Favorite Edition 2014 Revised

[DAngelo - Black Messiah]

It’s bound to happen that some albums from the previous year don’t get air time on the personal playlist till the following year, and as a result, they alter how the Favorite Edition list should have been compiled.

This time, two albums fell off the 2014 list — Sam Smith’s In the Lonely Hour, and Wayne Horvitz’s 55: Music and Dance in Concrete. I mentioned that Smith’s album could have been more adventurous, so that vulnerability led to his ouster. 55 is still some of Horvitz’s most adventurous music, but the gloom of MONO’s Rays of Darkness won out in the end.

In their place are albums by D’Angelo and Sturgill Simpson.

  1. D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah: I vaguely remember hearing about D’Angelo 15 years ago, but I was too enamored of Japanese indie rock to pay much heed. The rapturous anticipation of this album made me curious. I’m no expert in R&B, but Black Messiah is clearly a case of something remarkable and special happening.
  2. John Luther Adams, Become Ocean
  3. Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds of Country Music: Other writers have waxed on Sturgill Simpsons’ ability to elevate traditional country themes to levels of high-minded poetry, but I’m here to tell you this album is the kind of weird that country music needs to encourage more.
  4. Royal Wood, The Burning Bright
  5. The Bad Plus, The Rite of Spring
  6. Meredith Monk, Piano Songs
  7. Inventions, Inventions
  8. MONO, Rays of Darkness
  9. Shiina Ringo, Gyakuyunyuu ~Kouwankyoku~
  10. Juanes, Loco de Amor

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