Albums of the Year 2014

It’s Christmas Eve and so it seems the right time to get my Albums of the Year list out in case anyone is looking for a last minute gift to give, or a soundtrack to their festivities.

2014 has been a great year for music and it’s been a pleasure to continue working for Louder Than War. Yes, we might be shambolic in our spelling and grammar but no-one can doubt the passion or far-reaching tastes of our amazing writers. So thanks John, Guy and the Louder Than War writers for bringing so many new sounds to my ears in the last 12 months (and watch out for a new website early in 2015)! (The Louder Than War top 200 Albums of the Year 2014 is here).

In no particular order at all (but Simone Felice was my favourite album of the year if you’re going to twist my arm) here’s my top 100 albums of 2014:

1. Simone Felice – Strangers
2. Let’s Wrestle – Let’s Wrestle
3. Acollective – Pangaea
4. Lakefield – Swan Songs
5. BIRD – My Fear and Me
6. Taylor Swift – 1989
7. The Mistys – Redemption Forest
8. Kate Tempest – Everybody Down
9. Keel Her – Keel Her
10. Egg Hell – Once Part of a Whole Ship
11. Ghost Twins – Never Fear Total Failure
12. Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave
13. The Cosmic Dead – Easterfaust
14. The Hobbes Fanclub – Up at Lagrange
15. Gruff Rhys – American Interior
16. Gold Codes – Gold Codes
17. East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
18. Allo Darlin’ – We Come From the Same Place
19. The Rentals – Lost in Alphaville
20. Martin Duffy – Assorted Promenades
21. McBusted – McBusted
22. Flamingods – Hyperborea
23. Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
24. Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf
25. My Psychoanalyst – Choreomania
26. Inspiral Carpets – Inspiral Carpets
27. Ed Harcourt – Time of Dust
28. Hospitality  – Trouble
29. The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
30. Temples – Sun Structures
31. Hatcham Social – Cutting Up the Present Leaks Out the Past
32. Charli XCX – Sucker
33. Perfume Genius – Too Bright
34. You Blew It! – Keep Doing What You’re Doing
35. Luke Saxton – Sunny Sadness
36. Martin Carr – The Breaks
37. Vashti Bunyan – Heartleap
38. Lana Del Ray – Ultraviolence
39. Women’s Hour – Conversations
40. Biscuit Mouth – Doing It Right and Doing It Well
41. Matt Watson – Grounded
42. Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else
43. Alvvays – Alvvays
44. Gulp – Season Sun
45. La Roux – Trouble in Paradise
46. J. Mascis – Tied to a Star
47. Joseph Coward – The World Famous Joseph Coward
48. LostAlone – Shape of Screams
49. The Vacant Lots – Departure
50. Patterns – Waking Lines
51. Brian Jonestown Massacre – Revelation
52. Pixies – Indie Cindy
53. Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
54. Chloe Howl – Chloe Howl
55. Minus the Bear – Lost Loves
56. Thurston Moore – The Best Day
57. Real Estate – Atlas
58. Like Swimming – Structures
59. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete – Chambers
60. Peggy Sue – Choir of Echoes
61. Dean Wareham – Dean Wareham
62. Tom the Lion – Sleep
63. Blank Realm – Grassed Inn
64. Colorama – Temari
65. The Third Round – The Third Round
66. Tim Wheeler – Lost Domains
67. Mark Chadwick – Moment
68. Wunder Wunder – Everything Infinite
69. Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
70. Lydia Loveless – Somewhere Else
71. Warpaint – Warpaint
72. Martha – Courting Strong
73. Vulkano – Live Wild Die Free
74. TV on the Radio – Seeds
75. The Horrors – Luminous
76. St Vincent – St Vincent
77. Flowers – Do What You Want To, It’s What You Should Do
78. Candy Says – Not Kings
79. First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
80. Ava Luna – Electric Ballroom
81. Jenny Lewis – The Voyager
82. Withered Hand – New Gods
83. Weezer – Everything Will Be Alright in the End
84. St Paul and the Broken Bones – Half the City
85. The Antlers – Familiars
86. Pauline Andres – All Them Ghosts
87. Elbow – The Take Off and Landing of Everything
88. Jimi Goodwin – Odludek
89. Latimer House – All the Rage
90. Lapland – Lapland
91. Secret Colours – Positive Distractions 1 & 2
92. Beck – Morning Phase
93. Nat Johnson – Neighbour of the Year
94. Take That – III
95. Manic Street Preachers – Futurology
96. Azealia Banks – Broke With Expensive Taste
97. Erica Nockalls – EN2
98. Sheepy – Sheepy
99. Mica Levi – Under the Skin
100. Edwyn Collins, Carwyn Ellis and Sebastian Lewsley – The Possibilities Are Endless.

At some point I might get round to linking these to reviews or places to buy them  but for now just take a lucky dip and you won’t go far wrong.

The bands to watch in 2015 and albums we’re already looking forward to will be on Louder Than War soon.