2014 has been a strange year for music. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was precisely about the last 12 months that I found strange. In the main, I struggled to connect with many of the albums. There seemed to be more and more music released that was overly cerebral, pointlessly abrasive, and coldly clinical – style over substance to the extreme. I failed to find much with what I would loosely and completely inadequately describe as soul. To put it another way, there were few LPs that I felt I connected with, more often I felt like a distant observer. And then there were these 16 albums…
2014 Albums of the Year
Caribou – Our Love
How To Dress Well – What Is This Heart?
Bing & Ruth – Tomorrow Was the Golden Age
Metronomy – Love Letters
Micah P. Hinson & the Nothing – Micah P. Hinson & the Nothing
R. Seiliog – In HZ
East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
“What most impresses about Doyle’s East India Youth debut is its cohesion and how effortlessly it flows. It is rare to experience an album that feels like a complete entity and not because it is one dimensional either. As the static settles and silence returns to the room, you are left in no doubt that Doyle has managed to pull off something rather special.”
Full review here
Sun Kil Moon – Benji
Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Ought – More Than Any Other Day
Clipping – CLPPNG
Pure X – Angel
Gleemer – Holyland USA
Buy it from here
Grouper – Ruins
King of Cats – Working Out
Fog Lake – Virgo Indigo
Bill Callahan – Have Fun With God
For more end of year reviews check out the best albums of 2015.
