Albums
This is where you will find a list of our favourite albums here at The Breakdown for each calendar year that we have been doing this little thing.
Shortcut to the blog posts here:
The Breakdown’s Top Albums of 2014
The Breakdown’s Top 10 Albums of 2013
The Breakdown’s Top 10 Albums Of 2012
For the purists out there, please note we are aware that some albums were released earlier than the year they’ve been put in. Sometimes some bands slip under our radar and we catch them a little later, or we love an album for longer than a year.
* Denotes super awesome. If you only want a couple, get these.
**Denotes if you don’t listen to these, you are a damned fool…
2014
Flight Facilities – Down to Earth**
We Were Promised Jetpacks – Unraveling*
Wampire – Bazaar
The Preatures – Blue Planet Eyes
In The Valley Below – The Belt
Wildcat! Wildcat! – No Moon At All
Caribou – Our Love**
La Dispute – The Rooms of the House
ODESZA – In Return*
Postiljonen – Skyer
Jungle – Jungle
Milky Chance – Sadnecessary
Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else
SOHN – Tremors
Chronic City – Nom de Guerre
Mr Little Jeans – Pocketknife
Future Islands – Singles
The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream**
Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Racing Glaciers – Ahead Of You Forever
Wild Beasts – Present Tense**
Nightbug – Parallels
The Glitch Mob – Love Death Immortality**
Papa – Tender Madness
Gardens & Villa – Dunes**
Darkside – Psychic**
2013
Rufus – Atlas*
July Talk – July Talk
Darkside – Psychic
Jagwar Ma – Howlin*
On An On – Give In**
The Mary Onettes – Hit The Waves
Polica – Shulamith**
Surfer Blood – Pythons
The Polish Ambassador – Superpowers
Cloud Control – Dream Cave**
ODESZA – My Friends Never Die
London Grammar – If You Wait**
Black Light Dinner Party – Sons & Lovers*
When Saints Go Machine – Infinity Pool
Holy Ghost! – Dynamics
CHVRCHES – The Bones Of What You Believe**
Snakadaktal – Sleep In The Water
Atlas Genius – When It Was Now
Wild Cub – Youth**
Austra – Olympia*
Junip – Junip
Divine Fits – A Thing Called Devine Fits
Pretty Lights – A Color Map of The Sun*
Gold & Youth – Beyond Wilderness
The National – Trouble Will Find Me**
Alex Clare – The Lateness Of The Hour
Lord Huron – Lonesome Dreams**
Intothenorthsea – Intothenorthsea**
Geographer – Innocent Ghosts
Surfer Blood – Astrocoast*
The Lumineers – The Lumineers*
Odesza – Summer’s Gone
Half Moon Run – Dark Eyes**
Flume – Flume
Tor – Drum Therapy
The New Division – Shadows
Emancipator – Dusk To Dawn
Foals – Holy Fire**
Toro Y Moi – Anything In Return*
2012
Humans – Traps
Geographer – Myth
Flume – Flume
Poor Spirits – Mellow
Fredrik – Flora*
Gardens and Villa – Gardens and Villa**
Young Magic – Melt
Wye Oak – Civilian
Fort Lean – Fort Lean (EP)
Alabama Shakes – Boys and Girls
Theme Park – EP
Husky – Forever So
Django Django – Django Django
Beats Antique – Electrafone*
Alt-J – An Awesome Wave*
Hot Chip – In Our Heads
JBM – Stray Ashes
Bravestation – Giants and Dreamers*
Passion Pit – Gossamer
Yung Life – Yung Life*
WU LYF – Go Tell Fire To The Mountain**
Other Lives – Tamer Animals*
Future Islands – On The Water**
St. Lucia – St. Lucia
Yeasayer – Fragrant World**
Tim and Jean – Like What
The xx – Coexist
Chromatics – Kill For Love
The Black Angels – Passover
Plants and Animals – The End of That
The Maccabees – Given To The Wild*
Groove Armada – Lovebox*
Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It*
Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal*
Au Palais – Tender Mercy (EP)*
Haim – Forever (EP)*
Four Tet – There Is Love In You*
Phantogram – Eyelid Movies
Crystal Fighters – Star of Love*
Tours – Stay (EP)
Auditorium – Be Brave
Washed Out – Within and Without*
Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!*
Active Child – You Are All I See*
Cloud Nothings – Attack on Memory
Caveman – CoCo Beware
The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence
Real Estate – Days
We Were Promised Jetpacks – In The Pit of The Stomach
The Limousines – Get Sharp
New Animal – New Animal*
A.A. Bondy – Believers
The Black Keys – El Camino
First Rate People – Its Never Not Happening
Keep Shelly In Athens – In Love With Dusk*
2011
10. Smith Westerns – Dye it Blonde
These guys must be somewhere between 17 and 21 years old, but have written an album that channels some of the best sounds of the 70’s, while maintaining a distinctly modern and relevant sound. It’s catchy, but its dirty, underground and swirling with an ethereal 70’s feel.
9. Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
A band that keeps stepping it up. Personally, I wasn’t that overly taken with any of their older work. It was solid without being spectacular. Then this album dropped, with a multitude of powerful, anthemic, original and sometimes deeply moving songs. It includes one that sounds not a thing like Arcade Fire, almost more like The Knife, and is probably the standout track for a lot of people. Very strong album by one of Canada’s most consistent performers.
8. Washed Out – Within and Without
I’ve only had this one a while, and it’s Washed Out’s debut full length album, following on from a couple of really cool EP’s that I enjoyed immensely. His first foray into albums is a stunning exhibition of his skills. Dreamy, deep, moving and ahead of his time, all songs are distinctly different from one another, yet on the same page and fit beautifully into this one piece of work. He is young, independent and produces music in his bedroom. Get amongst it.
7. Bonobo – Black Sands
This album is the pinnacle of blissed out electro beats for this past year (yes, I am aware it was released in 2010). It has on so many occasions taken me to far away places that don’t actually exist, and that excite me greatly. It is also fantastic to snowboard to.
6. Pretty Lights – [Pretty much everything he’s put out]
He is a one man show, creating amazing electronic music using samples and fat bassy undertones. He releases all his music on his website for a donation (free if you are really that cheap) the way music should be released. Some of it is chilled and blissful, some of it heavy and powerful, some of it dark and complicated. No matter what there is something for everyone in Pretty Lights. He has released a number of albums and EP’s, of which I came across all at the same time, so I’m not going to divide them up. Listen to them all. Realistically, he belongs higher than number 6 in my list, but they are still somewhat watered down by sheer number (over 100 tracks in all). If all my favourites were in one release it would probably come close to number 1.
5. Holy Ghost! – Holy Ghost!
Another electro duo, hailing from Brooklyn NY, but one that stands head and shoulders above the rest with this release. Every track is catchy and individual and grabs you from the opening moments. Maintains an underground feel, while being slightly pop, an incredibly difficult thing to do, done best in recent years by Cut Copy. These guys remind me of Cut Copy, but sound effectively nothing like them… How does that make sense…?
4. The Vaccines – What Did You Expect From the Vaccines
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a British indie rock band produce such a solid album. From start to finish it is full of catchy yet not too poppy brit rock style indie rock. Based largely on what I can only imagine to be a relationship breakup and the guy’s healing period, it is full of self-exploration, longing, sadness and loneliness; yet all carried out with an air of optimism. The guitar riffs and drum beats are super fun too, this one is really cool… I found myself continually coming back to this album.
3. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Hometowns
An example of true genius song writing. This guys voice is so unique, you could pick it anywhere, any time without hesitation. His song writing abilities complement what is an amazing talent. These songs will get stuck in your head for months, and I mean in a good way. They are all so simple, yet so individually captivating and diverse.
2. Active Child – You Are All I See
If we are going off raw emotion, a sense of regret, loss and pain delivered with soaring beauty that an artist can convey, then this album would win by a country mile. If you’ve ever loved and lost, if you’ve ever taken pleasure in sitting on top of a mountain and taking in the view, or closing your eyes and being instantly transported somewhere else you will love it. Crazily haunting falsetto vocals, the use of a harp, and combining it with modern electronic instruments and a contemporary beat create something to behold. There are a couple of songs on the album I don’t go much on, but the rest are for the ages.
1. The Glitch Mob – Drink the Sea
This album is mind blowing. It just about creates its own genre. The power of it was encapsulated while backcountry snowboarding one day last march. Skinning up the inside face of a huge bowl, surrounded by ominous vertical cliffs standing 400m above, the track “A Dream Within A Dream” dropped, and music with power great enough to match that of the BC coast mountains finally existed. Sick!
Stupidly close but I couldn’t fit them all in
Suckers – Wild Smile
Yuck – Yuck
Warpaint – The Fool
Austra – Feel it Break
Honourable mentions
The Antlers – Burst Apart
Boy and Bear – With Emperor Antarctica
Blue Foundation – Life of a Ghost
The Cave Singers – No Witch
Cloud Control – Bliss Release
The Cribs – Mens Needs, Womens Needs, Whatever
Delorean – Subiza
Digitalism – I Love You Dude
Emancipator – Soon It Will Be Cold Enough
Florence And The Machine – Lungs
Foals – Antidotes
Foals – Total Life Forever
Friendly Fires – Pala
Gypsy and the Cat – Gilgamesh
An Horse – Rearrange beds
The Kills – Blood Pressures
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Miike Snow – Miike Snow
Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – The Golden Years
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Belong
The Panics – Rain On The Humming Wire
Polock – Getting Down From The Trees
The Raveonettes – Raven in the Grave
Thieves Like Us – Again and Again
Tokyo Police Club – Champion
TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light
Wild Beasts – Smother
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
The xx – xx
2010
10. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Power and originality
9. Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
Catchy pop hooks
8. Ou Est Le Swimming Pool – The Golden Years
Just some mad gems on this album, gets you so pumped up.
7. The Naked and Famous – Passive Me, Aggressive You
Same as above, but they prove their versatility by jumping out of the pop genre a few times too, invoking memories of some of TV on the Radio’s better stuff.
6. The XX – xx
So calming and original, so chilled out!
5. The Drums – The Drums
Almost define their own genre, so original, so catchy, and every song is awesome. How can you pigeon hole a band that sounds like a cross between the Beach Boys and Joy Division?!
4. Foals – Total Life Forever
I was excited to see their follow up effort to a stunning first album, and instead of being disappointed as you come to expect, this one truly delivered. Their sound changed, but not in a bad way, they seemed to get a little more melancholy, a bit less bouncy, and more intelligent if that makes sense. Over all it was awesome.
3. Miike Snow – Miike Snow
The finest indie electro pop I’ve heard in a long time. Every song has its own identity and personality. They are musically gifted and display it numerous times over the course of the album, some songs are emotional and thought provoking, but they also know how to write a catchy pop tune.
2. Bon Iver – For Emma, Forever Ago
The raw emotion and beauty somehow captured in this album can’t be put into words.
1. Yeasayer – Odd Blood
The musical genius shown in Odd Blood is so crazy, it gets deeper and more complex with every listen (and I’m probably at roughly 150 listens so far) that I will probably still be playing it when I’m 70. I’m a little afraid to put it at number 1 cos I still don’t feel like I know it well enough. But that fact (after hearing it for nearly 10 months) combined with the song writing skills; ingenius use of strange instruments, sounds and effects; the two frontline singers that bring such different qualities together and the tribal, other-wordly feeling you get from it is enough to get the nod.
The Indie Electro Breakdown 