I was gonna do a video for each one but fucking Blogger keeps deleting the videos so fuck it. Whoops, there goes my Xmas Spirit.
1. Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
You haven't lived until you've heard a guy who sounds like Waylon Jennings sing about "reptile aliens made of light" and name-drop psilocybin and DMT. I listened to this album so many times this year.
2. Cocktails, Adult Life
One of the two local bands on the list, which is crazy unusual for me. But this album, a totally fun power pop gem, would make the list either way.
3. Cloud Nothings, Here and Nowhere Else
Am I crazy if I say this is what the Replacements might have sounded like if they practiced more and drank less?
4. Woods, With Light and With Love
I love these crazy hippies.
5. Young Fathers, Dead
It's not really going out on a limb to pick an album that won the Mercury Prize (which is a big deal in Britain, let me assure you) but it doesn't change how great this album is. Mercury Prize =/= Grammy.
6. TV on the Radio, Seeds
I haven't had that much time with this album yet (by which I mean I've only listened to it 7 or 8 times) but I already love it. I love everything TVOTR does. I think 2 of my favorite 10 albums of the '00s were by TVOTR.
7. Generationals, Alix
I suggested "Black Lemon" to my friend Stephen and he said that I like that "post-MGMT stuff" more than he does. HRMPH.
8. Painted Palms, Forever
The other local band. Every city gets the Miike Snow it deserves.
Being a contrarian, I didn't like a lot of stuff that everyone else fell all over themselves about. I thought the new Spoon album sounded exactly like a Spoon album. Jenny Lewis's Voyager was whatever. You have to be kidding me with that Leonard Cohen thing. Be honest, you don't like Leonard Cohen.
Merry Christmas! See you again one more time before New Years, for my annual Top Tweets of the Year post. THE EXCITEMENT IS PALPABLE.
OK FINE I GIVE UP I WILL LISTEN TO STURGILL SIMPSON. Seriously, I just added that album to my Rdio playlist. That sort of sound isn't usually my thing but SO many people have put him on their "best of 2014" lists that I will give him a try.
ReplyDeleteFun fact, Painted Palms may have saved my life. We were waiting in line to see X at South by Southwest and the Painted Palms set was coming up and I had been wanting to see them but had been unsuccessful in SF, so we broke out of the Mohawk line and went over to see PP, and a few minutes later that drugged-up guy plowed his car into the line we had been standing in. So anyway, thanks Painted Palms, and I also really like that album.
That is actually an amazing story.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who is the soul of kindness and gentility in most of her personal interactions, especially online, but the other day somebody slagged her performance on a radio show to a mutual friend of hers on Facebook. She then wrote a sarcastic apology about not having met this person's high standards, and closed with, "Happy Holidays and fuck you." It's my new mantra, and I'd like to pass it on through you to Debra Saunders.
ReplyDeleteAlso not sure if I will be able to get to sleep at night with all the anticipation I'm feeling about THE TOP TWEETS OF THE YEAR post.