Austin Gerth, a student at Concordia College in Moorhead, is one of the college contributors to our Local Current blog.

Best albums of 2014

St Vincent: St. Vincent

One of the few albums this year with a pronounced sense of occasion to it. Everything, from the cover on down, felt meticulously crafted to inspire awe. Annie Clark was 100% in control this year, and her set at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago this summer was the best show I've ever seen.

Mac DeMarco: Salad Days

I really love Mac DeMarco, and this album expands just enough on 2012's 2 without giving up on what that album great in the first place. Mac's a little more reflective here, and he finds ways to put dreamy, broken-down synths to poignant use. This album was just a comfort to have around.

Taylor Swift: 1989

To tell you the truth I'm mostly taking about the brilliant first half of this album; it's so easy to keep re-listening to the first six or eight songs that I haven't quite worked past them yet. Like St. Vincent, this album gave us a picture of one person bending the musical landscape to suit her, rather than the opposite.

Lower: Seek Warmer Climes

Though this debut album isn't quite as ambitious or complex as Plowing Into the Field of Love, the 2014 album from Lower's better-known Danish cousins Iceage, it does have some of the pulverizing intensity that band seems to have left behind, and I like that.

Mr. Twin Sister: Mr. Twin Sister

I've already written about my love for this album for my college newspaper's online Best of the Year feature. It's maybe the most nocturnal album of the year, and its mix of dream pop, R&B, and European dance music is intoxicating.

Spoon: They Want My Soul

I reject somewhat the narrative of this thing being a comeback after the "slump" of Transference because I actually think Transference is a fantastic album. That said, this is also fantastic, and I'm disappointed "Do You" didn't actually become the song of the summer.

Jawbreaker Reunion: Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club

Jawbreaker Reunion certainly get the Band Name of the Year award. Trebly guitars alternately jangle and growl, vocals combine in endearingly weak harmonies, lyrics whiz by barely pronounced. Maybe the happiest, funniest punk band I've ever heard.

Joyce Manor: Never Hungover Again

I fell hard for Joyce Manor in August and dove deep into all three of their (excellent) albums at once. So, Never Hungover's inclusion here is to some extent a referendum on their previous work. Still, this is an incredibly strong album, with tracks like "Falling in Love Again" and "Schley" providing anthemic choruses and huge melodies without resorting to the obviousness that mars a lot of other pop-punk.

Jens Lekman: WWJD mixtape

I'm not sure to what degree I can justify calling this an "album," given that it only has three new Jens Lekman songs, but the quality of those three songs, and the mood of wistful travel Lekman imbues the whole half hour package with — including the song fragments, the train sounds, the wonderful mix of other people's songs — leaves this thing stamped as unmistakably his, and unmistakably essential.

Todd Terje: It's Album Time

The goofier, funnier Scandinavian cousin to Daft Punk's prog-disco odyssey from last year, Random Access Memories. And, with Bryan Ferry on board for "Johnny and Mary," this is the rare album that will make you laugh and cry. Album cover of the year, as well.

Best songs of 2014

Mac DeMarco: "Chamber of Reflection"

Possibly the loneliest song of the year. The drums feel hollow and the keyboard sounds ill. And it's totally beautiful.

Ariana Grande: "Problem"

It's just a great pop song. Great vocals. Great sax sample. Great male whispering. It's got Iggy Azalea. This is as "2014" as it gets. One for the time capsule.

Lone: "Airglow Fires"

For me this song finds a weird middle ground between elevator jazz and 8-bit video game music, except it sounds way sexier than that description would lead you to believe.

Paramore: "Ain't It Fun"

If mainstream rock is going to continue to exist, it should probably try to sound more like this. That bass. That choir. Those...marimbas?

Ryn Weaver: "OctaHate"

I don't really understand why this wasn't a number one hit; it has a Charlie XCX co-writing credit.

Jessica Pratt: "Back, Baby"

This was the first Jessica Pratt song I've heard (totally missed the boat on her 2012 album; oh well), but it's ingratiated itself into my life alarmingly quickly. I listen to it weekend mornings, weekdays, nights, whenever. It's the simplest song on this list, but it's fantastic.

Iceage: "The Lord's Favorite"

I absolutely hated this song when it first came out but now it's become a ritual of mine to listen to it whenever I finish a particularly grueling homework assignment. It feels both celebratory and self-loathing, and that's what it's like to finish a paper 15 minutes before it's due.

Spoon: "They Want My Soul"

There are at least two other songs from They Want My Soul that could easily be on this list, but the title track's celebratory crescendo feels like the crux of the whole album to me. It's an immaculately crafted piece of garage rock, and if that sounds contradictory to you, then you probably haven't listened to the song.

St. Vincent: "Regret"

Though "Birth in Reverse," "Huey Newton," and "Digital Witness" have gotten a lot more press ink, this side B gem seems like the real standout from St. Vincent. Annie Clark's career has seen her more and more subverting pop conventions into her strange sound-world, and this slice of Martian-sounding power pop feels like a culmination of that methodology.

Jenny Lewis: "Love U Forever"

I started supporting MPR in order to get a free copy of The Voyager this summer, making it probably the most expensive album I'll ever own. My favorite track from the album keeps changing, but right now this is it.

Favorite Local Album: Hippo Campus: Bashful Creatures EP

Favorite Local Song: Allan Kingdom: "Evergreens"

Related

• Vote for your favorite songs of 2014 for The Current's Top 89 countdown
• Top 89 of 2014: The Current Staff Picks