ILM's Top 77 Albums of 2013

John Grant:

My good friend Ned told me multiple times that I was going to lose my mind over Pale Green Ghosts by John Grant but, for whatever reason, I remained skeptical. I didn't feel that I was really in the headspace to pay attention to or enjoy a singer/songwriter type when the album started making the rounds and really wasn't motivated to check out the album despite multiple exhortations. I finally got around to listening to it sometime after it appeared on Spotify, which I believe was several months after it had been released.

There are multiple ways in which this is an astonishing piece of work. First off, it's produced by Biggi Viera of GusGus, who worked with Grant to create a soundscape that transitions seamlessly from Grant's indie rock background into Viera's electronic roots. Lyrically, Grant is pulling from some really dark places; the songs for the album were written and recorded in the wake of a bad breakup and learning that a passing sexual encounter had infected him with HIV and the words paint pictures of anger, hopelessness, disgust, self-loathing and misery, making the album a pretty heavy listen. Grant sings these words in a pure, smooth baritone that is one of the best voices I encountered in 2013.

Several songs on the album feature Sinead O'Connor on backing vocals; the most striking of these is "Why Don't You Love Me Anymore?" where Grant's flat-affect delivery is offset by O'Connor's fragile, bordering-on-unhinged harmonizing. Another standout is "GMF", named for an acronym of a key phrase in the chorus that will probably make you cheer once you listen to the song. Album opener "Pale Green Ghosts" shows the strongest connection to Viera's GusGus lineage, with its burbling bass line and synth stabs, while "I Hate This Town" puts me in mind of an alternate universe Billy Joel more enamored of stream-of-consciousness lyrics and hard-earned vitriol.

You can read an excellent interview with Grant conducted by Dorian Lynskey here.

Savages:

One thing I respond very positively towards in music is fury. It's an emotion I invariably find thrilling and intoxicating; the energy expressed, whether it's a fury born of rage and anger or of exultation and delight, rushes straight through my entire body akin to a full-on adrenaline rush that makes me want to leap out of my chair and dance until I collapse from exhaustion. It's the thing that initially attracted me to dance music and tends to inform the rock music I listen to.

Another component I really dig is craftmanship. A band that works together like a well-oiled machine will almost always score bonus points with me, partially because of the respect I have for the time and effort required to create that type of seamless-seeming performance synergy.

When I first encountered Savages, it was via an appearance on "Later with Jools Holland" where they performed the song "Husbands". I won't lie; the band had about a 70% chance of winning me over before they ever played a note. Four women, mostly in black, standing on stage as feedback came up around them... this wasn't going to be a snuggly, comforting performance. Then, the drums started up, followed by that rolling bass, and I was completely, totally entranced. I felt like I had been transported back to 1980 and was watching a band that one day would be mentioned alongside The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees as a mainstream-yet-subculture juggernaut that would rip your face off in the most professional way possible. This was exactly my type of fury; harsh, discordant, yelpy, elegant, musical, precise, wonderful. The album expands upon all of those, ranging from all-out squall ("Hit Me", "No Face") to gentler, more reflective songs that still contain steel ("Waiting For A Sign", "Marshal Dear"). I've read a lot of people poo-poohing the album as Yet Another Post-Punk retread with lots of comparisons to Joy Division and Interpol, which frankly is bananas; there's more punk in here than that, and more precision as well (and, quite frankly, if an Interpol album exists that has even half the energy of this one, someone point me towards it immediately because everything I've heard by them has been soooooooooo enervating and boring). If I was going to point to a forebear, it would be Bauhaus. However, I'd much rather press play and pogo to the break at the beginning of the chorus to "She Will".

that goldfrapp album is gorgeous

Good review and some great comments too.. useful.

― Kitchen Person,

lol

Savages = Bauhaus = I L U Dan

ok i fiiiiiinally get john grant now! thank you. sounds harrowing but also intriguing.

cheers dan! have found myself weirdly gravitating hard to all the stuff you seem to really like in this poll - savages are the main exception, but as i've said elsewhere on ilx i feel they're the sort of band who may in future make something amazing

interesting 3 albums today but as this poll is proving I should be prepared to be excited about anything as I have no idea which albums I'll love in advence

um, advance

http://i.imgur.com/U57Cmoy.jpg

37. LAURA MARLING Once I Was an Eagle (440 points, 13 votes, 1 first place vote)

SPotify

i voted for this ^^

(it's awesome.)

more british people?

more women?

I think a lot of the Marling boosters were American this time round.

This was the first Laura Marling album I couldn't get into at all, maybe I need to give it another go. Weird that she's still in her early 20s and she still feels like she fits in this hardy perennial section of the list.

more r&b?

OK the John Grant album sounds great. "GMF"!

Everyone except Lex and Matt OTM re: Electric. Glad it's Top 40.

Never convinced by Marling but Master Hunter hooked me so this might be the one.

Next album will turn out to be Nick Cave or The Fall or someone won't it?

This was the first Laura Marling album I couldn't get into at all, maybe I need to give it another go.

same, as an avowed fan of her first three albums and being really interested in where she'd go next i was surprised that hardly anyone else thought this was a let-down. i guess the lyrics might be there but the arrangements and especially her delivery were just so monotonous throughout and it just all blurred into gigantically overlong boring strumming for me

more british people?

― some dude, Wednesday, January 29, 2014 11:31 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

what exactly are you trying to say here some dude???

yeah I haven't acquired the Marling yet because of Brits on ILX putting me off! Mind you if I had to rank her first three, it'd be 1st > 2nd > 3rd, so...

for a brit her music has become progressively more + more americana imo

Never convinced by Marling but Master Hunter hooked me so this might be the one.

this one and "devil's resting place" were as close as the album got to standouts for me, but they're not a patch on previous albums' highlights imo

what exactly are you trying to say here some dude???

― Mordy , Wednesday, January 29, 2014 11:34 AM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just having a bit of fun, bloodechai sausagefield

wait till i tell my chums about this

was surprised how much parts of this remind me of Joni Mitchell

thanks for posting those write-ups DJP! going to have to check out the John Grant album

this is the point where I curse my default anti-campaigning stance

it's the word "campaign" that repulses me
i like when people call my attention to things; i hate when people try to sell me things

same here

also i have been confusing laura marling and britt marling in my mind

Laura Marling is a horrid tory tosser, can't even bring myself to listen to her.

I voted for the Marling album. The first 4 songs especially blew me away. But like Lex I preferred the fuller arrangements and more immediate appeal of her previous album. This one seemed a bit serious and austere in comparison, also maybe a bit too long. Could have used some trimming. Still lots of great stuff on it though.

Evidence of Marling's toryism?

But yeah, cosign with Lex on her latest absolutely. Loved the previous two; nonplussed by this.

It actually reminds me of the folkier end of Led Zeppelin, so I can see how it'd scan as American.

Famous American blues band, Led Zeppelin, yes.

Just anecdotal evidence really, enough to immensely dislike her.

The Marling album is very complex but I think it merits attention.

She's definitely an artist with a potential that outweighs the present product, and whether she'll ever really come good on that potential and produce a blue / court & spark / hejira, idk. But I loved this, like I do all her albums. This one was in my top ten almost because of, rather than in spite of the monotony; the first four tracks bleeding into one another, with the same tuning but also the same presence, the same portent, was one of the most spellbinding things I heard all year and a masterful instance of theme & variations.

Zeppelin are about as American-sounding as British bands get though.

http://i.imgur.com/wrCanmf.jpg

36 DJ KOZE Amygdala (462 points, 18 votes)

Spotify

yes!

YAYYYYY

another great album

I didn't write about this one tho, ppl were noticing that I was blurbing my favorite albums instead of doing my day job (oops)

Love this

(this also fell off the end of my ballot and it absolutely killed me because I do love it)

Was firmly in the sceptical camp on Goldfrapp but this album is front-to-back gorgeous, so thank you ILM poll.

the horns on "Magical Boy" were the tipping point

hmm never got the crossover adulation for the koze album but it was nice enough, three stars, enjoyed, kinda forgot

Goldfrapp album is "I should put this on at work when I need to concentrate" music so far

very beautiful, very unassuming, very I-will-probably-never-listen-to-this-at-home

i think with acts like Barwick sometimes I kind of would just be happy with her doing the vocal thing only for a whole album. Same goes with people like Colin Stetson, Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Soon as they start adding extra shit, it feels like something's being taken away.

― he said, smarmily (dog latin), Monday, January 27, 2014

by contrast, i think adding vocals, and tightening up their songs into conventional singles (with clear hooks, etc), would be a terrific move for rodrigo y gabriela.

i have the weirdest love w/ reservations for that album. according to last.fm it was easily the album i listened to most last year and i've put it on every year end thing i've voted in but at the same time part of me is still disappointed by it. impossible expectations i'm sure. have a hunch the same thing might happen w/ terje this year.