Recommended 2014 Albums: Best of the Year through June

[Danny Boy]

I'm genuinely curious what 2014 albums folks would recommend. I haven't had time to listen to as many new albums this year, so I'm interested to know what I may have missed.

Some of my faves in no particular order:

RAC - Strangers
The Antlers - Familiars
Beck - Morning Phase
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Real Estate - Atlas
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
LCD Soundsystem - The Long Goodbye
Lykke Li - I Never Learn
Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream
Ray Lamontagne - Supernova
Strand of Oaks - HEAL
The Black Keys - Turn Blue
Mr Little Jeans - Pocketknife

 

[LemonMelon]

I recommend GAF listen to the album in my signature.

 

[LemonMelon]

As for other recommendations, I'll skew towards slightly more overlooked albums:

Francis Harris - Minutes of Sleep (house, ambient)
Total Control - Typical System (new wave, electronic)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow - Sea When Absent (dream pop)
Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right (noise rock)
Owen Pallett - In Conflict (chamber pop)
Ought - More Than Any Other Day (art rock, garage rock)
Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams (folk, Ennio Morricone sounding shit)
Nothing - Guilty of Everything (shoegaze, noise rock)
Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo (west coast hip hop)
Have a Nice Life - The Unnatural World (post-punk, shoegaze)
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want (soul, funk)

 

[martha]

Young Widows--Easy Pain (I will not stop pimping them.)
Temples--Sun Structures
The War on Drugs--Lost in the Dream


There will be others after 11 hours in the plane each way.

 

[Flaming Friar Sr]

Hozier - From Eden (EP)
Sohn - Tremors
War on Drugs - Lost in the dream
Triggerfinger - By absence of the sun
Real Estate - Atlas
Metronomy - Live from Paris Spotify (EP)
Sun Kil Moon - Benji

 

[iron yuppie]

Not too many standing out to me so far this year. Here are the ones I have really enjoyed:

Hundred Waters, The Moon Rang Like a Bell
Liars, Mess
Madlib, Pinata Beats
Mogwai, Rave Tapes
Neil Young, A Letter Home
St. Vincent, S/T
The War on Drugs, Lost in the Dream
Warpaint, S/T
Wild Beasts, Present Tense
Xiu Xiu, Nina (released very late last year, so I'll just include it here)

 

[Danny Boy]

A Sunny Day in Glasgow (dream pop)

I have this one. Enjoyed the one listen in the car but need to spend more time with it.


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[Axver]

Loosely ranked, starting at 20th and working down to 1st:

EMA: The Future's Void (eclectic and artsy indie pop)
Blood Red Shoes: Blood Red Shoes (grungy and punky indie rock)
Neil Finn: Dizzy Heights (age won't stop Neil pushing pop rock's boundaries)
Lantlos: Melting Sun (a sludgy and almost psychedelic counterpoint to Alcest)
†††: ††† (Chino Moreno's worst band name to date, but quality electronic alt rock)
DZ Deathrays: Black Rat (garage rock with lashings of noise rock and punk energy)
Tuber: Desert Overcrowded (heavy post-rock that gets into some massive grooves)
The Casket Girls: True Love Kills the Fairy Tale (dreamy noise pop)
Trick Mammoth: Floristry (jangle pop, drinks from the same rich well as the best Dunedin bands)
Sleepmakeswaves: Love of Cartography (crisp, electronic influenced post-rock)
Phantogram: Voices (glitchy synth pop)
Nothing: Guilty of Everything (the noisy end of shoegaze, vocals mixed low)
La Dispute: Rooms of the House (post-hardcore, their most mature and fully-realised album yet)
Cheatahs: Cheatahs (the noisy end of shoegaze, vocals not mixed low)
Helms Alee: Sleepwalking Sailors (somewhat unpredictable, avant-garde sludge metal)
White Lung: Deep Fantasy (furiously passionate punk rock)
Agalloch: The Serpent and the Sphere (atmospheric black metal with lengthy dark folk and doom metal passages)
The Hotelier: Home, Like No Place Is There (emo, the really good kind with some big choruses and piercing lyrics)
Eagulls: Eagulls (fast-paced post-punk with shoegazy guitars? Get in my life)
Alcest: Shelter (Neige's prettiest album yet, blending shoegaze, post-rock, and dream pop)

 

[corianderstem]

Mr Little Jeans - Pocketknife

I have and like this one a lot, too.

 

[Joey788]

My top ten at the moment:

1. EMA - The Future's Void
2. St. Vincent - s/t
3. Beck - Morning Phase
4. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
5. Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
6. The Horrors - Luminous
7. Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
8. Brody Dalle - Diploid Love
9. Lykke Li - I Never Learn
10. Coldplay - Ghost Stories

Honorable Mentions go to Mastodon, Meg Myers and White Sea.

 

[david]

1. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
2. Thee Silver Mt. Zion - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
3. Swans - To Be Kind
4. Curtis Harding - Soul Power
5. Guided by Voices - Cool Planet
6. Eagulls - Eagulls
7. Timber Timbre - Hot Dreams
8. Liars - Mess
9. Lost in the Trees - Past Life

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[liamcool]

Owen Pallett - In Conflict
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
Mike Gordon - Overstep
Helms Alee - Sleepwalking Sailors
Future Islands - Singles
Ought - More Than Any Other Day
Turn To Crime - Can't Love

 

[nielsgov]

Cloud Nothings - Here And Nowhere Else
The Antlers - Familiars

Arsenal - Furu
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
La Dispute - Rooms of the House
Cheatahs - Cheatahs
Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
Karen Gwyer - New Roof
Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream

 

[PhilsFan]

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
St. Vincent - St. Vincent
Dum Dum Girls - Too True
Lykke Li - I Never Learn
Warpaint - Warpaint
Lana Del Rey - Ultraviolence
Phantogram - Voices
The Antlers - Familiars
EMA - The Future's Void
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There

And a few of my favorite individual songs:
"Severed Crossed Fingers" - St. Vincent
"Lost Boys and Girls Club" - Dum Dum Girls
"Palace" - The Antlers
"Never Gonna Love Again" - Lykke Li
"Perfect World" - Broken Bells
"Under the Pressure" - The War on Drugs
"New York Morning" - Elbow
"Love Is to Die" - Warpaint

 

[bono_212]

I'm trying to pick a few albums that others haven't already mentioned. That would mean:

Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
White Sea - In Cold Blood
Trust - Joyland
Cunninlynguists - Strange Journey: Vol. 3
Tycho - Awake
The Jezebels - The Brink
Gruff Rhys - American Interior
Fucked Up - Glass Boys

My favorite songs so far this year are probably:

White Sea - "They Don't Know"
Bombay Bicycle Club - "It's Alright Now"
RAC - "Let Go"
Sun Kil Moon - "Micheline"
The War On Drugs - "In Reverse"
Bruce Springsteen - "Down in the Hole"

 

[Danny Boy]

Streaming EMA now.

Like.

 

[bono_212]

EMA is super good.

 

[iron yuppie]

EMA was a let-down for me after the strength of Past Lives, Martyred Saints. Satellites is killer, but the rest was a bit unfocused.

 

[LemonMelon]

I liked the last album more as well, but So Blonde is some great glam rock.

 

[mikal]

Coldplay released the album of the decade this year.

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[LemonMelon]

Perhaps.

 

[mikal]

Haven't seen them mentioned much around here, but those Brian Eno albums are really good.

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[mikal]

Oh yeah. And one more vote for the EMA album.

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[lazarus]

Haven't seen them mentioned much around here, but those Brian Eno albums are really good.

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Have you not been in Random the last few days?

 

[u2popmofo]

Have you not been in Random the last few days?

lolz

 

[Vlad n U 2]

"those Brian Eno albums"

ahem

 

[djerdap]

Viva La Vida is by far the best of the Brian Eno albums.

 

[nielsgov]

Streaming EMA now.

Like.

I came in here to post pretty much this.

 

[mikal]

Have you not been in Random the last few days?

No

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[Axver]

EMA was a let-down for me after the strength of Past Lives, Martyred Saints. Satellites is killer, but the rest was a bit unfocused.

Huh, I found it quite the opposite - a more mature, focused, and generally stronger effort than her debut. I listen to the debut occasionally and forget about it (in fact, if she hadn't done such a good live set supporting Yuck here in 2012 I'd have possibly forgotten about her entirely), but this new album is pulling me back in. Sure she dabbles in a fair bit, but I think it all meshes together well with a coherent atmosphere.