Staff Blog: Brandon Jones - 2014, A Strong Year in Music, So Far?

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Since weekends are typically slow time of posting here on IVM I figured i’d post a little something for you guys to ponder. I did post this on Facebook to generate some comments so feel free to repost those comments here and join in the discussion right here on IVM.

2014 although a bit slow at the start in music releases, I feel has gotten stronger and more vibrant over time throughout the year leading up to the past few months. Summer months are always the strongest each and every year, with record labels focusing all their energy on attracting the (short) attention of youth who are nearing the end of the school year and hitting those vacation months. That is the time of year kids/youth have a whole lot of time on their hands to spend money and go to shows (to spend even more of mommy and daddy’s money). So as you can see, we’ve had a strong last couple of months.

How does it stack up against 2010, 2011, 2012, and even 2013? Those years I probably received/bought the most amount of music. This year has slowed down considerably but I am still playing catch up and buying music. I just recently purchased new releases from (don’t hate me) Rise Against, Magic!, Foster the People, Pentimento (2013), The Used, Linkin Park, Four Year Strong, Mxpx (Acoustic), Only Crime, Beebs and Her Money Makers, Artifex Pereo, We Shot the Moon, Lakes, Anberlin, as well as all the other music I received from The Altar Billies, Christ’s Sake, War of Ages, Sef Idle, Jess Penner, Family Force 5, Thousand Foot Krutch, Glower, Stay the Shores, Young and Heartless, Etc. Some good stuff there. Adding to the music from earlier in the year from the likes of Switchfoot, Seeker and Servant, Coldplay, Josiah James, Preson Phillips, Little Hurricane, Johnny Swim, New Empire, Wolves and the Gate, Ellie Holcomb, Chevelle, Gameface, Chuck Ragan, Demon Hunter, Lnyx, Endeavor/Servants, With Increase, etc. I am still looking forward to new Gideon, Household, Basement Ep, Superheaven (Ex-Daylight), Citizen, The Gaslight Anthem, False Idle/A Common Goal “Split”, and a few other notable releases spread out the rest of the year as well as some new ones to be discovered (always on the hunt).

So what bands are you guys/gals most into right now? What style of music do you feel the most drawn to at this current moment? Overall, do you feel 2014 has been a solid year for music? More so than 2013? About the same? Worse? Why? Let the comments fly people….

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