Albums

Yesterday we had films of the year, today it's the turn of albums. So, with no more further ado...

My Favourite Albums Released In 2013

1. The Asphodells - Ruled By Passion, Destroyed By Lust
2. Not Waving - Redacted
3. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Push The Sky Away
4. Tropic Of Cancer - Restless Idylls
5. Savages - Silence Yourself
6. Daniel Avery - Drone Logic
7. Dirty Beaches - Drifters / Love Is The Devil
8. Waxahatchee - Cerulean Salt
9. Grant Hart - The Argument
10. Cate Le Bon - Mug Museum

And a bunch of stuff that I really liked but didn't quite make it into the top ten. Think of it as a 'bubbling under' selection, or equal eleventh, or alternatively numbers 11-20 (in no particular order) - albums from Luke Haines, The Stranger, Sleaford Mods, Grouper, John Grant, Lubomyr Melnyk, Voigt & Voigt, Ghostface Killah & Adrian Younge, Forest Swords and The Haxan Cloak.

That number one - who?

Well, for those unaware of such matters, The Asphodells are the duo of Andrew Weatherall and Timothy J Fairplay and between them they’ve concocted an album that’s an out-of-time, out-of-fashion understated classic. You might know Weatherall from his stuff with Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine from all those years ago and his roots in the post-punk, new wave scene are very much in evidence on this album as well as influences and styles from around those indie-dance anthems of the early nineties. It’s like he’s made the exact album that he’s wanted to make, regardless of any passing fads or fashions, then released it on his own label with no compromise whatsoever and then simply gone about his normal business with very little fuss or afterthought. There’s the sound of Manc-funk in there with a couple of tracks that recall A Certain Ratio at their best and the sound of New Order is omnipresent – lush synths, Hooky-like basslines, sweeping melodies, quintessentially ‘Low Life’ era if you need some kind of timescale context for it all. I listened to this on repeat when it came out and have half-mentioned it as ‘potential album of the year’ several times on here already. Well, many months later, guess what…Andrew, Timothy, if I was in possession of a cap, I would be duly doffing it in your direction. Album of the year, 2013.

Elsewhere, in brief and orderless – a blistering, post-punk infused, self-assured debut from Savages; a seductive new goth/electronica moody hybrid from Tropic Of Cancer; a fresh and crisp as they come, brilliantly-produced dance debut from Daniel Avery; a terrific new batch of songs from Nick Cave (backed up by the Bad Seeds, perhaps the best ‘band’ in the world); a beguiling double set of hard(ish) techno and ambient, woozy instrumentals from Dirty Beaches; a completely-all-over-the-shop-in-the-best-possible-way concept album based on ‘Paradise Lost' from Grant Hart (power pop, 30s jazz, polka, waltz, doo wop and all points in between); Katie Crutchfield AKA Waxahatchee mixing up Americana and lo-fi folk with ‘Dry’ era PJ Harvey indie pop; a set of Carpenteresque electronics from Alessio Natalizia’s Not Waving project (an album that may have been number one even were it not for the fact that it was only ever released in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it edition of 100 cassettes, to have that as my favourite of the year would have smacked of one-upmanship somewhat!); the Velvets-style groove and Krautrock rhythms of Cate Le Bon (not to mention the inclusion of a cracking duet with Perfume Genius that sounded straight out of California, circa 1974)