So, I was hoping to make a list of the thirteen greatest albums of 2013 in honor of my new site's name but alas laziness and time have driven me to scale my list down to eight. Honestly I'm happier with the result as I feel like I have a much tighter list.
1. AM - THE ARCTIC MONKEYS:
On “AM” the Arctic Monkeys embrace hip hop grooves and blend them with David Bowie’s early seventies glam rock and his mid seventies plastic soul to make a true no bullshit rock ‘n’ roll album. Much like the Strokes underrated “Angles,” and the glitzy glam of the Black Keys “El Camino,” “AM” maintains the garage punk identity of the Arctic Monkeys’ previous work while amping up the guitars, drums and choruses to create one of the coolest retro yet modern rock albums of the year.
Musically the album maintains a cool late night groove while surfing a wave of fuzz guitars that embrace the Monkey’s inner Black Sabbath. The drum sound is huge throughout the album helping to create music that will rock your face and shake your ass. Seriously I can’t remember the last rock album that has made me dance; well dance for me is a stretch, semi-rhythmically convulse like “AM” has.
Lyrically Alex Turner has written one of the best self deprecating late night drunk dialing your ex break up records in recent memory. But this isn’t just sad sack moping a la Beck’s “Sea Change,” Turner intends to exorcise every last one of his break up demons before the needle runs out on the album’s second side. This record is about the healing power of rock ‘n’ roll.
“Do I Wanna Know” starts the record off with some of Turner’s most candid lyrics about a lover’s inability to move on. Lines like “…there’s this tune I found that makes me think of you and I play it on repeat, until I fall asleep,” and “Ever thought of calling when you’ve had a few, ‘cause I always do; maybe I’m too busy being yours to fall for somebody new” cut deep and ring true for anyone who has been through a messy one sided break up.
“Arabella” is a stylish sex frustrated mash up of T. Rex glam and Zeppelin punch complete with a swirling Jimmy Pageesque guitar solo that nearly leaps off the record. The Monkeys also bring some authentic Rolling Stones sleaze as Turner sings “Wraps her lips around the Mexican coke, makes you wish you were the bottle, takes a sip of your soul…”
Despite its title, “No. 1 Party Anthem,” plays thing quiet and low key as Alex’s lyrics once again steal the show with a tale of seeking out a one night stand in order to exacerbate his pain. “It’s not like I’m falling in love, I just want you to do me no good and you look like you could,” may be my new favorite rock ‘n’ roll pick up line.
The self-explanatory “Why Do You Only Call Me When You’re High” and the futuristic funk rock of “Knee Socks” are among the other catchy as hell highlights on an album overflowing with them. “Knee Socks” gets extra cool points for its reference to the opening sequence of Martin Scorsese’s classic gangster flick “Mean Streets.”
“AM” is this year’s best rock album and is possibly the best music the Arctic Monkeys have made yet. Self hating break up records rarely sound this fun.
2. ...LIKE CLOCKWORK - QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE:
…Like Clockwork is the first album in six years from this millennium’s torchbearers of riff oriented hard rock and stoner metal. That being said Queens front man and only constant member, Josh Homme, has always been too smart, creative and eclectic to be a mere heavy metal burnout. This has never been more apparent then on the Queens latest effort “…Like Clockwork.”
“Clockwork” opens with “Keep Your Eyes Peeled,” who’s tuned down sludgy doom metal guitar riff seems to hearken back to Homme’s previous band, Kyuss. With the exception of a brief tempo shift toward the middle, the song keeps to a slow sludgy pace like the Blob coming at you from your speakers. “I Sat By the Ocean,” sports a catchy stomp riff and is easily the most Queens sounding tune on the record.
“The Vampyre of Time and Memory,” is a moody piano driven ballad that also features some tasty analog synths which add a little color to the proceedings. The tune also has a great vocal from Josh Homme singing in his most emotional and well behaved tone. Just his phrasing in the opening line, “I want God to Come,” brings a surprisingly haunting beauty to an already pretty song. Three tracks in and Homme and company are already batting .1000. The high quality continues in the wonderfully weird but catchy as all hell “If I Had A Tail.” The track, featuring backing vocals from Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys and drums from regular Queens collaborator and Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl, stomps like a brontosaurus and is packed with all manner of crunchy air guitar inspiring riffery.
“Kalopsia” begins as a slow dream of quiet floating notes and soft vocals before a noisy guitar kicks you in the gut with a powerful chorus before returning to light piano and trippy atmospherics. The back and forth dynamics keep you from drifting completely into the clouds. Sir Elton John contributes piano and backing vocals to “Fairweather Friends,” a driving rocker with Homme’s screaming guitar leads bringing a bit of sonic chaos to the party.
“Smooth Sailing,” which has Homme proudly proclaiming that he “blows his load over the status quo,” is a rollicking anarchic guitargasm of dirty funk rock. I dare you to not bust out your air guitar to this one, and oh that beat. Listen with caution if you live in an upper level apartment as you may stomp through the lower tenants ceiling as you try to contain the inevitable pounding of your foot. The title track closes things out dramatically with another moody piano piece that is complimented by strings that never sound cheesy.
Honestly I can’t say enough about this album. I’m going to go ahead and proclaim that this album doesn’t just rival past Queens’ acknowledged masterpieces, “Songs For the Deaf” and “Rated R,” it beats them. “Clockwork” is definitely the most song oriented of all their albums and it never once loses focus which their previous work has a tendency to do. As long as records like this are still being cut the beast that is rock and roll will never die. Awesome.
3. THIS RIVER - JJ GREY & MOFRO:
It’s a shame that JJ Grey & Mofro haven’t really broken out of the jam band circuit. Their blend of south Florida swamp rock, delta blues, J.B.’s funk and classic Stax soul are as timeless and soulful as popular music gets. JJ and his ever changing Mofro crew have been playing and recording for over a decade while steadily building a cult audience with Grey’s authentic down home lyrics and gruff but powerful vocals.
“This River” is their latest album and while it sticks to the Mofro formula it never sounds redundant. As before stated this is timeless music impeccably played. “Your Lady, She’s Shady” is a hard rocking rebuke of a cheating douche bag who is hypocritically jealous of his lady steppin’ out on him. Hypocritical because as JJ so eloquently sings, “Your lady, she’s shady but you’re the one runnin’ around town acting like a dog in heat.”
“Somebody Else” is one of the funniest songs Grey has ever written. The story is told from the point of view of a narrator who struggles with alcohol and rage induced black outs. Our narrator swears he “don’t know who that person is that acts like a fool,” although the narrative implies otherwise. In the song our narrator is on his way to a family fight so that he can tell them “all about my ass, like I said that I would.” Don’t ask me what that means. Anyway this family fight escalates to the neighbors calling the police which really pisses off our protagonist and prompts one of his infamous black outs. “I can’t hear the yellin’ no more, my eyes glaze over as I reach for the door, I grab my pistol, time show these fools what time it is…” You can probably guess what happens next as JJ & crew ride a nice funky groove throughout.
“Tame A Wild One” is a bit of Memphis soul complete with vintage horns as JJ sings about a man who tries to tie a free spirited woman into a life of domesticity. Of course she ain’t havin’ it. There is a great part when the narrator returns home to an empty house as an echo is added to every word JJ sings. Just that little touch of echo was enough to bring out the loneliness and heartbreak of the entire tune.
“This River” adds some of JJ’s finest slow ballads to the mix in the album’s title track and “The Ballad of Larry Webb.” The latter tells a true story about a simple man that JJ Grey knew throughout his childhood. One can hear how close the story is to JJ’s heart as feelingly sings the words, “all that is, all that will be, all we have is each other…”Great stuff. JJ saves the title track for last as he sings about the spiritual renewal one gets from nature, in this case a river is what cleanses his southern soul.
JJ Grey & Mofro bring passion and real human emotion to their songs. It’s that kind of emotion that can’t be faked. And while their songs have some clear sentiment they never drown in it. “This River” is a welcome addition to an underrated and a criminally under heard discography. Highly recommended.
4. THE NEXT DAY - DAVID BOWIE:
Rumor was that David Bowie had retired. After a near fatal heart attack during his 2004 Reality tour no one would have blamed him. His legacy and influence on rock ‘n’ roll was secure before the end of the 1970s, so when The Next Day, Bowie’s first album in a decade came out in March, the music world was shocked. Equally as shocking was the high quality of the music itself. No one expected the music to be bad. An artist’s of Bowie’s considerable talent and creativity is incapable of making bad music. At worst he makes music that is a little less good then his best music.
Sonically the album feels like it could’ve come out in Bowie’s late seventies “Thin White Duke” period which produced the classic “Station to Station.” Other critics have also cited the record’s debt to Bowie’s also late seventies Berlin trilogy. Bowie must’ve been conscious of the comparisons as he chose to deface one of that trilogy’s (Heroes) albums with his “Next Day” album cover.
Song wise this is Bowie’s strongest album since 1980’s Scary Monsters LP. “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)” is about simply watching and pondering the longevity of the stars. The track opens with a catchy guitar riff that introduces us to Bowie’s poetic imagery while in the background a string arrangement soars into the mix making the song sound as grand and epic as its subject matter.
“Where Are We Now” is Bowie at his most somber. The music is beautiful, his singing is expressive and the lyrics are filled with abstract and melancholic imagery as Bowie softly laments about “walking the dead.” “I’d Rather Be High” is a great tune about a soldier who is exhausted by constant war and would honestly rather be doing other things, like getting high for example.
“How Does the Grass” with its “ya, ya, ya, how does the grass grow, blood, blood, blood” chorus is probably the most Bowie sounding song on the album and like much of the album it sports some great guitar work throughout. “You Feel So Lonely You Could Die,” is as wonderful and sad its title implies. “Heat” ends the album on an a dark note with an emotional performance shrouded in a sonic gloom of keyboards and reverb.
The highlights listed above are just my favorites, but honestly there isn’t a weak track on this thing. Seriously great music from a seriously great artist.
5. REFLEKTOR - ARCADE FIRE:
I hate to echo what other critics have already said about Arcade Fire’s fourth LP, but it’s hard to not compare the album to U2’s “Achtung Baby” or Radiohead’s “Kid A.” Much like those albums did for the artists who created them, “Reflektor” finds Arcade Fire nearly abandoning the formula that made them the indie darlings to thousands of sweater vest sporting hipsters, by trading some of the Springsteen like anthemic drama of “The Funeral,” “Neon Bible” and “The Suburbs” for eighties synth rock, world and disco rhythms and sample-ready hip hop back beats. I fully expect to hear “Porno” sampled ten years down the road for a God-forbid back to roots Kanye West album. (I apologize to the other critics who have been creaming all over Kanye’s “Yeezus” this year.)
The title track leads off the album and sets the tone for what is to follow with its deep bass thump and minimalist disco. It’s an awesome track with some great back forth singing between the husband and wife team of Win Butler and Regine Chassagne who sings some of the words in her native French. “We Exist” thumps like modern day Depeche Mode while “Here Comes the Night” starts off at punk speed before slowing to a crawling funk that is equal parts Arcade Fire and Talking Heads.
Old school Arcade Fire gets a nod in “Joan of Arc” with its big chorus and drama filled drive. “Afterlife” sets complex world-funk rhythms, pulsing keyboards and soaring strings to a song that expresses a longing for love to continue on into the eternities. This is the kind of song that captures you in its imagery while successfully juxtaposing the hope and the unknowing that all of us carry in our hearts when it comes to life’s big questions.
Album closer “Supersymmetry” is used to great effect in the trailer for Spike Jonez upcoming romance flick “Her.” It’s a pretty song and a fitting ending to Arcade Fire’s most endearingly messy album. Unfortunately there is five minutes of ambient noise attached to the end of the song which prevents the album from being without misstep; but then again very few double albums are perfect. Hell, even the white album has “Revolution No. 9.”
6. INDIGO MEADOW - BLACK ANGELS:
With “Indigo Meadow,” we have the fourth LP from Austin psych rockers The Black Angels. On this record the Angels continue a trend that they began with their last album, “Phosphene Dream,” trading in some their trademark sonic murk for tighter songs with more pop appeal. This is all to the better as it counterintuitively allows the Angels more variety in their approach. Don’t get me wrong I love their first two albums, but had the Angels continued that approach it would have become tedious and even with their more streamlined approach the Black Angels haven’t lost their identity. This is still really great psychedelic rock which pays homage to the spirit of the late sixties and most especially the dark drone of the Velvet Underground and fellow Austin psych rockers the 13th Floor Elevators.
Throughout “Indigo Meadow,” the guitars are beefier and the drums maintain a powerful stomp courtesy of the Maureen Tucker inspired Stephanie Bailey’s primal pounding. Beyond the standard rock ‘n’ roll arsenal of guitar, bass and drums we get all matter of organs, harmoniums, and more eclectic instruments like the Native American flute and the Tibetan singing bowl. All of these elements combine to create a hypnotic listening experience of rock ‘n’ roll escapism.
My personal favorite track, “Holland,” features a solid rhythm section over a trance like organ bubbling through clouds of reverb and “a slew of gypsy acid cats on their way to Holland.” “Love Me Forever,” may sound like its song about everlasting love but all that is changed as soon the music starts and we hear the ominous warning of “love me or you’ll never love…” at the song’s conclusion.
Do you remember when rock bands wrote anti war anthems? Me neither, I was born in 1979. With “Broken Soldier” that is exactly what we get as the Angels lead us into the chaos of the battlefield with chants of “It’s hard to kill when you don’t know what side you’re on…”
“I Hear Colors,” “Twisted Light,” and “You’re Mine,” show that the Black Angels are true heirs to 1960s garage psych rock. Any of these three tunes wouldn’t sound of place on a compilation or playlist that also contained such 60s nuggets such as The Electric Prunes “I Had Too Much To Dream Tonight,” or The Seeds “You’re Pushing too Hard.”
The album ends with the slow burned mini epic “Black Isn’t Black.” The track begins minimally with just Alex Mass singing over a repeating bass line. Trippy guitar notes and tinkling keyboards slowly enter before the track picks up momentum and erupts into a menacing world of haunting vocals and jet black reverb. The tune is a strong finish to another strong showing from The Black Angels.
7. THE TERROR - FLAMING LIPS:
In a press release for “The Terror” Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne said of the album: "We want, or wanted, to believe that without love we would disappear, that love, somehow, would save us that, yeah, if we have love, give love and know love, we are truly alive and if there is no love, there would be no life. The Terror is, we know now, that even without love, life goes on... we just go on… there is no mercy killing."
Such dark subject matter is nothing new for the Lips. One of their biggest hits contains the line “Do you realize that everyone you know someday will die?” In that song this grim realization was tempered by sunshine music and sang with a Carl Saganesque wonder at the universe. No such relief is offered on “The Terror.” The album is both sonically and lyrically unrelenting in its overall hopelessness. That’s not to say that the album isn’t enjoyable listening; it sounds fantastic, it just carries a heavy heart. The synths pulse, drone and buzz as they perform the same function as the guitars on a My Bloody Valentine record, meaning they swallow you into a wall of sound where the vocals and instruments blend into a sonic haze that surrounds and swirls around you like some sort of neon fog. The drums keep things steady and occasionally burst through the murk while angelic choirs of Wayne Coyne float in the sonic ether like a voice in your head delivering messages of paranoia and existential dread. It’s difficult to pick out individual tracks from a record that’s clearly meant to be taken in one sitting. (In fact if you download the album on Itunes as a bonus track you get the entire album as one 55 minute track.) This is not an album that you put on to play in the background while you wash the dishes. It is meant to be not just heard but listened to so that you can hear the beauty that is buried underneath all of the gloom, because ultimately like life there is beauty in the details.
“The Terror” is one of the best records of the year not because it will convert any new fans, it won’t, or because it’s the ultimate party record, it isn’t, or because it’s a record I’ll come back to over and over, I won’t; it’s one of the best records of the year because of what it aspires to be. It aspires to move beyond the confines of standard rock and pop to be a piece of art that reflects a fear that is buried in many of us who have dared to look into the void and yet still go on living. The album is meant to remind us that while love and beauty can’t save us, they do make the struggle of life worth the trouble, just as the music on this album make the trouble of listening to it worthwhile. As art and as music “The Terror” succeeds.
13 - BLACK SABBATH:
Before I review Black Sabbath’s reunion with Ozzy Osbourne I need to, I promise very briefly, talk a little about what is known as the “loudness war.” The “loudness war” refers to the modern practice of mastering CDs, especially hard rock and heavy metal CDs, as loud as possible in order to…. I’m not sure what the hell they are trying to accomplish. The engineers who master the albums turn everything; guitars, bass, drums, vocals, etc. to nearly the same level and thus eliminate much of the space between the instruments and drastically diminish the dynamic range of the music. What’s left is an ear bleedingly loud album that sounds like a heated overly crowded distorted mess. Most of the time the music is at least somewhat listenable but it is extremely exhausting if the album is taken in all at once and you are left with a feeling that something didn’t sound quite right. If you want more info on what I’m positive I very inefficiently described, check out these links:
http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ.
Notable victims of the loudness war include Metallica’s “Death Magnetic,” Iggy Pop’s shitty remix of the Stooges otherwise classic “Raw Power” and Rush’s “Vapor Trails.” (Fortunately Rush has since gone back and remixed “Vapor Trails” to great effect. The difference is not only noticeable it’s incredible.) So the question is, is 13 another victim of the “loudness war?” Well…. To my rock damaged ears the album is indeed too loud but I would classify it more as wounded by the loudness war rather than being victimized by it. Alright, enough of that nonsense, what about the tunes?
It was sometime in the winter of 2011 when I first heard that all four of the original members of Black Sabbath would be reuniting to tour and record a new album to be produced by Rick Rubin who is known for connecting veteran artists back to their roots. The new record was promised to be a return to the sludgy metal of Sabbath’s first two albums in all of their blues based jammed out tempo shifting glory. I can go the rest of my life without ever hearing Ozzy’s solo albums again, calm down head-bangers, but I have always been a fan of the first six Ozzy led Sabbath albums. Even as my teenage love for heavy metal waned in my twenties I could always crank “War Pigs,” “The Wizard,” “Children of the Grave,” “Under the Sun,” “Iron Man” and others in order to reconnect to my inner metal teen.
What followed after that announcement was not quite as glorious. Guitarist Tony Iommi was diagnosed with lymphoma in January of 2012 and drummer Bill Ward left the group due to a contract dispute the following month. The album and tour were delayed.
June 2013 the album finally appears with a successfully recovering Iommi at the axe and Brad Wilk from Rage Against the Machine sitting behind the skins. Wilk is a talented drummer and he does fine on “13” but one can’t help but miss Bill Ward’s idiosyncratic jazzy beats.
As promised the album mostly succeeds at recreating the old Sabbath sound. “End of the Beginning” and “God Is Dead?” starts the album off in epic fashion with each tune clocking in over eight minutes. The former starts out as molasses slow doom metal and then shifts into a driving rocker near the three minute mark. Ozzy’s vocals have a nice sinister tone to them and Iommi’s guitar is impressive throughout riffing and soloing like its 1969. Now I know that many of my Christian friends cringed when they saw a song entitled “God Is Dead?” Have no fear. If you look close at the title it contains a question mark and, spoiler alert, by the end of the song Ozzy and crew have ultimately decided that God is alive and well. Musically it’s a pretty decent rocker with some punishing bass lines coming from Geezer Butler.
For me the biggest highlight of the album is “Damaged Soul” which moves from Sabbath gloom & sludge into a blues metal boogie jam that features Ozzy blowing away on harmonica. The track also features some wonderful bluesy solos from Iommi. This is the song that comes closest to that old Black Sabbath vibe I fell in love with so many years ago.
The album is not without its flaws, however. “Zeitgeist” tries way too hard and fails to capture the quiet, slow, trippy atmosphere of Sabbs classics “Planet Caravan” and “Solitude.” It’s not a bad song by any means it just falls short.
The album ends with the sounds of rain and an ominous ringing bell which creates a nice full circle for Black Sabbath as that is how their debut album began 45 years earlier. The somewhat shitty sound, the absence of Bill Ward and few minor missteps aside, “13,” with its strong songs, classic instrumentation and drive to capture a bygone era, is ultimately a satisfying reunion album and a fitting possible end to a legendary career.
As I said, I'm pretty satisfied with the list. I feel I should make an honorable mention of Daft Punk's "Random Access Memory" which was the first dance album that has caught my ear since Moby's 2001 album "Play." My fandom has definitely waned on this one over the year but I'm sure I'll always have a bit of nostalgia for "Get Lucky" in the coming years.
And now a
BONUS REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This past year also saw the release of the well reviewed "Yeezus" album from self proclaimed hip hop genius, Kanye West. Since this fucking thing has topped or nearly topped almost every year end release I've read I figured I should give it an honest and as best as I could unbiased listen. There was no way in hell I was going to pay for it and I sure as hell didn't want my Spotify friends to catch me listening to it, so I went to youtube and played it.
Let me begin by saying, that I personally think Kanye West is a self important asshole who seems to lack basic social skills. Listening to "Yeezus" has not changed my mind. The lyrics are pretentious and self aggrandizing and more then a little offensive at times, especially with how many times he refers to women as "bitches" or proclaims to his lover, "one more fuck and I'll own ya..." Where were you on that one, feminists?
Now I'm not one to play "holier then thou" on lyrical content. I am strongly opposed to censorship of any kind. The Rolling Stones are one of my favorite bands, and they have been responsible for some of rock's sleaziest lyrics. (See "Brown Sugar," "Star Star," and "Some Girls" for evidence. In fact "Star, Star" was originally titled "Starfucker." I love all three of these tunes but I can't deny that their lyrical content is sleazy.) Frank Zappa, another one of my faves, sang a hilariously graphic song about trying to get a woman to reach sexual climax in "Dinah Mo Hum." I have no problem with it.
It just drives me nuts when people want to compare Kanye to a modern day Shakespeare and proclaim him the voice of a generation. I doubt Shakespeare ever wrote about wanting sweet & sour sauce while performing cunnilingus on an Asian woman. Real classy, Kanye.
Anyway, musically the album is interesting and different then most of what you hear or expect from hip hop. The music borrows from noise rock, industrial techno and old school hip hop, while also bringing in some pleasing ambient soundscapes and tasteful string arrangements that are at times quiet and pretty and at other times brash and ugly-beautiful. Its just unfortunate that its all marred by an egomaniac's musing on his own perceived greatness. Oh and "Bound 2," is garbage with its wannabe artsy nature stock footaged music video showing Kanye and Kim Kardashian humping away on a motorcycle. I recommend the hilarious shot for shot parody of the video that features James Franco as Kanye West and Seth Rogen as Kim Kardashian.
Overall its been a great music year. Hopefully 2014 will bring more great tunes and records. May the gods of rock smile upon you all.
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