10. TV On the Radio
Seeds
Following the 2011 death of bassist Gerard Smith, one might think TV On the Radio would take a solemn turn, or maybe even collapse altogether. Most groups can't handle as big a loss as Smith and maintain. Instead, TVOtR did the most surprising thing: they plugged away in the studio for three years and created the most life-affirming album in their repertoire. Seeds is the natural road for the band to take, sonically--more focused on electronics and pop than experimentalism and detuned guitars that highlighted their early work. In the face of sorrow, TVOtR stood defiant in their uncompromising optimism. The world is ugly, but you are beautiful; that has always been their message.
"Happy Idiot"
"Careful You"
"Quartz"
9. Perfume Genius
Too Bright
When Too Bright begins, one could not be blamed for thinking, "great, another Perfume Genius production where a guy sits behind a piano and complains--whimsically--about the most esoteric stuff," I know I did. How very wrong that thought is. Apart from standout single, "Queen," which may be the prettiest pop song ever written, Too Bright arranges Perfume Genius' typical piano movements around surprisingly experimental electronica. Mike Hadreas' haunting voice is made even more so with a backing of sumptuous production and hard-hitting technical additions. Too Bright has more heft, more feeling, and more crunch than any other baroque-pop artist would deign to give. The interspersed piano ballads give the entire project an emotional weight, and the contrast in sound is both startling and supremely beautiful.
"Queen"
"Grid"
"Longpig"
Following the 2011 death of bassist Gerard Smith, one might think TV On the Radio would take a solemn turn, or maybe even collapse altogether. Most groups can't handle as big a loss as Smith and maintain. Instead, TVOtR did the most surprising thing: they plugged away in the studio for three years and created the most life-affirming album in their repertoire. Seeds is the natural road for the band to take, sonically--more focused on electronics and pop than experimentalism and detuned guitars that highlighted their early work. In the face of sorrow, TVOtR stood defiant in their uncompromising optimism. The world is ugly, but you are beautiful; that has always been their message.
"Happy Idiot"
"Careful You"
"Quartz"
9. Perfume Genius
Too Bright
When Too Bright begins, one could not be blamed for thinking, "great, another Perfume Genius production where a guy sits behind a piano and complains--whimsically--about the most esoteric stuff," I know I did. How very wrong that thought is. Apart from standout single, "Queen," which may be the prettiest pop song ever written, Too Bright arranges Perfume Genius' typical piano movements around surprisingly experimental electronica. Mike Hadreas' haunting voice is made even more so with a backing of sumptuous production and hard-hitting technical additions. Too Bright has more heft, more feeling, and more crunch than any other baroque-pop artist would deign to give. The interspersed piano ballads give the entire project an emotional weight, and the contrast in sound is both startling and supremely beautiful.
"Queen"
"Grid"
"Longpig"
8. A Sunny Day in Glasgow
Sea When Absent
Behind the swirling guitars, shoegaze noise, and washed out vocals, A Sunny Day in Glasgow has a secret...they are an early-90's pop band. They didn't think you would notice their Cranberries-style lyrics or their Savage Garden sentimentality; they wanted you to think "My Bloody Valentine," not "Deee-Lite." But that is what makes Sea When Absent so brilliant. The album starts with a crash of noise, but slowly devolves into a louder-than-normal pop. The songs hint on the edge of experimental, but do so without stranding the listener in a land of unfamiliar and frightening sound. Sunny Day are experts at making sure you stick around for just one more song, and then, well, maybe just one more. They give you the rush of a guilty pleasure while still making you feel superior to anyone who hasn't heard of them. Obviously, their loudest songs are also the standouts, but the melodic love songs, highlighted by intense beats and smart musical choices, give a reprieve from the din that comes a previously-unknown much needed relief.
"Bye Bye, Big Ocean (The End)"
"In Love with Useless (The Timeless Geometry in the Tradition of Passing)"
"Boys Turn Into Girls (Initiation Rites)"
7. Caribou
Our Love
Caribou has come to represent consistency, each album builds on similar sounds with similar crescendos. But don't let "consistency" make you think Dan Snaith's minimalist techno is anything other than "consistently amazing." Our Love is the only album from this list not to have a song in the companion "Top 20 Songs of 2014" list, and this has everything to do with how the album is constructed. Each piece is linked to every song around it. To play Our Love one song at a time, out of order, would be to look at individual pixels on a Picasso at random. To hear the complete sound, you must listen to it entirely. The production is near-perfect, and despite being much slower than 2010's Swim, Caribou is able to make every moment or Our Love as essential as the last.
"Can't Do Without You"
"Silver"
"Your Love Will Set You Free"
6. EMA
The Future's Void
For an album about the death of society at the hands of technology, The Future's Void is surprisingly upbeat: the "we can do this" attitude of opener "Satellites," the lighthearted guitar-and-drum of "So Blonde" and "When She Comes," even the heavy middle section has moments where the vocals and noise become almost Gregorian. EMA is masterful at crafting songs that immerse you entirely in the post-apocalyptic universe defining her sophomore effort. Every sound is precisely chosen to accent the melody--and melancholy--of each line, the music perfectly highlighting the vocals, and vice versa. You couldn't be blamed if, after listening, you wanted to see the world pictured in the lyrics...or, well, at least a movie about it. The themes deal with loss of identity, perfectionism-turned-depression, the heavy price of fame, and celebrity obsession, in a way that no other rocker has attempted. EMA beckons you to join her in a dystopian hell-scape, but one wherein anyone can be anything they desire and all your dreams come true. Will you dive in?
"So Blonde"
"Smoulder"
"When She Comes"
5. Future Islands
Caribou has come to represent consistency, each album builds on similar sounds with similar crescendos. But don't let "consistency" make you think Dan Snaith's minimalist techno is anything other than "consistently amazing." Our Love is the only album from this list not to have a song in the companion "Top 20 Songs of 2014" list, and this has everything to do with how the album is constructed. Each piece is linked to every song around it. To play Our Love one song at a time, out of order, would be to look at individual pixels on a Picasso at random. To hear the complete sound, you must listen to it entirely. The production is near-perfect, and despite being much slower than 2010's Swim, Caribou is able to make every moment or Our Love as essential as the last.
"Can't Do Without You"
"Silver"
"Your Love Will Set You Free"
6. EMA
For an album about the death of society at the hands of technology, The Future's Void is surprisingly upbeat: the "we can do this" attitude of opener "Satellites," the lighthearted guitar-and-drum of "So Blonde" and "When She Comes," even the heavy middle section has moments where the vocals and noise become almost Gregorian. EMA is masterful at crafting songs that immerse you entirely in the post-apocalyptic universe defining her sophomore effort. Every sound is precisely chosen to accent the melody--and melancholy--of each line, the music perfectly highlighting the vocals, and vice versa. You couldn't be blamed if, after listening, you wanted to see the world pictured in the lyrics...or, well, at least a movie about it. The themes deal with loss of identity, perfectionism-turned-depression, the heavy price of fame, and celebrity obsession, in a way that no other rocker has attempted. EMA beckons you to join her in a dystopian hell-scape, but one wherein anyone can be anything they desire and all your dreams come true. Will you dive in?
"So Blonde"
"Smoulder"
"When She Comes"
5. Future Islands
Singles
Future Islands have spent the last few years perfecting their sound, their art, to a concise electro-pop that hits you with a sucker punch right in the feels. Their emotionally charged lyrics and dripping keyboards are made specifically to target that girl whose window you hold the boombox to. What so many sappy 80's and early 90's hair bands failed to do accidentally, this group from Baltimore has narrowed down to an exact science, with every note honed to target the most sentimental spot in your brain. Sure, many of their upbeat, dancey tunes about love, breakups, and the beauty of a life with children and your soulmate are corny and clichéd, but damn if we didn't need them this year. Singles is the ultimate pick-me-up, but without sounding tired, or too much like a shady motivational speaker. Andrew WK they are not, but you'll leave your experience with Future Islands feeling just as empowered and inspired to go and live your best life to the fullest. I'm not sure there's a better compliment for a pop album that can be given.
"Seasons (Waiting On You)"
"Back in the Tall Grass"
"Fall from Grace"
Future Islands have spent the last few years perfecting their sound, their art, to a concise electro-pop that hits you with a sucker punch right in the feels. Their emotionally charged lyrics and dripping keyboards are made specifically to target that girl whose window you hold the boombox to. What so many sappy 80's and early 90's hair bands failed to do accidentally, this group from Baltimore has narrowed down to an exact science, with every note honed to target the most sentimental spot in your brain. Sure, many of their upbeat, dancey tunes about love, breakups, and the beauty of a life with children and your soulmate are corny and clichéd, but damn if we didn't need them this year. Singles is the ultimate pick-me-up, but without sounding tired, or too much like a shady motivational speaker. Andrew WK they are not, but you'll leave your experience with Future Islands feeling just as empowered and inspired to go and live your best life to the fullest. I'm not sure there's a better compliment for a pop album that can be given.
"Seasons (Waiting On You)"
"Back in the Tall Grass"
"Fall from Grace"
4. Protomartyr
Under Color of Official Right
If you were an unorthodox person, and went to listen to Protomartyr's sophomore effort on YouTube as a single video, the first suggestion on the right-side pane is Joy Division's magnum opus, Closer, also in full. A greater comparison cannot be made, nor a greater compliment be paid. What that 1980 album, released days after lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide, did so well was create a solemn mood that forbade the disaster that would later befall the group. The oppressive production and sludge performance enters your bones when you listen, the feeling of an undue, heavy burden cannot be shaken and invades your soul. This was done all while writing the best rock music to come out of the post-punk camp, a camp Joy Division basically started. Obviously, we hope the same fate does not follow Protomartyr, but their continuation where Joy Division left off, 34 years later, is the greatest post-punk sound you will hear from anyone in that time. Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Fall, Gang of Four, Television, none of them could compare to their predecessor, and with Under Color of Official Right, their descendants have bested them all.
"Ain't So Simple"
"Pagans"
"Scum, Rise!"
If you were an unorthodox person, and went to listen to Protomartyr's sophomore effort on YouTube as a single video, the first suggestion on the right-side pane is Joy Division's magnum opus, Closer, also in full. A greater comparison cannot be made, nor a greater compliment be paid. What that 1980 album, released days after lead singer Ian Curtis committed suicide, did so well was create a solemn mood that forbade the disaster that would later befall the group. The oppressive production and sludge performance enters your bones when you listen, the feeling of an undue, heavy burden cannot be shaken and invades your soul. This was done all while writing the best rock music to come out of the post-punk camp, a camp Joy Division basically started. Obviously, we hope the same fate does not follow Protomartyr, but their continuation where Joy Division left off, 34 years later, is the greatest post-punk sound you will hear from anyone in that time. Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Fall, Gang of Four, Television, none of them could compare to their predecessor, and with Under Color of Official Right, their descendants have bested them all.
"Ain't So Simple"
"Pagans"
"Scum, Rise!"
3. Swans
To Be Kind
To try and talk about Swans is like trying to explain what you saw when you touched the Prothean beacon. The music is indecipherable, the lyrics nonsensical. But when the main groove hits, it's like listening to a primal urge, something that propels you forward from a reptilian part of your brain left over after a billion years of evolution. To listen to To Be Kind is to be immersed in the sound of the Old Ones, an ancient language that predates the primeval, spoken by a species that lives outside of time. As the album moves from one long ode to the next, you are mesmerized by the rhythms, so simple in their construction, yet so masterful in execution as to utterly entrance you. Beware, once you start listening to To Be Kind, you will immediately wake from a fugue having lost two hours. Realizing this immense leap forward in time, you will see the album has ended. Did...did you listen to all of it? Is this some hyper-real reverie from which there is no waking? Indeed it is time, we have all laid aside disguise but you.
"A Little God in My Hands"
"She Loves Us"
"Oxygen"
To try and talk about Swans is like trying to explain what you saw when you touched the Prothean beacon. The music is indecipherable, the lyrics nonsensical. But when the main groove hits, it's like listening to a primal urge, something that propels you forward from a reptilian part of your brain left over after a billion years of evolution. To listen to To Be Kind is to be immersed in the sound of the Old Ones, an ancient language that predates the primeval, spoken by a species that lives outside of time. As the album moves from one long ode to the next, you are mesmerized by the rhythms, so simple in their construction, yet so masterful in execution as to utterly entrance you. Beware, once you start listening to To Be Kind, you will immediately wake from a fugue having lost two hours. Realizing this immense leap forward in time, you will see the album has ended. Did...did you listen to all of it? Is this some hyper-real reverie from which there is no waking? Indeed it is time, we have all laid aside disguise but you.
"A Little God in My Hands"
"She Loves Us"
"Oxygen"
2. Run the Jewels
Never before have I heard such an amazingly glorious coincidence of timing. Run the Jewels second effort is perfectly positioned in its release to become the soundtrack of the demystified masses protesting in the streets of America. No matter what side of those arguments you are on (and there are many), RtJ2 is the thing you need to listen to. It will either prove your point or provide you with inspiration. El-P's beats are massive and Killer Mike's rap is (forgive the Chappelle reference) spitting hot fire. A vocal-only version of this album would give you second-degree sunburn; the instrumental version will drown you in a crushing wave. I don't have the vocabulary to accurately describe hip-hop, but there's not really a need for words here. A single listen and you will understand why this is the best you've heard. Run the Jewels are professorial in their delivery, teaching everyone else in the genre how rap is supposed to sound.
"Oh My Darling Don't Cry"
"Blockbuster Night Part 1"
"Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)"
1. St. Vincent
St. Vincent
If you have followed Annie Clark from the start of her solo career, you were slowly wowed as she added layer upon layer of complexity to her early, emotional, acousitic folk, then stripped away any excess, creating a tight, electro-pop that does nothing less than inspire awe. If you're arriving here straight from 2007's Marry Me, welcome to the future! Did you think that St. Vincent would be deified rock goddess when you left? If nothing else, you have the album cover to confirm my statements, as she sits in all her Jonestown-via-Jodorowsky-ian glory. Fear not, time traveler, for Annie Clark is just as weird and independent as you remember, she just writes music that is much more thought-provoking and scratchy on the ears. If anything, the juxtaposition you are experiencing is a glorious haze of synthetic sounds and manufactured beats that create a surreal fantasy beyond the imaging of any St. Vincent fan from your time. If you take nothing else away from your time in the future, at least remember that in 2014, Annie Clark's St. Vincnet is the standard by which all pop albums are now measured. She has topped charts, award nomination lists, album-of-the-year lists (like the one you're reading now), and the hearts of a great legion of fans. In the musical world of this decade, all bow before the great St. Vincent, for her music is of a most divine origin.
"Rattlesnake"
"Birth in Reverse"
"Digital Witness"
"Regret"
"Psychopath"
________________________________________________________________________________
See this year's other lists... Top 20 Songs of 2014 Top 10 Movies of the Decade (So Far) Top 25 Albums of the Decade (So Far)
If you have followed Annie Clark from the start of her solo career, you were slowly wowed as she added layer upon layer of complexity to her early, emotional, acousitic folk, then stripped away any excess, creating a tight, electro-pop that does nothing less than inspire awe. If you're arriving here straight from 2007's Marry Me, welcome to the future! Did you think that St. Vincent would be deified rock goddess when you left? If nothing else, you have the album cover to confirm my statements, as she sits in all her Jonestown-via-Jodorowsky-ian glory. Fear not, time traveler, for Annie Clark is just as weird and independent as you remember, she just writes music that is much more thought-provoking and scratchy on the ears. If anything, the juxtaposition you are experiencing is a glorious haze of synthetic sounds and manufactured beats that create a surreal fantasy beyond the imaging of any St. Vincent fan from your time. If you take nothing else away from your time in the future, at least remember that in 2014, Annie Clark's St. Vincnet is the standard by which all pop albums are now measured. She has topped charts, award nomination lists, album-of-the-year lists (like the one you're reading now), and the hearts of a great legion of fans. In the musical world of this decade, all bow before the great St. Vincent, for her music is of a most divine origin.
"Rattlesnake"
"Birth in Reverse"
"Digital Witness"
"Regret"
"Psychopath"
________________________________________________________________________________
See this year's other lists... Top 20 Songs of 2014 Top 10 Movies of the Decade (So Far) Top 25 Albums of the Decade (So Far)
