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Last Active 01-17-15 4:45 pm
Joined 07-09-09
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| Best Of 2013
The best (ie my favourite- there's no such thing as objectivity) albums from r2013. | | 10 |  | A Wilhelm Scream
Partycrasher
Every year there's at least one album that for whatever reason I only get round to
listening to at about Christmas time, meaning it has only a week or two to try and
force its way onto my end of year list. This year the aptly-titled Partycrasher was
that album, finding itself at number ten. Just like a certain other band on this list,
A Wilhelm Scream are firmly in the camp of 'quality over quantity' when it comes to
writing and releasing new music- a stance which hasn't let them down yet. The
songwriting on Partycrasher is more fleshed out than on previous releases (there
aren?t any sub-two minute thrashes to be found here), while the band seems to
have finally mastered the balance between melody and techy instrumentation. The
opening four tracks are probably amongst the band's best, while the rest of the
album manages to stay close in terms of quality. | | 9 |  | The Computers
Love Triangles Hate Squares
When does evolution become reinvention? That's the question The Computers ask
with Love Triangles, Hate Squares, as they go from fairly one-dimensional shouty
punks playing surf guitar riffs to a fully-fledged punk/soul hybrid. Punk is no
stranger to welcoming in sounds from other genres- ska, folk, thrash, even Irish
country music have been embraced- but this is probably the first time that the
sounds of 1960s/70s soul music has made such an overt and deliberate impression.
It's a credit to The Computers, then, that this never comes off as gimmicky or
contrived, and that each song manages to craft a niche for itself. Love Triangles,
Hate Squares sounds so good that, if anything, we should be wondering why this
sort of thing hasn't been done before. | | 8 | | Balance and Composure
The Things We Think We're Missing
At first I really wasn't impressed with the preview tracks from The Things We Think
We're Missing; at first the likes of Reflection and Tiny Raindrop seemed to lack
melody, making them come across as hazy and distant. While the tracks did grow
on me, the album was still pretty much an impulse buy. It proved to be a sound
one though, as once I 'got' what B&C were going for I really started to enjoy it: it's
supposed to be grungy and atmospheric, and the melodies just take a few listens to
really rise to the surface. The album pretty much defined my musical taste for a
good month, and led me to Bands I Knew I Was Missing like Title Fight and the
entire Run For Cover roster. If 2013 was the year this 90s alt-rock revival became
a recognised thing, The Things We Think We're Missing was one of the front
runners. | | 7 |  | The Flatliners
Dead Language
Dead Language was probably both the best surprise and the most predictable album
of 2013 for me. It was surprising because I didn't even realise The Flatliners were
working on new material, let alone ready to release it a few months after it was
announced. It was predictable because as expected, it's brilliant- since Cavalcade,
every song the band has put out has been incredibly well written (one day they'll
put out the best B-sides album ever) and full of fire. Although Dead Language
didn't mirror the huge jump in quality of its predecessor, frankly it didn't need to as
the band was already working at the top end of the melodic punk spectrum.
Consolidation is fine when it sounds this good. | | 6 |  | Frank Turner
Tape Deck Heart
Given the lyrical themes of the album, my response to Tape Deck Heart was always
going to be about timing. Had it come nine months earlier it probably would have
hit me like an emotional freight train, and would have probably been higher up this
list; in the end that extra space allowed me to appreciate the themes and details
without being totally overwhelmed by them. That doesn't mean Tape Deck Heart
isn't still a great album though: the extra layers of studio gloss suit Turner's
anthemic style, while in support the Sleeping Souls sound as tight as ever. I also
think this is the first of Turner?s albums that can't be divided into the 'hits' and the
'deep cuts'; previous albums may have been similarly unified thematically, but none
have been as consistent in terms of quality. | | 5 |  | Restorations
LP2
There's always one artist who springs pretty much out of nowhere, yet within a few
weeks I've bought and devoured their entire back catalogue (easier for some artists
than others). Filling the Constantines-shaped void that exists in my life (which at
that point I wasn't even aware I had), Restorations are a band whose sound I just
can't get enough of. LP2 keeps the post-rock inspired guitar work, but ramps up
the Springsteen-esque rock 'n' roll influence and puts the rhythm section on a
course of steroids. In fact, I find it pretty much impossible not to air-drum along to
songs such as D or New Old, which can only be a good sign. It's rare to find an
album that can appeal to both the primal punk rock and more intelligent indie rock
sides of my brain, Restorations manage to do it in almost every song. | | 4 |  | Queens of the Stone Age
...Like Clockwork
Another album that I wasn't really too fussed about when it was first announced,
that all changed thanks to QotSA's performance on Jools Holland. The thing that
shone through most was just how good these songs were: while hardly ground-
breaking by mainstream rock standards, they did everything well and just sounded
great. ...Like Clockwork is even better as a whole, feeling cohesive despite the
array of guests and musical approaches on display. The piano moments are
perhaps the most surprising part; I like to think of them as cracks in Josh Homme's
macho rock and roll persona, allowing us to see more fully what lies beneath. The
album?s closing tracks are probably the year's best, rounding out the record with a
beautifully restrained build and climax. | | 3 |  | Streetlight Manifesto
The Hands That Thieve
& Toh Kay - The Hand That Thieves:
Despite what Victory Records might say, these albums are best enjoyed as they
were designed: together. As with A Wilhelm Scream, a new Streetlight album is an
event, something that only happens every few years and something that pretty
much guarantees quality. But the nature of this double album (yes I'm calling it
that) was still surprising- one electric with horns a-blazin', one acoustic with voices
whispered. By this point we know that Thomas Kalnoky writes and arranges
incredible songs, but the electric/acoustic format gives an added layer of depth
that we haven't seen before: the additional final verse in Toh Kay's If Only For
Memories is really touching, and who'd have thought Oh Me, Oh My would find a
home in a Parisian cafe? Although Kalnoky is still rather obsessed lyrically with
death, religion and the afterlife, it seems kind of fitting now the band is winding
down, and this is a great way to go out. | | 2 |  | Laura Marling
Once I Was An Eagle
I can still remember the first time I heard the opening suite of Once I was An Eagle:
Laura Marling's performance of the four tracks on Zane Lowe's Radio 1 show
brought everything to a halt, except for the hairs on the back of my neck. Don't
get me wrong, Marling had had some great moments on her previous albums, but
nothing had hit me with as much force as those four intertwined songs did.
Predictably, the rest of the album was just as brilliant: those hairs didn't stay down
for long. Structurally, conceptually and instrumentally a cohesive whole, Once I
Was An Eagle is a journey from front to back- one made all the more pertinent by
Marling's newfound lyrical openness. The opening half is angry, aggressive and
even arrogant; yet the image of Marling as Master Hunter soon gives way to self-
loathing, self-reflection and self-doubt- by the time the opening motif returns in the
closer Saved These Words, it has become apparent that the album is essentially
coming full-circle. Although at times overwhelming, Once I was An Eagle follows
the old cliche that you get out what you put in, and boy is it worth the effort. | | 1 |  | The National
Trouble Will Find Me
For a long time The National were a band I really didn't like; I thought of them as
another Pitchfork-hyped indie band that hipster wankers put on their end-of-year
lists so they seemed in the know. Amazingly they had achieved this status in my
mind without me actually listening to them. Skip forward two years and I've been
sucked in like everyone else: The National are so good it's not really fair on
everyone else. Trouble Will Find Me might not be the band's 'best' album (probably
Boxer), but it's certainly my favourite: every individual song is written and arranged
to the highest calibre, while Matt Berninger's melodies are simply gorgeous
throughout. However, the thing that makes this an Album of the Year for me is the
way so many of these songs manage to shift gears and evolve into something
different, something far greater. Songs such as Demons, This Is The Last Time and
Graceless feature bridges so superb that at times they feel like completely new
songs. In the hands of a band as good as The National, this technique is almost
lethal.
My top two this year show two different approaches to writing albums; yet for all
of Laura Marling's conceptual depth, The National demonstrate with Trouble Will
Find Me that sometimes making a great album can be as simple as putting 13 great
songs together. | |
gosk8n
01.15.14 | hi
| gosk8n
01.15.14 | nice list
| mitch91
01.15.14 | This is actually way more up-the-punx than I thought it'd be, although Daughter, Nick Cave and some other stuff was close to getting on there. | ILJ
01.15.14 | "I thought of them as another Pitchfork-hyped indie band that hipster wankers put on their end-of-year lists so they seemed in the know."
ugh | ShitsofRain
01.15.14 | needs laura stevenson | Lowder91bird
01.16.14 | Cool list. Trouble Will Find Me is one of my favorite albums of the year. | snowbbird
01.16.14 | Great list. I love most of these albums, especially 3. Probably their best album in my opinion. | PigDestroyer89
01.16.14 | needs nails and gorguts | mryrtmrnfoxxxy
01.21.14 | ugh 1 | Rowan5215
01.21.14 | ^^^ | warlordfun
01.23.14 | Atlantean Kodex - The White Goddess | Vinnymcscoop
11.17.22 | 10 noice =] |
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