Steve Gordon
Connan Mockasin - Caramel
New Zealand's Connan Mockasin is what would happen if you made circa-1997 Radiohead drop acid with Syd Barrett and Ariel Pink. Bizarre and haunted, jazzy and demented, lo-fi bedroom space rock. Fill that bedroom with some baby-making, and you have his 2013 album, Caramel; all the aforementioned artists, with a little bit of Brothers Johnson on top. “Lysergic Sex Funk” is how a friend once described it, and I can't beat that. “I'm the Man, That Will Find You” is a standout track.
Travis Kowalski
Mayor Hawthorne - Where Does This Door Go
Where Does This Door Go is an album deeply focused on delivering modernized retro-soul vibes and contemporary hip-hop party jams that are predominantly inspired from Mayer Hawthorne’s previous DJ career. What makes this album stand out this year is how with three albums now under his belt, he still continues to progressively evolve as an artist by using heavier experimental instrumentals while also staying true to his disc jockey roots with his omnipresent neo-soul beats. Above all the other tracks on this album, his collaboration with Kendrick Lamar on “Crime” emerged to be among one of my favorites this year. The great thing about this song is that it doesn’t over complicate itself and brings out an infectious chorus with slick pop/hip-hop rhythms to give it that cool edge.
Jaz Frazier
The Malones - The Malones
If there is any one album that I abused, it’s easily the Malones’ self-titled album. This album got me through my day, through my night, and through mornings when I was pushing through an unforgiving hangover. It certainly helped that the shows these guys [Steven Floyd, Elliott Douglas, and Brandon Schlia] performances were EXPLOSIVE. If during their set you were too winded to shout the lyrics anymore or too achy to troll the floor, the crowd would carry you, in addition to an energetic Douglas hopping into the audience making them all go ballistic. The live performances were transmitted so well into their recorded work, making this my most-loved album of the year.
Jessica Brant
Lorde - Pure Heroine
This saucy songstress from down under struck a chord with me--and everyone else--when "Royals," a nod to, and dodge from, all things ostentatious hit the radio waves. She left the world asking, "Who on God's earth is this beautiful soul with golden brown tendrils, doe-like eyes and the voice of an ethereal fairy?" And then we all found out it was a 17-year-old high school kid singing us to shame. Each listen is like opening a scrapbook from high school days past, complete with sloppy prom pictures, gushy love letters, and torn-up concert tickets...Oh, to be seventeen again. Most notably described as the reigning queen of "confessional bedroom pop," Lorde compiles an impressive track list filled with silky harmonies and free-spirited hip hop and electronic beats. Feel the power in her gloriously arranged "Glory and Gore," and the bubbly dance rhythms of "Tennis Court." This girl can brag all she wants; she is the true queen bee, taking pop where it needs to be. Lorde is now, and Lorde is the future.
Michael Torsell
Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
This really was Vampire Weekend's year. While I am still changing my mind over my best track of the year (I picked Vampire Weekend but now I think that honor belongs to "Play by Play" by Autre Ne Veut), I have been pretty sure about this choice despite my best attempts at second guessing myself. Modern Vampires of the City is an accomplished modern pop album with no weaknesses. It is a rare flawless feat of clever songwriting and memorable lyrics and it is my album of the year.
Mac McGuire
Local Natives - Hummingbird
Man this was difficult. Last year, all I did was bitch that there were so few good albums released. This year, all I did was bitch that there was TOO MUCH good music to pick from. I bitch a lot. My selection for album of the year could have been one of many albums: Okkervil River's nostalgic shout out to the 80s in The Silver Gymnasium, Yo La Tengo's best album in years in Fade, The Men slowly becoming The Band on New Moon, or probably a half dozen others. You get the idea. 2013 was a damn good year in music.
So why Local Natives' Hummingbird? I don't even like the band that much. Their debut album, Gorilla Manor, was alright. Fun, sunny harmonies. Some nice percussion and jagged guitar work. But at the end of the day, I thought I heard it all before. I never thought that band had this album in them. The production skills of Aaron Dessner (The National) hang heavy as tight compositions and layers of emotion are found on every track. Plus, the band has the luxury of having two of the best singers in music today, Kelcey Ayer and Taylor Rice, as co-frontmen, and Hummingbird gives each the chance to shine on their own, from Ayer's devastating ode to his passed mother on "Columbia" and the stirring "Heavy Feet" to Rice's uplifting "Ceilings." Throw in some of the best drum work this side of the Walkmen, and you not only have my most pleasant surprise of 2013, but also my favorite album.
Local Natives - Hummingbird
Man this was difficult. Last year, all I did was bitch that there were so few good albums released. This year, all I did was bitch that there was TOO MUCH good music to pick from. I bitch a lot. My selection for album of the year could have been one of many albums: Okkervil River's nostalgic shout out to the 80s in The Silver Gymnasium, Yo La Tengo's best album in years in Fade, The Men slowly becoming The Band on New Moon, or probably a half dozen others. You get the idea. 2013 was a damn good year in music.
So why Local Natives' Hummingbird? I don't even like the band that much. Their debut album, Gorilla Manor, was alright. Fun, sunny harmonies. Some nice percussion and jagged guitar work. But at the end of the day, I thought I heard it all before. I never thought that band had this album in them. The production skills of Aaron Dessner (The National) hang heavy as tight compositions and layers of emotion are found on every track. Plus, the band has the luxury of having two of the best singers in music today, Kelcey Ayer and Taylor Rice, as co-frontmen, and Hummingbird gives each the chance to shine on their own, from Ayer's devastating ode to his passed mother on "Columbia" and the stirring "Heavy Feet" to Rice's uplifting "Ceilings." Throw in some of the best drum work this side of the Walkmen, and you not only have my most pleasant surprise of 2013, but also my favorite album.
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