Top Albums of 2013 According To Math

From the Law Offices of Babip, Pecota, Vorp, Eckstein & Rice

 

I wanted to do something different for my albums list, seeing as how I haven't done one in 3 or 4 years, and also because I love stats and math. Last.fm tracks most of what I listen to so I decided why not go with my top ten most listened albums of the year -- I know it'll reward stuff that came out earlier in the year, but to be honest most top album lists err on the other side, celebrating stuff that was dropped recently and bumping stuff that got overplayed over the summer down a few notches. So maybe I'm balancing things out this way. Namaste? Whatevs.

(Also, I love pop music. Does that need a disclaimer? Who knows. This is the internet.)

1. Lorde ~ Pure Heroine
 

This one wasn't even close, especially if you count The Love Club EP she released in the spring. I loved Lorde this year. Really minimalistic at times. Really poppy, too. A better songwriter than she ought to be at her age. And when I first heard Royals on the radio it was like this:

2. Widowspeak ~ Almanac
 

I really fell for Widowspeak hard in the first half of 2013. Female singer. Check. Dream pop melodies. Check. 90s guitars. Check+. Um, you know I worship Mazzy Star, too, right? This album was possibly made just for me.

3. Lord Huron ~ Lonesome Dreams
 

I tired of this album really quickly, but for three months in early 2013 it was the best thing on the planet. I hate it when I do that to records, because this one is still pretty good. They got tagged as sort of Fleet Foxes-ish, which is a shame because they're doing some great new wave / Paul Simon inspired stuff, too. And you know I'm a sucker for Graceland.

4. Jai Paul ~ S/T

I have Plett to thank for this. If I still followed Pfork I might have caught it earlier in the year, but these demos weren't on my radar until much later. The fact that they shot up to number four in a relatively short time should tell you something. Another artist with some throwback sounds that reminded me of the best of the 1980s. If Prince and Frank Ocean and James Blake make you weak in the knees, check it out.

5. Daft Punk ~ Random Access Memories

No excuse for this not ranking higher. Other than that of the 233 times I listened to Daft Punk over the past 12 months only half came from RAM. Priorities, dammit!

6. Kacey Musgraves ~ Same Trailer Different Park
 

2012-13 will go in the books as the years I rediscovered country music. Musgraves writes really simple songs with really catchy melodies and no more than three or four chords a piece. And she's like 12. Okay, 25. Whatever. She also wrote a song for Nashville, which boasts Buddy Miller and T-Bone Burnitt as music supervisors. There's some serious cred there is what I'm saying.

7. Neko Case ~ The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

 

Neko lives in Vermont, so I like to pretend we're neighbors. She might be Canadian, I forget. Her voice kills me. With daggers. End of discussion.

8. Autre Ne Veut ~ Anxiety

 

Whoa! Now there's some Sharebarn love from Paco. Gotta give credit where credit is Drew. (Gotta love Drew.) Give 2013 a few more weeks and this one keeps rising. I keep talking about throwback tunes to the 80s or 90s, and Autre Ne Veut have that sort of old-school luster, but they're most definitely a product of the the modern age. This is an album that only could have come out in 2013. Catchy as hell and sort of a revelation.

9. Yo La Tengo ~ Fade
 

No really, it's a great album. I'm old, okay, I get it. Sometimes old people albums creep into my lists. But easily their strongest set of songs since Summer Sun. Remember how I like dreamy pop? You forgot already?! What are you, a goldfish? Oh, you are? How are you even on the internet?

10. Chance the Rapper ~ Acid Rap
 

Does this redeem me? So a 20-yr-old released my favorite hip-hop album of 2013, I guess. I didn't expect that. I do really love fun-time, party rap. So in a year where everyone else played the rap game super serious, it makes sense. The rise of Lil Wayne and then Drake really turned me off for a while. But the pendulum swung back alright. 2014 could be a really good year.

Brooklyn til I Die

damn, son. hold your horses, fish or cut bait, shit or get off the pot. IT IS TIME. i'm different from you, yes'sir, I am. I don't listen to cutting edge jams, the newest of the new. I don't know many 2011 albums, but I know a few -- and of those few, I have 5 (cinco, cinq) favorites.

y'all ready for this?

5. The Leaving - Lee Miles

I know this man. Seriously. I know that you are probably jealous. This album was released in January of 2011 - one year ago. It's a comfort music, a rustic, blood flowing through my veins, welcome home sound. Lee Miles deserves about one billion more times recognition than he gets. He's a great song writer, amazing singer, beautiful musician and my friend on facebook. (Boom, baby) Bigger bands with similar sounds need to be dethroned by The Leaving, in my opinion. Do yourselves a favor, pick this up.
Favorite Track: Where Nebulae Die

4. nostalgia, ultra - Frank Ocean

New to R&B and eager, I've fallen in love with Frank Ocean. I don't know what to listen for, what to praise, what to say - just that, his voice... *sigh* his voice. Other than that, let's see... hmmm.. he's on, like, *every body's* list this year. That has got to say something. Truth and feelings and taking political stances and being smooth as hell will get you places, I guess. As I explore more R&B and I mautre my preferences, I'll be more thorough about what stands out... I am excited about my developing tastes, and I'm glad this is a journey I'm taking with Frank Ocean.
Favorite Track: American Wedding (I know, I know - I'm so predictable)

3. Deceiver - Jon Keller

I have one question for you -- can you even believe this guy? I mean, seriously?? First, let's start out by segregating the very first sounds to bring us into this album.. dammit. Innovative and ballsy. Jon Keller is one hell of a musician, all the way around. He embodies passion for music and has the artistic follow-through needed to pull off this sophomore album. Vocals are beautiful on all 10 tracks and the lyrics parallel the sound. Sometimes, when, in the quiet, I'm thinking about how lucky I am, I can't believe he's one of my best friends. Some one so talented shouldn't even know I exist.
Noteworthy moments in the album: catchy riff throughout Coaxed (track 3), truthful pains during A Bottle Tonight (track 5), nearly tangible, unprecedented anger during Face the Facts augmented by the creepy dark circus keyboarding at mark 2:15(track 9)..
Favorite Track: Pangs

2. Take Care - Drake

Excuse me for a moment while I bring the tempo down to a sexy beat. Okay, ready? Featuring big names in the commercial pop hip hop world, this album kicks tons of asses and remains introspective and not as trite as the Sprite advertisement might make you think... This is a smooth, humming 3am album, but be warned: a warm wine buzz is appropriate for this slightly melancholy, slightly narcissistic album. I love it. Mostly, I'm not one to pick apart the nuances that make something great -- when it's great, you feel it. And here we are, Drake. An awkwardly misplaced white girl in the mid-west has fallen in love with you. Congratulations.
Favorite Track: Under Ground Kings

1. Watch the Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West

Don't even tell me you didn't see this coming. I can't help it. I tried this year, I really did. It can't be helped. God damn these beats, y'all - from the first second, I'm captivated. Why? Everything. Every reason. Seriously. I don't know if I'm envious or just totally snowed, but come on! Hova and Ye - bringing it. I feel like I didn't know it, but all my life I was waiting on this album. The seriously, deep rooted narcissism really speaks to me. I know! I'm shrugging my shoulders at my musical tastes, too. It's like a star-crossed love affair, but embracing it is what I choose. Let's talk about how cool it is to be so rich AND TO BRAG ABOUT IT when so many people are poor... IT'S NOT COOL, but i love it. I can't, with a clear conscience, defend this. So, I won't try. They compliment each other well, don't they? Their voices, their visions, their moneys... *sigh* Oh man. It's big time for me during Otis. I'm just like, "yeah, yeah, yeah" supplemented with fist pumps the whole song. ((who am I?)) I KNEW I shouldn't have read that article about Jay in GQ this fall, but I did, and that's what cleared it up for me: I'm a fan. And I've always been. Ye rules, too, don't get me wrong with his attention to detail and stylish, very contemporary lyrics... but Jay-Z, he's it for me this year. 2011 belongs to him. Throw your hands up, Leo. Surrender. Jay is king of the world.
Favorite Track(s): (TIED) Gotta Have It and Made In America