Forget the holidays – this is the most wonderful time of the year for music fans, as publications churn out their year-end lists that inevitably invoke some rage, but also offer up a good amount of stuff to discover or re-visit. We here at RVA Magazine are no different, and are going to spend this week unveiling our top 25 albums of the year and, new for this year, our top five Richmond releases of 2014.
Forget the holidays – this is the most wonderful time of the year for music fans, as publications churn out their year-end lists that inevitably invoke some rage, but also offer up a good amount of stuff to discover or re-visit. We here at RVA Magazine are no different, and are going to spend this week unveiling our top 25 albums of the year and, new for this year, our top five Richmond releases of 2014.
This was an especially hard year to rank albums, and even harder when we added the Richmond element to the mix. We’d like to thank all the contributors who helped us out, adding some extra stress to this time of year so that they could find some way to rank the great albums of the past 12 months. Here is a list of all the fantastic contributors who helped make this list possible:
Laura Bittner, Black Liquid, Shannon Cleary, Andrew Cothern, Alex Criqui, Cody Endres, Davy Jones, Matt Klimas, Stephen Lecky, Andrew Necci, Doug Nunnally, John Reinhold, Graham Scala, Kyle Shearin, Tyler Spindle, Chris Suarez, Joshua Tucker, Emilie Von Unwerth, and Daniel White.
Now, then – before we dive right into the list, we wanted to give a mention to some albums that just barely missed the cut and are definitely worth your time. Here are our honorable mentions for 2014:
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold
Watching the Söderberg sisters mature from album to album has been one of the greatest things in music this decade. With the addition of majestic arrangements on their newest album, they explored a much larger space that they were just as comfortable in as the minimalist arrangements of their previous albums, all the while keeping the same honest heart that’s proudly wore on their sleeve for the whole world to see and enjoy song after song. (Video: “My Silver Lining“)
Grouper – Ruins
Following up on last year’s acclaimed record The Man Who Died in His Boat, Liz Harris unveiled her most intimate and isolated work yet, beautifully mirroring the solitary recording process. With the album’s space void of grand instrumentation, the ambient musician filled the space with whispered vocals that pack an emotional punch the magnitude of even the loudest arena rock song, proving that your words will always be louder than your voice.
(Video: “Holding“)
La Dispute – Rooms Of The House
Long overlooked for reasons too inane to list, the Michigan quintet finally delivers an album that nearly compels you to give it your undivided attention for forty-one minutes no matter what your thoughts on the genre they belong to. The album delivers focused and cohesive music that’s only made better by each song’s beauty within the utter lyrical despair that challenges the very way we perceive emotion. While it might be therapy for the band, it’s a much-needed lesson for everyone else. (Video: “For Mayor In Splitsville“)
Swans – To Be Kind
Let’s be completely honest – this album is almost impossible to rank objectively. What’s not hard to figure out about it, though, is that it’s one of the best artistic visions of the year, and is clearly on the same level as the band’s best work. The record’s two hour journey has plenty of twists and turns; by the end, it’s clear that all the praise for this work of art is completely deserved. (Video: “Oxygen“)
Jack White – Lazaretto
It’s easy to dismiss White’s sophomore solo album as being overly indulgent, but when you’ve got someone with an unbelievable range of musical taste and an impressive amount of musical knowledge, an indulgent record can pay off big… and it did. As the songs hop from genre to genre, the flow of the album never breaks, leaving White as the ultimate mix creator with yet another amazing collection of songs to add to his resume. (Video: “Would You Fight For My Love?“)
Make sure to stay tuned this whole week as we unveil our whole list of the best 2014 albums as well as our contributor’s top five and our picks for the best Richmond releases. On tap for tomorrow: #25 – #16 of the best albums of 2014.
