Author Topic: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS  (Read 12342 times)

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Offline Jaq

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #140 on: January 08, 2015, 06:49:22 AM »
1. "Opinions, how do they work?"
2. A lot of the times people's lists are reflective of what kind of music fans they are. A very mixed top5 indicates that the listener might be very open minded and has listened to a lot of very different albums during the year, a top5 with five albums from the same genre might indicate that the person is mainly a fan of that one genre, and that might explain why some albums make it onto the list.
3. Some people aren't THAT interested in new albums so they might just check out a handful during the year, and those albums are the ones that make the list.

In the end it comes down to taste and opinions, but sometimes it feels like albums are just there because it's band X or Y. Like for example, the new Pink Floyd. Even if you are the biggest PF fan on the planet, I can't see that album being worth of any top5 spot unless you only heard five albums this year. That's just my opinion though.

Hilariously I say that Opeth made so many lists just because they were Opeth myself. Around here Opeth, Devin Townsend, and Steven Wilson could put out albums that were 60 minutes of fart sounds and they'd make DTF's top five. And Pink Floyd made my top five because I fucking liked it.
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Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #141 on: January 08, 2015, 11:11:54 AM »
But apparently people just liking the Opeth album is unthinkable.

Offline Mosh

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #142 on: January 08, 2015, 11:54:33 AM »
Yea I don't understand that logic. If these bands were putting out sub par material than I could see your point but they're not. The Opeth and Devin albums were really well received by lots of people, not just DTF. It makes sense that they make a lot of lists.  :lol
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Online SoundscapeMN

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #143 on: January 08, 2015, 03:07:16 PM »
I've kind of developed a low expectation level for a lot of artists, mainly due to my own current taste not being as into their more recent work.

I kind of wrote a bit of a diatribe about it a little while ago in my blog
https://allmediareviews.blogspot.com/2014/09/album-anticipation-false-hope-of-my-own.html

I've kind of concluded unless it's a debut album or an artist that can't go wrong for me, I have come to hope but not expect a masterpiece record from any artists.

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #144 on: January 09, 2015, 06:35:54 PM »
I really don't care what the motivations are for anybody's list.  Personally, I just enjoy the following process:

Highlight recommendation, copy
paste into youtube or google
listen to recommendation
decide if this is something I like
If I like it, I'm glad somebody took the time to bring it to my attention
If I don't like it, move onto the next recommendation

Anything beyond that is noise (like this post)

Offline Zantera

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #145 on: January 09, 2015, 06:49:54 PM »
1. "Opinions, how do they work?"
2. A lot of the times people's lists are reflective of what kind of music fans they are. A very mixed top5 indicates that the listener might be very open minded and has listened to a lot of very different albums during the year, a top5 with five albums from the same genre might indicate that the person is mainly a fan of that one genre, and that might explain why some albums make it onto the list.
3. Some people aren't THAT interested in new albums so they might just check out a handful during the year, and those albums are the ones that make the list.

In the end it comes down to taste and opinions, but sometimes it feels like albums are just there because it's band X or Y. Like for example, the new Pink Floyd. Even if you are the biggest PF fan on the planet, I can't see that album being worth of any top5 spot unless you only heard five albums this year. That's just my opinion though.

Hilariously I say that Opeth made so many lists just because they were Opeth myself. Around here Opeth, Devin Townsend, and Steven Wilson could put out albums that were 60 minutes of fart sounds and they'd make DTF's top five. And Pink Floyd made my top five because I fucking liked it.

I'm 100% with you man. I think it's always a shame when some albums have firm spots in people's top5/top10 before the year starts.

Offline Outcrier

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #146 on: January 10, 2015, 11:20:38 AM »
I think the same but i didn't want to step on other people's toes.
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Offline Shadow Ninja 2.0

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #147 on: January 10, 2015, 11:30:53 AM »
I don't know why anyone would be surprised by the fact that people who are big fans of Opeth, Devin Townsend or Steven Wilson rank albums by those artists highly. I assume they're fans in the first place because they like their music. And I'm also not sure why others seem to derive a sense of self-satisfaction from not having those albums in their top whatever.

Offline KevShmev

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #148 on: January 10, 2015, 12:09:34 PM »
I think some people just like to feel smart, like, "I am enlightened enough to know not to rank a band's non-best album in my top 5 for the year," as if that means anything.  It's like the people who listen to like 100 new CDs a year. Who in the hell has time for that?  And even if you do, how can you possibly listen to each enough to accurately rank them?  I guess if you have a job where you can have headphones all day and jam while you work, then you would, but most of the time, it just strikes me as posturing, as if listening to more music makes them bigger and better music fans.  But hey, it's the internet, where a musical e-penis is important to some. :lol :lol

Offline Elite

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #149 on: January 10, 2015, 12:17:16 PM »
Why only 5? :(

1. Mastodon - Once More 'Round the Sun
2. Schizoid Lloyd - The Last Note in God's Magnum Opus
3. Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
4. Pain of Salvation - Falling Home
5. Flaming Row - Mirage: A Portrayal of Figures

Forget this above post; here's a real list:

1. Schizoid Lloyd - The Last Note in God's Magnum Opus
2. Soen - Tellurian
3. Mastodon - Once More 'Round The Sun
4. Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
5. Flaming Row - Mirage: A Portrayal of Figures
5. The Contortionist - Language
6. Destrage - Are You Kidding Me? No.
7. Pain of Salvation - Falling Home
8. Cartographer - A Sea of Sunshine
9. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
10. Opeth - Pale Communion

Random honourable mentions:

Devin Townsend - Z2
Anathema - Distant Satellites
Skyharbor - Guiding Lights
Lesoir - Luctor et Emergo
Haken - Restoration (EP)
Destiny Potato - Lun
Overhaul - Daybreak (EP)
Hey dude slow the fuck down so we can finish together at the same time.  :biggrin:
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Offline Outcrier

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #150 on: January 10, 2015, 12:18:38 PM »
I think some people just like to feel smart, like, "I am enlightened enough to know not to rank a band's non-best album in my top 5 for the year," as if that means anything.  It's like the people who listen to like 100 new CDs a year. Who in the hell has time for that?  And even if you do, how can you possibly listen to each enough to accurately rank them?  I guess if you have a job where you can have headphones all day and jam while you work, then you would, but most of the time, it just strikes me as posturing, as if listening to more music makes them bigger and better music fans.  But hey, it's the internet, where a musical e-penis is important to some. :lol :lol

That's exactly why i didn't wanted to say anything because there's always someone who will take it the wrong way but, i don't blame you.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2015, 12:28:13 PM by Outcrier »
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Offline KevShmev

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #151 on: January 10, 2015, 12:23:07 PM »
LOL, very true.  I went through a nice phase of musical discovery in the mid 00s, when I got into a lot of stuff I never would have before, but I have reached the point now where I don't have time to listen to nearly as much music as I used to, and I am not gonna spend most of my musical listening time trying to get into new stuff.  Call that boring, but I have so much awesome music at my disposal, that if I miss out on something new and great, because I am listening to my many reliables, oh well. 

Offline LieLowTheWantedMan

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #152 on: January 10, 2015, 12:36:36 PM »
I think some people just like to feel smart, like, "I am enlightened enough to know not to rank a band's non-best album in my top 5 for the year," as if that means anything.  It's like the people who listen to like 100 new CDs a year. Who in the hell has time for that?  And even if you do, how can you possibly listen to each enough to accurately rank them?  I guess if you have a job where you can have headphones all day and jam while you work, then you would, but most of the time, it just strikes me as posturing, as if listening to more music makes them bigger and better music fans.  But hey, it's the internet, where a musical e-penis is important to some. :lol :lol
::) ::)

Offline orcus116

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #153 on: January 10, 2015, 12:41:58 PM »
1. "Opinions, how do they work?"
2. A lot of the times people's lists are reflective of what kind of music fans they are. A very mixed top5 indicates that the listener might be very open minded and has listened to a lot of very different albums during the year, a top5 with five albums from the same genre might indicate that the person is mainly a fan of that one genre, and that might explain why some albums make it onto the list.
3. Some people aren't THAT interested in new albums so they might just check out a handful during the year, and those albums are the ones that make the list.

In the end it comes down to taste and opinions, but sometimes it feels like albums are just there because it's band X or Y. Like for example, the new Pink Floyd. Even if you are the biggest PF fan on the planet, I can't see that album being worth of any top5 spot unless you only heard five albums this year. That's just my opinion though.

Hilariously I say that Opeth made so many lists just because they were Opeth myself. Around here Opeth, Devin Townsend, and Steven Wilson could put out albums that were 60 minutes of fart sounds and they'd make DTF's top five. And Pink Floyd made my top five because I fucking liked it.

I'm 100% with you man. I think it's always a shame when some albums have firm spots in people's top5/top10 before the year starts.

It also made for a very boring but easily predictable top albums of the year voting when this forum did that, although that was more due to the quantity of votes the regular bands got as opposed to a really great album of another genre maybe four people had heard.

Offline XB0BX

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #154 on: January 10, 2015, 01:02:55 PM »
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Offline ThatOneGuy2112

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #155 on: January 10, 2015, 01:36:37 PM »
I think some people just like to feel smart, like, "I am enlightened enough to know not to rank a band's non-best album in my top 5 for the year," as if that means anything.  It's like the people who listen to like 100 new CDs a year. Who in the hell has time for that?  And even if you do, how can you possibly listen to each enough to accurately rank them?  I guess if you have a job where you can have headphones all day and jam while you work, then you would, but most of the time, it just strikes me as posturing, as if listening to more music makes them bigger and better music fans.  But hey, it's the internet, where a musical e-penis is important to some. :lol :lol
::) ::)

Echoing that sentiment.

Offline 425

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #156 on: January 10, 2015, 09:12:06 PM »
I'm 100% with you man. I think it's always a shame when some albums have firm spots in people's top5/top10 before the year starts.

I think we have to give people the benefit of the doubt that they aren't doing that. Or that they have listened to only five or six albums from this year (I've only heard six so far). The new Opeth was highly anticipated for me, and I assumed it would probably end up in my top 3 or so, but it would rank fifth for me at this point out of the six I've heard.

I think people certainly go in with expectations, but I honestly can't see anyone saying "I don't like this Opeth album, but I'll rank it #2 anyway because I like Opeth." They would only rank it in their top 5 if it was actually in their opinion one of the top 5. And again, not everyone listens to more than five or six new albums in a given year. So even if they thought that the new Opeth was mediocre, it might still make their top 5 if they only heard six albums that year and one was awful.



On topic of the thread (since this post is my entrance to it), I don't tend to have definitive answers for what my favorite albums are in a timely fashion, because I generally go back early in the next year to ones that I missed. I've listened so far to six albums, from which I would rank a top four (because I only find these four to be worthy of special mention) of:

1. Coldplay - Ghost Stories
2. Anathema - Distant Satellites
3. Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope
4. Tuomas Holopainen - Music Inspired by the Life and Times of Scrooge

The other two were Pale Communion by Opeth and Restoration by Haken. The former was hit-and-miss for me, and I've only listened to the latter once (though I hope to listen to it more in the future)

My ranking of albums really won't be set in stone though until I listen to Restoration a few more times and get some of the ones I missed, definitely including 1989 by Taylor Swift, and possibly including The Road of Bones by IQ and Second Nature by Flying Colors.
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Offline Accelerando

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #157 on: January 11, 2015, 01:22:17 AM »
1. Beck - Morning Phase
2. Mastodon - One More 'Round The Sun
3. Swans - To Be Kind
4. U2 - Songs of Innocence
5. Prince - Art Official Age

I now may have to knock down U2 and Prince for Run The Jewels. That album is fucking fantastic

Offline Mosh

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #158 on: January 11, 2015, 03:13:13 AM »
Run the Jewels was great but slightly overrated. There were 2 or 3 hip hop albums this year that I enjoyed a lot more.
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Offline ?

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #159 on: January 11, 2015, 03:46:00 AM »
I'm only speaking for myself, but as I said in my previous post in this thread, I had a fairly busy fall and sadly didn't have a lot of time to immerse myself in the music of every interesting band I came across. I listened to a dozen or so new albums last year, and although most of those were by bands I had known already, three of the spots in my top 5 were taken by new discoveries (Nightingale, IQ, Delain). I know those are within the metal/prog realm and hence not a million miles away from the stuff I usually listen to, but I think it still shows that the same old bands don't always conquer the top even if you're a big fan and happy with their latest releases. For example, I was so disappointed with DT12 that it didn't make my top 10 in 2013, while bands I had just discovered occupied top 4.

Offline Duke1

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #160 on: January 13, 2015, 12:24:45 PM »
Favourite Albums (Alphabetical Order)

Elbow - The Take Off And Landing of Everything
Flying Colours - Second Nature
IQ - Road of Bones
Opeth - Pale Communion
Transatlantic - Kaleidoscope

Favourite Live album...
DT live at Boston, that version of Illumination Theory still gives me chills, fantastic performance.

Offline LCArenas

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #161 on: January 15, 2015, 07:05:46 PM »
Opeth - Pale Communion
Anathema - Distant Satellites
This Will Destroy You - Another Language
Alcest - Shelter
Coldplay - Ghost Stories

Offline Big Hath

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #162 on: January 15, 2015, 09:39:15 PM »
the last two lists contain Pale Communion and are therefore invalid.




j/k, it's close to the top of my list.  Love that album.
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Offline Zantera

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #163 on: January 16, 2015, 04:20:22 AM »
I'm 100% with you man. I think it's always a shame when some albums have firm spots in people's top5/top10 before the year starts.

I think we have to give people the benefit of the doubt that they aren't doing that. Or that they have listened to only five or six albums from this year (I've only heard six so far). The new Opeth was highly anticipated for me, and I assumed it would probably end up in my top 3 or so, but it would rank fifth for me at this point out of the six I've heard.

Yes, I do want to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to it. Some people fall into the category of either having very limited time, and so they only listen to maybe 5-10 albums in a year, and logically they go for the albums by artists they already know & like, and you also have people who just aren't interested in listening to new things or expanding their horizons so to speak. It's fine. There are always gonna be a small amount of blind fanboys who put anything by their favorite bands on a pedestal. Quotes like: "Even their worst album/song is still better than 95% of the music out there" and so on.

Reading through some of the lists it seems several people just didn't hear that many albums in 2014, and then it makes sense that some albums appear. Opinions are still opinions of course, and I don't mind people liking an album I feel lukewarm about, but I think some people sometimes put albums on their list because it was kind of a thin year. Usually when I do my top100 for each year, sometimes the lower albums on that list are very "meh". I put them on there to round out the list, but I don't go crazy for them.

Offline Mosh

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #164 on: January 17, 2015, 12:36:42 AM »
I'm 100% with you man. I think it's always a shame when some albums have firm spots in people's top5/top10 before the year starts.

I think we have to give people the benefit of the doubt that they aren't doing that. Or that they have listened to only five or six albums from this year (I've only heard six so far). The new Opeth was highly anticipated for me, and I assumed it would probably end up in my top 3 or so, but it would rank fifth for me at this point out of the six I've heard.
Quotes like: "Even their worst album/song is still better than 95% of the music out there" and so on.
I don't see a problem with that even. Obviously people are going to be partial to their favorite bands. It doesn't mean that they're "blind", it makes sense that they're going to favor music from the bands they like.  :lol
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Offline haceeb

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #165 on: January 25, 2015, 02:11:56 PM »
My third list:
1. Annot Rhul - Leviathan
2. Lee Abraham - Distant Days
3. Closure in Moscow - Pink Lemonade
4. Asia - Gravitas
5. Curved Air - North Star

Offline Sacul

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #166 on: January 25, 2015, 02:32:55 PM »
I wish I could go back in time and force me to listen to Are You Kidding Me? No. by Destrage and put it in the top 3. Insane album.

Offline 425

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #167 on: January 25, 2015, 03:36:54 PM »
There are always gonna be a small amount of blind fanboys who put anything by their favorite bands on a pedestal. Quotes like: "Even their worst album/song is still better than 95% of the music out there" and so on.

Yeah, and I think that's a fair point to make. That particular statement is one of the most cringeworthy sentences in music discussion for me, which is a proclamation I make knowing well that I've said that exact thing in the past.

I've said this elsewhere, but I think there are two general patterns that music fans follow in their listening. Either they listen to a lot of different music growing up and thus start out knowing artists a number of different genres, or they aren't terribly interested in music until a certain artist or genre awakens their interest. I think genres like prog and metal attract a disproportionate number of the second type of fans, because their advocates claim to subvert popular trends. Some of the type 2 people diversify their tastes at some point and begin to seek out genres outside of the one they started with (I'm towards the beginning of that phase in my own life), but some never do. People who say things like "better than 95% of the music out there" either haven't reached the point where they diversify their tastes or never will. And it's hard to change the mind of someone with that perspective.

Reading through some of the lists it seems several people just didn't hear that many albums in 2014, and then it makes sense that some albums appear. Opinions are still opinions of course, and I don't mind people liking an album I feel lukewarm about, but I think some people sometimes put albums on their list because it was kind of a thin year. Usually when I do my top100 for each year, sometimes the lower albums on that list are very "meh". I put them on there to round out the list, but I don't go crazy for them.

Yeah, that's definitely something that can happen. I intentionally posted a top 4, because if I'd done a top 5 I'd have had to include Pale Communion, which I just don't think merited it. I'm bad at appropriately scaling an album rating out of ten, but hypothetically we could say that my top 4 were 7/10 or higher, and PC was like 5/10 or 6/10. It was just below the threshold for me to want to include it in a year-end list. That may be why I don't like to constrain a list to an arbitrary number—different numbers work for different people. For someone with your listening habits, 100 or 90 would be the best number, while for someone with my listening habits, a better number would be 4 or 5. In my lists, I basically just do an album of the year, which in this case is the Coldplay, and however many honorable mentions are deserving of the title "honorable mentions," which are the Anathema, the Transatlantic and the Tuomas Holopainen.
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Offline BlackInk

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #168 on: January 26, 2015, 02:08:11 AM »
I've said this elsewhere, but I think there are two general patterns that music fans follow in their listening. Either they listen to a lot of different music growing up and thus start out knowing artists a number of different genres, or they aren't terribly interested in music until a certain artist or genre awakens their interest. I think genres like prog and metal attract a disproportionate number of the second type of fans, because their advocates claim to subvert popular trends. Some of the type 2 people diversify their tastes at some point and begin to seek out genres outside of the one they started with (I'm towards the beginning of that phase in my own life), but some never do. People who say things like "better than 95% of the music out there" either haven't reached the point where they diversify their tastes or never will. And it's hard to change the mind of someone with that perspective.

I think this is pretty spot on, and would say that I'm a type 2 guy as well, towards the beginning of my 'diversification'. I still listen to mostly progressive metal or rock, but not as exclusivly as I did a few years back.

Offline Sacul

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Re: TOP 5 2014 ALBUMS
« Reply #169 on: January 26, 2015, 11:45:24 AM »
Yeah, I'm type 2 also. My live for prog has diminished a lot this last year, but 'cause I've discovered lots of amazing stuff from another genres - great music doesn't know about labels :coolio