Matt's Top Ten Favorite Songs of 2014

For my Top Ten Favorite Songs of 2014 list, my parameters were simple: songs released in 2014 that I listened to over and over again for a period of days/weeks/months. Weirdly, lots of Aussies made my Top 10 this year. I dunno what's up with that, I guess they're just doing stuff I like down there.

10. Hardcore from Australia, released back in November:

9. Female-fronted hc from Cali, released back in August. I just saw on their facebook page that the lead singer left the band back in September:

8. Suckily, my #8 pick, "CH Drivers Are High" by Chapel Hill's garage rockin' Flesh Wounds, won't embed for some reason. So click that link and listen to it. Fun stuff.

7. I heard this noisy rocker and had to have a hard copy. They sent the pretty blue vinyl 7" fast too - it came all the way from Australia.

6. Same went for this bratty gem, also from Australia, but it has not arrived as promptly as the Mesa Cosa 45; I'm still waiting on my copy of Titty Riot, in fact. The Sufferjets have assured me it's on its way, however.

5. I liked the new King Tuff album all the way through and enjoyed seeing them live. Black Moon Spell was in heavy rotation on my headphones, on the record player, and in my head for weeks.

4.This Drake cover, released back in January by CNQ's favorite Australian no-raver Simo Soo, is better than the original, IMO:

3. The #3 spot is tied with every Buck Biloxi song on Live At Saturn Bar and the Biloxi LP Culture Demanufactuer. As Dynamite Hemorrhage said on his podcast, "Buck Biloxi makes The Ramones sound like wizardy prog." Love it.

2.Dope Body's whole album "Lifer" is really good, but this song is my fave from it.

1.Run The Jewels 2 is my fave album of the year for sure. There's a reason it's on all the best ofs this year - it's un-putdownable.

Honorable mentions go to The Great Dismal Swamis, Postcode, Clara Engel, Anklepants, Adam Holtz, Lee Bains III and the Glory Fires, Future Death, Roomrunner, Triathalon, and Grave Mistake Records' Breakout and Asylum. All put out quality tunes this year. Thanks to them, all the artists on the Top Ten list, and all the other awesome bands, singers, and songwriters I've featured on CNQ this year. I don't post it if I don't like it! And also thanks to anybody out there in Internet-land who enjoys my little blog.

Got a Christmas post coming up with some Adam Holtz Christmas tunes and some Christmas-related old 45s you might not have heard before.

Addendum: I totally forgot Protomartyr's "Scum, Rise," which was heavy in my rotation at the beginning of the year.

Midnight Cowboys

The Weaklings: "Star Fucker" (1998)

From 1998, off a self-titled blue vinyl LP put out by Junk Records (who operated out of Cypress, CA, but no longer have a web presence) comes a rockin' Stones cover by this Portland, Oregon band. I bought this at ye old Half-Price Books in Dallas sometime last year. If memory serves I got it for $10.

When I first bought this, I did a little research and found that the lead singer, Bradly Battin, liked to cut himself on stage back in the Weaklings' heyday (see album cover), and, more recently, Battin had been awarded something like "Best Person to Drink With" in some Portland Free Weekly reader's poll. However, I can now find nothing regarding either of those two factoids, and I may be spreading awful lies.

If you're interested, the bass player for this album, one Jeff Larson, has a Myspace page for his project, Lucky Thirteens, which features a little EP of garage punk. Looks like all the trax date from 1996. Kinda cool.

I'd originally posted this one last night but something was messed up with the playback AND I caught the end of the previous song in the track, rookie mistake. So here it is again. I think I did it right this time.

Download: Star Fucker