Best Music of 2014: #1 The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

For the fourth time in five years, an artist's debut on my year-end list is my #1 album.

Adam Granduciel's brand of ambient Americana was this year's critical consensus album of the year, an opinion I'm totally on board with, despite the fact my #4 artist is not a fan [NSFW].

For those of you still reading at the end of this blog's slowest year in almost a decade, thank you and best of luck in 2015.

Best Music of 2014: #2 Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

If this album didn't make your list, you either don't put together an albums-of-the-year list or you have an irrational fear of country music. Or, perhaps, you simply didn't hear it.

Considering I'd never even heard of Sturgill Simpson until barely more than a month ago, the latter suggestion is a distinct possibility. If that's the case, and if you're open to country music at all, plan on adding this to your "best 2014 albums you didn't hear until 2015 list."

Best Music of 2014: #3 Cloud Cult - Unplug

I've been saying for a long time live albums are eligible for my year-end lists, but I think this is the first time one has made it, or at least it's the first time one has been ranked so highly.

This album exposed me to older Cloud Cult songs I was unfamiliar with, offered most of the songs in a different format from their original versions, and was presented as a single one-off performance rather than a live compilation. 

Those are pretty much my three criteria for considering a live album as one of the best of the year. Unplug is clearly just that.

Best Music of 2014: #4 Sun Kil Moon - Benji

The two artists with the longest streaks of consecutive albums in my top ten see those runs end this year, while Sun Kil Moon and one other band (to be revealed) join the ranks of acts with three top tens in my list's 19-year history.

On the heels of last year's #1 album, Mark Kozelek's fourth top ten overall puts him in pretty select company (more on that later, hopefully).

Best Music of 2014: #5 Temples - Sun Structures

Speaking of retro-inspired music, this one goes back a little further than your typical classic rock reference point. Put simply (or not), this is 50+ minutes of incense and peppermints and McGuinnesque guitar jangle.

Best Music of 2014: #6 Strand of Oaks - HEAL

It seems like there's a lot of indie rock inspired by classic rock in my top ten this year. Perhaps my taste has been trending that way for a while, but it seems more evident this year. I'd say three of the five I've revealed so far, including this one, fall into this category.

Best Music of 2014: #7 Anders Parker - There's a Bluebird in My Heart

Anders is a friend of mine, although I hadn't seen him in a year and a half until a mid-December show supporting Centro-Matic on their farewell tour. Still, I don't think of myself as biased when it comes to evaluating his music. I liked his album prior to this, but it didn't even make my extended list. His latest, in my opinion, is his best effort since his solo debut, 2004's Tell it to the Dust.

OK, perhaps I'm biased to the extent knowing Anders is what exposed me to his music in the first place, and I might be more willing to allow his songs to grow on me than with other artists. But, the latter point applies to all my favorite artists, and considering this is Anders' sixth appearance in my top ten—three Varnaline records, two solo and the New Multitudes project—I'd say he falls into that category.

Here's Anders and his band, Cloud Badge, playing four songs from the record on a live performance for Vermont Public Radio.

Best Music of 2014: #8 Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness of Dancers

Before I finalized these rankings, I felt like this was a year where artists who were new to my ears made a bigger impact than my old favorites. The final list doesn't necessarily reflect that, but Hiss Golden Messenger is the first of three artists I'd never heard of prior to this year and the second of six to crack the top ten—Drew being the first, and Leithauser counting as a returnee because The Walkmen have been here twice before—for the first-time.

Best Music of 2014: #9 Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours

The Walkmen are on "...a pretty extreme hiatus," according to bassist/organist Peter Bauer, which perhaps means we've heard the last of them. That's too bad, and while this album is only capable of filling part of the void that potentially leaves, it did remind me how much my love for that band is tied up in Hamilton Leithauser's voice.

Best Music of 2014: #10 Kevin Drew - Darlings

Last year, I paid tribute to this blog's roots by counting down my top ten albums for ten days beginning on the blog's tenth anniversary. However, I also ranked numbers 11-21 because ranking more than ten albums had been my thing for quite a few years.

This year, as my dedication to this blog and the hobbies that provide its motivation has waned a little, I'm fully returning to my top ten roots. Honestly, I've got several handfuls of additional records I enjoyed this year, but I don't have the time or the inclination to rank them any further.

Besides, ten is a good number and it's fairly representative of the number of truly frequent spins of mine this year. So, without further ado, let's begin this countdown of my favorite albums from this calendar year.

I don't love Kevin Drew's second solo effort for its lyrics, that's for sure, and it surely didn't get much, if any, love on critical year-end lists. Pitchfork practically referred to it as the Broken Social Scene frontman's Tunnel of Love. That's an interesting reference point, although the reviewer wasn't really comparing Drew to Springsteen. While "You in Your Were" leaves me wishing there was a little more Feist collaboration here, the album's standout track is its closer, "And That's All I Know."