2014 Top Picks ( A Little Late)
My (slightly late) 2014 list. I wanted to do a thorough write up for each item on the list, rbut have rrrrrrrprocrastinated enough as is, and decided to simply do a write up for each of rthe top 10 items or so rand rrrrrrleave it at that. |
| 50 | | Band
Album |
| 49 | | Band
Album |
| 48 | | Band
Album |
| 47 | | Band
Album |
| 46 | | Band
Album |
| 45 |  | Boris
Noise |
| 44 |  | Earth
Primitive and Deadly |
| 43 |  | Wolves in the Throne Room
Celestite |
| 42 |  | Arca
Xen |
| 41 |  | Hark
Crystalline |
| 40 |  | Agalloch
The Serpent and the Sphere |
| 39 |  | The War on Drugs
Lost in the Dream |
| 38 | | Sunn O))) & Ulver
Terrestrials |
| 37 |  | Old Man Gloom
The Ape of God I |
| 36 |  | Hiss Tracts
Shortwave Nights |
| 35 | | Megaton Leviathan
Past 21 Beyond the Arctic Cell |
| 34 |  | Nothing
Guilty of Everything |
| 33 |  | Crosses
Crosses |
| 32 |  | YOB
Clearing the Path to Ascend |
| 31 | | Flying Lotus
You're Dead! |
| 30 |  | Tycho
Awake |
| 29 |  | Saor
Aura |
| 28 |  | Guardian Alien
Spiritual Emergency |
| 27 |  | Dope Body
Lifer |
| 26 |  | The Contortionist
Language |
| 25 |  | Cities Aviv
Come to Life |
| 24 | | Todd Terje
It's Album Time |
| 23 |  | Cheatahs
Cheatahs |
| 22 |  | Panopticon
Roads to the North |
| 21 |  | Run The Jewels
Run The Jewels 2 |
| 20 |  | Destrage
Are you kidding me? no. |
| 19 |  | Warpaint
Warpaint |
| 18 |  | Badbadnotgood
III |
| 17 |  | Logic
Under Pressure |
| 16 |  | Fennesz
Becs |
| 15 |  | Closure in Moscow
Pink Lemonade |
| 14 |  | Flight Facilities
Down to Earth |
| 13 |  | Natural Snow Buildings
The Night Country |
| 12 |  | Kayo Dot
Coffins on Io |
| 11 |  | Musk Ox
Woodfall |
| 10 |  | A Winged Victory for the Sullen
Atomos |
| 9 |  | Animals as Leaders
The Joy of Motion
Putting guitar gymnastics aside and placing a greater focus upon eloquent songwriting and composition,
instrumental progressive metal trio Animals as Leaders return with The Joy of Motion ? a thoroughly
entertaining metal album that is complex, yet accessible and fun. That's not to say that Tosin Abasin
doesn't shock and dazzle with plenty of mind-bending guitar tricks, as this album is full of complex and
intricate guitar melodies, such as on Physical Education, one of the album's many highlights. |
| 8 |  | Creepoid
Creepoid
With a vocal style reminiscent of early Radiohead and instrumentation comparable to Nirvana, Creepoid
deliver a hazy and laid back rock album that persists in being charming throughout. Creepoid offers
listeners plenty of musical variety with genre influences ranging from shoegaze, to garage rock, to
grunge. |
| 7 |  | Ratking
So It Goes
While this is hardly true of all hip-hop artists and considerably more true for the underground and lesser known acts
within the genre, much of hip-hop can boast being socially aware music that discusses and deals with the concepts of
hardship and adversity. However, even among underground hip-hop acts there exists a wide divide spanning the
subjective 'realism' of these artists. Ratking's So It Goes is an album that can boast and bask in it's own dire sense of
reality. It is best characterized by the lyrical segment in So Sick Stories: ?The City it flows ? with the prettiest prose ?
mixed with the gritty and gross?. So It Goes succeeds in presenting very urban and grimy lyrics, delivery, and
production all while maintaining compositional organization and finesse. Ratking front man Wiki delivers verses with
emotional resolve while flowing with both charismatic clumsiness and technical precision atop noisy synths and beats.
Tracks such as Canal and title track So It Goes exemplify Wiki's ability to figuratively 'fall into' a beat, seemingly
landing each syllable directly on point while sounding endearingly clumsy. This aspect of Wiki's delivery only adds to
the sense of realism prevalent through So It Goes. Occasionally we are even treated to some relaxed, laid back beats
backed by jazz instrumentation such as the second half of Snow Beach and So Sick Stories. |
| 6 | | Mastodon
Once More 'Round The Sun
On Once More Round the Sun, Mastodon's unique brand of progressive metal continues to stray more towards accessible mainstream
radio rock and drift away from the heavily conceptual prog metal we became accustomed to on albums such as Crack the Skye and
Blood Mountain. This might sound discouraging for fans who regard Crack the Skye as one of the most forward thinking and
ambitious progressive metal albums of the last decade (as I do) and who were not as keen on the super accessible quirks of The
Hunter. However, Once More Round the Sun corrects many of the shortcomings of The Hunter to make for a more entertaining and
exciting listen throughout its duration. The music on Once More Round the Sun has been given ample space to explore and meander
naturally whilst supported by lush instrumentation and plenty of catchy groove-laden riffs. More than ever before on a Mastodon
album, vocals play a central role in the music, with Brann Dailor stealing the show on many occasions by complementing his
outstanding drum work with impressive vocal range. That's not to say the rest of the band didn't bring their top game as well; be
prepared to enjoy plenty of Brent's spacey guitar solos such as on Halloween, Ember City, and album opener Tread Lightly. The
album's finale ? the post metal inspired Diamond In the Witch House ? treats listeners with guest vocals by Scott Kelly of Neurosis. |
| 5 |  | Clipping
CLPPNG
Every single verse on CLPPNG hits like a proverbial punch to the solar plexus. MC Daveed Diggs unleashes
a technically proficient flow of aggressive wordplay composed of clever lyrics and vivid imagery. In addition
to Daveed's very apt and capable vocal delivery, this album is abound with ambitious, experimental noisey
production. At one point Daveed even raps atop nothing but the successive beeps of an alarm clock ? and it
works like a charm. |
| 4 |  | Swans
To Be Kind
To Be Kind is one of the most musically dense and exhausting albums I may have ever listened to. Perhaps the greatest
strength of To Be Kind is it's complete inability to adhere to any of music's presupposed conventional rules. 2 hour long
album? Check. Track lengths reaching up to 30 minutes? Check. The constant use of slow repetition to build colossal
and grand tracks that only reveal their true nature upon completion? Check! Both complex and simple compositions
nested within greater compositions? Check! How about Michael Gira's completely bizarre vocal performance wherein
lyrics commonly degenerate into strange sounds and eccentric shouts? How about some of the most unique and puzzling
instrumentation ever pieced together by this genre defying, unclassifiable group of musicians? To Be Kind is a very
purposeful album in which listeners are lured into false security and peace with calm and reserved repetition, only to be
jarringly shocked painfully back into reality with noisy cacophony. The quirks on To Be Kind could not be more fitting for
an album that appears to be a profound statement on the human condition. Life is repetitive, but occasionally we are
jarred from our routines by shocking and disruptive circumstances that shake our foundations as people and alter our
very nature. |
| 3 |  | Casualties of Cool
Casualties of Cool
This highly experimental country / ambient / prog rock project by Devin Townsend and Ch? Aimee Dorval
is as sonically soothing and relaxing as it is exciting and compelling. Casualties of Cool is a conceptually
complex album detailing the story of a space traveler who is lured to a distant planet by a siren song.
Expect to hear minimalist bluesy folk instrumentation mixed with very reserved and soft vocals by both
Devin and Ch? Aimee Dorval and even the occasional complementary jazz sax. |
| 2 |  | Bohren & Der Club Of Gore
Piano Nights
Bohren & der Club of Gore was not a musical project I was familiar with prior to 2014 and admittedly, Piano Nights
was my first taste of Bohren's haunting and surreal take on smooth jazz. I retreated further into Bohren's back
catalog and what I found did not disappoint. Even though Piano Nights may not be the strongest composition to
date by the German jazz band, it still ranks as one of my favorite listens of 2014. Piano Nights succeeds in
metaphorically transporting the listener to a vintage black and white noir film set in the streets of a dimly lit city
alley on a winter night with slow, droning, atmospheric jazzy passages. |
| 1 |  | Have a Nice Life
The Unnatural World
The musical project of Dan Barret and Tim Macuga: Have a Nice Life, can most aptly be described as the
sonic equivalent to a crushing depression. While The Unnatural World is not as conceptually intricate as
Deathconciousness, nor is it anywhere as long ? this genre transcending album still successfully creates a
fluid mix of shoe-gaze, industrial, dark ambient, and noise that are as sonically heavy as they are
emotionally crushing. Better yet - The Unnatural World presents this cohesive mix of styles in a succinct
yet varied manner. The album ranges from more straight forward industrial tracks such as album opener
Guggenheim Wax Museum, to the decidedly more post-punk Defenestration Song, to the murky and noisy
ambiance of Music Will Untune the Sky. Best of all, The Unnatural World accomplishes all of this in about
half of the listen time of Deathconciousness, indicating that Dan and Tim have mastered their art and are
now ready to condense their musical concepts into smaller and more eloquent packages. |
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