The Ten Best Albums of 2014 so far - January

How to make sense of the flood of new material?

TMG's unique meta-meta-list combines data from metacritic and Rate Your Music to point you in the direction of music that might be worth a listen.

I'll update and expand it as the year progresses. But for now here are the best albums of 2014, so far.

	Artist	Album	Genre
1	Against Me!	Transgender Dysphoria Blues	Punk
2	Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra	Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything	Post-Rock, Art Rock
3	Rosanne Cash	The River & the Thread	Americana, Contemporary Country
4	Damien Jurado	Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son	Psychedelic folk
5	Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings	Give the People What They Want	Soul
6	Lucinda Williams	Lucinda Williams [Reissue]	Americana, Contemporary Country
7	Have a Nice Life	The Unnatural World	Post-Punk, Shoegaze
8	Lone Justice	This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes, 1983	Country Rock, Cowpunk
9	Mark Lanegan	Has God Seen My Shadow? An Anthology 1989-2011	Pop/Rock, Adult Alternative Pop/Rock
10	Hail Spirit Noir	Oi Magoi	Psychedelic Rock, Black Metal

Top 25 Albums of 2013 6 - Wrap up

Here is the full list of the top 25 albums of 2013 based on The Music Geek's unique combination of sales, fan and critic data.

Rank	Artist	Album	Source
1	My Bloody Valentine	m b v	Critics + Fans
2	Vampire Weekend	Modern Vampires of the City	Critics + Fans
3	Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds	Push the Sky Away	Critics + Fans
4	The National	Trouble Will Find Me	Critics + Fans
5	Daft Punk	Random Access Memories	Critics + Sales
6	Jon Hopkins	Immunity	Critics + Fans
7	Queens of the Stone Age	...Like Clockwork	Critics + Fans
8	Kurt Vile	Wakin on a Pretty Daze	Critics + Fans
9	Julia Holter	Loud City Song	Critics + Fans
10	Kanye West	Yeezus	Critics
11	Sigur Rós	Kveikur	Fans
12	Justin Timberlake	The 20/20 Experience	Sales
13	Run the Jewels	Run the Jewels	Fans
14	Taylor Swift	Red	Sales
15	Arcade Fire	Reflektor	Critics
16	Boards of Canada	Tomorrow's Harvest	Fans
17	One Direction	Take Me Home	Sales
18	Gorguts	Colored Sands	Fans
19	Bruno Mars	Unorthodox Jukebox	Sales
20	Mumford & Sons	Babel	Sales
21	Imagine Dragons	Night Visions	Sales
22	Tim Hecker	Virgins	Fans
23	Arctic Monkeys	AM	Critics
24	Florida Georgia Line	Here's To The Good Times	Sales
25	Haim	Days Are Gone	Critics

It's a pretty diverse list. There's pop, country rock, indie, ambient, hip hop, speed metal, shoe gaze, art rock, post rock and more.

The albums from this list that have really stayed with me and begged multiple plays are from Haim, Boards of Canada, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Julia Holter and Daft Punk.

Are any of these likely to make the all time top 100? My pick of the most likely to succeed are Yeejus and Random Access Memories.

Sales v critics v fans 3.3: Fans top 100 albums of all time - years

Here's the chart for the fans top 100 albums of all time. (Click to enlarge.)

The structure is similar to the critics chart - but even more concentrated in the golden era. In the critics chart 1968 and 1971 were the biggest years with 6 entries each. Those are also big years for the fans with 7 and 8 entries respectively. But the biggest year is 1969 - with 10 entries!

Rank

Artist

Album

5	The Beatles	Abbey Road
7	King Crimson	In the Court of the Crimson King
40	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin
44	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin II
51	The Velvet Underground	The Velvet Underground
60	Miles Davis	In a Silent Way
67	The Rolling Stones	Let It Bleed
74	Nick Drake	Five Leaves Left
81	Neil Young	Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
84	Frank Zappa	Hot Rats

This is by far the oldest chart - the median release date is 1971! (vs 1977 for the critics and 1987 for sales)

There are only 4 entries from 2000 and beyond - two of them belonging to Radiohead. The latest entry is In Rainbows in 2007. No Adele.

On the face of it, this could suggest the fans on RYM are older and more conservative than the critics or the record buying public. But that theory is shot down when you look at the charts for recent years on RYM. The preponderance of death metal, speed metal, shoegaze, etc suggests this is not an old audience. Maybe the oldies on RYM just outnumber the youngsters - so the old stuff tends to get more votes than the new stuff? But then how to explain the popularity of Radiohead? Maybe Radiohead just has the greatness to cross demographic boundaries and appeals to the oldies as well as the kids. Maybe they don't make 'em like they used to, but Radiohead is a rare exception - a genuinely great band that will stand the test of time.

Top 25 Albums of 2013 5 - Numbers 5 to 1

Here we are at the pointy end of the countdown.

4 selections by critics and fans, 1 selection by critics and sales.

Rank

Artist

Album

Source

5

Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

Critics + Sales

One of my personal favourites this year. What's not to like about Daft Punk + Nile Rogers? Fun to dance to. Fun to listen to. Unlike much dance music it stands up well to repeated close listening.

4

The National

Trouble Will Find Me

Critics + Fans

It's nicely produced, atmospheric, etc. But I don't feel like it's advancing the state of the art as laid down by Nick Cave or Joy Division or some other confessional singer/songwriters. Certainly listenable and enjoyable - but I was kinda hoping for more.

3 Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds  Push the Sky Away  Critics + Fans

...speaking of which. The real deal. 120 years on and still going strong.

2

Vampire Weekend

Modern Vampires of the City

Critics + Fans

This one is growing on me slowly. Dense arty indie pop rock.

1

My Bloody Valentine

m b v

Critics + Fans

What is it with shoegaze this year? Another album that just missed out on the list was the industrial shoegaze Sunbather by Deafheaven.

Amazing that this is #1 on the list when it isn't on iTunes or Spotify. You need to buy it from the artist's site. I appreciate the immersive and experiential nature of shoegaze - and this is probably as good a contemporary example as you'll find anywhere. I would have said it's not for everybody - but clearly a lot of critics and fans have made the effort to track it down and vote for it. 

Sales v critics v fans 3.2: Fans top 100 albums of all time - artists

What artists do the fans like - and how does that compare with the critics' and best seller lists?

The fans list is more concentrated than the other list. 64 entries come from artists with two or more entries vs 51 for the sales chart and 34 for the critics. That kinda makes sense - you'd expect critics to have more diverse interest than fans or record buyers. But I was surprised that the fans were more concentrated than the sales data.

The list of top 100 albums of all time as voted by the fans is here.


1. The Beatles - 6 entries

Despite being deposed from the top slots by Radiohead and Pink Floyd, the Beatles still have the most entries. I suppose they must be ok.

The order is different - but the albums are the same as the critics, except the fans substitute Magical Mystery Tour for Please Please Me. Hard to pass up one of the greatest pieces of psychedelia of all time.

Abbey Road
Revolver
Sgt Pepper
White Album
Rubber Soul
Magical Mystery Tour


2.= Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd - 5 entries

The fans really like their Pink Floyd! The critics gave the nod to only 1 Floyd album, which seems like a travesty. The best seller list had 3.

Bob Dylan
Blood on the Tracks
Highway 61 Revisited
Blonde on Blonde
Bringing it All Back Home
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Pink Floyd
Dark Side of the Moon (#2 Overall)
Wish You Were Here
Animals
Piper At the Gates of Dawn
Meddle


4.= Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Radiohead, The Rolling Stones - 4 entries

I like the elevation of Neil Young and Radiohead. Compared with the sales chart, the fans drop Houses of the Holy and add Lep Zep I and III.

Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin III

Neil Young
After the Gold Rush
On the Beach
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Harvest

Radiohead

OK Computer (#1 Overall)

Kid A

The Bends

In Rainbows

The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers
Let It Bleed
Exile on Main Street
Beggars Banquet


8.= Black Sabbath, David Bowie, Miles Davis, Velvet Underground - 3 entries

Yes, yes, yes and yes!

Black Sabbath
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
Master of Reality

David Bowie
Ziggy Stardust
Low
Hunky Dory

Miles Davis
Kind of Blue
In a Silent Way
Betches Brew

The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground & Nico (#3 Overall)
The Velvet Underground
White Light/White Heat


12.= Charles Mingus, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, John Coltrane, Joy Division, King Crimson, Metallica, Nick Drake, Pixies, Talk Talk, The Jimi Hendrix Experience - 2 entries

What a diverse group!


Everyone else - 1 entry

A Tribe Called Quest

Arcade Fire

Can

Creedence Clearwater Revival

DJ Shadow

Elliott Smith

Frank Zappa

Genius/GZA

Leonard Cohen

Love

Marvin Gaye

Megadeth

My Bloody Valentine

Nas

Neutral Milk Hotel

Nirvana

Portishead

Sigur Rós

Slayer

Slint

Sonic Youth

Talking Heads

Television

The Beach Boys

The Clash

The Cure

The Doors

The Kinks

The Smiths

The Stooges

The Who

The Zombies

Tom Waits

Van Morrison

Wu-Tang Clan

Yes

Top 25 Albums of 2013 4 - Numbers 10 to 6

We continue our countdown of the top 25 albums of 2013 with numbers 10 to 6. This group includes three great experimental works.

Rank

Artist

Album

Source

10

Kanye West

Yeezus

Critics

Wow! If there is such a thing as post hip hop, this is it. One critic likens Kanye to Salvador Dali. Maybe. I was surprised by how much I liked this.

9

Julia Holter

Loud City Song

Critics + Fans

This is the first of the top 25 to be selected by two of the three sources. Think Bjork does ambient. Bjorkish in some places, ethereal in others - always beautiful.

8

Kurt Vile

Wakin on a Pretty Daze

Critics + Fans

I tried to like this but couldn't. Better to pull out your old REM or Nick Drake.

7

Queens of the Stone Age

...Like Clockwork

Critics + Fans

A good enough homage to late 70s Bowie, Eno, Iggy but without as interesting a voice. Some tasty guitar work.

6

Jon Hopkins

Immunity

Critics + Fans

Great to see some really nice industrial/techno/ambience rating so highly.

Sales v critics v fans 3.1: Fans top 100 albums of all time

No we turn our attention to the fans top 100 albums of all time, as represented by Rate Your Music in early January, 2014.

The critics top 100 is here and the top 100 by sales is here.

Good news for Radiohead and Pink Floyd fans.

Rank	Artist	Album	Year
1	Radiohead	OK Computer	1997
2	Pink Floyd	The Dark Side of the Moon	1973
3	The Velvet Underground & Nico	The Velvet Underground & Nico	1967
4	Pink Floyd	Wish You Were Here	1975
5	The Beatles	Abbey Road	1969
6	The Beatles	Revolver	1966
7	King Crimson	In the Court of the Crimson King	1969
8	Radiohead	Kid A	2000
9	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin [IV]	1971
10	Miles Davis	Kind of Blue	1959
11	My Bloody Valentine	Loveless	1991
12	Bob Dylan	Highway 61 Revisited	1965
13	John Coltrane	A Love Supreme	1965
14	David Bowie	The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars	1972
15	Black Sabbath	Paranoid	1970
16	Pixies	Doolittle	1989
17	The Beach Boys	Pet Sounds	1966
18	The Beatles	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band	1967
19	The Doors	The Doors	1967
20	Joy Division	Unknown Pleasures	1979
21	The Clash	London Calling	1979
22	The Beatles	The Beatles [White Album]	1968
23	The Smiths	The Queen Is Dead	1986
24	Nick Drake	Pink Moon	1972
25	Bob Dylan	Blonde on Blonde	1966
26	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Are You Experienced	1967
27	Talking Heads	Remain in Light	1980
28	Charles Mingus	The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady	1963
29	Television	Marquee Moon	1977
30	Arcade Fire	Funeral	2004
31	Joy Division	Closer	1980
32	Neutral Milk Hotel	In the Aeroplane Over the Sea	1998
33	Pink Floyd	Animals	1977
34	Bob Dylan	Blood on the Tracks	1975
35	The Beatles	Rubber Soul	1965
36	Bob Dylan	Bringing It All Back Home	1965
37	Sonic Youth	Daydream Nation	1988
38	Godspeed You Black Emperor!	Lift Yr. Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven!	2000
39	Neil Young	After the Gold Rush	1970
40	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin	1969
41	Nirvana	Nevermind	1991
42	Metallica	Master of Puppets	1986
43	Wu-Tang Clan	Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)	1993
44	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin II	1969
45	King Crimson	Red	1974
46	Radiohead	The Bends	1995
47	The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Electric Ladyland	1968
48	Tom Waits	Rain Dogs	1985
49	Sigur Rós	Ágætis byrjun	1999
50	Leonard Cohen	Songs of Leonard Cohen	1967
51	The Velvet Underground	The Velvet Underground	1969
52	David Bowie	Low	1977
53	The Who	Who's Next	1971
54	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath	1970
55	The Cure	Disintegration	1989
56	Black Sabbath	Master of Reality	1971
57	The Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers	1971
58	The Stooges	Fun House	1970
59	Nas	Illmatic	1994
60	Miles Davis	In a Silent Way	1969
61	Love	Forever Changes	1967
62	Metallica	Ride the Lightning	1984
63	Portishead	Dummy	1994
64	DJ Shadow	Endtroducing.....	1996
65	The Zombies	Odessey and Oracle	1968
66	David Bowie	Hunky Dory	1971
67	The Rolling Stones	Let It Bleed	1969
68	Godspeed You Black Emperor!	F♯A♯∞ (1995-1997)	1997
69	Radiohead	In Rainbows	2007
70	The Beatles	Magical Mystery Tour	1967
71	Miles Davis	Bitches Brew	1970
72	Can	Tago Mago	1971
73	Yes	Close to the Edge	1972
74	Nick Drake	Five Leaves Left	1969
75	The Velvet Underground	White Light / White Heat	1968
76	Genius/GZA	Liquid Swords	1995
77	Neil Young	On the Beach	1974
78	Pixies	Surfer Rosa	1988
79	The Rolling Stones	Exile on Main St.	1972
80	The Kinks	The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Societ	1968
81	Neil Young with Crazy Horse	Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere	1969
82	Slint	Spiderland	1991
83	Pink Floyd	The Piper at the Gates of Dawn	1967
84	Frank Zappa	Hot Rats	1969
85	Marvin Gaye	What's Going On	1971
86	The Rolling Stones	Beggars Banquet	1968
87	Pink Floyd	Meddle	1971
88	Neil Young	Harvest	1972
89	Megadeth	Rust in Peace	1990
90	Talk Talk	Spirit of Eden	1988
91	Charles Mingus	Mingus Ah Um	1959
92	Slayer	Reign in Blood	1986
93	Van Morrison	Astral Weeks	1968
94	Bob Dylan	The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan	1963
95	Talk Talk	Laughing Stock	1991
96	Led Zeppelin	Led Zeppelin III	1970
97	John Coltrane	Giant Steps	1960
98	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Cosmo's Factory	1970
99	Elliott Smith	Either/Or	1997
100	A Tribe Called Quest	The Low End Theory	1991

Top 25 Albums of 2013 3 - Numbers 15 to 11

Here are the next 5 albums in our countdown of the top 25 albums of 2013.

Rank	Artist	Album	Source
15	Arcade Fire	Reflektor	Critics
14	Taylor Swift	Red	Sales
13	Run the Jewels	Run the Jewels	Fans
12	Justin Timberlake	The 20/20 Experience	Sales
11	Sigur Rós	Kveikur	Fans

My spirits sank when I saw this was a double CD. But they lifted with the first track, Reflektor, which is a killer dance number. I first listened to it in a single sitting and by the end, however, I was thinking, "Is this ever going to end?" There are a bunch of great tracks here and some not so great. This could have been truly outstanding if it had been edited down to vinyl LP length - say 45 mins. A quick scan of other reviews shows I'm not the first to criticise the length and inconsistency. Maybe history will view this as Arcade Fire's White Album.

It's six years since the release of her first album, so I was hoping for more. It's quite pleasant when the production backs off and her natural voice is given a chance to breath. But most of the time her voice is subject to gratuitous and egregious processing - presumably to help it "cut through" on radio and computer speakers. That and the over produced, over compressed, over dense backing tracks make it a really hard listen for me.

And now for something completely different...an album that isn't even on iTunes or Spotify at the time of writing. No worries, it was available as a free download from the artist. Probably as good an example of the state of hard core hip hop as you'll find anywhere. 

Contemporary R&B done right!! The true heir of MJ? Ok, well not quite that catchy, but you get the drift.

In isolation a good and interesting album that probably deserves a position in the chart. But from the perspective of their previous output, doesn't advance the ball. 

Sales v critics v fans 2.4: Critics top 100 albums of all time - decades

The critics' chart showing entries in their top 100 albums of all time by decade is nearly the reverse of the sales chart.

• The golden era of 60s and 70s has the most entries, accounting for over half the total.
• There is a downward trend since then - forestalled by a minor resurgence in the 90s.

The album as an art form might not be dead, but it is not in the most robust of health either.

Top 25 Albums of 2013 2 - Numbers 20 to 16

Here are the next 5 albums in our countdown of the top 25 albums of 2013.

Rank	Artist	Album	Source
20	Mumford & Sons	Babel	Sales
19	Bruno Mars	Unorthodox Jukebox	Sales
18	Gorguts	Colored Sands	Fans
17	One Direction	Take Me Home	Sales
16	Boards of Canada	Tomorrow's Harvest	Fans

The Mumford & Sons is pleasant enough - it's nice to hear a big selling album that is at least a bit organic and without a totally compressed and cluttered production style.

I didn't have high hopes for Unorthodox Jukebox but was quite pleasantly surprised by the range of stylistic influences. 

I couldn't say the same thing about Take Me Home. It was pretty much what I expected - expertly crafted pop music. Guilty pleasure when it pops up on the radio - but nothing that makes me want to listen to an album of it.

The fan selections in this bracket are pretty interesting - and divergent. Colored Sands is intense death metal - not a genre that I listen to much. I have a particular aversion to Cookie Monster vocals (AKA screamo) - although I can appreciate a certain artistry therein. Notwithstanding, Colored Sands is worth checking out for fans of the genre, or newbies wanting to know what it's about.

Tomorrow's Harvest is one of my personal favourites of 2013. "Downtempo" is the emergent label encompassing many subgenres that have sprung up in the wake of Massive Attack and Portishead. Tomorrow's Harvest is an excellent example - there are elements of trip hop, ambient, IDM (intelligent dance music). I have listened to a lot of new music. The majority only get one or two listens - but I have kept coming back to Tomorrow's Harvest.

Sales v critics v fans 2.3: Critics top 100 albums of all time - years

Which years were most prolific according to critics, based on their top 100 albums of all time?

The chart tells the story (click to enlarge):

This is very different to the sales chart, with the biggest group of releases coming in the period 1965-1973.

• The first entry is older than the sales chart - 1959 - Miles Davis with Kind of Blue. Still no Sinatra. 
• The biggest years are 1968 and 1971, each with 6 entries:

1968

Aretha Franklin	Lady Soul
The Band	Music From Big Pink
Johnny Cash	At Folsom Prison
The Beatles	The Beatles (White Album)
The Rolling Stones	Beggars Banquet
Van Morrison	Astral Weeks

1971

Carole King	Tapestry
David Bowie	Hunky Dory
Joni Mitchell	Blue
Marvin Gaye	What's Going On
The Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers
The Who	Who's Next

• The median is 1977 - ten years older than the sales list. 
• The 2000s are not as barren as in the sales list - there are seven entries after 2001, including two in 2011 - 21 by Adele, and the wonderful Let England Shake by PJ Harvey. There are 12 entries from 2000 and beyond.

The age of the blockbuster album may be pretty well over from a sales perspective - but as a creative form it is still far from dead.

Top 25 Albums of 2013 1 - Introduction & 25 - 21

So long to 2013. The end of the year can only mean one thing. No, not hangovers, soon to be forgotten resolutions, or the fervent prayer that what you did on NYE is not going viral right now. It is time for the making of lists!

First up is the top 25 Albums of 2013. 

This is a meta-list which taps critics, fans and punters (i.e. sales) to come up with an all-encompassing proprietary meta-list which summarises the year in music.

The sources are...

Critics: Top 25 albums from AOTY. This is a meta-site which combines 48 year end lists from a wide range of publications, including Rolling Stone, NME, etc.

Fans: Top 25 albums for 2013 from Rate Your Music as at 2/1/13. This is my favourite music voting site for albums. Most of the top 25 have over 1,000 ratings. It is a carefully curated site, with confidential algorithms to prevent rigging.

Sales: The top 25 albums from the Billboard Top 200 for 2013. These are the top selling albums across all genres for 2013. 

The albums in each list are scored between 1 and 25 based on their position in the list. Then I combine the three sources, adding the scores for albums on more than one list. Albums that appear on more than one list are automatically ranked above albums appearing on only one list.

This year there are no albums appearing on all three lists. But there are 9 albums that appear on two lists.

I feel like this has been a good year for music.

Join me in following posts as I count down the Top 25 Albums of 2013.

Rank	Artist	Album	Source
25	Haim	Days Are Gone	Critics
24	Florida Georgia Line	Here's To The Good Times	Sales
23	Arctic Monkeys	AM	Critics
22	Tim Hecker	Virgins	Fans
21	Imagine Dragons	Night Visions	Sales

I love the Tim Hecker techno/noise ambient album and admit to guilty pleasures in Imagine Dragons.