YEAR END! – Top Twenty Records Of 2014

fulllengthIN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

  • Allison Crutchfield – “Lean Into It”
  • Braid – “No Coast”
  • Cayetana – “Nervous Like Me”
  • Crisis Arm – “Rend”
  • Dikembe – “Mediumship”
  • Divino Niño – “Pool Jealousy”
  • Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate) – “You Will Eventually Be Forgotten”
  • Free Throw – “Those Days Are Gone”
  • Grey Zine – “Destitution”
  • The Hotelier – “Home Like Noplace Is There”
  • Kill The Intellectuals – “I Hope You Die Painlessly – With Laugh Lines And Wrinkles Around Your Eyes”
  • Kittyhawk – “Hello, Again”
  • Late Bloomer – “Things Change”
  • Living Room – “Moonchaser”
  • Mother Room – “Scorched”
  • Museum Mouth – “Alex I Am Nothing”
  • My Fictions – “Stranger Songs”
  • Perfect Future – “Manifesto”
  • Sport – “Bon Voyage”
  • Weak Teeth – “So You’ve Ruined Your Life”

REVIEW: Best Practices – "Sore Subjects"

Goddamn. I was waiting for more music from Best Practices. Sore Subjects is a follow up to The EP LP from last year. Everything that worked on that record is back in force here. Basically, this EP knocks is out of the park again.

With Will Killingsworth at the production helm again, the band has put together another solid record. Best Practices still play a hodge podge of pop punk, hardcore, and whatever else they feel like throwing in. What is notable about these new songs is how the band is giving them room to play out. Where every song on The EP LP was around two minutes or under, two of the four songs on this are actually longer than three minutes. I mean, it is still four quick songs, clocking in at about 11 minutes, but there is a little breathing room.

This is really a pretty natural progression for the band. It still has that low-fi production that made their previous effort sound so good. It is still the weird post-hardcore guitar lines thrown in with a poppy veneer. The vocals are still rough, but fantastic. There is just a few more colors added to the palette. Like the acoustic guitar intro bit on “Home For Halloween.”

Honestly, everything I said about this band when I reviewed The EP LP still holds true. Fuck whatever else your doing right now. Go listen to this.

Best Practices
BandCamp
Tor Johnson Records
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(updated 5/12/13 with label/buy it information)

REVIEW: Best Practices – The EP LP

Punk rock gets stagnant sometimes. When it does, something has to comes out of left fucking field. This is one of those records. This is a strange brew of pop punk, screamo, and hardcore. And, by god, it works like a charm.

Collectively, Best Practices are a solid fucking band. In it there are members of Weak Teeth and former members of Light The Fuse And Run, Jesuscentric, and Wow, Owls!. Add the fact that this was recorded by Will Killingsworth (from Orchid and Ampere), and you have the recipe for a great record.

Nine songs rip through in about 12 minutes. The vocals sound straight out of a hardcore record, but the music stays securely in a poppy, if not slightly jagged and angular, place. I honestly don’t really know how to explain this record. It is a short and fast pop punk record that is all hopped up on screamo energy. While things can get a bit crazy, there are great hooks all over this thing. This is one of the best punk record I’ve heard this year. Kudos, Best Practices.

Best Practice
Tiny Engines
Teeth Like Swords
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Buy It (cassette)
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