In
past years I’ve done a series of album-by-album posts to highlight the albums I
played (and enjoyed) most of all over the previous 12 months, but for 2013 I
thought I’d cut to the chase and just list the ten “albums of 2013” in one post
… partly because I’m in lazy-sod-holiday mode, but mostly because a few of them
have already been reviewed here previously. These albums aren’t necessarily the
best of the year, just the best as heard in my house, or in my headspace across
2013. The only prerequisite for inclusion is that I still had my mitts on a
copy – in any format – at year’s end:
10.
Elvis Costello and The Roots – Wise Up Ghost
Wise
Up Ghost wins the prize for most unlikely transatlantic collaboration of the
year. But then again, unlikely collaborations have always been one of
Costello’s favourite things, and thanks to the huge talent and versatility of The
Roots, the quality control factor on this one was always going to be set
extremely high. The Roots might just about be the best thing ever to happen to
Hip hop, certainly the group rates as the genre’s most authentic live act, and
for all that Costello’s words and musings – quite often referencing work from
his distant past throughout the album – are crucial to Wise Up Ghost’s success,
the music of The Roots is something really quite special. A little bit
post-punk, a little bit jazz, a whole lot of Hip hop (though Costello –
mercifully – doesn’t rap), and never anything less than 100% funky. Best
tracks: ‘Walk Us Uptown’, ‘Tripwire’, and ‘Viceroy’s Row’.
Speaking
of bad rap (or not speaking of it) … these guys get a lot of it from local
music scribes (or perhaps that’s “a bad wrap”?) and I’m genuinely at a loss as
to fully understanding why that is. When I listen to this hard working local
collective all I hear is “home”, a place to be; Wellington, a beach on the
Kapiti Coast, or anywhere else specific to Nu Zild. Our accent, our landscape,
our multicultural people … and if that’s a little bit too laidback or (apparently)
derivative for some, then so be it. It works for me. If they can be knocked for
a lack of (perceived) progression style-wise, it’s merely because the band is
now very much at ease with who they are and the music they’re making. I happen
to think that’s a very good thing. Blackbird was one of just a handful of CD’s
I purchased during 2013 (downloading continued as my format of convenience and choice)
and my edition came with the eight-track bonus disc. So I thought it was a
pretty good score and I played it often. Best tracks: ‘Clean The House’,
‘Silver and Gold’, and ‘Barney Miller’ from the mixed bag bonus disc.
8.
Foals – Holy Fire
When
I reviewed Holy Fire earlier in the year I hadn’t expected it to wind up as one
of my albums of the year, but I found myself continually returning to it, and
it grew and grew and grew … originally reviewed here.
7.
Lord Echo – Curiosities
Multi-instrumentalist
Mike Fabulous is one very special talent. Fabulous has been, for a long time,
one of the main protagonists behind the international success of Wellington
reggae/dub outfit, the Black Seeds. A couple of years back he released his first
solo effort under the Lord Echo moniker, and this follow-up, Curiosities,
builds on that work to showcase what might prove to be a musical coming of age.
Curiosities is a 42-minute ten-track no-filler extravaganza of funk, disco, jazz,
and pure unadulterated pop ... plus a few other things besides. So there’s a
wide scope of styles on the album and I think that, more than anything else, is
what makes it such a persuasive listen. The album made a belated run for this
list after I picked up my copy of Curiosities on CD very late in the year, but regular
listening through December provided its own reward, and its own reason for
being here. Best tracks: ‘Digital Haircut’, ‘Molten Lava’, and the sublime
closer ‘Arabesque’.
A
good cyber-friend of everythingsgonegreen, Muhammad Hamzah, a Sufi Muslim based
in Manchester by way of Bradford, wears many hats. One of them is the one he
dons as Celt Islam, and I’ve blogged about his work a few times already. Less
well known is the work he does as The Analogue Fakir, but when he sent me a link
for his 2013 release, Worlds We Know, I was completely blown away by the sheer
depth and quality on offer. As with Celt Islam’s music, I simply can’t believe
that more people aren’t embracing this worldly fusion of Eastern and Western
vibes. Where Celt Islam’s stuff tends to be a more dub or dubstep-orientated
hybrid of styles, Worlds We Know struck me as being every bit as
state-of-the-art, but more indebted to electronic forms like EDM, and it works
as a slightly freaky hard-edged variation on global electropop. But there’s so
much more to it than any label I can tag it with – it isn’t really “pop” for a
start, it’s far too dark in places, and almost post-apocalyptic in parts. A
great, challenging, if largely overlooked album. Find out for yourself by
downloading at the link below. Best tracks: ‘The Forms’, ‘Moments In Time’, and
‘Annihilation in Allah’.
And
by the month of May, “trouble” had most definitely found me. By crook, rather
than hook, back in a corner … again. This album was one of my favourites from
the first half of the year and while it may not have been as dark and dramatic
as High Violet, or as compelling as a couple of the band’s earlier albums, it was
still a bunch of beautifully crafted tunes. And that man’s gentle baritone corners
me every damn time. Originally reviewed here.
4.
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
Naturally.
I’m a disco nut. I’m a history nut. I’m a Nile Rodgers fan from way back. I
love some of that early Giorgio Moroder stuff. Combine all of those old school ingredients
… stir to boil, and then add a liberal sprinkling of fairy dust in the form of
new digital technology and you’ve got an instant everythingsgonegreen favourite.
Random Access Memories plays out like some kind of skewed potted history of
disco, and it was originally reviewed here.
3.
GRiZ – Rebel Era
Rebel
Era by GRiZ easily qualifies as my freebie download of the year. A brilliant
concoction of old style blues and dubstep, Rebel Era was another one of those
safe “go-to” albums on those rare occasions I was stuck for something to listen
to. With heavy use of samples and a funk heart at its electro-dubby core, some might
consider this throwaway fare, but for a while back there, GRiZ was the biz
(sorry – Ed) in my world, and this “solo” album is every bit as good as the
work he did with fellow dubstephead Gramatik (released as Grizmatik).
Originally (sort of) reviewed here.
2.
Public Service Broadcasting – Inform - Educate - Entertain
An
almost flawless blend of sepia-tinged nostalgia and modern rock as we know it.
But not as we know it. So different from anything else on offer. A journey into
another world, another time, another place. Samples and soundbites abound.
Originally reviewed here.
1. Darkside – Psychic
It
seems appropriate – given that the vast majority of my music listening is via
headphones – that my 'Fones album of the year and the blog’s overall album of
the year is Darkside’s Psychic. I could – and did, more than once – completely
lose myself in this album. Immerse myself in it. Use it to shut out everything
else around me. Not always an easy listen, Psychic is an absorbing mix of
production FX, vocal distortions, and ambient soundscaping, but it also leans
heavily towards classic rock, with more than a few old fashioned blues
signature moments buried deep within its sonic mash. It’s such a hybrid of
musical styles and production techniques it’s (thankfully) impossible to damn it
with one singular/solitary genre label. Hell, the first couple of minutes on
the 11-minute opening opus amount to little more than a pulse, and it’s a full
five minutes in before we get anything resembling a meaningful beat. So it
requires patience, and the impression is that the album was designed to be
listened to as a whole, not as individual pieces within that whole. But oh how
that patience is rewarded. Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington also collaborated
as Daftside, and hopefully we’ll hear more from this duo. Best tracks: ‘Heart’,
‘Paper Trails’, and ‘Freak, Go Home’.
Honourable
mentions: Atoms For Peace – Amok, Panda Dub – Psychotic Symphony, Primal Scream
– More Light, DU3normal – Flow Frequency, and London Grammar – If You Wait.
Reissue
of the year – I can’t decide between The Breeders’ (Last Splash deluxe) LSXX,
or the Tears For Fears reissue of The Hurting. So I choose both. Two reissues
of the year – my blog, my rules!
Compilation
of the year – I can’t say I downloaded or purchased too many compilation
releases during 2013 (an unusual development for me) but this sampler release
from the aptly titled Earth City Recordz label – reviewed here – opened up a
whole new world of sound possibilities for me.
New
Zealand album of the year – obviously Lord Echo (see above), closely pushed by
Fat Freddy’s Drop, and two other Wellington-based-band releases: Black City
Lights with Another Life, and the relatively low profile Bikini Roulette’s
otherwise gripping Erotik Fiction. For all that Lorde’s Pure Heroine “made the
grade” internationally and wasn’t too bad at all for a debut release, I can’t hand-on-heart
say it rates as highly as many other blog and mainstream media year-end lists tend
to suggest. I make no excuses for the very obvious Wellington bias in my picks,
I really should have expanded my “local” music horizons a little further than I
did, and I know I missed far too much good stuff through the year, something I
hope to rectify (again!) in 2014.
So
that’s that. Obligatory annual list completed.
Comment
below if you agree or disagree (fat chance – Ed) … or maybe you just want to
call me naughty names again … I’m clearly not all that fussy.
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