Well, not necessarily by opinion or anything, but according to last.fm, here's what I listened to the most in 2014:

Artists:
1: Auxes
2: Ленинград
3: City States
4: OFF!
5: Sonic Youth
6: The Notwist
7: Утро
8: Interpol
9: Liars
10: Blonde Redhead

Albums (though to be fair, this is tracks played from albums, not albums listened to in their entirety, so whatever):
1: Wasted Years
2: Сборник песен
3: More! More! More!
4: Boys In My Head
5: Deconstruction
6: Close To The Glass
7: The Brothers Krunkamazov
8: Mess
9: Рыба
10: Lost in Alphaville

Tracks…

Well, not necessarily by opinion or anything, but according to last.fm, here's what I listened to the most in 2013:

Artists:
1: Sonic Youth
2: The Fall
3: R.E.M.
4: Elliott Smith
5: Cursive
6: The Clash
7: M.I.A.
8: Yo La Tengo
9: Bright Eyes
10: Magnolia Electric Co.

Albums (though to be fair, this is tracks played from albums, not albums listened to in their entirety, so whatever):
1: 50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong
2: Super Black Market Clash
3: The Bones of What You Believe
4: Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
5: Ta det lugnt
6: First Four…

I know that the Jesus & Mary Chain are one of those bands that everyone should hear and get into at some point, but I never did. I ended up with Darklands after spending a week visiting a friend in Nairobi – in between drinking and drug abuse, I burned a few CDs. I don't know if I ever listened to those discs, but I doubt it. So, listening to J&MC now is a bit odd, as I have heard 20+ years of music that has come since and has obviously been influenced by them. Case in point: The Raveonettes…

Well, a year on and we're winding down this project. I wish I'd come up with a clever name for it, like the guys at the AV Club did with Popless or My Year of Flops. However, I didn't really know what I was gonna do or for how long it would remain interesting. Anyway, I will have more comments on all of that after I finish this for good next week, I guess. For now, let's talk about Нож Для Frau Müller - Мечты - Третий Сорт, which I picked up in the y2k while doing study abroad…

I was pretty surprised when the Evergreen Trio / February Stars Union split "Adults Are Threatening Creatures" tied (four-fucking-way!) for this week, as I honestly haven't given either band a thought in years. Well, I should say that is only true about the FSU – Evergreen Trio I thought of last year when their solo album came through alphabetically. Basically though we've got two bands typical of late 90s midwest indie/emo, both of which show promise, but neither of which is great. I mean, listening to the screams on the last FSU track almost make me laugh, whereas…

Another day, another compilation (that time of year, I suppose). Today it's an album that, from what I recall, was set to celebrate Warp Records tenth anniversary: Warp Routine. Again, I am sure I acquired this for free back in my music director stage of life, a time when I wasn't picky about my acquisitions, as I wasn't paying for them, and the key reason to keep a CD in many cases was whether it may have resale vaue down the road (eBay, hello?). In any case, that explains why I ended up with this CD of electronic music,…

The problem with writing about something like the Troubleman Mix-Tape is that not only is it a compilation, it's a fucking huge compilation. Something like 50 bands contributed to this 2-disc set, which really is arranged more like a mix-tape from Troubleman's humble owner. You've got everything on here from spazzy hardcore to pained emo to lo-fi indie pop to noise to drone core to dance punk to , but it is all somewhat cohesive, very much a record of what the hip kids were listening to eight years ago. Bands you'll recognize on here include Blonde Redhead, !!!…

Before talking about Wire - Send – which, I guess, was their comeback album – I think I should mention something: I have never heard their "classic" "Pink Flag". I know, kill me now, take away all my cred, etc. But that's just the way it worked out. In 1993 or 94 I guess I was, for some reason, a subscriber (or freebie sub? or maybe I bought it? or something?) to CMJ New Music Journal. As cheesy as the compilation CDs were that they sent out every month, they did introduce me to a lot of interesting…

I first saw the movie Kids on a pirate VHS cassette overdubbed in Russian sometime in late 1996 or early 1997. I think I probably had the Kids soundtrack earlier, probably based on the strength of the Folk Implosion song "Natural One". In the decade plus since, I have seen the movie once or twice more, but have listened to the soundtrack dozens, if not hundreds of times. Of course, I haven't played it more than once or twice in the last six or seven years, which is why I listened to it today. My thoughts? It's definitely…

Spending my middle school years listening to 96.7 WLUV "THE HEAT" FM was often a mistake. Particularly during the weekdays. But on Friday and Saturday nights, for an hour or two, semi-amateur DJ Mark Snodgrass came on, somehow having the only live, locally-broadcast show on this satellite radio network. And from what I recall, he often opened with a quirky, 80s synth-heavy (but not in the overproduced Duran Duran way) track called "Mexican Radio". After some time, in early high school years, I played with one of those computers at Best Buy, plugged the track name in, and…