Top 10 of 2014

10. Ought, More Than Any Other Day (Constellation)
Ought’s wheelhouse was built by David Byrne, Television, Jerry Seinfeld, Naomi Klein, and the editors of Adbusters. It’s a place I love to visit, full of epigrammatic lyrics, jagged guitar riffs, slogans that defy deep thinking, and simple songs about the stupidly complex nature of modern life. These are glorious songs about nothing, with lines like, “Today more than any other day I am excited to go grocery shopping. And today more than any other day I am prepared to make the decision between two percent and whole milk,” from the title track. These stories are so bland, why am I singing along so loud?

9. David Bowie, Nothing Has Changed (Legacy/Columbia)
This career-spanning survey covers an incredible amount of ground, displaying Bowie’s insatiable artistic ambition and his endless parade of costume changes. Luckily, it really is something special. Listening from beginning to end is a 50-year journey through time, evolution in reverse, a powerful reminder of David Bowie’s continued relevance, inspiration, and daring. This is five decades of music, stretching from 1964’s “Liza Jane” to the 2014 release of another song named after another girl, “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime).” Bowie’s making it clear that not even a 50-year retrospective should be taken as an indication that he’s done.

8. Future Islands on the Late Show with David Letterman
Have you seen this video? There’s a lesson here somewhere and I hope I can remember it.

7. Trash Talk, No Peace (Odd Future)
Plenty of teenagers are probably scaring their parents with this record. I’m no expert on hardcore, so I won’t try to evaluate where this sits in terms of the genre or the scene, but to my ears this is a band ready to crossover to a wider audience. This album earned its spot on my list by getting its growling melodies lodged in my brain. Hip-hop producer The Alchemist guests on the arresting instrumental opener, and the record is on Odd Future’s label. All that aside, this album kicks ass. You play this really loud when you’re anti-social and angry, when you want to bounce off the walls and let your neighbors and everybody else know that you just don’t give a fuck.

6. George Harrison, The Apple Years 1968–75 (Apple)
With this eight-disc set, you can hear just how far from The Beatles’ pop inclinations the quiet one, George Harrison, was willing to stray. Only John Lennon, in collaboration with Yoko Ono, ever released anything as self-indulgent as Electronic Sound. It rivals Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music for being unlistenable. One of two releases on The Beatles’ very short-lived Zapple label, it’s really just George playing around with a Moog and a couple of synthesizer modules.

Not everything in this set is great, but plenty of it is. The rest is fair-to-good, and it’s all interesting, especially in context. In addition to Electronic Sound, highlights include the extended version of All Things Must Pass and the mostly-instrumental Wonderwall Music. Each of the six albums has a few bonus tracks thrown in, like the superior demo version of “Dark Horse,” and there’s also a DVD of video footage from the period. The packaging and remastering were done with great care and I especially enjoy the basketball-like feel of the <i>Extra Texture</i> CD case. The design matches that of the decade-old Dark Horse Years boxset, so they look great sitting on the shelf together, George Harrison smiling out from two different eras.

5. Unwound, Rat Conspiracy and No Energy (Numero Group)
This year we got the second and third of Numero Group’s four archival releases of Unwound’s entire recorded output. I’m going to be extremely sad when this project is over. I will attempt to alleviate such melancholy by listening to the whole thing over and over again from beginning to end, from Kid Is Gone through whatever the fourth set is going to be called, while re-reading David Wilcox’s penetrating, fly-on-the-wall reminiscences.

Rat Conspiracy is, and will likely remain, my favorite. An argument could certainly be made that the LPs included in the third and fourth sets are better. Certainly the band got more proficient, and there are some higher highs, especially on The Future of What and Leaves Turn Inside You. What I love about everything on the Rat Conspiracy set, including the collected rarities, is the sense of discovery happening in the moment. It doesn’t always make for their “best” music, but I find it continually exhilarating.

4. Kendrick Lamar Live at the Pitchfork Music Festival
Anticipation for Kendrick Lamar’s set was more fevered than any buzz I’ve ever witnessed at the Pitchfork Festival. Masses of teenagers appeared as if from nowhere to trample their way to the front. The start time had come and gone, rain was on the horizon, and it seemed he could appear at any moment or in a couple of hours. There was such suspense I wouldn’t have been surprised if Kendrick had arrived on a lightning bolt shot from the heavens. Even if he had, the crowd might not have been satisfied. Only something truly incredible could possibly live up to the expectations of the thousands chanting his name.

Suddenly, organs, a hi-hat, a 100-foot wide projection screen, a spotlight, and Kendrick. It was a brilliant strategic move and an incredibly defiant statement about his confidence and conviction. Instead of trying to out-do his peers with big sets, sexy back-up singers, or outrageous fashion, Lamar declined any forceful presentation at all. It was he and he alone, in a plain t-shirt and jeans—minimalism, a wide open stage, a man and a mic. All success or failure depended on his skill, his performance. And his performance, frankly, was breathtaking.

3. The Return of Sleater-Kinney
The internet spoiled the surprise for me, but it was still a huge thrill to open that big, beautiful, boxset and discover a white hot 7-inch slice of new music, Sleater-Kinney’s first new song in nine years. The boxset was a tip down memory lane, and had me listening to a couple of their albums front to back, which I hadn’t done in quite some time. What they’ve shared from the imminent new release shows no shortage of power and originality. As always, they only ever sound like themselves. This is a glorious rebirth for a band that departed at the height of their powers.

2. Against Me, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Total Treble)
Have you ever heard someone singing to save her own life? If you know Laura Jane Grace’s story (click here if you don’t), the record is a blast of transcendent vindication. Even if you don’t know her story, it’s still the most honest and desperate statement of release and redemption committed to record in the 21st century.

1. REM, Unplugged 1991/2001: The Complete Sessions and REMTV (Rhino)
How convenient that just as I was getting to the closing chapters of Tony Fletcher’s biography of the band, REM went and released their classic 1991 MTV Unplugged performance on CD and vinyl. (The CD set also includes the 2001 Unplugged performance, but I don’t think I’ve listened to that one all the way through more than once.) I can’t remember the last time I bought a CD, but the ’91 Unplugged CD has been top of the pops in my car since it came out in May. “Half a World Away” has been my slow anthem on many dark days since then.

Then, low and behold, as if sensing my nostalgia, MTV and REM collaborated to release a six-DVD set which includes live performances, award show highlights, and television appearances, as well as a patchwork documentary of the band’s history through the MTV lens. Suffice to say, I took refuge in that for a couple of weeks, reliving the ’80s and ’90s and pondering the significance of a band we can now view only in hindsight.

Addendum: For Christmas, my 16-year-old niece gave me a couple of REM albums and the updated, re-titled version of Fletcher’s book, Perfect Circle. She seemed pleased that I was pleased, but admitted that she’d never heard of REM. The next evening, she told me that her stepmother, my sister, had pointed out REM when they were playing from the ceiling speakers at Dick’s Sporting Goods.