Shit, I didn't know Burial had anything new. I gotta start paying attention to this stuff.
Ye does some insane music; he seems hit-or-miss insofar as what he says off the cuff. I'm not inclined to care most of the time. To me, I'm supporting a harmless eccentric who is incredibly good at his craft when I buy his stuff.
Haven't heard Chance the Rapper. I suppose I should get on that.
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y2jake215certified Flat Birther theoristthe Last Good Boy onlineRegistered Userregular
Shit, I didn't know Burial had anything new. I gotta start paying attention to this stuff.
Ye does some insane music; he seems hit-or-miss insofar as what he says off the cuff. I'm not inclined to care most of the time. To me, I'm supporting a harmless eccentric who is incredibly good at his craft when I buy his stuff.
Haven't heard Chance the Rapper. I suppose I should get on that.
i agree. i mean i hate the guy! doesn't stop me from loving yeezus. separate the art from the artist yadda yadda yadda
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Well, I'm happy to partake in villains' creative endeavors, I'm just not going to support them financially except in the most roundabout ways. I'll enjoy R Kelly stuff if it's actually good for example, but I'll never actually pay for any of his songs and I'll talk up the fact that he's an unrepentant rapist pedophile who has never been brought to justice whenever it seems relevant and appropriate, and my appreciation for other artists who collaborate with him (and this includes Kanye West) is diminished a bit.
I really really like Chris Brown's Look At Me Now, and I think it's a pretty slick video. I also enjoy a bit of Beck stuff, even though he's a supporter of Scientology.
Kanye though, I don't consider him do be a villain at all. He's done some dick move things, but it seems like pretty tame stuff (outside of collaborating with R Kelly) that's amplified a bit by the fact that he has a microphone. In my anecdotal observation, the amount of hate he gets relative to people who clearly need a lot of pushback is a little weird.
I agree that Chris Brown and R Kelly are worse, but Kanye is a tremendous hypocrite asshole who couldn't be more full of himself if he tried. His general demeanor and lack of respect for his fans and other artists is enough for me to not give him a dime.
I agree that Chris Brown and R Kelly are worse, but Kanye is a tremendous hypocrite asshole who couldn't be more full of himself if he tried. His general demeanor and lack of respect for his fans and other artists is enough for me to not give him a dime.
well, right now you can get yeezus (a great album) from google play without paying him a dime! so win/win
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
I agree that Chris Brown and R Kelly are worse, but Kanye is a tremendous hypocrite asshole who couldn't be more full of himself if he tried. His general demeanor and lack of respect for his fans and other artists is enough for me to not give him a dime.
well, right now you can get yeezus (a great album) from google play without paying him a dime! so win/win
Yeah, I won't feel too bad listening to my free copy.
My favourite album of this year (and the past few years), bar none!
Artist: The Drones
Album: I See Seaweed
Listen to this if you like loud guitars and songs about Google Earth and Laika; the saddest husky.
Standout track: Laika
Shit, I didn't know Burial had anything new. I gotta start paying attention to this stuff.
Ye does some insane music; he seems hit-or-miss insofar as what he says off the cuff. I'm not inclined to care most of the time. To me, I'm supporting a harmless eccentric who is incredibly good at his craft when I buy his stuff.
Haven't heard Chance the Rapper. I suppose I should get on that.
Burial usually releases an EP at the end of the year. Last December he released Truant/Rough Sleeper and this December he released Rival Dealer. They're both very good.
And yes, Chance the Rapper is incredible. A couple samples:
I really loved this album in 2013. I hope others here did too. If not, go give it a listen. This is a great time to discover some new music - I never even heard of Chvrches, and I liked them.
CHVRCHES are a moody pop band from Scotland. Those have a track record of being quite good. If I had known they were Scottish I would have got their album much earlier, instead of avoiding it because of their name.
It's not the album I liked best this year but it is indeed dope. Then again most of this year I've spent listening to albums from last year so expect me to start raving in next year's thread about this.
Also in this age of mixtapes somehow being the same as albums I have to mention Action Bronson's Blue Chips 2.
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MalReynoldsThe Hunter S Thompson of incredibly mild medicinesRegistered Userregular
edited December 2013
My top albums of 2013, in no particular order:
Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City
The album has an undeniably goofy name, which is what made me hesitant to buy it in the first place. I've been an avid Vampire Weekend fan since *pushes up thick framed glasses* before their first album, and I absolutely fell in love with 'Contra,' a weird mish-mash of sleepy time lullaby songs and historical faffery. The lead single off 'Modern Vampires of the City' was 'Diane Young,' which had neither the tempo, lyricism, or feel of the rest of the album, which I unfortunately only picked up recently. The album is sleepy and introspective, with bouts of miasmic urgency, that I can't stop listening to.
Standout Tracks:
Step - a low-key song about what it means to get older and how confusing it can be.
Hannah Hunt - a low-key song about a person in your life that is destructive, that you know is a destructive force, that you just can't fucking stay away from due to mired nostalgia and unwavering acceptance.
This is probably the best eighties album of 2013. Tegan and Sara, fixtures in the indie-rock scene (who have proven very popular now due to frequent tour dates with Fun.) put out an oddly touching album about love. The entire thing plays like a piece of one off pop-fare due to the electronic, overproduced nature of the songs, but the lyrics betray a much more personal story about loss and the need for understanding. It's a good mix of dancing and sadness, which, if you've ever seen me actually dance, know that sadness abounds due to my complete lack of rhythmic control.
Standout Tracks:
Closer: A typically anthemic pop song with standard everything, except the chorus, in which the duo plea for consideration and mercy at the hands of a lover.
I Was a Fool: Hands down the most down-beat and melancholic song of the bunch, this song, although third listed, underscores the essential thesis of the album.
It was by complete happenstance that I found out about 'The Joy Formidable.' I was at a bar, one of my friends droning on and on about Sportsball or Teams or something and I was doing my damndest to smile and nod, when I overheard up-tempo guitars and a goddamn thumping bassline. The Joy Formidable was playing on one of the TV's, and their music drowned out everything else. 'Wolf's Law' is a naturalistic expansion of 'The Big Roar,' their 2011 debut. While this record breaks no new ground or even attempts to change the formula that brought them success in 2011, they have a damn good sound and put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen. For a three piece band, they sure as hell make a lot of fucking racket, in the way that one doesn't actually end up minding a lot of fucking racket.
Standout Tracks:
Cholla: I'm finding kind of a trend with my standout picks as I'm writing this; this is another song about the typical miasma of life, this time, metaphorically in the form of a cactus. Full disclosure: I'm in love with Ritzy, the frontperson for the band, and her complete and utter domination of the guitar and feedback.
Wolf's Law: The song speaks to me. Wolff's Law is the theory that under constant pressure, bones will adapt. The metaphor is about as heavy-handed as using a cactus to describe life, but this song, with it's mid-tempo piano and understated lyricism, invokes a weird range of emotion.
This came out of absolutely nowhere; the lead single, the stupidly titled and sung 'My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark' seems like a carnival mirror version of early Fall Out Boy. Nonsense lyrics coupled with a too-long moniker, but at the same time, dark, without any of the self referential humor of, say, 'Atavanhalen'. Still, I'm above all else a sucker for nostalgia, so I picked the record up and it spent an absurd amount of time in my car CD player. Starting with 'The Phoenix,' the album begins with an arena-rock flare that doesn't really abate until the end. The album hooks with urgent violins and the cry to 'Put on your war paint,' and takes off from there. There are a few missteps along the way - the above mentioned single, the songs 'Rat-a-tat,' which features grating vocals by Courtney Love, and 'The Mighty Fall,' which includes some painful singing and lyrics by Big Sean over the back-half of the song (which is a shame, because Patrick Stump's vocals absolutely soar and are on full display here) - are not enough to drag the album down. And, of course, as Fall Out Boy are wont to do, there's a bevy of actual other guest vocalists, including Foxes and Elton John.
Standout Tracks:
Young Volcanoes: After listening to the album a few times, I came to the conclusion that maybe this should have been the lead single. It's almost a pop-anthem about embracing youth and going against authority and our demons, and it's fucking catchy as fuck.
Miss Missing You: You ever get over someone and then really, really wish you hadn't, because the feelings you had when you were pining were better than apathy? THEN THIS IS THE SONG FOR YOU!
Arctic Monkeys are a band that defined their sound within their first album, brought it to perfection with the second, and then went, "What next? How about everything." I consider 'Humbug' and portions of 'Suck it and See' to be complete misfires for the band, changing from urgent pop-rock ditties to crooning ballads, but there's no denying the charisma in Alex Turner's voice. After the band's re-invention, it took them two albums to find their footing again, which is AM. A morose, wistful record opens strong with 'Do I Wanna Know' and glides through a haze of muted guitars and spitfire lyrics that bring the listener to their knees. Suffice it to say, I love the album.
Standout Tracks:
Do I Wanna Know: Is it better to pine, to drunkenly flirt, to hold out hope, or is it better to be able to move on? A ship is safest in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for.
Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High: I mean, it's pretty much explained in the title. A bit of fun - I kind of feel like this song could be from the perspective of the partner in 'Do I Wanna Know'.
And now for the biggest disappointment of the year:
Panic at the Disco!: Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die
Starting with the painfully masturbatory Hunter S. Thompson crib for the title (earn it, guys) there's absolutely nothing that this album does to refine the burlesque-pop the band is known for. Instead, they've written an ode to Vegas excess and the club lifestyle and scene, a love letter to a culture they railed against in their freshman effort, 'A Fever You Can't Sweat Out.' Always a vaguely literary band (AFYCSO could easily be called a soundtrack to every Chuck Palahniuk book ever written) they've instead dropped the wit and instead have embraced monotonous and tired phrasing.
While not a bad album on its own, it sticks out worse than 'Pretty. Odd,' their second album which was so reverential to The Beatles that it borderlined on fetishistic at times. Instead, we have a hum-drum album from a band that couldn't quite find a genre to fit into.
Standout Tracks:
Girls/Girls/Boys: You know what's complicated? Nothing about this song. It's catchy - it's catchy as hell - but that doesn't really speak to the absent quality and vapid lyrics.
Nicotine: You know the point I made above about the labored metaphor of 'Cholla'? This metaphor isn't labored. This is the reductive version of 'Do I Wanna Know,' 'Closer,' and 'Miss Missing You.' A girl is a drug, you say? Worse than nicotine, you say! Well, I never. Still, the guitar hook at the beginning is excellent and very wormy.
"A new take on the epic fantasy genre... Darkly comic, relatable characters... twisted storyline."
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
Current picks (despite being horribly behind on music this year):
Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend this is such a good and deep album, and quite a change of pace in many songs vs. older vampire weekend.
Tin Star - Lindi Ortega - In an effort to branch out, I'm trying out some country albums. I really like this one.
Because the Internet - Childish Gambino - Just started listening to this, so it may fade, but really good and really dark. I look at it less as a rap album and more as a personal sketch.
Run the Jewels - Hard to consider this a complete album as much as an experimental EP, it's really fucking good.
Reflektor - Arcade Fire - Seriously, I don't think Arcade Fire can make a bad album. Neon bible was close, but mostly because it was soul-crushingly depressing.
"the greatest generation" by the wonder years. this album really grabbed me. i really relate to a lot of the themes. can't stop playin' it!
If you've not heard them already, The Upsides and Suburbia... are also incredible albums. Also, they're doing a ridiculously extensive world tour next year and I'd really recommend catching them if you can.
A bunch of young guys from New Jersey playing some no-nonsense aggressive punk that hearkens back to the sound of 80's/90's Baltimore groups like Moss Icon. Makes me tear up every time a listen.
This Scottish instrumental group isn't really breaking the mold with their take on groove-based "math-rock" (a la Battles), but there's enough melody and scuzzy bass sounds to satisfy.
Listened to this album almost exclusively for months on end when it first dropped. Beneath a slightly lo-fi crusty veneer, this is just gorgeous art-pop full of hooks that keep you coming back for more. The "concept album" aspect might rub some folks the wrong way — what with all the little 5 to 10 second interludes — but the sequencing is really excellent (if that's something you care about).
Took me a bit to come around to this, as it's very much music for the ADD-generation. But with some patience, the constant juxtaposition of rhythmic messiness with fairly traditional harmonic structures starts to make a bit more sense, and the snotty, sarcastic vocals started sounding somewhat charming.
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Ye does some insane music; he seems hit-or-miss insofar as what he says off the cuff. I'm not inclined to care most of the time. To me, I'm supporting a harmless eccentric who is incredibly good at his craft when I buy his stuff.
Haven't heard Chance the Rapper. I suppose I should get on that.
i agree. i mean i hate the guy! doesn't stop me from loving yeezus. separate the art from the artist yadda yadda yadda
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
I really really like Chris Brown's Look At Me Now, and I think it's a pretty slick video. I also enjoy a bit of Beck stuff, even though he's a supporter of Scientology.
Kanye though, I don't consider him do be a villain at all. He's done some dick move things, but it seems like pretty tame stuff (outside of collaborating with R Kelly) that's amplified a bit by the fact that he has a microphone. In my anecdotal observation, the amount of hate he gets relative to people who clearly need a lot of pushback is a little weird.
well, right now you can get yeezus (a great album) from google play without paying him a dime! so win/win
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Yeah, I won't feel too bad listening to my free copy.
Artist: The Drones
Album: I See Seaweed
Listen to this if you like loud guitars and songs about Google Earth and Laika; the saddest husky.
Standout track: Laika
e: i guess she was part husky? she doesnt look like a husky!
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Burial usually releases an EP at the end of the year. Last December he released Truant/Rough Sleeper and this December he released Rival Dealer. They're both very good.
And yes, Chance the Rapper is incredible. A couple samples:
I really loved this album in 2013. I hope others here did too. If not, go give it a listen. This is a great time to discover some new music - I never even heard of Chvrches, and I liked them.
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
It's not the album I liked best this year but it is indeed dope. Then again most of this year I've spent listening to albums from last year so expect me to start raving in next year's thread about this.
Also in this age of mixtapes somehow being the same as albums I have to mention Action Bronson's Blue Chips 2.
The album has an undeniably goofy name, which is what made me hesitant to buy it in the first place. I've been an avid Vampire Weekend fan since *pushes up thick framed glasses* before their first album, and I absolutely fell in love with 'Contra,' a weird mish-mash of sleepy time lullaby songs and historical faffery. The lead single off 'Modern Vampires of the City' was 'Diane Young,' which had neither the tempo, lyricism, or feel of the rest of the album, which I unfortunately only picked up recently. The album is sleepy and introspective, with bouts of miasmic urgency, that I can't stop listening to.
Standout Tracks:
Step - a low-key song about what it means to get older and how confusing it can be.
Hannah Hunt - a low-key song about a person in your life that is destructive, that you know is a destructive force, that you just can't fucking stay away from due to mired nostalgia and unwavering acceptance.
This is probably the best eighties album of 2013. Tegan and Sara, fixtures in the indie-rock scene (who have proven very popular now due to frequent tour dates with Fun.) put out an oddly touching album about love. The entire thing plays like a piece of one off pop-fare due to the electronic, overproduced nature of the songs, but the lyrics betray a much more personal story about loss and the need for understanding. It's a good mix of dancing and sadness, which, if you've ever seen me actually dance, know that sadness abounds due to my complete lack of rhythmic control.
Standout Tracks:
Closer: A typically anthemic pop song with standard everything, except the chorus, in which the duo plea for consideration and mercy at the hands of a lover.
I Was a Fool: Hands down the most down-beat and melancholic song of the bunch, this song, although third listed, underscores the essential thesis of the album.
Wolf's Law: The Joy Formidable
It was by complete happenstance that I found out about 'The Joy Formidable.' I was at a bar, one of my friends droning on and on about Sportsball or Teams or something and I was doing my damndest to smile and nod, when I overheard up-tempo guitars and a goddamn thumping bassline. The Joy Formidable was playing on one of the TV's, and their music drowned out everything else. 'Wolf's Law' is a naturalistic expansion of 'The Big Roar,' their 2011 debut. While this record breaks no new ground or even attempts to change the formula that brought them success in 2011, they have a damn good sound and put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen. For a three piece band, they sure as hell make a lot of fucking racket, in the way that one doesn't actually end up minding a lot of fucking racket.
Standout Tracks:
Cholla: I'm finding kind of a trend with my standout picks as I'm writing this; this is another song about the typical miasma of life, this time, metaphorically in the form of a cactus. Full disclosure: I'm in love with Ritzy, the frontperson for the band, and her complete and utter domination of the guitar and feedback.
Wolf's Law: The song speaks to me. Wolff's Law is the theory that under constant pressure, bones will adapt. The metaphor is about as heavy-handed as using a cactus to describe life, but this song, with it's mid-tempo piano and understated lyricism, invokes a weird range of emotion.
(I picked this video as the actual music video is NSFW)
Fall Out Boy: Save Rock and Roll
This came out of absolutely nowhere; the lead single, the stupidly titled and sung 'My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark' seems like a carnival mirror version of early Fall Out Boy. Nonsense lyrics coupled with a too-long moniker, but at the same time, dark, without any of the self referential humor of, say, 'Atavanhalen'. Still, I'm above all else a sucker for nostalgia, so I picked the record up and it spent an absurd amount of time in my car CD player. Starting with 'The Phoenix,' the album begins with an arena-rock flare that doesn't really abate until the end. The album hooks with urgent violins and the cry to 'Put on your war paint,' and takes off from there. There are a few missteps along the way - the above mentioned single, the songs 'Rat-a-tat,' which features grating vocals by Courtney Love, and 'The Mighty Fall,' which includes some painful singing and lyrics by Big Sean over the back-half of the song (which is a shame, because Patrick Stump's vocals absolutely soar and are on full display here) - are not enough to drag the album down. And, of course, as Fall Out Boy are wont to do, there's a bevy of actual other guest vocalists, including Foxes and Elton John.
Standout Tracks:
Young Volcanoes: After listening to the album a few times, I came to the conclusion that maybe this should have been the lead single. It's almost a pop-anthem about embracing youth and going against authority and our demons, and it's fucking catchy as fuck.
Miss Missing You: You ever get over someone and then really, really wish you hadn't, because the feelings you had when you were pining were better than apathy? THEN THIS IS THE SONG FOR YOU!
AM: Arctic Monkeys
Arctic Monkeys are a band that defined their sound within their first album, brought it to perfection with the second, and then went, "What next? How about everything." I consider 'Humbug' and portions of 'Suck it and See' to be complete misfires for the band, changing from urgent pop-rock ditties to crooning ballads, but there's no denying the charisma in Alex Turner's voice. After the band's re-invention, it took them two albums to find their footing again, which is AM. A morose, wistful record opens strong with 'Do I Wanna Know' and glides through a haze of muted guitars and spitfire lyrics that bring the listener to their knees. Suffice it to say, I love the album.
Standout Tracks:
Do I Wanna Know: Is it better to pine, to drunkenly flirt, to hold out hope, or is it better to be able to move on? A ship is safest in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for.
Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High: I mean, it's pretty much explained in the title. A bit of fun - I kind of feel like this song could be from the perspective of the partner in 'Do I Wanna Know'.
And now for the biggest disappointment of the year:
Panic at the Disco!: Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die
While not a bad album on its own, it sticks out worse than 'Pretty. Odd,' their second album which was so reverential to The Beatles that it borderlined on fetishistic at times. Instead, we have a hum-drum album from a band that couldn't quite find a genre to fit into.
Standout Tracks:
Girls/Girls/Boys: You know what's complicated? Nothing about this song. It's catchy - it's catchy as hell - but that doesn't really speak to the absent quality and vapid lyrics.
Nicotine: You know the point I made above about the labored metaphor of 'Cholla'? This metaphor isn't labored. This is the reductive version of 'Do I Wanna Know,' 'Closer,' and 'Miss Missing You.' A girl is a drug, you say? Worse than nicotine, you say! Well, I never. Still, the guitar hook at the beginning is excellent and very wormy.
So there you go. One man's opinion and all that.
"Readers who prefer tension and romance, Maledictions: The Offering, delivers... As serious YA fiction, I’ll give it five stars out of five. As a novel? Four and a half." - Liz Ellor
My new novel: Maledictions: The Offering. Now in Paperback!
Anyone want to beta read a paranormal mystery novella? Here's your chance.
stream
By far my favorite album of 2013: Infestissumam by Ghost, with Year Zero from that album being my song of the year.
Modern Vampires of the City - Vampire Weekend this is such a good and deep album, and quite a change of pace in many songs vs. older vampire weekend.
Tin Star - Lindi Ortega - In an effort to branch out, I'm trying out some country albums. I really like this one.
Because the Internet - Childish Gambino - Just started listening to this, so it may fade, but really good and really dark. I look at it less as a rap album and more as a personal sketch.
Run the Jewels - Hard to consider this a complete album as much as an experimental EP, it's really fucking good.
Reflektor - Arcade Fire - Seriously, I don't think Arcade Fire can make a bad album. Neon bible was close, but mostly because it was soul-crushingly depressing.
If you've not heard them already, The Upsides and Suburbia... are also incredible albums. Also, they're doing a ridiculously extensive world tour next year and I'd really recommend catching them if you can.
I will sware I heard MSMR in 2012 and thought the fact the CD was coming out far later was lame
I heard Chrvches from somewhere it was linked in PA and thought it was pretty good and worth a further look I do thank you for the Google play tip!
Really some of the albums I picked up this year were really good or had a few good tracks on them but most of them did not come out during the year
Annie and the A&R EP is really a throwback in a sound to a different era
Highlights:
(Skylarking)
(Must Be The Love)
Favorite track:
(Lifeline)
Long way to go and I gotta learn everything
I need a heart that could beat through everything
I need a lifeline
When I'm cold and I need you to see what's happening
If I could change it well I would do anything
You were my lifeline.
Toasted Plastic's June Highs
A bunch of young guys from New Jersey playing some no-nonsense aggressive punk that hearkens back to the sound of 80's/90's Baltimore groups like Moss Icon. Makes me tear up every time a listen.
Vasquez's EP426
This Scottish instrumental group isn't really breaking the mold with their take on groove-based "math-rock" (a la Battles), but there's enough melody and scuzzy bass sounds to satisfy.
The Slaughterhouse 5's Alban B. Clay
Listened to this album almost exclusively for months on end when it first dropped. Beneath a slightly lo-fi crusty veneer, this is just gorgeous art-pop full of hooks that keep you coming back for more. The "concept album" aspect might rub some folks the wrong way — what with all the little 5 to 10 second interludes — but the sequencing is really excellent (if that's something you care about).
Slightly NSFW video for their single, "Light Bulbs": youtube.com/watch?v=eKQSI9Th4B0
Postmadonna's POSTMADONNA
Took me a bit to come around to this, as it's very much music for the ADD-generation. But with some patience, the constant juxtaposition of rhythmic messiness with fairly traditional harmonic structures starts to make a bit more sense, and the snotty, sarcastic vocals started sounding somewhat charming.
Full Album video:
Kayo Dot's Hubardo
An absolutely exhausting record that seems to try to encapsulate the entirety of Kayo Dot's previous output into a single 90 minute album.