10. Sudan Archives - Natural Brown Prom Queen
9. Spoon - Lucifer on the Sofa
8. Animal Collective - Time Skiffs
7. Soul Glo - Diaspora Problems
6. Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
5. Yeule - Glitch Princess
4. Nilufer Yanya - Painless
3. Fontaines D.C. - Skinty Fia
2. Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You
1. Alex G - God Save the Animals
Brief thoughts on the year in a medium of entertainment I don't devote nearly enough time to.
Best of 2014
7. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - IX
I don't love this band the way I used to, but they still can create a big rock song better than most that I've heard. They at least exceeded my expectations after I mostly enjoyed but got a little bored with their last couple albums. I can't think of a track on IX that I don't like.
6. The Antlers - Familiars
The Antlers seem to reinvent themselves with every album. That's definitely the case here, as they take on a less pop-focused, more kind of jammy or jazzy sound. It sounds like they're playing in a laid back bar with not a lot of people in it. A lot of the songs sound very similar, but if you can get into it it's a very pleasant and rewarding experience.
5. TV on the Radio - Seeds
The band comes back together after the unfortunate loss of their bassist to cancer, and prove they still know their way around their instruments. I've come to terms with the fact that they're not going to be the best band of all time, and that they're still pretty good anyway. I could have done with a bit more Kyp Malone singing, but it's overall a nicely balanced and enjoyable rock album.
4. St. Vincent
St. Vincent's fourth album sounds a lot like her third. Not like, the songs sound the same, because most of her songs don't really sound alike. But she's still doing the same thing, creating original noise/art/indie/pop/rock that's always unique and always interesting. It's always fun to hear a new song by her.
3. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
I could have just quoted some lyrics and let that be it, but it's hard to pick what. There's just so much to choose from, and a lot of what works about it is in Killer Mike's and El-P's delivery. I've enjoyed both of these guys' work before, but I didn't even know they were working together until late last year, when I heard "Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)" and got hooked pretty quickly. The aggressive, clever vocals and El-P's memorable beats work together to create a great pure rap album which doesn't need to screw around with experiments or genres to succeed.
2. Sun Kil Moon - Benji
A lot of this album is one man singing about personal things (mostly death) and playing his guitar, and it's some of the most gripping music I heard all year. There's a real sense of purpose behind it, like it's something that he needed to get out of him and he cared more about being true to the emotions he was conveying than smoothing it over for broader consumption. I won't soon forget it.
1. Spoon - They Want My Soul
A longtime respect for Spoon finally manifested into true love as I listened to They Want My Soul. It's hard to explain why this album in particular worked so well for me. All I can say is that every single song on it fucking kicks ass in a way that most songs you hear just aren't able to kick ass. They all just jump out of the speakers and take over my mind. Maybe everyone has one Spoon album like that, and this one is mine.
Delayed Entry
This is the best album that wasn't released in 2014 but I didn't hear until then.
Wilco - Summerteeth
It took me quite some time to realize that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is actually a great album and not just a pretty good one, so it was nice to get another album by Wilco and realize that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me. They are a really good band who knows how to craft great songs that grow in your brain and hold up to repeated examinations in ways more basic stuff doesn't. They don't go for pure catchiness, they try to find something deeper and usually do.
The music list always seems weakest when I do these, and I think it's because new albums are the first thing to fall off my frequent purchases when I'm low on cash. I just rarely go out and buy an album unless it's by an artist I already know. It's not that I don't think these are all really good albums, I just wish I had a lot more to pick between when putting this together. Because I do think these are all really good albums.
Best of 2010
5. Spoon - Transference
I enjoyed Transference about as much as Spoon's last release, though not quite for the same reasons. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga had a lot of really tightly constructed, solid rock songs, while Transference is much looser and jammy. It was a slightly different approach to the same general sound that I liked a lot, and the whole album is just full of grooves that could easily last a lot longer than they already do. Maybe disappointing if you wanted more of the same, but I dug it.
4. Beach House - Teen Dream
I didn't review this because I got it after the new year, which means I won't since I don't do that anymore. But it's a really good album, making "dream pop" a lot more interesting than it sounds. It's really pleasant, well produced, surprisingly catchy music, and something a lot of different people could agree is nice to listen to. It kind of drags a bit by the end, but for the most part it's all really fun.
3. Gorillaz - Plastic Beach
Plastic Beach didn't quite live up to Demon Days for me, but I liked it more than the Gorillaz' first album, which was also really good on its own. Maybe there could have been a bit more variety to the guests, but they're well integrated, Damon Albarn does a good job pulling double duty on vocals and production, and a lot of the songs hit just as hard as anything else they've done.
2. The National - High Violet
I have a feeling The National could become one of my favorite bands very quickly. The singer has an awesome baritone voice, and the songwriting matches it perfectly. I'm having a hard time trying to describe it, but it's just really well done, appropriately moody rock for a slightly more mature audience. Not every track is terribly interesting, but most of them are listenable on a nearly endless level.
1. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
The Suburbs seemed like a nice mix between the first two albums by these guys, a bit more consistently fun and interesting than last time but also focusing on slightly more mature topics as they all grow into real adulthood. It doesn't have a single song that really matches the absolute best stuff they've done before, but "Sprawl II" is pretty much there, and almost everything else is at least likable enough that you don't really feel like skipping around. A true album from start to finish.
Critical reception for Transference wasn't quite as strong overall as for Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, but in the end I might prefer it a little bit. It's a bit less structured and produced, and a little more sloppy and jammy. It's definitely a deliberate choice, and one that I thought tended to work out. Some of the flourishes are a bit weird, like some pointless echoing and abruptly ending tracks that I was quite in the middle of enjoying, but it also pays off big in songs like "Got Nuffin'", which is four minutes of sort of the same thing, but it's a thing I really like and it simply wouldn't have happened on a more focused record. I definitely find myself overall liking Spoon more than I did when I first listened to them, as they seem to me to be simply the perfect example of what a rock band should be these days. Britt has a great voice for it, and when you combine their talent for songwriting with their ability to play a damn song, there's not much they don't have covered.
"Before Destruction" definitely isn't the sort of song I expected them to open with, and it sort of sets that unusual tone for the whole thing. "The Mystery Zone" is one of the jammier pieces on the album, and a pleasant one to let wash over you for five minutes. "Who Makes Your Money" is enjoyable in a similar way, but before anyone gets too worried about them getting soft "Written in Reverse" plays, which sounds more like something from their last album and features a lot of shouting and cool interplay. "I Saw the Light" is the longest track, and is another nice jam before it switches gears midway through and becomes more piano driven. "Goodnight Laura" is definitely the ballad of the album, and is pleasant enough although it doesn't do anything as interesting as "The Ghost of You Lingers". "Out Go the Lights" is another good, more mellow song, maybe my favorite on the record. It ends pretty strong, and while never too brilliant, it's a completely solid and enjoyable rock album. I'm definitely going to check out their earlier stuff at some point when everyone totally adored them.
Spoon is a pretty stylish band that gets things done without that much effort. They're like a hipster easily coasting through life, knowing they don't have to try that hard to be good at what they do. The singer doesn't belt it out so much as he lets the words fall out of his mouth. Simple, catchy songs aren't exactly what I love, but it's an effective and enjoyable style. This isn't to say that it's lazy or anything, there's quite a bit of emotion and thought in some of these tracks, it just never sounds overproduced. While other bands like to add layers and layers of sound and texture, Spoon presents everything just about how they probably would at a live show.
I'm not sure it's my favorite, but definitely the most gripping song is "The Ghost of You Lingers." The music is just a simple jamming of piano keys, but there's a melody there, and the overlapping vocals create a mood unlike everything else on the record. It definitely sticks out. The first track, "Don't Make Me a Target" is the epitome of effortless cool, perfect for a movie that may or not be extremely pretentious. There's a bit fuller of a sound to "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb" and almost a retro feel with a nice beat. "Rhythm and Soul" has a good twinge to the guitar part and "The Underdog" has a good orchestration to it. The album's pretty consistent in sound, and fairly good casual listening.
