We're just about halfway through the year, so it seems appropriate to start the midyear accolades. So, let's start off with my Top 5 Albums of 2014 so far.
3. Upside Down Mountain | Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst isn't number two on this list just because Bright Eyes is one of my favorite bands of all time, but because this album is the peak of his maturity as a musician. When he returned to doing solo albums in 2008 I wasn't a huge fan. Everything came off a little insincere, unlike Bright Eyes' tragic music, but in this album he revisits his narrative storytelling and accompanies it with this new direction of SoCal Folk Pop and mixing it with the intimacy of previous Bright Eyes albums. The result is an album that is emotional, but not terribly sentimental, simple, but not boring. It's yet another fantastic step in the canon that is Conor Oberst. Check out our review here!
2. St. Vincent | St. Vincent
This album is pretty much at the top, or at least in the top 5, of any given music listener on the planet. It is simply an adroitly put together grouping of songs that are fun to listen to and painful to understand. It's hard to resist her twangy beats and twisted melodies set behind her pain-filled lyrics that almost purge everything she has. It's a phenomenal way to show introspection without being reclusive like some musicians get with their music. Overall, St. Vincent is her strongest, most cohesive, and successful effort of her career that is careful crafted and produced. I can sum up the album in one lyric from “Digital Witness”: “If I can't show it, you can't see me.”
NEXT: NUMBER 1
So, what albums are your favorites of the year so far?
Though I haven’t gotten to listen to any on this list, I’d have to add in Snarky Puppy’s “We Like it Here” and Bill Laurence’s “Flint”