By my rough count, over the last twelve months I listened to 108 albums at least twice, faithfully watched 28 scripted TV shows, and while I only saw eight movies, seven of them will have high hopes come Oscar season. Being willing to take chances definitely paid dividends on all fronts. In all three categories, something unexpected jumped up and separated itself from all the noise at the middle of the pack.
I guess that what I'm trying to get at is these lists took a whole lot of time to put together. I think everything I'm about to discuss is quality. There were a lot of tough decisions to make. The rankings themselves are relatively fluid. I've tinkered with the order countless times over the past two weeks, so that doesn't matter quite as much as I'm implying by presenting the data in a list format. Just know that if something made the cut to be seen here, I consider it to be one of the best pieces in it's category for the entire year, regardless of the number it sits next to. Hopefully you give some of the items below a chance. If you do, I hope you find a new favorite.
And with that...
Top Albums of 2014
Honorable Mentions: Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All; Banks - Goddess; Ryan Adams - S/T; The Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt; Shakey Graves - And The War Came
This debut full length mixes acoustic folk sounds with some elements of country music (his voice occasionally picks up a twang). This is a guy to keep your eye on over the next few years.
A lot was made about how this record was recorded and the meaning behind all the songs. Despite the unique creation methods, it still comes out sounding like a Foo Fighters record, and that's not a bad thing.
Two years ago, I discovered Japandroids and dove in to their music. Cloud Nothings is the next logical step for any fans of theirs. This stuff sounds like Japandroids for grown ups, and that's not a slam on either band.
If Cloud Nothings is fast guitars and the feeling that you're overhyped on Red Bull, then Real Estate is the opposite of that. Atlas is the kind of record you should throw on when you're feeling a little lazy and just need to relax. Let the shimmery guitar parts take it from there.
The follow up to 2012's "Light Up Gold" is equally energetic and aggressive. The cadence of the vocals will take a little getting used to (like nearly every other band in the genre), but PC is one of the best punk acts around right now.
Seeds feels different than anything TVoTR put out previously. While I never gave the band the attention they deserved before this year, I was aware that they tragically lost a member a few years ago to cancer. This follow up record has pretty clear themes of surviving, coping, and moving forward after difficult situations, which unfortunately are things many of us are all too familiar with.
Even though I Can Make A Mess is one of roughly 20 "side projects" from Ace Enders, this record has similarities to many of The Early November's songs that made him famous. I'm a sucker for former emo kings releasing material under solo acoustic monikers (see the Matt Pryor selection in 2013...) but they became famous for a reason. Ace Enders is a great song writer, and this album brought out some of his best ideas in a decade.
This is the best record that The Hold Steady have made since Separation Sunday in 2005. To the shock of many, the aging rockers from Minnesota did the blue-collar story telling songs normally attributed to New Jersey groups even better than the boys in The Gaslight Anthem, hailing from New Brunswick.
"Home, Like Noplace Is There" was one of the biggest surprises of the year for me. On the surface, it sounds like a pretty straightforward pop-punk record. If you go a layer deeper, you get a story about an emotionally uneven narrator trying to survive the realization that growing up isn't always a pleasant experience.
Although everything about this record caught me slightly off guard (Yoko Ono on a track?) it all happened in a good way. Jack Antonoff is definitely more than the guitar player from Fun. at this point, as he just delivered one of the most complete albums of the year.
Clocking in at just under 20 minutes, the California pop-punk band delivers an album that wastes no time getting to the point. With ten super tidy songs, All Killer, No Filler may have been the best name for this release, but a lawyer probably stopped them from doing it.
Aaron West is not a real person, despite the all too real life problems he sings about throughout this whole album. The character, invented by Dan Campbell of the Wonder Years, sings such a structured tale that even if Aaron isn't real, you can't help but wonder if the story really is.
Out of nowhere, Damien Rice came back to the scene in 2014, years after most assumed he was gone forever. The music is slightly different after the departure of his female backup singer, but the quality is still very high. Don't expect any uplifting, inspirational songs here though.
Aggressive. That's not a word that most would have used to describe MO before this year. Most of their early offerings were softer and more melodic. With Cope, the sound is bursting through the speakers. Distorted guitars, erratic drum beats, and even a scream or two from Andy Hull make this one of the most pleasant listens of the year.
Lazaretto is the best record of the year. Every song is awesome. The music is flawless from front to back. The track list speeds you up, slows you down, gives adaptations of old standards, and creates a perfect showcase for one of the most talented musicians alive.
This dude is so good at the guitar, that he announced his new album by releasing an instrumental track. He's a rock star and he knows it.
Give this record a spin if you haven't.
Top Songs of 2014
50) Colony House - Silhouettes
49) Vance Joy - Georgia
48) Joyce Manor - Christmas Card
47) Dikembe - Even Bother
46) Eric Church - A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young
45) Sylvan Esso - Coffee
44) The Kooks - Bad Habit
43) Old Crow Medicine Show - Sweet Amarillo
42) Walk The Moon - Shut Up And Dance
41) Jake Bugg - The Odds
40) Skaters - Deadbolt
39) TV on the Radio - Ride
38) Banks - Brain
37) Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - Going to Georgia
36) Grizfolk - The Struggle
35) The Gaslight Anthem - Stay Vicious
34) Hozier - Someone New
33) Angels & Airwaves - The Wolfpack
32) Manchester Orchestra - Cope
31) Night Terrors of 1927 - When You Were Mine
30) Gary Clark Jr. - Catfish Blues (Live)
29) PHOX - Slow Motion
28) Chuck Ragan - Something May Catch Fire
27) St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Call Me
26) Counting Crows - Scarecrow
25) Sturgill Simpson - Turtles All The Way Down
24) Cloud Nothings - I'm Not Part of Me
23) Ryan Adams - Gimme Something Good
22) The Hotelier - Housebroken
21) First Aid Kit - My Silver Lining
20) Parquet Courts - Black & White
19) Phantogram - Black Out Days
18) I Can Make A Mess - Caterpillar
17) Sleeper Agent - Waves
16) Alt-J - Hunger of the Pine
15) Damien Rice - The Box
14) The Menzingers - I Don't Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore
13) Eric Church - Give Me Back My Hometown
12) Bleachers - Rollercoaster
11) The New Basement Tapes - Kansas City
10) The Hold Steady - Spinners
9) Manchester Orchestra - Top Notch
8) Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - Grapefruit
7) Foo Fighters - Something From Nothing
6) Real Estate - Talking Backwards
5) Shakey Graves - Dearly Departed
4) Jack White - Lazaretto
3) Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You)
2) Noah Gundersen - Ledges
1) Johnnyswim - Home
Please enjoy the Spotify playlist I made of all of the above (from #50-#1)...
Top TV Shows of 2014
10) Silicon Valley, HBO
Season one of Silicon Valley definitely took some time to find it's stride, but once it did, it was one of the most consistent 30 minutes on TV all year. More effort was put in to the dick joke in the season finale than most shows put in to their entire premise.
BEST EPISODE: Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency
9) Sonic Highways, HBO
When the Foo Fighters set out to write their new album, they were lacking a bit for motivation. The process felt stale. Enter Sonic Highways, the most ambitious project of the year. Dave Grohl & co spent a week in each of the most music driven cities in the country interviewing the most influential artists from each. Mostly, the TV series is just ten specific hour long documentaries, but if you have any interest in either the city or alternative rock's roots, you should definitely check it out.
BEST EPISODE: Chicago
8) About a Boy, NBC
Not much was expected from this rookie comedy. It didn't seem to have much going for it. It was simply a movie adaptation with no big name actors attached that seemed destined for NBC to cancel. Except it's actually good. David Walton (you'll likely recognize the face and not the name) has had many tough luck roles on sitcoms, but he nails this part. The kid is fantastic and the two work really well together. Bonus points for bringing Adrianne Palicki back to network TV. Double bonus points for letting her play an age appropriate character.
BEST EPISODE: About a Poker Night
7) True Detective, HBO
6) Parks & Recreation, NBC
Numbers six and seven need to be lumped together here, as both seasons had their peaks and valleys. Parks struggled early on to produce the same product under Chris Pratt's limited schedule and the loss of Robshida Jownes. By the end however, facing the uncertainty of cancellation by NBC, the show delivered one of the best series finale's in memory... only to get another season. No matter, the ending was perfect. Conversely, True Detective did literally everything right, until it was time to stick the landing. When the Yellow King and the mythical Carcosa were eventually presented to us, the ending just wasn't as satisfactory as everyone expected. The build up deserved more. The journey toward the end is worth it though, as True Detective gave us seven amazing hours of TV.
BEST EPISODE - True Detective: The Locked Room
BEST EPISODE - Parks & Recreation: Moving Up
5) Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO
Originally written off as a much more expensive knockoff of The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight quickly proved it was much more than that. John Oliver is hilarious. He also gets the upper hand on John Stewart by getting a week's worth of material to use for every show. This is nothing more than a fast paced variety show, but it's one worth watching. Touching on the biggest news of the week is great for people like me that don't watch the news regularly. He hits the high points, makes me laugh, and I can feel like I almost kinda learned something.
BEST EPISODE: June 1, 2014 (Net Neutrality)
4) You're The Worst, FX
Everyone has friends that are the worst types of people. Selfish, unreliable, materialistic people that need to torch everything in their path to feel like they have a purpose in life. Well, this show takes two of those people and makes them date. Throw in a crazy war veteran and slutty best friend on the side and hilarity ensues. The jokes make this show, but there's also a nice relatable human element to it. It's set in LA, but it's not all glitz and glamour. Actually it's none of that. It's refreshing.
BEST EPISODE: What Normal People Do
3) Fargo, FX
New rule: Billy Bob Thornton is in everything. Give him a gun and a bad attitude. He'll nail it. I promise. While this show shared very little in common with the Coen brothers' movie other than the setting and the tone, it felt like they could have happened within the same universe. I suppose that's the point. FX assembled an excellent ensemble cast and wrote a perfect storyline. Hopefully this show is recognized at the Emmys in a few weeks, despite opting in to the drama category rather than attacking the lesser miniseries opposition.
BEST EPISODE: Morton's Fork
2) Veep, HBO
I think most would agree that our government is a bit of a disaster at the moment, but let's hope it's not quite as bad as Veep makes it look. Hands down, this is the funniest show on TV. The amazing cast is given every chance to shine, except at their jobs where pretty much everyone is incompetent. Julia Louis-Dreyfus has another knockout role here, further cementing her as the best female comedic actress of the past two decades. If you don't watch this show, please start. Now.
BEST EPISODE: Special Relationship
1) Mad Men, AMC
Mad Men is the last of the prestige dramas left from the revival in the late 2000s, but that won't be the case for long. The powder keg that is Don Draper finally exploded and everything that the show was built on was hanging in the balance. Some of that instability seemed to be rectified throughout the seven episodes we saw, but I'm sure the last half of the season has many more twists and turns awaiting us. Long live the character driven drama that Don Draper and his associates have given us for seven years. I can't wait for the final one.
BEST EPISODE: Waterloo
Top Movies of 2014
Honorable Mention: Foxcatcher; Obvious Child
3) Chef
Jon Favreau wrote, directed, and starred in this comedy about a hot tempered Chef who loses his job and his family. What's he do next? He starts a food truck. I'll warn you not to watch this while you're hungry because the food all looks amazing.
2) The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gustave H is one of the most eccentric characters that Wes Anderson has ever put on screen, and that's saying something. This movie toed the line between comedy, drama, and adventure, even taking the directors signature diorama style in to the outdoors and across multiple countries. If you've never seen an Anderson film, this is a good place to start.
1) Whiplash
Terence Fletcher is a prick. But he's brilliant, so all of his students at a fictional Julliard are willing to put up with it. Fletcher's teaching philosophy is that you have to annoy a student, belittle him, move him to a place of anger, in order to activate something inside them that ultimately unlocks their full potential. If you have a desire to be the best at anything, Whiplash will show you just how far you may need to go to get there. It chews up and spits out our current societal feeling that everyone should be rewarded for small, insignificant victories. If you're an old school, practice makes perfect type, then I think you'll love this move. Oh, and the last scene? Yeah you've probably heard rumblings about it already. Let's just say that you won't know you're there until it's too late, but in reflection, it's absolutely as good as everyone says it is.
I hope everyone takes some time to try out a few of these recommendations. If anything really hits you and you want to tell me, feel free. If you think something blows and you want to criticize me, feel free. Here's putting a bow on 2014 and moving on. I'll see you next year.
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