Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 by buzzdainer

The juxtaposition of light and dark is the metaphor that makes the most sense of my 2014. On the light side, I relocated from North Carolina to Colorado to live with my then-partner. It was a purposeful and beautiful time in my life, when I finally quit a tenure-track academic job to be with the person I loved most in the world. We spent a magical summer and fall exploring together the trails in the Flatirons, Indian Peaks, and James Peak Wilderness. We went to farmer's markets together, listened to podcasts, cooked tasty and nutritious meals, and played at the dog park. But like most things in life of such otherworldly splendor, it didn't last. Hence, darkness. To my good fortune, though, I was returned to the West, the place where, turns out, I believe I was meant to end up. The Rocky Mountains took hold of me, and much of the music I listened to that year reflects the feelings of majesty and grandeur that I felt about those mountains. 2014 wasn't quite as strong a year, musically, as 2013, but it contained at least as much depth. And the quality 2014 did provide was perhaps even more rewarding because it could often be found in surprising and unexpected places.

• Chart updated: 11/27/2022 18:45
• (Created: 02/19/2016 19:25).
• Chart size: 100 albums.

There are 2 comments for this chart from BestEverAlbums.com members and Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 has an average rating of 88 out of 100 (from 3 votes). Please log in or register to leave a comment or assign a rating.

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21. (=)

Heal 

 Strand Of Oaks

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“I was just an Indiana kid, getting no one in my bed,” sings Timothy Showalter on "JM," “but I had your sweet tunes to play.” That song recounts long afternoons spent rebelling against his parents, smoking in his car, hating all his friends, and playing JM’s sweet tunes at presumably high volume. The guitars swell and crash around him, then lumber into the kind of crunchy jam that once upon a time had teenage misfits pumping fists or raising lighters in unison. At the time I guessed that the song might be about J Mascis, the guitar god who most made sense to me given Showalter's age and aesthetic. Showalter has since disclosed that the song’s true subject is Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Company frontman Jason Molina. “JM” is a moving tale of extreme adolescent alienation, alleviated only by the narrator’s identification with a rock hero, in this case one whose recent suicide made him all the more real and poignant. [First added to this chart: 06/03/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

43 charts

Rank Score:

124

Rank in 2014:

198

Rank in 2010s:

1,970

Overall Rank:

9,560

Average Rating:

 74 (41 votes)

Comments:

2

22. (=)

Black Messiah 

 D'Angelo And The Vanguard

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Black Messiah is a low-key album, one that takes time to fully absorb and that can be difficult to categorize. It contains elements of neo-soul and hip hop, but it's the smoky, sexy grooves that D'Angelo sinks into on tracks such as "Really Love" that sets this album apart from its peers. Pitchfork calls it "a study in controlled chaos," which seems about right, given that the album was over a decade in the making. Given the enormous talent that D'Angelo obviously is, I hope for his sake that his artistic achievement on this excellent album help him to overcome the personal struggles (DUI's and arrests for possession of illegal drugs) that so far have caused so many hiccups in his otherwise brilliant career. [First added to this chart: 04/18/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

445 charts

Rank Score:

3,515

Rank in 2014:

7

Rank in 2010s:

70

Overall Rank:

513

Average Rating:

 81 (497 votes)

Comments:

24

23. (=)

Ultraviolence 

 Lana Del Rey

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I tend to like all things Lana Del Rey, which may not seem entirely rational on my part, given that her brooding, duck-face persona isn't exactly congruent with most of my other musical tastes. In fact, I'd go so far as to predict that Ultraviolence gradually loses status on my 2014 chart as I discover, and re-discover, other albums that feel like they have more staying power. But for now it still holds a prominent spot, as I do think this album represents an interest in pop music that I hadn't experienced since the late 1980s, when the alternative rock, college rock, alternative country, and grunge scenes took over my musical imagination and refused to let go for decades. [First added to this chart: 05/19/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

321 charts

Rank Score:

2,711

Rank in 2014:

9

Rank in 2010s:

100

Overall Rank:

662

Average Rating:

 75 (485 votes)

Comments:

26

24. (=)

Shriek 

 Wye Oak

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Every few years, my friend Caitlin puts together a CD or playlist of new music for me to sample. To my good fortune, and much to Caitlin's credit, one of the albums she brought to my attention was the predecessor to this one, Civilian, which quickly became one of my favorite albums of the 2010s. So I was really excited when Shriek came out, since I really wanted to hear where Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack's intense, hard-rocking indie rock muse might take them next. I wouldn't go so far as to say Shriek was a disappointment--it's just that this is ambitious but not quite as accessible as Civilian. A really solid, loud, polished effort from a very fine band that will remain on my radar as long as they keep producing material that's this good. [First added to this chart: 05/20/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

19 charts

Rank Score:

59

Rank in 2014:

448

Rank in 2010s:

4,037

Overall Rank:

18,023

Average Rating:

 76 (26 votes)

Comments:

2

25. (=)

Brothers & Sisters Of The Eternal Son 

 Damien Jurado

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Damien Jurado has always been a storyteller, but this album extends his typical one-off story-songs into a kind of concept album, albeit one with a loose structure and far-flung, often psychedelic, mystical themes. The musical style is familiar if you've heard Jurado's other albums: firmly within the genre of indie folk, but with flashes of Tejano and electric guitar freakouts. Perhaps more than on his other records, there's a clear presence of Jurado's own Christian worldview, but these feel more mythological and allegorical than theological or dogmatic. [First added to this chart: 05/27/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

28 charts

Rank Score:

175

Rank in 2014:

141

Rank in 2010s:

1,414

Overall Rank:

7,218

Average Rating:

 72 (34 votes)

Comments:

1

26. (=)

Post Tropical 

 James Vincent McMorrow

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Irishman James Vincent McMorrow's greatest musical asset is his voice, which is both confessional and energizing, whether he's hitting the unexpected climax of “there's no sense at all” on “Glacier” or using it to construct a plaintive mantra at the end of “Red Dust” with the repeated lyric, “sometimes my hands they don't feel like my own / I need someone to love, I need someone to hold.” The tone is pained, but the effect on Post Tropical is both pretty and comforting throughout, particularly in the way the album's songs often build to a single yearning, repeated phrase, like “I remember my first love” or “there is so little light from the warmth of the sun.” [First added to this chart: 06/04/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

49 charts

Rank Score:

162

Rank in 2014:

156

Rank in 2010s:

1,543

Overall Rank:

7,699

Average Rating:

 70 (92 votes)

Comments:

11

27. (=)

Benji 

 Sun Kil Moon

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I've always felt a tension between my appreciation of the art and my appreciation of the artist, and no artist's work epitomizes that polarity more than Mark Kozelek. One the one hand, there's this album, which is by turns funny, morbid, obfuscatory, and achingly beautiful--a somber rock performance worthy of the critical accolades it received at the time. On the other hand is Mark Kozelek himself, the kind of misogynistic jerk who onstage called a female journalist who wanted to interview him a "bitch." I think I'm pretty much done with him, but I can't quite bring myself to ignore the high quality of this album or its deserving place among the best albums of 2014. [First added to this chart: 06/01/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

548 charts

Rank Score:

4,898

Rank in 2014:

3

Rank in 2010s:

48

Overall Rank:

368

Average Rating:

 80 (767 votes)

Comments:

88

28. (=)

Metamodern Sounds In Country Music 

 Sturgill Simpson

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It took some time for Sturgill Simpson to win me over. Americana and country music create all sorts of interesting problems for me because these genres often tread the line between American values I find repugnant--the gun-toting, Confederate flag-waving, xenophobic elements within the Trump cult, for instance--and those that appeal to my deep love of the land and its people. I identify Sturgill Simpson's vocal style more closely with the former than the latter. Then again, so did Merle Haggard's, and I like Merle Haggard. So I've come around quite a bit on Sturgill Simpson, mainly on the strength of his songwriting and the genuine complexity of both his music and his lyrics. I can see this album, as well as his others, continuing their upward trajectory on my charts. [First added to this chart: 07/26/2017]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

158 charts

Rank Score:

776

Rank in 2014:

40

Rank in 2010s:

344

Overall Rank:

2,119

Average Rating:

 77 (138 votes)

Comments:

8

29. (=)

Mind Over Matter 

 Young The Giant

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Young the Giant isn't exactly a band I'd credit heavily for their originality, and in fact the entire genre of indie rock seems lately to have been co-opted by radio-friendly, arena-rock bands that all sound alike. That said, I think the critical backlash against Young the Giant has been pretty over the top, given that this album is filled with solidly written, well-performed songs that don't suffer as much from overproduction as many of the reviews would have you believe. Then again, maybe I just like the song "Teachers" because it's a rare ode to my chosen profession, a refreshing antitode to the anti-education cynicism of Pink Floyd and other rock bands of my youth. [First added to this chart: 06/04/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

17 charts

Rank Score:

55

Rank in 2014:

474

Rank in 2010s:

4,279

Overall Rank:

19,002

Average Rating:

 67 (36 votes)

Comments:

3

30. (=)

Remedy 

 Old Crow Medicine Show

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At one point Old Crow Medicine Show was one of my favorite bands. I thought that their self-titled album, containing their timeless recovery of Bob Dylan's unfinished tune "Wagon Wheel," was one of the great unheralded masterpieces of the new alt-country century. Time, however, hasn't been kind to my overall impression of Old Crow Medicine Show. First, something happened that wasn't their fault: every awful ski-town bluegrass band started covering "Wagon Wheel," to the point that I'm now seeing anti-"Wagon Wheel" memes and bumper stickers. Second, I saw Willie Watson play a live show in Boulder, Colorado, that made his annoying good-ol'-boy affectations pop out in embarrassingly clear relief. All this is to say, Remedy is a decent album, maybe even a good album ("O Cumberland River" is right there with their best-written songs), but Old Crow Medicine Show's overall grinnin'-and-pickin' schtick has worn thin. [First added to this chart: 06/07/2016]

Year of Release:

2014

Appears in:

4 charts

Rank Score:

9

Rank in 2014:

1,602

Rank in 2010s:

15,034

Overall Rank:

57,312

Average Rating:

 74 (7 votes)

Comments:

2

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Total albums: 100. Page 3 of 10

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 composition

Artist	Albums	%
Merchandise	1	1%
Damien Jurado	1	1%
Jack White	1	1%
James Armstrong	1	1%
Willie Watson	1	1%
alt-J	1	1%
Ryley Walker	1	1%
Show all

Country	Albums	%
	78	78%
	8	8%
	6	6%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	2	2%
	1	1%
Show all

Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 chart changes

Biggest climbers
Up 3 from 4th to 1st Sylvan Esso by Sylvan Esso

Biggest fallers
Down 1 from 1st to 2nd After The Disco by Broken Bells
Down 1 from 2nd to 3rd 1989 by Taylor Swift
Down 1 from 3rd to 4th This Is All Yours by alt-J

Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 similarity to your chart(s)

Other year charts (from the 2010s) by buzzdainer

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 ratings

Showing all 3 ratings for this chart.

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Rating	Date updated	Member	Chart ratings	Avg. chart rating
100/100	11/12/2019 01:40	DJENNY	4,408	100/100
100/100	04/29/2019 02:48	NickVolos	112	92/100
80/100	03/19/2019 23:31	mickilennial	718	77/100

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Top 100 Music Albums of 2014 comments

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From buzzdainer 09/28/2019 19:03

Thanks for that kind comment, NickVolos! Glad to see we're aligned on Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, among many others. I'm pretty excited to hear Sturgill Simpson's new album, which just dropped yesterday.

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Rating:  

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From NickVolos 04/29/2019 02:54

Thank you for commenting on my chart! You've got a great chart going here as well. Yes, we've got some selections in common for the year. But you've also got a lot more here that I haven't heard yet. Will certainly use your chart as an inspiration when revisiting 2014.

Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

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