Musicwhore.org Music and memory

A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.

The 2014 list has already gone through one revision, and this version expands it slightly.

1. D’Angelo and the Vanguard, Black Messiah
2. John Luther Adams, Become Ocean
3. Sturgill Simpson, Metamodern Sounds of Country Music
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. BADBADNOTGOOD, III

Other favorites from the year:

• Juanes, Loco de Amor
• The Drums, Encyclopedia
• Cocco, Plan C
• Shaprece, Molting EP
• Huck Hodge, Life Is Endless Like Our Field of Vision
• Taylor Swift, 1989
• Sam Amidon, Lily-O
• U2, Songs of Innocence

The year started with Juanes topping the list. He’s now been bumped off the Favorite 10 in favor of BADBADNOTGOOD. Despite that change, the Favorite 10 is pretty solid. The remaining list, however, has expanded to include The Drums and Taylor Swift.

You read that right.

I’ve been curious about 1989 for a while, but I felt no desire to stream it. Yet, a thrift store copy selling for $2 was more incentive to check it out. I wonder why that is? I ended up liking it more than I thought I would.

The Drums’ Encyclopedia didn’t start out as a favorite, but when I stopped expecting it to be a carbon copy of the self-titled debut, its strengths became apparent. That said, it’s really a strange album.

The last addition to the list is an album by Huck Hodge, a University of Washington music composition professor from whom I took a number of classes. I actually heard most of this album in class, so it made sense to own a copy of it.

Tags: badbadnotgood, cocco, d'angelo, favorite edition, huck hodge, inventions, john luther adams, juanes, meredith monk, mono, rewind, royal wood, sam amidon, shaprece, shiina ringo, sturgill simpson, taylor swift, the bad plus, the drums, u2