150 Albums: The Best Of 2014, Roughly Ranked
1-15
Miranda Lambert, Platinum (RCA Nashville)
Old 97’s, Most Messed Up (ATO Records)
Azealia Banks, Broke With Expensive Taste (Prospect Park/PPK)
Marc Ribot Trio, Live At The Village Vanguard (Pi Recordings)
Parquet Courts, Sunbathing Animal (What’s Your Rupture?)
Run The Jewels, Run The Jewels 2 (Mass Appeal)
Wussy, Attica! (Shake It Records)
Haiti Direct: Big Band, Mini Jazz & Twobadou Sounds, 1960-1978 (Strut)
Paul Shapiro, Shofarot Verses (Tzadik)
Orlando Julius with the Heliocentrics, Jaiyede Afro (Strut)
Neneh Cherry, Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound)
Noura Mint Seymali, Tzenni (Glitterbeat)
Jenny Lewis, The Voyager (Warner Bros.)
Angaleena Presley, American Middle Class (Slate Creek Records)
D’Angelo & the Vanguard, Black Messiah (RCA)
16-30
Taylor Swift, 1989 (Big Machine)
Withered Hand, New Gods (Fortuna Pop!/Slumberland)
Leonard Cohen, Popular Problems (Columbia)
Allen Lowe, Mulatto Radio: Field Recordings 1-4 (or: A Jew at Large in the Minstrel Diaspora) (Constant Sorrow)
Hassan Hakmoun, Unity (Healing)
Wadada Leo Smith, Red Hill (RareNoise Records)
Big K.R.I.T., Cadillactica (Def Jam)
Theo Parrish, American Intelligence (Sound Signature)
Sisyphus, Sisyphus (Asthmatic Kitty)
Spider Bags, Frozen Letter (Merge)
Charli XCX, Sucker (Asylum / Atlantic)
The Roots, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin (Def Jam)
Max Johnson Trio, The Invisible Trio (Fresh Sounds Records)
Aphex Twin, Syro (Warp Records)
Elio Villafranca and the Jass Syncopators, Caribbean Tinge: Live From Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola (Motéma Music)
31-45
Serengeti, Kenny Dennis III (Joyful Noise Recordings)
tUnE-yArDs, Nikki Nack (4AD)
Flying Lotus, You’re Dead (Warp)
Billy Hart Quartet, One Is The Other (ECM)
Bernie Worrell, Phantom Sound Clash Cut-Up Method: Two (M.O.D. Technologies)
Hailu Mergia & the Walias, Tche Belew (Awesome Tapes From Africa)
Pharoah & The Underground (Chicago/Sao Paulo Underground Featuring Pharoah Sanders), Spiral Mercury (Clean Feed)
Verckys et l’Orchestre Veve, Congolese Funk, Afrobeat & Psychedelic Rumba 1969 - 1978 (Analog Africa)
Todd Terje, It’s Album Time (Olsen)
Konstrukt & Joe McPhee, Babylon: The First Meeting of Istanbul (Roaratorio Records)
Popcaan, Where We Come From (Mixpak)
Aby Ngona Diop, Liital (Aesome Tapes From Africa)
Sun Ra and His Arkestra, In The Orbit Of Ra (Strut)
Röyksopp & Robyn, Do It Again (Cherrytree / Interscope)
Amy LaVere, Runaway’s Diary (Archer Records)
46-60
Jon Langford & Skull Orchard, Here Be Monsters (Missing Piece Group)
Katy B, Little Red (Columbia)
John Hollenbeck / Alban Darche / Sébastien Boisseau / Samuel Blaser, J.A.S.S. (Yolk Records)
Moreno and L’Orch First Moja-One, Vol. 2: More Pili (Stern’s)
Company Freak, Le Disco Social (Opus Label)
Søren Kjærgaard / Ben Street / Andrew Cyrille, Syvmileskridt (ILK Music)
Steve Lehman Octet, Mise En Abîme (Pi Recordings)
Toni Braxton & Babyface, Love, Marriage & Divorce (Motown / Virgin EMI)
Cory Branan, The No-Hit Wonder (Bloodshot)
Trio 3 + Vijay Iyer, Wiring (Intakt)
Parquet Courts, Content Nausea (What’s Your Rupture?)
Tinashe, Aquarius (RCA)
TV On The Radio, Seeds (Harvest Records)
Hardcore Traxx: Dance Mania Records 1986-1997 (Strut)
Hercules & Love Affair, The Feast Of The Broken Heart (Atlantic / Big Beat)
61-75
Paul Bley, Play Blue: Oslo Concert (ECM)
Oliver Lake Organ Quartet, What I Heard (Passin Thru)
Africa Express Presents: Terry Riley’s In C Mali (Transgressive Records)
Tony Allen, Film Of Life (Jazz Village)
Drive-By Truckers, English Oceans (ATO)
Isaiah Rashad, Cilvia Demo (Top Dawg)
Jason Adasiewicz’s Sun Rooms, From The Region (Delmark Records)
The Heliocentrics & Melvin Van Peebles, The Last Transmission (Now-Again Records)
NehruvianDOOM, NehruvianDOOM (Lex Records)
Wadada Leo Smith, Great Lakes Suite (TUM Records)
The Lions, This Generation In Dub (Stones Throw Records)
Bobby Previte, Terminals (Cantaloupe Music)
Quantic, Magenta (Tru Thoughts Ltd.)
Fantasma, Eye Of The Sun EP (Soundway)
Ka, 1200 BC (self-released)
76-90
James Brandon Lewis, Divine Travels (OKeh Records)
Nick Jonas, Nick Jonas (Island)
Golem, Tanz (Corason)
Cloud Nothings, Here And Nowhere Else (Carpark Records)
Rob Mazurek & Black Cube, Return The Tides: Ascension Suite and Holy Ghost (Cuneiform)
Chingari, Bombay Makossa (Abstract Logix)
Jeff Ballard Trio, Time’s Tales (Okeh/Sony Masterworks)
Vince Staples, Hell Can Wait (Def Jam)
Shamir, Northtown EP (Godmode)
David Virelles, Mbókò (ECM)
Deerhoof, La Isla Bonita (Polyvinyl Records)
Spoon, They Want My Soul (Loma Vista)
Laura Cantrell, No Way There From Here (Thrift Shop)
Dub Thompson, 9 Songs (Dead Oceans)
Moodymann, Moodymann (Mahogani)
91-105
Kris Davis Trio, Waiting For You To Grow (Clean Feed)
Afghan Whigs, Do To The Beast (Sub Pop)
Akrobatik, Built To Last (Spit Digital)
Francis Bebey, Psychedelic Sanza (Born Bad Records)
Big Ups, Eighteen Hours Of Static (Tough Love / Dead Labour)
Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott, What Have We Become? (Virgin EMI)
Jon Batiste, The Process (M.O.D. Technologies)
Iggy Azalea, The New Classic (Island / Virgin EMI)
Roy Nathanson’s Sotto Voce, Complicated Day (Enja / Yellowbird)
Balani Show Super Hits: Electronic Street Parties from Mali (Sahelsounds)
Ariana Grande, My Everything (Republic)
Roscoe Mitchell With Craig Taborn And Kikanju Baku, Conversations 1 (Wide Hive)
Rosanne Cash, The River & The Thread (Blue Note)
Majid Bekkas, Al Qantara (Igloomondo)
Hamell On Trial, The Happiest Man In The World (New West)
106-120
The Nels Cline Singers, Macroscope (Mack Avenue)
Le1F, Hey EP (Terrible / XL)
Mamani Keita, Kanou (World Village)
Young Thug & Bloody Jay, Black Portland (free download)
Ana Tijoux, Vengo (Nacional Records)
Matt Bauder And Day In Pictures, Nightshades (Clean Feed)
Tsigunz Fanfara Avantura, Turbo Balkan Groove (Gusstaff Records)
Throttle Elevator Music, Area J (Wide Hive)
Bobby Bare Jr., Undefeated (Bloodshot)
Haitian Rail, Solarists (New Atlantis Records)
Ibibio Sound Machine, Ibibio Sound Machine (Soundway)
75 Dollar Bill, Olives In The Ears (self-released)
Miles Davis, Miles At The Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 (Columbia / Legacy)
Tinariwen, Emmaar (Anti-)
Tom Rainey, Obliggato (Intakt Records)
121-135
Dum Dum Girls, Too True (Sub Pop)
Brian Groder Trio, Reflexology (Latham Records)
Riverside, Riverside (Greenleaf)
Jason Moran, All Rise: A Joyful Elegy for Fats Waller (Blue Note)
Craig Leon, Anthology of Interplanetary Folk Music Vol. 1: Nommos/Visiting (Rvng Intl)
Kasai Allstars, Beware The Fetish (Crammed Discs)
Against Me!, Transgender Dysphoria Blues (Total Treble Music)
Frank & Tony, You Go Girl (Scissor and Thread)
Blaqstarr, The Blaq-Files 2002-06 (Jeffree’s / Mad Decent)
Stephen Malkmus, Wig Out At Jagbags (Matador)
Marsha Ambrosius, FVCK&LOVE EP (free download)
Brahja Waldman’s Quintet, Sir Real Live At Resonance (self-released)
Toumani & Sidiki, Toumani & Sidiki (Nonesuch)
Hard Working Americans, Hard Working Americans (Melvin/Thirty Tiger)
POW!, Hi-Tech Boom (Castle Face)
136-150
Ex Hex, Rips (Merge)
Cher Lloyd, Sorry I’m Late (Sony)
Otis Browne III, The Thought Of You (Blue Note)
Leela James, Fall For You (Shesangz Music)
Prince, ART OFFICIAL AGE (NPG)
Hail Mary Mallonn, Bestiary (Rhymesayers)
Luke Winslow-King, Everlasting Arms (Bloodshot)
Sun Ra and His Band From Outer Space, Space Aura EP (Art Yard Records)
Bill Frisell, Guitar In The Space Age (OKeh)
The Juan Maclean, In A Dream (DFA)
Marc Perrenoud Trio, Vestry Lamento (Double Moon)
Bobby Hutcherson, Enjoy The View (Blue Note)
Peter Stampfel and the Brooklyn & Lower Manhattan Banjo Squadron, Better Than Expected (Don Giovanni Records)
Gilles Peterson Presents Sonzeira, Brasil Bam Bam Bam (Talkin’ Loud / Virgin EMI)
Nils Petter Molvær, Switch (Okeh Records)
– I listened to and reviewed many new releases in 2014, and these are the ones I’d return to and recommend. Plenty are missing, but then again, who can keep up, really? A jumping off point. And no, the year didn’t suck (in music, at least).
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