Best of 2013

60+ albums, 600+ songs, and 40+ hours and I've finally assembled a best of list that few to none will care about. If only I had the attention span and ambition for things that actually matter. But enough with self-deprecation...

After delving into such an expansive assortment of records, at least for the amount of time I tried to listen to it all, I realized my list was not a "best of" collection, but more of a top ten(-ish) of what I would listen to again. What I mean is, I can recognize that some of these albums are transcendent, boundary/genre pushing, and extremely artistic, but those may not be the records I reach for when I'm trying to take a break from my usual shuffle mode. So here it is, my list of top 2013 albums I would listen to again and again (as well as some previously alluded to possibly artistic honorable mentions):

If I was younger I would say that I'm going to start off by being a hater, but since I think that is a stupid and idiotic idiom, my sincerest apologies for starting this way. However, I think you know what I'm getting at and the point is Yeezus. How people can even get swept up in something that's too juvenile to be legitimately labeled as a god complex and like it because it's shrouded in massive over confidence is perplexing. It’s not surprising that the masses love it because they clamor for anything (music, politics, relationships, etc.) juvenile masked with over confidence, but that journalists and critics who aren't supposed to fall for that shit hailed the album over so many others. At least I made it all the way through which is more than I can say for that Arcade Fire trash. Moving on...

Honorable mentions (in no particular order):

O'Brother - Disillusion (listen)
Already kind of a melancholic rock band, this album took an even darker turn for O'Brother.

Coilguns - Commuters (listen) 3/5 of The Ocean churning out jams that are more metallic than hardcore. Think Breather Resist.

KEN Mode - Entrench (listen) Even though I've been following these abrasive noisecore guys since their inception, I'm a casual fan at best. This, however, is my favorite release by them.

The Psyke Project - Guillotine (listen) Trudging and noisy metallic hardcore with the only vocalist I've ever heard take a shot at a Jacob Bannon impression.

Sigur Rós - Kveikur (listen) All of their albums have a beautiful air to them, but this one is far more hauntingly so.

Russian Circles - Memorial (listen) Funny that this is only an honorable mention, but it was my go to listen when typing out this list. I appreciate that this album is more ethereal while still maintaining their heavy sound.

Death Grips - Government Plates (download) If these guys are releasing something, it's going on a "Best of" list. It's a combination of Money Store and No Love Deep Web and is the only band putting out stuff that makes me uncomfortable, excited about hip hop, and not completely dismissive of electronic music all at once.

Statues & Life Pilot - Compass (split) (listen) Two Australian metal/hardcore bands in their infancy. Similar styles and showing far more promise than most new American bands combining technical metal and hardcore.

And So I Watch You from Afar - All Hail Bright Futures (listen) Instrumental math-rock that makes me imagine a happy commercial for something I might actually want to buy or perhaps appearing on Saturday Night Live. I know that only makes sense in my head, but it's how they make me feel.

Pelican - Forever Becoming (listen) I really wasn't expecting to like this, and not that I haven't liked their more post-rock leaning albums, but this record is more akin to their heavy post-metal beginnings.

Speedy Ortiz - Major Arcana (listen) This one was a surprise and was very close to making the top. Like a poppy Sonic Youth, but still maintaining that indie noise rock quality.

Ghostface Killah - Twelve Reasons to Die: The Brown Tape (listen) I listened to this version first on accident. Maybe it's because I heard it first, but I like it so much better than the official Twelve Reasons to Die. There's a pretty good chance it wouldn't have even made my list if I had heard the original first since I was reluctant to listen to the album in the first place. The production on The Brown Tape is way more stripped down and relies more on samples than over polished beats. Reminds me more of older Wu-Tang and NYC hip hop. Regardless, I'm glad I gave this album a shot.

Now onto the top 11. Why 11 and not ten? Because I just described 12 honorable mentions, so what’s to stop me from talking more?

11. The Speed of Sound in Seawater - First Contact (listen)
This trio has fine tuned their technical indie rock, and though it’s become a little bit lighter and emotional, the songwriting has gotten better and they are able to turn arithmatic into something pretty catchy at times.

10. Crash of Rhinos - Knots (listen)
These guys fall in there somewhere between Hot Water Music style post-hardcore, technical indie rock, and abrasive screamo (of the skramz variety). Their second release, and first full length, also shows off an improvement in their songwriting skills, keeping things expansive, like on the EP, at times, but also fine tuning some neatly packaged tracks as well. My favorite, though, is the out of character, stripped down “Lean Out”.

9. The Dillinger Escape Plan - One of Us is the Killer (listen)
I kind of didn’t even want this album on my list, but it’s my fault for having such astronomical expectations. They have been one of my favorite bands for quite a while now, but I can’t let go of Calculating Infinity. Not that I don’t appreciate everything after, but I want them to top it and I’m not sure that’s possible, at least to me. Option Paralysis was starting to tread CI’s crushing waves, but OOUITK trekked out towards a different journey. It’s not the technical craftsmanship that impresses on this album, because we know that DEP can do that. It’s also not the pop sensibilities that creep in through the edges because DEP has overtly tried to make us all aware that they are capable of that. No, it’s the nuances somewhere between those two ends of the pendulum that are surprising and inspiring as well as proving that they are still inspired. That’s why this album makes the list. That and the fact that I played the hell out of it when it first came out.

8. How to Destroy Angels - Welcome Oblivion (listen)
This may not be a popular opinion, but if I formulated one of those, then people might suspect head trauma, but I think Welcome Oblivion is the best thing that Trent Reznor has attached his name to since the turn of the century. I still listen to post-2000 Nine Inch Nails, but as the heaviness has started to slowly seap out, songs are becoming pop soaked and sometimes he even writes something down right happy. Not that a man with his success shouldn’t be allowed to express some sort of cheerfulness, but in the world I grew up in NIN is bleak and devastating. While not as devastating, How to Destroy Angels certainly is bleak, but also really soulful. And Mrs. Reznor’s vocals float like an apparition over Trent’s classic subdued style singing whenever he decides to chime in.

7. Capsule - [A] (listen)
Usually, when a band decides to experiment with slowing down their sound, they opt to explore this style with longer more drawn out songs, but what has ever been usual about Capsule? This EP is like being on the nod after listening to their previous full length, No Ghost, but it’s over so quick that you’re forced to chase the dragon and get pummeled all over again.

6. Gorguts - Colored Sands (listen)
Much like hip hop, I lost interest in true death metal long ago. I think the last time I even got turned onto any kind of death metal was when someone first showed me Gorguts. That was about 7 years ago, some 5 years after their last full length. And as any top 10 list that Gorguts has been on this year will remind you, this is their first album in 12 years. It’s phenomenal. It’s technical, it’s brutal, and it’s got all of your favorite Gorguts traits. Don’t have any? Go get some. The only reason this album isn’t higher on the list is because I’m still not as big into death metal as I was before I had a driver’s license.

5. Native - Orthodox (listen)
When I saw these technical Midwestern skramzers in the early spring of this year, I was excited at how much heavier the new material sounded. I was really anticipating this record. Then when it came out, I thought it was good, but it wasn't as much of a departure from Wrestling Moves as I was expecting and I didn’t feel it was a representation of what I had seen several months earlier. Then I saw them again this past fall and realized that they just bring the heavy live. I’m okay with that. This album is relatively high on the list because it’s interesting, but not so interesting that it’s distracting, and it’s sort of heavy, but not terribly abrasive. These characteristics make Orthodox an easy go to album when I’m just not sure how I’m feeling.

4. Horselover - Neon Cannibal (listen)
I really like this EP simply because I should have a biased opinion towards liking it, but I truly feel that if I didn’t have any sort of connection with one of their members (their guitar player did my band’s CD layout) I would still like this band. Horselover actually broke up at the end of last year shortly after completing this EP, but finally released it posthumously this year. It’s got the feel of Daughters/Botch music with vocals that sound like Jonathan Spencer of Scarlet/Spitfire. I love all of those bands so Neon Cannibal is like the high school quarterback of my music library (ahem, it gets a lot of play?)

3. Palms - Palms (listen)
This seems like an obvious choice for someone like me, right? Deftones, Isis, why wouldn’t I like it? Yeah, but I didn’t at first. I thought Chino’s vocals stuck out too much, and I also wanted to hear what it would be like during the heavier Isis moments with Chino’s screams and that never happened. Something all music lovers learn, though, it’s the albums that grow on us that mean far more to us over time. It also helps that I’m hungover a bit, and with only 6 songs this can get played a lot throughout the day.

2. Great Falls - Accidents Grotesque (listen)
I’m not going to be a jerk and equate Great Falls to jazz because they’re hiding smooth grooves amidst complicated time signatures. I mean they could be, I don’t know, I’m not a musician. I am going to be a jerk and equate Great Falls to jazz because compared to every realm of hardcore and metal, Great Falls are playing all of the notes you’re not... and it’s fucking angry. 2/3 of noisecore vets Playing Enemy and one Jesu touring drummer make up this trio of roaring nastiness. It’s very Playing Enemy-esque with a more stripped down recording process, but all of the fury is still there. One of the few voices in heavy music where the anguish feels real (though it may not be, I’ve heard that singer/guitarist Demian Johnston is actually a pretty nice and happy guy). Great Falls writes songs that do have head nodding grooves to them, but it’s a bit unpredictable like they don’t want you to know when to swing your neck back up again so they can hit you over the head with a tomahawk bass. Seeing pictures of past performances, I’m not sure if I mean that figuratively or literally.

1. Heiress - Cvlt Kids (listen)
I don’t know if it’s necessary, but probably should explain that this is an Australian metalcore band, not the John Pettibone fronted hardcore/post-metal band from Seattle. Initially, this album might come off as Every Time I Die/Norma Jean/The Chariot worship. While it does have certain elements of those bands, Heiress doesn’t have the singing or southern blend of ETID, they can actually pull off the late 90’s metalcore style that Norma Jean has always been on the cusp of, but never quite grasped, and they are far more focused than The Chariot. Heiress is more Botch and Don the Reader. Cvlt Kids is filled with angular dissonant riffs and clever stacattos that lead into tight grooves. Whenever Heiress does start to wander into weathered territory, they are quick to switch it up or make it their own before anything devastatingly trite destroys the song. The same can be said about their triumphs at times, too, though. They don’t always hash out the best moments of a song, but this only forces you to listen to it again. The album is so precise and has absolutely no filler which allows every track the potential to be somebody’s favorite on the album.