[Black Dagger]

Grouplove

-still hasn't listened to the 2nd album but Colours and Tongue Tied were bloody great-

[Z]

I haven't listened to any of these albums. I am appalled by multiple artworks. So far so good.

[Black Dagger]

Local Natives are also fabulous, from what I've heard, You and I is wonderful <3

[reece(:]

M.I.A. - Matangi
Charli XCX - True Romance
CHVRCHES - The Bones Of What You Believe

For top 3 <3

[Jords]

The Joy Formidable's artwork though

[Shaun]

ikr

[Shaun]

#40 - "Soft Will" - Smith Westerns
Perfectly lovely - would soundtrack a barbecue or beach party quite nicely. Just... not quite as good as Dye it Blonde.


#39 - "Wondrous Bughouse" - Youth Lagoon
A psychedelic trip from start to finish.


#38 - "One Breath" - Anna Calvi
Bolder, more confident and stronger songwriting than her selftitled debut.


#37 - "Days are Gone" - HAIM
A handful of excellent singles and some others that make me shrug a little bit and wonder what all the fuss was about. An ideal start for the sisters, though, and let's hope the future material is similarly strong from them.


#36 - "New" - Paul McCartney
Someone who doesn't really need to prove themselves in the future is Sir Macca, who made me sit up and think there might be something to his solo material after all.


#35 - "...Like Clockwork" - Queens of the Stone Age
By far their strongest effort in a decade or more - not that that's saying much.


#34 - "Ciara" - Ciara
It'd be nice if it didn't take an artist having to leave their label to make their career-best album. Oh well.


#33 - "Tales of Us" - Goldfrapp
This seemed to leave critics a little underwhelmed and I don't really understand why: it's incredibly hushed, sure, but the songwriting is astounding.


#32 - "This is... Icona Pop" - Icona Pop
A rework of their self-titled Swedish release from last year, Icona Pop briefly set the world alight this summer with their long overdue #1 single. The album inevitably tanked, but at least it was filled to the brim with solid tunes.


#31 - "Tomorrow's Harvest" - Boards of Canada
A track or two chopped off and it'd be perfect. As it stands: a little bit of a chore to listen to. But a lovely chore, like doing the hoovering.

[Shaun]

#30 - "Silence Yourself" - Savages
The first half of the year was quite consumed with fervour towards making this "the album of the year" among music journalists and I'm quite happy that stopped; that's not to say this isn't an album that made me sit up and take notice, it's just not quite the gamechanger it was made out to be. Pretty powerful, though.


#29 - "Samson and Delilah" - V V Brown
I mentioned in my tracks countdown placing of The Apple at #4 how the total stylistic change threw me off at first but I'm so glad in retrospect that it happened: the happy-go-lucky debut was and still is a big bag of fun, but lacked a little in terms of substance. This more than compensated for that.


#28 - "Static" - Cults
Took the poppy tunefulness of their debut and etched it into a far more consistent, enjoyable listen.


#27 - "MCII" - Mikal Cronin
Can't really say much more for this album that the near-universal praise hasn't already done.


#26 - "Cupid Deluxe" - Blood Orange
I kinda feel like I'm shortchanging Dev Hynes here what with his recent personal tragedy I hope he recovers from it, because he's really improving with every project he undertakes recently.


#25 - "Paracosm" - Washed Out
Another year, another gorgeous Ernest Greene record.


#24 - "True Romance" - Charli XCX
A couple of total misfires, and the rest being quality pop? That'll be the ideal debut from Charli XCX then: she can improve (and she's already shown signs of it with the brilliant SuperLove since this was dropped), and I can't wait.


#23 - "AM" - Arctic Monkeys
Inevitably turned the UK press to mush on account of being just about the only British band finding success beyond their debut. It was a little bit embarrassing seeing all of these 10/10 reviews pop up, but the quality of the album managed to convince me slightly of its merit. Their finest since Favourite Worst Nightmare, for sure.


#22 - "Beyoncé" - Beyoncé
just going to drop this in my list totally unannounced


#21 - "Old" - Danny Brown
I berated Drake on the tracks-countdown for falling occasionally foul of the pointless attention-grabby debut, and I suppose I would be inconsistent if I didn't point out that, at times, Danny Brown is mildly irritating too. What he possesses that Drake doesn't, though, is music that leaves me a little awestruck.

[Drew.]

Danny Brown

[Shaun]

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.

[Me. I Am Salman]

Ciara and Beyonce yeezus too
So many artists experimenting this year and expressing themselves more (Cassie too)

[Black Dagger]

It was suitably epic at all the right times, though, so please punch anyone who says it's crap in the face.

I shall

[Shaun]

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.

[Ammi]

...well, The Next Day is the only absolute complete album that I've listened to several times so I would have put that as #1, but then I'm unashamedly Bowie biased...I've heard quite a few tracks from M.I.A. and Janelle Monae and they're great choices..most of the others, I'm just familiar with the odd few songs...I'm a bit ashamed to say that John Grant is someone I haven't listened to much but I'll try to fix that...

..this has been great, Shaun..now I know what I need to be looking out for..merci beaucoup .....

[Me. I Am Salman]

Matangi <3

[Shaun]

Finally, I felt a little generous and uncertain as where to put these awards other than here. 10 individual categories, each with their own winner. How festive.

Youtube video

Best Song I Felt too Pretentious to Include: "Blurred Bynes" by DWV.
It was a close contest between this and 'Boy is a Bottom' to be honest, but what better way to eradicate a catchy-as-**** song's misogynist undertones than to turn it into a critique on 2013's favourite nutjob?


Lyric of the Year: "Work" by Iggy Azalea.
Well done, everyone.


Best Album I was Harsh To: ARTPOP by Lady GaGa
It was still a mess but not quite the travesty I made it out to be. Still never going to buy it tho.

Youtube video

Best Eurovision Entry: Krista Siegfrids
No other song came close. Good night and god bless.

Youtube video

Best Music Video: "Annabel" by Goldfrapp
This was a 3-way toss-up between this, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' "Sacrilege" and Janelle Monae's "Q.U.E.E.N." In the end I went for the song I didn't place on my tracks countdown. For sentimental reasons: the video is an airy, delicate representation of transgender(ism?) in youth, and introducing colour gradually throughout the video is a masterstroke. Really moving piece of film, and a cute song to boot.


Brightest Hope for 2014: Robyn
NOT ONLY, by being 2014, are we four years on from her last (three) efforts, and recorded material is surely imminent, but Sweden's greatest export of all time also happens to be working and touring with Royksopp. The last time that occured, magic happened. I'm still getting enough enjoyment out of dramatically reenacting the Call Your Girlfriend video but yeah, new stuff please Miss Carlsson.

Youtube video

Best Song now a Decade Old: "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
The greatest thing ever to come out of talent shows, hands down. And that's a category that include Girls Aloud's Biology and Will Young's Jealousy. This song is a force of nature.


2013 Talent Most Likely to Fail the 2nd Time Around: Tom Odell
Sorry 'bout it.


The Pied Piper Award for Rats Fleeing a Sinking Ship: Azealia Banks
Last one out, turn off the lights. Oh and burn the copies of ATM Jam.


Worst Awards Show Moment: All of the Grammys
Gotye record of the year? Mumford and Sons album of the year? fun. song of the year? An N*SYNC reunion, Bruno Mars tribute to Bob Marley, and no main wins for Frank Ocean? **** all of that.

[Smithy]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Best Album ARTPOP by Lady GaGa
It was still a mess but not quite the travesty I made it out to be.

Youtube video

Best Song now a Decade Old: "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson
The greatest thing ever to come out of talent shows, hands down. And that's a category that include Girls Aloud's Biology and Will Young's Jealousy. This song is a force of nature.

[Z]

John Grant I haven't listened to any of Pale Green Ghosts, must get around to that.

Annabel's music video

[Iceman]

Chance

[Marsh.]

#2 - "Avril Lavigne" - Avril Lavigne
Grow up, Avril.