Link to Post

Back in November, the mods of /r/music asked us to find a couple of obscure artists to promote to the rest of reddit. That request took on a life of its own and has culminated with this submission. We figured new years was the best time to submit, as a lot of folks will have some time to enjoy a little music with the holiday.

We have several incredible artists to recommend, each with their own playlist linked below. They are virtually unknown, and aren't mentioned on reddit much outside of listentothis. We've tried to include a spectrum of styles so there should be something for everyone. Where possible, live performances and interviews with the artists have also been included in these playlists.

• Shakey Graves (blues, country, solo) compares favorably to Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Hank Williams
• The Oh Hellos (folk rock) if Mumford & Sons leaves you bored, this is your fix
• Listener (talk music, poetry, raw emotion) everyone needs to hear the first video
• Snowmine (lush indie pop) remember when Coldplay was new and fresh? Like that, but better
• Guante & Big Cats (underground hip-hop) political and with brilliant lyrics
• Takénobu (classically styled cello, loops) similar to Kishi Bashi
• Ott (psybient dub, chillwave) absolutely incredible soundscapes, pure mindfood, like Shpongle
• Xanadu (drum and bass) excellent D&B artist, just gaining exposure
• Darlingside (string rock) many moods, many styles, great talent, great videos
• //orangenoise (shoegaze, punk, psychedelic, progressive) Pakistan has a kickass music scene
• Golden Sun (hard rock, alternative) very popular with our submitters
• Thank You Scientist (math rock, prog/jazz fusion) Coheed & Cambria fans take note
• Three Trapped Tigers (hardcore math/noise rock) most ridiculously awesome video award
• Dopapod (jam band, rock, electronic, fusion, funk) killer live performances too
• Kimmo Pohjonen (experimental accordion) from the blow-your-mind department

Links to artist websites and places to purchase the music can be found in the playlist descriptions.

Out of all of these artists, Shakey Graves was voted the most talented and the least well known by a wide margin. What do you think, reddit? Can we get him a spot on Later... with Jools Holland? What else can we do to promote musical artists on reddit?

Of course, that's not enough music for us. We listened to each and every artist submitted, found one of their best tracks, and put them into playlists so that everyone could easily surf through the resulting tsunami of music. We also visited some of the other music subreddits and included artists from threads they had already run. Turns out youtube has a playlist limit of 200 items, so the results were broken up into several playlists grouped loosely by the styles of music. Some are more effectively sorted than others due to the time it takes to arrange them using youtube's abysmal editing interface. Apologies to the metal, prog, electro, and post-rock fans for those lists being a bit messy - this was a learning experience and we know better what to do next time around. We might even have it automated. :)

• Modern (post-1980 styles, indie, alt, electro, hiphop etc) 173 artists, 11.47 hours
• Sounds Vintage (pre-1980 styles, funk, soul, rockabilly, folk, bluegrass etc) 167 artists, 11.33 hours
• Heavy (hard rock, many kinds of metal) 116 artists, 15.15 hours
• Electronic (instrumentals, dub, dnb) 87 artists, 6.31 hours
• Prog & Post-Rock (instrumental post-rock and some progressive rock) 50 artists, 5.42 duration

We have two more end of the year additions that aren't dedicated to obscure artists.

• Subscriber's Favorites (top voted tracks of 2012) 62 tracks, 4.18 hours
• ListenToThis 2012 Music Awards (because we love to be smartasses) 37 tracks, 2.56 hours

This is really just the tip of the iceberg, as the related tracks for these 607 obscure artists will lead you to thousands of others. This post should provide you with several days of musical exploration. Happy new year to everyone, we will definitely be doing this again in a couple of months.
Post link

Some folks are converting the youtube playlists into other formats. I'll link them here as they become available.

Keep in mind that these will not be as complete at the ones on youtube. :)

• Modern on Spotify (thanks /u/wurghel)
• Sounds Vintage on Grooveshark (thanks /u/icep4ck)
• Prog & Post-Rock on Spotify (thanks /u/cannotdecideonaname)
• Heavy on Spotify (thanks /u/iHoRiZoNi)
• 2012 Music Awards on Spotify (thanks /u/04815162342)

If you have trouble viewing the videos in this list due to some label's hopelessly inept attempt at censorship, there is an addon for Firefox called ProxTube that should allow you to bypass these juvenile restrictions. Apparently someone forgot to explain to the labels how the internet works. :)

Link to Discussion post

Welcome to the /r/ListenToThis Best Of 2016!

With 174 albums and one for each day the post is late, we're 50 days ahead of schedule!

Albums were collected from users throughout hundreds of music subs, cleaned up, and presented with streaming links and playlists. There are no ratings, no judgments, and no opinions - only obscure music compiled and arranged for you over the course of two seven months by our dedicated mod team.

This list is meant to complement other best of lists on the internet, many of which are linked in the sticky comment below for further discovery. Albums are broken up into groups and require your attention all the way to the bottom of Set 10. There are playlists across Spotify, Youtube, and Google for each group plus a Master playlist with one track from each album so you can drink it all in at once. Note that Google links were not included for individual albums due to character limitations, but you may find them in our Google Albums playlists for each set.

Feel free to share your own picks in the replies here, and happy listening, you filthy animals.

• Master Spotify Sampler - One curated track per album.

• Master Youtube Sampler - One curated track per album.

• Master Google Sampler - One curated track per album.

• Spotify profile with listing of all playlists.

• Youtube profile with listing of all playlists.

#Set 1 - Must Listens #1

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 2 - Rock, Pop & Blues

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 3 - Progressive & Related

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 4 - Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop & Instrumentals

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 5 - Punk & Related

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 6 - Electronic & Related

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 7 - Metal

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 8 - Jazz, Soul, Funk & Related

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 9 - Afrobeat, World & Classical

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

#Set 10 - Americana & Related

Spotify Sampler & Spotify Albums

Youtube Sampler & Youtube Albums

Google Sampler & Google Albums

Link to Discussion Post

Welcome!

Albums were collected from users throughout hundreds of music subs, cleaned up and presented with streaming links and playlists. There are no scores, no judgments, and no opinions - just obscure music shared and curated by other reddit users then collected and arranged for you over the course of two months by our dedicated mod team. This list is meant to complement other bestof lists on the internet, many of which are linked in the sticky comment below for further discovery. Albums are broken up into groups. There are playlists for each group, and a Master playlist with one track from each album so you can drink it all in at once.

Some genre tags are abbreviated because we ran out of space in this post! Google Play lists are included at the top of the sticky comment. The final count: 200 artists. Feel free to share your own picks in the replies here… and happy listening, you filthy animals.

• Master Spotify Sampler - One curated track per album.

• Master Youtube Sampler - One curated track per album.

• Unpossible Mixtape 2015 - Cool videos we found.

• Spotify profile with listing of all playlists.

#Set 1 - Must Listens #1

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 2 - Must Listens #2

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 3 - Progressive, Math-Rock & Related

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 4 - Hip-Hop, Trip-Hop & Instrumentals

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 5 - Punk & Related

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 6 - Metal

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 7 - Electronic & Related

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 8 - Jazz, Afrobeat, Funk & Related

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 9 - Chilled

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 10 - Americana & Related

#Sampler & Albums

#Set 11 - Rock, Pop, Soul & Blues

#Sampler & Albums

Link to Discussion Post

Tired of hearing 2014 was a "bad year for music" yet? Come out from under that rock and listen to this. We'll kick off with this playlist... a little something we're hoping reddit will help out with (see the end of this post). And hey, try to watch it in order and don't jump around. Challenge yourself, we're trying for a narrative here...

• Listentothis Best of 2014 - Unpossible Mixtape Edition [everything] (2015)

Below you'll find 179 albums from 179 artists across dozens of musical genres, all with streaming links.

Entries were compiled from our polls here, aoty discussions in /r/letstalkmusic, and dozens of bestof threads from 500+ music subreddits over the last four weeks. Literally thousands of people have contributed this content. Everything here impressed someone enough to share it, others enough to upvote it, and our hipster facista listening team enough to include it. The first set contains listening team favourites. Sets are not in any particular order, nor are there any reviews. Words and rankings are wasted on music. Streams are there so you can listen for yourself and decide.

You'll also notice that most of these albums aren't on any other lists, which is intentional. If they cover it, we don't have to - what's the point discussing the order of the same 50-75 albums? We can listen to that many in a weekend. We love their recs too, but there's always more to be had. This list will provide any music lover with weeks of material. Bookmark it and take the ride, let's all find out what 2014 really has to offer. It's turtles all the way down, tonight.

Happy new year, crazy music peoples. ;)

Reddit Music Best Of 2014 Album Compilation, by /r/listentothis, /r/letstalkmusic, and reddit at large.

Stream Key: SP = Spotify, SC = Soundcloud, BC = Bandcamp, YT = Youtube

Spotify playlists are included at the top for each set (a big thanks to /u/thedannychang for putting these together!), where spotify picks the most popular track on each album.

• Master Spotify Playlist of the most popular track from every album at this link.

######Set One - Must Listens (any genre)

• Set One Playlists: Spotify & Google

• DJ Phixion - Intermetropolitan (chilled instrumental hip-hop) /u/phixion BC

• Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (psychedelic country) BC SP

• Shakey Graves - ...and the War Came (folk, country, blues) BC SP

• Bing & Ruth - Tomorrow Was The Golden Age (ambient/experimental) BC YT

• Bohren & der Club Of Gore - Piano Nights (moody dark jazz noir) SP YT

• Kishi Bashi - Lighght (orchestral electropop) BC SP

• Smoove & Turrell - Broken Toys (electro soul) SC SP

• Flight Facilities - Down To Earth (chill electro-pop) SP YT

• Nick Mulvey - First Mind (upbeat folk) SC SP

• 1,2,3 - Big Weather (lo-fi acid folk genre bender) SC

• Death Blues - Ensemble (post-rock americana) BC SP

• This Will Destroy You - Another Language (crunchy post-rock) BC SP

• King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - I'm In Your Mind Fuzz (relentless psychedelic jam) YT SP

• Meatbodies - S/T (psychedelic garage punk) SP YT

• Slough Feg - Digital Resistance (Tull-esque traditional metal) YT SP

• Culprate - Deliverance (electronic dnb/glitch) SP SC

• Marketa Irglova - Muna (chill piano pop) SP BC

• Musée Mécanique - From Shores of Sleep (orchestral dream pop) BC SP

• St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Half The City (smooth soul) SP YT

• TV Girl - French Exit (lo-fi electropop) BC SP

• Vulfpeck - Fugue State (pure funk) BC SP

• IQ - The Road Of Bones (progressive rock) YT SP

######Set Two - Chilled

• Set Two Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Hollie Cook - Twice (smooth reggae pop) SP SC

• The Delines - Colfax (chilled country) SP BC

• Hi-Fiction Science - Curious Yellow (mellow post-rock) SP

• Ilia Nicoll - Caterwaul (folk pop) BC

• Mimicking Birds - Eons (folk pop) BC SP

• Julie Byrne - Rooms With Walls & Windows (folk) YT

• Tyler Walker - Soup Ascends (electronic ambient) BC SP

• Hammock - Sleepover Series v3 (ambient) SP

• Ricky Eat Acid - Three Love Songs (electronic ambient) SP BC

######Set Three - Progressive & Related

• Set Three Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Agusa - Högtid (proggy psych/krautrock) BC SP

• Monomyth - Further (chilled psychedelic jams) BC SP

• This Patch of Sky - S/T (post-rock) BC SP

• Jacob - Sines (post-rock) BC SP

• Audrey Fall - Mitau (post-rock) BC SP

• Moonlit Sailor - We Come From Exploding Stars (post-rock) BC SP

• Invalids - Strengths (math rock) BC

• Wayne Szalinski - Black Mirror (math pop) BC SP

• Chon - Woohoo! EP (math pop) SC BC SP

• Zoo Strategies - Zeus Tragedies (math pop) BC

• In The Presence Of Wolves - Thalassas (progressive rock) BC SP

• Moongarden - Voyeur (progressive rock) SP

• Syd Arthur - Sound Mirror (canterbury prog) BC SP

• Perfect Beings - S/T (crossover prog) SC SP

• Gandalf's Fist - A Forest of Fey (neoprogressive rock) YT SP

• Logos - L'enigma della Vita (rock progressivo italiano) BC SP

Want More? Progarchives has you covered, as always.

Visit /r/progrockmusic, /r/postrock, and /r/progmetal sometime.

######Set Four - Hip-Hop & Instrumental

• **Set Four Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Jazz Spastiks - The Product (instrumental hip-hop) BC SP

• Anti-Lilly & Phoniks - Stories from the Brass Section (underground hip-hop) BC SP

• Coops - Lost Soul (underground hip-hop) BC SP

• PRhyme - DJ Premier & Royce Da 5'9 (hip-hop) YT SP

• Brock Berrigan - Four Walls and an Amplifier (instrumental hip-hop) BC

• clipping - CLPPNG (hip-hop/noise rap) BC SP

• Blockhead - Bells and Whistles (instrumental trip-hop, nu-jazz) SC SP

• Alex Wiley - Village Party (hip-hop) SP SC

• Damu the Fudgemunk - Public Assembly (instrumental hip-hop) BC

• Sadistik - Ultraviolet (abstract hip-hop) BC SP

• Father - Young Hot Ebony (minimalist hiphop/rap) BC SP

• milo - a toothpaste suburb (hip-hop) BC SP

• Saba - ComfortZone (hip-hop) SC

• Rittz - Next to Nothing (hip-hop) YT SP

• 100s - IVRY EP (hip-hop/rap) YT

• Main Flow - The Cincinnati Kid (hiphop) SP

• Blacastan and Stu Bangas - Watson and Holmes (hiphop) BC

We ran short on time reviewing the hiphop selection this year, and /r/hiphopheads didn't hold their usual bestof so this list is a bit light. We did notice one fellow who had a damn fine list... maybe someone can pick up there.

######Set Five - Punk & Related

• Set Five Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Trace Mountains - Buttery Sprouts (minimalist folk-punk-emo) BC

• Andrew Jackson Jihad - Christmas Island (folk punk) BC SP

• Wood Spider - Decadence (folk punk cabaret) BC

• Speaker For The Dead - The Ballad Of The Undercrust (folk punk) SP BC

• Mallory - To The Hollow Night (folk punk) BC

• Cheap Haircuts - My American Dream (folk punk) BC

• The Hotelier - Home, Like Noplace Is There (pop punk) BC SP

• Modern Baseball - You're Gonna Miss It All (pop punk) BC SP

• Somos - Temple Of Plenty (pop punk) BC SP

• Moose Blood - I'll Keep You In Mind... (pop punk) YT SP

• Fireworks - Oh, Common Life (pop punk) BC SP

• United Nations - The Next Four Years (hardcore) SP

• Mongol Horde - S/T (hardcore) SP

• Svffer - Lies We Live (hardcore) BC

• Code Orange Kids - I Am King (hardcore) BC SP

• Breaking Point - Set to Burn (hardcore) BC SP

• Hurricade - Anachronisms (hardcore) BC

• Pink Lemonade - Closure in Moscow (hardcore) BC

• Antemasque - S/T (hardcore) SP

Pay a visit to /r/folkpunk, /r/poppunkers, /r/hardcore, and /r/metalcore.

######Set Six - Metal

• Set Six Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Behemoth - The Satanist (blackened death metal) YT SP

• Darkspace - Darkspace III I (black metal ... in space) BC SP

• Agalloch - The Serpent and The Sphere (atmospheric black metal)YT SP

• Mare Cognitum - Phobos Monolith (atmospheric black metal ... in space) BC

• Swallowed - Lunarterial (death / doom metal) BC SP

• Spectral Lore - III (atmospheric black metal) BC

• Sun Worship - Elder Giants (black metal/drone) BC

• Artificial Brain - Labyrinth Constellation (technical death metal) BC SP

• Horrendous - Ecdysis (progressive / death metal) BC SP

• Trenchrot - Necronomic Warfare (death metal) BC SP

• Ne Obliviscaris - Citadel (progressive melodic black metal) BC SP

• Panopticon - Roads To The North (atmospheric folk / black metal) BC SP

• Saor - Aura (atmospheric folk / black metal) BC SP

• Insomnium - Shadow of the Dying Sun (melodic death metal) YT SP

• The Devin Townsend Project - Z² (progressive metal opera) SP

• Black Book Lodge - Tûndra (stoner sludge) BC SP

• Lantlôs - Melting Sun (post-metal/shoegaze) SP BC

• Woods of Desolation - As The Stars (post-metal/shoegaze) BC

Many entries courtesy of /r/metal's excellent community.

For much more, visit Shreddit's Metal Albums Of The Year.

######Set Seven - Electronic & Related

• Set Seven Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Zircon - Getaway EP (banging complextro) BC SC

• Pludo - Youniverse I (dnb/electronic rock) BC

• Dance With The Dead - Near Dark (Carpenter-esque retro synthwave) SP BC

• Beat Fatigue - Malfunktionality I (funky glitch-hop) SP BC

• Monomer - Labyrinth (retro synthwave) BC

• botnit - To The Max (retro synthwave ) SP BC

• OGRE - 195 (retro synthwave) BC

• Fox Stevenson - Throwdown EP (lyrical edm) SP BC

• Shirobon - The Arcade Dream (cyberpunk dnb) SP BC

• Cavaliers of Fun - Camp COF (nu-disco) SP BC

• Doss - Doss EP (trance) SC

• Robert Robert - Pastel (house/synthpop) BC

• Tom Vek - Luck (electro/pop) SP SC

• Leon Vynehall - Music For The Uninvited (drum n bass) SP

• SHXCXCHCXSH - Linear S Decoded (house/dub techno) SP SC

• Chrome Sparks - Goddess EP (electronic) SP BC SC

• Griff - Interstate (electronic) SC

• Kimyan Law - Coeur Calme (drum n bass) SP

• Cern - Under Another Sky (drum n bass) SP SC

• Silkken Laumann - Not Forever Enough (electro punk/house) BC

• Tokyo Prose - Presence (drum n bass) SP SC

• Ulterior Motive - The Fourth Wall (drum n bass) SP SC

• RL Grime - Void (trap) SP YT

PSA: /r/electronicmusic is the gateway to the dozens of electronic music subreddits.

######Set Eight - Jazz, Afrobeat, & Related

• Set Eight Playlist: Spotify & Google

• Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here (jazz fusion) BC SP

• Ambrose Akinmusire - Imagined Savior (jazz) SP

• Jungle Fire - Tropicoso (fast latin funk/afrobeat) SP

• Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - New Ammo (heavy jazz/funk) SP

• Sean Kuti & Egypt 80 - A Long Way To The Beginning (afrobeat) YT SP

• Gideon van Gelder - Lighthouse (jazz) SP

• Kris Bowers - Heroes + Misfits (jazz) SP

• Polar Bear - In Each & Every One (electronic experimental jazz) BC SP

• Joshua Redman - Trios Live (jazz) SP

• Tony Allen - Film Of Life (laid back afrobeat/funk) SP

• Nathan Parker Smith - Not Dark Yet (proggy big band jazz) BC SC

• Dylan Ryan / Sand – Circa (jazz/rock improv) BC YT

• Bobby Avey - Authority Melts From Me (jazz) YT

• John Zorn performed by Zion80 (klezmer inflected Afrobeat/jazz) YT

• The Brooklyn Attractors - Good Evil Alchemy (ska/reggae) YT

• The String Arcade - S/T (vidya themes for string quartet) BC

Look into /r/jazz, and /r/nosleep's best friend /r/darkjazz.

######Set Nine - Challenging Listening

• Set Nine Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Kevin Nolan - Fredrick & The Golden Dawn (crazy fairy tale blues) SP

• Clap! Clap! - Tayi Bebba (trap/footwork) SP

• Luz - Polemonta (progressive jazz/fusion) SP

• Building Instrument - S/T (experimental folk pop) SP

• NickBee - Empty Your Mind (neurofunk) SP

• Killers Walk Among Us - S/T (post-rock emo) BC SP (this is a suicide note)

######Set Ten - Americana & Related

• Set Ten Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Greensky Bluegrass - If Sorrows Swim (newgrass) SP

• Nickel Creek - A Dotted line SP

• Rob McCoury - The 5 String Flamethrower (tech bluegrass) SP

• Mountain Faith - Blue (bluegrass) SP

• Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, Rob Ickes - Three Bells (bluegrass) SP

• The Railsplitters - S/T (bluegrass) SP

• Hayden Pedigo - Five Steps (american primitivism) SP

• Steve Palmer - Unblinking Sun (american primitivism/psych) BC

They've got it all in /r/newgrass, /r/bluegrass, and /r/indiefolk.

######Set Eleven - Rock & Pop Related

• Set Eleven Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Donovan Blanc - Donovan Blanc (flower pop) SC SP

• Julia Brown - An Abundance of Strawberries (trippy lo-fi neo-psych) YT

• Khun Narin - Khun Narin's Electric Phin Band (monster psych/world jam) BC SP

• Dead Rabbits - Time Is Your Only Enemy (fuzzy shoegaze/psych) BC SP

• Morgan Delt - S/T (raw psychedelic pop) BC SP

• Allah-Las - Worship The Sun (droll psychedelic rock) BC SP

• Damien Jurado - Brothers & Sisters of the Eternal Sun (chill pop) YT SP

• Bahamas - Bahamas Is Afie (chill pop) YT SP

• Snowmine - Dialects (orchestral dream pop) YT SP

• Fog Lake - Virgo indigo (dream pop/shoegaze) BC SP

• Circulatory System - Mosaics Within Mosaics (freak folk/new wierd americana) SP YT

• Crescendo - Lost Thoughts (pop rock/shoegaze) SC SP

• Blackbird Blackbird - Tangerine Sky (electropop) SC SP

• Wovenhand - Refractory Obdurate (hard rock) BC SP

• Royal Blood - Royal Blood (rock) YT SP

• Sticky Fingers - Land of Pleasure YT SP

• The Growlers - Chinese Fountain (gypsy garage rock) BC SP

• All Them Witches - Lightning At The Door (blues rock) YT SP

######Set Twelve - Non-English Albums

• Set Twelve Playlists: Spotify & Google

• Strand - Strand (belgian/dutch folk) SP

• Elephant Gym - Angle (taiwanese math rock) SP YT (DL in desc)

• Kairon; IRSE! (finnish heavy shoegaze) BC

• Kauls Johann Grobe - Im Sinn Der Zeit (german pop rock) SP

• Ninos Du Brasil - Novos Misterios (brazilian electro) SP

• Nada - Occupo Poco Spazio (italian pop rock) SP

• DVA - Nipomo (czeck art pop, electro cabaret) BC

• Juçara Marçal – Encarnado (brazilian math rock) YT

• Sólstafir - Ótta (icelandic post-rock, metal) SP BC

• Tinariwen - Emmaar (african blues) SP

• Diana Damrau - Shoka: Japanese Children's Songs (japanese classical) SP

• Joyce DiDonato's - Stella Di Napoli (italian classical) SP

######Links to other bestofs around the internet...

• Album of the Year 2014 Full Ratings Listing (this site is awesome)

• Metacritic Albums of 2014

• NPR's Top50 of 2014

• Pitchfork Top50 of 2014

• Pitchfork Editor's Picks

• The Quietus Top100 of 2014

• Amoeba Music's 50 Essential of 2014

• Fact's 2014 Year In Numbers Review

• XL8R BestOf Sets

• Bleeps Roundup

• Complex Best of 2014

• Spin's Top40 HipHop

• Fader's Best

• Forbes Classical

• New York Times Classical

• The New Yorker's Classical

• Best Ever Albums

• The AV Club's Best of 2014

• Guardian Readers Poll

• Tiny Mix Tapes Top50

Please share other noteworthy lists you've found online in the replies.

List has been cleaned up and corrected a bit, new lists, playlists, and albums added based on comments.

Link to Post

The Official Listentothis Best Of 2013, picking up where all of the other lists leave off by spreading a little love to the overlooked and underappreciated. Our list duplicates almost none of the entries on year end lists from mainstream music publications - if they cover it, we don't have to.

We'll start with the Listentothis 2013 Music Awards playlist. This is our little way of mocking the serious awards shows and having a little fun. We're going with radd.it for the playlist functionality this year.

This time we decided to focus more on albums and less on playlists. You might think from the size that this list got away from us a bit, but that's not the case. All albums in this list are solid and have passed multiple curators to get here. The albums presented are broken up by set for ease of listening, but are in no particular order within each set. We don't find numerical ratings useful, either. If it's here, it's good, and that's it. The ratings are for your ears and tastes to decide. You'll hate some, and you'll love others, which ones are up to you.

Clicking on the artist/album name will take you to a full album stream so you can listen for yourself. You may want to sign up for spotify - it takes seconds and an email address, and now only requires a web browser. I'd also suggest bookmarking this page or saving this post. It's going to take you a little while to finish listening!

Set One, The Whirlwind (best of the obscure and unappreciated)

• The Dirty Diary - Dead Ringer (also see this live set) | the dirtiest blues anywhere
• Hiatus Kaiyote - Tawk Tomahawk (MUST see this live set) | progressive R&B/future soul
• Starcadian - Sunset Blood (music videos) | a retro-future ear movie (Daft Punk fans, attend)
• Hozier - Take Me To Church EP | bluesy folk/soul with an almost gospel atmosphere
• GRiZ - Rebel Era | electrosoul/future funk with attitude
• Kiev - Falling Bough Wisdom Teeth (MUST see this live set) | jazzy, melodic prog-rock
• Mop Mop - Isle Of Magic | meditative modern /r/exotica in funky African style
• Ben Caplan - The Great Remembering (MUST see this live set) | cabaret/gypsy-folk
• Wintergatan - Wintergatan | catchy, wistful electropop, unusual instruments
• Weekender - Spanish Peaks EP | psychedelic shoegaze with a dreamy drone
• Black Chamber - Black Chamber | chilled, otherworldly darkjazz
• Shad - Flying Colours | creative, genuinely uplifting hip-hop
• Milky Chance - Sadnecessary | folk-pop with a dash of reggae and electronic
• Tom Milson - Organs | acoustic/electronic pop
• The Underground Youth - The Perfect Enemy For God | post-punk/shoegaze
• Caitlin Rose - The Stand-In | country (yes, country)
• Makthaverskan - Makthaverskan II | pure post-punk, female vocals
• Money - The Shadow Of Heaven | melancholy indie pop
• All There - All There | sad electronic pop, concept album

Set Two, Indies

• Typhoon - White Lighter | soaring, versatile indie rock
• San Fermin - San Fermin | baroque/chamber pop/indie rock
• Big Scary - Not Art | minimalist, melancholy indie rock
• This Town Needs Guns - 13.0.0.0.0 | indie math rock
• The Dear Hunter - Migrant | orchestral indie rock
• Nigel & The Dropout - Tumultuous | dark indie/dance rock
• Brick + Mortar - Bangs EP | fuzzed out indie rock
• Royal Canoe - Today We're Believers | indie rock/pop/electro
• The Debauchees - Big Machines & Peculiar Beings | quirky indie rock, post-punk influences
• Coma Cinema - Posthumous Release | melancholy indie pop/rock
• Lightning Dust - Fantasy | minimalist electropop, female vocals
• YAST - YAST | indie rock/dream pop
• Wolf Alice - Blush EP | indie rock

Or, a little more old school...

• Tedeschi Trucks Band - Made Up Mind | blues, soul, rock and roll, New Orleans style
• The Growlers - Hung At Heart | catchy garage surf, or as they call it, beach goth
• Ruen Brothers - Blood Runs Wild EP (also this set) | rock and roll, with a touch of Orbison
• Twin Peaks - Sunken | catchy, hazy garage rock
• Lumerians - The High Frontier | psychedelic rock

Set Three, And Relax

• Etherwood - Etherwood | chill atmospheric dnb
• Emancipator - Dusk to Dawn | downtempo trip-hop
• Random Rab - Release | chilled electro with world influences
• J-Louis - Balanced EP | chill futurebeats
• Jazz Spastics - Mindmaze Instrumentals | chilled electro-hiphop
• Axel Boman - Family Vacation | deep house/minimal techno
• Chrome Sparks - Sparks EP | electro/chilled beats
• Moonface - Julia With Blue Jeans On | solo piano, singer/songwriter

Set Four, Challenge Yourself

• Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso In The Deep Time | a crazy dream-pop genre blender
• Daniel Wohl & TRANSIT - Corps Exquis | experimental electronic, contemporary classical
• Chrome Hoof - Chrome Black Gold | progressive funk/metal/disco
• The Monroe Transfer - An Enclave | dark post-rock/classical
• Grails - Black Tar Prophecies 4, 5, 6 | dark post-rock, psychedelic
• Clipping - Midcity | hiphop/industrial noise
• James Ferarro - NYC Hell 3:00am | impressionist noise/experimental
• Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld - Still Smiling | multilingual experimental genre bender
• Owiny Sigoma Band - Power Punch | Kenyan traditional/electronica
• Ital Tek - Control | high bpm ambient electronic
• Kirin J. Callinan - Embracism | noise rock
• MTVoid - Nothing's Matter | industrial rock/others, Tool side project

Set Five, Non-English Albums

• La Femme - Psycho Tropical Berlin | French post-punk
• Maladie d'amour | French pop/chanson
• Deolinda - Mundo Pequenino | Portugese folk/pop
• De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig - Ja Natuurlijk | Dutch hip-hop
• Ulige Numre - Nu Til Dags | Danish pop-rock
• Juan Cirerol - Cachanilla y Flor de Azar | Mexican acoustic/folk
• Triangulo de Amor Bizarro - Victoria Mystica | Spanish post-punk
• Boogarins - As Plantas Que Curam | Brazilian throwback psychedelic rock
• Moodoïd - Moodoïd | French psychedelic rock
• Esses Patifes - Ruspo | Brazilian tropical lo-fi dreampop
• Alameda 3 - Pózne Królestwo | fuzzed out Polish psychedelic folk/rock
• Apanhador Só - Antes que tu conte outra | Brazilian gaucho/rock
• Chantal Archambault - Les élans | French folk/country
• Pierre Lapointe - Punkt | French chanson
• Les Soeurs Boulay - Le poids des confettis | French folk
• Wardruna - Yggdrasil | Norwegian pagan folk
• Vieux Farka Touré - Mon Pays | Malian traditional/acoustic guitar

Set Six, Metal Albums (courtesy of /r/metal and their modteam)

• Gorguts - Colored Sands | technical death metal
• Satan - Life Sentence | traditional metal
• Carcass - Surgical Steel | death metal
• Inquisition - Obscure Verses for the Multiverse | black metal
• Altar of Plagues - Teethed Injury and Glory | experimental black metal
• Abyssal - Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius | black doom metal
• Cultes De Ghoules - Henbane | black metal
• Ghost Flower - Left | progressive/post-metal
• Glass Cloud - Perfect War Forever EP | progressive metalcore
• The Safety Fire - Mouth Of Swords | math metal
• The Ocean - Pelagial | post-metal
• Entropia - Vesper | post black-metal
• Ulcerate - Vermis | death metal
• Angizia - Des Winters Finsterer Gesell | Austrian folksy gothic metal
• Stara Rzeka - Cien chmury nad ukrytym polem | post-metal, brutalism
• Mammoth Grinder - Underworlds | death metal/crust punk
• Windhand - Soma | catchy doom metal
• Oathbreaker - Eros/Anteros | blackened crust/noise/deathgaze
• The Black Heart Rebellion - Har Nevo | post-rock/dark folk/sludge metal/emo

Set Seven, Jazz (courtesy of /r/letstalkmusic moderator /u/Doktor_Gruselglatz)

• Henri Texier Hope Quartet - At «l'improviste» | nostalgic jazz
• Rob Mazurek Octet - Skull Sessions | big band/70s fusion
• Fire! Orchestra - Exit! | patient big band jazz
• The Convergence Quartet - Slow And Steady | playful, experimental
• Ballister - Mi Casa es en Fuego | pure improv
• Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House - Strong Place | avant-garde jazz
• Peter Brötzmann - Long Story Short | free jazz, world influences
• Pat Metheny - Tap | jazz fusion

Set Eight, Rap and HipHop

• MaG - Freedom. | chilled, contemplative hiphop with a splash of soul/R&B
• Joomanji - Manj | chill hiphop with electrosoul/jazz, female vocalists

It may look like we're a little light on hiphop releases, but that's only because the excellent community over at /r/hiphopheads has already done a better job than we could. If hiphop is your addiction, that link is your fix. And they weren't the only ones. Here are some other year end roundups from other music subreddits...

• /r/progmetal: best of 2013 playlist on spotify
• /r/stonerrock: best stoner rock albums of 2013
• /r/kpop: favorite songs of 2013
• /r/electronicmusic: best of 2013 nominations
• /r/dnb: best tunes of 2013
• Mega-podcast of DnB (thanks /u/dnb_lover)

This year we had a lot of help from the wonderful /r/letstalkmusic crowd, and we owe them a big thank you for taking the time to weigh in on the draft list. If this isn't enough music for you, head on over to the listening party page and the discussion thread. That's where we cooked up this monster. Plenty of entries with listening links that didn't make the final cut are still there for you to discover. Many were left off due to time constraints.

We'd also like to mark down 2013 as the year the entire music industry finally pulled its collective head out of the sand and got with the times. For the first time ever 99.7% of the albums we wanted to hear had a streaming link on a popular streaming website. Streams are now more convenient than piracy, so congratulations are in order. We're a little amazed that no one else seems to have noticed or talked about this. There's a little way to go yet, with idiotic 'regional restrictions' still in play, but progress is progress.

Let's talk about everyone else's lists for a moment.

The definitive master list can be found at Album Of The Year. Nearly all 800 of those albums come with listening links, all you need do is click the album you're interested in and look for the links under the album picture. Don't let the numbers fool you - numbers lie. Let your ears do the deciding. Anything in the top500 on that list is well worth a look.

We'd like to salute NPR for putting together what is easily the best Top50 of any single publication. Also check out Metacritic's Top50, Top15 Debuts, and Aggregate Top Albums. If you must, you can also visit Pitchfork's Top50 and NME's Top50. We also have a best classical of 2013 playlist courtesy of the New York Times.

We're not done yet. Now it's your turn. Share your personal best music of 2013 in the comments, with listening links whenever possible. If you've found any other great year end bestof lists on your favorite music blogs or forums, link those as well. It's been a great year for music. Let's collect and celebrate the best. Enjoy your new year, and happy listening. ;)

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