Best of 2013 - Better Late Than Never

I apologize for the delay in presenting the Best of 2013.  Frankly, each year gets a little tougher for me to find new music that really inspired me or that became part of any regular listening rotation.  Because of this, I dragged my feet a little in creating this list.  Here is what I have come up with.  I truly feel it might be the worst selections I have ever composed, but hey, it is what it is.  Without further ado, here is the best of 2013.

The two best:

“Toe Cutter” Thee Oh Sees.

I picked this as one of my “New Tunes on Monday” and I really liked it.  It has a funky grove, underwater-sounding lyrics, a little surf guitar scales being played.  I realize it’s not for everyone, but it’s a groove that I got stuck in for a while in 2013.

“Black Skinhead” Kanye West

I like Kanye West.  The persona is bigger than life.  I love that he compares himself to Warhol.  I love that he feels he should be commissioned like DiVinci and other great artists.  I recently read on Grantland that he compares his album Yeezus to Springsteen’s Nebraska.  Still looking for the parallels, but I saw him perform this on Saturday Night Live and was impressed.  Plus, he gets points for being a South Side guy.

Third time is not a charm – and I stuck by you.

“Come a Little Closer” Cage the Elephant

To me, Cage the Elephant is one of the newer bands of today that I appreciate.  “Come a Little Closer” pales in comparison to the work on their previous two albums, but it’s still listenable  - more than much of the alt-rock scene of today.

“Unbelievers” Vampire Weekend

Much like Cage the Elephant, the third album of Vampire Weekend pales heavily in comparison to their first two.  Still, I gave them a greater listening to than most of what was released in 2013, so I felt that deemed them worthy. This, to me, was one of the better songs on the record.

Not on the same tier, but not bad

“High School Lover” Cayucas

It was the bass line that got me.  These Santa Monica twins give a cool Franz Ferdinand feel.  Pretty cool sound.  Editor’s note: As I am ready to upload this, I didn’t realize Discordant #1 also chose this.  I forgot he pegged this as song of the summer.  I dismissed it when the “Blurred Lines/Get Lucky” battle enthralled the summer sound waves. I dismissed it, and now I eat my words.

“Me & You & Jackie Mattoo” Superchunk

I love the way this song opens up with a great opening line “I hate music...what is it worth.”  Pure power pop – which is my wheel house.  It sounds like it came right out of 1978.

The “Jim” influence

“Stoned and Starving” – Parquet Courts

A shared song with Discordant #1.  A quality newer band from Brooklyn.  The record itself was one of the best of 2013.  Interesting how Discordant #1 & myself both discovered it without influencing each other.  I guess it’s a sign of a quality song.

“Elephant” Tame Impala

A great groove.  Heavy bass, and that fuzzy guitar makes this song rock.  It might sound familiar for it was used in a Blackberry commercial. 

“Tiger Tank” Speedy Ortiz

The theme of female vocals is most present this year with another new band.  Originated from a counselor at a summer songwriting camp, she began writing and composing songs using her laptop.  From there, the band expanded to produce some decent new material. 

“We the Common” Thao and the Get Down and Stay Down

I really liked “Beat (Health, Life & Fire) a lot.  So when they released a new song, I was curiously interested and excited to see what they came up with.  I’m not big on the banjo, but once the song kicks in, I like the direction it goes. 

Too much pop radio with the girls…

“I Love It” Iconna Pop

When you have three girls in the car and all three belt out the chorus at the top of their lungs, it can become contagious fun.  I’m sure we will never hear from Iconna Pop again, but…”I don’t care, I LOVE IT!”

“Royals” Lorde

I know Discordant #3 had this listed, and I agree.  An impressive song from a seventeen year old Auckie.   Great imagery: “Maybachs, tigers on a gold leash” and that slow snap of the fingers.  It has worn out its welcome, but it’s one of the better songs of 2013.

“Still Into You” Paramore

Not my style of band, but something about the music in this song that seems hurried fascinates me.  I also like that Hayley Williams voce sounds so chipper, when in reality this double entendre song is partially about her struggles. 

“Rosanna” – Wax

When I first heard this, I thought it was by the 90’s bad Wax (of the California fame.)  Sadly, it’s not.  It’s an American rapper with a Cypress Hill-like beat.  The girl’s voice is annoying, but in a sea of awful pop songs, this is another one I could tolerate.

…and when new is not truly new

“Heaven on Earth” Boston

I heard this on the radio the other day, and I could have sworn it was from an older Boston album.  IT ALL SOUNDS THE SAME!  The new album is the last featuring vocalist Brad Delp before his suicide.  I love that he and Tom Scholz believed in the mantra, “If it ain’t broke…”

…and no, I truly do not think this is one of the best.

Best of 2013

It's that time of year again. And this year I'm offering what looks to be my poppiest list yet: At least four of these songs were mainstays of pop radio in 2013. That said, I think it's a strong list, so without any excuses, or further ado, here goes:

Johnny Marr - "New Town Velocity"
The Messenger, Johnny Marr's first proper solo record, dominated my listening during the first half of the year, and his live set at Irving Plaza was easily the year's musical highlight for me. I've been an evangelist for Marr's guitar prowess for years -- both on this site and off -- but even I was pleasantly surprised with the consistency of this album, and in particular, the quiet strength of this song.

Frank Turner - "Recovery"
A big discovery this year for me was the music of this Wessex boy. A regular punk rocker who discovered Springsteen's Nebraska and morphed his sound into something more folksy, he never lost his edge or his attitude. And his lyrics are smart and literary, which I always appreciate. This year's album Tape Deck Heart was as much a break-up record as it was an homage to his tattoos (and in darker moments to other forms of youthful self-mutilation). On this track, Turner shows off his knack for making the emotionally raw sound like something to celebrate.

Palma Violets - "Best of Friends"
A great song makes you want to pick up a guitar and play. By that measure, there is no shortage of great songs on 180, the stunning debut by London's Palma Violets. Picking the best of the lot was no easy task,
but this rousing sing-along would pump up anyone -- from a crowd in a small club to a stadium. I'm not sure they're heading for the latter, which is too bad because this is as good a debut as I've heard in a while. Like Arctic Monkeys before them, they've perfected the art of the three-minute garage stomp, complete with power chords and 60s organs. Which leads me to...

Arctic Monkeys - "Do I Wanna Know?"
This is what garage rock sounds like ten years down the road. On AM, the Arctic Monkeys slowed things down and found the funk, all without losing that garage rock sound. Lead singer Alex Turner cited everyone from Outkast to Aaliyah to Black Sabbath as influences this time around, and it shows.

Parquet Courts - "Stoned and Starving""I was walking through Ridgewood, Queens/I was flipping through magazines..." and with that, Brooklyn's Parquet Courts kick off one of the most amusing tracks of the year. With Andrew Savage's witty couplets, a motorized Krautrock beat and a hypnotic guitar riff on near-endless repeat, this track perfectly captures the monotony of aimless, late-night wandering, and signals the arrival of Brooklyn's next great band.

Foxygen - "No Destruction"
This year also brought us a little Brooklyn backlash, in the form of LA's Foxygen. Listen closely and you'll hear it: "There's no need to be an asshole/You're not in Brooklyn anymore." Foxygen's capital V Velvety-smooth sound almost foretells this year's death of Lou Reed, and with this effort their on their way to filling that enormous void.

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Mary Lambert - "Same Love"
I include this pop fixture because it is the perfect takedown of all that is wrong with 1) hip hop, 2) conservative politics, and 3) organized religion. My twenty-one year old sister-in-law played this for me this summer -- sat me down and made me watch the video, actually -- and its impact on me was instant and  undeniable. Like the best protest songs of the 1960s, this song succinctly captures the progressive mood of a country during a year that saw us hurtle further and faster toward accepting the single biggest civil right of our time.

Avicii - "Wake Me Up"
I'm not a big EDM fan, nor am I that fond of the ubiquitous Mumford and Sons-style folk revival stuff. And you-got-your-peanut-butter-in-my-chocolate mash-ups seldom work. So what's this chart-topping guilty pleasure doing on this list? Tune in at 1:24 and you'll know. When Avici drops his electronic bombast on top of that folk shit, you can't not want to jump out of whatever chair you're sitting in. Nevermind that the lyrics -- by Aloe Blacc -- are pretty dreadful. And that the ho-hum guitars are done by the guy from Incubus. And that the you're-not-one-of-us video is terrificly trite. And that... oh, forget it. Just dance.

Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams - "Get Lucky"
We may as well get through all the pop stuff in one shot. If 2013 comes down to this and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines", this wins by a landslide. You couldn't get away from this track at the height of summer, and when it was on, you didn't turn it off. (I even played it at my kid's lemonade stand.) Who would have thought that the French kings of electronica would return after a long absence and conquer the world?

Capital Cities - "Safe and Sound"
Another family dance-party favorite. Or at least another earworm with a killer hook. I could sing that horn part for weeks on end. And as John knows, the bearded guy dancing in the video cracks me up every time.

Editor's note: We're through with the pop portion of this list.

Heaven - "Colors in the Whites of Your Eyes"
Jesus and Mary Chain weren't the shoegazers who made a new album after decades of silence. That honor goes to My Bloody Valentine. But this Brooklyn band filled in admirably, with fuzzy, shimmery guitars and monotone lyrics... right up my alley.

The Vaccines - "Everybody's Gonna Let You Down"
The Dandy Warhols were often accused of being an American band that wanted to be British. On this track, London's Vaccines are a British band that wants to be the Dandy Warhols. And that's not a knock. The Vaccines have been around for years, but I never really noticed until I heard the nonchalance of this downer of a track. The Dandy Warhols influences are obvious, right down to the lyrics coming in a few beats after the guitars start the verses. It just oozes cool.

Deerhunter - "The Missing"
Atlanta's Deerhunter have made consistently good music in their eight-year career. Their sixth studio album Monomania continues that tradition, taking cues from 80s indie, shoegaze, Krautrock and bands like Sonic Youth and the Breeders. This track leans on a tight guitar riff and Bradford Cox's distorted vocals, and builds to a swirling crescendo before falling back down.

Cayucas - "High School Lover"
I had this song pegged as a song of the summer back in February. I was, of course, wrong. I figured it was a can't miss. It has the same breezy feel as fellow SoCal band Foster the People's hit "Pumped Up Kicks", with a bass line on warp speed and the sunny influences of the best 50s and early 60s pop. It should have been huge. Oh well.

Holy Ghost! - "Okay"
In a world without LCD Soundsystem, we have to settle for proteges like Holy Ghost! (Notice Arcade Fire's Reflektor, produced by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, is missing from this list.) This song would be right at home in 1985, with its bouncy synths, beeps and bloops.

Cut Copy - "Let Me Show You Love"
I've been waiting for years for some band to rediscover the Happy Mondays, and Cut Copy has. Thank the Lord. This is as close to Madchester as we've been since the Hacienda shut down in 1997.

Maps - "A.M.A."
Northampton, England's James Chapman has been making shoegaze-inspired electronic since 2006. On this catchy and majestic single, he reminds us that his first love may well be bands like New Order.

The Bryan Ferry Orchestra - "Love is the Drug"

Baz Luhrmann may have had the idea, but Bryan Ferry has the music. This clever collection re-imagines some of Ferry's greatest songs in the style of 1920s jazz. Ferry has traded in the instruments for the role of Svengali, overseeing an assortment of other musicians, and the results were showcased in Luhrmann's film The Great Gatsby. The great thing here is that the arrangements are so good -- and the songs so solid -- you initially don't recognize what you're listening to. And when you finally do -- like when the chorus kicks in here -- it's wonderful. This is the rare cross-cultural melange that actually works.

Some of the best discoveries I made this year were actually from years past -- like Scotland's fabulous Django Django and the terrific 2012 album Something by Brooklyn's Chairlift. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention them as they provided many hours of listening pleasure over the past year. And as always, I look forward to reading your comments... and your lists.

Happy Holidays!

New Tune on Monday

I was thinking of a new way to trade music that you might not know so well -- because I've been on a listening binge lately -- and I came up with this handy paraphrase of Duran Duran.

Today, in the inaugural New Tune on Monday post, I give you Brooklyn's Parquet Courts, and their not-a-wasted-note triumph "Stoned and Starving". This is a perfect piece of late 70s inspired post punk -- catchy and minimal in the best spirit of the Buzzcocks or Wire. Plus it name checks a very unlikely NYC neighborhood, Ridgewood, Queens: "I was walking through Ridgewood, Queens/I was flipping through magazine/I was so/stoned and starving"