'Best of' lists are THE WORST and I absolutely love them. There's just something about arbitrarily ranking things—especially art that other living, breathing, human beings have poured their heart & soul into—that really gets me going. I love the validation that I feel when I agree with someone else's opinion, I love the (usually feigned) disgust that I feel and the debates that can occur when I don't. More than anything else though, I love the element of discovery that completely subjective and wholly arbitrary 'best of' lists can offer.

To me, there aren't a ton of things that are better than learning about a really great new band or a hidden gem of a movie that I might not have come across had I not first read about it on someone else's list. And that, my friends, that is why I am compelled to make this list of my own every year. Sure it's fun for me, but there's also the chance that someone out there might care about my opinion, read a list I've compiled, and find an artist, album, or song that eventually becomes an important part of their lives.

Every album on this list is something that I really, really enjoy. Here's to hoping you'll find something here that you really, really enjoy as well. 

 

If you'd like, you can listen to the first 200 songs in the player below. If you'd prefer to hear the entire list, go here. 

#1
Damien Rice
My Favourite Faded Fantasy
Vector/Warner Bros.

Every year, there's one album that stands out from the pack and makes it undeniably obvious to me that it deserves to reach the top of the mountain and land at the number 1 spot on this illustrious list. From the moment I heard the first song released from this record—which was the title track, IIRC—I KNEW that this was gonna be the album of 2014. 
Prior to that first song being released & the album being announced, I had no clue that Damien Rice was even still interested in making music. His previous album, 9, was released 8 years ago, and aside from a few random songs here and there, he's been relatively invisible from the music scene. For a while, it seemed like that might be for the best. 9 was pretty good, but it was far from being great. I didn't think it came close to reaching the perfection achieved on O, Rice's debut effort. Granted, the stylistic changes were obviously made on purpose, but it just didn't do it for me. 
But this? This does it for me. It's straight up classic, beautiful, simple, lovelorn Damien Rice. Whereas some folks might fault this record for not taking enough chances (or any chances, really), I think this is an absolutely perfectly crafted record. Rice's strengths are his oft-shaky voice & direct lyrical style, and this album and it's musical arrangements (aided by Rick Rubin's production) play to those strengths incredibly well.
This is album I wanted to hear after O. This is the Damien Rice that I know and love, and I can't express to you how happy I am that this exists.

Check out I Don't Want To Change You,Trusty And True, or the whole album. 

#2
Sturgill Simpson
Metamodern Sounds In Country Music
High Top Mountain Records

If you're one of those folks who thinks modern country music is absolute garbage and you pine for the golden age of Waylon, Merle, Willie, Johnny, and that whole gang, you've gotta get on board the Sturgill Simpson train.
This dude is making some seriously authentic music that toes the line between classic "outlaw" country and honky tonk stuff and croony ballads and trippy psychedelia with incredible ease. Plus, I bet you can't tell me the last time you heard a country singer spit a lyric like:

"There's a gateway in our mind that leads somewhere out there beyond this plane 
where reptile aliens made of light cut you open and pull out all your pain"

So yeah, it gets a little weird at times, but it totally works. From start to finish, this is a special record—one of the best I've heard in quite some time, to be honest—and I love everything about it.

Check out Turtles All The Way Down, Life of Sin, or the entire album. While you're at it, go listen to his first album, High Top Mountain, as well. 

#3
Dawn Golden
Still Life
Downtown Records

I'd never heard of this Dawn Golden fellow before I came across his album back in June while traversing down an Rdio rabbit hole of similar artists, recent releases, and albums that friends have listened to. Normally when I'm lead down such a path, I try to give each album 2 or 3 songs to prove itself & to help me determine if it's something I ultimately want to invest an entire 30-60 minutes of my life into. Well wouldn't ya know it, thirty seconds after I pressed play on Still Life and the downtempo dream-pop electronica of Discoloration, the album's first track, hit my ears, I was absolutely hooked. Fast forward 6+ months, and Still Life remains one of my go-to morning/late night/sometimes running albums. It's an absolute gem. 

Check out All I Want, Still Life, and Discoloration

#4
Killer Be Killed
Killer Be Killed
Nuclear Blast

Killer Be Killed is a metal supergroup composed of that bassist guy from Mastodon, that singer dude from Dillinger Escape Plan, that drummer from The Mars Volta (and Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus), and the legendary Max Cavalera. Now, when you get a bunch of dudes together from bands that have some serious chops in their own right, expectations are typically pretty high. Sometimes, those expectations are not met and the band is terrible. Other times, they're vastly exceeded. Luckily, this release falls into the latter category.
So yeah, I like each of these people and their respective other bands, but I never really anticipated that I would fall so hard for this album. I never anticipated that I would get excited about and fall in love with this record in a way I haven't done with a metal release in yeeeears. But here we are. This album shreds. It's heavy and thrashy and loud and a little nu-metally and just a perfect metal release, IMHO.

Listen to Snakes Of Jehovah, Wings of Feather and Wax, and Melting Of My Marrow

#5
Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
PaxAm/Blue Note

C'mon, who doesn't love Ryan Adams?
Okay, I guess maybe Sean Hannity or Courtney Love or anyone else he's managed to piss off throughout his storied musical career probably aren't big fans, but other than that, how can you not like the dude? Chances are that at some point in his lifetime, he's released a record that fits nicely within one of your top three favorite genres of music, no matter what those genres might be. For example, if you're into reverby, 80's style Tom Petty and, well, Bryan Adams rock, you'd be so into this album.
Full disclosure: while I was in love with the 'Gimme Something Good', the lead single, immediately, I wasn't as sold on the full album for quite some time. It took a bunch of listens before I grew to enjoy it, but I found the journey to that point to be a lot of fun. Every time I sat down and really listened to the record, I found something new that caught my attention, or a song hit me in a way that it hadn't before. The hard work obviously paid off, because it made the top 5! Yay!

[2019 update: Ryan Adams has since been cancelled and it is now very easy to not like the dude.]

Check out Gimme Something Good, My Wrecking Ball, and Stay With Me

#6
Shakey Graves
And The War Came
Dualtone Music Group

Shakey Graves is singer-songwriter Alejandro Rose-Garcia.  Apparently, he's also an actor that's been in a lot of things I have never seen; I'm sure he was great as "Freak Dancing Guy" in Love & Air Sex. 
This album isn't quite sure what it wants to be—it swings from quiet folk to stompy tunes to almost Black Keys-style roots rock like it's no big deal—but I think that's part of the charm for me. It keeps me on my toes, and Rose-Garcia definitely has the chops to pull off any style that he may so choose.

 I'd love to write more, but the batteries on my keyboard are almost dead, so instead of hunting for new ones right now, I'm gonna wrap this up. This record is great. Listen to it!

Check out The Perfect Parts, Only Son, or the entire album. 

#7
He Is Legend
Heavy Fruit
Tragic Hero Records

I'll be the first to admit that I was blindsided back in 2009 when He Is Legend's career-defining masterpiece It Hates You was released. I'd always thought that the band had been good, but that album made themgreat. My friends and I don't always agree on music, but we all agreed that IHY was absolutely wonderful. But, before I could even start wondering how the hell they were gonna follow that album up, they went on hiatus. So, I waited. And waited. And waited. Just when it seemed like that followup might never come, they reconvened, and that finalllllllly resulted in Heavy Fruit. He Is Legend has never been a band content to stick with the status quo—almost every record has been a brand new experience, and Heavy Fruit is no exception. The differences aren't as drastic as they've been in the past (like the shifts found in the journey from I Am Hollywood to Suck Out The Poison, for example), but this album seems a whole lot more focused on—for the lack of a better term—groove. There are some distinct Red Hot Chili Pepper-esque moments, and lots of bass lines and drum beats that make for great head-bobbin'. Overall, I don't thinkHeavy Fruit is HIL's best album, but it is incredibly good—and a million times more interesting than the drivel that some of their peers are releasing these days. 
Check out Something, Something, Something Witchy, or the whole album.

#8
James Vincent McMorrow
Post Tropical
Vagrant Records

For a while, I sorta felt like JVM was my own little secret—and selfishly, I liked it. His 2010 album, Early In The Morning, album was really, really good and was quite popular over "across the pond", but it never really seemed like he got all that much attention from the masses here in the Americas. The dude kinda sounds like Justin Vernon—a comparison that any male w/ a falsetto is wont to hear—so you'd think that he should've at least been getting some of that that Bon Iver run-off lovin', but I definitely don't remember that being the case around these parts at the time. Anyway.  This year, JVM has returned with Post Tropical. He still sorta sounds like Justin Vernon, but now he's shifted from the acoustic game to an ever-so-subtle r&b/soul sound and he pulls it off masterfully. His silky-smooth voice is the star here, melting the iciest of ambience and soaring high above the lush(iest?) melodic crescendos. 
Check out Cavalier, Gold, Red Dust, and, just for kicks, his cover of LDR's 'West Coast'

#9
Keaton Henson
Romantic Works
Oak Ten Records

Almost every year, there's a classical or neo-classical album that I latch onto and REALLY love (think: Max Richter, Johan Johannsson, et al). Thanks to Keaton Henson, this year is no different. He's better known for his folksy acoustic material from years gone by, but now he's jumped into the classical game and the result is nothing short of a masterpiece. The piano and string arrangements here are heartwrenchingly beautiful, and serve as a reminder of how powerful and emotional music can be.
I find the seventh track, Earnestly Yours, to be particularly moving. No matter how many times I hear it, I still get chills right around the 2:20 minute mark every single damn time. 
 

Check out Earnestly Yours, La Naissance, or the whole album.

#10
Lana Del Ray
Ultraviolence
Interscope Records

When I first heard—and enjoyed—this album back in June, I 100% assumed that it was just gonna be a passing phase. I had no prior interest in LDR's music or her silly gimmick, so it would just make sense that eeeeven if I liked this album for a hot minute, I'd quickly come to my senses and change my mind.  As you can see though, that scenario did not play itself out. It turns out that I might genuinely enjoy this album. Weird. Lyrically, it's SO schticky, but it has a weird, dark, California vibe that has really drawn me in. To my ears, a lot of these songs sound like they'd fit just as well in a James Bond movie as they would in a David Lynch film, and that's quite intriguing to me. 
I guess it's also worth mentioning that if you're planning to go do coke in some smoky sex club in the Valley, this should probably be your soundtrack. 

Listen to Ultraviolence, West Coast, and Cruel World

#11
Grouper
Ruins
kranky

I like structure in my life, and because of that, I constantly find myself assigning different types of music to different—and often very specific—moods and situations. For example, IMO you'd have no business listening to this album on a sunny afternoon or on a day when you're feeling happy about yourself, your life, the world around you, your cat, or anything really. If, however, you find yourself on a soul-searching walk through the woods in mid-January and it's overcast and it's foggy and it's cold and the whole forest is full of dead trees and fallen leaves rotting on the ground, this album deserves to be your soundtrack. Ruins is a minimalist, lo-fi, haunting, thought-provoking, sad, and above all, absolutely gorgeous album. Crickets chirp and frogs croak quietly in the background, there's some rain and thunder, and the muted vocals are so intricately intertwined with the somber piano melodies that you have to actively make an effort to truly listen if you want to have any chance at all of understanding what's being said. This is a bleak album, but sometimes, that's exactly what we need to hear.

Check out Clearing or the whole album. 

#12
Chuck Ragan
Till Midnight
Sideonedummy

I have a soft spot for singers who sound like (or are, I guess) Bruce Springsteen. There's just something about the gritty, gravelly vocal style that makes music feel—important. Not coincidentally, Chuck Ragan happens to sound like, you guessed it, Bruce Springsteen. Once upon a time, he was in a band called Hot Water Music that I never really cared about. Now, he does this uptempo alt-country type solo thing, which I care about quite a bit. I can confirm that this is a very nice driving around record, so if you have some traveling to do, Till Midnight might be something worth investigating.

Listen to You and I Alone, Vagabond, or the entire record. 

#13
Darkest Hour
Darkest Hour
Sumerian Records

Full disclosure: when the first few songs from this album were released, I really, really disliked them. There was so much super-clean singing and less-than-thrashy riffage and it was NOT the Darkest Hour that I wanted to hear. But, for some reason—maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment—I kept giving the album chance after chance, and eventually I started to really enjoy it. Now, I can't, with 100% certainty, tell you if I love it because it is actually good or it's just a product of repetition, but the end result remains the same either way. Today's DH isn't quite the same band that released So Sedated, So Secure or Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation, and I've come to realize that that's okay.

Check out The Misery We Make, Wasteland, and Lost For Life.

#14
Delta Spirit
Into The Wide
Dualtone Music

To put it quite simply, Into The Wide is a perfectly-crafted 2014 alternative rock record. There isn't much more I can really say about it. The songs were catchy to the point that they almost instantly sound like something I've heard before & immediately wanted to listen to again. If you're into Arcade Fire or The National or stuff sorta like that, you may be into these guys. Plus, they had a really great song on last year's Walking Dead soundtrack. 

Listen to Push It, Live On, and For My Enemy.

#15
Matthew & The Atlas
Other Rivers
Communion Records

I don't know a whole lot about Matthew & The Atlas. I know that "the band" is a fellow from the UK named Matthew Hegarty. I know that he's released a few EPs, but this is his first full length record. Based on other facts I've gathered from The Internet, it also seems as though Matthew and the Atlas rose to (some level of) popularity by touring with Mumford & Sons. Almost every album review I've read mentions that fact, so it must be true. My ears tell me that his older stuff sounded, for lack of a better term, Mumfordier, but now I detect more of a complex, atmospheric, Ben Howard (speaking of, check out his I Forget Where We Were album. It's good.) kinda vibe to it. I dunno. I really like it. 

Check out Pale Sun Rose, Nowhere Now, and Out Of The Darkness.

#16
Conor Oberst
Upside Down Mountain
Nonesuch Records

Personally, I think this is Conor's best work since 2005's (still) incredible I'm Wide Awake It's Morning Bright Eyes record–and I'm not just saying that because this album has more of the country/folky, classic Bright Eyes vibe than anything else he's done since. Wait. Actually, that's exactly why I'm saying it. If you ever enjoyed Bright Eyes back in the day & jumped off the Oberst bandwagon at some point (like when you "became an adult"), I think this album is a good reason to give him another shot; it just might surprise you.

Listen to Zigzagging Toward The Light, Hundreds Of Ways, and You Are Your Mother's Child.

#17
Mastodon
Once More 'Round The Sun
Reprise Records

This is a very good Mastodon record. If you like other Mastodon records, chances are that you will probably like this Mastodon record as well. In their recent releases, the band has taken a few steps towards a slightly more streamlined sound—sorta like a heavier, sludgier, but not-all-that-different-if-you-really-think-about-it QOTSA or Foo Fighters—and some folks may not be into that. I get it. BUT, even though they aren't as proggy & focused on a singular concept as they were in days gone by, their music is still heavy and awesome and I will always be excited to hear where they decide to go next.

Listen to the whole record.

#18
Anberlin
Lowborn
Tooth & Nail

For over 10 years now, Anberlin has been a fixture of my musical life. I was kinda into 2003's Blueprints For The Black Market, I was a lot more into '05's Never Take Friendship Personal, and once Cities was released in 2007, I was 100% on board. Over those 10+ years, they've evolved their sound a bit and gotten pretty deep with some of the subject matter, but they've always stayed true to what "Anberlin" came to be in my mind.Lowborn, however, is their final album. And sure, so many bands break up and go on farewell tours only to come back again in 3 years, and who knows if that'll be the case with these dudes, but for now, this is it. They had a really great run, and this record serves as a really great swan song for a really great band. Anberlin, you will be missed. 

Check out We Are Destroyer or the whole thing. 

#19
Old Crow Medicine Show
Remedy
ATO Records

The bluegrassening of my musical tastes continues into the top 20 of this list with OCMS's Remedy. LIYL: banjos, harmonicas, fiddles, stomping, Appalachia, farmers, suspenders, covers of old Dylan songs done better than Dylan could dream of doin' em, and words like "lordy" and "cussin." This is the band's 8th album, but it's the first one I've actually given the time of day, so I'd like to congratulate them on breaking through into my world. You've finally made it, guys. It's all happening. 

Listen to Sweet Amarillo, Tennessee Bound, and O Cumberland River.

#20
The Wind and The Wave
From The Wreckage
RCA Records

If there's a theme to this 2014 list, it's probably that I am into an absurd amount of bands that are very similar to this one, and I will not apologize for that.
 From The Wreckage is a hand-clappin', foot-stompin', indie-folkin' good time, and I cannot get enough. 

Check out: With Your Two Hands & From The Wreckage Build A Home

Killer Mike's great. El-P's great. RTJ's great. I'm not ready to anoint this as the most incredible record ever, but it's really good.
Check out Blockbuster Night Pt. 1 & Oh My Darling Don't Cry

This album just feels—southern. S&R is a husband & wife Americana/Roots rock duo. Each song is its own story, so listen to the lyrics closely. 
Listen to The Devil Is All Around & Evil

Copeland's return album (after 6ish years away) is the best of their career, and perhaps the most perfect record this band can make. 
Check out Disjointed & Erase.

Unearth have outdone themselves, because this album is metal as all fuck. Blastbeats and breakdowns and solos, oh my.
Hear The Swarm & Guards Of Contagion.

As evident by the gentleman dressed like a 19th century apothecary & sepia tones, this is a folk-country record. It's my musical wheelhouse. Listen to the whole thing.

This record is a step in a rock-ier direction for SoO, but I'm into it. The louder moments make the calm ones more meaningful.
Check out Shut In and Woke Up To The Light.

This is the excellent follow-up to 2012's The Lion's Roar. Doesn't have anything as great as Emmylou, but better as a whole, IMHO.
Check out My Silver Lining and Stay Gold.

Hazy, hip hoppy, chill electronica that sounds like it's straight outta the Mysterious Universe podcast. If you get that reference, I applaud you. Listen to the whole album.

TAOG is a double album/2 separate albums with the same name/whatever. It shreds, like errthang OMG does.
Listen to both halves here.

Lots of these songs were released on various EPs pre-2014, but I do not care.
<3 Chino Moreno <3
Check out The Epilogue & This Is A Trick

I think this is the most Interpolly Interpol album since 2004's Antics, so it stands to reason that it's also my favorite Interpol album since Antics as well.
All The Rage Back Home & My Desire

I got SUPER into rootsy country & bluegrass this year. One of the dudes I discovered was Cahalen Morrison. Check out 
Our Love Is Like A Hurricane &
Over and Over and Over Again

He released a few records and I couldn't decide which I liked more, so, as you can see,  they both made the list.
Listen to the whole album.

I never listened to Wye Oak before this, but the 'net whined re: a change in sound from guitars to bass/drums/synths. F the haters.
Here's Before and Glory.

This is ETID's 7th (whoa!) LP, and it harkens back to the chaotic, raw feel of their earlier jams. One of their best albums to date.
Rock out to the whole thang.

I came across this while falling down a James Blake "related artists" rabbit hole. The comparison's a fair one. Synthy & bleak.
Check out the entire album.

Finally, a band from Athens, GA w/ potential to make something of themselves. Warm, familiar, poppy, folky indie rock. Muy bueno.
Listen to the whole EP.

When a legendary thrash band reunites to release their first record in almost 20 years, that shit better be rad. Spoiler: it is.
The title track & Death and the Labrynth.

This is (mostly) a remix album of FLA's great 2013 offering, Echogenetic. It still sounds like fall, so I still love it. 
Listen to all of it, if you'd like. 

Despite being Canadian, the Brothers Barr do the folksy, quasi-Americana thing really well. They even have a harpist. A HARPIST!
Listen to Love Ain't Enough & Half Crazy

This record marks Richard D. James' long-awaited return to music-making & does not disappoint. Some of his best stuff IMHO.
Absorb the entirety of this album here.

At one point, WITTR was basically a black metal band. Now, they're doing this weird synth-heavy post rock deal and I'm so into it.
Celestite Mirror & Bridge of Leaves

Broods kinda reminds me of Chvrches and will probably remind you of Chvrches, too. That's okay though. It's why I like it.
Listen to Never Gonna Change or Bridges.

This is the "stripped down" and "so much better" version of MO's other album this year, Cope. I mean, Cope is fine, but this is great.
Come for Top Notch, stay for the whole thing.

Weird that Bon Iver's buddy would make  music that's relaxing, beautifully textured, and aurally pleasing. 
Watch these: Crown The Pines & Fire-scene. 

"Dallas Green and Pink, together at last!" 
 said nobody probably, but their voices work well together & the album is sehr gut.
Here's You and Me & Break the Cycle.

Chilled-out synthy trip-hoppy glitchy poppy electronica stuff that's tough to accurately identify, but easy on the ears.
Listen to the entire album.

Comfortable, folksy, sun-drenched, acoustic-heavy jams.
Perfect for an autumn afternoon!
Check out Lucia & Mahogany Dread

I'm generally not a huge rap guy, but this album got—and kept—my attention.
This guy is super talented.
Listen to the whole album.

Sludgy, grindy, and heavy as hell Kurt Ballou-produced hardcore.
My advice? Listen while angry.
Check out the entire album.