2013 list

i'm so sorry i haven't posted anything in forever. this year's been really awful but also kind of good and nowhere near as bad as last year. i think it's like a transition where the last one was a complete failure. everything is okay and the world is beautiful

music-wise i don't know. i made a top 49 (50) list but it's not really in order. the important thing is that the redeemer is no. 1. if pop's a mirror then yeezus says we're fucked. if rock's dead then someone should tell the men to stop being so fucking ancient, but also don't 'cause i like it. the dead c know it. have done since the 80s! liz harris still wants us to feel bad. kurt vile cares too much about not caring. where's the downer that got me through 2011. humanbeast made s&m dinner party music that i listen to while playing sonic. colin stetson found hope. the body and pharmakon made you sweat. so did full of hell actually. full of hell are fucking mental. shaking the habitual was actually fun. tim hecker made another album people will appreciate like three years from now. fat white family reminded people that noise rock is noise rock. haim made people who never liked the replacements like tom petty.

here's my stupid list: (also convenient spotify playlist)

honourables/considered/worth your time/if you're into that kind of thing/huge love + huge flaws/not much love + minimal flaws:

Amber London - Tru 2 Tha Phonk

servin fiendz

Andrew Pekler - Cover Versions

art and liberation

A$AP Ferg - Trap Lord

something tells me i missed the point when my fav moment was an unfinished bone thugs cover

Ace Hood - Trials & Tribulations

gangsta sincerity and all, fuck off wayne and tidy your damn room

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

hipster r&b's big 2013 release almost realizes some truth

Barrow - Though I'm Alone

occasionally gripping and consistently interesting, unfortunately atmosphere is something that's earned rather than decided on or cued

Body/Head - Coming Apart

free but suspenseful and with its body/head/heart in the right place

Botanist - IV: Mandragora

once the ears adjust (it'll happen, promise), it's clear that mandragora regularly rises above its gimmick

Bottomless Pit - Shade Perennial

silkworm growd up (post-punk,rock,etc)

Brighter Arrows - Dreamliner

their trick is making you believe over and over that everything's fallen apart and you're witnessing an aftermath or something that won't ever be able to rebuild itself (don't be fooled, but also totally go ahead if you can suspend your disbelief long enough to avoid suspense translating to tedium)

Celeste - Animale(s)

atmosphere earned but wander in and you'll find something that wants to bite your head off

CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe

singular and yet on the side of nwo-poptimism vs everything-but-the-kitchen-sink o shite (escapist house plus mumford stomp)

Ciara - Ciara

here's a double-edged sword- too concise to excuse/bury the missteps

Comadre - Comadre

distraction punk

Danny Brown - Old

(im)mature and totally necessary, yet i will inevitably gravitate toward the 19 track suicide note that is xxx 'cause it made me cry

Deafheaven - Sunbather

'telling you exactly where this is gonna go' from mono to fucking avicii

Dean Blunt - Stone Island

stone island: a free stomach-in-throat supplement courtesy of dean blunt

Death Grips - Government Plates

i get that they're pretty much gonna do it again and again, and so all credit to them when they do it the same but better

DJ Koze - Amygdala

i feel sick

DJ Rashad - Double Cup

sort of a relief after i spent so much of '12 getting used to fragments that hit harder than something dressed as a full-on assault

Drake - Nothing Was the Same

the year's best song and video, content-drake makes his second move away from confused/hungry-drake and the result is both more assured (no shit) and bloated than the last one. probably a future masterpiece

Dustin Wong - Mediation of Ecstatic Energy

when analogies fail- this nail-in-the-coffin-of-post-rock does its best to shed the repetitive excess of the 'genre'(?) while maintaining its core aspiration for audio transcendence

Earl Sweatshirt - Doris

of course we'll never get another EARL, at least with doris earl delivers consistent dead-eyed monotone rap that's complex and even gives a shit

Emptyset - Recur

startling commitment to not only not having fun, but to not containing any sounds which could ever even at a stretch be used by a cornball funlover not yet subscribed to emptyset's greyscale realism (minimal industrial occurrences)

Félicia Atkinson - Visions / Voices

obviously i'm not sure what's going on here, but i like the voices

The Field - Cupid’s Head

i thought this was a folk album before i hit play!

FKA Twigs - EP2

female sexuality in the year of miley

The Flaming Lips - The Terror

optimists look forward and see indifference

Frameworks - Small Victories

instagram deer heads

Frisk Frugt - Dansktoppen Moder Burkina Faso I Det Himmelbla Rum Hvor Solen Bor, Suite

wtf thequietus

Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus

maybe i didn't try hard enough to give a fuck about slow focus but then again why should i have to

The Future of the Left - How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident

“I hope on a special day for you, like on your wedding day, someone lies to you and tells you you’re beautiful and spoils the day like you've spoiled this day for me.”

Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge - Twelve Reasons to Die

how did this get way down (up?) here

Gucci Mane - Trap House 3

twists and turns and unexpectedly looks straight ahead

Haim - Days Are Gone

all-inclusive cornball poptimism strong enough to end our recent obsession with escapist gymcore

Hatred Surge - Human Overdose

hatred. surge. hatred surge. overdose. overdose. human. human overdose. hatred surge's 2013 album, human overdose. fuck.

Have Mercy - The Earth Pushed Back

strong release in a year consistent in high quality muscular dorkcore revivalism

High Wolf - Kairos: Chronos

this year's valley tangents, in that i don't know why i care about it but i really do

Huerco S. - Colonial Patterns

self-contained and self-mutilating freak that shifts and evolves before you

Iceage - You're Nothing

2013's best emo record outside of the emo revival. unlike those ones, you're nothing's anger is a disturbing common-sense laziness and its threat isn't simply to get louder

Jacqueline Humbert & David Rosenboom - Daytime Viewing

an alien hanging in the desert since the early 70s knocks on your window at night and tries to challenge the way you think

Jon Hopkins - Immunity

i didn't care at all until it got warm and cuddly and that forced me to re-evaluate the club concept i can't and will never be able to relate to

Katy Perry - Prism

how presumptuous!

Kelly Rowland - Talk A Good Game

good simple quality r&b unfortunately comes out at a time where we demand that something stand out. probably a future cult classic

Kevin Gates - The Luca Brasi Story and Stranger Than Fiction

on the luca brasi story, alter egos muddy the rap-v-real-dichotomy we thought croaky voiced gates' tears just clearly burned right through. stranger than fiction's an odd case of more honesty, more trapping. my vote's on the cinematic piece. more fiction, more feels means something from a rapper part gibbs part future- his currency's the affect of his stories and his gift's his delivery. there's no point worrying if it's an act- it's all from the same place any way

Kvelertak - Meir

anachronistically starting with metallica, every ambitious metal band will eventually become the foo fighters

Lee Noble - Ruiner

are an artist's loneliest jams his/her best jams when he/she is so persistently alone?

Lil B - 05 Fuck Em

lil b as weirdo vision of rapgame contradictions, eccentricities, vulnerabilities, opportunities, 05 fuck em as everything-you-need-to-know about lil b (and by extension, rap generally) marathon

Lil Herb & Lil Bibby - Heir Apparents

naturalistic celebrations and warfare

M.I.A. - Matangi

a delightful mess

Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile

further questions, ambiguities, and histories after chapter one's whirlwind shriek caught the attention of like everybody ever in 2011

Migos - Young Rich Niggas

critics seem to argue that they should've invented their own language for the hooks

My Bloody Valentine - MBV

both the cynic and forgiving little guy in me keep trying to convince myself that my bloody valentine could've released loveless for the first time again and due to the circumstances surrounding its (2013 mbv's) release, it would've been an anti-climax regardless. i was about ready to accept that until the last two tracks made it clear that the lazy fuckers actually have it in them to break new ground again. and so i'm hopeful but genuinely let down too. what's with the aimless loveless drafts? didn't want to 100% commit to something new? a mellow regurgitation followed by an infuriatingly promising cliffhanger? what kind of a sadist comes back after 22 years with a last time on the my bloody valentine show trailer followed by a next time on the my bloody valentine show preview?

Nick Cave - Push the Sky Away

icy and awkward as all hell abandonment of cave's genius personae

Oneohtrix Point Never - R Plus Seven

a new and familiar language

Oranssi Pazuzu - Valonielu

in space no one can hear you scream (cue valonielu, gravity)

Paisley Parks - Бｈ○§†

fragment warfare

Palehorse - Harm Starts Here

see, eyehategod were never committed enough to hire a noise guy to underpin their outbursts

Paramore - Paramore

stadium power pop's final stand

Pinkunoizu - The Drop

again wtfthqts?

Pity Sex - Feast of Love

an ageless familiarity, like you thought you'd lost it but here it is again

Segue - Pacifica

is the fucking cover

Sheep, Dog & Wolf - Egospect

goes for genre blending and in the process ends up with genre indifference (obviously superior, a casual whatever-works approach sitting easier than a set of gimmicks)

Teho Teardo and Blixa Bargeld - Still Smiling

the effect of humour on sincerity, confused and smiling tears

Title Fight - Spring Songs

lp? :)))

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Whenever, If Ever

2013 emo revival's twinkliest and most ball shrivelling. it could potentially change your life

Tree - Sunday School II: When Church Lets Out

rare traditional clarity filtered through shifty hobo wisdom. these fuckin tears, man

Tropic Of Cancer ‎– Restless Idylls

pompously restricts and reduces the pomp of like bauhaus, this is the 2010s after all

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

could be incredible if i could make a case for the shit ones hanging around the ones that briefly convince you that you might be in the presence of 2013's great pop record

Var - No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers

one of the more approachable members of the year's sexless funeral march

Various Artists - Night Slugs Allstars Volume 2

pomo futurism

Waka Flocka Flame - DuFlocka Rant 2

early convinced me 2013 could be waka's other/next year, duflocka2's more spontaneous and less of a machine and so all sympathy for the poor guy's vocal cords

William Tyler - Impossible Truth

how and why does this exist in 2013 (thanks for existing in 2013)

Wolf Eyes - No Answer: Lower Floors

toying with the listener through capture and release

Wölfbait - Wölfbait

manageable nrg

Yo La Tengo - Fade

a mild set built on the musicians' competing desires to a) come to grips with some truth about impermanence and so to be consumed/set free by this knowledge, and b) hold the fuck onto something in spite of this inevitability: it's okay, they hardly sound like they're in the right headspace to destroy rock n roll again for the moment

Young Fathers - Tape Two

80s drum fetish bring the noise spiritualism

top 49 50:

50. Beyoncé - BEYONCÉ

the sophisti-goth visuals effectively set you up for a not just consistent, but consistently interesting soundworld over which beyoncé can reiterate that she's the best

beyoncé / iTunes

49. Ulcerate - Vermis

less 'atmospheric', more organic (atmospheric)

bandcamp / relapse / spotify

48. James Ferraro - NYC, Hell 3:00AM

hipster 'concepts' (in-house jokes) aside, nyc hell stands separate from the vapors if only 'cause it's so damn sad

insound / spotify

47. Laurel Halo - Chance of Rain

the cold & fuckin weird 'follow-up' you didn't know you needed

hyperdub / boomkat / spotify

46. Full of Hell - Rudiments of Mutilation

sludge delirium

bandcamp / spotify

45. Parents - Parents

we'll bathe tonight

bandcamp

44. William Basinski - Nocturnes

abstract no-fun and a trail of tears

2062

43. Stara Rzeka - Cień Chmury Nad Ukrytym Polem

earth's beauty and fury and humour

bandcamp

42. Julia Brown - to be close to you

they're actually fuckin great when you can't hear them properly

bandcamp

41. Jefre Cantu-Ledesma - Devotion

emotive glitch

bandcamp / spotify

40. Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor

atmospheric old man dying in the snow music

prophecy / bandcamp

39. Dead in the Dirt - The Blind Hole

exhausting

bandcamp

38. Arrington De Dionyso's Malaikat Dan Singa - Open the Crown

beefheart revival's most endearing

bandcamp / spotify

37. Crash of Rhinos - Knots

emo revival's angriest

bandcamp / spotify

36. Pharmakon - Abandon

in 2013 there was a screaming across the sky and everyone got scared and everyone was moved

sacred bones / spotify

35. Freddie Gibbs - ESGN

dead eyed nihilism goes teary eyed desperation. it'll spin your face around

spotify

34. Raum - Event of Your Leaving

sunburned and longing

glasscommahouse / spotify

33. Machinedrum - Vapor City

nobly soulful

ninjatune / spotify

32. Ashley Paul - Line the Clouds

quiet noise

relrecords / spotify

31. These New Puritans - Field of Reeds

penguin cafe orchestra for bong iver yuppies

tnp

30. Inga Copeland - Don't Look Back, That's Not Where You're Going

we're all ears

hipposintanks

29. Fat White Family - Champagne Holocaust

pigfuck retards: nothing's shocking

bandcamp / spotify

28. Tal National - Kaani

hot sweat

fatcat / spotify

27. Nails - Abandon All Life

cold sweat

bandcamp / spotify

26. The Body - Christs, Redeemers

the cold shower

thrilljockey / spotify

25. Slow Warm Death - s/t

i guess garage punk gets to the point more directly/less cloyingly than emo(?)

bandcamp / spotify

24. Milk Music - Cruise Your Illusion

pomo zuma nostalgia, not giving a fuck betrayed by the pout, the pout betrayed by the lazy eye

fatpossum / spotify

23. Iron Lung - White Glove Test

in appreciation of life's minute details: so fast that 30 secs with white glove test feels like an hour

bandcamp / spotify

22. Run the Jewels - Run the Jewels

political paranoids cool it (but don't cool it at all, of course) just to say: we're the fucking best

foolsgold

21. Bardo Pond - Peace on Venus

the psychedelia never manages to rise above the band's aimless yearning

firerecords / spotify

20. Prurient - Through the Window

ode to the alienated banality of our collective existence, on through the window fernow's prurient (so often the outlet for an abstract primal release) holds himself back for everything but a brief panic attack in the middle. everything else is spirit and desire flattened and set to the rhythm of sexless repetition and empty, mocking phrases

spotify

19. The Knife - Shaking the Habitual

odd but immediately enjoyable, and with a point to prove

rabidrecords / spotify

18. Bill Orcutt - A History of Every One

history disembowled

editionsmego / spotify

17. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - II

suicide pop

cinderblock / spotify

16. RP Boo - Legacy

simultaneously makes a case for, and teaches the listener about, his legacy

planetmu / spotify

15. Humanbeast - Venus Ejaculates in the Banquet

dinner party pop for masochists

loadrecords

14. Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

'space' rock that shoots inward (for introspection rather than the cosmos)

gringo

13. (Ensemble Pearl) - (Ensemble Pearl)

chance and spontaneous interaction in a metal context, also the history of rock music

dragcity

12. Black Boned Angel - The End

transcendental metal (sorry liturgy, deafheaven)

thrilljockey

11. Tim Hecker - Virgins

it might not seem this way now, but surely best way to follow an abrasive conceptual masterpiece would be with something organic and personal

kranky / spotify

10. Julianna Barwick - Nepenthe

"waving to you"

deadoceans / spotify

9. The Body - Master, We Perish

sludge collage of human suffering

thrilljockey / spotify

8. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light

full spectrum- darker and deader, then lighter than ever

cst / spotify

7. The Men - New Moon

punk rock archaeology, pure and vulnerable

sacredbones / spotify

6. Kurt Vile - Wakin On A Pretty Daze

finally happy not to give a fuck

matador / spotify

5. Grouper - The Man Who Died in His Boat

fragments and leftovers sound coherent when you've done the hard work p much creating your own genre

kranky / spotify

4. Endless Boogie - Long Island

zz top for hipsters and metalheads

noquarter

3. Kanye West - Yeezus

uh-huh, honey

amazon / spotify

2. The Dead C - Armed Courage

pacing, pacing

midheaven

1. Dean Blunt - The Redeemer

the dull nausea of heartache and how we convince ourselves that we can move on

hipposintanks / spotify

best book i read

Jason - Lost Cat

while it's not as immediately devastating as something like hey, wait, lost cat is probably jason's prettiest, best paced, and most consistent book. chance encounters, missed connections, and the end of the fucking world...

runner-ups:

Charles Forsman - The End of the Fucking World

forsman renders everything in absolute clarity through his dry and bare artwork, and so there is no opportunity for the romanticization of any of teotfw's characters, decisions, and events. it exists to make you hurt and it will do just that. i cried.

Simon Hanselmann - Life Zone

stoner comedy as dark as it is heartfelt. probably the best pacing i've ever come across in a comic book. cried again.

best games i played

Spelunky

the world might be chaotic but it is still out to get you

Kentucky Route Zero (Act 2)

gives the player the opportunity to skirt around the edges of its surrealist dislogic and interpret things literally, or just completely cave and see what he/she finds there

Bioshock Infinite

completely abandons the grim desperation of the first one for the sake of thoughtful blockbuster storytelling. it's a hypocritical massacre but it's gorgeous.

Proteus

video game impressionism

The Last of Us

awful first half, unexpectedly redeems itself and transcends its bs survivalist cliches

Shelter

fucking cruel

Bubsy 3D: Bubsy Visits The James Turrell Retrospective

o bubs

Gone Home

sentimental storytelling for nostalgic indie gamers