Top 32

For us college kids, 2014 was consumed by late nights studying, barely passed exams, countless job and grad school apps, and maybe a few parties, concerts, and vacations to keep us sane. 2014 meant we were one year closer to the real world, except we didn’t feel older.

For music fans, 2014 meant a continuous stream of new music to sift through: a lot of it good, more of it bad, and some of it downright confusing. At the end of the day, it’s the good we remember, and 2014 had plenty. A pop left turn from America’s best-selling artist. A disconnected folk artist’s rumination on aging and death. Celebrated hip-hop producers and emcees honing their craft. These artists all made it to WRVU’s collection of the 32 best 2014 albums, but now they compete to be crowned album of the year.

Tournament seeds were awarded based on rankings from our DJs. Higher ranked picks received more points. Over 100 unique albums received votes, and the top 32 appear in this tournament. 16 will advance past the first round. Your favorite albums need your votes to advance. Your least favorite albums need your votes against them to be stopped. At the end of the day, only one will remain: the 2014 WRVU Album of the Year.

VOTE HERE

Design credit to William Doran.

The competitors:

Alt-J – This Is All Yours

Aphex Twin – Syro

BANKS – Goddess

Beck – Morning Phase

Broken Bells – After the Disco

Caribou – Our Love

Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots

FKA Twigs – LP1

Flying Lotus – You’re Dead!

Foxygen – …And Star Power

Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Pinata

Future Islands – Singles

Glass Animals – Zaba

Grouper – Ruins

Hozier – Hozier

Jack White – Lazaretto

Lake Street Dive – Bad Self Portraits

Mac DeMarco – Salad Days

Neil Cicierega – Mouth Sounds

Real Estate – Atlas

Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 2

Sam Smith – In The Lonely Hour

Spoon – They Want My Soul

St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Half the City

St. Vincent – St. Vincent

Sun Kil Moon – Benji

Swans – To Be Kind

Sylvan Esso – Sylvan Esso

Taylor Swift – 1989

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

Todd Terje – It’s Album Time!

tUnE-yArDs – Nikki Nack