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Best Albums of 2014


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Reading through these lists made me realize how much stuff I haven't listened to. Regardless, here are my faves so far, from all genres (including plenty of things I'm not sure most of VC would be into), in alphabetical order. It's gonna be tough to whittle this down to a Top 10 list in a few months.

 

Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness

The Bilinda Butchers - Heaven

CEO - wonderland

clipping. - CLPPNG

Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else (my AOTY so far)

Com Truise - Wave 1 EP

Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown

How To Dress Well - What Is This Heart?

Kishi Bashi - Lighght

Le1f - Hey EP (very good queer rap)

Lone - Reality Testing (my other AOTY so far)

Napolian - Incursio (hip hop beats for Internet artists)

Perfect Pussy - Say Yes To Love

Real Estate - Atlas

Spazzkid - Promise EP (ffo: Washed Out, Toro Y Moi, chill music)

A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Sea When Absent

Todd Terje - It's Album Time (definitely Top 10 List material)

Tokyo Police Club - Forcefield

White Lung - Deep Fantasy

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Looking at everybody's lists reminds me why I haven't posted here in ages... here's some of mine in no particular order:

Deals Gone Bad - Heartbreaks and Shadows

Against me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues

Morning Glory - War Psalms

Menzingers - Rented World

Off! - Wasted Years

Mad Caddies - Dirty Rice

The Snails - Songs from the Hydrogen Jukebox

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island

UK Hunt - S/t

The Phenomenauts - Escape Velocity

Mongol Horde - S/t

And I'm sure there's more that I'm not thinking of.

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April 8th.... one of my favorite songs by ol' Mangum.

Hands down the best song by Jeff in my opinion.

I've been broke/haven't downloaded any new music in a while and haven't kept up with many new releases this year:

Swans - To Be Kind

Young Widows - Easy Pain

Tara Jane O'Neil - Where Shine New Lights

Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island

Silver Mt. Zion - Fuck Off Get Free

Watter - This World

Floor - Oblation

Mogwai - Rave Tapes (I liked it at first but it hasn't impressed me much my past few listens)

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I downloaded it whenever it came out and was pretty uninterested. I can't remember any exact songs from it but I remember finding it overdone and uninspired. But I guess, like you've said, that sound has sorta run its course for my ears. Either that or it wasn't sappy or mopey enough for my soggy tastes lol

I'm so glad I'm not the only one completely underwhelmed with this band. 

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This should be a top 10 list, in order.  Not a free-for-all.

 

That would be an Album of the Year (AOTY) 2014 thread.  Which would make the most sense to create come December, since there's still lots of good stuff in the pipeline.  I interpreted this thread as "solid releases from 2014 that are worth checking out".  So with that being said, these are the artists who've put out an enjoyable release this year, in my books.  Just alphabetically.

 

Adebisi Shank

Agalloch

Audrey Fall

The Austerity Program

Baths (EP)

Bâton Rouge

Ben Frost

Black Swan

Boris

Braid

Catacombe

Cloud Nothings

Eluvium (EP)

Emma Ruth Rundle

Every Time I Die

Fennesz

Have A Nice Life

IDYLLS

Inventions

JJ

Junius

Kyle Bobby Dunn

Lantlôs

Mogwai

Nothing

Oneohetrix Point Never (EP)

Pausal

Planning For Burial

Prawn

S. Carey

Sharon Van Etten

A Silver Mt. Zion

Sleepmakeswaves

Slow Dancing Society

St. Vincent

Sun Kil Moon

A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Swans

Talons

Terraformer

Tycho

United Nations

The War on Drugs

Watter

Weatherbox

Wife

A Winged Victory for the Sullen (EP)

Wye Oak

Young and in the Way

Young Widows

36

†††

 

Denotes Top-5 material for me.  (So far.)

 

And I'm currently lukewarm on the new releases from;

 

Alcest

The Antlers

The Body

Hauschka

Helms Alee

Hiss Tracts

Warpaint

Wreck & Reference

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New Alcest kinda let me down. It was good but in a strange way. At one point it lulled me to sleep (which I mean as a compliment.)

 

Yeah, I'm a little iffy on it.  It has some great vibes and standout moments.  And I definitely don't fall into the crowd who rags on it because it's "too different" or "not metal enough", but I just don't think it's as well-composed as previous Alcest records.

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Did you get to see Mogwai on the rave tapes tour? I was fond of the album but after experiencing many of the songs in a much more dynamic live setting helped me developed a deep love for what they're doing on the album.

 

Yep, I saw it an immensely enjoyed it, but the album just isn't anything that memorable after having time with it. I like it about a ten times more than I liked Hardcore... though. It's a great album but it doesn't capture me like CODY and their other earlier albums do. I love the Slint worship of their earlier music. I can't knock them for maturing though. I'll probably give it a listen again today.

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Agree very much with the Alcest comment two posts above. And, after reading the explanation of your opinion on rave tapes I definitely get what you're saying. Hardcore is my least favorite Mogwai release and I thought rave tapes was a huge step up, but you're definitely right. Their first few albums had that atmosphere that just grips you.

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Old Mogwai > new Mogwai, no competition.  I guess I'm in the minority but I actually really enjoy Hardcore Will Never DieMexican Grand Prix is a little weird, but as a whole there are a ton of stellar Mogwai elements in that record.  Rave Tapes is also decent – I'm appreciating it a lot more after seeing a good chunk of it performed live, but I think it's still the weakest Mogwai release to date, in my books.

 

Not to derail this into a Mogwai discussion, since there's actually a thread for that.  But I just wanted to chime in.

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I could talk about Mogwai all day. I enjoy your opinion Derek, so thanks for chiming in. I still need to respond to your messages! I don't get around to my messages much. ! I feel like an ass. I typed out a really long response to you about a week ago but deleted it as I went to send it :unsure:

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I'd prefer to wait until the end of December and participate in the AOTY thread, but currently I'm strong on:

 

Nothing - Guilty of Everything (Fairly decent shoegaze. Just the right amount of heaviness.)

Beck - Morning Phase (Hate the cover art, but the music's nice. Sea Change Part 2.)

Mogwai - Rave Tapes (Just about the only modern post-rock band that holds my attention.)

††† - ††† (Chino, obviously.)

 

2014's been big for punk and indie-pop. Not into either of those, so these are my big four. I'm a lightweight.

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