ALBUMS OF THE YEAR: 10-1
It was no more than six weeks into this calendar year that we stepped back and assessed the long-players that had fallen into our laps so far. It was remarkable.
Across a range of styles and sounds, from monster, ultra-hyped big-hitters to immediate cult classics and slow burners, from engrossing UK techno full-lengths to feral blasts of nu-pigfuck grind, there were sparks going off across the board. While the previous year only a handful of records truly grabbed us and refused let go, this year we were inundated. No offence 2012, but 2013 had your pants down. So here we go, our much-pored-over list of a century of the best. Apologies for the few who dropped just outside, you were great too. And thanks and congratulations to the big 100, you are quite literally the best.
100. Black Sabbath – 13
99. Still Corners – Strange Pleasures
98. Gauntlet Hair – Stills
97. Beautiful Swimmers – Son
96. The Field – Cupid’s Head
95. Special Request – Soul Music
94. Logos – Cold Mission
93. Joanna Gruesome – Weird Sister
92. No Age – An Object
91. Hyetal – Modern Worship
90. Bass Drum Of Death – s/t
89. Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
88. Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back
87. Wavves – Afraid Of Heights
86. Damiano von Eckert and Tito Wun – Mister Pink, What Have You Been Smoking
85. Daughter – If You Leave
84. Ducktails – The Flower Lane
83. Jenny Hval – Innocence is Kinky
82. Space Dimension Controller – Welcome To Mikrosector 50
81. Vår – No One Dances Quite Like My Brothers
80. Boards of Canada – Tomorrow’s Harvest
79. Tyler the Creator – Wolf
78. Pusha T – My Name Is My Name
77. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels
76. Matthew E White – Big Inner
75. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
74. Tree – Sunday School 2
73. Cate Le Bon – Mug Museum
72. Endless Boogie – Long Island
71. Death Grips – Government Plates
70. Waxahatchee – Cerulean Salt
69. Juliana Barwick – Nepenthe
68. Syclops – A Blink of an Eye
67. Future of the Left – How To Stop Your Brain in an Accident
66. Dean Blunt – The Redeemer
65. Dirty Beaches – Drifters/Love Is The Devil
64. Thundercat – Apocalypse
63. Sapphire Slows – Allegoria
62. Chelsea Light Moving – Chelsea Light Moving
61. The History of Apple Pie – Out of View
60. RP BOO – Legacy
59. Blondes – Swisher
58. Foals – Holy Fire
57. Chelsea Wolfe – Pain Is Beauty
56. Benjamin Damage – Heliosphere
55. Gold Panda – Half of Where You Live
54. Moderat – II
53. Queens of the Stone Age – Like Clockwork
52. Iceage – You’re Nothing
51. Yo La Tengo – Fade
50. The Haxan Cloak – Excavation
49. Splashh – Comfort
48. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience (Part 1)
47. Lust for Youth – Perfect View
46. Omar Souleyman – Wenu Wenu
45. Jay Shepheard – Home & Garden
44. Fuck Buttons – Slow Focus
43. Wolf Eyes – No Answer: Lower Floors
42. The Flaming Lips – The Terror
41. Thee Oh Sees – Floating Coffin
40. Fuzz – Fuzz
39. Factory Floor – Factory Floor
38. Hookworms – Pearl Mystic
37. Child of Lov – Child Of Lov
36. The National – Trouble Will Find Me
35. Deerhunter – Monomania
34. Grouper – The Man Who Died In His Boat
33. Connan Mockasin – Caramel
32. Four Tet – Beautiful Rewind
31. Forest Swords – Engravings
30. Laurel Halo – Chance of Rain
29. Earl Sweatshirt – Doris
28. Dam Funk & Snoopzilla – 7 Days of Funk
27. Mazzy Star – Seasons Of Your Day
26. Pissed Jeans – Honeys
25. Oliver Wilde – A Brief Introduction To Un-Natural Light Years
24. His Electro Blue Voice – Ruthless Sperm
23. Tropic of Cancer – Restless Idylls
22. Tim Hecker – Virgins
21. Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
20. Julia Holter – Loud City Song
19. Parquet Courts – Light Up Gold
18. Zomby – With Love
17. James Holden – The Inheritors
16. Bill Callahan – Dream River
15. DARKSIDE – Psychic
14. Danny Brown – Old
13. Atoms For Peace – Amok
12. The Knife – Shaking the Habitual
11. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
10. SAVAGES
SILENCE YOURSELF
(MATADOR)
HUSBANDS
More of an odious manifesto than a mere maxim, Silence Yourself is Savages’ violent deconstruction of modern conventionality on their own grisly terms. Contained by a visceral but barley-there framework, Jehnny Beth’s imperative lyrics (“You have no face!”/”She will, she will!”) are absurdly minimal (see Curtis) and brutally confrontational (see Siouxsie) in prose. Unobjectionable by sex and prowling on-the-edge-of-chaos, Silence Yourself is the unredeemable world according to 2013’s most vital band. Joshua Nevett
9. DANIEL AVERY
DRONE LOGIC
(PHANTASY SOUND)
WATER JUMP
Forged in the analogue fires of Andrew Weatherall’s basement studio, and battle-hardened through his residency at Fabric, Daniel Avery’s Drone Logic pulsates with an acid heartbeat and a tough, metallic soul. By taking elements of the grim flamboyance of electroclash and the hypnotic elegance of looping techno, Avery has created a dance floor monster that can’t be controlled. Do your very best to stray into its path. Adam Corner
8. MY BLOODY VALENTINE
MBV
(SELF-RELEASED)
ONLY TOMORROW
In 1991 My Bloody Valentine released their seminal, flawless, and genre-defining album Loveless – a record so colossal that it changed the world of music forever, and ultimately destroyed the band. For 22 long years we waited for a follow-up, and in 2013 it finally came. mbv is the only record that even comes close to matching that untouchable production of its predecessor, and it’s every bit as ear-batteringly breathtaking. It’s the sequel everyone hoped for but nobody dared expect. James Balmont
7. DJ RASHAD
DOUBLE CUP
(HYPERDUB)
DOUBLE CUP
There was a time when we thought footwork’s influence would remain just a few steps away from the spotlight. And then Rashad dropped Double Cup. The genre-defying noises scattered across this record make it a not-to-be-fucked-with game changer, while an overarching sense of soul proves the sound has scope for growth yet. A constantly evolving, sucker punching, flirty motif flits throughout the album, ensuring justification for Rashad’s position at the top of the game. Billy Black
6. ARCADE FIRE
REFLEKTOR
(MERGE)
PORNO
This is a band having the midlife crisis we all dream of. Cuts like Afterlife, Porno, and Joan Of Arc are the sound of the biggest alternative rock outfit in the world becoming the intentionally untrendy hosts of the party of the millennium. By the time the rumbling synths and keys of Supersymmetry bow out after the LP’s 13 tracks, one of the most vital bands of the planet have fully exercised their new lease of life. Duncan Harrison
5. DEAFHEAVEN
SUNBATHER
(DEATHWISH INC.)
DREAM HOUSE
Six months down and still as flat-out thrilling as on initial listens, the San Franciscan duo’s second record proper is a touchstone for modern black metal, American or otherwise; a blistering suckerpunch of cathartic blasting and dazed introspection tied together by George Clarke’s impassioned, poetic narratives and Kerry McCoy’s atmospheric and diverse instrumentation. Sunbather is a comprehensively and consistently satisfying document, a true classic in the making, as unifying in opinions as Liturgy’s Aesthetica was divisive a couple years back. Thomas Howells
4. THESE NEW PURITANS
FIELD OF REEDS
(INFECTIOUS)
V
When These New Puritans emerged in 2008, we knew they were a cut above their retrogressive post-punk peers, but we never thought they’d evolve into the most radically innovative band in the country. By enlisting classical ensembles and composers, Portuguese singer Elisa Rodrigues, a primary school choir and a hawk named Shiloh, the band eschewed careerist logic in favour of ambition. In a time when popular music can feel more disposable than ever, when unquenchable cravings for instant gratification are universal, there’s something deeply pleasing about burying your head inside Field Of Reeds. Davy Reed
3. KANYE WEST
YEEZUS
(ROC-A-FELLA/DEF JAM)
BLACK SKINHEAD
If you’re reading this, there’s a 50% chance you’ve just cringed. Either you despise the mere sound of West’s voice, or you’re as convinced by his megalomaniac vision as the supergroup of producers assembled to fulfill it. Knowing hip-hop’s power to transmit rebellious bravado from the creator to the listener, West pushed it to the extreme, transforming himself into a godlike lothario, spitting out the sedative of celebrity status, screaming at the paparazzi and confronting middle America’s inherent prejudice with righteous a slap in the face. Just hurry up with his damn croissants. Davy Reed
2. JON HOPKINS
IMMUNITY
DOMINO
COLLIDER
Immunity’s power lay in Hopkins’ ability to pulverise and sooth with equal amounts of emotional resonance. Essentially an albums of two halves, the layered surging techno of the glorious Open Eye Signal and Collider was paired with the dust-settling poignancy and solitary note tear-jerking scapes of Abandon Window and the skewed beat fragility of the title track. A true musician far beyond the electronic canon, Immunity was the sound of producer showcasing a breadth of performance far beyond anyone else around him and uniting beat-heads and traditionalists alike. Thomas Frost
1. KURT VILE
WAKIN ON A PRETTY DAZE
(MATADOR)
GOLDTONE
We live in a moment where the album, as an idea, as a concept, as an actuality, seems to have frozen in stasis, supplanted by our ever-increasing desire for tracks, for snippets, for feed-friendly chunks. Happily, artists like Kurt Vile are still focused on the long player, still want to engage us on a deeper level, still keep us enraptured over four sides of shellac. If 2011’s Smoke Ring For My Halo showcased Vile at his most contently sombre, Wakin on a Pretty Daze is a stunning riposte to anyone who had the Philadelphian down as a hash-huffing dirge-peddler. It’s bright – Wakin’ on a Pretty Day shimmers, positively iridescent – brash – KV Crimes humps about over ZZ Top licks and metronomic cowbell – and ballsily beautiful – Goldtone is about as gorgeous a song as you’re likely to hear this decade. In short, Vile’s crafted something incredible, rich, rewarding, and endlessly replayable. Josh Baines
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