Music: Best Albums of the Year Series: 2013

[Saturated Fats]

1965: The Beatles - Rubber Soul
1966: The Beatles - Revolver
1967: The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1968: The Beatles - The White Album
1969: The Beatles - Abbey Road
1970: Black Sabbath - Paranoid
1971: Led Zeppelin - IV
1972: Neil Young - Harvest
1973: Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
1974: Supertramp - Crime of the Century
1975: Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
1976: Eagles - Hotel California
1977: Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
1978: (TIE) The Police - Outlandos d'Amour / The Cars - The Cars / Van Halen - Van Halen
1979: Pink Floyd - The Wall
1980: AC/DC - Back in Black
1981: Rush - Moving Pictures
1982: Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
1983: Metallica - Kill 'em All
1984: Metallica - Ride the Lightning
1985: Tears for Fears - Songs from the Big Chair
1986: Metallica - Master of Puppets
1987: Guns 'n Roses - Appetite for Destruction
1988: Metallica - ...And Justice for All
1989: Pixies - Doolittle
1990: Megadeth - Rust in Peace
1991: Nirvana - Nevermind
1992: Alice in Chains - Dirt
1993: Nirvana - In Utero
1995: Oasis - (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
1996: (TIE) Soundgarden - Down on the Upside // Rage Against the Machine - Evil Empire
1997: (TIE) Radiohead - OK Computer // Foo Fighters - The Color and the Shape
1998: (TIE) Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill // System of a Down - System of a Down
1999: Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication
2000: Radiohead - Kid A
2001: The Strokes - Is This It
2002: Queens of the Stone Age - Songs for the Deaf
2003: The White Stripes - Elephant
2004: (TIE) Madvillain - Madvillainy // The Killers - Hot Fuss // Green Day - American Idiot
2005: Coldplay - X & Y
2006: Tool - 10,000 Days
2007: Radiohead - In Rainbows
2009: Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
2010: The National - High Violet
2011: No definitive winner
2012: (TIE) Kendrick Lamar - good kidd, M.A.A.D. city // Deftones - koi no yokan
2014: Behemoth - The Satanist
2015: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

2008: (TIE) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes // Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend (6 votes)

Well, my favourite album of all time got some love here, so I can't complain. The Vampire Weekend s/t is also a worthy competitor, and it was nice to see an active thread for one so late in the chronology. I'm hoping for the same for 2013, which is an extremely deep and fantastic year. Really - there is some absolutely amazing music on the year, and if you're a modern music skeptic, you really oughta dive in.

Remaining Years
1994
2016 - Now
1900 - 1964

Click to read more...

 

[Teemu]

Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
Arcade Fire - Reflektor
Arctic Monkeys – A.M.
The National - Trouble Will Find Me

 

[kihei]

Bombino--Nomad
My Bloody Valentine: MBV
Pat Metheny: Tap: Book of Angels, vol. 20

 

[WeThreeKings]

The National & Chvrches

 

[Sleemans]

The National - Trouble Will Find Me

 

[plank]

1. Southeastern - Jason Isbell
2. Rain Plans - Israel Nash
3. On My Page - Courtney Marie Andrews
4. From the Hills Below the City - Houndmouth
5. Sundowning at the Station - Doc Feldman & The LD50
6. High Top Mountain - Sturgill Simpson
7. Blur the Line - Those Darlins
8. Dream River - Bill Callahan
9. Made Up Mind - Tedeschi Trucks Band
10. Desert Skies - Beachwood Sparks
11. Baba Yaga - Futurebirds

Special mention for the demo's that were included in the 10 year anniversary release of Songs:Ohia - The Magnolia Electric Co.

 

[Oxbow Lakes]

DJ Rashad - Double Cup
Dj Ibusal - Mt. Everest
Holden - The Inheritors
Knife - Shaking the Habitual
The World Is a Beautiful Place... - Whenever, If Ever

Pusha T - My Name Is My Name

I dunno. Some pretty good albums I’ve not listened enough to add here comfortably. Added Pusha T album only for its staggering highlights

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

NIN - Hesitation Marks.

A great album and return to the classic NIN of electronic dance sounds with nihilistic lyrics.

A+ all around.

Close 2nd is Arctic Monkeys

 

[GKJ]

Chvrches and Haim hold up.

Arcade Fire does not.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

1. John Zorn And Thurston Moore – “@”
2. Bill Frisell – Silent Comedy
3. The Orchestra Of Futurist Noise Intoners – The Orchestra Of Futurist Noise Intoners
4. Noah Creshevsky – The Four Seasons
5. Painkiller – The Prophecy
6. Secret Chiefs 3 – Book Of Souls: Folio A
7. Ceramic Dog – Your Turn
8. Deveykus – Pillar Without Mercy
9. Pharmakon – Abandon
10. Fire! Orchestra – Exit!

HMs:
Les Rhinocéros – Les Rhinocéros II
Melt-Banana – Fetch
David Fulmer – On Night
Vincent Delerm – Les amants parralèles
:zoviet*france: – The Tables Are Turning
Keith Kouna – Le voyage d'hiver (Schubert adaptation by KK, produced by René Lussier – the result's not that great, but certainly is some form of artistic rebirth for KK)
Natural Snow Buildings - The Snowbringer Cult
The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer (with thx to @Saturated Fats for the head's up)
Matana Roberts – Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
Oblivians – Desperation
Tomahawk – Oddfellows
Rob Mazurek & The Exploding Star Orchestra – Matter Anti-Matter
Pierre-Yves Macé – Segments Et Apostilles
Lee Hyla – My Life On The Plains
Darkside – Psychic

Curiosities:
Massacre – Love Me Tender (it's amazing and probably deserves a top-5 spot, but it's a live album so I'll keep it down here)
Vijay Iyer & Mike Ladd – Holding It Down: The Veterans' Dreams Project
f*** Buttons – Slow Focus
Roomful of Teeth – Partita for 8 Voices
Fortress Social Club – Make Love Not Babies
Boards of Canada – Tomorrow's Harvest
Won James Won – Voinja Vezumija (WJW is always interesting, just not that good or fun this time)
Rjyan Kidwell (Cex) – Prosperity (for Cex fans only, which I guess there's not really that much to begin with... a few nice moments but mostly uninteresting)
Kanye West – Yeezus
Julia Holter – Loud City Song

 

[Cas]

Cathedral - The Last Spire
Darkthrone - The Underground Resistance
Enforcer - Death by Fire
Hell - Curse & Chapter
Progenie Terrestre Pura - U.M.A.
The Ruins of Beverast - Blood Vaults: The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer
Ulcerate - Vermis
Vastum - Patricidal Lust

For me this is a toss-up between Blood Vaults and U.M.A. I'm going to pick U.M.A., an excellent piece of atmospheric spacy black metal that hits harder than I expected in places.

 

[MoreOrr]

I'd like to vote for Lunatic by Kongos, which was originally released on December 28th 2012, but it was released in the US in October 2013, and then released again in early 2014. To me, 2013 seems about right to classify it.

But if Lunatic doesn't qualify by the OP's standards, then I have no problem voting for:
Secondhand Rapture by MS MR

Either way, those two albums get my vote, they both can be #1 on my list.

 

[Ceremony]

I voted Trouble Will Find Me and other

Other being Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit:

 

[Saturated Fats]

What an absolutely MONSTER year in music. One of the absolute best of the new millennium. I have a really hard time putting together a list of 10, as I have five albums that are 5/5 classics. So, without getting too silly, I'll just rank them all at 1. But even beyond that, there are some works that I absolutely LOVE.

1. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
1. Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time
1. Tim Hecker - Virgins
1. Deafheaven - Sunbather
1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

6. Grave Babies - Crusher
7. Jordan Klassen - Repentance
8. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
9. Agnes Obel - Aventine
10. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
11. These New Puritans - Field of Reeds
12. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
13. Kvelertak - Meir
14. Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils from the Sea
15. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
16. Klô Pelgag - L'alchimie des monstres

I did 16 because it's my poll, whatever.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

What an absolutely MONSTER year in music. One of the absolute best of the new millennium. I have a really hard time putting together a list of 10, as I have five albums that are 5/5 classics. So, without getting too silly, I'll just rank them all at 1. But even beyond that, there are some works that I absolutely LOVE.

1. Altar of Plagues - Teethed Glory and Injury
1. Candy Claws - Ceres & Calypso in the Deep Time
1. Tim Hecker - Virgins
1. Deafheaven - Sunbather
1. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

6. Grave Babies - Crusher
7. Jordan Klassen - Repentance
8. CHVRCHES - The Bones of What You Believe
9. Agnes Obel - Aventine
10. Against Me! - Transgender Dysphoria Blues
11. These New Puritans - Field of Reeds
12. Frightened Rabbit - Pedestrian Verse
13. Kvelertak - Meir
14. Mark Kozelek & Jimmy Lavalle - Perils from the Sea
15. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer
16. Klô Pelgag - L'alchimie des monstres

I did 16 because it's my poll, whatever.

Oh crap, forgot the Dillinger album.....

 

[Ouroboros]

Jakob Ullmann - Fremde Zeit Addendum 4 [Hans Peter Schulz] [Modern Classical/Reductionism]
Pierre Boulez - Œuvres Complètes [Modern Classical/Serialism]

Autechre - Exai [Electronic/Experimental/IDM]
The Haxan Cloak - Excavation [Ambient]

Wulkanaz - Paúrpura Fræovíbôkôs [Black Metal/Ambient]
Arnaut Pavle - Arnaut Pavle [Black Metal/Punk]
Cultes Des Ghoules - Henbane [Black Metal]
Grave Miasma - Odori Sepulcrorum [Death Metal]
Obliteration - Black Death Horizon [Death Metal]
Paysage d'Hiver - Das Tor [Black Metal/Ambient]
Gorguts - Colored Sands [Death Metal]