McQs 2014 Mix Collection and Year End ReviewHey Friends,

So I guess Im doing a little better this year than last, getting the mixes out by the start of summer rather than the Fourth of July, but as always, thank you for your patience. As the kids have gotten older and varsity sports, work, and college preparation pull the family in a thousand directions, it has become increasingly difficult to get these mixes to you in a timely fashion, but that said, I think youll find that this years collection was worth the wait. For those of you receiving the first two volumes, please remember that the remaining eight mixes of this years collection, as well as all the mixes from years past, are accessible on Spotify under my user name DAVID FRANCIS MCQUILLEN, and will also soon be available on iTunes and Amazon through links on my blog www.mcqsbestof.com. And with that out of the way, lets get to it.2014, for me, was a fine music year. Not deep from a quality album perspective, things really drop off after the first 25but man, was it awesome at the top, and leading the way were five exceptional albums.

Sun Kil Moons Benji is one of the two or three most impactful singer-songwriter albums I have ever heard. A classic of over sharing, it gives proof to the notion that the more personal an artists work is, the more universal it becomes. A deep meditation on childhood, family, sex, societal violence, and especially mortality, sole band member Mark Kozalek uses a horrifying family tragedy, the death of a distant second cousin due to an accidental aerosol can explosion (ironically, the same accident that killed her grandfather years earlier), to initiate his most thematically cohesive album to date. A raw, lyrically dominated work that sucks you in and is impossible to shake, it is my favorite record of 2014.

Right behind it, and easily 2014s best from a pure composition/production standpoint, is Swans To Be Kind. Picking up right where the bands 2012 masterpiece The Seer left off, To Be Kind is another two-hour plus orchestral post-rock battering ram of an album, a little more rock this time out, but basically the same dark, punishing, bat-shit crazy stuff. For those like me with a taste for music completely outside the norm, there was no more exciting album in 2014. The way the band peppers their colossal, repetitive builds with all manner of deranged flourishes is just extraordinary. Moving on to two far more user-friendly releases, Future Islands Singles opens with Seasons (Waiting On You), the aggregate critical consensus choice for 2014 song of the year, but remarkably, theres never a drop off after that point. Every song a on the album is a quirky, hooky, soul-searching little gem. I still dont quite understand how the bands unlikely combination of New Order-ish synth and bass structures paired with Sam Herrings impassioned Tom Waits-like caterwauling works, but work it does, to an amazing level, on this, the best album of the bands career.

Also a career best, The War On Drugs Lost In The Dream, by stated design, is a road album for the ages. The aggregate critical consensus winner of 2014 album of the year, its sweeping, deeply layered, dreamy reimagining of the work of classic Dad Rock acts like Springsteen, Petty, Dylan, and Dire Straits is endlessly repeatable, and an unreal headphones listen. Pop in those ear buds, and like pond water under a microscope, thousands of previously unperceived details springs to life.

Lastly, St. Vincents aptly self-titled fourth effort is the best of my strong recommends, the record where all of singer-guitarist Annie Clarks disparate, at-odds influencesher love for old time Disney songs, her love for Bowie, her love for gnarly punk guitarfinally cohere into a one magical, excitingand very freakywhole. No one song stands out as much as the peak songs on her first three albums, but taken collectively, this is without question her finest work.

As to my other strong recommends Courtney Barnetts The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas is a winning gathering of the lyrically talented Melbourne garage rockers early work. We profiled her hysterical single Avant Gardner from this album last year, but since I didnt hear this compendium until 2014, Ive included two more songs here. Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestras Fuck Off Get Free, We Pour Light On Everything would be the post-rock album of the year if not for Swans To Be Kind. Here, the Godspeed You! Black Emperor side project adds odd punkish vocals to Godspeeds orchestral, anarchist rage, and the results are killer. Heal by Strand Of Oaks was 2014s out-of-nowhere surprise, a charming, eclectic alt-country rocker from Indiana by a one-time acoustic folkie. Its got a few cheesy production touches, but by-and-large, its heartfelt take on musics ability to help us through hard times has resulted in one of the 2014s most endearing offerings.From uplift to despair, EMAs The Futures Void is a dark, soul-crushing dive into the bottomless pit that is todays social media. Varied and at times explosive in a PJ Harvey way, its one of the 2014s most underrated and harrowing albums. Wild Beasts Present Tense is the weakest of their last three releases, but the band is so good with their jazz-inflected 80s synth textures, and the vocal interplay between the operatic Hayden Thorpe and the gravitas-drenched Tom Fleming so compelling, that its still one of 2014s best albums. Spoons They Want My Soul, on the other hand, is one of that bands bestnot as singles dominated as previous works, but a great front-to-back listen and funkier that most of their efforts. Closing out my strong recommends are Run The Jewels II, an adventurous industrial rap victory lap for collaborators El-P and Killer Mike, who together have taken their careers to popular heights neither came close to achieving on his own, and Sharon Van Ettens Are We There, another moving, deeply felt addition to the singer-songwriters increasingly impressive catalog.

A few thoughts on the most interesting Solid Recommends - Neneh Cherrys collaboration with electronic producer Four Tet, Blank Project, is my favorite of 2014s many electro-soul offerings pounding and insistent, its got an unusual, bare bones sound that is just so cool in its best moments. Ditto The Antlers Familiars, which drowns the bands downbeat, Radiohead-ish music in pools of mournful old-world brass to gorgeous effect. Los Angeles art-rockers Liars Mess continues the art-rock bands recent forays into electronic music, but whereas previous release WIXIW was all beauty and haunting textures, Mess is all techno-aggression, its first half as in-your-face as any release this year, and all the better for it. Finally, two unexpected returns from old masters - Aphex Twins Syro find the electronic music pioneer proving that while he may no longer on the cutting edge, hes still one of the genres top talentsnot to mention a champion in the fight against illegal downloading, listing every cost associated with the production of Syro on the albums coverand after a fifteen year hiatus, DAngelo returned with Black Messiah. Another amorphous, throwback soul album in the vein of Sly & The Family Stones Theres A Riot Goin On, its a challenging, highly political work, but just may be the reclusive artists best.And now, on to the rest of McQ and Nancys choices as featured on this years mixes.Volume 1 Best Of The Best

As with the previous three years, I start with choice cuts from my favorite 2014 albums (minus a few Nancy gobbled up for her mix), as well as some of my favorite 2014 singles. With Palace, A Little God In My Hands, Jim Wise, Blank Project, Today More Than Any Other Day, I Prefer Your Love, and 3Jane, this years Best Of The Best is decidedly darker and edgier than the previous three, but rest assured, it does ease up into a very accessible back half, and also boasts several tracks (Weight Of Love, Feel, An Ocean In Between The Waves) with remarkable closing jams a trait that felt like one of 2014s trademarks, so many songs this year with fantastic instrumental endings. Most of the records featured here have already been discussed. Of those that havent, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks Wig Out At Jagbags is far from the former Pavement front mans strongest, but it does contain two super tracks, the wonderfully chill J Smoov, featured on Volume 3 Just Let It Flow, and Chartjunk, a Blood, Sweat, and Tears-style throwaway I felt compelled to include because basketball is such a huge part of my familys life right now. Though decent, I didnt love The Black Keys Turn Blue, feeling this more psychedelic turn from the band to be a significant step down from previous two releases Brothers and El Camino, but its opening track, the Spaghetti Western/Dark Side Of The Moon mash-up Weight Of Love, is phenomenal.I had strong thoughts of opening this mix with Montreal indie-outfit Oughts laugh-out-loud-funny Today, More Than Any Other Day before the idea of bookending this mix with songs of the same title finally won out, but anyone into spiky, paranoid indie who prefers their Talking Heads Fear Of Music-style is well-advised to check out this bands major label debut. From paranoid to the utmost in pleasant, I found beachy dream-pop act Real Estates third release Atlas to be, by a slight margin, their best. Two tracks from the album are featured on Volume 3 Just Let It Flow, and my favorite Primitive, is featured here. Feel come to us courtesy of San Francisco psycho-rockers Ty Segalls sprawling Manipulator, which finds the scorching guitarist finally cleaning up his production sound to widely varied resultsbut the albums best momentsFeel here, Its Over profiled on Volume 4 Coachella Startersoffer truly incendiary jams. Always one of my favorite acts when it comes to combining experimentation with heart, Elbow decided to focus on just heart this time out, rendering latest release The Take Off And Landing Of Everything their most straightforward and, unfortunately, their least interesting work in some time. But after twenty years together without a lineup change, the band is so accomplished that extraordinary moments are still to be found, none more so than their touching love letter to New York Citys vibrant hustle and bustle, New York Morning.

Swans A Little God On My Hands is To Be Kinds closest thing to a mainstream single, hence its inclusion here. I love the way the brass explosion in this song gets so comically sinister, you almost envision a silent movie villain twirling his handlebar mustache. And as the parent of a teenage daughter in the iPhone age, I must admit I find EMAs 3Jane - a first person account of a young celebrity losing all sense of self and self-esteem as shes demonized on social media - to be the years most horrifying song.Volume 2 Nancys Favorites

Nancys annual poaching job makes a great counterpoint to my Best Of The Best this year, featuring many of the years best soul and folksier numbers. UK DJ act Jungles Busy Earnin is one of 2014s best retro-soul numbers. Ditto Kendrick Lamars i, the phenomenal lead single that preceded the release of his blockbuster 2015 hip-hop album To Pimp A Butterfly. If its not the best rap song of the year, its definitely the best rap song of the year that wasnt on Run The Jewels II. Curtis Hardings Keep On Shining is another fine up-tempo soul number, and Sharon Jones Youll Be Lonely, one of two Dap Kings tracks included in this years collection, stands in for her fine return to Motown/Stax form Give The People What The Want following a serious bout with cancer.

The biggest surprise for me amongst Nancys selections is how she stole not just one but two tracks from noise/alt rockers The Mens foray into Springsteenland, Tomorrows Hits. Two of the three tracks featured from that album appear on her mix, the raucous Another Night, and the deliciously lazy Settle Me Down. Pearly Gates, the albums rowdiest track, appears on Volume 7 Just Slack The F Off! Also playing to the Dad Rock crowd on Nancys mix are Marcus Mumford and My Morning Jackets Jim James with Kansas City, one of their contributions to the Dylan tribute Lost On The River - The New Basement Tapes. Several Coachella Starters thefts appear on Nancys mix, including the Adele-channeling ZZ Wards Put The Gun Down, Sydney, Australia-based The Preatures lively It Gets Better, and multiple tracks from young British balladeer Tom Odell who also closes my Volume 8 Layin It Bare. Also making an appearance this year are Nancys Favorite regular Rosanne Cash with the bluesy A Feathers Not A Bird, LA-based post disco act De Lux with one of two songs in this collection from their Rapture/LCD Soundsystem/Little Creatures-era Talking Heads inspired LP Voyage, and British Electro-soul chanteuse Jessie Wares Sade-ish Tough Love. Tracks from Future Islands, The War On Drugs, DAngelo, Strand Of Oaks, and Sharon Van Etten already mentioned earlier, close out her awesome collection.Volume 3 Just Let It Flow

Inspired by the War On Drugs, who open and close this volume, I set out to make my own great, late-night driving mix. A genre-hopping collection of long, flowing numbers, this is for the most part a relaxing mix, punctuated with just enough up-tempo numbers to keep things from getting too sleepy.Of The Albums And Songs First Appearing On This Mix: Enemy is a single from the shape-shifting, Tampa, Florida art-pop act Merchandise a very cool, early 90s WXRT type groove to this song. Almost Like The Blues is my favorite track from Leonard Cohens quite good 2014 release Popular Problems. Hard to believe the man is pushing 80 and still putting out tracks like this. Hookworms Hum finds the organ-led psychedelic act picking up right where last years release Pearl Mystic left off, even numbering Hums many interstitial tracks, (iv, v, vi) as if it where disc two of Pearl Mystic rather than its own entity. Though not sporting top tracks as good as Away/Toward, Hum is a consistent album and amongst the years best solid recommends. The long, grooving Beginners represents here, and the more punkish Radio Tokyo makes an appearance on Volume 7 Just Slack The F Off!Damon Albarns Mr. Tembo is the liveliest track from his critically lauded Everyday Robots, an album that, despite the acclaim, I found too sedate to bond with. But I had no such problem with the Brian Eno/Carl Hyde single Return. Starting with the oddest of guitar riffs and the most mundane of subject matter (a wife picking up her husband of many years at the airport after a long business trip), it somehow grows over its nine minutes into one of the most indescribably life affirming instrumental crescendos Ive ever heard. Its a song only Brian Eno could conceive, and one 2014s best tracks. Volume 4 Coachella Starters

A look at some of the smaller-font bands that made the 2014 Coachella festival memorable. This is the one mix where I dont hold myself to a calendar year/year prior restriction. If a band Ill likely never profile again produced their best song five years back, thats what goes on this mix, though I do strive to include most recent material whenever possible.Of The Albums Represented On This Mix: The Future Islands, Courtney Barnett, and Ty Segall releases have already been discussed. After Strand Of Oaks Heal, Lana Del Reys Ultraviolence was probably my biggest 2014 surpriseI never thought Id like it as much as I do. Produced by The Black Keys Dan Auerbach, Ultraviolence coats Del Reys femme fatale turns in an eerie, bluesy vibe that comes off as a very cool cross between Mazzy Stars psychedelic shoegaze and Julee Cruises creepy/dreamy work for Twin Peaks. West Coast, the albums top hit, stands in here for her Outdoor Theatre performance, though other tracks like Brooklyn Baby, Money Power Glory, and Fucked My Way Up To The Top are equally compelling. Lyrically lightweight, but gloriously wrapped in distorted Jesus And The Mary Chain-flavored guitars, Dum Dum Girls Too True was one of the 2014s best sounding records, and Lost Boys And Girls Club, which I originally slated for my Best Of The Best mix until I decided Coachella Starters needed a more kick-ass opener, was one of the years very best songs. Another of the all girl garage rockers jangly gems, Evil Blooms, appears on Volume 9 Just Another Damn Indie Mix. The warm, delightful Feel represents Bombay Bicycle Clubs So Long, See You Tomorrow, a mildly impressive twee indie album with East-Asian accents that would have been dime-a-dozen four years ago, but because the music scene has shifted so dramatically recently, now feels rare and almost essential. Mitsume is the one track off Bo Ningen III that genuinely captures just how explosive the band is on stage. An expatriated Japanese post-punk crew now anchored in London, the band produces a massive, genre-mashing sonic cocoon that is thrilling to experience live, but unfortunately, their music, much like LA art rockers Warpaint, depends on a separation of sound one only gets on stage, and their recorded work suffers as a result. Daughter is another band that comes off much better live than on record, but unlike Bo Ningen, their moody, lilting, slightly Sinead OConnor-ish dream-pop album If You Leave is still fairly solid. Opener Winter represents here. From female introspection to heightened male aggression, Do To The Beast, The Afghan Whigs first release in twelve years, finds lead screamer Greg Dulli and his Ohio-based alt-rockers havent lost any of their predator sexual swagger, albeit having to take a slightly different sonic tack this time out minus original lead guitarist Rick McCollum. Royal Cream, the albums best track, appears on this mix, and another winner (pun intended), The Lottery appears on Volume 10 Odds & Ends. UK pub rocker Frank Turner delivered one of the 2014 festivals three best performances. His track Recovery off 2013s likeable if unspectacular Tape Deck Heart opened last years Earnest mix, but his performance was so good I decided to feature another track from the album here, the witty ballad Good & Gone. Finally, the mysterious, costumed Scandinavian tribal collective GOAT produced one of the years better psychedelic albums with the Woodstock-y Commune. A marvelously bookended record, its fantastic closing track Gathering Of Ancient Tribes concludes this mix as well.Regarding Singles Featured On This Mix: Drowners are east coast band working under a Franz Ferdinand/Vaccines template. Not too special on record but a lot of fun live, their best track A Button On Your Blouse stands in here. Temples Tame Impala-like Mesmerize and Syd Arthurs Jethro Tull-ish Edge Of The Earth represent two young British bands jumping on the pervasive pysch-rock bandwagon. Hisingen Blues is a pyrotechnic burner from old school Swedish hard rockers Graveyard, who also put on one of the better shows I saw week one of the fest. Kong is a nifty mood piece from chill, new agey British electronica producer Simon Green, aka Bonobo, who grafts a lot of natural world samples into his work. He performs with a full band live, and his set was one of my favorites of week two. Red Dust, a near perfect song title for a Coachella Mix, comes to you courtesy of Bon Iver-like Irish vocalist James Vincent McMorrow. Adding some eclecticism to the 2014 fest was the legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band with their famous Thats It, and adding some serious sexy was British bedroom-soul act Blood Orange with Chamakay off of their Avalon-like 2013 release Cupid Deluxe. Finally, Spirit, from the already discussed Future Islands, who were the best band to perform either weekend not named The Replacements. After finishing this song, lead singer Sam Herring proclaimed it was the best he had ever sung it (and thats exactly how it felt watching), hence the tracks inclusion here.Volume 5 - Just Another Damn Electro-Pop Mix

Just as the title says yet another dance-rock, electronica, synth-pop, dub-oriented collection.

Of The Albums Represented Here: After Liars Mess and Aphex Twins Syro, Swedish DJ Todd Terjes hammy, lounge-y disco album Its Album Time was my favorite electronic release of the year angling for instrumental warmth, playfulness, and humor where most releases in the field aim for either cerebral cool or mind-numbing, Pavlovian drops it felt like a silly breath of fresh air. Besides, whats not to love about a disc that first credits the dozens of analog synthesizer brands employed in the making of the album before mentioning a single individual. Caribous Our Love was a breakout hit for the veteran Canadian producer, mostly because of the monster single Cant Do Without You that opens this mix. Like that single, Our Love finds Caribou moving in a more electro-soul direction, but for me, despite the heaping critical acclaim (top 7 for 2014 in most aggregate polls), this is far from his best album, with a very sluggish mid-section. I had a similarly less-than-enthusiastic reaction to the years #2 critical consensus album, FKA Twigs LP1. In giving the Weeknds ominous, decadent, breathy soul formula an empowered, more positive feminist twist, FKA Twigs has certainly landed on an interesting sound, and the record is full of fascinating production details but overall, I found these whispery, almost melody free tracks to be a tough slog, especially when taken back-to-back-to-back on the album. Hit Two Weeks represents LP1 here.Of the slightly less buzzed about albums, The Horrors Luminous was a nice continuation of the more electronic/psychedelic merge they began to explore in 2011s slightly better Skying. Total Strife Forever is a solid, eclectic offering from British DJ East India Youth that features vocals on about one third of the tracks. La Rouxs Trouble In Paradise, though lacking any monster songs, might have been the best female dance-pop album of the year. And dub step pioneer The Bugs long awaited follow up to London Zoo, Angels And Devils, was an interesting push forward for the genre exploring a gentler, groovier palette in the albums opening Angel half before closing with a series of his trademark hard-hitting bangers. The Fall is my favorite track from the Angels portion of the album.Of The Singles Appearing On This Mix: Really just one, Baltimore duo Wye Oaks gorgeous, 1000 Maniacs-styled Logic Of Color, a track originally slotted for Volume 4 Coachella Starters but which ultimately felt like it belonged here.

Volume 6 Post Rock Plus

2014 was a fantastic year for Post- Rock, and for my money, this mix is both the weirdest and the best of this years collection. Eighty minutes of thrilling, alternatingly soothing or punishing, ever evolving orchestral-rock crescendos. Swans thirty-four minute exploration of the Haitian revolution Bring The Sun/Toussaint Louverture, will be a challenge for many, but try to stick with this mix all the way through - no matter how rough it gets, theres always another moment of calm or cool around the corner. Of The Albums First Appearing On This Mix: Just two, Mogwais Rave Tapes, which finds the Scottish Post-Rock vets applying more electronic elements to their typical moody, slightly metalish sound, and producer Ben Frosts crushing Aurora. As much an ambient record from hell in a Tim Hecker vein as it is post-rock, it contains some of the years most savage percussive passages.Volume 7 Just Slack The F Off!

My annual up-tempo punk, psych-rock, garage mix, this time out with a slack rock lean.Of The Albums First Appearing On This Mix: The prolific Brooklyn art-punk quintet Parquet Courts followed up 2013s awesome Light Up Gold with not one, but two 2014 releases, both of which offered multiple pleasures, but neither as good as their 2013 classic. Sunbathing Animal, the first to arrive in 2014, is the far more consistent of the two, and finds the band exploring longer, slower song structures than on Light Up Gold. Musically, its reliable if unspectacular, but the lyrics are as great and off-the-wall witty as ever. Content Nausea, under secondary moniker Parkay Quartz, is less consistent, but has the better highlights, especially the Velvet Underground aping Pretty Machines. Getting out in front of the Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner Zeitgeist in 2014 was southern punk act Against Me! whose Transgender Dysphoria Blues documented, in sometimes heartbreaking, intimate detail, lead singer Thomas Gabels transition to his/her present Laura Jane Grace identity. But make no mistake, despite the subject matter, this is still a hard-hitting rock album, not some Anthony & The Johnsons quaverer. All-girl trio Ex-Hexs Rips is one of my favorite punk-pop albums of 2014. The band, led by Helium/Wild Flag guitarist/vocalist Mary Timony, adopts a super clean, super catchy, super energetic glam-rock crossed with early 80s girl group (The Go-Gos, The Bangles) vibe and the results are tremendous fun. Chock full of fist-pumping three minute anthems and tight, tasty riffs, Rips is one of the years better party-rock albums. White Lungs Deep Fantasy presents a tougher spin on the classic female punk sound, but is near equally impressive. On the crazier end of things is Ariel Pinks Pom Pom, which finds the LA Lo-Fi rocker getting really zany, to a sometimes crude and often humorous end. Its been decades since Ive heard an album that reminded me so much of Frank Zappas anything goes early recordings. Providing similar laughs, though of a more unrelentingly profane variety, is British rap duo Sleaford Mods, who seem to be trying to revive last decades Streets-led grime rap movement with as many toilet references as humanly possible on their one-of-a-kind debut Divide & Exit. Coming at things more earnestly are Cloud Nothings, with Here And Nowhere Else, their raw, percussion-fueled, less-appealing follow up to poppier 2012 hit Attack On Memory, and funny but defeatist Detroit-based post punkers Protomartyr with the pointed, consistently well played and well written but tunelessly sung Under Color Of Official Right. If you can deal with lead singer Joe Caseys anti-melodic, Billy Bragg like croon, theres a lot to likeif you cant, Official Right is a definite skip. Finally, Canadian slacker extraordinaire Mac DeMarcos latest Salad Days is a modest but winning collection of light, breezy, almost Ray Davies-like rock tunes, most concerned in some way with the highly ambitious agenda of how to be a slightly better boyfriend.Of The Singles Appearing On This Mix: Iceages The Lords Favorite finds the Danish Post-Punkers softening their sound and moving in a looser, drunken, slightly country-ish direction. Encrypted Bounce is the latest in the seemingly unending stream of great psych-rock ravers from San Franciscos Thee Oh Sees. Housebroken is an appealing, almost Ted Leo-ish track from Worcester, MA emo act The Hotelier.Volume 8 Layin It Bare

Originally all these songs were considered for Volume 3 - Just Let It Flow but the amount of material I wanted to include grew too large to contain on one disc, and thus, the material was split, with the more emotionally naked, singer-songwriter/folkish material aggregated here.

Of The Albums Represented Here: Sun Kil Moons phenomenal Benji, Strand Of Oaks Heal, and Sharon Van Ettens Are We There have already been discussed one caveat, though Dogs, the Sun Kil Moon song that opens this mix, is very, shall we say, frank in a kiss and tell sort of way - not something to listen to when impressionable children or the easily offended are present. Becks Grammy Album Of The Year winning Morning Phase is a return to his Sea Change-era James Taylor obsessions; only with a more positive tone this time out. I didnt love it the album sags big time in the middle - but its best three or four songs are as good as the top songs on any record released this year. Ironically, Swedish indie-pop star Lykke Lis I Never Learn is, just like Sea Change, her attempt at a 70s singer-songwriter break-up album. I liked her previous two efforts - the charmingly amateurish Youth Novels and harder rocking Wounded Rhymes - better, but I Never Learn still delivers a number of solid songs, especially the haunting title track, and the naked-to-the-bones Love Me Like Im Not Made Of Stone. Probably no album is more criminally underrepresented in this years mix collection than Chicagoan Angel Olsens Burn Your Fire For No Witness, a spiky singer-songwriter album where Olsen applies her impassioned, almost Roy Orbison-like croon over songs alternatingly rocking and eerily restrained. The albums moving closer, Windows, not included in this collection, is along with Hookworms Retreat, the first song I would have added to this collection had there been room for a few more tracks. The harmonically explosive Cedar Lane is my favorite track from cute-as-a-button Swedish sister folk duo First Aid Kits latest effort Solid Gold, a respectable addition to their catalog, but not nearly as striking as predecessor The Lions Roar.Of The Singles Appearing On This Mix: Late Bloomer is a sweet coming-of-age tale and one of a couple big 2014 hits from ex-Rilo Kiley/The Postal Service vocalist/songwriter Jenny Lewis. I liked it a lot better than the even more enthusiastically received Just One Of The Boys. My Wrecking Ball is my favorite new Ryan Adams acoustic ballad (this song killed at Coachella 2015), Holding is another gorgeous, barely there ambient track from acoustic Pitchfork darling Grouper, and Grow Old With Me is another sentimental charmer from up-and-coming British crooner Tom Odell.Volume 9 Just Another Damn Indie MixModern Indies heyday is at least a half-decade past, well symbolized by the fact that only two songs on this twenty-song mix come to us via artists I havent included in years prior. But as all these acts prove, pass doesnt mean past your prime - some of 2014s best songs are on this mix.Of The Albums Represented Here: St. Vincent, Spoons They Want My Soul, Oughts More Than Any Other Day, the Dum Dum Girls Too True, EMAs The Futures Void, and Ariel Pinks Pom Pom have already been discussed. The indescribably awesome Jackson opens this mix and comes to us courtesy of idiosyncratic East Coast rockers Cymbals Eat Guitars from their career best release, Lose, one of the years better rock offerings. I enjoyed Broken Bells After The Disco. Looser and less obviously Shins-like than the Danger Mouse/James Mercer side projects first outing, its rarely great aside from nifty opener Perfect World, but maintains an easy, more synth-based likeability throughout without hitting the dull patches that plagued their debut. MTLOV (A Minor Key) is one of several engaging dream pop numbers from A Sunny Day In Glasgows sonically dense and adventurous Sea When Absent. Excellent songs from four of my most disappointing albums of 2014 also make this mix. The garage-y Left Hand Free is the one of only a few standout moments from Alt-Js otherwise dull and meandering sophomore release This Is All Yours. No album disappointed me more this year than tUnE yArDs follow up to 2011s dynamite Who-Kill, Nikki Nack, not because its bad, but because it feels so close to being a pop classic. The album is over-the-top adventurous, and fronted by one of the most unique singers in music right now in Merrill Garbus, but the record sabotages itself with a clumsy left turn every time momentum picks up and things start getting really good. After the swaggeringly confident Who-Kill, I found this lack of self-assurance distressing. The New Pornographers latest Brill Bruisers suffers no such fitfulness. Its a competent, well-performed power pop release, and livelier than the bands previous two outings, but its offerings are a far cry from the bands peak early work I makes me fear we wont ever get the magic of Mass Romantic and Twin Cinema from this band again. Art Garfunkel-voiced balladeer Perfume Geniuss All Along was a coming-out of sorts, mostly fueled by smash gay power anthem Queen, one of the years most talked about songs. Far more varied, rocking, and experimental than 2012s piano-ballad heavy Put Your Back N 2 It, its got several exciting tracks, but its also got several straight-up experimental failures, hence Id still recommend the 2012 release first to newcomers. Of The Singles Appearing On This Mix: Happy Idiot is another nice mid-tempo rocker from indie-stalwarts TV On The Radio. The No Country For Old Men referencing Oxygen Tank is a Flaming Lips-flavored ballad from the recently revamped Avi Buffalo, and yet another 2014 track to boast a thrilling instrumental close. And the love-before-costly-wedding-industry-nonsense championing Archie, Marry Me, from Canadian jangle-pop outfit Alvvays, is simply the most infectious song of 2014.Volume 10 Odds & EndsA closing collection of tracks I either ran out of room for or that didnt make sense on the previous mixes, Odds & Ends is broken into four self-explanatory suites Electro-Soul Overkill, Brotastic Brouhaha, A Token Shout Out To Hip Hop & Soul, and A Repulsive Room Clearer To Close It All Out.

Of The Albums Represented Here: The Afghan Whigs Do To The Beast, Run The Jewels 2, and DAngelos Black Messiah have been discussed. Hundred Waters dreamy, sample-heavy, Xx-like The Moon Rang Like A Bell proves when it comes to music, dub mega-star Skrillex may not be the most inspiring of artists, but hes got promise as a label head, Hundred Waters being one of the first bands he signed to OSWLA. Cutting edge producer Flying Lotuss Youre Dead finds the Alice/John Coltrane grandnephew incorporating vast elements of pure jazz into his daring sonic abstractions. Hard to pin down but consistently trippy and engaging, I feel this is his second best album after 2010s Cosmogramma. What to make of U2s free, forced download fiasco Songs Of Innocence? In truth, despite the bad publicity, the albums not half bad. Like all the bands desperate-for-attention late career work, its got its unintentionally cheesy moments (several in fact), and the whole thing has an odd emo-ish feel, but if you can get past these things, this is their hardest rocking, most sonically interesting release in quite some time. Consider it the years best guilty pleasure. Delivering none of those guilty pleasures is Jack Whites tired, unappealing, Nashville-accented Lazaretto. Too-prolific Jack exhausted his songwriters bag of tricks years ago, and as his songs have grown weaker, and the repetition of his core motifs grows ever more stale, all one is left with these days is his annoying and often pointless instrumental business. Only the title track and the instrumental High Ball Stepper engaged my interest this time out. Finally, far more appealing than it wants to be is the unexpected Scott Walker/Sunn 0)))) collaboration Soused, which somehow finds the fringe-dwelling nightmare collagist Walker and the Swedish drone masters becoming more accessible together than either is on their own (not that most of you wont skip past Bull after about thirty seconds.)Of The Singles Appearing On This Mix: Figure It Out and Trainwreck 1979 are two kick-ass rockers from similar sounding drums and bass duos Royal Blood and Death From Above 1979. High comes to us courtesy of talented gantsa-rapper Freddie Gibbs and his production partner, the esteemed Madlib. Klapp Klapp is a pounding electro-soul number not dissimilar from Neneh Cherrys work this year via Swedens well-regarded Little Dragons. Words I Dont Remember finds electro-soul pioneer Tom Krell of How To Dress Well going more for straightforward soul passion that experimentation this time out. And Gooey is an odd, silly number from UK art-rockers Glass Animals that I couldnt discipline myself to hold for next years Coachella Starters mix. And that, my friends, is it. Year-end rankings follow.McQs Favorite Albums Of 2014

Highest Recommend1. Benji Sun Kil Moon2. To Be Kind Swans3. Singles Future Islands

4. Lost In The Dream The War On Drugs

Strong Recommend5. St. Vincent St. Vincent:6. The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas Courtney Barnett

7. Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything Thee Silver Mount Zion Orchestra

8. Heal Strand Of Oaks 9. The Futures Void EMA

10. Present Tense Wild Beasts

11. They Want My Soul Spoon

12. Run The Jewels II13. Are We There Sharon Van Etten

Solid Recommend14. Blank Project Neneh Cherry

15. Mess Liars

16. Familiars Antlers

17. Black Messiah DAngelo

18. Rips Ex- Hex

19. The Hum - Hookworms

20. Too True Dum Dum Girls

21. Atlas Real Estate

22. More Than Any Other Day Ought

23. Syro Aphex Twin

24. Ultraviolence Lana Del Rey

25. Lose Cymbals Eat Guitars

26. Its Album Time Todd Terje

27. Burn Your Fire For No Witness Angel Olsen28. The Take Off And Landing Of Everything Elbow

29. Divide & Exit Sleaford Mods 30. Pom Pom Ariel Pink

31. Manipulator Ty Segall

32. Tomorrows Hits The Men

33. Morning Phase Beck

34. Salad Days Mac DeMarco

35. I Never Learn Lykke Li

36. Transgender Dysphoria Blues Against Me

37. Luminous The Horrors

38. Do To The Beast The Afghan Whigs

39. Sea When Absent A Sunny Day In Glasgow

40. Youre Dead Flying Lotus

41. Aurora Ben Frost

42. LP1 FKA Twigs

43. Deep Fantasy White Lung

44. Popular Problems Leonard Cohen45. Trouble In Paradise La Roux

46. Sunbathing Animal Parquet Courts

47. Songs Of Innocence U2

48. Commune - Goat

49. Stay Gold First Aid Kit50. After The Disco Broken Bells

51. Soused Scott Walker & Sunn0)))

52. Too Bright Perfume Genius

53. Rave Tapes Mogwai

Mild Recommend54. Voyage DeLux

55. Total Strife Forever East India Youth

56. The Moon Rang Like A Bell Hundred Waters57. Turn Blue The Black Keys

58. Under Color Of Official Right Protomartyr

59. Our Love - Caribou

60. Angels & Devils The Bug

61. Wig Out At Jagbags Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

62. So Long, See You Tomorrow Bombay Bicycle Club

63. Lazaretto Jack White

64. Brill Bruisers The New Pornographers

65. Nikki Nack Tuneyards

66. Here and Now Cloud Nothings

67. III Bo Ningen

68. This is All Yours Alt-J

69. Say Yes To Love Perfect Pussy

McQs Favorite Songs of 2014 (Limit 3 Per Artist)1. Bring The Sun/Toussaint LOuverture Swans

2. Jim Wise Sun Kil Moon

3. Palace Antlers

4. Return Brian Eno and Carl Hyde

5. Weight Of Love The Black Keys

6. Archie, Marry Me Alvvays

7. Dogs Sun Kil Moon

8. Screen Shot Swans

9. I Kendrick Lamar

10. Lost Boys And Girls Club Dum Dum Girls

11. Goshen 97 Strand Of Oaks

12. 3Jane EMA

13. Seasons (Waiting On You) Future Islands

14. Today, More Than Any Other Day Ought

15. Feel Ty Segall

16. Pro Anti Anti Liars

17. Primitive Real Estate

18. Jackson Cymbals Eat Guitars

19. Bens My Friend Sun Kil Moon

20. Do You Spoon

21. An Ocean In Between The Waves The War On Drugs

22. Austerity Blues Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra

23. A Little God In My Hands Swans

24. New York Morning Elbow

25. Under The Pressure The War On Drugs

26. Talking Transgender Dysphoria Blues Against Me!

27. Crown Run The Jewels

28. Heart Is A Drum Beck

29. JM Strand Of Oaks

30. I Never Learn Lykke Li

31. Cant Do Without You Caribou

32. What We Loved Was Not Enough Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra

33. Almost Like The Blues Leonard Cohen

34. Pretty Machines Parkay Quartz

35. Logic Of Color Wye Oak

36. J Smoov Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

37. Afraid Of Nothing Sharon Van Etten

38. Betray My Heart DAngelo & The Vanguard

39. Gathering Of Ancient Tribes Goat

40. Doves Future Islands

41. Liveable Shit Sleaford Mods

42. I Prefer Your Love St. Vincent

43. Im Not A Part Of Me Cloud Nothings

44. Light House Future Islands

45. Siren Song Flying Lotus

46. Warpaint Ex Hex

47. Busy Earnin Jungle

48. Blank Project Neneh Cherry

49. My Wrecking Ball Ryan Adams

50. Pearly Gates The Men