1. Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork (Matador)
"Keep Your Eyes Peeled" (below), is such a menacing, swaggering, badass opening cut, crafted with a deep n'heavy tenor guitar, setting a dark tone from the outset that I find powerfully magnetic. What follows is an inspired Josh Homme, who loves hooks, delivering infectious, hummable melodies over and over again. As usual, it's backed by heavy stoner riffage much of the time, but you also find quiet piano balladry here and there, plus Homme relies on his falsetto more than ever, with very cool, satisfying results. The best QOTSA release since Songs For The Deaf, with as many great tracks, this album was created in the wake of Homme's major medical issues in the past few years, which were apparently quite severe, enough to temporarily rob him of his interior melodies. I became briefly addicted to ...Like Clockwork, which is an ironic, multi-layered tribute to Homme.
2. Savages - Silence Yourself (Matador)
The London post-punk rock band's debut album arrived at last this year amid a steady drumbeat of hype that speaks as much to the quality of their work as it does to the dearth of actual rock music in the mainstream lately. Notorious for visceral live performances, the quartet makes menacing, dark, dynamic, driving dirges that have earned them fitting comparisons to Joy Division, early PJ Harvey, Siouxsie Sioux and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Savages (no "the") build their sound upon pummeling drums and melodically hypnotic basslines, shot through with effects-heavy sizzling guitar squall, and commanded by an alternately crooning, chanting, wailing singer. The group appears to take themselves quite seriously; it is art, after all, but it is commercial rock n' roll art, and part of that style of art is a pose, after all. Also of note is the fact that the outfit is 100% female, and none of the adoring press appears to care -- the focus is on their intense persona onstage, sharp controlling image offstage, and that they are carefully retro yet awesome.
3. Chance The Rapper - Acid Rap (self-released)
This isn't even his actual debut album, technically speaking. This is a free "mixtape," which in hip-hop means a collection of tracks to preview the proper upcoming release.. But nowadays the mixtape IS the release, as is the case with Chance here. A young Chicagoan with an Eminem-esque flow, this kid has such a beautifully laid-back sensibility when he wants to, discussing his personal fears, his bad habits, and his disgusted observations of the gang violence destroying his community. The slow jams raise the entire release to the #3 position on my list; I don't even listen to the more aggressive cuts, which take up more than half the mixtape. But DAMN the easy breezy cuts are amazing. Listen to this kid - I can't stop.
4. The Lonely Forest - Adding Up the Wasted Hours (Trans-Chop Shop)
This is easily The Lonely Forest's most mature offering to date, and I should know: we're friends.
They are a power-pop band with lots of crunch and repeat-worthy melodic choices, strangeness here and there courtesy of Chris Walla, and lyrics that reveal principal songwriter John Van Deusen's personal growth. The record is special and appealing and might help them get famous.
In the course of time between this album and their last, 2011's Arrows, several members got married, one got divorced, and another experienced a massive personal loss. They were dropped by Atlantic, helped turn Walla's unfortunately named Trans- Records from a major label subsidiary to an actual indie, and then signed with a different major label subsidiary at the last minute. I can't tell you to put aside the drama in order to enjoy this album. The drama, in fact, makes it clear just what a goddamn triumph Adding Up the Wasted Hours truly is.
They are a power-pop band with lots of crunch and repeat-worthy melodic choices, strangeness here and there courtesy of Chris Walla, and lyrics that reveal principal songwriter John Van Deusen's personal growth. The record is special and appealing and might help them get famous.
In the course of time between this album and their last, 2011's Arrows, several members got married, one got divorced, and another experienced a massive personal loss. They were dropped by Atlantic, helped turn Walla's unfortunately named Trans- Records from a major label subsidiary to an actual indie, and then signed with a different major label subsidiary at the last minute. I can't tell you to put aside the drama in order to enjoy this album. The drama, in fact, makes it clear just what a goddamn triumph Adding Up the Wasted Hours truly is.
About a month ago I was chatting via email with an old friend, and when I told him that Har Mar Superstar was one of my favorite releases of 2013, he told me a story about walking out on a Har Mar show because the dude was sweaty and kept taking his clothes off, and it was bumming my friend out.
Which is understandable. Har Mar Superstar is a pretty intense live act, and the guy does resemble a short, gay Ron Jeremy playing glossy Gaga-esque electropop. He stole his stage name from a mall in Minnesota.
Check it: Sean Tillmann may be wearing cutoffs on the cover, but it's all dark suits and ties you'll hear coming out of your speakers. This is a full-on 1960's SOUL record. Stax and Motown are heavily referenced throughout, complete with horns and funk and back-up singers. His big ol' voice is a perfect fit for the style, which may be derivative, but I bloody love it. I really can't recommend this more highly if you get down.
Which is understandable. Har Mar Superstar is a pretty intense live act, and the guy does resemble a short, gay Ron Jeremy playing glossy Gaga-esque electropop. He stole his stage name from a mall in Minnesota.
Check it: Sean Tillmann may be wearing cutoffs on the cover, but it's all dark suits and ties you'll hear coming out of your speakers. This is a full-on 1960's SOUL record. Stax and Motown are heavily referenced throughout, complete with horns and funk and back-up singers. His big ol' voice is a perfect fit for the style, which may be derivative, but I bloody love it. I really can't recommend this more highly if you get down.
Wild Belle is a duo in the studio, Natalie and Elliot Bergman, brother and sister, Barrington-bred Chicago residents who make reggae-powered pop wif a little soul and a languid vibe, anchored by Natalie's burnt Badu vocals and Elliot's fat baritone sax. Elliot is a longtime member of NOMO from Michigan, an eclectic jazz-influenced Afrobeat project; Natalie is a singer-songwriter who toured with NOMO as a backup singer, eventually presenting her brother with her own material, leading to the formation of Wild Belle. Building on a steady local buzz, they self-produced this debut album at Keyclub Recordings in Michigan with Bill Skibbe. Irie!
7. Russian Circles - Memorial (Sargent House)
Consider the 5th full-length of epic, atmospheric post-metal from Chicago's Russian Circles. The trio has ascended to the top tier of bands that make progged-out heavy rock, both locally and abroad, which is the result of carefully polishing their dark, beautiful music to a cinematic sheen over the course of nearly a decade. Produced by Brandon Curtis (Interpol, Secret Machines), Memorial is dynamic rather than blistering, with moments of lingering contemplation to offset the churning crescendos. Chelsea Wolfe provides vocals to the title track, a rare addition for an instrumental band whose members are masters of their craft: Mike Sullivan on guitar, Dave Turncrantz on drums, and Brian Cook on bass and keys. Behold.
8. Pat Hull - Shed Skin (self-released)
Gifted with a beautiful, high tenor (alto?) voice, Pat Hull's simple acoustic folk songs are striking for his lovely singing and a fine knack for melody. Occasionally accompanied by a small string section, or harmonies he provides for himself, Hull makes pretty great pretty music. Currently based in Chico, California, Hull is originally from Connecticut, spent time in Brooklyn, and recorded his 4th full-length in Bennington, Vermont. RIYL: Jeff Hanson, Thom Yorke/Jeff Buckley falsetto, Muppet ballads.
9. The Blow - The Blow (Kanine)
Electro indie pop that is so utterly charming, so strangely beguiling, so gently unassuming it is difficult to explain why it's so perfectly appealing. This blippiness is overlaid with Khaela Maricich's subtly sexy deadpan speak-sung lyrics, and features contributions from Mirah and Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij. Maricich released 3 albums under The Blow moniker as a solo project (+ friends) through 2006; Melissa Dyne made it a duo in 2007, and in 2008 they relocated to Brooklyn from Portland because hipsters, etc. Maricich and Dyne also happen to be a couple. All of these songs are good. All of them.
10. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest (Warp)
This Scottish duo of Kraftwerk-worshipping brothers don't make albums very often, because they spend a lot of time crafting music in the studio, evidently. Their last proper release was in 2006, and their last full-length, Geogaddi, came out in 2002. So it's been a while.
Let's see. Slow tempo to mid-tempo. Analog washes of synth color and very little blipping or bleeping. Mellow and easy. Cinematic audioscapes that are intended to resemble film scores and soundtracks from days gone by. Apparently it's also packed with subliminal messages, more than in their previous efforts, which makes me feel a little bit stupid because I can't hear anything that resembles a secret note, but I suppose that's the point. In that way, BoC is a group appreciated on multiple levels: the surface auditory experience, and then whatever Scottish treasure maps or nuclear codes are revealed when one runs it through a computer and reduces all this art to zeroes and ones. Either way, I'm listening to it on vinyl.
Let's see. Slow tempo to mid-tempo. Analog washes of synth color and very little blipping or bleeping. Mellow and easy. Cinematic audioscapes that are intended to resemble film scores and soundtracks from days gone by. Apparently it's also packed with subliminal messages, more than in their previous efforts, which makes me feel a little bit stupid because I can't hear anything that resembles a secret note, but I suppose that's the point. In that way, BoC is a group appreciated on multiple levels: the surface auditory experience, and then whatever Scottish treasure maps or nuclear codes are revealed when one runs it through a computer and reduces all this art to zeroes and ones. Either way, I'm listening to it on vinyl.
Click here to watch + listen to "Reach for the Dead."
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PSST!
CLICK HERE to listen to my Best of 2013 Radio Show on CHIRP.
CLICK HERE to check out #31-50 of my Best of 2013 list.
