Jump to content
aberdeen-music

Your favourite albums of 2013.


Paranoid Android

Recommended Posts

It's that time of year again. Everyone's making lists, loads of websites already have their end of year lists out and I checked last year's thread was started in November so you can't say this is too early.

 

So what are your top 5, top 10, top 50, top 1000 or whatever albums released this year?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35. DJ Koze - Amygdala
34. British Sea Power - Machineries of Joy
33. Kanye West - Yeezus
32: Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin
31: William Tyler - Impossible Truth

30: Quadron - Avalanche
29. John Hopkins - Immunity
28: Disclosure - Settle
27: Franz Ferdinand - Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
26: AlunaGeorge - Body Music
25: DJ Overdose - Bizarro World
24: Beautiful Swimmers - Swim
23: Kurt Vile - Walking on a Pretty Daze
22: Ariana Grande - Yours Truly
21: Bill Callahan - Dream River

20: Cassie - RockaByeBaby
19: The National - Trouble Will Find Me
18: Neville Watson - Songs to Elevate Pure Hearts
17: The Field - Cupid's Head
16: Danny Brown - Old
15: Emma Louise - Vs Head Vs Heart
14: Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe
13: Omar S - Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself
12: Octo Octa - Between Two Selves
11: Cosby - Hands Together

10: Sky Ferreira - Night Time, My Time
09: Maxmillion Dunbar - House of Woo
08: Elliphant - A Good Idea
07: Classixx - Hanging Gardens
06: Kyle Hall - The Boat Party
05: Natasha Kmeto - Crisis
04: Cut Copy - Free Your Mind
03: Arctic Monkeys - AM
02: CharliXCX - True Romance
01: The Knife - Shaking The Habitual

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In nae order other than by memory...

 

Yo La Tengo - Fade

Eels - Wonderful, Glorious

Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

David Bowie - The Next Day

Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin

California X - California X

Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record

Superchunk - I Hate Music

The Shithawks - Meat The Shithawks

Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt

(Swearin' - Swearin')

Swearin' - Surfing Strange

Gold Panda - Half of Where You Live
King Khan & the Shrines - Idle No More

 

Okay, that's more than I thought I remembered. Good work, 2013. I only discovered King Khan in the last two weeks or so, though, so I'll probably end up adding a few more before the year is out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

RVIVR -The Beauty Between

Ghostface Killah - 12 Reasons To Die

The Flatliners - Dead Language

Pelican - Forever Becoming

RA The Rugged Man - Legends Never Die

Jesu - Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Shad - Flying Colours

Dirtdrinker - s/t

Iron Lung - White Glove Test

Inspectah Deck + 7L & Esoteric - Czarface

Doomriders - Grand Blood

Cubbiebear - Force Back To Sleep

Joey Badass - Summer Knights

They Might Be Giants - Nanobots

 

There might be more. I can't remember what came out earlier in the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In chronological order of when I heard them:

 

Kvelertak - Meir

And So I Watch You From Afar - All Hail Bright Futures

Inter Arma - Sky Burial

KEN Mode - Entrench

Dinosaur Pile-Up - Nature Nurture

Nails - Abandon All Life

Crash of Rhinos - Knots

Lord Dying - Summon the Faithless

Stray From The Path - Anonymous

65daysofstatic - Wild Light

Modern Life Is War - Fever Hunting

East Of The Wall - Reaction Artifacts

Skeletonwitch - Serpents Unleashed

 

There are loads more that I've liked but those are the off the top of my head standouts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In nae order other than by memory...

 

Yo La Tengo - Fade

Eels - Wonderful, Glorious

Marnie Stern - The Chronicles of Marnia

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away

David Bowie - The Next Day

Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold

Thee Oh Sees - Floating Coffin

California X - California X

Eleanor Friedberger - Personal Record

Superchunk - I Hate Music

The Shithawks - Meat The Shithawks

Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt

(Swearin' - Swearin')

Swearin' - Surfing Strange

Gold Panda - Half of Where You Live

King Khan & the Shrines - Idle No More

 

Okay, that's more than I thought I remembered. Good work, 2013. I only discovered King Khan in the last two weeks or so, though, so I'll probably end up adding a few more before the year is out.

Oh aye, and Traams - Grin.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In no order, my top 10:

Chelsea Light Moving- Chelsea Light Moving

Grouper- The Man Who Died In His Boat

Retribution Gospel Choir- 3

His Name Is Codeine- The Only Truth Is Music

Parquet Courts- Light Up Gold

Laura Veirs- Warp and Weft

D I R T D R I N K E R- s/t LP

Swearin'- Surfing Strange

Hookworms- Pearl Mystic

Adam Stafford- Imaginary Walls Collapse

Honourable mentions for Joanna Gruesome- Weird Sister, The Shithawks- Meat The Shithawks and The Shouting Matches- Grownass Man.

I've also just realised there was a Barn Owl record this year that I seem to have missed.

My most listened to EP this year was probably Little Anchors- A Searing Analysis of Pretty Much Everything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's 3 fantastic albums i've discovered today thanks to this thread.

 

I've liked them for a few years.  Their previous album 'Dans' is very decent.  You can download most of their old stuff for free from their website:

http://www.kimkio.org/?id=6

I saw them in Glasgow a couple of years ago supporting Moon Duo and they were top quality.  They seemed genuinely amazed that I'd even heard of them too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did slightly better than Milner but not much. Everything I've bought this year:

 

Bastille - Bad Blood

Chvrches - The Bones Of What You Believe

Johnny Marr - The Messenger

They Might Be Giants - Nanobots

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

She & Him - Volume 3

Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've liked them for a few years.  Their previous album 'Dans' is very decent.  You can download most of their old stuff for free from their website:

http://www.kimkio.org/?id=6

I saw them in Glasgow a couple of years ago supporting Moon Duo and they were top quality.  They seemed genuinely amazed that I'd even heard of them too.

 

Great stuff. Will check that out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Those you could place in an arbitrary order on a list:-

 

  • Danny Brown, "Old": A beautiful autobiographical mess that didn't quite grab me like his last release, but still excited. It was cool to hear him reach into his past sound on the first half of the album, then dive into a pile of amped-up EDM/trap-influenced music on the second.
  • Freddie Gibbs, "ESGN": Pure gangsta rap from an incredibly consistent midwesterner. He switched his beat selection up and there are a lot more booming 808s and snappy snares on this than his mixtapes, but its clearly his best project. Songs like "Eastside Moonwalker" are the sound of an artists reaching his next level.
  • Flatbush Zombies, "Better Off Dead": I think two of these gadgies have only been rapping for two years, which is absolutely insane to me, given how accomplished this mixtape is. Three MCs with perfect voices for hip-hop coming aggressive from the start. Dark, pulsing production. A real original sound, and it's hard to think of an MC who outshined Meechy Darko this year.
  • Ghostface Killah, "12 Reasons to Die": Another strong release from the greatest rapper who ever lived. A corny crime story over Adrian Younge's lush, live instrumentation. Outstanding guest appearances. Very cohesive. I just expect Ghost to piss excellence at this stage, and projects like this really hammer home the art of the album as a whole.
  • Pusha T, "My Name is My Name": The marketing for this album blew me away. The first few listens disappointed me. Now, it's one of my favourites of the year, apart from the stupid, shitty Kelly Rowland track. Murky crime raps over some absolutely ridiculous production, and he's about the only MC to not get completely bodied by Kendrick Lamar this year ("Nosetalgia").
  • Mr. MFN eXquire, "Kismet": Another release that is much better than any free release has any right to be. He's always been a skilled MC, but he sounds excellent over his own production. I don't think there are many who can match him at the moment.
  • Billy Woods, "Dour Candy": This was a fucking treat. Produced entirely by Blockhead and dark as hell. Onion-like, layered lyrics spat in an almost spoken-world kinda style. Deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
  • CZARFACE, "CZARFACE": I listened to a lot of hard-nosed East Coast hip-hop this year, and this took the cherry. 7L on the boards, Esoteric and Inspectah Deck (!!!) spitting bars. For what it is, it's almost perfect. Non-stop bars and absolutely monstrous bangers. Try putting this on and walking down the street -- if you don't end-up walking with a massive, accidental swagger then you probably lack a soul.

The undisputed best thing I heard this year:-

 

  • Run the Jewels, "Run the Jewels": Madre de dios, this was almost perfect. Imagine "Watch the Throne" if "What the Throne" was made by a couple of fierce, underground spitters rather than a couple of lazy rich dudes. El-P and Killer Mike sound like they've been making music together for decades, such is their chemistry. When they put-out "R.A.P Music" together last year, I thought they'd never top it, but this is a completely different beast. You get Killer Mike with his gruff, southern swagger and El-P's paranoid, schizoid bars bouncing off one another for 10 tracks, and El's production is typically brilliant. A great variety of sounds from start to finish and an insane amount of quoteables. 33 minutes of fire, venom and hunger from the most vital force in hip-hop today.
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...