2014 leaves us as another fantastic year of music. And how do we sum it up? Choosing one song to define Allston Pudding is certainly an undertaking. As a staff our tastes span greater eclecticism than a DJ Earworm mashup, a group of individuals whose love of Death Grips finds place with Taylor Swift, Sleater-Kinney, and the half-hour jams of a Phish show.
How do we sum up a year in a song? We don’t. We can’t! Because 2014’s music was too good to only celebrate a single melody. Because we can’t outline up our collective experience in just four minutes. Because we want to share.
So here it is. Allston Pudding’s 2014 Top Trackz Playlist, a collection of bangers, ballads, and gems best saved for when you really want to feel. Here’s our best, and in our opinion, the best, of 2014.
Marc Finn
"Going Gets Tuff" - The Growlers
This is every glittering, ethereal glass of water for every weary traveller. This is every childlike kiss, and every adultlike promotion. This is a song that defines that which is catchy, and demolishes that which is whatever you're pissed about. This is crude perspective. This is the Growlers as their hardcore fans' most dreaded -- a pop group -- but this is the Growlers making the most of it. This is musical smack bestowed upon musical junkies to musically shoot up their veins whenever, well, the going gets tuff.
Christine Varriale
"Special Snowflakes" - Pile
It seemed to me that nothing could top Pile's 2012 masterpiece Dripping. For that brief moment I forgot one important fact: that Pile is the greatest band in the world. "Special Snowflakes" showcases all sides of the band: the slow intricate melodies, the thrashing guitars and drums, and the rough vocals provided by Rick Maguire. All of these add up to one thing: a seven minute epic tale.
Deanna Archetto
"Argentina" - Tokyo Police Club
So I was a huge TPC fan back on 2008. I still consider myself one, really. But their latest album, "Forcefield," didn't hit me the same way their earlier stuff did. However, the first track off of "Forcefield" is a showstopper. It's nearly 9 minutes of a glowing fuzzy Canadian alt rock odyssey. Who does that in this genre? So even though you might have dropped Tokyo Police Club from your radar 4 years ago, I still think their latest release deserves more attention and appreciation than it got when it came out in March 2014. I'm gonna go give it a few more spins myself right now.
Reggie Woo
"Pop It" - Anamanaguchi
A lot of indie snobs and even Anamanaguchi/chiptune fans are going to question me on this. But this song is ridiculously catchy and fun, so I say put away the pretentiousness and enjoy it, people.
Jeremy Stanley
"Have You Seen My Son?" - Benjamin Booker
Blistering rock tune with questions of faith ("God must love everyone, even the ones the church loves the least"), with an outro that burns everything down rather than fade away.
Joe Sansone
"Sea Monkeys" - Palm Spring Life
c(･o･)ɔ
Joe Stahl
"Pendulum" - FKA Twigs
Nick Twohig
"Digital Witness" - St. Vincent.
Intelligent, biting social commentary in an age of NSA scandals and reality television presented in a form so catchy that this song was probably stuck in your head before you even heard it.
Anna Marketti
"Make You Better" - The Decemberists
Becca DeGregorio
"Plain Speech" - Ava Luna
The perfect representation Ava Luna's indecisive genre, "Plain Speech" throws a ton of musical elements out in the open, and, in my opinion all of them stick. Cowbell, growl singing, legato harmonies, breakdowns and recoveries from them make for a listen that's satisfying in a confusing way. TIP: reccommend this to your weird music theory friends as test for humility. The time signature is, as my weird neighbor Tanner would say, "done goofed."
Jack Wall
"High" - Freddie Gibbs and Danny Brown
Very personal reasons. On a whole, I feel that Pinata is some of Madlib's cleverest production in recent memory, and the flow Gibbs and Brown drop burrowed into my brain like an ineradicable ear worm. But, more personally, a conversation about the track is how I met my current girlfriend. We met at a party, and the conversation quickly turned to hip hop. Before I knew it, we were debating Danny Brown's merits as backpack rapper (how could you even make that claim at this point in his career?!). Then one thing led to another and we've been going steady for awhile. So, thanks Freddie. I owe you for that one.
Sydney Moyer
"Chandelier" - Sia
"Chandelier" was in no way my favorite track of the year, nor was Sia my favorite artist for the year. That said, I feel like the mantle that comes with the "Track of the Year" title is supposed to be indicative of something larger happening in pop culture at that particular moment in time- and if that's my yardstick, "Chandelier" is my pick for sure. Too often, we see top 40 songs that are written and marketed with a veneer of perfection that in no way represents the reality of what's going on in the world- we hear songs about perfect love and perfect opulence, sung from the mouths of perfect personas engineered to be likeable and escapist enough to actually make money in a trying economic time. Even mainstream songs about sadness are carefully constructed with an effervescent vaugeness- Sam Smith wants you to stay with him, Christina Aguilera wants you to say something before she gives up on you, Tyalor Swift is cynical about romance (and Starbucks?)- they're songs about real problems, but not too real; sad, but not too sad. This is why "Chandelier," a heartbreaking and personal narrative about alcoholism and mental health (from a faceless pop star, no less) was so important in 2014, a year where our cup of cultural problems and imperfections runneth over. "Chandelier" wasn't faking it for the crowd, and that's what made it great.
Andy St. Pierre
"Divisionary: Do the right thing"- Ages and Ages
This song is so simple and blissful with a great choral build up, you'll be singing along after the first time you hear it. Throw in some meaningful lyrics that totally pull on your heart strings and you have yourself an utterly perfect folk song.
Mo Kelly
“Archie, Marry Me” - Alvvays
This song expresses twentysomething love perfectly, an age when you can’t afford to pay for gas but willingly drive across the country to see the idiot who stole your heart. Here’s to Alvvays, and the lovesick fools of 2014.
Daniel Schiffer
"Woke Up Feeling Like Sleeping" - Juan Wauters
Nina Corcoran
"The Great Crocodile" - Ovlov
When Ovlov (almost) broke up, I played this song on repeat all day because it felt like someone simultaneously stealing my breath and giving it back to me. It's wonderfully numbing. So turn the volume up all the way and then break the knob just to make sure. This is best heard loud, if only just for that guitar solo.
Andrew Stanko
"Seasons (Waiting On You)" - Future Islands
Last year, I dealt with an unusual bout of anxiety that left me frazzled for a few months. When I first bumped the song, it was incredibly calming, and I used to listen to it whenever I was feeling rough. While I'm not as anxious anymore, this song is still amazing and accessible; its appeal transcended some genre boundaries this year and is a prime example of an indie rock number that doesn't sacrifice poignancy and creativity for ear-worm appeal.
Toni Tiemann
"Jamaica Plain" - Skinny Bones
I was recently talking to the band about the making of the Noise Floor album, and their explanation was really quite moving to me. (I promise, I'll get to the individual track soon.) The album was created using field recordings, with some of the recordings more heavily distorted than others. In doing so, they were hoping to evoke a sense of appreciation for the natural sounds around us. By showing us not only how beautiful the distorted, melodically straight-forward recordings are, but also the mundane and naturally discovered songs. This track really highlights a wide variety of those sounds and opens up into a quite powerful build. It's really quite remarkable to me everytime I hear it now.
Mark Zurlo
"Annie's A Witch" - LVL UP
If you think there was a better two minute pop song released this year, I think you're very wrong.
Jeeyoon Kim
"Black Me Out" - Against Me!
It takes one hell of a frontwoman to write a chorus that starts with, "I wanna piss on the walls of your house," and make it stick. This year started with Against Me! dropping Transgender Dysphoria Blues, the sixth studio album and first released under the band's own independent label Total Trebel. 'Blues is capped off with this spiky anthem that spits in the faces of the band's former labels. Sometimes the best solution is just to do it by your goddamn self. 2014 for me was about cutting off the tethers and kissing your demons goodbye. Cheers, Laura Jane.
Sharon Weissburg
"Instant Disassembly" - Parquet Courts
Because it's the sexiest and sweetest 9 minutes ever.
George Greenstreet
"Jealous (I Aint With It)" - Chromeo
Chromeo jumped back onto the scene this year with almost unquestionably the song of the summer. A mix of soulful vocals, groovy synth lines and a playful, tongue in cheek tone (in other words, everything that makes Chromeo great) the track is both relentlessly catchy and endlessly relistenable.