Music in 2013: The 50 Greatest Albums (Part Two)

In any other year, a lot of these LPs would've slotted in quite nicely to the top ten. 2013 was such a strong year for albums, though, that it resulted in them just falling short.


#20 - "Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action" - Franz Ferdinand
It didn't exactly set the world on fire and that's a little upsetting. The Scottish band put out one of their finest albums to date last year and it was worth the wait.


#19 - "Bankrupt!" - Phoenix
Another band we'd been waiting since 2009 to hear from again were the Frenchmen Phoenix - time spent probably accumulating all of those seventy one tracks for the deluxe edition's second disc. You'd be forgiven for sticking to the first, though, since it was a bag of electronic goodness and fist-pumping anthems.


#18 - "Torres" - Torres
An album that sits perfectly on the fence between poignant balladry and ballsy grunge sounds, I'd heartily recommend this to anyone a fan of anything vaguely rocky.


#17 - "The Marshall Mathers LP 2" - Eminem
Mathers still needs to spend some time ironing out all of the tendencies to go for the hit singles (deleting Rihanna's phone number would be a nice start), but I think this surprised everyone this year with its strength, its absence of nonsense singles like Just Lose It or We Made You, and a return to the commanding, sullen young man sat on the front step of his childhood home.


#16 - "The Bones of What You Believe" - CHVRCHES
One of those albums that will offer up a favourite track to you depending on your mood: CHVRCHES accomplished that difficult middle ground between immediately pleasing pop and long-term listen appeal. Great, great debut.


#15 - "Night Time, My Time" - Sky Ferreira
Speaking of great debuts, Ferreira ditched the sugary sounds of her singles earlier this decade and went for an alternative kind of Blondie-meets-Cyndi Lauper aesthetic to her first album. Another record I'll be spinning for years to come.


#14 - "Random Access Memories" - Daft Punk
Look, I was totally a part of the brigade that hailed this as a phenomenon earlier in the year and in a way I stand by its brilliance: it's a bold, indulgent mess at times but no other album this year came close to getting parties started as Daft Punk's. Definitely not the epochal 2013 record, but staggeringly well-executed.


#13 - "Yeezus" - Kanye West
Speaking of vastly overrated albums... Yeezus seems to have totally dominated every other "best of" list this past 2 months. Whether it's its failure to match up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, my desire to be a contrarian, or just a genuine belief that it's not even West's best, let alone everyone else's, Yeezus definitely came close to being one of the frontrunners for album of the year on account of its experimental new direction for Kanye.


#12 - "Overgrown" - James Blake
For a nice change, the Mercury Prize winner this year was actually quite good (I will never let it go that Alt-J's was a bland, floating turd). And a vast improvement on his at-times-lifeless debut (which I was incredibly harsh to, but still find dull), so who knows what the future holds.


#11 - "Reflektor" - Arcade Fire
I didn't really want to live in a world where I put an Arcade Fire record outside of the top ten, but here we are. The only fault I could find with the Canadians' fourth effort is that it went a little soggy around the middle, like watching your favourite Great British Bake-Off contestant. It was suitably epic at all the right times, though, so please punch anyone who says it's crap in the face.

 

THE WAIT IS OVER!!!!!! BRACE YOURSELVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


#10 - "Woman" - Rhye
One of those albums where - despite having a crummy iPod that only stores about 40% of my library - I have to put the whole bunch of it on. Gorgeous vocals from start to finish and leaves me in almost a post-climactic mood.


#9 - "The Next Day" - David Bowie
"But your blog title is a Bowie lyric!" you scream as I pack my suitcase hurriedly and leave. Look, OK, about 3 or 4 of the tracks were a little bit bland, but those that weren't were strong enough and astounding enough to make his comeback better than just about everyone else's anticipations.


#8 - "Modern Vampires of the City" - Vampire Weekend
Sometimes I am not in the mood for Vampire Weekend. Sometimes they are a bit too goofy and annoying and this album isn't much change from that trend, but it's probably their strongest to date and a whole Bible's worth of themes and interest.


#7 - "Obsidian" - Baths
Probably the album that fascinated me the most in terms of what is possible with electronic music, and also brutally self-flagellating at times. If you continue reading down, you'll find I have a bit of a soft spot for gay soloists who hate on themselves a bit.


#6 - "Once I Was an Eagle" - Laura Marling
Another entry on this top ten where I'm considering this their best LP to date is Marling, who's always been at least "good" but this year stepped up into incredible.


#5 - "Settle" - Disclosure
One of those records that manages to sustain the party atmosphere from start to finish. Picking favourite songs from it is like choosing your pick-n-mix at Woolworths when you were 8 years old.


#4 - "Matangi" - M.I.A.
Quite comfortably not her best effort - Kala (and probably Arular) will most likely never be beaten - but Matangi was the strongest return to form since... er, probably Rafael Nadal. It was a lot more fun than MAYA, and reincorporated her knack for beguiling 'skits', that feeling of world-town international partying and more than the occasional banger.


#3 - "Acid Rap" - Chance the Rapper
It's almost a crime that you can put something out this good for free. I feel indebted. The debut of the year, no question.


#2 - "The Electric Lady" - Janelle Monáe
If my memory serves me correctly - and I have to rely on it since I started my blog reviewing habits in 2011 - I placed The ArchAndroid 5th on a list of the similarly excellent year, 2010. In retrospect, it'd leapfrog at least 2 of the others I rated highly (The Suburbs and Sleigh Bells' Treats). This, her stunning second, is probably not "better", but it's definitely on the same level: an astounding, ambitious, accomplished masterpiece that's got more going on than most popstars' careers.


#1 - "Pale Green Ghosts" - John Grant
Well, it was the only album I gave 10/10 this year so I suppose this shouldn't be too surprising.

 

Thanks for reading!