At the moment, I guess it is something to do with my hands. But I also know the importance of reflection, of finding meaning in our memories. I am so attached to my music. I am so inspired by it and connected to it, it sorts the feelings into boxes and puts them where they need to be. I am never alone when I have songs in my ears, in my head, or my heart, and this is a lifesaver, in no uncertain terms. If that sounds insipid or overdramatic to you, then you have never wrestled with emotions so intense you can't breathe, so overwhelming you cannot think, only to be brought back down to earth by something other than yourself - for me, that something is most often music. I may be struggling today but I won't be struggling forever, at least, not anymore than I always was or ever would be, and sitting here typing, replaying my favorite songs of the year, might be the best way to stay grounded tonight. So here goes, here's what I loved in 2014, with the best reflection my tired, tragic memory can provide:
This Wild Life - Clouded
So emo, so angsty, and still so pretty. This was an evening record, mostly, or a Saturday afternoon jam. These songs are little stories you can wrap your head around, and harmonies you can sing along with, easy chords to strum. These songs lash out with some serious spiteful lines, but they're so gentle in their own way. Just a lovely little record worthy of attention, especially in sadness.
"And I just need a day, to shed this dead weight, and to get my head straight
I just want to let go, I just want to be left alone."
Coldplay - Ghost Stories
Chris Martin at his most maudlin gave me so much solace this year. I don't care of the critics panned it. I thought "Ghost Stories" was beautiful, and sad, and strange and even trendy, at times. It didn't try too hard, its muted drums and elegant little trills are so soft and rich. This record is the middle of the night and early in the morning, it is the hours no one else needs to see.
"Call it magic, cut me into two
And with all your magic, I disappear from view
And I can't get over, can't get over you
Still, I call it magic, such a precious truth"
And with all your magic, I disappear from view
And I can't get over, can't get over you
Still, I call it magic, such a precious truth"
Have Mercy – A Place of Our Own
Please keep pulling my heart strings, Brian Swindle. I sang-screamed so much to this record and it felt so good every time. I love how this band manages a scene-appropriate aggression with poignant, intelligent metaphors and lyrics. They're so dramatic. I love the way they toy with dynamics, not afraid to get too loud or too soft in anticipation of what's to come. "The Earth Pushed Back" has its own relevance in 2014 but this new release gave me something to hold onto. Expecting to play this more in 2015, starting tomorrow, probably.
"I'm the pawn and you're the rook,
And you played me like a crook,
I never wanted it to end this way."
Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
Some people are just born gifted. Ryan Adams is one of those people. No matter how long he stays away he comes back with something brilliant and beautiful, like it just pours right out of his soul to play excellent guitar and write heartfelt, resonating songs. "Gimme Something Good" was an anthem of sorts, as was "Feels like Fire," but its the slower, very songwriter-y moments that make up the meat of Adams' self-titled, and he shines in this kind of arrangement. He is troubled and sad, he is older and wiser, but I will never tire of the lessons Ryan Adams has to offer, from the structure of a pre-chorus to the capacity to live with regret.
Please keep pulling my heart strings, Brian Swindle. I sang-screamed so much to this record and it felt so good every time. I love how this band manages a scene-appropriate aggression with poignant, intelligent metaphors and lyrics. They're so dramatic. I love the way they toy with dynamics, not afraid to get too loud or too soft in anticipation of what's to come. "The Earth Pushed Back" has its own relevance in 2014 but this new release gave me something to hold onto. Expecting to play this more in 2015, starting tomorrow, probably.
"I'm the pawn and you're the rook,
And you played me like a crook,
I never wanted it to end this way."
Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
Some people are just born gifted. Ryan Adams is one of those people. No matter how long he stays away he comes back with something brilliant and beautiful, like it just pours right out of his soul to play excellent guitar and write heartfelt, resonating songs. "Gimme Something Good" was an anthem of sorts, as was "Feels like Fire," but its the slower, very songwriter-y moments that make up the meat of Adams' self-titled, and he shines in this kind of arrangement. He is troubled and sad, he is older and wiser, but I will never tire of the lessons Ryan Adams has to offer, from the structure of a pre-chorus to the capacity to live with regret.
"Just so you know, you will always be the hardest thing I will let go
Driving past your church and all the houses in a row, feeling in my chest is fire."
Taylor Swift – 1989It's so good. It's so, so good. Of course it is. She's something of a generational icon at this point, I'd say, and I'm not going to join the ranks of the eye-rolling haters who are probably just jealous there's someone talented and beautiful out there. I've never heard a Taylor Swift record I didn't like and "1989" is full of so many excellent, smart, full-feeling moments that prove what a great songwriter she is. This album is vulnerable and mature, but also quite hopeful, and for that I've found it a pretty reliable listen in most moods. It is also draped all over my last quarter of 2014. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to this album and not remember the feel of a hand in mine, singing to someone who seemed not mind listening, the way the hillsides along the Ohio River shone in the afternoon sun.
"So it's gonna be forever
Or it's gonna go down in flames
You can tell me when it's over
If the high was worth the pain."
The Hotelier- Home, Like No Place There Is
What a fantastic find this band was....I am hooked on their tenor and tones, I am floored by their words, and I am wishing that I had more to say about this record that I've listened to so many times. I hope we hear more this band, because I think they're onto something with the big-time choruses, and the drawn-out melodies, and the scathing honesty of pain and promise and self-destruction that lurks all over this record. I'm glad young, scrappy bands like The Hotelier are still out there making excellent indie rock music. I'm glad they give off something dark and just a little tormented, unashamed to be equal parts fragile and aggressive, which is really something of a combination, when you get down to it.
"I called in sick from your funeral
The sight your family made me feel responsible."
The Menzingers - Rented World
If I were in a band, I'd want it to be like The Menzingers. I fell hard for this band in 2013, in Pennsylvania, their home state, and I've only grown more attached to them. "Rented World" felt heavy and dark compared to their past productions, and maybe it was a little more serious than the pop-punk, mosh-prone crowds of their youthful fan base could handle, but I took it to heart, I embraced it fully. Really hope this band continues to tour, continues to write, continues to wow me with their mastery of the pop punk song, although their sound transcends, mostly through vocals and the hint of jams, into something a little more broad sometimes. "Rented World" is a jaded record, it is over everything, and I fucking love everything about it, because that is the kind of company that is hard to find in a world where faking it is so damn profitable, so damn easy, so damn common.
"I've tried running, I've tried hiding, I've tried everything but dying
Damn the days we took for granted, never again will I let alone close to me.
Yeah, me and the rodent in the wall have more in common after all."
The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
Sprawling, echoing and gorgeous, how could anyone listen to this and not fall in love? What I love most about this record is how contemplative it is, but with a layer of lonely discovery somewhere close to the foundation. It never loses its cool but dips into darkness, exploring all sorts of strange sonic places yet unheard by modern audience. There's influences aplenty, but the sound is something of its own creation - it is so damn difficult to make something this effortless. This is easily one of the most acclaimed records of the year, but I will love it always for other reasons, too, for the wistful state its mere mention, let alone a listen, inflicts on my mind.
"Love’s the key to the things that we seeSprawling, echoing and gorgeous, how could anyone listen to this and not fall in love? What I love most about this record is how contemplative it is, but with a layer of lonely discovery somewhere close to the foundation. It never loses its cool but dips into darkness, exploring all sorts of strange sonic places yet unheard by modern audience. There's influences aplenty, but the sound is something of its own creation - it is so damn difficult to make something this effortless. This is easily one of the most acclaimed records of the year, but I will love it always for other reasons, too, for the wistful state its mere mention, let alone a listen, inflicts on my mind.
And don’t mind chasing
Leave the light on in the yard for me"
Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties – We Don’t Have Each Other
For when you heart is at your knees. For when your head is in dark places. For when inspiration can't be found. In a critical sense, Dan Campbell's side project is an incredible display of passion, intensity, talent and literary guise; from a personal standpoint, this album is a friend in depression, a companion for constant sadness. The scenes of New York and cars and bars are so vivid to me, and there's something cinematic about the narrator's desolation that I find quite a familiar story. I won't ever forget meeting Campbell at the Four Chords Music Fest this year, and telling him how great I thought this album was. "Thank you," he said, nodding slightly, and an hour later he'd go on to tear it the fuck up fronting The Wonder Years. I might not work in the business, I might not surround myself with musicians and bands the way I once did, but I do know a true talent when I see it. This guy's got it.
"If I lay here long enough, maybe the bugs will eat me whole.
If I stay here long enough, maybe the night would take me home."
Copeland - Ixora
It's difficult for me to explain how much I've loved this album in the latter of this year. I can't think of any other record that came out in 2014 that was so closely intertwined with my mornings, my nights, my thoughts and feelings. It is sad, it is sweet, it is symphonic, it is oddly experimental and it is strength is subtle. There's no question this is my favorite album of the year, because no other has been as much a comfort. This album is hearts too heavy to sleep and knees to weak to stand, it is compassion and kindness found in the most unlikely places, it is desire mixed with perspective, which is such a strange, beautiful combination. I love how serene even the most heightened of moments are. I am so happy this band came back, especially now, at this time, when the sound of something familiar and fresh is so necessary, and also because time has only made their accomplishments more pronounced and produced. The tapestry of strings, guitars and drumskins is balanced so perfectly. You hear so much of the room on this record. I smile to think of all the studio hours spent pouring over this, because to me, that is dedication to perfection and striving to make your work shine the brightest it can, and I am inspired by that. I am in love with the love poured into this record, and its story of sensual struggle. Can't wait to get it on vinyl. I hope to get lost in "Ixora" over and over again, hope to feel comforted by it and feel satisfied by it. Something tells me, reflecting on the moments I've spent with it so far, that might be the soundest start to this next year I can hope for.
It's difficult for me to explain how much I've loved this album in the latter of this year. I can't think of any other record that came out in 2014 that was so closely intertwined with my mornings, my nights, my thoughts and feelings. It is sad, it is sweet, it is symphonic, it is oddly experimental and it is strength is subtle. There's no question this is my favorite album of the year, because no other has been as much a comfort. This album is hearts too heavy to sleep and knees to weak to stand, it is compassion and kindness found in the most unlikely places, it is desire mixed with perspective, which is such a strange, beautiful combination. I love how serene even the most heightened of moments are. I am so happy this band came back, especially now, at this time, when the sound of something familiar and fresh is so necessary, and also because time has only made their accomplishments more pronounced and produced. The tapestry of strings, guitars and drumskins is balanced so perfectly. You hear so much of the room on this record. I smile to think of all the studio hours spent pouring over this, because to me, that is dedication to perfection and striving to make your work shine the brightest it can, and I am inspired by that. I am in love with the love poured into this record, and its story of sensual struggle. Can't wait to get it on vinyl. I hope to get lost in "Ixora" over and over again, hope to feel comforted by it and feel satisfied by it. Something tells me, reflecting on the moments I've spent with it so far, that might be the soundest start to this next year I can hope for.
"You’re still a breeze upon my skin, close my eyes, breathe you in.
I’m still the shadows in your night, taking over, until I fade into your light.
But you won’t erase me.
Heaven or hell will have to wait.
You won’t erase me.
So you just color me from grey."
I’m still the shadows in your night, taking over, until I fade into your light.
But you won’t erase me.
Heaven or hell will have to wait.
You won’t erase me.
So you just color me from grey."
Honorable Mentions
Modern Baseball
I saw this band three times in 2014. The only other bands I’ve seen that many times are Brand New and Jimmy Eat World, which are my favorite bands ever, which is funny to me, but they tour like animals and their songs are fun as heck. Definitely a standout act of the year.
I saw this band three times in 2014. The only other bands I’ve seen that many times are Brand New and Jimmy Eat World, which are my favorite bands ever, which is funny to me, but they tour like animals and their songs are fun as heck. Definitely a standout act of the year.
Angels & Airwaves
I am so hooked on The Wolfpack but haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of the album. Just glad they’re back, as I will never tire of this band’s spacey, delay-fueled aesthetic.
Ingrid Michaelson
"Lights Out" has some really excellent moments. That hook in “Girls Chase Boys” is some kind of earworm. She continues to a preeminent songwriter.
letlive.I am so hooked on The Wolfpack but haven’t gotten my hands on a copy of the album. Just glad they’re back, as I will never tire of this band’s spacey, delay-fueled aesthetic.
Ingrid Michaelson
"Lights Out" has some really excellent moments. That hook in “Girls Chase Boys” is some kind of earworm. She continues to a preeminent songwriter.
I’ll never forget the look of Jason Alan Butler dropping rose petals from his hands around the mic, and when he climbed up the speakers to the balcony at Altar Bar, latching onto the base only to shimmey across with a mic cord around his neck, then crowdsurf back to the stage. More shows like this in 2015, please.
Brand New
I saw Brand New at Stage AE in Pittsburgh this year. They continue to amaze.They continue to toy with their fanbase in these miserable little ways, teasing recordings and studio time and old-new tracks. Brand New is going to put out an album next year Actually, they probably won’t. But they could. They should. They will. I think.
Here's to all there will be to listen to in 2015, and all the hope, comfort and companionship those albums, too, will provide.
