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I think most people we speak to seem to agree this has been one hell of a year for music – and we like to think our complete albums of the year list backs that up. We’ll save much in the way of deep analysis till the whole list’s been published, but a quick word about how this list was compiled.
For the first time in our history this isn’t just an editors’ list. We’ve enlisted the help of as many of our writers as were up for it and the following list includes at least the two favourite albums of almost forty of them. Those albums have been bolstered by picks from the four editors; John Robb, Phil Newall, Sarah Lay and Guy Manchester.
So that’s one reason why the list is 200 long! Which we accept is quite a lot. The other is that we try to keep our list as cross-genre as possible. They may not all of them be the the albums we’ve played the most this year, but we think this is the only place you can find the best folk album released this year next to the best black metal album, say, or the best drone album next to the best rap album, the best reggae album next to the best indie-pop album, the best jazz album of the year next to the best punk album and… well, we could carry on but you’ll have gotten the picture by now.
If you want to skip ahead you can find the second part of the list, albums 100 – 51, here and the final countdown from 50 – 1 here. Feel free to shout at us if you think we’ve called something wrong and let us know what you would have included! You can do that either in the comment section below, or on our social media channels: Facebook and twitter: @louderthanwar. Use of the hashtag #LTWAOTY is optional.
200. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Wanderlust
199. Dereconstructed – Lee BainsIII and the Glory Fires
198. AJ Davila y Terror Amor – Beibi
197. Risaikuru – Longstone
196. Stiff Little Fingers – No Going Back
195. Robert Plant – Lullaby….and The Ceaseless Roar
194. Gogo Penguin – v2.0
193. Tobacco – Ultima II Massage
192. Mark Chadwick – Moment
Solo album from the Levellers front-man which brings his distinctive vocal to a compelling set of tracks.
191. Tim Wheeler – Lost Domain
At times a difficult listen this highly personal solo album from Ash frontman Tim Wheeler is a glorious but incredibly personal and honest retrospection on his father’s dementia and the last times they spent together. There are the big chorus’ you’d expect from Wheeler but also lush arrangements.
190. The Third Round – The Third Round
The debut album from one of the band’s we tipped to watch this year and we weren’t disappointed by this taut indie album. In her review Sarah Lay said:
“As we get down to the bottom of the album things start to get really interesting. Penultimate track This Is Not Where We Fell In Love remains languid in delivery, the bright tones still present melodically but in every other way this is an angry young man’s song. Lyrically this is their Elizabeth, My Dear with apathy rather than anger toward the monarchy and seething disillusionment with current culture, cynicism about anything other than a broken future. Yes, it’s rather pleasing to find that what could easily be passed off on first listen as standard fare is in fact a downcry of modern life.”
189. Cerebral Ballzy – Jaded and Faded
188. Greys – If Anything
187. Colorama – Temari
186. Luke Haines – New York in the 70’s
185. Run the Jewels – RTJ2
184. Blank Realm – Grassed Inn
Second album from Brisbane band Blank Realm was packed with wonderfully weird pop tracks. In her review Sarah Lay said: “This is the experimental end of the wonky pop spectrum but by god it sounds great. You get a real sense on this record that this is a band that asks ‘what noise can we make with that?’ more often than not. The answer, of course, being ‘a bloody great one’.”
183. Dean Wareham – Dean Wareham
The debut solo album from Galaxie 500 and Luna man Dean Wareham came out on the wonderful Sonic Cathedral back in March. It was exactly the sort of twinkling indiepop you’d expect from the veteran but that’s not to say it was predictable.
182. Peggy Sue – Choir of Echoes
A mix of indiepop, folk and choral harmonies Peggy Sue’s latest album was a sumptuous foot-tapper. In her review Sarah Lay said: “Choir of Echoes is an album of love, sweetly sung and mixing the best melodies of folk, indie and choral pop. An album to shine a summer’s light into the depths of winter; a gorgeous lush offering from a band growing better by the album.”
181. The Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo) – The Both
180. Shabazz Palaces – Lese Majesty
179. Oozing Wound – Earth Suck
178. Lorelle Meets the Obsolete – Chambers
177. Band of Holy Joy – Easy Listening
176. Hanggai – Baifang
175. True Neutral Crew – #POPPUNK
174. Like Swimming – Structures
173. Hollie Cook – Twice
172. Martha – Courting Strong
171. Real Estate – Atlas
170. Goat – Commune
169. Gazelle Twin – Anti Body
168. Minus the Bear – Lost Loves
167. Thom Yorke – Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes
166. Thurston Moore – The Best Day
165. Pixies – Indie Cindy
164. Brian Jonestown Massacre – Revelation
163. Patterns – Waking Lines
162. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – Atomos
161. Backtrack – Lost In Life
160. Drive By Truckers – English Oceans
159. Linda Perhacs – The Soul Of All Natural Things
158. The Vacant Lots – Departures
157. Hauschka – Abandoned City
156. LostAlone – Shape of Screams
155. Joseph Coward – The World Famous Joseph Coward
154. J. Mascis – Tied to a Star
153. Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else
152. First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
151. Pariso / Svalbard – Pariso / Svalbard Split
150. Matt Watson – Grounded
149. The Both (Aimee Mann & Ted Leo) – The Both
148. Sunn O))) & Ulver – Terrestrials
147. Glass Animals – Zaba
146. Lee Perry – Back on the Controls
145. Robert Wyatt – Different Every Time
144. Vic Godard – 1979 NOW!
143. Naram – March of Gremlins
142. Roy Moller – One Domino
141. Lisa Gerrard – Twilight Kingdom
140. Dirtmusic – Lion City
139. Vessel – Punish Honey
138. James – La Petite Mort
137. Full Of Hell & Merzbow – Full Of Hell & Merzbow
136. Superfood – Don’t Say That
135. Big Ups – Eighteen Hours of Static
134. White Fence – For The Recently Found Innocent
133. Biscuit Mouth – Doing It Right and Doing It Well
The second album from Derby duo Biscuit Mouth deserves a wider audience and more than earns its place on our end of year list. When they released Roll Into the Dancer ahead of the album Sarah Lay wrote: “It’s sub-three-minute primal screeching of irregular beats; lyrics projectile howled over sparse melody.Over a kick-to-the-ribs riff the vocal manages to sound both feral and jubilant in one holler.”
132. Polar Bear – In Each And Every One
131. Women’s Hour – Conversations
130. Lana Del Ray – Ultraviolence
129. Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues
128. Vashti Bunyan – Heartleap
127. Arca – Xen
126. Martin Carr – The Breaks
125. Luke Saxton – Sunny Sadness
124. You Blew It! – Keep Doing What You’re Doing
Not only did we get this album of sweet melodic hardcore (anyone else notice that genre making a resurgence of late?) but we also got their EP of Weezer Blue Album covers. Good work in 2014 from the Florida band.
123. Charli XCX – Sucker
We’ve been a bit naughty including Charli XCX as Sucker isn’t officially released in the UK until January but we love her electro-pop so much we broke our own rules, and took it from the US drop which happens in December.
122. Hatcham Social – Cutting Up the Present Leaks Out the Past
The third long player from Hatcham Social is arguably their best as the band mature their sound and become confident in the delivery. Reviewing Sarah Lay said: “These songs have been haunting the edges of my mind since I first heard them at Kendal Calling last summer. Stood in front of the stage that day was one of those unexpected moments of revelation where a band goes from good to great in the passage of one album.”
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121. Toumani & Sidiki Diabate – Toumani & Sidiki Diabate
120. Hospitality – Trouble
The second album from Brooklyn band Hospitality was one which worked its way deep into our brains and didn’t let go. In her album review Sarah Lay said: “I’ve been waking up with a phrase cutting through my sleep-fuzzed mind: ‘Valentino, I don’t need you. Leave a message. Leave it out to dry.’ It goes round and round as I move through the motions of my morning routine. This line, like the rest of Trouble, has worked it’s way into my mind and is soothingly mischievous as the synapses snap.”
119. Nisennenmondai – N
118. Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams
117. Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey – Going Back Home
116. Ed Harcourt – Time of Dust
A mini-album from Ed released early in the year and full of the gothic pop we’ve come to love from the man. We said: “Time of Dust is mature songwriting of the very best – a skilful structure of light and dark, melodic and lyrical surprises to confound and delight. It’s filled with his trademark dusky melancholia and the wonderfully building orchestration just adds to the potency of his take on pop. But there is also the simplicity of lyric, the human condition laid bare; an articulation of love and life gleaming and breathtakingly sharp.”
115. clipping. – CLPPNG
114. My Psychoanalyst – Choreomania
113. Jamie T – Carry on the grudge
112. Gwenno – Y Dydd Olaf
111. Odonis Odonis – Hard Boiled, Soft boiled
110. Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
109. Flamingods – Hyperborea
108. Jack White – Lazaretto
107. Dead Fader – Blood Forest / Scorched
106. McBusted – McBusted
Yeah, we know this will annoy a load of you and there is a chance it is just six blokes making an album of them playing Guitar Hero but on the face of it this is a ridiculously fun album of punk-pop. Sarah Lay wrote: “This is most definitely on the pop side of the punk-pop tracks but it’s a set of songs so absurdly catchy, and lyrics so brazen in their referencing of popular culture that it leaves a big goofy grin on the face. Music can (and should be) fun sometimes – McBusted are showing us all exactly how that’s done with an album that may start as a one night stand and end up being a collection of songs you unwittingly, but wonderfully, fall into a light-hearted relationship with.”
104. The Rentals – Lost in Alphaville
103. Bass Clef — ‘Acid Tracts
102. Knifeworld – The Unravelling
101. The Amazing Snakeheads – Amphetamine Ballads
Part two of this list, albums 100 – 51, can be found here. Alternatively just skip straight to our top 50 albums of 2014.
Feel free to shout at us if you think we’ve called something wrong and let us know what you would have included! You can do that either in the comment section below, or on our social media channels: Facebook and twitter: @louderthanwar. Use of the hashtag #LTWAOTY is optional.
