I'll try to find some time to do write-ups on as many as I can. Will bump the thread as they appear.

1. The Nuclears This Is How We Party



This is no ersatz garage rawk, and it's definitely not made by artsy dipshits slumming it out in the sloppy psyche revival. Nope, what we got here are some honest-to-jebus last remnants of the rock & roll true believers, mixing and matching every impulse they can remember from their dad's dusty elpee collection. A snatch of Thin Lizzy, some Delaney & Bonnie roadhouse R&B, some glam, some punk, some Americana, and a Beatles cover sitting in the middle of it all - and, look, I was as skeptical as you might be reading this, but if I judge an album by how many times I cue it up over the year, then this is #1 without even working up a sweat.

2. Spoon They Want My Soul



Spoon have been around long enough now that it's easy to take their art for granted. Like no other band since REM, they've somehow managed to gain popularity with each successive album while staying true to their original intent and, if anything, getting slightly weirder as they've progressed. I've heard this album blaring at the gym and through yuppie mansion windows, meaning the vengeance against Ron LaFitte is complete. A rare win for the good guys.

3. Ex Hex Rips



Shutting the door on her indie-prog past with Helium, Mary Timony here concentrates on playing songs that, in her words, she'd want to listen to. Well, me too, Mary. Funny how that basic 4/4 beat and some zippy pop melodies can feel so satisfying, ain't it? Now someone break the news to Marillion.

4. Nude Beach 77



At eighteen songs, this is a sprawling and overwhelming collection, and that's just the way I like it. This funnels everything Nude Beach suggested on their two previous albums into more conventional songcraft and slightly better production. Rough edges are still present, which comfortably obscures the glimmer of a Tom Petty album shining through from under the murk. The next one might tip the scales into gloss or rote journeyman product, but for now it's about aiming for the moon and almost touching the fucker.

5. Twin Peaks Wild Onion



Combining a probably harmful Lou Reed fixation with the ambition to equal the pop appeal of Lennon/McCartney is without doubt a doomed objective, but thank god these barely-twenty year olds are attempting it at all. The charms of their debut album were mostly buried under a dream pop pollution of a mix (or maybe that was the charm), but this time out they've allowed their rock & roll heart to be exposed. Like the Nude Beach album, this one is an uncontained sprawl, showing a band that's unafraid to commit to any idea that comes to 'em.

6. The Both The Both



I've been yawning over Aimee Mann albums since first falling head over heels for Whatever and I'm With Stupid back in the early 90s, and Ted Leo's recent offerings have been similarly lacking in excitement, so it was a pleasant surprise when their tag team operation known as the Both actually managed to take me back to, uh, both their glory eras. Leo lends Aimee a certain unpredictability (his guitar here recalls the inventive fun he was having back in the Tyranny of Distance days) and Aimee forcefits Leo into a more consistent abiding of genre (his typical forays into ska and punk and whaddayacallthat are awol), which gives the project a cohesive sound. The biggest surprise, though, is just how perfectly their voices fit together.

7. Little Jackie Queen of Prospect Park



After misfiring on the previous Made4tv, Imani Coppola returns to her Little Jackie guise and matches, maybe exceeds, the awesomeness that was The Stoop. Copping arrangements from 60s girl groups and marrying them to modern production touches is what Little Jackie does, and the success of the tactic depends entirely on the strength of the melodic hooks - and this album is loaded with 'em. The song "Sweet" by itself would be worthy of some kind of immortality, but "Lose It", "Oprah Winfrey", and "We Got It" stand shoulder-to-shoulder with that bit of pop perfection.

8. The Rich Hands Out Of My Head



Their 2012 debut claimed the Rich Hands as part of the ragged garage pop revival without really offering the suggestion that they could stand out from the pack. Well, Out Of My Head changes that perception. Part of it is in the songs, which are just all-around more solidly constructed, and part of it is in the production, which sounds loud and powerful, but most of it is in the growth of the band itself. The slow burn organ-driven drama of "No Harm Blues" would've been unthinkable two short years ago, but here it nestles in amid the vectors of 70s power pop, T.Rex glam, bubblegum punk and boozy Southern soul like it's as natural as breathing.

9. Happyness Weird Little Birthday



It feels somewhat wrong to like this album as much as I do, given that it veers evenly between paying note-perfect homage to Sparklehorse and offering slack idolatry to Pavement. Thing is, though, it sounds just perfectly off, either like a Sparklehorse album as played by Pavement, or a Pavement album as played by Mark Linkous, and attains a strange magic hour ambiance that just won't let me stop playing it.

10. The Jeanies The Jeanies



I'm helpless in the face of this one, which is one of those little-band-that-couldn't sorta deals. I mean, the poor sumbitches are already doomed, just by dint of picking the Plimsouls as their guardian angels. This is muscular power pop with faint R&B derivations, which is the stuff that couldn't get arrested even back when power pop had it's brief "My Sharona" moment in the sun, and it's a clutch of should-could-won't-be classics that deserve far more attention than the void of indifference that has met them so far.

11. The Breakdowns Rock 'n' Roller Skates
12. Chris Devotion & the Expectations Break Out
13. Needles//Pins Shamebirds
14. Nicole Atkins Slow Phaser
15. The Solicitors Blank Check
16. Fauna Flora Fauna Flora
17. Sugar Stems Only Come Out At Night
18. Ming City Rockers Ming City Rockers
19. Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
20. The Cry! Dangerous Game

21. The Soft White Sixties Get Right.
22. The Ricky C Quartet Recent Affairs
23. Reigning Sound Shattered
24. Cheap Cassettes All Anxious, All The Time
25. Ex Cops Daggers
26. Broncho Just Enough Hip To Be A Woman
27. Silver Sun A Lick And A Promise
28. Velociraptor Velociraptor
29. Steve Conte Steve Conte NYC
30. Motel Beds These Are The Days Gone By

31. Watts Flash of White Light
32. Sunrise Highway Windows
33. Jamie T Carry On The Grudge
34. New Swears Junkfood Forever, Bedtime Whatever
35. Linus of Hollywood Something Good
36. Brand New Hate Hangover and Over
37. Gramercy Arms The Seasons of Love
38. Dum Dum Girls Too True
39. The Number Ones #1's
40. Actual Water Call 4 Fun

41. Chains of Love L.P.
42. Sweet Apple Golden Age of Glitter
43. Phonograph Phonograph Vol. 1
44. The Grates Dream Team
45. The Men Tomorrow's Hits
46. Nick Waterhouse Holly
47. EMA The Future's Void
48. Split Squad Now Hear This
49. King Tuff Black Moon Spell
50. Melbourne Cans Moonlight Malaise

Nice.
Digging the list, Rads. Gonna have to check out The Nuclears.

Dammit, I keep meaning to pick up that Reigning Sound disc.

And speaking of Ex Hex, have you seen this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDf8Yk3S6QA ?

And I've heard that Ex Hex disc. Think I'll go listen to some Marillion.

New Little Jackie has me curious, and I'm mildly curious about the Nuclears since you usually hear a lot of the straight ahead rock stuff out in a given year so if it's topping your list, I'll probably enjoy it.

Not much overlap, of course, but I do like that Spoon album a lot. And I plan to on getting around to Ex Hex soon.

That album by The Men is OK, but I think this is the point where I part ways with them.

Sugar Stems was my #1.

Didn't know about the new Little Jackie. Will check that out soon.

I'm really glad that people are still posting lists. It's even more interesting to see people's favorites given how little music discussion there is on the board throughout the rest of the year. Not much in common this year other than Fauna Flora. I've been meaning to check out that Grammercy Arms album. I've only heard the song that Lloyd Cole and Joan Wasser sing on, but didn't much care for it. I should get around to giving the whole thing a listen though.

I thought you disliked Spoon for some reason. It's possible I wasn't paying attention much though. Glad to see them so high on your list...if I made a list it would be #1.

Yeah, it really is kind of interesting how much more diverse the lists have become with fewer people hanging around here on a regular basis. When people centralize, lots of us end up hearing the same stuff with little twists and additions. With everyone all splintered out, each list is reflecting a more individualistic take on things. A compiled master list would barely be worth messing with at this point with a couple hundred albums tied at one vote a piece.

Man, Rads, you fucking NAILED that writeup! EXACTLY how I feel about it - pleasantly surprised after some recent subpar efforts from each, keeping Leo on point, and most of all, the perfection of their voices together.

Great list, Radcliffe!
I need to track down your #1 as well as a few others. Also, we have a few that overlap. You're spot on describing the vibe of that Happyness record. It sounds like Josh Rouse fronting Sparklehorse.

I listened to these on Spotify and liked them both - especially The Rich Hands, which is really great. Thanks for the rec, Rads!

I didn't even know Cole appears on Gramercy Arms, but it totally makes sense that he would. And I'm pleasantly surprised by how satisfying the Fauna Flora album is. I think I like it even more than Pisapia's "Daydreams" reckid - it's more confident, less afraid of stepping into pure pop.

You must be confusing me with some other knob. My only disagreement with the Spoon acolytes is that I find "Kill The Moonlight" to be their least interesting album rather than their best.

I loved it when I first heard it, but over time it's middled out in their collection for me.

Best of 2014 Mix

1. Spoon - Do You
2. The Nuclears - I Can't Quite Say
3. Ex Hex - Waterfall
4. Nude Beach - I'm Not Like You
5. Twin Peaks - Mind Frame
6. The Breakdowns - Rock City Limit
7. Chris Devotion & the Expectations - If You Wanna Leave
8. Nicole Atkins - Cool People
9. Little Jackie - Sweet
10. The Rich Hands - I Get By
11. Needles//Pins - I'm a Drag
12. Reigning Sound - In My Dreams
13. The CRY - Seventeen
14. The Solicitors - Pretty Penny
15. Happyness - Great Minds Think Alike, All Brains Taste the Same
16. The Both - Volunteers of America
17. Fauna Flora - Happy Hour
18. The Jeanies - I Think You're The Wrong One
19. Sugar Stems - Sun Rise, Sea Change
20. Velociraptor - Robocop
21. The Soft White Sixties - Up To The Light
22. New Swears - Stay Gold
23. Ming City Rockers - Twist It
24. Silver Sun - Have a Good Time, All of the Time
25. The Cheap Cassettes - Black Vinyl!

On this we agree 100%.

I think KTM is neither their best nor worst album. I'd put it in the upper middle of their catalog.

I don't know if you're familiar with his first band which is still semi-active, "Joe, Marc's Brother" but they are powerpop through and through. Pop is really where Joe's roots are. Daydreams is a collection of songs that he'd written over many years that just didn't fit that band and that album and his work with K.D. Lang are more the exception than the rule. I too though was surprised by how much I like that Fauna Flora album. The arrangements and his vocal phrasings are really great. I still don't like it quite as much as Daydreams though. That's in part because Daydreams hits the bullseye of my sweetspot more closely and also because I think the highs are a bit higher on Daydreams and the lows on Fauna Flora are a little lower. If you were to remove the best and worst songs from both though and judge them of the remainder, it would be damn close and might just come down to my mood at the time.

Bummer. I had no idea this even existed.

This is How we Party is fucking horrible. That's not how anyone parties andrew F-. k .

That's why it's got the #1 spot.

Found the Ex Hex album to be very uneven, almost good song, bad song, good song, bad song.

Also not sure how a rip off Pavement band is your number 9.

Spoon was probably my top album of last year but I only heard 20 or so.