1. “Salad Days” by Mac Demarco:

Demarco didn’t really change his sound when it came to his 2014 “Salad Days” release, in fact, he even said he didn’t want much of a change from his previous album “2.” With songs like “Passing out Pieces” and “Chamber of Reflection” the whole album proved to be an easy listen but with some of the best replay value of the year. It’s hard to find a balance between being the anthem for every mid-tier, Tumblr user and being a genuinely great album. Demarco did exactly that.

2. “Benji” by Sun Kil Moon:

Mark Kozelek pretty much killed off at least one character in every song he wrote and sung for “Benji.” When there weren’t characters, it was real people as heard in “Pray For Newtown.” With every song being almost too detailed, “Benji” might of been the most nostalgically painful albums of the year and also one of the best. Every single song is a story, with every detail coming out of Kozelek’s mouth about the subject being sang about. The cover’s blurry, looking out a car during a long drive-esque mood is just like the album itself. You’re not really asking to get lost in this album and maybe, just like the scenery in the cover, it’s on the surface kind of boring. However there’s something special about it that makes slapping the spacebar to pause any track just as heartbreaking as the album.

3. “Black Portland” by Young Thug & Bloody Jay:

After websites like Pitchfork and Fader went on quests to find out why the collaborative effort of Young Thug & Bloody Jay was titled “Black Portland,” some thought it was because they wanted to shift culture by making one of America’s most predominately white cities slapped with the “Black” label. Others thought it was maybe Bloody Jay’s love for the team. Either way, the mixtape proved to be an instant classic. With songs like “Florida Water,” “4 Eva Bloody” and quite possibly the best song of the past two years: “Danny Glover.” It shows the more experimental side of Young Thug’s sound. Thugger is only 22 years old and next to his revolutionary “1017 Thug” trilogy, “Black Portland” is another example on how Young Thug has spent the past year showing the world that a genre like trap, that’s labeled as mindless and dumb, can still be revolutionized and tweaked to sound interesting. Young Thug shows us the most important rule of music with this tape. Music, no matter what genre by whatever artist, can be an incredible piece of work.