The Best Albums of 2014

December 28. 2014 | By Staff

badsuns

Bad Suns
Language & Perspective
No shortage of depth or hooks, @thebadsuns nailed their debut of indie/alt rock flavored with retro sounds and pop grooves. #OwlBest14
-Trina N. Green

bearsden

Bear’s Den
Islands
Islands by @bearsdenmusic is a glorious piece of folk-rock that is somehow both anthemic and intimate, personal and universal. #OwlBest14
-Katie Carroll

beck

Beck
Morning Phase
With Morning Phase @beck decided to get righteously pretty. Who knew pretty was in Beck’s vocabulary. #OwlBest14
-Trina Starke

caribou

Caribou
Our Love
.@caribouband heats up deep house’s affair with R&B on the adventurous, sultry, and thrilling Our Love #OwlBest14
-Sean Morris

Chet Faker

Chet Faker
Built On Glass
.@Chet_Faker‘s debut #BuiltonGlass is so smooth you’ll want to romance yourself or someone else to it #OwlBest14
-Mayumi Okamoto

FKA Twigs

FKA Twigs
Lp1
W/ Lp1, @FKAtwigs showed us that labels like “alternative r&b” + “EDM” do a shit job of describing some of 2014’s new sounds #OwlBest14
-Sadia Harper

Girlpool

Girlpool
Girlpool EP
In only 6 compulsively playable songs, LA duo Girlpool, @girlpoolband , get squarely in your face and ears, and don’t back down. #OwlBest14
-Wayne Jessup

Glass Animals

Glass Animals
Zaba
.@GlassAnimals wove together gentle beats, tones, and vocals in an album of smooth textures that make you sway #OwlBest14
-Sadia Harper

How To Dress Well

How To Dress Well
What Is This Heart?
Uncomfortable honesty never sounded as good as @HowToDressWell‘s powerful pop vehicle laced w/ a sheen of synth & currents of R&B #OwlBest14
-Trina N. Green

Kan Wakan

Kan Wakan
Moving On
Where Portishead and Nina Simone collide and coexist as intelligent, emotive cinematic, grandiose space jazz. Hello, @kanwakan. #OwlBest14
-Trina N. Green

Kithkin

Kithkin
Rituals, Trances, and Ecstasies for Humans in the Face of the Collapse
tree-punk Cascadians @kithkinband get rowdy about the end of the world. lots of shouting and furious drumming. #OwlBest14
-Anna Larina

Lykke Li

Lykke Li
I Never Learn
perhaps @lykkeli‘s most honest & heart-wrenching album to date #INeverLearn is exquisite perfection #OwlBest14
-Mayumi Okamoto

Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos

Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s
Slingshot to Heaven
.@margotnuclear‘s glorious fifth full-length is both a return to their beginnings and a fresh start looking forward #OwlBest14
-Anna Larina

Perfect Pussy

Perfect Pussy
Say Yes To Love
Led by the unsinkable Meredith Graves, @gravesmeredith, Syracuse, NY’s Perfect Pussy combine heart + noise on “Say Yes To Love”. #OwlBest14
-Wayne Jessup

The Preatures

The Preatures
Blue Planet Eyes
.@thepreatures storm out proving that you can make big rock ‘n’ roll noise on an album that still performs well #OwlBest2014
-Samuel Hernandez

Radiator Hospital

Radiator Hospital
Torch Song
Agro, pithy, or forlorn, Radiator Hospital, @radhostweets2u, is writing its own Great American Indie Songbook on “Torch Song”. #OwlBest14
-Wayne Jessup

Ryan Adams

Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
Its tasteful restraint, bracing reverb, solid rock ‘n’ roll backbone and lyrical sharpness find @TheRyanAdams bringing his A-game. #OwlBest14
-Trina N. Green

Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels 2
.@runjewels brought new hip hop ‘Early’ to the game w/ sick beats and tired of the system lyrics by @KillerMikeGTO #OwlBest14
-Samuel Hernandez

St. Vincent

St. Vincent
St. Vincent
Don’t let the prodigious android image fool you, @st_vincent‘s daring prog funk & lonesome, lusty poetry are anything but stoic #OwlBest14
-Sean Morris

White Sea

White Sea
In Cold Blood
Morgan Kibby aka @whiteseamusic‘s In Cold Blood: Epic grandeur, glacial synthpop, sweepingly sexual and damn can that girl sing! #OwlBest14
-Trina N. Green

Wildcat!Wildcat!

Wildcat! Wildcat!
No Moon at All
.@wildcatwildcat made the kind of roadtrip album that makes you want to open a window, put your head in the wind, and smile. #OwlBest14
-Sadia Harper

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