Member Since: 7/3/2010
Posts: 5,788
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AV Club: Top Albums of 2013
1. Kanye West, Yeezus
Quote:
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Kanye West loves to set up enemies for himself—mostly imaginary, some surely real but ultimately powerless—and then work himself into a lather proving them wrong. That dynamic can lead to ego-blasted, borderline-psychotic interviews, which get the lion’s share of the public’s attention, but it also leads to the ego-blasted, borderline-psychotic art and energy that make up Yeezus. The trade-off is absolutely worth it. West may not have (yet) proved himself to be the things he aspires to—shoe designer, Steve Jobs, Michelangelo, etc.—but over the course of seven albums (counting Watch The Throne), he has undeniably earned his spot as both a hip-hop visionary and populist, moving the genre forward more than any other mainstream artist. Who else would have thought to, let alone dared, mash the influences apparent on Yeezus, a deliberately difficult-sounding album whose main stated influence is early 20th-century architect and designer Le Corbusier? With all the ideas clearly pinballing around West’s head, it would have been easy for this record to sound like a mess, but somehow it’s both cliff-dwelling and precise, made possible by the fact that West doesn’t seem to know the edge is there at all. “On Sight” and “Black Skinhead” are ferocious both musically and lyrically, with distorted industrial sounds grinding against lyrics about dick-sucking one minute and West’s complicated place in the world next. (The dick-sucking lyrics are probably not influenced by Le Corbusier, but who knows?) And “I Am A God” sums the whole endeavor up perfectly: It’s wickedly funny and sonically almost unprecedented. Like Yeezus as a whole, it’s got two simple things going for it: It’s magnificent, and it sounds like absolutely nothing else. [JM]
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2. HAIM, Days Are Gone
3. Deafheaven, Sunbather
4. The National, Trouble Will Find Me
5. Chvrches, The Bones Of What You Believe
6. Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires Of The City
7. Savages, Silence Yourself
8. Waxahatchee, Cerulean Salt
9. Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You
10. Lorde, Pure Heroine
Other notable entries:
11. David Bowie, The Next Day
13. Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
16. Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady
18. Paramore, Paramore
21. My Bloody Valentine, mbv
22. Chance The Rapper, Acid Rap
http://www.avclub.com/article/the-23...of-2013-106233
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they're slayin all these year end lists
