Top 25 Songs Of 2014 (Tier I)

25- Hail Mary Mallon – Hang Ten (Abstract Hip-Hop)
[link]

“I’ve been having hallucinations…”

Here’s where things start getting truly special. Hang Ten is a brilliant track, taking a beautifully arranged bass-line (and not the club type of bass either) over the beat for a backstreet vibe that perfectly complements the tone that Rob Sonic and Aesop Rock seem to be going for. The lyricism is as down to earth as you get, with the duo reflecting some light onto the dusted corners of our streets, our “culture of chameleons” as it is, and to top it all off, the main hook has DJ Big Wiz showing off his turntabling skills in a way that only enhances the grounded feeling of the track.

24- Darren Korb – Blank Canvas/Paper Boats (Soundtrack, Trip-Hop)

SPOILERS FOR TRANSISTOR IN BOTH THE VIDEO AND DESCRIPTION FOR THIS ENTRY

In video games, there are moments that astound you to the point where you can’t help but just think to yourself: “this is art.” The ending of Transistor was one of these moments, and the backing for it is one of the best demonstrations of it. There’s no way I can do this moment justice however without bringing in spoilers for context, so you have been warned.

Put simply, Red has faced her final battle, and finally possesses the power to restore her world to its former beauty. Yet it’s an empty world; a blank canvas for creation, void of any life, and thus an alien world.

“This whole town… I guess it’s yours now. A blank canvas, and you still have the brush. So where do you want to start?”

At this point, Red is essentially the God of this new world, she can create and destroy, but the one thing she can’t bring back is life. It’s here when you start hearing the building chords of the track “Blank Canvas” playing in the background.

Then Red uncovers the body of her one companion this whole journey. The one who she’d forever be able to listen to, yet never speak to without her voice. The drums join in with the chords, a slowly growing beat.

“Oh, that’s not me. Not anymore. I’m still with you, but I’m not getting out of here.”

Then the unexpected happens. Instead of going off to reconstruct her empty world, Red instead gives the Transistor one last embrace, and lays down beside his body. The chords grow louder.

“Wait, wait… what are you doing? Red.”

She raises the Transistor towards herself. A crash cymbal enters, overpowering the rest of the track.

“Don’t you do it. Don’t you dare.”

She sends it straight through her chest. One last crash. End track.

“Red!”

And thus ends the game, bringing you to the ending song, “Paper Boats”, in which we finally get to hear the two lovers sing together for the first time, as they finally come to meet each other within the Transistor. A song of how they’ll never be kept apart, no matter how far they may drift from each other, like paper boats in the stream.

“Hey.”

“…Hey.”

23- Bent Knee – Sunshine (Art Rock / Cover)
[link]

Who’d have thought that a special adaptation of this rhyme would be one of my favourite songs of 2014… The song just possesses such an innocent simplicity that is reflected in the lyricism. Distressingly beautiful vocals over a simple guitar picking, with hints of piano chords, violin flickers and many more subtle details that make the song feel whole. Then the ending shift happens and the song transforms into an perfect force of unstoppable nature, with every single member of the band pushing their sound over the edge to demonstrate the immense strength underlying the fragility of emotion.

22- The Liturgists – Vapor (Liturgy/Atmospheric)
[link]

If there was ever a work that gave me an understanding of faith that I’d feel I could truly take onto my own being, it’s this song. A song of mortality, its beauty, its finite nature, and the meaning that can come of it. And all of this is perfectly echoed in the music, with a soothing cello, flickering piano keys, soaring vocals and energising drums. It really makes you feel like Vapor, like one with God.

21- Sophie – Hard (Bubblegum Bass)
[link]

So for those of you who didn’t know, Bubblegum Bass became a big thing in 2014. And as a result this song is here. And I don’t know why it’s here. I have never felt so conflicted about my love for a song before, heck I don’t think I’ve ever felt conflicted about a song until this… thing… happened. I could have just put it at a lower spot on the list, but then I felt that I enjoyed this song more than most of the stuff that I’d put it behind.

So now I have to explain why I like it so much. I don’t know, maybe it’s the steel pan texture on the percussion, maybe it’s the interesting rhythms, or maybe it’s the contrast with the infuriating vocals that actually makes it kind of unique.

Either way, all I can say is that this is one song I can’t stop coming back to. It does so much wrong, but it’s just so right.

20- Flying Lotus (Ft. Kendrick Lamar) – Never Catch Me (Experimental Glitch-Hop / Jazz Fusion)
[link]

Kendrick’s laid back yet speedy delivery is complimented beautifully by Flying Lotus’ transformative style of hip-hop instrumentation. It’s complex, yet hardly pretentious and full to the brim of interesting subtleties.

19- Lunatic Soul – Gutter (Progressive Rock)
[link]

Tension and atmosphere permeate this song with the constant guitars echoing throughout the song, percussion adding a slightly tribal feel to the mix, synths giving an almost effervescent quality to the track and Mariusz Duda’s light vocals providing the absolute best contrast to make the song complete. Actually, considering that Mariusz takes up bass guitar, percussion and vocal duties on this song (all of which make up the main trifecta of the track), this may just be the man’s personal masterpiece.

18- clipping. – Ends (Experimental Hip-Hop)
[link]

As clipping.’s second album struggles to end, the group decide to make the whole thing conceptual, giving an extremely hard-hitting message about the sad reality of the streets: it’s a place that worships ends, no matter what the rest of the story be. Incredible lyricism and a beat that only backs it up by constantly hitting the same millisecond samples and the same drum fills to show how it never changes. Nothing ever reaches an end in the story that clipping. tries to tell, eventually ending the whole song on twist of the original hook by saying “once upon a time there was an ending of this story but fuck it.” And in this moment, it becomes clear, how the story of the streets would be worthless as even the ends lead to nowhere.

17- Ben Frost – Secant (Dark Ambient / Industrial)
[link]

You hear the percussion boom. You hear the looming darkness overhead. You look up into the skies. Nothing. Perhaps the sun’s rays will reach through after all. The church bells start ringing. A time of revelation. All holds still. The clouds part ways. And through them, the world. Soundscape.

16- Swans – She Loves Us (Experimental Rock / Noise Rock)
www.last.fm/music/Swans/_/She+…

Where does one even begin with a song like this? The pounding guitar riffs? The punchy drumlines? The tribal beginnings? The downright blasting endings? The fact that Michael Gira’s evolving vocal delivery actually makes you worry about his sanity?

This song is just one sonic punch to the face after another, and the lyricism seems to somehow, miraculously manage to follow suit, screaming “Come to my mouth, come to my lung! / I’m going home! / Your name is fuck!”

There is no way to describe this. It is chaos, and not simply the “random” kind.

This is the chaos of the Enlightenment.

15- Kishi Bashi – Bittersweet Genesis For Him AND Her (Art Pop)
[link]

A song that explores romance and the coming together of man and woman in the most blissful fashion. A true genesis, with the layered textures of the strings singing over the vocals that can only be described as “genuine”.

14- clipping. – Dream / Get Up (Experimental Hip-Hop)
[link]
[link]

clipping.’s album layout is, put simply, ingenious. With the song “Dream”, Diggs gives some of his most poetic verses with some beautiful imagery over a beat that can only be described as, suitably, a dream. The sounds of nature and urban life with an incredibly quiet drum track, with the only possible hint of non-reality being in the growing synths towards the end, and clipping.’s signature usage of white noise that clouds out the end, managing to make you feel separate from the reality that you’re clearly living.

Then clipping. cleverly flips the switch and wakes you up with the next trap “Get Up” having an alarm clock being the only beat you get. Diggs returns with more energy than ever, expecting you to feel the fire with him, and the alarm clocks are then layered over each other to create a beautiful symphony of tempo over the guest feature of Mariel Jacoda. The two songs bounce off of each other perfectly, and demonstrate the simultaneous urge to work and loss of the conscious mind on the streets.

13- Vampillia – Hiuta (Avant-Garde Metal)
www.last.fm/music/Vampillia/_/…

If there was any song that Vampillia’s choice in album title stood for in creating “My Beautiful Twisted Nightmares In Aurora Rainbow Darkness”, it was this song. Starting off with the beauty and grace of the light piano of snare drums, the song then transitions neatly into a choral chant, which slowly builds onto itself, injecting hints of the nightmare with the blastbeats that come into the mix gradually. From here, the song just keeps on evolving into the aurora until we reach a break almost reminiscent of black metal, which then transforms into a highly electronically influenced guitar segment, complete with solos and all. And then we hit the “rainbow darkness”, so to speak, with monstrous vocals and operatic vocals alternating between each other over what I can only call an extended drum solo. Then, somehow, the whole thing resolves into a peaceful ending, with the choir bidding us farewell.

And somehow, not a single moment of this song feels out of place or intrusive. This is the sound Vampillia constructed, and the moment you put on your headphones, you were in a universe entirely of their creation.

12- Darren Korb – In Circles / _n C_rcl_s (Electronic Trip-Hop)
[link]
[link]

“But I won’t save you.”

Once again, sorry to people who haven’t played the game, but I’m going to have to bring in some context/game-related theories for this one. Minor spoilers.

Two versions of the same song in one spot. The reason for this is simple, the story they tell. Everyone seems to have a different interpretation of what these songs actually mean, so I’m just going to have to give one of the many different theories out there. In Circles is told from the perspective of Red, expressing her frustration in a society that simply refuses to do anything to better itself, and in herself for not having the courage to do so either. It’s also taken on by Sybil as a sign of pity that Red feels towards her dying heart

However, when this song plays in your fight with Sybil, the song gradually grows more dissonant, transforming into _n C_rcl_s, bringing a perspective shift into Sybil’s mindset, and providing a far more deep and tragic meaning. With Sybil being almost entirely processed, her mind cries out wishing that she could save Red from the terror that she and the rest of the Camerata had brought upon them, hence her attempts to sabotage Red’s assassination, which ultimately failed. However, with her body being processed, she’s also terribly aware that she’s becoming the very threat that may just end Red. As she loses her mind, her body, her voice to the Process, she lets out one last cry for Red, and for herself.

“But I won’t save you.”

By their selves, these songs aren’t particularly remarkable. However, when brought in contrast with each other from the perspective of the characters they represent within the story, these songs take on an entirely new meaning within a grand and tragic plot that one may even miss if not paying as much attention.

And that’s the kind of care and effort that goes into making a truly outstanding work of soundtrack music.

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11- Death Grips – Black Quarterback (Experimental Hip-Hop)
[link]

Quite possibly my favourite Death Grips song to date. MC Ride hits a furious stride from the get-go, and somehow only manages to get even rougher as the song goes on. However the part that really gets me is just how damn well the beat works with this one. With Björk providing samples for this beat, the schizophrenic nature in which her voice intrudes on the mindless synths seems to be a grand flash of white light upon the already kaleidoscopic colours provided by the melodies. What results is an overload of the blacks, whites and colours of sound. Nothing is pure, nothing is filth and all is colour.

10- Destrage – Are You Kidding Me? No. (Progressive/Avant-Garde Metalcore)
[link]

A ride that only gets better and better as it goes on.

It starts off absolutely off of its rocker, insanely going off on brand new tangents that you’d never expect from a band remotely similar to Destrage. It’s like they just decided to throw absolutely everything they had into one last track on the album. There’s a reason the song has the name it has. It’s the typical question they’d be asked after a song like this, and the typical response they’d give. This is Destrage in all its glory.

Also, even though I’m hardly one for hyperbole with these sorts of things, the guitar solo from this track is the best I’ve ever heard, and I’m not usually the kind of guy who gets excited by that sort of thing. Just listen to it for yourself, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. No limits.

9- Igorrr + Ruby My Dear – Barbecue (Breakcore)
[link]

Baroque breakcore that demonstrates precisely what I love about both of these acts in a few mere minutes. Constant evolution, never a dull moment and brand new ideas brought to the table every bar, all of which blend in with their sound perfectly.

Accordions, sopranos, breakbeats, mandolins, strings, drum’n’bass, insane howlings, jazz drumming, black metal guitars.

Overall, just an incredibly cultured sense of insanity that’s beauty to behold.

8- Tobacco – Streaker (Wonky / Electronic Filth)
[link]

This song is dirty. I mean, it has grime up every single possible orifice you could find. The vocals are robotised filth. The beats are robotised filth. The synths are robotised filth.

And when he yells out… oh, when he yells out the words, you better be ready for every inch of that filth to hit you head on.

“BUT IF. YOU. FEEL. LIKE. SOME. ONE’S. COMING!”

7- Cynic – The Lion’s Roar (Alternative/Progressive Rock)
[link]

There’s really very little I can say about this. This is a song of happiness, and that radiates from the men who perform it. There is an absolute harmony, a balance between every element of this song. All that matters is the sound, and each instrument holds to this, working separately to stand out on their own, yet at the same time together to create a pocket of sound that is just their own, which they welcome the listener to join.

The trio have achieved unity. And it is precisely this understanding of music and harmony that make Cynic stand out to me as some of the true progressives of the music world.

6- Swans – Screen Shot (Experimental Rock / Noise Rock)
swans.bandcamp.com/track/scree…

And what Cynic do with musical unity, Swans pull off with musical evolution. Starting off with what sounds funnily enough like a Tool bassline, instruments are one by one introduced, and slowly start building on each other. And the sound keeps building, and building, and building, until you find yourself staring up with the eyes of a child at the grand world that this song has created for you. An explosion of sound. A landscape of sound. A world of sound for you to explore like a child lost in the dimension of adults.

And the best part about it is that you can’t actually memorise any one part of the song. Every time you feel like you’ve caught onto the drumming pattern, or memorised when the bass is going to do what, or predicted what set of lyrics will appear next, the pattern changes, and you find yourself trying to catch up again, making every single listen feel like your first time over and over again. You never stop rediscovering the song, and the world never runs out of places to explore.

And finally, we have the lyrics. While seemingly random at first, there seems to be a greater meaning behind it all, so here’s what I made of it:

“When you remove everything that you know as man - every problem, every plight, every false understanding and false truth - only then will you be left with the purest essence of being and bliss.
Here. Now.
You will love.
You will breath.”

5- Bent Knee – Way Too Long (Art Rock / Progressive Rock)

-giving you all the live version for this one, because it carries its power just as well as the studio version-

That’s right, Bent Knee was the one act for whom I actually felt I had to break the “3 songs per album” rule. Heck, Bent Knee are probably the main reason that rule even existed in the first place.

When it comes right down to it, I’ve said it before, I’m not really a guy for hyperbole when it comes to analysing music. I’m not really one for jumping to early conclusions either. However, when I was listening to this album blind for the first time, I expected nothing.  Then “Way Too Long”, only the second track, came on, and I ended up telling myself “this is going to be one of my albums of the year, isn’t it?”

This song is dynamic. It’s huge. It’s whatever kind of synonym you can find for, simply, “awe-inspiring”. And the fact that it came out of absolutely nowhere for me – I hadn’t even heard of this band before giving the album my first listen – absolutely blew me away, and guaranteed it’s high spot on this list. I really can’t find much else to say about this one; there’s no point in going into its smaller details because every single instrument being played, every single note being hit seems to perfectly achieve what the song needs. The raw passion that every single member of this band put into this piece shows, and heck, isn’t afraid to show off either.

4- Gazpacho – Death Room (Progressive Art Rock)
[link]

Some of the most mature progressive rock I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to. The whole song rings with a somewhat atmospheric and folksy flair and oriental charm. The production lends itself perfectly to the drums, with the heavy toms proving for perfect tension characters in both melody and rhythm.

Gazpacho also show that they’re not afraid to go places with their work either; this epic transitions through many phases of different tones and emotions, creating a story that feels complete because of it. When electronic beats kick in for a darker tone, you shiver in suspense. When the crash kicks in for something heavy, you feel exhilarated by the energy. When the violin sings its soliloquy, you can’t help but feel an emotional attachment to the performance. And somehow, not one element feels out of place in this environment of the story that Gazpacho wishes to tell, and I feel like that’s what makes this epic in particular special. Many of the songs before it on this list have managed to craft worlds of their own, but none feel as complete or detailed as the world of sound created by Gazpacho. There is no anomalous sound here, even though there is so much versatility in what you hear. And for a song over 18 minutes long, that is one truly remarkable feat.

3- Jenny Hval & Susanna – I Have Walked This Body (Art Pop / Avant-Folk)
[link]

Jenny Hval & Susanna came together to record an album called “Meshes of Voice”. And that’s what they did; they created a mesh of their voices that culminated with “I Have Walked This Body”.

Jenny Hval takes on a mature, sophisticated range, with Susanna painting a far higher, more innocent image. And the two voices fuse, not just with themselves, but with the very essence of sound itself. Listen as Jenny Hval’s strong, grounded voice metamorphoses into a set of angel wings to surpass Icarus and pierce the heavens and stars.

Then tell me that mere sound can’t be art.

2- clipping. – Story 2 (Experimental Hip-Hop)

The story of an arsonist who receives his own tragic brand of karma. And funnily enough, it’s not the story that brings it to this spot, but rather the storytelling.

This song does something so beautifully simple with its beat, that it has become my favourite example of storytelling in music.

Every 8 bars, the song changes time-signatures. It’s that simple.

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It starts on the casual stroll of 3/8 as we’re introduced to our main character, Mike. The familiar 4/8 hits home for a more imposing effect as we’re shown that he has a more violent side. A rather unsettling use of the unfamiliar 5/8 introduces us to his pyromaniac tendencies. The song becomes more recollective in 6/8 as he reels himself back in from going too far into his darker thoughts. With 7/8 coming in, the listener once again begins to feel unease as MC Diggs takes on a tone of black humour and begins telling us of his reformation and how much he suffered recalling his buried memories.

Then the plot really begins hitting its pace at 8/8, as he notices an ominously familiar vehicle passing him by on his way home, only to discover ash raining from the sky. And then he begins to panic as the track rapidly increases in pace with 12/8, worrying for his family as he runs for his home, with Diggs giving exactly one syllable for each synth beat. Diggs then goes all out with his flow as Mike realises the familiarity of the situations and connects it to the past crimes he had committed, his fear peaking as the song reaches 16/8.

His fears are then confirmed as his house explodes and his heart beats at a strong 20/8 and struggles with the thought of what might have happened to those closest to him. The irregular 14/8 then kicks in as Mike struggles to comprehend everything that happened, everything that he’s lost, finding himself within the chaotic world, with Diggs once again placing an emphasis on one syllable for every beat of the line in the final moments:

“Some strong arm knocks him aside; Mike falls to the ground and cries

‘Why won’t you just let me die!? Why won’t you just let me die!?’”

And it all culminates in a final sound overload as the word “die” is repeated over and over again in what has become Mike’s personal hell, his house of flames, as though Mike had fallen from Purgatory for his sins.

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And that folks, is how to tell a damn good story through music.

Truth be told, this song was my easy no. 1 song of the year almost the whole way through. I even posted on a list I did for another site over 6 months back that I doubted anything could knock this song off of my no. 1 spot.

But, somehow, there’s still one more song.

1- Car Seat Hedrest – The Ending Of Dramamine (Lo-Fi Indie)

-since I couldn't find a video solely dedicated to the song, and since it was the first track on the release, thought I'd just post the release here anyway. You'll still hear the same song when you hit play-

I don’t even know how to describe it. This is a song that, in the few months in which I have repeatedly listened to it, has defined me, destroyed me, restored me, detached me, inspired me, scared me and enlightened me. I don’t expect you to have the same experience I’ve had with this song. To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure if “song” is the right way to describe how this piece resonates with me.

This is a track that I have taken far more personally than I could ever expect, so I don’t really know what I can say about it. I can’t say that I can review this song without the bias that I currently possess for it. But might as well give this a shot, I guess.

The track starts off with a lo-fi drum rhythm that eternalises itself throughout the track. Small synth lines slowly build up and dissipate over the drumbeat, each one painting a new brush of colour over the drums’ canvas. This goes on for a good while, yet with each colour being presented separately, like a single stroke of the paintbrush.

Then we get the evolution as pretty much as a much sharper synth sound is brought in about 4 minutes in, and we hear our first major chord of the song. Suddenly, the whole song erupts into a burst of colour, lo-fi textures coming together for a miraculous soundscape that left me in awe. Then it all died down, and the story began.

I’ll just say this now, and get it out of the way. Absolutely every note, every chord strikes an exact emotional spark with me. I wouldn’t change a single note of it, and I say this as someone who has actually looked specifically into pretty much every chord of the song to see whether or not I’d change it.

And then there’s the lyricism, which leave a blank mysticism that compliment melancholy with a downtrodden reality, yet never fall into any of the clichés. This man doesn’t hate himself for his flaws, but rather he’s aware of them and wishes he could do something with them. He searches for some sort of permanence in a universe that seems largely impermanent. And whether or not the ending note of the song is really one of happiness, misery or just neutral ambiguity/acceptance is really up to the listener to decide. Sometimes it could even be all of them at once.

Ultimately, the story this song tells is concrete, yet also free to be taken on by the listener.

And take it on I did.

Sometimes, you come across a piece of art that changes you, be it for better or for worse. This song has done both to me, bringing me in and out of slumps as I constantly shifted between the different meanings I took from it. But in the end, this song gave me an experience. It changed me, and I’m glad it did.

And it’s for that reason that it’s my favourite song of 2014.

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Thank you all for taking the time to go through this.

I hope you all have experiences you can take away from this list too. Here’s hoping you discovered something new.

And here’s to what will hopefully be a great 2015 of music.

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Introduction + Tier IV: Top 101 Songs of 2014 - Intro + Tier IV (101-76)
So yet another year has passed us by and another batch of music has found its way to our ears, and hopefully our minds. Needless to say, the point of this here journal is quite clear. There were a good load of great songs this year, and I'm gonna be counting down some of my favourite.
These are all songs from 2014 that I would rate a 9/10 of higher, so it's needless to say that I'd recommend absolutely every single one of these, so if you find something that catches your interest, just trust me here and give it a listen.
There's only one rule I placed for this list; I can only have a maximum of 3 songs per band, else we may have found entire albums on this list. That being said, there was one band that I absolutely had to make an exception for. Who was it? We'll find out in time. Now with that all said, let's get this list started.
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Tier IV
101- Sockweb (101-76)
Tier III: Top 101 Songs of 2014 - Tier III (75-51)
Tier III

75- Wave Racer – Streamers (Purple Sound)
[link]
A truly blissful single that takes that element of glee that you only seem to find in children nowadays and represents it perfectly through it’s own unique poppy, electronic style. Guaranteed to make you smile.
 
74- Vampillia – Ice Fist (Avant-Garde Metal)
-Video included because it compliments the song's style perfectly, and only enhances the experience-
Rarely will you find a song that conveys as much ferocity as it does beauty in the way that this does. But Vampillia manage to pull it off with their own signature Japanese flair. This song can seamlessly transition from soothing to brutal to playful thanks to the band’s absolute mastery of their style. Nothing is expected, but everything just falls into place, like the pieces of a beautifully dark, twisted puzzle.
  (75-51)
Tier II: Top 101 Songs of 2014 - Tier II (50-26)
Tier II

50- Lazer/Wulf – Beast Reality (Center Piece) (Progressive Metal)
http://retrofuturist.bandcamp.com/track/beast-reality
Building an entire instrumental album in the style of a palindrome is a feat that would be consider insane to most. And maybe it is, but these guys did it anyway, and here’s the keystone to it all. Instrumentally technical, yet never falls into the trap that most overly technical songs do, in that it keeps its own unique charm, stays original, and keeps a great structure that stops it from falling into over-the-top pointless flaunting of skill. Plus the whole song in itself is a palindrome, and anyone who knows me knows how much I love palindromes.
 
49- Igorrr + Ruby My Dear – Alain (Breakcore)
[link]
Only this particular collaboration that simultaneously maintains such a level of cold-headedness and insanity at the same time.
& (50-26)