Julie Carroll – Best of 2014

Julie Carroll’s rock-centric best of 2014 list! Check out all of our 2014 year-end lists here.

1. Spot – The Sounds of Two Eyes Opening (book)
Rare scenes of SoCal punk and beach culture in the 70’s & 80’s. Amazing photography from the legendary producer of SST bands.

2. Trans Upper Egypt – Trans Upper Egypt (album)
Mind-blowing psych punk garage rock from Rome. Multi-layered, well-crafted musical mayhem.

3. Sugar Shack, Bangaar, Weird Party, Simple Circuit  – June 29th at Red 7 in Austin, Texas (show).
Reunion show for Sugar Shack – the best band to come out of Texas in ages. Bangaar – two drum kits, lots of people layin’ down groovy tracks you could listen to all day and all night. Weird Party (members of Sugar Shack and Fatal Flying Guillotines) if you like the New York Dolls, you’ll like Weird Party. Simple Circuit – melodious, danceable, original garage rock with intelligent lyrics.

4. A Place to Bury Strangers – “Straight” (song)

Totally dig this! A little Big Black-ish, but warmer. More, please!

5. John Wesley Coleman III – The Love That You Own (album)
Timeless, genre-defying happy music for cool people.

6. Espectrostatic – The Daemonum EP 
This one makes the list for album art and song titles (“Postcard from a Dead Colleague”, “The Coal Black Stag”) as much as for the music.

7. The Oblivians, Spray Paint, Hex Dispensers – February 15th at The Mohawk in Austin, Texas (show).
Several varieties of garage rock at its finest.

8. OBN IIIs – “No Time for the Blues” (song)
Nice, straight-forward rock á la Real Kids

9. September Girls – Veneer EP
Irish all-girl band making some bad-ass music.

10. Project Loop
This organization in Taylor, Texas founded was  by photographer Brent Humphries.  It creates opportunities for kids to get hands-on experience in any creative project they like, served with a big dollop of riding skateboards and BMX bikes. They’ve had a presence at the Fun Fun Fun Fest for the last couple of years.