Smart, streamlined indie-punk that grooves like The Cure? I'm sold! Shit, I was sold before Augusta Koch finishes the first line of "Serious Things Are Stupid."

The Lawrence Arms had every opportunity in the world to completely blow it with this album. The whole 'band that hasn't really been around in the better part of a decade records a new album' thing tends to result in some seriously lame records that just sort of… exist. No such failure here, The Larries deliver a great, focused record and some of BK's best songwriting.

Little is known about Leagues Apart other than that their members seem to be celebrities at Fest and best friends with all your favorite bands. Their debut LP is not to be overlooked, though, as it is an energetic and well-executed punk record with challenging and interesting song and lyric writing.

Still and forever one of the best voices indie has ever offered the world. Cutting, personal, honest, brutal lyrics and hooks the size of fucking planets.

Any fan of Captain We're Sinking's phenomenal 2013 effort, "The Future Is Cancelled," knows that Bobby Barnett is capable of tugging relentlessly at heartstrings with his lyrics and melodies. This record seems a natural continuation of that model of songwriting, with a scope of misery-laden lyrical content that would make Fyodor Dostoevsky blush and some of the most unique guitar playing you'll ever hear on an acoustic album.

Listening to this band makes me feel like I've been up for four days on various illicit substances making the four best and 10 worst decisions of my life. Hardcore at large should aspire to nothing less.

Where do you go once you've already established yourself as the most important band in contemporary independent punk? The Menzingers opted for a more contemplative record that hinges more on lyrical content than it does on sentimentality and proves itself as it goes along. In my opinion, the most cerebral, the most deliberate, the best Menzingers record.

The darkest, most depressing EP's worth of songs you'll ever feel like blowing your voice out singing along to with a smile on your face. Josh Mckenzie always manages to turn the most inward, private sentiments into airy, stadium-worthy punk songs with the most colossal hooks around.

A mixture of midwestern pop punk, 90s alternative, and modern etsy-store indie that never once loses it's teeth. This album spans the sonic spectrum from quick blasts of Alkaline Trio-esque punk rock to bizarro-Weezer radio jams to emotive, sentimental balladry that sounds like it could be the song playing at the end of an episode of Scrubs, and all of it is done with an uncommon energy and grace.

Let's get this out of the way: I know this album came out last year, but I didn't hear it then and neither did you, so shut up. It's definitely solipsism of a kind, but I feel like the obvious best record of the year is always evident to most avid listeners of this genre. In the same way that "On The Impossible Past" was self-apparently the best punk record of 2012, Pup has the best punk record of 2014. This record is a perfect melange of every corner of the world that could fall under the vague umbrella of independent aggressive rock. Somewhere between the iterations of punk, indie, hardcore, alternative, and math rock you'll find this record excelling at everything it sets out to accomplish. Nothing else even came close this year. V excited to see what these guys will do next.