Well, it’s that time of the year again to select those bands that make your jaw drop because the music they make, the quality of their sound, their songwriting, the vocals, and total dedication… Pearl Jam, Alter Bridge, Primal Scream, The Strypes, MGMT, MBV, Alice in Chains, Dawes, The Naked and Famous, Shadowboxer… are only a few in our list of Best Albums of 2013, what we consider the best and brightest. There are some bands and solo artists we had the pleasure to follow for several years, and continue to do so, Tame Impala, Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Lamb of God, Muse… and many, many others. Some have gone on to greatness, and others have slipped away into obscurity, but they’ve all deserved a few minutes of your attention. Either we understand the music they create and appreciate and admire their creativity, musicianship, the quality of their sound, the brilliant songwriting, the vocals… or we don’t. This year we made the decision to make our list in alphabetical order (band/solo artist name), not ranked, and with links to the artists’ official website. It’s been a year in music we have fully enjoyed thanks to these artists. No hype, no bullshit – just good music! It’s been a lot of work but now that we’ve finished the list, we wish you enjoy discovering and arguing about all the artists we’ve selected for this year’s list.
The Best Albums of 2013
Alice in Chains – ‘The Devil Put Dinosaurs There’ / Capitol
Alter Bridge – ‘Fortress’ / Roadrunner
A Perfect Circle – ‘A Perfect Circle Live’: Featuring Stone and Echo [A Perfect Circle Entertainment]
Arcade Fire – ‘Reflektor’ / Merge Records
Arctic Monkeys – ‘AM’ / Domino
Bryce Dessner and The Kronos – ‘Aheym’
Chelsea Wolfe – ‘Pain Is Beauty’ / Sargent House
Chvrches – ‘The Bones of What You Believe’ / Glassnotes Records
Daft Punk – ‘Random Access Memories’ / Columbia Records
Dawes – ‘Stories Don’t End’ / Relativity Records, HUB Records
Dinosaur Pile-Up – ‘Nature Nurture’ / SO Recordings
Flaming Lips – ‘The Terror’ / Warner Bros (U.S.); Bella Union (U.K.)
God Is An Astronaut – ‘Origins’ / Rocket Girl (RGIRL98) / Playlist
Grizzly Bear – ‘Shields'(B-sides) / Warp Records
Kid Cudi – ‘IndiCud’ / Wicked Awesome, Republic (current)
Jake Bugg – ‘Jake Bugg’ / Mercury (UK), Island (US)
Janelle Monae – ‘he Electric Lady’ / Bad Boy Records
Kurt Vile – ‘It’s a big world out there’ [EP] [Matador]
Lamb of God – ‘As the Palaces Burn’ / Prosthetic, Epic, Black Market Activities
MBV – ‘m b v’ / Self-released
MGMT – ‘MGMT’ / Columbia
Nine Inch Nails – ‘Hesitation Marks’ / Polydor Records
of Montreal – ‘Lousy with Sylvianbriar’ / Polyvinyl Record Co.
Palma Violets – ‘180’ / Rough Trade Records
Pearl Jam – ‘Lightning Bolt’ / Monkeywrench Republic Records
Primal Scream – ‘2013’ New Album ‘More Light’ Full Length Official / Ignition Records
Savages – ‘Silence Yourself’ / Matador Records
Shadowboxer – ‘Deaf Dumb Blind and Mute’ / Avalve Rec
Stone Temple Pilots – ‘High Rise’ / Rhino
The Killing Floor – ‘High Output’ EP /
The Naked and Famous – ‘In Rolling Waves’ / Somewhat Damaged
The National – ‘Trouble Will Find Me’ / 4AD
The Strokes – ‘Comedown Madhine’ / RCA Records
The Strypes – ‘Snapshot’ / Virgin EMI Records
Vampire Weekend – ‘Modern Vampires of The City’