Sam Phillips – Differences
Tom Espinola – Gold Rush / Cherokee Shuffle
Alex Byrd – Jamais Vu
Wytold – Move On
Aaron Agre – Know-Say
Body Thief – Twin Flames
Mark Meadows – Know NowThe Rail Runners – The Takeback
June Gloom – dealer
Memphis Gold – Serves Me Right
Otis Infrastructure – Tearerdowner
The Soul Searchers – If It Ain’t Funky
Tideland – Desolate
Le Loup – Morning Song
B Side Shuffle – Gauntlet
Waltz Brigade – Strange Names
Mary Chapin Carpenter – Willie Short
Beach House – Lover of Mine
M.H. & His Orchestra – Cobblestone
Louis Weeks – Clementine

Nick Hakim – The Light
Luxas – Arbo-domo en la Nuboj (Tree-house In the Clouds)
Big Hoax – Guerrero
Fat Kneel – Hoarse Siren
Dura – Lawns
Redline Graffiti – Beauty Mark 2
The Tender Thrill – Ally
Birds and Buildings – Horse-Shaped Cloud
Elijah Jamal Balbed – Checking In
Troy and Paula Haag – Fall For You
Mark Meadows – Somethin’ Good
Bobby Thompson – Soul Love
Oooh Child Ensemble – Cerafica (Live)
Peals – Floating Leaf
Fady D – No Fret
AXB – Easy Morning
rootbug – Red Moon
Barbara Papendorp and Oren Levine – For a Tree (Arbor Day)
Elikeh – The Conversation
Near Northeast – Cenote

Iritis – Monster
Justin Jones – You Saved Me
Protect-U – Down the Tubes
Fugazi – Recap Modotti
Mark Meadows – Once Upon a Purple Night
The Greatest Hoax – Opus no. 13
Mimi Loco and the Drama Queens – Let It Die – 2015 Remix – Take 2
Ricky Eat Acid – Driving Alone Past Roadwork At Night
Troy and Paula Haag – 27
John Hogge – Shanai
Beach House – Myth
Jonathan Parker – King of the Hill
The Funk Ark – Mind Meld
Future Islands – Tin Man
AXB – Quantum Chill
The Mean Season – Kurtz
Matt Chaconas – Spear
Domingues & Kane – Wko 205
PLOY – Beyond the Plain
Noah Berman + Louis Weeks – radius i

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.