[Shaun]

[Benjamin]

Stay Gold at #32


but /sob at their album cover missing

[Daniel.]

Originally Posted by Shaun

#33 - "Ultraviolence" - Lana del Rey
Well, it's every bit as good as Born to Die, really.

This is a huge lie

Born to Fie is one of the best albums of the decade

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

shut up

[Shaun]

#30 - "Wanted on Voyage" - George Ezra
More than two good singles, I was surprised to find. Let's hope he beats Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran at the BRITS next week (this is highly unlikely but oh well).


#29 - "Blue" - iamamiwhoami
You know, writing her name is getting to be a real chore. The album has a few pretensions too but is largely quite 'epic' and imaginative and exciting.


#28 - "Taiga" - Zola Jesus
I think I mentioned somewhere in the song countdown that this record had been a little bit imperfect and made me yearn for another Stridulum (either one) - but you can't really go wrong with this and were you to approach me in the street and say "I bought Taiga because you placed it in this countdown thing you did a few years ago" I'd probably smile and if you instead said "hey, you said Taiga was the 28th best album of 2014, but it really disappointed me and I'd say it was 59th at best" then I'd probably politely laugh and think you may be right.


#27 - "Impressions" - Music Go Music
I know the album sleeve is really not going to lure anyone into this pretty-unknown band but really, I implore you: if you like fun happy disco-ish pop you shall love them. (But get Expressions first).


#26 - "Junto" - Basement Jaxx
Their albums tend to be an assortment of hits lost in a blur of noise for me so - whilst having no hits at all this time around was deeply upsetting and the last of my childhood dance artists to tumble down into pop irrelevance - a cohesive and wildly weird theme throughout Junto was a nice surprise.


#25 - "Our Love" - Caribou
I'll be honest: I've only heard it once and I'm not even sure I'll ever listen to it again, but we'll always have 3am a few days after Christmas, etc. etc...


#24 - "Post Tropical" - James Vincent McMorrow
On the other hand, at the very start of the year, this was one of the few albums that could coax me back into the whole "reviewing albums because I want to and not because I feel like I should" business. His voice is beautiful.


#23 - "Food" - Kelis
Yeah, OK, it wasn't anywhere near as fun as Flesh Tone, and it was always destined to flop, but sod everything because this was groovy as ****.


#22 - "Sucker" - Charli XCX
"But Shaun!" you scream and grab me by the lapel of a thing with lapels that I might be wearing at the time, "this didn't come out until today!" Well, indeed, but leaks alone (and preposterously earlier transatlantic release dates) managed to force this into my list. A few words about the actual album? Uh, it's sort of like Gwen Stefani meets Republica and doesn't really do away with the stupid annoying bits, but she's on top form, like Tragic Kingdom-era songwriting-form, so it works.


#21 - "Clark" - Clark
So so so so good, like the Drive soundtrack fed through the mind of John Grant.

[Shaun]

#20 - "Seeds" - TV on the Radio
I should love them more, really, they've never made a bad album and every single one has been super-groovy and strong


#19 - "Singles" - Future Islands
So nothing on the album quite lives up to the majestic wondrousness of Seasons (the very start of the album as well) but that's fine because nothing in this world does. The album feels like the album Foster the People should've made this year.


#18 - "Present Tense" - Wild Beasts
ugh i forgot how awful that artwork is. The album is anything but. If you don't know their music yet (understandable - I don't condone it but I'll let you live) then picture that bloke from Antony and the Johnsons filming himself doing Kate Bush covers. Doesn't that sound wonderful?


#17 - "Sound of a Woman" - Kiesza
If I'm being honest, when Hideaway dropped and became the phenomenon it was, I had about a 98% level of certainty it'd be a one-off and the rest of her material to come would either be derivative of the same tune or lacking in any at all. What was delivered was an album without any filler, and a heck of a lot of infectious songwriting, 80s Madonna vibes and a piano cover of Haddaway, so everyone wins.


#16 - "1989" - Taylor Swift
It's difficult trying to pinpoint this as the year that Taylor Swift got everything right and became the justified current queen of pop that she is, because every other album cycle after the bland-country nonsense has been full of the same fun, irreverent pop glory. But I think her venture into electropop - even if a single was alike enough to probably justify a CHVRCHES lawsuit - was her best yet.


#15 - "I Never Learn" - Lykke Li
Probably the most underrated musician of recent times in terms of consistent excellent output in ratio to her success and online adoration. Let's all resolve to 'stan' for her next year and afterwards.


#14 - "Atlas" - Real Estate
Probably the most serene album of the year and full of all of these gorgeous, picturesque riffs and a just all-encompassing 'mellow'.


#13 - "Royal Blood" - Royal Blood
It is so far the only album from last year that I have bought on CD, so... I don't think I need to explain them, they had a pretty good spin campaign right?


#12 - "Here and Nowhere Else" - Cloud Nothings
yes yes yes


#11 - "Little Red" - Katy B
I know we're only two albums into her career but I feel safe enough in the knowledge that Katy B is the best thing to come from Britain since whippy ice cream.

[Shaun]

right let's get this over with

[Shaun]

#10 - "Lost in the Dream" - The War on Drugs
It's sort of like a series of Joni Mitchell songs covered by Bob Dylan in the style of Bruce Springsteen. Just excellence all around and a heartwarming album.

[Shaun]

#9 - "Love Letters" - Metronomy
I don't think The English Riviera (a slightly superior record to this) even made it into my top ten way back in 2012 but that's really just proof that 2014 was a tragically sub-par year for albums in general. This was a great mixed bag of Motown, spaced-out lyrics and a strong whiff of Giorgio Moroder.

[Shaun]

#8 - "Too Bright" - Perfume Genius
I will always have time for this wonderful man

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

yaaas love letters *my handbag drops to the floor as i jump up and down excitedly. a bag of coke falls out. i am using again*

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

is this dramatic enough

[Shaun]

#7 - "So Long, See You Tomorrow" - Bombay Bicycle Club
Their best record yet by an achingly long margin; I really didn't expect too much from this, just a couple of nice singles like with I Had the Blues but I Shook them Loose, really.

[Shaun]

it will do!!!!

#6 - "Pom Pom" - Ariel Pink
Again, still not quite good enough to live up to the self-titled Haunted Graffiti record, but I think it just about trumps Mature Themes. The silly 'commercial gimmick's aside, it's a fantastic and fun album

[Shaun]

#5 - "Tough Love" - Jessie Ware
This basically took the framework from her debut album - an ear for great songwriting and a heck of a lot of emotional delivery - and matched it with a deeper, more satisfying theme.

[Shaun]

#4 - "Broke With Expensive Taste" - Azealia Banks
She's still a disappointing cunt but hey ho, musicians are people too. This was a very very kind surprise - not that it surfaced at all, but that too - that it turned out to be a really ****ing strong, consistent, sick album.

[Shaun]

#3 - "Trouble in Paradise" - La Roux
Just a perfect (in a "not literally perfect" way) album. I think I loved it so much just because their debut was so long ago and so mediocre.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

[Shaun]

#2 - "Run the Jewels 2" - Run the Jewels
I am sf glad I bought the hype and gave this a listen because it's the first hip hop album since Kendrick's that really wowed me and made me excited to try and take it all in.

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

yaas @ the #1

[Shaun]

#1 - "LP 1" - FKA twigs
Well, duh. It's called LP1. Just gets everything right: sexy, angry, upsetting, jealous, delirious emotions floating about under the guise of a beautiful voice and some gorgeous R&B. Marvellous

[LukeB]

Where is Sia?

[Daniel.]

The winner

[Shaun]

i don't know, not-showing her face at another public performance because she's so so so anxious and hates the attention despite being a pop artist?

idk the album was ok but nothing special

THANKS FOR READING GOODNIGHT

[Daniel.]

Hew won 2012 and 2013