2014 in review

Warning! Wall of text ahead!

So here are some of the musical releases I loved in 2014. I had a truly wonderful year drifting through this tiny and endless world of ours, and I feel so fortunate to have such incredible music to keep me going.

I went with sort of a tiered system this year, instead of trying to rank each release individually. Within their tiers, they are listed in no particular order.

10 Best albums of the year:

Phantogram – Voices
Phantogram’s awesome production got even better with this album. Their groovy hip-hop beats have more variation then their previous work, and Josh’s tracks mesh better with the rest of the album in this one. Sarah brought more attitude to this album as well, and I think it’s very becoming to their style.
SOHN – Tremors
I loved SOHN’s vocal style immediately upon hearing it, and the singles he released leading up to this album flew disappointingly under the radar. Although his beats can get a little samey and mostly have a similar chopped-up-vocals and snappy-percussion approach to them, it is a really pleasant style that agrees with his reverbed, falsetto crooning. The album has a few much-needed moments where it breaks into a more lush, bassy chorus of synths, which helps make the rest of the album feel crisp, rather than desolate and empty. Tremors beautifully rides the line between sobriety and fervor.
J Mascis – Tied to a Star
Just goddamn wonderful. I heard Wide Awake on the radio a few months ago and was immediately hooked on this album’s sparkly acoustic guitar and Mascis’ world-weary, relaxing vocal delivery.  This album is so unassuming, but that’s part of what I love about it. It invites empathy and appreciation.
Stray Theories – We Never Left
Another beautiful release from Stray Theories. He continues to be required listening for ambient fans. This is a compilation of new and old music, and We Never Left is remarkably evocative of just such a journey through one’s memories. In the same way that a memory can almost bring back sensations, but not quite, there’s something just beneath the surface of Stray Theories’ music. You can almost reach out and take it, but instead its presence simply washes over you. We Never Left is the flicker of a candle, a flash of eye contact with a passing stranger, an attempt to comprehend the universe.
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of First Aid Kit’s tight, folky harmony. This album doesn’t have a ton of variation in lyrical content or instrumentation, but given those limitations, they still accomplish quite a lot. Given that they sing in monophonic harmony, they are remarkably good at communicating emotion in tandem. A Long Time ago is heartbreaking, the gallop of Stay Gold and The Bell are encouraging, Master Pretender and Heaven Knows have a comfortable Americana twang. Variation was the biggest thing missing from The Lion’s Roar, and I think they pulled it off here.
Sleepmakeswaves – Love of Cartography
With the possible exception of Stray Theories and Arms and Sleepers (which arguably is not post-rock), this is my favorite post-rock release of the year. It is also by far and away my favorite Sleepmakeswaves album.  By turns powerful and gentle, this is a towering success. Riveting, foreboding, occasionally bonkers, sometimes calming. The changes in their electronic production help make this really stand out.
Milo – A Toothpaste Suburb
Serene, understated beats, ominous synths. Milo’s style is deadpan, full of self-referential humor and ruminations on random inconsequential details. I guess it’s art rap, but it’s also totally great to absorb this album without sinking an hour into every line. A Toothpaste Suburb is great because it’s rap that is self-contained and doesn’t need to be considered in a certain context. In a year where it seems like every track is trying to prove itself or prove some point, this album isn’t trying to accomplish anything other than being really good rap, and that’s an accomplishment in itself.
A Winged Victory for the Sullen – Atomos
This album is full of haunting, swimming piano and subversive  strings. It feels like it's floating because it is; Atomos was recorded in a large, echoic space. Close harmonies contrast with massive, sweeping sonic spaces. Miles of unending, clear depths are punctuated by the distilled voice of one instrument or another. Atomos feels like what music would say if it could speak for itself. It is a wonderful work.
Arms and Sleepers – Swim Team
I liked The Organ Hearts, but Swim Team has really made Arms and Sleepers my favorite trip-hop artists. It’s innovative, unassuming, and just straight-up enjoyable. This album is very different from The Organ Hearts and honestly takes more of an old-school hip hop approach to the production. The ambient elements are still there, but they eschew the standard tropes of that genre in this work, leaving behind a sort of noisy, stylish sound that is still easy to listen to. It’s still full of warm mids and ethereal samples, but they have gone much further to the hip-hop side of things here.
Lowercase Noises – This is for Our Sins
I liked their earlier releases, but This is for Our Sins makes me feel like they weren’t even trying before. Lowercase Noises covers such a breadth of emotions and styles in this album that it’s honestly incredible. There are the quaint, Balmorhea-esque banjo melodies of The Hungry Years, the epic swells of Famine and the Death of a Mother, the driving storm of Death in a Garden. The addition of vocals to a few of their songs fits beautifully. With all of this, though, every track has a distinct, histrionic shade to it. Despairing and euphoric all at once, Lowercase Noises invites you to accompany them on a solemn float through their universe.

==Notes from this point on wherever I feel like it==

12 Other albums that were really good:

Hammock – The Sleepover Series, Vol. 2
The only reason this isn’t in the top list is because it’s not really an album, per se, as an experimental sleep music project. As such it doesn’t really flow like an album. There is still a lot of really interesting stuff going on here, texturally and harmonically. A lot of really dark stuff. It’s worth checking out.
The New Pornographers – Brill Bruisers
This Will Destroy You – Another Language
Sylvan esso – S/T
Tycho – Awake
Rustie – Green Language
This album is mostly up here because of Attak, the track he recorded with Danny Brown, which I honestly think is the best rap track of the year and it’s not close. Only Danny could rap over this beat so tightly, and he really took his style to the limit. Hoping to hear more work from this pairing, as I think it really brings out the best in both parties. There is enough cool stuff going on elsewhere in the album (A Glimpse, Velcro, Tempest) that I’m willing to overlook the absolutely terrible pile of shit that is Up Down and say that I really liked this album.
Low Roar – O
Run the Jewels – RTJ2
Clipping – CLPPNG
Caribou – Our Love
Mogwai – Rave Tapes
Love this return to form for Mogwai. Their laid back, clean-but-still-shoegazy sort of style permeates, but there’s still a lot of innovation. Great stuff.
The Stray Birds – Best Medicine
I picked up a few Americana/roots albums this year, but this was the only one released in 2014. There’s something about Maya de Vitry’s vocal style that really enchants me. Best Medicine is full of beautiful folk harmony and instrumental talent. What’s really at the core of this album is the stories, though. The Stray Birds are indefatigable storytellers—just check out their facebook if you don’t believe me—and they are experts at marrying their stories with their music. I adore this album. I’m calling out my friends who claim to dislike roots music or haven’t bothered trying to listen to it—pick this up and give it a try.

7 more albums that impressed me:

Alt-J – This is All Yours
This album didn’t blow me away, and there are some tracks that I just plain don’t like (looking at you, Left Hand Free). But there is enough cool stuff going on here that I still really dig it. Every Other Freckle and Arrival in Nara come to mind.
Sun Kil Moon – Benji
FKA Twigs – LP1
Fanfarlo – Let's Go Extinct
Whirr – Sway
Cartographer – A Sea of Sunshine
Jakob – Sines

3 Albums that disappointed me:

A Sunny Day in Glasgow – Sea When Absent
US Royalty – Blue Sunshine
Broken Bells – After the Disco