Um, you guys, this blog is five years old now.

As is the new tradition, this is a collection of memorable singles, not full albums. The only complete albums on heavy rotation this year were The New Pornographers (ugh, that name, still so much hate), St. Vincent, Banks, Yonce, Azalea Banks and Childish Gambino.

I put Prince on here because he exists and we need to straight up recognize. Katy Perry because I was able to listen to "Dark Horse" for six months without feeling over it. And because Juicy J is featured which reminds me of that time I had to take a phone call from a parent excusing their child from school because he was at a Juicy J show the night before. Ms. Swift is not present because she is omnipresent and oh yeah, she continues to hate hate hate Spotify. (Hi Taylor.)

Albums I'm excited about on the horizon: New S-K! New Purity Ring! (another ugh name) See you guys in 2016.

P.S. Jason, the world has finally embraced Charli XCX. You are a pop soothsayer.

Yep, this was 2014

Once again I was too lazy to come up with a best of album list this year, dang.  This is not a list of the best tracks of 2014, but rather a list of some of my favorite songs from 2014… The songs are in no particular order, and the list is based on tracks available on Spotify (Yep, this was 2014).

Parkay Quarts – Content Nausea
Perfume Genius – My Body
Metronomy – I'm Aquarius
Dream Police – Hypnotized
Black Lips – Boys In The Wood
I LOVE MAKONNEN – Tuesday (feat. Drake)
Saturday, Monday – Headshake (feat Julia Spada)
Lust For Youth – Illume
Caribou – Can't Do Without You
FKA twigs – Two Weeks
Mr Twin Sister – Out of the Dark
Xeno & Oaklander – Sheen
Ought – Today More Than Any Other Day
Paws – Someone New
Slow Club – The Pieces
September Girls – Left Behind
TV On The Radio – Happy Idiot
Fear of Men – Waterfall
Amen Dunes – Splits Are Parted
The Coathangers – Merry Go Round
Girlpool – Blah Blah Blah
Eagulls – Fester / Blister
Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
Death From Above 1979 – Right On, Frankenstein!
Banks – You Should Know Where I’m Coming From

I should note that Parkay Quarts is not a typo... Though they share the same band members, Parkay Quarts is not the same band as Parquet Court.  Parkay Quarts is listed in Spotify as Parquet Court.  Also, I still don't know why Spotify doesn't contain the latest Ty Segall album Manipulator. It's not my favorite from 2014, but it’s awesome.

My favorite album from 2014 would have to be More Than Any Other Day by Ought.

I don't know why, but More Than Any Other Day is one of those albums that just gets me motivated.

 

BTW, for your animated gif pleasure one of my favorite bands, Future Islands.  They got a lot of press after they were on Letterman.

 

It’s mesmerizing isn't it?  I could watch it for hours.  There album singles was good but not one of their best:

 

 

The Rhythm of Corpus Christi is Gonna Get You

I drove to the coast over Thanksgiving because I am unable to celebrate a holiday unless I am near a large body of water. A heavily polluted one like the Hudson or the Charles. Love that dirty water, etc. So I'm driving down to Port Aransas, TX with Dr. Leonard Rubinstein and predictably scream-singing "Blank Space" every 15-20 minutes as it plays on the local pop, easy listening and dance stations respectively when suddenly I mash the scan button again and this song comes on:

What a fun and unexpected throw-back! Too obscure to be in any Clear Channel owned station rotation. I'm intrigued. Maybe 40 minutes of pure uncut New Jack Swing later without commercials and I realize the Z100 (and I guess Hot 97 at this point) of yesteryear lives on as 92.7 KBAY (Website last updated 20 years ago) and it's broadcast out of South Texas. You guys, I heard Nu Flavor. As I type this All Saints "Never Ever" is playing. Basically I found a portal to all of the delicious late 80s/90s B sides of our youth this Thanksgiving.