Our main list of the year’s best albums doesn’t just appear out of thin air. It’s tallied from ballots by a group of writers, each of whom list their top 10 in order, with their favorite getting 10 points, their next pick getting nine, and so on. Below are the individual ballots, plus some personal commentary on discs that didn’t make the big list, as well as other thoughts on the year’s best music. Don’t forget to vote for your favorites of the year in our readers’ poll.
1. Vampire Weekend,
2. The National,
3.
4.
5. Kanye West,
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
1.
2.
I have no more interest in extolling the virtues of Fall Out Boy’s polished rock to skeptics. This album has an excess of hooks, and it’s one of the most purely enjoyable listens of the year.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The instrumental Brooklyn band featuring Jawbox drummer Zach Barocas made an engrossing, textured album that’s all
—post-rock, post-hardcore, post-easy labels. It’s an under-the-radar album that deserves notice.
7.
Michael Benjamin Lerner has assembled his best batch of collaborators yet, and that resulted in his best album so far. Telekinesis should be huge.
8.
When the continually delayed solo debut from one-half of Clipse finally arrived, it showed Pusha T in fine form. That it didn’t make a bigger impact is frustrating, if unsurprising considering Clipse’s history.
9.
10.
Am I really the only one who voted for this? This album hit a sweet spot for me this year: catchy, female-led synth-laden pop. (See also: Chvrches,
1. Jon Hopkins,
2. Fuck Buttons,
3.
4. Darkside,
5. Flume,
6. Four Tet,
7. My Bloody Valentine,
8. Oneohtrix Point Never,
9. Boards Of Canada,
10. Forest Swords,
The next 25
Mount Kimbie, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth
Dirty Beaches, Drifters/Love Is The Devil
The Haxan Cloak, Excavation
Grouper, The Man Who Died In His Boat
Lapalux, Nostalchic
James Blake, Overgrown
Savages, Silence Yourself
Blue Hawaii, Untogether
Andy Cato, Times And Places
RxGibbs, Contact
The Stranger, Watching Dead Empires In Decay
Kanye West, Yeezus
Chelsea Wolfe, Pain Is Beauty
Parquet Courts, Light Up Gold
Mister Lies, Mowgli
Run The Jewels, Run The Jewels
Zomby, With Love
Various Artists, After Dark 2
The National, Trouble Will Find Me
Rob, Maniac OST
Young Echo, Nexus
ERAAS, Initiation
Basic House, Oats
Painted Caves, Surveillance
Sorrow, Dreamstone
Notable EPs
Active Child, Rapor
Blue Sky Black Death, Glaciers
Burial, Truant/Rough Sleeper
Ricardo Donoso, As Iron Sharpens Iron
Flume/Chet Faker, Lockjaw
Pazes, Sleeping Dolls
Shlohmo, Laid Out
Sigils, Transverse
Vessel, Misery Is A Communicable Disease
Andrea Battleground1. David Bowie, The Next Day2. Janelle Monáe, The Electric LadyI have nothing original to say about Janelle Monáe.
The Electric Lady had me “falling harder than a Sunday in September.”
3. JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound, HowlPut on “River” right now, and I will probably start weeping, even though I’m half-dead inside.
4. The National, Trouble Will Find Me5. Polica, Shulamith6. Foals, Holy FireA release from early in the year that I still love to play. Also, this band is amazing live, so anyone who is able should probably see to that.
7. Arctic Monkeys, AM8. Mikal Cronin, MCII9. Blood Orange, Cupid DeluxeIf this album had been released a few weeks earlier, it probably would’ve popped up on more lists. At least, I’d like to think so. Favorite tracks include “You’re Not Good Enough” and “On The Line.”
10. Chance The Rapper, Acid RapThree words: “Cocoa Butter Kisses”
The next 15
Autre Ne Veut, Anxiety
Hanni El Khatib, Head In The Dirt
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
Low, The Invisible Way
Dr. Dog, B-Room
HAIM, Days Are Gone
DJ Rashad, Double Cup
Alice Smith, She
Kelela, Cut 4 Me
Pickwick, Can’t Talk Medicine
Speedy Ortiz, Major Arcana
Into It. Over It., Intersections
Lorde, Pure Heroine
King Khan And The Shrines, Idle No More
Phosphorescent, Muchacho
Kevin McFarland1.
Deafheaven, SunbatherI am not a metal person, but I will give any band from San Francisco a shot, such is my hometown bias. I’m so glad I did with Deafheaven’s second record, a beautiful bombast that blew away any genre preconceptions I had. Nothing I heard this year was as cohesive as
Sunbather, which practically demands to be heard straight through from the needle drop. It’s the record I’ve played the most this year and was such an unexpected surprise that it doesn’t belong anywhere but the top spot.
2.
Football Etc., AudibleMy favorite album of the year that deserves significantly more press. Rilo Kiley’s B-sides collection
RKives collected most of the extra material from the band’s career, but it was no surprise that my favorite tracks came from the
Execution Of All Things era.
Audible is like getting another album from the Saddle Creek version of Rilo Kiley, and it’s a delightfully simple blend of emo and what used to be the distinctive genre of “indie rock.” The title track and “Forfeit” are two of 2013’s standout songs.
3.
HAIM, Days Are GoneThe first four tracks all made the cut when I compiled a playlist of my favorite songs of 2013. No other record contributed more than two. It’s the catchiest album I heard this year, and I don’t understand the Wilson Phillips knock at all.
4.
Daft Punk, Random Access MemoriesListen up, Arcade Fire: This is how to properly zag when everyone is expecting a zig. So much could have gone wrong on this record with a decade of anticipation built up, but the robot duo moved forward by mining the sounds of the past. “Contact” is still ethereal, “Touch” still sounds like a missing number from an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, and “Get Lucky” is still the most danceable track of the year.
5.
Best Coast, Fade AwayMy pick for this year’s “All Killer, No Filler” award. Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno could have waited and rounded out this mini-album with a handful of filler tracks, but as constituted the seven songs can be played straight through without skipping, and that rare quality makes it memorable.
6.
Savages, Silence YourselfOther than Deafheaven, the Savages Pitchfork Fest after-show at Lincoln Hall was the best set I saw all year.
7.
Chvrches, The Bones Of What You BelieveA Scottish band with a female vocalist and dreamy, bouncing digital instrumentation: Yeah, Chvrches is right in my wheelhouse. The way Lauren Mayberry pronounces “proud” and “cold” in the chorus on “The Mother We Share” makes my heart melt. Plus Mayberry got a master’s degree in Journalism and worked as a freelance writer before ending up in the band, which means there’s still hope for all of us!
8.
The National, Trouble Will Find Me9.
Lorde, Pure Heroine10.
Into It. Over It., IntersectionsNo album this year had a more inviting and arresting opening line than Evan Weiss’s second as Into It. Over it. “I laid down last year / traded tobacco for new North-side air / And filled up my lungs with our home.” It’s tempting to call this the next best thing to a new Get Up Kids record, but
Intersections is more than that, a series of hyper-specific glimpses into one guy’s emotional state in Philadelphia, New York, New Haven, and Chicago. Emo has spent so long as a denigrated genre that it has taken a long time for the kids of the most recent generation influenced by it to rise to the top.
Intersections is another sign of the resurgence.
The next five
Chris Ayer, The Noise
Tegan And Sara, Heartthrob
The Civil Wars, The Civil Wars
Rob Simonsen, The Spectacular Now soundtrack
Rilo Kiley, RKives
Tracks I loved from records I didn’t
Earl Sweatshirt, “Chum”
Paramore, “Fast In My Car”
Drake, “Hold On We’re Going Home”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Despair”
Frightened Rabbit, “Holy”
The Lonely Island, “Semicolon”
Rogue Wave, “College”
AFI, “I Hope You Suffer”
Sky Ferreira, “You’re Not The One”
Sonia Saraiya1.
Lorde, Pure HeroineThis is a hard call to make, but it’s impossible for me to argue for anything else. “Royals” and
Pure Heroine basically took over my brain as soon as I first heard them.
Pure Heroine is a near-flawless debut, linked together but not repetitive. The first line is: “Don’t you think that it’s boring how people talk?” The last line is: “People are talking / Let ’em talk.”
2.
Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love YouI came late to this album, but holy crap, it is so good. I love “Night Still Comes,” with its plaintive “You never held it at the right angle,” but my favorite song is “Local Girl.”
3. MS MR, Secondhand Rapture“Hurricane” made the rounds on radio stations in the Northeast and elsewhere after this Brooklyn-based duo released
Secondhand Rapture, but the whole album is a treat—a bold, rolling sound that feels like you can live inside it. Spotify hosted an acoustic session with MS MR, and they are possibly even better unplugged. Along with acoustic versions of “Hurricane,” “Bones,” and “Fantasy,” they covered LCD Soundsystem’s “Dance Yrself Clean,” which I think I like better than the original (blasphemy—I know).
4.
James Blake, Overgrown This is a weird album—haunting, jarring, and ultimately beautiful. I’m not sure if it’s as strong as Blake’s first, but “Retrograde” is among my top five tracks of the year, so I have to include it. Blake’s live sound is also sharper than ever—the studio recordings feel like sketches for his stage performances.
5.
Janelle Monáe, The Electric LadyThis album is so impressive in its range and style. I admit that I was one of the cynics, unconvinced that Monáe had this kind of range in her. This album is a total contradiction to that. “Primetime” is probably my favorite track, but I cannot deny the power of “Q.U.E.E.N.”
6. Baths, ObsidianThis album feels so smooth and relaxing. I have nothing brilliant to say about it, but I like it a lot.
7. Waxahatchee, Cerulean SaltThis is a new one that I listened to in preparation for this list—and I was pleasantly surprised by the sound of a solo effort that is stripped-down, but doesn’t feel slight. I’m a sucker for female singer-songwriters (as you might have noticed from this list), but alternative-folk, or however you might characterize this, isn’t typically my thing. But how do you not like “Hollow Bedroom,” a song just shy of two minutes that is beautifully sparse, but leaves you wanting more?
8.
Miley Cyrus, BANGERZI have to give it a nod, for sheer egotistical nerve. It’s music as spectacle, but what a spectacle!
9.
Four Tet, Beautiful RewindWhat am I going to do, argue with Sean O’Neal?
10.
Various Artists, Inside Llewyn Davis I don’t know if I’m going to like
Inside Llewyn Davis, but if history is any indication, I’m going to have a strong reaction to it, because the Coen brothers somehow manage to elicit that kind of response—whether it’s laughter, disgust, or awe. They have an incredible sense of atmosphere. This album offers folk music that’s both accessible and beautiful, and I imagine it will make its way into my regular rotation alongside the
O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack.
Runners up
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
Disclosure, Settle
HAIM, Days Are Gone
M.I.A., Matangi
Tegan & Sara, Heartthrob
The Naked And Famous, In Rolling Waves
Yo La Tengo, Fade
Evan Rytlewski1. Kanye West,
Yeezus2. The National,
Trouble Will Find Me3. Chance The Rapper,
Acid Rap4. Waxahatchee,
Cerulean Salt5.
Paramore, Paramore 6. Austra,
Olympia 7. Los Campesinos!,
No Blues8. Drake,
Nothing Was The Same9. Locrian,
Return To Annihilation10. Young Thug,
1017 Thug
Lots of love for these, too
Bilal, A Love Surreal
Volcano Choir, Repave
Danny Brown, Old
Camera Obscura, Desire Lines
Rich Homie Quan, I Promise I Will Never Stop Goin’ In
The Joy Formidable, Wolf’s Law
Ghostface Killah and Adrian Younge, Twelve Reasons To Die
Waka Flocka Flame, Du Flocka Rant Halftime
Meek Mill, Dreamchasers 3
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
A$AP Ferg, Trap Lord
Ka, The Night’s Gambit
The-Dream, IV Play
Gucci Mane, Trap God 2
Marnie Stern, The Chronicles of Marnia
Deafheaven, Sunbather
Ace Hood, Starvation 2
R&B tracks of the year
Ciara, “Body Party”
Amel Larrieux, “I Do Take”
Sevyn Streeter, “I Like It”
K. Michelle, “VSOP”
Fantasia, “Without Me”
Joe, “Compromise”
The-Dream ft. Gary Clark Jr., “Too Early”
Jade Alston, “I Try”
City of the year: Atlanta.
2013 wasn’t a particularly great year for music overall, but at least it was an absolutely phenomenal year for rap, and unsurprisingly, much of the genre’s best stuff came out of a city on an endless hot streak. Rich Homie Quan, Gucci Mane, Waka Flocka Flame, Young Thug, Bloody Jay, Migos, Future, Young Scooter, Jose Guapo, and Rich Kidz were just some of the Atlanta artists who put out vital singles or killer mixtapes this year, the best of which continued to mine new forms of expression without losing the city’s distinctive club-friendly kick.
Most perplexing critical favorite of the year: Fall Out Boy’s Save Rock And Roll.
Between the ugly, faux-hair metal production, the ambiguously ironic appropriations of Top 40 trends, and the indiscriminate bellowing of Patrick Stump, a singer who seems to have even less of an understanding of when Pete Wentz’s lyrics are trying to be sarcastic than I have, there was plenty to hate about Fall Out Boy’s exhausting comeback effort, but many of the critics I respect most didn’t see it that way. They greeted the record with open arms, and largely took its ridiculous title at face value, framing Save Rock And Roll as exactly the kind of album the genre needed in 2013. If what rock ’n’ roll needed was a record that looks down on its audience for enjoying it, maybe rock ’n’ roll isn’t worth saving.
Chris Mincher1.
Kanye West, Yeezus2.
The Devil Makes Three, I’m A Stranger HereIt’s hard for bands specializing in old-time Americana to avoid being dismissed as inconsequential (if passingly enjoyable) novelty acts. But with this frenetic collection of stomping ragtime hoedowns, bluegrass-gospel chant-alongs, and bohemian jazz-folk ballads, The Devil Makes Three—much like Creedence Clearwater Revival before it—transcends the antique influences and breathes new life into bygone genres. In an age of computer-crafted, digitally dependent music,
I’m A Stranger Here validates our enduring musical roots.
3.
Vampire Weekend, Modern Vampires Of The City4.
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories5.
Neko Case, The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You6.
Alice Smith, SheFollowing up her Grammy-nominated 2006 debut
For Lovers, Dreamers & Me, Alice Smith unleashes seven years of ideas in this compelling batch of soul-tinged genre-benders.
She seamlessly weaves together electronica, chamber-pop, acoustic rock, Caribbean instrumentation, gospel, brass-driven jazz, and Motown choruses into intricate, complexly structured melodies that are at turns sultry, spirited, and soaring. With
She, Smith bypasses the usual artistic maturation process and arrives back on the scene with confidence and intriguingly refined ambition.
7.
Paul McCartney, NewNow in his 70s, Paul McCartney has no interest in being a dormant legend contently resting on his accomplishments and past contributions to modern popular music.
New is an audacious statement of continued relevance, embracing contemporary sounds and techniques that are effortlessly fused to the piano-driven pop and acoustic folk he pioneered with The Beatles. It’s a fantastically bright, colorful, evocative record, a feat rarely—if ever—accomplished more than 50 years into a career.
8.
Camera Obscura, Desire LinesCamera Obscura’s tragicomic soft-pop has never been as comfortable and clever as it is on
Desire Lines, a breezy bundle of shiningly subdued guitar riffs, mellow synth lines, and crystalline harmonies. Dialing back the orchestral swells and buzzing reverb of prior albums,
Desire Lines’ low-key sound more perfectly matches the band’s resigned, dryly humorous message. Camera Obscura has long excelled at this stuff, but
Desire Lines distills years of experiments into one fully realized concept.
9.
Marnie Stern, The Chronicles Of MarniaIt takes a while for those familiar with Marnie Stern’s elaborate shredding arrangements to get comfortable with
The Chronicles Of Marnia, a record that eschews bombastic fret-board explosions in favor of discernible hooks and loose melodies. As prior expectations fade with repeated listens, the controlled balance of pop structure and finger-tapping fury ceases to feel like unnecessary restraint—but, rather, Stern wisely wiping away some technical proficiency to let her impressive songwriting abilities come through.
10.
Of Montreal, Lousy With SylvianbriarAfter years of Kevin Barnes’ increasingly dense, overblown electro-pop, it’s difficult to overcome the surprise of
Lousy With Sylvianbriar, a genre U-turn into classic psych-rock. As such, it’s easy to initially disregard Of Montreal’s forays into country, roots, and R&B music of the ’60s and ’70s as disingenuous trifles. But Barnes’ obtusely witty lyrics and catchy hooks prove an enchanting fit with these retro styles, and the record’s memorable, lasting charm cannot be denied.
Annie Zaleski1. Fall Out Boy,
Save Rock And Roll2. David Bowie,
The Next Day3
Johnny Marr, The Messenger4. Minor Alps,
Get There5. Paramore,
Paramore6. Nine Inch Nails,
Hesitation Marks7. Tegan & Sara,
Heartthrob8. Speedy Ortiz,
Major Arcana9. Potty Mouth,
Hell Bent10. MS MR,
Secondhand Rapture
The next six
11. Upset, She’s Gone
12. Panic! At The Disco, Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die!
13. Franz Ferdinand, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action
14. The Julie Ruin, Run Fast
15. The National, Trouble Will Find Me
16. London Suede, Bloodsports
File Under “Why Didn’t This Song Make The Actual Album?”: David Bowie’s “Atomica”
This bonus track from the reissue of The Next Day feels like an outtake from Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)—a nasty funk underbelly, soulful backing vocals, handclaps, and glam-swagger coalesce to make this song one of the most energetic things Bowie’s done in decades.
Best ’80s Homage: Bleached’s “Next Stop”
Bleached’s Ride Your Heart—a sun-kissed collection of California punk and new wave indebted to the Bangles, The Pandoras, and even X—was one of the more underrated records of the year. This upbeat song’s rolling surf licks, girl-gang harmonies and breezy melancholy were nothing short of perfection.
Dance music for newbies: Disclosure, Settle
This U.K. duo isn’t doing anything super novel, but its debut record is a throwback to the days when dance-pop made you think and want to move; Settle is a string of great vocal performances and simmering beats rather than big, obvious electronic gestures.
A dozen 2013 Perma-Jams
HAIM, “If I Could Change Your Mind”
The Polyphonic Spree, “You Don’t Know Me”
Tegan And Sara, “Drove Me Wild”
The Julie Ruin, “Oh Come On”
Justin Timberlake, “Take Back The Night”
Lorde, “Tennis Court”
Toad The Wet Sprocket, “I’ll Bet On You”
Arcade Fire, “It’s Never Over (Oh Orpheus)”
Popstrangers, “Heaven”
The Joy Formidable, “Little Blimp”
Sky Ferreira, “I Blame Myself”
Lady Gaga, “Do What U Want”
Best trend
Lots of women made music that was exciting, inspiring, empowering, and smart.
Worst trend
The buzz-hype cycle continues to speed up, meaning that more and more excellent albums get lost in the shuffle—simply because there’s so much music to sift through, it’s hard to take time to absorb the good stuff.
David Anthony1.
Deafheaven, SunbatherSince Deafheaven’s first demo, the San Francisco band has shown promise, and with each release leading up to
Sunbather it came closer and closer to cashing in on this potential. Though Deafheaven is not the first band to twist black metal’s template, its success at pushing the genre into a more mainstream consciousness is noteworthy.
Sunbather’s lasting resonance is in its ability to make the genres it melds heartfelt and human, never faltering but unafraid to show its warts.
2.
Kevin Devine, BubblegumIt’s been a long fight for Kevin Devine to get attention outside of the small scene that first embraced him, but the tandem release of his seventh and eighth albums pushed him into new worlds.
Bubblegum is not only the better of the dual releases; it’s the best record Devine has ever crafted. Though it deals in similar territory to his previous albums,
Bubblegum focuses on concise sing-alongs (“Bubblegum,” “Private First Class”) and sprawling moodiness (“Red Bird”). Devine may be eight albums in, but he’s never been more vital and energized.
3.
Pelican, Forever BecomingPelican is at its best when staying true to its own course, and though that’s diverted in recent years,
Forever Becoming has all the trappings of a career-defining record. Though its debut LP
Australasia is often bestowed with such praise, a decade later the band offers up the album that may trump it for that designation. Over nearly an hour, Pelican shows all its sides by juxtaposing ambient excursions with straightforward, riff-laden rockers, never allowing the record to feel as if these pursuits lack purpose or commonality.
4.
Waxahatchee, Cerulean SaltMuch has been made of the post-P.S. Eliot endeavors by the Crutchfield sisters, and rightly so. The debut albums from both Swearin’ and Waxahatchee deserved the praise heaped upon them, but on Waxahatchee’s follow-up Katie Crutchfield (and the Swearin’ members she brought on as her rhythm section) craft a record that balances ’90s indie-rock with the singer-songwriter sensibilities that typified
American Weekend.
Cerulean Salt showcases Crutchfield’s innate ability to wrap soul-crushing lyrics in arrangements that never betray these emotions as Waxahatchee creates something both delicate and rocking, displaying substantial growth from a debut that was barely in need of such developments.
5.
Touché Amoré, Is Survived ByGiven that I’ve already spilled a ton of ink about this record in my review I’ll keep it brief: Touché Amoré, despite all odds, just keeps getting better. It’s sophomore album,
Parting The Sea Between Brightness And Me seemed untouchable, but leave it to the California quintet to best it. Trends in hardcore may become stagnant, but that hardly seems like a concern for fans of Touché Amoré.
6.
Chvrches, The Bones Of What You BelieveThough imbued with more hype than seemingly any other band this year, Chvrches never became a victim of it. This album’s electronic backbone never betrays the heart of the band or the emotion that pours out of Lauren Mayberry, making it a spiritual successor to the new wave and synth-pop that was so adeptly commercialized in the ’80s. It’s a danceable record that retains substance, making each bite-sized track sugar sweet and wholly filling.
7.
Into It. Over It., IntersectionsEvan Weiss is a busy man, and 2013 saw him offer up his three strongest releases with three different bands (Pet Symmetry and Their / They’re / There being the other two). His sophomore full-length as Into It. Over It. somewhat betrays Weiss’ prolific nature, as split 7-inches and lengthy songwriting projects have allowed Into It. Over It. to grow by leaps and bounds in a short time.
Intersections is an album that, from the opening notes of “New North-side Air” to the interwoven guitar lines of “Contractual Obligation” show Weiss at his most ambitious and his very best. The liner notes advise the use of headphones, and for good reason: It’s an orchestrated indie-rock album that unveils new intricacies with each listen.
8.
The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Whenever, If EverThe band with the long name took quite a long time to offer up a debut LP, but patience is rewarded with
Whenever, If Ever. It’s an album that flows together seamlessly, offering up sing-along tracks such as “Fightboat” as well as the epically brooding breakdowns of “Heartbeat In The Brain” and “Getting Sodas.” The band’s name may be a mouthful, but its goals have never been as sharply pointed.
9.
Swearin’, Surfing StrangeTo pick up where the discussion of Waxahatchee left off, Alison Crutchfield’s Swearin’ has grown into a band that no longer deserves the overly simplistic designation of being a “Crutchfield band.”
Surfing Strange features an increased presence by the band’s other vocalists, offering variations on the sound that typified its debut without ever repeating itself or abandoning it.
10.
Radioactivity, Radioactivity The songwriting team of Jeff Burke and Mark Ryan came to prominence with The Marked Men, a band whose later output remains an ideal measure of both garage and pop-punk. After a tenure in Japan, one which largely separated the pair’s creative efforts, Burke returned to the U.S. with a batch of songs that may be his catchiest yet. Enlisting Ryan as his bassist resulted in
Radioactivity, both an album and band. It’s hard to find a bigger earworm than “World Of Pleasure,” and each track deals in a similar style while avoiding redundancies. Radioactivity has already readied a second album, and if it’s half as good as this one, it should be one of 2014’s best.
Honorable mentions: LPs
Bars Of Gold, Wheels
Crusades, Perhaps You Deliver This Judgment With Greater Fear Than I Receive It
Curmudgeon, Amygdala
Drug Church, Paul Walker
Football, Etc., Audible
Iron Lung, White Glove Test
Laura Stevenson, Wheel
Low Culture, Screens
Nails, Abandon All Life
Radiator Hospital, Something Wild
Shat Shorts, Shat Shorts
Signals Midwest, Light On The Lake
Sundowner, Neon Fiction
Superchunk, I Hate Music
True Widow, Circumambulation
A Wilhelm Scream, Partycrasher
Honorable mentions: EPs
Braid/Balance And Composure, Split 7-inch
Cloakroom, Infinity
Dad Punchers, These Times Weren’t Made For You
Dads, Pretty Good
Paint It Black, Invisible
Pet Symmetry, Two Songs About Cars. Two Songs With Long Titles.
Erik Adams1. HAIM,
Days Are Gone2. Kanye West,
Yeezus 3. Fuck Buttons,
Slow Focus4. Savages,
Silence Yourself 5. Julianna Barwick,
Nepenthe 6. Parquet Courts,
Light Up Gold 7. Tim Hecker,
Virgins 8. My Bloody Valentine,
mbv 9. Oneohtrix Point Never,
R Plus Seven 10. Chance The Rapper,
Acid Rap
Becca James1. HAIM,
Days Are Gone2. Chvrches,
The Bones Of What You Believe 3. Lorde,
Pure Heroine 4. Ski Lodge,
Big Heart5. French Camp,
Odd Particle 6.Houndmouth,
From The Hills And Below The City7. Daft Punk,
Random Access Memories8. Laura Marling,
Once I Was An Eagle9. The Head And The Heart,
Let’s Be Still10. Polarizer,
Lightscapes
Jason Heller1. Locrian,
Return To Annihilation2. Chelsea Wolfe,
Pain Is Beauty3. Speedy Ortiz,
Major Arcana4. The Body,
Christs/Redeemers5. Deafheaven,
Sunbather6. Subrosa,
More Constant Than the Gods7. Waxahatchee,
Cerulean Salt8. My Bloody Valentine,
mbv9. In Solitude,
Sister10. Savages,
Silence Yourself