henke on 31/12/2013 at 13:53

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Fave tracks of the year:

Chvrches - The Mother We Share
Daft Punk ft. Phrarrell Williams - Get Lucky
Kate Boy - Northern Lights
Lorde - Royals
MS MR - Hurricane

I don't know how I ended up listening to so much girly pop and so little hip hop this year, but I blame Jeshibu. The rest of my (http://open.spotify.com/user/leemajorz/playlist/3zTrkWqoTeVQRW6A2GSU1B) Top 13 of '13 playlist is mostly made up of girly pop as well.


Fave album of the year:

Mavis Staples - One True Vine

10 really cool, soulful, confident, bluesy gospel songs.

Muzman on 31/12/2013 at 14:57

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This forum hasn't had its debate about whether or not Lorde is any good. Either way it's the only thing I listened to this year that I know for sure came out this year. So...

Lorde - Pure Heroine

Probably won't make any difference to anything, but shook up an increasingly inbred pop scene so hard with sheer cool it almost seems like violence.
In chart and industry terms Royals is basically like Smells Like Teen Spirit was in its day. And she's not old enough to remember it.

Kolya on 31/12/2013 at 18:23

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No offence, but it's just you getting old. Take a look at music videos on youtube. Below any video that's older than 10 years someone makes the argument, that they don't make music like that anymore and anything coming out these days is a load of crap. I'm pretty sure they said that when Homer died.

Actually I wanted to name Bryan Ferry's The Jazz Age, which is one of the greatest albums I've heard in a long time. But then I found out it was released in Nov 2012.
[video=youtube;A2LhVazAFGY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2LhVazAFGY[/video]

Damn, they don't make music like that anymore!

Jason Moyer on 31/12/2013 at 19:32

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I've seen that on videos for stuff less than 5 years old. And I think if you ever read my posts on games you know I don't just hate things for being new. I'm sure there have been amazing albums released this year besides the ones by artists I'm already into, it's just not as easy as it used to be (imho) to dig through the massive amount of bullshit to find them. I don't think the ratio of great to bullshit has changed at all, just that the way music is distributed is much more fragmented than it used to be and because the internet has basically made it difficult to sift through all of the band-spam to find gems. I guess I could just suck it down and start using Pandora or something instead of relying on word of mouth and my own research.

june gloom on 1/1/2014 at 00:22

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Admittedly I haven't heard much new this year, but I have to give Cult of Luna's Vertikal (which I just now got around to listening to after a whole year of forgetting about it) credit for (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPJoge1wDs4) coming close to the fucking majesty that was Eternal Kingdom. There's apparently a lot of debate about the album I knew nothing about, but for a followup to one of the best albums of 2008 Cult of Luna really came through. Cult of Luna has always played around with their sound, and while sometimes that didn't work out (Salvation could have been better, though it's not bad) sometimes it worked out perfectly. I'm glad to see that Cult of Luna is getting some recognition that they rightly deserve, and if they can keep making albums this fucking good without repeating their early missteps or falling into the "same thing every album" trap like so many bands do they'll become like gods among men.

Other albums:

Rosetta - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auRmcjHns6I) The Anaesthete: It pains me to say this, but Rosetta have fallen into the trap of repeating themselves too often, and this album feels a little too clean and too rehearsed. (Possibly why they released it for free on Bandcamp -- it suggests they weren't that confident about the material.) But that's not to say it's a bad album. Rosetta are one of my favourite bands for a reason -- they're fucking good. But it's still mostly a direct followup on A Determinism of Morality, which just didn't really compare to its immediate predecessor Wake/Lift (to this day one of my favourite albums of all time.) It's a shame, because while I've been saying for a while now that Rosetta are my favourite band extant, I come to realize that's not really true. Either way, I still think there's plenty left for them to learn from in their earlier spacey material, because aside from Wake/Lift most of their very best songs have been relegated to EPs and splits.

Ulver - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtHEFDVSfvs) Messe I.X-VI.X: For a band that likes to put out strange albums, this is one of their stranger ones. They've gone from 3 very different flavors of black metal to trip-hop jazz electronica to experimental ambient, to covering old 60s/70s psychedelic rock classics in their inimitable style -- or at least, the style they had for that year. So Messe continues that pattern, by mixing a full orchestra (!) with dark ambient and a bit of electronica, coming off as a companion piece to the unmatchable Shadows of the Sun with a blend of Teachings in Silence. Definitely one of the darker, slower albums of the year, and that's exactly what I expect from Ulver, inasmuch that you can expect anything from them.

Russian Circles - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49figpiRcRU) Memorial: Like Ulver and Rosetta, coming out towards the end of the year, and timed perfectly so. While it's hard to match up to the raw primal menace of Geneva, they've successfully improved on the sound they generated with Empros. If there's a flaw in this album, it's that they put their best song too early. But aside from that, this is a genuinely good album, a strong, emotional effort that draws from Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky and throws that in a blender with Mogwai and more recent Earth albums. Definitely one of the better post-whatever instrumental albums of the year.

Exxasens - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSX2vcBzbNs) Satellites: Even if Rosetta don't want to get in the fucking rocket anymore, we can count on up-and-coming Spanish group (expanded from one-man-band Jordan Ruiz in 2007) to give the stars another look. While Satellites isn't Exxasens' first release, or even their first release when they became a four-piece, it's absolutely their "coming of age" album. Their use of electronics and samples really help the atmosphere, and they have a very neat sound that relies on a mix of electronics and maintaining a steady beat (a bit unusual for bands of this stripe.) I enjoyed the earlier work greatly, so finding out about Satellites' release was a nice surprise. It's not anything new, but I'll honestly take any spacey post-rock I can get after Rosetta left me hungering for more.

Arcade High - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfRYjrAdyZs) Pixel Passion: As far as retropop goes, Arcade High isn't really a big blip on my radar. That being said, this year's release is a pleasant listen, a big step away from the far heavier stuff I've listed so far. One of the biggest things about chiptune artists I can't fucking stand is most of them have no fucking talent. They take the unique qualities of the medium they work in, and try to turn it into some trashy high-speed dance music, instead of something that lends itself better to the instruments at hand. Pixel Passion doesn't do this. It blends a mix of 80s synth with 90s-era chiptune, and while it will sometimes pick up a higher BPM it never ever goes into 8-step territory, preferring to stay firmly glued to the 80s and early 90s pop zeitgeist. There are few vocals to speak of for the most part (not everyone can be Tesla Boy or Mystery Skulls) but "Without You" is an exception, and a true highlight of the album, coming off as a bittersweet 90s indiepop track. Anamanaguchi may have done the soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim game, but Arcade High very easily could have contributed.