#11 Elbow - "New York Morning"

Elbow has been a favorite band of mine for a long time, and a band I somehow managed to never see for over 10 years of being a fan. That all changed in 2014 at the 930 Club as I watched them put on a show that was almost worth such a long wait. Their 2014 album "The Take Off and Landing Of Everything" is one of their best, and like the last recently played New Pornographers, they appear to be at the top of their game.

Historically, believe it or not, Elbow only has 5 previous Top 100 year end songs in the past, reaching number 22 in 2009 with "One Day Like This".  This year they almost cracked the Top 10 with "New York Morning" which is probably the best "NYC" song ever written by a band from the UK. 

Also, watch this video, its actually quite a touching mini-documentary of an old couple who grew up in the heydey of NYC rock and roll. It's pretty awesome!

The Top 10 is tomorrow all day long with songs from Spoon, Sylvan Esso, FKA Twigs and the band from Baltimore who nearly topped every single damn year end list I have seen in 2014! Oh yeah, and the number 1 song of the year!!!

#12 Sun Kil Moon - "Ben's My Friend"

For those who don't know, Sun Kil Moon is Mark Kozelek and he is a singer songwriter from San Francisco. He used to be in the band Red House Painters and now finds himself with a much more successful solo career. He has 6 solo albums including 2014's Benji.

Sun Kil Moon doesn't generally get into my Top 100 though they have had one top 20 song in 2003 with "Carry Me Ohio". This year he has 3 songs in the Top 500 and has his biggest hit yet (according to me) with a song he wrote (kind of) about his friend Ben.....Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and the Postal Service of course.

"Ben's My Friend" seems a lot more about the struggle of an artist trying to write a record when he has writers block, or maybe just the story of what artists do when they aren't being...artists.  Either way the song, as most of Benji does, tells a cool story and Kozelek's voice and delivery make it even better.  The song spent 21 weeks in the Top 100 and made it all the way to number 2, making it the 3rd most popular song of the year NOT to make the #1 spot on the weekly chart.

#13 Damon Albarn - "Mr. Tembo"

While it would be nice to have had a new Blur album to jam to, singer Damon Albarn always keeps us occupied with his myriad of side projects. Perhaps he is the UK Jack White, in that he has made the year end Top 20 with 3 different acts (Blur, Gorillaz and now solo). His album Everyday Robots was a favourite over the summer and spawned 3 singles which made my year end list.

"Mr. Tembo" was issued as a single (oddly enough) only in the US and is apparently the story of a baby elephant that Albarn met at a zoo in Tanzania. Tembo in Swahili means "elephant". And that's your fun fact for the day!

#14 Cloud Nothings - "I'm Not Part of Me

The Cloud Nothings are back with their 3rd song in the Top 100! This song was the first single off their 2014 album and it was a welcome return to the 90's throwback kids from Ohio.

"I'm Not Part of Me" made many year end charts including #23 on SPIN and #2 on Consequence of Sound.

#15 Beck - "Blue Moon"

Perhaps I said this already but I am really glad to have Beck back in my life! His 2014 album Morning Phase was an album I had hoped for for some time now. It had been 6 years since a proper beck album was out and I had never seen him in concert before.

This summer saw me front and center and not one but two Beck shows, one at a festival and one at his own gig. Making up for lost time!

"Blue Moon" is easily the coolest song on the disc, but there are plenty. This was the lead single though and it gets the nod into the Top 15, making it the first Beck song to get this high since "Girl" went to number 12 in 2005!  WTMD had this song at #25 just yesterday on their Top 89 of 2014.

Here's a clip from the Beckster on SNL!

#16 Alvvays - "Archie, Marry Me"

It's hard to say when the misspelling of words in band names became cool.  Was it back in the 90's with Korn, Staind and Limp Bizkit? Was it later on with cool DJ's like Deadmaus, sorry Deadmau5? Or was it earlier than I can think of?  Either way, it's cool now and the indie world is embracing it. Bands like Chvrches have even used a letter that looks like one letter for another. Canadian indie pop band Alvvays got even trickier when they used a vv to look like a w.  And you thought all Canadians could do was play hockey!

Well however you spell it the Toronto band came out with their self-titled debut album this summer and scored a few decent tracks. Perhaps borrowing a bit from Best Coast and releasing this track in perfect time for a hot summer day, "Archie, Marry Me" went flying up the charts both on my weekly top 100 and other blogs and websites. 

Not only did they crack my year end Top 20, they were #59 on Pitchfork, #30 on PopMatters, #11 on Rolling Stone and all the way at #5 on the gorilla vs bear blog. I am sure if i followed a few Canadian sites they might have even been named song of the year.

Let's hope 2015 brings Alvvays singer Molly Rankin and this guy Archie a year of marital bliss!

#18 PHOX - "Slow Motion"

Although Madison, WI's PHOX was more or less discovered in 2014 to most music fans, they actually had a decently successful 2013. They were called Madison's "musical success story of 2013", they were a late add to Chicago's Lollapalooza, SXSW and opened for the Lumineers.  I suppose then, it is no surprise that when "Slow Motion" the song ready made for the ITunes commercial, was released, that it was quite a hit.

"Slow Motion" is the happy indie pop stuff that Chairlift, Feist and others have blessed us with in the past. Cute lyrics, a poppy voice and even a ukulele makes this song pretty infectious took it to number 4 on my weekly Top 100.  I dare you to play it only once.

#19 Jack White - "Lazaretto"

So Jack White is back in the Top 20 again this year, but with his highest song coming only at #19 this could be seen as a slight disappointment. I think it is ok though and he can take solace in all of his sold out shows and awards and TV appearances, I think he'll be ok with a #19 song.

"Lazaretto" as a song is one of his more traditional Jack White songs on the record with the same name. It was also the first proper single. Wikipedia has an interesting fact:

By recording, pressing and releasing the live version of "Lazaretto" in less than four hours, Jack White broke the previous Guinness World Record set by Swiss polka trio Vollgas Kompanie, who issued their album Live on August 16, 2008, a day after they recorded it. There is a hidden message alongside matrix numbers in the runout areas on both sides of the "Lazaretto" "world's fastest record" vinyl: side A "Guinness", side B "Can Kiss My..."

So basically I think JW owns 2 Guinness World Records now, one with the White Stripes for shortest concert ever I believe.  He's cool.

#20 How To Dress Well - "Repeat Pleasure"

Welcome to the Top 20!!!! You are about to hear the best 20 songs that came out in 2014. A few things, first all 20 of these songs are awesome.  They all reached at least the top 5 in my weekly Top 100s, 12 of them reaching number 1.  This is also the first time since 2008 that the Top 20 was made up of 20 different artists. We also have 12 artists who are new to the year end Top 20.

With that, I give you one of those 12 artists with Chicago's Tom Krell, aka How To Dress Well. Singer/songwriter ambient electronic r&B aficionado has been popular in the indie world since 2009 but has not fared well on my lists. His 2014 LP "What Is This Heart" though is a real gem. 

How to Dress Well has placed 3 songs in the Top 500 and gets this one all the way up to Number 20! Also noteworthy, Rolling Stone magazine completely agrees with me that this is the number 20 song of 2014. 

#21 Hundred Waters - "Xtalk"

Introducing Hundred Waters from Gainesville, FL. They are a 4 person band headed by the lovely Nicole Miglis, whose tiny frame but beautiful voice would almost be enough to listen to them right off the break. Their 2014 album The Moon Rang Like A Bell is easily Top 10 record of the year and Pitchfork almost agreed, ranking it #38 on their albums of the year chart.

The band is signed to Skrillex’s record label but don’t let that discourage you, for they are not big beat, dubstep or hooky at all really. In fact, the 2 songs of theirs that made the top 100 (one more is on the way!) are almost old school Tori Amos feeling, but with a newer and more electronic edge.

I saw them open for Interpol back in November and they almost stole the show. As I said before, Hundred Waters has 2 songs in the Top 25 and something tells me that one of them made the Top 10!

They didn't make a video for this song so here is them performing it at Pitchfork Music Festival this year.

#22 Glass Animals - "Gooey"

Some of the greatest bands in the world come from Oxford England.  Of course, I can only really think of one and that is Radiohead, but Glass Animals are another Oxford band that made some waves in 2014. Their debut album Zaba, was released in June and was preceded by the single “Gooey”.

Glass Animals frontman described Gooey in an interview “ it’s about “youth and naïvety and childishness”, and a love encounter gone wrong. All set to sexy, chill instrumentals”

That’s cool! But the video is kinda odd.  Either way, their first ever song in my weekly Top 100’s almost cracks the annual Top 20!  Not quite Radiohead status but not too bad either.

#23 TV On the Radio - "Happy Idiot"

TV on the Radio had quite a huge tragedy 3 years ago when bassist Gerrard Smith was diagnosed and died of lung cancer. The band was just releasing their 2011 album Nine Types of Light. The band still toured for the album but their future beyond that remained unclear.

In 2014 though, "Happy Idiot" came out as the lead single to their album Seeds. The album went all the way to number 22 on the Billboard album charts and bring them in at number 22 here.

#24 Real Estate - "Crime"

Real Estate has 4 songs in the Top 500 and 2 in the Top 25, meaning we have one more to go later. "Crime" was the 2nd single from 2014's Atlas and I'll let Stereogum do the rest:

“Crime” is one of the most exuberant songs on Real Estate’s forthcoming Atlas. That’s not saying much for its intensity level because the album is super-chill through and through, but you can skip down suburban sidewalks to this quite pleasantly. And now, thanks to the band’s latest video, perhaps you can play along to it on guitar. Charles Poekel and Brooke Salisbury filmed Real Estate guitarists Martin Courtney and guitarist Matt Mondanile strumming and plucking their way through “Crime,” and Natalia Stuyk added animated guitar tab to create an homage to YouTube’s millions of homemade guitar tutorial videos. As a teenager I would have loved this shit, and actually, adult me is digging it too

#25 Alt-J - "Every Other Freckle"

It's hard to believe that just last year Alt-J was touring for non-stop for their first record, An Awesome Wave, and placing "Breezeblocks" as the number 5 song of 2013 and that this year they are already back at it! It was the middle of June this year when we first heard "Hunger of the Pine" and then "Left Hand Free" came out in July.  While both of those songs were good, it's this one that went all the way to #1 on the weekly chart and thus crashes into the Top 25 of the year!

"Every Other Freckle" really seems like the song on the new album, This Is All Yours, that sounds most like something from An Awesome Wave, so I'm down with it most! And check out the video clip with a fluffy kitty bouncing on a little red pillow!!! how Cute!

#26 Arctic Monkeys - "Arabella"

While the Chinese calendar says the year of the monkey is not until 2016, it seemed like it should have been 2013! The year of the Arctic Monkeys anyway.  2013 saw their AM record go wild with several singles, Do I Wanna Know and Why'd You Only Call Me When Your High both made the Top 50 last year on my chart with the former making it to number 2! 

This year we still had some remnants of AM songs and the Monkeys toured all over creation, playing almost every festival imaginable. They may have even started to get a little played out.  But that's OK because these guys have been around a while and deserve all the success they are finally getting.

#27 BANKS - "Beggin' For Thread"

If this actually was a Fiona Apple song it might well be her best one. But it isn't, its BANKS and in "Beggin' For Thread" she does exactly what Fiona did so many times before, but this time behind a very catchy R&B beat. There's self-admission "I got some dirt of my shoes, my words may come out like a pistol". There's blame "you should have known, secretly I think you knew" and there's basically the story of a really effed up relationship between two people that didn't care to stop. At least that's how I see it! 

While the verses and chorus are great, it's the bridge in the middle of the song that could be the best part. BANKS takes the beat down to just a drum and sings "try to hide it out but my tracks are better" getting so low her voice almost drops right out before she slides back into the chorus. 

The song went almost straight to number 1 in August, reaching the top spot in just the 2nd week on the chart, where it stayed for 2 weeks. This is BANKS' highest entry in this years list but I expect to see her back next year with a few more tracks.

#28 Elbow - "My Sad Captains"

Some songs you have to be heartbroken to understand, some songs you have to be deeply depressed to understand, some songs you have to be in love to understand, and then some songs are "My Sad Captains" by Elbow.

The title comes from a line in Antony & Cleopatra "come, let's have one other gaudy night; call to me all my sad captains, fill our bowls, once more; let's mock the midnight bell" Yup, that's Shakespearean for "it's time to party!" Elbow singer Guy Garvey chose an appropriate title as he says “My Sad Captains is mourning the end of the 15-strong 3-day bender in favour of one or two people’s company and getting proper into your cups” he adds “It mourns the fact you can’t see all your friends every night like when you’re young”

It's a beautiful song and it makes me think of crazy, beautiful nights with my crazy, beautiful friends of years gone by.  Do yourself a favor and play this song and take a trip down memory lane, it promises to be "a perfect waste of time"....

#29 the Antlers - "Hotel"

The Antlers are a Brooklyn band whom I have been a decent fan of for years, their music is generally pretty mellow and definitely not full of poppy hooks and catchy lyrics, but this time around they found a perfect mix! 

Their 2014 album Familiars is probably their best one yet and single "Hotel" has a brilliant mix of piano, horns and vocalist Peter Silberman contemplating life as a hotel in lines like "and when I check out, it won't matter how my name's spelled"

This is another song that I have high on my year end list that I haven't seen on many other lists at all, but that's not my problem now is it!

#30 Baths - "Disorderly"

Baths is Willian Wesenfield and he is a Tanzanian born American who's been active since about 2010. Some could call him electronic, minimal, even chillwave or lofi IDM but I just call him damn good. Most of his stuff doesn't have a ton of words and while he has had a few songs in my year end countdown, none have come close to the Top 100. 

While Baths didn't release an album in 2014, he did do an EP with the song "Ocean Deaths" in May which did get on my Top 500 list at #247. This song, however, came from an EP that Vans put out in October that has songs from Jerome LOL and Mr. Carmack.  "Disorderly" was immediately stuck in my head and you can clearly see a Postal Service vibe throughout the song. This song was the number 1 song of the week last week and it's muted thumping beat with references to being an "annual holiday party" couldn't be more appropriate for blasting in your car in between holiday destinations! "You can drink and be merry and leave".

Give this a listen as Baths gives Ben Gibbard a run for his money!

#31 Vance Joy - "Riptide"

Finally we have come to the top Australian song in the countdown almost cracking the Top 30! Vance Joy is a new artist, releasing his first album "Dream Your Life Away" just this September. His album and this single was hugely popular in Australia and many other countries. It did reach the top 40 here in the US, and he went to number 1 on my weekly countdown in the end of July.

It may be a bit of a cheesy love song but it's pretty damn catchy and since he did play Firefly Festival this year, it was enough to get him on my radar. This is his only song on the Top 500 which makes his song the 2nd most successful song on the list from an artist with only 1 song.  The most popular to come later....

#32 Lana Del Rey - "Brooklyn Baby"

LDR is back again this year with her second album Ultraviolence and she gets 3 songs in the Top 500 of 2014. This is the only one to make the Top 100 coming in at #32. 

To me, the song is kind of mocking the hipster movement so to speak in Brooklyn as she talks about her extra cool record collection and her affinity for beat poetry. The bridge is especially entertaining as she proclaims "i don't have to fucking explain it" then announcing she gets "high on hydroponic weed".  She also finally admits to being cooler than her way cool boyfriend. I assume its all tongue in cheek but you never know with Lana.

Gorilla vs. Bear (gorillavsbear.net) gave her #20 of the year, Rolling Stone said this song was #22 and she slips a bit below that in my list.

#33 Sylvan Esso - "Play It Right"

It may seem like I am repeating myself here but Sylvan Esso is yet another band with 2 songs in the Top 50. I guess that makes 6 now. I guess I can't help that some bands really put out some good records this year.

Sylvan Esso is new though, as their self-titled 2014 album is their first. the album actually has 4 songs in the Top 500 but 3 made the Top 100 and I'll betcha one of them is in the Top 10!

Rumor has it that "Play It Right" though not their first single or the song that caught the indie world's attention is the first song they recorded together.

#34 Cloud Nothings - "Psychic Trauma"

the Cloud Nothings hail from Cleveland, OH and they share one thing in common with Jack White.  They have 3 songs in the Top 100 and 2 in the Top 50!  That's where the similarities end. Some criticize the bands lack of originality or even that their songs all sound the same and follow an eerily similar sound structure, but I personally find them all to be quite enjoyable.

This is the second single from their 2014 album Here and Nowhere Else. Stay tuned later for more from this band!

#35 Jack White - "Just One Drink"

Jack White is back with his 2nd of 3 songs in the Top 100 and as previously stated he has numerous if not countless songs on my countdowns. I saw him yet again this year and he just simply never disappoints. I do hope one day him and Meg can reunite as it would be truly epic.

"Just One Drink" is one of his more country kind of songs and features female vocals but I'm not sure who this is.  Stereogum thinks it sounds like Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band. FYI.

No video for this so here's a clip from this year's Glastonbury!

#36 St. Vincent - "Birth In Reverse"

5 artists have 2 songs each in the Top 50. We've already heard 2 from Arcade Fire and the next 2 artists will fit into this category. St. Vincent blasted onto the  mainstream indie scene in 2014 with her album, her 5th and self titled album St. Vincent.  Her real name is Annie Clark and I actually like that better.

Annie is a former member of the Polyphonic Spree, toured with Sufjan Stevens and even collaborated on an album with David Byrne.  2014 really saw her come into her own and landed her a questionable opening slot for the Black Keys tour.  I suppose she'll be co-headlining with Taylor Swift next year?  Kidding.

#37 Woods - "Moving To The Left"

Back with another song from NYC's Woods. They have 4 songs altogether on the Top 500 and 3 here in the Top 100. I urge you to grab their 2014 record With Light And With Love as it is superb.

#38 Arcade Fire - "Afterlife"

Now in years past I have had issues with songs that were popular in December and January because I never know whether to put them into the year they came out or the year they were most popular. I have made an effort to give late entries their fair shake and try not to include last year's songs. I failed here!  

Arcade Fire's "Afterlife" was #45 last year and gets BACK into the Top 100 again this year. It's OK because this is a great song, but Courtney Barnett's "Avant Gardener" didn't get the same treatment.

So let's reminisce on 2013 a bit and watch Arcade Fire's video/short film, which won the Prism Prize in 2014 for Best Video, which is a big deal in Canada!

#39 Jenny Lewis - "Just One Of The Guys"

When Jenny Lewis isn't playing with Rilo Kiley, touring the with Postal Service or hanging with Jonathan Rice, she is busy with quite a respectable solo career. The Voyager is her 3rd solo LP and has 3 songs in the Top 500 this year, including the lead single here at #39.

I'm unsure what she's getting at here, but the line "I'm just another lady without a baby" is perhaps telling. Though she's been pretty clear she's not interested. The video is cool though and has some good cameos by Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway and more. Rolling Stone Magazine named this the #5 song of 2014.

Video #3 Songs 450-426

#40 Perfume Genius - "Queen"

For all of the Arcade Fires, Spoons and New Pornographers in the Top 100, there are a few artists who are new to the indie music scene grabbed a Top 100 song in their first effort! Now Perfume Queen, who is Mike Hadreas, has 3 albums out now, he has received almost no attention in the US. His 2014 album, Too Bright, came out in September but the single "Queen" hit the airwaves about a month before.

As you can guess, "Queen" is about a queen, and not the royal kind and also presumably about himself. Either way Perfume Genius may have just made a statement here and we'll see if him and his fancy lipstick can stick around for 2015. The song also made Sirius XMU's end of year list at #36 and Pitchfork gave it #8 of the year. Popmatters have it at #46, Pretty Much Amazing has it at #2 and I could go on, but you get the picture!

You can google the video for "Queen" but I will post his late-night TV debut performance on Letterman from back in October.  It's pretty rad.

#41 the National -"I Need My Girl"

The National is no stranger to Top 50 songs of the year. They have had plenty in the past and rack up another one this year.  This is actually a 2013 song from the Nationals album "Trouble Will Find Me" but was released as a single in the beginning of 2014. 

Video #2 Songs 475-451

Video! Watch songs 500-476!

Ok, I think I did it!  I am posting this video on here now.  It's 13 minutes long and it has 30 second clips of the songs 500-476. It should play and you can see the titles on the screen along with the song.  If this works, i may tirelessly make 19 more of these so you can listen to the entire countdown.

Please leave a comment if you have any ideas for improvement or if its NOT working.

#42 Pixies - "Greens & Blues"

Pixies need no introduction so I'll spare you all of that! But they did release new material in 2014. In January they did an EP called "EP2" and it had 4 songs, 2 of which are in the Top 500 of 2014.  This song, "Greens & Blues" is by far the best and harkens back to Pixies of old. (You may be bored with their new material, as many are, but this is great!).

From Wikipedia: Black Francis wrote "Greens and Blues" with the intention of creating "a better 'Gigantic'" – something that would "musically, emotionally and psychologically – sit in the same place that Gigantic has sat" and serve as a "show-closer."

#43 Son Lux - "Lost It To Trying"

Son Lux is simply Ryan Lott and he's a dude from New York City. He's not brand new, he released an album back in 2008 that never landed on my radar but NPR called it "Best New Artist" on All Things Considered.  In 2011, he released another disc, yet again never on my radar, and was described by Consequence of Sound as "the dark, operatic middle ground between Owen Pallett and In Rainbows-era Radiohead or Wild Beasts' fantastic, operatic heights". 

Finally Son Lux had me in 2013 when I heard this number, Lost it To Trying.   Even then it took a while for it to grow on me. Eventually the song spent 18 weeks on the Top 100 climbing up to number 10. His show at Firefly Music Festival (where he got a cool 1am set AFTER the Foo Fighters on a tiny stage) was one of the highlights of the weekend.

#44 Arcade Fire - "We Exist"

Canada's Arcade Fire have never been known to write trite, meaningless pop songs. In fact, their songs have always been some of the most thought provoking music out there these days, especially the sort that wins Grammy awards!  "We Exist" is no exception. 

Singer Win Butler described the song as being about "a gay kid talking to his dad". The social issue of homosexuality and gay marriage is pretty obvious in the lyrics, "they're walking around, head full of sound acting like we don't exist". 

The song also sparked controversy and a strange attack by Against Me! singer and gender dysphoria suffering Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel). Grace claimed they should have used an actual transgender actor in the video instead of actor Andrew Garfield. Seems arbitrary to me. 

The video is also nominated for Best Music Video Grammy in 2014.

#45 Chvrches - "Lies"

While Chvrches was a huge hit in late 2012 and all of 2013 songs from their debut album "The Bones of What You Believe" bled out into 2014. "Lies" is one of those songs as it debuted in my weekly Top 100 in the last week of 2013, climbing to number 2 where it perched for 3 straight weeks, thanks to Real Estate and Arcade Fire....

This will be Chvrches highest song of 2014, but I'll be we see more of them in 2015!

#46 Tune-Yards - "Wait For A Minute"

 The Tune-Yards burst out on the scene in 2011 (though their first album was out in 2009) with offbeat, eclectic rock, funk and afrobeat, whatever kind of music. Her voice switching keys often mid word and lack to much melody or steady beat caught us all off guard. 2011 saw Merrill with 3 Top 200 songs and a number 33 of the year with "Gangsta"

This year she's back with Nikki Nack and has not one but 2 Top 50 songs! Here is the first.

#47 Mac Demarco - "Brother"

The Canadian assault on the Top 100 continues as the second song from Mac Demarco is number 47. "Brother" is the 3rd track on Salad Days and is another psychedelic folky gem. Although it didn't garner as much commercial success as "Passing Out Pieces", I obviously found it to be a better song!

I'm not Demarco's biggest fan but he definitely put out a solid record this year and has been rewarded that. Salad Days as Pitchfork named it the number 12 album of the year and is short listed for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize.

#48 New Pornographers - "War On the East Coast"

Canada's New Pornographers have 3 songs in the Top 100 and I think actually that it's kind of ripping them off that the highest they got was number 48. The year end countdown doesn't always make sense I guess!  It did better than it did on Pitchforks year end countdown though as it landed at #93 there.

"War On the East Coast" is the 3rd single on the "Brill Bruisers" album and just really came out in November. The song is actually number 1 this week on the chart and should probably garner some attention going into 2015. I think it's the song on the new album that sounds most like NP of yesteryear, ever mentioning Canadian city names and seeming to make some sort of social statement wrapped in a love song.  

The New Pornographers are clearly still at the top of their game in 2014 and I can't wait to see them in February at Rams Head Live!  This video is cool too.

Listen to the entire countdown!!!!

I have had an idea about the countdown that I thought I would share. Since I have actually made a Top 500 countdown and decided that was way too much to blog, I wanted to share it with you anyway. So what I have done is mixed ALL 500 songs together (well I am working on it now) 30 seconds at a time for songs 500-251, 45 seconds for songs 250-101, and 1 minute for songs 100-1.  This will allow you to listen to the whole dang countdown in no time flat! 

The problem is how to share.  I think I can share it by adding the tracks to a playlist on Spotify and sharing it. This would involve anyone following me on Spotify and when I am done the whole thing, I will share it and send it to you all. 

If anyone has a better way of doing this, please let me know! 

stay tuned.......

#49 Black Lips - "Dandelion Dust"

The Black Lips are representing Georgia in the Top 50! The garage rock band has had little success in the year end countdowns in the past, but their 7th album "Underneath the Rainbow" finally got them a hit or two. "Dandelion Dust" spent 20 weeks on the Top 100 and made it all the way to number 2 in July. It could have made number 1 but was edged by a pesky Australian who has the number 30 song of the year.

#51 Cloud Nothings - "Now Hear In"

Cleveland Rocks!  The Cloud Nothings burst on the scene 2 years back with their 90s style grungy indie rock with songs like "Fall In", "Stay Useless" and "No Future / No Past".  They returned in 2014 with their new album "Here & Nowhere Else" and though their style was basically the same, their songs were just as enjoyable!

This year they landed ALL 3 singles in the Top 100 and almost got  them all into the Top 50, but this one fell juuust shy!  Which means if you are paying attention, we have 2 more Cloud Nothings songs in the countdown.

#52 Strand of Oaks - "Goshen '97"

Strand of Oaks is Indiana native Timothy Showalter, who is now based out of Philadelphia. He's has been making music for 10 years and has several albums. Until this year he has been very unknown and has only played small shows around the country.

"Goshen '97" tells the story of a teenager who is stuck in between being cool and popular and being completely uncool and not having a good time. Singing Smashing Pumpkins, smoking Newports and recording music. He was lonely but he was having fun.  A message to not take your life for granted, indeed!

And if you think he shreds like J. Mascis at the end, well he doesn't get THAT much credit, as it actually IS J. Mascis on guitar in this song. It's good to know famous guitarists because it has put Strand of Oaks and his 2014 album "HEAL" on the map and almost into the Top 50 of 2014!

#53 Father John Misty - "Bored In the USA"

Father John Misty is J. Tillman, former drummer for Fleet Foxes and Rockville, MD native. If his being in Fleet Foxes is a deterrent let it be known that FJM is much more entertaining (and even humorous) than the Foxes. His second solo album in the last 2 years will be out in 2015 and he gave us a taste in November with "Bored in the USA".

Listening to Tillman's lyrics are probably the best part and this one doesn't disappoint with its cynical look on the average American life. The especially poignant "is this the part where I get all I ever wanted" begs the question on whether all of the little things we do in life (job, marriage, children, possessions) is actually making us happy.

Check this one out and be ready for a few Tillman songs in 2015!

#54 Woods - "Tambourine Light"

Brooklyn, NY band Woods has been around for almost 10 years but it wasn't until 2013 that they finally broke into my year end charts. Although their single "God's Children" only placed at #289 last year, it was good enough for me to take notice this year when their "With Light and With Love" album came out.

This year, Woods has 4 songs in the top 500 and two in the Top 100! "Tambourine Light" is not on the 2014 album but was released as a special 7" in May. The song kind of reminds me of some Grateful Dead song or some such thing. It was a great song to listen to in the summer.

#55 Sharon Van Etten - "Every Time The Sun Comes Up"

The lovely Sharon Van Etten makes her second and final appearance in the Top 100 of 2014. Here she seems to get her self into a fair amount of trouble. Drowned in Sound interviewed her about this song and she said this:

 

SVE: I am so surprised people like that song so much! It was like a joke song. It was at the end of the day in the studio, we were all having a lot of fun, we had done two songs already and it was the choice of the night: finish up early or keep going. It was originally a demo that I wrote on the Omnichord that Heather gave me.
I only had the chorus at the time and I called it my 'Bruce Springsteen song', because it reminded me of 'Girls In Their Summer Clothes', that kind of Phil Spector side that he has sometimes. I sent it around to everybody to see if they thought it was worth working on and everyone in the studio that day, my friends and my bandmates, were just like: "Let's just do the basic tracking and you just do a scratch vocal". The next few days I was gonna go in by myself because they had other stuff going on so they said "You can redo the vocal but at least you'd have everything tracked then". So it was at that time of the night when we took a break, we drank a little, we smoked a little; we got pretty loose. The lyrics came to me on the fly. I had never done that in front of people before, so I ended up just going step by step through what happened in the day. We got a little silly, we broke glasses, we did air high fives all the time, the engineer's name is Tricks so I was like "Do your tricks, Tricks, make me sound good!" and so on. Then you had to do your dishes in the bathroom: I thought it was funny that you could do somebody a favour by doing the dishes, but then, you know, you also were going to actually use the bathroom. All these things I didn't think we'd keep, but when we went through them they said "No, don't edit them, just keep them! It's fun! It shows like a funny side of you, you're not just this dark girl, you actually have a sense of humor, people should see that and it's a nicer way to end the record with that rather than with a really heavy ballad, it gives everybody a break after they've gone with you through that journey". Although it's still kind of a dark song, it's still one of the funny ones.

 

 

 

#56 Angel Olsen - "Forgiven/Forgotten"

Angel Olsen hails from St. Louis, Missouri but I thought she was Swedish for quite some time. Anyway, Olsen is only 27 but has been around for some time.  She served as a backup singer to Bonnie Prince Billy and collaborated with guys from Wilco and Cap'n Jazz. Late last year she was signed to Jagjaguwar Records and in February of 2014, Angel released "Burn Your Fire for No Witness" which is honestly one of the best records of the year.

 

Angel has 5 songs in the Top 500, though this is the only one to make the Top 100. 

 

#57 Broken Bells - "After The Disco"

It is no surprise that a musical collaboration with Danger Mouse and the Shins' James Mercer is quite aurally pleasing, but Broken Bells have surpassed expectations and eluded the sophomore slump with their second LP "After the Disco".  After their self-titled debut in 2010 it was unclear if it was a one off sort of Postal Service thing or whether we'd hear more from the duo. We got lucky at the end of 2013 when new music came out. The first single "Holding On For Life" came o gt late last year and straddled 2013 and 2014, placing 142 this year and number 41 last year.

This year, "After the Disco" went to #5 in the weekly chart and comes close to cracking the year end Top 50!

#58 Sleater-Kinney - "Bury Our Friends"

Back to some US artists now and back with Sleater-Kinney! the indie darlings and Olympia, Washington band went on an indefinite hiatus back in 2007 and it was figured to happen but unclear when they would reunite. 2014 saw this come to fruition and in the fall "Bury Our Friends" was the first new music from the 3 ladies in over 7 years!

The song itself almost rings of "Everything In It's Right Place" in the sense it almost seems like a "comeback song" of sorts. With lines like "ready to climb out from under concrete" and "wild and weary but we won't give in" you can almost hear SK fighting back to relevance. The song also lacks no energy and has no sense of cash-grab reuinionizing (see Outkast).

Let 2015 be the year of Sleater-Kinney.

#59 Stars - "No One Is Lost"

Toronto band Stars completes our Canadian trifecta at #59. The indie pop group that has been around for quite some time (2001) has had numerous songs in the Top 100 over the years and when their 2014 album "North" came it's not surprised there was another.

"No One Is Lost" is not the typical Stars indie pop song though. This is a disco banger with a very positive, if not realistic, attitude on life and love. While Amy Millan and company are not ones to use "put your hands up" in their lyrics, but these work so well.  The song just came out in November but quickly shot to the weekly Number 1 spot. 

#60 New Pornographers - "Dancehall Domine"

While we may never see complete domination of a year end Top 100 as we did last year when Vampire Weekend had FOUR songs in the Top 15, but we do have a few acts with 3 songs in the Top 100 and here is the 2nd song from one of them.

For any New Pornos fans who may have  become disengaged after the last 2 albums can rest assured that Brill Bruisers is every bit as good as Electric Version or Twin Cinema

#61 Ought - "Habit"

It's about to get all sorts of Canadian in here!

We'll start a Northern trifecta with a new act for 2014, Montreal's Ought. After forming in 2011 and signing on to Constellation Records (home of Godspeed You! Black Emperor) they released their first full length "More Than Any Other Day" and the album was quite successful both in Canada and the US, reaching number 20 on Billboard's Heatseekers Chart. Pitchfork called the album "Best New Music" and gave an 8.4.

"Habit" was the first track I heard on it and it seemed a to take a bit to get going but reminded me somehow a cross between the Velvet Underground and Modest Mouse. The song landed on several year end lists including #17 on Consequence of Sound and #41 on Rolling Stone.

#62 Phantogram - "Fall In Love"

Phantogram is Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel and they are from Greenwich, NY, which is pretty far upstate and very close to Vermont. They used to be called Charlie Everywhere and changed their name cause Phantogram sounds way cooler. Also, a phantogram is an actual thing, Google tells me.

Phantogram released their 2nd full length album "Voices" in February and although "Black Out Days" is the standout song on that album, it was released on a previous EP in 2013 so did not make it into this years Top 100. It did make #45 of 2013.

"Fall In Love" was the only single Phantogram actually released in 2014 although again, this was out in December of 2013 if that makes sense. Still, they pull out a respectable #62 on this years chart.

#63 Alt-J - "Left Hand Free"

Leeds' Alt-rock band, Alt-J has clearly been a favorite of mine since they came onto the scene in 2012 with their critically acclaimed and award winning debut "An Awesome Wave".  In 2012, their lead single "Fitzpleasure" was the #77 song of the year and probably could have been higher if it hadn't been released right at the end of 2012.  In 2013, the band had 2 more Top 100 songs of the year with "Dissolve Me" reaching #36 and "Breezeblocks" catching the #5 song of 2013.

This year, Alt-J is back with a new record, "This Is All Yours", and after the somewhat mediocre leadoff track "Hunger of the Pine" (featuring an oddly placed Miley Cyrus sample) they hit big with their next two. The first of which is "Left Hand Free" which comes in at #63 of the year.

#64 Fear Of Men - "Descent"

Fear of Men is a Brighton, UK band made up of 2 girls and 2 guys and formed back in 2011. They released their first full length LP called "Loom" on Kanine Records in 2014.

After releasing "Luna" as a first single and only achieving moderate success, "Descent" came out with a video in April and both popular blogs Stereogum and Pitchfork thought it was fantastic. I did as well as the jangly pop song had just enough sadness in its tone to give it a bit of character. The song quickly shot to number 2 in the weekly Top 100 and it lands at the #64 song of the year.

#65 Dan Croll - "From Nowhere"

Dan Croll has a song called "From Nowhere" which seemed to come from exactly there this spring. He's not very indie and he's a bit dorky.  This song went all the way to number 1 in the summer time but didn't stay for long.

He's lucky to have saved himself a spot in the Top 100, he was almost replaced with another song. It's a good song though, really and it shows that I can put some pop shit in here sometimes.

#66 Speedy Ortiz - "American Horror"

Speedy Ortiz hails from Northampton, MA which is pretty cool if you are an indie rock fan since that is the hometown of Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth. Perhaps then it is not a coincidence that while they do not copy SY, they do have a 90s alternative punk feel to them, even with Sadie Dupuis soft voice.

"American Horror" comes off of their 2nd full length release "Major Arcana" (which actually came out in 2013. The band also notably released an EP called "Taylor Swift" in 2011. That will be the closest she gets to my Top 100.  sorry.

Not only did "American Horror" make my Top 100, SPIN Magazine ranked it number 79 of the year and it ranked number 24 on Consequence of Sound's Top 50 of 2014, which you can see here: Top 50 Songs of 2014