album Golder. (I didn't realize until writing this that I had back-to-back Graveface LPs here.) It is excellent, and I have been a big fan ever since. In 2012, she released the Bad Reputation single, possibly the best song she has ever written, which also reappears on this album.

From the Line of Best Fit: "On Last War, we see Bonar, now roughly 13 years into her career, veer away from her sparser side. The shattered fragments of alt. country and heartache, once delivered via predominantly acoustic means, are mutated and warped. Bonar proudly brandished space in earlier records, using the silence as an extra instrument, and weaving narratives in a more traditional folk fashion; there was a lot of eggshell-thin finger plucks, sheets of brittle wurlitzer and skeletal, naked melody. Never frail, but perhaps rawer.

Last War is an ardent direction change. There's less sonic reticence. Along with her characteristically nerve-prodding lyrics, the music has been unshackled, with guitars screeching into the distance, booming rock percussion and grunge-speckled pedalboardery. It's louder; it's toothier. Whether it's more emotional because of this change is probably a more subjective thing, but one thing's for certain: Bonar's heart, still bloody and beating, is firmly stapled to her sleeve."

17. Casket Girls- True Love Kills the Fairy Tale
Graveface Records is based out of Savannah, Georgia and puts out the most beautiful vinyl of any label in the business. I originally became aware of the label because they issued the vinyl versions of many Appleseed Cast albums, including Sagarmatha, my #1 album of the year in 2010. I did a video feature on that album displaying the artwork and wax.

Because of the qualify of the vinyl the Graveface puts out, I subscribed to the label's Record Club, in which you get every release in a calendar year. On some occasions that means you get vinyl, cassette, CD, and digital copies of the same album. And much of the time, it might be from artists you never heard of. One of those artists was the Casket Girls, who is a band started by the founder of the label, Ryan Graveface. He teamed with sister-vocalists and they have two LPs together. The first one didn't do much for me, but this, their second album, is fantastic, and radically different than most everything I listen to these days. And as you would expect, the vinyl itself looks amazing:

From Slant Magazine: "True Love Kills the Fairy Tale is one of the few psych-pop albums in recent memory in which the lyrics are as rich and evocative as the synth-driven beats laid beneath them. Graveface fills the album with eerie, droning walls of sound shot through with just enough alluring melodies and goose-bump-inducing drops. Still, the Black Moth Super Rainbow guitarist keeps his arrangements atmospheric and austere, with the occasional fetching hook to give his sonic baubles just enough pop accessibility."

18. Smashing Pumpkins- Monuments to an Elegy
While I enjoy this album, I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed in some ways. I prefer the Pumkpins when they are heavy, with walls of guitars.  This is the closest Corgan has ever come to a pop album, and it is easily the shortest Pumpkins album ever at only 9 songs and 30 minutes. On the positive side, "The Schredder" appears be having more creative input over the years. The Pumpkins already have another album close to completion, set to release in 2015, and one can only hope it is more intense. Also hopefully the next album includes some longer epic songs, which are typically Corgan's best.

From Paste: "Aside from Adore, which was appropriately remastered and rereleased earlier this year, Monuments stands as the Pumpkins’ biggest sonic outlier. There are no gnarly solos. The SP roar has been toned down to make space for shimmering synthesizers. While longtime fans will still feel at home with Corgan’s snarl and majestic guitars—especially on opener “Tiberius”—Monuments will be remembered for its pop-focused (but not colder) take on the classic Pumpkins sound. Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee makes a case as the best successor to the irreplaceable Chamberlin. Most importantly, there seems to be a new creative fire under Billy Corgan’s ass, which he’s partially credited to guitarist Jeff Schroeder’s expanding role within the band."

19. Copeland- Ixora
It's rare that I update a list so soon after publishing it, but here I am 5 months later plugging in one of my favorite 2014 albums I got way too late. Copeland's Ixora is outstanding, and possibly my favorite thing they have ever done. I hadn't even been paying attention to them for 6-7 years.

From It's All Dead: Ixora is delicate and often whimsical. Opening track “Have I Always Loved You?” feels like so many of the lullaby-ish Copeland numbers, backed by a peaceful acoustic guitar. “Disjointed” slightly picks up the pace, driven by its tinkling keyboards and strings. The song’s climax appears just before the final chorus as the keys drop out and Marsh’s falsetto takes the reigns, “And now I feel the current / Pull me up, take me under / Rush over again”.

So much of Copeland’s appeal has always been wrapped up in the otherworldly vocals of Marsh, who has a knack for capturing a moment. His graceful flair comes in small doses on this record, as he regularly practices restraint. In truth, it makes those flashes of brilliance even more special. Take “Erase”, a soft track that floats along for nearly two and a half minutes before the drums kick in and Marsh takes the song over the top with his repeated refrain of, “You won’t erase me”.

The band’s use of electronics, which became a staple on their later releases, is in full effect on songs like “Lavender” and the smooth and jazzy “Like a Lie”. Marsh shares vocal duties with Steff Koeppen on the extremely familiar sounding “Chiromancer”, which may be the biggest treat for fans of the band’s early work.

20. White Lighter- White Lighter
Another outstanding surprise release from Northern Records. As with most of the albums ranked here from 11-20, the actual order changes day to day. This definitely needs to be mentioned in the top 20, but appears a little lower than it could because it is too "slick." If you've clicked on any of the artist names up until this point, they are links that point to live concert performances. That is what makes this album different; the "band" has never performed live, and probably never will. I feel White Lighter is missing rawness and energy that they might could have if they performed these songs live, rather than only in a studio.

While a studio-only project, White Lighter is an excellent rock album coming from some of my favorite musicians, most notably Andy Prickett, potentially my favorite guitarist of all time. And then the vocals and lyrics are from Mark Salomon, who has now sung lead for countless bands. Chronologically, he has sung for: The Crucified, Native Son, Stavesacre, Outer Circle, Neon Horse, White Lighter. And then he has also contributed guest vocals to countless other bands, most notably Argyle Park and Focused.

Stavesacre is far and away my favorite band Salomon has been a part of. The Crucified would be second (and maybe only second because I didn't discover them until after they had disbanded. Native Son is a hip-hop project, and Outer Circle is a punk band, and each of those releases I do not own and have only heard a few songs (that I did not appreciate).

Neon Horse is fascinating because Mark uses all different kind of crazy vocal stylings radically different than Stavesacre and The Crucified, at times making his voice intentionally unrecognizable. Neon Horse is more of a fun, light-hearted thing, and while I do enjoy both albums, I just can't take them seriously (and maybe I'm not supposed to).

Back to this release, White Lighter, I would almost call it a more serious version of Neon Horse. Salomon's voice is more consistent, but still in a style that is much different than Stavesacre (I LOVE and prefer how he sings in Stavesacre). But it is the rest of the instrumentation, specifically the guitar work, that makes it far superior to Neon Horse.

Finally, it is nice to know that Trey Many does some drumming here, but man I sure wish he would write and record some of his own stuff again (Velour 100)!

From Northern Records: "With riffs that easily translate between the languages of classic, modern, and alternative rock, White Lighter features a team of people that have collaborated before, but not quite in this way. Steve Dail's bass and guitar compositions are both brute and melodic, with rhythm and song combining effortlessly, while Mark Salomon has once again crafted a lyrical and vocal character that strikes where it matters. Andy Prickett guitar lines are present throughout, swinging things wider than can be predicted, and beats provided by David Brotherton and Trey Many feel pocketed and heavy with bodily force. Production overseen by Jason Martin, a mix by J.R. McNeely, and mastering by T.W. Walsh make this a listen that is as much of an experience as the words and music are themselves. Vinyl purchasers will be treated to a visual experience as well, provided by Ryan Clark."

Other Best of 2014 posts:

Top 5 EPs

Best Vinyl Reissues