20. Phoenix - Entertainment
Phoenix may have dabbled in oriental key changes and faster-paced
deliverances, but on lead-single and album-opener "Entertainment", the
band's repertoire for confidently sleek pop rock had reached yet another
high. Thanks to the band's impressive layering of guitar plucks and
Thomas Mars' youthfully striking vocals, Phoenix had succeeded in their
experimental ventures and provided us with an eye-popping festivity of
pop enthusiasm atop rock proficiency.
~Jordan Helm
19. Blood Orange - You're Not Good Enough
Dev
Hynes wasn’t fully aware of the universal money making phase of modern
electronica and R&B when he started Blood Orange, but his second album
Cupid Deluxe plays in to the whole spectrum of genre specifications. “You’re
Not Good Enough” has one of the best bass licks of 2013, and as a duet – the
best duet of 2013. He shares vocals with Samantha Urbani, who I
consider to be one of the weakest ‘musicians’ and front women, not just in
recent years – but in popular music’s existence. Friends are a truly awful
band, and seeing Urbani strut around the stage like an STD on LSD really put me
off from anything associated with her name for quite some time. But her vocal
on “You’re Not Good Enough” is just too much to dodge.
~Eddie Gibson
18. British Sea Power - Machineries of Joy
British
Sea Power have always been the intellects their music suggests. “Machineries of
Joy” is the first track on the album of the same title. Vocalist / song-writer
Jan Scott Wilkinson knows the power of a good song, and “Machineries of Joy” is
the single / the song from Machineries of
Joy that binds the album together. The lyrics above open “Machineries of
Joy” up, and from an outside perspective, who wouldn’t want to listen to a song
with that level of imagination in the opening lyrics – I know I would. It’s
post-punk / modern alternative rock to its core, and beautifully arranged.
~Eddie Gibson
17. Foals - Bad Habit
Every year has its uplifting alternate rock accompaniments, and no track
provided as much uplift as Foals' "Bad Habit". What gave the track its
striving boldness (and reason for use in many association in broadcast
with live ventures and festival gatherings) was its unashamedly
high-flying liberty of instrumental interplay, and in others - more
striking - a sense of bare, human honesty. With vocalist Yannis
Philippakis' passionate exertion and the band's texturally clear
assortment of guitars, Bad Habit provided a master class in balancing
musical and emotional expression.
~Jordan Helm
16. Marnie Stern - Year of the Glad
Losing
drummer Zach Hill doesn’t seem to have affected Marnie Stern’s musical output
at all. “Year of the Glad” opens The Chronicles
of Marnia with a bang. The literary reference in the album title is matched
by the David Foster Wallace novel Infinite Jest reference with “Year of the
Glad”. Stern uses L.A as the topic of discussion, a sort of East v West math
rock rivalry as such. The distortion is
ever present, and Stern’s chopped up vocal is a long lasting effect on “Year of
the Glad”.
~Eddie Gibson
15. Vök - Before
Icelandic artists seep through
the list pipelines and make it on our lists year after year, and for good
reason. Vök are unlike the conventional
Icelandic electronic export – Vök are far in tune with minimalism and
production to be alike the standard. “Before” is sung in English, and delivered
in such a way that recognises the Bjork vocal-esque sounds / alongside a The XX
electric guitar riff. Emotion honestly portaged, with jazz sounds coming out of
a saxophone – something which is becoming more popular by the year. Read our track review of “Before”.
~Eddie Gibson
14. Everything Everything - Duet
Violins are usually the go-to choice when one requires instilling some
kind of higher-reaching assumption of emotion. "Duet" may have enlisted
such instruments more predominantly than fellow Everything tracks, but
if anything, the delivery provided the band with quite possibly their
most striking and heart-wrenching of sounds. Once more, Jonathan Higgs'
wonderful contrast of high and low vocal tone carried across the music's
dramatic underlay, and with accompanying glows of electric guitar and
vocal layering, "Duet" was the bittersweet pinnacle of Arc's emotionally
rich assortment.
~Jordan Helm
13. These New Puritans - Fragment Two
With a deep piano riff, trumpet,
strings and unusual percussion, die-hard fans of These New Puritans can be
forgiven for thinking Field of Reeds is the best album of the year.
“Fragment Two” is the single with perplex features. It’s enticingly minimal,
but with orchestral sounds likening “Fragment Two” to a 90s post-rock outfit
such as Slint, or even Talk Talk. These New Puritans are never too far from
perfection, and with “Fragment Two”, they take their art rock / new age sound
to a whole new era – where post-rock and art rock collide.
~Eddie Gibson
12. Doldrums - Anomaly
It takes only a few seconds for Anomaly's grainy drumbeats, rippling
caverns of bass and the Canadian’s androgynous harmonies to take hold.
And that’s after we greeted with a welcoming assortment of hammering
white-noise-esque percussion. Leading us through an almost dystopian
litter of waning vocal backings and flinching synth notation - tension
rising and falling as beats later resurface and harmonics gently glide
across - Doldrums’ first proper look-in to his hypnotically darker
alternative to synth pop’s usually neutral-come-positive allegiance,
instinctively takes hold - latches tighter and tighter as the
less-than-subtle presence of the track passes through.
~Jordan Helm
11. Iceage - Coalition
Iceage are one of the few punk
bands willing to tear down a wall in order for their music to be heard. They
signed to Matador Records to release their sophomore You’re Nothing, and that’s sure put them on the punk rock map in
2013. The single “Coalition” is a great example of how a two minute punk track
can stimulate the mind, be a love song, a sad song, and a song to vent rage,
anger, and love. The Danish quartet are furious on “Coalition”, the Danes rock
out like Danes have never rocked before. Read our track review of “Coalition”.
~Eddie Gibson
