Members of The DePaulia‘s staff chose the albums that made them sing, dance, jam or just provided a soundtrack to life. Here our some of our best albums of 2014.

Kirsten Onsgard – Arts & Life Editor

Between surprising disappointments and breakthroughs, 2014 was an interesting year. Some albums engaged for a week or two (“It’s Album Time,” “Nikki Nack,”), a few comebacks fell flat (“Everything Will Be Alright in the End,” “Sonic Highways”) and others proved to be simply letdowns (“pom pom,” “Lazaretto”). Festivals, concerts and some reminiscing with artists like Deafheaven, Darkside and Cut Copy proved to reinforce 2013’s strength, and records by The War on Drugs and Cloud Nothings proved to be masterpieces.

1. “Lost in the Dream” – The War on Drugs
2. “Here and Nowhere Else” – Cloud Nothings
3. “Run the Jewels 2” – Run the Jewels
4. “Atlas” – Real Estate
5. “LP1” – FKA Twigs
6. “Sunbathing Animal” – Parquet Courts
7. “Salad Days” – Mac DeMarco
8. “You’re Dead!” – Flying Lotus
9. “Deep Fantasy” – White Lung
10. “Enter the Slasher House” – Avey Tare’s Slasher Flicks

Kevin Quin – Staff Writer

Every year I always wonder what unsuspecting artist will take over the music on my commute to class. Though the sweet sounds from FKA twigs’ LP1 almost always filled my ears while avoiding eye contact with strangers on the Red Line, I did quite a lot of head-bopping to Yung Lean and Azealia Banks. On gloomy days when the sky was covered in a blanket of gray, I’d occasionally stare out the window and tap into my emotional side with SZA’s existentialism or Banks’ series of heartbreaks for dramatic effect. To sum it all up, music really made me feel some type of way this year.

1. “LP1” – FKA twigs
2. “Goddess” – Banks
3. “Broke With Expensive Taste” – Azealia Banks
4. “Z” – SZA
5. “Sucker” – Charli XCX
6. “Unknown Memory” – Yung Lean
7. “Satisfaction Guaranteed” – Junglepussy
8. “Aquarius” – Tinashe
9. “Michael” – Les Sins
10. “Xen” – Arca

Erin Yarnall – Focus Editor

This year in music represented two different phases of my life for me. The first is old favorite bands who came back in 2014 with a vengeance, releasing incredible albums that reinstated their musical impact in my heart, such as Weezer, Against Me! and former members of My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way and Frank Iero, who both released fantastic albums this year on their own. The second phase is my recent love of pop music, including “Sheezus” and “Four,” but especially Taylor Swift’s pop masterpiece, “1989.” Not only is it the greatest album of 2014, but is possibly one of my favorite albums of all time. Also, I know “The Pinkprint” isn’t out yet, but try telling me that album isn’t going to be flawless.

1. “1989” – Taylor Swift
2. “Courting Strong” – Martha
3. “Stomachaches” – Frnkiero & the Cellabration
4. “Four” – One Direction
5. “Hesitant Alien” – Gerard Way
6. “Sheezus” – Lily Allen
7. “Transgender Dysphoria Blues” – Against Me!
8. “Turn Blue” – The Black Keys
9. “Everything Will Be Alright in the End” – Weezer
10. “The Pinkprint” – Nicki Minaj

Matthew Paras – Sports Editor 

Whether the so-called “emo revival” is actually a thing or not, 2014 was a great year for emo music. Modern Baseball’s “You’re Gonna Miss it All” is an addictive album that captures the dog days of college and going through your 20s. It also helps that I’m a sucker “twinkly” guitar, and this list is chock-full of riffs like that. For the bands that aren’t necessarily emo on this list ( i.e. Taking Back Sunday), each album has been enough to have me keep coming back to each repeatedly.

1. “You’re Gonna Miss it All” — Modern Baseball
2. “Happiness is” — Taking Back Sunday
3. “Home like noplace there is” — The Hotelier
4. “Kingfisher” — Prawn
5. “Mediumship” — Dikembe
6. “No Coast” — Braid
7. “Absent Sounds” — From Indian Lakes
8. “Never Hungover Again” — Joyce Manor
9. “Unraveling” — We were Promised Jetpacks
10. “Hebrews” — Say Anything