Top 50 Songs of 2014
30. Pallbearer
“The Ghost I Used to Be”
from Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore)
Pure melodic vocals and angelic guitar work aren’t necessarily the most common ingredients in metal in this day and age, but Pallbearer is the rare and extraordinary exception. It also doesn’t hurt to have assistance from producer Billy Anderson, whose résumé includes Neurosis’ Through Silver and Blood. In another great year for metal, Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden is this year’s crown jewel, and standout “The Ghost I Used to Be” is a ten-minute epic of masterfully arranged doom metal. Twenty years from now this album will undoubtedly stand as a key moment of reinvention for the genre, and this song will hopefully be a go-to for converting the unaware to become disciples of the raw musical power that Pallbearer wields. – DP
29. Sharon Van Etten
“Your Love Is Killing Me”
from Are We There (Jagjaguwar)
“Your Love Is Killing Me” starts off unassuming enough; a little organ, some tremolo infused guitar and a lo-fi beat. After a minute and half, subtlety is thrown out the window and the song turns into a devastating anthem for bruised lovers. Sharon Van Etten may be willing to gouge out her own eyes just to rid herself of a fatal love but there’s no letting go, no matter how much her lover enjoys inflicting pain. This may not be the first time Van Etten has turned her relationship woes into a burning release, but it just may be the most satisfying one. – CK
28. Ought
“Habit”
from More Than Any Other Day (Constellation)
It’s a beautiful thing when people from various backgrounds unite to protest for the way things ought to be. There’s a certain satisfaction members harness when change comes from their voices being heard. Even though musically they are reminiscent of post-punk greats like Talking Heads and Television, Ought is no doubt inspired by something far more powerful: human engagement. In the wake of Quebec’s student protests in 2012, Montreal’s post-punks decided to channel those emotions into their music. Enter “Habit,” an essential selection from the eight tracks on More Than Any Other Day. The album’s cover and cryptic lyrics both affirm being derived from the power people have in numbers, echoed in Tim Beeler’s half-spoken honesty: “Do you feel it like I feel it? Cause I need to know I’m not alone in it.” Ought showcases how a little DIY spirit and their far-reaching backgrounds from New Hampshire, Oregon, and Australia can coalesce creating something truly spectacular. – DP
27. Angel Olsen
“Hi-Five”
from Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar)
“Hi Five” begins, “I’m so lonesome I could cry,” and let’s just stop there for a second. If you open your song with the same line as the title of one of the more famous songs in American music, you better make it work and it better pay off and don’t jerk us around, Ms. Olsen. She doesn’t. “Hi Five” is three-minutes of desperate love over a fuzzed-up guitar and honky-tonk piano that’s all tension and restraint until Olsen, releases, “Are you lonely too?/ Hi five! — so am I.” – SC
26. Shabazz Palaces
“Forerunner Foray”
from Lese Majesty (Sub Pop)
With Lese Majesty, Shabazz Palaces delivered what was arguably the most psychedelic record of the year (try again next year, Wayne Coyne!), and there’s no better introduction to its shimmering, spacey aesthetic than “Forerunner Foray,” which creates a miniature galaxy over the space of four short minutes. You can practically hear the twinkling of the stars echoing in the vacuum of space — and that’s before Palaceer Lazaro jumps in with some oblique lyrics that place racial struggles on a cosmic scale. This is some of the prettiest, most literally epic hip-hop we got all year. – SP
25. EMA
“Cthulu”
from The Future’s Void (Matador)
Erika M. Anderson is an emotionally vulnerable artist that could be considered a genius. She’s an avid reader of all types of weird fiction, and The Future’s Void — which was based on this growing cube of data that EMA envisioned in her mind after reading William Gibson’s Neuromancer — plays out like an escape from reality. “Cthulu” is its paramount track. The apocalyptic song is named after a grotesque fictional deity created by writer H. P. Lovecraft in his 1928 short story The Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft describes the creature — part man, part dragon, part octopus — as being worshiped by cultists; “Cthulu” is a choir of violence that could conjure the spirit of this evil entity. “Gable I can / Gable I can see you,” EMA sings over quaking bass and synth fizz. Whether she’s referencing another Lovecraft story called The Gable Window or not, we hang on every word as this mass gets louder and louder. – JJM
24. Beck
“Heart Is a Drum”
from Morning Phase (Capitol)
Some of us have been with Beck since the beginning. Guero was good. Midnight Vultures was interesting. And his heartbreaking 2002 album Sea Change, well, that’s what Morning Phase most resembles. Phase — that’s a word that really describes Beck. Just as Sea Change was an easy to love album — the countrier, folkier side of Beck — Morning Phase hearkens back to that artistic period, and while every track is musically linked together, “Heart Is a Drum” is one of the album’s heavy-hitters. More upbeat than “Morning” and less twisty-turny than “Blue Moon,” overall there’s a pathos to the song that lends it that poignant feeling so attractive in a piece of music. Lyrically the track shimmers and breathes with the tangible spirit we’ve come to expect from such a prolific and honest artist. “Follow the drum / keep in time with everyone . . .” – NG
23. Restorations
“Separate Songs”
from LP3 (SideOneDummy)
“What we think the band sounds like and what anyone else thinks is nowhere near the same thing,” Restorations’ Jon Loudon told Noisey earlier this year. He makes a fair point — the Philadelphia group evokes the likes of Braid, Fugazi, Bruce Springsteen and even a standard-tuned Torche at times, and you can hear just about all of them in “Separate Songs.” The song is bolstered by Boss-sized earnestness, huge avalanches of power chords, rhythmic restlessness and a repeating riff that just might be the most elegant stretch of melody on all of LP3 — an album with many excellent stretches of melody. But why mince words? Restorations are a rock ‘n’ roll band, and this is their anthem, calling out to the bored, lonely and disaffected through earbuds to look away from their screens and start howling along together. If that sounds corny, then you should probably also know that there’s about three guitar solos and a seemingly never-ending rise from climax to climax. It’s all of rock’s excesses and indulgences shoehorned into three-and-a-half minutes, and it’s a goddamn thing of beauty. – JT
22. Iceage
“Forever”
from Plowing Into the Field of Love (Matador)
Some fans and critics reacted harshly when Iceage progressed from hardcore punk to a post-punk sound that’s more accessible, but Plowing Into The Field Of Love relentlessly pounds on the head and the heart. “Forever” is repetitious with sloth-like verses and hyperactive choruses as Iceage have maintained their signature morose heaviness — the bass rattles, guitars clang, drums bash, and vocalist Elias Bender Rønnenfelt seems overcome with his own complicated existence. Every time Rønnenfelt mutters “I’d lose myself forever,” he is a man revealed against a deepening arrangement with violin and trumpet. Iceage have lengthened their songs and slowed their pace, but they still roll with the weight of an armored tank. – JJM
21. Run the Jewels
“Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)”
from Run the Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)
If there is one surprising metric I can add to the accolades heaped upon rap’s undefeated, undisputed tag-team champions Killer Mike and El-P, let it be this: Within days (DAYS!) of the leak/release of RTJ2, Kevin Connors was dropping lyric references on the air while anchoring ESPN’s SportsCenter. And not just any lyrics, mind you, but the Zack de la Rocha vocal-sample hook from the album’s incendiary third single. Granted, “run them jewels fast” deadpanned over NBA highlights might be more than a little reductionist and white-boy hokey, but the boastful and political rap churn from El, Mike, and the other De La deserves all the frontline exposure it can get. – AB
