2013 Musical Superlatives

In a seemingly never-ending attempt to put off a best of the year list (as if it mattered in any way) I've assembled a little list of superlatives for you to enjoy or ignore or discuss or burn in effigy. I kind of just threw it together :)...

Favorite New Band 

(and by "New" I mean as in not there before)

Cayucas

Aloa Input

Few Bits

Favorite New Artist

(see above for "New" requirements)

Laura Mvula

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper

Andrew Wyatt

Best Album Opener

John Grant - Pale Green Ghost

Lee Ranaldo - Lecce, Leaving

Laura Mvula - Like The Morning Dew

Best Album Closer

Dr. Dog - Humble Passenger

Futurebirds - St. Summercamp

The Strokes - Call It Fate Call It Karma

Best Two-Sided Single

Absolutely Free - UFO / Glass Tassle

Best Compilation

Adult Swim Singles: 2013

Most Likely To Find Me Cuddled In Bed With

Denison Witmer - s/t

Dan Micahelson - Blindspot

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

Favorite Classical Album

Ludovido Einaudi - In A Time Lapse

Bryce Dessner & The Kronos Quartet - Aheym

John Zorn - The Mysteries

Best (Worst) Guilty Pleasure

Empire Of The Sun - Ice On The Dune

Mayer Hawthorne - Where Does This Door Go?

Most Likely To Make Me Dance While Doing The Dishes

Foals - My Number

Javelins - Airfield

Too Cool To Be Good Because Good Is Not Cool

Local Natives - Hummingbird

Best Song About Cross-Breeding

Best Intentionally Mispelled Bandname

Most Successful Random Collaboration

Best Abu Ghraib-Themed Instrumental Album

Best Song Hook

Major Lazer - Get Free

King Krule - Boarder Line

Julia Holter - Into The Green Wild  

Favorite Jazz Record

Dawn Of Midi - Dysnomia
Moon Hooch - s/t

Jonathan Finlayson - Moment & The Message

Mark De Clive-Lowe & The Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra - Take The Space Trane

Worst Band Name/Best Music

Jamaican Queens

Hungry Kids Of Hungary

Joanna Gruesome

Best B-Side

Unexpected Addiction Of The Year

Best Song About A Particular City

Hardest Album To Find In A Google Search

Peace - In Love

Best It-Doesn't-Matter-If-I-Can't-Understand-Them Album

(usually, in a year where Sigur Ros releases an album they win this category hands down, but this year the honor goes to a girl band from Kyoto) 

Most Likely To, Despite Many Valid Attempts, Never Learn All The Lyrics To

Lauryn Hill - Consumerism

Best "These Guys Are Still Around?" Album

Favorite Hip-Hop Record

Hawk House - A Little More Elbow Room

Danny Brown - Old

Milo - Things That Happen At Night

Best Use Of An Orchestra

Genre Of The Year

Gloam

Gloom 

Chanson

Best Record By The Mother Of A Legend

Best Artist Thought To Be Dead For The Past 30 Years

Favorite Album That It's Very Possible That I Was The Only Person To Listen To It

Sweet Baboo - Ships

The Everywheres - Slow Friends

Mao Tzu -  Smörgåsbord

Most Likely To Find Me In The Fetal Position With

Deafheaven - Sunbather

Grave Babies - Crusher

Miley Cyrus - Bangerz

Best Sorta Comeback/Amazing Promotion Gimmick

Boards Of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Song Most Likely To Make Me Sing Falsetto

Best EPs

Courtney Barnett - How To Carve A Carrot Into A Rose

Cairo Gang - Tiny Rebels

Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory - Elements Of Light

Best Use Of A Plus Sign Instead Of An Ampersand

Chris Garneau - Switzerland + Out

Cover Songs Of The Year

Scott Matthew - I Wanna Dance With Somebody {Whitney Houston Cover}

El Noordzo! - Where Is My Mind {Pixies Cover}

Lotte Kestner - Halo {Beyoncé Cover}

Colin Stetson -What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? {Washington Phillips cover}

DJ Koze - Homesick {Kings of Convenience Cover}

Best Album That I Didn't Even Listen To

Mount Eerie - Pre-Human Ideas

Hookworms - Pearl Mystic

Best Video

Thee Oh Sees - Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster

33 Of My Favorite Album Covers Of 2013

To be more precise, these are 33 of my favorite album covers of this year that did not contain music that I would also consider to be in my 33 favorite albums of previously mentioned year. To be clear, I would sooner hang these on my wall than play them in my ears. Not that they are bad albums.... on with it...

Akron/Family - Subverses

off to a good start

Big Scary - Not Art

I think they got the words mixed up, it should read, Big Art Not Scary

Analog Rebellion - Full Frontal

First off, any album cover that depicts a stormtrooper automatically starts off with a perfect score, but a stormtrooper who is obviously having such a battle of inner turmoil and showing such emotional strife, this is art people

Arca - &&&&&

artists have been trying to create new species to represent their musical endeavors for decades, but none so effectively as this stork meets tic meets wad of chewing gum 

Connan Mockasin - Caramel

oh Connan, don't look at me like that, I'll listen to your new album already

Me Like Bees - The Ides

me like homemade Halloween costumes

bEEdEEgEE - Sum/One

he thinks we can't see him, but we all see him

Ducktails - The Flower Lane

once I was on a train at rush hour and could not find a seat, but I had this album, and I could sit on it

Jonwayne - Rap Album One

Google this guy, and you'll have a little better idea why I love this cover, PLUS, why has no one done this before 2013?

Papaerhaus - Lo Hi Lo

makes me think that even I can be good at album art

Brazos - Saltwater

makes me think that even my kid can be good at album art

Young Knives - Sick Octave

this is exactly what comes to my mind when you want me to take studio photos of my family, and actually very cool music too

Julia Brown - To Be Close To You

the most famous 1st grade art project in Williamsburg

Teams - Oneworldé

do I really need to explain to you why this is amazing?

Campfire OK - When You Have Arrived

is like an aerial view of a really awesome tetherball tournament court on Easter in the middle of the woods

Autre Ne Veut - Anxiety

the story behind this one is why I love it so much. I was actually curious about the meaning behind this so when I Googled it I found out that the original intention was to have the famous Edvard Munch painting The Scream in there, but last minute copyright laws stepped in and they said "Fuck it, leave it blank!"

Charms - Hilary

my kind of Disney movie

Lee Noble - Ruiner

Lee Noble always makes his cover art just a little bit more enjoyable than his music, but I'm rooting for him

Criminal Hygiene - s/t

pep rallies evaded me in my youth, so all I have to go off of is the renderings of film makers and artists, and this is by far my favorite one yet

Jacuzzi Boys - s/t

the cut and paste era of album coverage is so rampant these days that when you find one that speaks to you, you grab onto it and squeeze tight

Daniel Romano - Come Cry With Me

don't laugh, this guy is completely serious here, and I am serious too

Ty Segall - Sleeper

with so many quilts to choose from I don't know how I'll ever be cold again

Evenings - Yore

I feel his pain, sometimes I can't decide between purple clouds and red mumus

Grouper - The Man Who Died In His Boat

and I have a feeling she knows who did it

Stuart Warwick - The Butcher's Voice

I was and still am speechless

Braids - Flourish//Perish

this hovering black ball is the most mesmerizing aspect of this album, unfortunately

Los Campesinos - No Blues

I am a sucker for this color pallette, and smoke, and bushes, and blues

Carmen Villain - Sleeper

Probably the best use of hair on an album cover since Black Crowes Amorica

Naked Lunch - All Is Fever

"we need an album cover"

"go take a photo of my candy wrapper"

"done"

On And On - Give In

some of my favorite album covers are ones where you initially say, that can't be the cover can it? And in the time it takes you to flip the album over 3 times, you realize that it is in fact the cover, and you love it

Iasos - Celestial Soul Portrait

something about the relationship between the album title and actual image they chose to portray such a lofty concept as the portrait of one's celestial soul..... well, I'm flabbergasted

No Joy - Wait To Pleasure

as did the great M.C. Escher confound us with his impossible staircases, that one who attempted to climb them would be forced to defy gravity and laws of physics themselves, the dripping paint on this album cover confirm to us that, no, you ain't climbing these stairs

Benoît Pioulard - Hymnal

I just wanna touch it

Albums Of 2012

What was 2012? No, really, I'm asking you. Looking at the cover flow of my best of list shows a lot of quirky dark albums intermingled with a few of sullen brevity. Connections emotionally and lyrically were made while some of the top spots went to cold, mindless and often nonsensical ramblings, not to mention some lovely new artwork. Lots of newcomers to the list, nonetheless the high rankings, but also some favorite familiar faces that I'm relieved did not disappoint. Not by a long shot.

157) Japandroids - Celebration Rock
156) Baby Woodrose - Third Eye Surgery
155) Richard Lewis - {you are here}
154) Soko - I Thought I Was An Alien
153) Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat - Weltuntergangsstimmung
152) Simian Ghost - Youth
151) Tigercats - Isle Of Dogs
150) Marthas &; Arthurs - The Hit World Of The Marthas & Arthurs
149) Yeti Lane - The Echo Show
148) Slam Dunk - s/t
147) Soul Junk - 1961
146) Neneh Cherry & The Thing - The Cherry Thing
145) The Invisible - Rispah
144) Orca Team - Restraint
143) Pepe Deluxé - Queen Of The Wave
142) The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - Out Of Frequency
141) Ondatrópica - s/t
140) Smashing Pumpkins - Oceania
139) Soap & Skin - Narrow
138) The Widest Smiling Faces - Me And My Ribcage
137) Electric Guest - Mondo
136) Jonathan Byerley - Catherine Market
135) Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Mature Themes
134) Emily Wells - Mama
133) The Bad Plus - Made Possible
132) Case Mayfield - 10
131) Jozef Van Wissem & Jim Jarmusch - Concerning The Entrance Into Eternity
130) Laura Gibson - La Grande
129) Chromatics - Kill For Love
128) TV Girl - The Wild, The Innocent, The TV Shuffle
127) Neal Morgan - In The Yard
126) Quakers - s/t
125) Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra - Reel To Reel
124) Ryan Power - I Don't Want To Die
123) Sarah Blasko - I Awake
122) The Amazing - Gentle Stream
121) Beat Connection - The Palace Garden
120) iamamiwhoami - Kin
119) Dan San - Domino
118) Teen Suicide - DC Snuff Film
117) Revolver - Let Go
116) Borko - Born To Be Free
115) Elfin Saddle - Devastates
114) Rufus Wainwright - Out Of The Game
113) Dog Is Dead - All Our Favourite Stories
112) I Was A Teenage Satan Worshipper - There
111) Jon & Roy - Let It Go
110) Simone White - Silver Silver
109) Keith Kenniff - Branches
108) Ice Choir - Afar
107) Allah-Las - s/t
106) Paul Banks - Banks
105) Hugh Coltman - Zero Killed
104) Hillström And Billy - All The Sprouts Bowed Their Heads
103) Deerhoof - Breakup Song
102) Moss - Ornaments
101) Electric Electric - Discipline
100) The Raveonettes - Observator
99) Backwords - By The Neck
98) Poor Moon - s/t
97) Wyld Wyzrdz - Acceptance
96) Escort - s/t
95) Jimmy Owens - The Monk Project
94) Grimes - Visions
93) TOPS - Tender Opposites
92) Anywhere - s/t
91) Vadoinmessico - Archaeology Of The Future
90) The Explorers Club - Grand Hotel
89) James Blackshaw - Love Is The Plan, The Plan Is Death
88) The XX - Coexist
87) White Birds - When Women Played Drums
86) Dark Dark Dark - Who Needs Who
85) Grand Duchy - Let The People Speak
84) Sinead O'Connor - How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?
83) Ryan Teague - Field Drawings
82) The Weird Weeds - s/t
81) Port St. Willow - Holiday
80) Twin Shadow - Confess
79) Family Band - Grace And Lies
78) Bad Weather California - Sunkissed
77) Pond - Beard, Wives, Denim
76) Astronomical - Little Women
75) Brns - Wounded
74) Georgia Anne Muldrow - Seeds
73) Trust - Trst
72) Matthew E. White - Big Inner
71) Doug Jerebine - Is Jesse Harper
70) Lars Danielsson - Libretto
69) Janice Graham Band - It's Not Me
68) La Sera - La Sera Sees The Light
67) Pandit - s/t
66) Exitmusic - Passage
65) Sigur Rós - Valtari
64) How To Dress Well - Total Loss
63) Estrogen Highs - Irrelevant Future
62) Bill Fay - Life Is People
61) Rover - s/t
60) Blonds - The Bad Ones
59) Lana Del Rey - Born To Die
58) Little Gang - Half Of Everything
57) John Cale - Shifty Adventures In Nookie Wood
56) Submotion Orchestra - Fragments
55) The Kabeedies - Soap
54) Halls - Ark
53) Zammuto - s/t
52) Dana Buoy - Summer Bodies
51) Trailer Trash Tracys - Ester
50) Peter Broderick - It Starts Hear / These Walls Of Mine
49) Black Moth Super Rainbow - Cobra Juicy
48) Anais Mitchell - Young Man In America
47) Beth Jeans Houghton & The Hooves Of Destiny - Yours Truly, Cellophane Nose
46) Asaf Avidan - Different Pulses
45) Godspeed You! Black Emperor - 'Allelujah! Don't Bend! Ascend!'
44) Reptar - Body Faucet
43) Alt-J - Ab Awesome Wave
42) Frank Ocean - Channel Orange
41) Will Stratton - Post-Empire
40) Crocodiles - Endless Flowers
39) Jonathan Boulet - We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart
38) Why These Coyotes - Where We're
37) Lambchop - Mr. M
36) The Tallest Man On Earth - Theres No Leaving Now
35) Jens Lekman - I Know What Love Isn't
34) Jim Noir - Jimmy's Show
33) The Soft Pack - Strapped
32) Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel...
31) Wymond Miles - Earth Had Doors / Under The Pale Moon

30a) Friends - Manifest!

30b) Balthazar - Rats

29) Liesa Van Der Aa - Troops

28) Bonnie 'Prince' Billy & Trembling Bells - The Marble Downs

27) Cat Power - Sun

26) The Parlor - Our Day In The Sun

25) Chassol - X-Pianos

24) Grizzly Bear - Shields

23) Django Django - s/t

22) Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again

21) Bahamas - Barchords

20) Mystery Jets - Radlands

19) B. Fleischmann - I'm Not Ready For The Grave Yet

18) Love Connection - Euphoria

17) Poliça - Give You The Ghost

16) The Irrepressibles - Nude

15) Flights - Anywhere But Where I Am

14) David Byrne & St. Vincent - Love This Giant

13) Chairlift - Something

12) The Walkmen - Heaven

11) Mac Demarco - 2

10) Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself

9) Beach House - Bloom

8) The Fresh & Onlys - Long Slow Dance

7) BadBadNotGood - BBNG002

6) Here We Go Magic - A Different Ship

5) Bowerbirds - The Clearing

4) Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

3) Tame Impala - Lonerism

2) Dirty Projectors - Swing Lo Magellan

1) Lost In The Trees - A Church That Fits Our Needs

I could probably write annals about each and every one of these, but I won't, because the same way I don't care for reading music reviews, it should be heard, liked or disliked, and ultimately submitted or emitted from your personal library, be it a casual listener in commute to and fro, or an avid music freak who wakes up in the morning and can't wait to wrap their ears around the next collections of notes and noises. So here's to tomorrow's music...

Now go out and hear them. You have one year.