December 2, 2013
The lamely-numbered, lame year 2013 is finally coming to a close. Here are QRO’s top-rated album reviews of the year (plus some special stocking stuffers):
Albums:
| Afflicted Man – I’m Off Me ‘Ead The problem with a record like I’m Off Me ‘Ead is that there’s just no way to understand what it was like to have heard this in the context of the end of the English punk explosion when this was originally released in 1980. Read more… |
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| Airbourne – Black Dog Barking “Back in the game / Kicking ass again” – these lyrics have never been truer. Read more… |
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| All That Remains – A War You Cannot Win Not for the faint hearted, nor those who want some ‘easy listening’, this album packs a punch from the very beginning. Read more… |
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| All Time Low – Don’t Panic Ultimately, this fifth studio album from American pop punk band All Time Low is a massive return to form in comparison to the previous records. Read more… |
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| Arts & Crafts: 2003 – 2013 In 2003, former Virgin Records executive Jeffrey Remedios teamed up with Toronto musician Kevin Drew to form Arts & Crafts Records – and the rest is musical history. Read more… |
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| The Black Angels – Indigo Meadow Many bands have tried to emulate the ‘60s psychedelia, but only a few have managed to succeed as well as The Black Angels. Read more… |
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| David Bowie – The Next Day David Bowie. The man, the myth, the legend. You know him, you love him, you’ve been wondering where’s been. Read more… |
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| Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg This isn’t your generic run off the mill chart topping sound. Read more… |
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| Camper Van Beethoven – La Costa Perdida La Costa Perdida has all the complexity and amusing bafflement that Camper Van Beethoven has been known for. Read more… |
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| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds have revived their somber, tragic past on Push the Sky Away. Read more… |
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| The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars When The Civil Wars get together to make music, something bigger than the two of them happens. Read more… |
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| Daft Punk – Random Access Memories When most people think of Daft Punk they most likely don’t associate them with the words ‘disco funk odyssey,’ but a disco funk odyssey is exactly what their new album Random Access Memories is. Read more… |
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| Dan Abraham – Dan Abraham As ‘Dan Abraham’, Courtesy Tier’s Omer Leibovitz does more than just bring blues back. Read more… |
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| Deer Tick – Negativity After experiencing heartbreak, the deterioration of his parent’s marriage, and his father’s incarceration, John Joseph McCauley III decided to grow up, go sober, and write something autobiographical and dark. Read more… |
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| Eels – Wonderful, Glorius Mark Oliver Everett’s returned to the wry & sly, rough & ready E. Read more… |
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| Samantha Fish – Black Wind Howlin’ Do you know who Samantha Fish is? Here’s who she is. Read more… |
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| Ben Folds Five – Live Ben Folds Five’s Live does a pretty good job of encapsulating how fun it is to see the band in-person. Read more… |
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| Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse Frightened Rabbit’s Pedestrian Verse is what we wanted Snow Patrol to become. Read more… |
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| Half Moon Run – Dark Eyes Can ‘indie-smooth’ exist? Read more… |
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| Hayden – Us Alone Hayden’s not dead. Read more… |
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| How To Destroy Angels – Welcome Oblivion How To Destroy Angels’ first full-length is finally here. Read more… |
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| The Icarus Line – Slave Vows “The tide goes out and the tide comes in.” This in itself is the total essence of the band. Read more… |
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| Jim James – Regions of Light and Sound of God My Morning Jacket’s Jim James has released his first proper solo album. Read more… |
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| The Joy Formidable – Wolf’s Law It was hard to imagine The Joy Formidable being able to decently follow up The Big Roar. Enter their new album. Read more… |
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| KISS – The Casablanca Singles (1974-1982) “This box set represents us at the very beginning of our career, and documents the band’s early success and subsequent growth.” Read more… |
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| The Knife – Shaking the Habitual The Knife are the Radiohead of the electronic music genre. Read more… |
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| Local Natives – Hummingbird Local Natives’ follow-up more than lives up to its predecessor. Read more… |
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| Los Campesinos! – No Blues It’s easy to forget that Los Campesinos! aren’t kids anymore. Read more… |
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| MiniBoone – MiniBoone QRO fell in love with MiniBoone on first sight – and still love, in their self-titled full-length debut. Read more… |
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| Moby – Innocents It’s another remarkable Moby record. Read more… |
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| Motörhead – Aftershock Remarkably, Aftershock is Motörhead’s 21st studio album to date and, despite threats to 67 year old Lemmy’s health, the band seem to be as strong as ever in regards to their music. Read more… |
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| The Naked and Famous – In Rolling Waves We’ve waited three years for their new album In Rolling Waves, and it has been well worth the wait. Read more… |
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| The National – Trouble Will Find Me The National are still finding greatness – not that it makes them happy… Read more… |
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| Nine Inch Nails – Hesitation Marks Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross are back with what may very well be one of the best and strongest Nine Inch Nails records yet. Read more… |
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| Noah & The Whale – Heart of Nowhere For the first time in the band’s history, Noah & The Whale don’t change their outlook and/or style – and pull it off better than ever before. Read more… |
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| of Montreal – Lousy With Silvianbriar After the varied odyssey that was last year’s Paralytic Stalks, it was natural that Kevin Barnes would settle down a bit. Read more… |
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| Okkervil River – The Silver Gymnasium Can Will Sheff even write a bad song? Read more… |
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| Ovlov – Am There’s a massive unique sound on Am, the latest album from Ovlov on Exploding In Sound Records. Read more… |
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| Panda Riot – Northern Automatic Music The shoegaze gods have spoken! Read more… |
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| Phoenix – Bankrupt! How does one follow up Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix? Read more… |
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| plök – Infolympics There is no telling what direction this band will go in next, but it is bound to produce engaging results. Read more… |
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| The Replacements – Songs For Slim The Replacements have gotten back together (sort of) for Songs For Slim. Read more… |
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| Rise Against – RPM10 RPM10 marks the 10th anniversary of the original breakthrough album (Revolutions Per Minute) that launched Rise Against into the lights, establishing their sound and securing their fan base. Read more… |
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| Savages – Silence Yourself Get Silence Yourself and blast it on your headphones or your house with the lyric sheet on your hands, and you’ll see. Read more… |
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| Scared To Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989 Scared to Get Happy is an impressive five-CD box set, packed with artists who hailed from up and down the breadth of the United Kingdom. Read more… |
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| Sebadoh – Defend Yourself The time is more than right for a new Sebadoh album. Read more… |
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| Shout Out Louds – Optica Shout Out Louds get out of the shadows – and into the discotheque. Read more… |
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| The Shouting Matches – Grownass Man Justin Vernon is a busy guy – ridiculously busy, in fact. Read more… |
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| Sigur Rós – Kveikur As great as Sigur Rós has always been, as a listener it has been tough at times not to get lost in the shuffle of their music. Thankfully, this is not the case with their latest album, Kveikur. Read more… |
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| Simple Minds – 5X5 Live Simple Minds’ ‘5X5’ tour comes to CD. Read more… |
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| Skid Row – United World Rebellion, Chapter One The EP marks the beginning of Skid Row’s return to form in order to re-connect with their current fans after a seven-year lapse. Read more… |
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| Snowden – No One In Control Not only is Snowden still here, not only are they still great, but that they’re still growing. Read more… |
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| Justin Timberlake – The 20/20 Experience What can you say about Justin Timberlake? Read more… |
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| Toro Y Moi – Anything In Return Anything In Return comes off very new without making you wonder if Chaz Budnick’s had an identity crisis. Read more… |
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| Two Inch Astronaut – Bad Brother There was a tipping point in the early ‘90s when Sunny Day Real Estate reintroduced the idea of an ultra-polished, complex composition to post-punk. Read more… |
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| Tyler, the Creator – Wolf Tyler, The Creator has some strange things going on inside his head. Read more… |
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| Ugly Kid Joe – Stairway To Hell (Deluxe Edition) Ugly Kid Joe mark their return into the rock limelight with the great re-issue of Stairway to Hell. Read more… |
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| Vampire Weekend – Modern Vampires of the City It’s kind of ironic how indie bands, in their cool pursuit to be uncool, have, in fact, become cool. And there, we find Vampire Weekend. Read more… |
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| Villagers – {Awayland} {Awayland} may come as a surprise to Villagers’ fans. Read more… |
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| Volcano Choirs – Repave If there is one thing that Justin Vernon apparently does not do, and that is sit still. Read more… |
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| Washed Out – Paracosm Ernest Greene is just as relaxed and beautiful as you wanted him to still be. Read more… |
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| Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Mosquito Yeah Yeah Yeahs stay ahead of the curve. Read more… |
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| Yo La Tengo – Fade There is no Fade away for reliable alt-veterans Yo La Tengo. Read more… |
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& more:
| Atoms for Peace Lost Angeles Puzzle Thom York album art artist Stanley Downwood has converted the cover Amok (QRO review) into a jigsaw puzzle. Buy here… |
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| GWAR-B-Q Sauce The scumdogs of the universe, GWAR (QRO spotlight on), have already defiled your eyes & ears – now let them flay your tongue. Buy here… |
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| Lou Reed & Mick Rock, Transformer (limited edition book) Honor one of 2013’s biggest losses to the world with this beautiful book of photos of The Velvet Underground in their Transformer heyday by famed rock photographer, Mick Rock (QRO photos from book launch). Buy here… |
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| Wu-Tang Bicycle Celebrate the 20th anniversary of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by getting this bike. Buy here… |
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