Friday on My Mind: 2014 Favorites

It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. Thank you again to each and every one of you who donated to help build our home and specifically a new in studio performance space. Besides being able to provide more access to our exclusive in studios, we’ll also be able to continue to bring you the special programming that you’ve come to love and look forward to each and every year. This upcoming week during The Morning Show will be a perfect example of the programming content you’ve come to appreciate and love. On Tuesday, we’ll be talking about the Winter edition of the TimbRRR! Music Festival with its co-founder, Kevin Surr. On Wednesday, we’ll have Mayor Ed Murray by to talk about our fine city. Thursday, we will have our yearly memorial show where we pay tribute to all of the artists we’ve lost during 2014. And remember that on Friday we’ll begin counting down all of your top albums of 2014 starting during Cheryl’s show at 10am and continuing on through Kevin’s show until 6pm. You have until next Tuesday at 6pm to vote. During that Friday, I’ll be counting down all of my top albums and songs from 2014. Here are a few of the songs that I played the hell out of during 2014...Elbow - My Sad Captains The Take Off and Landing of Everything, by Elbow is one of my favorite albums of the year. “My Sad Captains” covers similar themes and maintains a melancholy mood that reminds me of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends”. Here is the official video to accompany the single: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lAVeeuwRiI The War on Drugs - Red Eyes (Live on KEXP) This year KEXP made it possible for all of you to visually experience our in studio sessions via our live video streaming service. One of the many bands that we streamed was The War on Drugs. “Red Eyes” was the first single to be released off of their excellent 2014 album, Lost In a Dream. Besides the album being one of my top ten this year, "Red Eyes" got a lot of play during The Morning Show. Here is their KEXP performance of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJdx3BOOEjU Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Coming Down (Live on KEXP) Going strong since 2004, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah came back this year with an excellent album, Only Run. Pared down to a duo now, they sound as great as ever. The stand out track from the album, “Coming Down”, is one of the most motivating songs of 2014. Here is their live performance of the song when they stopped by KEXP earlier this year:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hu48o9g-GE

Honorable Mentions:

The Horrors - So Now You Know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr7TAfOkEVc

Tom Vek - Animals in the Jungle (Sherman)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wQiSrOFt_0

The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers (Live on KEXP)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdhNxKw3-U8