Gus Voorhees – The Man of Kent and Step Back
Oust – Alas, Posterity
Paperhaus – Silent Speaking
Big Sky Conspiracy – Tornado
Supper Club – Rondamatic
Abu Jibran – Time To Save Your Soul
Kokayi – Port of Lost Angels
K-Murdock – Birdfeather
Dirdy Redzz – Red Line doors closing
The Harry Bells – Man Smart, Woman Smarter
The Mean Season – Kurtz
huSEQ – Super Extoller
Scenic MentaL Detours – Falling Leaf
Atoka Chase – Burn the Light (or Of Matriarchs and Alcohol)
Howard University Jazz Ensemble – Is There Anything Still There
Jonathan Matis – Akeboki
Deleted Scenes – The Days of Adderall
Kino Musica – Yèkèrmo Sèw
Frau Eva – Morrissey Smiling
Blankus Larry – Sam

The Soul Searchers – Ain’t It Heavy
Cecily featuring Tabi Bonney – Heaven In Your Eyes (Instrumental)
MILK$ – Wonder Woman
Nacey – Tripping In Half Moon Bay
Diggs Duke – Love Breeds Love
Brûlée – Raincloud
Little Hunts – Jumping Jacks
Ben Williams – Toy Soldiers
Dane Paris – Dialogue
Akira Otsuka – White OrchidZenon Slawinski – No Support
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Oh Rosetta
David King – Jewels
igloo two – the big ego scene
Aaron Agre – Cloud Empty (Selenelion) I
Incredible Change – Every Every Day
Power Pirate – Infecting Us
Alex Byrd – Webignarly
Deleted Scenes – Seasons of the Wire
Julius Jetson – Eclipse

Ben Williams – Lost & Found feat. Christian Scott
Fields Burning – Maysong
Steiner – Twisted and Broken
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Livingston
Aaron Agre – Nocturne
Todo Mas – Aftermath
Q and Not U – When the Lines Go Down
The Soul Searchers – Ashley’s Roachclip
Dale Holmes – The Huntress
Terrill Mast – Wings (feat. Jed Lingat & Radhika Bhatt)
Nunchucks – Zebra
Coatsworth-Hay – 1682 Doves
Drive TFC – Summertime Unkind
Misun – Promise Me
Deleted Scenes – Ithaca
Eric Maring – A Fine Balance
Akira Otsuka – First Tear
Terracotta Blue – Silver Nights
Machines on Vacation – Waving Goodbye
The Fuss – Just For Show

Some of this year’s most unforgettable local songs didn’t come from comfortable experiences. They sounded fed up, and particularly urgent in a year marked by growing inequity at home and multiple slayings by police in places that didn’t feel far away.

In one of the year’s rawest rock songs, Thaylobleu cranked up its guitars to tell a personal story of police harassment. Chain and the Gang and Jack On Fire assailed gentrification with wit and hyperbole. Punk band Priests declared everything right wing. Two remarkable hip-hop works channeled frustration and fatalism among young black Americans: Diamond District’s Oddisee cried, “What’s a black supposed to do — sell some crack and entertain?”, while Virginia MC GoldLink rapped about all the glorious things he imagines happening to him — when he dies.

Not that peace and love felt impossible in 2014: In a touching song released two years after his death, Chuck Brown sang of a “beautiful life” enriched by the warmth of community. Promising newcomer Kali Uchis made us kick back with a soulful number steeped in giddy infatuation. Experimentation thrived in D.C. music: Young artists built on the region’s strong punk pedigree and expanded its boundaries. Mary Timony’s band Ex Hex embraced a classic sound and made one of the country’s best rock ‘n’ roll records. Local bands with shorter but distinctive resumes — like Laughing Man, Two Inch Astronaut and Deleted Scenes — sounded better and more creative than ever before. A Sound of Thunder and Gloom reminded us that the D.C. area is still a reliable producer of top-notch metal.

As expected, Bandwidth contributors faced hard choices while making this list of the year’s best local songs, and not only because it’s our first one. Up until deadline, we were still hearing new D.C. songs we wanted to include. But in a place where mounting wealth has created a challenging environment for art, that’s not a problem, really. It’s a testament to a music scene that perseveres despite long odds. —Ally Schweitzer

Warning: Many of these songs contain explicit lyrics.

Now, D.C. label Bad Friend Records is giving back in its own way. Tuesday marks the release of the imprint’s new remix collection, Deleted Scenes vs The Caribbean vs Tereu Tereu: A Benefit for HIPS. All proceeds will go to nonprofit organization HIPS, which provides services and advocacy for people affected by sex work and drug use.

Bad Friend Records’ co-owner Ryan Little, a member of Tereu Tereu, says the mission of the compilation is simple. “For me, it’s just caring about other humans,” he writes in an email. “Sex workers and prisoners are two marginalized groups that won’t score advocates any political points, so I think they’re important to care about. I learned about that in church growing up — Jesus tended to hang out with prostitutes and criminals.”

Little also has a history of supporting HIPS in particular. “I was part of a HIPS benefit years ago on Exotic Fever Records when I played in the band Pash,” he writes. “Being part of that compilation, which was called This Is A Care Package, taught me a lot about the issues facing sex workers. When I brought the idea of working with HIPS to the bands … they all really felt it was an important issue.”

The album features remixes of songs by local indie-rock acts Deleted Scenes, The Caribbean and Little’s Tereu Tereu — all of them tweaked by the bands themselves.

Some tracks sound like a loose homage to the original recording, like Tereu’s Tereu’s version of Deleted Scenes’ “You Get To Say Whatever You Want,” which turns the guttural slow burn of the original into a four-on-the-floor stomper. Others, like Deleted Scenes’ hypercaffeinated take on The Caribbean’s “Jobsworth,” use the source material as a springboard to something out of this world. “There were no rules!” Little writes. “That was the only way we knew to approach it.”

Tereu Tereu and The Caribbean, along with D.C. guitar experimentalist Harness Flux, play a release show Saturday at Union Arts. The compilation will be available for purchase in advance of its Tuesday sale date, and the show’s $8 admission will also go towards HIPS.

“Bands don’t make much money, period. Most begin and end in obscurity,” Little writes. “But if you put a little effort into it, playing music can be an inclusive way to bring people together to work on stuff that matters to the community you live in.”

Tereu Tereu, The Caribbean and Harness Flux play a benefit for HIPS at Union Arts on Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8 p.m.

“I’ve always called these types of songs ‘barn burners,'” says the D.C.-based guitarist, songwriter, engineer and drummer. That’s why his new band, The Effects, made its recorded debut with its own barn-burner last week. The song is called “Blister,” and it aligns precisely with Ocampo’s definition of the term: brief and intense—but with one foot planted in melodic songcraft.

“I don’t think there was ever a question that it was going be the first thing we wanted to drop on people,” says Ocampo, 40. He wanted to make a strong impression right away for a band that’s only been playing together—in various forms—since late 2013.

But Ocampo may already be a familiar name in D.C. rock circles: He’s played in Faraquet, Smart Went Crazy, Beauty Pill, Medications, Deathfix and alongside Mary Timony. When he plays guitar, he imparts a bracing and distinct brand of noodlery. It’s a sound that’s inseparable from D.C. indie rock of the ’90s and aughts, and Ocampo has never completely stopped playing it.

“I would say that [The Effects] is a continuation of the same sort of work for me. The songs that I wrote for a rock-trio format I think all have a certain consistency to them,” Ocampo says. “One could make an argument that I could have called it the same thing the whole time.”

The Effects—which includes drummer David Rich (ex-Buildings) and bassist Matt Dowling (Deleted Scenes)—isn’t even Ocampo’s only band right now. He also sings and plays guitar in a fourpiece called Warm Sun with his spouse, Renata, and D.C. music vets Basla Andolsun and Jason Hutto. That band just played its first show last Sunday. But Ocampo seems committed to making The Effects a serious gig.

He plans to do that by recording, then releasing, only a dribble of Effects music each month for a year. The band dropped a digital version of “Blister” (without its B-side, “Old Soul”) on Sept. 1. Next month, “Blister” will be retired from Bandcamp, and the band will upload a new track. Each digital song will also get a cassette release. In the end, the band will probably put it all on an LP—but that doesn’t seem to be the first thing on Ocampo’s mind.

“We just sort of want to keep things interesting and moving forward,” the musician says. “I’ve put out a lot of records doing the whole normal album cycle, where you build up songs and you take six months to write them, and then you try to get financing to get into a studio… then you drop this big weighty thing that you’ve spent all this time on.” He says that people don’t all consume music in album form now, so why follow that old formula? “We’re trying to do all singles, no filler. That’s been our motto.”

Not that listeners should expect a relentless campaign of barn burners from here on out.

“The band has a lot more to say,” Ocampo says. “We do have a lot more nuance in our music. But I thought [‘Blister’] was something to kind of hit people over the head with.”

The Effects play Rock & Roll Hotel with The Life & Times and Tone on Sept. 14. They play a “Blister/Old Soul” release show at Comet Ping Pong Oct. 18.

Deleted Scenes, “Lithium Burn”
April 15, Park the Van/Nevado

Deleted Scenes’ 2011 breakthrough album, “Young People’s Church of the Air,” shifted the D.C. indie-rock band in a more experimental direction, but the hyperactive “Stutter”—the first single from the group’s forthcoming followup—indicated that the foursome has definitively taken off the parking brake. That song might be the most loopy on the album. But Deleted Scenes’ less madcap singles, like “You Get To Say Whatever You Want,” showcase the skills of producers Brian McTear and Jonathan Low (also known for their work with Sharon Van Etten, Kurt Vile, and The War on Drugs), who have cast off the impenetrable haze of “Young People’s Church of the Air” and sharpened every element on the record—most notably singer Dan Scheuerman’s formidable voice. (Valerie Paschall)

Typefighter, “The End of Everything”
April 22, Huge Witch Records

Since releasing its first EPs, Typefighter has ditched the banjo and acoustic guitars and turned up to 11. Songs like the anthemic single “Much” show that the quartet can do triumphant guitar riffs just as well as Titus Andronicus—though Typefighter hasn’t yet veered into rock-opera territory. But the band still knows how to channel a moment: On the album’s title track and the sentimental “I Like the Way You Are,” they set aside noise and let singer Ryan McLaughlin’s raw voice hang either forlornly (the former) or gratefully (the latter) in the ether adding depth to what is otherwise a perfectly welcome stomper. (Valerie Paschall)

Protect-U, “Free USA”
May 13, Future Times

If “Time 2 Technique” offers a preview of what’s in store for Protect-U’s first LP, “Free USA” should be one of the year’s must-have electronic albums. D.C. musicians Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko have released tracks here and there, laying a foundation with beats that would get even the most sedentary listener’s head bopping; but now, they seem to have mixed the funky beats that made “Motorbike” so urgent with the twinkling synths that colored their early tracks like “U-Uno” and “Double Rainbow.” There aren’t many albums that can work for people in any mood and any setting, but this could be one of them. (Valerie Paschall)

Gods’Illa, “Believe in Gods’Illa”
June, self-released

It’s still unbelievable when you think about it: That Gods’Illa‘s 2011 project, “CPR: The Blend Tape” was hosted by the great Erykah Badu. That’s not a slight against the Forestville, Md., hip-hop trio. But the famous vocalist’s appearance seemed to validate the group—which spits conscious bars just as ably as lyrics about nothing—and brought more attention to what truly was an excellent tape. Its new album, “Believe In Gods’Illa,” arrives with just as much promise—even without a celebrity endorsement. (Marcus J. Moore)

Priests, “Bodies and Control and Money and Power”
June 3, Don Giovanni/Sister Polygon

On its earlier material, D.C. quartet Priests shredded through angry, political, surf-flecked punk rock—and both releases spoke to the band’s immense potential. Now, having honed its sound and message with incessant touring, the group has become the most promising torchbearer of D.C.’s vibrant punk and riot grrrl traditions. “Right Wing,” Priests’ first single from this summer’s “Bodies and Control and Money and Power” is almost startling in its cleanly produced and spot-on D.C.-via-L7 sound. If the rest of the album is as laden with hooks and sing-along refrains as its first single, the band may have to sink their fingernails into the dirt to keep from being dragged out of the underground. (Ron Knox)

Martyn, “The Air Between Words”
June 16, Ninja Tune

It’s odd to think of Dutch-born house/dubstep/techno producer Martyn as a local artist. The Northern Virginia resident doesn’t play many local dates, and he hasn’t made much of a mark on D.C.’s electronic-music scene since he moved to the area (for love) in 2009. But Martyn is kind of slippery that way anyway; he subtly changes sounds almost as often as he boards an airplane. His second album, the thrilling 2011 LP “Ghost People,” traded in quick-footed, high-energy house music, but his debut LP, 2009’s “Great Lengths,” borrowed a little more from dubstep. For his third album out this summer, Martyn promises yet another shift: something closer to his debut, but still different, he told Resident Advisor. No word on live D.C. dates yet, but I won’t hold my breath. (Ally Schweitzer)

The 1978ers, “People of Today”
July, Mello Music Group

yU is always thoughtful, from his elaborate rhyme cadence to his evocative beats. For his solo work, namely 2010’s “Before Taxes” and 2011’s “the EARN,” yU riffed on daily endeavors and kept an eye toward brighter times. On “People of Today,” yU will join producer SlimKat as The 1978ers—both were born in 1978—for a thoughtful narrative about everyday folks. That’s not surprising, given yU’s low-key demeanor and common-man ethos; there’s a reason he’s called the “humble king.” (Marcus J. Moore)

Warning: This song contains explicit lyrics.

Diamond District, “March on Washington”
September, Mello Music Group

Released in 2009, Diamond District’s “In the Ruff” arrived the same year President Obama took office. But while huge swaths of the city celebrated the country’s first black president, “In the Ruff” kept D.C.’s blight in full view with its grainy beats and raw rhymes. Since then, group members Oddisee, Uptown XO and yU have made significant strides, and “In the Ruff” is considered a landmark album for DMV hip-hop. What will they do for an encore? (Marcus J. Moore)

Warning: This song contains explicit lyrics.

Ex Hex’s debut album
Release date to be announced, Merge

Some of the best parts of Wild Flag’s 2011 LP happened when Mary Timony channeled her inner ’70s crotch-rocker, and Ex Hex is basically that distilled into one band. The trio’s first 7-inch, released last month, is a power-rockin’ blast, especially “Waterfall.” It’s music for leather jackets and Miller Genuine Draft—about fun and not much else—and that’s part of what makes Ex Hex one of the most exciting new D.C. rock bands in years. (Ally Schweitzer)

The Black Sparks’ debut album
Release date to be announced

The term “high school band” usually serves as an excuse for terrible music. But the high schoolers in The Black Sparks have played together for five years, and if last month’s show in Bethesda with Priests, Give and Vile Faith offered any indication, the band’s sound is maturing quite nicely. The Black Sparks established themselves as a solid hardcore act. Now their new material finds them snaking through a more complex (albeit still brutal) instrumental attack rather than merely pummeling the audience with a two-minute adrenaline rush. There’s no name or date for their forthcoming album yet, but they’ve just recorded their material at Inner Ear—a good omen in itself. (Valerie Paschall)