My Favorite Albums of 2014

 1.  LAGWAGON - HANG

90's Fat Wreck stalwarts deliver the album of their career and my favorite album of everything I listened to this year.  It's been nearly 10 years since the last Lagwagon album.  Everything is just ON.  Production, musicianship, songwriting...the RIFFS!  the CAPER!  OH MY!  This semi-concept record is based upon technology, growing old, mortality,...nooses(?) and bees(?!).  The final closing chant of "inside your head! inside your head! inside your head!..."  makes me wanna pump my fist and pogo into a beer-soaked pit!   I pre-ordered from Fat Wreck and they surprised me with an autographed copy.  Thanks fellas!!!  Mail order rules!!! Long live the physical format!!!

 Top 3 Tracks: In Your Wake, Obsolete Absolute, One More Song

 2.  ROYAL BLOOD - S/T

For a bass and drum duo, these two boys make beautiful, fucking loud noise.  Though limited to the two instruments, they are both played flawlessly and with an energy turned up to 11.

The guitar, err..bass-work has a rat-a-tat precision of Rage Against The Machine with lotsa Queens of the Stone Age fuzz.  Vocal melodies have a Jack White flavor and that funky drum to Loose Change has to be the best beat of the year!  No other album of the year was as quickly devoured and enjoyed as instantly as this one.

Top 3 Tracks: Loose Change, Come On Over, Figure It Out

3.  RIVAL SONS - GREAT WESTERN VALKYRIE 

I don't think there was another band this year with as much buzz as Long Beach, California's Rival Sons.  They seem to be selling out venues and playing the big festivals in Europe, but remain relatively unknown here in the States.  They take a standard classic rock formula and just completely make it their own.  There is a great diversity of tunes on this album, from straight up blues based rockers (Electric Man), to creepy  little toe-tappers like "Good Things" (which wouldn't have felt out of place on a True Blood soundtrack), to songs like "Belle Starre" that breaks out of the gate with a Zeppelin gallop and quickly falls into a mescalin induced Sunny Day Real Estate/Jane's Addiction-like haze.

 Top 3 Tracks:  Play The Fool, Good Things, Belle Starr

 4.  KYNG - BURN THE SERUM

Kyng ring similar to stoner rock revivalists the Sword, but lean a bit more towards a modern rock vibe with dollops of Anthrax thrash and heaping thuds of Alice In Chains sludge.  The production on this is excellent and the musicianship is tight.   When it gets heavy, it is HEAVY.   The singer has a great set of pipes too. Kind of a higher pitch howl ala Chris Cornell. Great for relieving stress and singing along to.

Top 3 Tracks:   Burn The Serum, Lost One, Self Medicated Man

5.  AUGUSTINES - S/T

This was my go-to album whenever I wanted to mellow out a bit. Often times melancholy, but also triumphantly jubilant. Recalls Joshua Tree-era U2... Some absolutely beautiful songs.  I used to mope around, smoke cigarettes and get shit-faced by myself to stuff like this.  I'm hoping to catch these guys live if they come around.  A small smokey venue would suit them fine.

Top 3 Tracks:  The Avenue, Weary Eyes, Don't You Look Back

 6.  SKULL FIST - CHASING THE DREAM

I can't do justice in describing just how good these guys are.  If you are a fan of 80's metal/ thrash/ or the Hollywood sleaze scene, you MUST check this out.  The songs are as catchy as anything Iron Maiden has put out and some of the melodies have a sleaziness factor of Ratt or maybe the best of Dokken.  The double bass of the drums and the frantic fretwork enter Dragonforce territory at times and the lead singer can hit notes that will shatter your bud light.  I'm expecting these guys to be on Metal Blade in 2015.

Top 3 Tracks: You're Gonna Pay, Hour To Live, Call Of The Wild

 7.  7 SECONDS - LEAVE A LIGHT ON

Kevin Seconds and his many projects have always been among my favorites (Drop Acid, Seed, Go National, solo stuff, etc.).  To this day, I still tend to go back to the late 80's albums Soulforce Revolution, Ourselves, or the Praise EP when I decide to listen to 7 Seconds.  No matter if Kevin is writing punching little hardcore songs or that slowed down 80's style, he has a knack for a melody that can get you unconsciously singing along and tapping your toes.  Though they've gone back and forth between 7 Seconds era sounds and more recently embraced their hardcore roots, this album finds a nice balance between new and old.

Top 3 Tracks:   Leave A Light On, I Have Faith In You, Your Hate Mentality

 8. CLOUD NOTHINGS - HERE AND NOWHERE ELSE

My favorite album to beat the shit out of my air drums to.  I'm so happy aggro-indie rock like this still exists.  It seems like the band are just leaning into the songs as the pace and intensity escalates into a glorious ruckus.  The closing track I'm Not Part Of Me has one of the catchiest choruses of the entire year.  Every song on this album sounds similar, but in a good way and it makes it that much harder to pick out the best songs since they're all good 'uns.  This is their best album yet, and I expect supreme greatness to come. 

Top 3 Tracks: I'm Not Part Of Me, Psychic Trauma, No Thoughts

 9.  GAMEFACE - NOW IS WHAT MATTERS NOW

Jeff Caudill and the fellas got back together for a new Gameface record and even brought along  Frank Daly of Big Drill Car for backup vox on a few tracks!  If you're concerned this is just the more mature and mellow Gameface of late, you'll be happy to hear the speedy ditty "Lifetime Achievement Award" where Caudill declares  
"Never had a hit...
Never gave a shit...
Stay outta the pit...
cause now we've got kids, Bitch!"
The self-described "Un-Punk" band has it's best outing in years.  There are a couple of clunkers ("Picture Day"), but for the most part pretty good... and when it's good, it's really good...just not as good as their first album, Good.

Top 3 Tracks: Always On, Frames, Lifetime Achievement Award

10. EX HEX - RIPS

Mary Timony's (Helium/Wild Flag) latest project fires off a dozen solid Ramones End Of The Century-era three minute new wave/garage/pop/punk blasts.  Super fun stuff and as a father of two girls, this was one of the only albums everybody in our station wagon agreed upon.

Top 3 Tracks: How You Got That Girl, New Kid, Don't Wanna Lose  

 

 

 11. SMASHING PUMPKINS - MONUMENTS TO AN ELEGY

 The gears continue to turn for Billy Corgan as he cranks out another solid Pumpkins album just two years since the last great Oceania, which was among my favorite albums of 2012.  The sound picks up where the last album left off.  There's a bit more electronica for my taste, but the heavier rock tunes are typical Corgan magic.  As usual, the cast in the band has shifted around, this time including none other than Tommy Lee from Motley Crue on drums.  Let's see if he can keep up the winning streak with the next Pumpkins album titled Day For Night planned for a 2015 release.

Top 3 Tracks: Monuments, One And All, Anti-Hero

12. CALIFORNIA BREED - S/T

I became a fan of Glenn Hughes through a recent obsession with all things Black Sabbath.  Through Sabbath I started checking out Deep Purple, and once I found Glenn Hughes in the Mark III & IV lineup  I devoured all his other projects (Check out the album Medusa by his early band Trapeze.  It is a lost classic rock gem!). The fact that this guy is 62 years old and can sing like this is unbelievable! Check out his pipes in "The Way"!  Joining him is 23 year old guitar virtuoso Andrew Watt and some other guy called Jason Bonham (48) which makes this entire lineup unique in the fact that there are three different generations collaborating together.

Top 3 Tracks: The Way, Sweet Tea, Solo

 

 

 

13. IGGY AZALEA - THE NEW CLASSIC

I usually don't seek this stuff out, it somehow finds my ear thanks to my wife.  I can't deny how infectious this is.  This is the type of stuff that I can't turn off in my head when I'm trying to sleep.  I remember back in the day when rappers would have the mandatory song where a female singer would guest on the chorus and sing the hook.  Now the ladies have realized they don't need no man!  They'll do the whole shit themselves and cut out the middle man!  Combining dance, pop, and hip-hop- it's almost like an entirely new genre...Hip-Pop?  Yeah, she's White...she's from Australia, but sounds Southern American..but she can flow like Tupac in Louis Vuittons!

Top 3 Tracks: Fancy, Work, Don't Need Y'all