Musicheads,
The votes have been counted and now before we really get the new year started let’s take one final look back at the best music of 2014.
This year’s music class was a challenging one to categorize and rank considering the fact that it was an overall down year in music. Don’t get me wrong, there was still quality music to be had and released in 2014, but in comparison to 2013, 2014 fell far short when it came to the previous year’s volume and quality of new music. That being said, there was good music released in 2014, and yet no album truly stood out as an outright favorite; not even a steady top 3 among Best Of… lists. That was also obvious among the voters in this year’s poll who couldn’t decide on an out-and-out winner. There was no clear victor among the voters, with an even amount of voting for multiple albums and so I will refrain in crowning a Voter’s Choice Champion this year considering that outcome.
This year’s list offered a lot of musical diversity to choose from, whether it was in the shape of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings or St. Paul & The Broken Bones with their soulful, sometimes gospel revues, to Porter Robinson with his dominant EDM album this year, to Thievery Corporation with their bossa nova album. There were also some very strong indie pop contenders in Wild Cub, Sleeper Agent, CLAIRE and NONONO. Once again, Australia offered a fine plate of new music and artists with Sia, Courtney Barnett, Vance Joy, Chet Faker and The Preatures. Quality dance music was also a popular theme in this year’s list: Kiesza, Jungle, Clean Bandit, RAC and Caribou all offered significant contributions to this area. Diversity was key to this year’s new albums. Acts like Tune-Yards, Sylvan Esso, Glass Animals, Future Islands and FKA Twigs all had breakout years and couldn’t sound any more different from each other. Then there was the resplendent return of many artists: Beck, Damien Rice, the Foo Fighters and Pink Floyd’s final studio album ever.
Now, without further ado, The Audiophile’s Top 10 albums of 2014:
#1 – Vance Joy – Dream Your Life Away – This album, highlighted by the massive singles Riptide and Mess Is Mine, is a fantastic conglomeration of tracks that has both an overarching theme, but also delivers over and over with track gems. This Aussie exploded in 2014 and for good reason, with music that was quickly catchy and yet did not get old fast either. His voice and music is a clever mix of Phillip Phillips, Bon Iver and Mumford & Sons and with those comparisons and the songwriting shown on his début album, it’s no question why he broke out the way he did and topped our list in 2014.
#2 – Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso – A very close second in my book. The massive down tempo single Coffee is offset by the high energy singles Hey Mami and Play It Right (which is my favorite track on the album). This North Carolina duo truly had one breakout year in 2014.
#3 – Hozier – Hozier – With the smash dark hit Take Me to Church which is a heavy contender for Song of The Year which completely overshadowed a superb album behind it, there’s no question why this young Irish muse made the Top 3. His mix of Gospel, Blues and Folk throughout the album provides a fantastic sampling of his potential and his vocal talent. Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene is definitely the second single and is probably my favorite for the album.
#4 – HAERTS – HAERTS – Having toured most of the year with bands that broke out big in 2013, this group rode a strong EP through most of the year before putting out their self-titled full-length in late 2014. Wings, Hemiplegia and Giving Up are just three of many tracks on this terrific indie-pop album.
#5 – Glass Animals – ZABA – What a breakout year by this British band. Having been labeled by one writer as “the poor man’s Alt-J,” the first signing to Paul Epworth’s Wolf Tone label was a good one and absolutely slayed the music charts with tracks like Gooey, Pools and Black Mambo.
#6 – The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream – What a breakout year for this Kurt Vile-fronted Philadelphia band. Both singles Red Eyes and Under The Pressure are fantastic pieces of songwriting and the group’s sound as a whole can garner comparisons to Paul Simon. This album was a top contender in many Best Of… lists for 2014 and for good reason.
#7 – The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers – A surprisingly underrated album came from this remarkably consistent band led by Carl Newman. Tracks like Champions Of Red Wine and Dancehall Domine also offer the vocal talents of Neko Case and the album as a whole is a sturdy piece of musical craftsmanship.
#8 – Jack White – Lazaretto – The incomparable Jack White has been a figurative god-send to the music industry. While I personally was not all that impressed by his initial solo release, his sophomore effort is incredibly well done. Lazaretto and High Ball Stepper are outright guitar thrashers, while the duet on Would You Fight For My Love? brings a folksy, roots vibe to his music. Want and Able is a hidden gem on this album that takes you back to some of the early The White Stripes discography.
#9 – The Preatures – Blue Planet Eyes – These Aussies followed a similar vein in 2013 and 2014 as Brooklyn’s Haerts, opening for some of the top acts of 2013. Bolstered by the breakout 2013 single Is This How You Feel?, the Sydney band’s début album is rich with quality tracks. Two Tone Melody is one of my favorite tracks on this album, but it’s not to be outdone by It Gets Better or Somebody’s Talking. It might be the clear impact of the band’s influences on their musical style, or their fantastic live performance that just makes me love this group’s sound so much.
#10 – Porter Robinson – Worlds – Surprisingly, in a year wrought with a major downturn in the popularity of EDM music (and let me just say, I’ve never been a big fan of the genre myself), this album was a quality piece of craftsmanship. The blending of robot-esque themes and ideas and removal of the human element of the vocals really worked on Worlds and actually drew true emotions from its listeners. The singles Sad Machine, Lionhearted, Flicker and Sea Of Voices were each diverse in their own way and Google even used the lead track Divinity as the backing track for its “Year In Search” compilation video. Not a bad year for Porter!
With the list now complete and a top album crowned, let us truly take an optimistic look towards the new music predicted to be released in 2015, including the likes of Tame Impala, Modest Mouse, Florence + The Machine, Radiohead, The Decemberists among many others.
And now here is your complete list of the top 51 albums of 2014:
- Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – Give the People What They Want
- Wild Cub – Youth
- Young the Giant – Mind Over Matter
- Broken Bells – After the Disco
- Hellogoodbye – Everything Is Debatable
- Temples – Sun Structures
- Phantogram – Voices
- Beck – Morning Phase
- St. Vincent – St. Vincent
- Foster The People – Supermodel
- The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream
- KONGOS – Lunatic
- Future Islands – Singles
- RAC – Strangers
- Thievery Corporation – Saudade
- SOHN – Tremors
- Courtney Barnett – The Double Ep: A Sea of Split Peas
- Sleeper Agent – About Last Night
- Chet Faker – Built on Glass
- Tune-Yards – nikki nack
- Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso
- St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Half the City
- Coldplay – Ghost Stories
- Sharon Van Etten – Are We There
- Jack White – Lazaretto
- PHOX – PHOX
- NONONO – We Are Only What We Feel
- Sia – 1000 Forms Of Fear
- Clean Bandit – New Eyes
- Jungle – Jungle
- CLAIRE – The Great Escape
- Spoon – They Want My Soul
- FKA twigs – LP1
- Porter Robinson – Worlds
- In The Valley Below – The Belt
- The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers
- Vance Joy – Dream Your Life Away
- Banks – Goddess
- alt-J – This Is All Yours
- Paolo Nutini – Caustic Love
- King Tuff – Black Moon Spell
- The Preatures – Blue Planet Eyes
- Caribou – Our Love
- Hozier – Hozier
- Broods – Evergreen
- Kiesza – Sound Of A Woman
- HAERTS – HAERTS
- Pink Floyd – The Endless River
- Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy
- Foo Fighters – Sonic Highways
- Glass Animals – ZABA
And remember, be sure to subscribe to the Spotify playlist below to listen to all the top music of 2014.
Playlist: The Audiophile: Top 51 Albums of 2014
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–Akwitz
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