The 100 Best Songs of 2014

1. Destination - Nickel Creek

2. Take Me to Church - Hozier

3. Boom Clap - Charli XCX

4. Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

5. XO - Beyoncé

6. Kansas City - The New Basement Tapes

7. Say You Love Me - Jessie Ware

8. Blue Moon - Beck

9. Get Hurt - The Gaslight Anthem

10. Waiting Game - Banks

11. Mother and Father - Broods

12. Gotta Get Away - The Black Keys

13. Dearly Departed - Shakey Graves featuring Esmé Patterson

14. Keep It to Yourself - Kacey Musgraves

15. Understand - The Roots featuring Dice Raw and Greg Porn

16. Fever - The Black Keys

17. Supernova - Ray LaMontagne

18. Air Balloon - Lily Allen

19. If I Could Change Your Mind - Haim

20. Jungle - X Ambassadors and Jamie N Commons

21. Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

22. Yellow Flicker Beat - Lorde

23. Blank Space - Taylor Swift

24. Bridges - Broods

25. Rollin' and Tumblin' - The Gaslight Anthem

26. Every Breaking Wave - U2

27. Bad Self Portraits - Lake Street Dive

28. Fall In Love - Phantogram

29. Beggin For Thread - Banks

30. I Blame Myself - Sky Ferreira

31. Brill Bruisers - The New Pornographers

32. Budapest - George Ezra

33. Gimme Something Good - Ryan Adams

34. Love Me Harder - Ariana Grande featuring The Weeknd

35. Our Time - Lily Allen

36. My Silver Lining - First aid Kit

37. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

38. Magic - Coldplay

39. Left Hand Free - Alt-J

40. Do You - Spoon

41. Right Time - Nikki Lane

42. Rabbit - Lily and Madeleine

43. The Heart - Needtobreathe

44. First Things First - Neon Trees

45. Hurt You - Toni Braxton and Babyface

46. Be Mine - Meiko

47. Hate To See Your Heart Break - Paramore featuring Joy Williams

48. Strong - London Grammar

49. Reflections - Misterwives

50. Ex's and Oh's - Elle King

51. I'm Not the Only One - Sam Smith

52. She Used to Love Me a Lot - Johnny Cash

53. Word Crimes - "Weird Al" Yankovic

54. Ain't It Fun - Paramore

55. Cecilia and the Satellite - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

56. Just One of the Guys - Jenny Lewis

57. Red Eyes- The War on Drugs

58. Diamond Eyes - Boyz II Men

59. The Wall - Willie Nelson

60. Kingdom - Common featuring Vince Staple

61. The Heart Wants What It Wants - Selena Gomez

62. This Is What It Feels Like - Banks

63. I Don't Want To Change You - Damien Rice

64. Let's Be Still - The Head and the Heart

65. Happy Idiot - TV on the Radio

66. Another Story - The Head and the Heart

67. Talk (Expletive Deleted), Get Shot - Body Count

68. Morning Song - The Avett Brothers

69. High Road - Mastodon

70. Something from Nothing - Foo Fighters

71. Never Gonna Change - Broods

72. The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone) - U2

73. Foil - "Weird Al" Yankovic

74. Automatic - Miranda Lambert

75. Don't - Ed Sheeran

76. Invisible - U2

77. Brain - Banks

78. L.A.F. - Broods

79. Back in the World - David Gray

80. Lazaretto - Jack White

81. Drowning - Banks

82. Girls - The 1975

83. Ink - Coldplay

84. Drive-in Movies - Ray LaMontagne

85. Riptide - Vance Joy

86. The Chamber - Lenny Kravitz

87. Paris - Magic Man

88. Stay With Me - Sam Smith

89. Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future - Mike Doughty

90. Tough Love - Jessie Ware

91. Let Her Down Easy - George Michael

92. Figure It Out - Royal Blood

93. I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You - The Hold Steady

94. Shut Up and Dance - Walk the Moon

95. Somethin' Bad - Miranda Lambert with Carrie Underwood

96. Cool Kids - Echosmith

97. Wild - Royal Teeth

98. Stranger to My Happiness - Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

99. Girl In a Country Song - Maddie and Tae

100. Waking Light - Beck

I Want My Music Television: 7/21/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Angel in Blue Jeans - Train


Sure the new Train song kind of sucks in a jumping on the folk rock trend two years too late kind of way but if you are going to release a bad song you might as well pay Danny Trejo copious amounts of money to lip-sync your lyrics making an actual entertaining video. So congratulations to Train, you almost got me to almost like your crappy Mumford and Sons rip off simply by getting me to watch the music video multiple times.


You and I (Nobody in the World) – John Legend


Just when you think John Legend was going to release yet another music video based around his Sport Illustrated it turns into a very real look at the various types of women that populate the nation. It is empowering and heartbreaking at the same time. Seriously, if you did not break out crying at the breast cancer victim, you very well may not have a soul.


Try - Colbie Caillat


If that is not enough real women for you Colbie Caillat takes that John Legend idea one step further (to be fair, Try hit YouTube two days earlier and is exactly what the song is about; I just put You and I first because it is a much better song) as Colbie and another group of ethnically diverse strip themselves of all their numerous beauty products.


Mother and Father – Broods


We have hit that time a year when people start posting their silly half-year lists. One thing that stuck out to me on these lists is that music so far this year kind of sucked. Making things worse is that are not many good new artists. Around this time last year there were already great albums or EPs from Lorde, Haim, Kacey Musgraves, Daughter, and Chvrches. It is depressing to think Iggy Azalea is probably going to get a Best New Artist nomination basically there is no one else (granted since Ed Sheeran got nominated in the category last year, maybe Lorde will get nominated this year) even though she only has only been on two songs anyone cares about and is the worst part of both songs. Sure there have been a couple songs by new artists that have piqued my interest this year but I really not interested in full albums by Hozier, Bleachers, Jamie N Commons, or X Ambassadors (I have not even been bothered to see if the last two are the same act or two separate ones collaborating on Jungle; which is not to be confused with the new band Jungle that I do not really care for that much) but there is only one group that I am looking forward to hearing more from and that is Broods. They put out a solid EP earlier this year and next month they are releasing their debut album Evergreen (apparently it will not be released stateside until October but sometimes these foreign releases show up on Spotify here before we Americans can buy them). The first single from the album is actually better than anything on that original EP and shoots the album up my list of what may be a crowded most anticipated fall albums (even though many of the biggest names do not have a release date as of now).

I Want My Music Television: 6/3/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Problem – Ariana Grande featuring Iggy Azalea


When I first saw Ariana Grande, I thought it was a Rebecca Black situation. Not that she was horrible, The Way was pleasurable in a guilty kind of way, but the video looked like mommy and daddy put their 401K into it while Ariana had a creepy dead behind the eyes stare to her and just looked uncomfortable the whole time. It turned out Grande is a real thing, and apparently a kiddie television star despite looking like she had never been in front of a camera for The Way. With her next hit Problem instantly going to number one, she is apparently turning out to be the next big thing. Yeah the new song is also moderately catchy (though I could have done without the rap, sure the Fancy video is kinda of awesome but can we please keep Iggy Azalea from becoming a thing please) still her visuals are uncomfortable. For the music video, she broke out the same awkward middle school talent show routine that was met with a resounding, “Huh?!?” from Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan at whatever award show that was. I know the modern pop star has to front and center in everything they do, but Ariana should really consider pulling a Pearl Jam and just stop making music videos for a while, or at the very least do what George Michael did and just fill your video with supermodels.


Talk (Expletive Deleted), Get Shot – Body Count


People have been throwing dirt on rock as a genre for a while now (myself included) but The Black Keys and Jack White have been putting out great music (even if they will not admit it about the other act) and racking up awards, just last week Coldplay had the biggest album debut of the year. So rock may be on life support, but it still has a pulse. Now heavy metal, that genre has been dead for a while now. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a good heavy metal song? There is probably why you rarely see any act from the past decade or two on That Metal Show. So when Ice-T debuted the new Body Count song on his Final Level Podcast (which comes highly recommended from me), I figured that I would listen to about thirty seconds and then fast forward to Ice talking Dungeons and Dragons again. Except the song actually turned out to be legitimately good. And I not just saying that because I fear the title may come to fruition if I did not like it. And the music video is just as entertaining as a more violet version of the plotline of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. (Fun fact: the I got the (Expletive Deleted) idea from this movie).


Simplethings – Miguel


There comes a time in every singer’s career when it is time to roll around on the beach with an absurdly attractive model in black and white. Everyone can thank Chris Isaak for that. So why is Miguel ending the music video right where should be starting. Is he saving that for his own personal collection?


Bridges - Broods


It seems like every month this year I am posting a new video for Bridges. The last one was the “international version” and this is apparently the “American version.” And much like Lorde’s Royals which the US version has 500% more Lorde, the US version of Bridges actually features Broods frolicking in what looks to be a clothing advertisement geared at teenage girls. Sadly that is how you sell new artists stateside.

I Want My Music Television: 3/25/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


She Used to Love Me A Lot – Johnny Cash


It is weird that after two decades of Rick Rubin produced albums, that a long lost song from Johnny Cash that he recorded in the early eighties sounds as if it could have easily has been an outtake from one of the American albums series. The dark music definitely fits in with some of his later music videos.


Bridges - Broods


Tt is easy to compare Broods to their fellow Kiwi Lorde (teenage singer, same producer) and their first official music video also take look at suburban youth, but Broods take a more romantic look with what seems to be the New Zealand equivalent of McLovin and Hit Girl.


Girl You Look Amazing - Nicole Atkins


Sure dating an invisible man is simple and silly, but I laughed through the new Nicole Atkins music video.


Stay – tyDi featuring Dia Frampton


After Avicii had a smash hit with the folk infused EDM track it was only a matter of time before another producer would do the same thing. Australian DJ tyDi (yes, that is how he stylizes his name) is the first to try and not surprisingly it sounds very derivative. The post-chorus bites the cords from Philip Philips’ Home (which itself was a complete rip-off of Mumford & Sons). And just like Wake Me Up, I hope that Dia Frampton eventually releases an acoustic version of the song.

I Want My Music Television: 3/10/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


The Man - Aloe Blacc


I happy for Aloe Blacc to finally be having a moment, but it is hard for me to get into this song. You cannot sing, “You can tell everybody,” like that and follow it up, “I’m the man,” instead , “this is your song.” And it is weird to have a music video that goes through the civil rights era and start it off with an awkward shameless promotion for a music streaming service.


Temple - Kings of Leon


It is family day in the latest Kings of Leon video complete with a Super 8 video. But with all the family around, I thought the lead singer was married to a Victoria Secret model. Why marry a Victoria Secret model if you are not going to shameless put her in your videos? Simon le Bon his shaking his head at this video right now.


Morning Song – The Avett Brothers


The latest The Avett Brothers music video was produced by Judd Apatow. I was expecting some wacky antics and some cameos from the Apatow comedy tree, but alas, it look like most every other simple video from the band.


Never Gonna Change - Broods


C’mon, if your sweater holds that much water, maybe you should think about taking it off. But anyway. This is just another cool track from Broods.

I Want My Music Television: 2/12/14

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Air Balloon – Lily Allen


Still no official word on a full album, but Lily Allen has already released a second music video over the last couple months. Hard Out Here was a fun take down of today’s pop music but ended up sounding too much like the songs she was mocking. Air Balloon is more classic Lily. The accompanying music video may not have any balloons, but there are random shots of butterflies, hillbillies, zebras, jaguars, mushrooms that look like they were imported from a Super Mario Bros. game, and a crucifix airship thingy. So “air balloon” is a euphemism for drugs, right?


Coming of Age - Foster the People



After Pumped up Kicks, Foster the People kept on releasing songs that went nowhere on the charts but the music videos for the videos were mostly entertaining. That trend looks to continue as Coming of Age just does not sound like a song that will lift them from One Hit Wonder territory, but at least the music video is interesting in a more serious montage from John Hughes film kind of way.


Girls Chase Boys – Ingrid Michaelson



The title for the new Ingrid Michaelson music video includes the addendum “An Homage to Robert Palmer’s Simply Irresistible) as if anyone over the age of twenty-five needed that clarification. Maybe she wanted to preemptively keep people from calling it a parody. Though it is not explained why she is dressed up like Sarah Palin.


Bridges – Broods


Winter is a dead month for music where you have to go on the look for new artists that may become the next big thing. It is around this time last year when I discovered Royals and Broods just may be the 2014 version Lorde. They are a brother sister duo from New Zealand (check), with a teenage lead singer (check), and worked with Joel Little on their EP (check) who was the guy who also scored a Grammy with Lorde Song of the Year. Based on those three criteria, a Lorde comparison seems easy, but I think a better comparison is a combination of Lorde and some other 2013 buzz artists, CHVRCHES and James Blake. If you like the song, it is currently iTunes Free Single of the Week. A six song EP is out now with a full length debut expected out later this year. Jump on the bandwagon now so you can say you knew them before they got big.