This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. This week has us traveling back to 2014. Only one more week left after this, and we will be caught up with when Chorus launched in 2016. These last few weeks have an interesting feel to them, they’re far enough away where there’s a distance, but six years is still close enough where it doesn’t feel as much like the past as the previous dives. Looking at AbsolutePunk’s 2014 list fills me with a wide range of emotions. The year itself, for music, is one that I’ll always hold dear. I loved that Noah Gundersen record. Taylor Swift released 1989 and was starting to cement herself as the artist of a generation. Bleachers released their debut. Copeland were back. Against Me! dropped an all-time classic. The Gaslight Anthem were polarizing. And a new group of bands were starting to make waves. From Joyce Manor, to PUP, to Modern Baseball, to The Hotelier cementing themselves as one of the ‘next great bands in our scene.’ And I’m also thinking back to 2014 and all the turmoil that was taking place not just in the scene but also in the AbsolutePunk offices. Drew Beringer had a fun little rant in the forums last week about being hired at the Spin office and the cluster fuck of mismanagement and organizational failures. This was, for lack of a more colorful phrase, the beginning of the end. I had an entire new version of the website designed, built, and coded, and I couldn’t get it launched. It was then that I gave up fighting the battles. I couldn’t even keep track of who was in charge anymore, or who was running what, so I went into “put the head down, do the work” mode. And the joy of something I had been doing since I was a teenager was sucked completely out of each day of work. I went through the motions and started daydreaming about what my next steps were going to be. Thankfully, the music from this year more than made up for my restlessness in other parts of my life. Looking at my list from 2014 shows me a whole bunch of albums that I still listen to regularly, and on first glance, the order’s pretty consistent with my gut. That Against Me! album was one of those rare records where when you first heard it, you knew it was special, and that Noah Gundersen album has only grown in my favor over the past few years, joining the shortlist on my all-time favorites list. I find it funny that I had Manchester Orchestra’s Hope on my main list, and Cope in the honorable mentions, but, you know, I think I stand by that. Hope felt much more dynamic. A mixture of sounds and textures. Whereas Cope felt like it was more reactionary to Simple Math and wanting to be a return to rock record. Both good, but I’m still higher on Hope. In my head, I didn’t have Yellowcard’s Lift a Sail and The Gaslight Anthem’s Get Hurt as having been released the same year. These are two albums that I’ve thought about, written about, and talked about a lot over the following years. They’re both exceptionally polarizing with fans and our community. It’s not often people say, “they’re fine,” it’s far more likely you’ll hear “they’re great” or “they fucking suck.” The reactions are strong and definite. I’ll continue to argue that Lift a Sail gets undeserved hate. And my thoughts on The Gaslight Anthem’s last album continue to be mixed. There’s stuff I really like, stuff I don’t think works, and more than anything, it’s an album that when I listen to, I hear a real sadness in the songs. I will always wonder what the band would have done next. Ok, so same rules as every week on the re-rank. Arbitrary, going with the gut, not adding in too many things that weren’t part of my listening that year, with a few exceptions. And that leaves me with … Best of 2014 (Re-Ranking) Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria BluesNoah Gundersen – LedgesCopeland – IxoraBleachers – Strange DesireThe Hotelier – Home, Like Noplace is ThereSir Sly – You Haunt MeThe Lawrence Arms – MetropoleTaylor Swift – 1989Manchester Orchestra – HopeThe Menzingers – Rented WorldManchester Orchestra – CopeEvery Time I Die – From Parts UnknownRun the Jewels – RTJ2The Gaslight Anthem – Get HurtYellowcard – Lift a SailPUP – PUPBad Suns – Language & PerspectiveYoung the Giant – Mind Over MatterCounting Crows – Somewhere Under WonderlandAndrew McMahon – Andrew McMahon in the WildernessColdplay – Ghost StoriesPunch – They Don’t Have to BelievePerfume Genius – Too BrightLagwagon – HangTycho – AwakeFlying Lotus – You’re Dead!Prawn – KingfisherFKA Twigs – LP1Jessie Ware – Tough LoveJoyce Manor – Never Hungover Again The top three stay the same. There’s a small switch were Bleachers get raised just a little bit to account for just how much I’ve listened to that album in the past six years. The biggest jump is Taylor Swift into the top ten. I liked the album when it came out, but its release also was the trigger for me getting far more into her music and exploring her back catalog. Whereas in 2014, it was just me starting to explore, now that album has been fully baked into my regular rotation and is much deserving of a top ten spot. Manchester Orchestra’s Hope sees a jump, Cope gets added into the list, and The Menzinger’s Rented World also sees itself graduated from the honorable mentions list. I’ve noticed that as I’ve gone back over my lists, I often will penalize a band that I’m a big fan of in favor of something newer when I make the list the first time. And then, as time goes on, those big “favorite” bands continue to stay into rotation, and I keep giving them spins, and they end up ranking higher later on. While originally a little let down by The Menzingers, time has proved that album’s resilience. The rest of the list doesn’t shift all that much. Andrew McMahon gets added in, and I’m not sure why it wasn’t there to begin with. Young the Giant gets added in, as that’s an album that has grown on me exponentially over the past few years. And Coldplay’s Ghost Stories also gets a boost. I saw someone mention in some thread that Ghost Stories was the lost great Coldplay album, and I think I agree with that. It never gets talked about in that way, but of everything they’ve done since, it’s the last time I remember loving something they did. Against Me!, The Lawrence Arms, Punch, and Lagwagon. Not a bad punk year at all. And throwing in Joyce Manor, The Hotelier, PUP, Every Time I Die, and The Menzingers in that ‘punk-adjacent’ category ends up with a much more rock/guitar-dominated list than I expected. 2014 is close enough that it feels lived in. Revisiting these albums isn’t as much a walk back into nostalgia-land as it is visiting a friend’s house after not seeing them for a few months. I’ve done multiple podcasts on The Gaslight Anthem’s Get Hurt, Yellowcard’s Lift a Sail, and written thousands of words about Noah Gundersen, Against Me!, and various others on this list. These are albums that continue to be in regular rotation, and Ledges is probably the record I spin most often on my turntable. What 2014 brings up for me is more a feeling of unease. It goes hand in hand with the historical revival project I’ve been working on the past week to bring back AbsolutePunk reviews from the graveyard for “scene history” preservation. There’s a lot of very fond memories I have of working on AbsolutePunk and the music and stories wrapped within, but those last few years carry with them a lot of baggage as well. An often joyless work. A wave of underlying anger at feeling chained to the ground and unable to explore anything new creatively. It’s not only with hindsight that I realize how unhealthy this was, I knew it at the time as well. But I wasn’t sure what else I wanted to do yet, and it would take a few more years to figure it out. Next week I’ll be tackling the final AbsolutePunk end of the year list in 2015. After this, I plan to spend a few weeks walking backward through the years prior to 2005 to explore the very early beginnings of AbsolutePunk and what albums and music helped shape my musical tastes. The idea being, in the end, there will be a history of how my music taste shifted over the years that goes along with trying to add some color and history about the website itself.1 Please consider becoming a member so we can keep bringing you articles like this one. When I added in my (horribly written) “review” of Midtown’s Living Well is the Best Revenge to the database yesterday, I realized there’s now over 18 years worth of writing on this website from me and others.↩ more Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos, tweets, etc.
Interested in where this will go after 2015! Thought that was sort of an arbitrary year to stop before I remembered that it was the last full year of AP.net.
Definitely up there with the most important years of my life. Excited to go through and re-rank this one.
This was a year that I completely adored about 7-8 records, and then just “liked-not-loved” about 40. Looking back at my list, I’m reminded that I didn’t even bother using a number ranking system because picking one over the other felt like more of a chore than anything. Here I’ll number them because it looks better, but there’s really no order past those first few On a personal note, this year was an emotional roller coaster for me. Despite its highs it might be my least favorite year of the 2010s list: some notes:
@Jason Tate Really have been loving these weekly deep dives. For the first few re-ranking you added an Apple Music playlist to go along with it. Are you still planning on doing that with these? I loved listening to those - really was a blast from the past.
Maybe. No one had mentioned them or used them so I didn't keep doing it cause it was a lot of work. Heh.
2014 was a very rough, transitional year for me - I graduated college, moved back home, began a very long and difficult job search and tragically lost a friend. I had an overwhelming sense of helplessness for what my post-college life was going to be. At the time, I believe I was listening to new music from Taking Back Sunday, Skrillex, Schoolboy Q, Run the Jewels, Coldplay and The Black Keys 2014 (re-ranked with 2020 eyes): 1. The Hotelier - Home, Like NoPlace There Is 2. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream 3. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels 2 4. Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again 5. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Pinata 6. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues 7. Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All 8. Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties - We Don't Have Each Other 9. Mac Demarco - Salad Days. 10. Taking Back Sunday - Happiness Is 11. Aphex Twin - Syro 12. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - I'm In Your Mind Fuzz 13. J.Cole - 2014 Forrest Hills Drive 14. Cloud Nothings - Here and Nowhere Else 15. PUP - PUP 16. Future - Monster 17. Spoon - They Want My Soul 18. Bayside - Cult 19. Schoolboy Q - Oxymoron 20. Interpol - El Pintor 21. Every Time I Die - From Parts Unknown 22. The Menzingers - Rented World 23. Flying Lotus - You're Dead! 24. Gucci Mane & Young Thug - Young Thugga Mane La Flare 25. Coldplay - Ghost Stories
1. Menzingers- Rented World 2. Taking Back Sunday- Hapiness Is 3. This Wild Life- Clouded 4. Against Me!- Transgender Disphoria Blues 5. Fireworks- Oh, Common Life 6. Bayside- Cult 7. Aaron West- We Don't Have Each Other 8. Gaslight Anthem- Get Hurt 9. Have Mercy- A Place of Our Own 10. Transit- Joyride 11. Forever Came Calling- What Matters Most 12. Neck Deep- Wishful Thinking 13. Real Friends- Maybe This Place is the Same and We're Just Changing 14. Knucklepuck- While I Stay Secluded 15. Modern Baseball- You're Gonna Miss It All
honorable mentions - every time i die - from parts unknown; run the jewels - rtj2; strand of oaks - heal; thou - heathen 25. coldplay - ghost stories 24. manchester orchestra - cope 23. damien rice - my favourite faded fantasy 22. la dispute - rooms of the house 21. joyce manor - never hungover again 20. s. carey - range of light 19. the hotelier - home like no place is there 18. future islands - singles 17. alcest - shelter 16. warpaint - warpaint 15. mastodon - once more round the sun 14. yg - my krazy life 13. agalloch - the serpent & the sphere 12. ben howard - i forget where we were 11. spoon - they want my soul 10. wye oak - shriek 9. drive-by truckers - english oceans 8. iceage - plowing into the field of love 7. taylor swift - 1989 6. d’angelo - black messiah 5. cymbals eat guitars - lose 4. fucked up - glass boys 3. sturgill simpson - metamodern sounds in country music 2. sharon van etten - are we there 1. the war on drugs - lost in the dream
Against Me! – Transgender Dysphoria Blues The Hotelier - Home Like Noplace Is There TR/ST - Joyland Taylor Swift- 1989 Future - Monster Perfume Genius - Too Bright Rich Gang - Tha Tour Pt. 1 Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else Abhi//Dijon - EP arrange - Their Bodies in a Fog The Front Bottoms - Rose EP German Error Message - Haunts Joyce Manor - Never Hungover Again The Lawrence Arms - Metropole YG - My Krazy Life DJ Dodger Stadium - Friend of Mine How to Dress Well - What Is This Heart? Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata Isaiah Rashad - Cilvia Demo Rome Fortune - Beautiful Pimp II The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream Your Old Droog - S/T Run the Jewels - RTJ2 Great year!
Original list: Closer to the Truth and Further From the Sky: My Top 30 Albums of 2014 Noah Gundersen – Ledges Field Report – Marigolden Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness – Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness Yellowcard – Lift a Sail Taylor Swift – 1989 Coldplay – Ghost Stories John Fullbright – Songs Tyler Hilton – Indian Summer Twin Forks – Twin Forks U2 – Songs of Innocence The Hotelier – Home, Like NoPlace Is There Dierks Bentley – Riser Chad Perrone – Kaleidoscope The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream Ingrid Michaelson – Lights Out Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy Counting Crows – Somewhere Under Wonderland Bleachers – Strange Desire Steve Moakler – Wide Open The Gaslight Anthem – Get Hurt The Alternate Routes – Nothing More Miranda Lambert – Platinum Lori McKenna – Numbered Doors Stolen Silver – We Have Everything We Have Nothing Copeland – Ixora Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music Augustana – Life Imitating Life Eric Church – The Outsiders The Hold Steady – Teeth Dreams Charlie Simpson – Long Road Home Kind of a fascinating year to revisit, considering how much stuff that I ranked high tumbled out of my top 10. I was weirdly bad these few years (2013 and 2014, mostly) at picking albums that would actually stick with me as my favorites. There are two albums that were in my top 10 that year that aren't here at all: Sun Kil Moon and Ryan Adams. The former I still think has a few incredibly great songs, but haven't played the whole thing through since...maybe 2014? The latter...well, that's self-explanatory. That Adams record meant a ton to me back then, but I have not been able to stomach listening to even a song of his since everything about him came out. 2014 was a pivotal year for me. I got married, moved back to Michigan from Illinois, and started to figure out my professional life. It was also the year my grandpa passed away, which was the first experience I'd really had with death. And it was the year I started writing songs. I can't think of a more important year in my life. A lot of these records are really important to me too. Ledges was one of those records that I knew within the first two or three listens was going to be one of my favorite albums of all time. Just about every song on that thing still gives me goosebumps. I've loved following Noah's career since, and think he's put out a ton of brilliant work, but I doubt he'll ever top this album for me. Field Report, Andrew McMahon, and Yellowcard were all records that I ranked lower the first time around, but they've all just grown on me with time. All three of those records came out around the time my grandpa passed and they were definitely albums I was going to for comfort. Listening to them back is always bittersweet, and there are a few songs on each ("Maps for the Getaway," "Lift a Sail," "Summons") that always choke me up a bit. I listen to 1989 and Ghost Stories all the time. Both of those records have aged super well for me. Same with Songs of Innocence, which I think I was one of the lone defenders of at the time (and probably still am). Still can't quite wrap my head around Get Hurt, which is half great and half...just not satisfying. Kind of a similar situation with Teeth Dreams, which has an incredible first half and then just runs out of gas. A few albums on this list (particularly those last four) are things I have not listened to in ages. I'd almost forgotten about that Augustana record, but I remember loving it so much when it came out. I should revisit a few of these to see how they hold up.
2014 feels like a lost year for me somehow. I had finally made the switch to Rdio, just to have the service go under soon after. I have no playlist of top albums for that year so i have no idea how i had them ranked at the time. Also the last year I lived with my parents before moving out for good. So here’s a rerank: 1. The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace is There 2. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music 3. La Dispute - Rooms of the House 4. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues 5. St. Vincent - St. Vincent 6. Copeland - Ixora 7. Circa Survive - Descensus 8. Run the Jewels - RTJ2 9. Pianos Become the Teeth - Keep You 10. Manchester Orchestra - Cope 11. Taylor Swift - 1989 12. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden 13. The Life and Times - Lost Bees 14. S. Carey - Range of Light
Biggest ones for me were keep you, happiness is, ixora (the 3 of which are top albums of the decade for me), lowborn, 1989. Other notables: lost together//lost forever, lift a sail, clouded, strange desire, HLNPIT, temple of plenty, bloom & breathe, white noise
The year I became a Staff Member I think... Pretty sure this was the year of PBTT's Keep You, which is still the best mid-autumn-night-drive record in my library.
The Hotelier will always be number one for me in 2014. Joyce will always be second. One of the best years!!
This remains the year that I was most "plugged in" to the scene at large. This was my last year of grad school and it had become a bit boring, so I spent hour after hour on AbsolutePunk finding new bands and tracking news. I did a "Best albums of the 2010s" with a friend back at the end of last year and was shocked by how many of the albums came from 2014. This year seemed like release after release that changed how I listened to music and I had so many albums that I was eagerly anticipating release day; feel like I don't get that way as much anymore. I also started going to way more live shows than before. I saw this insane record release show at Asbury Lanes with PBTT, Gates, and Frameworks. Different but simpler times. Standouts for me at the time: Pianos, Hotelier, From Indian Lakes, La Dispute, Copeland, Prawn, Aaron West, Modern Baseball, Joyce Manor, Hope/Cope, Frameworks, Gates, Architects Albums that I have come to appreciate in the years since: ETID, Fireworks, RTJ, Menzingers
100% agreed. I'd take the three b-sides from that record over anything on side 2 except for Oaks. I've seen them live at least 10x but have never caught that one. My white whale.
2014 was actually a year of musical letdowns for me. It seemed like so many of my favourite bands were putting out albums I just didn't like as much as their previous work. Gaslight Anthem, Menzingers, Hold Steady, The Lawrence Arms, Restorations, Manchester Orchestra, Rise Against. These bands are all fantastic, and they all put out my least-favourite albums in their discographies in 2014 (except maybe Hold Steady, although Teeth Dreams certainly falls short of their best work). Luckily there were some bright spots. Run The Jewels -- this is when I first got into RTJ and they remain one of my favourite hip hop acts Sun Kil Moon -- I rarely listen to Benji in full but several songs are stunning, especially Carissa Taylor Swift -- Like many people, 1989 really got me into Taylor and much of it still holds up Against Me -- Likely the most important punk album of the decade, although I don't love it outside a few songs (and the production hurts it for me) Which all leads me to the one true bright spot for 2014, The Hotelier. Before this album I hadn't really sought out emo music for years. Aside from a couple of pop-punk bands like The Wonder Years and The Menzingers, I had mainly listened to indie and hip hop for a few years at this point. Home Like NoPlace Is There dragged me back in and I discovered a lot of great music because of it -- but nothing that has hit me quite like that Hotelier album did, and still does. Just a masterclass in wordy, impassioned, theatrical rock music, which in many ways is my musical taste sweet spot. Every song is great (yep, even Housebroken) and for such a serious record it works well for driving. "I felt the noooose, tighten uppp, on your collarboooooone!" is not a typical driving lyric but I scream along with it every time anyway. The defining album of third-wave emo and one of the best albums to come out of this 'scene' ever, period. Currently my fifth favourite album of the 2010s.
Re: Sun Kil Moon. "Carissa" and "I Can't Live without My Mother's Love" is arguably my favorite opening 1-2 punch of any 2010s record, but a lot of the other songs on that record are kind of chores to get through for me. Not chores like the later SKM records would be, mind you, but I rarely have much desire to keep going with Benji once "Truck Driver" starts.
Goddess by Banks will always be #1 for me from that year. Definitely not the "best" record of 2014 but scratched a million itches I didn't even know I had and basically got me into R&B