The 111 Best Albums of 2013

Here it is, the 111 best albums of 2013…as voted on by YOU.  If you don’t like the list…change your listening habits.  Have a great 2014.

  1. Arctic Monkeys – AM
  2. The National – Trouble Will Find Me
  3. Daft Punk – Random Access Memories
  4. The Arcade Fire – Reflektor
  5. Kanye West – Yeezus
  6. Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City
  7. Haim – Days Are Gone
  8. David Bowie – The Next Day
  9. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
  10. CHVRCHES – Bones of What You Believe
  11. Foals – Holy Fire
  12. My Bloody Valentine – m b v
  13. Paul McCartney – New
  14. Burial – River Dealer
  15. Phoenix – Bankrupt!
  16. Lorde – Pure Heroine
  17. The Strokes – Comedown Machine
  18. Queens of the Stone Age – Like Clockwork…
  19. Okkervil River – The Silver Gymnasium
  20. Said The Whale – Hawaii
  21. Danny Brown – Old
  22. Phosphorescent – Muchacho
  23. Volcano Choir – Repave
  24. Empire of the Sun – Ice on the Dune
  25. The Field – Cupid’s Head
  26. Foxygen – We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors
  27. White Lies – Big TV
  28. A$AP Rocky – Long Live A$AP
  29. Sky Ferreira – Night Time My Time
  30. Drake – Nothing Was The Same
  31. Savages – Silence Yourself
  32. Olafur Arnalds – For Now I Am Winter
  33. James Blake – Overgrown
  34. Deerhunter – Monomania
  35. Paramore – Paramore
  36. Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP 2
  37. Frank Turner – Tape Deck Heart
  38. Local Natives – Hummingbird
  39. Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks
  40. Peace – In Love
  41. Small Black – Limits of Desire
  42. Superchunk – I Hate Music
  43. Caitlin Rose – The Stand-In
  44. Disclosure – Settle
  45. The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars
  46. Chance The Rapper – Acid Rap
  47. Charli XCX – True Romance
  48. Mikal Cronin – MCII
  49. Fall Out Boy – Save Rock N Roll
  50. Atoms for Peace – Amok
  51. The Naked And Famous – In Rolling Waves
  52. Earl Sweatshirt – Doris
  53. Sleigh Bells – Bitter Rivals
  54. Autre Ne Veut – Anxiety
  55. Skylar Grey – Don’t Look Down
  56. Ra Ra Riot – Beta Love
  57. Nils Frahm – Spaces
  58. Cayucas – Bigfoot
  59. Eels – Wonderful Glorious
  60. Everything Everything – Arc
  61. Front Bottoms – Talon of the Hawk
  62. Kisses – Kids in LA
  63. King Krule – 6 Feet Beneath The Moon
  64. John Moreland – In The Throes
  65. The O’s – Thunderdog
  66. Panthu Du Prince and Bell Laboratory – Elements of Light
  67. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S/T
  68. Calexico – Spiritoso
  69. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Made Up Mind
  70. Lonely Forest – Adding Up The Wasted Hours
  71. Streetlight Manifesto – The Hands That Thieve
  72. Pearl Jam – Lightning Bolt
  73. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get
  74. Avicii – True
  75. Beyonce – Beyonce
  76. Bill Callahan – Dream River
  77. M.I.A. – Matangi
  78. Hookworms – Pearl Mystics
  79. Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action
  80. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
  81. The Beatles – On The BBC Volume 2
  82. The Knife – Shaking The Habitual
  83. J. Cole – Born Sinner
  84. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse
  85. Shearwater – Fellow Travelers
  86. Gov’t Mule – Shout!
  87. The Deer Tracks – The Archer Trilogy Pt 3
  88. Deafheaven – Sunbather
  89. Yo La Tengo – Fade
  90. Tegan & Sara – Heartthrob
  91. New Order – Lost Sirens
  92. Eisley –  Currents
  93. Panic! At The Disco – Too Weird To Live,Too Rare To Die!
  94. Half Moon Run – Dark Eyes
  95. Blood Orange – Cupid Deluxe
  96. Jay-Z – Magna Carta Holy Grail
  97. Juliana Barwick – Nepenthe
  98. The Lone Below – The Lone Below
  99. Lanterns on the Lake – Until The Colours Run
  100. Renaissance – Grandine Il Vento
  101. Patty Griffin – American Kid
  102. Bells> – Fundamentals
  103. Anna Calvi – One Breath 
  104. Leagues – You Belong Here 
  105. Night Beds – Country Sleep 
  106. Hiss Golden Messenger – HAW 
  107. Lights – Siberia 
  108. Daughter – If You Leave 
  109. Air Marshal Landing – You Used To Be Me 
  110. Austin Lucas – Stay Reckless 
  111. Tom Morgan – Orange Syringe

The 55 Best Albums of 2013 (12-22)

Part 4 of our countdown.  We still your picks for best albums of 2013.  Send them in via email or put them in the comment section below.  Send in your top 20…if you can’t think of 20…any number will do.

And buy our book, The 111 Best Music Lists of the 2000s.

Here are the 55 Best Albums of 2013 (12-22):

12.  Sky Ferreira – Night Time My Time
13.  Jim James – Regions of Light
14.  Phoenix – Bankrupt!
15.  Franz Ferdinand – Right Thoughts Right Words Right Action
16.  A$AP Rocky – Long. Live. A$AP
17.  Midlake – Antiphon
18.  Late Night Alumni – The Beat Becomes A Sound
19.  Capital Cities – In A Tidal Wave Of Mystery
20.  Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of The City
21.  Eminem – The Marshall Mathers LP2
22.  When Saints Go Machine – Infinity Pool

Buy these and more albums of 2013…now!!

The 11 Best Songs By Phoenix

Every once in awhile a band makes an album that’s bigger than the themselves.  And they spend the rest of their career living up to that apex.  They may never come close again…which is not necessarily their fault. The Cure has Disintegration, Guns N Roses has Appetite For Destruction, The Sex Pistols have Never Mind The Bullocks…  This isn’t to say these bands aren’t talented enough and can’t make great music anymore.  The problem is these albums are not just musical masterpieces but also cultural touchstones.  These behemoth albums aren’t just a product of the band as much as they are a product of timing.  From the culture, to the audience, to the exposure, to the placement, to the other music around them…the stars have to perfectly align for this type of success to befall a band.  Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix is that epic album for Phoenix.  It was a power house punch that literally came out of nowhere.  It was like an adrenaline shot to our musical playlists.  Like someone had turned our music up to 11.  At the close of a rather banal decade of music, we as music fans wanted it as much as we needed it.  Will Phoenix ever make another album this good?  We hope…but even if they don’t…let’s remember that they were there for us when we needed them the most.

Here are the 11 Best Songs By Phoenix:

  1. 1901 (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  2. Lisztomania (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  3. If Ever Feel Better (United)
  4. Everything Is Everything (Alphabetical)
  5. Armistice (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  6. Fences (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  7. Second To None (It’s Never Been Like That)
  8. Too Young (United)
  9. Girlfriend (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  10. Lasso (Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix)
  11. Rally (It’s Never Been Like That)
Buy Phoenix’s new album, Bankrupt! now!!!

The 111 Albums of 2009

Well, here it is…the annual epic 111 best albums of 2009…as voted on by you.   Usually it’s a close race…but this year, Animal Collective ran away with it.  In fact, the entire top ten was leaps and bounds above the rest.  And…if you have a problem with the list…then blame yourselves…you’re the ones who voted.
 
See ya, next decade!!
 
Here are the 111 Best Albums of 2009:
1.  Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
2.  The xx – xx (Crystalised BBC)
3.  Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
4.  The Antlers – Hospice  (Kettering)
5.  Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (1901 live)
6.  Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (The Bride)
7.  Wilco – Wilco (the Album)
8.  Yeah Yeah Yeahs – It’s Blitz (only $5.00)
9.  Metric – Fantasies (Help Im Alive)
10. Girls – Album
11. St. Vincent – Actor
12. Pearl Jam – Backspacer
13. Japandroids – Post Nothing
14. Monsters of Folk – Monsters of Folk
15. White Rabbits – It’s Frightening (Percussion Gun daytrotter)
16. Modest Mouse – No One’s First and You’re Next
17. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
18. Built To Spill – There is No Enemy
19. Silversun Pickups – Swoon
20. Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
21. Morrissey – Years of Refusal
22. The Dead Weather – Horehound
23. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
24. Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
25. Cage The Elephant – Cage The Elephant
26. Regina Spektor – FAR
27. Fanfarlo – Reservoir
28. Various Artists – Dark Was The Night
29. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Beware
30. Passion Pit – Manners
31. Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
32. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
33. The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love
34. The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
35. K’naan – Troubadour
36. Super Furry Animals – Dark Days/Light Years
37. M. Ward – Hold Time
38. Sunset Rubdown – Dragon Slayer
39. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
40. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
41. Fuck Buttons – Tarot Sport 
42. Samantha Crain – Songs In the Night 
43. David Gray – Draw The Line
44. Fever Ray – Fever Ray
45. Green Day – 21st Century Breakdown (Know Your Enemy Colbert Report)
46. The Pains of Being Pure of Heart – POBOH
47. Karen O and the Kids – Where the Wild Things Are
48. Dave Matthews Band – Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King
49. Devendra Banhart – What Will We Be
50. The Swell Season – Strict Joy
51. Why? – Eskimo Snow
52. Julian Plenti – …is a Skyscraper
53. Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains (Cold Spring)
55. Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
56. Mew – No More Stories Are Told Today
57. Fun. – Aim and Ignite
58. The Horrors – Primary Colours
59. Conor Oberst – Outer South
60. Crystal Method – Divided By The Night  (only $5.00)
61. Miike Snow – Miike Snow
62. The Big Pink – A Brief History of Love
63. Camera Obscura – My Maudlin Career
64. Jay-Z – The Blueprint 3.0
65. The Mountain Goats – Life of the World To Come
66. Dan Deacon – Bromst
67. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
68. Weezer – Raditude
69. Mastodon – Crack the Skye
70. Say Anything – Say Anything
71. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
72. Trail of Dead – Century of Self
73. Paramore – Brand New Eyes
74. Sonic Youth – The Eternal
75. Handsome Furs – Face Control
76. Wavves – Wavves
77. Antony and the Johnsons – The Crying Light (only $5.00)
78. Maxwell – BLACKsummer’s Night
79. Von Bondies – Love, Hate and Then There’s You
80. Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day (Straight Into A Storm)
81. Dinosaur Jr. – Farm
82. Muse – The Resistance
83. The Mars Volta – Octahedron
84. Cut Off Your Hands – You and I
85. Tanya Morgan – Brooklynati
86. Brand New – Daisy
87. Manchester Orchestra – Mean Everything To Nothing
88. The Black Crowes – Before The Frost…Until the Freeze
89. The Fray – The Fray
90. Roman Candle – Oh Tall Tree In The Ear
91. Band of Skulls – Baby Darling Dollface Honey
92. U2 – No Line on the Horizon
93. Placebo – Battle For the Sun
94. Various Artists – Ghana Special (1968-91)
95. Gogol Bordello – Live from Axis Mundi
96. Flyleaf – Memento Mori (only $5)
97. Taking Back Sunday – New Again
98. Third Eye Blind – Ursa Major (only $5.00)
99. Jack Penate – Everything Is New
100.             Levon Helm – Electric Dirt (only $5)
101.             Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
102.             Dananananaykroyd – Hey everyone!
103.             El Grupa Nueva De Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Cryptomnesia
104.             Raekwon – Only Built For Cuban Linx P2
105.             Wale – Attention Deficit (only $5.00)
106.             Franz Ferdinand – Tonight
107.             Matt & Kim – Grand ($5.00)
108.             Memory Tapes – Seek Magic
109.             Drake – So Far Gone (only $5.00)
110.             Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
111.             Tegan and Sara – Sainthood