I don't normally do this - but, then again, why not? Here are the albums I feel are worth hearing from the first half of 2014. Please note they are not ranked yet.
Actress - Ghettoville (Ninja Tune)
Afghan Whigs - Do To The Beast (Sub Pop)
Alexander Hawkins - Song Singular (Babel)
Alexander Hawkins Ensemble - Step Wide, Step Deep (Babel)
Alexis Taylor - Await Barbarians (Domino)
Alice Zawadzki - China Lane (Whirlwind)
Ambrose Akinmusire - The Imagined Savious Is Far Easier To Paint (Blue Note)
Angel Olsen - Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar)
Ben Frost - Aurora (Mute)
Bobby Avey - Authority Melts From Me (Whirlwind)
Brad Mehldau and Mark Guiliana - Mehliana: Taming The Dragon (Nonesuch)
Bruce Springsteen - High Hopes (Columbia)
Chaos Orchestra - Island Mentality (Chaos Collective)
Christoph Stiefel Inner Language Trio - Big Ship (Basho)
Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots (XL)
Dan Weiss - Fourteen (Pi Recordings)
Doug Paisley - Strong Feelings (No Quarter)
Drive By Truckers - English Oceans (ATO)
Dylan Howe - Subterranean - New Designs On Bowie's Berlin (Bandcamp/Motorik)
East India Youth - Total Strife Forever (Stolen Recordings)
Elliot Galvin Trio - Dreamland (Chaos Collective)
Emilia Martensson - Ana (Babel)
Fatima Al Qadiri - Asiatech (Hyperdub)
Fennesz - Becs (Editions Mego)
Gruff Rhys - American Interior (Caroline International)
Gwilym Simcock - Instrumation (ACT)
Gwilym Simcock & Yuri Goloubev - Reverie at Schloss Elmau (ACT)
Hidden Cameras - AGE (Evil Evil)
Hurray For The Riff Raff - Small Town Heroes (ATO)
Ibibio Sound Machine - Ibibio Sound Machine (Soundway)
Jack White - Lazaretto (XL)
JC Sanford Orchestra - View From The Inside (Whirlwind)
Jeff Ballard Trio - Time's Tales (Okeh)
Joel Harris & Anupam Shobhakar - Multiplicity (Whirlwind)
Kasai Allstars - Beware The Fetish (Crammed Discs)
Kelis - Food (Ninja Tune)
Kevin Drew - Darlings (City Slang)
Led Bib - The People In Your Neighbourhood (Cuneiform)
Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Deconstructed (Sub Pop)
Lee Fields & The Expressions - Emma Jean (Soul and Truth)
Let Spin - Let Spin (Efpi)
Linda Perhacs - The Soul Of All Natural Things (Asthmatic Kitty)
Luke Abbott - Wysing Forest (Border Community)
Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else (Bloodshot)
Marissa Nadler - July (Bella Union)
Marius Neset/Trondheim Jazz Orchestra - Lion (ACT)
Mark McGuire - Along The Way (Dead Oceans)
Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra - When The World Was One (Gondwana)
Me'shell Ndegeocello - Comet Come To Me (Naive)
Michael Wollny Trio - Welltentraum (ACT)
Mogwai - Rave Tapes (Rock Action)
Monocled Man - Southern Drawl (Whirlwind)
Morgan Delt - Morgan Delt (IMPORT)
Neil Finn - Dizzy Heights (Lester Records)
Neil Young - A Letter Home (Third Man)
Neneh Cherry - Blank Project (Smalltown Supersound)
Nick Malcolm Quartet - Beyond These Voices (Green Eyes)
Norma Winstone, Klaus Gesing, Glauco Venier - Dance Without Answer (ECM)
Normal Gimbel - I Like You Bite You (Efpi)
Noura Mint Seymali - Tzenni (Glitterbeat)
Owen Pallett - In Conflict (Domino)
Pat Metheny - Kin <--> (Nonesuch)
Perc - The Power and the Glory (Perc Trax)
Peter Edwards Trio - Safe and Sound (Edwards Music Productions)
Phronesis - Life To Everything (Edition)
Pigfoot - 21st Century Acid Trad (Village Life)
Plaid - Reachy Prints (Warp)
Plastikman - Ex (Mute/Minus)
Polar Bear - In Each and Every One (Leaf)
Pye Corner Audio - Black Mill Tapes Vols 1-4 (Type)
Real Estate - Atlas (Domino)
Robert Ellis - The Light From The Chemical Plant (New West)
Roddy Frame - Seven Dials (AED)
Ryley Walker - All Kinds of You (Tompkins Square)
School of Language - Old Fears (Memphis Industries)
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra - American Adventure (Spartacus)
Silence Blossoms - Silence Blossoms (Efpi)
Snarky Puppy - We Like It Here (Ropeadope)
St Vincent - St Vincent (Caroline International)
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Wig Out At Jagbags (Domino)
Steve Lehman Octet - Mise En Abime (Pi Recordings)
Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds In Country Music (Loose)
Sun Kil Moon - Benji (Caldo Verde)
The Notwist - Close To The Glass (City Slang)
The War On Drugs - Lost In The Dream (Secretly Canadian)
The Woodentops - Granular Tales (Cherry Red)
Tim Garland - Songs To The North Sky (Edition)
Tinariwen - Emaar (Wedge)
Tori Freestone - In The Chop House (Whirlwind)
Toumani Diabate & Sidiki Diabate - Toumani & Sidiki (World Circuit)
Traxman - Da Mind Of Traxman, Vol. 2 (Hyperdub)
Trio Riot - Trio Riot (Efpi)
Tune-Yards - Nikki Nack (4AD)
Vermont - Vermont (Kompakt)
Vijay Iyer - Mutations (ECM)
Wild Beasts - Present Tense (Domino)
Withered Hand - New Gods (Fortuna Pop)
Wooden Wand - Farmer's Corner (Fire)
Zara McFarlane - If You Knew Her (Brownswood Recordings)