There is no misnomer quite
like the Best Music of the Year list. So much music is released each and every
year, there’s no way any one individual can listen to it all, let alone listen
to all of it enough to judge with any authority which of it is the best. What
the “Best of the Year” lists really are is each individual’s favorite music of
the year. Each of us who contribute these lists each year also reads many
others for two reasons. 1) To see if we agree with any of the albums or bands
on the list. 2) To get ideas on more music that needs to be checked out. This
is truly one of the greatest times of year.
When it comes to music, 2013
was a banner year. There were oodles of great music to be found out there, even
well beyond my own tastes. Within those tastes there was a great deal of
anticipation for a number of albums before they even came out this year. 2013
saw the return to the studio for many bands that had taken long hiatuses. Among
them were long player efforts by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, David Bowie,
Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, Peter Gabriel, my bloody valentine, Kavinsky, Daft
Punk, Queens of the Stone Age, Mazzy Star, and extended plays by Fleetwood Mac
and The Pixies. I’m sure there are many I don’t even know about.
The were also a plethora of
new discoveries and current standards from the likes of bvdub, Broadcast,
Endless Boogie, The Devil’s Blood, SubRosa, The Besnard Lakes, Atoms For Peace,
Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, The Lonely Island, David Lynch, Kings of Leon, Pop.
1280, Tree, Lil Herb & Lil Bibby, Russian Circles, White Hills and Wooden
Shjips. 2013 also saw some of the most unique collaborations of artists working
together. Ben Harper and Charlie Musclewhite teamed up for an ultimate blues
album, Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood mixed up their blues with some beats, Mark
Kozelek went electronic in his team up with Jimmy LeValle, and Elvis Costello
got down with The Roots.
2013 was just a stunning
year for music. Here are my favorites of the year in the order I like them
right now.
Best Albums of 2013
Listening to the shoegaze
rock of No Joy’s latest long player on Spotify most of the year was one of its
greatest pleasures. To better support the band, I finally broke down and
actually bought the album this past week. Even though I could’ve (and will)
continue to support and listen to the effort for free on Spotify, I haven’t
made a more worthwhile music purchase all year. Bringing just a little more punch
to the guitar fuzz sound than my bloody valentine did on their release this
year, No Joy’s haunting vocals, vibrant noise addled guitars and rhythmic beats
were the soundtrack of the year for me.
Wait To Pleasure
No Joy
Mexican Summer
I’ve been aware of the
Wavves post-punk offerings for several years now. Their latest sounds a little
reigned in if you’re just listening to their sound, but when you start to take
in their lyrics you’ll find a harsh treatise leveled at you about life and
relationships that will make the skateboard rat in you not only reawaken, but
wince a little at the darkened place the world has just become because of this
album.
Afraid of Heights
Wavves
Warner Bros.
Nick Cave’s return with his
band The Bad Seeds also seems somewhat muted upon initial listening; but like
Afraid of Heights, further examination reveals that the master of the hard
worldview hasn’t lost a step. The Bad Seeds’ minimalistic take on Cave’s dire
crooning only further emphasizes their pessimistic take on where the world is
headed and reveals a simple beauty to the sermon-like delivery of Cave’s
notions.
Push the Sky Away
Nick Cave & The Bad
Seeds
Bad Seed, Ltd.
There seems to be a
pessimistic theme forming here as another of my favorite albums is rumored to
have been born through the bitter bickering of a relationship gone bad. Said
not to have been on speaking terms during the making of their self-titled
effort, Joy Williams and John Paul White, who make up the band The Civil Wars,
have turned in a beautiful portrait of the scorned that is matched in its harsh
lyrics only by its beautiful vocal and acoustic arrangements.
The Civil Wars
The Civil Wars
Sensibility
Recordings/Columbia Records
Killer Mike and El-P’s
collaboration known as Run the Jewels was available briefly for free on
Soundcloud months before its official release in September, thus allowing me to
spend a better portion of the year with this gem than most. I lauded El-P’s
Cancer for Cure on last year’s list, and this one is just as strong. The duo
brings a heaviness to their beats with electronic chords that add weight to
their tricky lyrics.
Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels
Fool’s Gold
How is it possible that an
artist who has been dead for more than 40 years can still release an album of
totally unreleased recordings that are still better than 90% of everything else
out there? While many of the songs on Jimi Handrix’s latest album have been
heard before in various forms, these studio recordings are all new to the ear
and prove that they just don’t make ‘em like Jimi any more.
People, Hell and Angels
Jimi Hendrix
Legacy
After I named Kurt Vile’s
2011 album Smoke Rings for My Halo the best album of the year, I didn’t think
he could impress me as much as he did with that album again. However, with his
latest Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze, he has. His unique outlook on life sings forth
in his lyrics and his instrumentation. I saw a preview video of the album that
showed the singer/songwriter listening to the first single while his daughter
played in the background, and nothing could’ve captured the joy of this album
better.
Wakin on a Pretty Daze
Kurt Vile
Matador Records
Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros might be the most unique album on this list. I don’t know if the
band’s sound is categorizeable in any conventional terms. They evoke a joy of
life even during their darker numbers, like “This Life”. Portions of this album
might come across as hokey, while others are just inspired raptures of genius.
When this album plays, you want to join in with the band on their wild romp.
Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe & The
Magnetic Zeros
Universal Music Group
The Terror is The Flaming
Lips’ best straightforward effort since Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. The
album plays like the soundtrack to a psychedelic trip and one of the tracks was
used for a Super Bowl ad. I check the Lips’ albums out each year, but this was
the first in a while where the weirdness seemed to be at once meandering and
focused. It’s the perfect chill out album of the year.
The Terror
The Flaming Lips
Warner Bros.
A couple of years ago the
group Girls released Father, Son, Holy Ghost, which made my top ten in 2011.
The album was a bit of a departure for the band and somehow contained tracks
that spanned many different styles yet adhered to everything the band was
about. New Moon is a very similar effort from The Men. Dropping most
of their punk core roots, The Men span several different styles here in a
visceral album that alternates between controlled ballads and hard rockers.
New Moon
The Men
Sacred Bones
Special Jury Prizes
The Special Jury Prize is
something given out at most competitive film festivals to allow jurors to
single out more movies than the categories themselves allow for. This year I’m
awarding two special jury prizes to four different albums. How’s that for being
tricky with the rules. These albums are just as good as any of the albums I’ve
singled out in my top ten. They all have special significance, however, because
of their unique nature.
The first set of albums are
covers albums. These two stood out in a year that seemed filled with an
inordinate amount of covers LPs and EPs.
The first is yet another
project from The Flaming Lips, who many might remember did a cover of the
entire album of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon a few years back in
collaboration with the band Stadeath and White Dwarves and the individual
performers Henry Rollins and Peaches. It was one of the highlights of the year.
This year they’ve done it again, this time covering the entirety of The Stone
Roses self-titled debut album. Stardeath is back with the Lips along with a
list of collaborators too long to name here. A special Record Store Day Black
Friday vinyl only release that has since become impossible to find, the project
will likely become available in both digital and CD formats early in 2014.
The second doesn’t
technically see an official release until January 7, 2014, but its been
floating around the web in heavy rotation since September, and I’ve heard it
too many times not to include it in my 2013 list. Peter Gabriel began a
two-part project over four years that entailed him covering songs from some of
his favorite artists on the 2010 album Scratch My Back. All the artists were
then to join him for a covers album of their favorites from his catalogue. Some
of the artists were disappointed with the results of his covers of their songs
and backed out of the project. To be sure Scratch My Back was a let down that
made for better sleep induction than homage. However, Gabriel has finally
finished his passion project with only three artist substitutions from the
original line up. The resulting covers of Gabriel’s work is impressive to say
the least with incredible contributions by David Byrne, Lou Reed, Bon Iver,
Regina Spektor, Brian Eno, Arcade Fire, Randy Newman, and Paul Simon among
others.
The Time Has Come To Shoot
You Down… What a Sound
The Flaming Lips &
Friends
???
November 29
???
???
…And I’ll Scratch Yours
Peter Gabriel & Friends
Real World Productions
The second set of albums come
from the world of cinema. I usually include at least one soundtrack album in my
list each year. This year there were two that stood out, and both involved one
artist in particular who has championed the return of electronic scoring to
Hollywood. The electronic score has been making a comeback for quite some time
with filmmakers frequently taping well-known pop bands to score their material.
However, when Daft Punk, The Chemical Brothers or M83 are already booked, Cliff
Martinez is the man to call if you want to go electronic.
Early in the year, Martinez
collaborated with hip-hop artist Skrillex for the powerful and dramatic
soundtrack to Harmony Korine’s controversial film “Spring Breakers”. Later in
the year he flew solo to score to the even more controversial and divisive film
“Only God Forgives”. Both albums are worthy of this list.
Spring Breakers
Cliff Martinez &
Skrillex
Big Beat Records/Atlantic
Only God Forgives
Cliff Martinez
Milan Records
Best EPs of 2013
The extended play has always
been one of my favorite format lengths. I’m not a singles man. I like something
containing more than just one song. However, sometime those long players—especially
since the dawn of the deluxe edition—can go on a little longer than I’d like.
The EP is a great solution to that problem. It also allows artists to get
tracks out to the public that don’t quite fit into the themes of an entire
album, or different versions that can be just as good, if not better, than the
album versions.
I’ve included five EPs on
this list, although there were a good deal more worthy of mention. The first
shares its number one status with its sister on the album list for the same band,
No Joy. The second is also from a band that I just can’t seem to escape this
year. Having already earned a spot on my album list and a special jury prize,
perhaps the biggest accomplishment by The Flaming Lips this year was their
break into the mainstream with a Super Bowl ad spot and by contributing scoring
elements to the Hollywood franchise effort “Ender’s Game”, which makes up their
Peace Sword EP. They sold out without selling out their sound. Elvis Costello
& The Roots would’ve landed a spot on my top ten on any other year with
their collaboration album Wise Up Ghost. They get the next best thing here with
some excellent reworks from that album. Bhi Bhiman joins the covers movement
with his remarkable collection of acoustic 80s covers from the likes of Tom
Petty, AC/DC, The Police, Talking Heads, Dire Straits and Dio. And finally,
while their introductory EP was technically posted on Bandcamp in December of
last year, word didn’t really get around about the soul rocking of St. Paul
& The Broken Bones until about mid-summer. Their debut LP is scheduled to
drop February 14, 2014.
Pastel and Pass Out
No Joy
Mexican Summer
Peace Sword
The Flaming Lips
Warner Bros.
Wise Up: Thought Remixes
& Reworks
Elvis Costello & The
Roots
Blue Note Records
Substitute Preacher
Bhi Bhiman
Boocoo Music
Greetings from St. Paul
& The Broken Bones
St. Paul & The Broken
Bones
Bandcamp
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