AaronHernandez

Range Of Light by S Carey
Va by The Last Bison
St. Vincent by St. Vincent
1975 by Xinobi
Manipulator by Ty Segall
La Isla Bonita by Deerhoof
LP1 by FKA twigs
Picuture You Staring by TOPS
Rips by Ex Hex
Somewhere Else by Lydia Loveless

wmermine

In no order and with no guarantee of this list containing only 2014 releases:

iamthemorning - Belighted

The Contortionist - Language

Aaron West & the Roaring Twenties - We Don’t Have Each Other

Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

Old 97s - Most Messed Up

Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal

Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion

Manchester Orchestra - Cope

La Dispute - Rooms of the House

Architects - Lost Forever // Lost Together

Hiro11

Obvious choice my my list too. They've released so much good music over the last 2 years.

PhantomStranger

I am so glad someone mentioned Marissa Nadler's July, a complete return to form for her.

I know this is a cheat, but Bob Dylan's Complete Basement Tapes is 2014's album of the year. I never thought they would release it in its entirety. There is more gold in the lavish set than some musicians have in an entire career. The huge box set is absolutely necessary.

Some other albums I enjoyed this year:

Echo and the Bunnymen's Meteorites
Black Keys' Turn Blue
Ghostface Killah's 36 Seasons
Rosanne Cash's The River and The Thread
Elvis Costello, Marcus Mumford, Jim James and others - Lost On The River: The New Basement Tapes
The Pixies' Indie Cindy
Wilco's Alpha Mike Foxtrot box

CRM114

Underwhelmed by Basement Tapes. I'll take Another Self Portrait.

nothingfails

10. Jack White - Lazaretto
9. Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
8. Alt-J - This Is All Yours
7. Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack
6. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
5. Mac DeMarco - Salad Days
4. Jaded Inc. - The Big Knock
3. Weezer - Everything Will Be Alright In The End
2. St. Vincent - St. Vincent
1. New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers

a lot of other albums I really liked this year too (Prince, TV On The Radio, Broken Bells, FKA twigs, Trampled By Turtles, Black Keys, Caribou, First Aid Kit, Bleachers, Hozier, D'Angelo, Interpol, U2, Sam Smith, Ryan Adams, Spoon, Dum Dum Girls.....) that top 10 is only icing on the cake

creekdipper

Accoustic Classics by Richard Thompson.

I, too, love these threads since they give me a lot of new music to check out. Back in the 90's, I visited music stores weekly & sampled all of the new stuff; now I barely find time to sample using internet.

Already have Sturgill Simpson on my hit list thanks to this thread (latest...wasn't overwhelmed by earlier stuff although still love his voice).

TripWire

I have 20, a great year for shoegaze and rock.

1. Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Rocking shoegaze, awesome music and an awesome drummer.
Recommended Song: B&E

2. Violent Soho - Hungry Ghost
Aussie rock, these guys are so juvenile and so dumb, but so good. Surprisingly a lot of different song styles on the album, they are kinda like an
Australian Cage the Elephant.
Recommended Song: Covered in Chrome

3. Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere
Congrats on making a no bullshit rocking album, I like a lot of songs off this one.
Recommended Song: Now Hear In

4. Big Ups- Eighteen Hours of Static
Man, these guys are straight up abrasive, but I love em. This album always finds its way into my rotation.
Recommended Song: Goes Black

5. White Lung - Deep Fantasy
The guitarist comes up with the most insane punk riffs and harmonics, everything on this is pure aggression. Better production here than "Sorry" and it's just a great follow up. Also they really kick some ass live.
Recommended Song: Just For You

6. Smashing Pumpkins - Monuments To An Elegy
Some great songwriting here, and yeah some of the lyrics are cringe worthy but I always have a soft spot for great Pumpkins melodies.
Recommended Song: Tiberius

7. Royal Blood - Royal Blood
This duo is a powerhouse, kinda like Jack White crossed with old school Muse. A great debut album and love the bass played like a guitar trickery.
Recommended Song: Out of the Black

8. What Moon Things - What Moon Things
This is some beautiful dark lo-fi goodness.
Recommended Song: The Vampire

9. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Only Run
The band meets synth, great songs and unpredictable production make this a fun album to listen to.
Recommended Song: As Always

10. together PANGEA - Badillac
Indie rock is coming at you, cool songs and to the point.
Recommended Song: River

11. Whirr - Sway
These guys are very close to "Nothing" with their sound, but just a bit heavier. Shoegaze all the way and a very strong album.
Recommended Song: Heavy

12. Casket Girls - True Love Kills the Fairy Tale
Trippy, weird, dream pop with 2 chicks and a dude with fuzzed out guitar/bass lines.
Recommended Song: Same Side

13. +++ - Crosses
Chino from Deftones shows his love for Depeche Mode with guitars and some screaming, I enjoyed it more than his other side projects Team Sleep and Palms.
Recommended Song: Bitches Brew

14. Ought - More Than Any Other Day
This sounds like smart indie rock with old school influences like the Talking Heads...I slightly dislike and strongly like it and the album is cohesive
enough to make it to the list.
Recommended Song: Today More Than Any Other Day

15. Raveonettes - Pe'ahi
I don't think the Raveonettes know how to put out a bad album.
Recommended Song: Kill!

16. Pixies - Indie City
What's with everyone hating this album, it sounds like the mf'in PIXIES. So if you liked the Pixies before, then you should like this album also unless
you're a pretentious blog writer.
Recommended Song: What Goes Boom

17. CYMBALS - Age of Fracture
Some really good 80's throwback here and I'm not ashamed to like it.
Recommended Song: The Natural World

18. Cheatahs - Cheatahs
Their first full length, good mix of My Bloody Valentine type production and more awesome distorted shoegazing.
Recommended Song: Geographic

19. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
Hip-hop done right, it's amazing how good the genre can be when some actual original thought goes into making the music.
Recommended Song - Close Your Eyes

20. Antlers - The Familiars
It's not as accessible as their other albums, but it has a great sad beauty to it. Also I love the horn work done on it.
Recommended Song - Palace

Mordred

Taken from my rank as you listen post, with more detailed notes:

Weird year for me. As is typical for me, I listened to a fair amount of metal, but very little of it really resonated with me. Only two "metal" albums on my top 10 list (and Mastodon is getting close to that line) which has to be a record low for me.
I've still got a few 2014 albums on my to-listen list that I haven't heard yet, and I think Cloudkicker and Thomas Giles might crack my top-10, but we'll have to see.

1) Hozier - Hozier
Just about perfect. I saw him on SNL and bought the album before the episode ended. Everything I like about rock and blues rolled into one brilliant album.

2) The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
You can call this dad-rock if you want (and I get the label) but it's a brilliant album. Somehow I missed this band until early December when a coworker played it for me. I haven't lived with it enough yet, but it could supplant Hozier.

3) Emma Ruth Rundle - Some Heavy Ocean
Seriously, more people need to listen to this one. If you aren't hooked by song 3, there's no hope. It's acoustic, solo singer stuff that'll haunt your waking moments. Beautiful and evocative. Even I wasn't expecting this quality from ERR despite her being in a couple bands I love.

4) Taylor Swift - 1989
This is not ironic or a joke. I love T-Swift more than any 38-year old has any right to. I catch a lot of shit for listening to this at work, and I still don't care. Astoundingly solid radio-friendly pop. Also, it's the only album my wife and I can agree on.

5) He Is Legend - Heavy Fruit
Stoner metal genius, and so much fun. Songs are catchy as hell, it's heavy enough to pound on the steering wheel, but not so heavy that people will look at you weird when the windows are rolled down. AC/DC would sound like this if they smoked more pot and formed 35 years later than they did.

6) Lissie - Crying to You EP
It's acoustic singer-songwriter style covers of pop and metal, but it introduced me to Lissie, who I'm now addicted to, and I couldn't love it much more.

7) Mastodon - Once More Round the Sun
This was the years biggest surprise for me. It feels simpler (and almost poppy at times!) than their recent stuff, but that's a good thing. The first three songs overshadow everything else on the album, but it's worth it.

8) First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
Damn these Swedish girls can sing. Blows away their previous album.

9) Alpha Male Tea Party - Droids
Non-stop Math Rock fun in the vein of And So I Watch You From Afar. Also, who can resist song titles like "God Is Love, but Satan Does That Thing You Like With His Tongue" and "I Haven't Had a Lunch Break Since Windows Vista Came Out"?

10) Jakob - Sines
New Zealand's Post-rock legends first new album in 10 years is worth the wait. Epic, and moving.

11) ÆGES - Above & Down Below
Not as good as their debut, but still a solid mix of rock, hardcore, and fun.

12) Audrey Fall - Mitau
More epic post-rock.

13) The Pretty Reckless - Going to Hell
Just a really fun time. Maybe the "don't give a fuck" attitude is all an act, but the songs work.

14) December - Torso
Japanese post-rock.

15) Morbus Chron - Sweven
Pretty innovative metal. A little uneven which is why it didn't quite crack my top-10 though.

Mordred

Your year-end lists always make me think we could be friends. Good stuff on here.

PhantomStranger

Reading these lists, the one thing that sticks out is how fractured the music market has become. I listen to a lot of music and couldn't even identify the genre for 50% of the acts listed in this thread.

beavis69

My favorites of the year in now particular order

Michael Jackson- Escape
Chromeo- White Women
Rigor Mortis- Slaves to the Grave
Cretin- Stranger
Behemoth- The Satanist
Opeth- Pale Communion
Mastodon- Once More Around the Sun
Death Grips- Niggas on the Moon
Lizardia- Lizardia
The Contortionist- Language
Deep Mountain- Lake of Solace
Artificial Brain- Labyrinth Constellation
Revocation- Deathless
Crosses- Crosses
Trap Them- Blissfucker
Tempter- Black Rites

Special mention to the Death reissues as I had heard of the band but never really gave any of their albums a listen. Absolutely love them.

Hiro11

Nice list here. I forgot about the White Lung and Cloud Nothings albums, both of which are great.

Why So Blu?

Primus - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Shadow Moses

1) A Sound Of Thunder - The Lesser Key Of Solomon
2) Steel Panther - All You Can Eat
3) Overkill - White Devil Armory
4) Madball - Hardcore Lives
5) Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown Halo
6) Judas Priest - Redeemer Of Souls
7) Arch Enemy - War Eternal
8) Slipknot - The Gray Chapter
9) Elvenking - The Pagan Manifesto
10) Machine Head - Bloodstones And Diamonds

Shamus McAnally

I was going to try to attend one of these shows just to see Butch. Never made it, but Butch is one of the, if not the, best live show I've seen. I've seen him live somewhere around 20 times and every time has been awesome. While I'd prefer more of his old stuff in the set list, often the newer songs that I've not been a fan of on the album actually rock live. Butch is definitely a live performance master.


I only bought two albums this year so my "top" list is as such:

1) World On Fire - Slash ft. Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators
2) Great Divide - Twin Atlantic

The Questyen

I've been way slacking on music this year so here's my eight favorites in no order:

Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2
Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear
FKA Twigs - LP1
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
Phantogram - Voices
Rokysopp & Robyn - Do It Again
Son Lux - Alternate Worlds
St. Vincent - St. Vincent

My Other Self

I hadn't even bought 10 new albums in 2014, but my small list is:

Army of the Pharaohs - In Death Reborn
Army of the Pharaohs - Heavy Lies the Crown
Surveillance - Oceania
"Weird Al" Yankovic - Mandatory Fun

Hiro11

To me, this is actually the best time of the year for music. Looking through other people's best of lists, I generally find a bunch of stuff I really liked but missed the first time around in 2014. Among the new "discoveries":

Hookworms: "The Hum": their debut was one of my favorite albums of 2013, I somehow missed that they released another album last year. This one is even better. Driving, skittery, unhinged, psychedelic Neu!/Pere Ubu-influenced drone/dream punk with garage rock organ. I'll bet they're great live:
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Jamie T: "Carry on the Grudge": Jamie T tones down the Clash-ish ska punk of his early stuff for dirty, seething urban guitar pop and makes the best album of his career. Deeply pissed off and bleak. Definitely British.

Perfume Genius: "Too Bright": Bowie-influenced glistening art/glam pop rock and slow ballads with just a bit of grit. Sarcastic, jaded, androgynous but honest and heartfelt with little pretension. "Queen" has become one of my favorite songs from last year but the whole album is great.

Divine Styler: "Def Mask": he returns with his first proper album in fifteen years and promptly hits a home run. Afro-futurist, Blade Runner influenced psychedelic indie rap. If you like MF Doom/Madvillain, Dr Octagon, Deltron 3000, check this one out.

slop101

Y'know, it didn't get proper recognition because it came out so late in the year (I guess it was supposed to come out in 2015, but they pushed it up), but D'Angelo's "Black Messiah" is fantastic fucking album, right up there with the best of the year.

wendersfan

I love this album so much. First time I heard it all the way through I grabbed a guitar and learned "The Prophet." Fantastic song, fantastic album.