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What were your favorite albums of the year? Kanye? Haim? Lorde?
25. Arcade Fire - 'Reflektor' (Merge)
Maybe we have all been a little unfair. Arcade Fire have always been a tad maudlin, tugging, and charmingly overwrought, but you'd never call them suave, or even all that cool. Their biggest songs -- the anthems tattooed to indie rock history -- have incited more tears than smiles and riots.
But then there was 'Reflektor.' Then there was a jittery title track, recasting Win Butler and Regine Chassange as a flickering Bonnie and Clyde. There was James Murphy behind the boards and there was a song about the disconnected immediacy of pornography from a man who wrote 'Neighborhood #1.' And, for the first time in the band's career, Arcade Fire was a little bit badass. (Luke Winkie)
24. Eminem - 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2' (Aftermath / Shady / Interscope)
Honestly, I don't know if I will ever connect with Eminem the same way I did when I was scrawling death threats in my middle school notebook. But I can say I still love listening to him rap. And he rapped A LOT on 'The Marshall Mathers LP 2.'
Seriously, the words-per-minute ratio rivalled your average auction barker. Here he was on 'Legacy': “Me against the world so what, I’m Brian Dawkins/Versus the whole 0-16 Lions offense/So bring on the Giants, Falcons and Miami Dolphins/It’s the body bag game bitch, I’m supplying coffins.”
I don’t think many of us listen to Em for the art anymore. But he sure was still fun to listen to on this album. (LW)
23. Mac Miller - 'Watching Movies With The Sound Off' (Rostrum / Universal)
Mac Miller turned 21 in 2013 but he did not waste the year knocking back beers -- he released five albums. Among them was the silly, wild-out alter-ego mixtape ''Delusional Thomas' -- one of our favorite mixtapes of 2013 -- and 'Live From Space,' Mac's first live album, which featured recordings from his massive Space Migration Tour. But 'Watching Movies With The Sound Off,' his second official studio LP, was his “for real for real” statement of the year.
Mac has always been an honest and sincere and (mostly) wholesome guy, and this is why the kids love him so much. That continued on 'Watching Movies...,' but his observations turned darker, more twisted, iller. Like his pals Tyler, The Creator and Earl Sweatshirt -- both are featured artists here -- success has left Miller cold and paranoid and confused. Mac was so lost on 'I'm Not Real' he pulled a Descartes and questioned his own existence. And now he has money (a lot of it, presumably) and everyone kept saying they loved him, but he did not know who he could trust.
That Classic Mac Miller Wholesomeness, however, lingered and Mac survived the changes. He may have rapped about not answering the phone when his dad called on 'The Star Room,' but he also confessed that he hopes his parents still love each other. Because if their love does not last, what love will? 'Watching Movies...' showed us a more sophisticated, more complex, more sinister side of Mac and that was the side of Mac the world needed in 2013. (Elliott Sharp)
22. Pretty Lights - 'Color Map Of The Sun' (8 Minutes 20 Seconds)
Pretty Lights is Derek Vincent Smith, an EDM producer who on ‘Color Map of the Sun’ revealed the full breadth of his ambition and talent -- both of which now seem limitless.
For Smith, ‘Color Map of the Sun’ served as a big departure, creatively and in terms of labor. He wrote and arranged new compositions; hired a band, including brass and singers; and then recorded the new material onto vinyl. He then sampled the records to make the parts that would wind up on ‘Color Map of the Sun.’
The exercise was not mere novelty. The nearly 90-minute album was never uninteresting. And with so much sound and personnel at his disposal – from incredible vocal performances to the occasional EDM saw bass and wobble to the many instrumentalists -- Smith crafted an epic story that was as rich as anything released in 2013. (Richard S. Chang)
21. Lady Gaga - 'ARTPOP' (Streamline / Interscope)
It expressed the most open and forward-thinking brand of sexual liberty this side of Kanye West ('G.U.Y.') You called it branding, I called it ideals. And even in the face of a multi-million dollar advertising campaign from her label, she still managed to tell the story she wanted to tell, and empower the people she wanted to empower. Her reign may have ended, but Gaga has remained uncompromised. (LW)
20. Laurel Halo - 'Chance Of Rain' (Hyperdub)
Laurel Halo might be from Ann Arbor, Michigan, but she's all post-human. In fact, Laurel Halo is her stage name, and even her real name, Ina Cube, doesn't make a strong case for her humanness. Halo's latest, 'Chance Of Rain,' spoke well to her posthumanism, playing in relatively stark contrast to her debut, 'Quarantine,' due to its notable absence of vocals.
But this provided Halo a space to adopt a more fluid musical identity while also adding new perspectives on similar aesthetic concerns, which led to experimentations with everything from stillness and movement to rhythm and ambience. The result was a hypnotic, emergent, cyborg of an album, one that was perpetually in the process of becoming, and sounded like it too. (Yu-Cheng Lin)
19. Waxahatchee - 'Cerulean Salt' (Don Giovanni)
The effort was modest in approach. The songs were short. The instruments were minimal (pretty much just guitar – and a mostly acoustic guitar, at that – and Katie Crutchfield’s versatile voice). But ‘Cerulean Salt’ came together in grand fashion. It felt like a North Star.
Crutchfield, the sole creative force behind Waxahatchee, wrote songs that were in effect poems. Take the haunting ‘Hollow Bedroom’ for example:
I left like I got my way But truly I left with nothing at all When I saw you the next day I knew they'd hear our breath through these walls We are late We are loud We'll remain connected as you're reading out loud Mirroring a staggered youth Flowered with nerves and shadows and truth And it swept in Like a strong wind And I don't believe I care at all What they hear through these walls
Just begging to be interpreted and re-listened to, right? You wanted to get closer to the songs on 'Cerulean Salt.' Fortunately, most of them barely broke the 90-second mark, so you could do so and still have time for lunch. But despite their brevity, Crutchfield's songs never left you unfulfilled. (RSC)
18. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - 'II' (Jagjaguwar)
I recently read that Ruban Nielsen, Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s frontman and songwriter, had trouble sleeping as a child because his father, a touring musician, would regal him with “complex musical ideas.”
Had I known that earlier in the year, it might have helped guide my descent into Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s second album, titled, simply enough, ‘II.’ The title was the only thing simple about the album. There were definitely complex musical ideas at work, and most of them were generated by Nielsen’s guitar, which was shimmering, crisp in tone and wandering in focus, often to the point of obfuscation.
But ‘II’ was an album that required distance to see its full scope, though distance didn’t clear up the blur. That, it turned out, was the point. It was designed to reflect Nielsen's cluttered mind.
He was not completely devoid of lucidity, apparently, because out of the fog, came ‘Secret Xtians’ to end the album. It was precise and hooky, and revealed just how good of a pop songwriter Rubens could be, if that was all he wanted to be. (RSC)
17. Wolf Eyes - 'No Answer : Lower Floors' (De Stijl)
Sixteen years in and Wolf Eyes are still as uncompromising and as visceral as ever. With 'No Answer: Lower Floors,' the band had reached what they referred to as the "dawn of a new Wolf Eyes era." Aside from the introduction of new member Jim Baljo, who now thrashed alongside Nate Young and John Olson (the group's only consistent members), the new era also signalled a change in approach: rather than jamming, there was composing; rather than randomness, calculation; rather than texture, structure.
The result was less in-your-face, more permeate-your-core -- the kind of tense, sparse horror soundtrack that hardly saw any tension-release or reprieve from its overwhelming weight. And it was certainly not coincidental. As Young put it in a recent interview, "We are finished fucking around." (YL)
16. Run The Jewels - 'Run The Jewels' (Fool's Gold)
Unlike 'Reflektor' and 'Yeezus' and 'ARTPOP,' there was no bullshit marketing campaign for this debut album by Run The Jewels, the duo project of El-P and Killer MIke. BOOM! BLAM! Suddenly, out of nowhere, like 'Beyonce' but before 'Beyonce,' a free download appeared on the internet (along with vinyl options, of course, because these guys care about that sort of thing). And that free download turned out to be the funnest rap album of the year. This is BEST FRIEND RAP at its best.
The only thing El and Mike love more than each other is rapping, and they both rapped their asses off on these tracks. The chemistry was magical, the energy was contagious, the beats were baffling, the narratives were as hilarious as they were tough and smart. These two swung 36 inch chains and goofed off a ton, but when they got serious they got serious. This line from Mike: “Your idols, all of my rivals / I rival all of your idols / I stand on towers like Eiffel, I rifle down all your idols.” But even after brutal lyrical attacks like that, you still just wanted to hug these guys and make plans for lunch. (ES)
15. Charli XCX - 'True Romance' (IAMSOUND / Asylum / Atlantic)
One day, Charli XCX will be famous. Until then she will be writing pitch black goth-pop bombshells that scalp off the best bits of everyone from Britney to The Knife. She will sample a forgotten shred of tape, turn it into a banger, and crush your skull under the weight of her 10-inch platform heels.
'True Romance' was liquid, purple, evil-genius pop. Whiplash electro, hair-metal gloating, and dark, seething energy. There was a motivation to it -- a deep, determined thirst for relevance. Charli XCX was not content to be the faceless name behind Icona Pop’s 'I Love It,' so she made her bid in scorched earth and broken jawbones and it sounded brilliant. (LW)
14. Pusha T - 'My Name Is My Name' (Def Jam / GOOD)
It took many, many years, but 2013 finally saw the release of Pusha T's debut studio album, 'My Name Is My Name' (cribbed from a line by Marlo Stanfield in HBO's 'The Wire'). It was well worth the wait.
Terrence Thornton, one half of rap duo Clipse, hit us with 12 audacious tracks, ranging from laid-back head-nodders ('Let Me Love You') and paranoid sizzlers ('King Push'), to melodramatic numbers ('40 Acres') and minimalistic cuts ('Numbers on the Board'). Pusha T throughout dropped exquisite street philosophy that veered from lax to lashing. The album was helped along by its producers and guests -- Kanye West (executive producer), Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, Future, The-Dream -- but this was Pusha's time to shine. And he did it with a snarl. (YL)
13. Ashley Monroe - 'Like A Rose' (Warner Bros)
'Like A Rose' was a collection of hard-traveling, diner-pontificating, small-town survivor ballads. The music was clean and warm, and it brimmed with simple acoustic guitars and dreamy pedal steel. Its trad sonic vibe did not extend to Ashley Monroe's lyrics, though. Her crisp voice had a mild quivering yodel-y quality that made her sound confident and experienced, and the narrative was that of a loud and proud woman with big ideas too big for the small town she was thrown into.
There were some classic tearjerkers here, like 'Used' and 'She's Driving Me Out Of Your Mind,' but the best moments of 'Like A Rose' were the whiskey bent and hell bound ones. Monroe spent more time boozed up and on the run than she did cooking dinner for her man. In fact, she never cooked dinner for her man. She demanded weed instead of roses. She never paid her rent on time because she was too busy scamming and running from the law, just like her dad. These wild stories made 'Like A Rose' a whole lot of fun to listen to, especially 'You Ain't Dolly [And You Ain't Porter],' a duet with Blake Shelton about a long night at a karaoke bar with a cowboy stranger. (ES)
12. Toro Y Moi - 'Anything In Return' (Carpark)
From the moment ‘Harm In Charge’ kicked off Chaz Budnick’s third album, ‘Anything In Return,’ it was immediately clear that something was afoot. Budnick’s voice was front and center, and the song was fast, paced by a rhythm section of frenetic clicks. The artist known as Toro Y Moi, who was once a key co-conspirator in the chill wave movement, had signaled an altered path: ‘Anything In Return’ would be a pop album.
Budnick didn’t become less chill on ‘Anything In Return.’ What he did was add more layers. He was R&B, funk, and lo-fi pop. ‘Studies,’ another standout track, began with a single note, played – looped? – repeatedly on a synth. It was matched with a very simple rock ‘n’ roll drumbeat, a funky guitar rhythm, and Budnick’s version of the 1970s disco falsetto (unrefined but still alluring, like early Beck). But then, the chorus was pure pop.
‘Anything In Return’ ended with one of the strongest songs on the album, ‘How’s It Wrong.’ It had the same ingredients as ‘Harm In Charge’ and ‘Studies,’ but Budnick’s vocals were unrelenting. It was tough to think that Budnick would end the album in such an abrupt way. He didn’t. The song evaporated into a shimmering synth coda that lingered for close to a minute. (RSC)
11. Jessy Lanza - 'Pull My Hair Back' (Hyperdub)
When listening to electronic pop, "spacious," "skeletal," and "restrained" probably don't immediately come to mind. But that was exactly what came through our thick skulls when listening to Jessy Lanza's fantastic debut, 'Pull My Hair Back.'
The nine-track album, co-written and co-produced by Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys), touched on pop as much as deep house, on R&B as much as disco, but it all came together with an unexpected cohesion and an infectious grace. Lanza's vocals floated above the light, breathy mix of vintage synths and drum machines like a malleable hovercraft, sounding neither of its time nor of any time period at all, really. This was minimal pop at its most seductive, and we ate it up. (YL)
10. Paramore - 'Paramore' (Fueled By Ramen / Warner Bros)
'Future.' It was the closing song on this fourth album by Paramore and it was the most un-Paramore Paramore song ever. It sounded like a Jesu song. Heavy, droning, menacing, shoegaze-y, noisy rock. The nearly 10-year-old band, known for its arena pop with emo and punk tendencies, had never sounded this dangerous and mean. Paramore threw us a curveball. It was weird but awesome. This was Paramore in 2013. This was: 'Future.'
In 2010, Paramore co-founders Josh and Zac Farro left the band. So Hayley Williams and Taylor York soldiered on and they knew they had to come out swinging. Tthey decided the new album should be self-titled because, as Hayley said in an interview, it would be “not only reintroducing the band to the world, but even to ourselves.” So on 'Paramore,' produced by Nine Inch Nails/Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen, we got a brand new Paramore, and Paramore got a brand new Paramore.
The 17 – yes, 17! – new songs were very diverse. 'Still Into You' was deliriously catchy with a dash of spunk. 'Fast In My Car' was deliriously catchy with an edge of Hole. 'Now' was a riot starter that demanded the future NOW. 'Grow Up' was an I-am-moving-on-now smiler. 'Interlude: Moving On' was a Taylor Swift-y folked out fuck you. 'Daydreaming' was utopian arena-pop. And 'Future' was the Jesu shit-storm none of us were expecting and that probably left the Farro Brothers scratching their heads, which was probably exactly what Hayley intended.
We had to wait four years, but it was worth the wait because 'Paramore' was the band's heaviest and most confident and most defiant album. With 'Future' in mind, we are almost a bit scared of what might come next. (ES)
9. Sky Ferreira - 'Night Time, My Time' (Capitol)
Over the past few years, stories of Sky Ferreira's debut album languishing in record label hell had become the stuff of legend, so it was a genuine surprise that this album came out at all. Then it was a surprise that the first single, 'You're Not The One,' was good. And then it was a surprise the entire album was great.
With producer Ariel Rechtshaid, Ferreira had finally found someone who could unearth her true musical persona, and she emerged from the ashes of label-shaped dance-pop to create a refreshing reboot of the downtown New York City scene of the 1980s. The songs were slick and perfect, anchored by Ferreira, who could be angsty one moment (‘Boys’ and ‘Nobody Asked Me’), sweet, a la Blondie, in the next (‘Love In Stereo’) and filled with pining in another (‘24 Hours’).
Unlike Rechtshaid’s work with Haim, he doesn’t mashup musical eras. He sticks to the '80s. There are chiming keyboards, crisp snap snares, crunchy guitars that could’ve been found on Starship songs.
In 2001, the Strokes recalibrated the landscape of mainstream rock with their debut ‘Is This It?’ With the emergence of music streaming sites and the abundance of music sources these days, that sort of massive collective shift may not be possible anymore. But ‘Night Time, My Time’ provides the hope. (RSC)
8. Kanye West - 'Yeezus' (Roc-A-Fella / Def Jam)
In a year dominated by pop artists making loud statements with their voices (and their asses), no one dominated the headlines quite like Kanye West. But the media's representations of the Chicago rapper/producer were just bizarre outgrowths from an album that seemed destined to divide but was instead almost universally acclaimed.
Sure, there were valid (and not-so-valid) quibbles over its lyrics, and yes, some people were upset about the Nina Simone sample, but 'Yeezus' was so dynamic, so penetrating, so brilliantly put together that it didn't matter what you or Jeromey Romey Rome thought: the music steamrolled right over you, whether or not you agreed with its politics. And so: Kanye West, 'Yeezus,' 2013 -- "It may not be what we want," but "he'll give us what we need." (YL)
7. Ka - 'The Night's Gambit' (Iron Works)
Ka, who we have heard works as a fireman in Brooklyn by day, is a very serious rapper by night. On 'The Night's Gambit,' his third self-released album, he did not tell any jokes. There were no LOLs. He delivered punchlines, many of them, but they were always edifying and relentlessly severe because Ka is a strategist -- he is the Rap Game Carl Von Clausewitz.
He handled the production work himself and the music was fierce and minimal and often terrifying. 'Peace Akhi' rumbled ominously. 'Jungle' was built on a smooth soul sample, but it whirred with angry ghosts. On the mic, Ka was always calm and always studious and always mean. But his narratives were vivid and wise, twisting from warring streets to politico-chess-life philosophy to redemptive introspection. It all added up to the year's most merciless and beautiful rap album. Like Ka, it stood alone. (ES)
6. Vampire Weekend - 'Modern Vampires Of The City' (XL)
Do you remember when Vampire Weekend were earning sneering think pieces for their nerdy disposition and appetite for culture? Yeah, me neither. There has been something exonerating about how thoroughly the proudly preppy band has defeated the detraction while never giving up once of themselves.
'Modern Vampires Of The City' was marked by its soft touch and brainy contemplation. The golden plunks of memory and ivory coating on 'Step.' The pop-philosophy preached on 'Unbelievers.' It was hard to think of a band with a better sense of self and that simultaneously asked and made fun of asking the Big Questions. 2013 did not have a better thesis statement. (LW)
5. Oneohtrix Point Never - 'R Plus Seven' (Warp)
From vast, exploratory synthscapes to reassembled samples of the forgotten detritus of consumer society, Oneohtrix Point Never has always sought new sonic ground to fold into his smart yet sensual approach to 21st-century composition. On 'R Plus Seven,' this drive led to Daniel Lopatin's unexpected plunge into MIDI presets, and it resulted in his most stunning, cohesive, and palatable release to date.
Unlike his previous albums, the conceptual heft of 'R Plus Seven' was much more ambiguous -- shrouded by oblique structures, synthetic sounds, and trap-hole-like twists and turns. But it didn't matter: the focus was on mood, making us feel more than think. And what we felt was an uncanny despair for something we didn't even know we cared about. (YL)
4. Lorde - 'Pure Heroine' (Universal)
Lorde's surprise hit 'Royals' was so popular this year it effectively undermined Lorde because you cannot preach anti-materialism and disdain for royals in a song one minute and then the next minute have that same song become a mega-money-hit and then the next minute eat lunch at Shake Shack with Taylor Swift because Taylor Swift is basically the most royal woman in pop music aside from Queen Beyonce. How will the 17-year-old New Zealander dissolve or embrace or ignore this tension in 2014? We do not know but it should be interesting.
For now: 'Pure Heroine.' It was a beautifully produced, skeletal, electronic, and terribly hip pop album that often sounded as if its musical objective was to musically disappear. And that left Lorde – the singer, the narrator, the hologram, the queen for those who did not have a queen – in the spotlight and behind the wheel of some strange futuro-vehicle that took us to some strange futuro-world.
Lorde's voice was soulful and peculiar. Lyrically, she romanticized everyday life and the joyous banalities of being young in a town where nothing much happened and nobody was watching. But Lorde made us look as she created a 'Team' of misfits who maybe never really were misfits to begin with or at least will not be misfits for long.
In 'Royals,' Lorde sang about how her and her 'Team' did not care for $$$ and fame and jewels. So what did they crave? The answer – one answer – could be found on '400 Lux': “I like these roads where these houses don't change / where we can talk like there's something to say.” There are people talking to each other inside the houses that are inside the boring towns that everyone has forgotten about. Not only are they talking, but they are talking meaningfully: “like there's something to say.” Lorde helped us listen and she did it with a singular sounding and thrilling pop album. (ES)
3. Disclosure - 'Settle' (Island)
When ‘Settle’ entered our world back in May, I was ready for it. Prior to hearing ‘Latch,’ the bouncy lead single from the album, I was subsisting on a regular diet of lo-fi rock, The xx and Kendrick Lamar. I needed some sunshine.
‘Latch’ provided that. It was upbeat and oozed cool. The lyrics – sung by Sam Smith, who is on the cusp of breakout – spoke of the precise moment when someone in a romantic relationship discovers he/she cannot let go of the other. The song’s construction was similarly fine-tuned.
Disclosure, who are two brothers, Guy and Howard Lawrence, were billed as dance artists and ‘Settle’ as dance music. But that wasn’t completely accurate. While ‘Settle’ was clearly influenced by UK Garage and 2-step – sounds from more than a decade ago -- the Lawrence brothers pushed those styles forward to create inspired pop songs, such as ‘Latch’ and the firy ‘White Noise,’ that felt brand new. (RSC)
2. Haim - 'Days Are Gone' (Polydor)
Three sisters playing aggressively effervescent pop rock heavily indebted to longstanding FM radio staples Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Shania Twain, and The Pretenders. If something about Haim sounded like it was structured for target demographics, that was because they probably were, and we could care less.
'Days Are Gone' was the comforting truth that sometimes it feels really good to be marketed to. Perfect songs never need any justification, and here were 11 of them. In a row. Haim had already conquered the world twice before they even checked their score.
Next year, when you see those three joyful faces bouncing through 'The Wire' at the Macy’s Day Parade, remember that they absolutely, unequivocally, earned it. (LW)
1. Julia Holter - 'Loud City Song' (Domino)
“Ambitious.”
That is the word writers write about music like Julia Holter's. But it is her fault because she keeps making adventurous and conceptual experimental-pop albums that do not sound like anything anyone else is making.
Her first album, 'Tragedy,' was fuzzy and bizarre and inspired by Euripides' play 'Hippolytus.' Her second, 'Ekstasis,' meaning “outside of oneself” in Greek, was ethereally trippy. And this year, 'Loud City Song,' a collection of brilliantly composed songs that used 'Gigi' (the Colette play and the film adaptation she loved as a kid) as an entry-point for Holter to explore her peculiar relationship with the peculiar realities of living in a peculiar city, namely Los Angeles, where she currently resides.
This was the first album Holter made totally outside of her bedroom, in a proper studio, and with a proper ensemble of musicians. You could certainly hear the differences. Everything was bigger, grander, brave, more magical. The otherworldly intimacy of her first two albums persisted, but these new tunes were warmer and the fantasy was more entrancing, transportive, consuming. From the thrilling 'Maxim's I' to the ballroom jazzy 'In The Green Wild' to the ecstatically frolicking 'This Is A True Heart' to the Lynchian, hair-raising cover of Barbara Lewis' 'Hello Stranger,' 'Loud City Song' was a delightful voyage even if most of the time it felt as if Holter was taking us deeper into a dream world with no end, just more rooms with more stages and more curtains that, when raised, revealed more mirrors. But then, finally, the city appeared and all was well because the chaos and the romance and the swerve continued.
There were certainly aspects of 'Loud City Song' that could be called “experimental” or “academic." But this was not music you needed an advanced degree, or a deep knowledge of the avant-garde, to enjoy. Yes, this was weird pop. But it was gorgeous and welcoming pop. It was just pop that was a little bit other than all of the other pop we were used to. (ES)
