Your Album(s) of the Year - 2013

[Gamerforlife]

And you saw my thoughts on Arcade Fire...

Yeah, I'm sure you're right, just hard to believe until you hear it for yourself.

Any thoughts on The National or Sigur Ros?

You know the new Arcade Fire album didn't do much for me either, except for 1 or 2 songs. I keep telling myself that it'll get better after a few listens, but it hasn't.

I love this thread. I don't keep up with music as well as some of you, so it's nice to see what was notable this year.

[Razzmatazz]

I shan't fill up this thread with my write-up, but I posted a hip hop one on my blog if anybody's interested - http://hiphopjudge.wordpress.com/best-of-2013/

[Metal Jesus]

I have to go with the self titled Dream Theater album. These constantly surprise and never disappoint progrock fans like me

[ZenErik]

Just how good is the new DT album? Last one I really liked was 6DoiT. And ToT was alright. After that... Eh. They lost me.

[J T]

I heard a lot of great music this year. I'm having a hard time narrowing down a list:

Anamanaguchi: Endless Fantasy
Chiptune-rock masters return in full form.

ProleteR: Feeding the Lions EP
Jazzed out sample funk.

Missile Chewbacca: Missile Chewbacca
Japanese electro hardcore awesome sauce

Meishi Smile: .exe
Dreamy electro that I have listened to countless times this year.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu: Nanda Collection
Japanese pop weirdness. Kyary, to quote Joan Jett, I hate myself for loving you.

Marnie Stern: The Chronicles of Marnia
Northwest guitar tapping songstress has plenty of pluck and metal.

The Knife: Shaking The Habitual
Artistic. Daring. Evocative.

Kavinsky: OutRun
It's the 80s as seen through electro nostalgia.

Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolt
Still got it.

NIN: Hesitation Marks
As others said, never a bad album.

Juno Reactor: The Golden Sun of Great East
Goa trance kings retain their throne.

Janelle Monae: The Electric Lady
What dsh said.

Ivan and Alyosha: All The Times We Had
Folksy indie rock from the Northwest. Good stuff.

How To Destroy Angels: Welcome Oblivion
Reznor's other project with their best release yet.

The Hendersons: Odds and Ends
Sounds like the Beattles.

Disclosure: Settle
The best house album in many years.

David Bowie: The Next Day
Never boring

Cloud Cult: Love
Artist collective that always comes from the heart.

Clairy Brown & The Bangin’ Rackettes: Baby Caught The Bus
White sister's got soul!

Charles Bradley: Victim of Love
James Brown reincarnate.

Chance the Rapper: Acid Rap
Adventurous and soulful hip hop with a twinge of weird.

The Bullitts: They Die By Dawn
Interesting genre-spanning project with spoken word.

Boards of Canada: Tomorrow’s Harvest
As always, ancient-futuristic bliss.

A_Rival: Truth Cannon
dubchipstep blowing out your speakers. His best yet.

[noiseredux]

Chance the Rapper: Acid Rap
Adventurous and soulful hip hop with a twinge of weird.

this is my favorite song, I just don't know the words, but I still fuck with you.

[Gamerforlife]

Ah man, I totally forgot Anamanaguchi's Endless Fantasy was a 2013 release. Thanks JT. I've thoroughly enjoyed that album. It still gets regular play on my ipod.



I also really enjoyed the new Kvelertak album

[BurningDoom]

As awesome as that cover art is, the metal inside is even better!

[Nintendork666]

Without a doubt, Crying's Get Olde EP is my 2013 album of the year. Nothing even comes close to how much I enjoy this. It's the perfect blend of chiptune and cute indie rock that has gotten stuck in my head consistently since first hearing it.

The only flaw I can think of is that it doesn't last nearly long enough. I can't wait to listen to what these guys put out next.



Feel free to check it out for it yourself here: http://wearecrying.bandcamp.com/

I was also really impressed by the Skeletonwitch album that GSZX1337 posted in the Metalhead thread, Serpents Unleashed. Extremely heavy, yet undeniably melodic, like he'd described. This is the first Skeletonwitch album I've heard, and I'm very impressed. I haven't enjoyed a new metal cd this much in quite a while.



Monster Magnet's Last Patrol is also all kinds of badass, and very catchy. A strong return to form for them. I'll list that as my #3 for the year.



My Bloody Valentine's mbv was awesome, and made a surprisingly big splash on the internet when it was released, if I remember correctly. Not as captivating for me as their 90's material - but DAMMIT, IT WAS A NEW MY BLOODY VALENTINE ALBUM. It stuns me how much emotion a well thought-out, somber shoegaze riff can bring out of me. mbv offers a whole lot of that.



...............

Avril Lavigne's self-titled, and Miley Cyrus' Bangerz were my biggest disappointments of 2013. I really, really wanted to like them both (especially Avril's), but damn did they fall short of my expectations.

Still need to check out the new NIN.

[noiseredux]

1. A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP
Rocky killed it this year. This album came out in January, and I still listen to it weekly. Dude is really amazing to me. And he's still young! But the beat selection is huge too. I love all the chopped 'n screwed style slowness. I'm super excited for the A$AP Mob album coming this year.
"LVL" -

2. Kanye West Yeezus
Was tough deciding between this and Rocky, but ultimately I listened to Rocky more even if this is the more impressive album. I love when artists throw a curve-ball and Kanye's been doing that for several albums now. I've said it before, but this sounds to me like Kanye fronting the band Suicide. Which is awesome.
"Send It Up" -

3. Spring Breakers (soundtrack)
This album will forever remind me of the Summer of 2013. My wife and I were just recent homeowners, and this is the soundtrack to mowing lawns for the first time, painting rooms, and getting in the few trips to the beach we could. A mix of Skrillex & Cliff Martinez doing scores, some Southern hip hop and bits of electropop. (Sadly missing the Britney song though!) Even though a lot of this material was culled from previously released albums, it just works so well as a cohesive whole.
"Son of Scary Monsters" Cliff Martinez & Skrillex -

4. Jay-Z - Magna Carta… Holy Grail
I love HOVA. We all know that. This one didn't get much praise, but I really enjoyed it and listened to it a hell of a lot. It's more of a club (or cruising) album than a deep thoughts album. But it seems like even when Jay doesn't have a whole lot on his mind, he still sounds great saying whatever it is that comes out.
"Picasso Baby" -

5. Eminem - The Marhsall Mathers LP 2
This was a real nice surprise! Basically the most consistent release from Em in years. I'll put this above Relapse and Recovery. He just sounds like he's really really hungry on this one. Like he's got something to prove.
"Rap God" -

6. Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons To Die
OMG! Ok, so Ghost hires a live band to create something sounding like the score to an Italian Giallo film and then writes a concept album about his own origin. Unreal. This guy will never slow down!
"An Unexpected Call" -

7. Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Man, this guy can't seem to make a bad album. But what's cool about NWTS is just how focused it is. It's like Drake really got comfortable with making an ALBUM instead of just an awesome collection of songs. It's crazy to me the progression he's made in a relatively short period of time.
"Tuscan Leather" -


8. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap
Chance is that guy who came out of NOWHERE this year. His voice can turn folks off, but once you get used to it he's just incredible to try to follow his syllables. Chance is definitely one to keep an eye on seeing as how this was a freebie mixtape. He's going places for sure.
"Favorite Song" -

9. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience
If you are a JT fan there's no way this album could have let you down. It's a crazy sprawling work that gives the production plenty of room to breathe, move around and then morph into something else. I couldn't say the same about Vol 2, but this first set is untouchable.
"Strawberry Bubblegum" -

10. Lil Wayne - I Am Not A Human Being II
What a mess! Weezy made a play towards getting focused again this year (see also: Dedication 5) but couldn't quite do it. So basically I love half of this record and could do without the other half. But the half I loved, well that kept me coming back to it all year... even more so than albums I heard that I'd call "better albums."
"Trippy" -


...PS

some albums that were close contenders were Chelsea Light Moving's S/t album, Danny Brown's OLD, Tyler's WOLF and Earl Sweatshirt's DORIS. Oh and Joey Bada$$ and Tha Underachiverz made great mixtapes. As was the NY Renaissance mixtape assembled by Peter Rosenberg. These just happened to be the ones I listened to most though. I also didn't buy a ton of albums this year w/ the house and all. I probably listened to Pandora more than albums. Oh, biggest disappointment for me was Flaming Lips' THE TERROR which I found shockingly boring. And I think if I had picked up Neil Young's CELLAR DOOR set, that would have probably landed on here. Shrug.