DVDVR BEST MUSIC OF 2013 Pimping Thread

[Greggulator]

Oh crap, PISSED JEANS I totally forgot about. That album Honey's rules. The new Superchunk rules, too.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Some will dismiss MMLP2 because the singles outside of "Rap God" are not great but I will post some good shit here... it's a quality album

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBclhs0eYTg

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9GNQz4M36k

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRMUeJRxN0c

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I36EzyoKXSA

[Chaos]

Because it came out so early in the year, I think (or at least I didn't catch it listed) everyone is forgetting to list "Amok" from Atoms for Peace.

 

I seem to like that album more with each listen.

[jaedmc]

WORE THIS SHIT OUT ALL SUMMER

 

CHANCE THE RAPPER -ACID RAP 

 

 

The 2nd half of of Pusha Man(which starts around 2:45) pretty much expresses the thoughts of anyone in Chicago who is sick of people getting shot up.

 

 

One of my favorite hip hop anything in a long time.

[Lawful Metal]

Here's my top 100 songs of the year.  In alphabetical order:

 

1. Absecon Isle – Sannhet
2. Airlocked – Ghosts on Film
3. Alight – Cold Showers
4. All We Left Behind – Team Ghost
5. Angel – Depeche Mode
6. Ashtray Eyes – Pinkish Black
7. Avenue of the Giants / Geneva - Arctic Sleep
8. Bad Motherfucker – Biting Elbows
9. Bathylepagic I – Impasses – The Ocean
10. Before you Reach the End – History of Apple Pie
11. Beginnings – Houses
12. Black Isn’t Black – Black Angels
13. Blue – Royal Thunder
14. Blue - Whirr
15. Bruane Brenn – Kvelertak
16. BTSK – MS MR
17. Burgundy – Earl Sweatshirt
18. Childhood’s End – Majical Cloudz
19. Chloe – Emblem3
20. Chords – Moving Mountains
21. Chum – Earl Sweatshirt
22. The Church of Jesus Christ – Destruction Unit
23. Clair Obscur – Oathbreaker
24. Come Look at the Darkness With Me – Lethe
25. Cosey Mo - Subrosa
26. Cover Me Up – Isbell
27. Crawling Low and Eating Dust – Black Heart Rebellion
28. Dead Film Star – Team Ghost
29. Defeatist – Cameras
30. Demon to Lean On - Wavves
31. Don’t Play with Guns – Black Angels
32. Drain – Whirr
33. Dream House - Deafheaven
34. Duke (of Supernature) – Monster Magnet
35. Eastern Leaves – Moving Mountains
36. Elephant – Jason Isbell
37. Eternal Return – Locrian
38. Fall In Love – Bad Rabbits
39. The Fox (What does the Fox Say) - Ylvis
40. Getting Sodas – The World Is …
41. Ghost of a dead empire – subrosa
42. Goodbye Gemini – Blood Ceremony
43. Goodbye Horses – Buzz Kull
44. Granulating Dark Satanic Mills - Carcass
45. Halo – Lavinia
46. Heart beat in the Brain – The World Is …
47. Hearts Like Ours – Naked and Famous
48. I love it – Icona Pop
49. I’m Wise – A Place to Bury Strangers
50. If I Should Fall Behind – Moving Mountains
51. If You Have Ghosts – Ghost
52. In The Kingdom – Mazzy Star
53. Irresistible – Deafheaven
54. Just What I am – Kid Cudi
55. Labyrinth – Fleshgod Apocalypse
56. Latch – Disclosure
57. Lavender – In Solitude
58. Live to Tell – A Pregnant Light
59. Low Tide - Kylesa
60. Memorial (feat. Chelsea Wolfe) – Russian Circles
61. Minotaur (Wrath of Poseidon) – Fleshgod Apocalypse
62. Monster Mash – Selebrities
63. Monstrance Clock - Ghost
64. My Light – So Hideous
65. Nasciturus – Obscure Sphinx
66. New Blood - Lavinia
67. Nightcall – London Grammar
68. Oblivion – M83
69. Oblivion’s Spring – Ash Borer
70. Passing Through – Cult of Luna
71. Patterns – Mouth of the Architect
72. The Pecan Tree – Deafheaven
73. The Presence of Goddess – Obscure Sphinx
74. Putting Flesh to Bone – Vaura
75. Reflection – Balance and Composure
76. Remurdered – Mogwai
77. Rites of Love and Death – Nothing
78. Rolling Waves – Naked and Famous
79. Royals – Lorde
80. ‘sblood – Inter Arma
81. Sepia Mountains of her Lament – An Autumn for Crippled Children
82. She Found Now – MBV
83. Slow Ruin – Sannhet
84. The Snow – The Eastern Sea
85. The South Will Always Know my Name – Glorior Belli
86. Tavoris Cloud – Mark Kozelek
87. Tremblin’ – Tales of Murder and Dust
88. True Trans Soul Rebel – Against Me
89. Unfuckwittable – Kid Cudi
90. Vertigo – Deafheaven
91. Voyager - Nachtmystium
92. Wanna Fight – Cliff Martinez
93. Wassup – A$AP Rocky
94. We Can Roll – Bad Rabbits
95. We Can’t Stop – Miley
96. The World on Drugs – Destruction Unit
97. Year Zero - Ghost
98. Youth is Wasted on the Young – Young Galaxy
99. दिव्य प्रेम की ज्वाला से दग्ध – Cult of Fire
100. 48 – tyler the creator

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

I don't know how much care people can afford for this, but that Beyonce record is pretty great in a lot of the ways people tried to tell me Reflektor, RAM, Drake, Timberlake, Yeezus, Vampy Weekys, etc., etc.  are. Really worth checking out if you have any pop sympathies.

 

 

Also, fuck yes D-Unit's "Church Of Jesus Christ." Two albums and one EP, and their best song is a bonus track. Weird as hell but damn that's a hell of a song.

[DougN]

I'm not forgetting Amok.

 

I just couldn't get into it.

[Lawful Metal]

Here's my top 20 albums, for what its worth:

1. Deafheaven – Sunbather
2. Moving Mountains – Moving Mountains
3. The World is a Beautiful Place and I am No Longer Afraid

to Die – Whenever, If Ever

1. Ghost – Infestissumam
2. Naked and Famous – In Rolling Waves
3. Kylesa – Ultraviolet
4. Mazzy Star – Seasons in Your Day
5. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
6. Tales of Murder and Dust – Skeleton Flowers EP
7. Lavinia – Take Shelter EP
8. MBV – My Bloody Valentine
9. Subrosa – More Constant than the Gods
10. So Hideous – Last poem / First light
11. Black Heart Rebellion – Har Nevo
12. Cold Showers – Love and Regret
13. Black Angels – Indigo Meadow
14. Bad Rabbits – American Love
15. Kid Cudi – Indicud
16. Whirr  - Around EP
17. Cliff Martinez – Only God Forgives

[jaedmc]

Chelsea Wolfe - Beauty is Pain - 
Chamber music for the modern coven. Is it break up music for Hot Topic cutters OR is it the shit Jae listens to when he wants to drink a bottle of red, with no fucking distractions?
 
Tracks to listen to:
House of Metal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI5WbKK5wbk Sounds like the girl from Little Miss Sunshine is older, cynical, and dying, and this is what her memories sound like.
Destruction Makes the World Burn Brighter: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ4Rj3bwx2Y You're in a diner and the world is about to end in a David Lynch shudder, you go to the jukebox and you play this.
Sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZ20lC3E0E If A Clockwork Orange was a love story about Alex and Chelsea Wolfe, this would have been the song playing after the break up.
 
 
Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia - 
Marnie Stern is the one Queen of the Guitar Super Sonic Phantasmagoria. This album feels like a cartography of the land Where the Wild Things Are, each song mapping out different terrains that serve as a backdrop for your vision quest. Take off work, today. Just call in. Pump this through your headphones and go get lost. 
 
Check the following tracks:
You Don't Turn Down: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok6-9kfKOow
Proof of Life: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vOu4jIvDrU
Immortals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzsZwFvXFro

[Lawful Metal]

I find Chelsea Wolfe much more appealing when she's guesting on someone else's music.  Her stuff is OK, but she's better as the gravy to someone else's meat than as the main course by herself.  

 

I think I read the Ryback thread too much.

[jaedmc]

she's better as the gravy to someone else's meat 

I'll say.

[Jamal]

I don't know how much care people can afford for this, but that Beyonce record is pretty great in a lot of the ways people tried to tell me Reflektor, RAM, Drake, Timberlake, Yeezus, Vampy Weekys, etc., etc.  are. Really worth checking out if you have any pop sympathies.

 

 

Also, fuck yes D-Unit's "Church Of Jesus Christ." Two albums and one EP, and their best song is a bonus track. Weird as hell but damn that's a hell of a song.

 

Yeah, I'm digging "Beyonce". Her best album yet

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

Another December release to throw in here!

 

I don't want to talk about the rest of his work or his reputation or anything boring like that. I also don't want to talk about the short film and website and screenplay that accompany the album because I'm not going to fuck with those. On it's own, as a collection of songs, "Because The Internet" by Childish Gambino is really clearly one of the best rap albums of this year. No matter what flavor of rap appeals to you, there is something in there to satisfy that. It's a work of immense range and incredible craft.

[caley]

Finished my EOY list for another board, today.  I'll spoilerize it, even though it will likely be very different by the time we collect votes on the DVDVR list.

 

50. Miley Cyrus - Bangers

49. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus

48. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

47. Clint Mansell - Stoker 

46. Haim - Days Are Gone

45. Katy Perry - Prism

44. Olafur Arnnalds - For Now I Am Winter

43. Tyler, the Creator - Wolf

42. Mark Kozelek - Like Rats

41. My Bloody Valentine - mbv

40. The-Dream - IV Play

39. Danny Brown - Old

38. Goldfrapp - Tales of Us

37. Explosions in the Sky and David Wingo - Prince Avalanche

36. Earl Sweatshirt - Doris

35. Superchunk - I Hate Music

34. Dustin O'Halloran - The Beauty Inside

33. The Head and the Heart - Let's Be Still

32. Sebadoh - Defend Yourself

31. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

30. Mountains - Centralia

29. Mazzy Star - Seasons of Your Day

28. Kavinsky - Outrun

27. Mogwai - Les Revenants

26. Steven Price - Gravity

25. Jimmy Eat World - Damage

24. Rhye - Woman

23. Mark Kozelek & Desertshore - Mark Kozelek & Desertshore

22. Houses - A Quiet Darkness

21. Team Ghost - Rituals

20. Joel r.l. Phelps and the Downer Trio - Gala

19. Tangerine Dream, Woody Jackson, The Alchemist, Oh No & DJ Shadow - The Music of Grand Theft Auto V

18. Delorean - Apar

17. Sigur Ros - Kveikur

16. Nils Frahm - Spaces

15. Jon Hopkins - Immunity

14. Tim Hecker - Virgins

13. Phoenix - Bankrupt!

12. Iron & Wine - Ghost on Ghost

11. m82 - Oblivion  

10. Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaVelle - Perils From the Sea

09. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience Part 1

08. Drake - Nothing Was the Same

07. Jesu - Every Day I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came

06. Eluvium - Nightmare Ending

05. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

04. Yo La Tengo - Fade

03. Washed Out - Paracosm

02. Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

01. Kanye West - Yeezus

 

For instance, likely after tonight I'll probably add Mike Patton's 'Place Beyond the Pines' score and I just downloaded that Phospherescent (sp.?) album that Pitchfork was so high on...I fear 'Bangerz' is not long for my list...

[throughsilver]

Procuring the Flaming Lips and Deafheaven now. 

 

I got the Dillinger album when it came out, but I still haven't listened to it. It's funny how SturmCRF and I both love that band, but differ so massively on them. How an album can be pimped as 'best since Miss Machine', while I think the two they did after that were way better.

 

That said, 'Setting Fire to Sleeping Giants' is probably the best thing they will ever do.

 

 

El-P & Killer Mike – Run The Jewels

I had to double check that no one brought this up. This one has a quick an easy sell: El-P was the best producer working last year, Killer Mike put out one of the best rap albums last year, and then they put out a tag team mixtape for free. Whatever reason you had to pass on this isn't good enough. It's right here.

 

What did El-P do last year? I used to love him when Def Jux was new, but he seemed to stop existing for me about a decade ago. 

 

 

Finished my EOY list for another board, today.  I'll spoilerize it, even though it will likely be very different by the time we collect votes on the DVDVR list.

 

The Chicago place, or have you found a new haunt?

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

El-P & Killer Mike – Run The Jewels

I had to double check that no one brought this up. This one has a quick an easy sell: El-P was the best producer working last year, Killer Mike put out one of the best rap albums last year, and then they put out a tag team mixtape for free. Whatever reason you had to pass on this isn't good enough. It's right here.

What did El-P do last year? I used to love him when Def Jux was new, but he seemed to stop existing for me about a decade ago. 

He put out a solo record called Cancer 4 Cure that was one of the best rap albums of 2012, and he produced Killer Mike's album R.A.P. Music which was also one of the best rap albums of 2012 (personally I prefer Mike's record). So this year he made a punk speed sonic blast for him and Mike to take turns using.

 

 

MORE PIMPING. I'm going to try to put off guitar music for one more week because while I do have a lot of stuff I want to talk about that has guitars, this is a board that also talks about lots of things with guitars. So I'd feel bad for leaving some stuff out.

 

This block is all more experimental and wild kinds of music. The scale of risk ranges from “Going To A New Restaurant” to “Being A Test Pilot.”

 

Ashley Paul – Line The Clouds To me as a composer, this is like a professional party magician watching an expert street magician. We're dealing with the same medium but our skill sets are so different that the only way I can understand what they're doing is through the frame of my own experience. All press materials for this record suggest that this record is largely improvised, if not entirely. Yet, for all the listening I've done of this record, it appears seamless and evident to me. The layout is so precise and clean that my mind just can't interface with the idea of how this could be improvisational work. At the same time, I don't really want the solution either. I'm just taken in by it. Here's the first track, to illustrate what I mean

 

Tim Hecker – Virgins This is an album I have a hard time talking about it, because I can't really find the words for what I feel while it's happening. It sounds like machines if gears were pianos, and I'm worried that it and Oneohtrix Point Never occupy too similar a space so there's not a lot of people I've seen come out in support of both. I mean, I like this one, and you should hear it, but the Oneohtrix record blew my tiny mind, as I've already talked about. Here's the intro track.

 

Jenny Hval – Innocence Is Kinky Alright, fine, this album has rock guitars, but including it with the rock/metal stuff I want to shout out would give the wrong impression both on this album and on those albums. I'll start by saying I love the hell out of both records she's put out under her real name, this one and 2011's Viscera. However, the relationship those two records have with each other is a caterpillar to a butterfly, with a year of art installations as the cocoon. I won't fuck around: this album takes a lot of work to listen to and understand. I barely do. Hval has a very particular voice, very specific vocabulary, and very deliberate style. I believe the return gained for that investment is an album of songs that no one else right now is capable of writing, and that's valuable to me. Maybe it will be to you.

 

Marina Rosenfeld – P.A. / Hard Love Somewhere between ambient and noise collage, this record is a mixture of industrial ambient sounds, dub beats and singing, chaotic cello playing (from a musician I'll be talking about again in a few seconds), and unsettling sample work. Words really fail on this one, so here's the title track.

 

Pharmakon – Abandon A solo noise musician who deals exclusively in strict composition instead of improv (because anyone can improvise noise). The fastest comparison is to early Swans, but what Pharmakon manages to create in 26 minutes is both more stripped down and more expansive at the same time, managing to capture that same disturbing airless feel with a different tone profile. Here's a sample, but watch your volume.

 

Okkyung Lee – Ghil A record from the cello player on Rosenfeld's album. See, there's this thing I like about physical instruments over electronic instruments: with an electronic instrument you have to play by the rules of the technology that made it. Physical instruments are full of ways to defy the parameters of the people that made them. It feels like you can defeat physical instruments at their own game. Colin Stetson is a fantastic example of this, and so is Okkyung Lee's record Ghil. What Lee does to her cello in the course of this record is borderline defilement, pulling sounds and energy from this old tool that feel like listening to Lightning Bolt demos so wild that they weren't able to do anything with them. Here's an example.

 

D/P/I – ESPRESSO DIGITAL Well, I've certainly never heard anything quite like it. Unapproachable sample work with maddening synthesizers. Yet, I feel like people should know this exists, because the experience of baffled dismay that followed me through my first listen of this record still sticks with me. If you try this record, good luck, and be sure to start from the beginning.

[Lawful Metal]

I think I'm severely underrating this one:

 

[JRGoldman]

I'm on my phone because I'm house sitting, so I can't post links right now, but I have a top five for the year I'll post:

1) the taxpayers- Cold Hearted Town

2) waxahatchee- Cerulean Salt

3) onsind- anesthesiology

4) my bloody valentine- mbv

5) deafheaven- sunbather

[Control]

Not trying to sound like a dick, but do you have to be a MBV fan to really like the new album? I ask, cuz I never listened to them before, and it did nothing for me, yet I see all sorts of people whose opinions I respect noting it in their end of year lists.

[Death From Above]

I loved Loveless back in the day. It's a pretty unique and remarkable album.

 

I thought M B V was absolutely awful though (including two tracks that sort of blatantly aren't finished), so I may have opinions that run contrarian to friendliness and happiness here. But that's how polls go.

 

Really curious just how all over the map the final results will end up. Should be interesting if much of anything gains traction across the board.

[JRGoldman]

M b v is an interesting album, because it's basically the music equivalent of this amazing girl you had a super crush on in high school and still think about fondly, but as you grew older you gave up hope of ever seeing her again, but you randomly run in to her in your late twenties, hit it off, and hook up.....but the sex is only ok. I mean, it doesn't live up to the years of imagining it and thinking about it, so initially it was a disappointment. The more you think about it though, the more you begin to realize that it was actually pretty good, and nothing could have come close to what you had in your head, but objectively, with no emotion attached, it was a solid all around effort.

[Biz Smarkie]

I'm gonna do a top five for me this year.

 

1. Da Mafia Six - The Six Commandments

 

I was not expecting this to happen at all. I had written off everybody involved with Hypnotize Minds besides Lil Wyte. Paul and Juice went super shitty after they won the grammy. Lord Infamous was putting out decent stuff, but nothing like what he once was. Gangsta Boo wasn't doing much, and lord knows what Crunchy and Koopsta were doing. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard they were doing this cd, and happy that Juice wasn't going to be involved. It turns out that this cd is probably the best thing anybody involved has done since at least Unbreakables. It features great guest spots with Yelawolf and Bone Thugs. It is easily the best produced rap cd of the year, and made me love Three Six again. 

 

2. Clutch - Earth Rocker

 

Not one song gets skipped on this cd when I decide to listen to it. If it wasn't for the Da Mafia Six cd, it would be my favorite.

 

3. Amon Amarth - Deciever of the Gods/Under the Influence

 

Their best output in years I loved the whole "cover album" aspect of Under the Influence. Can't stop headbanging to "Blood Eagle" from the main cd as well.

 

4. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks

 

Never been a huge NiN fan, but this impressed me greatly. Love "Came Back Haunted" and "Find my Way."

 

5 - Lil Wyte and Jelly Roll = No FIlter

 

Not as good as Lil Wyte's CD from last year, but I do listen to it frequently.

 

Honorable Mentions:

 

Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2

Black Sabbath - 13

[DougN]

Top 50 Albums From 2013:

1. Twistification – The Last Royals
Key Track: Friday Night

2. Modern Vampires Of The City – Vampire Weekend
Key Track: Step

3. The 1975 – The 1975
Key Track: Robbers

4. Waiting For The Dawn – The Mowgli’s
Key Track: See I’m Alive

5. Kids Raising Kids – Kopecky Family Band
Key Track: My Way

6. The Bones Of What You Believe – CHVRCHES
Key Track: The Mother We Share

7. Hearthrob – Tegan And Sara
Key Track: How Come You Don’t Want Me

8. AM – Arctic Monkeys
Key Track: No. 1 Party Anthem

9. Days Are Gone – Haim
Key Track: The Wire

10. Wolf’s Law – The Joy Formidable
Key Track: Cholla

11. Opposites – Biffy Clyro
Key Track: Spanish Radio

12. Hummingbird – Local Natives
Key Track: Mt. Washington

13. When It Was Now – Atlas Genius
Key Track: Through The Glass

14. Night Time, My Time – Sky Ferreira
Key Track: I Blame Myself

15. The Electric Lady – Janelle Monae
Key Track: Dance Apocalyptic

16. Same Trailer Different Park – Kacey Musgraves
Key Track: Merry Go ‘Round

17. Trouble Will Find Me – The National
Key Track: Don’t Swallow The Cap

18. The Blessed Unrest – Sara Bareilles
Key Track: 1000 Times

19. Wildewoman – Lucius
Key Track: Turn It Around

20. In Love – Peace
Key Track: Lovesick

21. Muchacho – Phosphorescent
Key Track: Song For Zula

22. My Name Is My Name – Pusha T
Key Track: Sweet Serenade

23. Acid Rap – Chance The Rapper
Key Track: Pusha Man

24. Lessons – Ha Ha Tonka
Key Track: Arabella

25. Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle – Carbon Leaf
Key Track: The Donnybrook Affair

26. Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, The – Neko Case
Key Track: Night Still Comes

27. Holy Fire – Foals
Key Track: Inhaler

28. Essential Tremors – J Roddy Walston & The Business
Key Track: Midnight Cry

29. Old – Danny Brown
Key Track: 25 Bucks

30. Reflektor – Arcade Fire
Key Track: Normal Person

31. Wonderful, Glorious – Eels
Key Track: Stick Together

32. Pure Heroine – Lorde
Key Track: Royals

33. LONG.LIVE.A$AP – A$AP Rocky
Key Track: Phoenix

34. We Need Medicine – The Fratellis
Key Track: Halloween Blues

35. Hesitation Marks – Nine Inch Nails
Key Track: Copy Of A

36. Pedestrain Verse – Frightened Rabbit
Key Track: Late March, Death March

37. Let It All In – I Am Kloot
Key Track: These Days Are Mine

38. Messenger, The – Johnny Marr
Key Track: Generate! Generate!

39. More Than Just A Dream – Fitz And The Tantrums
Key Track: Break The Walls

40. All The Times We Had – Ivan & Alyosha
Key Track: Who Are You

41. Woman – Rhye
Key Track: Open

42. We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic – Foxygen
Key Track: No Destruction

43. Torres – Torres
Key Track: When Winter’s Over

44. Damages – Jimmy Eat World
Key Track: Please Say No

45. The Next Day – David Bowie
Key Track: Valentine’s Day

46. Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
Key Track: Doin’ It Right

47. The 20/20 Expierence – Justin Timberlake
Key Track: Mirrors

48. Almanac – Widowspeak
Key Track: Thick As Thieves

49. True Love Ways – Lou Hickey
Key Track: Zombie Love

50. Constellation Prize – Carbon Leaf
Key Track: Ragtime Carnival

Top 50 Songs From 2013:

1. Friday Night – The Last Royals
2. Another Toe In The Ocean – Pixies
3. Entertainment – Phoenix
4. Hold On, We’re Going Home – Drake
5. Robbers – The 1975
6. I Blame Myself – Sky Ferreira
7. The Mother We Share – CHVRCHES
8. The Donnybrook Affair – Carbon Leaf
9. How Come You Don’t Want Me – Tegan And Sara
10. Young And Beautiful – Lana Del Ray
11. The Wire – Haim
12. My Way – Kopecky Family Band
13. Spanish Radio – Biffy Clyro
14. Step – Vampire Weekend
15. See I’m Alive – The Mowgli’s
16. Through The Glass – Atlas Genius
17. Mt. Washington – Local Natives
18. Turn It Around – Lucius
19. YOLO – The Lonely Island
20. Zombie Love – Lou Hickey
21. 1000 Times – Sara Bareilles
22. Copy Of A – Nine Inch Nails
23. The Fox – Ylvis
24. Late March, Death March – Frightened Rabbit
25. Merry Go ‘Round – Kacey Musgraves
26. Mirrors – Justin Timberlake
27. Safe And Sound – Capital Cities
28. No. 1 Party Anthem – Arctic Monkeys
29. Arabella – Ha Ha Tonka
30. Song For Zula – Phosphorescent
31. Hold My Liquor – Kanye West
32. Cholla – The Joy Formidable
33. Dance Apocalyptic – Janelle Monáe
34. Don’t Swallow The Cap – The National
35. Recovery – Frank Turner
36. Sirens – Pearl Jam
37. Phoenix – A$AP Rocky
38. 25 Bucks – Danny Brown
39. Night Still Comes – Neko Case
40. New York City – Christopher Owens
41. Pusha Man – Chance The Rapper
42. Please Say No – Jimmy Eat World
43. Inhaler – Foals
44. Halloween Blues – The Fratellis
45. Sweet Serenade – Pusha T
46. Lovesick – Peace
47. When Winter’s Over – Torres
48. I Am Here – Savages
49. Midnight Cry – J Roddy Walston & The Business
50. Royals – Lorde

All 250 Albums I Listened To In 2013:

…Like Clockwork – Queens Of The Stone Age
{Awayland} – Villagers
181 – Four Tet
Adam Green & Binki Shapiro – Adam Green & Binki Shapiro
All My Love in Half Light – Lady Lazarus
All My Relations – Black Pus
All The Times We Had – Ivan & Alyosha
Almanac – Widowspeak
AM – Arctic Monkeys
Amok – Atoms For Peace
Amygdala – DJ Koze
Apocalypse – Thundercat
Arc – Everything Everything
Around – Whirr
Ash & Clay – The Milk Carton Kids
At Home – Keep Shelly In Athens
Avalanche – Quadron
Bad Blood – Bastille
Bankrupt! – Phoenix
Because The Internet – Childish Gambino
Berberian Sound Studio – Broadcast
Beta Love – Ra Ra Riot
Better – Odonis Odonis
Betterment – Caves
Beyonce – Beyonce
Bitchitronics – Bitchin Bajas
Bitter Rivals – Sleigh Bells
Black Pudding – Mark Lanegan & Duke Garwood
Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke
Body Music – AlunaGeorge
Bored Nothing – Bored Nothing
Centralia – Mountains
Cerulean Salt – Waxahatchee
Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
Change Becomes Us – Wire
Circumambulation – True Widow
Climax – Beastmilk
Cold Mission – Logos
Comedown Machine – The Strokes
Constellation Prize – Carbon Leaf
Country Sleep – Night Beds
Crawling Up the Stairs – Pure X
Cupid’s Head – The Field
Curiosity – Wampire
Damages – Jimmy Eat World
Days Are Gone – Haim
Dead Gaze – Dead Gaze
Dear Miss Lonelyhearts – Cold War Kids
Device – Device
Doris – Earl Sweatshirt
Dream River – Bill Callahan
Du Flocka Rant 2 – Waka Flocka
Dysnomia – Dawn of Midi
Early Fragments – Fear of Men
Elements Of Light – Panthu Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory
Embracism – Kirin J Callinan
English Electric – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Engravings – Forest Swords
EP1 – Pixies
Era – Disappears
Exai – Autechre
Excavation – The Haxan Cloak
Exile – Hurts
Factory Floor – Factory Floor
Fade – Yo Le Tango
Floating Coffin – Three Oh Sees
Free Your Mind – Cut Copy
Gay Disco – Guerilla Toss
Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle – Carbon Leaf
Ghost On Ghost – Iron & Wine
Good Mood Fool – Luke Temple
Half of Where You Live – Gold Panda
Hardcourage – FaltyDL
Hearthrob – Tegan And Sara
Hesitation Marks – Nine Inch Nails
Holy Fire – Foals
Homosapiens – PVT
Honeys – Pissed Jeans
Hummingbird – Local Natives
Hung At Heart – The Growlers
I Hate Music – Superchunk
I Love You – The Neighbourhood
Ice on the Dune – Empire of The Sun
If You Leave – Daughter
II – K-X-P
II – Moderat
II – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Immunity – Jon Hopkins
Imperium – Blouse
Impersonator – Majical Cloudz
In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery – Capital Cities
In Focus? – Shugo Tokumaru
In Love – Peace
In2ition – 2Cellos
Indicud – Kid Cudi
Infinity Pool – When Saints Go Machine
Innocence Is Kinky – Jenny Hval
Interiors – Glasser
Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
Jamie Lidell – Jamie Lidell
Jinx – Weekend
John Wizards – John Wizards
Join the Dots – Toy
Julia With Blue Jeans On – Moonface
Kids in LA – Kisses
Kids Raising Kids – Kopecky Family Band
Laid Out – Shlohmo
Lenses – Soft Metals
Lesser Evil – Doldrums
Lessons – Ha Ha Tonka
Let It All In – I Am Kloot
Light Up Gold – Parquet Courts
Lightning Bolt – Pearl Jam
Limits of Desire – Small Black
LONG.LIVE.A$AP – A$AP Rocky
Loud City Song – Julia Holter
Love Sign – Free Energy
Love’s Crush Diamond – Mutual Benefit
Lysandre – Christopher Owens
Major Arcana – Speedy Ortiz
Matangi – M.I.A.
MBV – My Bloody Valentine
Me Moan – Daughn Gibson
Mediation of Ecstatic Energy – Dustin Wong
MGMT – MGMT
Miami – Brandt Brauer Frick
Miracle Mile – Starfucker
Modern Vampires Of The City – Vampire Weekend
Monkey Minds In The Devil’s Time – Steve Mason
Monomania – Deerhunter
Moon Tides – Pure Bathing Culture
More Light – Primal Scream
More Than Just A Dream – Fitz And The Tantrums
Mosquito – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Move In Spectrums – Au Revoir Simone
Muchacho – Phosphorescent
My Name Is My Name – Pusha T
Mystical Weapons – Mystical Weapons
Nepenthe – Julianna Barwick
New – Paul McCartney
New Moon – The Men
Night Time, My Time – Sky Ferreira
Nightmare Ending – Eluvium
Nostalchic – Lapalux
Nothing Was The Same – Drake
Obsidian – Baths
Off the Record – Karl Bartos
Old – Danny Brown
On Oni Pond – Man Man
Once I Was an Eagle – Laura Marling
One True Vine – Mavis Staples
Opposites – Biffy Clyro
Out of View – The History of Apple Pie
Overgrown – James Blake
Pain Is Beauty – Chelsea Wolfe
Pale Green Ghosts – John Grant
Paracosm – Washed Out
PDA – Part Time
Pedestrain Verse – Frigthened Rabbit
Planta – CSS
Pollen – Wave Machines
Praxis Makes Perfect – Neon Neon
Psychic – Darkside
Pull My Hair Back – Jessy Lanza
Punk Authority – Pete Swanson
Pure Heroine – Lorde
R Plus Seven – Oneohtrix Point Never
Random Access Memories – Daft Punk
Reflektor – Arcade Fire
Released By The Movement – Islet
Repave – Volcano Choir
Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels
Samaris – Samaris
Same Trailer Different Park – Kacey Musgraves
Settle – Disclosure
Shaking The Habitual – The Knife
Silence Yourself – Savages
Silver Cloud – Actress
Sing To The Moon – Laura Mvula
Sky Burial – Inter Arms
Skyer – Postiljonen
Sleep – Canary Oh Canary
Slow Focus – Fuck Buttons
Soma – Windhand
Songs For Imaginative People – Darwin Deez
Southeastern – Jason Isbell
Stars Are Our Home – Black Hearted Brother
Stay Trippy – Juicy J
Stealth of Days – Jensen Sportag
Stitches – Califone
Strange Pleasures – Still Corners
Sunbather – Deafheaven
Surrounded – Richard Buckner
Swisher – Blondes
Tape Deck Heart – Turner, Frank
The 1975 – The 1975
The 20/20 Expierence – Justin Timberlake
The 20/20 Expierence 2 Of 2 – Justin Timberlake
The Beast In Its Tracks – Josh Ritter
The Blessed Unrest – Sara Bareilles
The Bones Of What You Believe – CHVRCHES
The Chronicles of Marnia – Marnie Stern
The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars
The Electric Lady – Janelle Monae
The Inheritors – James Holden
The Island Come True – L. Pierre
The Lone Bellow – The Lone Bellow
The Man Who Died In His Boat – Grouper
The Marshall Mathers LP 2 – Eminem
The Messneger – Johnny Marr
The Next Day – David Bowie
The Stand-In – Caitlin Rose
The Terror – The Flaming Lips
The Wack Album – The Lonely Island
The Word as Power – Lustmord
Tides End – Minks
To the Happy Few – Medicine
Tomorrow’s Harvest – Boards of Canada
Torres – Torres
Total Folklore – Dan Friel
Trap God 2 – Gucci Mane
Trouble Will Find Me – The National
Truant/Rough Sleeper – Burial
True Love Ways – Lou Hickey
True North – Bad Religion
Twistification – The Last Royals
Uncanney Valley – The Dismemberment Plan
Until The Colours Run – Lanterns on the Lake
Untogether – Blue Hawaii
UZU – Yamantaka // Sonic Titan
Vices – Nickeuls F
Virgins – Tim Hecker
Wait To Pleasure – No Joy
Waiting For The Dawn – The Mowgli’s
Wakin On A Pretty Daze – Kurt Vile
We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace & Magic – Foxygen
We Need Medicine – The Fratellis
When It Was Now – Atlas Genius
Where Does This Door Go – Mayer Hawthorne
Wilderness – The Handsome Family
Wildewoman – Lucius
Wish To Scream – Tribes
Wolf’s Law – The Joy Formidable
Woman – Rhye
Wonderful, Glorious – Eels
Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, The – Neko Case
Yeah Right – Bleeding Rainbow
Yeezus – Kanye West
You Owe Me Nothing But Love – Comanechi
You’re Nothing – Iceage

[Lamp, broken circa 1988]

ALRIGHT. GUITARS. This is ordered in least to most extreme.

 

The Diet – The Diet I don't know if we've talked about this, but my favorite album is “Public Strain” by Women. When I saw them live they had this band opening for them called Manchild, who had some neat ideas and a kind of similar sound. They were also huge fans of Women, judging by the look of childlike joy on one of the guitarist's face during the outro of Shaking Hand and the singer standing at the side of the stage clutching a beer and bobbing his head to every song as I was. What I'm saying here is I am biased and I love this album and I have no idea if it's any good. See if it's good for yourself!

 

Circuit Des Yeux – Overdue Friend of mine put me up on this album after seeing her open for Bill Callahan this year. She makes sense as an opener because her work throws heavily to old, insular Smog. Her voice has an epic and powerful coloring effect to the elegant little devices she's constructed.  The production is also pretty much immaculate (except for when it deliberately isn't) which allows her to make some incredible kinds of sounds like on the ending of the album's opener Lithonia, where she collides her deep voice and feedbacking guitar against a driving piece of chamber music.

 

PK14 – 1984 Chinese punk rock and dedicated Fugazi worship. Check it out if you are down with either idea. Kind of no use trying to sell it if neither do. 

 

Blackout Beach – Blues Trip / Frog Eyes – Carey's Cold Spring I'm personally jealous of Carey Mercer's whole skillset. As a singer, his voice trembles while it holds up weight of his subjects. As a guitarist, the tone he uses makes me feel like I'm going to get electrocuted by my speakers. As a songwriter, he can create a wide range of sound with his self-limited palettes. As a lyricist, he writes more like a poet than anything, using words to communicate an emotion and a state instead of an idea. He also seems like a pretty nice guy, which makes the work he made this year feel pretty tragic.

 

In 2011 he released an epic electronic record called Fuck Death, which was then karmically awarded with the slow death of his father. Mercer felt directly responsible, and the two albums he's released this year feel very much like an attempt to undo this hex. Blues Trip is a drastic reworking of 7 of the 8 songs from Fuck Death done in the immediate wake of the death of his father (with vocals added later). Carey's Cold Spring is the release of the record he's slowly been writing since the release of Fuck Death. The album ends with Claxxon's Lament which, a devastating ballad in it's own right, he revealed to be a song he played for his father on his death bed, and which may have been the last song he heard. So I guess what I'm trying to say here is, don't put these albums on if you're looking for a good time. They're still immense and worthy works, though.

 

The Fat White Family – Champagne Holocaust Man, I kind of don't want to say anything about this record. All I'm going to say is that there's a progression in the sound and the writing that is absolutely brilliant, and that this record is gross. You can listen to it in full here (cover NSFW).

 

The Drones – I See Seaweed You know a record's going to be dark when the opening song is about overpopulation and ex-girlfriends, and sure enough the whole album is bleak. It's also theoretically sound and sonically gorgeous, all delightful bait on the hook Gareth Liddiard has thrown into the water.  The sound, to be more specific, ranges from excessively loud dramatics to slow rolling blues rock all while the lyrics spin darker and darker tales. The best place to start in the case of this album is the title track and opener, to see if that hooks you.

 

Savages – Silence Yourself Yeah okay this one isn't so obscure. It still feels like the kind of dirty fueled  raging fuck engine that Iggy Pop exposed rock and roll as being, which is a thing that a lot of modern rock records (and bands for that matter) just get wrong. Savages do not get it wrong, but really, you should've heard this by now.

 

Destruction Unit – Void / Two Strong Hits / Deep Trip All the things I've said about lyrics are totally useless here. I can't hear shit Destruction Unit says. This would be a terrible fault if that was at all the point of listening to Destruction Unit. What they're doing instead is the kind of thing I'd like my music to do, where when you put it on it feels like the air in the room changes. This is the kind of music that Hunter S. Thompson was talking about when he implied that good music was fuel. So where to start? Well, that's sadly pretty easy: Void is a total motherfucker to track down. It was released on a limited vinyl run with no digital release, so all versions of it floating around the internet are vinyl rips. Of course this supposes you're lucky enough to run into someone with one. Deep Trip, though, was released on Sacred Bones Records so that's pretty easy to go find at this point. Make sure you get the bonus track, The Church of Jesus Christ. If you need even more D-Unit after that, well, Two Strong Hits is right here. Alternatively, just listen to that and see if you're up for an album of it.

 

Perfect Pussy – I have lost all desire for feeling This is my overall favorite music release of the year. It's thirteen minutes and there's not a second of it I don't love. It's noisy as fuck, it's confrontational, it's fast (but perfectly timed), the lyrics are great... ugh. To my ears it's flawless. I'll avoid making any comparisons in sound and instead just link you here, to the record in full. Again, it's like thirteen minutes. You probably have that much time to get your ass kicked.

 

The Body – Christs, Redeemers My favorite metal band is Neurosis, so I guess what I mean to say is “I don't like a lot of metal.” Lost in the style of all of the acts that claim them as inspirations or heroes is the atmospheric suffocation in those middle 90s Neurosis records, accomplished through their simultaneous use of samples and delicate composition, which served as bookends to the immense sonic devastation (the part a lot of bands come close to getting right). I don't know if The Body has ever cited Neurosis as a key influence, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't (especially considering that their vocal delivery is “the even crazier guy in the padded cell next to yours”). Either way, they're still the only thing I've heard that's capable of making that intensive, vile mood that Neurosis built it's reputation on. See for yourself.

 

And with that I'm out of stuff to pimp.

[throughsilver]

The Body – Christs, Redeemers My favorite metal band is Neurosis, so I guess what I mean to say is “I don't like a lot of metal.” Lost in the style of all of the acts that claim them as inspirations or heroes is the atmospheric suffocation in those middle 90s Neurosis records, accomplished through their simultaneous use of samples and delicate composition, which served as bookends to the immense sonic devastation (the part a lot of bands come close to getting right). I don't know if The Body has ever cited Neurosis as a key influence, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't (especially considering that their vocal delivery is “the even crazier guy in the padded cell next to yours”). Either way, they're still the only thing I've heard that's capable of making that intensive, vile mood that Neurosis built it's reputation on. See for yourself.

That tune is pretty fucking cool. More Bloody Panda or Khanate to my ears than Neurosis, but that's not because of the vocals (have you heard Enemy of the Sun?). Unsure what “I don't like a lot of metal.” is supposed to mean in that context.