This gives away nothing. I haven't even finalised what my #1 is on either chart yet. But it is the best way to describe in one song how my musical year's been, lots of orchestral upbeat music that's only been from the top 40 lists about half of the time. And as an old song, I've listened to it loads this year. At least in the second half.

 

But I don't want to give away too much in the first post, so suffice it to say I will be counting down my year over the next week or two in this thread, first my albums, then singles.

 

There's so many of us putting a lot of effort into these things, and I've read lots of them, that I want to go round and comment on everyone else's but so far have only done so when something to say has really come to me, that's just the way I work with these things. So please don't comment here because you feel you have to, comment because you want to. That said, any will be appreciated so I'm not just talking to myself. (this is why I started late, so I could get a lie of the land, and not just because I've been so busy before now no)

 

~

 

 

:hi: Iz, I'll tune into your EOY chart ^_^

expecting plenty of greatness :bounce: babymetal or rather be for #1!

 

Another countdown I am really looking forward to. Can't wait :wub:

Top 31 Albums

 

#1: All rules have exceptions and are very open to interpretation. This explains most of the other rules.

 

#2: I do not keep a weekly album chart as when I do listen to albums (not a common occurrence to listen to one in full) it's often old ones and about 1 new album if anything each week. Therefore these albums were ranked by my gut feeling of quality mixed with a little sense of overall importance to the year. I find this is the best way to create a ranking I'm happy with.

 

#3: This chart contains every album that I have put onto my iTunes this year. That is, aside from old catalogue albums that do not feel very 2014 even if I first listened to them this year. For example, I got Arcade Fire's Funeral and Neon Bible this year, and while they are exquisitely amazing and I've listened to them a lot, it would not feel right to rank them against new albums

 

#4: However, albums that have been released in the past few years, I first obtained this year, and still feel in with the sound of this year for me ARE eligible. It's all about how I feel, whether the album feels sufficiently 2014 to let in here, this also helps gain any albums released late in 2013 that I barely listened to at the end of the year. Therefore, there are 31 albums I think meet these criteria enough.

 

#5: The official period covered is December 2013 to November 2014 for the reason above, with a bit of combing the months either side of that to make sure nothing is missed.

 

Enough with that, onto the first albums out:

 

27. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold

26. Alyssa Reid - Time Bomb

22. Katy B - Little Red

 

To be perfectly honest, most of these albums I haven't felt motivated enough to sit down and give an entire listen through, what I've heard from them is good for the most part but it doesn't motivate me to want more and more. I have linked a non-single/non-obvious highlight to each one nevertheless.

 

Helios is a product of my brother's casual loyalty to The Fray, it has vague places where they're trying to be less boring but it doesn't entirely succeed. Sheezus I was rather underwhelmed by, it's definitely Lily's weakest work and there's not much to excite me like there was on her 2nd album, there are occasional bits of goodness but they don't have a great shelf life on the whole. Beyoncé's opus mostly passed me by but there are a few strong songs on it, if I can ignore the self-congratulatory feeling that seems to permeate it. OneRepublic I've been loving about at the highest level one should love a band of their ilk, in that I'm still playing Counting Stars a lot, and against all odds it still sounds fresh, the rest of the album is reasonably samey though and there's few reasons to listen to anything other than CS.

 

Stay Gold was a bit of a disappointment for me, I haven't found an Emmylou or Lion's Roar on it and my folk love from a couple of years ago hasn't been as strong this time around. I'm going to keep listen to it and see if I can find a few more growers, I probably did gloss over it a bit too quickly. Time Bomb is another album that doesn't benefit from my tastes shifting, only the first two singles seem like anything strong from Alyssa though.

 

The Cab and The Cat Empire do benefit from my tastes shifting though, both are albums a couple of years old but I got into both bands quite a bit this year and this is a representation of that. The Cab are pretty standard pop-rock but the odd song does make me notice them, the best of which most people will know in its speeded-up version, while The Cat Empire are an off-the-wall ska-jazz-latin-reggae-rock Australian band who may feature as a future Séyetan entry if I ever work up the courage to send them, their songs are surprisingly amazing when you let them grow on you.

 

Everyone may have forgotten about The Hoosiers but their third album is a decent enough mature effort that's not really driven by commercialism either, always nice to feel. Katy B's second album didn't quite live up to the lofty heights of the first one but there's a lot of good songs on there, particularly among the likes of Aaliyah and Sapphire Blue, I'd put it in my top 20 if I could. And finally, the first proper K-Pop album that I got didn't really disappoint with a lot of strong 2NE1 songs in a pretty compact form, I've linked MTBD as the highlight as (spoiler alert) it didn't quite make it to my singles chart, most of the album could be there instead though.

 

Three Six Five, so named I assume because of its four tracks, is the shortest 'album' here by some distance. It's the debut EP of Kate McGill's new band and BJSC participants will be familiar with the name. The three tracks on here which aren't Family Tree are also very lovely cute pop tracks, and the band has a lot of potential should they continue.

 

One above is Lana's followup to Born To Die, which was one of the best albums of 2012. Ultraviolence isn't really as good, there were lots of cool memorable melodies on BTD that aren't really apparent here, but certain tracks mean it isn't a huge writeoff in the slightest. Meanwhile, Head Or Heart is a pretty lovely album with lovely ballady tunes, even though it's just more of the same from Christina Perri, I do love her but it does not feel as special as lovestrong on the whole. Both of these are classic 'sophomore slump' albums and so it's hard to listen to them without negatively comparing them to the debut, which remains perfect in my eyes. Hopefully in a year's time they will have worked their way in some more and I'll appreciate them just as much, that's how I work with albums.

 

Foxes I thought had huge potential to be a big favourite at certain points while she was breaking through, but she's going to have to settle for a mid-level position with Glorious, which again is good but I've been less pop-oriented this year so the music hasn't hit me as much as I'd like. Again, certain tracks are absolute essentials, others are not.

 

Paolo though, his work is the epitome of where I want my music taste to be, sonically interesting music coupled with an artistry that feels natural and unique, and until now he's only touched the edge of this with his first two albums. Caustic Love is very different though, it feels far more raw but also like a collection of future classic songs, and I predict it'll be one. It was very big for me during the summer and hearing of things like festival season going on, where it seemed he was everywhere for Radio 1 only helped me appreciate him more as I heard interviews with him about the record. And of course there were a couple of tracks from it that I would love like I had never loved a Nutini track before. Great album from an artist I'd previously overlooked.

 

From here on out I think the album commentary will become much more informed as I am more familiar with the top 15.

Shame to see Lily and Alyssa so low, the latter I think actually bettered her debut :(

Glorious is actually one of my favorite records this year :wub:, I think the whole album is solid so it's a shame to see that you haven't liked it as much. Still, 17th is a good placing!

 

Ultraviolence was a bit of a dissapointment as it can seem a little noisy from time to time. Still, Shades of Cool is my highlight off it and really does shine out in the album :wub:

 

 

Shame to see Lily and Alyssa so low, the latter I think actually bettered her debut :(

 

Glorious is actually one of my favorite records this year :wub:, I think the whole album is solid so it's a shame to see that you haven't liked it as much. Still, 17th is a good placing!

 

Ultraviolence was a bit of a dissapointment as it can seem a little noisy from time to time. Still, Shades of Cool is my highlight off it and really does shine out in the album :wub:

 

I think I've lost the patience to listen to most pop albums (like I said, shifting tastes), where the titles often don't look hugely inviting and the tracks all sound like weak songs or weaker versions of the singles at first glance. Both Sheezus and Time Bomb were big victims of that, Alyssa especially, I enjoyed her because The Game didn't sound technically perfect but there was a lot of emotion and weight behind each track. The Time Bomb tracks (from what I've listened to, that's also why it's low, I just never found the motivation to fully go in) seem like just another pop record on the whole rather than something special to make me sit up and listen.

 

Glorious as well to be honest, the tracks I knew beforehand I'd dive into but I wasn't able to take to the new tracks. Very much a supporter of Foxes but it wasn't quite as good as it could have been. And it's nearly into the albums I love so it is indeed not that bad.

 

Honestly, West Coast is the main reason I keep coming back to Ultraviolence, there's not much else on there that I really really love. Yet.

15. Lorde - Pure Heroine

14. Avicii - True

12. Coldplay - Ghost Stories

 

Lorde fooled me with Royals, I never hugely took to that, but the rest of her material is SO CUTE (with a healthy dose of teenage girl powah powah) and exactly the sort of thing pop needs. I got this album, along with the two other albums in this section that were technically released in 2013, with a giftcard last Christmas, so it's had the entire year to grow on me and that's helped its cause immensely, strong messages, interesting songs that both draw you in with the titles and keep you there when you start listening, this is more like the sort of album that I love.

 

One up, my weakness as far as popular music goes is euphoric dance and any strong producer will have me captivated if they're at the top of their game and release an album with good melodies and beats. This is what Avicii has done with True, an album that encapsulates the dance sound of late 2013/early 2014, the brief reign of country-dance/dance with strong memorable vocals that this guy set into motion. It was wonderful and there are a lot of big hitters on this one, particularly the likes of Lay Me Down and Shame On Me as well as the great singles.

 

Another sophomore slump from a female vocalist comes in the form of Kyla La Grange's Cut Your Teeth. I'm not exaggerating when I say Ashes is now one of my favourite albums of the last few years, so Cut Your Teeth had a huge amount to live up to, and Kyla's shift in sound made the endeavour a bit risky, while I far prefer her being folksy and/or employing Coldplay-style riffs, at least the shift to electronica made me notice what she'd done. It has nothing on Ashes but throughout the late summer I was listening to loads of both Kylas, which means this was a success.

 

Speaking of Coldplay, they're up with Ghost Stories, which like all Coldplay albums is going to take years and years to grow on me, but it is very respectable and a nice, more subtle change in direction from Mylo Xyloto. I probably prefer them loud and boisterous, but the slow Coldplay has its merits too, and there are plenty of good examples of that on here.

 

Reflektor the track did very well for me last year, so now it's the turn of the album, which, as befits my conversion to Arcade Fire loondom this year, only just misses out on a very strong top 10. Having heard all their albums now it's probably their weakest but that's no slight given their back catalogue, highlights like Awful Sound and We Exist along with the obvious Reflektor and Afterlife make it a very enjoyable indie-rock record to fit in my small collection from that genre. I want to expand.

That's exactly how I felt with Lorde! Hated Royals so I didn't bat an eye at her other material until a friend passed me the CD to listen to and I was extremely pleased with what I heard. Tennis Court, the opening track, really attracted my interest and I found other gems like Blood and Gore :wub:, an amazing debut.

 

Unfortunately I'm not a fan of Coldplay, I don't really find their songs somewhat enjoyable except for the odd single (like Charlie Brown, Paradise and Magic) but I couldn't get into Ghost Stories at all which is a shame :( I might give it another go in the future though just in case my music sense begins to change again.

Blood and Gore :wub:

*"Glory And Gore" (it's definitely is a standout on the album though, like "Buzzcut Season")

 

I agree that Pure Heroine is one of the best albums so far this decade, and this year did produce some true album gems. In this countdown in particular, we have Sheezus, Ultraviolence, Glorious, and Ghost Stories.

Great list so far :wub:

 

Sheezus is great even though INMIY is way better, Beyonce is very solid, Little Red is great (especially crying for no reason), Head or heart is stunning (especially human and be my forever), Caustic love is anothe great album by Paolo, Glorious is amazing and Pure Herorine clicked with me this year and I now love Lorde :wub:

 

And Ultraviolence is definitely one of my favourite albums this year. It is a stunning masterpiece for me :wub:

Have you heard her 2 new tracks from Big Eyes?

And Ultraviolence is definitely one of my favourite albums this year. It is a stunning masterpiece for me :wub:

Have you heard her 2 new tracks from Big Eyes?

 

I have not I'm afraid, I tend to take forever to get round to anything Lana, I always take her music slowly and carefully, means I'll still start loving it but months after the fact. Thanks for le compliments though everyone.

 

~~~

 

10. Amaranthe - Massive Addictive

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/88/Amaranthe_Massive_Addictive.png/220px-Amaranthe_Massive_Addictive.png

Highlights: Dynamite, Drop Dead Cynical, Trinity, Massive Addictive, Skyline, Exhale

 

The sequel to my #1 from last year, Amaranthe's glorious second album 'The Nexus', I was very hyped for a new album coming out with barely 18 months gap, that's lightning speed for a metal band. This peculiar set of circumstances means it's also the newest album in the top 10. They had replaced one member of the band and it's to their credit that I can't really tell, the harsh vocals still sound as energetic and uplifting as ever. Massive Addictive itself though lives up to its name, it's massive, and it is addictive; the tracks are full of ferocious clean pop melodies mixed in with some dirty metal guitar strumming and with the electro hints to their music stronger than even on The Nexus. Honestly, it's at the bottom of this 10 because it is 'The Nexus' part 2, that's no bad thing but it doesn't feel as perfect as that one did so negative comparisons and all...

Of note, beyond the hugeness of Drop Dead Cynical which will be covered in my singles chart is the glorious album closer in Exhale. Even The Nexus had time for a couple of ballads but the same is barely true here (well, the track called 'True' is also ballady to an extent), so this closing midtempo is the closest we have and it caught my attention very early on with its beauty, a lovely way to end this chapter in Amaranthe-shaped fun and games.

9. Babymetal - Babymetal

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/36/Babymetalcover.jpg/220px-Babymetalcover.jpg

Highlights: Megitsune, Gimme Chocolate!!, Onedari Daisakusen, Uki Uki ★ Midnight, Catch Me If You Can, Rondo Of Nightmare, Head Bangya!!

 

Deadly serious (but then why wouldn't I be)! You've seen me rave about the greatness of this band quite a bit over the last year, and that's not just because of the fast and wonderfully crafted singles, but the whole package of the band that is Babymetal. I will be honest and say that people very concerned about exactly what metal is will not like their stuff at all, that's not anyone on this site, while the people who like just pop might be a bit taken aback by the sight of Japanese teenage girls singing both pop and going in for metal at the same time, that's more like people here. However, for people like me; I was already a fan of Amaranthe, and Babymetal are essentially the teen Asian version of them. A weird mix of pop and metal that because of my love for both genres at their best combines to make me absolutely adore the musical result.

 

This album barely ever stops for breath, each track is different, there's a vague lyrical theme involving the day of a teenage girl (I think?). At least the tracks marked Morning, Midnight and Nightmare give that impression. It's not the best rock album this year, but it's been a very enjoyable and interesting listen throughout this year, and if you ever feel like expanding your genre horizons to J-pop or metal, start with this album and open your mind. You will not be disappointed. ^_^

8. Tove Lo - Queen Of The Clouds

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/Tove_Lo_-_Queen_of_the_Clouds.png/220px-Tove_Lo_-_Queen_of_the_Clouds.png

Highlights: Talking Body, Timebomb, Got Love, Not On Drugs, Thousand Miles, Habits (Stay High) [Hippie Sabotage Remix]

 

Tove Lo is my favourite 'new' (as in, released her debut album) pop singer this year and this is largely due to said lovely album, which takes everything good about her singing style and repeats it again and again over 16 tracks. Normally I would criticise an album for being samey, but the specific formula used here is pretty fantastic, and unlike so much pop music this year, compelling and interesting. Even Like Em Young, which seems a bit suspicious at first, has a lovely melody that makes you forget about those lyrics, and lyrically it's a sharp curve upwards from here, through Talking Body, Timebomb, and all of the next two 'sections', a simple construct to make the album seem more structured.

 

That gives the album meaning, and so with that meaning this becomes the sort of pop album I love listening to, a brilliant debut. If only Out Of Mind was on here in its original form, then it'd be unstoppable.

Tove Lo's Ep Truth Serum was virtually perfect in every aspect. There wasn't a dull song there so I was very hyped for 'Queen Of The Clouds'. It was a little disappointing as they weren't as instant as the tracks on the EP but nevertheless it's very solid! I love the small verses and huge choruses which is a common theme for quite a lot of the songs (not all of them). I also love the concept of splitting the album into three parts to tell a story although I really am not fond of 'Like Em' Young' :lol: . Talking Bodies, Thousand Miles, Habits and of course Not On Drugs are stellar, especially the latter :wub:

7. Within Temptation – Hydra

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Within_Temptation-Hydra.jpg/220px-Within_Temptation-Hydra.jpg

 

Highlights: Dangerous (feat. Howard Jones), And We Run (feat. Xzibit), Silver Moonlight, Covered By Roses, Whole World Is Watching (feat. Dave Pirner)

 

With Hydra, Within Temptation had crafted their most accessible and commercially successful album yet, possibly even the most accessible gothic metal album since Fallen. I’ve always seen them before this as playing second fiddle to Nightwish in their field, but with a number of killer features and fantastic melodies, Hydra has given them their own identity as a band, for me at least, and probably for everyone else bar the Dutch and Regina.

 

For me, this was one of the first albums I got this year having never invested in a WT album before, and I was not disappointed, and it has made me want to go back and collect the other ones, which given as I hype this genre loads, is something I really need to do. I’m always a sucker for a duet and this album has a remarkable FOUR of them, all killer, indicative in that they all became singles, even if Paradise tired on me after a while, and the other tracks aren’t really slackers, Silver Moonlight and Covered By Roses especially. An essential album for anyone who wants to get into the lighter side of metal, or just wants some rock that’s slightly harder than Paramore and remembers Evanescence fondly. There’s a reason tracks from this have had a far wider reach than ever before.

6. Lindsey Stirling – Lindsey Stirling

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f6/Lindsey_stirling_album_art.jpeg/220px-Lindsey_stirling_album_art.jpeg

 

Highlights: Electric Daisy Violin, Zi-Zi’s Journey, Crystallize, Moon Trance, Elements, Shadows

 

Yes, this is an album from 2012, and it’s in my top 10 albums of this year. That’s because before the summer of this year, all I knew from Lindsey Stirling with any sort of familiarity at all was Crystallize, which I adored. I just didn’t have the impetus to seek out more though. The release of Shatter Me and the impact the title track, did that for me, and I’ve barely stopped playing it, well both albums since, so unlike the likes of Funeral I feel I can get away with handing it a spot here. In all honesty, I probably prefer it to Shatter Me, it’s a stunner of a debut album but I was harsh to it because of its age for the integrity of this chart, and because the only reason it’s in here is because I want to talk about what an effect this album has had on my year; on balance it was probably the most significant ‘new to me’ album for 2014.

 

Entirely instrumental aside from a couple of sung lines on the last track, Stars Align, Lindsey nevertheless captures a perfect feeling of what most of the tracks are about just through the music, and that music is incredibly, incredibly epic, I could listen to every track over and over again. Zi-Zi's Journey in particular is very me, largely because it could be 'Iz-Iz's Journey' if one used a bit of imagination :kink: It’s all very good classical melodies, I’ve began to discover lately just how good mixing some classical tunes with a more modern element can be, and it all feels entirely seamless. I was very often listening to this to help me get through some work or other this year, because it’s so easy to listen to and it inspired me to work harder without distracting me with lyrics, which I hardly need most of the time in music. I took loads away from this album, and well, Lindsey proved she was a great musician with this album and there’s a lot more goodness to come from her…

5. Lights – Little Machines

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/07/Little_Machines.jpg/220px-Little_Machines.jpg

 

Highlights: Running With The Boys, Up We Go, Same Sea, Muscle Memory, Oil And Water, Don’t Go Home Without Me

 

There was a reason I put Lindsey at #6, because I barely know how to separate my top 5 albums. As good as Hydra is, there’s a significant gap between it and these 5, which are all utterly fantastic albums worth anyone’s time. Up here then, is probably one of my most anticipated albums this year, the proper return of someone who is probably one of my favourite pop singers of all time, largely due to her beautiful, vulnerable, ethereal voice, that is, of course Lights. Little Machines came out in September and as you may have seen, I actually posted and looned in the Pop Forum for it. I never do that normally, I barely even go in that forum any more, which is poor coming from a former mod I know but it shows how much a fan I am of this woman.

 

Anyway, Little Machines. Fantastic third album, it went back to what Lights is most comfortable in, I’d say, with more of the pure innocent pop that had been common on The Listening rather than the dubstep prevalent in Siberia. What’s kept from era 2 though, are a set of much better lyrics to go with the equally good melodies, from the album title drop on Running With The Boys to the longing Don’t Go Home Without Me, it feels very much like The Listening’s big mature sister than anything else (not that I’m knocking The Listening’s lyrics, I mean just check out my member title *.*). I was very pleased with it, and I hope I wasn’t the only one, because Lights deserves all the attention she can get, she’s one artist Canada doesn’t have to apologise for (well, her and Arcade Fire), it’s a shame she barely gets to go beyond its borders.