Tag Archives: Albums of 2014

Tom’s Top 10 of 2014, Pt. 2

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Tom Emanuel

It’s a blustery, snowy day here back home in South Dakota. So what better time to bundle up indoors with a cup of tea and finish up my Top 10 Albums of 2014? The first half of my Top 10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Top 5's | Tagged Albums of 2014, Best Albums of 2014, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Christopher Tin, classical, Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, GOASTT, Into the Lime, Jukebox the Ghost, Midnight Sun, neo-psych, New Mendicants, pop, pop-rock, power pop, psych rock, retro, Sean Lennon, Sun Structures, Temples, The Drop That Contained the Sea, The Great Unknown, world music | 1 Comment

Tom’s Top 10 of 2014, Pt. 1

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Tom Emanuel

In December 2013, as regular readers may recall, I decided to catch up on the state of contemporary music by listening to and reviewing an album every day for a month. My listening in 2014 was more evenly spread out … Continue reading →

Posted in Top 5's | Tagged acid folk, Albums of 2014, Best Albums of 2014, Bruce Springsteen, Dap-Kings, David Gilmour, E Street Band, folk rock, High Hopes, Jenny Lewis, Linda Perhacs, mainstream rock, neo-psych, Nick Mason, Parallelograms, Pink Floyd, power pop, psych, R&B, Rick Wright, Rilo Kiley, Sharon Jones, singer-songwriter, soft rock, The Endless River, The Soul of All Natural Things, The Voyager | 1 Comment

EP Review: Marine Life “Fool of a Kind”

Posted on October 20, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Much of what you need to know about San Francisco indie popsters Marine Life can be gleaned from the fact that they’re labelmates with Camera Obscura and a quick glance at the cover to their debut EP, Fool of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Big Sur, Boy from B-612, Camera Obscura, Des de Leon, Elefant, Fool of a Kind, For the Camera Shy, indie pop, Marine Life, San Francisco | Leave a comment

Album Review: The Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger, “Midnight Sun”

Posted on July 2, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Being a Beatle Kid is a decidedly double-edged sword. On the one hand, you start your musical career with name recognition the likes of which most artists—even the successful ones—can only dream of, giving you an instant audience. On the … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged 1960s, Albums of 2014, Beatles, chamber pop, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Don't Look Back Orpheus, folk pop, George Harrison, Great Expectations, John Lennon, Last Call, Moth to a Flame, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, psych, psych pop, psych rock, retro, Sean Lennon, Syd Barrett, Tame Impala, Temples, Yoko Ono | 1 Comment

Album Review: Ian Anderson, “Homo Erraticus”

Posted on June 3, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

When they go on tour these days, most artists of Ian Anderson’s age might slot in a couple of new songs into their act, but mostly keep to a standard-issue “greatest hits” setlist. Anderson, clever fellow that he is, however, … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Cold Dead Reckoning, Doggerland, Enter the Uninvited, Ernest T. Parritt, Gerald Bostock, Heavy Metals, Homo Erraticus, Ian Anderson, Jethro Tull, prog, progressive rock, Ryan O’Donnell, Thick as a Brick, Thick as a Brick 2, Tripudium Ad Bellum | 1 Comment

Album Review: The Family Crest, “Beneath the Brine”

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

The first track on a record is terribly important. It can’t be so stunning that everything that follows seems like a disappointment in comparison, but it also has to be good enough that it pulls you into the album’s world, … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Beneath the Brine, Divine Comedy, Family Crest, Howl, indie pop, Liam McCormick, Love Don't Go, Make Me a Boat, Nate Ruess, orchestral pop, San Fermin, The Water's Fine | Leave a comment

Album Review: Broken Bells, “After the Disco”

Posted on March 26, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

“After the disco, all of the shine just faded away,” Shin-in-Chief James Mercer sings on the title track of After the Disco (2014), his second album under the banner of Broken Bells with hip-hop auteur Danger Mouse (Brian Burton). And … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged After the Disco, Albums of 2014, Brian Burton, Broken Bells, Danger Mouse, Hanging On For Life, indie rock, James Mercer, Leave It Alone, New Wave, Perfect World, Portugal. The Man, The Angel & the Fool, The Changing Lights, The Remains of Rock & Roll, the Shins | Leave a comment

Album Review: The New Mendicants, “Into the Lime”

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Power pop is a genre where innovation isn’t necessarily the name of the game. Badfinger and Big Star laid down the general parameters of the genre back in the 70s, and since then success has been a matter not so … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged A Very Sorry Christmas, Albums of 2014, Bandwagonesque, chamber pop, Follow You Down, High on the Skyline, If You Only Knew Her, indie pop, Into the Lime, Joe Pernice, Left Banke, Lifelike Hair, Mike Belitsky, New Mendicants, Norman Blake, Out of the Lime, Pernice Brothers, power pop, Sadies, Shouting Match, Teenage Fanclub | 1 Comment

Album Review: Temples, “Sun Structures”

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

A couple weeks ago, a Facebook friend shared a post from NPR about British quartet Temples’ debut Sun Structures (2014) with the commentary, “Temples aren’t a band, they’re a time machine.” Well, as a music fan and something of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, lo-fi, Mesmerise, National Public Radio, Nazz, NPR, retro, Shelter Song, Sun Structures, Tame Impala, Temples, The Beatles, The Golden Throne, The Who | 1 Comment

Album Review: Transatlantic, “Kaleidoscope”

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Tom Emanuel

Forming a supergroup is always a risky proposition. If you aim high, you risk alienating your fans, and the record-buying public at large, if/when your material doesn’t hit the mark. And if you aim high, no matter how good the … Continue reading →

Posted in Album Reviews | Tagged Albums of 2014, Black as the Sky, Dream Theater, Flower Kings, Into the Blue, Kaleidoscope, Marillion, Mike Portnoy, Neal Morse, Peter Trewavas, prog, progressive rock, Roine Stolt, Shine, Spock's Beard, symphonic prog, Transatlantic | 4 Comments