Welcome back to The Top 100 Albums of 2014, as chosen by Daniel Wilcox.

If you’ve missed the beginning of the list, use these useful links to catch up;

#100-91

#90-81

#80-71

#70-61

#60-51

#50-41

#40-31

#30-21

20. Damien Rice – My Favourite Faded Fantasy It’s been a long time coming, but eight years after the release of sophmore album 9, 2014 was the year that Damien Rice released third full-length album My Favourite Fantasy. The long-awaited follow-up is everything it should be; raw, intimate and exploding with emotion. This is in spite of the fact that Rick Rubin has come on board for production duties and his work with Rice gives the record something of a polished feel that wasn’t as present on previous works, but thankfully Rice and Rubin allow these songs air to breathe. Everything from the opening title track to album-closer “Long Long Way” has a natural presence, blending folk sensibilities with classic singer-songwriter troupes. If there’s a weakness to be found it’s in the lyricism that occasionally borders on cliché, but these rare missteps are well masked by hauntingly sentimental vocals that provide the album with a sense of genuineness and sombre string arrangements that punctuate Rice’s bleak new material. It’s as melancholy as an album can be, yet Damien Rice has produced another effortlessly beautiful record that dethrones any pretenders that may feel as thought they’ve capture Rice’s crown in the last eight years.

19. Charli XCX – Sucker Charli XCX released her debut major-label album back in 201; True Romance was a daring but unappreciated recorded that earned Charli XCX a reputation of something as an underdog. But after a string of guest spots on some of the biggest hits of the past few years and her own lead single “Boom Clap,” Charli XCX spreads her wings and truly soars with new album Sucker. She’s almost laughing off the tag of “underdog,” in disbelief that the music industry could underestimate her in such a way. And indeed Sucker is choc full of big pop hooks and melodies that should be storming charts any day now, so much so that everybody wants a piece of her. If anything, Sucker has too much going on at once, but it’s a clear sign that Charli XCX is in charge of her own future, whether that be an artist soundtracking an exclusive club dancefloor or inspiring a dingy rave in the early hours of a Sunday morning. You can faintly hear this powerful young songstress’ influences, but rather than flattering by imitation, she’s making a sound all her own. It’s a sound that cannot be imitated however hard others might try. Charli XCX uses Sucker to cement her status as the likable early-20s pop brat we can all relate to on some scale, but never enough to know what to expect from her next.

18. Swans – To Be Kind If you were a fan of Swans back in the 80s or 90s and were presented with any of the band’s three studio albums since 2010 without being told it was a Swans record, you would be forgiven for not putting two and two together. There are very few bands who break up and reform to enjoy the kind of career renaissance the likes of which Swans have had. Michael Gira, as well as forever changing the band’s line up, is constantly evolving the band’s sound. The difference this time around is that each new record generates more and more anticipation for the next – To Be Kind is now officially the band’s most successful album to date. It’s also probably the best work Michael Gira has ever done in a career that spans four decades. But despite the new found success, the band does not seem to be feeling any pressure, and Gira is clearly enjoying himself this time around, perhaps for the first time. Of course, at over two hours in length, this isn’t going to be an album that everybody chooses to endure, but unlike many records of its kind, you don’t need to spend days on end repeating the album before you get it – To Be Kind is instant gratification, it’s deeply intimate while addressing the everyman. While unlucky for some, album number thirteen is Swans’ greatest accomplishment to date – To Be Kind is a beast.

17. Eagulls – Eagulls Of all the brand spanking new bands that I’ve stumbled across this year, Eagulls may be the one that has the shortest shelf-life, but pecularly the band’s debut album is one of the most intriguing of not just 2014, but of the last several years. The band’s influences seem quite obvious, and any write up of the band you may find will likely make mention of the likes of Joy Division and Killing Joke, and now you can add this one to the list. But for a new band in 2014, Eagulls have created a sound that is entirely their own. Without knowing a thing about the band’s background, it quickly becomes apparent that these are just four normal guys like you and I, attempting to kill endless periods of monotony by losing themselves in music. And now those of us with neither the talent nor inclination to pick up an instrument for ourselves can lose ourselves in Eagulls. At times, it’s a dark debut that deals with some rather morbid themes, but at just over 35-minutes, it’s a record that breezes by and is at times as uplifting as it is concerning. There’s half-shouted vocals aplenty and the percussion elements are all extremely well arranged, but the whole thing comes off as effortless. It’s an intense listen, and one that leaves quite the lasting impact.

16. Black Keys – Turn Blue Eight albums and well over a decade in, it’s becoming more and more clear than Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney of the Black Keys are ready to settle down as the true kings of the blues rock genre. With the last three or four albums, more and more fans have cried foul as the band take another step further into the mainstream, and indeed those hoping for something more akin to the likes of Thickfreakness or Rubber Factory will be sorely disappointed. The legions of new admirers who may have come on board somewhere in between Attack and Release and “Lonely Boy” will no doubt be thrilled, and rightfully so. And while the Black Keys have found comfort in their new frontier, the band isn’t quite ready to rest on its morals, as there’s still plenty of risk taking and experimenting going on, albeit with mixed results. But the band is at its best when simply rocking out on the likes of “Bullet in the Brain” or “Year in Review.” The song-writing here is once again meticulous, and the execution is going to be hard to improve upon, but as the anthems have got louder, the band is finding itself headlining bigger stages in front of bigger crowds, and these are the types of songs that well keep those crowds growing. Turn Blue is the sound of a band’s years of hard work paying off, and in that sense it’s an album of celebration but with one eye on pressing forward with even more ferocity into the future.

15. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Days of Abandon On album number three, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart seem to have pulled back the curtains late Sunday morning to realise that letting the sunshine in isn’t all its cracked up to be. The overly romantic fantasies that frequently populated the band’s self-titled debut and its follow-up Belong have faded into the background to make way for something more nostalgic, yearning for disapparated dreams. There are fewer youthful tendencies on offer, and while it’d be easy to say the band has matured, it’s probably more accurate to say that somewhere along the line frontman Kip Berman has just had a healthy does of reality. Some of this may be a result of founding members departing and new blood coming into the mix, but there’s something more menacing about Pains this time around. Jen Goma works well as the new vocalist alongside Berman, and the songs where she handles responsibilities as lead vocal are among the album’s many highlights. The two play off of one another beautifully, and you wouldn’t think this was their first time working together. But at its core, Days of Abandon is still a Pains of Being Pure at Heart record; there’s still hope in the soft spoken murmurs of Berman’s vision, and romanticised visions of the future, even if that vision is tinged with a melancholy knowing. This is a band that is continuing to grow, and as ridiculously enjoyable as this record is, the feeling is that there’s plenty more to come.

14. Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal With album number three, Parquet Courts has decided to lay down some of a gauntlet to the band’s new found fans and the music press who have decided that the band is the next big thing. Parquet Courts is a band that has made a name of years of energetic live shows and a prolific output of in your face punk music through a series of full-lengths and extended plays. Sunbathing Animal suggests that a sleeping giant is about to be awoken and he’s not very happy. The band has been somewhat pigeon-holed over the past eighteen months, and now the band wants you to know that its not the indie hype band you might think. There’s plenty of aggression loaded into Sunbathing Animal, and if anything the band’s sound has evolved into something even less accessible and harder to enjoy. But repeated listening is essential if you’re to enjoy the various aspects of the band’s ever-changing sound, with crunching punk riffs aplenty and snarled vocals scattered throughout songs written about what ever the hell Parquet Courts wants to write about.

13. Katy B – Little Red Little Red sees Katy B shift ever so slightly from the strobes of On A Mission to a sound that incorporates more room for power ballads, songs about love and relationships and the like. But this should come as no surprise. Firstly, the innocence present on album number one is gone, replaced by an older, more-knowing Katy B. Secondly, there’s increased input from the bigwigs in the industry. Like On A Mission, Little Red is steered by producer Geenus, head of Rinse FM, but there’s additional input from the likes of Guy Chambers, famed for his work with Robbie Williams who knows a thing or two about topping the charts in the UK. Clearly though, Katy B is still the one making the key decisions. On Little Red, she brings an authenticity to an otherwise disposable genre and sets a standard for other artists to meet. When she last did this three years ago, the likes of Rudimental and Disclosure stepped up, took hold of the baton and ran with it. Well Katy B wants it back, and she won’t be taking no for an answer. Little Red is a vital album in representing British music in 2014 and will hopefully translate well to the United States as many of Katy’s contemporaries have. Never has the dance genre sounded so genuine, so personal, and so exciting as it does on Little Red.

12. Future Islands – Singles 2014 was something of a banner year for Future Islands, a group who not too many people would have been familiar with prior to a show-stopping performance on Letterman and a string of eye-popping performances on the festival circuit. These factors may have been what got people talking about the band, but the undeniable quality of the songs will be what keeps Future Islands in everyone’s mind for a long time to come. On the peculiarly titled fourth album Singles, the band has benefited greatly from working with a producer who has done great things for the likes of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio, but it’s their gift for making infectious electropop that will keep people coming back for more. Despite the potentially confusing title, Singles offers up little in the way of soaring choruses or mammoth pop hooks that are likely to garner significant airplay in the traditional sense and yet somehow this remains the band’s most accessible album to date. That’s largely thanks to the undeniable grooves that make up the bulk of the record and the well-thought out song-writing throughout. It may not be a traditional pop record, but it’s surely one of the pop records of the year regardless.

11. Gerard Way – Hesitant Alien Gerard Way was an great frontman for a band that was unpopular with many, but I wasn’t particularly excited about the prospect of a solo album by the former My Chemical Romance lead man, if for no other reason than My Chemical Romance was a band in the purest sense of the word, and seeing them branch out on their own wasn’t something that seemed right. But now he’s stricken out on his own, Way has found himself able to indulge in all the sounds that influenced him personally, and not the sounds that influenced My Chemical Romance. It’s a scary new prospect not just for Way, but for fans of his band, hence the title Hesitant Alien perhaps. It is, however, a challenge that Way tackles head on and delivers an astounding album of pounding punk riffs, from the ominous opening wails of “The Bureau” right on through to the dangerous warbling of album-closer “Maya the Psychic.” Vocally the album sees Way tackle a different style, but he sounds fresher than ever, and perhaps more motivated than in the final days of MCR. The popularity of the band will demand a reunion somewhere down the line, I’m sure, but for now a Gerard Way solo album is more than a sufficient substitute.

Join me tomorrow as I conclude the countdown with #10-1, featuring the likes of Beck, Royal Blood, Aphex Twin and more.

Thanks for reading.