Top Albums of 2014 – Part 2

And here are my top ten favorite albums of 2014!

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10 – St. Vincent – St. Vincent

Annie Clark has finally ascended to the top of the world. This album is her craziest and probably best yet. Awesome arrangements, demented lyrics and beautiful vocal work.

9 – Waterdeep – Waterdeep

 

I’ve been following this band for 16 years now. This year they put together a Kickstarter campaign to produce this double album – half Don songs and half Lori songs. It’s a sprawling work that’s clearly been a labor of love. They’re making the songs just how they want them and it’s a joy to hear.

 

8 – TV on the Radio – Seeds

TVOTR has been off the grid for awhile, but they stormed back with “Seeds” this year. It’s a great collection of classic TVOTR sounds. After a few listens, it’s not quite as good as “Dear Science”, but not many things are.

7 – Jenny Lewis – The Voyager

Jenny Lewis has been involved in a lot of awesome projects over the years. Here she’s all on her own and sounds confident in herself to pull it off. And her confidence has paid off with a very, very good album.

6 – Phantogram – Voices

Phantogram only has two members, but their sound is big and complex. There are some legitimately awesome songs on this record and I found myself listening to it a lot during walks.

5 – The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream

This band has been around for a few years now, but this album may eventually be regarded as their master work. It’s a sprawling and lush collection of melancholy tunes that unfold slowly and pull the listener in.

4 – Damien Rice – My Favorite Faded Fantasy

Where has Damien Rice been the last 8 years? Who knows. What I do know is that he hasn’t lost a step. With more songs about broken hearts, unrequited love, self-doubt, etc, Rice has grown older but still wrestles with the same stuff. I hope it’s not 8 more years before we hear from him again.

3 – Spoon – They Want My Soul

Man, Spoon really knows how to make music. They just hit this one out of the park. They have a signature sound, but I feel like they jacked around with it a bit more on this album than on their last couple. “Inside Out” is one of my favorite songs of the year.

2 – Jeremy Messersmith – Heart Murmurs

Local guy makes good! Messersmith put together this awesome album of songs that many are calling “new classics”. With every listen a new turn of phrase will catch my year and a new chord progression will tap my foot. We played “Tourniquet” at our church this year and had a ball learning it. Great job, Jeremy!

1 – Beck – Morning Phase

My favorite Beck album is “Sea Change”. I love the Nick Drake-esque nature of the stripped down acoustic format. Sure, Beck is great at ramshackle rock, but his grasp of the folk style is underrated. So when he returned to this style for “Morning Phase” I was all in. This is an awesome album and I’ve probably played it more than any other complete album this year.

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Again, am I missing something from my list that you think should be there? Let me know in the comments. I love giving new music a chance!

2015 is already shaping up to be a great year for music with a front-loaded release calendar featuring the likes of The Decemberists and even Modest Mouse! I can’t wait!

Top Albums of 2014 – Part 1

As is tradition, I’m putting out a list of my top albums of 2014. My music consumption has changed a lot in the last few years. I have kids now and way less free time. Plus, I have a second job as a worship music leader at our church, so listening to music has a flavor of work to it now as I search for songs to play each week. Still, I found a number of new albums from this year that struck me and that I’ve played repeatedly throughout the year. I’m not going to dive into big analysis on very many of these, but they are all worth seeking out and giving a listen to.

Did I miss something that you loved from 2014? Please leave me a comment and let me know!

Here are my top 25 albums of 2014, starting with…

25 – Ben Howard – I Forget Where We Were

Another good album from this rising folk-rock star.

24 – Warpaint – Warpaint

A new-to-me band that definitely has potential.

23 – Hammock – The Sleepover Series: Part 2

One of my favorite bands. This album is part of a series of beat-less albums, very ambient. Perfect for reading and sleeping.

22 – Sun Kil Moon – Benji

Not my favorite Sun Kil Moon album, but still pretty good.

21 – Tweedy – Sukierae

Jeff Tweedy and his son made an album together (awww!). It’s quite different that a Wilco album, but it has it’s moments.

20 – Royal Blood – Royal Blood

Every now and then I want some loud rock ‘n roll music. This band delivers it. They’re basically the heir-apparent to Wolfmother.

19 – Interpol – El Pintor

Interpol as a band hasn’t evolved much, but they’re still unique. This album is more somber rock and it does the job.

18 – Copeland – Ixora

Copeland reunited this year and did a kickstarter campaign for a new album. It’s note quite on the level of their early work, but still quite good.

17 – Trampled by Turtles – Wild Animals

Hooray for local music! TbT has gotten some national attention recently and it’s easy to see why.

16 – Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright in The End

I haven’t liked much Weezer lately, but this album has some really good jams on it.

15 – The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers

“The NP” (as my wife insists I call them) have put together another great album after being rumored to have broken up for good. Will it be their last?! (No.)

14 – Lykke Li – I Never Learn

Another arresting album from Lykke Li. Great voice and lovely songs here.

13 – Stars – No One is Lost

I’m still waiting for Stars to get back to the level of “Heart” and “Set Yourselves on Fire”. Maybe they never will, but this album is still a fun ride.

12 – Marketa Irglova – Muna

The Swell Season is no more, but Marketa is still making music. Her charm and lilting voice really deliver on this album.

11 – Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes

Yeah, Thom went and did another surprise release this year. I think this one’s a grower and repeated listenings will endear it to me even more, but I just love most everything Yorke does.

Top Ten coming up next!

 

Top Films of 2014

Before I had kids my wife and I would see movies much more often. On a whim after work, we would say, “Let’s go to dinner and a movie tonight! Why not?” Now, those spur of the moment outings never happen. Dates like that need to be planned out ahead of time and sometimes we skip the movie in favor of a Target run. However, my two boys are now 3 and 5 and getting away is slowing getting easier. In fact, they are now old enough to mostly sit through a kids movie in the theater (which was impossible last year). So I’ve seen more movies in the theater this year than in the last 5  years, easy. So I thought I’d put together a short list of some of my favorites.

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Before we get into that, here are a few I haven’t been able to catch yet that I’m pretty sure would make my list if I’d seen them.

Interstellar

I’m a bit ashamed that I haven’t made it out to see this one yet. I’m a huge Christopher Nolan fan and this looks awesome.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

The first film of the rebooted franchise was so surprisingly good. I’m very interested to see where they take it in this new installment.

Boyhood

I’m fascinated by the concept and the patience it took to pull off this film. Richard Linklater is occasionally brilliant too. And now that the film is landing on lots of year-end lists, I want to see it all the more.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

Reviews are decidedly mixed, but I love Middle Earth and have enjoyed these Hobbit films even if they have been over-long and a bit campy at times.

Edge of Tomorrow

So many people have recommended this one to me. Seeing Tom Cruise cast in it gave me pause, but I’m definitely going to give this one a view soon.

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Like I mentioned, I saw a few kid’s movies this year that were quite good. Here are my 3 favorite kids movies:

1. The Lego Movie

This movie had no business (get it?) being good and yet everything about it was awesome (okay, I’ll stop). I love the zaniness, the creativity and the surprise twist of an ending. It helped that my boys fell in love with it too and that they become much more interested in Lego after watching it.

2. How to Train Your Dragon 2

I took the boys to see this one in the theater when my wife was out of town for a weekend. Yikes, I wasn’t prepared for how “grown up” the story would be. The boys loved it, but there was a lot of peril and even death to talk through with them. What I like about this franchise is how they’ve done a lot of world-building and character development. They aren’t afraid to flex a bit and make these more than just kids movies.

3. Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Another surprisingly great movie. Taking the bit characters from Rocky and Bullwinkle, this movie spins out a story about fatherhood, responsibility and family. It has some of the Lego Movie zaniness and some of that How to Train Your Dragon grounding too. Pretty fun.

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And now my top 5 films of the year!

5. X-Men: Days of Future Past

When I read that the new X-Men movie would somehow combine the two film series from last 10 years, I worried instantly that it would be too bloated and messy. Somehow, they kept the focus where it should have been and built a complex story about violence, slippery slopes and consequences. It was actually pretty masterful. Taking some queues from the super-successful Marvel Studios series, they also injected some welcome humor into the story. And you can’t go wrong with the A-List cast they’ve assembled for this series.

4. Godzilla

America has tried to make a Godzilla movie before and failed miserably. This time around, with the right guys behind it, they knocked it out of the park. This film is visually stunning, perfectly constructed and unafraid to break the rules a bit. Like Pacific Rim before it, this movie doesn’t fall into the Michael Bay / Transformers trap of just filming explosions and filling in the story later. It’s well though out, realistically presented and lots of fun.

3. Captain America: The Winter Solider

When I saw this one in the theater, I came out believing this was the best Marvel movie yet. The powers that be decided to really throw a wrench into the universe they had built and use the Captain America character to drive things. They shook up the formula big time and it paid off in a big way. The tone of the film was reminiscent of 70’s conspiracy thrillers and the fight scenes were amazing throughout. The big takeaway is that Marvel is changing how they operate and keeping audiences interested in the process.

2. The Grand Budapest Hotel

My top films are action-heavy, but I unashamedly love Wes Anderson. I love his style, his wit and his writing. With his newest film, took us to Eastern Europe just before World War II and spun a large story about a hotel and the employees and guests who occupy it. I see it as a telescoping story about love, loneliness and loyalty. The colors and settings pop like crazy in this film and it has a sweet sadness that has become a trademark of Anderson’s style. Repeated viewings are a must with this one.

1. Guardians of the Galaxy

Easily my favorite movie of the year. When this film was announced 2 years ago, people began talking about how this could very well be the first Marvel flop because it’s just too pie-in-the-sky to think that audiences will embrace all these obscure and goofy characters. And it could have been a flop if not for James Gunn’s direction, a fantastic script and spot-on casting. It’s an epic sci-fi action movie with all the trimmings, but with a core personality that you just don’t see anywhere else.  And the music, oh the music just makes it. This is just a perfect, fun movie and shows that people really will see a science fiction movie space movie if you make it well. And it shows that Marvel is the top dog in the movie business right now.

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Did I miss your favorite movie of the year? Let me know in the comments so I can add it to my viewing list!