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defrogIt’s that time again. 2013 is a done deal, and in terms of music it differed from 2012 in three distinct ways: (1) more digital downloads, (2) more variety and (2) more surprises.
Point (3) really fed Point (2) – I just kept being tipped off to certain albums (usually friend recommendations) that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about or tried. And of course, no one was expecting a comeback album from David Bowie, much less a good one.
As for Point (1), it was a question of budget. With local CD stores shrinking and/or disappearing, I really do rely on Amazon to get CDs I actually like, and the international shipping surcharge is murder. Plus, let’s be honest – the first thing I do with the CD is rip it and stick the songs on my iPod. My only concern with digital has been making sure I can keep copies of them (one great thing about CDs – they serve as physical back-ups for my MP3s). But after some experimentation, I found the local iTunes to be pretty reliable. (I’d buy from Amazon, but only Americans are allowed to buy digital tracks there, because piracy is killing music, you see). And you can’t beat the price. However, I still buy CDs for albums I can get locally that are worth the extra money.
Anyway …
Like last year, 2013 yielded a field of good albums but not many awesome ones. Indeed, some of the better releases of 2013 weren’t new music at all, but re-releases of old music (as covered in our pre-show awards). And, as always, there’s not much here in the way of new acts – most of the artists on my list are still old-timers, with some even pushing their early 70s.
Still, this is one of the stronger Top 10s I’ve had in awhile. So it’s all good, really.
Let’s get to it.
DISCLAIMER: Based on music I actually bought/acquired/downloaded between December 2012 and November 2013, and therefore a useless metric for everyone else.
TOP 20 DEF LPs/EPs/DOWNLOADS OF 2013
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd)
2. David Bowie, The Next Day (ISO/Columbia)
3. The Thermals, Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek Records)
4. Dog Party, Lost Control (Asian Man Records)
5. Joanna Wang, Galaxy Crisis: The Strangest Midnight Broadcast (Sony)
6. Marnie Stern, The Chronicles Of Marnia (Kill Rock Stars)
7. Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood, Black Pudding (Heavenly)
8. David Lynch, The Big Dream (Sunday Best)
9. Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Anti-)
10. Throwing Muses, Purgatory/Paradise (Throwing Music)
11. Tony Joe White, Hoodoo (Yep Roc)
12. The Fall, Re-Mit (Cherry Red)
13. Johnny Dowd, Do The Gargon (Mother Jinx Records)
14. MIA, Matangi (Interscope)
15. Janelle Monae, The Electric Lady (Bad Boy/Wondaland)
16. The Relatives, The Electric Word (Yep Roc)
17. Black Sabbath, 13 (Vertigo)
18. They Might Be Giants, Nanobots (Idlewild/Megaforce)
19. !!!, Thr!!!er (Warp)
20. Petra Haden, Petra Goes To The Movies (Anti-)
===============================================
TOP 20 DEF LPs/EPs/DOWNLOADS OF 2013: EXTENDED PLAY
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd)
Cave and Co do a 180 from the primal rock swagger of Dig! Lazarus Dig!, resulting in Cave’s quietest album in awhile. But “quiet” doesn’t mean “boring” or “sedate”. Push The Sky Away brims over with menacing melancholy. It’s the kind of album you’d want to listen to at 3:00 in the morning after a long day and a rough night, sitting on a balcony, drinking whiskey and staring down the moon until it blinks first.
2. David Bowie, The Next Day (ISO/Columbia)
Probably the most talked about record of 2013 – partly because Bowie surprised everyone just by releasing it, and partly because of the cover art, but mainly because it was better than just about everyone expected it to be. Yes, the quality varies here and there, but when it sparks, it starts fires.
3. The Thermals, Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek Records)
I love The Thermals, but their previous album, Personal Life, which indeed did get personal, was rather disappointing. This makes up for it – a song cycle about war and violence, which suits their furious powerpop style and Hutch Harris’ passionate vocals well. Glorious.
4. Dog Party, Lost Control (Asian Man Records)
Third album by the Giles sisters, who write and play classic old-school punk from the Ramones, The Weirdos and X (indeed, they even cover “Los Angeles” here). Much is made of the fact that they’re both under 18, but whether that’s a factor or not, it’s a brilliantly fun record, and they sound like they’re having a great time.
5. Joanna Wang, Galaxy Crisis: The Strangest Midnight Broadcast (Sony)
The latest album from Taiwanese singer/songwriter Joanna Wang. It’s ostensibly a concept album with videogames as the central theme, with some tracks serving as soundtracks for imaginary games. There’s a lot of reference points here, from Regina Spector, They Might Be Giants and Sparks to The Bird and The Bee, Pizzicato 5 and Barry Gray – not to mention old 8-bit videogame music. Charming!
6. Marnie Stern, The Chronicles Of Marnia (Kill Rock Stars)
Forget all the hype about Stern’s guitar-playing chops – this is completely bonkers indie rock that sounds like some demented tribe of extraterrestrial winged unicorns from Arcturus backed by Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of the B-52s. I can see a lot of people getting annoyed by her vocal style alone, but there’s something just insanely joyful about the whole album that appeals to me.
7. Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood, Black Pudding (Heavenly)
Mark Lanegan was pretty prolific this year, putting out an album of covers as well as this collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood. I didn’t get around to hearing the former, but the latter is captivating stuff that works best when Garwood shifts into blues mode, which suits Lanegan’s dark vocal style perfectly. Hypnotic and haunting, like an abandoned house in the woods (only without demon-possessed zombies).
8. David Lynch, The Big Dream (Sunday Best)
I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. But this really grew on me. It sounds kind of like what you’d expect a David Lynch album to sound like – sort of like driving on the interstate at 3am scanning the radio dial and discovering some weird radio station broadcasting oldies from a parallel universe. American innocence filtered through a hazy, murky nightmare amp. I do think you kind of have to like Lynch’s films to really get it. And Lynch’s nerdy voice alone will probably put some people off. But not me.
9. Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Anti-)
Case’s sixth album, which in places has a bit more edge to it than her more recent albums. That’s not a bad thing at all – her lyrics are as excellent as ever, and her voice is still one of the best in the business. At times angry, funny, haunting, and magical, it’s a little jarring but in a good way.
10. Throwing Muses, Purgatory/Paradise (Throwing Music)
After ten years on hiatus, Throwing Muses returned to active service this year with an album of 32 songs – some split into parts, and some less than a minute long, accompanied by a book of writings by Kristin Hersh related to the songs. Result: their strongest album in a really long time, with a nice rawness to it. The splitting up of songs sometimes makes it feel a bit repetitive, but not to the point of wearing out its welcome.
11. Tony Joe White, Hoodoo (Yep Roc)
I was somewhat aware that White was still active, but I heard enough good things about this album that I decided to check it out. It’s the kind of cool-breeze swamp blues that White is so good at. It’s good music for listening to whilst chilling out on the porch on a hot summer night with a mint julep in one hand watching a thunderstorm roll in.
12. The Fall, Re-Mit (Cherry Red)
Studio album no. 30 for Mark E Smith and company (in this case, the same line-up as the previous three albums). And it sounds exactly like what you’d expect – Smith snarling and spewing nonsense backed by punkish grooves. And it’s a nice return to form after 2011’s Ersatz GB, which was okay but not too inspiring, music-wise.
13. Johnny Dowd, Do The Gargon (Mother Jinx Records)
Concept album about a dance monster who wears Nancy Sinatra boots and hits on ladies in discos. But of course. Musically it’s funky experimental trash rock (or something along those lines) that serves as the perfect bedrock for Dowd’s laconic drawl.
14. MIA, Matangi (Interscope)
MIA won me over with her previous album Maya, and her fourth album Matangi keeps the love affair going. It’s a bit more ear-friendly than Maya, but not by much – it’s the sound of Third World kids arming themselves with digital technology and asserting themselves as a voice that you can’t afford to ignore for much longer. Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating a little. But MIA has more to say than most artists in hip-hop. So, you know, respect.
15. Janelle Monae, The Electric Lady (Bad Boy/Wondaland)
Monae got my attention a few years ago with her debut full-length album, The Archandroid. Her follow-up continues the loose sci-fi concept of songs written from the perspective of alien android Cindi Mayweather in a universe where androids are second-class citizens. There’s no storyline, but it’s an improvement on the formula – rich, layered music that covers a wide variety of styles within the R&B template, and sometimes outside of it. With bonus Prince on guitar!
16. The Relatives, The Electric Word (Yep Roc)
The Relatives are a funk gospel group from Dallas who cut a few records in the early 70s in the spirit of The Temptations (circa “Ball Of Confusion”), but never found a national audience. Now they’re enjoying a comeback. The debt to The Temptations and The Four Tops is pretty obvious, but it’s still impressive.
17. Black Sabbath, 13 (Vertigo)
I’m probably the only person on Earth who will include this in their Best Of 2013 list. I can sort of see why – with Bill Ward missing, it’s not exactly the proper reunion album fans had hoped for. But it’s a far better album than people give it credit for – Iommi’s riffage is as heavy as you like, Butler holds up the bottom end admirably, and Ozzy … well, still sounds like Ozzy. It was never going to be as good as their classic records, but there’s still quite a few songs to be proud of here.
18. They Might Be Giants, Nanobots (Idlewild/Megaforce)
They Might Be Giants continue to crank out the hits. Or at least a new album (their 16th). It sounds more or less the way you’d expect, although – apropos of the title – they also showcase their ability to write songs shorter than 20 seconds. I don’t have much more to say about it – either yr onboard with TMBG or yr not, at this stage, and this album won’t change that. But it does have some gems on it.
19. !!!, Thr!!!er (Warp)
!!! (a.k.a. Chk Chk Chk) get a lot of crap about their name, but I’ve been a fan of their art-funk sound for awhile now. Thr!!!er goes for a more pop feel than previous albums. This is not necessarily a good thing, depending on whether you prefer it funky or poppy. I prefer the former, and !!!’s attempts to balance the two are somewhat hit and miss. Still, sometimes it works.
20. Petra Haden, Petra Goes To The Movies (Anti-)
In which Haden does (mostly) a capella versions of movie soundtracks, from Cool Hand Luke and Psycho to Superman and A Fist Full Of Dollars. It smacks of novelty, and in a way it is, but it’s undeniably cool enough that some of the tracks still sound great after the novelty wears off. The weaker tracks are the one where she does actual songs with musical backing (albeit from Brad Mehldau, bassist Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell), which are good but seem a bit pedestrian in comparison.
And we’re done here.
Same time next year,
This is dF
Point (3) really fed Point (2) – I just kept being tipped off to certain albums (usually friend recommendations) that I otherwise wouldn’t have known about or tried. And of course, no one was expecting a comeback album from David Bowie, much less a good one.
As for Point (1), it was a question of budget. With local CD stores shrinking and/or disappearing, I really do rely on Amazon to get CDs I actually like, and the international shipping surcharge is murder. Plus, let’s be honest – the first thing I do with the CD is rip it and stick the songs on my iPod. My only concern with digital has been making sure I can keep copies of them (one great thing about CDs – they serve as physical back-ups for my MP3s). But after some experimentation, I found the local iTunes to be pretty reliable. (I’d buy from Amazon, but only Americans are allowed to buy digital tracks there, because piracy is killing music, you see). And you can’t beat the price. However, I still buy CDs for albums I can get locally that are worth the extra money.
Anyway …
Like last year, 2013 yielded a field of good albums but not many awesome ones. Indeed, some of the better releases of 2013 weren’t new music at all, but re-releases of old music (as covered in our pre-show awards). And, as always, there’s not much here in the way of new acts – most of the artists on my list are still old-timers, with some even pushing their early 70s.
Still, this is one of the stronger Top 10s I’ve had in awhile. So it’s all good, really.
Let’s get to it.
DISCLAIMER: Based on music I actually bought/acquired/downloaded between December 2012 and November 2013, and therefore a useless metric for everyone else.
TOP 20 DEF LPs/EPs/DOWNLOADS OF 2013
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd)
2. David Bowie, The Next Day (ISO/Columbia)
3. The Thermals, Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek Records)
4. Dog Party, Lost Control (Asian Man Records)
5. Joanna Wang, Galaxy Crisis: The Strangest Midnight Broadcast (Sony)
6. Marnie Stern, The Chronicles Of Marnia (Kill Rock Stars)
7. Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood, Black Pudding (Heavenly)
8. David Lynch, The Big Dream (Sunday Best)
9. Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Anti-)
10. Throwing Muses, Purgatory/Paradise (Throwing Music)
11. Tony Joe White, Hoodoo (Yep Roc)
12. The Fall, Re-Mit (Cherry Red)
13. Johnny Dowd, Do The Gargon (Mother Jinx Records)
14. MIA, Matangi (Interscope)
15. Janelle Monae, The Electric Lady (Bad Boy/Wondaland)
16. The Relatives, The Electric Word (Yep Roc)
17. Black Sabbath, 13 (Vertigo)
18. They Might Be Giants, Nanobots (Idlewild/Megaforce)
19. !!!, Thr!!!er (Warp)
20. Petra Haden, Petra Goes To The Movies (Anti-)
===============================================
TOP 20 DEF LPs/EPs/DOWNLOADS OF 2013: EXTENDED PLAY
1. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Push The Sky Away (Bad Seed Ltd)
Cave and Co do a 180 from the primal rock swagger of Dig! Lazarus Dig!, resulting in Cave’s quietest album in awhile. But “quiet” doesn’t mean “boring” or “sedate”. Push The Sky Away brims over with menacing melancholy. It’s the kind of album you’d want to listen to at 3:00 in the morning after a long day and a rough night, sitting on a balcony, drinking whiskey and staring down the moon until it blinks first.
2. David Bowie, The Next Day (ISO/Columbia)
Probably the most talked about record of 2013 – partly because Bowie surprised everyone just by releasing it, and partly because of the cover art, but mainly because it was better than just about everyone expected it to be. Yes, the quality varies here and there, but when it sparks, it starts fires.
3. The Thermals, Desperate Ground (Saddle Creek Records)
I love The Thermals, but their previous album, Personal Life, which indeed did get personal, was rather disappointing. This makes up for it – a song cycle about war and violence, which suits their furious powerpop style and Hutch Harris’ passionate vocals well. Glorious.
4. Dog Party, Lost Control (Asian Man Records)
Third album by the Giles sisters, who write and play classic old-school punk from the Ramones, The Weirdos and X (indeed, they even cover “Los Angeles” here). Much is made of the fact that they’re both under 18, but whether that’s a factor or not, it’s a brilliantly fun record, and they sound like they’re having a great time.
5. Joanna Wang, Galaxy Crisis: The Strangest Midnight Broadcast (Sony)
The latest album from Taiwanese singer/songwriter Joanna Wang. It’s ostensibly a concept album with videogames as the central theme, with some tracks serving as soundtracks for imaginary games. There’s a lot of reference points here, from Regina Spector, They Might Be Giants and Sparks to The Bird and The Bee, Pizzicato 5 and Barry Gray – not to mention old 8-bit videogame music. Charming!
6. Marnie Stern, The Chronicles Of Marnia (Kill Rock Stars)
Forget all the hype about Stern’s guitar-playing chops – this is completely bonkers indie rock that sounds like some demented tribe of extraterrestrial winged unicorns from Arcturus backed by Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of the B-52s. I can see a lot of people getting annoyed by her vocal style alone, but there’s something just insanely joyful about the whole album that appeals to me.
7. Mark Lanegan and Duke Garwood, Black Pudding (Heavenly)
Mark Lanegan was pretty prolific this year, putting out an album of covers as well as this collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood. I didn’t get around to hearing the former, but the latter is captivating stuff that works best when Garwood shifts into blues mode, which suits Lanegan’s dark vocal style perfectly. Hypnotic and haunting, like an abandoned house in the woods (only without demon-possessed zombies).
8. David Lynch, The Big Dream (Sunday Best)
I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. But this really grew on me. It sounds kind of like what you’d expect a David Lynch album to sound like – sort of like driving on the interstate at 3am scanning the radio dial and discovering some weird radio station broadcasting oldies from a parallel universe. American innocence filtered through a hazy, murky nightmare amp. I do think you kind of have to like Lynch’s films to really get it. And Lynch’s nerdy voice alone will probably put some people off. But not me.
9. Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Anti-)
Case’s sixth album, which in places has a bit more edge to it than her more recent albums. That’s not a bad thing at all – her lyrics are as excellent as ever, and her voice is still one of the best in the business. At times angry, funny, haunting, and magical, it’s a little jarring but in a good way.
10. Throwing Muses, Purgatory/Paradise (Throwing Music)
After ten years on hiatus, Throwing Muses returned to active service this year with an album of 32 songs – some split into parts, and some less than a minute long, accompanied by a book of writings by Kristin Hersh related to the songs. Result: their strongest album in a really long time, with a nice rawness to it. The splitting up of songs sometimes makes it feel a bit repetitive, but not to the point of wearing out its welcome.
11. Tony Joe White, Hoodoo (Yep Roc)
I was somewhat aware that White was still active, but I heard enough good things about this album that I decided to check it out. It’s the kind of cool-breeze swamp blues that White is so good at. It’s good music for listening to whilst chilling out on the porch on a hot summer night with a mint julep in one hand watching a thunderstorm roll in.
12. The Fall, Re-Mit (Cherry Red)
Studio album no. 30 for Mark E Smith and company (in this case, the same line-up as the previous three albums). And it sounds exactly like what you’d expect – Smith snarling and spewing nonsense backed by punkish grooves. And it’s a nice return to form after 2011’s Ersatz GB, which was okay but not too inspiring, music-wise.
13. Johnny Dowd, Do The Gargon (Mother Jinx Records)
Concept album about a dance monster who wears Nancy Sinatra boots and hits on ladies in discos. But of course. Musically it’s funky experimental trash rock (or something along those lines) that serves as the perfect bedrock for Dowd’s laconic drawl.
14. MIA, Matangi (Interscope)
MIA won me over with her previous album Maya, and her fourth album Matangi keeps the love affair going. It’s a bit more ear-friendly than Maya, but not by much – it’s the sound of Third World kids arming themselves with digital technology and asserting themselves as a voice that you can’t afford to ignore for much longer. Okay, maybe that’s exaggerating a little. But MIA has more to say than most artists in hip-hop. So, you know, respect.
15. Janelle Monae, The Electric Lady (Bad Boy/Wondaland)
Monae got my attention a few years ago with her debut full-length album, The Archandroid. Her follow-up continues the loose sci-fi concept of songs written from the perspective of alien android Cindi Mayweather in a universe where androids are second-class citizens. There’s no storyline, but it’s an improvement on the formula – rich, layered music that covers a wide variety of styles within the R&B template, and sometimes outside of it. With bonus Prince on guitar!
16. The Relatives, The Electric Word (Yep Roc)
The Relatives are a funk gospel group from Dallas who cut a few records in the early 70s in the spirit of The Temptations (circa “Ball Of Confusion”), but never found a national audience. Now they’re enjoying a comeback. The debt to The Temptations and The Four Tops is pretty obvious, but it’s still impressive.
17. Black Sabbath, 13 (Vertigo)
I’m probably the only person on Earth who will include this in their Best Of 2013 list. I can sort of see why – with Bill Ward missing, it’s not exactly the proper reunion album fans had hoped for. But it’s a far better album than people give it credit for – Iommi’s riffage is as heavy as you like, Butler holds up the bottom end admirably, and Ozzy … well, still sounds like Ozzy. It was never going to be as good as their classic records, but there’s still quite a few songs to be proud of here.
18. They Might Be Giants, Nanobots (Idlewild/Megaforce)
They Might Be Giants continue to crank out the hits. Or at least a new album (their 16th). It sounds more or less the way you’d expect, although – apropos of the title – they also showcase their ability to write songs shorter than 20 seconds. I don’t have much more to say about it – either yr onboard with TMBG or yr not, at this stage, and this album won’t change that. But it does have some gems on it.
19. !!!, Thr!!!er (Warp)
!!! (a.k.a. Chk Chk Chk) get a lot of crap about their name, but I’ve been a fan of their art-funk sound for awhile now. Thr!!!er goes for a more pop feel than previous albums. This is not necessarily a good thing, depending on whether you prefer it funky or poppy. I prefer the former, and !!!’s attempts to balance the two are somewhat hit and miss. Still, sometimes it works.
20. Petra Haden, Petra Goes To The Movies (Anti-)
In which Haden does (mostly) a capella versions of movie soundtracks, from Cool Hand Luke and Psycho to Superman and A Fist Full Of Dollars. It smacks of novelty, and in a way it is, but it’s undeniably cool enough that some of the tracks still sound great after the novelty wears off. The weaker tracks are the one where she does actual songs with musical backing (albeit from Brad Mehldau, bassist Charlie Haden and Bill Frisell), which are good but seem a bit pedestrian in comparison.
And we’re done here.
Same time next year,
This is dF
