My Favorite 25 Albums of 2014: 10-6

And we've reached my top ten records of the year. Here's 10-6, with my top 5 records coming up tomorrow:

10.

Hercules and Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart

What do you do when you release a near-perfect debut album? With Hercules and Love Affair you release Blue Songs and attempt to marry your House music explorations with arty flights of fancy that tend to sink the ship rather than propel it forward. After this slight misstep, Andy Butler and company almost go back to square one, stripping things back to their essence, and joining these tracks with vocalists who neither overshadow the songs or get crushed under their waves. The Feast of the Broken Heart is a massive return to form, and with deep-voiced singer John Grant, they have almost found someone to transcend their work with Antony Hegarty, which is no mean feat in and of itself.

9.

Arca - Xen

Venezuelan producer Arca, born Alejandro Ghersi, has made a name for himself doing high profile work with artists like Kanye West, FKA twigs, and soon to be Bjork. After a couple of shape-shifting, genre bending EPs, Ghersi finally releases his debut, the quite frankly jaw-dropping stunner Xen. While it is not an easy listen, Ghersi is never more than fully in control of the fractured beats, pitch shifted samples, and go-for-broke synthetic overload. There are times when the proceedings feel like they are pushing back at you, demanding that you succumb to their tyranny, however, these tactics merely serve to bring you closer in to their avant-garde womb. Throughout the blazing display of technical virtuosity, there are always touchstones to bring you back to earth, as on the liquid bath of "Thievery," the staccato mind fuck of the title track, or the haunting strings of "Wound." And like a ray of light sneaking its way through the depths of dark waters, a track as simple and devastating as "Held Apart," reminds you that there is always a soul and heart behind the machines.

8.

FKA twigs - LP1

FKA twigs teased her otherworldly sound in a series of EPs, coming across as the love-child of Aaliyah and Bjork. Her voice, dance moves, and image all fall distinctly into R&B, however, it is all enveloped in music that is forward thinking, sometimes aggressively obtuse, but always the perfect vessel for her breathless cries. Whether it is the harder edged dissection of image in "Video Girl," or the dizzying skycraping on "Two Weeks," twigs is always in command of her voice, not letting it get lost in the almost tsunami like crash of instrumentation. And when the music is but a whisper, she truly shines, as on the standout track "Pendulum," where her fragility is open, raw, and heartfelt.

7.

Wild Beasts - Present Tense

Wild Beasts have made the decision to follow bands like Talk Talk and Slowdive down their own rabbit hole, staking their claim on their own musical territory, without fear or regret. The songs on Present Tense float in and out of each other, anchored by the phalanx of synthesizers and the dual vocals of Hayden Thorpe's malleable falsetto and Tom Fleming's evocative baritone. Where in the past, the band chose to highlight one or the other on tracks, here, the band wisely chooses to incorporate the yin and yang of their complementary approaches to great effect on most tracks. Present Tense finds Wild Beasts at the height of their game, with the songs all working beautifully as individual gems, but working together to form a gorgeous piece of interconnected art. Staking their own claim on their sound and moving it in directions once thought impossible, Wild Beasts further move into their own territory, almost peerless.

6.

Warpaint - Warpaint

Warpaint's debut record The Fool was on many best of lists for 2010, and rightfully so, it's driving combination of icy, post-guitars, languid vocals, and the propulsion of a secret weapon, its formidable rhythm section, made for an intoxicating listen. It's been almost 4 years since that release, and after a lengthy tour schedule along with working on these tracks during sound checks, Warpaint have returned with their sophomore record. There is no seismic shift in sound on this record, the rhythm section is still potent and the driving force behind the tracks, vocals are hazy and dream like, and the guitars still drip like icicles, however, this go-around there is far more atmosphere present, lots of foreboding electronics and hints of drum programming. Produced by Flood (Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins) and mixed by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead), Warpaint is more polished and slick, but the better production helps define their sound better rather than overcompensating. They leave the rhythm section front and center, while the dual guitars flicker in and out of the mix as punctuation. It's funny that a band with two guitarists puts out music with seemingly so little guitar. Warpaint is a record that takes time to insinuate itself in your head. I will admit that on first listens I was underwhelmed, as the record doesn't have the same intense energy as its predecessor. While The Fool was an African rhino charging its way through the brush, Warpaint is the coiled snake in the grass, full of menace, ready to snap at any moment and strike.