Records of 2014 - 26. Strand Of Oaks - Heal

26. STRAND OF OAKS - HEAL
This band's previous 3 albums were folky and lead singer Tim Sholwater felt the natural urge to step up and make a rock record because he cannot write when he is on the road. When he returned to Indiana in 2013 after two years of constant touring, he went home and wrote over thirty songs in a fortnight. Some of them were executed as seven minute epics, of course some were discarded, but the ones that remained made up this mix-tape esque beauty.It's the most honest, forthright and personal thing that Sholwater has ever put out and it's soaked in summertime ginger beer, played by ginger beards.

Albums 04 2012 - 21. The Men - Open Your Heart

21. THE MEN - OPEN YOUR HEART

Seems to a big cluster of rock records back-to-back here on this list now and 2012 really was a great year for it. The Men are a"proper" band. This was their third album. I'd say that these 10 songs flutter many different styles and lengths, but overall it's thrilling as a boozy night out in Brooklyn, which is where these donuts come from. Again, the wiki mentions their style better than I can do justice:

Musical style[edit]

The Men's musical style has been described as post-hardcore, punk rock, neo-psychedelia and post-punk.^[1] Influences for The Men include The Replacements, Buzzcocks, Fugaziand The Velvet Underground.^[21] For the band's third and fourth full-length albums (Open Your Heart and New Moon), the band incorporated influences from country music, classic rock, Americana, doo-wop and surf rock.^[17][22]