2014 Album Capsules (with Twitter Restricted Length)

Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - Enter the Slasher House (2014): 67. Choice cut was lead single "Little Fang" rest is solid but unexceptional.

The Black Lips - Underneath the Rainbow (2014): 64. This epidemic of The Black Keys dudes producing garage rock albums needs to be stopped.

Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else (2014): 75. Not quite up to ATTACK ON MEMORY but that might just be the Steve Albini deficit.

Damaged Bug - Hubba Bubba (2014): 65. Music shaped to fit the Realistic Concertmate MG-1 and not the other way around. Weird & exhausting.

D'Angelo - Black Messiah (2014): 77. Nice to see a consensus favorite that is this strange, like an alien reconstruction of P-funk.

Future Islands - Singles (2014): 62. Where I play the part of the longtime fan disillusioned by increasing tendency towards common pop sound

Thee Oh Sees - Drop (2014): 70. The first OCS record in awhile that doesn't feel like forward progression. "The Lens" is quite lovely though

Real Estate - Atlas (2014): 66. Pleasant and subtle enough that I've given it a few plays but it always falls away into the background.

Ty Segall - Manipulator (2014): 75. A more polished effort from Ty finds him exploring more psychedelic pop/glam sound. I miss punk Ty.

Spoon - They Want My Soul (2014): 84. Has some of the experimentation of TRANSFERENCE but applied to a nearly perfect group of songs.

Sun Kill Moon - Benji (2014): 72. Has grown on me but it still feels like Kozelek has never met a death he didn't write a song about.

Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams (2014): 73. Not as good as previous LP but title track would have been at home on Tindersticks' Can Our Love...

Together Pangea - Badillac (2014): 74. Major label debut and thankfully not watered down. The only non-embarrassing contemporary grunge act.

Total Control - Typical System (2014): 81. Oz post-punkers sophomore effort adds more synths/polish & nearly matches their terrific debut.

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream (2014): 60. Heartland rock that thinks it's dream pop. Sometimes very pretty, sometimes very dull.

Warpaint - S/T (2014): 51. A lot of time, money & effort spent to sound like the music you'd hear at a trendy Thai fusion restaurant.

Neil Young - A Letter Home (2014): 76. Lovely collection of folk covers recorded in shittiest way possible, which makes them feel homemade.