Music: Best Albums of the Year series: 2014

[Saturated Fats]

1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul
1967: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
1970: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1973: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1977: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1980: AC/DC - Back in Black
1982: Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
1985: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
1988: Metallica - ...And Justice for All
1989: Pixies - Doolittle
1991: Nirvana - Nevermind
1994: Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
1996: (TIE) Soundgarden - Down on the Upside // Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
1998: (TIE) Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill // System of a Down - System of a Down
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2002: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
2004: (TIE) Madvillain - Madvillainy // The Killers - Hot Fuss // Green Day - American Idiot
2007: Radiohead - In Rainbows
2010: The National - High Violet

1971: Led Zeppelin - IV (21 votes)

2nd Place: The Who - Who's Next (13 votes)
3rd Place: Black Sabbath - Master of Reality (12 votes)
4th Place (TIE): The Doors - L.A. Woman (11 votes)
4th place (TIE): The Rolling Stones - Sticky Fingers

Not quite as close as I thought it would be - but I guess, when you have one of the foundational albums of modern music, with the song of the rock era... You can't really expect much else. Such a behemoth of a year, it was fun to remember some of the albums I hadn't listened to in years, and dive deep into some classics.

Look, I know that this board is populated mostly by (very lovable) Gen X'er Rock and Roll types - after all, the 2010 poll had by far the lowest turn-out of votes for any yet. But we are doing polls to 2015 (to round of 50 years worth of voting), and there is genuinely a lot of extremely good music from 2010-15 - with 2014 being perhaps the deepest and most special of those years. If you haven't heard of some of the options in the poll, I'd very much encourage you to at least seek out the Wikipedia/RYM/Spotify profiles of the artists and albums, and see if it's something that might tickle your fancy. I've tried to curate a diverse and top-level list, but I know that the answers given - and favourites listed - will largely reside in works off of the list. That's cool. I have faith in the regular voters. For maybe the first time since the 1985 poll, I have no idea what will win this.

9/16: 1999
9/19: 1966
9/21: 2005

Click to read more...

 

[Langdon Alger]

Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways

 

[Saturated Fats]

I'll start, since I'm so damned eager about this year. I have very little to separate the albums that I lionize in my list. I couldn't keep it at 10, so I went with 15.

You might think that I'd go singer-songwriter/folk based on my past votes and avatar, or maybe something experimental or avant-garde - instead, my favourite album of 2014 is what I consider to be the greatest heavy metal album of the 2010's. Behemoth's The Satanist is everything I want out of a heavy metal record - absolutely titanic guitar, drum, and bass synchronicity; visceral, resonant, and downright terrifying vocals; and a layered and note-perfect production side that elevates every piece of backing choir, orchestration, guttural scream, and drone in layers that genuinely make you feel on the verge of perdition. This is my 'go-to' album whenever I need to drown out my thoughts with sound. It's a masterpiece. But so are the two that I have following it, which - in most other years - would top the list. Kishi Bashi's Lightght is about as opposite to The Satanist as you can get - driven by manic, iridescent beats and vocals, overtop of wonderfully frenetic and bright lyrical content. Ought's More Than Any Other Day is a post-punk masterpiece of the highest order, with some of the most innovative and ambitious arrangement, bold and blustery instrumentals, and quirky, David Byrne-meets-The Fall vocal rhythms and cadence. An album to deeply consider.

My top-15

Behemoth - The Satanist
Kishi Bashi - Lightght
Ought - More Than Any Other Day

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness
Emma Ruth Rundle - Some Heavy Ocean
Mitski - Bury Me at Makeout Creek
Dean Blunt - Black Metal
FKA Twigs - LP1
Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues

D'Angelo and the Vanguard - Black Messiah
Panopticon - Roads to the North
Rishloo - Living as Ghosts With Buildings as Teeth
Run the Jewels - RTJ2
SÓLSTAFIR - Ótta

 

[belair]

They Want My Soul was a stellar release from Spoon. It was seamless and had some really catchy tracks.

 

[plank]

Excellent year!

1. Attica - Wussy
2. Colfax - The Delines
3. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music - Sturgill Simpson
4. Leuven Letters - Courtney Marie Andrews
5. Burn Your Fire for No Witness - Angel Olsen
6. Berkeley to Bakersfield - Cracker
7. Lost in the Dream - The War On Drugs
8. Stay Gold - First Aid Kit
9. Morning Phase - Beck
10. Heal - Strand of Oaks
11. Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone - Lucinda Williams
12. Anyway - Immigrant Union
13. Journey On - Songs: Ohia
14. Somewhere Else - Lydia Loveless
15. s/t - Hard Working Americans
16. Wilko Johnson/Roger Daltrey - Going Back Home
17. Free State Serenade - Chuck Mead
18. s/t - Benjamin Booker
19. Moorish Highway - Trummors
20. Life & Love - Hans Chew
21. I'm In Your Mind Fuzz - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

 

[frisco]

Other:
High Hopes-Bruce Springsteen
Out Among The Stars-Johnny Cash

My Best-Carey

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Sorry for the long list, but I have a lot of stuff for this year. Not the greatest top-end IMO, but a lot of interesting stuff, and a lot of curiosities that I find interesting but that didn't find a place in the stuff I go back to yet (and might never do, but 2014 is still really recent).

1. Many Arms – Suspended Definition
T2. Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker
T2. Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny
4. Richard Dawson – Nothing Important
5. Pharmakon – Bestial Burden
6. tētēma – Geocidal
7. Igorrr & Ruby My Dear – Maigre (EP)
8. Le Butcherettes – Cry Is For The Flies
9. Ty Citerman – Bop Kabbalah
10. The Suite Unraveling – The Suite Unraveling
11. Clipping. – CLPPNG
12. Flying Lotus – You're Dead!
13. The Unsemble – The Unsemble
14. Swans – To Be Kind
15. Perfume Genius – Too Bright

HMs:
Knifeworld – The Unravelling
Marc Baron – Hidden Tapes
Iceage – Plowing Into the Field of Love
Shellac – Dude Incredible
Cex – Shamaneater
Damien Rice – My Favorite Faded Fantasy
Laswell, Smith & Zorn – The Dream Membrane
La dispute – Rooms of the House
Perfect p***y – Say Yes to Love
Emmure – Eternal Enemies (skip this one if you're looking for subtelty)
Arne Deforce & Mika Vainio – Hephaestus
Eels – The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Got A Girl – I Love You but I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – f*** Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything / Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Hang On to Each Other (EP)
Blonde Redhead – Barragán
Current 93 – I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell: A Channel
Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
Radio Moscow – Magical Dirt
Guided By Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit / Guided By Voices – Cool Planet
Gary Clark Jr. – Live
Conor Oberst – Upside Down Mountain

Curiosities:
Vladimir Bozar 'N' Ze Sheraf Orkestär – Petit camion rouge (EP)
Death Grips – The Powers That B
King Buzzo – This Machine Kills Artists (even if the riffs are pretty repetitive, Osborne's acoustic guitar sound is amazing – his voice is just too weak)
FKA twigs – LP1
Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – Someday World / Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – High Life
Killer Be Killed – Killer Be Killed
Wollesen, Haffner, Naujo – Rasa Rasa
Titãs – Nheengatu
Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty
Gridlink – Longhena
Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – Phase 2
The Killjoy Club – Reindeer Games
Ariel Pink – Pom Pom
Annie Lennox – Nostalgia
Gazpacho – Demon
Mark Lanegan Band – Phantom Radio
John Zorn – The Song Project (Zorn has put out so much stuff in 2014, almost 20 albums, that it's impossible to follow through – most of what I heard was pretty weak, considering who it comes from, even the better stuff, the Moonchild album or Psychomagia, is kind of a let down, at leat I was expecting more – well, he still ended up here and twice in my HMs, considering he is part of the Current 93 album, that's still something)

 

[Saturated Fats]

@Violenza Domestica that Benjamin Booker album is an absolute banger. Not sure how I missed it.

 

[Cas]

Most of what I have in 2014 that bears mention is slow.

Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation
Electric Citizen - Sateen
Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus
Panopticon - Roads to the North
The Sabbathian - Ritual Rites EP
Serpentine Path - Emanations
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
White Lung - Deep Fantasy
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend

Lots of doomy stuff this year. The mid-2000's through the mid-2010's were a good decade for doom, I think. Despite that, I'm probably going to go with Panopticon - Roads to the North for my pick.

I can't say that I've heard any of the poll options.

I also took a soundboard bootleg of a Death DTA show in 2014, which doesn't bear consideration but which I think is pretty fun.

 

[Saturated Fats]

Most of what I have in 2014 that bears mention is slow.

Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation
Electric Citizen - Sateen
Nightbringer - Ego Dominus Tuus
Panopticon - Roads to the North
The Sabbathian - Ritual Rites EP
Serpentine Path - Emanations
Triptykon - Melana Chasmata
White Lung - Deep Fantasy
Yob - Clearing the Path to Ascend

Lots of doomy stuff this year. The mid-2000's through the mid-2010's were a good decade for doom, I think. Despite that, I'm probably going to go with Panopticon - Roads to the North for my pick.

I can't say that I've heard any of the poll options.

I also took a soundboard bootleg of a Death DTA show in 2014, which doesn't bear consideration but which I think is pretty fun.

Have you heard the Behemoth album?

 

[Oxbow Lakes]

Kaupungin valot - Huomiseen
Jukka Nousiainen - Huonoa Seuraa
Flying Lotus - You’re Dead!
Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata

...Yeah, not too familiar with this year.

 

[Mescaleroman]

Cracker - Berkely to Bakersfield
Drive By Truckers - English Oceans
Sleaford Mods - Divide and Exit
Aldous Harding - s/t
Bahamas - Bahamas is Alfie
Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
Jack White - Lazaretto
Warpaint - s/t
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Sorry for the long list, but I have a lot of stuff for this year. Not the greatest top-end IMO, but a lot of interesting stuff, and a lot of curiosities that I find interesting but that didn't find a place in the stuff I go back to yet (and might never do, but 2014 is still really recent).

1. Many Arms – Suspended Definition
T2. Benjamin Booker – Benjamin Booker
T2. Julian Casablancas + The Voidz – Tyranny
4. Richard Dawson – Nothing Important
5. Pharmakon – Bestial Burden
6. tētēma – Geocidal
7. Igorrr & Ruby My Dear – Maigre (EP)
8. Le Butcherettes – Cry Is For The Flies
9. Ty Citerman – Bop Kabbalah
10. The Suite Unraveling – The Suite Unraveling
11. Clipping. – CLPPNG
12. Flying Lotus – You're Dead!
13. The Unsemble – The Unsemble
14. Swans – To Be Kind
15. Perfume Genius – Too Bright

HMs:
Knifeworld – The Unravelling
Marc Baron – Hidden Tapes
Iceage – Plowing Into the Field of Love
Shellac – Dude Incredible
Cex – Shamaneater
Damien Rice – My Favorite Faded Fantasy
Laswell, Smith & Zorn – The Dream Membrane
La dispute – Rooms of the House
Perfect p***y – Say Yes to Love
Emmure – Eternal Enemies (skip this one if you're looking for subtelty)
Arne Deforce & Mika Vainio – Hephaestus
Eels – The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Got A Girl – I Love You but I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – f*** Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything / Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Hang On to Each Other (EP)
Blonde Redhead – Barragán
Current 93 – I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell: A Channel
Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
Radio Moscow – Magical Dirt
Guided By Voices – Motivational Jumpsuit / Guided By Voices – Cool Planet
Gary Clark Jr. – Live
Conor Oberst – Upside Down Mountain

Curiosities:
Vladimir Bozar 'N' Ze Sheraf Orkestär – Petit camion rouge (EP)
Death Grips – The Powers That B
King Buzzo – This Machine Kills Artists (even if the riffs are pretty repetitive, Osborne's acoustic guitar sound is amazing – his voice is just too weak)
FKA twigs – LP1
Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – Someday World / Brian Eno & Karl Hyde – High Life
Killer Be Killed – Killer Be Killed
Wollesen, Haffner, Naujo – Rasa Rasa
Titãs – Nheengatu
Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty
Gridlink – Longhena
Fear, and Loathing in Las Vegas – Phase 2
The Killjoy Club – Reindeer Games
Ariel Pink – Pom Pom
Annie Lennox – Nostalgia
Gazpacho – Demon
Mark Lanegan Band – Phantom Radio
John Zorn – The Song Project (Zorn has put out so much stuff in 2014, almost 20 albums, that it's impossible to follow through – most of what I heard was pretty weak, considering who it comes from, even the better stuff, the Moonchild album or Psychomagia, is kind of a let down, at leat I was expecting more – well, he still ended up here and twice in my HMs, considering he is part of the Current 93 album, that's still something)

Happy to see you enjoy Tyranny. I think it's really superb and the one more I listen to it, the more I like it. What Casablancas does with The Voidz is much better than what he ever did with The Strokes but no one is really paying attention. Really shows how restrained he'd become with that band. Not surprised he always sounds so tired when talking about them. Nintendo Blood and Take Me in Your Army are great songs. Father Electricity too.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

NIN - Recoiled

Yeah it's a compilation album but they're all original remixes

 

[Teemu]

Was busy getting married so the music of that year mostly got away from me. Lost in a Dream is a good one though.

 

[Cas]

Have you heard the Behemoth album?

No, Behemoth rarely does it for me, to be honest.

 

[kihei]

Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays
Alvvays: Alvvays

Ah! Nice choice. Forgot about them. I think most musicians and listeners (largely young white urbanites) who adore this sort of music are insufferable (not out of any ill-will but dorky in an artistically misguided way) but they really make it work.

 

[Azathoth]

Voted Behemoth-The Satanist

Other:
At the Gates-At War with Reality
Agalloch-The Serpent and the Sphere
Primordial-Where Greater Men Have Fallen

 

[WeThreeKings]

It's not going to win because of the forum we are on..

but it is 1989 by Taylor Swift.. one of the best pop albums ever.

 

[Eisen]

Of that list, the only album I would finish to listen to is Weezer. And I am drawing a blank on other albums as well. Not a good year for me.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

It's not going to win because of the forum we are on..

but it is [xxxxxx]

I could start my posts on every poll with these words, but I feel that would be a little obnoxious, and probably a little condescending too. Good for you to have a clear opinion on what's your favorite album of the year, but please don't pretend it should be mine.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I could start my posts on every poll with these words, but I feel that would be a little obnoxious, and probably a little condescending too. Good for you to have a clear opinion on what's your favorite album of the year, but please don't pretend it should be mine.

lmao

alright.

 

[Hivemind]

2014 was the year I stopped doing ranked lists, but here's some of my favorites that have held up to time:




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w9TbulMd70

 

[NyQuil]

Ah! Nice choice. Forgot about them. I think most musicians and listeners (largely young white urbanites) who adore this sort of music are insufferable (not out of any ill-will but dorky in an artistically misguided way) but they really make it work.

Speaking of insufferable, how many condescending comments can you jam into one sentence?

For the record, I think people who confuse obscurity with quality (largely hipsters) are pretty artistically misguided themselves, not out of any ill-will but out of a overwhelming need to express a unique sensibility.