ToJo’s Top Ten Albums of 2013 (And at least twenty others that you should also totally listen to, but don’t take my word for it)

With 2013 safely and officially in the bag, let’s do a quick recap of the year that was music, 2013. 2013 was a tough year to do a top ten, because there are about forty different albums that I could justifiably put in the number ten spot. The top five are about as elite as any top five this decade, but there are countless records this year that I loved just one hair below that that are all well worth your ear-ttention.

10. Random Access Memories by Daft Punk is the best feel-good, dance-pop (disco) record of the year. These guys know how to groove. They utilize an all-star stable of cameos to great effect. Like I said, there are like thirty albums that were fighting for this spot, but I would have been hard-pressed to leave off the grooving-est record of 2013 from my top ten. Instant sophisticated dance party playlist. Solid Gold.

9. Muchacho by Phosphorescent is lush and gorgeous; the most feel-good, feel-bad album of the year. Great for quiet nights & contemplative mornings, this record is complete in its aesthetic of wounded beauty, harboring one of the best songs of the year, “Song for Zula” with highlights throughout.

8. Overgrown by James Blake is a work of stubborn genius; my initial inclination was to judge Blake as a singer-songwriter type, as he crafted one of the best such songs of the year in “Retrograde”, but that is not what Blake is nor what Overgrown is, and it does not deserve to be judged as such. It is blues and electronica and production-forward soul and noise and dub-step and dance all rolled into one. It is a challenging and rewarding step forward.

7. Cerulean Salt by Waxahatchee is the best ‘90s power-pop record of 2013, straight out of the Alanis Morissette playbook, it is confessional, wry, smart and strong and a damn good listen.

6. You’re Always on My Mind by a Great Big Pile of Leaves is a shimmery, shiny, tasty delicious snack. Clocking just over half an hour with songs packed air-tight with hooks and harmonies and gobsmacking ear-goodies, the new AGBPoL record recalls Weezer at the height of their power, and it’s a welcome delight. Listen to this and say that you heard it before they got huge. Better yet, go see them live, because they put on one of the best shows you could see. Of particularly note is the brilliant drumming and rhythm section and maturity in the vocals and harmonies. There are some killer vocal performances on this record near the end. See also: Pizzanomics

5. Immunity by Jon Hopkins…I said of this record that it is “an electronic tour de force. Jon Hopkins is a soundscape guy, so it’s interesting to hear him playing with “beats” of a dance-floor variety, but the album is so much more than that. It takes a man with a classical background and an understanding of space and of beauty and the temporal to be able to make an album so fully-realized. It is a concept and it is a successful one.” Around midyear, and I stand by every word.

4. Yeezus by Kanye West is the best most infuriating record of the year. Love him or hate him, or hate him or hate him (I know that most of you still do), Kanye is at the forefront of the musical conversation. Every time he puts something out, I am interested. Yeezus is spectacularly, almost perfectly imperfect. It is ugly and crude and challenging and it has a mean soul. And it is fucking brilliant because of it and not in spite of it. Much attention has been paid to Kanye’s repurposing of civil rights lines and music “free at last” referring to a woman unbridling her breasts, the use of “blood on the leaves”, a song referring to the Jim Crow era and lynching, to recount his domestic and social life. And these things often feel distasteful, but they never feel disingenuous, and they are always challenging and fascinating. I guarantee you this is the record Drake and the rest of his peers spend their time angry masturbating to. Production flourishes and gaudy lines abound. And yet it is still brilliant.

3. Trouble Will Find Me by the National is an album that I initially struggled with mightily. It is an album so dense and packed with Matt Berninger’s droll, high-brow baritone and suffocating despair that I was initially turned off. I thought I wanted a record from the National that breathed more, that showcased the Dessner’s compositional talents and Bryan Devendorf’s unique drumming.  I stand corrected. When the record finally clicked with me, it clicked hard. The National here cement themselves as the leaders of the Brooklyn indie scene, growing and evolving, adding complex time signatures, and the most mature album of their career. Overflowing with beautiful imagery and dual-guitar attacks, this record is the most beautiful gray rainy day you've heard. In part, because the National finally give you a glimpse of the rainbow on the horizon, just off-frame.

2. Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend is remarkable, in many ways, for all of the reasons that the new Arcade Fire record isn't: VW are a band that I was initially inclined to dislike for stupid, white-privileged, first-world reasons – that the rich white kids from Columbia make “world music”, minus all of the actual struggle and social acuity of Graceland (their last record, Contra). I grew to love Contra, and then their self-titled debut that I had somehow missed. They are both brilliant records, driven by front man Ezra Koenig’s keen sense of song craft and melody, creating infectious and clever little hooks and ditties that proved my stupid first impressions desperately wrong. These guys are a legitimately great band. Period.  I hesitate to say that Modern Vampires of the City is their best record yet – I have grown to love all of them deeply and uniquely – but these guys just cranked out their third great record in a row, a record that is sophisticated and smart and diverse, that is clever and sentimental and nostalgic and that covers disparate sonic territory all the while maintaining a core aesthetic. And they did it all with minimal fanfare, with no talk of concepts, no production by Brian Eno, no attempt to be “the next U2”.  I, for one, am glad they did. If this was anything other than the 21^st century and I had listened to this on anything other than strictly digital formats, I would have worn through numerous physical copies of this record already. And would be sure to do so several more times going forward.

1. White Lighter by Typhoon is the best album of 2013. I am, admittedly, a sucker for high-concept, high-composition chamber indie music. Typhoon happened to release the best such record of the year. The album proceeds like a symphony, or like scenes/songs from a “film/that I will never make”.  Driven by lead-singer/song-writer, Kyle Morton, it is rare to find a band with eleven full-time members that feels so tight and dexterous, they churn through styles and time signatures and various syncopations, weaving tales of heartbreak and hope. White Lighter is a cinematic musical masterpiece. Put this in your ears, close your eyes tight, and listen on repeat. That was how I spent countless hours this year.

Top Songs of the Year:

1. Young Fathers by Typhoon: like watching your favorite movie of the year in four and a half minutes.

“When you're young you're hot
You have your whole life before you
Everyone will adore
You'll grow up, you'll be an astronaut
or anything you want.”

2. Even if We Try by Night Beds: Gorgeous. Haunting. Best Male Vocal Performance of the year. Check the music video for a real trip. Kind of like Jason Molina said: “try and try and try…just to be simple”

“Stumbling down the hillside
In the waning moon light
Hear me, calling
And wailing on the doldrums”

3. Retrograde by James Blake:  to regress, retreat, go backward

“I'll wait, so show me why you're strong
Ignore everybody else,
We're alone now”

4. Sonsick by San Fermin best female vocal performance of the year? Check it live.

"I'll fall for you soon enoughI resolve to love
Now I know it's just another fuck
Cause I'm old enough
Sell lies like they're only drugs
It'll pick me up"

5. Black Skinhead by Kanye West: Kanye at his angriest. And it works.

"Enter the kingdom
But watch who you bring home
They see a black man with a white woman
At the top floor they gone come to kill King Kong
Middle America packed in
Came to see me in my black skin"

6. Pink Rabbits by the National: a rainy day; hopeful heartache

"I couldn't find quiet
I went out in the rain
I was just soakin' my head to unrattle my brain"

7. Song for Zula by Phosphorescent: something hauntingly, heartbreakingly primal

"All that I know love as a caging thing
Just a killer come to call from some awful dream"

8. Hannah Hunt by Vampire Weekend: A slow moment from their record illuminates their talents as composers

"If I can't trust you then damn it, Hannah
There's no future, there's no answer
Though we live on the US dollar
You and me, we got our own sense of time"

9. Youth by Daughter: dontgottatalkthatmuch

"And if you're in love, then you are the lucky one
'Cause most of us are bitter over someone"

10. Immunity by Jon Hopkins: The sounds of contemplation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8eQR5DMous

Another 40 albums well worth your attention:

11. Birthdays by Keaton Henson

12. Run the Jewels by El-P & Killer Mike

13. Wed 21 by Juana Molina

14. The Stand-In by Caitlin Rose

15. Lanterns by Son Lux

16. Ceremony by Anna Von Hausswolff

17. The Silver Gymnasium by Okkervil River

18. Twelve Reasons to Die by Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge

19. San Fermin by San Fermin

20. The Jazz Age by the Bryan Ferry Orchestra

21. Invisible Empire/Crescent Moon by KT Tunstall

22. Dysnomia by Dawn of Midi

23. We the Common by Thao and the Get Down Stay Down

24. Wonderful, Glorious by Eels is Eels

25. Like a Rose by Ashley Monroe

26. Ghost on Ghost by Iron and Wine

27. Love’s Crushing Diamond by Mutual Benefit

28. {Awayland} by Villagers

29. Amok by Atoms for Peace

30. Space by Nils Frahm

31. Annie Up by Pistol Annies

32. Dream River by Bill Callahan

33. Reflektor by Arcade Fire

34. Woman by Rhye

35. Same Trailer Different Park by Kacey Musgraves

36. …Like Clockwork by Queens of the Stoneage

37. The Worse Things Get, The Harder I fight… by Neko Case

38. AM by Arctic Arctic Monkeys

39. Untamed Beast by Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside

40. Acid Rap by Chance the Rapper

41. Southeastern by Jason Isbell

42. The Electric Lady by Janelle Monae

43. Repave by Volcano Choir

44. New Moon by The Men

45. Fade by Yo La Tengo

46. The Invisible Way by Low

47. Light Up Gold by Parquet Courts

48. Dormarion by Telekinesis

49. Once I Was an Eagle by Laura Marling

50. Nothing Was the Same by Drake

EPs:

I Want to See Pulaski At Night by Andrew Bird

EP by Cassandra Jenkins

Fade Away by Best Coast

Rival Dealer by Burial

Movie Soundtracks:

The Hunger Games OST

Inside Llewyn Davis OST

The Great Gatsby OST

Post Script:

As great a year in music as 2013 was, it was also a year in which we lost Jason Molina, which loss introduced me to his music. I had previously been unaware of Molina's vast oeuvre. It is a sometimes unfortunate fact of how much great stuff there is to consume that such great stuff gets passed over. But the loss of Molina, which has since led to my connection to his music, may well end up being the most lasting musical memory I have of 2013. A ten-year anniversary edition of Magnolia Electric Co. was released this year. Especially if you have not heard it, you would do well to give it a thorough listen.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/03/18/174646022/jason-molina-a-folksinger-who-embodied-the-best-of-the-blues-has-died

Best of 2013 Playlist

2013 Contenders album of the year shortlist. Full albums.