So I listened to a shit-ton of albums this year. Now I don’t really know enough about music to know how to write about music, but this is the friggin’ internet. Not knowing how to do things simply isn’t the stumbling block it used to be. So, with that in mind, here are my ten favorite albums from this year:
My Bloody Valentine, “M B V”
Shoegaze is not a genre I’m particularly familiar with. But if it all sounds like this… well, that’s something I could really get behind. It’s all hazy and fuzzy and droning, none of which probably sounds that appealing, but when you listen to it, it’s actually really beautiful. And the best part is that because I’d never really heard them before, the eleven year wait between albums didn’t bother me at all. Waiting for the next album’s probably gonna suck, though…
STANDOUT TRACKS: “She Found Now”; “Who Sees You”; “In Another Way”
Deltron 3030, “Event 2”
I’m never not happy to hear from Del The Funkee Homosapien and Dan The Automator. I don’t know that this late to the party sequel holds up to the epic awesomeness of the first Deltron 3030 album, but it’s a whole lot of fun. Plus, ‘What Is This Loneliness?’ featuring Damon Albarn might be the closest we get to a new Gorillaz tack for quite awhile…
STANDOUT TRACKS: “The Return”; “The Agony”; “Melding Of The Minds”
Goodie Mob, “Age Against The Machine”
Do people even remember that Cee Lo was a rapper? Because he was, and he was pretty damn good at it. I’m glad the gang settled whatever dispute had them at odds the past few years, because it reminded me how much I’d missed their special brand of weird-assed Atlanta funk. If nothing else, they deserve props for co-opting the phrase “White Power!”
STANDOUT TRACKS: “State Of The Art (Radio Killa)”; “I’m Set”; “Kolors”
Chvrches, “The Bones of What You Believe”
Stated as simply as possible: Electropop done right…
STANDOUT TRACKS: “We Sink”; “Science/Visions”; “Under The Tide”; “Gun”
Kanye West, “Yeezus”
Infuriating, but true: this is the best album of 2013. Because Kanye is probably the second most annoying celebrity in the world, there’s a small, petty part of me that wanted him to fall on his face. He’s got this insane ego, and this hubris that makes you actively root against him. But then he goes and he backs up his own bullshit with ten tracks of absolute perfection. So yeah, you win this round, West. But for once in your life at least TRY to be a good sport about it…
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Black Skinhead”; “I Am A God”; “Bound 2”
eels, “Wonderful, Glorious”
That title is not sarcastic, guys: This album just plain feels good. It’s upbeat in a way that modern rock rarely ever is. Which isn’t what you’d expect from a band known for songs like “Your Lucky Day In Hell”, “Novocaine For The Soul”, and “The Trouble With Dreams”. They got happy without sacrificing their weird, so… respect.
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Kinda Fuzzy”; “On The Ropes”; “New Alphabet”
Kavinsky, Out Run”
Ever since ‘Nightcall’ and ‘Deadcruiser’, I’ve been practically salivating to hear more. And finally, we have an EP from the living embodiment of 80’s style-awesome. There’s not a single dead spot on this whole album.
STANDOUT TRACKS: “Odd Look”; “Rampage”; “First Blood”
Blood Orange, “Cupid Deluxe”
It seems like the eighties are repeating on us, pop culturally speaking. In some ways, this is a very, very bad thing. But if that’s what it took to give me this album, than I can suffer through a 21st century ‘Footloose’ or two…
Cold War Kids, “Dear Miss Lonelyhearts”
If I could offer some advice to any fledgling bands out there: If any given six and a half minutes of your first album is as good as the one-two punch of ‘Miracle Mile’ and ‘Lost That Easy’ that start the Cold War Kids fourth, feel free to quit: you’re probably not going to ever do better than that…
(OTHER) STANDOUT TRACKS: “Bottled Affection”; Loner Phase”; “Water & Power”
Bad Rabbits, “American Love”
When you go on random music searches, you always hope you’ll find something like this. I hadn’t heard anything about ‘Bad Rabbits’, and I started playing it and they had me from minute one. It was exactly the kind of sexy, soulful gleefully immatureed, grown folks music I grew up listening to and assumed was gone for good.
STANDOUT TRACKS: “We Can Roll”; “Can’t Fool Me”; “Dirty”
Janelle Monae, “Electric Lady”
Calling her “the female Prince” is one of those well-intentioned backhanded compliments I’d probably resort to a lot if I did this sort of thing more often, plus it does Janelle Monae a disservice. She’s on her own planet, and it’s way cooler than ours.
STANDOUT TRACKS: “We Were Rock & Roll”; “Primetime”; “Ghetto Woman”
Pryorball. 