Ben's Top 40 Albums of 2014 (Albums 11-01) - Page 5

Flame Beat Z000

Looks like I missed all the fun. Hey, there's a recap. You also did write-ups. I take a look at those later.

TV: I don't really watch TV anymore. Got bored of it. But, I did like Person of Interest, Workaholics, K&P, Justified, The Simpsons (Classic), Parks and Recreation, and Louie. Damn, your write-ups are good and full of excitements that I want to catch some of these. Though, I don't have HBO.

Album: It's interesting to look back at your precious album countdown. You listen to a lot of albums over the years and man, you got good stuff. You got good ones on this year's as well like Lana and Coldplay. Weezer is here too. Broken Bells, U2 (that iTunes mess tho.-well, at least now I know how the U2 album got into our iTunes playlist. I should've listen to it when I had the chance, but I didn't care during that time Wait, I check the iTunes playlist and I still have it. I guess my brother didn't get rid of it. Then, I will listen to it later. I want to check out Common's album. The Black Keys' album I must too, but liked the first two singles. I did not know Rancid still made music. Man, I'm slipping. I also should check for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers .I got to listen to Run the Jewels. There are in a good amount of Best ofs. Beck, Foo Fighters! I will read more of write-ups later. But impressive list so far. I may only listened to 6 albums in 2014, but I hope to be here for the top 11.

AshleeSimpsonFan

Foo Fighters

Bloomers

You called it! I had never heard of Wilko Johnson before. But the line below got me.

Quote:

Going Back Home is a tremendous album, all sleazy Pub Rock, upbeat, ramshackle

That's all I need to hear to be sold on something

Will definitely check out.

Love Run The Jewels and the dynamic duo of Killer Mike & El-P. They play well together. I did read your comment on my best of about thinking RTJ2 is not quite up to par with the first and I agree. I think it might have to do with the fact that 2 was designed to be an album, while 1 was just a freewheeling mixtape that allowed those two guys to just run loose. Killer Mike though, one of the best rappers and lyricists out there. That verse hits hard.

I don't know the albums from Ex Hex to Sloan unfortunately. I do own ****ed Up's David Comes to life though and like that one quite a bit. For some reason I just never got around to their new one. I do have to check out Nikki though, I have a feeling I'll fall in love.

I love Morning Phase and your thoughts on it were perfect. Are you sure you're not being paid off by General Mills? or maybe Kellogs and they're hiding their trail? Morning Phase is just about the perfect driving record, I could spend all day, driving around aimlessly listening to that one. It's a gorgeous album. Love that you mentioned Guero, I got some memories with that one.

Quote:

I wanted to give them a Three Stooges-style headsmack, and say “you numbskull! There’s a companion series airing at the same time that will help you do your job better!”

In my experience, that is a tough but fair way of handling life's problems. Funnily enough, I only saw Anderson Cooper interview the Foos about the documentary. It was like a documentary on the making of a documentary

Turtles, or Foos, all the way down I guess. But, 'Sonic Highways' is great. I just really want to watch the documentary.

Great descriptions! I cannot wait for the Top!

Dr. Spaceman

11. Blake Mills – Heigh Ho

I started my Wilko Johnson write-up by saying he was the greatest guitar player you have never heard of. I’ll modify that sentiment slightly here by saying Blake Mills is the greatest modern guitar player you have never heard of. Though you have almost certainly heard his work, as he’s a go-to session guy for Rick Rubin, T. Bone Burnett, Don Was, Danger Mouse, and is one of Fiona Apple’s closest creative partners (Apple’s last major tour was a show that had just the two of them performing together on stage). Say what you will for the content/song itself, but Mills’ slide-guitar work on Kid Rock’s “Born Free” elevates the song significantly (you can spot it most clearly at the 2:10 mark). For another well-known single he worked on, you’ve probably heard the Avett Brothers’ “Live and Die,” and his guitar work on that is also superb (you can hear it throughout, but 3:00 is when it comes most into focus). For a non-complete look at his various credits, go here and you will find out he has worked on many things you have heard over the years.

I have been an admirer of Mills’ work for a while now (want proof? Look at the #40, #39 and #37 write-ups of my 2012 Top 40 Albums list, where I lavish praise on Mills’ work on the Avett Brothers, Sara Watkins and Norah Jones albums), and have been patiently looking forward to a new solo album from him (he put out a DIY solo album called Break Mirrors in 2010). So 2014’s Heigh Ho was always one of my most anticipated albums of 2014, and I am so glad that it delivered. I knew right from the opening seconds of “If I’m Unworthy” that I was in for something special, the weird reverb-y guitar tone, and later on what i’m pretty sure is a Guitarrón solo from Mills. Heigh Ho is just such an amazing album sonically to listen to, as you hear sounds you can hardly grasp. A guitar can do that?!?! Mills is someone who is pushing the boundaries of what is expected. All this talk of his amazing technical prowess, he also has a very good singing voice, full of aching and you can hear the hurt in the songs he sings. Not all guitar players can also sing well, so he’s the total package.

Heigh Ho also proves how well-respected he is amongst his peers, as he has assembled quite the roster for this album: session drumming legend Jim Keltner, Don Was on bass, Jon Brion, Benmont Tench from The Heartbreakers, Mike Elizondo, Griffin Goldsmith from Dawes, and even his pal Fiona Apple make a guest appearance (on the heartbreaking duet “Don’t Tell Our Friends About Me,’ one of my top 10 singles of the year). But the star of the show is deservedly Mills, who plays multiple kinds of guitars on the record (even a Tiple!), and finally is able to share his songwriting/singing to a larger audience. For example, “Gold Coast Sinkin’” is one of my favourite songs of the year, an aural feast of inventive guitar work, but it’s also a really terrific song with evocative lyrics. I can’t say enough good things about Mills and Heigh Ho. I could also talk about the nearly 8 minute instrumental “Shed Your Head,” which builds to a very satisfying crescendo of superlative guitar work (and it’s not a riff fest! It builds very gradually). 2015 also promises to be a big year for Mills, as aside from his standard session guitar work with Rubin, Burnett, Was, etc, he also produced the much-anticipated sophomore album from The Alabama Shakes, which I suspect will cause a big stir once it’s released. If any of what I described about Mills’ work sounds the least bit appealing to you, please give it a shot. I know he’s not the most well-known artist on my list, which is why I felt the need to go the extra mile to give it a longer write-up. He’s the truth, and at only age 28, he has done so much incredible work already. I can’t wait to see where his career takes him, as i’ll be right there for whatever’s next.

Favourite Songs:
01. Don’t Tell Our Friends About Me with Fiona Apple
02. Gold Coast Sinkin’
03. If I’m Unworthy

10. Jenny Lewis – The Voyager

Jenny Lewis returned in 2014 after a long hiatus and rightfully took claim to what was hers. “Oh, you call this good music? Let me show you dopes some really good breezy ‘70s-inspired pop/rock! I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive!” Of course she would never say that, I am just saying it for her. While it might be a bit early to say this, The Voyager might be my favourite Jenny Lewis-related album ever. Working with the great Ryan Adams & Mike Viola on the majority of the album (with the exception being highlight “Just One of the Guys,” which was produced by Beck, as well as “Head Underwater” and “You Can’t Outrun Them” produced by Lewis and Jonathan Rice), the album does such a good job of combining some of Lewis’ most heartfelt and raw lyrics over the backdrop of ‘70s AM Gold, which is a sensational combo. Lewis, in the intervening years while she was away, was dealing with some very serious issues, which I won’t talk about in detail here, as this amazing Spin story goes into detail about it all better than I could. What I love about Lewis is she could have easily made a mournful singer/songwriter record following all of her personal hardships, and it would have almost certainly have been amazing. Instead, she just recruited Adams & Viola, and turned her sorrowful experiences into ear-candy songs that could have been on the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Awesome Mix. That’s what makes The Voyager such a bullet-proof record: superficially you can enjoy it for the killer hooks/bright production flourishes, or you can just zero in on the powerful lyrics (“Just One of the Guys” is WOW. Some major truth-bombs). Listening to the full album as I type this write-up, I know i’m probably underrating it, as I can already sense i’ll be playing it for many years past 2014. I can’t recommend it enough, and only hope it leads to, a) a new Jenny Lewis album within the next couple years, b) more production work for Adams & Viola, the kings of throwback pop/rock.

Favourite Songs:
01. Just One of the Guys
02. The New You
03. She’s Not Me

09. D’Angelo and the Vanguard – Black Messiah

As Vato/Randy alluded to earlier in this thread, I have been anxiously awaiting a return from D’Angelo for the majority of my time as an ATRL member. Especially in the early/mid 00’s when I was fully ingrained in the Soulquarians’ work, as a message board member of okayplayer (Sorry for cheating on you, ATRL!). I have heard all of the D’Angelo stories, mostly from ?uestlove (one of my fav D’Angelo stories that Quest told on the Okayplayer board, in probably 05 or 06, was about how the highlight of D’Angelo’s career was getting on the cover of Jet Magazine. Not being all over MTV, Spin, Rolling Stone, etc. Jet Magazine), and was resigned to thinking that a new D’Angelo album was never coming. Questlove really was the keeper of D’Angelo’s legacy, as he was the guy who kept updating publications on the progress of this album (like when he dubbed it the black Smile), so it was very fitting when a tweet from Quest in December 2014 is what officially announced the album’s pending release. The night that Black Messiah was finally released was the same night I got together with many old school ATRL members (you know who you are!) to watch a stream of the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas show, so that night really felt like I was stepping into a mid ‘00s timewarp in the best possible way haha!

Now, in past year-ends, I tend to be against charting albums that come out in December on these lists, as I haven’t given myself the proper time to live with the record. But seeing as I wouldn’t be finishing this Top 40 Albums list until late January, I made an exception in this case. I still feel like I need wayyyy more time to live with it to give any sort of authoritative take on my feelings of the album. So if you’re thinking this is a low position for it, you’re probably right. My early thought is that I love that D’Angelo made an album that feels completely out of time from modern trends. This album could have been released as is in 2000 or 2001, and it would have felt of a piece with the time. I also love that a major 2014 R&B album features Pino Palladino so heavily, who just plays the bass like a fiend on this thing good golly. This is just such an amazing album, what else can you say? A lot of the time these “long in the works” albums don’t live up to the titanic expectations set on them, but with Black Messiah, D’Angelo proved all his doubters wrong. He was in the studio for a long time for good reason.

Favourite Songs:
01. Til It’s Done (Tutu)
02. Sugah Daddy
03. Really Love

08. Reigning Sound – Shattered

When we talk about the great songwriters in music, one name who should absolutely be in the mix is the genius Greg Cartwright. Cartwright, whether with obscene ‘90s garage punk greats Oblivians, The Compulsive Gamblers (“Two Thieves” is a downer masterpiece), The Parting Gifts (their album Strychnine Dandelion ranked at #40 in 2010) or his current main gig Reigning Sound, Cartwright is a master at writing songs that sound like standards, songs that have felt like they have always existed. Never has that been truer than on 2014’s Shattered, which is the first Cartwright album to not feature a wall of fuzz, as it was recorded at the famous Daptone Studio in Brooklyn. This is Cartwright as his most accessible, recording jukebox-ready gems that alternate between Nuggets-style rockers (“North Cackalacky Girl,” “You Did Wrong,” “My My”) and lovelorn ballads (“Never Coming Home,” “If You Gotta Leave”). Cartwright is such a giant at economical songwriting that describe the emotions of the situation perfectly (“Pictures in bibles can’t help us now, when your mind is an altar that’s bringing you down,” from “If You Gotta Leave” is an outstanding lyric). I am someone who thinks practically everything Cartwright has done is worth listening to, but if you need a good starting point, Shattered might be your best bet. In 2015, he is set to release the long anticipated second Parting Gifts album (his garage rock supergroup with Coco Hames from The Ettes), and I am very excited about it. As we all wait for that, I think i’m going to play Shattered a few dozen more times until then.

Favourite Songs:
01. If You Gotta Leave
02. My My
03. Never Coming Home

07. Little Big Town – Pain Killer

Prior to 2014, I didn’t have much to say about Little Big Town. I didn’t dislike them, by any means, but they never really did it for me. “Pontoon” was a silly song, and I didn’t give their last album Tornado a lot of attention (though I have since gone back to it and I quite like it). What brought my attention to the group was learning that Jay Joyce produced Pain Killer (as well as Tornado), as I was on a big Jay Joyce kick thanks to his work with Eric Church (i’ll have more to say about that in just a bit). Joyce’s work in the country format is so innovative, so boundary-pushing; he is without question my Producer of the Year. What he has done with Little Big Town is bring them closer to ‘70s vocal groups, like Fleetwood Mac, as opposed to the Lady Antebellum’s of the world, which they had previously gotten lumped with (which might also be why I never paid them much attention). LBT’s harmonies are just soooooo good, so it was very smart to put an emphasis on them. First single “Day Drinkin’,” which is built around the backdrop of a whistling marching band, is a great example of taking a subject that could seem trite, but the arrangement making it fresh. Many different kinds of genres are represented here, like the reggae-inspired “Pain Killer,” the ‘60s girl group-style “Girl Crush” (my #2 single of 2014), the hard-driving wild west riff “Faster Gun,” and the most bold song of them all “Stay All Night.” This is a song that I can just imagine LBT and Joyce laughing uproariously as they make it (in fact, you actually do hear them laugh a bit at the end), as this thing, good fucking gracious. Ear-candy on top of ear-candy, with blazing electric guitar solos, strange keyboard/synth sounds, and it is such a F.U. to the country establishment. It is even played up in the intro the song, which has a traditional country intro, and then once they sing “wishhhhhh weeeeeeee COULD STAY ALL NIGHT,” here comes this blast of funk and guitars (it also reminds me a bit of Eric Church’s “Cold One,” which Joyce also worked on). I hope they eventually release it as a single, as I think it could be a big crossover hit.

I have given lots of praise to Jay Joyce, so I feel wrong in not talking about Little Big Town themselves, as they are very talented. Karen Fairchild, as I said in my “Girl Crush” write-up, is one of the most underrated vocalists in any genre today. She sings with such crystal clarity, a complete force of nature. Kimberly Schlapman is no slouch either, and the two guys (Phillip Sweet and Jimi Westbrook) are also good, as well. They are a classic vocal group, with lots of chemistry, harmonies for days; it’s just such a blast to listen to them. This album hasn’t gotten a lot of attention outside of the modern country audience, and it’s a shame, as it is every bit as boundary pushing and exciting as the other country artists that non-country critics like to praise. If you are one of those people who just wait until some rock critic deems a country artist “acceptable” before you can listen to them, as you mostly like to condescend to music that is popular in the middle of the country, then you aren’t my kind of person, honestly. But if you are cool and open-minded to different kinds of music, then I would suggest you check out Little Big Town. They are only going to get more popular, and I really applaud the big steps they took with Pain Killer in stepping away from the pack of homogenous vocal ballad country groups.

Favourite Songs:
01. Girl Crush
02. Stay All Night
03. Quit Breaking Up with Me

06. Miranda Lambert – Platinum

One of the things I love about doing these Top 40 Albums lists over the years is you get to track an artist’s progress throughout. This is the third solo appearance from Lambert (she also made two appearances with Pistol Annies), and it is her highest position to date. The reason why I brought up the artist’s progress thing is because Lambert has really grown into a different artist since 2007 when she first charted. Back then, she was the outlaw, the outsider. But in 2014/2015, she is the establishment, one half of country music’s biggest power couple (sorry Tim & Faith), the artist who wins the most awards, gets the biggest hits. And she is only 31! Crazy how fast things change. But when I call her “the establishment,” that is not meant as a pejorative (clearly not, seeing as this is her highest position for an album). I think it is a wonderful thing, as I think women in country greatly look up to Miranda, and the “Children of Miranda Lambert” (I would throw in her two Pistol Annies bandmates Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley in there, as well as Brandy Clark, Kacey Musgraves, Sunny Sweeney, the women in Little Big Town, Kimberly Perry from The Band Perry, etc) are leading to a very artistically fertile period in contemporary country.

Platinum is an album by a professional at the top of her game, with so many wonderful songs. Though I must admit, part of the reason this album ranks just outside of the top five are the first two singles from the album “Automatic” and “Somethin’ Bad” with Carrie Underwood, which are by leaps and bounds the worst songs on the album. “Somethin’ Bad” in particular is such a wasted opportunity. I could not be more for its sentiment, of pushing the bros of country aside and kicking ass, and the pairing of Miranda and Carrie could almost be the Watch the Throne of lady country singers, it’s just too bad the song is so limp and forgettable. Oh well, at least all the other songs are fantastic! The first five songs on the album are tremendous, and then you’ve got the great “Bathroom Sink,” “Old Shit,” the amazing Tom T. Hall co-written western swing cover “All That’s Left” with The Time Jumpers (featuring DA GAWD Vince Gill), “Gravity is a Bitch”..... seriously, every song on here but the first two singles are superb. The Brandy Clark-co-written “Two Rings Shy” (typically clever songwriting from Ms. Clark), and also the great “Another Sunday in the South” (featuring one of my favourite choruses of the year: “Just another Sunday in the South. Wanna put on some Shenandoah and crank it loud.” I haven’t thought about Shenandoah in probably twenty years!). This is just a near-perfect modern country album, and I am so thrilled for Miranda’s success. Nobody deserves it more.

Favourite Songs:
01. Smokin’ and Drinkin’ featuring Little Big Town
02. Little Red Wagon
03. All That’s Left featuring The Time Jumpers

Dr. Spaceman

05. Angaleena Presley – American Middle Class

I wrote a paragraph about my thoughts on the title track from this album, when I ranked the song at #4 in my Top 10 Singles of 2014 list, so let me just post that again as a jumping off point:

"Ever since I first listened to and adored Pistol Annies’ 2011 album Hell on Hells, I have been looking forward to Angaleena Presley’s debut album. And boy, did it deliver! The title track from it opens powerfully with Angaleena’s own father Jimmy Presley recounting his beginnings, growing up in Harlan County, with his father being a coal miner, and then doing that himself. This then leads into Angaleena Presley’s chorus “Tear this poorhouse down when you know how to build it back, hammer and nail between your heart and your hometown ‘til you can carry this country on your back.” Powerful stuff, right? What offsets the subject matter a bit is that the song rocks with a killer riff, and Presley just singing the heck out of it. I’ll have more to say on the album as a whole later, but American Middle Class is the mission statement, songs about people she knew all her life who couldn’t afford much, went into the coal mines as they had no other option. Country music has always been acclaimed for talking about the human stories behind the songs, and there’s no better example this year than American Middle Class, both song and album."

That was December Ben, and now here’s Late January Ben taking the rest of it over.

In this very good 6 minute Making Of video on YouTube, you see how personal of a record this is to Presley. As she describes it (which I transcribed) the album is about “Where I came from, it’s about hard work, poverty, blessings, just everything that comes along with middle class struggle to get by and you count every single blessing because you appreciate it, because you know what hard times are like. It just paints a picture of that lifestyle, and this is a really personal record to me. I feel like i’ve lived every second, every note, every word that is on this record. I feel like it’s my story.” This is genuine, as she grew up in Beauty, Kentucky, which is a teeny tiny town. Presley is an artist in the grand tradition of Loretta Lynn, someone who has the stories and experiences and wants to share it with us through song. She is an amazing in-demand songwriter for many of country’s finest (just this year she co-wrote two stand-out tracks on Sunny Sweeney’s Provoked, including “You Don’t Know Your Husband”), and could probably make a decent living off of that. Instead, after a few years in the spotlight with her tremendous group Pistol Annies, she has finally struck out on her own, putting out tiny indie country album (put out by Saddle Creek Records, the same label that put out Brandy Clark’s 12 Stories, my #6 album of 2013) that she is in complete control of. As you can see in the making of video, she is very much in charge of the production/arrangements of the songs, and wrote/co-wrote all twelve songs on the album.

There are many highlights, including “Grocery Store” (a song she co-wrote with the great Lori McKenna, which has the chorus “everybody’s got something that they’re searching for. Tuesday night, standing in line at the grocery store”), “Dry County Blues,” (“Dry county blues, not a beer joint in sight, half the country’s laid off, laid up or getting high”) “Pain Pills” (“Pain pills, a little bit of hurt is surely going to kill a lot of good people in these here hills, lord won’t you save us from these old pain pills.”) These are songs about Serious Stuff, and the lyrics throughout paint such a vivid picture. It coheres perfectly, with each song naturally feeling like it comes from the same universe as the previous song. It might not be the hookiest country album you listen to this year, but lyrically it just might be the best.

Favourite Songs:
01. American Middle Class
02. Dry County Blues
03. Grocery Store

04. The Both – The Both

Ted Leo and Aimee Mann are two of my favourite artists ever with both having pretty strong track records over the years in my year-end (for Aimee Mann she ranked at #38 for 2008’s @#%&*! Smilers, and #3 for 2012’s Charmer, while Ted Leo and The Pharmacists also ranked at #3 for 2010’s The Brutalist Bricks). So the idea that they would be forming a group together was serious “Pinch Me/Dream Come True” kind of stuff. While the two became friends through Tom Scharpling’s The Best Show, the idea of forming a group came about in a pretty wonderful way. Here’s the origin story:

Quote:

"Walking along Milwaukee's riverfront between sound check and show time last year, Aimee and I were startled by a very disconcerting bronze statue of Arthur Fonzerelli, a.k.a. 'The Fonz,' a.k.a. 'The Bronze Fonz,'" Leo tells Rolling Stone. "In that very moment, we knew we had to start a band to immortalize it (more than a bronze statue already immortalizes something), and the Both was born.

Isn’t that the greatest band origin story you have ever heard?? That moment is immortalized even further through first single “Milwaukee,” which begins with Mann singing “We walked over the bridge in Milwaukee past the statues of Fonz and the duck, with the wind kicking in and the sparrows all running amok.” So good. What I also love about the song “Milwaukee” is that it has by far the catchiest chorus I have ever heard that also uses the word “nucleus” (“You can telllllllll, it’s the nucleus burning inside of the cell, it’s the nucleus burning inside of the cell”) Not an easy feat! Ted and Aimee are such a great pairing, as both bring out the best in each other. Ted is known for super complicated lyrics, while Aimee usually makes downtempo music. With The Both, you have Ted singing some of his most accessible lyrics to date, and Aimee rocking harder than she has in a long time. Every song on this album is superb, but a few of my favourites are “The Gambler,”, “Volunteers of America,” (my #7 single of 2014) and “No Sir” which is one of the greatest ballads either of them have ever done. There’s also “Bedtime Stories,” a song in tribute to the late Scott Miller (of The Loud Family), and even a cover of Thin Lizzy’s “Honesty is No Excuse,” a moment where Leo’s influence really comes through, as he has never been shy to talk about how much Thin Lizzy has influenced his own work. This is mature power-pop done to perfection. And when I say “mature,” I don’t mean that in a boring, staid way. I just mean two professionals who have been doing this for decades, who know exactly what they are doing.

Sidenote: while not on the album proper, they recorded a Christmas song called “Nothing Left to Do” (Let’s Make This Christmas Blue), which is a tremendous melancholy Christmas song that will become a new staple for my Christmas playlist.

Favourite Songs:
01. No Sir
02. Volunteers of America
03. The Gambler

03. Eric Church – The Outsiders

In Michael Sacks’ essential book And Here’s The Kicker, where he interviews many of the most renowned comedy writers, there’s one interview in the book in particular that has stuck with me since I first read it in 2009. In an interview with Robert Smigel (my all-time favourite comedy writer), the talk turns to his tenure at Saturday Night Live, and Sacks brings up that he interviewed Bob Odenkirk for the book, and Bob did not enjoy his time writing on SNL, and decided to model his and David Cross’ Mr. Show (the iconic HBO sketch series from 1995-1998) on what he perceived were limitations in SNL’s style. Smigel responded in such a brilliant way, and i’m going to transcribe this passage (from my own book!), as I feel it’s relevant:

Quote:

Robert Smigel: I have a lot of respect for alternative comedy, but it’s a different challenge to survive and get laughs on mainstream TV while still being hip and smart. It’s a lot more difficult to be a rebel in a sweater.

Michael Sacks: Meaning what exactly – that it’s more difficult to sneak subversive ideas into a mainstream show such as SNL?

Smigel: Yes. It’s incredibly satisfying to slip in something strange into the mainstream and have it work.

The idea of the “rebel in a sweater” is something I have brought up in discussions many times since then, usually in defending SNL, but the reason why I brought it up in this Eric Church write-up is because I feel he and producer Jay Joyce are doing the exact same thing in the confines of contemporary country music.

The first time the world heard new music from Church’s The Outsiders was this world premiere performance of the title track during the 2013 CMA Awards. For the non-country inclined, the CMA Awards are the equivalent to the Grammys (the ACM’s are the AMA equivalent), country music’s biggest night of the year. And Church decided that was the night he would unveil “The Outsiders,” a performance with AC/DC-style fireballs and a prog-rock style breakdown. If that isn’t being a “rebel in a sweater,” then I don’t know what is.

Church has worked with producer Jay Joyce over all four of his albums, but The Outsiders is the album that takes the most risks. Sure, there are a couple traditional contempo country songs (like the Luke Laird co-written “Talladega,” which is currently the #3 country song in America and is already the most successful single off of the album), but even “Give Me Back My Hometown” (my #3 single of 2014, which was also co-written by amazing hit-machine Luke Laird) has some weird production flourishes like the football stand-like “STOMP! CLAP’s” that appear later in the song. Very inventive. But then you’ve also got “Cold One,” which is unbelievable. The song is very good, but what sends it over the top are the weird funk-like HONK’s that appear in the chorus, the skipping, plus the country breakdown that subverts everything. This is weird stuff for modern country, and I love every bit of it. The great “Roller Coaster Ride” sounds almost like a Fiona Apple song in structure, the Dark Side/Devil, Devil combo wouldn’t feel out of a place on a metal album subject matter wise, and the super clever “The Joint,” which is built around a mournful trumpet part and a fun play-on words. This is a tremendous album to listen from beginning to end, which Church himself wants. As he said: “Anybody puts it on shuffle, I”ll come kill them myself. It’s made to be listened to start to finish. You start with 'The Outsiders,' you end with 'The Joint.'” Indeed.

As I said in my Little Big Town write-up, Jay Joyce is head-and-shoulders my pick for Producer of the Year. Tell me who did better and more boundary-pushing work this year? You can’t! I am sad I wasn’t able to see his The Outsiders tour (especially with openers like Dwight Yoakam and Brandy Clark! That’s my dream tour!), as I heard from my buddy Calvin “O” McHobbes what an amazing show it was. He is coming here in a couple months, with different openers, and I missed out on getting tickets for that as well

. Oh well. Point being, I appreciate how Eric Church and Jay Joyce are bringing the “rebel in a sweater” attitude to modern country, and if you haven’t listened to The Outsiders yet, you need to!

Favourite Songs:
01. Give Me Back My Hometown
02. Roller Coaster Ride
03. Cold One

02. Ty Segall – Manipulator

Since 2010, Ty Segall has appeared on all of my year-ends (2010’s Melted charted at #29, 2011’s Goodbye Bread charted at #11, all three of Ty Segall’s 2012 albums charted together at #1, and 2013 had Sleeper at #10 and his side band Fuzz at #11).He has become a bit of a staple, and I always look forward to what the year’s Ty Segall release will bring us. In 2014, it was Manipulator, the longest album he has made to date (56 minutes, which is especially long for a garage rock warrior like Segall) that expands on the psych/glam-rock influences from Sleeper into a larger artistic statement. Manipulator was also the longest it took Segall to make an album, at around 14 months to complete, which is insanely long for the prolific Segall, who often puts out 2-3 albums a year.

Segall worked on the album with arguably the greatest garage rock producer alive in Chris Woodhouse (who did the Ty Segall Band album, multiple Thee Oh Sees albums, among others), and brought along his frequent bandmates like Mikal Cronin (bass, string arrangements, backing vox), the great Emily Rose Epstein on drums, and Charles Moothart on guitar. But it’s really Segall’s show, as it often is, as he loads it up with his stellar guitar work and conceives of these ‘70s-inspired wonders. This is not my most compelling write-up, as again, i’ve been writing about Segall on a consistent basis since 2010. What’s the story of a Ty Segall album? “Oh, he’s still one of the most consistent forces in music, working at a rate that would put mid ‘00s Lil Wayne to shame?” I guess the story about Manipulator is that this is the longest Segall has worked on an album, and it shows, as there’s not a single dud on here. These are 17 wonders, inspired by David Bowie, T. Rex, the psych-y work of The Beatles (I saw someone on Twitter call this is the best Beatles album they never recorded, which sounds almost right. I’ll add onto the observation by saying it’s maybe the album the Beatles would have made if they continued into the ‘70s). Songs like “The Singer,” “Feel,” the twofer of “Susie Thumb” and “Don’t You Want To Know” (Sue), and really the whole album, are some of the best song he has ever recorded. It maybe doesn’t have the same fuzzy punk spirit of Melted, but my feeling is we have loads of material with Segall working in that style, so i’m fine with him evolving as an artist.

When I first listened to this album, after buying it at an indie record store the day it came out (August 26), I was certain this would be my #1 album of the year. It is a big leap for Segall as an artist, and there’s seriously not a single song I would remove from here. It is sequenced to perfection. But I also bought another album on August 26th at the record store that also was released that day........

Favourite Songs:
01. The Singer
02. Feel
03. The Clock

01. The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers

As I was saying.... On August 26th, I went into an indie record shop to buy two albums: Ty Segall's Manipulator and The New Pornographers' Brill Bruisers. I initially was bowled over by Manipulator (and I still am!) and thought it would be the easy candidate for my #1 album of the year, but then I started listening to Brill Bruisers. And wow.... Unbelievable! Really, in terms of what is #1 or #2, this might be the year this matters the least. The reason why Brill Bruisers is #1 on this list boils down to these reasons: 1) It is an easier album to replay/the songs are catchier, 2) I have written loads about Ty Segall over the years, 3) Ty Segall already had his shot at #1, with all his three 2012 releases. You know who was right behind Segall in 2012, at #2? A.C. Newman's Shut Down the Streets, AKA the solo album from the founder/leader of The New Pornographers. So yes, for those wondering when I would ever get to the precursor I hinted at in my Albums History, this is it. My top two in 2012 and 2014 are the same, except with the artists switched around! And I bought both albums on the same day, their release date! I did not plan this, truly. It was just a happy coincidence. If you guessed it correctly, you win a can of LAMO Inc. Baked Beans.

Let's go back to 2012 again, for just a moment. 2012 was a major year in my New Pornographers fandom, as Shut Down the Streets really connected with me. A very underrated album that not enough people have listened to, the subject matter of the album revolves around two major life events in Newman's life: the birth of his son and the death of his mother. So it was a very emotional period for Newman, and I really connected with that emotion, for personal reasons I won't get into. The songs were superb '70s-era pop gems, and I reconnected with my love with The New Pornographers. I have been a fan of theirs since Twin Cinema, which came out in 2005, though it didn't chart on my year-end that year due to me loving the album too late. Their next album, 2007's Challengers, I outright disliked for some weird reason. In my 2010 write-up on Together (which ranked at #20), I had softened my stance a bit by saying Challengers "just didn't connect with me." Now in 2015, i'll say that I am really enjoying the album as if it was brand new. It might not be my favourite New Pornographers album, but I said some really negative things about it that I regret now.

So here we are in 2015 (really 2014, timeline wise), and after the emotionally draining pop gem that was Shut Down the Streets, The New Pornographers have released Brill Bruisers, maybe the most overtly joyous album they have ever made. I have used the term "ear candy" a lot in this year-end, but really I should have been saving it up to talk about this album. This album should really be called Brill Bruisers: EAR CANDY. I feel like i'm in Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory as I listen to this album. A.C. Newman has always had a great reverence for '70s pop like ABBA and Jeff Lynne's ELO, and this might be the album where that sensibility comes out the most. I've quoted him multiple times already, but again Tom Scharpling had the best description for this album: "Picture AC Newman re-enacting the Drive soundtrack on an ABBA jag." That's exactly what it is!!

I value great lyrics a ton, and I have pointed out some of my favourites in the albums list this year. But what's great about The New Pornographers' lyrics is they are evocative, you can insert your own experiences into them. The songs are hard to decipher what they are actually "about," but that just means it is easier to place your own meaning on the words. When Dan Bejar sings about a "War on the East Coast" ("and I don't care, I don't care!!!") you can place your own meaning in there (I just think about a Braveheart-esque battle where Western Canada charges against Eastern Canada, which is a lovely visual). I also like how long-time New Pornographers member Kathryn Calder gets the biggest spotlight she has gotten to date on this album. She originally began as a fill-in for Neko Case on tour, but A.C. Newman wisely realized what a great talent she is in her own right, and has given her more and more to do with each album (on this album, it's "Another Drug Deal of the Heart," and the Bejar/Calder debut "Born with a Sound," two highlights).

There are so many stellar songs on here ("Dancehall Domine"! the title track! "Champions of Red Wine"! "You Tell Me Where"!), but my favourite of them all is "Backstairs," which might be my new all-time favourite New Pornographers song. The song begins with a very Jeff Lynne-inspired vocoder ("taking the backstairs, taking the backstairs, taking the backstairsssss"), followed by a heartfelt Carl Newman vocal ("Before I knew to choose the music of celebrity, I sang back-ups on the backstairs, the backstairs, the backstairs"), and then THE DRUMS KICK IN. A drumbeat that is a total deadringer for ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down," and then later the chorus ("THERE IS ANOTHER WEST YOU'LL FIND OUT, IT'S NEARLY THUNDEROUS, THERE IS ANOTHER WEST, MUCH WILDER, YOU FEEL IT UNDER US, AND YET ANOTHER WEST A NEW ONE WHEN YOU ARIIIIIIIIIIIVE"). I get goosebumps just typing it! It has such a booming beat, it truly is "thunderous," and in the breakdown there's Newman playing a MIDI POCKET PIANO! I don't want to describe the whole song (Neko Case singing "and I CAME, AND I SAW, AND I RAN AND I WON!"). ARE YOU KIDDING ME. What If I just talk in caps for the rest of the write-up? Again, I am very fond of the entire album. but "Backstairs" is something else entirely. This is Heavy Duty.

I guess with the amount of paragraphs I have typed you can see why this is my #1 favourite album of the year haha! Though I still hold that Ty Segall's Manipulator is very close to it, it's just that I haven't had the chance to write a long write-up about The New Pornos in a long time. It's been overdue! And it has also been overdue to give Newman, Case, Bejar, Calder, Kurt Dahle, Todd Fancey, John Collins, Blaine Thruier the #1 spot. I undervalued the band, and they have rewarded me with the most uplifing and inspiring album of 2014. This year-end will also always be a reminder that August 26, 2014 might be one of the most important album release days of my life, when two (likely) all-time favourite albums were released on the same day. Here's hoping something similar happens again in 2015 with two other albums.

Favourite Songs:
01. Backstairs
02. War on the East Coast
03. Champions of Red Wine

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I am DONE! Thank you to everyone for being so kind and writing such lovely comments. I really, truly appreciate all of them. I know i'm outside of the current ATRL scene, and only come back for year-end time, but i'm always pleased to see great new year-ends popping up all the time. From what i've seen, the new generation of ATRL is really quite nice and has really diverse taste. Sure, maybe i'm not all about the "stanning" and fanbase wars, but oh well (though to be fair, in my era we certainly had our share of fanbase wars with Britney vs. Christina fans, BSB vs. NSYNC, nu-metal vs. pop music, etc). For the most part, i'm impressed with what I see each year when I come back. And I will BE back later this year! I hope all of you have a wonderful rest of the year and I look forward to checking out all of the 2015 editions of your year-ends. It's been fun.

Top 40 Albums of 2014

TC

YES! I have some commenting to do, so let's get to it. I'm amazed at the number of albums that I didn't even know existed. You have once again given me so much to check out (#20, #19, #18, #17, #14, #11, #8, #5, #3). Now let me tackle the others:

I love Fucked Up! Just not as much as you do obviously, since they did not make my top 40 this year, haha. But you know me, I support CanCon more than any non-Can can. (Say that 5 times fast.) Nikki Lane!!! The best. Sloan is a damn good band. Really great reviews of Beck and Foos. I haven't been writing as long of reviews as I used to (my peak in terms of review length was 2010, I think), so it's good to read what I basically wanted to say but didn't put forth the effort you did. Jenny Lewis is the truth-bomb dot com. I didn't listen to D'Angelo's album until last week, I agree that it took me back to 2000! Little Big Town is great! I didn't like "Pontoon" either but I sure as hell loved "Tornado" and I should've given Pain Killer more than just a single listen. Same goes for Miranda's Platinum! Because I do really like her. I love that origin story of The Both; Aimee Mann and Ted Leo are living legends. Glad to see you representing Ty Segall as strongly as ever! And of course, New Pornos! I remember that misfire in 2007, haha. You really hated that album back then. I still think that compared to Twin Cinema it was a disappointment. But your review has showed me I need to get back into that band again. I like that you noted how uplifting and inspiring it was, and how that played a part in it being your #1 album of 2014. I said the same thing about my #1, Lights, so that's awesome. A mutual win for uplifting and inspiring music!

This is an incredible amount of (incredible) writing! Once again, I will encourage you to crosspost these reviews on another platform. I mean, ATRL is the original-and-forever home of all of this, but come on.

Thanks for taking the time to come back and post this! I latched onto your "top 40 albums" format in 2007 so I owe you basically the entire continued existence of my own reviews. This event would not be what it is without you, so I hope to see you on here every year until we stop listening to current music and/or die. On that happy note, farewell for now!

Flame Beat Z000

^ Or when ATRL goes out.

I goofed on my last comment about missing all the fun. That's line was suppose to be for someone's else Best of, but hey, I never good at noticing.

Top 11 albums!

11-I'm listening to If I'm Unworthy and man, he really does have great guitar skills mixed with epic mix of music and low-key vocals. I should check more of him soon and I gotta to pay attention to more on future songs.

10-I heard of Jenny Lewis, but not actually checked her music out. I will someday. This part -> “Oh, you call this good music? Let me show you dopes some really good breezy ‘70s-inspired pop/rock! I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive!” has me crackled!

9-D’Angelo's music is just incredible and melts my ears. I should check out his decade long await album. It's on a couple of Best ofs.

8- Interesting read.

7-I always liked Little Big Town so I will be sure to check out their album someday.

6- Aww, I liked Automatic, but I agree with you with Somethin' Bad. This means the album is worth listening to. Miranda has come far.

5- You convinced me to check this lady based on the hard work she did on this album.

4- Interesting origin story. Listening to No Sir and it's quite good and the guitars riffs is so damn amazing.

3-Don't worry, I will check out Eric's album. It's great that you give credit to producers like Jay Joyce to give the greater in-death you could write on your write-ups.

2- Ty is a regular on your albums list. I do like his music and I should listen to more of him.

1- Wheh! What a write-up! I like their music, but I haven't keep up with them. I will listen to more music from them.

Man, love that you put so much effort into these essays and you have incredible vocabulary that I wish I have so I can make my write-ups more credible and favorable. Can't believe you got the cardio to do these write-up each year. I would've burn out by now. I guess, that's why each year it is getting harder and slower to update my countdown. I'm glad that the Best of are a proud ATRL tradition so we meet new members each year, members that I don't see often anymore or members that I never seen before. my current favorites, and of course the classic members such as yourself. Yeah, I'm not all about that stan stuff either, but yeah I'm from 2009 where it all started since TRL is gone. Of course, any era there's bound to be fanbase wars. Your time seems interesting esp. the music that come with it and TRL's early years. I was like 5-6 when ATRL started and now, I'm 20 ready to be 21 this year. Had a good time and have a great 2015.

Bloomers

Dr. Spaceman,

I've had so much fun following this countdown. I have it bookmarked so I can go back and listen to a lot of the albums that I haven't heard yet. I mean, there's just so much gold, mellow or otherwise.

I'm excited to listen to the greatest modern guitarist I've never heard of (although, I know him now

) I took a listen to If I'm Unworthy while I was here and I had to pick myself up because it floored me, especially at the end. And Fiona Apple's on it. I'm sold.

I love how much overlap we have, and also you have stuff I've never heard of so I can go listen later. I know it will be good, because everything else is.

I mean, I have Ty's album (I even got it at an indie store like you did, his albums are hard to get) , Jenny's album, Little Big Town's album already, I just haven't had the chance toward the end of the year to sit with them and let them grow; but I've loved every one. "Day Drinking" in particular by Little Big Town, is one of the weirdest, in the best possible way, country singles.

Quote:

My early thought is that I love that D’Angelo made an album that feels completely out of time from modern trends. This album could have been released as is in 2000 or 2001, and it would have felt of a piece with the time. I also love that a major 2014 R&B album features Pino Palladino so heavily, who just plays the bass like a fiend on this thing good golly. This is just such an amazing album, what else can you say? A lot of the time these “long in the works” albums don’t live up to the titanic expectations set on them, but with Black Messiah, D’Angelo proved all his doubters wrong. He was in the studio for a long time for good reason.

Yes! Well said.

I could apply that to pretty much anything here though.

I've thoroughly enjoyed talking with you on here and reading your write-ups. I agree with TC up there that you should put up some reviews on another platform. I'm here for it

Already looking forward to following your Best Of at the end of this year!

Excellent Best Of

Couldn't resist

Vato

Wow, wasn't expecting D'Angelo on your list because you have a history of neglecting december releases but I'm glad you made an exception this time