Top albums of 2014..

 

There never is a bad year in music in my view.. Tastes vary, albums get discovered months after their year of release but there is always so much stuff to keep my ears entertained..

I haven’t listened to every album released in 2014, there are loads of records I love but don’t have the space to list as i try to keep it to just 50. I try to list artists that are left of the mainstream and deserve to increase their listener base but the odd more mainstream release inevitably creeps in generally because it’s really good!

Ultimately, it’s really hard to rank them in terms of favourites so this year i’m just going to tell you my favourite album of the year, the top ten and give you a spotify playlist of 49 of the 50. My no 1 album of the year isn’t on spotify actually! This way it should be quick for anyone to have a listen that way, whether you’re a subscriber or not, spotify does playlists well!

So drumroll…

My favourite record of 2014 was also from the artist that performed by favourite show of 2014. There was a psychedelic boiler suit, half a dozen references to Jupiter and more crowd surfers than any other show i’ve seen all year. I salute you Ty Segall and record ‘Manipulator’.

Top Ten in full:

1. Ty Segall – Manipulator

2.  Future Islands – Singles

3. Real Estate – Atlas

4. Temples – Temples

5. Tops – Picture You Staring

6. East India Youth – Total Strife Forever

7.  Brian Jonestown Massacre – Revelation

8.  Warpaint – Warpaint

9 . The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

10.  Glass Animals – ZABA

The rest? In no particular order:

Beverly – Careers
Honeyblood – Honeyblood
Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire For No Witness
Quilt – Held In Splendor
Mac De Marco – Salad Days
Slow Club – Complete Surrender
Cheatahs – Cheatahs
Protomartyr – Under Color Of Official Right
Lia Ices – Ices
Total Control – Typical System
Perfume Genius – Too Bright
Allah Las – Workship The Sun
Alvvays – Alvvays
Literature – Chorus
Goat – Commune
Fear Of Men – Loom
Harts – Daydreamer
High Hazels – High Hazels
Gymnast – Wild Fleet
Childhood – Lacuna
Celebration – Albumin
Gulp – Season Sun
Sky Ferreira – Night Time, My Time
Smoke Fairies – Smoke Fairies
Nick Waterhouse – Holly
The Young Sinclairs – This Is The Young Sinclairs
September Girls – Cursing The Sea
Jungle – Jungle
Hyde & Beast – Keep Moving
The Horrors – Luminous
Ballet School – The Dew Lasts An Hour
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – I’m In Your Mind Fuzz
Damien Jurado – Brothers And Sisters Of The Eternal Son
School Of Language – Old Fears
Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens – Cold World
Sinkane – Mean Love
Bird – My Fear And Me
Annie Eve – Sunday ’91
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Wand – Ganglion Reef

.. and that spotify playlist can be accessed HERE