Silicon Valleywood

Best of 2013: Music December 21, 2013

My favorites of 2013 line up better with Rolling Stone’s than with Pitchfork’s. Must be getting old.

This year I bought about 30 albums, all digital downloads. I don’t go for singles often, even if that is the natural medium for pop music.  (The modern version of the EP is appealing.) That number is a little less than last year, and again this year, almost all new, rather than back catalogue. I’ve got to discover some new “old” favorites.

My downloading may be down due to my use of music streaming services, just like Mark Mulligan and the ex-Jups and I have been forecasting for so long. I still like Rhapsody’s curation and info, but Spotify’s catalogue is starting to be noticeably better. I like Spotify’s apps, especially the ones that link me to reviews from professionals at media like Rolling Stone and Pitchfork. I wish This Is My Jam were better integrated, and I usually forget that Facebook aggregates a lot of music info.

Anyway, roughly in order, the following were my favorite new releases of 2013:

• Parquet Courts “Light up Gold” – easily – predictably? – my most-played. Incredibly catchy stoner punks from Austin via Brooklyn
• Kanye West “Yeezus” – hurry up with my damn croissants. Pushes a lot of envelopes
• The National “Trouble Will Find Me” – drones engagingly, and with some feeling
• Lorde “Pure Heroine” and Miley Cyrus “Bangerz” – two pop divas craft some great singles. Miley might bear more listens; Lorde has more promise
• Queens of the Stone Age “….Like Clockwork” – heavy-ish rock, not too many power ballads
• Robyn Hitchcock “Love from London” and David Bowie “The Next Day” and Richard Thompson “Electric” – a trio of old geezers deliver the goods: near-Beatles, near-“Scary Monsters,” and near-guitar god
• Savages “Silence Yourself” – stunning debut even if we’ve heard it before from Erase Errata
• Steve Earle “The Low Highway” – one song’s called “21st Century Blues.” That about sums it up
• Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Push the Sky Away” – minor-key Cave still pulses and throbs
• M.I.A. “Matangi” – the only kind of world music you should listen to