I really am not any kind of authority on music at all. You shouldn't trust my opinions on such things, especially since what crosses my path is a mere drop in the bucket when it comes to all of the albums and such released this year. Either way, here are five favorite albums of mine from 2013.
The Shirks – The Shirks: Only 8 tracks and not even 20 minutes in length, but that’s by no means a bad thing. Fast, loud, and infectious. Every song plows into you like a truck barreling down a cliff. These guys played in Bristol earlier this year, and it was such a good show. Perfect punk.
Best track: Dirty Teen Wolf. Screaming "I DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT LOVE" at the top of my lungs.
Carpenter Brut – EP I & II: Okay, yeah, EP I was released last December so it shouldn’t technically count, but that’s not stopping me. I actually bought it a mere week before EP II came out this year. This is my favorite music discovery of the year. Loud, sleazy electro music that sounds like it belongs in an 80’s slasher arcade game, if that makes sense. Heavy John Carpenter influence, if you didn't already guess that from his name. I wish every retro-style videogame and movie that comes out from now on had soundtracks that sound like this.
Best track: Escape From Midwitch Valley. Starts off nice and slow and creepy, with an audio sample from John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, building and building, then morphs towards the end into something you can really move to. Perfect for driving down curvy roads in heavily wooded areas on a foggy night. That's something I love about this dude's music: there are a lot of tracks that really change up as they progress, he doesn't just stick to one particular...style? sound? You know what I mean? Keeps things interesting.
Colleen Green – Sock it to Me: This year’s chill out album, which I return to whenever I need to relax and de-stress. It’s stripped down, simple stuff, with lyrics that sound like they came out of a high school girl’s journal, and I don’t mean that in a negative way at all. Her voice, her guitar, those electronic drum beats are just a perfect combination to put me at ease. She’s another one who put on a great show here in Bristol this year.
Best track: Heavy Shit. I heard the song at particularly stressful point in time, where I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, and this song just kind of nailed it for me.
Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork: Josh Homme’s most powerful album, emotionally speaking. The music bounces around from track to track, making it a little inconsistent sounding, but even still, there isn't a single weak track on here. There are lines here and there which just crush me, like when Josh croons "Does anyone ever get this right?" on the Vampyre of Time and Memory.
Best track: I Appear Missing. Just sheer emotional power.
Run the Jewels – Run the Jewels: A week after Yeezus came out and disappointed me, Killer Mike and El-P dropped this collaborative album for free. This is how it’s done. Does anyone do beats better than El-P? I don’t think so. The whole thing is just two guys having fun, and it’s infectious. Once again, great music for cruising around.
Best track: Sea Legs. Favorite beat on the album, and I really love El-P's opening verse.
Next time: Comics! There were a lot of good ones, man.