Best Albums of 2013

2013; there was a lot of great music released this year but I'm afraid there weren't that many albums that I see myself returning to years from now.  Time may prove me wrong (the top five are certainly solid).  This year I've also posted a podcast counting down the top 10 (with commentary) here.  And so here is the list, the best albums of 2013 (non-Historian related, of course):

Honorable Mention:

Neko Case

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight…

Key track: “Night Still Comes”

Kelela

Cut 4 Me

Key track: “Bank Head"

Atoms for Peace

Amok

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Amok"

Jenny Hval

Innocence is Kinky

Key track: “The Seer”

Colin Stetson

New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light

Key track: “Hunted"

Ty Segall

Sleeper

Read the full review here.

Key track: “She Don't Care"

Dirty Beaches

Drifters/Love Is a Devil

Key track: “Night Walk"

Thundercat

Apocolypse

Key track: “Heartbreaks and Setbacks"

Iceage

You're Nothing

Key track: “Ecstasy"

David Bowie

The Next Day

Key track: “Where Are We Now"

50. Mutual Benefit

Love's Crushing Diamond

Key track: “Advanced Falconry"

49. Haim

Days Are Gone

Key track: “The Wire"

48. The Field

Cupid's Head

Key track: “Cupid's Head"

47. Sigur Ros

Kveikur

Key track: “Brenninsteinn"

46. Forest Swords

Engravings

Key track: “The Weight of Gold"

45. Youth Lagoon

Wondrous Bughouse

Key track: “Mute"

44. DJ Rashad

Double Cup

Key track: “Let It Go"

 

43. DJ Koze

Amygdala

Key track: “Ich schreib dir ein Buch 2013"

42. Charli XCX

True Romance

Key track: “Stay Away"

41. Justin Timberlake

The 20/20 Experience (part 1)

Key track: “Mirrors"

40. Chance the Rapper

Acid Rap

Key track: “Good Ass Intro"

39. Deafheaven

Sunbather

Key track: “Dreamhouse"

38. Chelea Wolfe

Pain is Beauty

Key track: “The Waves Have Come"

37. Burial

Truant/Rough Sleeper

Key track: “Truant"

36. Mikal Cronin

MCII

Key track: “Weight"

35. Rhye

Woman

Key track: “The Fall"

34. Oneohtrix Point Never

R Plus Seven

Key track: “Boring Angel"

33. Local Natives

Hummingbird

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Breakers"

32. Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels

Key track: “Get It"

31. Drake

Nothing Was the Same

Key track: “Hold On, We're Coming Home"

30. The Haxan Cloak

Excavation

Key track: “The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)"

29. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Push the Sky Away

Key track: “Jubilee Street"

28. Earl Sweatshirt

Doris

Key track: “Sunday"

27. Foxygen

We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic

Key track: “No Destruction"

26. Tim Hecker

Virgins

Key track: “Virginal II"

25. Kurt Vile

Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze

Key track: “Wakin' On a Pretty Daze"

24. Deerhunter

Monomania

Key track: “Back to the Middle"

23. Majical Clouds

Impersonator

Key track: “Bugs Don't Buzz"

22. Jon Hopkins

Immunity

Key track: “Immunity"

21. Julianna Barwick

Nepenthe

Key track: “One Half"

20. Phosphorescent

Muchacho

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Song For Zula"

19. Fuck Buttons

Slow Focus

On Slow Focus, Fuck Buttons didn’t necessarily build on what they had accomplished with Tarot Sport so much as they perfected it. The bits and pieces they’ve taken over the years from krautrock, IDM and post-rock are all distilled into immaculately crafted tracks, arguably the best of their already fruitful career. It’s true that just about every song on the record heads to a glorious climax, but it’s almost more satisfying how Fuck Buttons takes you there. The album travels through arpeggios, mellotrons and extraterrestrial twists and turns all with the intent of throwing the listener just slightly off base. And yet, there’s still plenty of melody to hang on to. If there was another artist this year that made such an intense journey to space and back, I didn’t hear it.

Read the full review here.

Key track: “The Red Wing"

18. Danny Brown

Old

Key track: “Kush Coma"

17. Boards of Canada

Tomorrow's Harvest

Key track: “Reach For the Dead"

16. Chvrches

The Bones of What You Believe

Based on their early singles, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that Chvrches ended up one the year’s great success stories. The band opened for Depeche Mode this year and I can’t think of a single band better suited to carry on the synth pop band’s legacy. Aside from the obvious stylistic similarities, when Lauren Mayberry admits “I will sell you a future you don’t want” on “Lungs,” she betrays a certain honesty that’s both alarming and oddly moving. Chvrches knack for melodic greatness may have been The Bones of What You Believe’s initial selling point, but for me, it was the bitingly direct confessions that kept me coming back.

Key track: “The Mother We Share"

15. These New Puritans

Field of Reeds

Key track: “V (Island Song)"

14. Janelle Monae

Electric Lady

Key track: “Give 'Em What They Love"

13. The National

Trouble Will Find Me

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Sea of Love"

12. Darkside

Psychic

Key track: “Golden Arrow"

11. Volcano Choir

Repave

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Alaskans"

10. The Knife

Shaking the Habitual

Key track: “Wrap Your Arms Around Me"

9. Savages

Silence Yourself

Key track: “She Will”

8. Disclosure

Settle

Key track: “Help Me Lose My Mind"

7. Kanye West

Yeezus

Key track: “Guilt Trip"

6. Julia Holter

Loud City Song

Key track: “Maxim's I"

5. James Blake

Overgrown

Our first taste of Overgrown was highlight “Retrograde”.  The song starts off typically spare, but it’s clear even from the onset that this is decidedly more of a traditional pop song than we had previously heard from James Blake. He’s has always had a way with arrangements, however; in the past songs were as much about what was left out as they were what was included. Here, on the other hand, we simply have a patient build to a gorgeous climax, complete with soaring synths. It’s one of the most moving songs in Blake’s quickly growing catalog. In the end, the song feels inevitable and was pretty indicative of the album as a whole, as though this was where Blake has been heading all along; but that doesn’t make it, or its parent album, any less extraordinary.

Read the full review here.

Key track: “Retrograde”

4. My Bloody Valentine

mbv

As improbable as it may seem, 2013 brought us the first MBV album in 22 years and not only was it good, it was great.  There’s no way the band could possibly deliver another Loveless-level masterpiece, which only made the wait time for a follow up feel that much more unnecessary.  That said, the band manages to satisfy conjuring up the past and looking for ways to expand.

Key track: “In Another Way"

3. Daft Punk

Random Access Memories

Could anyone have guessed Daft Punk would have their first number one album in 2013?  And yet the band managed to release their most successful record to date this year.  It turns out the record was well worth celebrating as it features the band’s most enjoyable music in over a decade.  And it features a monolog from Giorgio Moroder, what more could you want?

Key track: “Instant Crush"

2. Arcade Fire

Reflektor

What could James Murphy possibly add to the Arcade Fire milieu? Apparently a lot more than many would have ever guessed, helping the band turn a corner with a dramatic, just-in-the-nick-of-time transformation. Before the band could start yielding diminishing returns or grow stale, they learned how throw down some pretty impressive beats and stylistic shifts. The album has garnered several comparisons to Achtung Baby which is apropos, but in a lot of ways, Reflektor reminds me of London Calling-era The Clash (and even at times there are hints of Sandinista in the dub-inspired low end). It’s the sound of a band reaching out and expanding into a whole new range of territories and nailing each one. They so seamlessly blend synth textures, disco beats and a slew of elaborate instrumental surprises that the most-hyped release of the year actually managed to live up to it.

Key track: “Reflektor"

1. Vampire Weekend

Modern Vampires of the City

It takes a special band to take a sped-up sample of a Bread song, borrow a line from YZ’s “Who’s That Girl” and turn it into one of the year’s best musical moments (“Step”). The airiness of the song’s production gives the impression of causal brilliance, but the music itself tells another story altogether. Painstakingly gorgeous and assembled with masterful precision, Vampire Weekend pull together various disparate elements and turn them into something that feels wholly natural, as if the various pieces belonged together all along. To top it off, the album is filled with some of the most satisfying hooks of anything released this year.

Key track: “Step"

Please check out the list my fellow Treble staffers and I voted on as well (you’ll probably recognize some of the blurbs on this list).  Best Songs and Albums of 2013