Penny Lane's Top 10 Whatever of 2014

Oh 2014. I don' think I'll be sad to see you go. This year brought me leaving a job I hated for four years to finding a job I tolerated for six months, to getting promoted to a position I've loved for the last four months, but still don't feel quite settled into yet. And then there was the obsession with an immature asshole for five months (which I am happy to report is over). Meanwhile starting my own business (www.cursingsailormgmt.com). All, while trying to feed myself and have fun, trying not to get fat in the process (lost six pounds bitches), and seeing a ridiculous number of shows (I think I spent about $900). This year has been both amazing and a hot mess. Regardless, it does not excuse the fact that I have been Queen Slacker on DCILY this year. I have posted a total of 56 times, this being my 57th. Shameful. Utterly, shameful.

Busy as I may have been the past 12 months, you know I always have time to pontificate about my favorite albums of the year. So getting it in four days before the actual end of the year, here is...

Penny Lane's Top 10 Albums of 2014 (in order)

10. Thom Yorke - Tomorrow's Modern Boxes
Tracks: Guess Again!, The Mother Lode, There Is No Ice (For My Drink)

9. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga - Cheek to Cheek
Tracks: I Won't Dance, Anything Goes, Sophisticated Lady

8. EMA - The Future's Void
Tracks: Neuromancer, Cthulu, So Blonde

7. Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
Tracks: Motherload, Ember City, Tread Lightly

6. Sia - 1,000 Forms Of Fear
Tracks: Elastic Heart, Chandelier, Fire Meet Gasoline

5. Strand of Oaks - Heal
This dude has had to deal with a lot of fucked up shit in the last 10 years or so. Cheating wife, moving to Indiana and almost dying. It's no surprise this aptly titled album is full of ranging emotion. I had never heard of Strand of Oaks or Timothy Showalter before the beginning of this year, but haven't been able to stop listening to this album since.
Tracks: Goshen '97, JM, Wait For Love

4. Beyonce - Beyonce
I hadn't included Beyonce's self-titled album in last year's list, simply because I had already created my list when she surprised us all with the album the second week of December 2013. So I feel justified in including it for 2014. This woman is amazing. Her voice. The lyrics. Each video. A tour, I am very disappointed I missed. EVERYTHING. Every once in awhile someone will say to me, "I just don't understand why people love her so much." And to those people I say, Bye Felicia. I don't understand how you could not love her. She is the epitome of the woman I want to be. Strong, independent, business woman, compassionate human being, wife and mother,. She is literally everything and we all need to bow down (bitches)...
Tracks: Blow, Mine, Pretty Hurts (and, of course Drunk In Love)

3. Interpol - El Pintor
Interpol and I have had a love hate relationship almost since the beginning. In one album I can love a song so much it makes my entire being hurt, but in the same breathe hate a song it feels almost the same. Pleasure and pain are synonymous. Then comes along El Pintor and it shot that whole theory to shit. I love every song on this fucking album. Only slightly disappointed when I went to Austin City Limits Festival, in October, that they didn't play more from this album (it was an Antics heavy performance), but what they did play was incredible.
Tracks: My Desire, Ancient Ways, All The Rage Back Home

2. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
This album is dark. Like, sit in a corner cradling your body while you ugly cry for three hours, dark. I'd love to talk to Lykke for 10 minutes to just get an idea of what kind of fucked up relationship she had been in to write such an album. I suppose from the deepest pain, we find creativity. And if that is the case, she fucking bled. Her pain is our pleasure...
Tracks: I Never Learn, No Rest For The Wicked, Never Gonna Love Again

1. TV On The Radio - Seeds
The week this album came out I listened (guesstimating) 15 times. Upon finding out they were going to be playing two shows that same week at Music Hall of Williamsburg I emailed a friend to see if she could get me some tickets, since the website said they were sold-out. Scored two tickets and it all happened that fast. I fell in love with this album. I honestly don't even think there is one song on the album I don't like. I like them all! Which hasn't happened in awhile.
Tracks: Careful You, Trouble, Seeds

Buy 'Seeds' on TVontheRadio.com

**I should also probably note that I only recently bought Taylor Swift's new album 1989 and am listening for the first time. Had I gotten my shit together and bought it when it came out (or if it had been on Spotify, ahem), it would likely be on this list...again...Queen Slacker ;)

Penny Lane's Top 10 Concerts of 2014 (in order)

10. Greighwolfe at People's Lounge and Bar
9. Pete Yorn at Gramercy Theater
8. Justin Timberlake at Barclays Center
7. TV on the Radio at Music Hall of Williamsburg
6. Band of Horses Acoustic at Town Hall
5. Built to Spill at Music Hall of Williamsburg
4. Stevie Wonder at Madison Square Garden
3. NIN at Jones Beach Amphitheater
2. Fleetwood Mac at Madison Square Garden
1. Pearl Jam at Austin City Limits Festival
(side note: stood on the rail for 7.5 hours in the blazing hot Austin, TX sun just so I could capture this picture...)