Dear POOPster:
2014 was a pretty rough year for the world. While good music might ordinarily offer a diversion from the bad and the ugly, occasionally a year comes dangerously close to getting its ass kicked. Seasoned as we are after 28 years of committing POOP to paper and post, we persevere and continue (in the face of beheadings, ebola, Boehner’s new band of blowhards, “I can’t breathe,” and climate calamity) to cling to both bad alliterations and silly year-end lists. Or do we? This year only 26 self-important pontificators got their cool cards punched (2 fewer than last year).
Anyway, onto the nuts and bolts. As usual, I’ve used our time-honored tabulation system, using the customary What-The-Hell’s-He-Talking-About methodology. One more time, I’ve given 2 points to each pompoid’s Top 10 choices and 1 point to each title beyond a Top 10 or in the variously designated ‘honorable mention’ categories (up to 25 titles in all; more than 25 means half-points).
So without further adoody, the 2014 POOP answer key:
1 – SPOON – They Want My Soul 15½ (appearing on 9 out of 26 lists)
2 – THE WAR ON DRUGS – Lost In the Dream 11½ (7)
3 – BECK – Morning Phase 11½ (6)
4 – ANGEL OLSEN – Burn Your Fire For No Witness 11 (6)
5 – EX HEX – Rips 10 (5)
TY SEAGALL – Manipulator 10 (5)
7 – RUN THE JEWELS – RTJ2 9 (5)
8 – TV ON THE RADIO – Seeds 8½ (5)
9 – THE HOLD STEADY – Teeth Dreams 8 (4)
THE OLD 97’S – Most Messed Up 7 (4)
ST. VINCENT – St. Vincent 7 (4)
STURGILL SIMPSON – Metamodern Sounds In Country Music 7 (4)
THE BOTH – The Both 7 (4)
REAL ESTATE – Atlas (4)
Mark Rosen
High Priest Of POOP
Richard Allen – Sayville, NY ||| Kent B – Newburgh, NY ||| Ken Beck – Cranford, NJ ||| Paul Cangelosi – Kingston, NY ||| Duncan Clark – Milton, NY ||| Don Cohen – New York, NY ||| Scott Dell’Amore – Poughkeepsie, NY ||| Kevin Falahee – Astoria, NY ||| Eric Fine – New York, NY ||| Jim Finnigan – New Hamburg, NY ||| John Greak – Gardiner, NY ||| Jamie Hosley – Clifton Park, NY ||| Mike Jurkovic – Wallkill, NY ||| Patrick Kennedy – Brooklyn, NY ||| Bernadette Lange – Kingston, NY ||| John Lefsky – New Paltz, NY ||| Andrew Martin – Eddyville, NY ||| Jim Meyers – Kingston, NY ||| Mike Miller – Cuba, NY ||| Matt Nerney – Reading, VT ||| Mark Rosen – New Paltz, NY ||| Andrew Stewart – Rhinebeck, NY ||| John Stewart – Bloomington, NY ||| Tom Whalen – New Paltz, NY ||| Dan Wilmer – Alexandria, VA ||| Mark Zip – Woodstock, NY