I can't make a best-of list, that would require me to have heard a whole helluva lot more new music than I did hear. Which isn't to say that everything I heard ended up here, but there's a lot of stuff below that, had I branched out better, would have created a much, MUCH different list.
As is, most of my year can be summed up in two camps: 90s throwback alternative and "probably shouldn't be scrobbling this on last.fm" mainstream pop. So that is my list, with a few random deviations.
1.
Speedy Ortiz -
Major Arcana
My #1 couldn't have been anything else this year. I know most of y'all are kind of lukewarm on this--and that's cool--but I've been super-digging Sadie Dupuis's songwriting and over all aesthetic for a year and a half now. I'm both proud and slightly embarrassed that up until the release (and ensuing explosion of popularity--Thanks Pitchfork) of Major Arcana that I accounted for 1/10th of all the Speedy Ortiz listens on last.fm.
And it was Speedy Ortiz that single handedly forced my exploration of artists like Pavement, The Breeders, Povlo, and many others. I was too young to know about them at the time and so backtracking to connect the dots has been super-fun.
Anyway, it would have taken a real clunker of an album for me to hate Major Arcana... but instead they far exceeded my expectations.
2.
Ovlov -
AM
Loud shoegazey guitars with highly memorable riffs. I've always loved big, distorted guitars (thanks Starflyer 59), and these guys delivered something that I kept coming back to day after day. Vocals mixed well with the over all atmosphere. Never really got into the whole shoegaze aesthetic before (other than being aware that Starflyer's early stuff is often given that tag), but with the album something just clicked in a big way for me.
As with Speedy Ortiz, I went on to backtrack to the big 90s influences... especially My Bloody Valentine.
3.
Football, etc -
Audible
I went on a big emo kick this summer. Something about the current emo scene--now that we're past the whole whiney/screamy thing that marred the 00s--really strikes a chord with me. While Football, etc does that hipster "hey, sports are cool" thing that is getting a bit annoying (a few years ago every young band had to have "wolf" in the title... now I guess it is sports references), the tensions created between the guitars and vocals is pretty fucking fabulous.
4.
Chelsea Light Moving -
Chelsea Light Moving
Thurston Moore is probably my favorite person in music. It's not an accident that Sonic Youth is my favorite band of all time. I have no ability to be even-handed with a Thurston Moore project. So even though Chelsea Light Moving ends up feeling like Sonic Youth's runt little brother, it's still an album I've spun a whole helluva lot. And even though it is lacking ...
something ... that I can't quite put my finger on, it's still got that trademark Thurston Moore stuff going on.
I might have still been convinced to put this further down on my list, but I did get a chance to see Chelsea Light Moving live this year, and the songs really stand out better in a live setting.
5.
Haim -
Days Are Gone
There's something about these songs that I connect with. And I think it goes beyond a "bass face" sex appeal thing. Like, these just feel like bombastic songs. Catchy, sing-a-long type songs that don't sacrifice interesting composition and surprising twists and sonic decisions. I don't know how well this will age--remember The Pipettes? They did something similarly retro-poppy (albeit a different era of retro romanticization), and I haven't thought or cared about them since, like, 2007.
Still, I can't predict future-love of music, so I gotta rank this well just based on how well it's jiving with me now.
6.
My Bloody Valentine -
m b v
m b v has two unfortunate strikes against it: 1. it isn't Loveless. and 2. paying $16 for a digital copy just sets off my "ick"-ometer. But being rather poor, I still had to plunk down that cash because I wasn't going to spring for the equally absurdly-priced CD. And while price shouldn't factor into my over all enjoyment of an album... it does.
But despite all of that, it's still a loud bit of rock n roll, with those dreamy whisper-vocals, and the marijuana coating every echoing strike of the guitar string.
7.
Tegan and Sara -
Heartthrob
In my very humble (and very correct) opinion, The Con is one of the great albums of the '00 decade. While Tegan and Sara have been evolving in a poppier direction, their trademark vocal interplay and won't-leave-your-head-for-days choruses are still on full display. These are songs that are easy to get lost in--suddenly realizing that the album is over and there is a void in my soul.
8.
Pity Sex -
Feast of Love
Quick poll for those who haven't heard Pity Sex before: based solely on their name, what is the genre?
If you said "fucking emo" you'd be pretty close to being spot on. It's just one of those names that oozes self-deprecation and consciously ironic hipstershit. What Pity Sex has, though, is guitars big enough to catch my attention (they're tagged as shoegaze on bandcamp--I dunno that I entirely agree with that, but then again, wtf do I know. I'm pretty goddamn new to the genre) and songs that just feel
right. Like, the sort of songs that eclipse any sort of genre-labeling to just be fuck-yeah good songs.
9.
Sky Ferreira -
Night Time, My Time
I guess the first thing you'd notice about Night Time, My Time is the pop-attack: these songs worm their way into the brain. But a close second is the lyrical conflict between normal boy attraction/relationships and speaking out against a culture that tends to minimize a woman's choice. But more than being a manifesto for some agenda, the lyrics come across as a self-discovery--something bolstered by the brash execution.
As a bonus, Gasper Noe's portrait of her that serves as the album cover inevitably colors the music within--this is a grimy, dirty trek, regardless of how catchy the songs are.
10.
SummerBlonde -
Graveyard Shift
This kicks off with a snarky Daria quote before fuzzed out guitar and sugar-sweet female vocals guide the seven tracks on this almost-full length. It's rough, basement quality stuff. But there's an engaging quality to it--a one person project thrown onto Bandcamp with no fanfare (current last.fm stats reflect a mere 3 listeners--and most of scrobbles are from me), that I discovered randomly by surfing the "bandcamp" tag on Tumblr. It reminds me of something that would have been recorded in 1995, simply for the love of music. Except it was recorded in 2013, probably for the same reason.
11.
Lady Gaga -
Artpop
I love Lady Gaga, don't even care. Yet another brash collection of radio-friendly pop perfection. Most people seem to view this as a lesser Lady Gaga album, but I am heralding it as her best one yet. Differ'nt strokes, I guess.
12.
Yellow Eyes -
Hammer of Night
I have some mixed feelings about this. I've always favored black metal as my go-to genre of choice when it comes to, well, metal. I'm no longer the metalhead I used to be, but I still dig it. I loved, loved Yellow Eye's first album--had moments of metal perfection, in my humble opinion. (A very, very humble opinion since I can no longer claim any kind of metal expertise.) And it's hard to follow up perfection. The only black mark against their first album (Silence Threads the Evening Cloth) was the instrumental tracks--an intro, an outro, an interludes between most of the tracks. Ended up feeling like a lot of filler. That's been mostly purged here. But at the same time, there is a certain frenetic quality to their debut that feels subdued here.
Ah well. I still dig it.
13.
Katy Perry -
Prism
If I believed in guilty pleasures, Katy Perry would probably qualify. But I don't, so I guess the point is moot. Just catchy as all get out songs. This feels a bit more mature than her prior albums, but still big singles appeal. Fun for those "need mindless pop" moments in life. Granted, I have very few moments like that, however, the album is fun enough to qualify for some non-mindless listening, too.
Possible additions to the list, given more listens:
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Celeste - Animale(s)
Joanna Gruesome - Weird Sister
Janelle Monae - The Electric Lady
Man Man - On Oni Pond
Palehound - Bent Nail EP
Polvo - Siberia
Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Sam Phillips - Push Any Button
Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt
Plus any number of other 2013 releases knocking about in my iTunes that I haven't really given much of a listen that could catch my ear eventually.
