MY FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2013:
10. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
I can’t say Reflektor is my absolute favorite albums of 2013, and I can’t say that it’s my favorite Arcade Fire album…but it certainly shows what can come of indie music in the hands of true song-spinning geniuses. This is heady, powerful rock, mixing Arcade Fire’s iconic loud folk anthems with world dance beats. It’s definitely deserving of many listens.9. James Blake - Overgrown
Having a lot of respect and adoration for an artist’s first album can really set someone up for disappointment when their sophomore release first hits their ears (see Bon Iver) – but Overgrown is an instant success. Both bleak and building, it locks you in from the first few seconds, when lonely piano chords break into a pounding bass. The soul just doesn’t stop.
8. The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die - Whenever, If Ever
When I received the good word from a short article written for Pitchfork that 90s emo was back, I REJOICED. Cap’n Jazz and American Football, Mineral and Moneen – all the CDs I had bought and burned flooded back into my ears. Among them was a new record by a band whose name I refuse to type out in full more than once per page. Whenever, If Ever is a sweetly energetic album with all the moves of the young dreamer. Shouts, keyboards, cello, and trumpet all recall the emotional days of yore – I almost wanted to grow my hair out and swoop it over my eyes. I did wear my Chuck Taylors and buy a skateboard.
7. Local Natives - Hummingbird
I would not have guessed by Local Natives’ Gorilla Manor, whose rich harmonies, blissfully existential quips, planetary shouts to the Sun, and inclusion of a cover song that I’d deem more powerful than the original, that their sophomore release could ever be so sad. Hummingbird is powerful in the opposite way (or maybe in a light-and-dark, night-and-day complimentary way) of Local Natives’ first album, but fits perfectly into their voice and their sound.
6. Perfect Pussy - I have lost all desire for feeling
There is something about this band. There just is. Their tape is a mess. Guitar, bass, and keys are all a murky wash of noise; the lyrics upon its first dozen listens are unrecognizable. It’s a raucous dash of untitled tracks from beginning to end, in less than thirteen minutes. And yet every time I listen to it, I listen two, three, four, five times in a row. Give it a listen. They’ll be at the Bug Jar in January and I refuse to miss it for anything.
5. Portugal. the Man - Evil Friends
Portugal. the Man proved a few things with Evil Friends. (1) They don’t have any intention of backing down the rock and roll in anyway, (2) their sound can convince a heavy-hitting producer (Danger Mouse) to put his name on a rock album, even after he turns them down at his doorstep, and (3) It is possible for a band to continue to produce amazing albums, even on their eighth release in eight years.
4. Laura Stevenson - The Wheel
Laura Stevenson, a former member of Long Island’s Bomb the Music Industry! (heart!), described herself in an interview with NPR as an “unfunny Woody Allen” (double heart!) The Wheel is obsessed with misery and mortality, but it carries moments that are so upbeat and filled with catchy hooks and melodies. Not to mention that what most artists use to build a song into an album ender of epic proportions, Stevenson accomplishes in the opening cut.
3. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
Vampire Weekend took their preppy sound, literate style, pop culture references, and Wes Anderson grandeur to an entirely new level with Modern Vampires. This is Vampire Weekend perfected, in my opinion. It takes all the modesty of their debut, mixes in the eccentric rhythms of Contra, and adds some truly heart-aching moments, such as in “Obvious Bicycle” and “Hannah Hunt.” This album really re-ignited my love for the band.
I got into a philosophical (a drunken) conversation recently about how long a band should continue to make music, and how eventually, after a couple albums, a downward spiral in quality is bound to take place. My rebuttal to this statement was simple: The National. This band shows that over fourteen years, a group can continue to make successively admirable albums. Trouble Will Find Me contains some of the most powerful lyrics that I have heard in a long time (probably since their previous album, High Violet). Love, solace, sentiment, remorse, contemplation, acceptance, longing, alcohol, and adventure all exude from this album, which gave it a devastatingly heavy rotation on my iPod.
1. Mikal
Cronin, MCII
This year, rock & roll genius,
multi-instrumentalist, and Ty Segall Band bassist Mikal Cronin released the
perfect power pop record. The guitar work alternates from quiet acoustic to
twelve-string fullness to clean electric strums to harsh, fuzzy, buzzing drive.
Piano and violin flood the songs with the most exciting, eloquent, and
evocative solos. Its lyrics are meaningful, important, relevant, entertaining,
and shoutable. This is an album you listen to LOUD with both arms in the air
instead of on the steering wheel, like Titus Andronicus’ The Monitor or a particular song by Neutral Milk Hotel (I don’t
think anyone can help themselves from singing “I LOVE YOU JESUS CHRIST” at the
top of their lungs whenever they hear it). Songs like “Weight,” “Shout It Out,”
and “Peace of Mind” quickly put Cronin on my list of artists to see before I
die (or before I go deaf). In an ideal world, he’d drop into some dive like
Sportsmans Tavern, like Kurt Vile did a couple years ago. It’s not reinventing
music, but it’s changing lives. This is a summer album of high feelings, but in
the bleak midwinter, I’ll be spinning it in optimistic anticipation for when
the car windows can come back down again.
THE TOP ALBUMS BY BUFFALO ARTISTS:
1. The Malones - The Malones
In 2013, there was a band called The Malones. You might have heard of them. I never thought that I’d be completely, absurdly star struck by the guy who gave me a free cup of coffee after I met him at the Steak & Cake backyard barbecue, but ladies and gentlemen, it happened. This is (was? Is?) the tightest, most energetic, and exciting band to hit Buffalo in a long time. I may never get “Dirty Soap” out of my mouth again as long as I live.
1. The Malones - The Malones
In 2013, there was a band called The Malones. You might have heard of them. I never thought that I’d be completely, absurdly star struck by the guy who gave me a free cup of coffee after I met him at the Steak & Cake backyard barbecue, but ladies and gentlemen, it happened. This is (was? Is?) the tightest, most energetic, and exciting band to hit Buffalo in a long time. I may never get “Dirty Soap” out of my mouth again as long as I live.
2. Space Wolves - Space Wolves III
I can’t count the number of times this summer I shouted, “You look so pretty in your pony dress!” I also can’t count the number of text messages between Carson Cain (Marine Biologist, Sperm, Aaron & the Burrs) and myself that read, “SLEEPING PILLS AND BEER.”
3. Mallwalkers - Shake the Rust Off
What is it about Mallwalkers that brings me back to when I first experienced the Talking Heads? It’s energetic, fun, masterfully artistic, brash, bold, and creative… It’s an album made by true showmen-and-women who know how to make a big-world sound out of local flavors.
4. Aircraft - Sonic Boom
Aircraft’s first full-length is a real force of reckoning when it comes to songwriting. It contains enough pop for the crowds to catch on, and enough psychedelic and experimental sounds to make it too interesting to turn away. “Through the Storm” still carries enough weight to knock me off my feet, even after the dozens of times I’ve seen them live in 2013.
5. JOHNS - House of Wrongheads
I first got the chance to see JOHNS open for The Men at Mohawk Place at one of their first shows (maybe it was their first show?). I think there were between twenty or thirty people in the crowd at that point, but they had everybody supremely captivated.
~ Post by Aaron Folmsbee
Great picks. Saw Prfct Pussy live this year, that tape kicks ass.