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Top albums of 2013!
Tav
Irish Minister for DefenceRegistered User regular
Irish Minister for DefenceRegistered User regular
I threw up one of these threads last year and it seemed to be pretty well received because I think we're all in agreement that there's just too much good music and it's impossible to find it all yourself. I'm hella interested in what albums I missed this year, and what people think didn't get enough recognition. Link/spoiler your Youtube links so the thread loads all nice and snappy.
Artist: Mount Kimbie
Album: Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
RIYL: Post-dubstepy kinda stuff like Four Tet, James Blake
Sample Song: You Took Your Time ft King Krule
Artist: Nails
Album: Abandon All Life
RIYL: Chaotic hardcore like Converge, DEP, Loma Prieta etc
Sample Song: Here's the whole album. It's only 17 minutes long.
Artist: Daughter
Album: If You Leave
RIYL: Emotional, echo-y indie along the lines of The xx and London Grammar
Sample Song: Still
Artist: Touche Amore
Album: Is Survived By
RIYL: Shouty melodic hardcore with an emphasis on narrative like La Dispute and Balance and Composure
Sample Song: Harbour
Artist: Mount Kimbie
Album: Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
RIYL: Post-dubstepy kinda stuff like Four Tet, James Blake
Sample Song: You Took Your Time ft King Krule
Artist: Nails
Album: Abandon All Life
RIYL: Chaotic hardcore like Converge, DEP, Loma Prieta etc
Sample Song: Here's the whole album. It's only 17 minutes long.
Artist: Daughter
Album: If You Leave
RIYL: Emotional, echo-y indie along the lines of The xx and London Grammar
Sample Song: Still
Artist: Touche Amore
Album: Is Survived By
RIYL: Shouty melodic hardcore with an emphasis on narrative like La Dispute and Balance and Composure
Sample Song: Harbour
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These would be the top for most listened to, in no particular order.
Los Campesinos! - No Blues
I have no shame admitting that I've always liked them. From their start, when they were lumped into the twee genre, and I even liked their later stuff when they started shedding band members and struck out in new directions. But No Blues is a great blend of their twee, borderline emo past with more classic pop sensibilities. The songs are shorter, and they've even dropped the twee and emo standard of giving every song an absurdly goofy and overlong name.
Single: Avocado, Baby Favourite Song; As Lucerne/The Low
Shad - Flying Colours
Shad will always make my list, because he is awesome. Not much else to say. Perhaps not as fun as The Old Prince, but it still has unlimited killer tracks and great themes.
Single: Fam Jam (Fe Sum Immigrins) Album Track: Thank You
Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight The More I Love You
Her worst cover art, but still a wonderful album. She continues to move further and further away from the country genre, which is a good thing. Not that I don't like good country music, and she made good alt-country, but she has a lot more range than that, and if her only other outlet was The New Pornographers, whom she doesn't even write for, we'd all miss out. This album even had an a cappella track, which was great. I mean, it's not like Neko needs to show off her voice anymore than she already does, but that was nice to hear.
Single: Man Album Track: Ragtime
Camera Obscura - Desire Lines
Camera Obscura makes the exact same album every few years. They may never reach the peak of Let's Get Out of This Country again, but at least they're reliable.
Single: Do It Again Album Track: This Is Love (Feels Alright)
Born Ruffians - Birthmarks
The best way I have of explaining is that I, in my heart, love pop music. And so do Born Ruffians. It's just nice and it's just fun.
Single: Needle Album Track: 6-5000
Honourable mention: Au Revoir Simone - Move in Spectrums
Albums I haven't had a chance to really listen to yet: New Best Coast, new Arcade Fire, new The Knife, Haim, new Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, new Young Galaxy, new Arctic Monkeys (seems decent though), Anna Calvi, new Iceage, new Laura Marling.
Like I said, I've got more stuff I haven't really listened to than I have, which I need to get on right away.
Disappointing: Savages - Silence Yourself (Much like The National, I just can't get into it.), Sleigh Bells - Bitter Rivals (I defended Treats, but I'm not going to stand up for that.).
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
that is what I can think of that I have played recently at least
I don't know if it is my favorite for this year, but it is the first to come to mind...
This damn album... oh my god THIS damn album...
Never did I think I'd ever list a KSE album again as a favorite, not since the early oughts. But damn...
Here's The Stars (Are Out Tonight). It's probably worth mentioning that the videos and artwork for the album in general were pretty cool. So damn enjoyable.
Oh my god am I turning into an old?
I'm turning into an old
Think 80's bubblegum synth pop. My album of the year.
Single: Mother We Share Single: Gun
----
MSMR is a wonderful alt-pop band along the lines of Florance & The Machine.
Single: Think of You
----
Portugal the Man is more alt-pop-rock. Can you tell what music I enjoy yet?
Single: Modern Jesus Single: Purple, Yellow, Red, and Blue
Gogol Bordello is gypsy punk. Gogol Bordello is wonderful.
Single: Lost Innocent World Track: I Just Realized
One of the best electronic musicians out there makes a heady as hell record with gorgeous synth work.
My Bloody Valentine -- mbv
come on, it's mbv
darkside -- psychic
synth wunderkid nicholas jaar cosplays as pink floyd and it's fucking awesome
Function -- Incubation
Everything I want from a techno LP.
The Knife -- Shaking the Habitual
A furious, explorative album.
James Blake -- Overgrown
Just great electronic songwriting, no ifs ands or buts about it.
Segue -- Pacifica
Gorgeous dub techno
oneohtrix point never -- r plus seven
A deep, introspective album that sees daniel turn his normal arrangements on their head, rewarding multiple listens
Floorplan -- Paradise
the legend makes a double album of songs even the most stiff limbed wallflower can't help but boogie to
this man knows what is up
I came here to post that Chvrches album but I see my work has been done
sorry Hacksaw, BRMC is a close second
and MS MR's Hurricane is my song of the year, for sure
Best Indie: The National- Trouble Will Find Me
World-weary, brooding and miserable almost to a fault, nothing gets me in the feels quite like The National.
Runner Ups: My Bloody Valentine, Kurt Vile, Mazzy Star, Neko Case, Sigur Ros
Best Hip-Hop: Chance the Rapper- Acid Rap
In a time when rappers and producers seem more interested in grimdark trap beats and subject matter, this was a refreshing burst of life, joy, and soul.
Runner Ups: Run the Jewels, Flatbush Zombies, Earl Sweatshirt, not Kanye
Best Pop-Punk/Alternative: Superchunk- I Hate Music
90s slacker punk champions do it again with surprisingly upbeat, catchy songs about death and loss
Runner Ups: Oh god, so many. Balance and Composure, Diarrhea Planet, Lemuria, The So So Glos, PUP, Crusades, Potty Mouth, Pity Sex, The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
Best Metal/Hardcore: Take Over and Destroy- Endless Night
Hair-raising, evil shit somewhere between psyched-out sludge and death n' roll.
Runner Ups: Defeater, Touche Amore, Windhand, Kvelertak, ASG, Russian Circles, Sandrider
Best Electronic: Burial- Rival Dealer
Burial pushes his signature lonely-nighttime-beats sound somewhere more expansive and uplifting
Runner Ups: Boards of Canada, DJ Rashad
Yeezus (kanye west): hyper- aggressive industrial influenced beats produced by todays best names in edm, hyper-arrogant lines, and random Jamaican dancehall singing interspersed with Justin Vernon. I'm not sure kanye could've made a record that appeals more to my sensibilities
Songs: I'm in it, black skinhead
shaking the habitual (the knife): one of those records you hate until you love
Songs: tooth for an eye, ready to lose
Acid rap (chance the rapper): chance's off kilter cadences switch up from song to song and keep it interesting the whole way through
Songs: paranoid, cocoa butter kisses, chain smoker
Aleph (gesaffelstein): throwback industrial record with some of 2013s most interesting videos
Songs: hate or glory, hellifornia
Days are gone (haim): 2013s assigned indie darlings were pushed to the wayside a bit as the world began its weird love affair with Lorde, but the album is loaded front to back with perfectly constructed pop songs
Songs: don't save me, the wire
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
I totally blanked on Grouper's The Man Who Died In His Boat. Such a good slice of ambient drone with some haunting vocals thrown in for good measure.
I still listen to this album and the bands' earlier work. I love the combination of metal, rockabilly, country etc. I saw them live earlier this year, right before the album was released, and they are fantastic live too.
Songs: Room 24 ft. King Diamond, Doc Holiday, Lonesome Rider, Lola Montez.
Chvrches' The Bones of What You Believe is free so you have no excuse at this point.
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Which is a good thing, because it is a great song in a great movie.
Also, Gogol Bordello is a must-see live act.
mp3? any drm
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Yeah, no.
Bitter Rivals was all right. But if Sleigh Bells doesn't bring their A game on their next album, they will be ejected from the Cool Music Club forever, I think. I did see them live though, and the crowd was great, although it was too loud. A weird thing to complain about for a band that lives on being too loud, but I swear, it was so loud that it was hard to make out what songs they were playing. Good vibes and good dancing though.
I didn't listen to much new music this year, but Autechre's Exai is amazing. Definitely my favorite Autechre release since Draft 7.30, and my favorite electronic music album in a few years. A particularly badass track
The only other new albums I've listened to this year are:
!T.O.O.H.! - Democratic Solution (truly unique, with some great moments, but overall disappointing)
Shpongle - Museum of Consciousness (the worst Shpongle album)
Whatever the new folky Burzum album was (meh)
so admittedly I'm not drawing from a wide pool here. Exai set a high bar, but this thread is giving me a lot of rad stuff to check out
edit- and the new Daft Punk, which I thought was terrible
everyone in this thread needs to get that Chvrches album. it is fantastic
(they are playing here in April. tickets bought'd. so excite)
Anyway, besides that:
Neko Case - The Worse Things Get...
Okkervil River - The Silver Gymnasium
My Bloody Valentine - mbv
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Push the Sky Away
David Bowie - The Next Day
Laura Marling - Once I Was an Eagle
Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Haim - Days are Gone
The National- Trouble Will Find Me
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
The last two fit into the "really good, but maybe a little bit overlong" range.
Holy crap, Sleigh Bells released a new album? I thought they were goners after everyone trashed Reign of Terror.
I think people forgave that as a sophomore slump. The new one is alright, but still, it just doesn't compare to Treats. That's why I think they're on the ropes now.
Also I had no idea BoC put out something new; it's been so long that I'd stopped checking
but they're listening to every word I say