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Sputnikmusic's Top 50 Albums of 2013
Staff's Top 50 Albums of 2013
Sputnikmusic
50. Summoning – Old Mornings Dawn
49. Vali – Skogslandskap
48. Danny Brown – Old
47. Touche Amore – Is Survived By
46. Misery Signals – Absent Light
45. Ulver – Messe I.X-VI.X
44. Lorde – Pure Heroine
Part of the reason Lorde's particular breed of "antipop" has caught on so sincerely is that it reflects inward. While the wider spectrum of lauded pop artists often showcases musicians that aren't quite at peace with themselves, Ella Yelich-O'Connor's blend of unadorned electro-pop beats and heady lyricism just says one thing: "This is how true honesty sounds." The official music video for "Tennis Court" works around the idea that pop music can be an immensely personal thing, in that the entire piece films Lorde singing the song, and just that. It's a close-up, nice and intimate, in which the viewer can't get away from the song's creator– even if they wanted to, just for a second. And considering the song (and accompanying album, for that matter) is all about Lorde, why pretend this video is anything but apt? Lorde is considerably proud of this record, and she wants to remind us that this music came from a genuine place. It's up to the listener to decide what they hear in Pure Heroine's sparseness, but only Lorde truly understands the sincerity of it all. But she won't humiliate herself on the television to convince you of its integrity; no, she's perfectly content knowing Pure Heroine is the album she aimed for it to be. Perhaps that's why Yelich-O'Connor is a fascinating pop star– she considers herself to be her most important fan.
43. Fates Warning – Darkness in a Different Light
42. Dark Tranquillity – Construct
41. Streetlight Manifesto – The Hands That Thieve
40. Ducktails – The Flower Lane
39. Thundercat – Apocalypse
38. Jon Hopkins – Immunity
37. Arctic Monkeys – AM
36. Yo La Tengo – Fade
35. Darkthrone – The Underground Resistance
34. Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels
33. Nails – Abandon All Life
32. Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart
31. Arcade Fire – Reflektor
30. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
29. The Wonder Years – The Greatest Generation
28. Oneohtrix Point Never – R Plus Seven
27. Kurt Vile – Wakin On A Pretty Daze
26. Saint Pepsi – Hit Vibes
25. The Drones – I See Seaweed
24. Carcass – Surgical Steel
23. Future of the Left – How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident
22. Chance the Rapper – Acid Rap
21. Captain, We're Sinking – The Future Is Cancelled
20. Radical Face – The Family Tree: The Branches
19. The Dodos – Carrier
18. The National – Trouble Will Find Me
17. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
16. Deerhunter – Monomania
15. Paysage d'Hiver – Das Tor
14. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
13. My Bloody Valentine – m b v
12. Janelle Monae – The Electric Lady
Janelle Monáe is surely an artist first and foremost; while this shines brilliantly through her concept at large, all of her music videos, and even live performances, the complete package is certainly something greater than the musical substance within. The Electric Lady revamps the ideas of ArchAndroid, taking her prior soul experimentations, updating them, and turning them into more focused, pop-driven affairs. This truly expands the envelope for tracks like the self-titled "Electric Lady" — a head-nodding affair and certifiable banger. "We Were Rock and Roll" lives in this same space, instead pulling from an imaginary place in history where arena rock co-existed with only the greatest of Motown classics. But when combined with Monáe's socioeconomic musings, her larger-than-life compositions inflate dramatically, emphasizing the simple truth that humanity as a whole not only lives and breathes for this exact moment, but for every moment we've experienced and progress we've made. This is the true beauty of The Electric Lady; it's a simple project at face value with an underlying cerebral message of positivity, change, and discovery of the all-encompassing truth — whatever that may be.
11. Kanye West – Yeezus
Let it be said: Yeezus is here because we love it. The few still clinging on, palms bloody from the strain, eyes ******* in earnest at every vile punchline, those dazzling non sequiturs, and that incorrigible God complex. We have managed to position Kanye West's latest right before the coveted top 10, the edge of the Internet's interest where a dangling fat chunk of album analysis clings to every list; an indulgent offering to a year of music already eviscerated in hushed corners over the dubious task of singling out a set of 50, 30, 12 albums. Yeah, Yeezus sits at number 11. That feels right. Everything that could be said has already been said. And I won't argue any group of folks looking to grant ten amazing records their due recognition over the loudest din this side of the MTV Music Awards. We can't waste this space as time's window of relevancy closes on this year of 2013: Yeezus was large; it was all we could talk about; here it is. And so I dedicate this spot to every album on this list, from The Electric Lady to Old Mornings Dawn. To every voice working within and without Kanye, from his collaborators to his audience. To every artist enraged by his positions and his sound; to those inspired by his zeal. To every person who felt something, because God knows sometimes music criticism doesn't feel like it, I dedicate this to you. Jesus wept.
10. Jenny Hval – Innocence is Kinky
9. Obliteration – Black Death Horizon
8. Laura Stevenson – Wheel
7. Queens of the Stone Age – …Like Clockwork
6. Okkervil River – The Silver Gymnasium
5. Gorguts – Colored Sands
4. Kayo Dot – Hubardo
3. Deafheaven – Sunbather
2. Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience
The decline of modern pop music is well-documented. The ability to move thousands of CDs daily may have masked the creative stagnation brewing underneath at first, but the turn of the millennium brought with it waning concert attendances, poor public opinion polls, and a slump in record sales that digital downloads were simply unable to compensate for. But while it is true that all forms of art have a natural arc of popularity that eventually diminishes, pop's lack of ambition beyond the immediacy of commercial reward only served to exacerbate its demise.
Enter The 20/20 Experience. In a year chock-full of crossover albums, this was perhaps the most adventurous and certainly the most essential. Sunbather may have belatedly presented hipsters with their own death metal band, and Doldrums was an unexpected male antithesis to Grimes' brand of cyborg music, but Justin Timberlake turned out to be progressive pop's first messiah. The typical verse-chorus structure, for so long pop music's weapon of choice, was eschewed in favour of sprawling, vaguely psychedelic epics that extended beyond the eight minute mark and then reveled in their own rebelliousness. In his review of The 20/20 Experience, our very own Sobhi Youssef called the album a "profound manifestation" of recent innovations in R&B, and he couldn't have been more accurate with a pair of night vision goggles. JT's third studio record comes replete with abrupt key changes, extended codas, and unexpected rhythms and harmonies, all of which are aimed at lending a greater artistic weight and credibility to pop music.
But at the same time, songs like "Pusher Love Girl" and "Spaceship Coupe" are proof that you don't necessarily have to give up your old tropes after going through a reinvention either; themes of romance and sex are all the rage here: "I'm just a j-j-j-j-junkie for your love!" exhorts JT on the former, with nary a hint of irony. "Strawberry Bubblegum" is our first example of a post-Channel Orange composition, and it slinks off into the realm of neo-soul just as easily as "Pyramids" transitioned from Giza to Vegas about a year ago. Elsewhere, "Don't Hold the Wall" trades in "Suit & Tie"'s Prohibition-era style of balladeering for a chance on the dancefloor, and simmers for just the right amount of time before delivering pop music's equivalent of a breakdown and launching into a closing jam worthy of the new Daft Punk record. Then there's that arena-sized ascending guitar riff that opens "Mirrors," and the vulnerable humanity glimmering behind the subtext of "Blue Ocean Floor." But equally as remarkable for me is the fact that music critics have even bothered to lambast the album for owning its fair share of trite lyrics, because I cannot recall a time when lyrics were considered to be an important part of pop music's credentials. To me, the very fact that we're even talking about them proves that JT has succeeded in his wild man's crusade. And on that note, I'll end things here with a quote left by Sputnik user ILJ in Sobhi's review thread: "I really do hope this changes pop. I would enjoy pop a helluva lot more."
1. Julia Holter – Loud City Song
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