Albums of 2013: The Top 20

We've made it! You're most likely reading this looking forward to most of 2014 and we'll bring you that soon, but this was important for us to finish. It's been a pretty strange year for all of us here at Sound Influx and we hope you're still there.
If you are, we're rewarding you. Here's a bucket tonne of music links from our top 20 albums of the year!

20. Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork


19. Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest



18. Foals - Holy Fire



17. AlunaGeorge - Body Music



16. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - ii
"The dreams that creep through his unconsciousness seem to be a recurring theme on ‘II’ and with its imagery of drifting away on the sea they find their most impressive outlet here." Max Sefton



15. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City
"Vampire Weekend have done it again. With ‘Modern Vampires Of The City’ they have created a beautiful, infectious and strange record. And ‘record’ seems the right word. It is the last chapter in a trilogy, a record of the lives of characters first visited on their self-titled debut in 2008. It is a chapter sound tracked by tracks laden with hooks, peppered with infectious rhythms and more measured harmonies and melodies. Singer Ezra Koenig’s voice is also shown off to a greater extent on this record than any other. And it really does sound effortless." Holly Read-Challen



14. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt
Waxahatchee's record is truly the surprise story of the year. The kind of sound that Ms Crutchfield creates is not the kind that usually spikes the interest of those 'in charge' of hype and yet Cerulean Salt became one of the 'buzz' records of the year. The simple truth? Because it's brilliant. It's the kind of album that doesn't require you to be anywhere or in any mood, because it sets the mood for you. For that, it earns a place in the top 15!



13. The Front Bottoms - Talon of the Hawk
(Braden's Album of the Year)
There's little I can say about this record before I start gushing about it. As such; if you want an honest rock and roll record that makes you happy that passionate music about one man's every day struggles, look no further than Talon of the Hawk.



12. DJ Koze - Amygdala


11. Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold
Democracy dictates that this was released in the UK in 2013, so here it is.



10. Disclosure - Settle
You're no one until you make our top 10, but try telling Disclosure that at this point.



9. Daniel Avery - Drone Logic



8. CHVRCHES - The Bones Of What You Believe


7. Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience Pt.1



6. Phoenix - Bankrupt!
"There is every chance this could be the album which pushes Phoenix out to more ears than ever before and in doing so may mean they are lost forever to those who have held the secret so close to their chests for so long. Only time will tell."  Paul Shiernecker



5. Everything Everything - Arc
"They’ve done it then, the Manchester foursome. They’ve made an album that manages to balance the indie/dance/pop/experimental with radio playability and pure integrity. It’s not perfect, but we’ll be hard pressed to remember 2012 if more albums come like Arc this year."  Braden Fletcher



4. Arcade Fire - Reflektor




3. Kanye West - Yeezus



2. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

1. JAMES BLAKE - OVERGROWN

Holy fuck, the Mercury's got it right. We're here at the top of the list with what our staff voted as the best record of 2013 and it's the one that won the Mercury Prize. We didn't see this coming, but when James Blake makes music as good as he does, was this ever really a surprise?


That's that then.
See you in the right year!

January 2013: Albums summary

We absorb a lot of music into our brains here at Sound Influx, but amongst our thirty-odd writers sometimes we don't get to review all the albums we'd like to of a month. So here's a reminder of the albums we did give a full review to, and our verdicts on the rest of what January 2013 had to offer.

Reviewed 

Fidlar - Fidlar (7/10)
Yo La Tengo - Fade (6/10)

A$AP Rocky - Long.Live.A$AP (7/10)

Mystical Weapons - Mystical Weapons (5/10)

Toro Y Moi - Anything In Return (7/10)
Villagers - {Awayland} (8/10)

Album Of The Month

Everything Everything - Arc (9/10)

"They've done it then, the Manchester foursome. They've made an album that manages to balance the indie/dance/pop/experimental with radio playability and pure integrity. It’s not perfect, but we’ll be hard pressed to remember 2012 if more albums come like Arc this year. "

The Rest

Ducktails - The Flower Lane (5/10)

Fads come and fads go, yet some fads outstay their welcome. For his latest venture as Ducktails, Matt Mondanile seems content on clinging onto the ever-outdated nostalgic fantasy of the 80s, as recently exploited by genre-cum-meme ‘chillwave’. It’s a shame, as the record is strongest where Mondanile’s previous brand of oft-challenging psychedelia shines through. Title track ‘The Flower Lane’, for example, is a brilliantly crafted take on Todd Rundgren’s warped pop music of the 70s, and ‘International Dateline’ modestly achieves more than the bulk of the record, recalling the laid-back jangle pop of Mondanile’s main project Real Estate. These moments are lost, however, in a record that is ultimately all too harmless to make an impression. Will Hall

Foxygen - We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors Of Peace And Magic (6/10)

The second album from the nostalgia obsessed Foxygen is about as divisive as they come. It's an album that scraps any notions of newness or innovation, instead dwelling on their past influences (Dylan, Rolling Stones, The Kinks) and occasionally outright copying them with rock cliché upon rock cliché. Played out hippy escapist bullshit swathes this album in a way that verges on hilarious: "If you believe in yourself you'll free your soul", "Because it's a bummer in the summertime, but everyone's going to have a really good time", "Rearrange your mind if it makes you feel fine" 

You get the overall impression though that Foxygen aren't taking things that seriously, the album's title alone is too ridiculous to have any real meaning behind it, making this a fairly innocuous and pleasant listen with catchy melodies, albeit with the occasional cringe worthy lyric. Toby McCarron

Nosaj Thing - Home (7/10)

The second album from LA beatmaker Nosaj Thing picks up on trends in modern electronic music expertly, with quirky rhythms and use of space. Recalling the work of artists like Schlomo, Shigeto and Flying Lotus, Jason Chung twists and contorts enticing sounds into something bordering on majestic. With guest spots from Toro Y Moi and Kazu Makino of Blonde Redhead, the album feels very studied and is realised with pleasing results. Toby McCarron

Christopher Owens - Lysandre (6/10) 

The sad news of Girls disbanding is still fresh in the forefront of people’s minds but frontman Christopher Owens has already launched his solo career and has finished debut solo album Lysandre as well as fronting a campaign for the newly rebranded Saint Laurent. Whilst the foundations of Girls’ music is embedded in Owen’s debut solo effort, everything has been diluted to a watery formula. The lyrics are pretty simplistic, the guitars quieter and the general atmosphere sounds too spacious for Owens alone to be occupying. The excessive use of saxophone is a welcome novelty on first listen but quickly comes off as cheesy after a while. You could be mistaken in thinking that Lysandre was a rush job but Owens has actually been working on the record from when Girls were still together. It’s not quite what we expected but as Owens says in ‘Love Is In The Ear Of The Listener’ “Everything to say has been said before and that’s not what makes or breaks a song” Aurora Mitchell

Dutch Uncles - Out Of Touch In The Wild (5/10)

With bands like Everything Everything and Django Django producing remarkable left of centre, yet still decidedly British indie pop, is there any room for Dutch Uncles to impress? The short answer is, not really. Out Of Touch In The Wild comes across like a more experimental and less beige Two Door Cinema Club record, with plenty of neat choruses but without much excitement in its experimentation. Stand out tracks 'Fester' and 'Flexxin' delight, but everything else feels worryingly hackneyed. Toby McCarron

Widowspeak - Almanac (6/10)

Duo Widowspeak's sophomore effort is an exercise in being lovely. The cover is beautiful and amongst the most visually appealing of the month, with the music being similarly calming with a vague husky sense of intrigue you might get from a band like Beach House. Enchanting, but not wholly memorable. Toby McCarron

Parquet Courts - Light Up Gold (9/10) 

2013 looks set to be noisy.  With The Men, Iceage, FIDLAR and California X amongst others set to release albums in the top half of the year, there’s not going to be a shortage of music to shred our ears to a pulp. Parquet Courts’ debut ‘Light Up Gold’ is not as abrasive and in-your-face as some of the above, and even boasts a degree of accessibility with songs like ‘Borrowed Time’ and ‘Stoned And Starving’. Although there are some gloriously shouty moments, including the strained shouting of “I WANT YOUR DISEASE” in ‘Disney P.T’. The production is quite muffled for a record of its caliber though, bringing to mind The Men. Aurora Mitchell

The History Of Apple Pie - Out Of View (8/10)

The debut album from East London small venue stalwarts The History Of Apple Pie transcends much of the hipster bullshit the areas they frequent churn out. Out Of View is an undeniably enjoyable record full of grungey guitars, sweet vocal coos and impeccable melodies. The Pixies like feel to tracks 'Mallory' and 'You're So Cool' placed alongside more straight up embraces of shoegaze guitar like 'Do It Wrong' is exciting and youthful enough not to feel like a rip off, and works as a fitting soundtrack for teenage angst or just a straight up celebration. Toby McCarron



Everything Everything - Arc

Coming out of Manchester with a boom in 2010, Everything Everything’s Man Alive broke the top 20 and saw them tour extensively in support of it to cement their places as more than a hype-act. From the hooks of Suffragette Suffragette through the whistles of Schoolin’ via the borderline unsingable singalong of My KZ Ur BF, Man Alive erupted with a kind of energy and sound that the likes of Dirty Projectors championed and Alt-J have since re-tuned to their Mercury winning benefits. Almost 30 months later and the four-piece are back with Arc. Cough Cough exuded the jumpy excitement of a child on strawberry laces and reignited the fire that EE left behind, so what does the rest of this record have to offer? 

Well, once you get past the distinctly boring cover that looks like Jamie Hewlett attempting to use photography to portray the mundanity of life; you’re greeted once more with the nonsensical power that is Cough Cough. Kemosabe, the second single follows (is it just me or is that pretty lazy decision making?) with a pulse that builds to a sound that’s almost Tune-Yards.

From here on out though, Arc is a different album. Those who heard the indie-hits of Man Alive and expected the same from Cough Cough onwards are going to be pleasantly mistaken as what you get from Everything Everything’s second effort is a record not built on juvenilities and crowd expanding radio belters, but instead on taking the most enjoyable and fun aspects of their music and maturing them into a record that sounds expansive to the point that the album is not so much coercive as it is defined and structured.

What starts as fear for what could have easily been an average album through Torso of the Week quickly becomes, well, everything else. Whilst some of the music you’ll hear on Arc can make you question if the band still have that catchy vibe they used to, the impending doom that crescendos through the likes of Undrowned and cascades over the serene _Arc_ leads to Armourland which is little short of magical. It forces you to dance in about three different manners, jumping from side to side before swirling in the romance of the refrain before most-likely embracing all around you as it dissolves into This House is Dust and beyond. Let’s not even get started on how life affirming The Peaks is. 

They’ve done it then, the Manchester foursome. They’ve made an album that manages to balance the indie/dance/pop/experimental with radio playability and pure integrity. It’s not perfect, but we’ll be hard pressed to remember 2012 if more albums come like Arc this year. 

9

Braden Fletcher

Everything Everything - Cough Cough

You could be forgiven for forgetting what happened in 2010. The pace of changing tastes is one that anyone can get lost in and as such, we forget. Just to jog your memory, 2010 was the last time we heard new material from Foals and Arcade Fire and saw the last LCD Soundsystem record released. It also saw one of the best new bands in a long time emerge. Everything Everything were a refreshing take on the ever increasing amount of electronic indie that was breaking through. Their sound was percussive and blended intelligent lyrics with intricate and at times, difficult to follow melodies. To this day, it’s almost impossible to recite My Kz Yr Bf without slipping up. “Man Alive” was a triumph but one they probably toured just that little bit too much.

So then, it’s good to have the Manchester band back with new material. Cough Cough makes use of all the key elements that made Man Alive enjoyable. It’s got a beat you can dance to whilst in no way being simplistic. It’s got quick lyrics but still allows for a bit of a singalong; “I’m coming alive, I’m happening now” goes the hook. It’s got a synth line that pulses in and out with an almost prog feel but it doesn’t feel offensive. 

Everything you liked about the first record is still here, yet now it sounds that tiny bit more grown up. Of course, from one song, it’s impossible to suggest that they’ve abandoned the soft touch and songs about other people’s girlfriends, but if the lead single’s anything to go by, it looks like there could be a huge record on the way.