Best Albums of 2013
 

Top 10 (in no specific order)

Daft Punk: Random Access Memories
The National: Trouble Will Find Me
David Bowie: The Next Day
Arcade Fire: Reflektor
QOTSA: ...Like Clockwork
Vampire Weekend: Modern Vampires of the City
Kanye West: Yeezus
Danny Brown: Old
Yo La Tengo: Fade
Foxygen - We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace and Magic


The Vampire Weekend is probably my favorite of the ten.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

I'm working on my list but some that will make it on that list in no particular order are:

David Bowie - Next Day
Daft Punk - RAM
The Sounds - Weekend
Ghost - Infestissumam & If You Need Ghost
Black Sabbath - 13
Primus - Sailing the Seas of Cheese (remastered)

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

I'll have to think about it and will probably add more later.

Best:
Black Sabbath - 13
Lee Ranaldo And The Dust - Last Night On Earth
Dream Theater - Dream Theater
Big Business - Battlefields Forever
Chelsea Light Moving - Chelsea Light Moving

Not great, but good:
David Bowie - The Next Day
OMD - English Electric
Queensryche - Queensryche
Flaming Lips - The Terror
Tomahawk - Oddfellows
They Might Be Giants - Nanobots

Disappointments:
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Queens Of The Stone Age - Like Clockwork
The Strokes - Comedown Machine
Alice In Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

Complete shit:
Megadeth - Super Collider

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

I only listened to a few but I'd have to say David Bowie for sure and Daft Punk.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Not that great of a year for music in my opinion. I really enjoyed Pearl Jam: Lightning Bolt and She & Him: Volume 3 though. Queens of the Stone Age: ...Like Clockwork was decent too.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Moonface - Julia with Bluejeans on

Beats out Arcade Fire, which surprised the shit out of me. I knew Moonface would be good, but not THAT good.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

She & Him
Jim James
Avett Brothers
David Bowie

I could probably think of more with a little time.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Biffy Clyro: Opposites
Pet Shop Boys: Electric
Claude Von Stroke: Urban Animal
The Ocean Blue: Ultramarine
Suede: Bloodsports
Neon Neon: Praxis Makes Perfect
Disclosure: Settle
Manic Street Preachers: Rewind the Film


disappointments:

Daft Punk - really? I was expecting A LOT more from this album

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Neko Case - The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight . . .
Kings Of Leon - Mechanical Bull
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Polica - Shulamith
Toad the Wet Sprocket - New Constellation
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Lorde - Pure Heroine

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Easy clear-cut winner for me:

http://a3.mzstatic.com/us/r30/Music2...170x170-75.jpg
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

this year I loved:

suede - bloodsports
arcade fire - reflektor
placebo - loud like love
david bowie - next day
paul mccartney - new
nine inch nails - hesitation marks
gary numan - splinter
pet shop boys - electric
visage - hearts & knives

got some enjoyment out of:

empire of the sun - ice on the dune
phoenix - bankrupt
katy perry - prism
lady gaga - artpop
omd - english electric
goldfrapp - tales of us
alice in chains - devil put dinosaurs here
30 seconds to mars - love lust faith dreams

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

The Flaming Lips - The Terror
The Flaming Lips - Peace Sword EP
She & Him Vol. 3
Black Sabbath - 13
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
Lady Gaga - ARTPOP
Katy Perry - Prism
David Lynch - Big Dream
David Bowie - Next Day

Most of what I bought was reissues of albums that I have already bought reissues of in the past of reissues of original albums from the 1960's and 1970's.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

:up:

Also, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin: Fly By Wire

I'm sure there's more, but those are two of my favorites, for sure.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Phosphorescent - Muchacho
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Kanye West - Yeezus
Okkervil River - The Silver Gymnasium
Jason Isbell - Southeastern
Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Portugal. The Man - Evil Friends
The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Cass McCombs - Big Wheel and Others

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Apparently you and a Rolling Stone, as it is their #1 album of the year, too.

For me, it was just ok. A decent enough album, but by no means all that spectacular in my book. I liked and listened to their last much more. It won't even make my top 20, which, since the year is still three weeks from being over, I am still tabulating.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

It made the EW Top 10 as well, FWIW. I was kind of cool to the second album and liked their first a lot, but this one just really clicked with me from the first listen. I love it to death for whatever reason. My tastes run poppy I guess and this is just a fun, pleasant and clever album in my opinion. Great hooks.

I see several mentions of She & Him V3 and that surprises me. I loved the first two, but didn't like this one nearly as much. :shrug:

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

1. Arctic Monkeys - AM
2. Kanye West - Yeezus
3. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience part 1
4. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
5. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
6. J Cole - Born Sinner
7. Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt
8. Lorde - Pure Heroine
9. Kings of Leon - Mechanical Bull
10. Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
11. Paramore - Paramore
12. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
13. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP 2
14. Fall Out Boy - Save Rock and Roll
15. Jimmy Eat World - Damage

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Daft Punk - R.A.M.
Kanye West - Yeezus
Quadron - Avalanche
Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap
Tyler The Creator - Wolf
Thundercat - Apocalypse
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
James Blake - Overgrown
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires Of The City
Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety
CharliXCX -True Romance
Disclosure - Settle
J. Cole - Born Sinner
Rhye - Woman
Run The Jewels - Run The Jewels
Hans Zimmer - MOS Score
Kelela - Cut 4 Me
Arctic Monkeys - AM
Chvrches - The Bones of What You Believe
Earl Sweatshirt - Doris
Steven Price - Gravity Soundtrack
Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
John Legend - Love In The Future
Mack Wilds - New York: A Love Story
Drake - Nothing Was The Same
Danny Brown - Old
Darkside - Psychic
Volcano Choir - Repave
Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

People really need to give Johnny Marr's The Messenger a listen ;) (my album of the year)

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

No list, but I loved The Rides album. Highly recommended :up: :up:

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

That's thing thing I always enjoy about this yearly thread, is reminding me which albums i forgot to get. That's one, thanks.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Forgot to put on my list.

Typhoon - White Lighter

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

Of the top of my head:

Vampire Weekend - they abandon their afro-pop sensibilities and it results in their best album. Sophisticated arrangements, sharp and funny lyrics.

Boards of Canada- a return to the nostalgic magic of their first album while totally avoiding repeating themselves. Probably the second best thing they've ever done. A huge return to form after getting lost in the weeds there a bit.

Daft Punk - nostalgic but not retro, diverse but of a piece, retro but futuristic. Likely the best thing they've ever done, IMO. I think in years to come, this will be looked back upon as the definitive album of this year.

Parquet Courts - a masterpiece of New York drone garage rock. Influences range from VU to Pavement to The Strokes. Hilarious lyrics, tight songs with great hooks.

Savages - slightly pretentious and overly serious but it's hard to deny the power of the music. The best rhythm section currently working in rock, IMO. Siouxsie and the Banshee's first album, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu post punk par excellence.

Deafheaven - ABM reaches its logicial conclusion. Lots of bands are working in this space right now and this is rightly being regarded as the best of the bunch. Is this even metal any more? I do think Wolves in the Throne Room is probably on the same level.

Chvrches - this is the top-of-the-line in the recent flurry of synth-pop albums. Has great arrangements, great hooks, and solid lyrics.

Dawes - terrific simple, unpretentious roots rock. Insightful and mature lyrics and well constructed songs.

Locrian - a masterpiece of wintery atmospherics, this album finds influences in ABM, experimental electronica and post rock. I've been listening to it on repeat recently.

The Wonder Years - the best pop-punk album of the year. They've been making great music for a while, I think this is their best album.

Kurt Vile - wide ranging, pastoral but hardly sleepy folky / indie rock album. This is the best thing he's ever done, IMO.

Critically acclaimed albums I just don't get the fawning over:

Kanye- admittedly brilliant production (usually from other people), but am I the only one who thinks that Kanye's lyrics have reached a nadir of dumb misogynistic awfulness? Kanye has always been a world class asshole and I'm kind of sick of people giving his phoned in, stupid and offensive lyrics a pass. Also, he's a terrible rapper.

Haim - this is a truly awful album and the worst example of pseudo-hipster retro-eighties necrophilia bandwagoning around these days. I can't fathom what accounts for the huge praise. Apparently people crave a bad Lionel Richie cover band.

Lorde - solid pop album but written by a sixteen year old and sounds like it. This is more a case of a pretty good album that's being extremely overrated.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

These albums are probably on my list as well.

Re: Best Albums of 2013
 

My best:

Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused To Sing
Front Line Assembly - Echogenetic
Soilwork - The Living Infinite
Witherscape - The Inheritance
Blackfield - IV
Juno Reactor - The Golden Sun of the Great East

Honorable mention for artists I love whose new releases haven't quite grabbed me yet:

Dream Theater - S/T
Fates Warning - Darkness in a Different Light
KMFDM - Kunst