Another one of the Riot Squad favourites who agreed to contribute to High Fives this year is Dean Owens. We love his albums and he’s a very engaging live performer as well. We’re all looking forward to Dean’s new album “Into the Sea” which will be released on Drumfire Records in the spring of 2015. Meanwhile, these are his top5 albums of 2014.

Sun Kil Moon“Benji” – Sun Kil Moon

I’m a huge fan of Mark Kozelek. He just has a way with words and very much travels down his own character filled road. Dark, funny, tragic and beautiful.

 

 

 

Ben Watt“Hendra” – Ben Watt

This is a lovely album. All the songs sit so well together and there’s some great understated playing from Bernard Butler.

 

 

 

The war on drugs“Lost In The Dream” – The War On Drugs

I guess this will be on a lot of people’s lists. It took me a couple of listens to get into, but then I just fell in love with it. Sometimes I hear Dylan in there, then I hear Mike Scott, Springsteen and even Queen. A good one to listen to in the car.

 

 

Tweedy“Sukierae” – Tweedy

I don’t like everything on this record, but there are some real wee gems from one of my favourite writers. Plus Jeff Tweedy has one of the best voices in Rock n Roll.

 

 

 

Ryan Adams“Ryan Adams” – Ryan Adams

I never thought Ryan Adams would make a top 5 list again with me, but I listened to this a lot while going through some tricky personal stuff earlier in the year. “Shadows” is such a beautiful song and summed up how I was feeling at the time. He’s a very underrated singer.

 

I have to say there have been no albums that have completely blown me away in 2014. Looking forward to some crackers in 2015 hopefully.