It’s time! My fourth-annual Best Songs of the Year list. Listen on Spotify of Rdio. It’s funny, this year is about 10 songs less than the last two years, but when I went back to the first year, that list was 10 less than this year, so clearly I had a couple years of intense music listening. AKA freelancing and having a studio where silence can Never Be. It took me a bit to get into a new groove of seeking out new music when I took my job six months ago (yeah, six months – where does the time go?) but I’ve finally figured it out, and I’m forever grateful for KCRW on my drives to work and dinner time listening. This year I become a monthly member as I realized how in debt I was to them. We are so lucky here in LA to have it on the radio and I happily chip in to keep it so.
Anyway! I say every year that it was a great year for music, and it was, but I will admit I think last year was better. Some really great albums came out, but some really meh albums came out with a few great songs (was bummed by the St. Vincent album as a whole), so I’m glad this is just a best songs list and not a best albums list. If I had to name my favorite albums of the year, they’d go to:
Wye Oak – Shriek
Cookies – Music For Touching
Beck – Morning Phase
Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
Future Islands – Singles
The War On Drugs – Lost in The Dream
Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso
Caribou – Our Love
People I’m most excited about right now are Moses Sumney – what a talent, I can’t wait for a full-length album from him. I saw him in the crowd at 3 shows I went to this year so we’re also obviously supposed to be BFFs, right? I’m also so excited about Perfume Genius. I don’t know if I’d put his album at the top of my list, but “Queen” is definitely in my top five favorite songs this year, and I find him such a fascinating performer. My favorite live shows this year were Nick Cave (life changing), Ariel Pink (not 100% on board with the new album but WHAT a show), Sylvan Esso, and Billy Joel. Yes, Billy Joel! My mom was in town and my uncle took us to see him at the Hollywood Bowl and I was like, meh ok do I even know Billy Joel songs? Yes, duh. So this brings me to my next point that while there was new music this year, I also got deep into classics I either hadn’t touched before or needed to revisit. It was the year of Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Elton John, Ann Peebles, and Janet Jackson. I listened to the classic rock station so much I’m working on a playlist to submit for their guest DJ series because I’m a huge dork.
I know, it’s time to move on. In no particular order besides a good ass flow, the best songs of 2014:
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