Best Albums of 2013

Once again I listened to less new music in 2013 than I really wanted to. I really liked these a lot, though!

Best of 2013

8. Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety


Anxiety mixes modern pop and experimental sensibilities to create something completely catchy that is way too weird to ever show up on top 40 radio. Even the lead single has these great falsetto vocals and infectious chorus that clashes against some dissonant horns and other odd choices. It makes the album sound original when it could have been something I'd otherwise totally ignore.

7. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories


After years of disco and funk being obvious influences on Daft Punk's electronic sound, they pretty much just made a disco and funk album. There's still plenty of modern synth and computerized vocals on there, but it's definitely more old fashioned sounding than their previous work. It's also absolutely loaded with talent contributing up and down the entire tracklist, and there are very few moments along the way that don't work.

6. The National - Trouble Will Find Me


This is now the fourth National album I've listened to, and none of the four truly distinguish themselves from each other. It's good then that the album they keep making is such a good one. It doesn't have any songs quite as good as the very best in their catalog, but the thirteen ones here are all solid, enjoyable rock. The National is a bunch of professional musicians making professional music.

5. Sigur Rós - Kveikur


Kveikur is an interesting release for this band, having as it does both completely obvious radio songs like you've heard from them before, and complete changes in direction like the bombastic and shockingly dark sounding opener. It sits somewhere in the range of accessibility between ( ) and Takk..., which is a pretty good place to sit.

4. The Flaming Lips - The Terror


I've discussed "Watching the Planets", the final track from The Flaming Lips' previous album Embryonic, as sounding like the world is ending, so it seems fitting to describe all of The Terror as sounding like the end of the world. Everything is dead, and only dust remains. It's a bleak, ambient album, which experiments in tones and will latch onto one small hook and work with it for minutes on end. It won't be a fun album for a lot of people, but I love that this band is still experimenting like this.

3. Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe


Lauren Mayberry sounds like a little girl, but she also sounds like one of the most badass singers in modern music. The band plays around with different styles of synth music, from radio-friendly pop to dirtier and more aggressive stuff, but her voice is usually the constant that keeps it all together. Just good song after good song.

2. Kanye West - Yeezus


I don't know that there's another mainstream hip hop artist brave enough to release a record like this. Yeezus is bare bones at times, stark, without a lot of comfortable beats to get sucked into. It's really daring stuff, and while I don't think West is rap's best lyricist or technical vocalist, I think he deserves a lot of credit for ignoring the easy route of releasing another My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and instead pushing his sound in a completely different direction.

1. Arcade Fire - Reflektor


You know you love a band when you actually want a double album to be longer. I actually wasn't wild about Reflektor at first, but I turned around pretty quick. It was probably about time for a little reinvention, and here Arcade Fire got over their Bruce Springsteen kick and turned towards more island-influenced sounds and a surprising amount of synth. Pretty much every song has something to recommend for it. My only regret is that Régine never has a chance to sing lead, since when she does it often turns into an album highlight. Not that they needed help finding those this time.

Delayed Entry

This is the best album that wasn't released in 2013 but I didn't hear until then.

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Nothing I heard in the last year really blew my mind, but my first real Talking Heads experience was quite a good one. I've always had mixed feelings about "Once in a Lifetime", possibly their most popular song, but I think it really works well in the context of the whole album. It's a nice mix of funk and contemporary (at the time) sounds, letting them find interesting riffs and play with them for as long as their sustainable. I know it's a vague sentiment, but it doesn't really feel like an album that's over thirty years old. What worked about it then still works now.

Best Albums of 2008

Another year in which I didn't get a whole lot of new releases. I always feel like I listen to a decent amount of music each year, but it's as much catching up on older stuff as it is new stuff. Still, there were a few really good albums that I got a chance to enjoy. I didn't see room on the list for the enjoyable self-titled release by This Will Destroy You or MC Chris' MC Chris Is Dead.

Best of 2008

6. Nine Inch Nails - The Slip


A really solid industrial album made even better by being free to all. I've still yet to give Trent Reznor dime one for anything, but I respect him for giving back to the fans and continuing to make what he wants to. Better than I thought it would be.

5. Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple


Sounds different from their first album, although not really for better or worse. Really catchy and unique at the same time.

4. Fleet Foxes


One of the year's biggest critical darlings, and mostly deserving of its status. It's not as gripping throughout as I usually like, but there's a lot of beauty and artistry to be found if you're a close listener.

3. Sigur Rós - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust


A new direction for everyone's favorite Icelandic new age-y band, and a really interesting one. I really like what they did, and although there's a good argument that it's over the top for its own sake, but I still enjoy everything that's here.

2. TV on the Radio - Dear Science


To me it doesn't live up to their last album, but that doesn't prevent it from being great on its own. A bit of a different, more catchy feel, but there's still a lot of brilliant stuff here. Maybe not exactly what I loved about them before, but still quite good.

1. Portishead - Third


There are a bunch of sinister adjectives I could use to describe this album, like haunting, bleak, and sparse, but it still managed to be the most affecting thing I heard this year. Definitely worth checking out with an open mind.

Sigur Rós - Með Suð Í Eyrum Við Spilum Endalaust

Endalaust is an interesting album to me. If my impression of the band's general sound from listening to ( ) is accurate, which I'm pretty sure it is, then Endalaust is a significant departure from that. It's less post rock and more hippie indie wanky stuff, in a very entertaining way. But plenty of bands have changed their sound, what's interesting to me is how they don't abandon their old ways. Their earlier sound slowly creeps back into the album while it's playing, eventually completely taking over again. It tells a story just with the evolution of its sound more than any album I can remember. It seems to me like a youth growing older, or maybe an adult reverting to childhood, I can't tell which. But it's really beautiful anyway.

"Gobbledigook" is the single with the music video featuring happy, dancing, naked people; imagery that really fits the song pretty well. The pounding drums make the song for me, and the off-beat guitar and high pitched voices accompany it well. The next few songs continue with the same feel, using strong beats, plinking keys, and catchy vocals to catch the attention. "Festival" is a more traditional long, slowly building track that reaches a soaring climax, although it has a quality that differentiates it from similar songs they've done before. It's just the choice of instrumentation, but it captures all the power of that technique while still sounding new. "Ára Bátur" reminds me the most of their old sound, but as it goes on an orchestra builds up and reaches a swelling crescendo so powerful that while listening to it in the car, I forgot to make my turn. The next few songs are lower key, softer tracks, none of which astound, but they're nice enough to listen to. The last song, "All Alright", is the band's first sung in English, although it doesn't make a difference when I can barely understand him anyway. It's a nice enough way to close out the record, though.

Sigur Rós - ( )

Sigur Rós' 2002 album has no real name, and all the songs are also untitled. There are no actual lyrics, all the vocals are in a nonexistent language. The booklet consists of several blank pages the band encourages listeners to write their thoughts in. Taken altogether, ( ) can seem kind of pretentious. It doesn't really matter though, it's about the music and it's pretty great.

( ) has two distinct parts, a light first half and a more intense second half. The first half is all about atmosphere. There's a lot of piano, especially in the third track which has a nice plunking tune, while the rest of it is more ambient pleasantness. They use distorted guitar to create texture instead of melody, and it's very dissimilar from the music you're probably used to hearing. It's best to not try and listen to it in quick bursts, and instead have it on when you're doing something else or just relaxing.

Where I think the album gets really interesting is the second half. It focuses on the build and release of tension, and with the time they take to get where they're going they can really create immensely enjoyable moments throughout. It takes them quite a while to get to the point, but once they get there it can be a transcendent listening experience. Some of it sounds like Radiohead at their spaciest, but Thom Yorke and company rarely get as climactic. The various songs can seem sort of similar in the way they work up to the big moments, but it doesn't make it less interesting or powerful. After the seventh track it seems like it's winding down, but before the final song ends it breaks into the hardest guitar you'll find on the record in a very satisfying conclusion.

The use of drums is much more important in the second half, as they set the intensity level almost by themselves, along with how passionate the vocalist sounds. Back to him, he's pretty good but I have a bit of an issue. Just because he's singing in a fake language doesn't mean it can't get repetitive. He sings what sounds phonetically like "You sigh on" or some close variation nearly constantly throughout the whole thing, and it can get irritating if you pay too much attention to him. It is this minor annoyance plus the very long amount of time it takes to get to the really good moments that keep the album from being truly excellent, in my mind. One could argue that the buildup makes the eventual payoff even sweeter, but I think it's still an imperfect way to make music.