Here is 2013. 2013 is here. Or then. Just a few short years ago I started this project and I'm still kind of doing it. I've been doing this for nearly 5 years now, and I'll hit 5 years before I'm done.
So I've been basing this, at least since the entries taking place in the 80s or 90s or so, on my experiences with the music and my life at the time. This year I was in high school and couldn't get enough ska. That year I had a bad breakup and that music helped me through it. Etcetera. My memories of 2013-2017, music-wise, have mostly just been this project and digging backward. So for 2013 and the rest of these, as I have warned, I am just going to give a quick overview of what I liked. Since in 2013 I was listening to 40s music and whatnot, I didn't spend much time with 2013 music. So I haven't heard enough of any of this. So I got to listen to it all one more time and now I get to write about it.
Oh, and here is what I wrote in 2013. Probably more insightful, as I gave it a little more thought then than I am now.
Life experiences: In 2013 I went to Ireland. That was fun. I remember finishing one year of this project on the plane and not writing about it until I got back. See, those are my music memories. We'll see if anything gets jogged as I list things out.
I was big on running in 2013, so that was a pretty cool coincidence that I used the word "jogged" up there. In 2013 there were more "breaks" between years since I had such short, week-long time frames between entries on this project. So I was able to incorporate some modern music into my jogging playlist. What did I like to run to?
Run The Jewels! The dream of a project between Killer Mike & El-P came to fruition! The first album is mostly just boast raps but man, it kicks!
The Lonely Island is always great for running. Especially that song with Robyn.
CHVRCHES. The Bones of What You Believe is a perfect example of great running pop music. It just feels so empowering and I feel like I can just go and go and go.
The sides of Danny Brown on display on the album Old are so insightful...I have gotten so used to his goofy persona in recent years that listening to this album where half of it is more serious stuff just blows my mind. Dude is brilliant.
M.I.A. had a very nice return to form with Matangi. I quite liked running to that album. Very catchy and feel-good.
And finally, the reason I wanted to have a section about running music is because !!! had that album THR!!!ER that was my favorite album for running. I like those guys a lot. The energy they have managed to continue to throw into everything they've done for so many years now is quite impressive. And the ultimate running song, if you were to ask me, and I wasn't at the time thinking about which Carly Rae Jepsen song to say, would be this one.
!!! "Even When the Water's Cold"
Another interesting trend I'm noticing here is that 2013 had a lot of big reunion/long-awaited releases.
Justin Timberlake, ooh! I think it had been a few years since that sexxyback or whatever came out and he had some new jams. The main thing about his The 20/20 Experience double album that was actually just two albums he put out that year was that there were lots of long songs. Like he was trying to be Stevie Wonder or something. Most of the songs are 6/7/8 minutes long. And one of the shorter songs was the 5.5 minute "Suit & Tie" featuring Jay-Z. It's a catchy number, though Jay-Z has been better.
David Bowie had a big comeback with The Next Day. I remember it coming out and everyone had thought he'd retired so it was a big deal. And it was a big deal because it was a fantastic album. I gave lots of songs three stars (I should probably revisit those ratings) but none above three. Which is my way of saying "it was really good but man, it will now forever be overshadowed by Blackstar!"
My Bloody Valentine finally released their new album and holy cow, what a record m b v was. Somehow it sounded newer and fresher than most anything else that came out from bands that formed in the last couple years, and this is a band formed in the early 80s following up its amazing 1991 album. But it exists, this album is great and I could listen to it always. And apparently they're "already" (in 2018) putting out more new music in the near future! Only 5 years!
My Bloody Valentine, "she found now"
Man or Astro-Man? was a surprise reunion to me. I never got to see them live in high school even though I really wanted to. Most of the time they played at the Starlight for 21+ shows. Then they stopped playing shows. But then I went to the Touch & Go Records anniversary festival in Chicago in 2006 I think, and they played a big reunion show there, so I was lucky enough to see them there. But I was still surprised when they put out actual new music. Defcon 5...4...3...2...1 brings back a lot of the instrumental surf rock they were known for, and went different directions than their previous last album that was pretty experimental. But they still were growing forward and D54321 is quite good. A few songs with vocals, lots of the MOAM sound I love in general though.
Remember the big deal of Daft Punk coming back? That was cool. "Get Lucky" was in my head for a while just listening to it again once. I do think the album as a whole was a little boring and overrated but you cannot get that song out of your head. Oh, you think you don't have it in your head? "We're up all night to get lucky." Now it's in your head for a week. You're welcome.
I was waiting for the new Deltron 3030 album for so long. I actively checked the wikipedia page for any updates I might have missed. Since like 2006. I didn't know if it would ever actually be an album, but in the big reunion year of course Event II finally came out. And it didn't disappoint! Even though my expectations were low due to my declining interest in Del's solo material, getting the gang back together was something special. Amusing, high quality, great production, all stuff that just made it a special album.
Other things of note that were just artists doing good things but not after a big reunion:
Deafheaven - Sunbather. Shoegaze, indie friendly or whatever, metal. I think metal purists hate it, probably because they brought a bunch of hipsters to their metal shows. And there's only enough room for one type of pretentious douchebag, thank you very much. But seriously, this album kicks. The passion, the intricacy, play it LOUD.
I have to talk about Kanye West. Yeezus was an interesting direction for the dude to go. I loved it in theory, merely liked it in practice. I liked the more political songs, I liked the sound of him rapping over industrial music, but wish he'd gone further. And I wish it wasn't praised as so original, since he was totally ripping of what Saul Williams had done in 2007 or so. And many others before him in the Def Jux crowd. But "Black Skinhead" is a great song.
The National continued to be fantastic. I really love this song. Listen to the words.
The National, "Pink Rabbits"
Savages were a great new addition to the world of music with Silence Yourself. Euro sounding post punk. I don't know if I have enough words to justify putting them in this section, so let me just spend some words saying simple things like they are awesome and you should get both of their albums right now. Ok, thank you!
Janelle Monae is still special. Has it really been this long since she put out a real new album? What gives? Someone wants to be a Hollywood star or something! Anyway, The Electric Lady was a great last note (so far) from one of the most creative forces in entertainment. A double album full of jams, including the last word I have in my collection from Prince, and that "Dance Apocalyptic" song, and so many great songs expanding on the Metropolis universe she began sharing way back when.
Neko Case is a MAN.
Other Things to Share Short Thoughts About:
- Nightmare Air's High in the Lasers was an interesting weird album that I got as part of a package deal. It was an odd one but I dug it.
- Bilal's A Love Surreal was very nice, good to hear him pushing some boundaries.
- Kacey Musgraves. Same Trailer Different Park. I remember seeing the digital album on Amazon all the time but not thinking twice. Then I think her more recent album came out to very good reviews so I checked out this older one and it is quite fantastic, it turns out. Not all contemporary country is bad!
- Micah Schnabel - I'm Dead, Serious. I saw this dude live playing with my friend's band and he had good songs so I got the album.
- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Push The Sky Away. A good dramatic album that only paves the way for his even more good more dramatic album he put out in 2016!
- Ducktails. The Flower Lane. Good album, too bad the guy turned out to be a pervert or something. I saw them in Brooklyn when I decided to track down a hipster show the one weekend I was in New York. They opened for Lower Dens, who were even better. But I did like Ducktails at the time.
- Nanobots was probably one of They Might Be Giants' better recent albums.
- Deathfix was a pretty cool band. Their context of being a band of people that really liked 1973 music (or so, I forget and refuse to look it up) was enriched by this project because I always assumed the 70s sucked until '77 and then this project showing me how great 1972/1973ish was in some certain glam/art-rock circles. They also have a highly amusing song called "Dali's House" where they just say random things about random famous people.
- Yo La Tengo. Fade. Just gotta bring it up. Not as many long songs as I'm accustomed to on YLT albums but still quite catchy and enjoyable.
- The Men were still quite good and New Moon was a good one that saw them branching out a bit into sounds hinted at on their previous album. yeah yeah.
- Acid Rap!
- Colin Stetson's New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light was interesting in that he had Justin Vernon on a bunch of tracks. Still prefer the Laurie Anderson collabs though!
- PLVS VLTRA! Toko from Enon! I got that album on cassette with my bandcamp order since it was the same price or so!
- I was slightly disappointed in Prisoner of Conscious by Talib Kweli because it was teased for so long as a grand statement about his position as an author and when it finally came out it just seemed cheap and small. To me, at least.
- She & Him. Vol. 3 was nice, seemed like they were embracing some of the originality and catchiness they are capable of. Seemed like something of a step forward which was refreshing after Vol. 2 (which was also very nice but just seemed like another collection like Vol. 1)
- Is Shaking The Habitual the final album by The Knife? Very good album, I made the mistake of putting it on my running mix. Not super upbeat.
- Future Bible Heroes. Interesting project for Stephin Merritt to bring back at this time (come on, I want a modern day 6ths album please!). But in the end, it doesn't really matter which project we're talking about. It's going to have a couple great songs and Partygoing is no exception. "Drink Nothing But Champagne" is an anthem like none other, and "Keep Your Children in a Coma" is still highly amusing, even as I prepare for my own son to enter this world.
- The Ex collaborated with Brass Unbound for an album called Enormous Door. Some pre-existing songs, some were new (to me at least), and the takes on things were so unique and I love how inventive The Ex has been for like 40 years now. The brassed-up Konono No. 2 is so great.
- Similarly, Elvis Costello's album with The Roots just offered fresh new takes on some of the different things EC has done over the years. Re-contextualizing snippets of lyrics to give them new meanings, or emphasis, or whatever. And the random new song that wasn't particularly wild still managed to get itself on the level of many of my favorite Elvis Costello songs. It's called "Tripwire." Look it up.
- Like PLVS VLTRA, Crooks on Tape was the other Enon offshoot that is just so great, So much of what I love about Enon is present here on their album Fingerprint.
- Sundowner! Neon Fiction!
- Preservation Hall Jazz Band put out an album of originals!
- Arcade Fire. Reflektor was maybe a tad overrated but now that they've bombed with their new album I feel bad. Reflektor was a grower though. I still need to hear that new one.
What's Next?
After 2013 comes 2014. Which means great albums by The Roots, D'Angelo, Budos Band, Open Mike Eagle, ANOTHER John Schmersal project (Vertical Scratchers), Shellac, a Weezer album I actually got (though I'm not sure I'll write about it), The Bruce Lee Band, The Lawrence Arms, Tune-Yards, the triumphant return of Braid, Ex Hex, more RTJ, TVOTR, Against Me!, and another classic from Weird Al! (Is this the latest Weird Al album? Is this the last time I get to say this in this??)
