grip the greats

Packing up all your belongings and moving to another place makes for a great time to reflect on where you've been and where you're going. When thinking about my favorite music from this past year, I ran into trouble trying to narrow down the myriad choices of fantastic releases from 2014. But during the process of transitioning my record collection from its Ikea Expedit shelving unit into milk crates I came to the conclusion that showcasing the albums I loved so much that I actually forked over cash for them is more in line with the spirit of what music means to me. So without further adieu here's my list, complete with pictures and in no particular order:

My 10 Favorite 2014 Records & Tapes That I Actually Bought

Spray Paint "Clean Blood, Regular Acid" (Monofonus Press)

Alex G "DSU" (Orchid Tapes)

Two Inch Astronaut "Foulbrood" (Exploding In Sound Records)

Angel Olsen "Burn Your Fire For No Witness" (Jagjaguwar)

Blank Realm "Grassed Inn" (Fire Records)

Tonstartssbandht "Overseas" 2xLP (Company Etc)

Mannequin Pussy "Gypsy Pervert" (Tiny Engines)

Ricky Eat Acid "Three Love Songs" (Orchid Tapes)

Thee Oh Sees "Drop" (Castle Face Records)

Big Ups "Eighteen Hours Of Static" (Dead Labour)

Best Witches "Tour Tape" (Self-Released)

Jon McCallum "Surf Nazis Must Die" OST (Strange Disc Records)

Dura "Silver/Lawns" (Wounded Knife Records)

Pinkwash "Your Cure Your Soil" (Sister Polygon Records)

The Beds "Ride Again" (Ranch Records)

The Effects "Blister b/w Old Soul" (Self-Released) 

Parasol "Not There" (Lost Sound Tapes)

Jerry Paper / Andy Boay "Jerry Paper / Andy Boay" Split (Hausu Mountain)

The Rebel "The Shingles Collection" 2xCS (Monofonus Press)

Olive Drab "The Big Sleep" (Bird Tapes)

Before signing off, I'd like to thank the Washington City Paper for their nod to Big Hush, including the Wholes EP on their list of The Best Local Albums of 2014. Lastly, there were a lot of great releases I haven't bought yet and therefore could not include on this list, but one final shout out goes to all the independent artists and labels for making my world a much more enjoyable place. Cheers to another year of great music. ♥ Brett