Part Robyn, Part Annie, Part M83. Fully entertaining.
9. The Knife - Shaking The Habitual
The thing with The Knife in the '10s is they aren't interested in conventions. Everything is created to force the listener to dwell in a position of no return. You have to take the fullest journey and try and come out in one piece. No mean feat. But if you do then you'll find great treats on the back end almost as punchy as the initial 1-2.
8. Disclosure - Settle
These guys are not necessarily boundary pushing in the classical sense of the meaning. But the sheer CONFIDENCE on display here ensures this ends up as one of the most flat out enjoyable listens of 2013.
7. Youth Lagoon - Wondrous Bughouse
Widescreen wondrousness. Maybe not as consistent as others on the list but at the moment it's peaks shine brighter.
6. Fuck Buttons - Slow Focus
Ok. Ok. So placing albums in numerical order is stupid. But. When going back to listen to the 60-70 albums that I really enjoyed this year, Slow Focus still felt like my favourite dance/electronic record. Which then means...it's just outside the top 5!
There's something fundamentally wrong with me writing this on Christmas Day whilst everyone else is taking Chaucer to heart. The show must go on;
10. Justin Timberlake - Mirrors
There were a few candidates for best JT song of the year. But this is the one that does it for me. It's the quintessential Timberlake/Timbaland production really. Starting at a pressing pace and then a change up into something a little more comfortable. It's just the hookiest of his songs in 2013 and with the prettiest syrup laden falsettos
9. The National - I Need My Girl
It's difficult to pick out a particular favourite from 'Trouble Will Find Me'. Unlike 'High Violet', which had Bloodbuzz Ohio and Conversation 16 amongst others, TWFM finds the band at it's most at ease. Without the weightiness and themes of the familiarial, a diversion has been made from dealing with life as thirty-somethings. It hasn't completely evaporated however. I Need My Girl reminds me of the wordplay of much of 'Boxer'. Tight, personal and yet universally appreciable
8. Disclosure - Latch
LOVED what these boys did this year. What's particularly great is that they straddled both critical raves and mainstream success. Why? Confidence for one. Two, an album filled with wall to wall golden bangers. Yeah i'm picking Latch but could just as well picked 3-4 others.
7. Arcade Fire - Reflektor
The songs that really connect (with me) are those that deal with alienation and loneliness, from society, from ourselves, without dwelling in some mawkish sludge under the sewers. Here we have our disco setting (see Afterlife), and on top of that a vigor that hasn't disappeared after 10 years.
6. HAIM - The Wire
Este is back. Can't keep a good face down. Seriously though how awesome is the bass line here? The pop charts should be grateful.
5. Deafheaven - Dream House
This year, Sunbather, was my unexpected unearthed gem. Dream House kicks thing off in a wistfully romantic mood. Romantic? Well yes, this is the heaviest of rock metal (not black metal, mind) and yet the melodies are as gorgeous as anything released this year. The lyrics blend in and out of the mix and work well as an additional rhythmic element to what is happening in the background (although when read in isolation also stand up to scrutiny). Many will simply press play and switch off after 15 seconds. It's a shame because Dream House is just the start of the most loving odyssey created in 2013.
4. Burial - Come Down To Us
The latest release of my top 20, Come Down To Us frustrated and downright angered Burialites. But what Mr Bevan did here feels like the most IMPORTANT track of 2013. It's two halves contain the most saccharine uplifiting samples he's ever put out. Gone is the isolation and underbelly of a gluttonous city swapped for hope and glorious resurrection. Burial announced tracks 2 and 3 were a riposte to bullying, a candle to those who feel like they have nowhere to turn. It succeeds magically (director Lana Wachowski's speech a fitting ending).
3. Vampire Weekend - Step
I love everything these guys have done this year. It's so exciting to see a band mature the way they have. I enjoyed Contra but it held my attention in spurts. What a wonderful representation of Koenig and co 'Step' proves to be. The stage is set with a nostalgic reverb piano riff but what makes this so GREAT? The lyrics. Essentially a balance sheet on age vs youth, it acheives a sweet spot with balance and poetic beauty.
2. The Knife - Full Of Fire
The first time I saw the
short video for this track it was difficult to comprehend in one
sitting. What is this song even about? Class struggles? The internet
age? Gender inequalities and the 21st century fight for sexual equality?
The ever diluting of valuable ideals and truths? Even if this is a
tickle on social change what matters to listener A is the verve and
tenacity of what the Dreijer' acheive here. It's a song that makes you
stand up, shock, shake you to your core, makes you dance and ends up
leaving you wondering why more acts aren't so daring and provocative.
1. Phosphorescent - Song For Zula
A voice that sounds like stepping on shattered crystals (in the most respectful way), a transition chord template which has been heard a million times (U2 for one in almost all their tracks). Song for Zula hit home as soon as I first heard it. Being grabbed straight away with a line that not only references a great Johnny Cash track but calls it out as folly. It's bitter but also heartbreaking just as the rest of the song, which adds swelling orchestration to its armoury but ends with a graceful denouement which exits at the back of the stage but leaves the lasting impression as the crowd leave the hall.
