PSF's 2014 Writers' Poll
Our favorite things
left to right: Tamikrest, Flying Lotus, Landlady, The Dead Milkmen, Jack White
What did our writers think about music that came out in 2014? Here's where you find out- the usual choice of 10 albums is too restricting for music nuts so we asked if they could come up with 20 records instead. See if you agree or disagree with their choices. Maybe you'll learn about some artists or albums that you didn't know about before too. Hope you enjoy these lists.
5-Track
- Earth Primitive & Deadly - crunch
- Golden Medallion Aphelion - indie-rock "Agharta"
- Flying Lotus You're Dead - wow
- Phish Fuego - not only that but west coast tour 2013 was their best ever
- Broncho Just Enough Hip To Be Woman - pop punk from OK
- Low Litas Low Litas - heavy mesmerism from OK
- Skating Polly Fuzz Steilacoom - ugly pop from OK
- Peg Living With Abbreviation - warning shot across the bow from indie-pop songstress Sheridan B. Riley
- The Growlers Chinese Fountain
- Goat Commune
- Marc Ribot, Henry Grimes & Chad Taylor Live At The Village Vanguard
Jim Allen
- Quilt Held In Splendor
- Temples Sun Structures
- Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
- John Terlazzo & Voices in the Hall Barbarian Hymns
- Sturgill Simpson Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
- Courtney Barnett The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas
- Corb Lund Counterfeit Blues
- The Cleaners From Venus Return to Bohemia
- Billy Joe Shaver Long in the Tooth
- Chris Smither Still on the Levee
- Ethan Johns The Reckoning
- Jason Eady Daylight & Dark
- The Monochrome Set Super Plastic City
- Chris Forsyth & The Solar Motel Band Intensity Ghost
- Ward White Ward White is the Matador
- Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Common Ground
- Mark Banning Journey to the Light
- Gigi Masin Talk to the Sea
- Jerry David De Cicca Understanding Land
- Leonard Cohen Popular Problems
Kevin Cowl
- Black Keys Turn Blue
- Borracho Oculus
- Chick Corea Trilogy
- Faust Just Us
- Foxygen …and Star Power
- Goat Commune
- Jack White Lazaretto
- Jethro Tull Warchild 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition
- John Coltrane Offerings
- Lay Llamas Ostro
- Lucinda Williams Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
- Mt. Carmel Get Pure
- Robert Wyatt Different Every Time: Ex Machina / Benign Dictatorships
- Sun Ra & His Astro Infinity Arkestra Sign of the Myth
- Sun Ra The Complete Remaster Recordings on Black Saint and Soul Note
- Thee Oh Sees Drop
- Ty Segall Manipulator
- War on Drugs Lost in a Dream
- White Manna Come Down Safari
- XTC Drums and Wires Audiophile Reissue
Peter Crigler
- Killer Be Killed Killer Be Killed
-A new supergroup with members of Mars Volta, Sepultura, Dillinger Escape Plan and Mastodon, this album is heavy as hell and one of the best metal records I've heard in a long damn time.- Beck Morning Phase
- Quite simply one of the greatest surprises of the year, very mellow and quite beautiful. Without a doubt, the most important record of the year.- Dead Milkmen Pretty Music for Pretty People
- Back with new songs, the Milkmen are still pissing people off thirty years later and I think we can all agree that the world is a lot better having the Milkmen back.- Young the Giant Mind Over Matter
- The all-important sophomore record and this band completely delivered. Distancing themselves from the sound of their debut, they struck out on their own and came up with some of the most memorable alt rock songs of the year.- Mastodon Once More ‘Round the Sun
- Mastodon are one of the best metal bands out there and this record is proof that they aren't going anywhere. Without a doubt, their best record since Leviathan.- You + Me rose ave.
- P!nk and Dallas Green of City and Colour collaborated on a duets record. Totally unlike anything P!nk has ever done and thank God! No dance tracks or party jams, just acoustic songs about pain that are a great step in the right direction for P!nk.- OFF! Wasted Years
- Keith Morris and crew are back with their fiercest collection of tracks. The whole album clocks in under thirty minutes. What more of hardcore punk could you possibly need?- Soundgarden Echo of Miles: Scattered Tracks Across the Path
- The best box set of the year. Three discs, almost thirty years' worth of B-sides and covers. Any diehard grunge fan's ultimate Christmas present.- Scruffy the Cat Time Never Forgets: The Anthology ('86-'88)
- A band from the eighties I was not that familiar with but now am a massive fan. Compiling everything the band recorded for Relativity Records, there's some folk, some punk, a lot of eighties alt rock; there's something here for everyone to love.- Every Time I Die From Parts Unknown
- It's great to know that there's still a really loud and heavy punk band out there ready to crank up the amps and destroy people's hearing.- Patton Oswalt Tragedy Plus Comedy Equals Time
- Not his best overall record, but chockfull of plenty of great bits about his child and just everyday life.- Weird Al Yankovic Mandatory Fun
- His best record since 1999 and the best comedy record of the year.- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Hypnotic Eye
- Forget Bono and Springsteen, Petty and company deliver the best classic rock record of this year by staying true to themselves. They don't need to record a bunch of covers or work with people like Danger Mouse or the dude from OneRepublic to make great songs.- Sam Llanas The Whole Night Thru
- Former singer for the BoDeans returns with his third solo record and it sounds just like a great roots rock record from the eighties. Really inspiring to know there are still amazing singer/songwriters out there who don't need outside help.What a year this has been, so much great music, where to begin? This time around I decided not to rank them numerically, just throw them against a wall, that way everything gets a fair shake, except for the new Primus and Weezer, cuz they just reeked!
Lee Doptera
- Landlady Upright Behavior
- Rubblebucket Survival Sounds
- Perfume Genius Too Bright
- Relatives Former Friends
- St. Vincent St. Vincent
- Alt-J This is All Yours
- tUnE-yArDs Nikki Nack
- Kishi Bashi Lighght
- Andrew Bird Things are Really Great Here, Sort of...
- Deerhoof La Isla Bonita
Michael Freerix
- Fat White Family Band Champagne Holocaust
- Berangere Maximine Infinitesimal
- The National Jazz Trio of Scotland Standards Vol. 3
- Jah wobble pres. PJ Higgins Inspiration
- Nick waterhouse Holly
- Happy Jawbone Family Band Happy Jawbone Family Band
- Neneh Cherry Blank Project
- Shabazz Palaces Lese Majesty
- Fire!orchestra enter
- The Flying Eyes Bad Blood/Winter
- White Lung Sorry
- Dead Western Everything Eternally
- Honshu wolves Shine On Me
- Chapter Four White Heron Blues
- Tamikrest Chatma
- Goodbye Gary Cooper Bleu Bizarre
- Lonesome Shack More Primitve
- Deadbeat with Paul St Hilaire The Infinity Dub Sessions
- Tara Jane O'Neil Where Shine New Lights
- Black Twig PickersRough Carpenters
- Broken.Heart.Collector Broken.Heart.Collector
Michael Goldberg
- Bob Dylan Basement Tapes Complete
- Angel Olson Burn Your Fire For No Witness
- The War On Drugs Lost In The Dream
- Jolie Holland Wine Dark Sea
- Karen O Crush Songs
- Spoon They Want My Soul
- Sharon Van Etten Are We There
- Tweedy Sukierae
- Ex-Hex Rips
- Tuneyards Nikki Nack
- Lykke Li I Never Learn
- Lucinda Williams Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone
- The Hold Steady Teeth Dreams
- The Velvet Underground, Deluxe 6 CD version of their self-titled third album
From where I sit, the release of Bob Dylan's "Basement Tapes Complete" made this a memorable year. I've waited over 40 years to hear good quality versions of the music Dylan and the musicians who would become The Band made during 1967 and early '68 at three houses near Woodstock, New York. Over six and a half hours of music -- and a lot of it is excellent for one reason or another. But there was also plenty of great new music. Angel Olson's "Burn Your Fire For No Witness" is both timeless and stunning. Jolie Holland moved into a whole other zone with the avant-garde guitar sounds that help define "Wine Dark Sea." Karen O's Crush is an intimate lo-fi masterpiece. Jeff Tweedy managed to make a 20 song album that leaves we wanting more. And what a pleasure to revisit "The Velvet Underground" as part of a six-CD set that includes two CDs of live recordings from San Francisco's Matrix club, November 1969. It's all good. And 2015 is already off to a great start. Sleater-Kinney's "No Cities To Love" is the real deal -well worth the wait.
Jack Gold-Molina
- Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green Boston
- Simon Henneman Quartet Sermons From Science
- Syrinx Effect Snail Songs
- Autumn Electric Flowers For Ambrosia
- Hedersleben Die Neuen Welten
- Electric Moon Innside Outside
- Iron Claw Iron Claw
- Diminished Men Capnomancy
- Psyche Bugyou Genroku Passion Play
- Kawabata Makoto La Musica Works 1994-96 Vol. 1
- Aquae Sulis Calling Vol. 1 & 2
- Beaulieu Porch Beaulieu Porch
- Alan Davey Al Chemical's Lysergic Orchestra Vol. 2
- Spider Trio Woodland Theater
- Witch Mountain Mobile of Angels
- Trash City Unsung Heroes Vol. 1
- Aquaserge A L'Amitié
- Master Musicians of Bukkake Far West
- The Beatles A Hard Day's Night (Mono Vinyl Reissue)
- John Coltrane Offering: Live At Temple University
Gary Gomes
- Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band Sun Zoom Spark - the weak link is The Spotlight Kid but everything else is amazing
- Steve Hackett Genesis Revisited Live at Hammersmith
- Gentle Giant I Lost My Head The Chrysalis Years
- Jack Bruce Harmony Row
- Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and the Trinity Streetnoise
- Carl Ruggles The Complete Works
- Bela Bartok, the Hungarian String Quartet The Six String Quartets
- Olivier Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time
- King Crimson Starless and Bible Black (deluxe)
- Refugee - First album and Refugee Live set
- Charles Ives The Universe Symphony
- Sun Ra The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
Kurt Gottschalk
- Vincent Barras & Jacques Demierre Voicing Through Saussure
- Harrison Birtwistle Chamber Music
- Jaap Blonk Songs of Little Sleep
- Dave Burrell & Steve Swell Turning Point
- Vicky Chow / Tristan Perich Surface Image
- Ensemble Dal Niente Without Words
- Fennesz Bécs
- Gato Libre Dudu
- Martin Iddon Pneuma
- JazzWerkstatt Wien New Ensemble Sympathikus-Parasympathikus
- ju sei and Utah Kawasaki U is for Utah
- Patricia Kopatchinskaja / Markus Hinterhäuser / Reto Galina Ustvolskaya
- David Krakauer The Big Picture
- Prince Art Official Age
- Wadada Leo Smith The Great Lakes Suite
- Philip Thomas / Christian Wolf Pianist: Pieces
- Kate Soper Voices From the Killing Jar
- Tyshawn Sorey Alloy
- Aki Takase / Alexander von Schlippenbach So Long, Eric! Homage to Eric Dolphy
- Volger Quartett / Marcelo Nisinman Señor Tango
Occasionally, a record comes along that is so exciting, so much fun, so utterly unexpected that one wants to use whatever avenues open to them – radio, reviews, end-of-year lists – to tell people about it. U as in Utah by minimalist improviser Utah Kawasaki on synthesizer alongside the disjointed songs of the duo ju sei is, for me, one such album. It's a wonderful, inexplicable, odd, psychedelic, funny, childlike, schizophrenic double disc set released by Ftarri/Meenna in an edition of 500. The other discs listed here are worthy as well, but that one is, well, something else.
Jason Gross
- Sleaford Mods Austerity Dogs
- tUnE-yArDs Nikki Nack
- Bruce Springsteen High Hopes
- Bleeding Rainbow Interrupt
- Marianne Faithfull Give My Love To London
- Jack White Lazaretto
- Amy Ray Goodnight Tender
- Mayday! and Murs ¡MursDay!
- Gordon Voidwell Bad Etudes
- Charli XCX Sucker
- Sugar Stems Only Come Out At Night
- Old 97's Most Messed Up
- Gold-Bears Dalliance
- Tweens Tweens
- Clouds Boys On E. Terriers
- Major Lazer Apocalypse Soon
- Honeyblood Honeyblood
- Eagulls Eagulls
- Beach Day Native Echoes
- 18+ Trust
See my full list of albums/singles/reissues at the Ye Wei blog
left to right: Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions, David Krauker, Karen O, Psyche Bugyo, Swan DiveEdd Hurt
- Linda Perhacs The Soul of All Natural Things
- Steve Gunn Way Out Weather
- Troker Crimen Sonoro
- Captain Beefheart Sun Zoom Spark
- Swan Dive Soundtrack to Me and You
Whatever Gunn was singing about, it didn't register, except as mood, necessary verbalization to round out the edges on a gorgeous guitar album--post-post rock, or maybe just a record by a guy who likes the Allman Brothers and the Dead.
Kris Needs
- Various Artists The Rise And Fall Of Paramount Recordings Volume Two (1928-1932)
- Magma Kohntarkosz (and others)
- Sun Ra Marshall Allen Presents Sun Ra and his Arkestra In The Orbit Of Ra (and iTunes reissues)
- Various Artists Acid Thunder: More Definitive and Original Acid and Deep House 1985-1991
- Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Your Funeral My Trial (and others)
- Loren Connors My Brooklyn
- Jake Xerces Fussell Jake Xerces Fussell
- White Hills Glitter Glamour and Atrocity
- Peter Hammill All That Might Have Been
- Miriam Nobodys Baby
- Robert Hood M-Print: 20 years Of M-Plant Music
- Various Artists Axels & Sockets; The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Project sessions Volume 4
- Various Enter. Ibiza2014
- Hardkiss 1991
- Captain Beefheart Sun Zoom Spark
- The United States Of America The United States Of America
- Love Love Songs
- Drexciya Neptune's Lair
- Jeremy Gluck Memory Deluxe: I Knew Buffalo Bill 2
- Velvet Underground Velvet Underground
2014 seemed to be the year of the reissue; whether big, small, fascinating or major labels squeezing last drops from the udders of the deluxe CD concept. Then along swelled a vinyl come-back, providing a fresh format in which to revisit back cata-logues. Personally, I relished no longer feeling like some dod-dery old museum curator poring over my 30,000 records and loved having my battered old Magma and Nick Cave originals replaced by spanking new 180 gram remasterings. While this remarketing of classics swelled from a trickle to a torrent, it was also fantastic to see the reissue concept taken to new heights of extravagance and care. The Third Man/Revenant cabinet containing over 800 songs from the Paramount catalogue was out of reach for most but established a new template for preserving vital music. It was also amazing to receive the first fruits of the Sun Ra reissue campaign on iTunes. I usually shun digital music but this was such a painstakingly gorgeous project it transcended earthly constraints. No doubt 2015 will see many more lavish reissues, saving the music industry. Here's 20 but I have to add the techno 12-inch also played host to a welter of storming treats by fresh new producers and old hands. Happy new year!
James Paton
- Scott Walker & Sunn O)) Soused
- Aphex Twin Syro
- And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead IX
- The Brian Jonestown Massacre Revelations
- Tears For Fears Songs From the Big Chair (Bluray Pure Audio)
- Tori Amos Unrepentant Geraldines
- Manic Street Preachers Futurology
- Thurston Moore The Best Day
- Thom Yorke Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
- Philip Selway Weatherhouse
Marc Phillips
- Lars Jakob Rudford Ensemble Clockwork
- Sunn O))) and Scott Walker Soused
- Ingvild Koksvik Nattapent
- Bjorn Bolstad Skjelbred Waves and Interruptions
- Swans To Be Kind
- Leonard Cohen Popular Problems
- Lucinda Williams Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
- The Black Keys Turn Blue
- Beck Morning Phase
- Devin Sinha The Seventh Season
Brett Stevens
- Blaspherian Demos
- Blood Urn …of Gory Sorcery and Death
- Cenotaph Riding Our Black Oceans
- Conquering Dystopia Conquering Dystopia
- Dead Congregation Promulgation of the Fall
- Demilich 20th Adversary of Emptiness
- Desecresy Chasmic Transcendence
- Enthroned Sovereigns
- Entrench Violent Procreation
- Heresiarch Wælwulf
- Kever Eon of Cycling Death
- Massacra Enjoy the Violence
- Massacra Final Holocaust
- Massacra Day of the Massacra
- Nausea Condemned to the System
- Nunslaughter Angelic Dread
- Oppression Sociopathie & Gloire
- Personal Device Microorganismos del Mal
- Ripper Raising the Corpse
- Sorcier Des Glaces Ritual Of The End
- Varathron Untrodden Corridors Of Hades
- Witchblood Hail to Lyderhorn
- Woodtemple Forgotten Pride
- Sammath Godless Arrogance
These are "underground metal" albums because everything that has come since has been an impostor, using rock/late-punk style songwriting with metal riffs or shamelessly ripping off hip-hop with nu-metal. If you want a metal experience that is both intense and artistic, this is the thinking person's list for 2014.
Mark S. Tucker
- Kevin Kastning/Carl Clements Watercolor Sky
- Rob Derke & NY Jazz Quartet Blue Divide
- Batdorf & Rodney Portfolio
- Bernie Pearl Take Your Time
- The Pop Group We are Time
- The Move Live at the Fillmore 1969
- Magma Zuhn Wohl Unsai: Live 1974
- The Carnivaleros Strictly Tabu
- Chris & Gileah Chris and Gileah
- Davina & The Vagabonds Sunshine
- Volga Kumushki Pjut
- Harri Kuusijarvi Koutus Koutus
- B.B. King The Life of Riley
- Adam Meckler Orchestra When the Clouds Look Like This
- Grant Peeples & The Peeples Republic Punishing the Myth
- William Sussman Octet Ensemble Scatter My Ashes
- Steve Khan Subtext
- Jordan de la Sierra Gymnosphere: Song of the Rose / Music for the Well-Tuned Piano
- Adrian Raso & Fanfare Ciocarlia Devil's Tale
I can't recall ever naming a disc #1, but Kastning & Clements' Watercolor Sky blew me so deliriously sideways that it's the first to cop the honor. The rest come in no serial or magnitudinal order. My list doesn't take into account anything outside my review work for the year: now the most prolific critic in America, I hadn't a moment of time outside those labors. Three of my selections are re-releases, two are time-lost newly discovered live gems, one is a DVD, the rest are CDs. If, like me, you're feeling a jones for humorous music, check out Petit Bisous; highly enjoyable. If you dig great rock docs, look into the Sexy Intellectual label and its DVDs. Should you hunger for killer South of the border fare, ya can't do better than the Zoho imprint. If, like me, you're a progficionado, then good luck to ya! Prog ain't dead, it just smells funny, the business side so filled with clowns and jackanapes that the best stuff is now indie and almost completely unknown. Maybe 2015 will be better…….but don't hold yer breath.
Kurt Wildermuth
- Bob Dylan Bootleg Series, Vol. 11: The Complete Basement Tapes
- Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Broadway production with Neil Patrick Harris, 7/31
- Metallica - live at Glastonbury, as briefly available in HD on YouTube
- Replacements - live at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, 9/19
- Rufus Wainwright - live at Town Hall, 4/16
- Venetian Snares My Love Is a Bulldozer
left to right: Nausea, the Pop Group, Philip Selway, Lucinda Williams, Venetian Snares
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