There's only one problem this year, though. You might've guessed it from the title of this post. I haven't heard enough 2014 albums to make a list of the ten best.
Well, that's not exactly true. I listened to exactly ten new albums this year. But it seems kind of misleading to just list them as the ten best. Right?
The question is, why so few records heard? Either things are looking very poor for new music or I'm getting too old to keep up with what's current. I'm not sure which scenario I hope is the case.
I should mention that, in preparation for this list, I did go and check out a bunch of tracks from other artists being celebrated all over the place. But none of them compelled me to investigate further. However, that could still have more to do with my own advanced age than with the current state of popular music.
Anyway, here are my top five picks from the ten new albums I heard in their entirety this year. These ones all managed to make their way through the layers of dead or dying skin cells and into my stagnant bloodstream to produce that familiar tingly sensation in my withered, slowly failing heart.
I would also like to mention that Impatto Sonoro, an Italian music webzine, chose one of my own solo songs for their best-of-2014 playlist. How they ever heard about my Bandcamp-only release in the first place is anyone's guess, but I'm incredibly flattered. Check it out! (I'm 23rd down the list.)
And finally, for the sake of posterity, here's my resolution for 2015, written to myself on Christmas night after ingesting certain substances both intoxicating and illuminating:
This need for validation is so limiting. And all-consuming. It's addictive. No wonder Facebook and Twitter and the like have taken over our lives so successfully. Please jettison it, as soon as possible. Waste of energy. If you want to share something with someone, do it out of generosity. Not out of a need to feel like you exist, as judged by others. You know you exist. That's all that matters.Happy new year!
