Albums
of the year
2014
Last year my goal was to shorten the reviews in my annual top albums post, but I failed miserably. This year, however, time was more limited – in a good way luckily (maybe because I interviewed two of my favorite bands: Lush, and Slowdive!) – and I’ve finally reached my goal. That’s even with 20 albums reviewed, up four from last year. I think I’ll keep this introductory shorter as well. As you can see, to the left is a playlist of a song from each of the albums that I think represents what makes each album great. Oh, and it’s Spotify, so you may need to have an account or something, not entirely sure how that works. Figure it out, or check out the song titles to find them somewhere else. Lastly, note these are in no particular order. They’re all great in their own individual ways, and thus albums at the bottom are JUST as important as those at the top. Enjoy, and feel free to comment if you want – and thanks for reading! Or not.
3
Cheatahs
Cheatahs
When I first heard this album I didn’t think it was all that original, but an album by imitators. They recreate perfectly the sounds of so many influential 90’s bands. If you remember Swervedriver you swear with the vocals in the song ‘Geographic’ that it’s something off their album ‘Ejector Seat Reservation’. Listen to ‘Northern Exposure’ and it’s like listening to a hybrid of Teenage Fanclub and Dinosaur Jr. ‘Mission Creep’ – I don’t even know how to describe that one – it’s just too beautiful and interstellar to pinpoint. ‘IV’ is straight out of My Bloody Valentine’s playbook in all it’s beautiful, sludgy mess. Ride makes an appearance on ‘Cut the Grass’. What’s important is none of this would work if the songs weren’t there. It’s refreshing to see a band wear it’s influences so strongly but having the goods to back it up, and showing pop grunge can be loud and beautiful.