There are 3 major problems with my year-end “favorite albums” list:

  1. No one listens to albums anymore.
  2. No one listens to me.
  3. Sometimes the list maker will pad the list just to get to a magic number.

But here are some albums I thoroughly enjoyed in 2014, in no particular order:

Spoon – They Want My Soul

Sharon Van Etten – Are We There

Lykke Li – I Never Learn

Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams

Ty Segall – Manipulator

Strand of Oaks – Heal

Alvvays – Alvvays

Hurray for the Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes

Lucinda Williams – Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone

Wussy – Attica! 

Robert Ellis – The Lights From The Chemical Plant

The Rural Alberta Advantage – Mended With Gold

The Both – The Both

The War on Drugs – Lost In The Dream

Sons of Bill – Love and Logic

First Aid Kit – Stay Gold

Tweedy – Sukierae

Drive-By Truckers – English Oceans

Tycho – Awake

Reigning Sound – Shattered

Nikki Lane – All Or Nothin’ 

Thompson – Family

Bob Mould – Beauty & Ruin

Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – Dereconstructed

King Tuff – Black Moon Spell

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Hypnotic Eye

The Apache Relay – The Apache Relay