2014 in Review- Music | Empty Bottle Evenings

Jan032015January 3, 2015December 13, 2015No Commentby Bake

Empty Bottle Evenings | Best of 2014

Posted in Music

Holy crap, another year gone and I can’t believe it. Wait a minute. I can totally believe it. God, that took forever. If there wasn’t enough music to distract me I would have jumped in the ocean twice. Once because I was done living and the second time because it was the kind of year where you just know nothing was going to work right the first time. BUT there was music indeed, and as The Mighty Mighty Bosstones have loudly proclaimed, we need it and it did uplift.

Last year as one of my first pieces for Empty Bottle Evenings I ran down all the music in 2013 before trying to come up with some of it that I actually liked. This year I’ll keep the observations of popular music to a minimum because no one wants to hear it and thankfully I didn’t pay as much attention to it this year. I am happy to say that I proudly have no opinion whatsoever about Nicki Minaj, Lorde, Onedirection, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran, or the Frozen Soundtrack. I don’t know if Kanye West did anything this year, but I’m sure if he rapped over the sound of Kim Kardashian taking a shit it would sell a billion copies and push him to self described emperor of the world status. I actually abstained from all hip hop this year, but it’s never too late. Also, our three regular readers don’t love hip hop too much anyway. Popular country still sucks and always will, but like the rest of the staff we’ve made it an unspoken mission to promote artists that uphold the formerly good name of country. Finally, this year in music would be incomplete without mentioning Tay Sway, my true love. It was her year without a doubt and I will not criticize her here because this one video gave my inexplicable joy throughout the year:

This was a great year for Empty Bottle Evenings, in my humble opinion, much better than the previous years in which we did not exist. I listened to maybe 40 something albums enough to write about and produced about 6 worthwhile entries so there is more than enough reason to pat myself on the back. But in this space it will all be about the actual music, so without further ado here are the albums on 2014 that I listened to and didn’t entirely hate. I love you.

*Disclaimer: These are my personal picks and do not reflect the thoughts of the rest of the staff. If they want to stop being lazy they can write their own damn picks.

Honorable Mention:

U2 | Songs of Innocence – Not bad for free!

Charlie Mars | The Money – A little too much like Jason Mraz, and a little….too much like Jason Mraz.

Anberlin | Lowborn – The end of a career that could have been so much more. Still some good hard rocking tunes here worth listening to though.

Lakes | Fire Ahead – Pretty good overall, but their last effort The Agreement is their real hidden gem.

Cymbals Eat Guitars | Lose – I like it. Their lead singer’s voice can be so grating I have to turn it off sometimes. But I like it. No, there’s nothing wrong with me.

Copeland | Ixora – It’s beautiful, truly, but…this band still puts me to sleep too much.

The Best

25) The Hotelier| Home, Like No Place is There – Seems to be what the kids are all loving these days. It’s not bad, but I can’t help but think I’m just a little too old for this band. However, they are from Worcester, MA so you should give them a chance for that reason if nothing else.

24) The New Pornographers | Brill Bruisers – Probably would be higher on the list if I gave it more listening time instead of focusing on…new porn.

23) Against Me |Transgender Dysphoria Blues – Easily the worst album of their carer, but it says a lot of about this band that their worst is still pretty decent. Also, it’s impossible to not give credit for creating music with such personal and underexposed subject matter and bringing it to a larger audience.

22) Joyce Manor | Never Hungover Again – It’s short and good. Someone told me to listen to it and before I realized I was listening to it, it was over. So I played it again. And then I just kept repeating that move. I’m still playing it until I realize I’m listening to it or that I don’t like it.

21) Twin Forks | Self Titled – Enough country fried pop and hand claps to remind me of one of my favorite albums of all time, The Format’s Interventions & Lullabies.

20) The Reverend Horton Heat | Rev – They’ve been playing the same music for 20 years and in no way is that depressing. Okay, well maybe a little.

19) Justin Townes Earle | Single Mothers – Another solid album from the one of my last hopes for country. It’s a little on the softer side and not as enjoyable as Harlem River Blues, but still, well, good.

18) Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers | Hypnotic Eye – With several of the bands above showing heavy Petty influences it’s easy to forget that he’s still putting out good music himself.

17) Sassparilla | Pasajero/Hullabaloo – Why do bands insist on the double album? Every damn time it can be cut down into ONE great album. This is no exception.

16) Taking Back Sunday | Happiness Is… – The most mature an emo band can sound without being boring. Their best work in several years… and dramatic lineup changes.

15) Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness | Self Titled – This sounds nothing like the music you would listen to in the wilderness. Actually it sounds like it would be more comfortable in a car or cell phone commercial. But if you’re feeling saucy and looking for some catchy, indie pop from the man behind Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate, this is your album.

14) Jenny Lewis | The Voyager – This album grew on me a lot since I reviewed it back in August. “She’s Not Me” which I described as Tegan & Sara in the 70s feels a bit more like Stevie Nicks now and there’s a couple real sexy guitar solos. I love it.

13) Young the Giant | Mind Over Matter – Proudly carrying the flag for whatever type of music Incubus made before Brandon Boyd fell in love with himself.

12) Conor Oberst | Upside Down Mountain – A solid folk-pop album with a healthy dose of pedal steel, and less Bright-Eyesy lyrics and instrumentation. Oberst keeps things more simple and it works.

11) The Foo Figthers | Sonic Highways – More ambitious in concept than sound, this album sounds pretty similar to most Foo Fighters albums. Which isn’t a bad thing, just not mind-blowing either.

10) Counting Crows | Somewhere Under Wonderland – It’s only 9 songs (no this is not a link to that film all about sex) but they are all at least “pretty good”. The best is “Dislocation”. Go listen to that right now.

9) The War on Drugs | Lost in the Dream – An accurate title for an extremely dreamy album. Sometimes I’m lost and loving it, while sometimes I’m confused what track I’m on, or if there are any difference between songs. Also, did I just take drugs? And that’s not just because of the name of the band. The name could be Zebras and I would still feel influenced to say this.

8) Rx Bandits| Gemini, Her Majesty – Could use a little of the Bandits ultra-politicized lyrics, but what the hell sometimes it’s better to stop thinking about how messed up the world is and listen to a band doing the old countdown like in the album’s closer “Future, Buddy”.

7) The Black Keys | Turn Blue – A disappointment compared to some of their early albums but the first track, “The Weight of Love” alone makes this worth listening to. And really the whole album will grown on you. Or it won’t I don’t even know who you are, but I sure like it. And what the hell, I like you too.

6) Lucero | Live From Atlanta – Typically a Live Album wouldn’t rank so high but some of these old Lucero songs are so much better live it’s like they are brand new. The horn section is incredible. Check out “All Sewn Up” which sounds pretty much like this live.

5) Weezer | Everything Will Be Alright in the End – What a Weezer album should sound like, delivered 15 years overdue. Not a bad song here. I’m truly impressed.

4) The Gaslight Anthem| Get Hurt – Add in a little more Tom Petty and Eddie Vedder, cut back on a little Springsteen, break up with your long term girlfriend, and you’ll get Get Hurt. Some of the bands best tracks but a few instances of filler bring down the album a few spots even for one of the their biggest fans.

3) Damien Rice| My Favourite Faded Fantasy – This borders that line between pretentious and genius more than any other album this year. But it doesn’t try to be intentionally weird, just a little grandiose if that make any sense. Still the arrangements of a few dozen instruments gives it a terrific full sound and “The Box” is one of my most listened to songs this year.

2) Chuck Ragan | Til Midnight – The Best Springsteen album of the year. His raspy voice belts out some of the best songs of the year. I have no idea why it took me so long to get into Ragan. He’s even been playing music with Gaslight’s Brian Fallon and Lucero’s Ben Nichols. And I missed it. I won’t fail you again. Buy this album or do whatever you do to listen to music and play Til Midnight.

1) Ryan Adams | Self Titled – I wrote about this when it came out and I continued to like it more and more with each listen. It’s a new sound for Adams, but an old sound, only a million times better. Hell, if it’s good enough to convince me to temporarily forgive the ’80s, it’s good enough to be number 1.