Looking back at the year, I definitely took advantage of as many opportunities as I could to go listen to live music. Aided by attending multiple festivals (SXSW, Outside Lands, Treasure Island, Capitol Hill Block Party), I saw over 80 bands this year! My favorite live shows this year were Lucius, Jungle, Warpaint, Soundgarden, Temples, Lykke Li, Cut Copy, and We Were Promised Jetpacks.
Some of these bands are included in my list of top 50 tracks for 2014. I love all of these songs, and encourage you to give them a shot.

If you prefer, you can jump to the end to see the YouTube, Spotify, Rdio, and Amazon playlists.

Let’s get started with Songs 41-50

My last playlist of the year is here (before my “best of 2014″ list comes out), and that means I’m getting the last few releases amidst all of the holiday music that’s been coming out. Even though Chvrches is back in the studio working on their new album, they’ve given us a couple of new singles to tide us over, including one from the Hunger Games soundtrack. Checkout the new tracks from Kid Runner, Jamie T, T.O.L.D., and Halsey. The FKA Twigs and Perfume Genius tracks are also worth a listen. And I close out with a beautiful song from Tomo Nakayama (no relation, as far as we know).

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Summer is over, and that means we’ve got a bunch of new fall releases to check out.  Definitely give a listen to the new albums from Perfume Genius, Andrew McMahon, Tennis, and Caribou.   The tracks from Broods, Perfume Genius, Junius Meyvant, and TV On The Radio are pretty stunning.

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I saw a ton of music at The Capitol Hill Block Party in Seattle and Outside Lands in San Francisco over the last month, experiencing some amazing performances. For me, the standouts were Lucius, Cut Copy, Lykke Li, Jagwar Ma, and Warpaint, and it was a treat to see Tom Petty on the big stage. Some performers to make it into this list are Hundred Waters, Spoon, Night Terrors of 1927, Vance Joy, and Jenny Lewi, and there’s also new tunes from The New Pornographers, alt-J, Jenny Lewis, JJ, and more.
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Check out releases from new artists like Glass Animals, Jungle, Chet Falker, Sylvan Esso, and First Aid Kit. And there is great new music from Wye Oak, The Roots, Sharon Van Etten, Kishi Bashi, and more. Switch things up and add new music to your listening rotation.
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Summer is around the corner, and lineups for summer music festivals are being announced. So get off your ass, get some tickets, and go immerse yourself in some live music. Lots of new music out this month, particularly early singles for upcoming albums from great female artists: Tune-Yards, Banks, Lykke Li, and Little Dragon. And I have quite a few up and coming bands on this list you may want to keep track of: Holy Esque, Banks, Matthew and the Atlas, and Lowell, amongst others. Hope you enjoy!
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My third trip to SXSW was another incredible experience, this time seeing 45 bands in 4 days and nights. My favorite acts to see live were Lucius, The Dum Dum Girls (with Blondie), Painted Palms, Temples, Jungle, and Soundgarden playing Superunknown front to back. And perhaps not coincidentally, almost all of the artists in my playlist made the trek to Austin this year.
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