It’s that time of year (well, maybe I’m a little behind) to put together a list of the best releases of the year gone by. Great garage/psych releases have continued apace, and plenty of great music was produced in 2014. The first list is full-length releases and the second is EPs & 7″ releases. As digital releases online have now become the norm, bands have experimented more with formats, both in terms of the variable length and the physical media bands choose to use. The cutoff I used for “full-length” release was roughly 20 minutes, which, I admit, is a fairly arbitrary choice. Even so, 2014 was notable for its wealth of short releases. Where my 2013 list had only 10 EPs & 7″ releases, this year I have 25.

I haven’t kept track but it seems like more bands are offering cassettes. Those analog formats just won’t go away. My favorite release of the year, Fireworks by the Swiss band Augenwasser, was released on cassette in a limited edition of 50. You can stream the full tape on SoundCloud.

LPs & Other Full-Length Releases

1. Augenwasser – Fireworks

2. The Everywheres – Habitualism

3. The Flight Reaction – The Flight Reaction
4. People’s Temple – Weekends Time

5. Martyr Privates – s/t
6. White Fence – For the Recently Found Innocent
7. Together Pangea – Badillac
8. Deep Space – Berlin

9. Wild Books – Wild Books

10. Ghali – s/t

11. People’s Temple – Musical Garden
12. Mystic Braves – Desert Island

13. Dayze – FuZZ

14. Eric in Outerspace – Secret Summer (Reissue)

15. Earthless Meets Heavy Blanket – In a Dutch Haze

16. The Rainy Afternoons – Witchwood

17. Goat – Commune

18. Les Rivals – Les Rivals

19. The Omecs – The Omecs

20. Os Noctàmbulos – Corsica Garden

21. Bicycle Day – I Had a Place to Be

22. Tar Halos – Pinched

23. Ex-Cult – Midnight Passenger
24. Dahga Bloom – Dahga Bloom

25. Deaf Wish – Deaf Wish

EPs & 7″ Releases

1. Fungi Girls – Old Foamy

2. Dead Dreams – Remember the Future

3. Worn Leather – Tape II

4. The Black Frisco Sound – Escape

5. Heaters – Brown Sugar

6. LD-50’s – Undone

7. Ray and the Dead Drum – 3 Chords for 3 Songs

8. Dusty Mush – Dusty Mush

9. Heaters – EP

10. The Beverleys – EP

11. Occult Tofu Soup – Occult Tofu Soup

12. Holy Cobras – Dead Bodies Float in Space

13. Thee Loyal Wankers – Thee Loyal Wankers

14. Bad Assid – Dead Beat
15. Other People – Other People
16. Pištolj Na Gumene Metke – Kako Je Teško / Žene

17. Mystery Lights – At Home with the Mystery Lights

18. Paul Messis – Nightmares / Penny Arcade

19. Hans Predator – Mars Tuxedo

20. Pain Dimension – Brainwash

21. Soda Machine – Indian Garage Noise

22. Hill Haints – Demo

23. Quetzal Snakes – Quetzal Snakes

24. Truant Minds – Let’s Get Ugly

25. Divided Minds – Strangers

Check out Turn Me On, Dead Man Radio to discover more music like this.