TCCT: Signs of life 2014

Chris Riemenschneider (Star Tribune music critic): "Live Nation spent $5 million trying to make a festival work here in 2012 and failed. I mean, really failed. Atmosphere spent a small fraction of that on Soundset and sold it out with 30,000 attendees this year. Two more local artists followed suit and put on their own fests in 2014, Trampled by Turtles and P.O.S. Next year, Doomtree, Justin Vernon and Lord knows who else have similar big plans."

Reed Fischer (City Pages music editor): "The Twin Cities music scene is alive and well because consensus is nowhere in sight. So many vocal factions of fans are disagreeing about everything, and everyone benefits from that passion."

Andrea Swensson (89.3 the Current music reporter): "Of the top five new acts to place in City Pages' Picked to Click poll this year, only one was old enough to buy a drink at a bar. An unprecedented amount of teenaged artists stormed the scene with impressive live shows and high-caliber albums. It gave the whole community a much-needed jolt of youthful energy and inspiration."

Pamela Espeland (MinnPost columnist, BeBopified blogger): "Released Dec. 20, conceived by trumpeter Steve Kenny and crowd-funded through Kickstarter, the album 'Twin Cities Jazz Sampler: Volume One' symbolizes the resilience of jazz at a time when making a living at it seems especially hard. The Artists' Quarter has been dark for a year, and the Dakota, like many jazz clubs, has opened its doors to all kinds of music, yet jazz is heard across the Twin Cities every night, from Jazz Central to the Black Dog, Icehouse, Studio Z and now even Orchestra Hall."

Zack McCormick (City Pages contributor): "For the first time in a while, it feels like this community is shedding the inferiority complex that can make it frustrating to live here. More young bands and micro-labels are springing up, and the DIY spirit seems stronger than ever, but the new outlook seems less concerned with outside validation."

Erik Thompson (City Pages staff writer): "All of the familiar local faces who played the late night talk show circuit throughout the year is proof positive that Minnesota bands and musicians are being embraced by a national — and international — audience."

Jim Walsh (Freelance writer): "Compiled with much love and dogged perseverance, the hugely underrated various artist compilations 'Slim Town Singles' and 'Rock for the Rules 2' are great examples of disparate music communities pulling together to write and record heartfelt tunes for reasons bigger than themselves. Minneapolis music at its most inspirational."

How TCCT works: Voters choose their top 10 local albums, which are then weighted through a point system. Ranked lists go from 20 points for the No. 1 album to two points for No. 10. Unranked lists are 10 points per album. Best songs and live-act categories are top-five lists, with ranked lists ranging from 10 points to two, or five apiece for unranked lists.