Funny sort of year. I’d been thinking that it might have been a poorer year for music than 2013, but then I realised I had 50 albums – 51 in fact, it’s never a round number – worthy of a mention in this year-end list.

Funny though, in that a lot of the albums at the top end came in early (very early in the case of our #1), and then a bit of a lull before a late flurry which took us up to a half-century of releases of note.

As ever, the top 10 have been pretty much constants on the Jockrock turntable / iPod / eight-track, while the rest could all easily have switched positions within their subdivisions or 5 or 10.

Enough spraffing on… without further ado, in the humble opinion of the staff writers (ahem) at jockrock.org… the top 50 albums of 2014.

1. How To Swim – Niagarama (Pledge)

2. The Second Hand Marching Band – A Hurricane, A Thunderstorm (Marching Orders)
3. Lonely Tourist – Shouting At Weather (Tourist Info)
4. Roy Moller – My Week Beats Your Year (Stereogram)
5. We Were Promised Jetpacks – Unravelling (Fat Cat)

6. The Phantom Band – Strange Friend (Chemikal Underground)
7. The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave (Fat Cat)
8. Jonnie Common – Trapped (Song, by Toad)
9. Owl John – Owl John (Fat Cat)
10. Fat Goth – One Hundred Percent Suave (Hefty Dafty)

11. PAWS – Youth Culture Forever (Fat Cat)
12. Young Fathers – Dead (Big Dada)
13. The Grand Gestures – Third (Chute)
14. North Atlantic Oscillation – The Third Day (KScope)
15. Deathcats – All Hail Deathcats! (Fuzzkill)

16. Turning Plates – The Shouting Cave (self-released)
17. Honeyblood – Honeyblood (Fat Cat)
18. Mogwai – Rave Tapes (Rock Action)
19. Beerjacket – Darling Darkness (self-released)
20. King Creosote – From Scotland With Love (Domino)

21. Poor Things – Poor Things (Saraseto)
22. Dan Lyth and the Euphrates – Benthic Lines (Armellodie)
23. Machines in Heaven – bordersbreakdown (Hotgem)
24. Owen McAulay – The Line (Sans Culottes)
25. Remember Remember – Forgetting The Present (Rock Action)

26. The Vaselines – V For Vaselines (Rosary)
27. Broken Records – Weights & Pulleys (J Sharp)
28. The Jellyman’s Daughter – The Jellyman’s Daughter (self-released)
29. Randolph’s Leap – Clumsy Knot (Olive Grove)
30. Chris Devotion & the Expectations – Break Out (Armellodie)

31. Algernon Doll – Omphalic (Struggletown)
32. John Knox Sex Club – Oh Wow Must Be The Devel (Instinctive Racoon)
33. Penguins Kill Polar Bears – Building Homes From Broken Bones (self-released)
34. Dr Cosmo’s Tape Lab – Ever Evolving Lounge (self-released)
35. RM Hubbert – Ampersand Extras (Chemikal Underground)

36. Stanley Odd – A Thing Brand New (A Modern Way)
37. Paul & Pierre – Eggs Benedict With Mr.Wu On The Seahorse Monorail (self-released)
38. Fatalists – Unwelded (Gamma Proforma)
39. The Hazey Janes – Language Of Faint Theory (Armellodie)
40. Andrew Montgomery – Ruled By Dreams (Montgomery)

41. National Jazz Trio of Scotland – Standards Vol. III (Karaoke Kalk)
42. The Ladywell Lout – Gadgies and Radges (self-released)
43. James Yorkston – The Cellardyke Recording And Wassailing Society (Domino)
44. James King and the Lonewolves – Lost Songs of the Confederacy (Stereogram)
45. Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 – Party To Make Music To Party To Make Music To Party To 1 (Yellow Movement)

46. Withered Hand – New Gods (Fortuna Pop!)
47. Loki – Government Issue Music Protest (Black Lantern)
48. Louise Rutkowski – Diary of a Lost Girl (self-released)
49. Felix Champion – This Lateral Life (Bloc+Music)
50. Prince Fatty versus Mungo’s Hi Fi (Scotch Bonnet)
50. The Last Battle – Lay Your Burden Down (self-released)