Top 30 Albums of 2013

I’m a bit late publishing my traditional year-end “Top 30 Albums” list this year, but it’s a good one, so I hope you’ll forgive me.

I do this more for me — as a way of discovering new music — than for you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want you to get as much joy from these amazing artists as I did this year. My list-making secret is to start a “long list” of albums I like at the beginning of the year. I keep adding when something strikes my fancy and use the year-end holidays to figure out which ones really made the cut.

Beyoncé’s stealth release is probably the most popular album on the list this year and I’m pretty sure Dawn of Midi’s is the most obscure. I was a bit surprised to see only four females on the list when a third of the list was female last year. My long-list had a lot more females but they didn’t have the impact as in past years. Interestingly, many of the bands had female members.

For those interested, my previous Top 30 Albums are still online:

And now, the Top 30 Albums of 2013! Enjoy!

Note these are in (vaguely) alphabetical order. I could never rank these absolutely — it would change daily.

Tomorrow’s Harvest by Boards of Canada
The North Borders by Bonobo
Flourish // Perish by Braids
You Gots 2 Chill by Brendan Canning
Push The Sky Away by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Big Foot by Cayucas
Wise Up GHOST by Elvis Costello & The Roots
Random Access Memories by Daft Punk
Dsynomia by Dawn of Midi
Tookah by Emiliana Torrini

Flume by Flume
Regions of Light and Sound of God by Jim James
Howlin by Jagwar Ma
Yeezus by Kanye West
6 Feet Beneath The Moon by King Krule

Do What You Love by Ta-Ku
Modern Vampires of the City by Vampire Weekend
{Awayland} by Villagers
Paracosm by Washed Out
Fade by Yo La Tengo

I’d love to know what albums we have in common and which ones you think should have made my list but didn’t. Use the comments people, don’t be shy!