The Greatest Hits of Two Thousand & Thirteen [deluxe edition w/bonus tracks]

Jason Moyer on 2/1/2014 at 13:42

Quote Posted by Tomi

Speaking of old farts releasing albums in 2013, there's also the new album by Paul McCartney, with a very imaginative name "New", which is also better than I expected!

I'm not sure how I forgot that one. I'm pretty sure that, aside from Wings, Paul's never released a solo record that was less than great. I'm gonna guess since you also like Super Furry Animals (didn't realize that guy was related to them, I'll have to check it out) you already know this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHBvYM8yMUw)

Tomi on 2/1/2014 at 16:02

Ah, I've read about that Liverpool Sound Collage thingy before, but never actually heard it until now - thanks for posting it! It's very... erm... interesting.

It's not the only time that Super Furry Animals and Paul McCartney have collaborated - Macca makes a cameo appearance on "Rings Around The World", chewing celery and carrot in rhythm to one of my favourite SFA songs, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJCsmO7-12g) "Receptacle For The Respectable". I only found out this a few months ago! :D
[INDENT]
"The Super Furry Animals had met the ex-Beatle at the NME Awards when a drunk Ciaran persuaded him to let them remix some Beatles material, resulting in 2000's Liverpool Sound Collage album. The band asked him to "return the favour" and appear on Rings Around the World, recording his part over the phone. Huw Bunford has said of McCartney's contribution: "He took it with good nature. You kind of see how far you can go sometimes ... we figured we already had a bass and singers so we really didn't need any more musicians. So we figured he could crunch vegetables."[/INDENT]

I too think that most of Paul's solo records is pretty good, I don't know where his "bad" reputation comes from. He's been quite consistently good over the years, but he hasn't got any real highlights or standout albums/tracks like George and John do. I think that's the reason why l prefer their solo stuff over Paul's, even if John and George released some pretty bad stuff as well.

Oh, and Cian Ciaran is indeed the SFA keyboardist, although calling him just the keyboardist is a bit unfair, as he's such an important part of the SFA sound. Ciaran has in fact written some of my favourite SFA songs, usually the more experimental weird tunes, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGc_59ySJ8A) "Slow Life" and (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ng2kaAQ5Y_E) "Cabin Fever" for example. :cool:

Jason Moyer on 2/1/2014 at 18:40

I'm kinda the other way with Paul...I hate the Wings albums, but McCartney I/II and Ram I'd probably rate higher than anything by the other 3. And the 3 albums he did with Youth are amazing. I also really like the Ringo album that all 4 of them played on. And John's...I like, but a lot of that is because of Yoko. Her tracks on Double Fantasy are phenomenal. I wish the remastered/remixed version that came out a few years ago had Walking On Thin Ice on it as a bonus track.

Since I'm veering off topic here's something great from 2013:

[video=youtube;B4_SNsXXGuk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4_SNsXXGuk[/video]

Jeshibu on 2/1/2014 at 20:49

Quote Posted by henke

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.

I'm not sorry! Here's more girly pop (mostly) in no particular order:

Albums
MS MR - Secondhand Rapture ((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBBTVuF3_OI) youtube) ((http://open.spotify.com/album/3OzeRt6qBaj92n9yjiZBPt) spotify) ((https://soundcloud.com/msmrsounds/sets/secondhand-rapture-1) soundcloud)
Their debut album; they started releasing stuff in 2012. Relatively downtempo (mostly) synthpop with female vocals. Haunting and happy at the same time. Highlights: (https://soundcloud.com/msmrsounds/hurricane) Hurricane (sniped by Henke) and (https://soundcloud.com/msmrsounds/dark-doo-wop-1) Dark Doo Wop

Young Galaxy - Ultramarine ((http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1BS70vPwk2Cwo05Ot-wLnDth-7WGOI8J) youtube) ((http://open.spotify.com/album/7xxWcWplCXcMir3wx7Na90) spotify)
More synthpop! Highlights: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7cCB7v5W4) New Summer (video) and (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9daI2XWyWM) In Fire

goreshit - Lorazepam Resonance ((http://goreshit.bandcamp.com/album/lorazepam-resonance-ep) free on bandcamp)
Breakcore/drum 'n' bass influenced almost-ambient electronic music. Goreshit's output is almost always great, ((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1yLkoQvd-Y) nhk!? remains one of my favorite songs) and this is no different. Check out (http://goreshit.bandcamp.com/album/semantic-compositions-on-death-and-its-meaning) semantic compositions on death and its meaning too; it's breakcore over classical music which works surprisingly well.

FKA Twigs - EP 2 ((http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_NcAUcAg96a0MLmduo9vD75D1KJab8L) youtube) ((https://soundcloud.com/fka-twigs/sets/ep2) soundcloud)
I'm bad with genres. This is good. Really good. The videos are very much worth seeing, as is (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLx_NcAUcAg95JBtv2v0DuecedxA7W0DqR) EP 1. Highlight: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFtMl-uipA8&list=PLx_NcAUcAg96a0MLmduo9vD75D1KJab8L&index=3) Water Me

Songs
Pink Robots - Can't Get You Out Of My Mind ((http://open.spotify.com/track/411wXkSyORLtP9YprsCTXk) spotify only, sorry)
The original, as a sped up duet. I love this way beyond reason.

Navet - For the show (Familjen remix) ((https://soundcloud.com/navet/for-the-show-familjen-remix) soundcloud)
From 2011, but oh well. More great Scandinavian synthpop with female vocals, with a remix by Familjen, who is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfU-4Y4_akY) also great.

Mr Little Jeans - Oh Sailor ((https://soundcloud.com/mrlittlejeans/oh-sailor) soundcloud)
Youthchoirpop. Brilliant.

Wende - Ask The Tree ((http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2LBtevEY3c) youtube)
Dutch pride, yo. Dark pop, female solo project.

Quote Posted by Fafhrd

CHVRCHES CHVRCHES CHVRCHES CHVRCHES CHVRCHES CHVRCHES CHVRCHES.

Yes! Especially (https://soundcloud.com/chvrches/the-mother-we-share) The Mother We Share. Also, this Recover remix: (https://soundcloud.com/chvrches/recover-curxes-1996-remix) Recover (Curxes' 1996 Remix)

Song of the year
Mapei - Don't Wait
I really can't put a genre to this song. This is the first I'd heard of her, and her previous work is more rappy. I can't wait to hear what she releases next.
[video=youtube;33mjGmfy7PA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33mjGmfy7PA[/video]

Now I've got a lot of listening to do from the rest of the thread.

Tomi on 3/1/2014 at 00:00

Alright gents, been listening to some of your favourites...

Flight Facilities: Checked out all those songs that you posted, dethy, and some more on Spotify. Not bad! "I Didn't Believe" is my fave track so far, it's funky and catchy as hell, and the video is cool (as are their other videos) and hilarious. I actually remember seeing that video before, I think you may posted it here some time.

Goldfrapp: Drew - I've never gotten into Goldfrapp, but this one is a good song indeed. Beautiful and so mesmerizing... and I think that's where the problem lies - I tried to listen to their new album, and it seems to be full of those beautiful and mesmerizing songs, it was a bit hard to tell where one song ended and the next one began. It's still good though, but I guess I need to be in right kind of mood for this sort of thing...

Lorde: I had only heard "Royals" before, and I thought that Lorde is just yet another Adele clone. I'm getting a bit bored of all that already, but luckily this turned out to be something a little more unique. The new album "Pure Heroine" could use a little more variation, some of the weaker songs on the album especially sound quite repetitive and samey, but there were a few good ones that may end up on my random playlist. :cool:

Jeshibu's girly-pop invasion: Sheesh, I hadn't even heard of most of those artists that you listed. :o I listened to most of the tunes that you linked though. The Pink Robots sounded kinda fun so I checked out their album as well, and there was some decent stuff, but a lot of it sounds like Maroon 5 or something. "Hurricane" by MS MR is pretty good, but the few other tunes that I heard from the album failed to impress me on the first listen (which isn't unusual at all though!) - I may return to it some time later if I remember... FKA Twigs sounded just kinda weird, and that Young Galaxy video was pretty awesome but the song itself was a little meh. I like that Mapei song (it was also her only song on Spotify...), it's not exactly song of the year material for me, but I added it in my favourites anyway. :)

CHVRCHES: note to self: I think I'll have to check them out at last to see what all the fuss is about...

Queens of the Stone Age: Thanks for reminding me about them, dethtoll! Despite of loving many of their songs, I've never really gotten into QOTSA for some reason. I've heard a lot of good things about their new album, but I had kinda forgotten about it already. :o So I went and played the album twice... It hasn't got any clear highlights or catchy hit songs, but it's a good album and I think it may have even ended up on my top albums of 2013 list if I had actually heard it. :p

Aaaand that's enough new music for tonight!

henke on 7/1/2014 at 18:31

Ok I've only listened to two, but as it happens they are both THE BEST OF THE YEAR.

(http://open.spotify.com/album/3NDNvu4qTkb6gnh5XJJ1zi) Maria Bamford - Ask Me About My New God

The Bammer's best album since her debut! From the opening where she ponders moving out to Portland (where the show was recorded) so she can ride around on her bike made out of harpsichords, use the wind to power her artisanal crumpet-factory and have screaming arguments in the street with people who have the same exact opinion as she does on every issue, to pointing out some of the English phrases that you need to have lived in America for a good while before you can enunciate properly, like "Why vote who cares it doesn't fucking matter anyway" and "Yeah I need money, but I'm not gonna work as a fucking (fill in the blank)", to the finale where she describes her family's favourite game "Joy Whack-A-Mole", this album is just solid all the way through.

(http://open.spotify.com/album/376xIS10jsw2xxD4lp4Hgm) Kumail Nanjiani - Beta Male

I listen to Kumail all the time on his videogame podcast The Indoor Kids, but I didn't expect much from his stand up comedy. I didn't even check his album out until AV Club named it their Comedy Album Of The Year, but then I did and you know what? It's great! The strongest tracks are the ones where Kumail tells stories of his childhood in Pakistan, particularly the story of the porno tape that got stuck in the VCR, and the story of the worst birthday party ever.

Here's some jokes you nerds might like:

[video=youtube;QKZWfuG35P0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZWfuG35P0[/video]

faetal on 9/1/2014 at 12:39

Only new release of 2013 I enjoyed was NIN's Hesitation Marks. That said, the only other 2013 album I heard was Gary Numan's album, which is basically him trying to sound like how he thinks NIN sounds, which is an odd concept, but essentially means that Numan is trying to hide his loss of the ability to write a good song behind many walls of pseudoNIN-esque production.

I'll aim to hear more new stuff (I did acquire iamamiwhoami as a new love during 2013, but they didn't release anythign new that year) once the thesis is done.

I don't think Hesitation Marks is anything close to NIN's best album, but I loved it enough to listen to it more or less on repeat for a few weeks. After all of that, I think it is Copy of A which I like the most. A very subtle song which manages to roll a kind of urgency and discomfort into a quasi-looping, motif-based track. 8/10.

[video=youtube;qSomIodjPKg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSomIodjPKg[/video]

N'Al on 9/1/2014 at 19:44

Personally, I think 2013 was an exceptional year for music, Moyer's doom 'n gloom be damned!

I don't know about new bands, but loads of well-established bands (in some cases 40+ years!) managed to release albums that, whilst not necessarily surpassing their best ever output certainly came pretty damn close, imo.

In no particular order:

Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork
Others have already commented on this, so let's just say: it ain't no Songs for the Deaf, but I think this may have knocked Rated R off second spot for me. Keep Your Eyes Peeled and Fairweather Friends are exceptional songs.

Autechre - Exai
In the past ten or so years, Autechre seem to have found a place where they make highly challenging yet eminently listenable electronic music - after the "beat-damaged digital concrete" of 2001's Confield (as I've heard it referred to somewhere). I may slightly prefer 2010's Oversteps to this, but Exai is no different. For someone new to Autechre this is certainly not going to sell them on them, but to any Autechre veterans this is simply more of their good music. Plus, there's almost 2hrs of it, this time. :cool:

Black Sabbath - 13
I mean, these guys are in their mid 60s (?) now, so it's probably too much to expect anything radically different, and that is exactly what you get: Ozzy-era Black Sabbath that could've easily fit into their discography around the early 70s, except that they made it in 2013.

Alice in Chains - The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here
I guess this one you could file under 'slight disappointment'. I absolutely adore Black Gives Way to Blue - in fact, I think it's probably AiC's most consistent album - and this one suffers slightly in comparison. Nevertheless, Stone is an absolute corker, and they do win an award for 'Greatest Album Title of 2013', if nothing else.

Board of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Others have already commented as well, but I guess you could say this much: it's no Geogaddi, but after The Campfire Headphase - which, whilst I don't dislike the use of guitars as much as some, I must admit is BoC's weakest album to date - is a nice return to form. A very nice one, even.

Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Daft Punk, to me, are a very strange band. They never lived up what their first album Homework promised - it doesn't help that their follow-up song One More Time is absolutely excretable, - and yet... I can't help but like all the albums they released subsequently (yes, even Discovery). They're just... very different. Same with this one. Yes, Get Lucky is absolutely overplayed, but I do like most of the rest of the album.

Nine Inch Nails - Hesitation Marks
I don't like this album quite as much as some around here, but that's not to say it's bad at all. I still prefer Year Zero, though, as Trent's best album since 'his creative well dried up'. ;)

μ-Ziq - Chewed Corners
All in all, 2007's Duntisbourne Abbots Soulmate Devastation Technique was a good album, but boy, was it difficult to get into. Not unsurprising, considering it was supposedly penned after a difficult break-up. By contrast, Chewed Corners is a much lighter, happier album. Doesn't mean it's any less interesting, though. In fact, the album is probably helped by this radical shift in tone; it's certainly much more accessible.

How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion
The better of Trent's major releases this year, imo. The addition of a female vocalist makes this different enough from NIN's normal output, and there's quite a few interesting, beautifully haunting tracks on the album.

Soundgarden - King Animal
Ok, this is cheating slightly. King Animal was actually initially released towards the back end of 2012, but there was a 'Deluxe' re-release in 2013 that included a few live and acoustic tracks as a bonus, so I'm including it here. ;) Plus, it's another example of a band beyond their prime releasing an album that gets close to their very best. It doesn't surpass Superunknown - and I doubt any album they could still release could ever surpass that - but I'm having real problems deciding between Badmotorfinger, Down on the Upside and this one as to which one I'd rank second.

Have yet to listen to: Pearl Jam - Lightning Bolt

Sulphur on 9/1/2014 at 20:04

Execrable, surely. Excretable means, well, it passes in and out easily.

N'Al on 9/1/2014 at 20:28

Akin to excrement, basically.