My Favorite Films of 2014

The trouble with living in the Midwest is that by year’s end I haven’t had a chance to see everything  I wanted to see from the year prior. Films trickle inward from the coasts, and even then their presentation is often dubious. For instance, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice was a prime example of why I wait to put together my list and I missed it because I think it was only open for about a week. My 19 year old self would have been there opening night, but my 29 year old with three or four different hoops to jump through in order to see a movie, it takes a real above and beyond effort to see everything I want to see. An effort I frankly just don’t have anymore. I see the films eventually. I put them on hold at the library or they pop up on Netflix, but they don’t make the list! What a shame!

The year end list is important to me for some reason. I love putting it together the week of the Oscars. It’s a ritual, undertaken merely to exercise the film loving muscle in my body that I’ve been honing since I was 16 or 17 and saw Mulholland Drive. Checked out from the library. From there I became obsessed. I spent whole summers holed up in my basement bedroom watching stacks of films. Submitting to an entire history of a medium. I had strict rule: Watch, at the very least, a film a day. I usually squeezed in two or three a day in addition to working 16 hours a week at AMC where I squeezed in movies after shifts, 11AM matinees on days off, and saw some films in a piecemeal fashion during ushering shifts. It is that good and pure obsession that I am trying to pay homage to. 

15. Neighbors

Directed by Nicholas Stoller

Obligatory new dad pick. The plot’s a little goofy, but the characters—new parents desperately trying to salvage the cool people they once were—are great and full of heart. That’s actually par for the course for Stoller, whose The Five-Year Engagement and Forgetting Sarah Marshall get to be silly, raunchy, and moving all at once. It’s a delicate craft. Sure the gags are great, but the scene where Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne’s characters are trying to have sex and their baby keeps turning around in her bouncy chair to stare at them and the characters having to abandon the act via the weirdness was one of the truest things I saw all year.

14. The One I Love

Directed by Christopher McDowell

Caveat emptor: Watching this film with your significant other is going to lead to a heavy conversation about your relationship. I don’t want to spoil anything, because watching this film unfold is a treat (as are the performances of Mark Duplass and Elizabeth Moss), but if you’re on shaky ground with the special man or woman in your life this incisive look at marriage might tip you one way or the other.

13. Jodorowsky’s Dune

Directed by Frank Pavich

I finally put myself up to watching The Holy Mountain this year. How I made it through film school without seeing Jodorowsky’s infamous masterpiece is beyond me. Rosie had gone to bed early and I had a couple hours to kill, pulled the trigger, and sat rapt soaking in one of the weirdest artistic statements I’ve ever experienced. It’s a brilliant and evocative piece of art that belongs in a museum. I also read Dune this year, primarily because this documentary had come out and I wanted to imagine the novels setting with a Jodorowskian palate. It was magnificent. David Lynch’s adaptation is dogshit, and really, it’s not his fault. It was the 80s and he tried. The studio interfered, but some of those effects are inexcusable and it’s all so cheesy and incomprehensible you wish they’d just abandoned it all together. Jodorowsky’s Dune plays like salt in the wound. Look upon that gorgeous and fucked up concept art and weep. Oh, what could have been! Fortunately, the film isn’t merely a glimpse of a great film we the people were deprived of, but a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a madman.

12. 22 Jump Street

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

21 Jump Street looked funny enough, but only when looking up The Lego Movie did I put together the pieces that Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were the masterminds behind the tragically short-lived MTV cartoon Clone High. A show I watched religiously the ½ season it was on. A show that cemented the groundwork of what would become my adult sense of humor. Which is to say, a well-timed dolphin squeak will basically have me hyperventilating on the floor. These guys, Jesus Christ. I can’t even. We watched 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street back to back and I was sore the next day. From the clever usage of professional man meat Channing Tatum to the constant tongue-and-cheek lampoonery of sequels to that goddamn “Suns Out, Guns Out” tank top, 22 Jump Street is not only the year’s funniest film, but one of the funniest films I have ever seen. If Lord and Miller don’t already have the keys to the comedy kingdom (which, based on the success and overall wonderfulness of The Lego Movie, they probably do) this needs to be arranged.

11. Birdman: or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu

This one was sort of a perfect storm of “Things that are right up my alley.” Here’s a list within the list of why I loved Birdman: One, I love all of Iñárritu’s films. Two, I love Raymond Carver. Three, I love me a good behind-the-scenes showbiz movie. Four, the acting is amazing (though I’d say despite all of the praise Michael Keaton is getting he is upstaged by Edward Norton and Emma Stone). Five, it’s a technical marvel that plays with the form of cinema in a unique and, most importantly, fun way. Six, it’s incredibly heady but also incredibly funny which makes for a deep richness. Seven, did I mention Emma Stone is amazing? She delivers a monologue midway through the film that is such a showstopper the director should have cued the film to burn on screen before correcting it. Eight, it was an experience that left me rapt in my oversized chair in the squeaky, overpriced cinema suites chairs at AMC and it’s so rare to go to the movies these days and have an actual Experience it’s worth noting here.

10. Guardians of the Galaxy

Directed by James Gunn

James Gunn may be known for peddling filth as a part of the Troma Entertainment cadre, but the way he has you both weeping and IDing with Star Lord in the first five minutes of the movie is nothing short of masterful. From there, Chris Pratt and a terrific supporting cast deliver what is easily the best, most entertaining and most emotionally satisfying Marvel movie yet.

9. Only Lovers Left Alive

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Without a doubt, Only Lovers Left Alive was the coolest film of 2014. It was the sort of cool that only Jim Jarmusch can deliver as probably the coolest director in the business. Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton are electric as a pair of vampires living out their eternal days (or nights, I suppose) in a languid way typically associated people living in opium dens. Jarmusch cleverly sets the scene in the dying city of Detroit against the town’s rock and roll history and it’s just a marvelous film to let wash over you with its gorgeous visuals and incredible score.

8. Frank

Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

I think a lot of why I loved this movie is tied to when I watched it. I’d just had surgery, I was zonked out on hydrocodone and feeling incredibly strange. I instinctually picked Frank to watch off the Netflix queue and something about the combination of all those things made it a movie that has really stuck with me. It’s a beautiful and brutal depantsing of the kind of social media fueld hype machine that makes music so insufferable these days. Domhnall Gleeson is excellent as the obnoxious, talentless, tweeting weasel that infiltrates Frank’s band and the scorn he draws from the rest of the group is a source of great humor. Michael Fassbender wears a big paper mache head for most of the film but that doesn’t make his turn as a brilliant, mentally ill musician any less stirring. It’s a poignant look at the Daniel Johnstons of the world and the suffering that leads to that great, weird, outsider art we all love so much.  

7. Calvary

Directed by John Michael McDonagh

The films of John Michael Mcdonagh’s more famous brother Martin (2008’s In Bruges and 2012’s Seven Psychopaths) always make my year end list, so I’m not surprised that talent flows freely in the family McDonagh. Anchored by Brendan Gleeson’s tremendous performance of a good priest in a small seaside town spending a week getting his affairs in order before he is to be murdered on a beach to atone for the sins of the Catholic Church. It sounds bleak, and while there is certainly a storm cloud hanging over this film, there is a fair bit of humor and heart to balance out this magnificent character drama. 

6. Snowpiercer

Directed by Bong Joon-ho

Sometimes it’s the weird ones that really stick with you, and boy oh boy, is Snowpiercer a weird one. It’s also probably the most fun I had watching a movie last year. It also features Tilda Swinton’s best performance in a year where A.) Tilda Swinton was in almost every single movie and B.) Tilda Swinton straight-up killed it in every single movie she was in (See Also: Only Lovers Left Alive, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and The Zero Theorem being her other three films this year, each one featuring a totally different side of this phenomenal woman). In Snowpiercer, she’s the one keeping a ragtag group of peasant people (led by Chris Evans, in fine form here) from fighting their way through the titular train’s class system to the engine room where they plan to take control of humanity’s last salvation in the frozen and environmentally devastated remains of Earth. God bless this new wave of Korean directors bringing their insane, inventive flourishes to English language cinema.

5. Interstellar

Directed by Christopher Nolan

I’ll be honest, that this film’s central heartbeat centers around a father-daughter relationship rather than a father-son relationship is what made Interstellar so deeply resonant with me. It would have still been a fine modern space exploration epic if they’d gone the father-son route as scripted. I’m biased, with my own baby girl and all, but it’s more heartbreaking that way and I was weepy numerous times during the film’s span. It’s master stylist Christopher Nolan’s most emotionally devasting work to date in addition to being his most technologically marvelous. It’s a wondrous film to behold, and while it’s a bit all over the place prone to switch genres or throw wild metaphysical stuff your way at the drop of a hat, the not-knowing-what-the-hell-is-gonna-happen-next was a big reason I was so thoroughly entertained and moved.

4. Ida

Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski

A beautiful, transcendent, amazingly photographed film about uncovering uncovering the horrors of one of humanity’s darkest hours. Holocaust films come and go, but the  hushed and heartbreaking journey of young nun-in-training Anna discovering her Jewish heritage (and her birth name and the fate of her family) on the cusp of taking her vows tells a side of the atrocity that we haven’t really seen before. Frames of this film are burned into my brain, courtesy of the striking black-and-white cinematography of Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski, always leaving the subjects low in the frame and leaving a great deal of negative space to symbolize any number of things. The weight of history, the room to ascend to grace and acceptance, a setting where the world is threatening to completely overtake its characters. It’s austere and incredible work, punctuated by any number of times the camera comes to rest on Agata Trzebuchowska’s eyes that cut right through the celluloid and into your soul. Maybe I’m biased, having spent film school writing papers about the quietly devastating films of Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson, and Seijun Suzuki, but on the strength of Ida I think Pawel Pawlikowski has earned a seat amongst those greats and I can’t wait to see what he does next.

3. The Battered Bastards of Baseball

Directed by Chapman Way and Maclain Way

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Ken Burns’ 10+ hour long Baseball series. It’s a very informative series on the whole history of the game. It’s also stuffy and full of blowhards like George Will who will talk your ear off about the purity of the Great Game of Ball. The Battered Bastards of Baseball is a magnificent counterpoint to the Burns series, in that the legends it touts are dudes you have never heard of. Dudes with outlandish facial hair and unsavory lifestyles. It’s a look at baseball outside the establishment, and this chronicle of the short-lived Portland Mavericks cuts to the heart of what baseball really is: A childrens’ game played by grown-ass men for the sheer fun of it all.

2. Whiplash

Directed by Damien Chazelle

How Damien Chazelle didn’t garner a nod for Best Director escapes me, because there was no film better helmed in 2014 than Whiplash. The tension Chazelle builds in this student-becomes-the-master piece is so tight and so thick it’s almost unbearable to watch at times. When the whole thing crescendos with the undisputable best scene of the last year, it’s electric. Whiplash is bound to be a lasting parable of the price of greatness.

1. Boyhood

Directed by Richard Linklater

While it sure is nice to see a salt of the earth guy like Richard Linklater garnering so much praise for his most recent effort, it’s nicer that 2014 produced a film everyone could agree on. Not only did Linklater quash any notion that the film (shot over 12 years) would be a gimmick, but said “gimmick” only ended up making for a transcendent filmgoing experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen. The closest thing I can think of is Truffaut’s Antoine Doinel series or Linklater’s own Before…, but where those films pick up a number of years after the last, watching Ellar Coltrane grow up in the span of three hours is magical. 

My Favorite Albums of 2014

2014 was an year with an overwhelming amount of good music, but getting down to it, and thinking of the albums I truly devoured this year, it feels like I’m forcing it a bit. I started with 30, then 25, then down to 20. Now it’s down to 15 and I’m thinking, “Do I really need to put those extra five records on a list is constructed purely for my own personal enjoyment? This isn’t Pitchfork or Rolling Stone, but a survey of one nerd’s habits. In putting together this list I realize how set in my ways I am, and how that is never going to change. All I did this year was watch the baby, not sleep, work, and drive. That’s it. Pete Holmes’ “You Made it Weird” podcast replaced music in the car, and I don’t know where I found the time to listen to records. Some of the quieter ones I listened to when I was staying up all night and Rosie was sleeping on my chest, but most of these I squeezed in when I was doing the morning deposit at work or whatever.

2014 was a year where it was easy to make a Best Of list and hard to make a My Favorite list. There was a great amount of innovation to be had this past year, but then, when isn’t there great innovation? We got to see artists take their crafts to new heights (St. Vincent, Angel Olsen, Owen Pallett, Mac DeMarco) and workmanlike lifers contribute rock solid records to their already rock solid catalogues (TV on the Radio, Fucked Up. I listened to way more rap than I have ever listened to, but entirely shunned anything remotely electronic. It was a year of listening to great songs, sneaking them in whenever I had a free moment (of which there were very few). I spent more time listening to Crooked Fingers’ complete discography than any one record this year. And now the list feels exhausted at this point, as these are the fifteen albums I listened to the most, pretty much in order. And I just cut it down to Top 10 because that feels right.

Despite only listing ten albums, I gushed over many, many more that made the Best of 2014 tag. Tons of good stuff this year, but then again, there's tons of good stuff every year. 

10. Open Mike Eagle – Dark Comedy

So much wit. So much wisdom. Open Mike Eagle’s gift is sharing a worldview that very much lines up with this album’s title. It never feels like joke rap, even when he enlists a professional comedian (Hannibal Burress) on one of the album’s best tracks (“Doug Stamper (Advice Raps)”).

9. Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else

 

Goddamn it’s wonderful to hear a band with such an affinity for pummeling its audience with guitars. Dylan Baldi’s best record to date (because of course, as his back catalog is nothing but great records smothered by greater record) does an excellent job of never letting you off the hook. It’s impossible to skip a track, and at 30 minutes it’s nothing but pure, unfiltered indie rock played at blistering volume. Lines are repeated over and over and while I usually give shit to bands content to repeat chorus after chorus to make a mainstream radio single five minutes long, Baldi finds a way to use repetition as a way of ramping up intensity.

8. Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire for No Witness

Burn Your Fire for No Witness plays like a bonfire at 4am. Everyone has either gone home, or they’re all still sitting there getting high or drinking or smoking cigarettes, maybe occasionally looking over at the fire and being surprised that it’s still burning. It’s a smoldering record. There’s really no better word for it. Full of white hot intensity that sneaks up on you, listen after listen, firmly affixing itself as a staple in your go-to records for years to come.

7. Frontier Ruckus – Sitcom Afterlife

Not content to rest on their laurels after releasing last year’s sprawling epic Eternity of Dimming, Matthew Milia and crew return with a terrific follow up no one asked them to deliver on such a short turn around. And by no one, I mean HOW DOES NO ONE KNOW ABOUT THIS BAND?! It baffles my mind. Even on short rest, Frontier Ruckus found a way to push their sound into new, poppier terrain and maintain the standard of quality in the magnificently detailed songwriting that is right up there with the John Darnielles and the John K Samsons of the world.

6. Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

I don’t know if there’s a better example of an artist coming to grips with his craft than Sturgill Simpson’s sophomore album. It’s an outlaw country record displaced from time. Some of it is straightforward (“Life of Sin” and “Living the Dream”), some of it is out there (“Turtles All the Way Down”) and some of it is savant (Simpson’s cover of When in Rome’s “The Promise” breaks the song in half, turns it into this song that slow burns and slow burns and slow burns until he cracks it right open at the very end and it’s one of my favorite musical moments of the year). It’s a record for everyone who says they listen to “anything but country” (and if they aren’t believers after this one, then fuck those people, because Sturgill Simpson is the real goddamn deal).

5. Cymbals Eat Guitars – LOSE

Cymbals Eat Guitars third album is erratic in the best possible sense. You can glean the whole scope of the universe CEG have crafted in the lovely, epic opener “Jackson,” which drifts from a dialed-back slow-burner to a big, clattering cacophony to wailing guitar solo over six minutes. It’s a mighty hook, and the rest of the album manages to slip around the entire spectrum of indie rock while keeping its claws firmly implanted in your person. It’s an unassuming classic, and my favorite pleasant surprise in a year of pleasant surprises.

4. Cheap Girls – Famous Graves

Famous Graves is immediately satisfying. It’s a record so good the bonus track would have been a lesser band’s lead single. There were more innovative albums released this year, but none of those albums were my car stereo’s designated hitter i.e. the album I love so much I burn to a CD-R and flip to whenever I don’t want to put on a podcast. It’s a great honor; it really is, in my little car world. As a result, I listened to Famous Graves an insane amount of times considering this was a year when I had so little time to listen to albums all the way through. The album is a reminder that not everything has to blow your dick off to be great.

3. Sun Kil Moon – Benji

Despite its depressing nature (not one, but two of Kozalek’s relatives die via exploding aerosol cans in front lawn garbage fires), Benji is firmly associated with the sweetest time of my life. I got a month of paid paternity leave when Rosie was born, and I spent a lot of that time staying up til 6AM with her sleeping soundly on my chest. It was the only way. To pass the time, I played FTL on the iPad and listened to the quietest music I could find so as to not wake the baby. I would listen to Benji at least twice a night, and each and every time I found something new to love. It’s nothing but heartbreak (with a little levity in the end with “Ben’s My Friend”) but through all that pain there’s a record that feels like a living, breathing representation of the human condition.

2. The Hotelier – Home, Like Noplace is There

This is album stayed on my iPhone (in its entirety) the longest this year. It became a go to when I wanted the capital A Album experience. It’s a big, emo-fueled (in the best way) concept album about loss and heartbreak and putting everything back together again. It’s an album made up of a series of intense moments. Of dramatic vocal turns, big builds, bigger drum crashes, and straight-outta-the-diary heart-on-sleeve confessional lyrics that are so sincere you almost feel uncomfortable looking that deeply into someone’s soul.

1. Andrew Jackson Jihad – Christmas Island

When it comes down to it, the most important trait a songwriter can have is conviction. Sure, there were a lot more beautifully arranged and technically competent records released in 2014, but Sean Bonnette is like the football player who, while not as physically built for the game as other players, makes up for it in heart and determination. During the album’s most heartwrenching and outwardly gorgeous track—“Linda Ronstadt”—Bonnette sings “I think I like my pretty pretty ugly,” and I keep coming back to that sentiment every time I listen to this record. It sounds like it was recorded in a dumpster, it is frequently ugly sounding and raw and rough, and it is the most exciting, emotionally satisfying, and soulful record I had the privilege of listening to this year.

My Favorite Songs of 2014: Part Two

It was definitely Songs > Albums this year. Mostly because I just didn't have time to get too invested in more than a handful of albums (more on that next week, or after Christmas, or whenever I can sneak away from Dad Duty to write up the list) and relied a lot on "Siri, Shuffle Songs." These were my favorites (obviously).

25. Sun Kil Moon – “Carissa” (Benji)

Just listen to Benji, ok? I don’t care if you think it’ll make you sad, it’s one of the purest depictions of the human experience you’ll find anywhere. It wasn’t my favorite record of the year, but it was the best album of the year.

24. TV on the Radio – “Careful You” (Seeds)

TV on the Radio got flak for Seeds being just regular great. Pff, this record was outstanding, which is really the expectation when it comes to a band as innovative and badass as TVOTR, but even the people who were like “ITS NOT AS GOOD AS RETURN TO COOKIE MOUNTAIN” gotta admit “Careful You” is the motherfucking jam.

23. Conor Oberst – “Time Forgot” (Upside Down Mountain)

Conor Oberst, doing what he do, aging like wine. And not Trader Joes wine either! Like, good wine. I used to think Oberst peaked with Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, but now I don’t even know anymore. “Time Forgot” is another beautiful gem from someone who might prove to be his era’s Dylan. 

22. The Menzingers – “In Remission” (Rented World)

No other song this year made me want to pump my fist in the air as hard as this song. Give it a whirl and try to keep your fists balled up at your sides. I dare you.

21. Mac DeMarco – “Let Her Go” (Salad Days)

If people thought Mac DeMarco was some sort of goofy idiot before Salad Days, well, actually, people might still think he’s a goofy idiot. I still think of him as a sort of idiot savant. A poet in clown shoes. And that can hardly be an insult because whatever he’s doing, it’s obviously working. “Let Her Go” is so addictive, and a beautiful contrast to all the “I gotta get her back!” songs flooding the sad rock dude landscape. God, that slack guitar is the most comforting thing in the world right now.

20. Spoon – “Inside Out” (They Want My Soul)

“Inside Out” is a technical masterpiece. Go listen to the episode of the Song Exploder podcast where Jim Eno talks about how they put this one together. It’s fascinating. It’s like finding out you can manufacture true love in a lab or something. Making one of the more seductive, intriguing tracks out of studio magic.

19. The War on Drugs – “Burning” (Lost in the Dream)

The War on Drugs live on feelings we’ve already had for other bands and they barely even bother to retool it for the modern era. The point is we always crave big anthems meant to be blared from American cars blitzing down two lane highways in the middle of the night. Essentially, the War on Drugs are doing for Springsteen-esque anthem music what Fleet Foxes did for Appalacian folk a few years back: nothing new, but who gives a shit it’s really fucking good. Whenever I had to drive home from work late and my podcast ended a couple miles from home, I would say “Siri, play Burning by the War on Drugs.” And then Siri would get confused because that technology is straight fucked and doesn’t work, so I’d pull over, find “Burning” and put it on repeat to guide me home. I’ve still got complicated feelings for Lost in the Dream, but the one thing I can’t deny is that it’s an immensely satisfying record and that is honestly the only thing that matters. Fuck hierarchy or whether or not it’s contributing anything new to the sonic landscape. This is the shit you crave.

18. The New Pornographers – “Brill Bruisers” (Brill Bruisers)

Carl Newman operating at a high level, as usual. It’s all very nuts and bolts. It’s what you expect from the New Pornos, and it’s like getting my favorite dish from my favorite restaurant: a total fucking pleasure.

17. Frontier Ruckus – “A&W Orange and Brown” (Sitcom Afterlife)

I think I’m drawn to “A&W Orange and brown” over the other, more single-y tracks from Sitcom Afterlife because it’s the closest thing to the long-form storytelling that made Eternity of Dimming my favorite record of 2013. I don’t think I was ready for a new one, so I was a little off guard and maybe I’m defaulting to my comfort zone (note: I love the record, as you’ll see when I release my favorite albums list next week) but good lord this track is so good. I find myself whistling its melody, worshipping those newfound boy-girl harmonies, and trying to keep back my bafflement that this band isn’t more beloved.

16. Aaron Freeman – “Covert Discretion” (Freeman)

In case you wanted to know why Ween broke up, Gener went and gave you the answer on his first proper solo record. It’s a brutally honest tale of rock and roll dreams gone awry, and a man coming to terms with crushing that dream to break the cycle of addiction that only ends in death. “Fuck you all, I gotta reason to live and I’m never gonna die,” he sings to…well, everyone.

15. Bob Mould – “The War” (Beauty & Ruin)

If it’s still up, listen to Bob Mould’s episode of the WTF podcast. Not only is it a fascinating look into the guy’s life, but he plays an acoustic version of this track at the end and I was rapt. It got me to give Beauty & Ruin a thorough spin, and further deepened his status as one of my idols. I feel like his power chords are the Rosetta Stone for decoding the sonic touchstones in my life. Or maybe the tone of those chords is my spirit animal. Either way, there is something about them, then and now, that resonates down to the very center of my being.

14. Cloud Nothings – “I’m Not Part of Me” (Here and Nowhere Else)

Cloud Nothings was one of the only bands I saw live this year, and I thought the band seemed burnt out. But when they played this song, through their touring haze, it was still electric. It’s a track that possesses both immediacy and a tremendous amount of depth in its franticly chiming power chords, repeated lines, thundering drums, thumping bass, and howling vocals. It feels like true catharsis all the way through.

13. Perfume Genius – “Queen” (Too Bright)

Mark Hadreas is no stranger to these lists. At this point, whenever I see that there’s a new Perfume Genius record coming out I pencil it in to my best of. It’s not surprising that he keeps getting better and more inventive on each successive album. It’s the status quo. For someone who’s first record was just him and a piano and a fistful of the most heartbreaking songs you’ve ever heard, the sonic prowess of “Queen” is a revelation. It’s one of the most gripping tracks of the year.

12. La Dispute – “For Mayor of Splitsville (Rooms of the House)

This song feels like getting punched in the face for three and a half minutes. The guitars stab at you, the singer yells at you, it’s a pummeling. And the centerpiece from an emotionally exhausting concept album. It’s knotty and a little voyeuristic feeling as you stare in at a whole bunch of human wreckage. Who needs weapons when you can hurl around pointed lines like, “I’d rather run for mayor of Splitsville/ Than suffer your jokes again.”  

11. Sturgill Simpson – “Turtles All the Way Down” (Metamodern Sounds in Country Music)

On the surface, Sturgill Simpson might sound like an outlaw country revivalist with vocal cords made of solid gold, but the introspective, metaphysical, and psychedelic content of  “Turtles All the Way Down” sets the table for one of the year’s best deepest records. 

10. Angel Olsen – “Forgiven/Forgotten” (Burn Your Fire for No Witness)

Burn Your Fire for No Witness earns its keep in the top ten records of 2014 with it’s more smoldering moments, but the fuzzy crunch of the guitars on the brisk “Forgiven/Forgotten” is the album’s most accessible track. The hook. The brief sampling that leads you down the rabbit hole into one of the most devastating records of the year.

9. The Hotelier – “The Scope of All This Rebuilding” (Home, Like Noplace is There)

Home, Like Noplace is There is the emo revival record of the year. God, that’s gonna sound so stupid in two years. It already sounds stupid, “emo revival.” But I got no better words. This is powerful shit. “The Scope and All This Rebuilding” is the most dynamic track, and the one that cracks the album wide open and lays bare all the heavy shit inside. There are heavier moments and deeper truths within the album’s quieter moments, but even those are connected to this one

8. Against Me! – “Black Me Out” (Transgender Dysphoria Blues)

It’s really sort of a shame that Laura Jane Grace’s transitioning overshadows how fucking great that new Against Me! record is. When the anarcho-punk heroes signed to a major label and released two radio-ready mainstream rock records, it was safe to assume they were gone forever. “Black Me Out” functions as both a brilliant/brutal fuck you to the major labels (“I wanna piss on the walls of your house/ I wanna chop those brass rings off your fat fingers/ As if you were kingmaker”) and dovetails nicely with the album’s titular theme.

7. Cheap Girls – “7-8 Years” (Famous Graves)

Famous Graves is a remarkably solid indie rock record. No frills, ham and egger dude jams with killer hooks. I could have picked any song from this record, but the bonus track "7-8 Years" is the one I was humming to myself all year. Something in that line "I spent all of my money on this Vizio TV" gets me. That detail. Plus the chorus "So kick me in the kidneys really hard/ I'm gonna write my name in blood in the backyard" is just fantastic. This was actually the first Cheap Girls song I heard, because my track listing was accidentally reversed on iTunes. I thought "Damn, what a great opening track" only to realize it wasn't even technically on the album. But I've always admired bands whose b-sides are better than most bands' album stuff, so there you go. 

6. Andrew Jackson Jihad – “Temple Grandin” (Christmas Island)

There’s no greater opening line than “Open up your murder eyes and see the ugly world that spat you out.” Thus begins one of the year’s most thoughtful, odd, ugly, and awesome records. I had to narrow AJJ’s contribution to this list down from about seven tracks off of Christmas Island and only settled on “Temple Grandin” because it serves as a sort of thesis statement. On the songwriting front this year, amidst so many amazing contenders, Sean Bonnette’s heart was the purest.

5. Courtney Barnett – “Avant Gardener” (The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas)

“Avant Gardener” is of the more fun and inventive story songs I’ve heard in a while. A tale of getting off of one’s ass, getting back to nature and…having this new life in gardening cut short by a severe allergic reaction. The chilled out slacker vibe of Barnett’s blend of indie rock and the refrain of “I’m having trouble breathing in” maybe makes this the ultimate anthem for one’s mid-twenties. Ace. Also, I’m totally aware this is a track from 2013, but I think it’s that goddamn good it transcends “years.”

4. Open Mike Eagle – “Doug Stamper (Advice Raps)” (Dark Comedy)

The dark sense of humor on the aptly titled Dark Comedy is glorious. Open Mike Eagle enlists his buddy (and one of the greatest comics of our day) Hannibal Burress to craft a hilarious and self-aware piece of rap commentary.

3. Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Jackson” (LOSE)

My favorite thing about “Jackson” is that you feel like you’re in the backseat of the car where this song takes place. There’s this easy going lullabye quality to the song that perfectly captures a car ride, but then somehow turns into one of the biggest songs I heard all year. It morphs into a beautiful cacophony of guitars, the likes of which are rare on an increasingly electronic landscape. Also, the punch that comes at the end of the line “a delirious…KISS” is maybe my favorite moment on any song this year.

2. Mikal Cronin – “I Don’t Mind” (Polyvinyl 4-Track Singles Series)

Sometimes the greatest songs get cast out into the void via weird little singles series. Mikal Cronin’s Mcii was a big miss on my part from 2013, but I spent the majority of the warm months blasting it from my car stereo and on the deck. And yet, I’d be the first to cop to listing Cronin so high as a means of righting that wrong, but I’m not. This song somehow landed in my iTunes and after hearing it once (on shuffle, of course) I took it with me wherever I go. It’s as majestic as majestic pop bliss gets, and recorded on a 4-track no less! Cronin is an alchemist, a wizard, a scholar, and a brilliant tunesmith and I can’t wait for his next record.

1. The Hold Steady – “Oaks” (Teeth Dreams)

The Hold Steady have built their empire chronicling the life and times of party people. There have been massive nights, party pits, and killer parties. Sometimes people end up in chillout tents or (in the case of Hallelujah, the protagonist of their masterpiece Separation Sunday) going through the ringer and coming through to the other side a little bit broken but still mostly in tact. Teeth Dreams epic closer “Oaks” plays like the dark reality of the kids on the corners and the hoodrat chicks. It’s a tragic portrait of junkies adrift, culminating in a metaphor involving a mountain of trees turning to smoke aided by a colossal, mournful guitar riff punctuating the heartbreak.

My Favorite Songs of 2014: Part One

50. Say Anything – “The Shape of Love to Come” (Hebrews)

Say Anything’s Hebrews was the messiest record I listened to all year, and one that opened my eyes to the fact that an album can be bad but still admirable. It’s not for lack of trying, because Max Bemis obviously poured a whole bunch of his soul into that record, but it’s a mess. The album’s lone bright spot was this duet between Bemis and his wife Sherri Dupree-Bemis (formerly of the ethereal elf group Eisley). It’s such a pure, emotionally raw thing that I buy into 100%. But I’m also a married dude who loves it when other married dudes write incredibly sweet songs for their wives.

49. A Sunny Day in Glasgow – “Bye Bye, Big Ocean (The End)” (Sea When Absent)

Sea When Absent is a proper album, meaning it’s hard to isolate individual tracks for critique, but “Bye Bye, Big Ocean (The End)” is the big, throbbing standout portion of that album.

48. The Rentals – “It’s Time to Come Home” (Lost in Alphaville)

Matt Sharp’s still got it. In a year when Weezer made their best album in ten years, Matt Sharp reminded everyone that he was the reason that band was ever good in the first place.

47. Knuckle Puck – “Transparency” (While I Stay Secluded)

Now entering the pop-punk portion of our list. I can’t connect to this music the way I did when I was 16, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it on a lizard brain level. I wish I had Knuckle Puck when I was 16, because these guys do big, emotional pop-punk anthems like nobody’s business. I also love to see the young bucks throwing shade on our increasingly technology obsessed culture. Warms the cockles.

46. Real Friends – “Summer” (Maybe This Place is the Same and We’re Just Changing)

I fancy myself a connoisseur of break-up albums. Love ‘em. Can’t get enough of ‘em. Or so I thought, until I heard Real Friends’ latest album, which is full of so much bile for the singer’s ex that it’s unlistenable all the way through. “I was the glue that never dried/ You were the girl who made up her mind/ And left me all alone to die.” That’s a sample line from “Summer,” the track I cherry picked for the list. Though I couldn’t sit through the album in its entirety, taken song by song these are great slices of vitriol. Having once been an emotionally bruised young man, I cannot deny move love for these melodramatic “fuck you” songs.

45. The Lawrence Arms – “Acheron River” (Metropole)

I’ve always been a Chris McCaughan guy when it comes to the Larry Arms, but for Metropole I’m a Brendan Kelly guy.

44. Owl John – “Los Angeles, Be Kind” (Owl John)

Frightened Rabbit is one of my favorite bands, and Scott Hutchison is one of my favorite songwriters. His first solo jaunt as Owl John was fine, sad, and morbid as you’d expect, but overall just fine. Nothing spectacular. Except this song, which really dug its sad claws into my skin. “I can learn to love you in good kind/ Oh Los Angeles, be kind,” he sings of his adopted city. It’s an interactive conversation between Hutchison and LA and it’s a great glimpse into the man’s life at this specific point in time.

43. Owen Pallett – “Songs for Five & Six” (In Conflict)

In Conflict is another album that is practically unable to function on a song-by-song basis. It’s an amazing album, best experienced end to end. Somehow, I managed to highlight “Songs for Five & Six,” because I think it’s the part of the album where I just started saying “fucking hell” over and over because I was so impressed and moved by Pallett’s artistic prowess. Hopefully you get that, too.

42. Lagwagon – “Burdern of Proof”/ “Reign” (Hang)

Hang is Joey Cape’s first album since the death of his dear friend Tony Sly, and the one-two punch that starts off the album feels like a potent start to Cape’s method of dealing with it.

41. Nocando – “Hellfyre Club Anthem” (Jimmy the Burnout)

2014 was a big year for Hellfyre Club (at least in my little world). Open Mike Eagle (who guests here, dropping in funny one liners) released one of my favorite albums of the year, Milo delivered one of the weirdest and most fascinating rap records I’ve ever heard, and Nocando’s Jimmy the Burnout is fiercely fresh and infinitely listenable. I’ve notoriously never been a rap guy and these three albums totally changed that shit.

40. The Reigning Sound – “My My” (Shattered)

The Reigning Sound’s follow up to their monumental Love & Curses is lighter fare, but that doesn’t really mean anything because Greg Cartwright knows what the fuck he’s doing. I know they’re touting this record’s being recorded at Daptone Studios as a selling point, but it made the record sound anemic. The songs are solid, I just wish I could hear them with some of that visceral sound from Love & Curses.

39. Strand of Oaks – “Goshen ‘97” (Heal)

I didn’t have enough time in 2014 to figure out how Strand of Oaks’ Timothy Showalter separated himself from all the other bearded white dudes playing well written, heartfelt folky indie rock, but the opening track grabs you by the arm and takes you along for the ride whether you like it or not. Putting money on Heal being one of those records that opens itself up a year too late, leaving me regretting not putting it higher on my year end list.

38. Braid – “East End Hollows” (No Coast)

It seems strange that Braid released a new album at a time when so many bands affiliated with this ongoing emo revival have Braid-like elements. Regardless, Braid made a record that trumps most of those young imposters.

37. Serengeti – “No Beginner” (Kenny Dennis III)

You might not think an album about the rise and fall of a mall rap group and the aftermath would be that interesting, but you’ve obviously never met Kenny Dennis. The latest leg of his journey is a depressing one, but it starts off with a mission statement: “Hot dog for lunch/ Hot dog for dinner/ Don’t eat breakfast/ I am no beginning.” Say what you want about the KDz, the man has no regrets and understands that to win big, you gotta be ready to lose big. I should also note that Odd Nosdam’s crackly production on this one is the most satisfying sound of 2014. When that choir comes in on the chorus? Fuggitaboutit.

36. Wara from the NBHD – “Slangin” (Kidnapped)

“You know what the streets do?/ The streets breed assholes,” says the protagonist’s older brother via a pep talk trying to convince him to not follow him into drug dealing. There’s a menacing synth beat that groans throughout the track that morphs into a refrain about slinging drugs and the euphoric feeling that slinging drugs apparently entails. It’s some complex shit, and complex shit is what Kidnapped does best.

35. Dads – “Chewing Ghosts” (I’ll Be the Tornado)

I almost didn’t even give Dads a chance because what a fucking terrible band name. It’s still frustrating that a band this good saddled themselves with such an awful, boring band name of the one-word-noun ilk that has plagued the indie music scene (see: Tennis, Hospitality, Braids, Dogs, Hands, Envelopes, Lamps, Printers…ok, now I’m just naming shit on my desk). I love their album’s title though, and the music is deep, fringing on emo revival with a solid reverence for 90s alt rock. 

34. Mirah – “Turned the Heat Off” (Changing Light)

Mirah can still crush it.

33. FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks” (LP1)

This track is uncomfortably alluring, and while I admire its lack of boundaries, the pop twists and production are sensational.

32. Happyness – “Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste the Same” (Weird Little Birthday)

Sounds like a bunch of stuff I love/ Inherently I love this band because they sound like a bunch of stuff I love but not in a thiefy way, but in a way where they almost don’t know they sound like a Sparklehorse/Wilco hybrid with serious pop chops thrown in for good measure.

31. Tweedy – “Summer Noon” (Sukierae)

I don’t know why this gem is buried in the middle of Tweedy’s expansive debut. It’s the best track on the album and maybe the chillest track of the year.

30. Modern Baseball – “Fine, Great” (You’re Gonna Miss it All)

God, the way this song unfolds and sort of rambles along feels innovative. Full of terrific barbs, great hooks, and a unique blend of pop-punk and emo revivalism that pushes all the right buttons.

29. Sharon Van Etten – “Afraid of Nothing (Are We There)

The build and release of this song is almost earth shattering.

28. Fucked Up – “Sun Glass” (Glass Boys)

Were I to make a Fucked Up mix for a person, this would be track one. It excels at everything Fucked Up excels at: an elevated version of hardcore punk that seamlessly blends ugliness and severe beauty.

27. St. Vincent – “Rattlesnake” (St. Vincent)

Any track from St. Vincent’s electrifying eponymous album could have been slotted in on this list. I feel like I’ve been exhausting myself talking about albums that I don’t like listening to outside of the context of the album itself. St. Vincent was one of those I played start to finish every single time. “Digital Witness” is probably the better single, but I love the way “Rattlesnake” sets the stage for the weird journey you’re about to embark upon. It keeps you off balance from the get-go.

26. King Creosote – “Something to Believe In” (From Scotland With Love)

This beauty constantly found itself stuck in my head. When the Royals lost the World Series, I immediately went upstairs and listened to this song. It’s got some melancholy connections to it now but, then again, it’s a melancholy song.

Gut Feeling: Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

High Top Mountain, 2014

“What kind of music are you into?”
“Anything but country.”

This dismissive bit of dialogue is one we all know well. I’m assuming everyone has either asked that question and braced for that response or, in ones younger, more vulnerable years, said that statement out loud. I’m sure I did. Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is the record that you use in response to “anything but country.” You shove it into the dismisser’s hands and say, “Here, if you can’t even remotely appreciate the rambling beauty of this record I don’t even know you.” Because there’s just so much to like about Simpson’s sophomore LP. And really, who doesn’t like outlaw country? I bet everyone who ever said “anything but country” would cop to liking Johnny Cash, right? Simpson is more of a Waylon Jennings, but that’s no matter. He sounds displaced from his proper era. His songs are certainly modern and often weird as hell, but the sound is pure late-60s Nashville. At first it feels like pure throwback, but repeat listens reveal it’s pretty slippery. Hard to pin down or pigeonhole as a pure tribute to the outlaw country legends of forty years ago. What are you supposed to do with lines like “There’s a gateway in our mind that leads somewhere out there beyond this plane/ Where reptile aliens made of light cut you open and pull out all your pain” from the opening track “Turtles All the Way Down.” It’s pure psychedelia, and if you don’t believe me, listen to Simpson sing “Marijuana, LSD, Psilocybin, and DMT/ They all changed the way I see” in the next verse. Simpson might have the voice of a shitkicking rabble rouser (I mean that as the highest compliment, his voice is tremendous, absolutely fucking tremendous and if you don’t believe me, wait til he belts out the last chorus of his cover of When in Rome’s “The Promise” and tell me I’m wrong) but goddamn this son of a bitch is deep. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music is an intoxicating listen with deep roots and sharp claws (“But it ain’t all flowers/ Sometimes you gotta feel the thorns/ And when you play with the devil you know you gotta get the horns”) that dig right into your skin without mercy.

Here's Sturgill Simpson's Tiny Desk Concert, which is a terrific gateway drug.

Gut Feeling: Frank Turner - The Third Three Years

Frank Turner - The Third Three Years

Xtra Mile, 2014

The Third Three Years is Turner’s third (THIRD!) collection of b-sides and rarities, and it’s a delightful mixed bag of original tunes, collaborations, and a whole shitload of covers songs. Even though Billy Bragg is still alive, Frank Turner still seems to have wrested the torch from his hands. At his best--which is, seemingly, most of the time--Turner achieves the blend of brainy, witty, political and soulful that Bragg perfected in the 80s. Phil Ochs is dead, so I feel more comfortable saying that Turner is carrying his torch too (especially on the straight-up political numbers like “Riot Song” and “Something of Freedom”). Turner’s covers selection is best illustrated by the juxtaposition of the Weakerthans’ “Bigfoot!” and Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Live and Let Die” at the heart of the album. He turns two of the greatest capital A American rock songs (Tom Petty’s “American Girl” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run”) into quiet guy-and-a-guitar folk songs to great effect. The most profound moment of this compilation is nestled in the Tony Sly cover “Kiera.” Sly wrote the song for his daughter and here it is recorded for a tribute album where all the money goes to the Tony Sly Memorial Fund. Even if I wasn’t a father, and even if I didn’t have to face those grim thoughts about not being around to watch her grow up, I’d still probably get emotional. But since I have those last two things, Jesus Christ. The song feels like it was written posthumously, with lines like, “Maybe I’m no good at this/ Think of this as a lullaby/ To listen to when I go.” The track was recorded on a rainy day off of a busy street with the window open and it’s intense and beautiful. Turner does a terrific job of taking the focus off of himself (even though his version is better than Sly’s original) and highlighting a great songwriter who was largely unheralded because he operated in the oft thumb-nosed pop-punk genre. It’s a stirring tribute, a beautiful song, and the highlight on an album full of highlights. Also of note is one of the best live track’s I’ve ever heard in “The Ballad of Me and My Friends” where Turner turns big swaths of the vocals over to the audience who pounce and sing at top volume. It’s a great song, but an even greater portrait of an artist’s relationship with his fans. You don’t need an explanation, you can feel it. The energy in that room (the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, one of my favorite venues!) I can feel myself getting carried away. This is what chasing the dragon is for a music nerd. Constantly looking for that next artist who’s gonna blow your dick off. Constantly looking for another rabbit hole to disappear down. This compilation is just so much FUN. I mean, it OPENS with a Queen cover! WHO DOES THAT!? And then there’s just so many truths nestled within. “You were born into freedom so you don’t know its worth/ And you constantly speak of solutions/ But you only repeat revolutions,” Turner sings in “Something of Freedom.” And this is a B-SIDE! B-SIDE GODDAMNIT! I’m quivering with excitement at a complete discography to excavate. This is the life-affirming music I live for.

"Kiera" (Tony Sly Cover)

"Hits & Mrs." - I immediately funneled this one to the running playlist of sweet songs I have to put on mixes for my wife. A straight-up less-than-three. Hilariously, Hits & Mrs. was the name of Pete Rose's 2013 reality show. I wish that was a joke, but it's funnier that it's not. 

Gut Feeling: Courtney Barnett - The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas

Courtney Barnett – The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas

Marathon Artists, 2014

My favorite albums of the year always seem to be the ones that I listen to like a regular human being. The great records strip away the part of my brain that goes “I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW” and I just enjoy the music. Like a regular person without this sick, sick compulsion. It’s Year End List season now, and whilst getting my affairs in order I totally forgot the period this summer where I was constantly jamming this record when I was cooking dinner. It’s such a pure, perfect record it didn’t cross my mind that I should immediately go and write down my favorite lines from “Avant Gardener" ("The paramedic thinks I'm clever cos I play guitar/ I think she's clever cos she stops people dying" and "Oh no, next thing I know/ They call up triple O/ I'd rather die than owe the hospital" are both winners). That’s a track that’s going to crack my Top 5 in my Songs of the Year post and I just now added it to the fold. Realizing I’d left it out and rediscovering how great and fresh and clever that track is was like listening to it for the first time. The sickly guitars drowing in an ocean of reverb, the half-spoken, slightly stoned sounding vocals, and an Indian Ocean’s worth of charm from the Australian singer-songwriter. So much charm and wit and sneaky pop bliss. Honestly, this slacker rock stuff is wonderful, but the attitude of it all, is what makes this one an instant classic. The amount of fucks given, I mean, it’s pry hovering around the ZERO mark. Just such an easy, fun, unselfconscious record that captures that rare vibe of sounding instantly familiar and totally fresh and interesting at the same time.

"Avant Gardener" 

"History Eraser"

And as if I needed more selling, here's Barnett covering the Lemonheads, which adds even more instant respect on top of what she's already earned with her original songs.

Gut Feeling: FKA Twigs - LP1

FKA Twigs – LP1

Young Turks, 2014

It’s not often that an album will drag me kicking and screaming from my safe world of indie rock. I hope that doesn’t sound like some sort of brag or backhanded compliment, because it is regrettable how I am set in my ways. There’s some wiggle room on both sides of my taste (forays into metal and hip hop are not unheard of), but it defaults to ham and egger indie rock so fiercely that I was unsure I would be able to handle FKA Twigs “Alternative R&B” (per Wikipedia) for more than two seconds. But there was something about the album cover, that sad, painted porcelain doll-looking rendition of Tahliah Barnett’s incredibly distinct face. There was something alluring about it; something in the pleasing array of colors and the look she’s giving. I wanted to know what that look was about, so I pulled up the video for “Two Weeks” on youtube and didn’t look away until it was over.

“Two Weeks” is the most sensual song I’ve heard in who knows how long. It’s the first half of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love filtered through layers of throbbing synthesizers with off kilter drum machine beats a la Burial, and the sort of frankly sexual lyrics rarely seen outside of Prince songs. Of course it’s Barnett’s vocals that hypnotize. Everything working together produces a full body listening experience that is incredible. I think part of this is subjective because I’m out of my element and excited, but these often minimal tracks laced with longing and heartbreak are incredibly affecting. Though Barnett is the star and it’s her persona and performance that delivers these songs directly to the heart, the production is outstanding, which is, I suppose, when you take a bunch of intriguing producers (notably Emile Haynie who takes the reigns on this one with fantastic results) and task them with producing dark and moody beats. The most impressive thing about LP1 is that it only gets better from here. I get the impression that Barnett is going to keep mining and keep pushing her sound further and further outside the realm of what we know and just getting to bear witness to this sort of burgeoning talent is an treat.

"Two Weeks"

"Video Girl"