Best of List for 2014

I had a huge year for enjoyable new music releases.  I think I ended up with over 80 items on here.

Here are the 10 albums I liked the most in 2014, in no particular order:  

  

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues - This record sparked my love affair with this band and me listening to them on a daily basis for almost 8 straight months.  I still listen to this record at least once every couple weeks and I even got to see them play most of this record live a few months back.  This is a great melodic punk, bordering at times on alt-rock, album with subject matter that will hopefully open some eyes.  

  

Beck - Morning Phase - Sad, melancholy Beck is the best Beck.  This record got a lot of play earlier this year while I was doing some file organizing and recently as I have been looking to listen to more mellow stuff at work during busy season. 

  

Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots - I love/d (who knows if they'll ever record another record) Blur, but a Damon Albarn was the next best thing to a new Blur record.  Not too far off from what you'd expect, maybe a little more mellow and electronic based, but the voice is unmistakeable and it rules!  

  

Pup - Pup - The first time I listened to this, based on the suggestion of a friend, by the time the second song hit I was already in love with this.  If I were ranking these in order, this would be one of ths top three, for sure.  I listened to this religiously for the whole second half of the year and one of the best live performances I saw all year was by Pup.  It's a punk record, but it's the type of punk record that I feel like would appeal to anyone who likes good music.  

  

Jenny Lewis - The Voyager - Ten songs of awesome, female fronted indie rock.  I think this is the best record, so far, of her solo career.  There is a nice mix to the songs on this album.  Some are upbeat and catchy, there is some humor, and the past love and experiences (she makes her usual drug references) and the outstanding closing title track that is beautiful.  Seeing her play twice and play a lot of material off this album was also some serious highlights of this year (and hopefully again next year....come on updated tour dates!)  

  

Opeth - Pale Communion - I missed the boat entirely on this band's metal years.  While I have since gone back and began checking those years out, to me it doesn't compare to the progressive rock they've had going on for the last decade.  This is another album that sparked repeated listens and a look back into the earlier material of a band that I have been sleeping on for far too long.  This has a Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson vibe to it, which makes sense since Steven Wilson worked on it. 

  

Run the Jewels - RTJ2 - This wasn't as good as the first Run the Jewels, but honestly the chances they were going to match that were pretty minimal.  This is still pretty awesome in it's own rights.  Both Mike and El-P are on point with their rhymes and the production work is awesome too.  Turn the bass up and crank Oh My Darling Don't Cry and just let that blow your mind.  The guest work is pretty cool too, especially since I never thought Zack de la Rocha would even be able to hold his own and I was completely surprised.  Would love to see these dudes live in 2015.  

  

Godflesh - A World Lit Only by Fire - This was my favorite metal album of the year, without a doubt.  It is punishingly heavy and reminds me of what I loved about this band in the past.  The record makes me feel like what I imagine a post apocalyptic Earth would be like.  This would be the only music that played.  

  

Expire - Pretty Low - This was my hardcore record of the year.  Minus a couple of questionable lyrics, this record mixes in all the things I like.  It has it's intensity, heavy breakdowns, sing along lyrics, and it just sounds pissed off, at all times.  I missed the chance to see them all year, but won't do that again in 2015.  

  

The Lawrence Arms - Metropole - And finally, another melodic punk record and another record that sparked me visiting previous work by a band.  Great use of multiple vocalists, great songwriting, and cool lyrics that don't seem to always take themselves too seriously.  Another band I hope to see live in 2015.  

  

Here are the other things I listened to this year and liked:

 

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - IX
Ab-Soul - These Days...
Alcest - Shelter
At the Gates - At War with Reality
Bane - Don't Wait Up
Behemoth - The Satanist
Black Anvil - Hail Death
Boston Strangler - Fire
Code Orange Kids - I am King
Cold World - How the Gods Chill
Converge - Live at the BBC
Cripple Bastards - Nero in Metastasi
Earth Crisis - Salvation of Innocents
Electric Wizard - Time to Die
Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown
Eyehategod - Eyehategod
FKA Twigs - LP1
Floor - Oblation
Fucked Up - Glass Boys
Gaslight Anthem - Get Hurt
Ghostface Killah - 36 Seasons
Give - Electric Flower Circus
Godflesh - Decline and Fall
Got a Girl - I Love You But I Must Drive Off This Cliff Now
Grand Magus - Triumph and Power
Incantation - Dirges of Elysium
Indian - From All Purity
Iron Reagan - Spoiled Identity
Iron Reagan - The Tyranny of Will
Iron Reagan/Exhumed - split EP
Jack White - Lazaretto
Johnny Cash - Out Among the Stars
Kelis - Food
Lagwagon - Hang
Lily Allen - Sheezus
Madball - Hardcore Lives
Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Morrissey - World Peace is None of Your Business
New Lows - Abhorrent Endings
Nina Persson - Animal Heart
Nothing - Guilty of Everything
Off! - Wasted Years
Old Man Gloom - Ape of God (I)
Old Man Gloom - Ape of God (II)
Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
Pharrell Williams - GIRL
Pharoahe Monch - PTSD
Praise - Lights Went Out
Prince - Art Official Age
Ringworm - Hammer of the Witch
Royce Da 5'9/DJ Premier - PRhyme
Rust Belt Lights - Religion & My Ex
Ryan Adams - Ryan Adams
Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron
Sheer Terror - Standing Up for Falling Down
Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear
Spring Offensive - Young Animal Hearts
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Wig Out at Jagbags
Swans - To Be Kind
Taking Back Sunday - Happiness Is
Taylor Swift - 1989
The Afghan Whigs - Do the Beast
The Hold Steady - Teeth Dreams
Today is the Day - Animal Mother
Trap Them - Blissfucker
TV on the Radio - Seeds
Tycho - Awake
YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend
Young Widows - Easy Pain