Best of 2014: 123 Songs we Liked a Whole Lot
We begin our 2014 recap with the most utilitarian of our yearly lists: our favorite songs.
Unlike the rest of our year-end coverage, which ranks and revisits each entry through a delicate and highly-political internal process, our songs list is just that – a list of our favorite songs. No ranking. No explanation. And no omissions. Just an alphabetical list of all 123 tracks that our contributors nominated (the ones that were actually released this year that is) and a link to check out the song. We’ve also got nearly all of these in a Spotify playlist you can check out.
Please share your own favorite tracks of 2014 in the comments section below.
A$AP Ferg – “Doe-Active”
Aan – “Wet and Dripping”
The Abramson Singers – “Lose-Lose”
The Afghan Whigs – “Algiers”
The Afghan Whigs – “Matamoros”
Aimee Mann – “I’m Cured”
Alt-J – “Hunger of the Pine”
Alt-J – “Left Hand Free”
Aly & Fila, Jaren – “For All Time”
Andrew Bird – “My Sister’s Tiny Hands”
Angel Olsen – “High Five”
Angel Olsen – “Lights Out”
Angel Olsen – “Forgiven/Forgotten”
Arto Lindsay – “Simply Are”
Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks – “Little Fang”
Banks – “Beggin’ for Thread”
Beat Connection – “Hesitation”
Beck – “Blue Moon”
Beck – “Heart Is a Drum”
Beck – “Morning”
The Belle Brigade – “Ashes”
Ben Nichols – “This Old Death”
Benjamin Booker – “Violent Shiver”
Beyonce, Jay-Z – “Drunk in Love”
Bishop Allen – “Start Again”
Blondfire – “We Are One”
Brody Dalle – “Meet the Foetus / Oh the Joy”
BRONCHO – “Class Historian”
Catfish And The Bottlemen – “Kathleen”
Chet Faker – “Gold”
CHVRCHES – “Dead Air”
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – “Coming Down”
Courtney Love – “You Know My Name”
Cymbals Eat Guitars – “Jackson”
Delta Spirit – “Hold My End Up”
Delta Spirit – “Push It”
Drive by Truckers – “Primer Coat”
Duke Evers – “Lions”
Duke Evers – “Pixies”
Edmund Wayne – “In the Vines”
EMA – “Neuromancer”
Father John Misty – “Bored In the USA”
First Aid Kid – “My Silver Lining”
FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks”
Flight Facilities – “Clair de Lune”
Foxygen – “How Can You Really”
Future Islands – “Seasons (Waiting on You)”
Gareth Emery – “U (Bryan Kearney Remix)”
Grizfolk – “Way Back When”
The Hold Steady – “I Hope This Whole Thing Didn’t Frighten You”
Hundred Waters – “Murmurs”
Idlewild – “Collect Yourself”
Jack White – “Just One Drink”
J Mascis – “Every Morning”
J Mascis – “Wide Awake”
Jenny Lewis – “Just One of the Guys”
The Juan MacLean – “A Place Called Space”
Katy Perry, Juicy J – “Dark Horse”
Lee Dewyze –“Blackbird Song”
Lucius – “When the Night Comes Falling From the Sky“
Mac Demarco – “Passing Out Pieces”
MADE IN HEIGHTS – “Panther”
Marianne Faithfull – “Sparrows Will Sing”
Mike Adams at His Honest Weight – “Be Free, Live Well”
Mike Adams at His Honest Weight – “Count On It”
The New Pornographers –“Champions of Red Wine”
The New Pornographers – “Fantasy Fools”
Nils Frahm – “Says”
ODESZA – “Say My Name”
Operators – “True”
Owl John – “Red Hand”
Parquet Courts – “Always Back in Town”
Parquet Courts – “Black And White”
Parquet Courts – “Ducking & Dodging”
Parquet Courts – “Sunbathing Animal”
Perfume Genius – “Queen”
Phantogram – “Black Out Days”
Pujol – “Pitch Black”
Real Estate – “Had to Hear”
Restorations – “Separate Songs”
Riff Raff – “Tip Toe Wing In My Jawwdinz”
Ryan Adams – “Let Go”
Schoolboy Q – “Break The Bank”
Sevendeaths – “All Night Graves”
Shabazz Palaces – “They Come in Gold”
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – “Stranger to My Happiness”
Sharon Van Etten – “Everytime the Sun Comes Up”
Sharon Van Etten – “Your Love is Killing Me”
Sleaford Mods – “Air Conditioning”
Sleaford Mods – “Tied Up in Nottz”
Smokey Brights – “Taste for Blood”
Speedy Ortiz – “American Horror”
Spoon – “Do You”
St. Paul and the Broken Bones – “Call Me”
St. Vincent – “Prince Johnny”
Strand of Oaks – “Goshen ‘97”
Survival Knife – “Heaven Has No Eyes”
Swans – “A Little God in My Hands”
SW/MM/NG – “Some Dreams Come True”
Tacocat – “Crimson Wave”
Taylor Swift – “Shake It Off”
Temples – “Keep In the Dark”
Temples – “Shelter Song”
Thurston Moore – “The Best Day”
Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – “Fault Lines”
Tove Lo – “Habits”
tUnE-yArDs – “Water Fountain”
Tweedy – “Low Key”
Twin Peaks – “Flavor”
TV on the Radio – “Happy Idiot”
Ty Segall – “Susie Thumb”
Ty Segall – “Tall Man, Skinny Lady”
The War On Drugs – “An Ocean In Between the Waves”
The War On Drugs – “Red Eyes”
The War On Drugs – “Under the Pressure”
The Wytches – “Crying Clown”
The Wytches – “Digsaw”
The Wytches – “Gravedweller”
The Wytches – “Robe for Juda”
Weezer – “Go Away”
White Hinterland – “Ring the Bell”
Wishbeard – “Ally Sheedy”
Wussy – “Teenage Wasteland”
Related coverage:
- Best of 2014: 9 More Great Seattle Records
- Best of 2014: Our 37 Most Favorite-est Albums of the Year
- Best of 2014: Top Talent from Tacoma
- Best of 2014: 18 Super Good Television Programs
- Best of 2014: Marco Collins’ Top 35 Seattle Records
- Best of 2014: 14 Movies we Enjoyed
- Best of 2014: Dear Hardly Art, S.W.A.K.
Look at you, being all timely and shit!
2014 will go down in history as the year Nada Mucho published a year-end list the same day as AV Club. Walk a little taller today, folks.
Thundering Asteroids! – “Sexy Lamp”
https://thunderingasteroids.bandcamp.com/track/sexy-lamp
Hey nadamucho! How bout a little love for crossbows and catapults? Shaved the lion’s mane is jam times. Shoulda made yer list!
I mean you have Courtney love on this list ffs
The Delines – I won’t slip up
I would like to add:
Jack White – High Ball Stepper
Dead Weather – It’s Just Too Bad
The Shivas – You Make Me Wanna Die
Shovels & Rope – Bridge On Fire
Wrecks – Lonesome Shack
Slow Club – Tears of Joy
Every Girl – Allah-Las
Hi Five – Angel Olsen
Foxy Shazam – Gonzo
The Orwells – Who Needs You
First Aid Kit – Heaven Knows
We might just have to check out these suggestions for our #PromoteThis series
Gah! Got my songs list in late. Here ’tis!
“Animals” The Ghost Of A Saber Tooth Tiger
“Forgiven/Forgotten” Angel Olsen
“Sun Structures” Temples
“Fever” K. Flay
“Monstrous” Metronomy
“Bored In The U.S.A.” Father John Misty
3 songs that would have been on my best-of list, had I been better at time management and written one:
1. Damon Albarn – “Mr. Tembo”
2. First Aid Kit – “America”
3. Sarah Donner – “Motherf$&_ing Pterodactyl”*
*Not a 2014 release, but possibly the best thing ever, and I just needed to share.
the oatmeal.com/pterodactyl_video