2014 In The Comatorium.
Well last year I waited til about February to post this and it got ignored, so rI'm just gonna jump the gun and make this now, nothing forthcoming is rprobably gonna change my mind, so here it is and shit... |
| 38 | | Honorable Mentions
(Unranked, alphabetical order)
Albums worth checking out that didn't make my top 14... |
| 37 |  | Andrew Jackson Jihad
Christmas Island
Doesn't quite reach the heights of their other work, but still a fun romp through some
fuzzy folky tunes. |
| 36 |  | Eels
The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
E is back doing what he does best: being a big old bummer. |
| 35 |  | Electric Wizard
Time to Die
A welcome return to form after Black Masses. I wanna get high before I die, too, man. |
| 34 |  | Fallujah
The Flesh Prevails
I didn't give a shit about Fallujah but the hype convinced me to check this out, and
man am I glad I did. |
| 33 |  | Gates
Bloom and Breathe
A gorgeous album that compliments a nice, sunny day extremely well. Post rock with
some harsher vocals than are typical of the genre. |
| 32 |  | La Dispute
Rooms of the House
mewithoutyou's hard as fuck and the album's best moments are the innocuous, low
key moments of restraint that harbor some post rock leanings such as the Woman
songs. |
| 31 |  | Maybeshewill
Fair Youth
Not necessarily disappointing, but this album lacks the balls that made "Sing The
Word Hope..." and "I Was Here for a Moment..." such poignant listens |
| 30 |  | Pianos Become the Teeth
Keep You
After thoroughly not caring about this band's prior work, the singles attracted my
attention more than I had expected. The album turned out to be, in my opinion, the
band's finest work, screams or no. |
| 29 |  | Pink Floyd
The Endless River
It's obviously not classic Floyd, but for what it is, I'm shocked this didn't turn out to
be a pile of dog shit. Actually a really pleasant album with numerous nods to their
older works. |
| 28 |  | Pixies
Indie Cindy
I really like this album until I listen to any other Pixies album. Bagboy is still ace,
though. Remember how excited we were when that song came out? Sigh. |
| 27 |  | Rings of Saturn
Lugal Ki En
Ridiculous tweedle dee bullshit about aliens, and it's awesome. |
| 26 |  | Secret Band
Secret Band
Dance Gavin Dance minus the gay parts plus a heaping of technicality. |
| 25 |  | Thou
Heathen
Dirty, vile, NOLA sludge with monolithic riffs and beastly screams. There's nothing not
to love here, except maybe the occasional meandering passage that goes on a bit too
long. |
| 24 |  | United Nations
The Next Four Years
United Nations finally hits the sweet spot between their vicious powerviolence and
Geoff Rickly's past in Thursday. |
| 23 | | Top 7 EPs/Live/Comps
(Ranked)
Albums or EP's that I really liked but couldn't put on my main AOTY list. |
| 22 |  | Between the Buried and Me
Future Sequence: Live at the Fidelitorium
I had the pleasure to see this whole album performed front to back, and this package
is a wonderful companion to the studio album. |
| 21 |  | Carcass
Surgical Remission/Surplus Steel
Eat shit, At the Gates, we have Carcass. |
| 20 |  | Erra
Moments of Clarity
Logic cannot explain my affinity for this EP. I used to love the whole metalcore with
soaring cleans but grew out of that and now hate the majority of it, but something
about Erra just sits well with me. |
| 19 |  | Frank Turner
The Third Three Years
So it's not out yet. It's Frank Turner, and look at that fuckin' tracklist. |
| 18 |  | Acres
Solace
Beats out the new Devil Sold His Soul in every way. The Etesian Wind is one of the
best songs from this year. |
| 17 | | Neutral Milk Hotel
MILK97779- Live at Merriweather Post Pavilion
A bootleg of a full NMH full band concert that I made on a whim and ended up one of
my most listened to albums of the year. Dropbox link for anyone curious- the sound
quality is top notch, except for the first minute or so of Holland. Complete with stoned
banter between my friend and I. Link-
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8l4b9k4i0gnq1a8/AABxZfIZhDXlkqhW_Qp4-_Zqa?dl=0
Please listen and let me know what you think, if you're interested. |
| 16 |  | Cloudkicker
Live with Intronaut
Holy fuck this is amazing. Hearing Ben Sharp backed by Intronaut is a transcendental
experience, and the setlist is on point. |
| 15 | | Top 14 Albums of 2014
(Ranked)
The moment you've all been waiting for... My ranking of 2014's best albums. |
| 14 |  | Job for a Cowboy
Sun Eater
It absolutely blows my mind that this is the same band that recorded the Doom EP. A
massive slab of death metal with tasteful technical leanings and a delicious bass tone. |
| 13 |  | Yellowcard
Lift a Sail
Yellowcard has put together an album of stadium ready rockers, and I love it. I
understand the backlash, but I'm more than okay with this not just being another
rehash of the pop punk they've been doing for well over a decade. |
| 12 |  | Boris
Noise
Boris touches on nearly every cornerstone of their lengthy discography with "Noise,"
and it's a rollercoaster of a listen. Huge riffs with a consistent shoegaze influence
make for Boris's best album in years, which is saying something considering how
prolific they are. |
| 11 |  | Earth
Primitive and Deadly
Earth gets back to what they do best- Gigantic riffs. The album sounds exactly like
the cover art looks, and god damn is it heavy. |
| 10 |  | Lana Del Rey
Ultraviolence
As someone who didn't give any shits about LDR in the past and actually actively
disliked what I'd heard, this album came as a shock to me. A blissful romp through
dream pop and less use of electronics make "Ultraviolence" one of 2014's better
surprises. |
| 9 |  | Manchester Orchestra
Cope
MO takes the sludgey heaviness from moments of "Mean Everything to Nothing," and
craft a pummeling album filled with riffs on riffs. A bit monotonous and tiring, but
seeing these songs live really brought them to life and made me appreciate them. |
| 8 |  | Thomas Giles
Modern Noise
Tommy Rogers' second solo outing surpasses his first in every way imaginable. The
album covers blissful electronica (Silent and Wise), metal tinged arena rock (Siphon
the Bad Blood), and straight out balls to the wall bangers (I Appear Disappear), to
create an engaging and accessible album with some subtle BTBAM vibes. |
| 7 |  | American Wolf
My Main Sport
I had never heard American Wolf before this year, and I can't even remember how I
found them. All I know is that I'm in love with their lush, ethereal take on shoegazey,
dream poppy, post rock and have had most of the songs on this album stuck in my
head at one point or another since I got my hands on it. |
| 6 |  | Jack White
Lazaretto
While not as immediate and energetic as White's debut solo album, Lazaretto unfolds
over time with rich songs varying from mellow country (Temporary Ground), to all out
jam sessions (High Ball Stepper), and everything in between (Title track). Would You
Fight for My Love is easily one of White's best songs throughout his massive catalog. |
| 5 |  | Every Time I Die
From Parts Unknown
Every Time I Die filtered through the lens of Converge, and that's all the fuck you
need to know. A vicious album from start to finish. |
| 4 |  | Gerard Way
Hesitant Alien
From the moment I heard No Shows for the first time, I knew this album was going to
be a good one. The Pixies/Pumpkins/Bowie influence is palpable and tasteful, the
whole album an homage to Way's favorite music. Bears little resemblance to anything
MCR ever did, which at this point in Way's career, is nice to hear. |
| 3 |  | Mongol Horde
Mongol Horde
Frank Turner does hardcore in 2014, 'nuff said. |
| 2 |  | Kayo Dot
Coffins on Io
Library Subterranean and The Mortality of Doves were on constant rotation for me
leading up to this album's release, and the final product stands as a shining moment
in Toby Driver's career. Every song is distinguishable and feels vital to the amazing
atmosphere that "Coffins on Io" creates over its runtime. Offramp Cycle, Pattern 22
may be my song of the year. "I push the needle, I push the needle, yeah..." Driver's
descriptions of his work can be pretentious drivel, but damn if he didn't nail it for this
album. All I wanna do is blare this driving down a highway going a hundred miles an
hour under a toxic purple sky that has multiple moons for whatever reason. |
| 1 |  | Trophy Scars
Holy Vacants
Album of the year may be an understatement. Trophy Scars' sound is evolved here to
its logical conclusion, melding the best parts of their discography with a gripping
narrative. The album contains one jaw-droppingly breathtaking moment after another
for its whole runtime. It never feels bloated, overdone, or indulgent, though on paper
it rightfully should be all of those things. No amount of text can convey my love for
this album, and if you haven't listened to 2014's (possibly the whole decade's) best
album, you're doing yourself a major disservice and should rectify that right this
moment. |
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