The 55 Best Albums of 2014 (33-23)

There have been questions about this year's countdown...to answer the big one:  I did not do a poll this year.  Though I promised, I ran out of my time in my life, day job, and parenting duties.  So, this year, you're just going to have to live with my list and my list only.  Enjoy the kitty. Here are the 55 Best Albums of 2014 (23-33):

23. Johnny Cash - Out among the Stars
24. Movement - Movement EP
25. Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
26. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
27. Merchandise - After the End
28. Beck - Morning Phase
39. Y.G. - My Krazy Life
30. You Blew It! - Keep Doing What You're Doing
31. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nothing Else
32. The Black Keys - Turn Blue
33. Claire - The Great Escape

Buy these albums and more...now!!!    

My 11 Favorite Albums of 2014

It's been a weird year in music.  There's actually been a lot of great music...but nothing that has yet to stand above the rest.  There's been no real consensus on what albums are 2014's calling card.  From site to site, it seems there's a lot more variety than most years.  And my top 11 is no different.  While there seems to some shared love for James Vincent McMorrow, Against Me!, Cloud Nothings, and The War On Drugs, my favorite album of the year (the infectious Broken Bells) is nowhere to be found on any list.  The Jack White peaks into a couple lists but has been widely slammed, probably because the album was made for vinyl and listening to any other way takes it down a notch. Strangely, it happens to be my favorite non-White Stripes Jack White recording to date.  I've seen Pure X and Conor Oberst get a couple mentions (albeit low on lists).  White Sea and First Aid Kit are two budding artists hitting their strides, yet fail to get mentions.  Last on my list is the addictive EP by the band Movement.  Everyone's raving about How To Dress Well (which is another good album) but I feel like Movement is doing the same thing but is already leaps and bounds ahead.  But this is the great thing about music...there's something for everyone to love. Happy 4th!  Enjoy songs from the albums below...plus a few other good tracks from this year. Here are my 11 favorite albums of 2014 (so far):

1. Broken Bells - After The Disco
2. James Vincent McMorrow - Post-Tropical
3. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
4. Jack White - Lazaretto
5. Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain
6. Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
7. Pure X - Angel
8. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
9. White Sea - White Sea
10. The War on Drugs - Lost In the Dream
11. Movement - Movement EP

     

Don't forget to check out our blog's awesome new book The 111 Best Lists of the 2000s.  Available now!

The 11 Best Songs By The Cloud Nothings

This weekend the internet was in an uproar over the #cancelcolbert hashtag. A comedian made a sarcastic comment about racial insensitivity. That's what comedians do.  They bring light to controversial topics via comedy.  Sometimes the jokes make their points brilliantly and sometimes they miss their mark, completely.  But the outrage over the comments were almost as absurd as the Washington Redskins' charity that the jokes were trying to make fun of in the first place. We need to stop throwing the term "racist" around every time we get our feelings hurt.  A racist is someone who belittles another race to show his race's superiority.  Colbert was never belittling another race to show his own racial superiority.  He was belittling the owner of the Washington Redskins (Daniel Snyder), who also is not necessarily a racist.  Snyder didn't name the team.  He bought the team when it already had its name.  Because he chooses to not change the name of the team that has been in existence for over 40 years doesn't make him a racist.  It may make him racially insensitive or even a douche bag...but he's not a racist.  Hitler was a racist.  David Duke is a racist.  Steven Colbert is a comedian.  Daniel Snyder is a racially ignorant business man.  The irony is that through this whole mess...Colbert's joke has drawn more ire toward him than Snyder has drawn for his deliberate insensitivity. Second of all, in marriage, spouses are always told to pick your battles.  The same goes here.  If you're the leader of a movement, and you're trying to prove to the world that you should be taken seriously, you need to stand up against/for something that matters.  Blowing your wad on a stupid joke makes you look petty.  While there are real problems involving race and discrimination in the country, you're wasting your time and our time on something that honestly doesn't fucking matter.  If my first impression toward your organization is that you waste your time on meaningless noise, then when something comes along that does matter, I won't be there to support you.  Ever read the story about the boy who cried wolf? A great new album by the Cloud Nothings is out now.  With only 8 songs, the band doesn't waste our time with album fillers...because every song matters. Here are the 11 Best Songs By The Cloud Nothings:

1. Not Important (Cloud Nothings)
2. Wasted Days (Attack On Memory)
3. Stay Useless (Attack On Memory)
4. Morgan (Turning On)
5. You're Not That Good At Anything (Cloud Nothings)
6. Leave You Forever (Leave You Forever EP)
7. Our Plans (Attack On Memory)
8. Been Through (Cloud Nothings)
9. Cut You (Attack On Memory)
10. Should Have (Cloud Nothings)
11. Didn't You (Didn't You)

Buy the Cloud Nothings new album, Here And Nowhere Else ...now!!!  

The Best Albums of 2012 (34-44):

If you haven't voted for the best album of the year...do it now!  Right now.

Put your twenty favorite albums in the comment section.

I've been playing around with the new Myspace this week.  I'm making some playlists so when all my readers join, you can link to me and I'll have my daily lists available to listen.  Could be very exciting.  More to come on that.  right now...it's time to vote.

Here are the Best Albums of 2012 (34-44):

34.  Action Bronson - Blue Chips (download for free)
35.  Bruce Springsteen - Wrecking Ball
36.  Alt-J - An Awesome Wave
37.  Burial - Kindred/One Two
38.  Ben Gibbard - Former Lives
39.  The Cribs - In the Belly of the Brazen Bull
40.  Joey Bada$$ - 1999 (download for free)
41.  Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames - New Multitudes (Bonus Track)
42.  Garbage - Not Your Kind of People
43.  Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls
44.  Cloud Nothings - Attack On Memory

Buy these albums and more!

The 11 Best Albums of 2012 So Far

I've never figured out the way critics decide which aging rock stars to skewer and which ones to reward.  There were a lot of big releases last year from bands making comebacks.  There were many of them I was very impressed with...only to read the reviews later and find out I must be sorely mistaken.  I thought the new album by the Red Hot Chili Peppers was their best since Blood Sugar Sex Magic, but when I read the reviews they told me it might be "their worst effort"...and "a sign of the apocalypse of alternative music."  I was pleasantly surprised by the new Janes Addiction.  But the reviewers called it "musical retardation," "F-minus," and "dead baby dumpster drivel."  Meanwhile, I thought the new Bush and Beastie Boys were huge disappointments to only learn that they were some of the best comebacks of the year.  I know music is arbitrary...but sometimes it seems like a band's hip factor has more to say about whether their album will be well-received or not.

This year...I at least seem to be somewhat inline with the critics.  I doubt VH will stay atop the list for the whole year...but it's nice to a familiar face leading the pack out of the gates.

Here are the 11 Best Albums of 2012 so far:

1.       Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth 

2.       Jay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames - New Multitudes 

3.       The Big Pink - Future This (Lose Your Mind)

4.       Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes

5.       Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

6.       Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory (Stay Useless)

7.       WZRD - WZRD

8.       Anais Mitchell - Young Man in America

9.       Grimes - Visions

10.   Chiddy Bang - Breakfast

11.   Burial - Kindred EP