Bobby Moore’s top 10 punk albums of 2014
Of all the albums inspired by punk and its many offshoots, these 10 are a notch above the rest.
- Bobby Moore
- Four for 2014: live sets by Tacocat (from top left), Ex-Hex, Priests, and G.G. King influenced their placement on this list.
Whether they conveyed rage or sensitivity through seriousness or satire, these 10 acts’ latest albums kept punk exciting and relevant in 2014.
10. Tweens: Tweens (Frenchkiss Records)
Though its members are grown-ups, Tweens’ bratty, energetic pop-punk approach makes them sound like actual pre-teens on an endless sugar rush. Once their predictable yet potent formula grows on you, these songs will play in your head at the damnedest times.
9.Good Throb: Fuck Off (White Denim)
Fuck Off is raw, unbridled, and justified rage over social issues that sadly are relevant around the globe. These four Londoners’ main target is sexism (“Dog Food Dick”), though they also explore such time-tested U.K. punk subject matter as urban decay (“Acid House”) and the daily monotony of filing on and off a subway train (“Central Line”).
8. The Coathangers: Suck My Shirt (Suicide Squeeze)
Over seven years and four albums Coathangers have grown from a silly, tongue-in-cheek party-punk act into a touring and recording machine. Perhaps the most telling document of the band’s strides was released this year, solidified by the wistful, dewy eyed “I Wait” and “Springfield Cannonball,” an up-tempo stomper with Nobunny style riffs.
7. Alvvays: Alvvays (Polyvinyl)
These Canadian indie-poppers came from out of nowhere with a stellar debut, anchored by two of the year’s best tracks. The first, “Archie, Marry Me,” is a dreamy, bittersweet love ballad that built a following via live YouTube clips before the album was released. But the real should-be hit is “Party Police,” a beautifully layered cut that avoids peppy pop and mopey indie clichés, while still sounding familiar.
6. Wymyn’s Prysyn: Head in a Vise (Drugged Conscience)
Wymyns Prysyn’s first LP has a more polished sound than its earlier 7-inches and tapes, while keeping hardcore brains, post-punk creativity, and noise rock brawn present in spades. And yes, the band’s fascination with time travelers (“Something For Us Temponauts”) remains intact.
Head In A Vise by WYMYNS PRYSYN
5. Golden Pelicans: Golden Pelicans (Total Punk)
At a time when so much music labeled “garage-punk” is just poorly executed psychedelic rock, Orlando’s Golden Pelicans emerge with an approach that is provocative, mean, and downright ugly. Even if you’re manipulated by hype, it’s hard to find many song sequences in 2014 that’ll get you as amped and amused as album closers “Pissin’ in a Puddle of Puke” and “Hard to Swallow.”
4. Tacocat: NVM (Hardly Art)
With all due respect to Emily’s Sassy Lime, Tacocat’s NVM has firmly established the band as the greatest female-fronted, palindrome named act to emerge from the West Coast. Though the group already had a reputation for mixing surf-inspired punk with humorous and surreal lyrics, these ladies reached new creative heights while confronting such unfunny social issues as catcalling (“Hey Girl”) and even menstruation (“Crimson Wave”).
Mary Timony has seemingly done things backwards, going from a cerebral indie rock fixture (Autoclave, Helium, Wild Flag) to embracing back-to-basics song structures and power pop riffs with her current band, Ex-Hex. On Rips, Timony, bassist Betsy Wright (the Fire Tapes) and drummer Laura Harris (the Aquarium) crank out top notch rock’n’roll, including the Suzi Quattro styling of “New Kid” and definite Ramones nod “How You Got That Girl.”
2. G.G. King: Unending Darkness (Scavenger of Death)
Greg King (Carbonas) looked to his ever-present appreciation of death metal and weird Killed By Death deep cuts when weaving an original realm of pain and doom for Unending Darkness. Alongside bassist Ryan Bell, King merges the harsh reality of hardcore with metal’s freedom to embrace the ethereal, as heard on the heavy-hitting “Lord of the Manor” and the entrancing “Another Dimension.”
1. Priests: Bodies and Control and Money and Power (Don Giovanni Records)
With the past few turbulent months further exposing the tameness of mainstream music, a gritty, political post-punk band is a welcome sight. On Priests’ stellar Bodies and Control and Money and Power, vocalist Katie Alice Greer (Chain and the Gang) slings verbal lightning bolts at any target she deems worthy — from doctors and right-wingers to President Obama.