Well, here it is. The best of the best. Granted, it’s only one mans opinion. But that man is me, so you should all pay close attention.
For those keeping score at home, here’s what last year looked like.
Let’s get started, shall we?
21. LANA DEL REY, ULTRAVIOLENCE
The more I listen to Lana Del Rey, the more I think the idea of her being a huge star seems really, really absurd to me. (Even I’m not crazy enough to defend her vocal stylings on ‘Pretty When You Cry’) This absolutely is an artist that’s not supposed to be selling out stadiums; no, she’s that girl at the lounge, singing her heart out and all too aware that she’s trying way too hard to seduce you. And sometimes, that’s just the thing we need to hear. And by ‘we’, it’s entirely possible I mean ‘me’. But you know what? Screw you guys; I liked it.
STANDOUT TRACKS: West Coast; Cruel World; Ultraviolence; Sad Girl
20. NEW PORNOGRAPHERS, BRILL BRUISERS
The last time I tried to get into the New Pornographers, it was nearly a decade ago, and I found it a little folk-y for my tastes. I don’t know if I changed or they did, but I can say that this new, slightly Prog-ier direction is really working for me. And anyway, it finally taught me how to love Neko Case…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Champions Of Red Wine; Backstairs; Born With a Sound; Dancehall Domine
19. TV ON THE RADIO, SEEDS
Earlier this year I saw these guys live, and my main takeaway was thinking to myself “What is happening here? Are all these dudes on the spectrum or something?”. Which I’m willing to concede is probably not a fair assessment of their musical proclivities and stage presence. At any rate, this album is poppy and accessible in a way that I feel like certain fans might reject. We have a word for those types of fans.
It’s ‘dummies’…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Happy Idiot; Lazerray; Careful You; Ride
18. TuNe-YaRdS, NIKKI NACK
First of all, Merrill Garbus has an amazing voice. So there’s that. But she also makes music that feels like play time. She’s talking about some fairly heady and personal stuff here, but at the same time there’s a playfulness that’s goofy and infectious in her work that’s oddly endearing. Quirky…? Oh, no question. But that isn’t always a bad thing.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Water Fountain; Stop That Man; Real Thing; Sink-O
17. COMMON, NOBODY’S SMILING
When he’s not hosting shows about furniture, Common happens to be a top tier rapper. But a lot of his albums of late have been kind of uneven to me, overwhelmed by their grand ambitions. By stripping away everything except the beats and the darkness, he creates his best album in years.
STANDOUT TRACKS: No Fear; Blak Majik; Nobody’s Smiling; Rewind That
16. LITTLE DRAGON, NABUMA RUBBERBAND
In what turned out to be a unbelievable year for electropop, Little Dragon is the little engine that should have. Equal parts dreamy and dance-y, it’s a damn shame that more people did pick up on this one. They may not have reinvented the wheel, but they definitely rode the hell out of it…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Klapp Klapp; Paris; Cat Rider; Nabuma Rubberband
15. KAISER CHIEFS, EDUCATION EDUCATION EDUCATION AND WAR
It seems like I’m constantly complaining about how they’ve stopped making the hooky rock that I tend to be into. Either they go snotty pop punk or they let the bells and whistles drown out the guitars.
This is not a problem for the Kaiser Chiefs. Their riffs are proper and tight, their synths stay in the background where they belong, and their hooks are on point.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Factory Gates; Misery Company; My Life; Ruffians On Parade
14. DEATH FROM ABOVE 1979, THE PHYSICAL WORLD
All I can say about this album is that it’s exactly what I was hoping I’d be getting from Queens Of The Stone Age last year…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Crystal Ball; Trainwreck 1979; Right On Frankentein; Gemini
13. SHARON JONES AND THE DAP-KINGS, GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT
So Sharon Jones gets diagnosed with bile duct cancer. Gets treated for that, turns out it’s worse than they feared: she actually has pancreatic cancer.
One year later, shes’s back, delivering on the promise of her album title.
Who says life is unfair?
STANDOUT TRACKS: Retreat; You’ll Be Lonely; Making Up And Breaking Up (And Making Up And Breaking Up Again); Now I See
12. WE ARE SCIENTISTS, TV EN FRANCAIS
In a way, this is a bit of a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ situation, where they’re getting credit for everything they’ve done since ‘The Great Escape’. But really, when you come out of the gate with a one-two-three punch like ‘What You Do Best’, ‘Dumb Luck’, and ‘Make It Easy’, the quality of the rest of the album is almost irrelevant.
(The rest is really good, too, though…)
STANDOUT TRACKS: What You Do Best; Dumb Luck; Overreacting; Sprinkles
11. PERFUME GENIUS, TOO BRIGHT
Perfume Genius sings songs of disease, both of the body and the mind. And then does something interesting on top of that: he muffles and obscures his vocals, forcing you to draw in just a little bit closer. And in so doing, he makes you complicit in your own infection…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Queen; Grid; Longpig; My Body
10. BIG K.R.I.T., CADILLACTICA
After damn near drowning in a sea of syrup, the Dirty South comes back in a big way, with Big K.R.I.T. at the forefront. Existing in the same Futurespace as Janelle Monae but sonically tied to the past glories of ATL at it’s finest, this was one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises I had all year…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Cadillactica; Pay Attention; Third Eye; Angels
9. KIMBRA, THE GOLDEN ECHO
In a year where dance pop somehow managed to crawl out of its own grave, I give the crown to Kimbra as basically the only person who tried to do something interesting with it…
STANDOUT TRACKS: 90s Music; Everlovin’ Ya; Goldmine; Teen Heat
8. OK GO, HUNGRY GHOST
OK Go is one of those bands where I like pretty much all the singles they release, but also assume that they’re the only parts of the album worth listening to. But if I had just gone with the singles I never would have been able to appreciate how weird the guys get on this one. Hell, there’s one track (“Bright As Your Eyes”) that seems to sample Dead Prez, of all things!
Ironically enough, this album elevates itself into the top ten by doing exactly what I complained about earlier, adding synthetic bleeps and bloops to their guitars.
But you know, as bleeps and bloops go, these are some really good ones…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Upside Down & Inside Out; Another Set Of Issues; I Won’t Let You Down; I’m Not Through
7. FOXYGEN, …AND STAR POWER
So this album is eighty three minutes long, which is about twice as long as I prefer my albums to be. 99% of musicians are only capable of coming up with 45 minutes of decent material at a stretch. But Foxygen somehow proved the exception, crafting 24 tracks that hit that sweet spot between the glorious excesses of Glam and the psychedelic grooves of Acid.
STANDOUT TRACKS: How Can You Really; 666; Cannibal Holocaust; Can’t Contextualize My Mind
6. ARIEL PINKS HAUNTED GRAFFITI, POM POM
I really only know two things about Ariel Pink: one, he’s kind of a bag of dicks. Two, his music is really, really good. Inventive and unpredictable and utterly, utterly goofy. You can forgive the abject stupidity of tracks like ‘Black Ballerina’ or ‘Sexual Athletics’ when you get something as beautiful as ‘Picture Me Gone’ in exchange…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Plastic Raincoats In The Pig Parade; Put Your Number In My Phone; Nude Beach A Go-Go; Dinosaur Carebears; Picture Me Gone
5. APHEX TWIN, SYRO
I know that IDM is kind of a stupid phrase to be touting around, but we kind of have to face it: this really is smarter than most dance music.
STANDOUT TRACKS: 180DB_[130]; CIRCLONT14[152.97][shrymoming mix]; SyroU473+8+E[141.98][Piezoluminescnece mix]; Produk 29[101]
4. ST. VINCENT, ST. VINCENT
If it’s not clear by now, I gravitate towards the weird stuff a little bit. And there was really only one artist out there who managed to out-weird St. Vincent this year. But there’s no shame in being the runner-up oddball, because this is an addictive level of strange.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Rattlesnake; Huey Newton; Digital Witness; Regret; Bring Me Your Loves
3. FKA TWIGS, EP1
There’s no other way to say it, people: this is what all the cool kids are having sex to…
STANDOUT TRACKS: Lights On; Pendulum; Video Girl; Give Up
2. RUN THE JEWELS, RUN THE JEWELS 2
So when I went to the Governors Ball last summer, my friend and I decided to sleep in instead of seeing Run The Jewels. This was because I hadn’t done my research and had no idea it was Killer Mike and El-P. And that’s a failure I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life. But I have this album to keep me company in my regret, and I suppose that’s a comfort.
If nothing else, this album is a miracle in the sense that it caused me to take Zach de la Rocha seriously for the first time ever.
STANDOUT TRACKS: Jeopardy; Close Your Eyes And Count To Fuck; All Due Respect; Angel Duster
1. D’ANGELO, BLACK MESSIAH
ME: Well, here I am! All finished with my Top Albums of 2014 list!
(D’Angelo appears out of nowhere, drops ‘Black Messiah in my lap)
D’ANGELO: Write it again.
ME: But–
D’ANGELO: Write. It. Again.
ME (meekly): Yessir. Thank you, sir.
I really mean it, too.
Thank you, D’Angelo.
STANDOUT TRACKS:
(Asked and answered…)
Pryorball. 