ÆBLE 2013 TOP 10 ALBUMS

På baggrund af en suveræn afstemningsdeltagelse præsenteres 100% greatest best of most wanted ultimate hottest more absolute now essential super gold top 10 albums 2013:

10. Bill Callahan - Dream River
(58 point) 

 I forhold til den løststrukturerede forgænger Apocalypse, der var indspillet live i studiet, er her tale om en samling sange, der er så eminent ydmyge, at de næsten undskylder deres tilstedeværelse. Der er, som om den excentriske ordsmed falder i et med coverfotoet af de snebeklædte bjerge og den spejlblanke sø, hvor tiden nærmest står stille. 

 

9. Christopher Owens - Lysandre
(65 point, 1 førsteplads)

Except for all the bits about getting high, and the bit about begging his best friend not to kill him, Lysandre is a composite love story as old as the hills, but this retelling is surprisingly refreshing.

 

8. Mikal Cronin - MCII
(68 point) 

If anybody made a better rock record for car stereos this year, I didn’t hear it—probably because MCII was stuck in my disc-changer all summer. Mikal Cronin makes the creation of strummy, jangly, shout-along songs seem as easy and natural as opening a window and letting the breeze whip past your steering wheel.

 

7. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
(70 point) 

One of a few terrific new bands from the New York area, Parquet Courts have produced a debut that's both instantly addictive and lastingly rewarding: a smart, snappy concoction of worldly wisdom and garage-rock gratification. From Borrowed Time's zippy lament on boredom and inspiration to Stoned and Starving's improbably poetic lunch hunt, it's an ultra-catchy, sharp-witted marvel throughout. 

6. Drake - Nothing Was The Same
(74 point) 

I gotta be honest — I didn’t listen to the whole thing. Obviously, it’s good. You think a Canadian child actor would be this successful as a rapper if he wasn’t good? The dude was sitting on 25 mil at age 25! (I would love to see some documentation on that, by the way. I’m not saying he didn’t have 25 mil, I’m just saying some of that was probably real estate and maybe like potential earnings from complicated endorsement deals.) People love him because he’s good! He gets 10 outta 10, OK?

 

5. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
(79 point)

The National's sixth album is their leanest and most aerodynamic yet, easily acessible and self-assured by virtue of focusing on the visceral power of Matt Berninger's vocals and Bryan Devendorf's taut, inventive drumming.

4. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories
(82 point, 1 førsteplads)

Random Access Memories is a colossal piece of work, but not in an overbearing "tremble at our genius, puny earthlings" way. Its size is generous, embracing and idealistic – an extraordinary leap of faith. Its success made pop music itself feel bigger and brighter when every other economic and technological trend was making it smaller, and it sent an inspiring message: if you build it, they will come.

 

3. David Bowie - The Next Day
(101 point)

I am writing these lines because The Next Day, is the unlikeliest masterpiece of the recent popular song, the best album by an otherwise retired classic rock artist in many, many years. It kicks the shit out of that recent spate of albums by Neil Young and Crazy Horse, it is better than anything the Stones did since Tattoo You (which is mainly good because of Sonny Rollins anyhow), better than anything Van Morrison has done since Avalon Sunset, better than anything Dylan has done since Time Out of Mind, better than anything Brian Ferry has done since Mamouna (nineteen years ago), better than anything Joni Mitchell has done since Mingus, better than anything Jimi Hendrix has done since Electric Ladyland, better than anything Elvis Costello has done since Blood and Chocolate, better than anything Paul McCartney has done since Run Devil Run, better than anything associated with the Who since Who By Numbers.

2. Moonface - Julia With Blue Jeans On
(108 point, 1 førsteplads)

Julia With Blue Jeans On emmer mere af mentalt og navlepillende sammenbrud end af overskud. Det meste af albummet er en anstrengende affære, der befinder sig milevidt fra forgængerens musikalske pletskud.

 

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
(110 point, 2 førstepladser)

Darker than The Boatman's Call, more nuanced than Your Funeral...My Trial, Nick Cave's latest album, Push the Sky Away, proudly displays the talents that Australia's foremost prophet of doom has honed during his excursions in other media, especially in cinematic storytelling. The album is, of course, concerned with the themes that have occupied Cave throughout his career (fate, faith, fucking), but finds him in a far more meditative mood than on his most recent album with Grinderman. Subtle, sprawling, and often achingly beautiful, Push the Sky Away is a late-career masterpiece from an antipodean force of nature.