WSPC's FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2013

And the time has arrived...

Dear readers and listeners, we have now reached the time when we are all bombarded with critics' listings of the best and worst releases in music, film, television and books for the calendar year and while I do look forward to reading those lists, I do also find them difficult to create for myself. I mean-how do you really rank art in a hierarchical listing anyway, especially as it is all apples and oranges in the first place?

And yet, here I am...

For the nearly four years of this blogsite's sister site Savage Cinema, I have compiled such year-end lists, albeit they exist in four distinct parts. For Synesthesia, my list will be limited to ten titles of albums that I moved me considerably during the year, and I hope that I am able to inspire you to check them out too...that is, if you have not done so already.

So without any further hesitation...I present to you...

WSPC'S FAVORITE ALBUMS OF 2013
listed alphabetically by artist

1. "A LOVE SURREAL"   BILAL

While his music has not ever blazed raced up the charts, and he has not received nearly the same amount of media attention as many of his contemporaries, I would be very hard pressed to think of many other artists within the R&B genre who are as daring, forward thinking and as risk taking as Bilal. His voice is as elastic as his musical vision, which leapfrogs across a mass variety of musical genres and for this outing, in which he primarily utilizes his top flight touring band as his core musicians, this song cycle of art funk soars supremely.
(Original posting June 2013) 
2.  "THE NEXT DAY"   DAVID BOWIE

Look, yes, it was a nice surprise that Beyonce spring a new album without any sense of a heads-up to her fans or even the media. But frankly, I do have to say for all of the media hype since the album's release, I do feel the need to poke a hole in the "Sasha Fierce balloon" by not only mentioning that The Smashing Pumpkins beat her to the punch 13 years ago (and they released their album for FREE!), but David Bowie's return to the music scene, after a 10 year absence and a recording production that lasted in secret for 2 years, was immensely more surprising and astounding to me. "The Next Day" marks the work of a man who has nothing left to prove to absolutely anyone and somehow still arrives with a passionate, booming, and fearsome work that shows that David Bowie is an artist who refuses to venture quietly into that sweet musical ether...he's going to go out swingin'!

I would like to also highly suggest that if you have not purchased the album yet this year, I would urge you to shell out the few extra bucks for "The Next Day-Extra" 2 CD/1 DVD release which collects Bowie's music videos for this album plus ALL of the music recorded from the main album, music collected for the "Deluxe Edition" and even more material included on the "Extra EP," which features a 10 minute remix from former LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy. If you have already purchased the original album, then slide over to I-Tunes for the "Extra EP," as it is worth every penny.
(Original posting April 2013)

3. "WISE UP GHOST AND OTHER SONGS"  ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ROOTS

The musical combination that was entirely confounding on paper ultimately became one of the year's most satisfying releases. Elvis Costello, lyrically and through his trademark vocals which straddle the lines between the soulful, the sublime and the sardonic, creates an increasingly frightening landscape caught in spiritual decay and escalating violence. Merging such a grim conceptual vision with the elegant swagger of The Roots, as anchored by Questlove's marvelous, magnificent drumming, may seem to be more than a bit of a head-scratcher but believe me, it is a union that is nothing less than a masterful meeting of musical minds.
(Original posting September 2013)

4. "RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES"   DAFT PUNK

Who knew that two French "robots," the kings of the EDM musical genre, would arrive in 2013 with a gushingly warm concept album celebrating all things human, especially that inexplicable sensation that occurs when real human hands perform live instrumentation all collaborating to create incessant, irresistible grooves in our advancing technological age? It is an album that celebrates the gleam of inspiration itself alongside the sweat produced on the dance floor. Completely engaging, sonically wondrous, occasionally goofy and beautifully fulfilling from beginning to end.
(Original posting August 2013) 

5. "THE MESSENGER"   JOHNNY MARR

One of my favorite guitar heroes made his solo album debut early in 2013 with a work that brought his first rate songwriting and singing chops right up to speed with his shimmering six string dream strokes and strummings. As "The Messenger" is another album this year that sailed between musical styles and genres with ease and finesse, Johnny Marr has created an album that is as intoxicating as it is inventive and hypnotic. (Original posting June 2013) 

6. "NEW" PAUL McCARTNEY

If David Bowie is an artist that has absolutely nothing less to prove to anyone, Sir Paul McCartney has considerably even less. There is just not even one reason for McCartney to even keep trying anymore and still, he does through his sheer devotion to his craft, musicianship and the love for music itself. "New," is a testament to the longevity and legacy of one of the finest musical artists we have all been blessed to hear but it is also a celebration of McCartney's playful spirit, eagerness to create and keep searching for the precise combination of notes and instrumentation that weave spells, create worlds and make the entire world sing along.
(Original posting October 2013)

7. "HESITATION MARKS"  NINE INCH NAILS

After a five year hiatus that included sumptuous detours into film composing and even beginning a new band (How To Destroy Angels), Trent Reznor resurrected Nine Inch Nails to superlative degree with an album that surprisingly confronted the validity of even having a new NIN album in 2013 in the first place strikingly head on. It was an album more of subtlety and nuance than rage that confidently marched forwards while simultaneously looking back. It also featured Reznor's tightest actual songwriting to date merged with his most aggressive allegiance to the funk ensuring that if you have the need to extol your inner demons, the dark, dance floor, on which Nine Inch Nails provides the soundtrack, is the place to be.
(Original posting September 2013) 

8. "SOUND CITY" THE SOUND CITY PLAYERS

Serving as the official soundtrack to Dave Grohl's outstanding documentary of the same name, this album also celebrated the glory the human touch in our advancing technological age via a collection of musical collaborations, vibrantly performed and all committed to the warmth of analog tape. It was one of the very few rock albums of the year that reached for the stratosphere and also, with the track "You Can't Fix This," Stevie Nicks delivered her finest song in years and years.
(Original posting June 2013)

9. "THE 20/20 EXPERIENCE" JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE

The album is not dead and I never expected that Justin Timberlake would be the one to prove it! Returning with what is essentially a double album containing over two hours of music, Timberlake presented us with a seductive soul vision that played with song structure, song lengths and album flow as confidently and as lovingly as anything as the music that obviously inspired him. With his supple voice and stunning harmony backing vocals at the forefront, Justin Timberlake gave us a musical odyssey that ran the gamut from the romantic to the erotic to the blissful and the heartbroken and everything in between brilliantly.
(Original posting Part One-June 2013/Part Two-October 2013) 

10. "YEEZUS"   KANYE WEST

Truth be told, I still am unsure if I actually like this album but the audacity and the power of it cannot be denied even one iota. For Kanye West, no one can blame him for ever playing it safe, and the ego-maniacally entitled "Yeezus" never ceases to deliver the goods whether through exhausting, ear splitting sonics, rock and roll war cry percussiveness, a valiant middle finger to anything and everything commercial and mainstream and a first class ticket deeply inside his frighteningly and endlessly vulgar brain. There was no other album like it this year, from West or anybody else, and in this day and age, when we have seemingly seen and heard it all, that feat takes some doing and then some.
(Original posting June 2013) 

With only a few more days remaining in 2013, I bid this year farewell. And as I am always on the lookout for the new and exciting musically, I already cannot wait for what 2014 has to offer. If the long silent D'Angelo finally makes his grand return, I will be more than satisfied and everything else that follows will be the proverbial gravy.

Bring it on!!