St. Vincent's Annie Clark, who played Bob Boilen's favorite concert of 2014, on stage at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. on March 2, 2014. Bob Boilen/NPR hide caption
The Best Dance Tracks of 2014. NPR hide caption
Johnny, Riot's seal mascot, returns after a long absence on the cover of Unleash the Fire. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Members of Unconscious Collective getting ready for ritualistic jazz-rock battle. Ginger Berry/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Neal Brennan. Courtesy of Neal Brennan hide caption
Ryan Heffington. Jean-Baptiste Huong/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Cincinnati indie rockers Wussy were the featured musicians in KEXP's favorite studio session of the year. Brady Harvey/KEXP hide caption
Tinashe, whose hit "2 On" was produced by DJ Mustard, performs on stage in December. Emmerson/Corbis hide caption
MNEK performing with Gorgon City in London this April. Joseph Okpako/Redferns via Getty Images hide caption
Gazelle Twin's Unflesh is one of our favorite electronic albums of 2014. Tash Tung/Courtesy of the artist hide caption