Might as well start a new thread for everyone to give a rundown to the first half of 2014. I'll get mine up here later today, hence this is a placeholder!

1. Afghan Whigs | Do To The Beast
2. Nux Vomica | Nux Vomica

Not ranked, but in somewhat of an order...

Woods of Desolation | As The Stars
Chiodos | Devil
Chevelle | La Gargola
Bohren & de club der Gore | Piano Nights
Daggers | It's Not Jazz, It's Blues
Direwolves | Aegri Somnia
Nothing | Guilty of Everything
Architects | Lost Forever / Lost Together
N. Tesla | Lux Manifesto
King Dude | Fear
Agalloch | The Seprent & the Sphere
Crowbar | Symmetry in Black
Fucked Up |Glass Boys
Mastodon | Once More Around the Sun
Tombs | Savage Gold
Coathangers | Suck My Shirt
Dale Cooper Quartet & the Dictaphones | Metamanoir

I was just about to edit the thread title of the other one, but you beat me to it.

Really strong year so far.

1. Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings
2. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
3. Jonny Two Bags - Salvation Town
4. Mary Gauthier- Trouble & Love
5. Rodney Crowell - Tarpaper Sky
6. Zoe Muth & The Lost High Rollers - World of Strangers
7. Ags Connolly - How About Now
8. Joe Henry - Invisible Hour
9. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
10. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison - Our Year
11. Skank - Velocia
12. John Fullbright - Songs
13. Roddy Frame - Seven Dials
14. Nickel Creek - A Dotted Line
15. Eric Brace & Karl Straub - Hangtown Dancehall
16. Laura Cantrell - No Way From There
17. The Iguanas - Juarez
18. DBTs - English Oceans
19. Phil Ajjarapu - Sing Along Until You Feel Better
20. Riley Etheridge Jr. - The Straight & Narrow Way

Order could change daily especially in the 2-7 range which I could really make just one big tie for the 2 spot.

I finished the mix i was working on so now i'm gonna listen to a ton of 2014 releases. Yay

i don't even know...i guess

parquet courts - sunbathing animal
freddie gibbs & madlib - pinata
enemy OST
millie & andrea - drop the vowels
the body - i shall die here
damaged bug - hubba bubba
ema - the future's void
herzog - boys
the men - tomorrow's hits
pookie & the poodles - the last thing i did as a teenager
dan sartain - dudesblood
schoolboy q - oxymoron
tokyo police club - forcefield
wild beasts - present tense

This will probably change a lot over the next few weeks.

01. Ought – More Than Any Other Day
02. Chad VanGaalen – Shrink Dust
03. Cloud Nothings – Here and Nowhere Else
04. Angel Olsen – Burn Your Fire for No Witness
05. Real Estate – Atlas
06. Indian – From All Purity
07. Parquet Courts – Sunbathing Animal
08. Blank Realm – Grassed Inn
09. Each Other – Being Elastic
10. Freddie Gibbs & Madlib – Piñata
11. Posse – Soft Opening
12. Protomartyr – Under Color of Official Right

I should check out that Nothing record.

Real Estate, Timber Timbre, War on Drugs, Nothing, TacocaT and a lot more of stuff I need to hear (DBT, Bobby Bare Jr, Protomartyr)
Digging Wovenhand - Refractory Obdurate on first listen

Really hoping this thread breathes some new life into this year so far, but I have loved and lived by the top 4 or 5 of these.

1 Timber Timbre Hot Dreams
2 Gord Downie, The Sadies, And The Conquering Sun Gord Downie, The Sadies, And The Conquering Sun
3 Ought More Than Any Other Day
4 Fucked Up Glass Boys
5 The War On Drugs Lost In The Dream
6 Angel Olsen Burn Your Fire For No Witness
7 Real Estate Atlas
8 St. Vincent St. Vincent
9 Bill Callahan Have Fun With God
10 Hundred Waters The Moon Rang Like A Bell

Holding the top spot open for Spoon "They Want My Soul" - I'm (unsurprisingly) loving every song I've heard off it.

1.
2. The Nuclears - This Is How We Party
3. Rich Hands - Out Of My Head
4. Needles//Pins - Shamebirds
5. The Both - The Both
6. Nicole Atkins - Slow Phaser
7. Sweet Apple - The Golden Age of Glitter
8. The Cry! - Dangerous Game
9. Chains of Love - L.P.
10. The Breakdowns - Rock 'n' Roller Skates
11. Happyness - Weird Little Birthday
12. Phonograph - Vol. I
13. Dum Dum Girls - Too True
14. The Men - Tomorrow's Hits
15. Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else
16. The Orwells - Disgraceland
17. Steve Conte - Steve Conte NYC Album
18. Pink Mountaintops - Get Back
19. Reigning Sound - Shattered
20. Curtis Harding - Soul Power
21. Petter Baarli - You Petter B. Goode
22. Lee Fields - Emma Jean
23. DBTs - English Oceans
24. Apache Relay - Apache Relay
25. Strand of Oaks - Heal

plus:

Jack White - Lazaretto
Trixie Whitley - Fourth Corner
The Split Squad - Now Hear This
NQ Arbuckle - The Future Happens Anyway
Stagecoach - Say Hi To The Band
Lords of Altamont - The Lords Take Altamont
Phenomenauts - Escape Velocity

minus:

Foxy Shazam - Gonzo
Luke Haines - New York in the 70s
Camper Van Beethoven - El Camino Real
Chrissy Hynde - Stockholm

1. The Both
2. Real Estate
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. Old 97's
5. [awaiting something worthy]

I like Damien Jurado and Spanish Gold, but not enough to rank this highly. And I haven't heard Bobby Bare, Jr. and Jack White enough yet to make a fully-informed assessment, but enjoy them upon the first couple of listens. Beck, Malkmus, Hold Steady, and Sun Kil Moon all have their moments, but all are also pretty wildly inconsistent. Probably like Malkmus best of that group, so maybe he'll end up cracking the lower rungs of the year-end Top 20.

Need to spend more time with these. I dig Hundred Waters as well

I also love the DOOMSQUAD "Kalaboogie" album.

pretty honored to be on anyone's list, but especially billy's since he's hipped me to a lot of shit.

Way behind on new stuff... but nevertheless:

Agalloch
Damon Albarn
Beck
The Both
Fucked Up
Bob Mould
Parquet Courts
St. Vincent
Sun Kil Moon
Swans
Jack White

Oh, and these...

Trophy Scars
Fennesz

The Best:

The War On Drugs - Lost in the Dream
Damien Jurado - Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Son
Sharon Van Etten - Are We There
Wye Oak - Shriek
Real Estate - Atlas
The Phantom Band - Strange Friend

Andrew Bird - Things Are Really Great Here, Sort of...
S. Carey - Range of Light
Ryley Walker - All Kinds of You
Bry Webb - Free Will
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots
Bobby Bare Jr. - Undefeated

The Rest:

Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 - A Long Way to the Beginning
Stephen Malkmus - Wig Out at Jagbags
First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
Ought - More Than Any Other Day
Beck - Morning Phase
Afghan Whigs - Do to the Beast
Drive-By Truckers - English Oceans
Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything
Mogwai - Rave Tapes
Sun Kil Moon - Benji
Tinariwen - Emmaar
New Madrid - Sunswimmer
Comet Control - s/t
Temples - Sun Structures
The Black Keys - Turn Blue
Pink Mountaintops - Get Back
Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - Give the People What They Want
Broken Bells - After the Disco

Disappointed, but can't bring myself to delete...yet:

Jimi Goodwin - Odludek
Orcas - Yearling

i keep trying with Parquet Courts to see if i might finally "get it", but i can't help but hear Art Brut every single time.

I'll add Strand Of Oaks HEAL to my list. A lot of you would probably be into it as well.

That's the first time I've seen someone make the Art Brut comparison (and I can hear it, I guess), but a common complaint about Parquet Courts is that they just sound like ____________. I seen that variably as Pavement, Tyvek, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and Cake ( ). Obviously there's some of The Fall in there and just a whole lot of stuff that's been mined pretty thoroughly by indie rock for the past couple of decades... but I don't know. They do it a little differently. I think they have a pretty distinct songwriting personality. I get all the "heard it before" criticisms, but the ones I don't get are the "no personality" ones, which I've seen a few times. Not that that is what you're saying, but it is sort of tied together, all the people who say they just sound like ________ are suggesting that there's nothing in their sound or lyrics to distinguish them from previous bands. I definitely disagree with that, but I can admit the differences may be somewhat subtle.

The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream
Real Estate - Atlas
Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal
Kishi Bashi - Lighght
Sylvan Esso - Sylvan Esso

Tycho - Awake
S. Carey - Range of Light

I like Sunbathing Animal but I'm not sure I'd give a shit about it without Light Up Gold.

Yeah, same here.

Which of these albums is rock and roll, because I just can't listen to anything else right now.

Parquet Courts.