It was also a year that had very big shoes to fill coming off an explosive 2013, yet, this year managed to deliver records that we will be talking about for years to come, as we hope to point out with this list, our Top 10 Albums of the Year.
Now, here we are, the 10 best albums that defined the year that was. As always, in short and long form.
2014 Top 10 Albums in Short Form:
10 - U2 - Songs of Innocence
9 - Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
8 - FKA Twigs - LP1
7 - Royal Blood
6 - St. Vincent
5 - Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
4 - Interpol - El Pintor
3 - The Afghan Whigs - Do The Beast
2 - Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
1 - Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Now, in long form with explanations:
For fans a new U2 record was a welcomed gift, especially that it was free and instantly available when Bono said to go get it during an Apple conference, yet, for some fans it was an unwelcomed album and was met with major criticism. Whether you wanted Songs of Innocence or not, it became the year's most talked about album for a variety of reasons. Delivery method aside, U2 showed that they had to look into themselves and into their past to move forward and for a band that is always trying to craft a new sound and get the best out of themselves, this was clearly the hold-up for this album and why it took so long to arrive. The various producers including Danger Mouse, Paul Epworth, and Flood put their fingerprint on it and let the band do what they do best. The record, one of the bands most personal since their debut, Boy, and just as when they started, the songs are about holding on to innocence, even after all these years it is an idea they are still striving for as millionaire rock stars. Songs of Innocence is 11 tracks that are equally classic U2 and modern U2.
Key Tracks: Every Breaking Wave, Song for Someone
9 - Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways
The size and scope of the Foo Fighters latest album, Sonic Highways, is so big it required an HBO documentary series to tell the tale of the making of the album, which Dave Grohl told the musical tale of America’s best cities. This is their love letter to American music, no doubt about it. A different song recorded over a week in a different city, while Grohl cherrypickes his lyrics from the interviews he is conducting with musicians in those cities to craft a song inspired by metropolis they are in. While the creative force and idea of the record propels Sonic Highways at the speed of light, musically it takes on the concept of the music they are in but they make it all their own. For these eight songs that are a way for them to say “Thanks America,” Foo Fighters go from being America’s biggest rock and roll band to the best.
Key Tracks: Something From Nothing, Congregation
8- FKA Twigs - LP1
Following two critically acclaimed EP’s, England’s latest sensation and the woman bringing trip-hop back to life, FKA Twigs released her debut album, LP1 and showcases the power, seductiveness, and creativity, that will lead her for years to come. Combining the coy and romantic ambiance of The xx, with the sensitivity of James Blake, and the production and influence of Tricky, FKA Twigs is showing British music at it’s finest right now. LP1 is a must listen and a record and an artist we will be talking about for years to come.
Key Tracks: Two Weeks, Video Girl
7 - Royal Blood
The self-titled debut from this English duo, and 2014's Best New Artist, combines the furious musicianship of The Black Keys, with vocals reflective of Jack White and John Gourley of Portugal. The Man and mixed with the heaviness of a metal band. Royal Blood have been all the rage back home and now, with this debut, they are set to take the world by storm.
Key Tracks: Out of the Black, Ten Tonne Skeleton
6 - St. Vincent
Indie darling St. Vincent returned with her fourth album and her most multifaceted and diverse record to date. After recording and writing the album in Texas, it sounds much more metropolitan and cosmopolitan than where the record was conceived. This maybe St. Vincent’s finest record to date, it is clearly her strongest combining baroque influences and pushing digital rock frontiers, she has the musical and daring spirit of Bowie mixed with madness of Kanye West.
Key Tracks: Digital Witness, I Prefer Your Love
5 - Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
Damon Albarn is a musical Renaissance Man. From his Britpop fame with Blur to his hip-hop infused / experimental outfit – Gorillaz to managing to get legends like Tony Allen, Paul Simonon, and Danger Mouse for the underrated The Good, The Bad, and The Queen; to working with African musicians on Africa Express to curating two operas to producing Bobby Womack’s best album in decades, he now returns with an album of just his own thoughts, gatherings, and expressions. Everyday Robots is Albarn’s official solo debut, he linked up with XL Records main man, Richard Russell for a moody trip into the mind of a musical genius. Albarn is never afraid to express himself and push for a record that has basically no singles, but still manages to make you feel a moment in time. Much like one of his musical heroes, Brian Eno, who guests on the LP, Albarn pushes himself to find a sound that has not yet been created and mastered.
Key Tracks: Everyday Robots, Heavy Seas of Love
4 - Interpol - El Pintor
With their fifth record and first release with original bassist Carlos D., Interpol return to form and reclaim their spot as one of the best New York City bands to emerge in the last 20 years. El Pintor is the band at their finest, combining their dark tones with a much more aggressive polished rock sound. Easily their best album since 2004’s Antics, Interpol show that even as they have gotten older, they have not lost their edge, grace, and style.
Key Tracks: All The Rage Back Home, Ancient Ways
3 - The Afghan Whigs - Do The Beast
It has been nearly 20 years since the last Whigs LP, but the underrated grunge gods are back with Do The Beast, and the best part about it – it doesn’t sound like an Afghan Whigs album! Not that we have anything against how the Whigs sounded in the 90’s, they were an underrated back and singer Greg Dulli is one of America’s most underrated songwriters, but the fans and fame they had seemed to fade with their hiatus. Now, recharged, regrouped, and rearranged, the Whigs brought themselves to modern times and instead of going back on the sound that gained them acclaim then, they realized it is not who they are now. Instead of making a safe comeback record, they go the distance and raise the bar to any band looking to do a reunion album – this is how you do it! We will still go out and say that this is one of the greatest comeback albums of all time!
Key Tracks: Parked Outside, Algiers
2 - Flying Lotus - You're Dead!
How do you follow-up a record as magnificent and as mind bending as Until The Quiet Comes? A record we hailed as one of the best musical masterpieces to ever arrive. If you are Flying Lotus, you look into the great beyond. To follow-up his 2012 masterpiece, FlyLo took inspiration from the after life and what it means to die, live in purgatory, what happens to your soul, what happens to your body and explored each theme with such vigor, he has now given dying a soundtrack. Your Dead! is his Bitches Brew, thought we said that about his last released, this time we mean it. He has gone far off the musical deep end and plays with sounds, themes, colors, and ideas that not many, especially in this day and age, dare to go. This is a record for not just the ages, but for the beyond as well.
Key Tracks: Dead Man's Tetris feat. Snoop Dogg, Ready Err Not
1 - Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
The much delayed, much anticipated new record from Against Me! finally arrived in 2014 and no doubt about it, Transgender Dysphoria Blues was worth the wait. The most important punk rock record since Green Day’s American Idiot and up there in importance with The Ramones debut, The Clash’s London Calling, and Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bullocks, frontwoman Laura Jane Grace reveals her transformation from the man formerly known as Tom Gable to the woman she is today. The record is heroic as it is heartbreaking, brave as it is brutal, scary as it is hopeful and most importantly triumphant as it is bold.
Key Tracks: Two Coffins, Paralytic States
So, that is it folks. The year in sound. Thanks for checking it out and hope you enjoyed the list! Take a look at our other year-end music lists below:
2014 Best New Artist
2014 League of Their Own
2014 Honorable Mentions
2014 Officially A Icon
