Tag Archives: Best Of 2013

Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day: Best of 2014

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After a few years of feeling blah about most new music, I'm excited about some things again. Maybe it's that Random Access Memories is enough in my rear-view mirror that I don't hate music any more. Though that album couldn't have been the cause, it might have slowed my recovery.

Copied from last year (with a slight edit)

My rules, you don't have to use them:
Songs from the album list are pretty much excluded from the song list.
Released in the calendar year.
This is some mix of "favorite" and a more objective "best", but "best" is just about how well things meet my (capricious) tastes.
I go until I don't.

A few years ago, I also explained my editorial idiosyncracies. (A/k/a the "Why no Radiohead Run the Jewels?" explantion.) Also, I don't want to spend so danged much time writing this as I have in the past.
With no further caveatting...

Albums of the Year.
1. Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
I expected something like this (though I feared I might not). You probably expected this. You may even agree with this. Lydia (and her band) continue to impress me with their songs and performances. This album was a change in style from a rockin' outlaw alt-country to something with a lot more pop songwriting built into it, while still sounding like Lydia. Love the songs I'd been craving for years, love the new songs. Whenever I decide a favorite, I change it to one of seven others. Right now, I think it's "Verlaine Shot Rimbaud", definitely the best love song told through the prism of French poet-lovers and their violent discharges of firearms at each other that I've ever heard. Continue reading Friday Music Day: Best of 2014 →

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Relient K – Collapsible Lung

Video 2 Comments

This is the title track from my favorite album of the year sung by my favorite band. I like this band because they really like to have fun with their music. They also do a lot of covers of famous songs and even theme songs, such as the theme to Charles in Charge and "I'm Lion-O" from the Thundercats cartoon show. I also like their covers to Toto's "Africa" and Weezer's "Surf Wax America." I didn't even realize that "Manic Monday" was a cover for a Bangles song until I discovered the Bangles' video of it while looking for this video. Relient K's is much better and is one of their most enduring performances, along with "Sadie Hawkins Dance" and "Be My Escape." My all-time favorite Relient K song is "High of 75" and "(Marilyn Manson Ate) My Girlfriend" has to be one of the funniest low-budget videos of all-time.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrZqbK5xEgg

2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 102 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10 (2 votes, average: 7.50 out of 10)
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Bombino – Azamane Tiliade

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As I mentioned in passing last Friday, I bought all of three albums released in 2013 last year. The other two have been featured already in the Best of 2013 roundup. Fortunately for all of us, the third is no less awesome.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_n80VHl9us

Nomad is by Omara Moctar, better known as Bombino, a guitarist and singer from Niger.  He is Tuareg and sings in the Tamashek language. The album is produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.

8 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 108 votes, average: 8.63 out of 10 (8 votes, average: 8.63 out of 10)
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The Replacements – Takin’ a Ride

Video 8 Comments

I honestly thought this whole "reunion" thing was a big mistake. Trying to recapture that youthful magic seemed like a bad idea, even if it was for charity. Man, I'm glad they didn't ask for my opinion.

22 years after hanging it up following a show in Chicago, they walked out onto a stage in Canada and did this.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DKUERkMDWY
The pic ain't much, but the sound is awesome. TURN IT UP!
Continue reading The Replacements – Takin’ a Ride →

6 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 106 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10 (6 votes, average: 8.33 out of 10)
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CHVRCHES – The Mother We Share/Recover

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j73ZGLKu9Sc

This was hard for me. Agonizing. Just endless, limitless torture to pick someone other than the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. But after listening to Mosquito about a thousand times... I dunno. It's almost... underwhelming. Those words kill me to type.

But CHVRCHES, hell yeah. There's good reason for them showing up on best-of lists everywhere. And the lead singer... *swoons for a million years*

The one knock against them is that they seem rather lifeless when performing. They kinda just stand there (not like Karen O, who ripped shit up when I saw the YYYs in July). But their songs go so hard! Recover is my song of 2013. I can't get sick of it.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAV_YmtvVm0

7 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 107 votes, average: 7.29 out of 10 (7 votes, average: 7.29 out of 10)
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Dessa — Fighting Fish

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From her album Parts of Speech.  As talked about in last week's  FMD, the hip-hop songs are great while the ballads are meh.  This is a great song and one of my faves from the album.

Dessa's vocals aren't the easiest to hear in this version but I thought it was a pretty good representation of her live show.  After the break I included a version with easier-to-follow the vocals.

Continue reading Dessa — Fighting Fish →

6 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 106 votes, average: 7.17 out of 10 (6 votes, average: 7.17 out of 10)
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