Countdown to 30: My Favorite Album From 2014

 2014

I didn't listen to many new albums in 2014 for a variety of reasons. There were some really good albums released that year, but between working 60+ hour weeks, my grandpa's death, moving and trying to tidy up my mental health, I didn't have much energy left to use on listening to and reviewing a ton of new albums. My year-in-review that year was only about singles. There were quite a few good albums though. Taylor Swift, Lily Allen, Speak, and Ingrid Michaelson all had good releases in my opinion. But my favorites were...

Runner-up number four is Not a Trampoline by Rob Cantor (formerly of Tall Hall). I had the good fortune to review this album ahead of its release, and the opportunity to interview Rob Cantor about the album. Cantor and producer Gregtronic went for a very synthesized '80s sound on the majority of the album. The topics of songs range from the heartfelt ("Ghost," "All I Need is You") to the silly ("Flamingo" and oddly, "In Memoriam," a track in remembrance of the still-living Alan Alda). My favorite song on the album has to be "Let Your Mother Know," tied with a track adapted from a Tally Hall song, "I'm Gonna Win." All of the songs on Not a Trampoline are good. The marketing surrounding the album is also choice, from the unusual album art crafted by Bora Karaca to the viral music videos (the video for "Perfect" has 18 million views and was crafted to appear as though Cantor is doing celebrity impressions whilst singing the song). 

Eric Hutchinson's Pure Fiction is, like much of Hutchinson's work, pretty incredible start to finish. One of the singles, "Tell the World" kicks off the album with a great energy, followed by "A Little More," the power-pop track that acted as another single for the album. After that, the album starts flipping between slow songs and blues-rock jams. "Sun Goes Down" is a fictional account of a man haunted by postcards from his runaway ex. It tells a clear story that is easy to picture from the lyrics. On Pure Fiction, Hutchinson displays his abilities as a writer of story songs, his ability to move smoothly between genres and sounds, and his prowess as a musician in general. 

Miniature Tigers crafted another near-perfect album with Cruel Runnings. There are a lot of '80s synth sounds on this one as well as the Rob Cantor entry, because I guess that's what you did in 2014. Miniature Tigers craft a fantastic synth-laden album, with Brand's lyrics as perfect as they can get. "Used to be the S***" features a fantastic line "Our love was warm like a VHS tape of Aladdin//Now our love's so cold//laser disc of Cruel Intentions." "Swimming Pool Blues" is a perfect pop track. The perfect end-credits song "Oblivious" might be my favorite on the album. Incidentally, not only does "Oblivious" sound like an end-credits song, it also acted as the credits song for the film Sleeping With Other People, for whom Miniature Tigers act as something of a house band. I love most Miniature Tigers albums, but this one is distinctive from their first three for certain. 

We're down to the top two. I had a lot of trouble picking between these two, but my final runner-up is Stockholm by Chrissie Hynde. 

Hynde's songwriting on this album is fantastic. She wrote almost all of the songs with Björn Yttling (of Peter, Björn, and John) who also produced the album. The remaining two songs were penned with Joakim Åhlund (Caesars). They wrote together in Stockholm for two years, inspiring the title of the album. Hynde stated that she was drawn to the music scene in Stockholm, just as she had been to London's punk scene in the '70s. She also said that she attempted to get Yttling and Åhlund to join a band with her, but this was all she could get by way of a compromise. 

Yttling evidently helped in the lyric-writing process by suggesting a title and challenging Hynde to come up with lyrics. He suggested "Dark Sunglasses," and though Hynde thought it cliched, she couldn't argue with the results. I played "Dark Sunglasses" on repeat until those around me were being driven crazy and yet I can still listen to it without it seeming stale to me. I ended up naming it my single of the year for 2014."You or No One" is a romantic tune about finding your person but it's also an earworm. "Down the Wrong Way" is another great song, featuring guitar work from Neil Young. Tennis great John McEnroe contributes guitar to "A Plan Too Far."

Stockholm is highly under-rated in my opinion, as it might be my favorite album Hynde has worked on since Last of the Independents. But another album just barely edged it out of the top spot.

Most people close to me think they understand what kind of music I listen to- power pop, sunshine pop, classic rock, something like that. The truth is, even I'm not sure what exactly I like, and that's how I ended up with my favorite album from 2014 being Tyranny by Julian Casablancas + the Voidz.

Isn't it strange that not one album by The Strokes has made it onto my lists so far, and yet this dark, weird album is my album of the year? For sure! I love The Strokes. For some reason, this Voidz album just hit me the right way at the right time. I may have been in a dark place, I may have been more open to challenging sounds, I'm really not sure what the perfect storm was. Maybe it's that this album is just really good. 

Tyranny doesn't play by any set of rules. There's a throwback quality to it, but it still sounds incredibly modern and new. It's harder than anything else Casablancas has released, yet the guitar can also be bright and cheerful somehow. It's totally unrestrained and there doesn't seem to be any pressure for it to be one thing or another. The freedom of expression and to experiment with sounds on the two Voidz albums definitely contributed to The Strokes' 2020 accomplishment The New Abnormal. 

The first single released from Tyranny was "Human Sadness," which features a sample of Mozart's "Requiem in D Minor." "Human Sadness" is almost 11 minutes long, and is a roller-coaster ride of sounds. The sample is made more haunting through the use of effects. The bassline comes in, followed by Julian Casablancas' vocals which are simultaneously smooth and rough somehow. Through use of effects, his voice sometimes sounds like another synthesizer line. Jarring noises will cut in at seemingly random times, but rather than taking away from the song, they add to it, and enable the instrumentals to break into a more aggressive, jarring tone themselves. "Human Sadness" is actually about Casablancas' relationship with his father, which was a rocky one. 

The second single is the one I preferred, "Where No Eagles Fly." The addictive bassline reminds me of the bassline/verse melody from The Long Blondes' "Swallow Tattoo" (and yes, that's a hill I'm willing to die on). "Where No Eagles Fly" shows off the ability of this music to still be catchy, despite the many varied elements and experimentation. 

"Father Electricity" features a Latin/Caribbean hook. The opening track "Take Me in Your Army" contains heavy synths and vocal effects that create a sense of foreboding. More than any other track, "Army" has a sense of nostalgia to it as well. There is a track called "Nintendo Blood," which could have been the title of the whole album and it would have made sense. 

In 2014 I found my lovely cat, Cowboy.

When this album came out, I was very much keeping to myself. I got an email about it because I was a fan of The Strokes, and on the website they were offering a digital download for $3.87. I downloaded it immediately and was very impressed. I wouldn't even say it was a challenging listen, although you can hear different elements every time you hear the tracks. There's something about it that I find compelling. It is creepy. I played it at my Halloween party the following year, surprising my best friend who didn't expect my sunshine pop tastes to be compatible with Tyranny. She and I got to see The Voidz at El Club in Detroit. Not only was the venue awesome, the show was too. 

I love what the band were able to do on this album. The production is fantastic, the band are positively perfect together, and the songs are weird and wonderful. 

Let's check out that leaderboard.

Join me tomorrow for my favorite album from 2015!

Top 14: Singles of 2014

2014 was more about singles than albums. Much as it makes me cringe to think about, it's entirely true. That's not to say there weren't any good albums, but there was nothing that measured up to the top 10 albums of 2013.

So, the year was about singles. In addition to that though, it was about women. Women dominated the charts and the airwaves. We're talking Taylor Swift being the first woman to knock her own #1 single to #2 so she could occupy the two positions simultaneously. We're talking about the sheer variety of female acts topping charts, from the aforementioned Swift to Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea, Selena Gomez, Tove Lo, and Jessie J, just to name a few! Chrissie Hynde released her first official solo album, Lily Allen and Ingrid Michaelson each put out new albums, and, once again, Taylor Swift broke tons of records with 1989.

While I'm a little sad that there weren't more standout albums, I wasn't entirely displeased with some of the singles. And also, girl power. Anyway, below are fourteen of my favorite singles of 2014.

14. "Earth is the Loneliest Planet" by Morrissey
It was nice of Morrissey to release this track as a single on my birthday. It's also pretty cool to see that he's still got that Morrissey musical sadness. This might even be the best track he's done since the mid-nineties (in my opinion).

13. "Where No Eagles Fly" by Julian Casablancas + the Voidz
From Tyranny comes this gem of a track. The rest of the album was impressive as well, particularly the overall production. I love how perfect all of the visuals are for this Julian Casablancas + the Voidz project, from the videos to this exaggerated retro single cover. If you missed it, you should really check it out.

12. "Foil" by "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic had his first #1 album with Mandatory Fun this year, and it's no surprise that the album did so well (although it is a surprise that none before have). The original songs and parodies are all spot-on, and even this parody of "Royals," which begins like a run-of-the-mill Weird Al food song, but takes a darker and funnier turn.

11. "I Won't Let You Down" by OK Go
The band that's known for their videos makes some awesome music too. That said, the video for this one is a Busby Berkeley musical number on Honda personal mobility units. I love the inventive way they're always coming up with new things for videos and not just recycling the treadmill gimmick over and over. I also love the touches of the 70s, which remind me of "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5.

10. "Air Balloon" by Lily Allen
Lily Allen's Sheezus was a lot more hip-hop influenced than I had expected (the title failed to clue me in), but at the same time, the album had a great deal of variety. Take this worldbeat-infused pop tune for example. It's been compared to "Paper Planes" by M.I.A., and you can hear the similarities, but it's also got its own thing going on in an infectious earworm way.

9. "All About That Bass" by Meghan Trainor
While I can't help but agree with opponents of this song, that it isn't as much about body positivity as it seems on the surface, "All About That Bass" is still a winner in my book. Originally offered to Beyoncé, this track became a viral hit for young Meghan Trainor (who is 21). The bold use of colors in the marketing of this song and "Lips Are Moving" (also a hit) give her singles a uniform look, along with the fact that "Lips" references the previous single, saying "tell me that you're not just about this bass." Trainor is a singer-songwriter, and has written singles for several other acts, so she should have no trouble writing for herself.

8. "Be Reasonable, Diane" by SPEAK
You don't need a gimmick to sell a song, but I won't deny that it helps. SPEAK released a game to go along with "Be Reasonable, Diane." I'm sure it's not the first time it's been done, but it definitely works. Meanwhile, I'm perplexed by the recent surge in the name "Diane" in songs. I only know one Diane, and she's my aunt, yet Vampire Weekend also released "Diane Young" (a pun, I know) last year.

7. "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift
The biggest album by a female artist since Carole King's Tapestry, 1989 has been shattering records like no one's business. But this one is more than just a record-breaker in my opinion. "Blank Space" is a playful and mature look at both Taylor Swift's heartbreaks and the way the press treats them. She takes the blame herself as in "I Knew You Were Trouble," but also professes the "we all hurt each other" sentiment as in Ingrid Michaelson's "Girls Chase Boys," and the whole thing has that sort of fairytale feel of her earlier songs ("Love Story"). I just wish the producers had gone for a cleaner sound right before "and I'll write your name."

6. "Tell the World" by Eric Hutchinson
Constantly teetering on the edge of the mainstream, Eric Hutchinson released Pure Fiction this year and, while the tracks weren't as strong as some of his previous ones, songs like this one really stood out. The first single off of Pure Fiction was this feel-good tune, empowering in both sound and lyric.

5. "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid Michaelson
Ingrid Michaelson's most successful single since "The Way I Am," "Girls Chase Boys" is both a breakup song and a statement that "no matter who or how we love, we are all the same." She tackled gender inequality and the universal nature of heartbreak in the video for this catchy tune. It serves as both a tribute to Robert Palmer and a fun political statement.

4. "All I Need Is You" by Rob Cantor
Rob Cantor may not have broken the internet, but he sure used some fun new techniques to sell the great songs on Not a Trampoline. With his viral video of celebrity impressions set to "Perfect," and this video made up of gifs, he's like the OK Go of internet memes. And the song is pretty great too!

3. "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars
While I'm disappointed that it's not another Mark Ronson and the Business International record, I certainly can't complain about the quality of this #2 hit. Watch out Taylor Swift, this fast-rising funk and soul track might just de-throne you.

2. "Swimming Pool Blues" by Miniature Tigers
Another great summer-soundtrack tune from Miniature Tigers. The rest of Cruel Runnings is sparse competition for "Swimming Pool Blues," which was definitely one of my favorite songs released all year. I even love the cheesy "underwater" sound editing bridge.

1. "Dark Sunglasses" by Chrissie Hynde
If there's one track I played on repeat this year, it was this one from Chrissie Hynde's very first solo album. I know, it's a fine line, "Chrissie Hynde solo album vs. any other album she's worked on," but man, did this single get it right. You can sing along with the backing vocals, and that cowbell...Totally my favorite track this year.

State of the Music Address: August 2014

It's been a while since a we had a new post here at Nomorebloodfromaclone, so yet again, I'd like to bring you some tidbits that don't make up full articles on their own (and hopefully explain my absence over the last couple of months).

Aretha Franklin at the Ohio State Fair.
Photo by Tammy Sedam, via Rebeat

-I moved! I was considering buying a house and all of that business kept me pretty busy for a while, but as soon as I get a consistent internet connection, you can expect hopefully more-frequent updates here. 

-The radio program One-Mind Tracks is still alive and well, and the station should be streaming online soon, which will mean my audience here will finally be able to hear my radio show! In the meantime, the theme this week was "Winds of Change" and we discussed Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." The recent and awesome interactive video can be found here.

-I've started writing for the online classic rock magazine Rebeat, so most of my classic rock articles will now probably be posted over that-a-way, such as a review of the Aretha Franklin show at the Ohio State Fair (pictured). It's there. There are also a lot of other writers more clever than me writing there too.

-Yes, I know I missed out on lots of recent albums, and I'm very sorry about that.

-102.5 Summerfest is Sunday, featuring acts like OK Go in Columbus, Ohio. Not too many shows in September though. What's up with that?

-Anyway, this time, when I say I should be posting more frequently, I mean it! Once my internet is hooked up, that is. Until then, please stay tuned!

State of the Music Address: April 2014

This is a new feature for odds and ends, and to give you a preview of what's coming up in music and on Nomorebloodfromaclone. So without further adieu...

-There are quite a few new albums coming out soon:

• April 8th, Eric Hutchinson Tell the World
• April 14th, Rob Cantor Not a Trampoline
• April 15th, Ingrid Michaelson Lights Out
• May 5th, Lykke Li I Never Learn
• May 27th, Miniature Tigers Cruel Runnings
• June 9th, Chrissie Hynde Stockholm

-As such, there have been a few single releases, including Rob Cantor's "Ghost":

-...and Miniature Tigers' "Swimming Pool Blues," the video for which is as perfectly done and humorous as anything the band has done.

-It's going to be a great summer for concerts here in Ohio.

• The Ohio State Fair is featuring Blue Oyster Cult, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, The Beach Boys, Heart, Joan Jett, America, and Aretha Franklin.
• The Monkees are touring again, with the three remaining members.
• Cher and Cyndi Lauper have joined forces for a tour.
• Of Montreal are coming to Cincinnati. I wish they'd do a Columbus date at some point!

-Record Store Day 2014 is fast approaching. fun., Of Montreal, and Deerhoof are all releasing stuff, just to name a few, so I'm excited for April 19th.

-And finally, here at Nomorebloodfromaclone, you can look forward to an exclusive interview soon, as well as yet another "I've Got This Covered." If all goes according to plan, you can expect more frequent updates here in general. Stick around!

Concert Review: Paul Simon & Sting in Auburn Hills, Michigan

For my dad's birthday, my mother and I bought him tickets to see two of his favorite artists perform on stage together: Paul Simon and Sting. While I was never the biggest fan of Sting or The Police, I've always enjoyed the music of both Paul Simon and Simon & Garfunkel, so I was excited for the possibilities.

We arrived at The Palace just before eight o'clock to find that our seats had been ungraded. However the reassignment table was such a mess that I was still standing in line when "Brand New Day" began to sound from the main stage. It sounded great, but I didn't get to see any of it performed, and in fact missed part of "Boy In the Bubble," in which Sting's distinctive voice joined Paul Simon's for the chorus. The first song I heard fully was a favorite Sting track of mine, "Fields of Gold," which was played as a gorgeous duet. 

Photos by Kenneth Sedam

Paul Simon left the stage, and Sting launched into some of his classics including "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic," "Englishman In New York," and a very staying version of "I Hung My Head." He then played two more Police classics, "Driven to Tears" and "Walking on the Moon." "Driven to Tears" was really where the band began to show how great they were, with some impressive electric guitar and a killer violin solo. 

Paul Simon returned to the stage for the perfect crossover song with Sting, a performance of "Mother and Child Reunion" even more reggae-riddled than the original. Sting then left the stage, and Paul Simon played "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover." 

The intro to "Dazzling Blue" was another showcase for the band's talents. The drummer began to play a sitar-style slide guitar, and other percussionists came in to create a tabla feel. Nothing really does justice to "Dazzling Blue" quite like hearing it live with Sting and Paul Simon's band. 

After "Dazzling Blue," they played a slightly more country "Graceland" and "Still Crazy After All These Years." Paul Simon and band then played one of the most exciting tunes of the evening in terms of energy from both the performers and the audience. "Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard" was incredibly fun and high-energy. My only complaint was that Paul Simon opted for avoiding the high note in the "goodbye Rosie" line, whether due to the fact that his voice isn't as agile as it used to be or because he just wanted a different feel for the live song.

Sting returned to the stage for a joint cover of  "Fragile" and "America." Although I missed part of it, "America" was still as tear-jerkingly beautiful as the original Simon & Garfunkel version. 

Again, Sting was left alone on-stage to play "Message in a Bottle" and "Hounds of Winter."

He continued with "They Dance Alone" and "Roxanne." Finally, Sting and the band performed an impressive "Desert Rose." 

The duo rejoined yet again for "The Boxer." It wasn't a perfect rendition, but it was certainly a good one.

Minus Sting yet again, Paul Simon played a rousing "That Was Your Mother," followed by "Hearts and Bones." He then did two songs back to back, almost in a medley fashion; "Mystery Train" and "Wheels." He hailed them as his favorite songs before kicking off the acapella opening to "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes." Simon closed his set with an energetic "You Can Call Me Al," the lyrics to which he altered slightly.

A very brief pause separated the encore, at which point Sting and Simon returned to the stage to do "Bridge Over Troubled Water," "Every Breath You Take" and "Late in the Evening" together.

The band left the stage, but Paul Simon and Sting returned for one final encore, a duet cover of The Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved." The audience then provided a standing ovation as the lights came up after the great show.

Paul Simon and Sting put on a very respectful, under-stated dual show. Both musicians still sounded near the top of their musical game, despite being past their respective heydays. It was a fan-pleasing show, loaded with big hits by both artists and their previous bands. The sounds managed to mesh better than I'd ever imagined, to create a great sound throughout the whole show.