2014: High Notes

I covered a lot of ground in 2014 – from Rio to Wan Chai, Monaco to Niigata, and Salt Spring Island to Playa del Carmen. The best music of the year kept me moving and kept me from asking, “Are we there?” Here’s to enjoying the journey as much as the destination in 2015!

1. Sharon Van Etten: Are We There
The best thing I heard all year was this stately meditation on the follies of the heart. Song of the year for me – “Every Time the Sun Comes Up.”

2. Thee Silver Mount Zion: Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

Bono recently wrote, “Capitalism is not immoral, but it is amoral. It gets its instructions from us.” Clearly, arse-head hasn’t reckoned with the force of “Austerity Blues.” If “us” includes SMZ, he and his Davos privateers best watch their backs.

3. Real Estate: Atlas

First saw them at Coachella in 2012 and was summarily seduced by their sweet, summery pop. Earworm – “Talking Backwards.”

4. Katerine: Magnum

Philippe Katerine, a Gallic trickster, captures some of the worst of the 80s and makes it all seem worthwhile.

5. Mac DeMarco: Salad Days

Man-o-man, Mac is such a wingnut. And from Edmonton, oi!

6. Spoon: They Want My Soul

I continue to be mesmerized by the short-sharp-shock of überfunkster Britt Daniels and his Spooners. Their Ann-Margret cover is the coolest of year, btw.