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.
- Reflektor by Arcade Fire
- AM by Arctic Monkeys
- Beyoncé by Beyoncé
- Silver Wilkinson by Bibio
- Cupid Deluxe by Blood Orange
- 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
- Pure Heroine by Lorde
- Matangi by M.I.A.
- Muchado by Phosphorescent
- Beta Love by Ra Ra Riot
- San Fermin by San Fermin
- 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!