My favourite albums of 2013

It has been an excellent year for new music, and in the end I struggled to limit myself to just a top 10, but here goes.

1) Roomrunner - Ideal Cities: As I said here, "if riffs could kill then Roomrunner would be a weapon of mass destruction". Ideal Cities is a crushing, hook-ladened and sonically inventive record. They're also a fantastic live band where something memorable seems to happen each time I've seen them (4 times so far).



2) Föllakzoid - II: Not only is II one of my favourite records of the year (reviewed here), it spawned my interest in Chilean rock music, which has some of the most incredible bands of the last decade. There is a new space-rock champion and their name is Föllakzoid.



3) Anna Calvi - One Breath: Having been a fan since before her debut album came out (profile), I was pretty confident that Anna wouldn't suffer from second-album-syndrome and she justified my faith with the wonderful, One Breath. I managed to catch her recent show in New York as well which was fantastic. 



4) John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts: This one crept up on me a little bit, but Pale Green Ghosts is perhaps my most played album of the year, and contains some of the best, most bitingly sarcastic lyrics I've heard in a long time. I managed to catch his recent show in New York, which I reviewed here. 



5) Mikal Cronin - II: This is one of those records where every song is so consistently strong that there isn't really a focal point or highlight. He plays almost everything on the album, the melodies are instant, perhaps so instant that the depth of the lyrics are missed on first listen, with lines like "Faith is just a lover I don’t own. Love is just an answer I don’t know".



6) The Men - New Moon: I reviewed this album earlier in the year here, my enthusiasm has not waned since it was released back in March. 

7) Weekend - Jinx: Slumberland have a great roster of acts at the moment, with Joanna Gruesome, Veronica Falls, Girls Names all releasing material worthy of consideration for this list. The pinnacle however, is Weekend's second album, Jinx, an assured and meticulously crafted record with as wide a colour pallette as you'll hear. 



8) Sisu - Blood Tears: Sandra Vu is better known as the drummer in Dum Dum Girls, but Sisu's output is more impressive, imo, debut album, Blood Tears was released the previous EP also got a re-issue. The album is filled with what are essentially dark, post-punk pop songs, highly recommended (artist to watch profile here and live review here).



9) Wymond Miles - Cut Yourself Free: This shouldn't come as much surprise (artist to watch profile here, live mention here), Wmon is one of those people that can't seem to write a bad song.



10) Mark Kozelek and Jimmy LaVelle - Perils from the Sea: Another album I reviewed earlier in the year, Kozelek moves out of his comfort zone to wonderful effect.

Top 10 gigs post coming soon...

Crocodiles and Wymond Miles played Music Hall of Williamsburg

This is a repost from a review I put on My Social List, originally posted HERE.

Crocodiles wrapped up their current tour with a show at the Music Hall of Willamsburg on the 23rd of November. Although the band formed in San Diego, they spend most of their time split between New York and London, so there was a hometown vibe in the air.

Openers Young Boys set the tone early with their goth/synth/punk combination, if I wasn't paying attention I might have been convinced I was watching Red Lorry Yellow Lorry.

Young Boys

Wymond Miles, my Artist to Watch of the week, did not disappoint. His set had a good split between his two records, Under a Pale Moon and recent release, Cut Yourself Free. While the material from the former has a chilling acoustic sound, the songs are performed in full electric which makes for a good contrast. The only disappointment was that he didn't play longer. The words underrated and under-appreciated get bandied about far too often but this man should be on all the best-of 2013 lists.

Wymond Miles

Crocodiles have stepped up at least a couple of levels with their new record, Crimes of Passion (via French Kiss Records), which has suddenly become one of my favourite releases of the year. It's an assured, confident and impeccably produced 33 minute affair, which manages to trim the edges of their earlier lo-fi sound, but become more expansive at the same time.

They didn't play album opener I Like it in the Dark, which is a shame because its anti-superstition message is a real cause for celebration, featuring a rousing chorus:

there's no shining heaven, there are no fires of hell but those of our creation. When I'm crawling away from hell, storm the gates of heaven and be your own god

Whilst the band cherry-picked well from their back catalogue with the likes of Hearts of Love, Neon Jesus, Sleep Forever & Mirrors, the new songs really took centre stage. We got half the record over the course of the night, and selfishly, I'd have liked more, especially the aforementioned I Like it in the Dark and Virgin. Songs like Teardrop Guitar sound even more explosive live.

It was also the last show with bassist Marco Gonzalez in the band, who had just been accepted into medical school (maybe America will join the civilised world and have proper socialised medicine by the time he's done...). A cake was brought out.

They ended the night with a cameo from Brandon's wife, Dee Dee Penny of Dum Dum Girls, who provided vocals on I Wanna Kill.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds for Crocodiles -  if they can continue the upward trajectory and follow up Crimes of Passion with something even better, then they could be onto something very special.

Get notified of future Crocodiles shows here.