Year-end season : your favorite music of the year.

This is an all-purpose topic for every year-end and people who want to post their favorite anything relating to music of the past year...

And since we are in 2014, here's my top 10 albums (and runner-ups) for the year, with short reviews for each. If you have a favorite albums or artists or things list post it too, and let's discuss what we loved this year ! :)

The runners-up :

• Rome Fortune - Beautiful Pimp II
• FKA Twigs - LP 1
• Flying Lotus - You're Dead!

And the top 10 proper :

• 10 Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste

The law of expectations dictates that anything you wait for for too long is going to end up being disappointing. Azealia Banks doesn't care about laws. In fact she doesn't care so hard that she ended up upending my own expectations. BWET takes no prisoners, straddling effortlessly through a hodgepodge of genres and styles, being wildly unpredictable and extremely enjoyable as a result.

• 9 Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire for No Witness

How do you follow up an album of beautiful, personal, extremely subtle folk-leaning songs ? How about leaning towards rock ? Angel Olsen's second album is an intricately designed affair, where her excellent songwriting shines through once more, and the newfound energy brought by the shift in style allows both the harder-hitting tracks and the more subdued numbers to support each other through clever juxtaposition. In a nutshell, essential.

• 8 Moiré - Shelter

Hypnotic warehouse techno as both a template and pseudo-pretentious genre name has been used and abused to death. But here, it feels more relevant than ever. Perhaps it's also very effective because Moiré manages to slightly skew every idea he uses on this LP. Shelter ends up feeling constantly on edge as a result : murky, bleak, toying with a kind of distant starkness, but flowing seamlessly and organically at the same time.

• 7 tUnE-yArDs - Nikki Nack

In her best album so far, Merill Garbus experiments more and more within the template she has set up for herself, moving away from the stricter confines of her earlier lo-fi oriented material to denser, brighter and more intricate structures, with stunning results. A varied and deeply satisfying record, tune-yards' third LP lets loose the creativity and the myriad of sounds, rhythms and tones and colors used on this is just awe-inspiring.

• 6 Lee Gamble - KOCH

KOCH is Lee Gamble taking the comparatively loose ideas of his two previous albums and upping the ante significantly, both in the textural and structural department, with an album narrative that feels much more cohesive and well-put together, and a wider and more appealing palette of sounds. For a record that is so hinged on space and expansiveness it still feels remarkably tight and focused.

• 5 clipping. - CLPPNG

clipping. is what you get when you combine rap with noise. And like most odd pairings, it shouldn't work as well as it does, but it does. Midcity, their 2013 record, was already great, and this in all ways feels like a direct sequel that just so happens to improve on pretty much all the aspects of the first album. Its gritty, absurdly violent and staunchly misanthropic atmosphere (conveyed both by the lyrics and the music) is unmatched in anything else this year, and it is absolutely glorious.

• 4 Grouper - Ruins

In stark contrast, Grouper's Ruins is the year's most resounding achievement in the ambient genre, which is saying a lot for such a (on the surface) simple album. But beauty, as it is often the case, lies in simplicity. Liz Harris here brings sorrow and emotion in spades, in the form of sweeping, enthralling pieces hinging almost entirely on her piano and hushed vocals, mixed in with (not as much) reverb as usual, and basking in a tired and dusty golden light of the sun at the end of summer, a superb journey, suspended in time. Ruins is akin to finding a shoebox of polaroids, rendered red by time and full of people lost or dead, of places forgotten and long gone.

• 3 St. Vincent - St. Vincent

2014 was the year of St. Vincent. Awaking to the eyes of a larger public, going on several high profile appearances everywhere from late night US talk shows to a worldwide tour, and of course the album. Oh, what an album. While I will always have a sweet spot for Strange Mercy (and considering she still snatched a top 3 spot on this list, that's saying something) St. Vincent feels like a bold and most excellent step forward for this always forward thinking artist. This has it all : the quirky and unnerving lyrics, the off-the-wall goofy and ever-inventive instrumentals, the unmistakable guitar playing… And yet the album on a whole sounds fresh as well as both incredibly current and without age. St. Vincent harnesses the energy of rock and the accessibility of pop to turn up with a uniquely colorful and startling record. A true no-brainer for me, from one of the true geniuses of the "indie" scene.

• 2 Actress - Ghettoville

A fixture in my discman for several weeks on end, Ghettoville is an album of endings. Every track on this LP, supposedly the last we'll ever hear from Darren Cunningham under his iconic alias, is dimly lit and rapidly fading, stumbling erratically, whirring and squeaking with every move, a giant dying machine. It feels appropriate then, that all seems to reflect this state of mind, of something coming to an end. This is the most destructed and deconstructed that an Actress album has ever felt and sounded yet, and somehow it's here that it feels the most whole and the most honest, as if it was committed to the game plan of offering a subtle yet harrowing and deeply exhausting experience. It also feels incredibly rewarding, perhaps more than any Actress album up to this point. Ghettoville is yet another proof if one ever needed one of Cunningham's mastery of his craft. Actress is dead, long live Actress.

• 1 patten - ESTOILE NAIANT

The feeling of finding a new artist that you love is delightful. The feeling of stumbling upon an artist that seems to have been under your radar for years is even better. But it has been quite some time that I have been quite so truly awed by an artist as I was awed by patten this year. Here comes a guy who takes recognizable, identifiable musical forms, and twists them into something that sounds wholly original and something that could be only of his own doing. Music that evokes unknown feelings and taps into sensations seldom (if ever) exploited by music. ESTOILE NAIANT can feel exhilarating and sad at the same time. It makes you feel like you are both accelerated and in slow motion. It makes your brain explore all kinds of weird and beautiful and quirky places. It's music to rock out to in a bar, to fist pump to in your living room, to chill out to in concert, music to live with, to live by, to live for. Music for the day, the night and all the in-betweens. Music for outer space and inner oceans. Music for thinking; dancing, dancing while thinking and thinking about dancing. patten is to me the best new artist signed to Warp in over a decade, I don't know if ESTOILE NAIANT will be patten's crowning achievement, but right now one thing that I'm absolutely certain of is that it's the most distinctive, mind-boggling, clever, unique and awesome new music I've heard all year.

edited 18th Dec '14 1:15:46 AM by Akalabth

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

I need to go back and remind myself which albums came out this year. I bought a ton of CD's, but most of them are used, older music.

I didn't write any of that.

Hmm... I've actually got quite a lot more music from this year to hear, (due to slow mail and slow internet) but at the moment it's looking like my album of the year is going to be Darkest Era - Severance. (I'll write a full top 10 along with some more useful analysis later)

edited 18th Dec '14 7:15:16 AM by CardsOfWar

"I thought Djent was just a band" -Physical Stamina

1. Wovenhand: Refractory Obdurate. David Eugene Edwards plays a mix of post-punk, goth, country, and folk, whose exact ratio varies from album to album. The previous LP, The Laughing Stalk, had been their most rock-focused outing yet. Paradoxically, Refractory Obdurate is simultaneously heavier and more folk-influenced. There’s little melody—instead, this is a roiling cauldron of grooves, electric guitar riffs, banjo picking, and DEE’s otherworldly howl, almost but not quite out of time with the rest of the band.

2. Mariachi El Bronx: Mariachi El Bronx III. The biggest surprise on my list. Even though I loved their debut album, I was not expecting this one to be so good. And after they’d hewed as close as possible to traditional mariachi on their first two albums, I was not expecting them to add electric guitars and synthesizers to the mix on this one. The result is still mariachi with rock flourishes, rather than the other way around—and the melodies are good enough to save the music from any lingering suspicions that they’re just a novelty band. Also, it deserves special mention for having the drummer from X playing marimbas AND my favorite album cover of the year.

3. Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil: Goliath. A supergroup of sorts, though the promotion for their first album is downplaying everyone’s former work as much as possible. They’re playing alternative rock with melodic bass lines, guitars used for texture and embellishment rather than to carry the song, funky horns on several songs, and a singer whose sneer wouldn’t be out of place in a punk band. The overall sound varies from hard rockers like “Only a Ride” and “Rubberneck” to quieter slow-burners like “Standing in Line” and “A Life Preserved”. It won me over, in spite of my wariness towards musicians (like Mr. Taylor) whose lyrics are their biggest selling point. And since Steve Taylor isn’t trying to be cutting-edge this time, I suspect Goliath will take a lot longer to sound dated than most of his prior work.

4. White Lighter: White Lighter. This is the Spiritual Successor to Neon Horse. ... And for the rest of you who don’t already recognize what a big deal that is, they’re basically playing a beefier variety of goth rock, but the most striking part is the singing. Mark Salomon’s vocals for Neon Horse, under the pseudonym Norman Horse, were a disjointed mix of low belting and high sneering (seriously, his two styles sounded so different that there are still fans convinced that Neon Horse actually had two singers). His vocals here are mellower and more cohesive, but still bear the mark of Norman Horse. The backing music is a harder take on the southern California indie rock sound (see: Starflyer 59, MAP, The Lassie Foundation, Pony Express, and the various other bands in their orbits) with my favorite musician, Jason Martin from Sf59, playing simple but effective keys on most of the songs. The album lacks any obvious hit singles, but the songs have a way of compelling me to multiple times, until they creeped into my brain in the best possible way.

5. Linda Perhacs: The Soul of All Natural Things. The author of one of psychedelic folk’s cult classic albums emerged from a 40-year retirement to put out a second album. The mix of acoustic and electronic elements do a great job of bridging the 1960s and the 2010s. This occupies a weird spot in my mind where I don’t want to listen to it very much, but I absolutely love it when I do listen.

6. My Brightest Diamond: This Is My Hand. After exploring chamber pop from various angles on her previous albums, Shara Worden turns to new sources of inspiration, winding up with electronic marching band music. The first half of the album is driving and brassy, and the second half turns ambient, which is why I didn’t rank this one higher.

7. Chris & Gileah Taylor: Chris & Gileah. I love Gileah Taylor’s prior music, but don’t care much for her husband Chris’ stuff. Fortunately, these songs all sound much more like Gileah songs. This album combines my favorite aspects of her prior albums: the negative spaces of The Golden Planes mixed with swelling, emotional electric guitars from Gileah & The Ghost Train.

8. Todd Terje: It’s Album Time. I guess it says something about me that the only still-active electronic musicians I’m following are the ones keeping some older style alive. For Mr. Terje, it’s electro-disco. This is an odd duck for me in that, if I’m not paying attention when I listen, all the good parts rush by, and the filler is all that sticks in my mind—but when I do listen closely, I love it.

Honorable mention — Sam Amidon: Lily-O. Electric folk music. I actually saw Sam Amidon live, years ago—he was an opening act for Anathallo, the band I came to see. He was so compellingly bizarre he almost stole the show. At one point, he interrupted a song to walk into the audience and do pushups. At another point, he abruptly paused a song to tell a story about a dream he had once, then just-as-abruptly resumed the song, leaving his dream-story unfinished. None of these recordings are as overtly weird as that live show was, but it's still definitely the same guy. That said, I only got this CD a week ago, so I won't be able to objectively rank it until sometime next year.

edited 19th Dec '14 3:23:59 PM by MetaFour

I didn't write any of that.

I didn't listen to any albums that were released this year, in part because the country music site I write for has phased out reviews, but my favorite song of the year was this one:

I struggled to rank them in the previous years, so now I'll make no ranks.

Noteworthy releases:

• Xerath - "III"

Nice symphonic groove metal as always. Not exactly better than II, but not worse either. Outstanding atmosphere.

• Arsafes - "Ratocracy"

Aside terrible guitar tone and naive lyrics, this album is surprisingly amazing. Feels like Strapping Young Lad at times. Also, 20 Days is spectacular.

• Bloodshot Dawn - "Demons"

Agressive without losing composure. Technical death metal or something like it. Has some generic metalcore tropes here, but mostly used to good effect. The title track is a hell of a closer.

• Raunchy - "Vices, Virtues, Visions"

Surprised me and every Raunchy fan expecting "A Discord Electric 2.0", since it starts pretty much like that. It's a very nice start, but it gets much better halfway through, Also, Mike Semesky doesn't sound nothing like the previous singer, but does an outstanding job his own way, without distorting the essence of the band.

• Scar Symmetry - "The Singularity (Phase I - Neohumanity)"

I must admit I'm a bit dissapointed this didn't turn out to be as awesome as The Unseen Empire. But it's still Scar Symmetry, and you should totally trust these guys in good music. Their melodic death metal with a progressive touch remains unparalleled. Also, Neuromancers is AMAZING.

• Dark Flood - "Inverno"

I never had listened to Dark Flood before, so this album blew me away HARD. It's melodic death metal, yet it tastes more like power metal.

• Devin Townsend - "Z2"

Of course, it's Devin Townsend. You can't go wrong with Devin Townsend. "Z2" has two discs, one is a straight forward Devin Townsend Project album that sounds a lot like Addicted and Epicloud (Better Than It Sounds), and the other one is a straight sequel (or reboot if you will) to Ziltoid The Omniscient, musically a bit worse than it IMO, but rock opera-wise it's leagues better.

• Words of Farewell - "The Black Wild Yonder"

This, I think, is the album that most stood out to me. If I had to identify it by comparison, it would be a brighter Omnium Gatherum. Still, that doesn't make justice. In short, it's 10 songs of extremely competent songwriting.

Also deserve mention:

• "Erdentempel" by Equilibrium,
• "Extremist" by Demon Hunter,
• "Memento" by Ready, Set, Fall!,
• and "LUN" by Destiny Potato.

Of course, if I'm going to talk about songs... That's a entirely new post.

No regret shall pass over the threshold!

I made a nice big collage for it courtesy of topsters.net which you can see here◊.

Only Death Is Real

Holy hell, Yuta-Romeo did another Castlevania medley??? *commences squeeing*

Somehow you know that the time is right.

He has yet to break it up into MP 3 files like with the 2011 one unfortunately.

Only Death Is Real

Wow, nice list. Sacred White Noise is an amazing album. It's so very intricate without losing all the ritualistic appeal of other really good 'third wave' black metal.

"I thought Djent was just a band" -Physical Stamina

edited 4th Apr '15 6:21:49 PM by ILoveDogs

Another green world.

Thanks for the heads up.

Also I think you're the first person I've seen who has put Azealia Banks' album on their year-end list (which of course I agree with) so that's cool.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

Odd, if that's true. I understand that it's fairly well-regarded.

Another green world.

Run The Jewels - RTJ 2 - First and Foremost this has to be at the top of the list because it's absolutely the best release of the year. Killer Mike and El-P manages to rip your face off of your bones while also managing to be incredibly real and down to earth at the same time. The lyricism is also top notch, because hell, how can you not love a record that tells you to "go run naked backwards through a field of dicks"?

The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream - Big, expansive sounding indie rock that sounds so much like A-ha and company that it's not even funny. And really the huge sound of The War On Drugs is probably their best feature, so having a whole record put that as the centerpiece is bound to be a critical darling (Sun Kil Moon notwithstanding).

Metronomy - Love Letters - Oh it's so hipstery what with the incredibly timid vocals and sparingly used guitar. But somehow these guys really grabbed me. The songs are pretty varied for your run-of-the-mill indie record, and the accompanying vocalists push it over the edge to be a record that I can't put down.

Death (no not [[Death that Death]]) - III - Pretty much a loving tribute to Bad Brains' self titled record. Take that album, soften it up considerably, and replace the reggae with Jimi Hendrix and you basically have this record. A pretty great listen.

Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron - Oxymoron is absolutely amazing, think of this record as the best of what hip-hop's been doing recently. From the incredible collaborators ranging from Kendrick Lamar to Tyler, The Creator to Raekwon The Chef this is definitely one of those records you're gonna want to miss.

Neil Cicierega - Mouth Sounds - SOMEBODY ONCE TOLD ME THE WORLD IS GONNA ROLL ME I AIN'T THE SHARPEST TOOL IN THE SHED SHE WAS LOOKING KINDA DUMB WITH A FINGER AND A THUMB IN THE SHAPE OF AN L ON HER FOREHEAD WELL THE YEARS START COMING AND THEY DON'T STOP COMING FED TO THE RULES AND I HIT THE GROUND RUNNING DIDN'T MAKE SENSE NOT TO LIVE FOR FUN YOUR BRAIN GETS SMART BUT YOUR HEAD GETS DUMB SO MUCH TO DO SO MUCH TO SEE SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH TAKING THE BACKSTREETS YOU NEVER KNOW IF YOU DON'T GO YOU NEVER SHINE IF YOU DON'T GLOW HEY NOW YOU'RE AN ALL STAR GET THE SHOW ON GO PLAY HEY NOW YOU'RE A ROCK STAR GET THE SHOW ON GET PAID ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD ONLY SHOOTING STARS BREAK THE MOLD

Other stuff that should probably be mentioned:

• Death From Above 1979 - The Physical World
• Avey Tare's Slasher Flicks - Enter The Slasher House
• Dinosaur Feathers - Control
• Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love

edited 4th Jan '15 5:34:56 PM by iamathousandapples

"I could eat a knob at night" - Karl Pilkington