Best Music of 2014... So Far

Mike Shinoda, musician in rock band Linkin Park
whose latest album in The Hunting Party

I was listening to an interview of Mike Shinoda, a member of the band Linkin Park. He was talking to Bill Maher. Shinoda was explaining what went into writing and recording his latest album The Hunting Party. He discussed how rock music has moved more toward pop music in its sound. His reason for doing the album the way he does was to veer back to the hard and angry spirit that rock music used to be. Shinoda admitted that he and his band were guilty of drifting toward the softer tone in some of their recent works.

I fear that Shinoda wouldn't appreciate my list of favorite rock albums that have been released between New Year's Day and Independence Day. He probably wouldn't appreciate it because I skipped The Hunting Party and generally all records that have that harder and angrier tone. For example, I avoid heavy metal albums like the plague.

Within the past decade, I've embraced folk and country music more. Since high school, my mom has pushed country music on me, but it started sticking to me in college, particularly after my college professor introduced me to Ramblin' Jack. I was also impressed later with the documentary about the Dixie Chicks.

My parents mostly raised me on Motown and a lot of soul music, so any genre, whether it's rock or electronic music, that is reminiscent of the folk or soul music toward which I've gravitated post-college, that is the sound that tends to make my list of favorites.

The problem is sorting through everything that's out there. Hundreds and hundreds of albums were released to stores, iTunes and Amazon by July 4th. I'm not much of a music critic, so my ability to discriminate the good from the bad is not as discerning as my ability to do so with films. I end up liking too much. Therefore, limiting my list to a top ten is impossible. A top twenty is also out of the question.

There are instead 33 albums that I've listed here. This is not including the subsequent list of singles from albums not in those 33 records or LPs. I'm even so bad that I have two singles that weren't even released this year. One was a single released late in 2013 that I overlooked. The other was originally released in 2011 but was re-purposed for a movie trailer this year. I loved the rendition so much. I listened to it on repeat so much that I had to include it.

Speaking of music set to video, I don't watch too much of MTV or VH1 any more, so I'm not up on all the music videos. Yet, I did notice a very well done short film by a band called This Wild Life. The video is for their song "Over It". It's notable to me because the entire 4 minutes is accomplished in one single shot, a trick that only skilled Hollywood directors can pull off.

I could also be imagining nothing, but a lot of songs are named after Hollywood stars or distinct characters. The New York duo Phantogram released a song this year called "Bill Murray." The rock band Say Anything have two songs off their latest album. One is called "Kall Me Kubrick," which obviously references the famous director Stanley Kubrick. They also have "John McClane," a song named for the famous character from the Die Hard films. The Chicago rapper Open Mike Eagle has two songs that do same thing. One is "Jon Lovitz," named after the famous comedic actor from Saturday Night Live. The other from Open Mike Eagle is "Doug Stamper," a song named after the famous TV character from House of Cards.

It's strange to think that the music world is gathering inspiration for their music from Hollywood. Nevertheless, here are my selections for the Best Music of 2014... So Far:

Best Folk / Country

PLATINUM by Miranda Lambert
STORYLINE by Hunter Hayes
BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF THE ETERNAL SUN by Damien Jurado
SUPERNOVA by Ray LaMontagne
X by Ed Sheeran
WHISPERS by Passenger
TWIN FORKS by Twin Forks

Best Rock / Alternative

MIDNIGHT SUN by GOASTT (Ghost of a Saber Tooth Tiger)
MORNING PHASE by Beck
CLOUDED by This Wild Life
THE CLASSIC by Joan As Police Woman
HEARTSTRINGS by Howling Bells
BLUE FILM by Lo-Fang

Best Pop / Electronic

ST. VINCENT by St. Vincent
LIGHTS OUT by Ingrid Michaelson
NIKKI NACK by tUnE-yArDs
BABY by White Hinterland
TREMORS by Sohn
ANIMAL HEART by Nina Persson
KISS ME ONCE by Kylie Minogue
LOUDER by Lea Michelle

Best R&B / Soul

FOOD by Kelis
BAD SELF PORTRAITS by Lake Street Dive
ME. I AM MARIAH... THE ELUSIVE CHANTEUS by Mariah Carey
A PERFECT CONTRADICTION by Paloma Faith
LIFT YOUR SPIRIT by Aloe Blacc
MUSIC SPEAKS by Candice Glover

Best Rap / Hip Hop

JUST BE FREE by Big Freedia
DARK COMEDY by Open Mike Eagle 
P.T.S.D. by Pharoahe Monch
GRAVITAS by Talib Kweli
THE INFAMOUS MOBB DEEP by Mobb Deep
RETROHASH by Asher Roth

Best Singles from Non-listed Albums

"Stay With Me" by Sam Smith
"Another Story" by The Head and the Heart (2013)
"Love Never Felt So Good" by Michael Jackson from Xscape
"Heart on Fire" by Clean Bandit f/ Elisabeth Troy
"Since Last Wednesday" by Highasakit
"Gold" by Chet Faker
"Try to Make a Fire Burn Again" by Dawn Landes
"Sing Along" by Robert Ellis
"Thank You" by Jennifer Nettles
"(You're So Square) Baby, I Don't Care" by Cee Lo Green (2011)
"Step Out" by Jose Gonzalez (2013)
"It Girl" by Pharrell Williams
"When You Come For Me" by Amy Ray
"Until the Day I Have Won" by Eternal Summers
"Stutter" by Deleted Scenes