Ten Good Albums from 2014....................Yanoviak

1. Elephant – Sky Swimming

The biggest surprise of the year arrived in an inconspicuous card stock sleeve. It covers so much ground, but still remains coherent as an album. It’s not really about anything in particular, and its not abrasive or inaccessible, so everyone should just like it already.

2. PORCHES – Ronald Paris (Mdou Moctar Split) / Ronald Paris House / YAK Sessions

I really love PORCHES. The music keeps evolving, getting dancier and poppier, but the melancholy ranchero molasses still seeps through every now and then. Check out his Arthur Russell cover. If you’re like, “who’s Arthur Russell?” listen to his compilation Album Love is Overtaking Me.

3. Makthaverskan – II

Swedish Girl Band, really rocking the synth and F-bombs. Angst-y teenage heartbreak in a perfume bottle or Molotov cocktail. The album holds together really nicely.

4. Web of Sunsets – Room of Monsters

If you like Mazzy Star / Hope Sandoval check this out, it’s so dreamy and relaxing. mmm zzzz.

5. Dub Thompson - 9 Songs

The pop punk reggae of “No Time” is so refreshingly unlike The Police. Good album and even better when you learn they’re only like 19 years old.

6. Strand of Oaks – Heal

Take Springsteen vocals and Dinosaur Jr. guitars and combine them to make deeply personal, introspective and critical material, and you have Strand of Oaks. Still incredible poppy and universally satisfying. The cool thing about this album is that I think it can appeal to any type of music listener, from tube amp snobs to people who still think the Grammys mean anything.

7. Babes – Babes EP

They only released a 4 song EP but it was pretty damn good, be on the look out for more in the future.

8. Emerald Odyss – The Chaotic Neutral

Friend from back home. Really trippy rap album, sample heavy poetic violence. Recommend if you like MF Doom. The one thing that annoys me is that Chinedu (Emerald Odyss) frequently changes his pseudonym (a few times a year on average) thus killing his brand recognition. He currently raps under Rhetoric Wallace.

9. Frankie Cosmos - Zentropy

I don’t know if this album was her best, but the recording quality was and it helped to further launch her musical career. Greta Kline is known for being Kevin Kline’s daughter and her 50 some albums on bandcamp. Her live show was a disappointment because she mumbled and whispered all her songs, but none of her recordings will let you down.

10. Alex G – DSU

It’s so great to see an artist you love rise from the underground and still make incredible music even as they slowly sell out (not to dis selling out—if you can, you should). This year Alex G bought a car, toured Europe, and stopped binge drinking before shows so he can be a better person.