I listened to a staggering amount of music this year, and was again pleasantly reminded that so much truly  amazing stuff continues to be made—or was already made and I got to experience it again or, in several cases, for the first time. It’s genuinely inspiring. That said, what’s with these knuckleheads waxing thoughtful about Taylor Swift? Taste is taste, I get that, but they can get bent.

At any rate, the list that follows is in no particular order and consists of LPs, singles, and reissues that hit me in some way in 2014 and that I imagine might continue to do so down the road. The truly amazing part is, I’m probably forgetting stuff.

Albums
Nots, We Are Nots (Goner)
Reigning Sound, Shattered (Merge)
Greg Ashley,  Another Generation of Slaves (Trouble in Mind)
Sweet Apple, The Golden Age of Glitter (Tee Pee)
Run the Jewels, Run the Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)
The Above, Waterbury Street (Teen Sound)
Gino and the Goons, Shake It! (Slovenly)
Budos Band, Burnt Offerings (Daptone)
Golden Pelicans, Golden Pelicans (Total Punk)
Watery Love, Decorative Feeding (In the Red)
Gotobeds, Poor People Are Revolting (12XU)
Blind Shake, Breakfast of Failures (Goner)
John Wesley Coleman III, The Love That You Own (Burger)
Apache Dropout, Heavy Window (Magnetic South)
Harry Dean Stanton, Partly Fiction (Omnivore)
Energy Gown, Evening Molasses (Alona’s Dream)
Degreaser, Rougher Squalor (Ever/Never)

Singles
Fa Bonx, “49 Sticks” (What’s Your Rupture?)
Martin Savage Gang, From Martin Savage Gang in Memphis EP (Blahll!)
Sick Thoughts, Hate You So EP  (Zaxxon)
Roach Clip, Calmer in This Town EP (Quemada)
Quitty and the Don’ts, “Running Out of Time” (Hidden Volume)
Barreracudas, Promises, Promises EP (Oops Baby)
Dark Blue, “Just Another Night With the Boys” (Jade Tree)
Nots, “Fix” (Goner)
Michael Flower and Neil Campbell, Wharf Cat EP (Golden Lab)
Liquid Diamonds, “Aw Maw” (HoZac Archival)
Curtis Seals and Christian D’Orbit, split 7-inch (Windian)

Reissues
The Flesh Eaters, A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (Superior Viaduct)
Ngozzi Family, Day of Judgment (Now Again)
Jack Ruby, Hit and Run (Saint Cecilia Knows)
Sid Selvidge, The Cold of the Morning (Omnivore)
Bent Wind, Sussex (Ugly Pop)
Modey Lemon, House On the Hill (Mind Cure)
Real Numbers, What Was and What Is (Last laugh)
Slant 6, Soda Pop * Rip Off (Dischord)
Owen Maercks, Teenage Sex Therapist (Feeding Tube)
The Staple Singers, Swing Low (Mississippi)
Brothers and Sisters, Dylan’s Gospel (LITA)
Annette Peacock, I Belong to a World That’s Destroying Itself (Ironic)
Dead Moon, Unknown Passage (M’Lady)
X, X-Spurts and X-Aspirations (Ugly Pop)